Christ Our Example
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In all things He brought His wishes into strict abeyance to His
mission. He glorified His life by making everything in it subordinate
to the will of His Father. When in His youth, His mother, finding
Him in the school of the rabbis, said, “Son, why hast Thou thus dealt
with us?” He answered,—and His answer is the key-note of His life-
work,—“How is it that ye sought Me? wist ye not that I must be about
My Father’s business?” [
Luke 2:48, 49
.]
His life was one of constant self-sacrifice. He had no home in
this world, except as the kindness of friends provided for Him as a
wayfarer. He came to live in our behalf the life of the poorest, and to
walk and work among the needy and the suffering. Unrecognized and
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unhonored, He walked in and out among the people for whom He had
done so much.
He was always patient and cheerful, and the afflicted hailed Him as
a messenger of life and peace. He saw the needs of men and women,
children and youth, and to all He gave the invitation, “Come unto Me.”
During His ministry, Jesus devoted more time to healing the sick
than to preaching. His miracles testified to the truth of His words, that
He came not to destroy, but to save. Wherever He went, the tidings
of His mercy preceded Him. Where He had passed, the objects of
His compassion were rejoicing in health, and making trial of their
new-found powers. Crowds were collecting around them to hear from
their lips the works that the Lord had wrought. His voice was the first
sound that many had ever heard, His name the first word they had ever
spoken, His face the first they had ever looked upon. Why should they
not love Jesus, and sound His praise? As He passed through the towns
and cities, He was like a vital current, diffusing life and joy....
The Saviour made each work of healing an occasion of implanting
divine principles in the mind and soul. This was the purpose of His
work. He imparted earthly blessings, that He might incline the hearts
of men to receive the gospel of His grace.
Christ might have occupied the highest place among the teachers of
the Jewish nation, but He preferred rather to take the gospel to the poor.
He went from place to place, that those in the highways and byways
might hear the words of truth. By the sea, on the mountainside, in the
streets of the city, in the synagogue, His voice was heard explaining
the Scriptures. Often He taught in the outer court of the temple, that
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the Gentiles might hear His words.