Christ's Unfinished Work

“Jesus commanded that something should be given her to eat.” — Mark v. 43.

It is the daughter of Jairus that is spoken of. Jesus has restored her to life; He now commends her to ordinary human care. It was not enough that life had come back. It had come back in a state of vacancy. It had to be filled, replenished, invigorated. The regeneration was only a part of the process. The damsel had been raised; Christ commanded that she should be fed. Is there not something strange in this narrative! Why should not Jesus have done the whole work Himself! If He could bring back life, why bring it back vacant! Why not restore it in its summer bloom! If I repair your watch and give it back to you, do I not, before returning it, put it to the right hour! Why does Jesus give back this maiden in a state so worn and dilapidated r It is that yotc and may have something to do. Have you ever thought of these words of Paul, “I fill up that which is behind in the sufferings of Christ.’ In spite of His sympathy with human sorrow, Christ left something behind, something unfinished. Why? Because He wanted you to have a stone in the temple. It would be a very easy thing for Him to give the daughter of Jairus food as well as life; personally, He would prefer to do so. But, as Paul says, Jesus Christ pleased not Himself.” He restrained Himself in the thing He delighted in. He wanted you and me to be sharers in the joy of doing it. He did not wish to monopolise the joy. Therefore He left each work unfinished. He sent back Lazarus in his grave-clothes. He made the restored leper seek ceremonial cleansing. He recalled to earth the daughter of Jairus in the condition of a famished child.

I thank Thee, O Christ, for the parts of Thy work which are left behind. Thy pleasure would have been to finish them; the impulse of Thy heart prompted Thee to complete the cure. But Thou hadst a care for the impulse of my heart. If Thou hadst done all, there would have been no object for my pity. My pity would have died for want of exercise. It would have met the fate of the fish in Kentucky’s cave that have lost their eyes through disuse. I should be as sad to lose my pity as to lose my eyes; it would lower me more. Thou hast averted from me this calamity. Thou hast refused to put my pity in the cave. Thou hast left a part of Thy work unfinished. Thou hast left it for me to do, that my pity may not die. I see the daughter of Jairus less cured than she might have been — less cured than she would have been but for Thy love to me. I see her alive but not vigorous, waking but still in want. Thou hast given her body a spirit eternal, but Thou hast clothed it in a mean robe temporal; Thou hast been lavish of the gold but saving of the brass. I bless Thee that Thou hast not been lavish all round; it has left a margin for me. Help me to feed the lives whom Thou hast sent hungry to my door!