MARK 2 AND 3
MARK [p. 22] 2 AND 3
CAC The incident from verse 23 of chapter 2 brings into view the Son of man as Lord of the sabbath: He was the One who could give the sabbath its true character according to the mind of God. The Lord adduces this striking instance of how what might be according to legal requirements became subservient to the grace that marked the house of God. An entirely new character of things was present in the midst of Israel in the service of the Lord; and, one might say, it was too great and too energetic to fit in with the system that had been there before.
There was an entirely new kind of divine movement going on as the Lord had pointed out in the previous section: the Bridegroom was there. The Lord was entitled to the affections of His own, and had come in to win those affections in the way of the service of love. I have connected the thought of the Bridegroom with what is said of Israel: “Israel served for a wife”, Hosea 12: 12. The Lord came in to serve for a wife, to be the Bridegroom, to win those affections to which He was entitled, and which had never been secured under the legal system. He came in to secure those affections by the service of love, and He was there in the midst of Israel as the Bridegroom. The disciples have the remarkable title of “sons of the bride-chamber”, and they understood intuitively the nature of the moment; it was not a time of fasting. As far as we know, the Lord had never told them not to fast, but they understood it was not suitable. We see that in the presence of the Lord the disciples were in perfect liberty, so here they go through the cornfields and eat the corn; they were in perfect liberty, they had the intuitive sense of who was there. They were acting in the liberty that was suitable to the presence of the Lord of the sabbath. Their conduct was challenged, and the Lord had to vindicate it. The cavilling of their adversaries was in regard of what the disciples were doing; and what they were doing was the result of their having come under the influence of the Person who was serving among them. They were thoroughly identified in their sympathies and affections with the character of service going on in Israel: they were absorbed with Him, and going on with what was entirely new. The Jews [p. 23] would have liked to mix the two things, but they were going on with the new. The Lord likes to have us in a state of soul where He can vindicate us and support us; and He can if we have the new garment and new skin for the wine. In principle the disciples had an entirely new garment; they were clothed with His worth. They had no idea of any sort of claim on their side, or of establishing any title in their affection, but they were clothed with His worth and appreciated the wonderful character of the new position that had come about by His presence here in the service of His love. The great thing for us is to appreciate what has come in in the Person of Christ. Man would have the fast, and be restricted and in bondage, and ignore the wonderful character of the Person who has come in; but the disciples were sons of the bride-chamber, and that is a happy character of the moment. In principle that character spreads over the whole period.
Rem They go on and do not need to vindicate themselves we often do, and justify our doings when challenged. “They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord”, Jeremiah 31: 12. The disciples were realising that in His presence.
CAC Yes, and “my people shall be satisfied with my goodness”, Jeremiah 31: 14.
Ques What did the thought of Abiathar convey to them?
CAC There was correspondence between David’s position and the Lord’s. David was in reproach and rejection.
Rem Morally the Pharisee would be like the Edomites who slew all the priests of Jehovah save Abiathar.
Rem “His disciples began to walk on” (verse 23). It is a great moment when we begin to walk on as disciples. They were moving with conscious ease and dignity.
CAC Yes, and with Him. It calls forth opposition and criticism. All this is the glad tidings, the unfolding of what is available through the service of Christ. We are instructed in it in order that we may be imbued with the spirit of it, and thus be qualified to carry on in our measure the same kind of service. The Lord loves to identify them with Himself: He says in chapter 1, “Come after me, and I will make you become fishers of men”. He says, ‘You shall catch men for God’. In the next chapter He speaks to the disciples about a little ship waiting for Him. There was a partnership; they are identified with His movements, all that is suitable to the [p. 24] service. This gospel is the great training ground for service if we want to take up levitical service we must pay great attention to all this gospel. The secret of the whole thing is that, as we are divinely taught, there is a preciousness and sufficiency about Christ that puts everything on a new footing, and sets all those who have to do with it in perfect liberty.
Ques Is it the blessings of the gospel in connection with the kingdom?
CAC Yes, the Lord is showing, in these various instances that come up, how He can meet every kind of condition on the part of men or of His saints. The wonderful thing is that the kingdom of God should come in that way, by way of the service of grace, by God securing all that is due to Himself and His kingdom in securing all that is good for man. He secures His rights in grace by the service He renders man. How wonderful that God should have taken that way! He comes in to render service to man, and in that way secures all that is due to Himself. If we are prepared to be served and to appreciate the way that divine love has taken in service, everything is made as easy as possible for us.
Ques We qualify for service in seeing how God has served?
CAC My impression is that we are only qualified to serve in the measure in which we have been served. There is divine support on that line; we get supported in service which is after the pattern of Christ’s service. There is a good deal of service which is not patterned after the line of Christ’s service, and it does not get support, but this character of service gets divine support. I am thinking of the service constantly going on amongst the saints and in a general way. One would feel the preservation of liberty among the saints is a very desirable object of service; and also that joy should be preserved amongst the saints. As sons of the bride-chamber the saints would be marked by the joy of all that is coming in the Bridegroom, and then as following the Lord Jesus there would be perfect liberty. In this closing section the disciples were perfectly free and they avail themselves of what is available. We need to consider how far we are ministering to the joy and liberty of the brethren. We need to know what we are seeking to promote so that we are definitely set to promote spiritual conditions.
Ques What does plucking the ears of corn suggest?
CAC It is a figure of the wealth provided in the kingdom.
[p. 25] Every ear of that harvest had sprung up out of death. It spoke of what was immediately at hand.
We are all tested in innumerable small ways whether we are in the spirit and liberty of service. The spirit of service would correct a good deal that is trying and unsuitable which comes in because of the absence of the spirit of service. If we are set to serve we should not be self-important or touchy or ready to take offence. If I only want to serve, no one can hinder me from getting down to that low place of service, no matter what may be said of me. Nothing can deprive us of the privilege of serving; nothing external to ourselves can rob us of it.
Rem Abiathar got deflected and is dishonoured in the end. We have great warnings.
CAC Yes, that makes us feel intensely the need for more prayer. Anything that stimulates us to more prayer and a greater spirit of dependence and distrust of ourselves is of the greatest divine value. A man with a withered hand could not pluck the ears of corn; he is incapacitated. It is easy for saints to get their hands withered. But there is a divine remedy for every possible condition, and it is very encouraging to be fully convinced of that. If I have a withered hand there is a remedy; and there is a remedy for whatever condition is found among the people of God: it comes in on the line of the service of love.
Ques These maladies come about by lack of prayer and the allowance of feelings against one another?
CAC One feels the softening effect of the Lord’s grace as it comes out in the way of service; it has a softening effect. We may note the contrast between the Lord’s looking round at the beginning of chapter 3 and at the end. He looks round in the synagogue with anger, distressed at the hardness of their hearts, but at the end of the chapter He looks round in a circuit at those that were sitting round Him, and says, “Behold my mother and my brethren”. There is no sympathy in the synagogue, but there is in the house; it is lovely to see that the Lord did secure a circle where all was sympathetic to Himself. It is a terrible thing when the Lord has to withdraw because there is nothing sympathetic with Himself — He withdraws with His disciples; chapter 3: 7. The synagogue would answer very largely to the public profession today, where there is no sympathetic or affectionate appreciation of the Lord at all, and no sense of need. The Lord withdraws Himself from that circle, but before the chapter ends He secures a circle in [p. 26] the house where all is in accord with Himself, and where all are imbued with the spirit of service, all doing the will of God. His brother and sister and mother are all imbued with the spirit of service. There is positive hostility to the Lord in the sphere of profession; it is not only lack of sympathy. I think the Lord departs when things take the character of positive antagonism; He bears with a good deal, but when it comes to that point He withdraws Himself.
Ques And we withdraw in affection to Him. “Come out from the midst of them, and be separated”, 2 Corinthians 6: 17.
CAC Yes. We withdraw in order to secure house conditions. The synagogue has become the scene of positive hostility to the Lord, so that He and His disciples withdraw; and then we get house conditions.
Ques Is there any significance in His going to the sea?
CAC It suggests a wider sphere than the synagogue, so we find the scope of service widens out greatly.
Rem The multitude were greatly attracted to Himself.
CAC Where there is the setting forth of Christ you will find response wherever there is need. It is pride that does without Him. A true presentation of Christ is always attractive to need, and one covets to be more attractive to need.
It would help us to take account of the different positions in which the Lord was found in relation to service; each position has its significance and its instruction. In this chapter the Lord is seen in the synagogue, by the sea, on the mountain, and in the house. No doubt each position has what answers to it at the present time. The synagogue sets forth the sphere of public profession, and there was an occasion there for Him to act sovereignly. There was nothing sympathetic in the atmosphere of the synagogue. It is encouraging for us to see that the Lord’s service was carried on in conditions very much like what is around us today; it is in the midst of a profession where there was the form of godliness but the power of it denied. There was great correspondence between the circumstances in which the Lord served and those in which we have to serve.
In the synagogue we see a man with an unclean spirit, and another with a withered hand; and then in chapter 6 we find the other synagogue scene of this gospel where they were offended at Him because He was the carpenter, so that He wondered at their unbelief. That is very much the condition of the present day. There is a very great deal of incapacity [p. 27] amongst us, and the Lord meets it sovereignly. He deals with those conditions sovereignly, and that is very much what is going on today. In 2 Timothy we read, “the Lord knoweth them that are his”. In the midst of the public profession, characterised by what is spiritually unclean and powerless, and marked by unbelief, the Lord is working sovereignly. The fact that we are here tonight is a proof of that.
Then in verse 7 the Lord withdraws Himself with His disciples to the sea. When positive hostility comes to light it is often an exercise as to how far to go on with people. In 2 Timothy there is much about separating and withdrawing. If there are conditions which do not give the Lord any place, the moment comes when it is right to withdraw from them. The Lord takes account of hostility, and it is a real exercise as to how far to go on with those who show themselves hostile to what is of God.
Ques Would you go a long way with frailty and infirmity?
CAC Yes. The Lord had compassion on the man with the dried-up hand; that man could not pluck the ears of corn. That is largely the state of many truly converted people; there is not the capacity to avail themselves of what is available. There is a large cornfield and the Lord moves through the cornfield with His disciples, who are in the blessed liberty of His company. They pluck the ears, their hands are not dried up, but there is a man whose hand is dried up and the Lord has compassion on him. The Lord acted morally to bring about conditions suitable to God. If the unclean spirit is dispossessed and the dried-up hand restored, one would expect such who are healed to follow the Lord: they had found that in the Lord that they had never found in the synagogue. They might have gone to it all their lives, but they were never set up there before. This only brought out envy. Those in the synagogue go out and take counsel to destroy Him; but the Lord had secured something for God, He had displaced the unclean spirit, and restored the dried-up hand; there is material secured for the service of God. The unclean spirit cast out is the adjustment of the spirit. When a man’s spirit is put right you have the main thing put right; and then the hand is restored, there is spiritual capacity given to appropriate what is available in a spiritual sense, and for service. The man has capacity to feed and serve: there is something secured for God. The Lord is working in the synagogue today; it is a [p. 28] sphere of profession, and it is largely marked by an unclean spirit. A spirit that does not give place to the Holy Spirit is an unclean spirit. Everyone knows that christendom is full of it: it may pass off with a beautiful appearance, but there is a widespread refusal to give place to the Holy Spirit. Whatever refuses to give place to the Holy Spirit is an unclean spirit, and the Lord can dispossess it. The Lord is working sovereignly to dispossess it and, when it is so, instead of an unclean spirit we come to be in the Holy Spirit, and the hand gets its power restored — there is capacity for feeding or serving. It is inconceivable the immense wealth that is available now spiritually; but, if a man’s hand is dried up, it is not available for him. The Lord comes in with sovereign action to do these things that there may be something for God: if He had not come in sovereignly there would not be one of us here tonight. The fact that we desire to give place to the Holy Spirit shows that the unclean spirit is dispossessed, and, if we find ability to avail ourselves of the spiritual provision available, the dried-up hand is restored. How precious it is to get a thought of Christ, and to be able to get hold of it in one’s affections! There is not much ability for that in the profession around us; in the great religious system the hand is dried up.
We have to learn to withdraw ourselves. The Lord withdrew and that brings Him to the sea, which seems to give a wider scope of service. It goes out in principle to the gentiles — Idumea and beyond Jordan. In principle it is a very wide scope of service. The Lord withdraws from the synagogue, and carries with Him what He has secured for God. He finds Himself in a wider sphere of service altogether, and now the great instruction is that He calls the disciples into partnership with Himself. He speaks to the disciples in order that a little ship should wait upon Him on account of the crowd (verse 9) because the crowd pressed on Him. This stands in relation to the extended scope of service opened up; that is, the greater the crowd the more danger there is of the crowd pressing upon one.
Ques What about the little ship?
CAC I think it is in contrast with the great crowd. The crowd pressing upon Him would surely suggest the danger of the influence of the crowd acting on the servant. The servant is to influence the crowd and not be influenced by the crowd, so the Lord requires a little ship that He might be apart from [p. 29] the crowd and yet serve them. It is important to remember that in relation to the wide scope of service set before us. People tell us we are straitened in service, but we must not notice that! We have the biggest scope of service possible, “every creature under heaven”. We could not have a bigger scope than that. The thing is that the pressure of the crowd would influence one; this passage suggests the danger of being influenced by the crowd and the way to escape is to keep in the little ship. It is illustrated again and again. Peter in Acts 3 had a very great sphere of service, but he says, ‘Do not look on us, as if we could do anything’. He gets out of sight behind the name of Jesus; in principle he has his little ship. It is the same with Barnabas and Paul in Acts 14; the crowd would have worshipped them, but they get into their little ship at once.
There is a kind of moral order in this chapter. If there is anything in the profession to be for God we are to take account of it first. There was the synagogue of that day which was professedly for God: we have to do with a sphere of things which is professedly for God, and we have to take account of that first. No one can serve rightly unless he takes account of the sphere of profession; we have to find out the kind of influences that are there. Nothing will remedy conditions there except the sovereign power of God. The Lord acts sovereignly. Paul laboured for the elect to get something out of the synagogue for God.
Then you see we have a wider scope of service suggested by the sea, which indicates that men are in the view of God. The Lord says, “I will make you to become fishers of men”. The sea brings in the thought that men are to be caught for God. It is a big sphere of service, but the important thing is that the servant himself is not to be influenced by those he serves. He brings a divine influence to bear on them, but he does not allow them to press on him — he is not influenced by them. Every true servant must face this exercise and know what it is to have a little ship. The Lord is in a little ship and morally separated from the influence of the crowd, so that He can bring divine influence to bear on them.
The Lord made Saul a Paul, which means little. It is in keeping in the place of littleness that we escape from the influences of the crowd. The more scope a servant has, the more danger there is of the crowd pressing on him and then his service will be influenced by the crowd! Instead of keeping [p. 30] apart from it and influencing it they have allowed the crowd to influence them. It has become the downfall of many a labourer that he has not had a little ship. If he had had his little ship he would have influenced them for God.
Ques What do you mean by a little ship?
CAC I was thinking of the spirit of the servant, that one must be prepared to be little, to keep oneself apart from everything big. If a servant is in that spirit, prepared to be little, he gets divine support. It is a matter of premeditation with the Lord; He speaks to His disciples, He impresses them with the thought that there is a big crowd, and they were to remember the little ship. Paul never got out of his little ship; he never allowed himself to be influenced by the crowd. It would work out that we would be prepared to go along with the few, to withdraw from the influences that are unclean, and go on with the few who follow righteousness, faith, love and peace; this is in keeping with what the Lord says here. He rebukes the unclean spirits, not because they opposed Him, but because they cry out, “Thou art the Son of God”. He refuses their testimony, not their opposition; He would not be manifested in that way. It is characteristic of this gospel. The Lord hides Himself from publicity in this gospel; He repeatedly charges the people not to say anything to make Him known. That is the secret of the little ship; He hides Himself from publicity. J.N.D. said that the secret of being right in the present day is to go on with ceaseless activity in obscurity. The moment we want to put ourselves in evidence we are wrong and out of accord with the present character of service. The Lord shrank from publicity; it is most touching, for it is so opposite to what we are naturally. We naturally like publicity, but the Lord on five or six occasions in this gospel clearly enjoins on those healed that they should not speak of it. We should go on content to take the little opportunities for service that may be allotted, and not desire any little bit of publicity. Publicity is a most damaging thing; it needs much grace if the Lord gives it, as He does to some. The greater the measure of the publicity, the greater the necessity for the servant to maintain the desire for obscurity — for the little ship — to be out of sight, to do his work and not talk about it, or be talked about. The true servant does his work and does not want it talked about; he wants to go on with it.
The secret of all this lies in the next section — the mountain.
[p. 31] You can be as great as you like on the mountain, and if we do not know what it is to be great on the mountain we shall never know what it is to be rightly in service. The mountain signifies that elevated place where we get the light and mind of heaven and of God. I think in the Lord going up to the mountain we get the secret source of power. We learn up there what is greater than all service. When it first dawned on me that the service of the blessed God towards me was immeasurable, and infinitely greater than any poor service that I could render Him, it turned my soul upside down! The mountain is the place where we know God’s thoughts and ways as higher than the thoughts of man. The Lord serves us up there; there is no crowd there. He calls us to bring us into the mind of God; calling us to the mountain is calling us to the mind of God. How great it is! If I think of the mind of God, what I could do in service is obliterated from my thoughts. If you find yourself introduced into the circle of God’s thoughts, the blessed service of God towards man, you get the region of what is beyond what you can do, and you are simply lost in the greatness of God. There is a sovereign call; the Lord goes up into the mountain, “and calls whom he himself would”. “He appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them to preach, and to have power to heal diseases, and to cast out demons”. It is entirely a question of sovereignty; the volunteer principle has no place at all in it. There is no thought of volunteering for the Lord’s service.
Ques Are we to wait to be called to the mountain?
CAC My exercise would be to respond when I am called: there is a sovereignty about the call. When we come to levitical service there is nothing voluntary. There was no voluntary element in the service of the levites; every member of the tribe was divinely appointed and his service divinely determined. “They came to him”, but it was a sovereign call — “I have chosen you, and have set you” — what a sense of obligation it gives! Many people feel they are free to serve the Lord when they like, but you are not. You are absolutely His servant or not at all. You are bound to service and the voluntary element does not come in. The volunteer thought has been most pernicious among the people of God, because people think they can serve if they like or feel led, or, if not, they can leave it alone: there is no christianity in that. All the writers of the New Testament refer to themselves as bondservants. The [p. 32] gospel produces that sort of subjection that bows to divine sovereignty, so for men to complain that they are not somebody else, or to envy another, is impossible! If the Lord is pleased to dignify certain servants, it is all sovereignty. Here, three men were dignified with surnames, not all. The Lord calls three to the peerage and the nine were commoners. It is all sovereignty. If we were all content to be what the grace of God would make us, and to do what the Lord has appointed us in the way of service, we should be supremely happy and in result we should have an ordered company sitting round in order and restful because all have accepted divine sovereignty. We find the same principle all through Scripture that a man never gets into his right place until he accepts divine sovereignty.
Ques Have you any thought about surnames?
CAC They indicate a special character of service. Simon was surnamed Peter. The Lord suggested by his surname spiritual material for the house of God: He made that thought prominent in Simon, and gives him a distinguished place in His house. Peter’s ministry was special and distinguished in that way. James and John’s surname was more the thought of power of the kingdom — sons of thunder — it gives the idea of what is really thunder, what makes a loud noise in this world for God. I think it is the ability to suffer, and that is what marked James and John. James was the first to be killed, and John’s was the longest path of suffering of all the apostles. That is where the power of the kingdom makes itself in evidence — the voice of the Lord in majesty — He can maintain people here in the path of suffering. That is the kingdom side. Peter gives material for the house, but in James and John we see the character of the testimony of the kingdom which largely lies in ability to suffer: that is what speaks loudly for God in this world. The apostles spoke loudly for God in this world because they were prepared to suffer; that made them sons of thunder.
All this prepared for the house position. That is the fourth position in which we find the Lord in this chapter. The Lord is found in the house surrounded by an ordered company; they are doing the will of God, not by their activities but by sitting round Him. What is the will of God at the present time? It is the assembly. The assembly is set forth in figure in this company sitting round the Lord. Those who had not been on the mountain, though naturally well disposed, do not understand the position, so they say, “He is beside himself”. There are people like that today; they are well disposed to the Lord but have no understanding of His movements, or position, or the character of the moment: they are outside. His mother and His brethren were outside the house, they were not adversaries. How many are like that today, not adversaries, but out of touch with the character of the moment? The secret is they have never been on the mountain. If we do not go up to the mountain we shall never get into the house. In the house the Lord finds Himself surrounded by spiritual kindred; it has superseded the natural. The spiritual kindred sit round Him in the house; every element of family affection is brought in. One would covet to move under the Lord’s influence on these lines.