I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the
light of the world. Joh 9:4-5
light of the world. Joh 9:4-5
"Though I plainly perceive that the cure of this man will draw down upon me the malice of the Jewish rulers, yet I must accomplish the work for which I came into the world while it is day - while the term of this life of mine shall last."
It was about six months after this that our Lord was crucified. It is very likely that the day was now declining, and night coming on; and he took occasion from this circumstance to introduce the elegant metaphor immediately following. By this we are taught that no opportunity for doing good should be omitted - Day representing the opportunity: Night, the loss of that opportunity. [Adam Clarke]
It was about six months after this that our Lord was crucified. It is very likely that the day was now declining, and night coming on; and he took occasion from this circumstance to introduce the elegant metaphor immediately following. By this we are taught that no opportunity for doing good should be omitted - Day representing the opportunity: Night, the loss of that opportunity. [Adam Clarke]
JESUS OPENS BLIND EYES
At the close of the previous chapter our Lord bore the contradiction of sinners against Himself. The Jews had caught up the stones gathered to repair the Temple, in order to inflict the doom of the blasphemer; but Jesus passed through them unscathed and began to descend the great steps. To human gaze there was need for Jesus to hasten from His foes, Joh_8:59;
Joh 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
But, in His thought there was greater need to heal this blind beggar. In the most leisurely manner, therefore, He made clay and wrought this miracle of sight. His heart was at rest in God. No great thing is wrought by those who live in perpetual ferment. Through the quiet heart God works His own works, and there will be time enough to get them all done before “the night cometh when no man can work,” Joh_9:4.
Our Lord perceived that beneath the unpromising exterior of this man were elements of nobility, which He set Himself to elicit. The clay which the man found suddenly applied to his eyes awakened wonder, hope, expectation, and faith. It was a ladder by which he climbed from the pit of despair to the mount of joy. The walk to Siloam was a further venture of faith; but there were other steps to be taken ere he attained to the full stature of his discipleship. Some were forced on him by opposition; to others he was led by Christ Himself. [F.B. Meyer]
"The night is coming - Christ is the light. When the light is withdrawn night comes, when no man can work - No man can do any thing toward working out his salvation after this life is ended. Yet Christ can work always. But he was not to work upon earth, only during the day, or season which was appointed for him." John Wesley
Joh 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
But, in His thought there was greater need to heal this blind beggar. In the most leisurely manner, therefore, He made clay and wrought this miracle of sight. His heart was at rest in God. No great thing is wrought by those who live in perpetual ferment. Through the quiet heart God works His own works, and there will be time enough to get them all done before “the night cometh when no man can work,” Joh_9:4.
Our Lord perceived that beneath the unpromising exterior of this man were elements of nobility, which He set Himself to elicit. The clay which the man found suddenly applied to his eyes awakened wonder, hope, expectation, and faith. It was a ladder by which he climbed from the pit of despair to the mount of joy. The walk to Siloam was a further venture of faith; but there were other steps to be taken ere he attained to the full stature of his discipleship. Some were forced on him by opposition; to others he was led by Christ Himself. [F.B. Meyer]
"The night is coming - Christ is the light. When the light is withdrawn night comes, when no man can work - No man can do any thing toward working out his salvation after this life is ended. Yet Christ can work always. But he was not to work upon earth, only during the day, or season which was appointed for him." John Wesley
Christ Teaches by Example
The principle which makes our work Christian, is the will and the glory of God. In the midst of our working life, in the midst of our religious thought, in our times of devotion, in our hours of prayer, Jesus speaks to us and bears His unflinching testimony, calling upon the Christian to persevere, making his work true.
He does it, I submit to you, in three ways.
I. He does it because He has robed Himself in our humanity. Robing Himself in our humanity, Jesus has added a dignity to our nature. It was made in the image of the Eternal; it was created indeed with that stamp upon it which even original sin could not altogether wipe out. But Jesus, by the Incarnation, has done something more. He has robed Himself—most high God—in that nature; thereby He has added dignity; and by the fact that you have been dignified, by your nature being taken into God, by that fact you are taught that the dignity of that nature is never satisfied, unless entirely you aim in your work to do God’s will, and set forth God’s glory. So He has borne and is bearing His witness.
II. He bore it further, by Himself toiling and teaching in that nature; He showed to you and me not only its dignity—He showed its power. The power of human nature is all but infinite—all but infinite as seen in the work it can do, when it is assisted by the power which our blessed Master exerted most—by the power of God. You have, in a sense, power to do even as God does, rising up into the life of God.
III. Need I add that He witnessed to it by His death? Not only by being robed in humanity, not only by showing the power of humanity to God; but by dying in this humanity; by exhibiting to us, in this way, the immensity of the value that God placed upon it, He taught us its only end in labor. If the Christian is to do his work, it does not matter about the dimensions of its outward expression; it does not matter about the texture of the material; the great point for you and me to see to, is that the principle lying behind it be real, one that is maintained in its reality by the grace of the blessed Spirit, by the example of our divine Redeemer—that principle being that its aim and object are the will and the glory of God.
[W. J. Knox-Little, Characteristics of the Christian Life]
He does it, I submit to you, in three ways.
I. He does it because He has robed Himself in our humanity. Robing Himself in our humanity, Jesus has added a dignity to our nature. It was made in the image of the Eternal; it was created indeed with that stamp upon it which even original sin could not altogether wipe out. But Jesus, by the Incarnation, has done something more. He has robed Himself—most high God—in that nature; thereby He has added dignity; and by the fact that you have been dignified, by your nature being taken into God, by that fact you are taught that the dignity of that nature is never satisfied, unless entirely you aim in your work to do God’s will, and set forth God’s glory. So He has borne and is bearing His witness.
II. He bore it further, by Himself toiling and teaching in that nature; He showed to you and me not only its dignity—He showed its power. The power of human nature is all but infinite—all but infinite as seen in the work it can do, when it is assisted by the power which our blessed Master exerted most—by the power of God. You have, in a sense, power to do even as God does, rising up into the life of God.
III. Need I add that He witnessed to it by His death? Not only by being robed in humanity, not only by showing the power of humanity to God; but by dying in this humanity; by exhibiting to us, in this way, the immensity of the value that God placed upon it, He taught us its only end in labor. If the Christian is to do his work, it does not matter about the dimensions of its outward expression; it does not matter about the texture of the material; the great point for you and me to see to, is that the principle lying behind it be real, one that is maintained in its reality by the grace of the blessed Spirit, by the example of our divine Redeemer—that principle being that its aim and object are the will and the glory of God.
[W. J. Knox-Little, Characteristics of the Christian Life]
