"You can do that," the one said. "No, you'd better do it," said the other. "It's always up to me—you might do it once in a while!"
That was the end of the glory—and of the love. On distant shores; under other circumstances they would do deeds of love. But in that everyday life where God had placed them, it wasn't quite as easy as all that to show their love.
We can all catch ourselves in similar shortcomings. We would like to be charitable on a grand scale if we were elsewhere or differently situated; but in everyday life—it is so prosaic just to help an old mother, or a grandfather, or some sick and poor person. And yet it is that which submits us to the crucial test.
"My little children, let us love not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth."
SEEST THOU THIS WOMAN?
(Lu. 7, 44)
SIMEON is a benevolent Pharisee, deferential toward Jesus, but icy and dignified.
The woman is a sinner, a former prostitute with whom Simeon is disgusted; yes, he sees her, all right! He knows her!