Maclaren (A.), Expositions : John ix.-xiv., 1.
Mortimer (A. G.), Lenten Preaching, 118.
Paget (F. E.), Sermons for Special Occasions, 233.
Percival (J.), Sermons at Rugby, 21.
„ Some Helps for School Life, 226.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xiii. (1867) No. 756 ;
xvi. (1870) No. 943; xxix. (1883) No. 1754. Stuttard (J.), The Man who was Born Blind, 39. Thomson (W.), Life in the Light of God's Word, 106. „ Sermons in Lincoln's Inn Chapel, 298.
Vaughan (D. J.), Questions of the Day, 188.
„ (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), xxi. (1882) No. 1208. Wilkinson (J. B.), Mission Sermons, lii. 1. Christian World Pulpit, xiv. 318 (Ward) ; lii. 214 (Perry) ; Ixxi. 56
(Henson) ; Ixxvi. 325 (Hearn). Church of England Pulpit, xliv. 207 (Perry) ; Iv. 158 (Henson) ; lix. 197
(Tupholme) ; Ixii. 396 (Henson). Churchman^ Pulpit : First Sunday in Advent : i. 312 (Pope). Expositor, 1st Ser., vii. 197 (Milligan).
A Time to Work.
We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day : the night Cometh, when no man can work. — John ix, 4.
These words were drawn from Jesus Christ by a remarkable question addressed to Him by His disciples. Our Saviourjs attention had been arrested by the sad but familiar spectacle of a blind beggar. We may reasonably infer from the Evangelist's accounnhat this afflicted man's case was notorious. He was ''blind from his birth." Thus he presented to view in its most pathetic because its least disciplinary shape the very common, but not on that account more tolerable, phenomenon of physical affliction. This^ then, was the occasion of the remarkable inquiry on the part of Christ's disciples : " Eabbi, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind ? " From the point of view of Jewish monotheism, suffering appeared to be in all cases the consequence of sin. But the difficulty was how to apply this principle to the present case. The only two alter- natives presented to their minds, and indicated by the question of the disciples, viz. that either his own sin or that of his parents/ was the cause of his misfortune, seemed equally inadmissible. J)
The context sufficiently explains our Lord's reply. He does not deny the existence of sin either in this man or in his parents ; but neither does He recognize the necessity of any moral con- nection between this individual or family sin and the blindness with which the unfortunate man was visited. Individual sufferingTs not often connected, except in a very general manner, with the collective sin of humanity. Hence it gives us no right to judge those who suffer, but only furnishes a summons to fulfil a Divine mission towards them by assisting them. As truly as evil exists in the world, so truly has God His work on earth ; and ''^Sis work consists in finding matter for good in evil itself. Hence
412 A TIME TO WORK
all the acts by which we concur in the accomplishment of this Divine purpose are called " the works of God." But this word is here applied more specially to acts which bear the seal of Divine Omnipotence, such as the physical cure of the blind man, and his spiritual illumination. The call to heal this unhappy one had made itself felt in the Lord's heart at the very moment when His eyes beheld him, and it was with this feeling that He fixed them upon him. Jesus seeks to make His disciples share with Him the point of view from which He regards suffering, by applying it to His personal task during His sojouin on earth.
I.
We Must Work.
1. Christ felt this necessity. — With Christ it was not, " I may if I will " ; not, " I can if I like " ; not the mere possibility and the mere potentiality of work, but an imperious necessity — "I must." He could not help Himself. If we may use such words concerning One who was none the less Divine that He was human, He was under restraint ; He was bound ; He was compelled. The cords which bound Him, however, were the cords of His Deity. They were the cords of love which bound Him who is love. " I must work." It was because He loved the sons of men so well that He could not sit still and see them perish. He could not come down from heaven and stand here robed in our mortal flesh, and be an impassive, careless, loitering spectator of so much evil, so much misery. His heart beat high with desire. He thirsted to be doing good, and His greatest and grandest act, His sacrifice of Himself, was a baptism with which He had to be baptized, and He was straitened until it was accomplished.
TI What a friend Necessity is ! It stops our standing on one foot ; it ends our looking at our watches, and wondering about three or four things; it moves the previous question; it says, " This one thing you do ! " It is good discipline to conquer indecision, but it is better for us and for the world, knowing "what must be," to be about it. It saves time. Goethe spoke of the " dear must." Emerson calls a man's task his life-preserver. Let us recognize the purpose of God in the inevitable, and accept it gracefully, whether discipline or duty. Swift adjustment