Part 6 (1/2)

The actual results of his work proved to Jesus that his success was to be with the simple-minded, and not with the pundit cla.s.s. He accepted the fact with a thrill of joy, and praised G.o.d for making it so. Paul verified the same alignment in the early Church. The upper cla.s.ses held back through pride of birth or education, or through the timidity of wealth. In bringing in a new order of things, G.o.d had to use plain people to get a leverage.

_What really was it that Jesus saw in the lowly to attract him?_

Sixth Day: Jesus, a Man of the People

And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and came unto Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village that is over against you, and straightway ye shall find an a.s.s tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any one say aught unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. Now this is come to pa.s.s, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,

Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, Meek, and riding upon an a.s.s, And upon a colt the foal of an a.s.s.

And the disciples went, and did even as Jesus appointed them, and brought the a.s.s, and the colt, and put on them their garments; and he sat thereon. And the most part of the mult.i.tude spread their garments in the way; and others cut branches from the trees, and spread them in the way. And the mult.i.tudes that went before him, and that followed, cried saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, Who is this? And the mult.i.tudes said, This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.-Matt. 21:1-11.

Here was a democratic procession! No caparisoned charger, but a burro-though a young and frisky one, carefully selected-no military escort with a bra.s.s band and a drum major, but a throng of peasants, shouting the psalms of their fathers and the hope of a good time coming; no costly rugs to carpet the way of the King, but the sweat-stained garments of working people and branches wrenched off by Galilaean fists. What was he, this King of the future, ridiculous or sublime?

If Jesus is ever to make his entry into the spiritual sovereignty of humanity, will the social cla.s.ses line up as they did at Jerusalem?

Seventh Day: The Final Test for All

But when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all the nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or athirst, and gave thee drink?

And when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? And when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.-Matt. 25:31-46.

”Whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” Think of it-absolute justice done at last, by an all-knowing Judge, where no earthly pull of birth, wealth, learning, or power will count, and where all masks fall! By what code of law and what standard shall we be judged there? Here is the answer of Jesus: Not by creed and church questions, but by our human relations; by the reality of our social feeling; by our practical solidarity with our fellow-men. If we lived in the presence of hunger, loneliness, and oppression, in the same country with child labor, race contempt, the long day, rack rents, prost.i.tution, just earnings withheld by power, the price of living raised to swell swollen profit-if we saw such things and remained apathetic, out we go.

_You and I-to the right or the left?_

Study for the Week

No one can turn from a frank reading of the Gospels without realizing that Jesus had a deep fellow-feeling, not only for suffering and handicapped individuals, but for the ma.s.s of the poorer people of his country, the peasants, the fishermen, the artisans. He declared that it was his mission to bring glad tidings to this cla.s.s; and not only glad words, but happy realities. Evidently the expectation of the coming Reign of G.o.d to his mind signified some substantial relief and release to the submerged and oppressed. Our modern human feeling glories in this side of our Saviour's work. Art and literature love to see him from this angle.

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His concern for the poor was the necessary result of the two fundamental convictions discussed by us in the previous chapters. If he felt the sacredness of life, even in its humble and hardworn forms, and if he felt the family unity of all men in such a way that the sorrows of the poor were his sorrows, then, of course, he could not be at ease while the people were ”skinned and prostrate,” ”like sheep without a shepherd.”

Wherever any group has developed real solidarity, its best attention is always given to those who are most in need. ”The whole have no need of a physician,” said Jesus; the strong can take care of themselves.

So he cast in his lot with the people consciously. He slept in their homes, healed their diseases, ate their bread, and shared his own with them. He gave them a faith, a hope of better days, and a sense that G.o.d was on their side. Such a faith is more than meat and drink. In turn they rallied around him, and could not get enough of him. ”The common people heard him gladly.”

Furthermore, the feeling of Jesus for ”the poor” was not the sort of compa.s.sion we feel for the hopelessly crippled in body or mind. His feeling was one of love and trust. The Galilaean peasants, from whom Peter and John sprang, were not morons, or the sodden dregs of city slums. They were the patient, hard-working folks who have always made up the rank and file of all peoples. They had their faults, and Jesus must have known them. But did he ever denounce them, or call them ”offspring of vipers”?

Did he ever indicate that their special vices were frustrating the Kingdom of G.o.d? They needed spiritual impulse and leaders.h.i.+p, but their nature was sound and they were the raw material for the redeemed humanity which he strove to create.

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