Christ in Daily Life – His Relationship with God and Man

One of the outstanding features of the Miracle of Christ is that He ap­peals to us all ; and the appeal is not only that of an ideal, but of an ideal that we are called upon to realise in ourselves. To boys and girls, to men and women, this appeal irresistibly comes. What a large span of human life it comprehends ; what a wide diversity of human activity !

Those in the first flush of youth, just commencing to realise their own indivi­duality. Those who have the romance and ambition of early manhood and womanhood. Those who, although they have by no means lost sight of romance, feel increasingly the truth of the poet’s words, “Life is real, life is earnest.” Those across whose path the shadow of age has commenced to fall. Those who, in the peace and largeness of old age, have arrived at a truer estimate of the value of the things of this life, and are watching, and hoping and waiting. All feel drawn to the noble and perfect personality of that Young Man of Nazareth, whose teachings and life’s experience have already transformed the world, and for whom the golden harvest waits, when “he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.”

Could any other life be taken by “a multitude which no man can num­ber” as being the unerring guide to perfection? No other life. It was the “Word made the flesh.”

For practical things it is important to remember that to be drawn to Christ’s personality, to delight in His perfec­tion, to acknowledge Him as Lord and Master, are not sufficient. Hear His word : “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say” (Luke 6, 46). Christ’s aim was not to gain admiration, but to rouse men and women to see the necessity for an endeavour to translate the commonplace things of their own lives into the realised ideal of His perfect life.

To allow this end to be accomplished in ourselves, we must, first of all, have a proper estimate of Christ, and understand what His life really was.

Nicodemus had a very fine view of things. Said he to Christ : “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him” (Jno. 3, 2), but if we think of Christ as being no more than an inspired Teacher and miracle worker His life for us will be robbed of much of its practical value. He will remain an Ideal, without real contact with everyday things, for the reason that our own lives consist of learning, not of teaching; of doing the same little things time and time again; of gaining a livelihood. It is only in so far as we can realise that Christ’s own life was made up of these same things that we can walk without strangeness, and with pleas­ure and profit in His company, know­ing that His words have not only the authority of inspiration, but also the weight of experience.

The Ministry of the Lord Jesus occupied some three and a half years, but there was a prior period of 18 years, introduced to our notice by the words “He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was sub­ject unto them” (Luke 2, 51). It was a period of waiting, but not of idle­ness. A period of growth and of pre­paration, during which “He grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” He grew in favour with God by close contact with Him, by entering into divine things; and it cannot be otherwise than that He grew in favour with men by con­tact with them, by entering into human things.

His difference from themselves men must have realised, and appreciated in accordance with their own degree of godliness, but no favour would have been evoked had they not been able to see how much He was “bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh.” They were days when life was hard. Idlers and mere dreamers would be extremely unpopular. Jesus must have gained the favour of men by things which, as men, they could not but admire.

From scattered references and im­plications in the Gospels we can infer that somewhere during those 18 years there appears as the background of Christ’s life a widowed mother and younger brothers and sisters needing support and care, with arduous labour in the honourable trade of a carpen­ter (partaking in some measure the duties of a builder) as the means of support. Certain it is that no refer­ence is made to Joseph after the return from the Temple when Jesus was twelve years of age, and, in view of the importance of the father in Jewish domestic life, his absence from the family group when it is referred to in after years is significant. When the family is referred to it is in con­nection with “the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Jude, and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us” (Mark 6, 3).

Such an occupation would bring Him into close contact with the people of His native town, and the villages around. They would grow to be intimate with Him, and learn to marvel at His character, although His lofty origin would be unknown to them.

Christ’s last care in connection with purely human needs was for His mother.

“Seeing the disciple whom He loved standing by, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith He to the disciple, Be­hold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home” (John 19, 26-7).

It was the eldest son of the house, upon whom the responsibility fell, fulfill­ing His part, even with His dying lips. Brothers and sisters He had, but the duty of providing for that mother who had had the high honour of being “the handmaiden of the Lord” did not devolve upon them. Before He for ever passed from flesh to spirit in His final triumph over death, all neces­sary arrangements were made. He could safely trust “the disciple whom He loved.” When next the sad group around the cross stood about Him their eyes beheld “the Lord the Spirit,” for ever victorious over the flesh, over death, into whose hands “all power in heaven and earth” had been given.

The background of the early life of Jesus need not be further developed, but we feel it yields to us those circumstances which constituted the school of experience in everyday things by which Jesus learned those truths which enabled Him, with Spirit enlightenment, to become the world’s incomparable Teacher. Jesus was ac­quainted by personal contact with the difficult little things of life, the weariness of labour, the anxiety for those who needed His care and support. Such a view transforms the Teacher into the Friend, and gives His teach­ing a power over our lives to mould them to His ideal. With such an one we can walk as with a loving elder Brother.

The object of our companionship with Christ is, as we have seen, not only that we should admire, but follow. In a sense, be copyists. It is, however, far easier to admire, than to copy. The general effect of a picture produces admiration, but if we wish to copy it we must have an eye for more than general things. We must study the composition in all its parts, note its balance of light and shade and outline, and seek to discover the means by which the general effect is produced. So it is with Christ. The general effect upon us of His life will enable us to say “Lord, Lord,” but to do what He says requires greater intimacy with Him, and a knowledge of the many phases of His character which, acting and re-acting upon each other, build up the perfectly balanced whole. This implies that we must make a continued, deliberate attempt both to know Christ, and to follow Him. Unless we do so all else we may do will be in vain.

It is not easy to study Christ’s character, because it is perfect, both in balance and in essence. It is im­possible to say that this, that or the other is an outstanding characteristic. His life presents no angles. It is al­together symmetrical. Yet there are some things which cannot fail to ar­rest our attention. Looking at Him as one of ourselves we find in Him a loving and cheerful disposition ; patience and sympathy beyond all human limits; an abhorrence of sin, yet compassion with the sinner ; per­fect purity ; absolute sincerity, com­bined with hatred of hypocrisy ; a burning zeal ; a devastating and whol­ly righteous anger ; unflagging self-control ; a complete absence of pride; an inflexible will and indomitable courage; gentleness and sweetness transcending all others ; a living faith; a profound reverence and unswerving loyalty for the things of God ; all combined in perfect proportion and harmony to make the perfect charac­ter of the perfect man ; the one who “is altogether lovely.”

In our imperfection we shrink from so blinding a light, yet all its parts are expressed in terms of human pos­sibilities. They are, except in their superlative sense, everyday virtues which, in our own feeble way, do in some measure make up the characters of each one of us; virtues which we show in some degree, at some time, to some people. Christ asks us to copy Him in showing them in the greatest possible degree, at all times, and to all people; reaching out to “the measure of the stature” of His fulness.

What we have so far seen has par­taken very largely of generalisation. Let us now bring our considerations to a focus by taking from the Master’s life illustrations which will serve to force home the necessity for striving to be like Him.

In every life there are those things which are infinitely small, and those which are infinitely great ; and so strangely perverse is human nature that we pay far more attention to the small things than to those which really matter. This peculiarity has re­sulted in the modern axiom that no­thing is half so important as we really think it is. We have only to think for a few minutes to realise that for the most part we allow ourselves to be worried by petty things, which can have no real abiding place in our lives. On the other hand, the great things receive correspondingly little attention. We are seldom robbed of sleep by an inability to keep our minds from thinking of the glories of the Kingdom. The prospect of a short holiday affects us differently.

How did the Lord Jesus re-act to the small things of life? Can we imagine Him allowing himself to be worried about unimportant matters as we are? He was too great for that. Here is His teaching, and let us be sure of this, that as His teaching was, so was He.

“Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on.”

To Martha He said :

“Thou art careful and troubled about many things.”

In the Parable of the Sower :

“He that received seed among thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitful of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”

Christ tells us not to trouble too much about little unimportant things; not to worry about a multitude of unnecessary details; and likens the little-mindedness which permits us to do so to the thorny ground, where the good seed is choked.

This teaching suggests that we should endeavour to adopt a simple view of life, which will give greater possibilities for the things that really matter ; yet it is not necessary to take up a gloomy attitude, or to cut ourselves away from normal activities. Life properly used will gain us the Kingdom. We must neither abuse, nor shirk our responsibilities and opportunities as enlightened men and women. If we look at the Lord Jesus we find that even during that short three and a half years, when the shadow of the cross drew nearer and more ominous across His path, He faced life with a cheerful spirit, bringing to bear upon it all the excellencies of His character.

He was no austere mystic, shunning the association of men. He spends much time in their company ; is seen at wedding and other feasts; indeed it is from His own words we learn that “The Son of man came eating and drinking.” He takes the children into His arms and blesses them. He admires the glory of the sky, and the beauty of the field. He appreciates even the solid magnificence of Herod’s Temple. He did not, however, allow these things to constitute His life. He realized that the importance of things is relative, and that far outweighing in value the means to the end is the end itself. The small relationships did not detract from the great. His motto in life was “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” The Kingdom was His treasure of which no outward circumstance could rob Him. The time came when He was forsaken by all, but He still held it fast. Even death itself could not take it away. Yet all things were used by Him for their proper end.

“He learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him.”

This, then, is our beloved, our friend, and our teacher; and from the exceeding greatness of His heart, as He called to the men of His own day of experience, calls continually to us that we may enter into His rest;

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy,and my burden is light.”