ANDOVER-HARVARD LIBRARY AH 423VO TV Visdom Harvard Depository ckley - Brittle Book Carlyle and Emerson: a Contrast George Wright Buckley - ...-... -- - -------- ------------- - Ses The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus ALSO Carlyle and Emerson: : a Contrast By George Wright Buckley “Humor is an invisible tear through a visible smile.” - FROM THE RUSSIAN SECOND EDITION ELLIS PUBLISHING COMPANY Battle Creek, Michigan ANDONLARVARD THEOLOGICI LIBRARY CAMBRIDIT VLSS. a74,157 Feb,2,1728 Sla The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus Copyright, 1901 James H. West Company Contents PAGE Preface 3 Introduction 11 I. Humor Versus Criticism . . 23 II. Life-Sketches: Turning "Men's Ears into Eyes" .... 43 III. Misunderstood 59 IV. Kindred and Neighbors ... 71 V. Pithy Sayings and Retorts . . 87 VI. Opposition and Quotation . . 105 VII. Miracles; Practical Religion . 123 VIII. Vanquished Craft 145 IX. Hypocrisy and Self-Righteous- ness 159 X. Closing of the Conflict ... 173 Conclusion 197 Index . 203 (5) . "Who art tbou, Lord?"—the question, still, of old f Thy silver speech hath opened man's dull ears, Thy wisdom hath turned spirit's dross to gold, And calms us yet, through maze of tangled years. "Whence eamest thou?" The Galilean hills Which knew thy eager feet and pulsing speech—- Could they alone inspire the Word that thrills The souls of men to farthest ages' reach? Or for thy birth, from Heav'n with rapture rife Didst thou indeed descend earth's woes to leaven? We know not !— but we know thy words of life From mortal birth lift man to birth of Heaven! —James H. West. (8) Sometimes wit lieth in pat allusion to a known story, or in seasonable application of a trivial saying, or in forging an apposite tale; sometimes it playeth in words and phrases, taking advantage from the ambiguity of their sense, or the affinity of their sound; sometimes it lurketh under an odd similitude; sometimes it is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quick- ish reason, in a shrewd intimation, in cunningly divert- ing or cleverly retorting an objection; sometimes it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyperbole, in a startling metaphor; . . . sometimes a scenical representation of persons or things, a counterfeit speech, a mimical look or gesture, passeth for wit; . . . sometimes it riseth only from a lucky hitting upon what is strange. . . . Often it consisteth in one knows not what, and springeth up one can hardly tell how. Its ways are unaccountable and inexplicable, being answerable to the numberless rov- ings of fancy and windings of language.— Barrow. (10) Introduction TO exempt nothing from inquiry is the marked attitude of our age. The maxim of Greek philosophy, "Man is the measure of all things," has become our maxim too. In this unfettered and searching temper of the time the old theological distinction of profane and sacred loses dominion over thoughtful men: the Bible, and even the teachings and character of Jesus, are subjected to honest and comparative analysis. It is well, this free measurement of him, if only one preserve a truly reverent and grateful relation to his peerless personality. More than a decade since, the writer was much taken with the title of a helpful little volume of "higher criticism," from the pen of Reverend Joseph Henry Crooker. The title 12 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus was "Jesus Brought Back." The title was very taking, because it so strikingly signifies what has been transpiring these latter days. As some of the choicest specimens of antique art were lost in the accumulated rubbish of centuries, to be resurrected by the zealous efforts of modern archaeologists, so the Son of man was lost in the disfiguring theology and superstition of the Christian Church, to be found again in our age of discovering and restoring manifold things. The real Jesus is being brought back. In literature, in art, in the pulpit itself, there is no mistaking the tendency to view him in human aspects and relations — to view him as under a universal law of human development and limitation, whereby even the greatest of men are linked to the imperfect age in which they live and to the more or less specialized nature of the work given them to do. Just as we say that Aristotle and Herbert Spencer were specially gifted for philosophy, Humboldt and Darwin for science, Shake- 1j. The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus contradictions of individual men — individual great men? Shakespeare, almost overmas- tered by the heat and luxuriance of his imag- ination, magic sovereign of impalpable subjects in an impalpable kingdom above — how sane and true his measurements of human forces here below! What a discriminative vision of the systems and affairs of men may be given to a shy and sensitive unworldling ! — witness the serene and spotless Emerson. On occa- sion, how mighty in action the cloistered dreamer ! — timid and sickly Calvin (called "a walking hospital"), drawn from scholarly privacy into the strenuous and combative publicity of his regenerative career at Geneva; or Luther, the studious monk of Erfurt, before the Diet of Worms, wishing "to be quiet, yet hurried into the midst of tumults." So, in- deed, a soul big with earnest intent, yea, with divine sadness, may also have a spring of humor to refresh men and disclose the heart of things amiss in this world; — humor often playing across some somber background as Introduction '5 the sunlight plays across a dark cloud of the heavens. Strangely close to truth is the defi- nition of a Russian, that "Humor is an invis- ible tear through a visible smile." Even thus was it with Thomas Carlyle in literature, the melancholy Lincoln in politics, and, in religion, "the man of sorrows," Jesus of Nazareth. Recognizing the legitimacy and effective- ness of well-timed wit and humor, the prince of righteousness exercised them to a purpose befitting one mindful of the gravity of his mission and profoundly sensitive to the tragic side of life. Sometimes he used them to season serious discourse, simply as we use salt and sugar to season food; sometimes to pierce with his thought the thick mental integuments of one or another class of his hearers; some- times as victorious weapons of battle with unscrupulous enemies. What concerns the author of these pages is not that he classify the wit and wisdom of Jesus under definite categories; but rather that he give them some living relation to the sublime personality Introduction 17 and Calvary. The supreme integrity of his god- ward aim holds to the fatal end; but the shift- ing scenes and situations of the drama must needs work some change in his thought and treatment as physician to the soul of man. Never to the eye of the most reverent Israelite, standing on the Mount of Olives, looked more enchanting the distant sanctuary of the temple in Jerusalem, with its white marble parapets and its golden-plated sides, shining in the sunlight, now " like a mountain of glittering snow, now like a sea of fire " — never more enchanting than in the opening of his ministry looked to this Messiah's untried hope and faith the prospect of life in loving, helpful fellowship with men. But thorns mul- tiplied along the way. Pushed on by an im- perative vision and conscience into conflict with established powers, the shadows cast by growing opposition encroach upon the lights as that conflict proceeds. Touching the will- ingness of his countrymen to accept him as the king of a " kingdom not of this world," he Introduction r9 qualifying phrase, "in general "; because to make the supposition more sweeping by assert- ing that these more genial forms must needs all be credited to his earlier career, and those less so to his later career, would surely not tally with human nature and experience. Let this word also be spoken, namely, that with all our latter-day research into the com- position of the gospels, and into the times of nascent Christianity, it is possible to go wrong in using our freedom to stamp as genuine or spurious this, that, and the other recorded utterance of Jesus. For whatever one's con- ception of him, that conception presides over one's exercise of this freedom, whether one be conscious of it or not. The writer makes no pretense that it is otherwise with himself. Here and there he uses some parable or say- ing across which some higher critic or other draws the line as doubtful or spurious. But As the higher critics disagree, By what authority shall we see? Humor Versus Criticism Among those great elements of human nature which have shown themselves to be rooted in the deep, un- conscious life of man, must be placed the sense of the ludicrous. . . . There are persons almost wholly destitute of it. Such persons are tied down to the substantial facts of life, whether these be important or unimportant. I will not say that they suffer more than those who have the sense of the ludicrous, for the power of the imagination that goes with this may sometimes create sorrows. They are, however, hard and wooden. Intercourse with them is like driving in a wagon without springs. ... A natural, hearty laugh is at once a sign of sanity, and a preserver of it. One who can laugh naturally is for the moment free from any idee fixe that may be haunting him. He shows, for the moment at least, a superiority to the hard facts of life. —Dr. C. C. Everett. (22) The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus Humor Versus Criticism “If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter. If we consider the frequent reliefs we receive from it, and how often it breaks the gloom which is apt to depress the mind and damp our spirits, with transient unexpected gleams of joy, one would take care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life.” - Addison. A CONTEMPORARY of Emerson, in de- scribing this American seer and prophet on the lecture-platform, speaks of his indulg- ing in the "inaudible laugh,” as here and there he slipped into grave discourse some expres- 24 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus sion of subtle and quiet humor. Very likely, too, the “inaudible laugh" and pleasant humor lent, not infrequently, winsome grace both to the preaching and the social converse of the seer and prophet of Galilee. I imagine him in his early ministry going forth with buoyant faith in men, — body healthy, mind teeming with lively imagery; loving Nature and soli- tude, heartily loving men and their comrade- ship; open to the comedy of life rather more than when further along the journey, when the tragedy of it projects itself more conspic- uously into the foreground. To behold him a son of joyous humor as well as of tragic sadness surely enhances the lovableness and perfection of his character. Yea, to think of his having now and then a good laugh in him, a free and genuine laugh, with the ring of innocent childhood and Nature's own sincerity — this also is not so shocking to the writer as once it was. With- out losing his “weeping Christ,” he sees him otherwise than holding the finical sentiment Humor Versus Criticism 2$ which Emerson seems to quote with approval from Lord Chesterfield, — "I am sure that since I have had the full use of my reason, nobody has ever heard me laugh." But in- deed, the same Emerson, who had true Platonic vision of both sides of all questions, speaks much more to our notion elsewhere: "A per- ception of the comic seems to be a balance- wheel in our metaphysical structure. It appears to be an essential element in a fine character. Wherever the intellect is con- structive, it will be found. We feel the ab- sence of it as a defect in the noblest and most oracular soul. The perception of the comic is a tie of sympathy with other men, a pledge of sanity, and a protection from those perverse tendencies and gloomy insanities in which fine intellects sometimes lose themselves." And Carlyle, too, England's prophet — how strongly he declares himself on this matter: "How much lies in laughter: the cipher-key wherewith we decipher the whole man! . . . The man who cannot laugh is not only fit 26 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus for treasons, stratagems, and spoils, but his own life is already a treason and a stratagem." Humor and laughter, with due measure «f gravity behind them, are sign and seal of health and sanity; sign and seal of true kinship with humanity. Therefore Jesus, when he took upon him, or had put upon him, this humanity, was given them in goodly measure. No vender of jokes; but perceiver and revealer of disparities between folly and wisdom, pretense and practice — perceiver and revealer of the lie masquerading as truth, of wickedness skulking under outward seemings of the good. Meager as the records are, they disclose plays of humor on the part of the Son of man which, whatever his own bearing, must have worked the risibles of some hearers into no uncertain smile, perhaps sometimes into ex- plosive laugh. "Folly-painting humor, grave himself, Calls laughter forth." Humor Versus Criticism 27 Let the reader catch this aspect from a few illustrations in the present chapter, and also from some in the succeeding chapter. The traditional habit of viewing Jesus as given only to grave discourse has invested some of his utterances with a significance altogether different from what they have when the fine flavor of the speaker's humor is tasted in them. A curious instance of this is the account given in the fifteenth chapter of Matthew, which describes the peculiar treat- ment of the poor Canaanitish woman who be- seeches him to heal her daughter, "grievously vexed with a devil." When the disciples try to keep her away, she cries the more, "Lord, help me!" And what reply does she get? Surely, one neither consistent nor pleasant to hear from the lips of the Messiah of all na- tions, if we construe it with literal serious- ness: "I was not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to the dogs." Humor Versus Criticism 29 Taking the story in this form, the intent seems to be to get the Gentile woman's point of view, to test her faith, to rebuke the national exclusiveness of the disciples and teach a lesson of toleration. It may be, the reply ascribed to the woman was uttered by Jesus himself, — uttered in response to objec- tions made to the extension of his mission of fellowship and Good-Samaritanship to the "heathen." The master's freer and broader outlook early subjected him to criticism, both from within and from without the new movement in religion. Later in his career, his increased hospitality provokes among his Jewish fol- lowers murmurs of provincial prejudice and jealousy. "Are these last converts to share equally with us, who belong to God's chosen people and were first to come into the service of the Messianic kingdom?" Jesus, as is his wont, makes use of the parable to rebuke this natural but selfish spirit. He draws the graphic and lively picture of the workers in the vineyard: J0 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vine- yard. And when he had agreed with his laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing in the market-place idle; and to them he said, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man has hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard. And when evening was come, the lord of the vine- yard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and pay them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they re- ceived every man a penny. And when the Humor Versus Criticism J1 first came, they supposed they would receive more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they received it, they murmured against the householder, saying, These last have spent but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. But he answered and said to one of them, Friend, I do thee no wrong; didst thou not agree with me fur a penny? Take that which is thine, and go thy way; it is my will to give unto these last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? or is thine eye evil because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last." * This parable contains a passage or so which the devil may quote for his purpose; and yet within it lies one of the most comprehensive truths of justice and love. It is much more than a rebuke to the selfish pride and desire for precedence among his disciples. It has a universal application to human relations and * Matt. 20, 1-16. J2 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus obligations. First, it rebukes a complaining attitude toward God, which, put into words, is this: — " My neighbor has a larger slice of cake than I. Greater success and happiness are his, and yet he works no harder to get them. Ergo, I am defrauded of part of my wages." Second, it rebukes persons of two opposite classes in society: on the one hand, those of a "serving class," who see their superiors through the "evil eye " of envy; on the other hand, those of a ruling class, whose proud, self-assertive egoism overvalues their particular work, forgetting that "All service is the same with God — With God, whose puppets, best and worst, Are we; there is no last or first." In the gospel accounts we get intimations of some disposition on the part of John's dis- ciples to question the ways of Jesus. These two prophets stood, to their age, as conspicu- ously different as, to our age, have stood Car- lyle and Emerson. But they recognized, as Humor Versus Criticism JJ did the latter prophets, that they were work- ing in unity of spirit for the new dispensa- tion. Most admirable are the tact and temper of the Nazarene when taken to task because his disciples do not fast, as is the custom of the Pharisees and the disciples of John! In reply he shows how little he values fasting as an obligatory rite, not so much by opposing his questioners with grave argument, as by using that which is more effectual, a playful humor. Behold his face light up with a good-natured smile as he compares himself and his disciples to a bridegroom and his wedding-friends: — "Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast." Touching the argument for keeping old forms with new thought — argument held in stock by the conservative of every age — he goes on to make this analogy: J4 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus "No man rendeth a piece from a new gar- ment and putteth it upon an old garment; else he will rend the new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the new wine will burst the skins, and itself will be spilled, and the skins will perish. But new wine must be put into fresh wine- skins. And no man having drunk old wine desireth new: for he saith, The old is good." * The humor of the last sentence reflects true insight into the conservative nature of the far larger part of human society at all times. For it, "The old is good." According to all three of the synoptic gospels, it is in this connection that Jesus is censured for the opposite of fasting, namely, for feasting and fellowship with publicans and sinners. And how does he meet the censure? By a reply memorable to all succeeding gen- erations for the sympathetic wit and wisdom of it: "They that are whole have no need of » Matt. 9, 14-17; Luke 5, 33-39. Humor Versus Criticism a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what this meaneth: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; for I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Many a minister has had occasion to rebuke with this pregnant saying the manifestation, in or out of his flock, of this self-righteous and exclusive attitude toward individual sin- ners, or toward some lower strata of society. Having come repeatedly in contact with this fault-finding temper, directed sometimes against John the Baptist, sometimes against himself, he sets it forth in this happy com- parison : “But whereunto shall I liken the men of this generation? They are like children that .sit in the market-places and call to one another, saying, We piped unto you, and ye did not dance; we wailed, and ye did not mourn. For John is come neither eating nor drink- ing, and they say, He hath a devil; the Son of man is come eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a gluttonous man and a wine- j6 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified by her works," — or, as Luke has more poetically put it, "of her children." The generation is a frivolous and carping generation; whimsical and petulant as a lot of children playing at mock weddings and funerals. It is predisposed to set its face against the new dispensation, whether it appear in the form of John's austere morality and asceticism, or in the broader and more cheer- ful comradeship of Jesus. By reason of the contrast, the humor of the passage is all the more effective for being preceded in the text — as likely it was in fact — by that generous and truly eloquent tribute to his contemporary, reaching a climax in the words, "Among them born of woman there is none greater than John." I cannot forbear noting here the contrast between Jesus and Gautama the Buddha in reference to their method of meeting crit- icism, — the latter's dialectic gravity, the former's nimble wit, or playful humor, which Humor Versus Criticism 37 quickly closes controversy. Jesus had that highest wit which disarms a contestant with a single answer. To illustrate the difference: When Deva- detta (the Judas among the disciples of the Hindu sage) upbraids his master for not ob- serving more stringent rules and self-mortifi- cation, the Buddha makes reply after this fashion : “Truly, the body is full of impurity and its end is the charnal-house, for it is imperma- nent and destined to be dissolved into its elements. . . . It is not good to indulge in the pleasures of the body; but neither is it good to neglect our bodily needs and to heap filth upon its impurities. The lamp that is not cleansed and filled with oil will be extin- guished, and a body that is unkempt, unwashed and weakened by penance will not be a fit receptacle for the light of truth." When the Buddha approaches the nearest to Jesus' pregnant wit and humor, he still speaks as a dialectician. Nowhere is he more 38 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus happy than in the reputed conversation with a young ascetic, called Sona. The latter has become so disgusted with austere repression of himself that he is about to turn into the opposite course of unrestrained pleasure. On bringing the matter to his master's attention the following dialogue takes place: “How is it, Sona; were you able to play the lute before you left home?” “ Yes, sire.” “What do you think then, Sona; if the strings of your lute are too tightly strung, will the lute give out the proper tone, and be fit to play?" “ It will not, sire.” “ And what do you think, Sona; if the strings of your lute be strung too slack, will the lute then give out the proper tone, and be fit to play?” “ It will not, sire." “But, how, Sona, if the strings of your lute be not strung too tight or too slack; if they have the proper degree of tension, will the Humor Versus Criticism J9 lute then give out the proper sound and be fit to play?" "Yes, sire." "In the same way, Sona, energy too much strained tends to excessive zeal, and energy too much relaxed tends to apathy. Therefore, Sona, cultivate in yourself the mean of energy, and press on to the mean in your mental powers, and place this before you as your aim." * Broadly speaking, these two oriental found- ers of a new religion may be said to differ somewhat as Shakespeare and Ben Jonson differ in literature. Wisdom comes from Jesus as the flash of insight, in the form of apotheme, proverb, picturesque parable; from the Buddha it comes usually as a syllogism, or chain of closely related and dependent prop- ositions. Jesus darts to the heart of the matter on the wings of that adjusting imag- ination and intuition which sees at once the principle that unites things apparently differ- * Oldenberg's " Buddha," p. 189. It Life-Sketches: Turning "Men's Ears into Eyes" Folly, conceit, foppery, silliness, affectation, hypoc- risy, attitudinizing and pedantry of all shades, and in all forms, everything that poses, prances, bridles, struts, bedizens, and plumes itself, everything that takes itself seriously and tries to impose itself on mankind, — all this is the natural prey of the satirist, so many targets ready for his arrows, so many victims offered to his attack. And we all know how rich the world is in prey of this kind ! - Amiel. All wit does but divert men from the road In which things vulgarly are understood, And force mistake and ignorance to own A better sense than commonly is known. - Butler. (42) II Life-Sketches: Turning " Men's Ears Into Eyes" "The presence of tie ideal of right and of truth in all action makes the yawning delinquencies of prac- tice remorseful to the conscience, tragic to the interest, but droll to the intellect." — Emerson. BREVITY may be "the soul of wit," but not so surely is it the soul of humor. Often by extension, rather, does the latter come to effective head. Because of the very brevity of the gospel text I believe the humor of Jesus is less conspicuous than otherwise it would be. With fuller text I also question if certain parables in which is found humor would be open to the psychological objection made against their genuineness in some quarters. ^ The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus Belonging to this class are the parables about the widow and the judge, and the per- sistent man who clamored at his neighbor's door for bread until from sheer weariness the latter handed out, or threw out, all he asked for. * "Which of you shall have a friend, and go unto him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer, Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise, and give him as many as he needeth." The picture of the irrepressible widow, pes- tering the unrighteous judge into granting her request, is companion to this: "There was in a city a judge which feared not God, and regarded not man; and there * Luke ii, 5-13; 18, 1-8. Life-Sketches 45 was a widow in that city; and she came oft unto him, saying, Do me justice of mine adversary. And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet, because this widow troubleth me, I will do her justice, lest she wear me out by her continual coming. And shall not God do justice by his children who cry to him day and night, and he is long- suffering over them?" The phrase, "though I fear not God nor regard man," has the edge of fine satire if directed, as I believe it was, at a class of judicial magistrates of the time more noted for skepticism and cynicism than for righteous judgment. Respecting the application made in the text of the two preceding parables, objection is offered that Jesus would not have thus repre- sented God as wearied by the importunities of men into granting their petitions. He may, however, have glided momentarily into the humor of these parables, in some discourse or other on the power and virtue of prayerful 46 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus persistence and patience in well-doing despite much discouragement and long-deferred re- ward. The central thought is, if unrighteous men comply with just requests, how much more shall the righteous Father of men! "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" With quick mind for the incongru- ous, Jesus presses on his hearers the interrog- atories which admit of but one answer: "Of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" With all his idealism, Jesus had an observ- ing eye for the practical activities of men, and was not without a sense of the comic in their push and pull for material things. Why should they not display equal devotedness, equal heat and energy, in the pursuit of spiritual things? Life-Sketches eous in a very little is unrighteous in much.... No servant can serve two masters : for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” You cannot divide your allegiance in the spirit of the Spaniard who, on his death-bed, being told by his confessor how the devil tortured people in hell, replied, “I hope my lord the devil is not so cruel.” Rebuked for referring to the devil as “my lord,” he retorted again, “Excuse me for calling him so; but I know not into what hands I may fall; and if I happen into his, I hope he will use me the better for giving him good words.” The “good-lord-and- good-devil" people Jesus found numerous enough in his times, as they are in all times. In Luke 12, 42-48, we have another humor- ous description of a different sort of unfaithful steward; per contra, one without even worldly calculation or cunning foresight, - a stupid, lawless, stomach-mongering, abusive steward. Life-Sketches $J the lost coin, and so delighted on finding it that she calls in the neighbors to rejoice with her — verily, like a woman, indeed ! * It is in the picture of the guest appearing at the wedding-feast improperly dressed for the occa- sion, and thrown into speechless embarassment by the challenge of the host: "Friend, how earnest thou in hither not having a wedding- garment?" Spiritually translated, Why hast thou not prepared, or disciplined thyself, to be a citizen in the kingdom of God ? f It is in the description of the good man sowing wheat by day and the bad man sowing tares by night, so that the one can hardly be rooted out with- out destroying the other, % — a realistic bit of symbolism in its application to the actual status of human society everywhere and at all times; a "palpable hit," too, at the over- impatient radical who wants to take the king- dom of heaven by violence, despite God's law of evolution. That the attainment of divine * Luke 15, 8-to. t Matt. 23, 1-13. } Matt. 13, 24-30. Life-Sketches 55 to meet the golden hours that glide upon us unawares for our betterment. Foolish-virgin class ! —- is it that we must always have them with us, they always relying on the wise-virgin class to supply in time of need the oil they have neglected to provide for themselves? Verily, a rational imitation by society of the refusal of the wise virgins in the parable to supply oil for the negligent might help immensely to discourage much folly and wickedness in Israel. Would you have a different sort of inter- pretation ? — a more spiritual one? Well, Jesus may have used the bridegroom figura- tively, somewhat as the parable is written. He may have used the symbolism of the wise virgins, with lamps and oil to fill them, as illustrating both the form and substance of the true religious faith; while the foolish virgins may indicate those who have only the form, or appearance, of the faith. The lamp may stand for outwardness, and the oil for inwardness, of religion. He who would be 56 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus wise, religious and moral in the future must be wise, religious and moral now, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Would you be one of the chosen company of the bridegroom of knowledge and power and righteousness, and of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit ? then Friend, put oil in the lamp to-day, For light to-morrow on thy way. III Misunderstood To be misunderstood even by those whom one loves is the cross and bitterness of life. It is the secret of that sad and melancholy smile on the lips of great men which so few understand; it is the crudest trial reserved for self-devotion; it is what must have oftenest have wrung the heart of the Son of man; and if God could suffer, it would be the wound we should ever be inflict- ing upon Him. He also — He above all —■ is the great misunderstood, the least comprehended. —Amiel. There are people who can never understand a trope, or any second or expanded sense given to your words, or any humor; but remain literalists, after hearing the music, and poetry, and rhetoric, and wit, of seventy or eighty years. They are past the help of surgeon or clergy. —Emerson. (58) III Misunderstood “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” – Jesus. “Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot bear my word.” — Jesus. “Thou art like the Spirit which thou comprehendest.” - Goethe. W e are wont to speak of Jesus as address- v ing himself to a common humanity; and so he did. “The common people heard him gladly.” But let it not be forgotten how much he spoke to an uncommon humanity. He felt the unity of the race, but he also realized the tremendous diversity of it. Not very long had he been in the ministry before he had ample objective evidence of the great difference existing among men in capacity to 60 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus sen apprehend spiritual truth, and still more in disposition and will to apply it to life. In the happiest vein of covert criticism he sets forth this difference, in the parable of the Sower : * “Behold, the sower went forth to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them.” Under this figure of speech he dismisses at once as hopeless the people who are incapable of understanding his message, through their want of the sense of spiritual things. “And others fell upon rocky places, where they had not much earth; and straightway they sprang up because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was risen they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away." This second set of people manifest great delight the first time they hear the word, comprehending it a little, but not in any full- ness of meaning. Young ministers, and young leaders generally of any good cause, get sorely deceived by this class of superficial * Matt. 13, 3-9; Mark 4, 3-9; Luke 8, 5-8. Misunderstood 61 hearers, with their superficial enthusiasms. "And others fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked them." A third class of hearers understand the word, and really open their hearts to it. But they have not the moral stamina to hold fast when the actual stress and strain of care and temptation come. "And others fell into good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing, and brought forth, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some a hundred fold." These last are the hearers who not only understand well the word, but earnestly, according to capacity, disseminate it and put it into their daily conduct. Jesus concludes very laconically when he exclaims, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." This parable is a fine example of his gift for using figuratively the operations of Nature to present the intellectual and moral character- istics of classes in society. He doubtless beheld in the multitude before him represent- atives of all the four classes above described. 62 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus And some, it is to be hoped, recognized them- selves in the picture, notwithstanding the statement that among the disciples there were those dull enough to require a private exposi- tion. They seemed to belong to that multitude of whom he said, "Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they under- stand." Here I am led to note a phase of Jesus' life which presents a strange mixture of both humor and pathos. It is that phase which caused him now and then to be misunderstood by the multitude, and even by his own dis- ciples, on account of his use of figurative and mystical language. They comprehended only in the letter, much as did little Pip in "Great Expectations." Hearing his sister speak of bringing him up "by hand," he supposed she referred to the frequent application upon him of her "hard and heavy hand." Fatal bias of men for materialistic and literal interpretation! To the idealistic and poetic temperament, is it the cause more of Misunderstood 63 smiles or tears? Did it not at times evoke the former from the Son of man? And is it not possible there were occasions when he felt inclined to test his hearers' apprehension in this respect? Some passages in the gos- pels seem to imply this. Instead of saying, "Beware of the teach- ings of the Pharisees and Sadducees," he says, "Beware of the leaven," and so forth.. This sets his disciples, or the more stupid of them, to questioning whether the master uses such speech because they have no bread, and to warn them against the kind of leaven in the bread eaten by those sects. At another time, refusing food with the remark, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of," they wonder if somebody has handed in an extra dish for his special delectation. If they so misunderstood the master, how much the more a simple Samaritan woman, or a promiscuous crowd of his countrymen, when treated to certain mystical and symbolical say- ings as related in the fourth gospel! Did he 64 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus indulge in such language, with such people, on any occasion, — then no marvel if many thought, "This is a hard saying," and "went back, and walked no more with him"; no marvel if "even his brethren did not believe on him." Historically not altogether reliable, these dialogues in "John"; but, it would seem, psychologically not so exceedingly difficult to accept, as is clear when one remembers how transubstantiation and consubstantiation have been doctrines of the Christian Church, built by the literalist upon the phrases, "eat my flesh" and "drink my blood." Reading in the Koran that God opened and cleansed Mohammed's heart, have not millions in the Orient supposed that the physical heart of the prophet was miraculously detached from his body, thoroughly washed, and reattached to perform again its life-invigorating func- tions? Amid all the beautiful and ingenious blend- ing of fact and fiction in the fourth gospel, Misunderstood we get here and there a quite probable like- ness of Jesus, as to his inclination to use paradoxical, figurative, and mystical language, startling his hearers, and sometimes causing misunderstanding bordering on the comic. The scene in which Nicodemus is told he "must be born again "; still more, the follow- ing scene with his conservative countrymen, read like a satire on the general incapacity of those who live in the letter which "killeth" to enter into the thought of those who live in the spirit which "giveth life." Jesus is represented as calling himself "the bread which came down out of heaven." "If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world." His hearers wonder what such strange speech is all about. "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How doth he now say, I am come down out of heaven? How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 66 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus Again, he tells them, “If God were your father, ye would love me; for I came forth and am come of God; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech ? Even because ye cannot hear my word. . . . He that is of God heareth the words of God; for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of God. The Jews answered and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil ?” Still more mystified and vexed are they when he declares, “If a man keep my word, he shall never see death.” “Now we know thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my word, he shall never taste death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead ?” “ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.” “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ?” Misunderstood 67 "Verily, verily," responds Jesus, "before Abraham was, I am." * By this time, we are told, they were ready to stone him. Not in Goethe's "Faust " do the poetic outbursts of the hero fall more life- less on the dull ears of the prosaic, material- istic Wagner than falls such speech on the ears of the Jews in this scene from "John." * John 6, 41-42; 8, 51-58. IV Kindred and Neighbors IV Kindred and Neighbors “Is not this the carpenter's son?"- New Testament. “He is beside himself.” - New Testament. W ITH what spontaneity of wit our spirit- ual leader meets and masters varied objections and opposing elements that rise unbidden in his way! His answers often come as a searchlight unexpectedly turned on obscure objects in the darkness. They sur- prise the hearer from a new point of view with apt quotation, startling epigram, puzzling par- adox, or vivid parable, minted as fresh coin in his own brain. It was a favorite method of Jesus to administer rebuke and criticism by means of the parable. He used it on friend J2 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus and foe, much as Lincoln used his humor- ous stories, to make his admonitions more graciously received or more readily appre- hended. "By a parable," observes the Buddha, "many a wise man perceives the meaning of what is being said." The simple man may sometimes the better perceive it, too. Striking proof Jesus shows of wit and insight into human nature when, early in his ministry, he returns home to preach in the synagogue of his native village. * His former townsmen "wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth." But — yes, but — " Is not this the carpenter's son? And his mother and brothers and sisters — are they not all with us?" Some were offended at his manifest superiority to their standard of mediocrity. Offended also was the young evangelist: in the consciousness of his spiritual authority offended. Alas for sensitive genius seeking early recognition in the native town I Wise words spoken there » Matt. 13, 54-58; Mark 6, 1-6; Luke 4, 18-30. 74 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus prophets. I have little doubt that he had been in some measure prepared for skepticism in the synagogue by skepticism in the home. Perhaps there is less poetry in this view than in the one so prevalent in the Christian Church; but the writer cannot avoid reading, between the lines, that Jesus of Nazareth felt the want of appreciative sympathy on the part even of his own mother. With him the first obliga- tion was "to bear witness to truth." Re- proved by his parents for tarrying in the temple, he exclaims, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Again, when word is brought him, while preaching in the open air, that his mother and brothers wait on the outskirts of the crowd to speak with him, he evinces the remarkable facility of his mind to convert trivial incidents into the enforcement of the nature of that momentous business. Upon his hearers flashes the comprehensive thought that the ties of spiritual affinity are more binding than those of flesh and blood. Kindred and Neighbors J$ "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? Behold, my mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of God, and do it." Still another retort of this surprising char- acter springs to his lips when some "woman out of the multitude," in the ecstasy of her feeling, cries out, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts that thou didst suck!" "Yea, rather," comes the reply, "blessed are they that hear the word of God, and do it!" Probably the kindred of Jesus in general looked upon him as a fanatic (in the language of these days, a "crank") because of his intense absorption in his work of evangelism, to the disregard of the so-called practical interests of life. I suppose they advised him to be a carpenter like his father, instead of tramping about the country, preaching without pay. He did not take the advice, and so he was "beside himself." How little j6 TIte Wit and Wisdom of Jesus Jesus was troubled about "material" things, the craving for which causes so much dis- content and contention among the sons and daughters of men! When the good-hearted Martha, like many housewives, makes so much of her dinner that she has no time for the word of the wise man under her roof; when she emerges from the kitchen hot and flushed, and complains of her sister for leaving the "work" to sit "at the Lord's feet," he presents a contrast of the utmost serenity. Seriously, yet, I apprehend, with the smile of humor, he replies, "Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things; one thing only is needful [or, few things are need- ful]; for Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." * At another time some one wants him to intercede with a brother to divide an inher- itance; and the only satisfaction he gets is a humorous picture of what frequently occurs on this planet: * Luke 10, 38-42. Kindred and Neighbors yj "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully; and he reasoned within him- self, saying, What shall I do because I have not where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my corn and goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Therefore, " take heed, and keep your- selves from all covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." * Again he observes, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where thy treas- * Luke 12, 16-21. j8 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus ure is, there will thy heart be also." Then, chiding his disciples for that over-anxiety about the future which doubles pain, he sums up, laconically, " Be not, therefore, anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Some excellent proverbs and sayings, ex- pressing the above thought of Jesus, are afloat among the nations, such as the following: "Let your trouble tarry till its own day comes." "He is miserable once, who feels it; but twice, who fears it before it comes." Sir Thomas More speaks, if I remember well, the same thought in rhyme: "If evils come not, then our fears are vain; And if they do, fear but augments the pain." Jesus wears no fetters. Freely he judges the ways of men, unblinded by conventional views about wealth, social customs, or filial obligations. Continually, therefore, he runs Kindred and Neighbors jg counter to prevailing opinion and prejudice Continually he says and does the unexpected. How he astonishes the hearer by showing him to himself in a new relation, and in such a way as to convict him of his error! How he exposes selfishness, whether manifested by those outside, or inside, the fold! His wit reveals it as a sunbeam reveals the floating dust of a room. On witnessing at some place of feasting the swine-like exhibition (very common at church-suppers and similar min- istrations to the human animal) of a lot of people scrambling for the best seats at table, he must have appreciated the comedy as well as the gravity in the scene, when he rebuked them in this wise: "When thou art bidden to a feast, do not sit down in the chief seat, lest haply a more honorable man than thou be bidden, and he that bade thee and him shall come and say to thee, Give this man place; and then shalt thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art bidden, go and sit 80 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus down in the lowest place, that when he that hath bidden thee cometh, he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have glory in the presence of all that sit at meat with thee. For every one that exalteth him- self shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." * This incident in the life of Jesus recalls at the present writing a long-forgotten incident in the life of Emerson, as related to me some years ago by a friend. One evening when Mr. Emerson was to lecture in a small western town, he was invited to a church supper; and there he was treated to just about the sort of spectacle recorded in Luke. In serene, benevolent dignity he stood at one side watching the unseemly haste to get first seated at the table. He did not say anything, as did Jesus; but the amused expression of his face plainly said, "O human biped, thou art a comic beast!" The dramatic Luke makes Jesus amaze his * Luke 14, 7-14. Kindred and Neighbors hearers still more when he prescribes to his host the following remarkable rule of conduct, exacting an unselfishness so positively in con- trast to the all but universal practice of men : “When thou makest a dinner or supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest haply they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind : and thou shalt be blessed; because they have not wherewith to recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just." A striking parallel to this admonishment of Jesus, — found in the “ Phædrus" of Plato, written some four hundred years before the time of Jesus, — is worthy of reproduction in this connection. In Plato's dialogue, Socrates is reported as saying: “In gen- eral, when you make a feast, invite not your friend, but the beggar and the empty soul, 82 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus for they will love you, and attend you, and come about your doors, and will be the best pleased and the most grateful, and will invoke blessings on your head." * The prompt wit of Jesus to admonish and rebuke, by planting in the foreground a stand- ard of life and duty astonishingly at variance with the general sentiment of his hearers, is displayed on divers occasions. Not to mul- tiply illustrations in this connection, let ref- erence be made to only two other instances. The one is that of the dialogue with Simon (Luke 7, 36-50) respecting the "fallen woman" kneeling repentant at the master's feet. Mark the refinement of Socratic wit with which he gets the "holier-than-thou" Pharisee committed to the sentiment he desires to exalt: "Simon, I have something to say unto thee. ... A certain lender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty. When they had not wherewith * Jowett's " Plato," I., 539. Kindred and Neighbors to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most? Simon answered and said, He, I suppose, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And turning to the woman, he said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet : but she hath wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. Thou gavest me no kiss : but she, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet [or kiss much). My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but she hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” The other instance is the unique treatment of the foolish question as to which of Jesus' followers should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Nothing could have been more surprising, or better calculated to produce the desired impression, than to set a child in their 84 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus midst, with the remark, “Verily I say unto you, except ye turn and become as little chil- dren, ye shall in nowise enter into the king- dom of heaven," -- and so forth. * * Matt. 18, 1-7; Mark 10, 13-16; Luke 18, 15-17. Pithy Sayings and Retorts Exclusive of the abstract sciences, the largest and worthiest portion of our knowledge consists of aphor- isms, and the greatest and best of men is but an aphorism. - Coleridge. Like all the rabbis of the time, Jesus, little given to consecutive reasonings, compressed his doctrine into aphorisms concise and of an expressive form, some- times strange and enigmatical. - Renan. (86) V Pithy Sayings and Retorts "In a numerous collection of our Savior's apothegms there is not to be found one example of sophistry or of false subtilty, or of anything approaching tbere- PROVERB is the generalization of much human experience in a brief say- ing that sticks to the memory of ordinary men. As Lord John Russell has finely said, it "is the wit of one man, and the wisdom of many." In the mint of the superb wit of the man of Galilee were coined the most pregnant sayings which have gone into the world's per- manent circulation. How much are we his debtors daily for some pleasantry, or epigram, that gives pith and point to speech! This unto. — Paley. 88 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus chapter is devoted to a few of his more sen- tentious utterances (some of them in the form of retorts), which do not fall into line else- where in these pages. The experiences of life frequently bring these to the lips: "There is nothing covered which shall not be revealed." The Latins had it, "Time reveals all things." "It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come, but woe unto him through whom they come." "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art with him in the way." "Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered "— a pithy proverb having more than local application to the Roman power carrying its eagles into all the ancient world; having the solemn and universal mean- ing that moral and spiritual degeneracy, in individual or nation, must meet stern judg- ment, even though it come by other forces of selfishness, or by carrion eagles whatsoever. "Many are called, but few are chosen." Pithy Sayings and Retorts 89 Only a few respond to the call and make themselves worthy to be chosen. The Buddha said, “Few are there among men who cross the river, and reach the goal. The great multitude are running up and down the shore.” When Jesus urges the simple fishermen to become apostles of his truth, he wittily remarks, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Exhorting his disciples to let their “light shine before men,” he says, “A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under a bushel, but on the stand; and it shineth unto all that are in the house." Delegating his disciples for missionary work, he tells them, “The harvest is plen- teous, but the laborers are few.” “The laborer is worthy of his hire.” Again, he admonishes them, “ Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye, there- fore, wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” “ If they have called the master of the house po The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household!" Realizing the tragic fate of the prophet to bring division among men through his witness to truth, he exclaimed, "Think not that I came to send peace, but a sword." "A man's foes shall be they of his own household." If objection be made to the doctrine, "love your enemies," "do good to them that hate you," and the like, how surely he punctures its self- ishness, and sweeps away all props, in this keen logic: "If ye love them that love you, what thank have ye? for even sinners love those that love them. And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank have ye? for even sinners do the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much. Be ye, therefore, better than they, even as your heavenly Father, who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." * * Matt. 5, 45; Luke 6, 32-34. Pithy Sayings and Retorts p1 When, in the overflow of her gratitude, the Magdalen pours on the master's head the precious, ointment, and some of the disciples (Judas, according to " John ") show displeasure because it might have been sold for the benefit of the poor, he, with smiling serenity, reminds them, "Ye have the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye can do them good, but me ye have not always." Having been questioned as to one's duty toward those in authority, he discriminately says, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; all things, therefore, whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe; but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not." This is in line with the Spanish saying, "Do as the friar says, and not as he does." Hearing some of his countrymen boast of having Abraham for their father, he presses home to their attention the chasm between their professions and practices, in the signifi- cant reflection, "If ye were Abraham's chil- dren ye would do the works of Abraham." g2 The Wit and Wisdom of Jesus When he perceives that the multitude are prompted to follow him by motives belonging to the animal man rather than the spiritual man, he turns on them with the just rebuke, "Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs [evidences of power to satisfy spiritual hunger]; but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled." In these latter days we frequently hear the sarcasm, "they seek after the loaves and fishes," flung at a class of office-seekers whose profuseness in phrases of patriotism is only exceeded by their zeal in henchmanship to the dispensers of political patronage. People profess that they will follow him whithersoever he goes; and with a touch of humor, a touch of sadness too, he describes the homelessness his mission necessitates, in the saying, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Then, taking these people at their word, he summons them forthwith to follow him and wholly sur- Q