James Nisbet Commentary - Luke 18:31 - 18:34

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James Nisbet Commentary - Luke 18:31 - 18:34


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THE CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TOWARDS SUFFERING

‘Then He took unto Him the twelve … and they understood none of these things.’

Luk_18:31-34

To us the point that is astonishing about that is, no doubt, the want of understanding on the part of the Apostles. But does it not represent, in point of fact, a broad feature of Christian experience—namely this, that spiritual truths cannot be grasped by people, however clearly and definitely they are presented to them, unless they have at that time those faculties, those conditions prevailing in their own life and soul, which enable them to assimilate the truth that is put before them? What was there lacking in the condition of the Apostles at this point? It was not mere dullness, nor was it lack of sympathy, but something else. And as we look forward, it occurs to us at once that these very truths and this very simple section of creed, so to speak, which our Lord puts so succinctly before them, and they refused, was precisely the dogmatic point which they had reached a few weeks later, when St. Peter stood up, at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. It was precisely these things that he had then, with full conviction, and full grasp, to proclaim. A few weeks made the whole difference. What had taken place in the interval to give him this new power to grasp the spiritual truth which at this moment they had entirely failed to grasp? Well, the events are well enough known to us, and there is one thing that stands out plainly in that record of the fortnight, and which may be summed up in the one word ‘suffering.’

Let me state the four stages in which a man goes through a progressive education in this very matter of suffering, so that you will see that as a man grows in the knowledge of suffering, he grows also in the power to apprehend and grasp spiritual truths.

I. Ignorance of suffering.—First in life comes what I may call the stage of ignorance of suffering, the stage of innocence of suffering, that untroubled serenity of the life which has as yet not been brought in contact with trouble, or sorrow, or loss, or any of those things which rend the heart of man. There, then, is the first stage, but for the most part we do not stay long in it. Lives are rare which go on for a considerable course in this untroubled serenity.

II. Rebellion against suffering.—Trouble comes quickly, and then begins the difficulty. When it comes, what is our instinctive attitude of mind towards it? I think I may say that it is an instinctive rebellion against it, either for myself or those whom I love. The instinctive attitude of men is rebellion against suffering, trouble, sorrow, against all the different forms of pain and anguish which disfigure the world. We are inclined to say in our homely language, ‘It is a shame.’ And even that phrase has something about it of rebellion against suffering.

III. Trust in suffering.—The Apostles had passed on from that second stage and come to a third. They had come to a stage of trust. They could look at it, they could listen to what He said. They could not understand, but at least they said nothing; they trusted. This trust is not yet capable of grasping hard lessons, but wait, wait, it is on the way to something better. And so the endurance of sorrow leads men to understand sorrow, and understanding suffering to understand more spiritual things, linked together as they are with the great supreme fact of suffering.

IV. Wisdom from suffering.—By the right endurance of suffering, man becomes intelligent, spiritual, capable of grasping things, not only of grasping them for himself, not only of seeing the meaning for himself of the mysterious dealings of God with him which we call suffering, but of seeing all that for the sake of other people, and of feeling able not merely to bear his own but to help others also to bear theirs, not mutely, like the dog, but intelligently, like a man who feels God’s hand upon him, and is able to say, not in blind trust, but in full conviction, ‘It is good for me that I have been troubled.’ He reaches the stage then of wisdom, when he really knows what suffering means and has had a whole faculty given him of spiritual understanding.

V. What are the results?—There are two of great importance. Having come to the knowledge of the meaning of suffering,

(a) Man has a reasonable theory of the world and of God’s relation towards him.

(b) Man will seek out suffering for its redemptive and educative qualities. So far from not understanding it himself, he will wish to expound it to others. And that practical attitude towards suffering ought to be at the bottom of the methods of all Christian life.

—
Rev. W. H. Frere.

Illustration

‘Have you ever, I wonder, had to do something to a pet dog which hurt it very much, so as to get it well: to pull a thorn out of its foot, or wash out a wound, or something of that sort? You may remember the sort of dumb eloquence there was in the eye of the dog as he looked at you. It hurt tremendously, and yet there seemed to speak from his eyes trust of you. It looked as if he meant to say, “I do not in the least understand what you are doing, but go on.” And that is the picture of the stage of trust. It is a very necessary stage, into which we have to be brought in our experience of suffering; perhaps when we are more acutely torn by it, in the case of those whom we love, we have to look mutely up to God and say to Him, “I do not understand it at all, but go on.” It is a real state of trust in God, and a step towards something further.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE FUTURE

I. Christ’s contemplation of His future.—Our future is wisely and mercifully hidden from us; Christ’s ever lay open before Him. He had a veritable book of fate in the prophets and his own clear consciousness and knowledge.

(a) There was terrible suffering in it. But He was ready to endure the Cross and despise the shame. ‘Take up the cross and follow Me,’ He says to us.

(b) There was satisfaction in it. What rest and satisfaction in that word ‘accomplished’! If we feel that our life is, in some degree at least, ‘accomplished,’ the sufferings will have been a small price to pay for the rest and gratitude at the close.

(c) There was triumph in it. He was to rise again and conquer, and heaven’s everlasting doors were to open that the King of Glory might enter. Let us think of the ‘well done,’ the crown and the palm, when we would shrink from suffering in the path of duty, or are like to faint by the way.

II. Christ’s going to Jerusalem to meet His future.—This was His last and tragic, yet triumphant journey thither. Let our last days be our best. As we approach ‘Jerusalem,’ let our lives be more earnest, hopeful, Christlike.

III. Christ’s telling His disciples of the future that lay before Him.—Their future was bound up with His. Christ makes revelations to His followers as they are able to bear them. The very knowledge that would destroy our confidence at one stage increases our faith at another. Let us thank God for the veil, and for the partial and timely lifting of the veil.