Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXIMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
And He will take care of you, brother! and of us all. The 'bread will
be given' us, at any rate, and 'the water made sure.' It was a modest
meal that He with His infinite resources thought enough for toiling
fishermen. 'One fish,' as the original shows us, 'one loaf of bread.'
No more! He could as easily have spread a sumptuous table for them.
There is no covenant for superfluities, necessaries will be given. Let
us bring down our wishes to His gifts and promises, and recognise the
fact that 'he who needs least is the nearest the gods,' and he that
needs least is surest of getting from Christ what he needs.
But then, besides that, the supply of all other deeper and loftier
necessities is here guaranteed. The symbolism of our text divides,
necessarily, the two things which in fact are not divided. It is not
all toiling on the restless sea here, any more than it is all rest and
fruition yonder; but all that your spirit needs, for wisdom, patience,
heroism, righteousness, growth, Christ will give you _in_ your work;
and that is better than giving it to you after your work, and the very
work which is blessed by Him, and furthered and prospered by Him, the
very work itself will come to be moat and nourishment. 'Out of the
eater will come forth meat,' and the slain 'lions' of past struggles
and sorrows, the next time we come to them, will be 'full of honey.'
Finally, there is a great symbolical prophecy here if we emphasise the
distinction between the night and the morning, between the shore and
the sea. We can scarcely fail to catch this meaning in the incident
which sets forth the old blessed assurance that the risen Lord is
preparing a feast on the shore while His servants are toiling on the
darkling sea.
All the details, such as the solid shore in contrast with the changeful
sea, the increasing morning in contrast with the toilsome night, the
feast prepared, have been from of old consecrated to shadow forth the
differences between earth and heaven. It would be blindness not to see
here a prophecy of the glad hour when Christ shall welcome to their
stable home, amid the brightness of unsetting day, the souls that have
served Him amidst the fluctuations and storms of life, and seen Him in
its darkness, and shall satisfy all their desires with the 'bread of
heaven.'
Our poor work which He deigns to accept forms part of the feast which
is spread at the end of our toil, when 'there shall be no more sea.' He
adds the results of our toil to the feast which He has prepared. The
consequences of what we have done here on earth make no small part of
the blessedness of heaven.
'Their works and alms and all their good endeavour
Stayed not behind, nor in the grave were trod.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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