SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13727, 18 April 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

DARKNESS AND DAWN.

AN EASTER STUDY.

It needs no viral imagination to picture the gloom and unrelieved madness of the evening of the Crucifixion to the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee, and done so much to lighten the hardship* and privations of hi,* Jndsran ministry. On -this day of horror they had stood at the very foot of the pros*, bravely watching hi* dying agony, and hoping against hope that some miraculous intervention would bring deliverance even at the eleventh hour. They had heard the pathetic utterances of their beloved Master spoken out of the weird darkness; had pressed the hand of the heartpierced mother as she was led away by the disciple who had been so solemnly invested with filial rights by her dying Son. Then on their tensely-strained hearing had come that loud voice, not of one dying of exhaustion, but of One who held his life in hi* own keeping,, and had power to lay it clown—the Groat High Priest offering Himself a* a Sacrifice for the sin of the world.

"It is finished!" In that supreme moment, how hops must have died in their hearts! But not love! It never faileth, and it nerved these tender, timid women to remain, hustled by the crowd in that time of savage excitement, fearing probably the bitter taunts of those who recognised them as disciples of the murdered Teacher, but earing only to watch that lifeless body and sec what would be done to it. And in truth they beheld a wonderful sight, which must have brought a thrill of comfort to their nearly breaking hearts. From the moment that the great Sacrifice was offered up with the commendatory prayer God, it seemed as if heaven itself had echoed the cry, "It is finished!"— concerning any further insult to the Divine victim. From that moment no earthly hate was permitted TO TOUCH THAT SACKED BOOT with the slightest indignity, the only exception being the piercing of the side with the spear, which certified the death, and in guarded th*> great truth from sceptical doubt. It hung under the Imperial inscription, "I Ins is the King of the Jews," and when nature with mighty convulsions attested its decease, the voice of a chief Roman official was heart! proclaiming, "Truly, this was the Son of God'" Soon afterwards one of the soldiers did indeed approach with brutal purpose, but it was only accomplished on the poor malefactors; over the central majestic figure there was the Divine mandate of protection : " A bone of Him shall not he broken," and the man passed on harmlessly. And as the women waited and the. crowd dispersed, and they were left almost alone with their dead, hurrying footsteps caught their ear. and there, appeared two men of distinction, "rich" and "honourable," followed by attendants bearing fine linen and spices, go costly and abundant that it lias been computed that never was there so much used at the burial of any earthly monarch. Joseph of Arimathea is named with honour by all the evangelists, Nicodemus only by St. John in his considerably later (Jospel, by which time probably this somewhat timid but faithful ruler of the Jews had gone to meet, in the glory of the Father, the Rabbi whom he had first met, in the darkness of night, and then in the darkness of death. But so it was. The women, " beholding." saw with joy thai sacred form taken from the cross, with reverential touch by the hands of friends, carefully wound in the fine linen with the raw, fragrant spices, and then carried to a new tomb nndefiled by previous contact with death, and standing in a garden, where flowers bloomed and birds sang a requiem to the Creator. And so another word of prophecy was fulfilled, and He was "with the rich in his death." " No one has touched Him but to do Him honour since He died," we can fancy one of these little groups -aying to the rest; and they would watch, with some gratified pride chastening their grief, US'' the Imperial signet. was brought with due ceremony, and the tomb WAS SEALED. AS A CASKET that contained most precious treasure. Then a Roman guard was marched on to the ground, and when the tomb was thus made "as secure as they could," all but the soldiers went. away. But with the return of the women to their own homes,-'or to a common meeting-place, what a reaction would come! If they had reasoned, the logical conclusion that would have been forced upon them must have been that the Master who had been taken from their head that day was an impostor! For if He was hopelessly dead, what could be thought of his predictions and his promises? But, happily, love is seldom logical, and they were content to show that love in the small measure of opportunity that remained to them; never thinking a*, alas, so few of us do— the truest proof of love is a trust that remains steadfast in spite of appearances.

It was a pathetic little group that, as won as their Sabbath was past, stole out, while it was yet dark, to the sepulchre, their hands filled with practical evidence of their care, their hearts busy with anxious thought)) as to their success. " Who will roll us away the stone?" they timidly asked, and there was not a man amongst that apostolic band to answer the question and to act as escort. We know the, issue. Weeping had endured for the night, but what joy came in the morning!—a joy far beyond our imagining, for we have never passed' through such a horror of great darkness. THE LESSON' REMAINS. All times of dismay and faith-testing, it like these women we '* seek Jesus." ilhall surely have a resurrection dawn of deliverante. But let us not be "slow of heart to believe the unfailing promise; nor let us in the greater light that is ours to-day, go back to those early days and "geek the living among the dead." How many are still bringing spices to embalm a dead Christ in the undue prominence which they bestow upon his Cross and Passion-in seasons such as this Eastertide, seasons most important and helpful, but needing a true balance of Scriptural teaching to preserve them from erroneous extremes! And is there no need ot a note of warning, too, concerning the sacramental service which He bids us ob serve, in perpetual memory of his precious death, that we be careful to recognise that it is only a remembrance, not a celebration'' He is not here. He is risen a.- He said," and He has shed, and is shedding upon those who believe the renewing arid sanctifying grace of the Holy Ghost, who is now jricn because Jesus is glorified. In presence of every storm of difficulty fet us. seek his help. The power by which He raised Jesus Christ from the dead is "ill his, and it will not fail us. "TOUCH ME NOT." BT ALEXANDER M'LAREN, D.D. Mary had been to the grave once already, found it empty, and hurried to Peter and John, with the lament: "They have taken away the Lord." The two apostles ran to the tomb, and she seems to have followed not accompanied them. Manlike, they satisfied themselves of the fact, and went away; woman-like, she hung about the place, absorbed in her grief. She sees the two angels. Their question was a veiled offer of help, but she did not catch its true meaning, and wearily gave her old answer, with the difference that she now say« ; '' my Lord, instead of " the Lord." Then, wearily impatient of vain talk, she mechanically turns and sees " Jesus standing"— not coming. There He was. How He had come there who knows? She looks at Him with the same listless glance thai she had given the angels It was "the gardener," of course, as the person most likely to tie the:* at that early hour. I he one thought rises again: 'If thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him." She forgets the weakness of a woman's arm* in the strength of a woman a love, and says: "I will take Him away. So she turns from Him, swallowed up by grief, hopeless. .Then came the one word of revelation— Mary -and the one word of recognition into wEich her whole soul flings itself in a swift rapture. " Rabboni," "Master" Her exclamation shows the inadequacy, a* well as the warmth, of her conception of Jesus. She calls Him by the old name, which was never used after the resurrection except this once. She would . have fain continued the old relations, and in that passionate cry there speaks her recognition only of the Christ Who had been, not of the Christ Who « to be. Apparently she accompanied it with some eager movement to clasp Him J nen began an educational process, in the first words of the risen Christ. They strike one as being singularly cold and repellent at such a time It Is not like Him to repress tokens of Jove. He had lot a much worse woman than Mary wash His feet with tears, and wipe them with the hairs of her aead. On .that very morning other women were allowed to clasp His feet. On that very erenuas He «aid;, *« Handle Me and

see." A week after, Ho bad* »*,« <W|*« thrust hi* hand into His. side. \iffa ""* Mar/ forbidden to touch? " w ** For the simple reason that her •*!*•.«. ■■' (<> clasp Him spoke of • hne and faith wjSf thing unduly to the external fofu, \- j which desired to perpetuate the t*nt«W S !fr . latiotishtp. *"*> our Wd then »d Vh£, ; began to teach her what He is now J**? ing us—that "it is the Spirit that ahSt • life; the flesh nrontolh nothing," sfitHiT the ascended Christ i* to h« gr»«>*drSß another and better fashion than w\th J? clutch of clinging bands around Hi* mums' feet. Both the, prohibition and th» for it were meant *rt lead her to recogaiJ that a new relation had begun. That fortit "■' den touch was the proclamation thai. <& things had passed away, and that f>efieeff,«k she was not to know Christ any mor* '*»*»■' the flesh." " * M ** The reason for the chilling prohibition *» ' ■ geeta that there i-. a better touching mad" possible by the ascension. It plainly 5 plies. "If )' had a.«cended, you mjjU touch." And it point* us onward* ;w-»S m wards to the true meaning of Christ*! *■«•»»*■' sion, to the true meaning of pretense »■'-< absence in relation to Him., and u, tl w tr»» mode of clairping Him. by the cossnufcat! with Him that is brought about I&roa*2 faith and love, aspiration and ob#d Just as death makes dear ones departed "#,»«? dearer, and jp-eat ones greater, so, as * p,., | ter of fact, it was the ascension that efenirf the disciples" thoughts of .Testis, Whose ftgjV Iv present* had veiled as well * ttr#fci Him. But not only did the resurrection and „ cension reveal the heavenly that had eon» cat through the earthly, but we ha** i» regard both a.* bringing about, not Christy' withdrawal, but His more perfect prestuk If we would rightly understand the »*««,. sion. wo must look at it in the light of \tl words to Mary, and learn that it is a ,£2 in advance towards—not His absence Iras. but His continual presence with His psotA If that is the real effect of Christ's a«een&* n,« on high, then the forbidden touch. |,C ed as it would have beer., is less real and W blessed than the clasp with which faith serf love hold on to Him, and make Him i&gfr very own. There i? nothing to envy j 0 ji, experience of those who coropanied with Him on earth. They had less than wo may In*, One way of clasping and holding Him wis pointed out to Mary by the command "Touch Me not; . . . but go and wj My brethren." To do His errand* and tell of His risen glory is one of th* best «•»*, for keeping in continual touch with Hh»L Leave out the two " nots" in the prohibition, and yon have the privilege and data of all Christians: "Touch Me, for I h»v» ascended." So, then, here is a lesson for love that clings to e-»rth. We gravitate downward, and need to be helped to rise. Tottchiftg (he risen Jesus, we are lifted with Him ■ the right hand of God, as a set (i (,ea*T packages would be raised if l»*h<»d to a great silken globe filled with light gas. Here is a lesson for sorrowing hearts. Mary clung, as we all do in our weakness, to tU bodily form and the dear old days. ,%, was taught that, though the old form of intimac- was withdrawn, a more blessed tvr* of union was possiblp. To her. ,n« to* "»1{ jsnpty hearts, the consolation was, as it wprs whispered: " Perhaps Ho therefore depart, ed from thee for a season that thou miehtest receive Him forever." Here is a lesson for the weak faith that makes too much of externals. Thers « » kind of Christian feeling very genuine, but too sentimental and sensuous, which needi to be reminded that the noblest, warmest love to Jesus should have the consciou*tieM of separation as well as of „ion. andshotthj not be so much seeking to clasp the foci as to receive the spirit of Jesus. To have Christ in our hearts is to have a more "real" ai.d more blessed "presence" than to *>» Him on the altar, or to place Him within the lips. He has not left the >rld, though He has ascended to the Father, anv mors than He left the Father when He came into the work!. The ascended Christ is the pre sent Christ, Whom we can clasp in the onlt true clasp, that which knits spirit to ipirfl by the hands of faith and low. He h« ascended, therefore we can touch Him, as they could not who accompanied with Him wntle He was here among men.