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In reality both sisters had admirable qualities; both loved the Master and longed to please him; but on this occasion Martha, in her very eagerness to serve, had overburdened herself in the preparation of an elaborate meal, while Mary, with truer intuition of what Jesus wished, “sat at the Lord’s feet, and heard his word.” She knew that he desired, not for his own sake, but for theirs, to reveal himself and to deliver his heavenly message, and thus according to the fine art of hospitality, she considered first the wish of her guest and was thus doing more to entertain the Master than was her sister.
If we walk close to God, we shall find that in the midst of our trials, even when they are bitter, there is an undercurrent of sweet joyfulness away down in the depths of our souls. The consciousness that we are the Lord’s, that he loves us, and that he is our helper will be sweet in the midst of all our woes.
He preferreth the practice of those churches of the Protestants who do not observe holidays, because, saith he, the church, in the apostles’ days, had no holiday besides the Lord’s day, and the fourth commandment enjoins the labour of six days. Sect. 5.
His fourth and fifth respects of differences are certain mysteries in the Lord’s day. But we shall see by and by how his fellow Formalists who are more ingenuous than himself, show us mysteries in the festival days also.
There are others who, though they have troubles, seem able to put them in the background, and say but little about them. They talk of victory, of the Lord’s help, and of the joys of salvation. We all have our troubles; for man is “of few days, and full of trouble,” but the greatest troubles any of us have, I think, are the ones that never come.
If a Christian minister has been faithful in feeding his people with spiritual food, he will be rewarded with even higher opportunities for service; but if the long delay of his Lord’s return shall make him forgetful and unmindful of its reality, if he shall use his high position selfishly or shall use his power unkindly, then when the Master appears he will be punished with the utmost severity.
We show forth the Lord’s death in the act of receiving, by using the signs and symbols of his body broken, and his blood shed for us, and by meditating upon his death thereby represented. We deny not that by praise we show forth the Lord’s death also, but this is not in the act of receiving.
For the Belgic churches, in their synod, anno 1578, wished that the six days might be wrought upon, and that the Lord’s day alone might be celebrated. And Luther in his book, de Bonis Operibus, wished that there were no feast-days among Christians but the Lord’s day.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Make it ring out with the joyous music of the hallowed spheres, make it thrive on those foods that are served at the Lord’s Supper, at the heavenly banquet table of God. Come ye together in gladness unalloyed, and at the beginning of the meeting, recite ye this prayer: O Thou Lord of the Kingdom!
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