(iii)
(iii) Andrew Burr
Mark 5: 22-24 (to: “And he went with him”); 35- 36; John 11: 3-4
The thought before us of beauty in the Lord Jesus is associated in the scripture with his feet. We tend to look for beauty in faces, but "how beautiful are the feet of Him that announces glad tidings?" (see Isa 52: 7). I just observe that because it links with what our brothers have said, that there is a beauty about the Lord's movements, especially movements towards us. John the Baptist in John's gospel took account of Jesus as He walked. It seems as if His walk, the way He walked, marked Him out.
I have only very simple thoughts as to these two passages. They are linked by the deaths of which they speak. In the first one the ruler comes with this urgent need as to his daughter. Jesus does not say anything, according to the scripture, but He went with him. I think that is something we might look for. We are so anxious to have immediate answers to questions, things that arise among us or in our lives. Perhaps there is a measure of unbelief in that craving, but that Jesus went would have been enough for faith. Jesus would not have moved without there being a certainty for faith that the child would live. As we often remark, we could not envisage the Lord Jesus being in the presence of death without exercising His power over it; therefore no question appeared to those in the ruler's household that the Lord would be on a fruitless mission. He was going to bring life out of death into this household. For any who had faith, simply to see Him walking would have conveyed that here was the One who could bring life out of death. There would have been a purpose, a certainty, about His walk.
We read the corresponding passage in Luke, at home, and I saw a fresh beauty in it, that the consent of the Lord to walk with this man in his need was enough for faith as to the outcome. So that when doubts are raised, the Lord says immediately, according to Mark, "only believe". How wonderful that is. We have before us, as we have in our occasion this evening, a coming One. Let us be occupied with His movements and not with our doubts and with our fears.
I read this passage in John's gospel because here, by contrast, the Lord does not immediately go with the messengers. This is a greater test for faith. Here we have the beauty of the Lord's word, which I think has been among us this evening. There is an appeal to faith and an appeal to love in this household. The faith and simplicity of the sisters has often been remarked on; for them it was enough that the Teacher should know that he whom He loved was sick. They knew where to find Him, and they had someone who was ready to go and take this message that Lazarus was sick. I suppose the messengers came and delivered their message and then returned. The sisters would have looked out for Him; they would have expected, no doubt, to see the Lord with the messengers. The Lord was not there. They might have said; Where is He? They would have been told that He stayed where He was. Well, did He say anything? Yes, He said it is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it.
Again I think that for faith there would have been a certainty in that message. At some point in this matter He would arrive. I do not think that the Lord intended that He should be glorified without these two beloved sisters seeing it, as we have had before us this evening. His glory and His beauty is something that He seeks to display to those that love Him. They are full of doubts, and they thought He should have come earlier. If they had perhaps meditated and transferred their affections to the message He actually gave them, they would have seen its sufficiency - "the Son of God glorified". They might have said, if faith had been active more than perhaps it is with us, if He is going to be glorified, surely we will see it; and if we see it, then He must have come. I believe that that is something that we can count on in any matter that arises in our lives, or in our fellowship together. As we work out links together that we have referred to, and if anything arises, we might wonder as to how and when the Lord will come into it, but let us carry the certainty that the One whose beauty we look for will manifest His glory in relation to the matter. It will not be unto death, but that the Son of Man should be glorified by it. How else could He be glorified except as entering into it in life giving power?
As has been remarked, there was a beauty in Jesus which passed the casual observer by. There was no beauty, they said; "that we should desire him" (Isa 53: 2), but, beloved, let us take account of His movements and let us take account of His voice and His word. These are just two very easy-to-hand examples - but let us take account of them, and let us look for - and I do not doubt find - the beauty that is in them.
LONDON
12 January 1999