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
There is another point in which these bewildered disciples are
uncommonly like the rest of us; and that is that they have no patience
to wait for time and growth to solve the difficulty. They want to know
all about it now, or not at all. If they would wait for six weeks they
would understand, as they did. Pentecost explained it all. We, too, are
often in a hurry. There is nothing that the ordinary mind, and often
the educated mind, detests so much as uncertainty, and being
consciously baffled by some outstanding difficulty. And in order to
escape that uneasiness, men are dogmatical when they should be
doubtful, and positively asserting when it would be a great deal more
for the health of their souls and of their listeners to say, 'Well,
really I do not know, and I am content to wait.' So, on both sides of
great controversies, you get men who will not be content to let things
wait, for all must be made clear and plain to-day.
Ah, brethren! for ourselves, for our own intellectual difficulties, and
for the difficulties of the world, there is nothing like time and
patience. The mysteries that used to plague us when we were boys melted
away when we grew up. And many questions which trouble me to-day, and
through which I cannot find my way, if I lay them aside, and go about
my ordinary duties, and come back to them to-morrow with a fresh eye
and an unwearied brain, will have straightened themselves out and
become clear. We grow into our best and deepest convictions, we are not
dragged into them by any force of logic. So for our own sorrows,
questions, pains, griefs, and for all the riddle of this painful world,
'Take it on trust a little while,
Thou soon shalt read the mystery right,
In the full sunshine of His smile.'
III. Lastly, and very briefly, a word about the patient Teacher.
'Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask Him.' He knows all our
difficulties and perplexities. Perhaps it is His supernatural knowledge
that is indicated in the words before us, or perhaps it is merely that
He saw them whispering amongst themselves and so inferred their wish.
Be that as it may, we may take the comfort that we have to do with a
Teacher who accurately understands how much we understand and where we
grope, and will shape His teaching according to our necessities.
He had not a word of rebuke for the slowness of their apprehension. He
might well have said to them, 'O fools and slow of heart to believe!'
But that word was not addressed to them then, though two of them
deserved it and got it, after events had thrown light on His teaching.
He never rebukes us for either our stupidity or for our carelessness,
but 'has long patience' with us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account