MINISTERING TO CHRIST IN LOVE
MINISTERING TO CHRIST IN LOVE
CAC It is remarkable that it is the activities of the woman that we see here rather than the activities of Jesus. We might say that Jesus does nothing; He is sitting at meat, and He remains sitting; all the activities are on the part of the woman. It is very sweet when such a point is reached when the Lord has no longer to be active but can be the subject of the activities that divine grace has set in movement in the heart of a sinner. This incident seems to set forth not so much the grace that forgave as the effect of that grace in a heart that had come to appreciate it.
Ques Does this suppose that there has been a previous movement on the part of God and the Lord Jesus which this woman has taken account of? Is she responsive to the piping of divine grace?
CAC Yes, I suppose so. Luke writing with method is leading us up to identification in affection with the divine testimony, and we get the climax of it in the beginning of the next chapter. Chapter 7 ought to end at the end of verse 3 of chapter 8 — that is the end of a very distinct section of the gospel. Chapter 8 verse 4 begins another subject which one might call the public result of the word of God being preached in the world. But what comes out so beautifully in this woman is that there is a result produced in her affections which sets her in activity. I think we shall miss the point of it if we do not see that it is the activity of the woman here; the Lord is not seen in activity, the woman does everything. It leads up to this that the Lord goes through the country, city by city, and village by village, preaching and announcing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with Him, and certain women and many others who ministered to Him of their substance. Is that not the climax? The kingdom [p. 123] of God is composed of those who love Jesus and minister to Him; and no power of evil can touch that. Evil is completely displaced in those who appreciate and love Jesus, and are engaged in ministering to Him. If any manifestation of the power of evil comes out in me it shows that I am not in the appreciation of Jesus. No evil can touch the heart that is in the appreciation of Jesus.
The Lord’s intention is that throughout the sphere of divine testimony there should be a witness to the power of the kingdom of God in every city and village. That is the form that the kingdom of God takes; it is localised in the cities and villages.
This part of the gospel is a wonderful section as bringing out the answer to what Simeon said of the Lord, “a light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2: 32). We see a Gentile brought into view at the beginning of chapter 7 as having a right thought of Jesus. The widow who lost her son no doubt represents Israel. Israel’s hopes were all dead, but she proves the compassion of Jehovah in restoring her hopes on the principle of resurrection — she gets her son, her hopes are restored to her. Peter talks of hopes restored in resurrection. It is a comprehensive view of what God is doing, bringing to light the Gentile and bringing Israel to light as having a right appreciation of His grace as revealed in Jesus.
Ques Does it show the way in which God had gained the affections of His creature?
CAC It is all a question of the wisdom and the counsel of God; we must take account of that. It says the Pharisees rejected or made null the counsel of God. It is not a question of meeting man’s need but of carrying out the wisdom and counsel of God. It is on that line that the Gentile comes into view for blessing, and Israel gets every lost hope restored on the principle of resurrection. It is only the children of wisdom who justify the counsel and wisdom of God. If God is moving in wisdom and according to His counsel, the natural man will [p. 124] never justify Him. John the baptist had to learn to justify God; he had to learn to accept his own ministry, as we all have to do when we are put in prison and get no honour at all.
We see here the greatest servant of God and the greatest sinner put side by side. The Lord said of John there was no greater born of women, he was the greatest servant of God that ever was up to that time. And we see also a woman of the city, a sinner, and both have to be brought to the point of justifying God.
Rem The wisdom is manifested in the way God has approached man in grace.
CAC Yes, and that the creature should love and minister to Him; and that is the kingdom of God. We have come into the kingdom in the measure in which we love Jesus and minister to Him. It is not working for Him — Christendom is full of the idea of working for Him — we can work for Him and be as legal as the day is long, but we can only minister to Him in love. To minister to Him is to do everything for Him, and that is what Simon failed to do. We are in the presence of a great profession; Jesus is in Simon’s house now, in the place of great profession which pretends to honour and serve Him, but does not minister to Him. In the presence of that we have to learn to minister to Him. The kingdom of God in its vital power is known then. One covets this sweet privilege; it is put within our reach, the privilege that the greatest servant of God up to that time never had. John the baptist never had the privilege that the woman had. In that sense one could say that she was a little one in the kingdom of God and greater than John the baptist. He never had the privilege of washing the feet of Jesus and anointing them; it was not given to John in the wisdom and counsel of God, but it was given to the woman and it is given to us if we have the love to take it up. I often think the most interesting part of the gospels is the unwritten part. I should like to get alongside of this woman in the scene of glory and ask her [p. 125] how she came to the appreciation of the Lord. The Spirit of God has not told us how she came to it — that is the unwritten part — but she did come to it. What an appreciation she had of Him! It has been called elementary, but I should be thankful if I could reach up to it a little. What a wonderful thing for the Lord to be able to say of any one of us, “She loved much”. It is not that she believed or did wonderful works outside, but she loved much.
Ques Has the Lord that in view with us?
CAC Yes, I think that is it. The Lord would set up in every city and village a testimony of it. That is the true testimony of the kingdom of God. I think we see how it is worked out. Here is a woman deeply affected by the forgiving grace that was there in Jesus. The Pharisee was blind to it; all he could see was a prophet who would know a sinner when he saw her and would repel her. That was Simon’s idea of a prophet, but the Lord was not like that at all. The Friend of sinners had come in and the woman appreciated Him. I believe the testimony of God in this world largely hangs on that, Do we appreciate the Friend of sinners? The creditor has come in, but as a Friend, and He is not insisting on payment, but He frankly forgives. What is most touching is that He becomes such a Friend as that at His own cost. I have no doubt that the myrrh that the woman put on His feet was suggestive that the way He was taking in grace was at His own cost.
Ques Do you think that the woman had a previous knowledge of the Lord?
CAC I do not think Scripture explains how things are arrived at, because when God works in the soul that is the mystery of the kingdom of God. The mystery is something altogether hid from view; we see the result but we do not see the process. No account is given of the process by which the woman reached the result, and it is like that with every one of us. The wisdom and counsel of God had produced fruit in this woman, for who has an honest and good heart naturally?
[p. 126] In the next section we get more the public result; there is only one ground that produces a normal result, an honest and good heart; that is the outcome of the counsel of God.
Grace was there for Simon as well as for the woman. In a gospel preaching the grace of God in Christ is there for everybody; but the very fact of the preaching brings to light that there is a great difference in the state of soul of those addressed. Jesus being there brought to light that there was a very great difference between Simon and the woman. The woman appreciated Him and Simon did not: the woman had an honest and good heart, the whole truth of her sinful condition was all understood and out. She was astonished at the wonderful character in which He was there; she appreciated it and ministered to Him; the Lord set all the inward affections of her heart in movement. But Simon had no idea that He was the creditor.
Ques How can we minister to Him in a practical way today?
CAC I suppose in the presence of all the self-righteous pride that marks the public profession it is our privilege to be near to the Lord, to express our appreciation of Him and lavish on Him all that our hearts have found in Him. The Lord’s intent is that in every city and village within the scope of the testimony of grace there should be the witness of that. I understand that to be local responsibility.
Ques Is that on the line of “Wisdom hath built her house” (Proverbs 9: 1)?
CAC I think so. Every element is there; there is the heralding forth of the kingdom of God, it is to be heralded forth with the sound of the trumpet. It is evangelical, men are made to feel that it is very good news. You do not insist on man’s responsibility but on the setting forth of the grace of God; it is good news. Then there is the administrative authority of the twelve who were with him; that element is there. I think it shows what the Lord set up in every city and village. The testimony of God has taken that form now; it is [p. 127] not centralised in Jerusalem, Rome or London, but it is set in every city and village. And then the women are there, some are named and many unnamed, and they “ministered to him of their substance” (chapter 8: 1 - 3). There was to be a witness in every place of the supreme blessedness of Jesus, that He was loved and served and ministered to. I believe that is the vital character of the kingdom of God, and it is something to be a little one in it. As to the real power of the thing, it is not only what we know of Scripture, or the path of outward separation, but what tells is that Jesus is loved and ministered to; and His heart is gratified by what He finds in those who love Him — that is the kingdom of God in power. Wisdom’s children would do right things at the right time and in the right way. Nothing is more blessed than that Jesus should be appreciated as the full expression in manhood of the forgiving grace of God.
Ques Would love be the keeping of His commandments?
CAC Yes, that is why the twelve are with Him. The twelve would seem to suggest the divine system of administration, the mark of divine authority which He set up in this world. People say they love the Lord, and are very busy working for Him, but the test would be, have they got the twelve? Do they recognise the authority which the Lord set up in the apostles? That would bring in assembly order.
Being healed of evil spirits and infirmities results in peace, and it is only in the spirit of peace that we can be identified with the testimony.
Ques Why does the Lord bring up the question of sins with this woman when she came as one who loved Him? Is it because of what Simon said?
CAC I think the Lord justified her in the presence of Simon. He told her her sins were forgiven, she got the positive word from Him that it was so — that was confirmation. I think the Lord always gives confirmation. If there is a shadow between one’s heart and the Lord there is not the consciousness of forgiveness at that moment. If I am [p. 128] unforgiving it shows I have lost the sense of forgiveness at that moment. I think we get a sense of forgiveness in a general way, but it is a distinct advance to get His word personally. We might get a sense of forgiveness, but not being attached in love to the Lord we do not get the personal consciousness of it. I think there is such a thing as the Lord telling a soul that his or her sins are forgiven. It is not merely a text of Scripture, though it might arrive that way, but a distinct sense in the soul, ‘He told me my sins were forgiven’. The soul knows it as a personal reality.
Ques Do you think the woman came to the Lord with the burden of her sins on her?
CAC I had thought what burdened her was an overwhelming sense of the grace that was in Him; it was that that overwhelmed her so that she forgot the Pharisee and the conventionalities that would have kept her outside, and she broke through everything. She no doubt had a sense of her guilt, but in this gospel, as we have said before, it is not that man needs God but that God needs man, and God comes out to secure the heart of man for Himself: He needs it. We may say reverently that the Lord needed love. There is a proverb that says, “He that covereth transgression seeketh love” (Proverbs 17: 9). The Lord came to cover transgressions in order to procure love; that was His object in coming. The whole principle of Luke’s gospel is that God needs man. He wants him to fill His house; He wants him to put the best robe on him and feed him on the fatted calf: He needs him in order to display the wonders of His grace in him. This woman got a sense of why the blessed God came forth in His beloved Son as Man here. He wanted her, and He came forth in the grace of forgiveness; nothing could keep her at a distance, she had become possessed of Him, she ministered to Him and gave Him pleasure. We have that privilege here locally!
This woman got outside the sphere of sin altogether; it is blessed to know that we can do that. When we love Jesus and are ministering to Him we are as completely outside the [p. 129] sphere of sin morally as if we were in heaven. To keep in that attitude of soul is the true power of holiness. People talk in the religious world of holiness by faith, but holiness is not by faith but by love. Here we see a person absolutely in the sphere of holiness. We should all like to be more holy; well, this is the way to it. Luke presents this as the way that Mary Magdalene got free from the seven demons. It says, “Had gone out”. Luke does not say that the Lord cast them out; they went out because no demon could stay in the heart that loves Jesus. In loving Jesus and ministering to Him, there is the true power of the kingdom and no demon can stop there, and all infirmities will be healed. We have to take this up if we suffer from a demon or infirmities; we have to take this up and see where deliverance comes in. Sin had no longer any power, so the Lord could say, “Go in peace”. She was completely free from the power of sin and in true holiness, for holiness is a matter of heart.
The opening verses of chapter 8 are the public testimony to the kingdom as brought out in every city and village; the woman represents what goes on inwardly. Chapter 8 verse 4 begins a new subject; it begins with the sower going out to sow. If the word of God is sown it is a public matter. Not everyone is converted who comes under the sound of the word. Luke makes a great difference between those who come under the sound of the word and those who keep the word in their hearts. Many come under the sound of the word and bring forth no fruit for God. We need instruction in the mysteries of the kingdom of God, so that we are not carried away when we hear that five hundred people have been converted somewhere. We are not elated by that because we know that it has all to be sifted out. On the other hand we are not depressed when we find that a great deal that we thought was the work of God proves to be of no value; it does not do to be depressed by that, we must know the character of what is going on publicly.