The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 307

I. OcoASIONAL SECLUSION WAS GOOD FOB THE LORD HIMSELF, lie was as truly the Son of man as the Son of God. His life would not have been complete, it would not have touched ours at so many points, if he had always worked nnd never waited, Hence, though he bad to do a work so stupendous that it would affect the destinies of the world, and of the unseen universe of God, there are no signs in his life of bustle or impatience. He waited thirty years before he preached the gospel; and although ho allowed himself only three short years for public ministry, he broke off from it again and again; and when at _work he was so unhurried that he could stop in his progress to Jerusalem to heal a blind beggar, or halt on his way to save a dying child in order to heal and teach a poor woman in the crowd that thronged him, Wh11.t a lesson to us in this fast-li\·ing age I What a rebuke to our feverish anxiety and excitement I Doubtless we should have to sacrifice something to break off from work as our Master did ; indeed, this is one modem form of taking up our cross to follow him. It will be a fatal mistake to let business hustle prayer out of our life. The busy Christ could sometimes be alone, and he could not have been all he is to us if he had not been so, Jn the wilderness of temptation he was alone, imd the real struggle of every human life is fought out and won in the presence of him who sees in secret. The greatest agony of Christ was endured in solitude ; and in our Gethsemane friends fail us but our God is near. It is good to be alone, if only we are alone with God, as Jesus V:as. IL THE OCCASIONAL SECLUSION OF OUB LORD wAS GOOD FOB OTHERS. It was well for the disciples that they should be sometimes withdrawn, with their Master, from circumstances in which they would be harmed by men's applause or overwrought by nervous excitement; but besides this, Christ's withdrawal would benefit some who were not his disciples. 1. It was a possible means of graell to his foefl. When the rage of the Pharisees was intensely aroused (and no anger is more unreasoning and devilish than that which professedly bases itself on religious conviction), it was well for them that the object of their wrath should disappear for a time. Christ's withdrawal saved them again and again from the awful crime which they committed at last on Calvary; it allowed for the subsidence of hasty excitement, which prejudiced them, and gave them time and opportunity for recovering better and wiser thoughts about the Lord. The loving Saviour would fain have helped even those who hated him. 2. It was fO'T' the advantage of the mass of hui hearers. They saw his miracles, marvelled at them, discussed them, crowded to see more-without the least perception of their spiritual significance; so that if the series of miracles had been unbroken they would have failed of their purpose. 3. It was for the good of those who needed him that he should be sought. This is clearly exemplified in the experience of this woman of Syro-phrenicia. 'l'he disciples tried to drive her away. But Jesus meant her to come, had gone thither partly that she might come, gave her rebuffs which aroused yet more her apprehension of want; and so tested and developed her faith as to make her ready to receive the great blessing he longed to give. If Christ does not reveal himself so unmistakably to us as we wish, it is because he sees that we may win a higher benediction when we obey his command, "Seek, and ye shall find,"-A. R. Ver. 24 (latter part).-He could not be hid. On several occasions when Jesus sought retirement it was denied him, either by the enthusiastic zeal of his followers or by the pressing need of those who had heard of his fame. Still he seems to hide himself, and yet from no earnest seeker can he be hidden. In respect to many things besides the $aviog knowledge of Uhrist, it may be said they can only be discovered by diligent ,earch. Our present knowledge of the physical world bas come to us through those who would not be denied in their eager exploration. 'rhe forces of nature, too, have not obtruded themselves in their various uses, but have been won to our service by costly experiments and diligent thought. Speaking broadly, all life is an experiment- -a discovery. A child learns to judge distances by trying to grasp what is within reach ; he discovers the limit of strength by falls and hurts; he prattles before he talks, Very little of what we know has come intuitively. It sought to hide itself, but because we could not do without it we strove after it, and from us it "could not be hid." If in regard to other good things these words are true, it is not unreasonable that they Hhould be true of him who is the highest good our souls can have or eternity can reveal. Our iext implies, what other verses explicitly assert, that Christ, in the full plenitude of on. VIL 1-37.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 306