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‘And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him.’
Mar_11:3
I. The first step to Calvary.—When He sent the disciples for the colt which was tied up in the street of Bethphage, He was, as He knew, taking the first step in a series which would end within a week upon Mount Calvary. Everything, accordingly, is measured, deliberate, calm. It is this deliberateness in His advance to die; it is this voluntariness in His sufferings which, next to the fact of His true Divinity, gives to the death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ its character as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.
II. The exact nature of our Lord’s claims.—‘If any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him.’ What is the justification of this demand? It is a question which can only be answered in one way, namely, that Christ was all along the true owner of the colt, and that the apparent owner was but His bailiff. He claims what He has lent for a while, He resumes that which has always been His own; we hear the voice of the Being to Whom man owes all that he is, and all that he has—‘Whose we are, and Whom we serve.’
III. Christ can make use of all.—Our Lord’s words show how He can make use of all, even of the lowest and the least. It was of the colt at Bethphage that He Himself said, ‘The Lord hath need of him.’ The colt, insignificant in itself, had become necessary to our Lord at one of the great turning-points of His life; it was needed for a service unique and incomparable, which has given it a place in sacred history to the very end of time. The colt was to be conspicuous in that great sacrificial procession—for such it was—in which He, the prime and flower of our race, moved forward deliberately to yield Himself to the wills of men, who to-day can shout ‘Hosannah!’ and who to-morrow will cry ‘Crucify!’ The needs of God! It was surely too bold an expression if He had not authorised us to use it. And yet there they stand, the words—‘The Lord hath need of him.’
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Canon Liddon.
Illustration‘How many there are who say to us nowadays when we seek recruits for the ranks of the ministry, whether for home or missionary work, What do ye loosing this man or that, tied and bound as young men are by so many ties to this world’s interests and occupations; how people raise objections, and yet “the Lord hath need of them,” and they are loosed, not by our word, but by the will and power of God, just as it was not the disciples’ word, but the power of Christ acting with their word, which caused the owners to change their mind and recall their objection.’
AN INDIVIDUAL APPEAL
I. He wants you for Himself.—Because He loved you for His own free love’s sake, and must have you with Him, therefore He came down, and was miserable, and died; and His mission is frustrated till you come. You are the ‘joy set before Him,’ for which He ‘endured the cross, despising the shame.’ And, when you are His, then He sees of the ‘travail of His soul,’ and is ‘satisfied.’
II. He wants you for His Church.—Understand this: The Church is a building; you can never tell what stone the Great Master Builder may require next. You may be that stone. It is a family or spiritual party—you complete the circle. For remember, God is busy accomplishing the number of His elect. It may be very near its accomplishment. Perhaps you make up the total!
III. He wants you for His work.—You must have faith in this. There is a vast amount of good to be done at this moment, and each work has its own proper, appointed worker set apart for that work from all eternity. No doubt, though you are not conscious of it, yet He has some special work for you to do.
IV. He wants you for His glory.—Think how you will chant His praise, how angels will admire, how saints will rejoice at your conversion. What a testimony it may be to many! and how great will be His own grace to such a poor sinner as you before the eyes of perhaps other worlds!
Illustrations
(1) ‘When those mysterious deaths come which so confuse us by removing one who could so ill be spared, we do not sufficiently remember that this is not the only sphere of action. God has other busy worlds besides this; they may be wanted there, just at that moment for some work, preparing to do there, and which no other could do so well. Therefore they went. “The Lord hath need of him.” Be ready, for it is very likely at this moment you have something which you call your own for which Christ may very soon put in his demand; and you must be prepared for the message in whatever garb the message comes: “The Lord hath need” of it.’
(2) ‘There is very great comfort in the fact that when Christ sent to appropriate what was indeed His own, He sent also the constraining power of His own grace to overrule that it might consent to the surrender. And so it came to pass that though there was a momentary hesitation, the opposition all gave way, and there was complete accordance. This is indeed an allegory. For in like manner, however painful the sacrifice may be to which I may be called, the same Christ will not fail, when the time comes, to give a prompt and submissive mind.’