Matthew 8:16

THE DIVINE CONSOLER

When the even was come … healed all that were sick.’

Matthew 8:16

It is easy to imagine the scene. Our Lord had healed St. Peter’s mother-in-law of a great fever that very day, and now at eventide they carry the sick ones of Capernaum to His feet. He lays now on one, now on another, His pure and gentle hands, and heals them all. Take up a map of the world, and the vision widens, and from north, south, east, and west the sin-sick sons of Adam come to Him for Divine healing.

I. The guilty.—In the religion of the twentieth century are many hopeful signs, but there seems to be a great absence of the deep conviction of sin our fathers felt. There is only one Saviour.

II. The tempted.—To such this text is a healing word (Hebrews 2:18).

III. The disappointed.—The sweetest pleasures of the world are like fairy gold that turns to dust and dross! But Christ never disappoints those who trust in Him.

IV. The sorrowful.—‘Christianity is the religion of the sorrowful.’ Not the religion of sorrow, but for sorrow. Human sympathy is sweet, even the sympathy of a little child. How sweet and precious must the sympathy of the Divine and human Saviour be! On all sides there are the lonely and the bereaved, who have lost friends and relations, and whose sorrows are too deep for words or tears. But Christ is the Saviour. Christ is the Teacher. Christ is the Great Consoler too.

—The Rev. F. Harper.

Illustrations

(1) ‘When Principal Tulloch died, Queen Victoria sent his son a letter of condolence, in which she wrote, “No more, never again! These dreadful words I have so often had to repeat make my heart turn sick. God’s will be done. I again have lost a dear and honoured friend. My heart sinks within me when I think I shall not again on earth look on that kindly face. I have lost so many, and I feel so alone.” ’

(2) ‘A woman, broken-hearted by the death of her husband, spoke of being chiefly comforted by the visits of a little girl, who, when asked what she did, replied, “I only put my cheek against hers, and cry when she cries.” ’

(3) ‘If His deeds of power were done, not for Himself, but for others, it was love that prompted them. And what a sympathetic love! “Himself bare”—as though they were His own! Eminently true of the great atoning work, it was His people’s sin that crushed Him, breaking the heart that could no longer bear the load. But true also of every evil of humanity, that “in all their affliction He was afflicted” (Isaiah 63:9). And consider, in this respect, His individual tenderness: He did not heal en masse, but upon each He laid His hands, to each He spoke words of love, entering thus in detail and minutely into the realisation of His people’s woes. But at what cost! For consider the exhausting effect of true heart-sympathy. “Virtue is gone out of me” (St. Luke 8:46; see also Matthew 6:19). Yes, indeed, His healing work was draining His own vital power. Thus was He proved to be the All-loving One.’