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The Desire of Ages
With their short measuring line they could not fathom the mission
which He came to fulfill, and therefore could not sympathize with Him
in His trials. Their coarse, unappreciative words showed that they had
no true perception of His character, and did not discern that the divine
blended with the human. They often saw Him full of grief; but instead
of comforting Him, their spirit and words only wounded His heart. His
sensitive nature was tortured, His motives were misunderstood, His
work was uncomprehended.
His brothers often brought forward the philosophy of the Pharisees,
which was threadbare and hoary with age, and presumed to think that
they could teach Him who understood all truth, and comprehended all
mysteries. They freely condemned that which they could not under-
stand. Their reproaches probed Him to the quick, and His soul was
wearied and distressed. They avowed faith in God, and thought they
were vindicating God, when God was with them in the flesh, and they
knew Him not.
These things made His path a thorny one to travel. So pained was
Christ by the misapprehension in His own home that it was a relief
to Him to go where it did not exist. There was one home that He
loved to visit,—the home of Lazarus, and Mary, and Martha; for in
the atmosphere of faith and love His spirit had rest. Yet there were
none on earth who could comprehend His divine mission, or know
the burden which He bore in behalf of humanity. Often He could find
relief only in being alone, and communing with His heavenly Father.
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Those who are called to suffer for Christ’s sake, who have to
endure misapprehension and distrust, even in their own home, may
find comfort in the thought that Jesus has endured the same. He is
moved with compassion for them. He bids them find companionship
in Him, and relief where He found it, in communion with the Father.
Those who accept Christ as their personal Saviour are not left as
orphans, to bear the trials of life alone. He receives them as members
of the heavenly family; He bids them call His Father their Father.
They are His “little ones,” dear to the heart of God, bound to Him by
the most tender and abiding ties. He has toward them an exceeding
tenderness, as far surpassing what our father or mother has felt toward
us in our helplessness as the divine is above the human.
Of Christ’s relation to His people, there is a beautiful illustration
in the laws given to Israel. When through poverty a Hebrew had been