What an infinite promise of blessing is contained in these words of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 11:28)! Never did one who felt their need and helplessness come to Him and find themselves turned away and still in need. He, in His Person, full of love, grace and compassion, truly was the perfect fulfillment of that “fruitful bough... whose branches run over the wall” (Gen. 49:22). Nothing could hinder God’s blessing flowing out to the needy through His Son. What a freehearted giver is our God (Rom. 8:32)!
Even though the Lord Jesus came to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24), there was infinite, divine compassion in Him to reward the faith of all who came. None who approached expressing need were turned away by the Lord. Each Gospel contains many precious accounts which comfort the heart, strengthen the feeble knees, lift up the hands that hang down and ought to cause praise to ascend to Him who alone is worthy.
Matthew
The blind man, owning Him as “Son of David,” receives sight (Matt. 9:27), while, though the multitude would continually hinder the outflow of His divine mercy, He graciously hears the cry of two more blind men, giving them sight (Matt. 20:30).
Peter’s faith faltered in the midst of a storm, and, beginning to sink in the stormy waves, he cries out, “Lord, save me,” bringing instant deliverance by the Creator and Sustainer of all things (Matt. 14:30).
A Gentile mother seeks blessing using that same title (“Son of David”) but receives no answer. She has no claim to blessing as one of the privileged children of Israel. Yet, when she cries, “Lord, help me,” owning herself as an undeserving Gentile dog, there is immediate mercy to meet her need (Matt. 15:22-28).
A helpless father, receiving no help from the disciples, cries, “Lord, have mercy,” and his grievously tormented son is immediately freed from the devil that had tormented him (Matt. 17:14-19).
Mark
An outcast leper comes believing there is healing power available in Jesus: “If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean” (Mark 1:40). The perfect Servant says but five words “I will; be thou clean” His divine touch curing the leper’s hopeless condition.
When the ruler of a synagogue falls at the feet of the divine Servant, crying to Him for his dying daughter, the Lord Jesus graciously goes and, in the midst of ridicule, restores her life (Mark 5:22). This perfect Servant’s work so astonished the multitude that they say, “He hath done all things well” (Mark 7:37).
Luke Such was the infinite sympathy of the Man of Sorrows that in the presence of the unspeakable grief of a widowed mother about to bury her only son, He says, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise,” and death flees from the presence of Life (Luke 7:14).
When His disciples cry, “Master, Master, we perish,” the Lord Jesus rebukes and stills the storm while reproving their unbelief (Luke 8:24).
A woman who had spent eighteen years bent over in crippled helplessness, perhaps as unable to see the Son of Man as the blind, utters no cry for help. Yet that divine Man sees her, knows her condition, and His hands convey healing so that she is able to stand up straight and glorify God (Luke 13:11-13).
John
A thirsty, outcast woman requests of a thirsty Stranger the eternal Son of God “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw” (John 4:15). She receives lasting satisfaction that six different men were unable to give her.
A woman taken in the act of sin has no excuse to offer to the One who sees all (Heb. 4:13) and judges righteously (John 5:30). But standing alone with Him, she listens to the most precious words a guilty soul can hear: “Neither do I condemn thee” (John 8:11).
A weeping woman who has lost a loved brother breathes out the agony of her heart when she tells the “Light of the world,” “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (John 11:32). Shortly after, the “Resurrection and the Life” calls forth life from the gloomy grave. “Jesus wept,” but now dear Mary and her sister can “rejoice evermore.”
How many precious gifts do we find in the Gospels, given to those who accepted the blessed Lord Jesus’ tender, loving invitation, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Let’s come to Him asking for much! “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).
Ed.