THE PRIESTLY SUPPORT OF CHRIST
[p. 160] THE PRIESTLY SUPPORT OF CHRIST
There is just one fact I would bring before you. If there is a desire to respond to the love of Christ we shall have His support.
But there are two things that hinder this: unsuitability and infirmity. If a soul is not quite sure that his sins are forgiven he is not free to respond, and if a soul does not know what it is to be delivered from the flesh he is not free to respond. By the cross all the unsuitability has been removed, the sins and the flesh. And then there is infirmity, the cares of this life. It was not unsuitability that hindered Martha but it was infirmity; the cares of this world, they weighed upon her; she was “distracted with much serving”. It was no small thing to have a number of men drop in to dinner, as we might say; she was pressed by it and was not free to enjoy His company. It was a wonderful thing to have the Son of God in her house, and she was so glad to have Him there that she could not enjoy Him!
It illustrates a soul occupied with what the Lord is to us on our side. We might know His grace in coming to us in our circumstances and be so occupied with it that we are not free to enjoy His company. People say that Mary had more grace than Martha — not a bit of it! Mary was no better than Martha. It was not the grace that resided in Mary that supported her, it was the grace in Him. It was the grace of the Lord that freed Mary. Grace resides in the Lord, its living Source; it does not reside in individuals. Mary knew how to appreciate the grace that was in Christ. Christ delivered Mary, and why? Because she was disposed to be free. There is that to notice; she made choice of His company; her heart was free and ready for it. The cares were real to her, but she had His support. She could sit down amidst it all and be [p. 161] absorbed with Him. We have cares, anxieties and difficulties, beloved brethren; are we disposed to be free?
While Martha had the Lord with her in her circumstances, Mary joined the Lord in His circumstances; she is supported by His priestly grace in His company. A pious Christian knows what it is to have the Lord with him in his circumstances. A spiritual person knows what it is to join the Lord where He is, in His circle; he is so attracted to the Lord that everything else is forgotten. The Lord ministered so to Mary’s heart that she forgot everything else. Do I know what it is for the Lord to minister to my heart? The Lord says, ‘I will maintain her. I will see that she is not distracted’. The Lord knows how to free us from infirmity.
The two disciples going to Emmaus had a care, but deep in their hearts they had the disposition for His company, they did want to have it and the Lord knew it and went after them and made Himself known to them. And He so ministered to them that they forgot the care that had pressed them before; they forgot their own circumstances; they forgot their own circle and they went back to Jerusalem to the circle of His interest. And that is priesthood. Beloved, how much have we forgotten our own things in the desire for His company? I ask my own soul, How much am I disposed for His company? We can have it if we want it.
The Lord when leaving His disciples lifted up His hands and blessed them, and those uplifted hands have never been put down; they are uplifted still in priestly grace to enable us to forget everything but Himself. If so, we must be absorbed with His company, and He will see to it that we have it. If there is heart disposition the infirmity is not too great for the priestly grace of our Lord. May He give us to know better what it is!