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2 Jesus in the Field of Human Need— Mark 9.14-29 -11 l Hsharkk. A 1 / CHRIST CHURCH, LONDON. THE SYNOPSIS 1 I. Introduction. Time—The next morning after the Transfiguration. Place—ln the valley near the Mount of Transfiguration. Characters Present — Jesus. Peter, James and John. The other disciples. The father and his demoniac boy. Scribes. A great multitude. IL Analysis. 1. Jesus’ return to the Valley—l 4-16. 2. The father and his demoniac boy— -17-18. 3. The failure of the disciples—l B-19. ' 4. The ministry of Jesus —20-27. i. The boy is brought to Jesus —20. ii. The diagnosis of Jesus —21. iii. The father’s appeal—22. iv. Jesus’ response—23. v. The father’s confession of faith and doubt —24. vi. The healing begun—demon driven out —25-26. vii. The healing complete—27. 5. The failure of the other disciples ex plained—2 B-29. 111. The Lesson. THE LECTURE. FEEL tonight as if I must have a text, and therefore I ask you to turn to Mark 9:27. “But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.” When Jesus and His three disci ples rejoined these other disciples, He found that they were engaged with a great crowd around them, I and the Scribes were asking questions of these disciples; and Jesus immediately broke in, and began himself to ask questions of the Scribes, saying, “Why do you question these disci ples about?” As much as to say, “I am here now, if you want to know anything, ask Me.” Immediately following this, comes a father and says to Jesus, “Master, I have brought un to Thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit and I spake to Thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not, and now I have brought him to Thee.” And Jesus turns and rebukes the disciples gently, and then calls to this father to bring the boy to Him. And the father answers, “If Thou canst do anything, have compassion, and help us.” Jesus reply is a very striking one, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” As much as to say, it is not a question as to whether I can or not, it is whether you can or not.” He immediately answers Jesus by saying, “Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief,” and immediately Jesus casts the dumb spirit out of his child. Wednesday Night Bible Lecture by Rev. Len G. Broughton, D.D., of Christ Church, London The Golden Age for January 2, 1913. Reported for The Golden Age by M. I. H.—Copyright Applied for. But that is not all; it is a great deal, but it is not all. When the dumb spirit left him, the spirit that had mastered and previously pos sessed him, he was limp and limber, like unto a man who was dead; he was helpless, prostrate, and Jesus I ‘takes him by his hand and lifts him up.” The Essential Lesson. I want now r that we shall consider for the rest of the time the essential lesson that this story has to teach to every one of us. It is in four parts. First, it teaches us that this that Jesus is doing in the valley, healing this limp boy, is the aftermath of the transfiguration, glory. Now, there are three stages of the transfigura tion glory and you cannot separate one from the other. First, the prayer meeting which was the foremath of the transfiguration glory, m it they laid the foundation for what followed. Then the transfiguration followed. Then comes the aftermath the healing of this demoniac boy. While the prayer meeting was the preparation for the transfiguration glory, the healing of the demoniac boy is the expression of it. We should always keep these three stages of the transfiguration in mind, lest we lose the great lesson it is intended to teach. There, on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus was revealing to the world for all time to come, the nature of glorified, perfected hu manity. He immediately comes now to en gage in actual, practical, everyday work in the field of human need. And it is always that way with every stage of Christian experience. With every new experience that we get in Christian life, there is new obligations immedi ately imposed. Some of you doubtless, have been to Glas gow, and perhaps you know that the water of that city is obtained from Loch Katrine, way up in the highlands of Scotland. That is one of the most beautiful lakes in all the north, indeed, it is one of the most beautiful in all the world. It has been called by some “a poem in water.” It has been immortalized in verse and song until you imagine almost that it is a piece of transfigured water, changed into something beyond the natural; and you almost imagine that, when you stand looking at it. But you do not get the glory of that lake by standing there looking at it there upon the highlands. You get the full glory of that lake down yonder in Glasgow, where you see it ex pressing its glory in the field of human need; when you see it running there to bring blessing, refreshment and health in the home, in the place of business, driving the wheels of ma chinery, down in the hut and the hovel, in the mansion, in the slums, carrying off the dirt in the street; that is the glory of the lake ! And that is the glory of the transfiguration —it is the work that Jesus did after He came from the Mount into the valley of human need. Perhaps some of you have read the legend of Longfellow’s entitled, “Tales of a Wayside Inn?” It is a beautiful poem, founded upon the legend of an old monk, who prayed long and often that he might have a personal visit from his Lord and Saviour. He was reward ed one night, after long prayer, and waiting, by a visit from the Lord, in the form of a bright, shining light; and the monk was pros trated by the brilliance of the light. As he lay there, rapt in silent ecstasy, holding sweet fel lowship with his Lord, he heard the toll which called him to his service in feeding the poor; but he hesitated to go, he was afraid that if he left, the light would depart, and would be gone when he returned. After a while, he went, at the sheer call of duty to his needy fel lowmen. Rendering the service he returned to his room and found the light still there; then he heard a voice, and the vision spoke to him and said: “Hadst thou stayed, I must have fled!” How true that is in Christian experience, my friends! How many a man today do we know who is cold, and indifferent to the call of God, because he has not answered the call of men. God has given him a vision of men. He has given him an experience that is real, and he has heard the call of his fellowmen for help, and he has not gone. And since he has not gone and exercised the experience which has been given him, he dries up, and the experience departs, and he is left cold and shuddering and dead. I think it was Henry Drummond who called our attention to the fact that the mountain peaks are not inhabited by people and homes — they are never intended for that. The people live down in the valleys, but the mountain peaks are intended for vision, and not for life. So it is with Christian experience. It is not given us that we may live upon the experience itself, but that we may use it in the field of human need. And as we use it He gives us more. We live by what we use, because when we use it He gives us more to be used. Henry Drummond also calls our attention to the fact that the streams never rise in the low land, but in the highland. But they do not stop there! They go forth, and move, and were they to remain there they would become stagnant and cause death. The only way for the stream to keep itself pure, and clean and wholesome, is to move, and get on, and the more it moves and the faster it moves, the cleaner and healthier it is. So it is with Christian experience. Let no man think that because he has had a trans figuration experience that he has reached the goal. It is not to be reached in the moun tain of glory, that is to give strength with which we are to reach the goal in the field of human need. It is yonder on the streets, in the city, in the home, in the hovel, in the hospital of the sick, all about us where humanity suffers; there is the place to get the goal. Jesus never reached the goal of blessed ser vice on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus revealed His full glory in the valley, healing the demoniac boy. Second, this story indicates to us the char acter of the need that we run up with in our service for humanity. In the year 1911 there was given in New York an exhibition called the Child Help Exhibit. It was in many re spects the most wonderful exhibition ever giv en. Certainly, it was, in so far as the results that followed. At the entrance to the main building, where it was held, there was a huge and beautiful statue by Louis Potter, repre senting human need, as we see it at every turn of the road, and especially the need of the child. This was the figure. There were three people, and one child. A husband and his wife, and an old man with long beard. On the shoulder of each one was a huge burden. The husband had one hand holding on to his burden, and the other he had around the waist of his wife, holding her while she stumbled under hers. And the old man, half bent, was trembling beneath his load. All three of these burdens were touching each other, and formed a kind of arch, beneath which stood a little boy, with pinched features, emaciated body, shrunk en sholders, hollow cheeks and bent back. He had no burden on his shoulder, but as a matter of fact, the boy was the one among all the rest whose burden was the greatest, although it was not to be seen in the form that the (Continued on Page 14.)