Chapter 5

THE REAL JESUS

   Not long ago I was caught in one of those quick and heavy summer downpours which are so typical of our part of the midwest. I took refuge in a service station from which I could watch the slanted shafts of rain splatter against the concrete, creating a pattern of crazily dancing drops which merged with the gathering run-off draining toward the gutter. The shower lasted only about ten minutes and was succeeded by bright sunshine which caused clouds of steam to rise from the sidewalk.

     I resumed my walk almost at once but not before a couple of barefoot boys had launched their paper boats on the rushing torrent swirling along the curb. The water was dirty and filled with debris washed up in its progress. This made no difference to the lads who were following their miniature vessels in great glee. The frail boats were swept along relentlessly, gaining impetus as new freshets swept in to swell the stream from cross streets. When they neared the entrance to the storm sewer their owners tried to rescue them but it was too late. They were swept under by the sucking pull of the current and disappeared from sight.

     As I continued on my way I could not help but meditate about the fact that the fragile vessels aptly represented a lot of people whom I knew. One minute they were being borne along gaily on the onrushing tide but the end is certain destruction. There flashed into my mind the image of an attractive girl who grew up in a remote rural area of our state. Her parents were possessed of what is sometimes referred to as "an old-fashioned faith" in God. It was real and genuine. They reared their children to trust in God and took them regularly to a little village church from the time they were old enough to be carried outside the home.

     The girl to whom I refer developed a sense of rebellion while still in the consolidated high school to which the bus transported her daily. As she read about the glamorous life in the city, and saw it portrayed on the television screen, she began to feel that she was being cheated. Finally, after a litle encounter with her mother over some trivial incident, she ran off and made her way to the city about which she had fantasized. Desperate and lonely she fell for the blandishments of a boy who flattered her, and they were married after she lied about her age to secure a license. In a few months she became pregnant and her husband disappeared as quickly as he learned about her condition.

     It is not necessary to detail what happened. With her dream castle shattered into fragments she knew the dark depths of depression. She contemplated taking her life but recoiled from the suicide pit as she lingered on the very rim of it. The thing I cannot understand is, that now, having gone through the ordeal, she has plunged back into the muddy waters again. She is living with a man to whom she is not married, drinking liquor to the excess, getting her nightly entertainment in the cheap music of a local tavern, and staying up until the wee small hours. When I went to talk with her about Jesus she brushed me off. She told me she was living at last and did not want to be bothered. She is a paper ship tossed on a rushing tide and headed for the sewer.

     There are millions in our generation who are caught up in the swim and who will continue to be engulfed by the raging waters of vice, drugs or drunkenness. Once when we were at Niagara Falls I was standing on the fenced platform overlooking the rushing cascade. A city policeman was standing next to me and he observed that a great many tourists standing at this vantage point experienced a fatal fascination which created a momentary desire to plunge into the swiftly gliding stream.

     It is not only moving water which has such an allure. The surging mass of mankind swept along in the impulse for pleasure, gratification, and earthly recognition draws many a person from a place of safety into the maelstrom which swirls into death. A good example is a former preacher of my acquaintance. Reared in the church he grew up with an ambition to preach, and as soon as he was old enough, enrolled in a school devoted to preparing men for the pulpit. He excelled in courses in the Bible and received special honor as a public speaker. Before he graduated he was offered a pulpit position in a congregation where he had been supplying on weekends. He accepted and married his high school sweetheart who grew up in the same congregation as himself. Together they had sponsored youth meetings and exhibited outstanding ability in working for worthy causes. For five years they were happily joined together and then their marriage began to go sour.

     He became involved in an affair with another woman, older than himself, and it became such a matter of public knowledge that he was dismissed. His wife left him and secured a divorce. He began to drift about until finally he married a woman whose husband had divorced her for "cheating" on him. For a long time the former preacher avoided me like the plague. It was this which caused me to be so amazed when a car pulled into my driveway and I saw him emerge.

     When we sat down in the livingroom it was evident that he was nervous and fidgety. He clasped and unclasped his fingers. He was perspiring even though the room was not warm. I could see that he was unkempt and no longer the polished professional I knew a few years before. Finally he told me that he simply had to talk to someone. I resolved inwardly to listen without interruption, difficult as it is for me to do so. He poured out a torrent of words. It was obvious he had dammed up the communication stream and now that the floodgate was opened he could not stop. I listened for more than two hours as he painted a picture of his life from his first memory.

     He was quite convinced that he had always been a hypocrite, shamming it and playing to the grandstand. Even while preaching the messages which won such approval from the audience, his mind was somewhere else and on other things. It was a sordid story of one who began to read pornographic material and became "hooked" on it. He turned his mind into a pig-sty. He hid "girlie magazines" in the same place where he kept his Bible and sermon materials. The lust which began as a spark became a consuming fire until his influence was destroyed and the hearts of his best friends shattered to fragments by his behavior.

     There are some things to learn from these two cases which may not be as rare and exotic as we would like to think they are. Without becoming "preachy" or indulging in "pulpiteering" I would like to point out a few things. Merely attending Sunday School regularly and being exposed to the sheltered environment it provides is no guarantee that one will "turn out right" to use a timeworn expression. Both of those I have mentioned were medal winners for Sunday School attendance. The first one received as a gift a Bible five years straight for perfect attendance.

     Certainly we need not sit in judgment upon the worth of the Sunday School, which has had an influence for good upon many. But there is a real question as to what permanent impact is to be derived from merely attending any kind of religious institution and "going through the motions" required to conform to the established pattern. Not long since I was a panel member with an eminent judge of a juvenile court. In response to a question from the audience he said that about as many offenders who stood before him had been reared in Sunday Schools as not. He added, "Character is not formed by institutions such as churches or schools. It is a product of the intimate relationships in the home."

     Merely graduating from a school of preaching or standing in the pulpit does not make one good. Putting the old man in a new place will no more change one's life than taking a robber from his prison cell and locking him in a bank vault will transform him. Both of the persons to whom we referred had read the Bible, memorized passages, and said prayers. None of these acted as a bulwark against temptation or sin when the test became great. It is only when such demonstrations are symptoms of the new birth that they are really valid. Turning over a new leaf at intervals is not enough. We must turn up with a new life. It was Billy Sunday who pointed out that taking a man to church will no more make a Christian out of him than taking him to the garage will make an automobile out of him.

     Even prayer can become monotonous repetition, a kind of soul-deadening ritual with about as much spiritual value as the chant of a tobacco auctioneer. Jesus said that it was so to the heathen. It is only when prayer becomes one side of a conversation with a loved one that it has meaning. If it is a monologue recited to another out of habit there will be no cleaning, comfort or consolation. It must be a dialogue with full conviction that one's words are heard and a response is given.

     Lately the fear has been expressed that, with the advent of so many versions of the Bible, there will be an end to the memorization of scriptural texts. Our more immediate ancestors grew up with but one translation, that authorized by King James to be read in the Anglican churches, and first printed in 1611. It lent itself to memory work since it was in the same stately dialect as that in which Shakespeare wrote. It was poetic and romantic. Families memorized whole chapters, reciting them together in the light from the glowing fireplace in long winter evenings. This was commendable and influenced both thought and literature greatly.

     However, we must remember that the mechanical repetition of a great collection of verses means little, and might place one in the same category as others who could reel off the entire collection of Mother Goose rhymes without a hobble. It is possible that memorization may suffer in our day but this means no lessening of interest in the word of God. The very multiplicity of translations is an indication of growing concern for the sacred scriptures. They would not be produced if no one purchased or read them. It is also arguable that those who do read them will be drawn closer to God if they understand what they are reading. To wade through archaic literary forms may discourage some before they are hardly started.

     It is possible to have a head full of scriptural quotations and a heart empty of Jesus. The written word was not given to provide an exercise in mental retentiveness but to lead us to moral repentance. It is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path but we should never become so hung up on the nature of light that we sit down and philosophize about it until we never use our feet or tread the path. One does not spend all of his time gazing at a light or studying it, but busies himself performing his tasks in the glow that it sheds. The purpose of the scripture is to lead us unto Christ, and if we are led somewhere else we have already abused it.

     The real spiritual adventure comes when one is personally identified with Jesus in the task of world conquest. Because this is a spiritual warfare and there are no battlefields bathed in gore or bestrewn by corpses grown rigid in grotesque shapes we may be prone to undervalue its importance. The fact is that it is the ultimate struggle, destined to end in world sovereignty for one Person. Every intelligent being in heaven, on earth, and in the nether regions will acknowledge His right to reign. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue will confess. To be a part of this Grand Design is to be involved in the glorious hope, the brilliant future.

     This raises a real question. Why is it that those who hear about Jesus do not all come to Him? Why is it that some who have answered His call desert Him when the going gets tough or they become weighted down with their own shortcomings. I think the answer lies in the fact that the first hear about Jesus but never hear Him. He is presented as a hero in the past, a crusader who flung down the gauntlet to clerical rip-off artists in the temple who exploited the poor, or as a legendary figure who performed great feats that astonished the populace. To a secularistic age He appears as a kind of combination Robin Hood and Paul Bunyan.

     There are a lot of things to distort the image of Jesus and keep us from seeing Him as He is. The modern church often comes between a man and Jesus. He must be looked at through sectarian lens ground to a traditional prescription. His teaching must be put through a theological meat grinder and moulded into sermon-wrapped patties of orthodoxy before being peddled for public consumption. The result is a world which has no clear picture of what Jesus said and even less of an idea what He meant by what He said.

     It is a rather common fallacy to suppose that the new covenant scriptures as presently compiled, constitute a written code of laws and provide a meticulous pattern of forms, structures and ceremonies, to be rigidly enforced in all ages. Such a position always ends in the concept that a proper relationship to the Father of all mercies can only be maintained by conformity with the deductions and interpretations of each sect, and since these differ, division is assured and perpetuated.

     The tragedy of the legalistic view is that it promotes strife among the more ardent students of scripture. The unconcerned and indifferent have no real interest in the study of revelation. The debates about meanings are carried on by clergymen, specialists who devote years of research to the text, not necessarily to walk closer to Jesus, or to develop a greater measure of compassion, but to defend partisan viewpoints. This results from an unhealthful and unscriptural view of the purpose of the new covenant scriptures which were intended, not to separate brother from brother, but to guide all into a more meaningful relationship with Jesus through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

     None of us can be sure of how our Lord would deal with some of the situations which confront us in this technological era. There are issues with moral overtones for which no specific solutions are provided in the Word of God. The apostles never confronted some of them. Jesus has left us no bill of particulars and has given us no legal code with all of the contingencies spelled out in fine print or explained in footnotes. We do not even have a biography providing a complete account of his life upon earth. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John had no intention of giving us a history of His career. With one exception they skip over thirty years of a life that lasted even less than thirty-four years. They merely set forth those events which would provide proof to a rational mind that He was who He claimed to be, the Son of God! They later admitted that Jesus did many things they did not chronicle and said, "But there are many other things which Jesus did; were everyone of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that could be written" (John 21:25). This means there is much more about the visit of Jesus on earth that we do not know than there is that we do know.

     The same thing holds true with the letters written by the apostles. All of these were sparked by human situations and predicaments. After Paul had dealt with a number of the problems which plagued God's people in Corinth, he wrote, "About the other things I will give directions when I come" (1 Cor. 11:34). We do not know what the other things were and we do not know what directions were given.

     When John wrote to a prominent sister in Christ and her children, he concluded his brief letter with the words, "Though I have much to write unto you, I would rather not use pen and ink, but I do hope to come and see you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete" (2 John 12). To Gaius, whom he admired, the aged apostle wrote, "I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink; I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face" (3 John 13, 14). Perhaps it is as well that he did not write more. The religious world has been fighting for centuries over the little he did write.

     God does not deal with us in these last days as with children. He has not supplied us a rule book with appendices in which every phase of spiritual activity is spelled out for us in detailed specifications. We must ascertain those principles which governed our Lord and apply them as best we can in the Jet Age which is far removed from the days of Herod Agrippa and Pontius Pilate. Fortunately those principles have never been abrogated by heaven nor superseded by any superior wisdom of mankind. We can, by a proper study of the greatest life ever to bless this earth, learn that personal approach which will be best for us during our brief life span. I should like to suggest a few things which appear to me to have relevance for our day. I believe they will help us to better manifest that spirit exhibited by our Lord, in his contact with the problems to which we are heir by being in this kind of world.

     1. Jesus exhibited a genuine sense of priority values. He did not recognize every command of God as of equal weight and significance. He knew there were certain requirements that were central to our relationship while others were peripheral. When a lawyer asked Him which was the greatest commandment in the law Jesus did not say there was no such thing. Instead He recited the command to love God. He said, "This is the first and great commandment." He then gave the second and said it was like the first, "You shall love your neighbor as your self." He added an important comment, "On these two hang all the law and the prophets."

     This is a forceful statement because it shows that love for God and neighbor is basic. From these two commands every other thing required is suspended. One might break the formal and ritualistic requirements and while he would be held accountable for these infractions the relationship would remain intact, but if he rejected or violated the foundational requirements the whole structure would tumble in disarray. The lawyer was discerning enough to see this. He replied, "Master, you have spoken the truth . . . to love God . . .and to love your neighbor as yourself--that is far more than any burnt offerings or sacrifices." The record says, "When Jesus saw how sensibly he answered, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."

     The converse of this must be true so that when a man regards ritual and ceremonial requirements as being on par with personal relationship to God and his brethren he is a long way from the kingdom. One nears the kingdom, according to Jesus, when he sensibly approaches the problem of our relationship as contrasted with legal demands. Yet most of the divisions in the family of God have been caused by some aspect of tragic error at this juncture. Jesus knew that the law was given by God but He knew there were weightier matters than some of the keen points of distinction which had been arrived at by the scrupulous legalistic minds of the scribes. All truth is equally true but it is not all equally important. It is true that "Methuselah lived 969 years and he died," but that is not nearly so important as the fact that Jesus died for my sins. One is as Biblical as the other, but one is not as weighty as the other in the divine-human relationship.

     2. Jesus evaluated the relationship with a brother as taking precedence over a formal act of religious service. "If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." The altar was ordained of God. It was the very center of expression of national worship. The most important religious ritual was to be interrupted to establish a proper relationship with a brother. Jesus would never have considered that a thing was settled so long as division existed between brethren.

     Sacrifice at the altar was intended to bridge the chasm between man and God which was caused by transgression. But if there was a rift between man and man it must be spanned first. The apostle John declared, "If a man does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" Again he writes, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16). In a certain place in the southern part of Missouri there is a great bridge over the mighty Mississippi River. But before one can cross it from the west he must first cross another little bridge over a creek. If he refuses to drive across the first he has no access to the second. It is this way with the kingdom of heaven. I become worthy to approach God by appreciating the worth of my brethren to me-and to God!

     3. Jesus recognized that man was not made for religion, but religion was made for man, and the ultimate expression of religion is doing good for needy mankind. One sabbath while they were going through the grainfields, the disciples plucked off heads of grain, rubbed off the husks between their palms, blew away the chaff, and ate the grain. The sharp-eyed Pharisees immediately called to the attention of Jesus that His followers were doing what was not lawful on the sabbath. Here was a clearcut confrontation between law and human hunger, between a statute and starvation.

     Jesus went to the very heart of the matter. He did not cavil about the existence of the law. He did not argue the validity of their interpretation. He did not engage in a long-winded wrangle to show that they were guilty of like infractions. Instead he pointed to the attitude of David when he was being bounded by Saul. Here was one who was universally honored. He was the first king of the house of Judah. Jesus recalled that when David "was in need and was hungry" he entered the very precincts of the house of God and there ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for any but the priests to eat.

     This teaching was revolutionary to the legalistic sticklers of that day. All legalism sacrifices human need to ceremonial observance. The life, and even the soul of a man is worthless compared to "obeying the letter of the law." Let the law be upheld at all costs, regardless of human suffering or inner turmoil. Men are but machines, mere robots to perform stated acts. A good illustration in our own days is that of a preacher who was speaking to a rural congregation in Arkansas about the imperative of coming every Sunday to share in the communion of the Lord's Table. He declared that nothing must ever interfere with the attempt to attend "every time the doors are opened." He declared that if his doctor forbade him to go on Sunday morning, he would get up and dress and walk as far toward the meetinghouse as possible, then he would crawl as long as he could, and if he died he would expire with his right hand stretched out toward what he mistakenly referred to as "the house of God."

     Such absurd reasoning was directly contradicted by Jesus when He declared, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath." The goal of the revealed faith is not to increase one's already heavy burdens. It is to develop one in all of his faculties and potentials to the highest possible level. It is to encourage and assist him in the arrival at that place where his personality fulfils the divine responsibility which is his to bear. When religion becomes destructive of the finer virtues, when it engenders hatred, animosity and carping criticism, when it drives apart those who claim to love Jesus, instead of drawing them closer together, it is prostituted to the baser elements of our earthbound existence.

     It is a sad error to mistake being loyal to a party or to partisan traditions with being loyal to Jesus and the ideals which He espoused and for which He died. It is possible that nothing else in our day so stands in the way of genuine Christian living as sectarian prejudice. It places a blind-fold over the mind shutting out the light of truth. It acts as a shackle for the heart making further progress impossible. We need men who will rise above narrow concepts of brotherhood and restore to our aching hearts the real Jesus, in all the glory and majesty of that divine love which sent him to an unworthy world filled with sinners.

     4. Jesus intimated that the ability to love may be in proportion to a recognition of the need for forgiveness. One who feels he is so good that he requires little mercy from God will have but meager compassion for others. Such a person lavishes all his love upon himself and has but a small surplus to share with anyone else. George Herbert, the English poet, who died in 1633, wrote: "He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for every one has need to be forgiven."

     One of the most touching things in the life of Jesus on earth occurred one day when he was the guest of a prominent Pharisee. The table was surrounded with a select group of diners when someone conveyed the news to a streetwalker that Jesus was in the house. She edged her way through the door carrying an alabaster flask of ointment and came quickly to the place where Jesus reclined while partaking of the feast. Weeping copiously, her tears fell upon the feet of Jesus, whereupon she used her long hair as a towel and dried them, after which she stooped and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the costly perfume.

     The host was astounded, but said nothing aloud. Instead he spoke to himself, "This man cannot be a prophet for if he were he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, and he would never have allowed a prostitute to touch him, let alone kissing his feet." Jesus understood what he was saying as if he had produced audible words, for the record says that Jesus answered him. His answer was a story, "Simon, a certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which one of them will love him more?" The Pharisee replied, "I suppose the one to whom he forgave more." Jesus replied, "You answered correctly."

     Then, after mentioning how remiss the Pharisee had been in common courtesy, Jesus said, "I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." If we would develop a love to share we must begin with a sense of our own need. He who comes short of recognizing his own shortcomings will come up short in bestowing love. Regardless of the gravity of our sins if we come to Jesus in loving compassion He may say to us as He did to the griefstricken harlot, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." What an adventure came to her that day in such hostile surroundings.

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