BY way of contrast, we will consider the effect of being favored beyond expectation, by one not a stranger. A youth, we will suppose, is employed in the household of a rich retired tradesman, who has shown various proofs of his appreciation of the lad’s services; on the other hand, it has been the delight of the youth to show himself worthy of his master’s confidence. But one day, during his master’s absence from home, he has the misfortune of injuring an old family relic, very greatly prized by his master. An old servant, rather jealous of the favor shown the youth, tells him that he will certainly get his notice to quit, when the master returns home and finds what he has done; and the poor lad sadly admits the justice of what is surmised.
On the evening of the day of the master’s return, the youth is told that the master wants to see him in his private room. With trembling expectation of rebuke and dismissal he goes into his master’s presence. But with considerable tenderness in his tone and manner, his master kindly tells him that he wishes to give him a fortnight’s holiday; and that at his own expense he is going to arrange for it!
“Oh, sir!” exclaims the astonished young servant. “If you knew what I have done you wouldn’t speak like that!” “But I do know,” he replies. “I was told as soon as I returned; and this is what accounts for what I am telling you. During my absence you have evidently been trying to do more than you had strength for, and I shall now see that you get the rest you so much need. I certainly was grieved to see that the relic was broken, but I think I know a man who will be able to repair it successfully before you come back! “The boy was certainly favored beyond all expectation, but it was by one who knew, and who valued his past services and good qualities.
But, when Jesus was here a stranger amongst men, we find how well He knew and understood all who came near Him. It was so with Nathanael. He knew him before they met.
“Whence knowest Thou me?” said Nathanael. And this was the answer he got: “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee” (John 1:48).
The woman of Samaria tried to prove to the Stranger, who humbly asked her for a drink, that she knew something of Jacob’s history; but she didn’t expect to find that He was intimately acquainted with the whole of her own history! “Go, call thy husband and come hither,” He said to her. To which she answered, “I have no husband!” “Thou hast well said, I have no husband, He replied, for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband; in that saidst thou truly.”
After revealing to her that He Himself was Israel’s promised Messiah, she left her water-pot and made her way back to the city, and said to those whom she met, “Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:5-30). She knew that they could not divulge anything worse than what He had proved He knew already. And yet she felt so powerfully attracted to Him, and so thoroughly at home in His presence that she could not help making Him known to others. “Come, see (not go and see) a Man, that told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?”
But let us consider another who got an introduction to the same great Discerner (Luke 5:1-8). It was on the shore of the lake of Gennesaret that it took place. The woman of Samaria was convinced that He knew what she had been. This man (Simon Peter) got proof that Jesus knew what he would be. He and his brother had been toiling all the night with no result, and to them it seemed very little use to let down their nets again. But at His word they did, with the result that a great multitude of fishes were enclosed; enough to fill both boats to sinking point. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me: for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” He felt unfit for His presence, yet couldn’t get away. In another Gospel we find that the Lord intended to make use of him and his brother Andrew by their becoming “fishers of men” (Mark 1:17). But respecting Peter, Jesus foresaw more than this. He told him that Satan had his eye upon him, and that when tested he would thrice deny that he ever knew Him; and even named the very time it would take place, before the cock-crowing. This ardent disciple could not believe such a thing possible. But Jesus knew it, and had already prayed for him in connection with it― “that thy faith fail not”―that is, that his confidence in Jesus might not be shaken, but his restoration secured. So the blessed Lord added, “when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren,” In his second epistle we find Peter doing this (2 Peter 3:17). “Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.” This is precisely what he himself had done! But at the predicted moment “the Lord turned and looked” upon poor Peter; in that “look,” the failing disciple found an unmistakable proof of His gracious Master’s unchanged love; while the bitter weeping that followed betokened Peter’s absolute distrust of his “own steadfastness.” It was, no doubt, the necessary preparation for boldly testifying, in the streets of the same city, of the life and death and resurrection, and exaltation to God’s right hand of the “same Jesus” that he once denied! The one who had said to Jesus, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord,” was thus made an effective “fisher of men.” The result is well known! “About three thousand souls” were added to the little company of those who had been loved, and (beyond all expectation) honored by Him Who was once a stranger in their city. GEO. C.