“THE TEACHER IS COME AND CALLS THEE”
C. R. Byng
This was a very precious message that was entrusted to Martha, and a very precious message to be received by Mary—“The teacher is come and calls thee”. Our beloved sister had an even greater privilege—the Teacher Himself came and called her. His eye and touch have been over our beloved sister through a long life; especially during the days of all the weeks of her limitation and bodily frailty His eye had been upon her and He valued her patience, grace, and perseverance, her love for her husband, for the saints, for the testimony. He had taken account of all that and the moment came in the perfection of divine timing when the Teacher Himself came and called her. Whilst, as we have said, as regards things in this life, she fell asleep in Jesus, we can also be assured that in her spirit she was immediately responsive to His call. So it says that Mary “when she heard that, rises up quickly and comes to him”. What a moment for our beloved sister, to be with Christ, the One that she loved and had known; she heard the voice of Jesus as He came for her and she went to Him.
But the same Teacher, beloved brethren, would speak to us today. The Spirit as being with us would give us the assurance that He would say to each of us that He is calling us. The message came “secretly”. That is not, of course, any lack of transparency, the Lord Jesus never does anything like that; this was an intensely personal matter which was not known even by those around.
The Spirit would bring this voice to each of us, privately and personally, at this time of sorrow, that the Teacher is calling; He “is come and calls thee”. What a Teacher He is! It is one of the great and glorious titles of the Word. He is in Himself the full expression of every thought of the mind and heart of God, and yet as the Teacher how close He comes to bring us into the gain of all the purposes of God.
He is the Shepherd and the Teacher. Every disciple comes under His personal touch. “It is sufficient”, the Lord said, “for the disciple that he should become as his teacher”, Matthew 10: 25. What a privilege we have, each of us, as disciples to have to do with Him personally, the One who is bringing us moment by moment more into the glorious experience of what is beyond death. How graciously, how clearly, how powerfully, He teaches, and His teaching is so powerful because He expresses everything in Himself. If He teaches us the truth about resurrection, He says “I am the resurrection” (John 11: 25). So if Abraham was assured, we can be assured. We can be assured when we think of the reality of burial that for our beloved sister it is only a very temporary matter, just for a moment it may be, until the Lord with an assembling shout will call all the dead in Christ. They will all arise for they will all hear the assembling shout. His voice will be heard and we shall all go up together, maybe even this day. Let us be alert; the Teacher’s voice is penetrating through; let us be waiting for it.
In the meantime, if He does leave us here, He would call us into greater communion with Himself. Mary went to be with Him where He was. He would
call each of us today to be with Him in an increased appreciation of Himself and an increased enjoyment of His love; to be with Him where He is beyond the reach of death and sorrows, in a scene where there is no more sea and no more tears. In this period of sorrow He teaches us so that we may not be attached to this scene, but be attached to Him in a scene of glory where He is going to be eternally. We can surely say, ‘Hallelujah”. We are going to be with Him for ever!
The Spirit would bring the power and attraction of the gracious love of Jesus to each one of us at this time to draw us closer to Himself. It was the Mary who went out to Jesus where He was who had the grace to anoint Jesus so that the odour of the ointment filled the house. May our experience with Jesus increasingly help us to give Him just the touch He needs in this waiting time. He waited for our sister, and then He called her. He is waiting for us and He is going to call us very soon. In the meantime may we be nearer to Him, to prove His love, and to yield to Him for His own pleasure, for His name’s sake.
Word at the burial of our sister Mrs. A. Strugnell, Chippenham
6 September 1977