An essential qualification for successful ministry.
"Who can have compassion on the ignorant," etc. According to our reading of the New Testament, the Christian ministry is not a priesthood except in the sense that, being Christians, ministers belong to that "holy priesthood," that "royal priesthood," of which every true Christian is g member. Yet there were certain qualifications of the Aaronic priesthood which are indispensable to the usefulness of the Christian ministry. One of these is mentioned in our text; its nature will appear as we proceed. The text suggests—
I. THAT SINS DIFFER IN THE DEGREE OF THEIR GUILT. In this respect several things have to be taken into account.
1. There are differences in the sins themselves. The wickedness of sins of presumption is far greater than that of sins of ignorance (cf. Numbers 15:27-31). Sins of rebellion are far removed from sins of error. The persons mentioned in our text are not those who have sinned "with a high hand," but "the ignorant and erring"—those who have sinned by reason of moral "infirmity," or who have wandered from the way of truth and duty because of their own spiritual negligence. Such sinners are by no means guiltless, but they are much less guilty than some others.
2. There are differences in the conditions and circumstances in which sins are committed. The force of the solicitation to sin, the strength of inherited tendency to certain forms of moral evil, the quality of the moral atmosphere surrounding the sinner,—these greatly differ amongst men; and this and other considerations -must be carefully weighed before the guilt of any sin can be fairly estimated. "Two persons may commit the same identical crime, yet the guilt may be inconceivably greater in the one case than the ether. The one may have had no instruction, no benefit from parental culture, no faithful admonitions, no holy example to direct and regulate, no warning to restrain, no encouragement to animate in the path. The other may have been surrounded by all the helps and inducements to right consideration—to holy fear, to correct conduct—and therefore his sin is marked with a far higher degree of aggravation than the sin of the other; and thus, in the sight of God, the judge on the bench often may be far more guilty than the criminal at the bar."
II. THE WISE AND GOOD MINISTER TO SOULS WILL PRACTICALLY RECOGNIZE THESE DIFFERENCES IN THE GUILT OF SINS. Only the Omniscient can perfectly discriminate in this respect, yet the text indicates a discrimination and consideration which every one who would minister helpfully to souls will endeavor to exercise.
1. He will not harshly condemn sinners. He is μετριοπαθής. On the one hand, he is not unfeeling; on the other, he is not carried away by his feelings, but he regulates and moderates his feelings; he has control over his passions.
2. He will endeavor to discriminate sins of ignorance and error from sins of a darker hue. He will deal thoughtfully with souls, not regarding all sinners as equally guilty or all sins as equally heinous. In so doing he will be following precedents of unquestionable authority. Our Lord and his apostles thus discriminated, and made merciful allowance for the ignorance and error of sinners (see Luke 23:1-56. 34; Acts 3:17; 1 Timothy 1:13; 1 Peter 2:25).
3. He will treat the ignorant and the erring with gentleness. He will "have compassion on the ignorant," etc; margin, "reasonably bear with;" Revised Version, "who can bear gently with the ignorant and erring." How beautiful and sublime is our Savior's example in this respect! For his crucifiers he prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
III. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HIS OWN MORAL INFIRMITY SHOULD INDUCE THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER TO DEAL THUS GENTLY WITH THE IGNORANT AND THE ERRING. "For that he himself also is compassed with infirmity."
1. His own moral infirmity qualifies him to understand the moral ignorances and errors of others. He has had to contend against sinful inclinations and Satanic temptations. He knows from his own experience how easily the soul is sometimes led astray, and he can enter into the moral wanderings and sorrowful returnings of others.
2. His own moral infirmity should lead him, to be patient and gentle with the ignorant and erring. He has himself required and received forbearance at the hands of both God and man. He will very probably need similar forbearance in time to come. How, then, can he be intolerant or harsh with others? Our own need of mercy and patience from others, and preeminently from God, should lead us to be merciful and patient with others. The chief lesson of our subject is applicable to all who would render spiritual services to their fellow-men. Let parents, and instructors of the young, and preachers of the gospel, and pastors of Churches, ever remember that if they would benefit the ignorant and erring they must be forbearing and gentle with them. Sternness and severity will repel and discourage, and probably aggravate moral infirmity into moral perversity. But patience and. charity will encourage worthy hopes in the breasts of those who have gone astray, and restore them to the path of truth and. duty, and inspire them to more earnest and patient efforts in Christian life and service. Be it ours, not to condemn the ignorant and erring, but to instruct and restore them.—W.J.
The suffering Savior.
"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered," etc. Our text suggests the following observations:—
I. IN THE DAYS OF HIS FLESH OUR LORD ENDURED SEVEREST SUFFERINGS. "The things which he suffered" induced the agonizing prayer, the "strong crying and tears." He bore the common sufferings of our humanity; e.g. hunger, thirst, weariness, etc. He suffered from the cruel ingratitude of men, from the base slanders of his enemies, and from the subtle and sinful solicitations of Satan. His sensitive and holy soul suffered keenly from his contact with so much of sin and sorrow and pain in this world. But the particular reference in the text is to his anguish in Gethsemane. How sore was his sorrow, how terrible his agony, upon that occasion! "He began to be greatly amazed and sore troubled: and he saith, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death."
II. IN HIS SUFFERINGS OUR LORD SOUGHT RELIEF IN PRAYER, "He offered up prayers and supplications," etc. (Hebrews 5:7). Notice:
1. The Belong to whom he addressed his prayer. "Unto him that was able to save him from death," i.e. to the great Sovereign of both life and death; "the God in whose hand our breath is," who "giveth to all life and breath and all things,… in whom we live and move and have our being." Our Savior directed his prayer to his Father, saying, "O my Father," etc.
2. The object which he sought in his prayer. This is not mentioned here; but it is in the narrative of the conflict in Gethsemane. "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me." From what did the Savior recoil so shudderingly? Certainly neither from mere death, nor from "the dread of something after death." The pains of dissolution could not have affrighted him, and beyond death there was nothing to dismay or repel him. But death, with all the dread significance and terrible circumstances such as awaited him, he shrank from in intense spiritual pain. This has been forcibly expressed by Dr. Farrar: "It was something far deadlier than death. It was the burden and the mystery of the world's sin which lay heavy on his heart; it was the tasting, in the Divine humanity of a sinless life, the bitter cup which sin had poisoned; it was the bowing of Godhead to endure a stroke to which man's apostasy had lent such frightful possibilities. It was the sense, too, of how virulent, how frightful, must have been the force of evil in the universe of God which could render necessary so infinite a sacrifice. It was the endurance, by the perfectly guiltless, of the worst malice which human hatred could devise; it was to experience, in the bosom of perfect innocence and perfect love, all that was detestable in human ingratitude, all that was pestilent in human hypocrisy, all that was cruel in human rage. It was to brave the last triumph of Satanic spite and fury, uniting against his lonely head all the flaming arrows of Jewish falsity and heathen corruption—the concentrated wrath of the rich and respectable, the yelling fury of the blind and brutal mob. It was to feel that his own, to whom he came, loved darkness rather than light—that the race of the chosen people could be wholly absorbed in one insane repulsion against infinite goodness and purity and love. Through all this he passed in that hour which, with a recoil of sinless horror beyond our capacity to conceive, foretasted a worse bitterness than the worst bitterness of death." £ This was the cup which he prayed might pass away from him.
3. The intensity with which he urged his prayer. This is indicated
III. IN ANSWER TO HIS PRAYER OUR LORD OBTAINED SUPPORT IN HIS SUFFERINGS.
1. The nature of the answer to his prayer, Not exemption from the cup, but victory over the dread of it, and support in drinking it. He was fortified for his future sufferings and trials, and sustained in them. "There appeared unto him an angel from heaven, strengthening him." His personal wishes were now lost in the perfect will of his Father. His dread anxieties are gone, and he is divinely calm. His trembling fears have departed, and he is sublimely courageous. Henceforth, even unto the bitter end, he is serene in sternest sufferings, patient under the most irritating provocations, a meek yet majestic Conqueror. Such was the Father's answer to his prayer. And every true prayer which is offered to God is answered by him, though not always by granting the specific requests (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
2. The reason of the answer to his prayer. "And was heard in that he feared;" margin, "for his piety;" Revised Version, "Having been heard for his godly fear;" Alford, "Having been heard by reason of his reverent submission." His pious resignation to the holy will of his Father was the ground upon which his prayer was answered, and the victory was given unto him. "Nevertheless," said he, "not as I will, but as Thou wilt.... O my Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, thy will be done." When we can thus say, "Thy will Be done," we have already an installment of the answer to our prayers, and the fullness of the blessing will not tarry.
IV. BY HIS SUFFERINGS HIS OBEDIENCE TO THE HOLY WILL OF HIS FATHER WAS PERFECTED. "Though he was a Son, yet learned he obedience by," etc. His obedience as a Son was always perfect. His obedience here spoken of is obedience in suffering. As his obedience became more difficult, involving more and more of self-renunciation, and pain ever increasing in severity, he still obeyed, He willed to endure the sharpest, sternest sufferings rather than fail even in the slightest degree in his practical loyalty to the perfect will of his Father. "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." This obedience he learned, as he proceeded step by step along his painful path, until the lesson was finished and the obedience was consummated on the cress. All Christ's disciples need the discipline of suffering to perfect them in the practice of the Father's will (cf. Matthew 16:24).—W.J.