II. An example of the cleansing power of Christ.
We know nothing about how she had come under His merciful eye, nor any of the circ.u.mstances of her healing, but only that this woman, with whom the serpent was so closely intertwined, as in some pictures of Eve"s temptation, was not beyond His reach, and was set free. Note--
There is _no_ condition of human misery which Christ cannot alleviate.
None is so sunk in sin that He cannot redeem them.
For all in the world there is hope.
Look on the extremest forms of sin. We can regard them all with the a.s.surance that Christ can cleanse them--prost.i.tutes, thieves, respectable worldlings.
None is so bad as to have lost His love.
None is so bad as to be excluded from the purpose of His death.
None is so bad as to be beyond the reach of His cleansing power.
None has wandered so far that he cannot come back.
Think of the earliest believers--a thief, a "woman that was a sinner,"
this Mary, a Zacchaeus, a persecuting Paul, a rude, rough jailer, etc.
Remember Paul"s description of a cla.s.s of the Corinthian saints--"such were some of you."
As long as man is man, so long is G.o.d ready to receive him back. There is no place where sun does not shine. No heart is given over to irremediable hardness. None ever comes to Christ in vain.
The Saviour is greater than all our sins.
The deliverance is more than sufficient for the worst.
"G.o.d is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham."
Ezekiel"s vision of dry bones.
III. An example of how the remembrance of past and pardoned sin may be a blessing.
Mary evidently tried always to be beside Him. The cure had been perfect, but perhaps there was a tremulous fear, as in the man that prayed "that he might be with Him."
And so, look how all the notices give us one picture of a heart set on Him. There were--
(a) Consciousness of weakness, that made her long for His presence as a security.
(b) Deep love, that made her long for His presence as a joy.
(c) Thankful grat.i.tude, that made her long for opportunities to serve Him.
And this is what the remembrance of Jesus should be to us.
IV. An example of how the most degraded may rise highest in fellowship with Christ.
"First" to her, because she needed Him and longed for Him.
Now this is but an ill.u.s.tration of the great principle that by G.o.d"s mercy sin when it is hated and pardoned may be made to subserve our highest joys.
It is not sin which separates us from G.o.d, but it is unpardoned sin.
Not that the more we sin the more we are fit for Him, for all sin is loss. There are ways in which even forgiven and repented sin may injure a man. But there is nothing in it to hinder our coming close to the Saviour and enjoying all the fulness of His love, so that if we use it rightly it may become a help.
If it leads us to that clinging of which we have just spoken, then we shall come nearer to G.o.d for it.
The divine presence is always given to those who long for it.
Sin may help to kindle such longings.
He who has been almost dead in the wilderness will keep near the guide. The man that has been starved with cold in Arctic night will prize the glory and grace of sunshine in fairer lands.
Instances in Church history--Paul, Augustine, Bunyan.
"Publicans and harlots go into the kingdom before you."
The n.o.blest ill.u.s.tration is in heaven, where men lead the song of Redemption.
G.o.d uses sin as a black background on which the brightest rainbow tints of His mercy are displayed.
You can come to this Saviour whatever you have been. I say to no man, "Sin, for it does not matter." But I do say, "If you are conscious of sin, deep, dark, d.a.m.ning, that makes no barrier between you and G.o.d.
You may come all the nearer for it if you will let your past teach you to long for His love and to lean on Him."
"He appeared first to Mary Magdalene," and those who stand nearest the throne and lead the anthems of heaven, and look up with undazzled angels" faces to the G.o.d of their joy, whose name blazes on their foreheads, all these were guilty, sinful men. But they "have washed their robes and made them white." There will be in heaven some of the worst sinners that ever lived on earth. There will not be one out of whom He has not "cast seven devils."
THE WORLD-WIDE COMMISSION
"Every creature."--Mark xvi. 15.
The missionary enterprise has been put on many bases. People do not like commandments, but yet it is a great relief and strength to come back to one, and answer all questions with "He bids me!"
Now, these words of our Lord open up the whole subject of the Universality of Christianity.
I. The divine audacity of Christianity.
Take the scene. A mere handful of men, whether "the twelve" or "the five hundred brethren" is immaterial.
How they must have recoiled when they heard the sweeping command, "Go ye into all the world"! It is like the apparent absurdity of Christ"s quiet word: "They need not depart; give ye them to eat," when the only visible stock of food was "five loaves and two small fishes." As on that occasion, so in this final commandment they had to take Christ"s presence into account. "I am with you."
So note the obviously world-wide extent of Christ"s claim of dominion.
He had come into the world, to begin with, that "the world through Him might be saved." "If any man thirst, let him come." The parables of the kingdom of heaven are planned on the same grand scale. "I will draw all men unto Me." It cannot be disputed that Jesus "lived and moved and had His being" in this vision of universal dominion.
Here emerges the great contrast of Christianity with Judaism. Judaism was intolerant, as all merely monotheistic faiths must be, and sure of future universality, but it was not proselytising--not a missionary faith. Nor is it so to-day. It is exclusive and unprogressive still.