Matthew
28:16-20
“Three
times we find the apostle saying, ‘Thou knowest that I love thee.’ Once we are
told that he said, ‘Thou knowest all things.’ Once we have the touching remark
made that he was ‘grieved to be asked the third time’. We need not doubt that
our Lord, like a skillful physician, stirred up this grief intentionally. He intended
to prick the apostle’s conscience and to teach him a solemn lesson. If it was
grievous to the disciple to be questioned, how much more grievous must it have
been to the Master to be denied!
The
answer that the humbled apostle gave is the one account that the true servant
of Christ in every age can give of his religion. Such a one may be weak and fearful
and ignorant and unstable and failing in many things, but at any rate he is real
and sincere. Ask him whether he is converted, whether he is a believer, whether
he has grace, whether he is justified, whether he is sanctified, whether he is
elect, whether he is a child of God-ask him any of these questions and he may
perhaps reply that he really does not know! But ask him whether he loves Christ
and he will reply, ‘I do.’ He may add that he does not love him as much as he
ought to do, but he will not say that he does not love him at all. The rule will
be found true with very few exceptions. Wherever there is true grace, there
will be a consciousness of love towards Christ.
What,
after all, is the great secret of loving Christ? It is an inward sense of
having received from Him pardon and forgiveness of sins. Those love much who
feel much forgiven. He that has come to Christ with his sins and tasted the
blessedness of free and full absolution, he is the man whose heart will be full
of love towards his Saviour. The more we realize that Christ has suffered for
us and paid our debt to God and that we are washed and justified through His
blood, the more we shall love Him for having loved us and given Himself for us.”
_____________________
Luke
24:50-53
“Our
Lord left the disciples in a remarkable manner (vv. 50-51). He left them in the
very act of blessing. We cannot doubt for a moment that there was a meaning in
the circumstance. It was intended to remind the disciples of all that Jesus had
brought with Him when He came into the world. It was intended to assure them of
what He would do after He left the world. He had come on earth to bless and not
to curse, and blessing He departed. He came in love and not in anger, and in
love He went away. He came not as a condemning Judge but as a compassionate Friend,
and as a Friend He returned to His Father. He had been a Saviour full of
blessings to His little flock while He had been with them. He would have them
know this even after He was taken away.
Forever
let souls lean on the gracious heart of Jesus, if we know anything of true
religion. We shall never find a heart more tender, more loving, more patient,
more compassionate and more kind. To talk of the Virgin Mary as being more compassionate
than Christ is a proof of miserable ignorance. To flee to the saints for comfort
when we may flee to Christ is an act of mingled stupidity and blasphemy and a
robbery of Christ’s crown. Gracious was our Lord Jesus when He lived among His
weak disciples, gracious in the very season of His agony on the cross, gracious
when He rose again and gathered His sheep around Him, gracious in the manner of
His departure from this world. It was a departure in the very act of blessing!
Gracious we may be assured He is at the right hand of God. He is the same
yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8), a Saviour ever ready to bless, abounding
in blessings.
There
is something very touching in the fact that our Lord’s ascension took place
close to Bethany. It was a small village bordering on the Mount of Olives. But
it was the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.”
-From J.C. Ryle’s (1816-1900) Expository
Thoughts; Found in Daily Readings From All Four Gospels Published by Evangelical Press Auburn, MA
2001 December 25 and 27 Devotions.
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