" If He had
meant that why would He have put in as the last proof that He was the
Christ, that He was preaching the gospel to the poor? What wonderful
miracle was there in THAT? No: it was as if He had said: "Go and
tell John that I am the Christ, because I am the great physician, the
healer and deliverer of body and soul: one who will and can cure the
loathsome diseases, the uselessness, the misery, the ignorance of the
poorest and meanest." He has proved Himself the Christ by showing
not only His boundless power, but His boundless love and mercy; and
THAT, not only to men's souls, but to their bodies also. To prove
Himself the Christ by wonderful and astonishing miracles was exactly
what He would not do. He refused, when the Scribes and Pharisees
came and asked of Him a sign from heaven to prove that He was Christ--
wanting Him, I suppose, to bring some apparition, or fiery comet, or
great voice out of the sky, to astonish them with His power; He told
them peremptorily that He would give them no such thing: and yet He
said that His mighty works did prove Him to be Christ; He pronounced
woe against Chorazin and Bethsaida for not believing Him on account
of His mighty works: He told the Scribes and Pharisees that they
ought to believe on Him merely for His works' sake.
Pages:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41