Preached at Brampton Ash, 12th Sunday after Trinity, September 7, 1862.
“But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him.”—St. Matthew viii. 27.
In the lesson for this morning you heard of a number of the acts of our Lord Jesus Christ when He was upon earth. First, you heard of His healing a leper. That poor man had a disease, which kept him at a distance from everybody. He might not go into the Temple to pray; he was to give warning to his neighbours to avoid him, by crying ‘I am unclean.’ There was fear that he might give his sickness to any who approached him. But he had heard the voice of Jesus speaking to the people. He thought with himself, ‘That is a great king; He has authority to command men. I believe He could heal me, and it seems to me that He cares for the sick and the outcast. I will try.’ He said, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” The Son of Man answered. “I will: be thou clean.” And cleansed he was: he became well within, and now could go to the priest who had the care of such complaints, and could show that the outward signs of his disease—the marks on his body—were gone. Next we were told of the servant of an officer in the Roman army, who was sick. His master besought Jesus to cure him. Jesus went towards the house, but the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” The centurion knew the power of words; for he had a great many soldiers under him, stout men, as strong as he was. He did not rule them by terror. They obeyed his word. They came and went when he told them to come and go. So he had no doubt that Jesus could do what he desired for his servant without touching him or seeing him, only by uttering His word. ‘That,’ said our Lord, ‘is faith; such faith as I have not found among those Jews who have had so many more lessons about God’s words than the Romans. Some of them suppose I can do something by my hands and eyes; he believes that it is God’s word which works by me even when I am out of sight.’ The third story we heard was of Peter’s mother-in-law, who had a fever. Jesus took her by the hand, and the fever left her. Then next we heard that when the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils; poor madmen who had not the command of themselves, who spoke all foul words, and did all wild acts which some unclean and bad spirit put it into their hearts to speak and do. And Jesus set them free from this bondage; He brought them to be reasonable men again. Then we were told how He was out one day with His disciples on a lake in a great storm. They were much frightened, for their ship seemed to be going down. He was asleep. They woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us: we perish.” And He said unto them, “Wherefore did ye doubt, oh ye of little faith?” And He rebuked the winds and the waves, and there was a great calm. Before the end of the chapter you have another story of His delivering two madmen whom no man had been able to tame; who ran about the tombs crying and cutting themselves with stones, who were dangerous to all that came near. At first the evil spirits who had possession of them cried out, “What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God?” But at His word the evil spirits departed, and the men became as quiet and obedient as the winds and waves had been.
The words I took for my text were those which the people in the ship spoke, when the storm ceased. “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
That is the question I want you to ask yourselves to-day. What manner of man is this we have been reading of?
Now I am afraid some of you would like me to change the words a little, and to say, ‘What manner of man was He?’ For many of us have a fancy that He was there in Galilee and Judea, but that He is not now in England and among us; or that if He lives still, He is not now what He was then. If it were so, I do not know why we should read these lessons Sunday after Sunday in every church throughout Queen Victoria’s dominion, or what good they would do us. Why should you and I care to know what happened in a country thousands of miles away, 1800 years ago? But if He who did these acts there in that country is, as we say He is, our Lord now; if He is ruling over all of us just as much as He was over those people in Judea and Galilee; if He is the same person in His heart and His purpose and His power now that He was then; if that be so, why, my friends, it does signify to us to be told what manner of person He showed Himself to be then.
That is the reason why I would not change even a letter of this question which the men in the ship asked, “What manner of man is this?”
Now consider the different parts of this morning’s lesson, as I have repeated them to you; and you will get the answer to this question, or at least a part of the answer.
1. He is a giver of health. This Lord Jesus Christ, by curing the leper and the servant with the palsy and the woman with the fever, proved Himself to be that. Not, observe you, a giver of health to those particular persons; they were only specimens of what He is doing every day and hour. When you awake in a morning strong and fit to work, say ‘It is this Lord from whom my strength and power to work come.’ When you have been lying sick of any kind of disorder, and have risen again and feel the power coming back to your limbs, and that you can breathe freely again and eat your food gladly, then say ‘That Lord who healed the paralytic man and the leper has sent me this restoration. It is not some one else. He who dwelt among men, and went about doing good among men at that time I have read of, He it is who has been doing me good; He it is who has made this or that medicine of the physician to work for my cure.’ And do not forget this, my friends, it is written in this chapter we have read to-day, “Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” He did not merely regard them from a distance. He did not merely send forth some command from heaven about them. He became a man. He suffered with them that were suffering. He came into the very midst of all the troubles of all the poor people who were tormented with different ailments. He felt with them as no one else had felt with them. That was the manner of man He was on earth. And I must say again, He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. He does not change as we change. The mind and character which He had then He has now. He is not confined to one land or to one set of people. He is Lord of all lands and of all the people who dwell in them. But He does not the less understand each sick man, and care for each. He is a healer and giver of health now as always.
2. He is the protector of those who are out at sea, in such storms as His disciples were in on the Lake of Genesareth. You who live in an inland county may not think so much of these troubles as men do upon the coast, where they see ships so often dismasted and so often wrecked. But you have many of you had some son or kinsman on the ocean, about whom you have thought at night, when the wind was blowing a gale. At such times people often send up a hurried prayer, not much thinking to whom they pray or whether He is likely to hear them. But if they thought ‘He who rose up so calmly, when His disciples waked Him out of His sleep, and bade the winds and the sea be calm, He is as much with those who are going to America or Australia or New Zealand now, as He was with those who were on the Lake of Galilee then; He cares for them now as much as He cared for them then;’ would not that make an amazing difference? Might we not trust our friends to Him, as we never could trust them to anyone of whom we had only heard that he was very powerful, and that perhaps he might be kind? And supposing some calamity did befall our friends, supposing they were drowned in the ocean, or perished by any strange terrible accident, might we not trust them to Him still? Might we not say, ‘Lord, Thou Who didst bear men’s infirmities and carry their sicknesses didst also go through their death. Thou didst rise out of death. Thou didst conquer it for us. We believe that Thou art the Lord of health everywhere. We believe that Thou wilt cure the sicknesses and diseases to which all Thy poor brethren have been subject, and wilt raise up their bodies and make them glorious bodies like Thine own. We are sure Thy power is not less now than it was when Thou didst call Lazarus out of the tomb. Yea, we know that Thou hast power to subdue all things to Thyself.’
Once more, He delivers those who are under the dominion of evil spirits from their power.
What, is there any comfort in that thought? Do we ever see people nowadays under the dominion of evil spirits? Was not that something which belonged to the days when our Lord walked in Judea?
My friends, these stories of our Lord’s delivering men from evil spirits have been to me an unspeakable comfort; not for other days, but for this day. There are enemies outside of us: what St. Paul calls enemies of flesh and blood. Some have more of them, some have fewer. But besides, there are enemies of our spirits. These attack us all. A wicked desire springs out upon us, and catches hold of us. We seem to like it; we cherish it; and yet we know it is a very devil. It will work in us and put us upon all kinds of wickedness. Is it nothing to know Jesus Christ, my Lord, is stronger than this devil? I cannot see Him any more than I can see it. But He is near me; as it is near to me, I can cry to Him against it. There is something in you that says, “What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God?” But there is something in you which will call Him to help you and drive the devil back for you. Oh, my friends, that is your own true self. Christ knows it. Christ will hear your cry. Christ will do what He did for the possessed with the devils in the city of the Gadarenes.
For sometimes that is the only way we can describe it. A man becomes possessed with some furious passion. He becomes possessed by some dreadful habit; for instance, he makes himself a sot. His pride cannot keep him from it; the fear of losing all his money, and ruining his wife and children, will not keep him from it; the fear of the law is not a chain strong enough for him. But Christ is there; the Son of God is there? Yes, a man who is in this case finds out, indeed, what manner of Man that was who rebuked the winds and the waves. From His compassion and tenderness he might suppose He was only the greatest, the most loving of men. But in this battle with the evil spirits that have been ruling him, he finds that this loving Man is the Eternal Son of God! There is nothing in heaven or earth or hell but must at last bow to Him and obey Him. All, it is written, shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Oh, learn to confess Him now! You need Him in sickness and health, on the sea and the dry land; when you are crushed down by wicked enemies, and when He has restored you to your right mind.