t is required of us is not high-flown sentiment, but the practical
proof of consideration, that we have really learnt the first lesson of
the Christ-life, to put others, not self, in the first place. The proof,
the test, is our willingness to put ourselves to inconvenience, to go
without things, for the sake of others. If in such a little matter as so
ordering our Sunday meals as to give our servants rest, as far as may be,
and opportunity for worship, our practical, home Christianity breaks
down, then we must not shirk the plain truth, there is in us _nothing_ of
the Spirit of Him Who spoke the Third Word. On the other hand, the
readiness with which we do yield up our comforts is a proof--nothing
short of that--a proof of the indwelling of God in us. "In this we know
that He abideth in us, from the Spirit"--the Spirit of the Christ--"which
He hath given to us."

2. We notice, in the second place, that Christ's proof of friendship is
the assignment of a task, the giving of some work to do for Him. "Behold
thy mother." We are His friends, as He Himself has told us. "No longer
do I call you slaves, for the slave is one who knows not what his master
is doing; but you I have called friends." St. John had forsaken his
Friend:

a torchlight and a noise,
The sudden Roman faces, violent hands,
And fear of what the Jews might do,

had been too much for the disciple's courage and the friend's devotion.

And it is written, I forsook and fled:
That was my trial, and it ended thus.

But St. John had returned. There he is, in his true place, beside his
Master and Friend.

We too have forsaken, sometimes denied, the same Master and Friend. We
too with true repentance have returned, and are struggling to take up the
old allegiance. What is the proof, where is the assurance for which we
long more, perhaps, than for anything else in the world, that our
repentance has been accepted, that we are once more in the number of
those whom He calls His friends?

There is one decisive test. Upon all His friends He lays some task. If
we have anything to do for Jesus Christ, then we may assure our hearts.
Our desertion has been forgiven. He has spoken to us the words of peace,
"Behold thy mother, thy brother, thy son." For, let us not forget, all
work for others, for the bodies, the minds, the souls of our brethren in
the family of God, is capable of being raised from the level of
professional drudgery,