whom we can do nothing but wither and die: Be pleased, we beseech thee, so to unite us to thee, by the power of the Holy Ghost and through the bond of a living faith, that, being partakers of thy divine nature, we may bring forth much fruit, and for ever abide in thee, as thou dost abide in us, until we shall see thee as thou art, and glorify and enjoy thee, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen. THE TRAINING OF JESUS CHRIST. LUKE ii, 40-52. The Lord God hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, That I should know how to sustain with words him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught. 19 Isaiah 1, 4. XVIII. THE TRAINING OF JESUS CHRIST.* LUKE ii, 40-52. of Christ's Growth. "The child grew, and waxed strong, filled with The Problem wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.... Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in Luke ii, 40, 52. favor with God and men." Such are the words with which St. Luke outlines the growth of Jesus Christ. "But how was this possible?" the reader asks. "Was not Jesus Christ Divine, and therefore infinitely perfect from his very birth? How, then, can it be said that he waxed strong, and grew in wisdom and in favor with God and men?" tion the Real Problem. Observe, then, just where the real difficulty The Incarnalies it lies not in the fact of growth; it lies in the fact of incarnation, or the Divine birth itself. For the distance between the Babe of Bethlehem and the Man of Nazareth is infinitely less than the distance between man and God. The real problem is the incarnation. Admit the story of the birth in Bethlehem, and you can easily admit the story of * This chapter has already appeared among the introductory chapters in the volume entitled "Home Worship," A. C. Armstrong & Son. 1 Thess. v, John i, 14. 23. Christ's the growth in Nazareth. Be it also remembered that Jesus Christ, although he was Divine, was also human, possessing, like any one of us, a complete human nature, spirit, and soul, and body. As such, he was, like any one of us, under the law of growth. We all admit that he grew physically, dilating from the babe into the man. But it is no more mysterious that he should grow inwardly than that he should grow outwardly, mentally and morally than corporeally. The real problem, let me repeat, is the incarnation itself. Believe the greater thing, that the Word became flesh, and you can believe the lesser thing, that the enfleshed Word grew. But Christ's growth, be it carefully observed, implies no sort of imperfection. It is no sign plies no Imperfection. of imperfection in a peach-tree that it does not bear peaches in spring. It is not necessary that an acorn should grow into an oak in order to its being perfect as an acorn. Each stage of vegetable growth-seed, blade, ear, full corn in the ear has its own characteristic perfectness. The Divine Man was perfect along the whole line of his human unfolding-perfect as a babe, perfect as a child, perfect as a youth, perfect as a man. Beware, then, of a phantom Christ. The Word made flesh was all he seemed to be. He was a real babe, with a babe's dawning consciousness; a real child, with a child's feelings, and thoughts, and griefs, and joys; a real youth, with a youth's buoyancies, and temptations, and aspirations, and opening vistas of vocation; a real man, with a man's full sense of mission or Christhood. |