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He answered him nothing!|
-- LUKE xxiii.1-12.
And yet, |Ask, and it shall be given you!| Yes, but everything depends upon the asking. Even in the realm of music there is a rudeness of approach which leaves true music silent. Whether the genius of music is to answer us or not depends upon our |touch.| Herod's |touch| was wrong, and there was no response. Herod was flippant, and the Eternal was dumb. And I, too, may question a silent Lord. In the spiritual realm an idle curiosity is never permitted to see the crown jewels. Frivolousness never goes away from the royal Presence rich with surprises of grace. |Thy touch has still its ancient power!| So it has, but the healing touch is the gracious response to the touch of faith. |She touched Him, and...!|
|And Herod ... mocked Him.| That was the real spirit behind the eager curiosity. And I, too, may mock my Lord! I may bow before Him, and array Him in apparent royalty, while all the time my spirit is full of flippancy and jeers. I may lustily sing: |Crown Him Lord of all,| while I will not recognize His rights on a single square foot of the soil of my inheritance. And this it is to be the kinsman of Herod. And this, too, will be the issue; the heavens will be as brass, and the Lord will answer us nothing.