Chapter 3 - His Teachings About Man

If Jesus was a Savior, He came to save mankind, collectively and individually, from sin, from Error; for there is nothing but error to be saved from. That is what He says of Himself, in John 18:37; "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth."

A lost world is a world which has lost the truth about life; and a lost man or woman is simply one who has lost the truth about life; and there is no other way under heaven to save the lost but by telling them the truth about life.

This simple sentence in which He concisely states His mission lets in a flood of light upon His theory of life; He came to save from sin, disease and poverty by telling the truth. Then sin, disease and poverty are untruths; that is, they are wrong ways of living. We will consider first His broader and more generic application of truth, and later, His application of it to the individual.

In the sermon on the mount, He says (Matthew 5:21-22); "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment; but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." The phrase, "thou fool," as we understand it now, does not give the meaning of the original at all; it would be better rendered by some such phrase as "you are of no value" or "you are good for nothing."

I can make His meaning clear, I think, by an illustration. I was sitting in a hotel lobby, once, when the news came of a coalmine horror in which a number of poor fellows lost their lives. Two well-dressed men near me were discussing the affair, and one said; "Oh, well, it's only a couple of Huniaks less. A million more are ready to step into their shoes tomorrow; the world hasn't lost anything."

Jesus says whosoever shall speak of a man as that man spoke, is in danger of hell fire. That man, and those who think and speak as he does, are the real murderers of all who die in mine and mill and under rolling wheels; they make the slaughter possible by cheapening the estimate that is put on the value of a human life. Whosoever talks of "cheap" people, and of "lower" classes, and insists that some are especially valuable to God, and that others are their "inferiors," will go to hell, said Jesus; and I think He was right.

A little farther on in His life, we shall see how He proved it, and on what great natural fact He based His assertion. I have given you the exact meaning of the quoted passage, and the only meaning which may legitimately be drawn from it.

Turn now to the 12th chapter of Matthew and read the first eight verses.

The Sabbath

There you find that the disciples were crossing the fields on the Sabbath day, and that they plucked the ears of corn, and ate as they went. This gave great offence to the Pharisees. They were not offended because they took the grain, for, under the Jewish law, the right of the hungry wayfarer to life transcended the property rights of the owner of the field; none might say the famished man nay, if he chose to pluck and eat. It was not to a theft of grain that the Pharisees objected, but to the fact that the plucking and eating were done on the Sabbath day. The Pharisees believed that the one thing most valuable to God was their church with its institutions and observances. They would not break the Sabbath to feed a hungry man, or to heal a sick man, because they thought the Sabbath was more valuable to God than the man.

And so they complained to Jesus, and He answered them, "Have ye not heard what David did, when he was hungry; he and they that were with him?" and He went on to tell them from their own scriptures, in which, as I have said, He was letter-perfect, how David and his followers went into the temple and took the sacred shew bread and ate it — and God approved. "One standeth here," said Jesus, "greater than the temple."

"The (son of) man is lord of the Sabbath day." That is, God cares more for a hungry man than He does for a holy day or house. In the second chapter of Mark, where the same story is told, He adds, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."

Organizations

Here is brought out and sharply defined the issue between Jesus and His opponents. They were exalting the temple, the worship, the Sabbath, the ceremonial; He exalted the man. They declared that God was working through humanity to build systems and institutions; He declared that God was working through systems and institutions to build humanity. And I, for one, agree with Jesus. I feel no reverence for buildings; even though they are magnificent structures, where the dim light falls through stained glass windows upon the sculptured forms of saints and angels, where robed priests chant in solemn cadence; these things move me little.

But when I stand in a schoolroom and look into the bright faces of a hundred, boys and girls — when I stand in the crowded marketplace, or in a mill or factory where my brothers and sisters toil to supply the needs of the world, and I remember that every soul before me contains possibilities as boundless as the universe itself; when I stand in the presence of this toiling, seeking, loving, suffering, glorious, common humanity, I bare my head and bow in reverence, for here, indeed, I am in the presence of Almighty God. One is here greater than the temple, greater than the Sabbath, greater than the system, greater than the institution, greater than the Church or State.

God has a higher call for man than the keeping of certain days and places holy. This whole earth is a holy place, because it is consecrated by the love of God to fulfill His purpose in unfolding the high destiny of man.

Little Children

In the 18th chapter of Matthew you will read how Jesus took a little child and set him in the midst of them, and said; "Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven"; and He went on to assert that whatsoever should offend the child had better be cast into the sea.

You will get a good idea of the prevailing misconception concerning Jesus and His times if you study the pictures you commonly see of the scene where He blessed the little children. He is always shown to us surrounded by pretty dressed women, who are bringing nice clean babies for Him to love and bless; and it looks very easy for one to humble himself as one of those.

But turn back to our description of the condition of the masses in His day, and you will get a different idea. That was a slave child that He set in the midst of them; unwashed, uncombed, covered with vermin and noisome sores repulsive to every sense; a child of the abyss, in the darkest period of the world's history.

And what could He mean by telling us to humble ourselves as such a child? Is it that we should be childlike in spirit, teachable, credulous? No; there is only one way. Stand beside that child of the gutter, and say; "Before God he is as good as I. He is entitled to everything that I claim for myself and for my children, and I will not rest until all that I demand for my own is his also." Then you will have humbled yourself as the little child by acknowledging his equality with you, and then you will begin to be great in the kingdom of heaven.

"Whosoever shall offend one of these little (slaves?) ones, it is better that a millstone shall be hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea." Yes, any man, or woman, or railroad system, or financial system, or industrial order or disorder that stands between the poor man's child and life, is under the curse of God. It is better that all the corn crops of a thousand years be lost, than that the least injustice shall be done to one such little child. That is what Jesus taught; and it is not to be wondered at that He was crucified.