September 27

The Son of man came not to he ministered unto. - Matthew 20:28.

THERE is something in this that fills us, at first, with astonishment. When we consider his grandeur, the place from which he descended (for he came down from heaven), and the honour and glory and homage he enjoyed there, it is natural for us to conclude that when he enters our earth, he will be welcomed in a manner becoming his dignity, that he will have numerous attendants who will be all ready to run and fly at his nod, and to anticipate all his wishes. But what was the fact? “He was in the world, and the world knew him not; he came unto his own and his own received him not.”

When a sovereign visits a part of his dominions, when he enters the mansion of one of his own subjects, what exertion and sacrifices are made! Our Saviour could derive nothing from external appendages. What could any of those distinctions have added to the greatness of a Being who opened the eyes of the blind, raised the dead, calmed the sea in a moment-a Being who by a word could make worlds, and before whose look the heavens and the earth shall flee away. He could therefore dispense with all those things; and, though he knew how much they were valued and idolized in our world, and that persons are very much estimated according to them, yet he would dispense with them. “He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” We read of “women who ministered unto him of their substance,” and their names are recorded in the book of life; and wheresoever the gospel is preached, that which they did shall be told for a memorial of them.

But, alas! this very ministering unto him was a part of his humiliation. How reduced must he be to stand in need of assistance and succour of the very creatures of His power! His reproached followers should remember that he was “a worm and no man,” and “a reproach among the people.” And let his poor and afflicted people remember also, that while the “foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, he had not where to lay his head.” He assumed no state, and required no waiting upon. We only read of his riding once in his life, and then it was “upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass;” all his other travels were on foot, and many a stray step did he take for us.

"He went about doing good,” and not only seized opportunities when they offered, but sought after them when they did not present themselves. And for this purpose how often did he refuse himself needful refreshment, and give up the enjoyment of the sweets of retirement! See him in the house of Lazarus, lamenting that he had given so much trouble, and commending Mary who sat at his feet to hear his word, while he kindly reproved Martha for her being “cumbered about much serving,” to indulge an appetite which he never indulged; for he came to feed, not to be fed, “he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.”