A Sermon Preached in Union Church on Sunday Evening September 12, 1926, By the Rev. E. F. Horst-Smith "The officers answered: Never man spoke like this Man!" John You remember the circumstances under which these well-known words were spoken. That year at the Feast of Tabernacles, which was'the Jewish Harvest Festival, Jesus had created a great impression. He was for the time the principal topic of conversation and the subject of conjecture, Everyone was talking bout Him, These discussions gained in piquancy by the fact that hey were -illcit; for the Jewish rulers, who were now clearly hostile to Him, had imposed a censorship speech concerning Him. "No man spoke openly for fear of the Jews." If you wish to set everyone talking, then place a ban upon a subject' and the interest will increase enormously. It is said that, the best way to boom a book is to arrange for a bitterly hostile review a chance; people who would not have given a second thought will becom ieeenly inferented in it and wish to know more about it, Suppression is the most successful form of propaganda yet devised. And 20, on this occasion, with the added spice of secrecy, people were discussing Jesus pinion varied greatly, according te the prejudices of those who held them. Some, attributing their own motives to Jesus, said He a clever deceiver. Others said that hat could not be, and that at the very least He was a good man. And there were others who went further still and asked whether, when the long expected Mersaiah ime, He would do mightier works an those of Jesus? There was a sentable formant of opinion, The Vindictive Religious Leaders This was too much for the religious leaders, There may have been a time when they too had thought of Him as the long expected Ueliverer, but He had turned out be quite other than the kind of jab they desired. His aims jeals were not. th id His wold spell their failure, Moreover, He had exposed them. Wis sincerity sct out In stronger relief their hollowness and hypo-ensy, Here was one whose very presence reproached them, Who had all the qualities they lacked. That was very hard to endure. We know something of the experience, It is almost unendurable to find someone ise doing our own work better shan we can do it ourselves. The Uiscovery may well be our salvation, we are humble and tenchable; gut it may lead to disaster other-wine, What then did the rulers do? They refused to forgive the One whose presence had reproached They decided that, whatever ened they must bring about undoing. They instructed their police to watch Hi The pharisees and the chief priests ent officers to take Hi they appointed spies to mingle with the rowds that gathered around lind to listen for any incriminating word. They ordered them at all costs to bring about His arrest. \nd they awaited the result in confidence.
The Impressed Officers But the unexpected happened. he police officers returned without their Prisoner, whereupon the rulers Uemanded an' explanation: "Why have ye not brought Him?" The reply of the officers was of the strangest, The reles had been reversed. Instead of bringing a prisoner, they themselves had be-verne prisoners, enthralled by His wonderful words. Instead of affect ing an arrest, they themselves had been arrested, arrested by the incomparable speech of Jesus. The arnly explanation they could offer was this: "Never man spoke like this Man." Their words were not carefully thought out. If they had jad time to think, they might have wwevised some plausible excuse, for they were in a very embarrassing position. It is not usual for police officers to show approval of one they have been instructed to arrest. No, their words were against their interests, they offended their super-lors. They were the words of emotion rather than of reflexion. They leapt spontaneously from their hearts and for that reason their value was increased.
And those words have lived on. They are amongst the best known words in this wonderful chapter. They stand out from the page. Spoken by the most unlikely people, under the most unlikely circumstances, they are recognized as undoubtedly inspired. And why is that? It is because during the 20 centuries that have followed since they were uttered, nothing has occurred to dim their lustre or question their truth. When words re untrue or meaningless they just drop out of men's minds and fare forgotten. They may be preserved in books, but no one notices them. But these words have been underlined by millions of men in every age and when we read them uow, all that is within us responds to them and acclaims their truth, "Never man spoke like this Man."
The Analytical Moderns More is known to-day of the sayings of great men in other lands. Towards the end of the 19th century new subject was added to the curriculum of theological colleges the Comparative Study of Religion. Patient" and sympathetic scholars have given years of their life to the investigation of non-Christian faiths, Their studies have brought shout a new mental attitude to those religions, with the result that there is to-day a willingness to appreciate all that is good in them and to gladly recognize that all truth, wherever found, comes from God. The day when the spiritual heritay of any people is scorned has gone, So far us thoughtful people are concerned. But those studies have only gone to confirm the impression that there is something quite dis tine tive and unique about the message of Jesus. Even if some of the words are the same, the tones axe different: "Never man Kike this man." Now what were some of the distinctive marks of the words of Jesus?
(1) They were throbbing with a matchless love, It is true there were times when the words of Jesus were hot with anger and indignation but these were directed against insincerity and hypocrisy, against falsehood and hate. The pure flame of His love was white hot with wrath when directed against But to, those who were sincere His words were words of love. There is one very good test of that: Children loved Jesus. Children are very sensitive and they have an instinct that guides them to where love is to be found, Those who have the testi-many of children have very good credentials. Can you imagine Caiaphas or any of the pharisees as the centre of a group of happy children? And not only children, but childlike people were attracted to Jesus. Nathaniel, the Israelite in whom was no guile, very naturally drawn into the circle of His friends, The Responsive Common People The common people heard Him gladly. They wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth. The suffering and the sorrowing found in Him a friend. The outcasts of society, men and women; who with all their: grievous sins were not hypocrites, twere won by Him. And that was "not because He condoned faults, for no one was so uncompromising as He in hostility to sin. But He told them that they were of value in the sight of God, that they were God's children ' even though they were prodigals; that He had come to seek and to save them. And where in all the records But: the words of Jesus bore also (2). They -were charged with unrivalled Authority, That was one of the things that, again and again surprised the Yisteners of Jesus. They could not understand or explain it. Jesus was not even a. graduate of one of their seminaries. He was a layman. He had none of the usual credentials to offer. But even if He had, that would "not have explained' His unique authority, for even those who had all the recognition. that could. be granted were unable to move men's hearts. Their teachings were lifeless. They were retailers of the letter of the law. But here was One Who spoke with unquestioned power. He claimed to know and His words bore the: impress of truth. His knowledge was firsthand. It was not derived from books. The legalists were offended at His attitude to Moses and the Old Testament Scriptures; for, while He honoured them and fed.
His spiritual life on them, He superseded them. Moses' and the Scriptures were His servants and He was Lord of them., He claimed to know God, to have lived with God. He spoke from the depths of His own spiritual experience. And such words always carries authority; they are instinct with Divine power.
The One Who Speaks has been claimed that many of the words of Jesus were not ccriginal, that they had been spoken by others. What does that matter? What impression did they create when spoken by others? Had His note of authority ever been heard before? Listen at any time to the me words from two different people. In the one case you may be irritated beyond endurance, while in the other you may be moved to the deepest depths of your being. The authority may not be in the words, but-in the person who utters them. The authority Jesus was innate, intrinsic. It owed nothing to external recognition or appointment. There are men who attain to an official status utterly Inck the real authority without which the status is an <pty thing. There are some men who though heavily armed lack authority; while there are others the flash of whose eye or the tone of whose voice is all the armament. they require. That was the new thing in speech "that filled the hearers of Jesus with wond Never had they heard anyone speal with such power. And the 20 centuries that have passed since then have left His claim to authortative speech unchallenged, Those whose voices have been most powerful in the moving of their fellows owe their inspiration to Him, while the voices of all His competitors are feeble in comparison. Shall we not listen to. tie voice of Jesus; to His words of matchless love, of unchallenged authority? "Never man spoke like this man.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.