Christ, or Christianity--the system of thought and life which bears the name of Christ--has been injured by its friends, more, perhaps, than by its enemies. The process of Christianising modern Christianity is a process of purification, of elimination, of dropping what is inferior, of what is a mere misrepresentation; a process of exalting those great spiritual principles that Christ brought into the world, and for which He gave His life. The question is asked, Why is it that Christianity has not yet conquered the world? Christianity did not succeed in the East, its triumphs were only in the West, and we are hearing on every hand today that the forces of Christianity in the Western World seem to be spent. We are even told it is not holding its own against the advancing intelligence of Europe and America. I don’t believe these objections are true. I believe real Christianity is conquering and has conquered. I believe that real Christianity is holding its own against this advancing intelligence. I do but mention these objections to call attention to the process that is going on in these days--the process of eliminating from this current popular Christianity that which is unreal in it, and does not belong to it. The first great mistake of the Church was the association of Christianity with the State. Christianity ceasing to be a spiritual religion, and becoming simply a political system allied to the existing Government. Christianity was made into a vast secularised power. Hardly had Christianity time to show what was in it, and what it could do, than the stormy barbarisms of Europe broke upon it, and a wild sea of barbarian tribes surged and heaved where once the cultured fields of the Old World had been. There was thus destruction of civilisation, and there could be no greater proof of the vitality that was at the heart of Christianity, than the fact that after this storm had spent itself, the Church was the only power that raised its head. The sight that met the Church might have appalled the stoutest heart. Half-naked savages were masters of the world. As we look back on the conversion of the barbarians, it was very wonderful, but at the same time most unsatisfactory. It is idle to blame the past. It is the very genius of Christianity to take the world as it finds it, and bring out of its evils and errors some love of goodness and truth. Hallam says, “Had religion been more pure, it would have been less permanent, and Christianity has been saved by means of its corruptions.” The corruptions of medievalism encased the spiritual truths of Christ which were too pure and lofty for that generation to receive. The Church consecrated almost all the ceremonies of the barbarians, and absorbed a great many of their superstitions. Medieval Christianity is not the Christianity of Christ. It is an amalgam; a union of three things,--the simplicity of Christ; Roman imperialism; and barbarian superstitions. There was, at the time of the Reformation, a great protest against Roman imperialism, and a grave protest against the barbarian superstitions; and these protests are going on today. On the political side it is going on in all Protestant countries. On the religious side, it is the movement which aims to bring to the front what is distinctively Christian. So that when it is said that Christianity has spent its force in the West, that it is not holding its own against advancing intelligence, that missionary triumphs are not so great today as in the apostolic era, we must remember that Christianity has not yet had time to free itself from the alliance with the State, nor yet had time to free itself from barbarian superstitions; and that this process is going on today. It is a process that we can all see going on before our eyes. (K. C. Anderson, D. D.)
Christ wounded in the house of His friends
Wittingly or unwittingly, through a culpable negligence or haste, Christ is wounded in His cause, or in His spiritual body, in the house of His friends.
1. He is wounded when Christians grow cold in zeal, slack in duty, or forgetful of their solemn vows. They show indifference, ingratitude, selfishness.
2. When His cause is injured by the unbecoming conduct of His followers. Scandal in the Church is scandal heaped upon His name.
3. When indifference is shown by them to the success of the instrumentalities by which His cause is promoted. These instrumentalities are vital with Christ, as though His blood flowed through them, and His voice spake by them, and His heart beat in them. He is in the word, the sermon, the prayer, the praise.
4. By inattention to the Gospel, with its messages of duty, its invitations and exhortations.
5. By their lack of sympathy and cooperation within their sphere, with the institutions of charitable beneficence for the spread of the Gospel.
6. When Christians, instead of keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, treat one another with superciliousness and bitterness; when their intercourse is not marked by that gentleness and forbearance which the Gospel requires. Here looks may be daggers, and words blows. And are there not those who, by inconsistent conduct, by neglect of the ordinances of the sanctuary, by worldliness, by passion, by unbrotherly feeling and act, dishonour their profession, disregard their solemn vows, and do injury to the cause of Christ? Is it not a fact, that all the assaults of infidelity, all the rage of profanity, all the recklessness of vice and crime, do far less to check the power of the Gospel than the scandals and offences of professed disciples?(E. H. Gillet.)
The unkindness of friends
I. Who is the person mentioned as being wounded? No other than the great God, our Creator and Redeemer, the “Man Christ Jesus.” It was this mysterious man, this God-man, of whom the prophet inquires in the words of our text, “What are these wounds in Thy hands?”
II. What is meant by being “wounded in the house of his friends”? This “fair world” is meant by “the house of His friends.” “All things were made by Him.” The house of His friends was His own house; He built it for them; He came into it because He had a right to; He came into it to do them good, to save them from their wickedness and woe; but they wounded Him, and cast Him out. You all know the history of the Divine Jesus, who was “wounded for our transgressions.” In what sense can they be called His “friends” who used Him thus? I may call a man my friend in one or both of two senses.
1. Because he acts a friendly part towards me, though I have not deserved it; or,
2. Because I act a friendly part towards him, though he has not deserved it. A man may be a friend to me; or I may be a friend to him. Christ calls us friends, because He was a friend to us, though we were no friends to Him.
III. What is meant by its being mentioned that He was wounded in the hands? By the feet are signified the ways or goings of a man, his moral conduct. By the hands are signified the works of a man, or the deeds of his life in general. The hands are the instruments of the heart, or will, or mind, or soul. In the house of His friends, Jesus was taunted with all His good deeds. His hands were pierced, because He wrought His Father’s will; and His feet were nailed because He chose His Father’s ways.
IV. What think you of the Creator and Proprietor of the world being thus dealt with by His ungrateful creatures? Nevertheless, He deigns to designate them by the gracious name of friends. What think you of the human beings who could persecute to death the benefactor that was come to bless them, to buy them with His blood? Can you possibly be guilty of their crime? Every evil deed you do crucifies the Lord of Glory. (W. H. Henslowe, M. A.)
Wounded by friends
The prophet says, that such would be the discipline among the new people after having repented that each in his own house would chastise his sons and relatives: and it is an evidence of perfect zeal, when not only judges perform their office in correcting wickedness, but when also private individuals assist to preserve public order, each according to his power. We may gather from the answer what proves true repentance. “Say will” one (it is put in definitely), or it will be said, “What mean these wounds in Thine hands?” Then He will say, “I have been stricken by My friends.” The prophet shows that those who had previously deceived the people, would become new men, so as patiently to bear correction; though it might seem hard when the hands are wounded and pierced, yet he says that the punishment, which was in itself severe, would yet be counted mild, for they would be endued with such meekness as willingly to bear to be corrected. Some apply this to Christ, because Zechariah has mentioned wounds on the hands; but this is very puerile; for it is quite evident that he speaks here of false teachers, who had for a time falsely pretended God’s name. As then they say, that they were friends by whom they were smitten, they acknowledge themselves worthy of such punishment, and they murmur not, nor set up any complaint. (Marckins, Adam Clarke, and Henderson, agree with Calvin in repudiating the notion that this verse is to be understood of the Crucifixion of our Saviour,--a notion commonly entertained by papal expositors.) (John Calvin.)
Wounded by friends
There is no wound so painful as the wound inflicted by a familiar friend. The secret devices of the hireling may be anticipated. The blows of an avowed foe can be healed. The neglect of the proudly indifferent can be endured. But the slight of a friend, the faithlessness of the lover, inflicts a wound for which earth provides no cordial and no balm. “Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” when, in the palace of the High Priest, in the dim light of the early morning, “one of the officers, which stood by, struck Jesus with the palm of his hand,” the wound was only skin deep; but when in the outer court of that same palace a friend called Peter was saying, “I know not the man,” the wound was attended with an agony. When the chief priests and elders “gave large money unto the soldiers” to induce them to give false witness, the pangs of the crucifixion were intensified; but when “Barnabas also was carried away with dissimulation,” our Lord was crucified afresh. I am not doubting the friendship; nay, it is essential to my purpose that we should quietly assume its sincerity and its strength. I am not now dealing with masked foes, who wear the King’s livery, who have caught the King’s tones and expression, but who are inwardly fiercely and determinedly hostile to His claim and dominion. No, I speak of His genuine friends, friends as genuine as Simon Peter, and I want to speak of some of the ways in which we sorely wound Him when He abides beneath our roof.
1. We wound our Lord by our destructive zeal. Zeal is a very essential element in the religious life. It is as welcome a thing in the indifferent world as a warm fire on a winter’s night. Zeal is genial and heartening. It keeps the affections fresh and radiant; it provides the requisite atmosphere in which all the powers of the life can attain their maturity. If the flame of zeal be in any way corrupted it works against the kingdom of our Lord. If the fire of zeal be kept clean it is the friend of life, if it become unclean it is the friend of death. The pure fervour may so easily become an evil fever! when we assume we are working in hallowed zeal. “Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and we forbade him, because he followed not with us.” How friendly was the disposition to the Lord, and how strong and decisive the act! A fiery zeal for truth was being corrupted into a clouded passion for sect. “Master, wilt Thou that we call down fire from heaven to consume them?” How zealous, and yet how blind! It is always so much easier to burn your enemies than to convert them. You know what kind of armour is used by an illiberal zeal. In the supposed interests of the Kingdom we use methods of misrepresentation, misinterpretation, exaggeration--I do not say wilfully, for that would place us outside the ranks of the Master’s friends, but blinded by our perverted zeal--and the issue of such warfare is not the discomfiture of the devil but the wounding of the Lord. We detach things from their context.
2. We wound our Lord by our thoughtless kindness. “And they brought unto Him little children, that He should touch them and the disciples rebuked them.” The disciples acted in presumed kindness to their Master, and yet how unkind was the ministry! They were protecting the Lord because He was tired, saving Him from the embarrassment of the multitude. Their purpose was right; the means they employed were thoughtless. And it frequently happens that even when our deeds are right, the manner in which we perform them is offensive. We can wound the Lord by the clumsy way in which we serve Him. There are some men who boast of their want of refinement. We are responsible to God both for the man and the manner. It is not enough that we serve Him; we must serve Him in a way that will make no wounds. “Let your light so shine!” It is not enough that the light is shining; we are to take pains that it shines in the right way. There are well-meaning men who throw their kindness at you. All such kindness wounds the Lord Himself. “What are these wounds in Thine hands?” They are the wounds the Master received from the clumsy kindness of His friends.
3. We wound our Lord by our faithlessness when in the warfare of life the odds are against us. It is easy to be His friends when He walks along the palm-strewn ways of Jerusalem, and everybody vies with everybody else in acclaiming Him the King of Glory. But when the crowd melts away, and the minority is very small, it is so easy to become ashamed of the leader and to say: “I know not the man.” Our true friends are revealed when we are “down.” The nightingale is lovely, not because his song is sweeter than the note of the thrush, but because he sings in the night. And this is just our Lord’s friendship; He is at His best when we are at our weakest. If I am in company, and the intercourse is unseemly, am I a friend of the Lord or a deserter? I would far rather be called a prig by the men of the world than be known as a faithless friend of my Lord. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
The wounds of Jesus
The wounds of Jesus speak more eloquently than words.
I. Of what do they speak to us?
1. Of the love of God. How full the Bible is of messages of God’s love.
2. Of sin.
3. Of forgiveness, intercession, and atonement.
II. To whom do these wounds speak?
1. To the children of God. To the advanced Christian ripe for glory. To him they speak of the heavenly perfection to which the Captain of our salvation attained through the suffering of which they are the sign. To those just starting out in the Christian life. To such they point to the path of suffering for His sake; that by the fellowship of suffering we may also be united with Him in His glory. To those who have been unfaithful and neglectful of duty. To these they speak reproach, that they have wounded the Lord afresh, and the voice of tender appeal that they may repent and return to Him.
2. To the doubting, trembling inquirer who has not yet accepted the Lord as his Saviour, and to the hardened unbeliever.
III. By whom inflicted? The text says they were received in the “house of His friends.” You ask how the friends of Christ may wound Him?
1. By indifference. The present indifference of the Church greatly wounds the Divine heart of our Lord.
2. By opposition. Many things that are being done by His professed followers are out of harmony with His desires, and therefore must wound Him.
3. By preferring other persons and other things to Him. He wants the first place in the hearts of all His disciples, and not to give it to Him wounds Him. (J. I. Blackburn, D. D.)
