The Free-agency of Christ

“And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

“And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

“After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.”

Men arrive at Christ by different processes: one is found by Christ himself, another comes to him, another is borne of four, and this blind man is led. This matters little, so long as we do come to him.

The act of bringing men to Jesus is most commendable.

It proves kindly feeling.

It shows practical faith in the power of Jesus.

It is thus an act of true wisdom.

It is exceedingly acceptable to the Lord; and is sure to prove effectual when the person himself willingly comes.

In this case there was something faulty in the bringing, since there was a measure of dictation as to the method in which the Lord should operate.

I. IT IS A COMMON WEAKNESS OF FAITH TO EXPECT THE BLESSING IN A CERTAIN FIXED WAY. “They besought him to touch him.”

The Lord has his usual ways, but he is not bound to them.

Yet too often we think and act as if he were so.

1. We dream that deliverance from trouble must come in one way.

2. We look for sanctification either by afflictions or by ecstasies.

3. We hope for salvation only by one form of experience.

4. We look to see others converted in one fashion of feeling only, or by someone favorite ministry.

5. We expect a revival to take the stereotyped shape.

II. WHILE OUR LORD HONORS FAITH, HE DOES NOT DEFER TO ITS WEAKNESS.

He did not consent to work in the prescribed manner.

He touched, but no healing came; and thus he proved that the miracle was not attached to that special form of operation.

He did nothing to the blind man before their eyes; but led him out of the town. He would not indulge their observation, or curiosity.

He did not heal him instantly, as they expected.

He used a means never suggested by them—“spit on his eyes,” etc.

When he did put his hands on him, he did it twice, so that, even in compliance with their wish, he vindicated his own freedom.

1. Thus he refused to foster the superstition which limited his power.

2. Thus he used a method more suited to the case.

3. Thus he gave to the people larger instruction.

4. Thus he displayed to the individual a more personal care.

   • The like happens in each distinct conversion: its speciality is justified in a multitude of ways.

III. WHILE OUR LORD REBUKES THE WEAKNESS OF FAITH, HE HONORS FAITH ITSELF.

1. The blind man had consented to be led to Jesus, and Jesus leads him further. He refuses none because their coming to him has been less their own spontaneous act than yielding to the persuasion of others.

2. His friends had asked for sight, and the Lord gave sight. If we have praying faith, he will keep pace with it.

3. The man and his friends had exhibited confidence in him, and he gave them even more than they expected. If we can confide, we shall receive.

4. The cure was perfect, and the method used displayed the completeness of it. Jesus gives perfect gifts to imperfect faith.

   • Faith ever honors the Lord, and therefore the Lord honors it.
   • If faith were not thus rewarded, Jesus himself would suffer dishonor.
   • He who has faith shall surely see; he who demands signs shall not be satisfied.

Let us forever have done with prescribing methods to our Lord.

Jesus will surely heal those who believe in him; he knows the best method; and he is to be trusted without reserve.

Examples

This case, and that of the deaf and stammering man brought to Christ in Decapolis, have many points of resemblance. In both, those who brought the diseased to Jesus prescribed to him the mode of cure. Was it for the purpose of reproving and counteracting the prejudice which connected the cure with a certain kind of manipulation, on the part of the curer, that Jesus, in both instances, went so far out of his usual course, varying the manner of his action so singularly that, out of all his miracles of healing, these two stand distinguished by the unique mode of their performance? It is certain that, had Jesus observed one uniform method of healing, the spirit of formalism and superstition, which lies so deep in our nature, would have seized upon it, and linked it, inseparably, with the divine virtue that went out of him, confounding the channel with the blessing it conveyed. As we ponder the life of our Redeemer, dwelling particularly on those parts of it—such as his institution of the sacraments—in which food might have been furnished upon which the spirit of formalism might have fed, more and more do we admire the pains evidently taken to give to that strong tendency of our nature as little material as possible to fasten on.—Dr. Hanna.

Is the sick man the doctor, that he should choose the remedy?

—Madame Swetchine.

John Newton’s hymn is a case in point. We quote a verse or two:—

I asked the Lord that I might grow In faith, and love, and every grace; Might more of His salvation know,

And seek, more earnestly, His face.

I hoped that in some favored hour, At once He’d answer my request; And, by His love’s constraining power,

Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this He made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart,

And let the angry powers of Hell

Assault my soul in every part.

Thus did infinite wisdom answer his prayer in a way which he had never dreamed of, and yet it was the right way, as he confessed.

So apt are people, as in the case of Naaman, to settle in their own minds the method of the work of grace, that it is hard to overcome their preconceptions. I met with one young woman, before whom I set the way of salvation by faith alone. She was long in accepting, or even understanding it; and when she did grasp it, and the joy of it filled her heart, she exclaimed, with surprise, “I never thought that people could find peace in this way.” “Why not?” I asked her, and she replied very energetically, “I always believed that one must almost go to Hell to get to Heaven. My father was so full of despair that they locked him up in the asylum for six months, and then at last he got religion.”—C. H. S.