GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 3:18
Just as I Am
Charlotte Elliott was a popular young woman. Though surrounded by ministers, she traveled in social circles where religion was not discussed. After all, she was religious. How could she not be? She was invited to gatherings and hosted parties. She became seriously ill, however, and could no longer attend the soirees. In her illness, she began to examine her life and felt her need for a personal savior. Dr. Cesar Malan, who was visiting her father, asked her whether she was at peace with God—a question she resented, for she was surrounded by religion. When she felt better, she went to visit Dr. Malan and apologized for her abrupt answer. She told Dr. Malan that she wanted to cleanse her life before becoming a Christian, to which he replied, “Come just as you are.” She committed her life to Christ that day and considered it “the birthday of her soul to true spiritual life and peace.” Remembering Dr. Malan’s words, she wrote the hymn “Just as I Am” in 1835: “Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come! I come!” Though often ill, she wrote over 150 hymns and poems. Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871).
According to St. Mark, Jesus continued selecting from the crowd gathered around him men who would be close to him and help in his ministry: “And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite.” (Mark 3:18) When Matthew recorded this event, however, he wrote: “Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus.” (Matt. 10:3) Matthew described himself as “the tax collector.” Neither St. Mark nor St. Luke added this qualifying phrase.
Among the Jews, any Jew who associated with or worked for the Romans in any capacity was anathema, cursed. They would have nothing to do with them, except by necessity, which, in Matthew’s case, involved paying their taxes. Thus, Matthew was a social outcast. He may have been scrupulously honest, but he would never be invited to the house of an orthodox Jew. He could associate with other tax collectors and social outcasts but not the guardians of purity. So Matthew wanted his readers to know that Jesus accepted him just as he was: a publican, a tax collector, an outcast. Charlotte Elliott captured that same idea in her hymn: “Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come! I come!” Matthew’s and Elliott’s messages are still true.
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