The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 117

,vorld's ,rnyside? Even the mind most richly endowed, the heart moat wenlthy in love and irnaginati?n, needs "the life _more ~n~ fuller." Is there no begging from h~aven? no consciousness of a fountam of hvmg. waters? This Bnrtimreus, taking Ins place day by day on the thoroughfare and askmg an alms, is only too faithful a picture of me, wanting, desiring, and, alas! too often trying to satisfy my soul with some dole of happiness or excitement thrown to me-a beggar all the while, blind. 2. Wha.t is this 1 An unusual bustle and din. What does it mean? We can imacrine the question addressed, with only a languid interest, to some person at hand-a languor which vanishes when the answer is given, "It is Jesus of Nazareth who is passing by." Ah! the newness of cry, sign of newness of life! What and how he had heard of this Jesus we know not; but he had heard enough to open the gates of the soul. The one argument is need, the one reasoning," I am here; he is there. Son of David have mercy on me!" It is the great hour of a human life when speech is begun be twee~ the soul and heaven. Such speech arrests the love of God in the way. "We enter heaven by prayer." 3. Those around bid the one who cries hold his peace. So speak the many to the one in earnest. Notice how often in the Gospels the disciples are repreEented as keeping back from Christ instead of helping to him (see ver. 15). They did not know the heart of God. And men do not know it still. There is often a "send away" in the minds of even the well-disposed. Earnestness meets discouracre- ments where it leasts expects them. Cry on, thou who hast felt the breath of the passing Saviour. If those about thee are unsympathetic, throw thyself the more on thy Lord ; the more they protest, cry thou the more, "Son of God, they will not take me up. Father and mother even forsake me. Thou, thou only art my hope. Make no tarrying, 0 my God." II. 'l'HTh"'K OF THE SAVIOUR, m WHOM TIIE LIVING Gon IS REVEALED. 1. There is the Christ-commandment. "Brir.g him hither to me." It is the commandment to an often misunderstanding and misinterpreting Church. Christ has much to bear at the hand of the world; he has much also to bear at the hand of his Church. How frequently those who are bis repel rather than attract, send away rather than bring I "Bring "-there is no gainsaying this charge. Instantly the tone of the multitude changes. Now it is, "Rise, be of good comfort; he calleth thee." .And what alacrity in the Bartima:ms-obedience I The old tattered garment connected with the past time of, it may have been, a sinful life is thrown away. There is no stopping to inquire how the blind can reach that blessed presence. He has called. In the call there is the pledge of a sufficient grace. 0 mirror of Divine condescension I O word, preparing for work, of power I "The blind, the poor, bring to me!" 2. There is the Ohrist- question. "What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?" The question is put when the presence is reached. The presence is the help to the answer, Now, the great underlying want is expressed. "Lord, that I may receive my sight." Is it not the prayer of the human heart when the quickening presence of God is realized? It is to prepare for the revelation that the will is gently besieged. He cannot force ; he can only draw. Stooping to thee, the person thou art, and as thou art, the word of grace and truth is, "What wilt thou?" 3. And then the Christ-action. "He touched the eyes," says St. Matthew. "Receive thy sight : thy faith hath saved thee," says St. Luke. His faith had been a trust in the dark. He could not make the light, but he could call for it. And he bad called, he had pressed to Christ, awfully in earnest, unboundedJy confident. The faith saved through what it did. It brought him to the Lard • and that is salvation. The first use of the new sight was to behold the Deliv~rer. The first face that wrote its image in the heart was the face of God in Christ. Saved, whole, because that face was formed in the heart of hearts, never more to fade from it. " I was blind; now I see." "Go thy way," says the Lord. "Nay, dearest Master, where thou goest I will go. Where thou dwellest I will dwell. Thy way is mine. Mine the new song which thou hast given. 'fhou hast touched my eyes- "• And in that light of life I'll walk Till travelling daya are done,'" cu. xvm. 1-43.] 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 121