The Test of Self-Emptying
“In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.”
Zechariah xiii. I.
A FOUNTAIN of sacrifice opened in Jerusalem! a sacrificial fountain in the midst of a town, in the centre of the world’s roar and traffic! — that is a strange thing. Yes, in religious life it is a hitherto unprecedented thing; it will only be found in Christ All faiths have a fountain — a place of sacrifice. But the faith of Christ alone has a fountain in Jerusalem — the scene of temptation. Other faiths call me to sacrifice by calling me to leave the world; Christ calls me to sacrifice by keeping me in the world. My experience in Christ is no longer the experience of Abraham. I am not bidden to manifest my sacrifice by seeking the solitary place, the lonely hour. I am not bidden to get up early in the morning when the world is asleep, to ascend to the hill-top where my brother is unseen. No, I am told to go into the city where my brother is. I am told that if I am seeking a sacrificial mission I shall best find it in the street — where the people gather, where the crowds jostle, where man competes with man. Not where the forest stretches, not where the desert lies, am I now to thread my way. The wood of the true Cross is not there. It is where man dwells, where life dwells, where conflict dwells. Is it not written that the voice of Christ is “like the sound of many waters “! And truly this is His glory. He leads us into “sounding” places — into places of noise and bustle. He brings us to the marriage feast, to the marketplace, to the kingdoms of the world, to the buyers and sellers in life’s temple, to the jealousies of disciples, to the friction with opponents, to the competing interests of all. Our course is there because His Cross is there.
My soul, thine altar is at Jerusalem! It is easy for thee to feel humble in the vast forest. Thuu art then alone with thy Father. Thou art never tempted to compete with thy Father; thou fallest prostrate before Him. But amid the inhabitants of Jerusalem, amid the concourse of thy fellow-men, amid the rivalry of those who seem thine inferiors — it is hard to be humble then! It is easy to bend before the stars; it is easy to stoop beneath the dome of heaven. But to stoop to thy brother-man, to feel thy nothingness when Lazarus is begging at thy gate — this is the victory over pride — this, this is humility! To be poor in spirit in the presence of the kingdoms of earth, to be meek in the presence of the crouching, to be merciful to faults beneath thy nature, to make peace when thine adversary is weak, to mourn thy shortcomings when thou art the magnet of attraction to hundreds — this is the blessing of the mount, for this is the humility of the plain! There is no fountain so hard to bathe in as the fountain at Jerusalem.