6. The Invitation to the Dead (John xi. 43), " Come forth." — It was a call to Lazarus, and he obeyed it. "The hour is at hand when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth." But not like Lazarus, to spend a little time longer on the earth. The call to come forth from the grave will be followed immediately by the call to the great Judgment.
7. The Invitation to the Inheritance (Matt. xxv. 34), " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom." — The final call is not universal. There are now those on the right hand and those on the left. For the first time we meet with the word " Depart." For it is after all the invitations have been given that the separation is made. Men separate themselves, some accepting, some rejecting. The " come " to eternal life, which is the most blessed of all the invitations, has its counterpart in the " depart " into eternal death.
ii. The Occasion of this Invitation.
If we look back a little way into the narrative, we shall understand better the occasion of this invitation. In the beginning of the chapter we are told that our Lord sent out His disciples to labour in the instruction of the people. They must commence under His own guidance the work they were to carry on after His death. They performed their mission
ST. MARK 169
with great ardour and success. A deep interest was created, and the crowds thronged around them till they had not time so much as to eat. When they returned, their Master saw their exhaustion, and made provision for it. They needed repose of mind as well as of body — the quiet that is required after excitement even more than after toil.
Another event recorded in this chapter had probably a share in this call to retirement. It seems to have been about the time of their return to Christ that the news came of the death of John the Baptist. It no doubt sent a strange shock to their heart. Some of them had been his followers, and knew him intimately; and all of them revered him as a Divine messenger of extraordinary power and faithfulness. The details of banqueting and blood, the man of God meeting his executioners in the gloom of the dungeon, the glare of the lights above on the maiden and her frightful gift, strike us still with a shudder, and may help us to realise how those felt it who were in the presence of the event. It was not merely that they had lost a friend, but that God seemed indifferent to His own cause and its truest witnesses. Their faith must have been sorely tried, questionings must have been stirred within them to which they could find no answer ; and it was to tranquillise their spirit, as well as to refresh exhausted mind and body, that our Lord said to them, " Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while." ^
iiL Christ's Thoughtfulness for His Disciples.
Whether it was toil or trouble that burdened the disciples most they were all in need of rest. " Christ," says Matthew Henry, " takes cognisance of the frights of some and of the toils of others of His disciples and finds suitable relief for both." The invitation shows the care which Jesus took in the training of His disciples, and at the same time the necessity for effective service of intervals of quiet fellowship with Him.
There is a kindly considerateness in the words of Christ, a friendly sympathy with what may be called the lesser suffer- ings of our nature, which may give us confidence in still putting
^ John Ker.
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before Him the smallest wants and weaknesses. He had an end in view that took in the whole world, but He was not of those iron-hearted philanthropists who are cruel to men that they may work out their scheme for man, and who break their instruments in the passion for their theory. The zeal of God's house consumed Him ; He had compassion on the multitudes, and spent Himself for them ; but He devised hours of repose for His weary fellow-workers.
It is a fine encouragement to thoughtfulness for others. Do we find ourselves in need of rest ? Do we look forward to our annual holiday ? What of others ? What of the myriads of our brethren, pent up in mean streets, prisoners of the counting house and the shop, slaves of the mill and the mine, the poor and heavy-laden of every nameless class to whom these words are bitter mockery, for whom no changing seasons bring cessation from toil and weariness ?
^ A well-known visitor among the poor found living in a notorious court a woman who was known as " the Button-holes Queen," who often gave work and wage, poor though she was, to those who were poorer than herself. Eeserved as she appeared to be, she was at last induced to tell her story, which accounted for the interest she took in the poor girls around her — and poor they were — think of the misery of making 2880 button-holes in order to earn 10s., and having " no time even to cry ! " Her story was this : Her daughter had been apprenticed to a milliner at the West End. She was just over sixteen, and a bright young Christian. She got through her first season without breaking down ; but the second was too much for her. She did not complain, but one day she was brought home in a cab, having broken a blood vessel ; and there she lay, propped up by pillows, her face white as death, except for two spots where it had been flecked by her own blood. To use the mother's own words : " She smiled as she saw me, and then we carried her in ; and when the others were gone, she clung round my neck, and laying her pretty head on my shoulder, she whispered, ' Mother, my own mother, I've come home to die ! ' " Killed by late hours ! She lingered for three months, and then she passed away, but not before she had left a message, which became the life inspiration of her mother : " For my sake, be kind to the girls like me " ; and that message, with God's blessing, may make some of you think and resolve, as it did the poor " Button- hole Queen." 1