to teach a man in this absorbed condition of mind, and that probably the
very best way to clarify his faith and lead him to higher and worthier
thoughts is to grant his request--a hint not to be overlooked or
despised by those who seek to do good, and who are, possibly, sometimes
a little prone to obtrude their teaching at most inopportune seasons--at
seasons when it is impossible for the mind to admit anything but the one
absorbing topic. Circumstances are, in general, much better educators of
men than any verbal teaching; and that verbal teaching can only do harm
which interposes between the moving events that are occurring and the
person who is passing through them. The success of our Lord's method was
proved by the result; which was, that the slender faith of this nobleman
became a genuine faith in Christ as the Lord, a faith which his whole
household shared.

From the very greatness of Christ, and our consequent inability to bring
Him into comparison with other men, we are apt to miss some of the
significant features of His conduct. In the circumstances before us, for
example, most teachers at an early stage in their career would have been
in some excitement, and would probably have shown no reluctance to
accede to the nobleman's request, and go down to his house, and so make
a favourable impression on Herod's court. It was an opportunity of
getting a footing in high places which a man of the world could not have
overlooked. But Jesus was well aware that if the foundations of His
kingdom were to be solidly laid, there must be excluded all influence of
a worldly kind, all the overpowering constraint which fashion and great
names exercise over the mind. His work, He saw, would be most
enduringly, if most slowly, done in a more private manner. His own
personal influence on individuals must first of all be the chief agency.
He speaks, therefore, to this nobleman without any regard to his rank
and influence; indeed, rather curtly dismisses him with the words, "Go,
thy son lives." The total absence of display is remarkable. He did not
go to Capernaum, to stand by the sickbed, and be acknowledged as the
healer. He made no bargain with the nobleman that if his son recovered
he would let the cause be known. He simply did the thing, and said
nothing at all about it.

Though it was only one in the afternoon when the nobleman was dismissed
he did not go back to Capernaum that night--why, we do not know. A
thousand things may