01.13. Chapter 13 The Feet of Jesus—the Place of Worship

Chapter 13 The Feet of Jesus—the Place of Worship

Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." Matthew 28:9-10

Krummacher may well attribute to that saying in John 20:17, "a depth of meaning which has never yet been explored by man." There Jesus says to Mary, "Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brothers and tell them that I am ascending to My Father and your Father—to My God and your God." But a very short period had elapsed since the positive prohibition to Mary to touch Him, and now we find no hindrance put in the way of these disciples; they hold Him by the feet and worship Him. The events of the forty days after the resurrection are very full of mystery—more so than any period in our Lord’s life; the forty days’ temptation in the wilderness alone coming near them in mystery. None, we may imagine, if imagination might have any place here, would the Lord have been better pleased to allow to touch Him than this one to whom He had been so gracious, and whom He loved so well; but to her came the decided prohibition, "Do not hold on to Me."

We could not pass by some consideration of this refusal of Mary’s touch; because one of the first questions which would suggest itself to the Mind on reading this touching by the disciples in the passage before us, would be, "Why were they allowed to touch Jesus—and why was she forbidden?" The idea of Mary, then, being that she was to have her Lord, even as He had been to her before—Jesus had to meet that mistaken thought, and He does so at the fittest time, and in the best way.

Jesus had spoken marvelously to this favored woman when He uttered her name—the simple word "Mary." He had come near her with an inward living voice and thrill, and now He immediately retreats from her again, for she interprets humanly—what He interprets divinely; she in an earthly—but He in a heavenly sense. It is as though He said, "The relation between us is somewhat changed; my former life with you will return no more—but after a brief time of transition my elevation to the Father will come—all this from the beginning you must know and ponder well."

Let us return to Mary in the garden. She sees Jesus alive once more before her. She hears Him, as of old, call her by her name; He is hers, she thinks, again—hers as He had been before; hers not to be torn from her again. All the warmth of those former days of familiar friendship filling her glad heart, she offers Him not the homage of a higher worship—but addresses Him as He did her; "Rabboni," she says—my own, my old, my well-loved Master. She makes some gesture as of embracing him. Gently—but firmly our Lord repels the too warm, too human, too familiar approach. "Do not hold on to Me, Mary. You think of me as given back to be to you the same exactly that I was before. You are mistaken; our relationship is changed; our method of fellowship must be altered. You must learn to think of me and to act towards me differently from what you ever did before; I am here—but it is only for a short season. I am on earth—but I am now on my way to my Father; my home is no longer with you and the others here below, it is there with my Father, up in heaven; still shall I feel to you and all the others as tenderly as I ever felt, not ashamed to call them still my brethren. Touch me not, then, Mary; stop not to lavish on me an affection that has in it too much of the human, and too little of the divine; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, ’I ascend to my Father, and to your Father, and to my God and to your God; my Father and my God in a sense in which He is not and cannot be yours; but your Father and your God in a sense in which He could not have been yours had I not died and risen, and been on my way now to sit down with Him on the throne of glory in the heavens."

We see, then, that there were good reasons why Mary should not be allowed to touch the Lord; but no such reasons existed in the case of these women. They were in the act of fulfilling the commission given to them by the angels, when He met them with greeting, saying, ’Greetings.’ It was the same Jesus who thus acted so differently, forbidding even a touch to one; and permitting what might be called a long holding to others. The like thing happens continually now in the fellowship between Jesus and His people.

It is the same Christ who acts—but the actings are in opposite directions. Sometimes we stumble at this. We measure what He does—by our slight knowledge of people’s circumstances, feelings, dangers, temptations, and we think we know what indeed is only known to Him. We may be certain that in every instance there is a specific adaptation to the individual need. The permitting to one may seem very large, and the withholding to another very strict; and, moreover, we may think that the one from whom a heart’s desire is withheld, is the very one to whom it should be given. But let us say, ’It is the Lord, shall He not do as He will with His own, shall He not act out of the fullness of His own knowledge, both as regards us and the interests of His kingdom?’

Jesus thus dealt differently with people who seemed apparently to be in much the same position. They all loved Him, they were all bereft, they were all disciples. But the sameness of position is very often only apparent, there is fundamental difference. We may safely leave it to Jesus—how to treat the case of each disciple and loved one. And is it not a great comfort to know that He will wisely decide? What would become of us if He did not—how exalted some would become, how set in slippery places; and how depressed others, how cast into gloom.

All things here seem jumbled up together; but with Him and in His dealings with us, there will be wise and particular dealings.

Only let us make sure that it is ’the Lord’ with whom we have to do; and that point secured, all will be well.

We perceive, too, that there is that permitted (because it could be done so harmlessly) to those in the way of active duty—which may be dangerous to one whose soul is simply filled with pious feelings. The Lord requires of us all, that we should not find our rest in the moments of sweet communion with Him, not seek, as it were, to touch Him in love too much mingled with selfish ingredients—but go forth with our commission into life, to do the work for which He sends us.

Indeed this holding thus permitted to these women while in the activity of a high ministry, even the bearing of a message of the resurrection to the disciples, occupies a particularly safe and happy place. It is preceded by a "Greetings!" it is followed by a "Do not be afraid." It was made safe to them by the position in which it was bestowed, and by the command to them to proceed in the mission on which they were. To them this privilege might have been no more safe than to Mary, had not the command to be up and speed upon their way been quickly given. It is the balance of the Christian life—we are not constructed for communion without activity, nor for activity without communion—the mingling of the two is Christian life. David connected them then together, "I will run the way of your commandments, when you shall enlarge my heart."

We see here, also, one of the surprises of the spiritual life. There are such, even as in the life natural. What could be such a joyful surprise as this appearance of the Savior to the disciples on the road? Surely the spiritual life is not the dull and uneventful one which some suppose. The people of the world look upon it as one of monotony, with no events, no changes, no pleasures, no healthy excitements—but this is only because they do not know it. No doubt it has its alternations from joy to sorrow—but also those from sorrow to joy. If there are heavy days for Zion when her children sit down by the waters of Babylon and weep, there are others where the Lord, having turned their captivity, they are like unto them that dream.

We are reminded also of the blessed confirmations which there are in the spiritual life. The angel’s words, "He is not here, he is risen," are assured as true to them by the Lord Himself. It was the highest confirmation which they could get. The wonders which the Samaritan woman told her people, were attested by the Savior, so that they believed, not because of her word—but because of the confirmation which they received with their own ears. And, surely, among His dealings of blessing with His people, this confirmation is not to be forgotten. We hear from ministers, we read in books, this and that good thing about Him; who can confirm them to us like Himself?

If we simply believe, (however much amazed and confused we may be)—and obey—for being found in the path of obedience is everything, then our faith shall receive confirmation. It may be in an unlikely and unexpected way—but it will be in God’s way. God has His own confirmations for those who are in the path of active faith, as suitable to us at the particular time and under our particular circumstances—as wonderful, as gracious as this permission to the women to hold the Savior by the feet and worship Him.