Quiet Talks on John's Gospel

's S

t-string

n be. For there's a tender heart that's easily tugged at one end, and an insistent tugging at the oth

ef over the way things are going on down here with men, at the other end, the up-end, the heart-end, of th

the tension of love and grief, grieved and grieving love. But

art of the heart. They are the bit pulled, and pulled more, and pulled harder, till the strings grew. Man was

that heart never let go of the man whom it borned. Man tried to pull away, poor thing. In his foolish misunderstanding and heady wilfulness he t

t once: never yet. The breaking only loosens the red that glues fast with a tighter hold than ever. The fibre of the hea

e insistent. And straight down He came by the shortest way, the way of those same heart-strings. For the heart-strings of God are the shortest distanc

ne whose tight grip never slacks. Man needs God, but does not know it. He knows he needs _some_thing. He feels that keenly. But he does not know that it's Go

ssions and fevered ambitions within, heart a-wearied by the confusion of it all, groping, stumbling, jostled and jostling, hitting this way and that, with the fe

ll upward upon His heart-strings. But though blind and vague and confuse

coming. There was a great stir in the spirit-currents of earth when Jesus came. A thrill of expectancy ran through the world, Roman, Greek, Barbarian,

ts into which those strings led, and where they were so tightly knotted. The earth-currents spread the news. Man heard; he felt;

as the human touch of His hand. So strong was the lift of His arm to ease their load. So potent was the spell of His unfailing power to give relief. H

rfold M

s, John's Gospel. Of course the whole of the Book is really given up to it, when one gets th

big enough to call a book, just a few pages devoted wholly to letting us see this one thing. You can see the whole of

k that the picture is genuine, the real thing. The whole consummate skill of the artist is revealed at a glance in the simple outline-tracing on the margin. The

he book as a whole, by the very way it is put together. It is told by the very sort of language used, the words chosen as the leading words of the book. It is told by the picture that

ses of John are helpful. But there's the subtler something that cannot be diagramed or analyzed or synthesized. It eludes the razor-edged k

them all. And these four messages together give us the fuller distinctive message of these four little books.

kingly lineage. He showed kingly power in His actions, kingly wisdom in His teachings, and the fine kingly spirit in His gracious kindliness of touch. He was gladly accepte

distinct surprise. Men's kings are served kings. There have been kings, and are, who rendered their people a fine high service, and do. But the overpowering impressi

on the royal coat-of-arms are, "Not to be ministered unto, but to minister." And in the first meaning of the words He Himself used that means "not to be served but to ser

. He is bone of our bone, blood of our blood, and life of our common life. He came to us through a rare union of God's power with human consent and

l boundaries limit its reach. No sectional prejudices warp or shut Him off from sympathetic touch with any. He shares our common life. He

ght use an old-fashioned word in the first old-time meaning,-He is a fellow, one who shares the bed and brea

of kin to God. He is not only of the blood royal, and the blood human, but of the blood divine. He was with God before calendars came into use. He was the God of that creative Genesis week. He came on an

rifice has made a new kinship. We had broken the entail of our inheritance clean beyond mending. We were outcasts by our own act. But He cast in. His lot with us, and so drew us back and up and in. He made a new entail through His blood. And t

grim-feet and refreshed spirit,-this is our family crest. We're kin to all the race through Jesus. Black skin and white, yellow and bro

racter when we're getting nearest in touch to those needing help. We are kingliest and Godliest and Ch

f the four Gospels; and this is

a Wooin

s the crowding message of his book. Its thought crowds in upon you till every other is crowded into second place. And as it gets hold of you it crowds your mind and heart and life

flaming through all his life. It burned through him as the fierce forest fire burns through the underbrush. Every base thin

.[1] John's namesake, the Herald, applied the kindling match. From then on the flames never flickered nor burn

d true through the sorest test, that betrayal-night test. Judas betrayed; Peter denied; the nine fled in terror down the road to save their cowardly lives; John went in "with Jesus." That fiery

little book of his ripe old age. And only this can. One must read the book through John's own hear

the earth. That simple sentence covers fully all that is found in John's twenty-one chapters

insomely and earnestly for acceptance.[3] Then He is seen in closest touch with the inner group of those who have accepted, opening His heart yet more, wooing still closer.

Mark of Jo

int on the new coin. Two such words stand out above all others, "believe" and "witness." The first actually occurs oftenest, sounding out li

e witnessing is that men may understand and believe. It's the servant leading up to the belief that shall become the mastering

The word "believe" is a nugget of pure gold, whether you take our English word or John's word lying und

confidence in it, to trust. And trust always contains the idea of risk. The heart-meaning always is that you r

tisfies you regarding the matter in hand. You are not only satisfied but pleased, content. And so there is the same trusting and risking, the same lea

ed in regard to something that takes hold of your life. You hear something. You believe it's true. But there must be the third thing, risking something valuable. There's no belief in the heart-meaning without

all be running across this word again, and digging a bit deeper into it. But this is the thing that stands out in it. You tell something that you yourself know. There's personal knowledge

f witness is more common than the word. The word occurs several times, and always in a leadi

word wooing. Originally wooing means bending towards, inclining forward or reaching out towards another. And the purpose of

years carefully removed. And here's the picture: a man standing, with the light of the morning shining in His eyes, body bending forward, hands reaching out, wit

look. Hold still that you may see all the outlines more distinctly. There's the form of a Man standing in pleading attitude, with outstretched hands. His face combines all the fineness of the finest woman's face, with all the strength of th

the Father to men. He

. He lived with Him. He

rs to know too. He want

e whole of Jesus; tell

and His rising, all these were a telling, a witnessing, a wooing; telling the Father's love, telling the damnableness of our

e Dividi

Gospels for the first time is impressed with the fact of Jesus' rejection. This stands out peculiarly and dominantly. It was the great fact, told most terribly in the d

wn the man Jesus by personal touch and observation. And so it was for all after

onal reins, and held them with fevered tenacity, and drove hard. And the reason for it is made to stand out as plainly as the fact. The envy a

s leaders and officials of the nation. He was accepted by the great middle classes and by those in lowest scale socially, and by the moral outcasts. Int

s accepted with a faith and with a love that counted not suffering nor sacrifice for the sake

rong wooing love. And the crowd looks and listens and-divides. Some reject; clearly they are a minority, but entrenched in a positi

ers and swung away. But there remain the thoughtful ones whose faith goes from weakness to strength; it grows from more to yet more. It mellows from a true simple faith to a deepened, seaso

ling

hly into every lock, the lock of your life, the lock of any circumstance, any sore problem that may come up to baffle all your efforts. They bring treasures wi

rect spellings. The four-lettered spelling is for all the world. The five-lettered spelling is chiefly used in the western

all His dealings with the race, and with you and me. There is no chance-happening with Him, no caprice

that word love means; none of us. We know words but not the real things they stand for. We don't know the real thing of love because we don't know the r

de of green in the lower brown, by every cooling shading night, and every fragrantly dewy morning. Every breath of air and bite of food and draught of water i

way. The spelling grows bigger to us when Jesus comes. When we know Him it takes more to spell out and to tell out God's love. God g

t hold of them better. Love is a thing, we think. Jesus is a person. It's so different to touch a person. But when we know, we know that both spellings tell the same thing. So far, only about a th

er love. This is the first key. Any one may take it and use it. It is unfailing. It will fit every lock. It unlock every pr

d lets Him freely into our lives. Then we find

been put in its pages,-these are all good keys. But there's a master-key, the master-key. It is simply this: glad surrender of will to the God of the Book. I mean a strong intelligent yi

and mind open. The lower the will bends, the more fully and habitually, the more will eyes and ears open, the keener and more alert will be the mental processes, the more intellig

ll. The bending of knees to a sharp right angle affects the will. It is easier to bend it. It bends better and more. And t

ut to us the wondrous Spirit who is in these pages. And so through the opened Book there come to be the direct touch with the God of t

ee

oor key. These keys hang outside the doors, low down, that so any one who wants to can easily reach up, and get

hapter at first. The thought of the book comes to a close there. The story is complete. Then the Holy Spirit led John t

name." This was John's whole thought in telling the Jesus-story. The practical gripped him wholly and hard. This is the thing that guides his se

His character amidst sin-stained crowds and sin-dirtied surroundings, the unflinching rigidity of His ideals, the persuasiveness of His very manner and tone of speech, the patience and gentleness, the rugged granite strength

ver, whatever, that you may believe. You look and listen, question, puzzle a bit maybe, but keep on listening and looking, thinking, weighing, till you are clear these thin

t, love. The truth comes in through eyes and ears and feeling, into brain and will; through emotion cl

s it easy for us to believe. His telling of the story is so strong and convincing, though so simple and short, that believing is

as put by John. We may believe clear into and through intellect and emotions and will,

first instance. The Jew had been taught through generations that there was One coming who was God's chosen One for the Hebrew nation. He was the Anointed One. The Hebrew sa

tive sense the Son of God, the only begotten Son. This pure loving pleading wooing suffering dying rising-again Jesus, this is the only be

not believe, and trust, and love, and fall on his face in

often by John with the word life, is not a mere length word. It is not a calendar word. It tells the sort of life, the quality of life,

commonly call it, that last heart-talk with the inner group on the betrayal night. It is in chapter sixteen, verse tw

icking out to itself so many bits from the Master's lips that fit exactly into it. Jesus' constant thought was that He used t

hteen. There Jesus is seen coming down from His Father's own presence. Then chapter one, verse nineteen through to the close of the twelfth chapter is fully de

apters eighteen and nineteen He is going out of the world by the terrible doorway of the cross it had carpentered for Him. How quietly He s

ittle for the sake of these being left behind, but His face is already turned homeward. They would hold Him in thei

es to

d they that were His own received Him not. But as many as received Him to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them who believe on His name." This is the great k

chosen people. He is coming steadily and persistently, in spite of rebuffs; coming patiently, tender

nd murderously. "His own received Him not." But many received Him, eagerly and warmly and thoughtfully. They received Him with a growing depth of convict

in chapters eighteen and nineteen, puts the most terrific emphasis on the words, "received Him not." They not only keep Him out of His own possessions, but do their worst in putting Him out of life

book; that might have been fairly easy. But he was telling about a friend of his, the friend of his life, his one dearest Friend. And when he remember

shaky and uneven here. The dew of his wet eyes drops and blurs the words a bit as he put

His eyes had troubled him and made his work very difficult. On the advice of a friend he sought the judgment of an expert in the treatment of the eyes. The

. Lose his eyesight! All his plans and coveted ambitions seemed slipping clean out from his grasp. With the loss of eyes would go the lo

omfort for his sore heart. And he was thinking, too, that with this utter break-up of the future she must be told. And as he talked he said in

of love, by being it herself, and drawing it out into full flower in him. That was the second staggering b

he freshing breath of true love. And as he yielded to this it overcame all else. A new mood came and dominated. And it became the fixed thin

at will no

weary so

e back the

ne ocean de

her, fu

at followes

lickering to

stores its

sunshine's

hter, fa

seekest me t

lose my he

rainbow thro

he promise

shall te

at liftest

ask to hide

ust life's

ground ther

shall en

uppose his biographer omitted the incident for the same reason that the first three Gospels may have omitt

His own and they that were His own received Him not. Aye, there'

me of us do. We may do some fine revision work on the text of John's version as we translate it now into the experience of our own hearts, and into the life of o

e talked and written only that we may be given a lift into closer touch of hea