XIV “Consider the Lilies”
Nazareth is a place of many flowers and of lovely views. From the hills around, those who go there can see peeps of the blue Mediterranean; and travellers tell us that the fields and hillsides are carpeted with countless flowers.
Here Jesus, our Lord, lived for thirty years. Here He wandered as a child, and grew up as a young man.
When at length the time came for Him to fulfil His great Mission, He came down to the cities round the Lake of Galilee.
For He had come from Heaven to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the sick and brokenhearted.
But more than all these things, He had come down from His home in Heaven to save sinners!
This was why Jesus, the Lord of Glory, came to earth.
So when He came from Nazareth to the busy cities round the Lake, He began at once to heal the sick people, and to teach them about God and the Kingdom of Heaven.
One day He told the crowds who listened to Him about the little corn seeds growing up, and bearing numbers of seeds which would make the harvest by and by.
Another day He told them all about the lilies of the field, which they could see around them, but which they had never thought of “considering.”
What do you think “considering” means?
It means thinking about something; turning the matter over in our minds, till we understand its full meaning.
So Jesus said, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.”
Who makes them grow? How do they get those delicate roots, those graceful green leaves, those sweet-smelling lovely flowers?
Every spring we see the daisies and the buttercups, the wild geraniums, the primroses and bluebells, and hundreds of other flowers, which come up in the fields and hedges, without our knowing that they were there!
Who kept them all the winter? Who made them bloom out in the spring?
Do you guess the answer? You know the answer; it is God who makes them grow, and come up for our joy.
And this wonderful thought helps us to understand the Resurrection; for by God’s power the bodies of those who love Him, and who are lying in their graves, will rise to meet Jesus when He comes, and will bloom for ever in the lovely Paradise of God’s Home.
But some people do not believe in the Resurrection: they put away the thought, and say they cannot see how it can be! And I am going to tell you a true story of a very curious thing that happened some few years ago.
A man who lived on the Continent—I do not remember the name of the town—was a great infidel; one who did not believe in God’s power, or that there would be a resurrection of the dead by and by.
This man knew he must die some day, so he bought a grave in a certain spot, and he gave orders that when he died he was to be buried in that grave, and that a great stone was to be put over it. This stone was to be “clamped” at the corners with strong iron bands and bars, so that it could not be moved or taken away; and he ordered that certain words were to be cut on the stone deep and legible.
He left instructions, and money, to carry out all these plans; so that when he died there should be no mistake.
At length he did die, and was buried in that grave. All his instructions were carried out. The great stone was laid over him, bound with iron, and the stonemason cut words in the stone, just as he had said.
And these were the words—so sad, because they were spoken to defy God.
“THIS GRAVE IS NOT TO BE OPENED FOR EVER.”
And now comes the sequel to that story.
One day a gentleman came into my husband’s office and laid a photograph down on his desk.
He said he had just returned from the Continent, and had bought this photograph there. And then he told my husband the story that I have told you about the iron-bound grave.
Ah! There was the photograph, but it showed the grave all broken to pieces!
The iron bars were there, but they were bent and twisted in every direction; and the great stone was all broken to pieces, and lifted quite out of its place!
Do you ask how? Was it a miracle?
Yes, just the miracle of one of God’s little living seeds, which He had allowed to be thrown into that grave!
For a seed-pod of a silver-birch tree had been shovelled in with the earth which was used to fill up the infidel’s grave when he was buried.
The seed had taken root in the earth, and had grown and grown in the grave, till at last it became a strong silver-birch tree; and gradually the branches had burst the iron bars, and raised up the stones, and there was the infidel’s grave laid open for everyone to see.
A photographer had heard of it and came among the sight-seers, and had taken the wonderful photograph, which my husband saw, and held in his own hand!
Let this Resurrection Story remind us of one great truth.
If we have Jesus for our Saviour, He is the Living Seed in our hearts; and when the time of the Resurrection comes for us, we shall rise, because His Life will be in us: and we shall go to be with Him, in joy, for ever.