rJlNUAEY, 1915
The Commoner
15
neighbors by declaring, "Tbday hath his scr
tur'e beon fulfilled 'In your ears.'"" '' '
' He had' no authority from the ' churchl : His
deeds were his credentials. "' When Jphn tho
Baptist . became incredulous 'ho sehttw6.1 6f his
disciples id inquire of Jesus', "Art thou hp that
cdmeth, or look wo for another?'-' 'instead. of
'giving them an immediate answer, he had them
tarry until they could see for themselves the
Work he Was doing. When theiwdrk jai' hand
Avas finished lie gave them this message': ."Go
and tell Johu-.hie things which ye'tiavo seen 'and
heard; the blind receivo their sigh't, ; th0 lamo
walk, 'the lepers are cleansed, and the d'oiif Hear,
the dead arq raised up, thd poor hav'd gVod 'tid
ings preached to them." t :"
'- iifs'.labor.B vere. arduous and .nces.sant. in
all Galilee he taught in the synagogues. Besides
being a teacher, ho was a physician who healed
all. manner of' disease and all m'ahrief of sick
ness, -All Syria heard of his ministry arid frbin
every, quarter-they brought tlieir sick and he"
healed' them,. When ho entered the land ' bf
..Genesaret and his presence became known they
actually sent out heralds, post haste, Who went
everywhere 'throughout the region telling 'the
people ..that the. Nazarono had come. They
brought all their sick, even those that had to" be
carried pn their beds, and he healed 'theiu.
Wherever he went through the cburitry the
people- 'brought their lamo, blind, dumb, and
imainled, and 'putting them down at' hid feet he
healed them. Whenever he entered into' a vilL
,lage or city the inarket-place was' sbbri'fllled with
.the -afflicted' ones who besought liiih, and their
appear was not ..in vain. He did" hot heal to
provet his divinity but because he' had' cbmpas1
;sion on thd sufferers. The artist dpes not paint
the masterpiece to prove that Iie Is an artist',
although histwork does prove it Jesus' life was a
life of servied'but of a heart ; of ldVet ' ' ',
The' Nazarerie's dall to men was a cill tp .so r
Vice;: It Was more in the nature of a challenge
'than an invitatibh, -for' the, service". V which he
Called was hot7 an easy service,' and ho" jirged
men to count thd bofct. "If any niah wb.uijj cqme
after me, le'tliim 'deny himself; andtaKe up his
crbss,' 'and fbllbw-'lrie''s h'dt an invitation, lb a
a-lfe'jpf'baB''It"! 'with bipod.. And yet, no
Dirfn'fAds'thefuliiess of' life ou.tsido of self-giv-'infcifdi?
other's. For lie who saves his life, loses
It, but he who loses his life for Jesus' sako,
Hhda it. '
There needs to be a distinction made between
what, is right from a legal standpoint and what
Is right from an ethical standpoint. A man
has the legal right to take advantage of educa
tional opportunities, and then to , use. his, en
hanced ability fdr himself alone,, but; he lias, not
the moral tfght' to do it. It ' has . even been
considered proper for a man to secure at public
expense in the law. training, and then to use his
ability to. defeat- justice in the Courts. It is
Jegal for a man who has wealth enough to live
without toil, but according to thd Nazarehe he
has not, the moral right to do1 so; Every man
who does.not toil Is a human parasite. The idle
rich are more inimical .to human welfare than
the wandering tramps who beg their way 'from
door to door. No man has a right to be idle so
long as half the world . can neither read nor
write. . '
. The rich fool, whose program was to. eat, drink
and be merry, had no, conception of life. What
a chance he had to help ppor tenants for miles
around to become, owners of farms. The rich
young ruler, who had kept the commandments,
and who would have been delighted to have
added to his ceremonial observances, went away
sorrowful because he failed to catch the vision
of service presented by the Nazarene. The par
able of the ;rich man and Lazarus has not had
the prominent place it deserves in. our Tellglous
teaching. It v&a not given to teach the relative
positions of heaven and hell. That parable is an
arraignment of those who fare sumptuously
every day, and clothe themselves in purple and
fine linen, totally indifferent to thd fact that
little children are haunting alleys eating from
garbage cans, and that half the world, is hungry.
It may be legally right for men who are mak
ing enormous dividends to pay their help star
vation wages because they can get labor for that
wage, but it is not ethically right. When the
Nazarene gets -a, hearing we shall see that the
way to serve God is to help man. All those who
toil in honest work are God's toilers aridGod's
children., ' '. j '"
The separation. 'of the secular frdm ihe!rd-
Ugious has been due to the idea that 'God is
Interested in the souls of men attd not ;in their
physical and temporal welfare. There is no in
stance in which-the Nasareno made man a do-
partment store. Ho Is man, all man, made in
the imago of God, and a' child of God. Wo have
said, this has to do with a man's spiritual wel
fare and is all important; this has to do with a
man's intellectual welfare, and is of secondary
lmpdrtAnce; and this has to do with a man's
physical welfare, and is of but little importance.
Hence we have divided work into- two spheres
religious and secular. Was Jesiis' lifd thus di
vided?. When ho was praying and teaching ho
was attending-to-the spiritual; but what Was ho
doing when ho was cleansing the leper, opening
thosyes oDthe blind, and making tho lame-walk?
Was' ho then engaged In secular work? bid ho
not give all his time to the ministry? ' All'work
'is sacred work if it ministers to human nfcods.
Arid' Jesus called upon men to Beryo God by serv
ing men.
It is because of these arbitrary distinctions,
made between tho religious and the sdcular, that
we' -have divided questions pertaining to govern
ment into the moral and tho political. We con
sidered slavery a moral question; and wo 'recog
nize the liquor problem as a moral question.
But what about the 'question of moribpdly which
gathers forcdd tribute from every consumer?
What abdut renting property for purposes that
crush the life. but of people? What aboutques
tions of housing the poor, and matters of sani
tation? Are these not moral questions? Every
question which concerns the life of men Is a mor
al question, and every sphere of activity which
ministers to the needs of men is holy work.
. What does it mean to serve God? Does God
need anything at our hands? What is service,
and what relation does our service sustain to
God? Well, the Nazarene answered that ques,
.tion , in the parable which teaches that service
rendered to man Is service rendered to God; and
jthat; service can be rendered to God-, only by
serving mankind.
As an interpretation df tho "Inasmuch" df
the parable of tho sheep and gdats, Henry Van
Dyke tells the story of "Tho Other Wlso Man." He
was the fourth maglclaUrWho had read the Blgns
pf the. heavens, and had, searched the scriptures
of. the Hebrews; He had sold hie possessions
and converted them Into three pi clous stones,
a sapphire. a ruby, and a pearl. Those he would
take across tho desert and lay at the feet of the
new born king. But on his way to meet his
comrades ho came, near tho city 'of Babylon,
upon a poor Hebrew slave lying across the road.
He had barely time to reach tho meeting place
without stopping to minister to this "unknown
fragment of humanity." But If he went on, the
man would die. He tarried and ministered. His
delay necessitated tho sale of his sapphire to
purchase a caravan with which ho made the
journey across the desert alone.
The other wise man arrived in 'Bethlehem
after Joseph and Mary had taken the young child
and fled into Egypt. He was standing in the door
way of a cottage In which there was a young
mother and her babe, when the soldiers of Herod
came down the streets with dripping swords.
They were killing the children of Bethlehem.
He gave the captain the ruby to induce him to
march on and leave the ichild unmolested. And
two of his gems, Intended for the. king, had been
used for man.
After three and thirty yeats of wandering
among the dispersion In sea'rch df the king, he
was again In Jerusalem. It was the season of
the Passover. The great crowd seemed singu
larly agitated, and was moving toward the Da
mascus gate. Learning that Jesus of NazaTeth wag
to bo crucified his heart leaped for joy at the
thought that perhaps he had come In time to
gjye his pearl, the last of his jewels, as a ran
som for the king. But at that moment a girl
broke from the soldiers who were dragging her
down the street, and appealed to the magician to
save her from a life worse than death. Then
there recurred the struggle he had experienced
near Babylon, and again in the cottage at "Beth
lehem. But ho dare not shut his ears to the
appeal of this poor girl. And he took the pearl,
which was meant for the king, and placed it in
the hand of the helpless girl tot her rangem.
Then the storm came. Dust clouds filled the air.
The earth trembled. A tile fell from the roof of
thp praetorlum beneath which thd old man and
the young girl were taking, refuge, and struck
the magician bn the temple'. As the old man.
was dying with his head upon thd'slibUlder of
the girl, there came voice, htit the 'girl could
hot distinguish the words.' When thd voice
ceased the old man said, "Not 'so? my-LbrdT For
when saw I thee an hungered and fed tfcfje? Or
thirsty, and gave the drink? When saw I the
a. stranger and took thee In? Or naked, and
clothed thee? When saw I thee sick or la prlom
and came unto thee? Three and thirty years
have"! looked' for theo; but I have never seen
thy face, nor ministered to thee, my King." Tke
voice made answer, "Inasmuch a.j thou hast done
it unto ono of tho loast of thoso my brothres,
thou hast done it unto mo." Tho Other Wise
Man had given his sapphire, his ruby, his pearl to
tho King: when ho gave thorn for suffering hu
manity.. That was the kind of sorvlco the Nazarene
called' for. But how was that sorvlco to bo ob
tained? By th0 power of lovo, and ho himself
gave yeu tho example.
Jcbub loved folks. Everywhere ho wont the
crowds, thronged him. Tho mothers brought
thoir babes, and ho blessed them; tho people for
miles firound brought their sick, and ho healed
them. Not to prdvo his divinity, but because
ho had compassion on them. Ho fed tho mul
titudes, not to get them to follow him, not to
prove his powor to multiply loaves and fishes,
but because tho crowd was faint, and If they
had been sent away many women and little
children would have sufforod with hunger. In
the wilderness ho refused to use his power to
satisfy his own hunger, but lip did use that power
to satisfy'tho hunger of others.
If I read tho story of tho Nazarono aright, I
read there a story of a human interest that was
divine When Jesus mingled with a crowd 'of
publicans and sinners and banqueted with them,
tho scribes and Pharisees murmured, "This man
rctteiveth sinners and eateth with them." Then
Jcbub took time to toll three stories to illustrate
his' love for tho lost. They wore tho parables
of tho lost sheep tho parable of th6 lost coin,
and ag a climax to all that had gono before the
parable of tho lost boy. They illustrate God's
lovd for tho iost. The prodigal's brother was
probably Interested In the lost boy's soul, but it
Is certain ho wag not interested in tho lost boy,
and objected strenuously when the material sac
rifice of a fat calf was made to celebrate the
brother's return, The father had no wrath to
appease, but ho did have a heart to make glad.
Jesus deliberately represented the love of the
Father for mon in the terms of an earthly fa
ther's lovo for his children. It was Jesus who
summed up all the law and all tho prophets In
tho two great commandments, "thou slialt Jove
tho Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy
neighbor as thyself." Tho Jews had put into
the mouth of God, commandments to kill their
enemies, but Jesus gave expression to a world
vision when ho said (Matt. 5; 43), "Yo have
heard that it was said, thou shalt love thy
neighbor and hate thine enemy: but I say untp
you, love ypur enemies." Not a man escapes
the Divine lovo and God would have his children
liko himself In that respect.
Kindness begets kindness, lovo begets leva.
And tho loVo which Jesus manifested toward
men brought response. In Jericho was a little
man who had risen to the position of chief pub
lican. He was rich. He may have been an
orphan who had been kicked about among his
relatives, overworked, and half starved. Every
where ho. had met a cold, Indifferent world and
he had steeled himself against that world. No
body saw any good in him until Christ came
through Jeripho one day and saw him In the
sycamore tree. Calling him down from tho tree
ho Invited himself to his house. Zacchaeus was
pleased. The religionists all murmured, " He Is
gone In to lodge with a sinner." But Jesus'
kindness, confidence, and love admitted him to
the heart of the publican who had been living:
behind a screen, and there he found tho man.
The warmth of Jesus' love melted his heart, he
caught the vision, and standing up he-said, "Be
hold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the
poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of
any man, I restore four fold."
Sitting in the temple teaching, Jesus was in
terrupted by some of the scribes and Pharisees
who dragged before them a sinful woman. (If
I take som0 liberties with these narratives, I do
the spirit of the text no injustice). They said,
"The law of Moses commands us to atone such;
what do you say," But the woman had not
fallen alone, and she was one of those whom the
Nazarene had come to save. Not to embarrass
her he stooped down and began writing with his
finger 'on the, ground, "He that is without sin
ambng you, let him first cast a stone at her,"
When Jesus, looked up hey were all gone,
"Woman,, where are they? Did no man condemn
thee?" ' Sim said, "No man, Lord."" Amd'Jeeun,
said, "Neither do I coademm thee: go thy way';
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