The Lowly King
(No. 1861)
Delivered on Thursday Evening, June 25th, 1885, by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the [15]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem:
behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation,
lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an
ass."Zechariah 9:9.
I. DO not intend to expound the whole text at any length, but simply to
dwell upon the lowliness of Jesus. Yet this much I may say: whenever
God would have his people especially glad, it is always in himself. If
it be written, "Rejoice greatly," then the reason is, "Behold, thy King
cometh unto thee!" Our chief source of rejoicing is the presence of
King Jesus in the midst of us. Whether it be his first or his second
advent, his very shadow is delight. His footfall is music to our ear.
That delight springs much from the fact that he is ours. "Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion: . . . behold, thy King cometh unto thee."
Whatever he may be to others, he is thy King, and to whomsoever he may
or may not come, he cometh unto thee. He comes for thy deliverance,
thine honor, thy consummated bliss. He keeps thy company: he makes thy
house his palace, thy love his solace, thy nature his his home. He who
is thy King by hereditary right, by his choice of thee, by his
redemption of thee, and by thy willing choice of him, is coming to
thee; therefore do thou shout for joy.
The verse goes on to show why the Lord our King is such a source of
gladness: "He is just, and having salvation." He blends righteousness
and mercy; justice to the ungodly, and favor to his saints. He has
worked out the stern problemhow can God be just, and yet save the
sinful? He is just in his own personal character, just as having borne
the penalty of sin, and just as cleared from the sin which he
voluntarily took upon him. Having endured the terrible ordeal, he is
saved, and his people are saved in him. He is to be saluted with
hosannas, which signify, "Save, Lord"; for where he comes he brings
victory and consequent salvation with him. He routs the enemies of his
people, breaks for them the serpent's head, and leads their captivity
captive. We admire the justice which marks his reign, and the salvation
which attends his sway; and in both respects we cry, "Blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord"!
Moreover, it is written of him that he is lowly, which cannot be said
of many kings and princes of the earth; nor would they care to have it
said of them. Thy King, O daughter of Jerusalem, loves to have his
lowliness published by thee with exceeding joy. His outward state
betokens the humility and gentleness of his character. He appears to be
what he really is: he conceals nothing from his chosen. In the height
of his grandeur he is not like the proud monarchs of earth. The patient
ass he prefers to the noble charger; and he is more at home with the
common people than with the great. In his grandest pageant, in his
capital city, he was still consistent with his meek and lowly
character, for he came "riding upon an ass." He rode through Jerusalem
in state; but what lowliness marked the spectacle! It was an
extemporized procession, which owed nothing to Garter-king-at-arms, but
everything to the spontaneous love of friends. An ass was brought, and
its foal, and his disciples sat him thereon. Instead of courtiers in
their robes, he was surrounded by common peasants and fishermen, and
children of the streets of Jerusalem: the humblest of men and the
youngest of the race shouted his praises. Boughs of trees and garments
of friends strewed the road, instead of choice flowers and costly
tapestries: it was the pomp of spontaneous love, not the stereotyped
pageantry which power exacts of fear. With half an eye every one can
see that this King is of another sort from common princes, and his
dignity of another kind from that which tramples on the poor. According
to the narrative, as well as the prophecy, there would seem to have
been two beasts in the procession. I conceive that our Lord rode on the
foal, for it was essential that he should mount a beast which had never
been used before. God is not a sharer with men; that which is
consecrated to his peculiar service must not have been aforetime
devoted to lower uses. Jesus rides a colt whereon never man sat. But
why was the mother there? Did not Jesus say of both ass and foal,
"Loose them, and bring them unto me"? This appears to me to be a token
of his tenderness: he would not needlessly sever the mother from her
foal. I like to see a farmer's kindness when he allows the foal to
follow when the mare is ploughing or labouring; and I admire the same
thoughtfulness in our Lord. He careth for cattle, yea, even for an ass
and her foal. He would not even cause a poor beast a needless pang by
taking away its young; and so in that procession the beast of the field
took its part joyfully, in token of a better age in which all creatures
shall be delivered from bondage, and shall share the blessings of his
unsuffering reign. Our Lord herein taught his disciples to cultivate
delicacy, not only towards each other, but towards the whole creation.
I like to see in Christian people a reverence towards life, a
tenderness towards all God's creatures. There is much of deep truth in
those lines of "The Ancient Mariner":
"He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small."
Under the old law this tenderness was inculcated by those precepts
which forbade the taking of the mother-bird with her young and the
seething of a kid in its mother's milk. Why were these things
forbidden? There would seem to be no harm in either of these practices,
but God would have his people tender-hearted, sensitive, and delicate
in their handling of all things. A Christian should have nothing of the
savage about him; but everything that is considerate and kind. Our Lord
rode through the streets of Jerusalem with an ass, and a colt the foal
of an assfor he is lowly in heart, and gentle to all. His is no
mission of crushing power, and selfish aggrandisement; he comes to
bless all things that be, and to make the world once more a Paradise,
wherein none shall be oppressed. Blessed Savior, when we think of the
sufferings of thy creatures, both men and beasts, we pray thee to
hasten thy second advent, and begin thy gentle reign!
Now, this riding of Christ upon an ass is remarkable, if you remember
that no pretender to be a prophet, or a divine messenger, has imitated
it. Ask the Jew whether he expects the Messiah to ride thus through the
streets of Jerusalem. He will probably answer "No." If he does not, you
may ask him the further question, whether there has appeared in his
nation anyone who, professing to be the Messiah, has, at any time, come
to the daughter of Jerusalem "riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the
foal of an ass." It is rather singular that no false Messiah has copied
this lowly style of the Son of David. When Sapor, the great Persian,
jested with a Jew about his Messiah riding upon an ass, he said to him,
"I will send him one of my horses": to which the Rabbi replied, "You
cannot send him a horse that will be good enough, for that ass is to be
of a hundred colors." By that idle tradition the Rabbi showed that he
had not caught the idea of the prophet at all, since he could not
believe in Messiah's lowliness displayed by his riding upon a common
ass. The rabbinical mind must needs make simplicity mysterious, and
turn lowliness into another form of pomp. The very pith of the matter
is that our Lord gave himself no grand airs, but was natural,
unaffected, and free from all vain-glory. His greatest pomp went no
further than riding through Jerusalem upon a colt the foal of an ass.
The Mohammedan turns round with a sneer, and says to the Christian,
"Your Master was the rider on an ass; our Mohammed was the rider on a
camel; and the camel is by far the superior beast." Just so; and that
is where the Mohammedan fails to grasp the prophetic thought: he looks
for strength and honor, but Jesus triumphs by weakness and lowliness.
How little real glory is to be found in the grandeur and display which
princes of this world affect! There is far more true glory in
condescension than in display. Our Lord's riding on an ass and its foal
was meant to show us how lowly our Savior is, and what tenderness there
is in that lowliness. When he is proclaimed King in his great Father's
capital, and rides in triumph through the streets, he sits upon no
prancing charger, such as warriors choose for their triumphs, but he
sits upon a borrowed ass, whose mother walks by its side. His poverty
was seen, for of all the cattle on a thousand hills he owned not one;
and yet we see his more than royal wealth, for he did but say, "The
Lord hath need of them," and straightway their owner yielded them up.
No forced contributions supply the revenue of this prince; but his
people are willing in the day of his power. He is thy King, O Zion!
Shout, to think that thou hast such a Lord! Where the scepter is love,
and the crown is lowliness, the homage should be peculiarly bright with
rejoicing. None shall groan beneath such a sway; but the people shall
willingly offer themselves; they shall find their liberty in his
service, their rest in obedience to him, their honor in his glory.
Now, my brethren, you may forget the hosannas of that day of Palms, for
I beg you to confine your thoughts to the consideration of the
lowliness of our divine Lord and Master. "Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee . . . lowly, and riding upon an ass."
Let us think for a few minutes upon the displays of the lowliness of
our Lord Jesus Christ; then upon the causes of that lowliness; and
thirdly, upon certain lessons to be learnt from that lowliness.
I. First, then, let us think of THE DISPLAYS OF LOWLINESS MADE BY OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST. You do not need me to remind you how devoutly we
worship him as God over all, blessed for ever. Yet while on earth he
veiled his Godhead, and laid bare his lowliness. His sojourn here below
was full of the truest greatness; but it was a grandeur, not of
loftiness, but of lowliness; not of glory, but of humiliation. Our Lord
was never more glorious in the deepest sense than in his humiliation:
because of it "he shall be exalted, and extolled, and shall be very
high."
First, think of the lowliness of Christ in even undertaking the
salvation of guilty men. Man without sin, as God first made him, is
certainly a noble creature. It is written, "Thou hast made him a little
lower than the angels." But, as a sinner, man is a base and
dishonorable being, only worthy to be destroyed. In that character he
has no claims to be regarded of God at all. If it had pleased the
divine supremacy to blot this rebel race from existence, God might
readily have repaired the loss by the creation of superior beings; and
it was lowliness of the tenderest kind which led our Lord, who took not
up angels when they fell, to take up the seed of Abraham. If it were
possible for some tall archangel to espouse the cause of emmets upon
their hill in yonder forest, it would be a wondrous stoop; yet it would
be nothing compared with the condescension of the eternal God in bowing
from his lofty throne to redeem and sanctify the sons of men. We are
frail creatures at the best; born yesterday, we die to-day: we are as
green leaves in the forest for a while, and then our autumn comes, we
fade, and the wind carries us away. For such ephemera the Lord of glory
came to this sin-shadowed globe. Were he not of a lowly mind, he had
never found his delights with the sons of men, nor would he have
thought upon the woes of poor and needy ones.
Herein, in the next place, he showed his lowlinessthat he actually
assumed our nature. I cannot tell that story, it is too wonderful. A
free spirit voluntarily encases itself in human clay: a pure spirit
willingly becomes a partaker of flesh and blood! This is marvellous
lowliness. The strong is compassed with infirmity; the happy assumes
capacity for suffering; the infinitely holy becomes one of a race
notorious for its iniquity! This is a triumph of lowliness. The great
God, the Infinite of ages, unites himself with a human body; he is born
into our infancy, he grows up into our youth, he toils through our
manhood; he accomplishes a life like our own! This is a miracle of
lowliness. Methinks the angels still gaze into these things, and wonder
at the Word made flesh. It is particularly said of our incarnate Lord
that he was "seen of angels"; and that leads us to believe that angels
watched him with intense curiosity, and ever-growing interest,
wondering what it all could mean, that he, who made and ruled the
heavens, should be born of a woman, and made under the law. They
wondered that he should eat, and drink, and sleep, and sigh, and
suffer, like the creatures of his hand; and should, indeed, be such as
they were! Surely they talk of it now with hushed voices and astonished
hearts, and will so talk of it throughout the ages. Made lower than his
angels are, his angels must feel a solemn awe at such a divine descent
of love. This lowliness was such as only God could display: let us
worship in the person of our Lord a condescending love as unique as the
Person who exhibited it.
Furthermore, when our Lord found himself below, in the fashion of a
man, he manifested his true lowliness by carrying out to the full the
part of a servant. He had taken upon himself the form of a servant by
becoming man, but it was no matter of form with him. He became actually
obedient; having put on the livery of service, he executed the lowest
office. Never scullion in a king's kitchen did menial work so
thoroughly as he. In his great house there are vessels to honor and to
dishonor, and he selected to be used for the lowest offices; he made
himself of no reputation; he became a servant of servants; all they
that saw him laughed him to scorn; "he was despised, and we esteemed
him not." If anybody was wanted to talk with a fallen woman, he was
soon seen sitting on the well; if anyone was needed to win a publican,
he was speedily at the house of Zaccheus. If any man must needs be
slandered as having a devil and being mad, he is ready to bear the
worst reproach. He could truthfully say, "Ye call me Master, and Lord:
and ye say well; for so I am"; yet he, their Master and Lord, had
washed their feet, and therein proved that he was meek, and lowly of
heart. Brothers, it is a wonderful thing that the Lord of all should
have become the servant of all; it is so wonderful that many have lost
their way in thinking of it; they have been unable to grasp the idea of
Godhead combined with servitude, majesty united with obedience. Indeed,
it is only by faith that we can realize that he that built all things
yet became so poor a thing as Mary's Son, so sad a being as the Man of
sorrows, so lowly a personage as the "despised and rejected of men."
Yet so it was; and herein he showed the truth of his own statement, "I
am meek and lowly in heart." He wore the yoke himself, and therefore
can experimentally say, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me . . .
and ye shall find rest unto your souls." This is he who breaks not the
bruised reed, and quenches not the smoking flax. This is he who
"endured such contradiction of sinners against himself." His life was
one long proof of meekness and lowliness, and in nothing did he fail:
he exhorts us to conquer by the same persevering methods; for he has
proved that gentleness and meekness will prevail.
Still, let me keep you thinking upon the lowliness of your Lord when I
bid you remember his life-long poverty. He does not advise his
disciples voluntarily to espouse poverty, unless it be for his sake,
and then they do well. Times have been, and may be again, when
believers must forsake all things for his cause; but in his day some of
his disciples ministered him of their substance, and therefore had
substance. He did not command these to renounce that substance, and
become poor, though I doubt not that, when persecution came, many of
them gladly did so for his sake. Not to all did he put the test, "Sell
all that thou hast"; but it was needful to his own personal work that
he should become poor, that his people might be made rich; and this he
cheerfully endured. He was laid in a borrowed cradle in the stable
wherein he was born; he dwelt in his work-life in borrowed houses, and
lived upon the charity of his followers; and when he rested, it was in
a borrowed bed; for though the foxes had holes, he had not where to lay
his head. He preached from a borrowed boat; and when he fell asleep,
and died, he was buried in a borrowed tomb, for he had no foot of land
for a possession. He endured poverty as if he were to the manner born;
for he was quite at home among the poor and lowly, receiving sinners
and eating with them. Truly, a dignity surrounded him far more real
than that which has been conceived to hedge a king; and yet in his
poverty he never seemed uneasy, and the society of the poor and
unlearned never grieved him. He was with the poorest as one of them;
and they knew it, and therefore they loved to gather about him. He was
so sweetly and tenderly their associate that the common people heard
him gladly.
Remember, that he might have quitted that poverty at any moment; he
that could turn water into wine, might have quaffed full many a
delicious draught had he so willed; he that could multiply bread and
fish needed never to have hungered. A word from him might have created
palaces more wonderful than the dreams of Aladdin, and wealth greater
than the abundance of Solomon, for nothing was impossible to him. If he
had willed to make himself the object of his own life, he could have
surrounded himself with every luxury; but, instead thereof, "though he
was rich, for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty
might be rich." In this he magnified his lowliness.
But I think I see more of his lowliness at times in his associates than
in anything else; because men may be very poor, and yet they may be
very proud. I think I have seen it sadly so. I have known men without a
penny wherewith to bless themselves as full of caste feeling as the
wealthiest peer. They are working-men, it may be, but they think
themselves superior persons, of remarkable gifts, and eminent
respectability. We are a little overdone with superior persons just
now. Almost everywhere I come across them, in this department and in
that, and, of course, I look up to them with such respect as I can; but
sometimes a little more reverence is asked of us than we can
conveniently bestow. In this age we have to be careful not to trench
upon the dignity of certain persons; and yet he who was in all respects
superior to us all, never played the superior person once in all his
life. He sat on a well, and talked to a woman; and his disciples, we
read, marvelled that he spoke to a woman. It is not to "the women," as
we get it in our Authorized Version, but the Revised Version puts it
more correctly, "they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman."
They thought that such a one as he should not speak to any Roman; for
they were tinctured with the exclusiveness of the period. I do not
suppose that it occurred to our Lord that he was doing anything
remarkable in speaking to a woman; for he was born of woman, and he
never disowned the tender ties which come of such a birth. To some men
it would be a great come-down to speak familiarly to any one if he did
not keep a carriage. Even in our churches the silly caste feeling will
intrude, and brethren in Christ hardly think a poor saint to be their
equal. Our Lord had no pride of manner about him, for his lowliness was
in his heart. We read that the publicans and sinners gathered round
him: even women of ill-fame listened with tearful eyes to his teaching.
Oh, no, we never mention them, of course! We call them "outcasts," and
treat them as offcasts: yet Jesus had a kind word for them. What a
congregation he often had, of those whom the Pharisees abhorred! yet he
never said to one of them, "Begone!" His rule was to welcome all,
saying, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Those
publicans were certainly very mean characters; they collected a hateful
tax for the foreigner, and squeezed out an extra portion for
themselves: but yet the Savior never said to a single publican
"Begone!" Quite the contrary, he gave the publican an honorable place
in his parable; he made one of them an apostle, and he went to abide in
the house of another, who received him joyfully. He did not merely
speak a good word to these degraded persons, but he actually sat at
table with them as a friend. "Horrible, was it not?" So the Pharisees
thought. "Glorious," say we, as we reverence that divine humility which
scorned nothing that lived, and especially nothing in the form of man
or woman. "This man receiveth sinners," was said in disdain: let it be
thundered out in a hymn as glorious as the song of the seraphim, who
continually do cry, "Holy, holy, holy!" Never was purity more pure than
when its incarnation bowed to become "a Friend of publicans and
sinners."
He did what was more singular still: he received little children. Now,
I can see some reason for talking with grown-up men and women, even if
they be debased and depraved, but as for those boys and girls, what can
be done with them? When they heard the children crying "Hosanna" in the
temple, the Pharisees demanded of him, "Hearest thou what these say?"
As much as to say, "These boys! are these thine admirers? Dost thou
find thy followers among children?" He had a lowly answer for them; but
it was one which silenced them. These hosannas came of our blessed Lord
having said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid
them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." He accepted children as
the pattern of the kind of people who enter his kingdom; he himself was
called God's holy child Jesus; and he was at home with children because
of his perfect guilelessness and gentleness. Proud men seldom care for
children, nor children for them; but our Lord, in his true lowliness of
heart loved children, and they loved him.
I wish we had a longer time in which to set out all the lovely
lowliness of our adorable Christ; but I must only gather a few ears
where I would have preferred to have reaped sheaves. Our Lord's patient
bearing under accusations that were so foul and false, was another
proof of his lowliness. "I hear," says a man, "that a calumny has been
whispered against me, and I will drag it to light. I will have it out,
let it cost what it may. Who dares breathe upon my character? He shall
feel the law, and know that he cannot defame me with impunity." Some
professing Christians appear to lose their balance when misrepresented:
the lamb roars like a lion, and the ox eats flesh like the leopard.
Churches have been rent, and families ruined, to avenge a hasty word.
Is not that spirit the opposite of the mind of our blessed Master? They
said he was a drunken man and a wine-bibber: the charge must have
grieved him, but he did not become angry, and threaten his accusers. It
was most important that his character should be cleared; he smiled to
himself as he thought, "I will not contradict the accusation, for
everybody knows that it is not true." They said that he had a devil,
and he did condescend to answer that, and confounded all his accusers
by making them see the absurdity of the charge; for if the devil was in
Jesus fighting against the devil, then the devil must have become
divided against himself, and his kingdom would soon come to an end.
Towards the end of our Lord's life, his enemies gathered up their
charges, and flung them in set form before Pilate's judgment-seat, but
he answered them never a word: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
and like a lamb dumb before her shearer, so opened he not his mouth."
In silence he maintained his lowliness. Oh, if he had spoken who could
speak as never man spake; if he had defended himself with his own
irresistible oratory, with such a subject as himself to speak upon, he
might have made them all go out of the judgment-hall, as once he had
scattered them when his client was a woman taken in adultery. He might
have turned the crowd against their rulers, had he chosen; or divided
their counsels by setting Pharisees against Sadducees, but he sought
not himself: He had been content to ask, "Which of you convinceth me of
sin?" "For which of those works do ye stone me?" And when he came to
his end he had no harder word for them than "Father, forgive them!"
To crown all, you know how our Well-beloved died. He laid down his life
for usdearest pledge of lowliness! The decease which he accomplished
at Jerusalem was no famous death in battle, amid the roar of cannon,
and the blast of trumpet, shaking heaven and earth with tidings of
victory. His was no death amid the tears of a nation who prepare for
their beloved prince a more than royal mourning. No, he dies with
malefactors; he dies at the common gallows; he dies amid a crowd of
scoffers, where felons cast contempt upon him as he hangs between them.
Hear how the ribald throng challenge his divine sonship, and say, "If
thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross"! The bearing of such
obloquy, the endurance of such scorn, was the utmost proof of a
lowliness of spirit which we humbly admire, and feebly imitate, but
which we can never equal.
II. I shall but occupy you one or two minutes while I try to explain
THE CAUSE OF THIS LOWLINESS.
His supreme lowliness of character grew out of the actual lowliness of
his heart. He never aimed at humility, nor labored after it: it was
natural to him. Of all sickening things, the pride that apes humility
is the most loathsome: not a particle of that nauseous vice was found
in our Lord. He never puts on an air, nor strikes an attitude, nor
plays the humble part; but he is meek and lowly, and all can see it. He
is never other than he seems to be, and he always is and seems to be
the meekest of mankind. His inmost heart was seen, and seen to be all
lowliness.
Why was he so? I conceive that he was so lowly because he was so great.
A little man feels the necessity of magnifying himself, and therefore
becomes proud. Pride is essentially meanness. It is the little man that
cannot afford to be-little himself. Some of us are too low to be lowly,
too mean to be meek. True greatness is ever unconscious, and never
seeks to make a display. It magnifies a man when he can sink himself
for the good of others. No one knew how to descend so gracefully as our
Lord, for his great mind knew well the ways of self-denial. A man who
is greatly rich is not ashamed to be seen in well-worn clothes in those
same places where the pretentious bankrupt would not venture except in
his newest attire. He who has a small estate puts a diamond ring upon
his finger, and holds it so that it sparkles in the light, to let all
people see that he is a man worth something; but your eminent men of
wealth scorn such display. Truly great men are humble. I have often
heard it said of men of large substance, "He is singularly unassuming;
you would never dream that he is a man of property." So, too, of men of
genius have we heard it said, "he gave himself no airs, he was as
modest and friendly as the least of us." Just so; and that very much
accounts for his high standing. He that is somebody to others is nobody
to himself. He who was more than all, even our Lord Jesus Christ, was,
therefore, for that very reason, lowly of heart.
He was lowly, next, because he was so loving. Mothers are frequently
proud of their children, but, I think, they are seldom, if ever, proud
to their children. No, if they love them, they do not think that it is
any condescension to kiss them, or wash them, or carry them in their
bosom. I never heard of a father who thought that he was very
humble-minded because he allowed his boy to clamber upon his knee, and
hold on with his arms about his neck. Those whom we love we elevate to
an equality with ourselves; or, rather, we go down to them. Love is a
charming leveller. Jesus had so much love that he could not be anything
but lowly towards his little ones. You never yet heard even a
blasphemer impute pride to God. Though our blood has chilled when we
have heard the High and Mighty One arraigned for this and that by
arrogant tongues; yet we have not known profanity to run in that line.
It would be too absurd to impute pride either to God, or to his
ever-blessed Son, Jesus Christ. The reason for this evident freedom
from pride is the fact that "God is love." The fullness of divine love
blinds the eye which looks askance upon it. God is patient, for he is
loving: Christ is lowly of heart, because his heart is made of love.
Moreover, once more, our blessed Master was so absorbed in his great
object that he was necessarily lowly. The man who is driving at a great
object has no time for the affectations of self-adulation. He has no
time in which to think of how he appears to others. He does not stand
at the glass to arrange his beauties; the idea would be too absurd. He
cannot be too particular about how he puts that poetic word, or how he
mouths that polished sentence; his sole desire is to deliver his
message, and to impress men with the matter in hand. Earnestness
carries the speaker beyond the orator's rules of self-display; his
rhetoric is melted down by his enthusiasm. A great orator can readily
be made to appear ridiculous by the comic critic, who coolly looks down
from the gallery upon him; but what cares he? His theme so absorbs him
that he has forgotten all elegance of attitude and gesture, and only
cares to carry his point. He would make himself a fool, ten thousand
times deep, if he could but win his suit, and bless his country
thereby. He cares for nothing but his subject and his aim. So is it
pre-eminently with our Lord: he pursues his course careless of man's
esteem. He burns his way, his zeal eats him up, he is straitened till
his work is accomplished, and therefore he has no thought about the
maintaining of his dignity. His greatness and his intense devotion
forbid anything approximating to pride, and by force of nature he is
meek and lowly in heart. Because he has a great object to achieve, and
that object has absorbed his whole self, he must walk in all lowliness
of mind. Blessed Master, teach us this way of lowliness! Fire us with
an ambition for thy glory which shall shut out every thought of pride!
III. What are the LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM THIS LOWLINESS of our
Lord?
The lessons are, first, brethren, let us be lowly. Did I hear one say,
"Well, I will try to be lowly"? You cannot do it in that way. We must
not try to act the lowly part; we must be lowly, and then we shall
naturally act in a humble manner. It is astonishing how much of pride
there is in the most modest. Of course I do not mean in those who say
that they are perfect. No, I leave them to their own vain-glory; but in
us poor, imperfect creatures, what a deal of pride there is! How we
condemn pride! We feel that it would be well if all were as humble as
we are. We boast that we detest boasting. We flatter ourselves that we
hate flattery. When we are told that we are singularly free from pride,
we feel as proud as Lucifer himself at the consciousness that the
compliment is right well deserved. We are so experienced, so solid, so
discerning, so free from self-confidence, that we are the first to be
caught in the net of self-satisfaction. Brethren, we must pray God to
make us humble. If we become lowliest of the lowly it will not be much
of a condescension on our part; we shall only come down to the point
which we ought never to have left. Down in the dust is the fit place
for such poor mortals as we are. What right have we to be anything else
but meek and lowly?
Alas! we can be very proud in many ways: let me give you a case or two
in point. Yonder is one that is called to suffer, and he rebels against
it. Hear his complaint"Why should I be called to endure such great
trials? What have I done that I am thus tried?" Do you not at once
detect the great "I"? Very different is this from the lowly prayer,
"Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."
"But, then, persons have spoken evil of me. I do not deserve to be
treated thus." Clearly it is specially wrong for any one to speak amiss
of such an excellent being as you are. There lies the grievance.
Because you are so good, it is horrible wickedness to traduce you. You
reply, "But, really, it was so malicious, and the charge was so absurd
and unreasonable." Just so. People ought to be peculiarly careful not
to hurt your feelings, for you are so deserving and praiseworthy. Is
not self-esteem the spring of half our sorrow? We are so wonderfully
good in our own judgment that we claim the box-seat of the coach, and
the chief seat in the synagogue. If we were really lowly of heart, we
should say, "I have been treated very badly, but when I think of how my
Lord was treated, I cannot dream of complaining. This severe critic
cannot see my excellences; but I do not wonder, for I cannot see them
myself. He has been finding fault with me, and his charges were not
true; but, if he had known me better, he might have found more fault
with me, and have been nearer the truth. If I do not deserve censure in
this way, I do in another; and so I will cheerfully bear what is
measured out to me. Yea, if it be in no sense my due, I will give my
back to the smiters, as my Master did." Oh, that the Lord would make us
meek and lowly in heart, and we should submit to wrong rather than
resist evil!
"But surely," cries one, "you do not want me to associate with
sinners?" No, dear friend, I do not want such a good person as you are
to go near them at all; I could not so degrade your honorable self.
Moreover, if you did go near them, you would aggravate them by your
self-opinionated goodness. If your perfections are not quite so
full-blown as usual, I would, however, suggest that you might do
sinners good by kindly speaking to them; and that to gather up your
skirts in fear and trembling, lest you should be defiled by their
presence is not the most excellent way. When you are afraid lest the
wind should blow from a sinful person towards your nobility, you act
the fool, if not the hypocrite; perhaps both. Why, you would have been
in hell yourself if it had not been for sovereign grace! You, fine
ladies and prime gentlefolk, you would have been as surely cast away as
the vilest of mankind, if it had not been for infinite compassion! It
ill becomes us to boast, since we have enough sins of our own to plunge
us in despair, were it not for the love of the lowly Savior, who his
own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree. O Lord, stamp out
our pride, and make us lowly in heart!
Lastly, let us learn to say to the despondent and timorous words of
cheer. Since the Lord Jesus Christ is so meek and lowly, poor,
trembling, guilty one, you may come to him! You may come to him now! I
was sitting the other night amongst some excellent friends, who, I
suppose, were none of them rich, and some of them poor. I am sure it
never entered into my head to think how much money they owned, for I
felt myself very much at home with them, until one of them remarked,
"You do not mind mixing with us poor folk?" Then I felt quite ashamed
for myself that they should think it necessary to make such a remark. I
was so much one with them that I felt honored by having fellowship with
them in the things of God, and it troubled me that they should think I
was doing anything remarkable in conversing with them. Dear friends, do
not think hardly of any of us who are ministers of Christ; and you will
think hardly of us if you conceive that we think it a coming-down to
associate with any of you! We are in heart and soul your brothers, bone
of your bone, your truest friends whether you are rich or poor. We
desire your good, for we are your servants for Christ's sake. Above
all, do not think hardly of our Lord and Master by supposing that it
will be a strange thing for him to come to your house, or to your
heart. It is his habit to forgive the guilty, and renew the sinful.
Come to him at once, and he will accept you now. Jesus is exceedingly
approachable. He is not hedged about with guards to keep off the poor
or the sinful. Your room may be very humble; what cares he for that? He
will come, and hear your prayer. Many a time Jesus has had no room to
pray in, but
"Cold mountains, and the midnight air
Witnessed the fervor of his prayer."
Do you complain that you cannot arrange your words correctly? What is
that to him? He looks more at the sincerity of your heart than at the
grammar of your language. Let your heart talk to him without words, and
he will understand you.
Do you complain with shamed face that you are such a sinner? You are
not the first sinner that Jesus has met with, nor will you be the last.
You are heavy-laden with sin; but he knows more about the weight of sin
than you do. That terrible load of guilt worries you; but it pressed
him down even more terribly when it brought him into the dust of death.
It makes you weep to think of sin; but it caused him to sweat great
drops of blood. You feel that you cannot live under so crushing a
burden; and he did not live under it, but gave up the ghost in agony.
Do not crucify your Lord afresh by suspecting that he is proud, and
will therefore pass you by. Do not insult him by dreaming that he will
reject you for your insignificance or unworthiness. Come, and welcome,
to him who will delight to bless you. Come to him at once, without
further question or hesitation. Come just as you are, fall at his
pierced feet, and trust the merit of his blood, and the good Lord will
accept you on the spot, for he has said, "Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out."
God bless you, by leading you all to love this lowly and loving Lord!
Even at this present moment I pray that you may take that step which
will secure our meeting in heaven to adore eternally our King, so meek
and lowly, who will then dwell in the midst of us, and lead us to
living fountains of water!
Portion of Scripture read before SermonMatthew 11.
Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book"878, 765, 384.
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The True Tabernacle, and Its Glory of Grace and Peace