Luke 17:22

A DAY OF THE SON OF MAN

‘The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it.’

Luke 17:22

Two kinds and sets of days are here contrasted: the coming days, and the days that are now.

I. The days of the present.—‘Days of the Son of Man,’ He calls them. There was much to make the days of that present anxious, unrestful, perplexing. The disciples were slow to learn, and were always disappointing their Master by some expression which betrayed ignorance, or by some proposal which threatened inconsistency. Before them, already casting its shadow, was a closing scene of ingratitude, desertion, or denial of their Master, as the case might be, which must have made, we should have thought, the very memory of those days of the Son of Man a bitterness rather than a comfort. Yet our Lord looked upon these as in some sense happy days for them. ‘The days will come, when ye will desire to see one of them, and sorrow because ye cannot.’ The personal presence of the loved Master and Lord made those happy days for them. In that one respect they would be losers even by the accomplishment of the redemption. Let us take one of these days of the Son of Man—Sabbath. It opened with a service in the synagogue, when the hearers were astonished at His doctrine. Then He spoke the healing word to a man possessed with an unclean spirit, and as He enters a friendly dwelling as if for repose, even then a case of sickness meets Him, and He must heal it. At even they brought to Him all that were diseased, and the whole city was gathered together at the door. Such was a day of the Son of Man, followed by a night of devotion. Ministry with Him was no substitute for prayer.

II. The coming days.—Can we not picture one of those coming days, after the great Easter, far on, perhaps, into evening of the apostolic ministry, when the wearied Apostle may have cried, ‘O that I could hear the Voice of the loved and loving Lord, “Go ye into the desert and rest awhile,” or could I be taken up by Him into the holy mount to behold His transfigured countenance, and have the prophetic word confirmed in the Voice from the excellent glory, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” ’ We have had no such personal experiences, none of these companyings with Jesus. But we can live, realising the days of the Son of Man by seeking out and ministering to the wants and woes of humanity, as He loved to do. The days of the Son of Man are wherever Christ and misery stand face to face. Whosoever tries to bring Jesus into one lodging-house of sinning, suffering London, is realising to himself and to others the ministry of the Saviour—‘a day of the Son of Man.’

—Dean Vaughan.