BS 2417. S7 P26 
 
 Parsons, Edward s. 
 
 The social message of Jesus 
 
NOV -26 1968 
 
 The Social Mess^agg^..;(iAL %i^M^ 
 
 of Jesus 
 
 A Course of Twelve Lessons 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD S. PARSONS 
 
 Professor in Colorado College 
 
 New York 
 
 National Board 
 
 of Tfie Young Womens Cfjristian Associations 
 
 of the United States of America 
 
 600 Lexington Avenue 
 
Third Edition 
 
 Copyright, 1912, by 
 
 National Board 
 
 OF The Young Womens Christian Associations 
 
 of the United States of America 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface 
 Lesson I. 
 Lesson IL 
 Lesson IIL 
 Lesson IV. 
 
 Lesson V. 
 
 Lesson VL 
 
 Lesson VIL 
 Lesson VIIL 
 Lesson IX. 
 Lesson X. 
 Lesson XL 
 Lesson XII. 
 
 Introduction 
 
 The Social Nature of Jesus . 
 The Social Ideal of Jesus 
 The Social Consequences of 
 
 the Personal Teaching of 
 
 Jesus .... 
 
 The Social Consequences of 
 
 the Personal Teaching of 
 
 Jesus (Continued) 
 The Personal Basis of Jesus' 
 
 Social Teaching 
 Social Groups : The Family 
 Social Groups : The Rich 
 Social Groups : The Poor 
 Social Classes 
 Social Groups: The State 
 Conclusion 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 15 
 25 
 
 35 
 
 43 
 
 51 
 65 
 77 
 87 
 93 
 101 
 109 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The lessons which follow do not aim to be a 
 course in sociology, nor a discussion, except in an 
 incidental way, of particular social problems. They 
 aim to develop, from a study of His words and His 
 deeds, the message of the great Teacher to His own 
 generation and to every generation. It is hoped 
 that the personal contact with the life and spirit of 
 Jesus which a careful investigation of the theme 
 along the lines laid down will bring to the student 
 will furnish him, not so much with social informa- 
 tion as with the disposition and the motive which 
 will make him of use in bringing in the kingdom. 
 
 It will be seen that my debt is large to a few 
 books which are well known to every student of the 
 field. The following are suggested as nearest the 
 heart of the theme : 
 
 Peabody, Jesus Christ and the Social Question. 
 
 Shailer Mathews, The Social Teaching of Jesus. 
 
 Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis. 
 
 Cone, Rich and Poor in the Neiv Testament is 
 an acute discussion of one phase of the subject, and 
 Campbell's Christianity and the Social Order, like 
 Rauschenbusch's volume, makes a study of Jesus' 
 message the basis of an earnest plea for socialism 
 as the completest modern expression of the mes- 
 sage. Gladden, The Church and Modern Life, and 
 Henderson, Social Duties from the Christian Point 
 of Vieiu, discuss present-day applications of the 
 
6 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 message. For carefully chosen lists of books in 
 this field and related fields the student is referred 
 to Edwards, Studies in American Social Conditions, 
 and Strong, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Vol. II., 
 68f. 
 
 The use of the American revision of the Bible is 
 recommended. All references are to this edition. 
 The division of the subjects into lessons is along the 
 lines of natural cleavage. It is suggested that indi- 
 viduals or classes work through the material as 
 slowly or as rapidly as their interest may dictate. 
 
 The list of those who have helped me with this 
 little volume would be a long one if I should publish 
 the names. I am grateful to all whose encourage- 
 ment and kindly counsel have helped me to make 
 it what it is. 
 
 Edward S. Parsons. 
 
 Colorado College, 
 
 Colorado Springs. Colo., 
 November 14, 1910. 
 
LESSON I 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Every epoch has its dominant interest. To-day 
 the supreme interest of the world is the social ques- 
 tion. We see, as our forefathers did not, that 
 everything has its social side ; we have found out 
 that no man lives, or can live, in any department of 
 life unto himself alone. There is a social implica- 
 tion in every physical question, every educational 
 question, every economic question, every political 
 question, every moral and religious question. Rec- 
 ognition of this fact is both cause and result of a 
 social interest such as the world has never seen 
 before. The first-hand study of social conditions 
 which has been carried on with such conscientious- 
 ness and sympathy during the last few decades has 
 borne its fruit in a deep-seated desire for a wider 
 reign of justice and kindness, the day of the un- 
 privileged for which the world has waited so long. 
 
 The change in the attitude of the world toward 
 such questions during a generation has been most 
 astonishing. A generation ago the doctrine of 
 laisses-faire was the manifestation in one field of 
 the spirit of the time. "The Book of Daniel Drew," 
 recently published, whether an autobiographical 
 record or a biographical interpretation, uncovers 
 the shame of the same period in the sphere of 
 finance and politics. What this attitude was it had 
 become by a natural evolution. In the Middle Ages 
 
8 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 the life of the Christian community was dominated 
 by the Church. There was social solidarity, but 
 under such repression that the individual became 
 merely passive. Then came the great reaction of 
 the Reformation which was fundamentally the 
 assertion of the individual, his right to be, to 
 develop, to exercise authority. In Puritanism this 
 new spirit manifested itself as the recognition that 
 God and the individual soul stand in a supreme rela- 
 tion to one another, in utter isolation. Compared 
 with that relationship the closest ties of family and 
 friendship are as nothing. Bunyan's Christian 
 leaves his wife and children behind when he 
 journeys to the Celestial City. Out of this sense of 
 the importance of the individual, his relationship to 
 his Maker, and the authority of the individual con- 
 science, came into being the multiplicity of religious 
 sects. In the logic of Puritanism there was room 
 for as many sects as there were individuals, but the 
 truth of the Reformation having been mastered, the 
 pendulum began to swing back. The world is 
 returning to the doctrine of social solidarity, but 
 not to that doctrine in its earlier meagerness. It is 
 true that extreme socialism seeks to-day almost the 
 reassertion of the conception of the Middle Ages, 
 an idea of social solidarity which would not merely 
 make the individual passive, but would even sup- 
 press him altogether. But we may be sure that any 
 doctrine of society which the world of to-day and 
 of to-morrow will accept must have in it what the 
 centuries of intellectual and moral struggle have 
 won for us, that the individual as well as society is 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 sacred, and that the only possible solution of the 
 social problem is one which recognizes the mass 
 and the individual as the equally significant poles 
 of social relationship. 
 
 Meanwhile who shall teach us the truth about 
 these all-important matters? To whom shall we 
 go for the words of eternal life? In Emerson's 
 day, so he tells us, "not a reading man but has a 
 draft of a new community in his waistcoat pocket."^ 
 Similarly to-day men of every type of social faith, 
 from the state socialist at one extreme to the anar- 
 chist at the other, are ofifering us their solutions of 
 the social problem. \\'ho has the word of truth? 
 
 Jesus Christ has proved His insight into the 
 individual life. He has demonstrated His mastery 
 of the art of "making a life" for Himself and for 
 those who have let Him inspire and lead them. 
 Has He any light upon these social questions, or are 
 they too modern for Him? Many of them are 
 modern in form but they are, after all, only modifi- 
 cations of problems which are as old as humanity. 
 "One and one" creates a social problem. The 
 family, womanhood, childhood, our attitude toward 
 friends, neighbors and those afar oflf, the acquisi- 
 tion and use of wealth, these and many others like 
 them are problems which in one form or another 
 date from the beginning of the race. Jesus recog- 
 nized them ; they were always in the background, 
 and often in the foreground, of His thought and 
 speech. And it is increasingly the conviction of 
 the world that He alone holds the key to the situa- 
 
 1. Carlyle-Emcrson Correspondence, Vol. I., p. 334. 
 
10 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 tion, that if the social problem is ever to find a solu- 
 tion it will be His solution. He alone has for the 
 world, here as elsewhere, the words of eternal life. 
 
 Happily in discussing the social message of Jesus, 
 we have little or no need to discuss speculative or 
 critical questions. We are not concerned here with 
 the metaphysics of Jesus' nature nor with the his- 
 toricity of all the facts of His life. Without dispute, 
 His is the greatest personality in human history, and 
 we have a right to assume that. in the main at least 
 His life agrees with the record. As John Stuart 
 Mill said long ago, there is a stamp of personal 
 originality about Jesus' words which is its own 
 witness to their genuineness, a fact which will re- 
 main after the last word of historical criticism has 
 been spoken. It is our business therefore to try to 
 interpret what Jesus taught. The authority of the 
 teachings will rest upon the teachings themselves 
 which reveal a freshness and sanity and modernness 
 of spirit that must stir in the present-day student 
 the same astonishment which they aroused in those 
 who listened to Him who spoke them so long ago. 
 
 But at the outset we are met with the criticism 
 that the very title of the studies we are undertaking. 
 The Social Message of Jesus, is a misnomer, that 
 Jesus had nothing to do with social matters, that in 
 fact He kept studiously aloof from them, that the 
 goal of all His work was the transformation not of 
 society but of the individual. The studies them- 
 selves must be the refutation of this one-sided inter- 
 pretation of Jesus' message. It is enough here to 
 sav that the ideal of jesus was the establishment of 
 
INTRODUCTION 11 
 
 a kingdom ; He was constantly urging that men do 
 their best to live in right relationships ; He dis- 
 cussed with plainness and vigor the primary social 
 institution, the family. And moreover all that part 
 of His teaching which seems at first glance to cul- 
 minate in the uplift of the individual is really incom- 
 plete unless it goes beyond the individual and affects 
 through him the lives of all with whom he is related. 
 As we study the social message of Jesus certain 
 facts as to His method should constantly be borne 
 in mind. 
 
 1. What Professor Peabody has called the 
 "occasionalism" of Jesus' teaching.^ Jesus was not 
 a preacher in the ordinary sense of the word, not a 
 lecturer upon theological topics, with His material 
 organized into form and presented to His hearers 
 as a whole. His teaching attaches itself to the con- 
 crete case. Life is His opportunity and His text. 
 So what He says must be interpreted by reference 
 to the occasion. Like a wise physician, His judg- 
 ment is always based on the insight of His diagnosis. 
 Without this fact in mind His teaching will often 
 seem inconsistent and even contradictory.- 
 
 2. Jesus' disavowal of any desire or purpose to 
 legislate upon difficult personal or public questions. 
 A man came to Him asking that He interfere in 
 a family matter and bid his brother divide the 
 inheritance with him. Jesus vigorously refused : 
 "Who made me judge or a divider over you?" and 
 
 1. Peabody, Jesus Christ and the Christian Character, p. 74. 
 
 2. A good illustration of the different treatment of two cases 
 which resembled one another in a few points will be found by 
 comparing Mark 10: 17-31 with Luke 19: 1-10. 
 
12 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 proceeded to uncover the real difficulty, the covet- 
 ousness of the man's heart (Luke 12: 13-15). Cer- 
 tain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians sought 
 to crush Him between the millstones of the political 
 situation in Judea in His time. But He refused to 
 be drawn into a discussion of such questions ( Mark 
 12:13-17). In this respect His attitude toward 
 the social and political questions of His time is 
 absolutely unlike that of the great prophets of Old 
 Testament history. They were the leaders of their 
 time in the active discussion and judgment of such 
 questions. The prophetic writings are text books in 
 the study of the social condition of the age in which 
 they were written and they are full of rebuke of 
 luxury, of the oppression of the poor by the rich, 
 of the monopoly and misuse of land, of drunken- 
 ness and avarice, of Israel's attitude toward national 
 and international policies.^ But Jesus rarely dis- 
 cussed these questions — at least directly. He felt 
 He had more fundamental, more far-reaching work 
 to do. Had He given His message in the form of 
 such a solution of these problems as would fit the 
 time, His teachings would have been outgrown with 
 the development of civilization. Because He de- 
 voted Himself to the proclamation of principles and 
 the awakening of a new spirit. His influence will 
 be perennial. 
 
 "What He taught was not a code of rules but a 
 loving spirit; not truths, but a spirit of truth; not 
 views, but a view."" 
 
 1. Cf. Rauschenbiisch, Christianity and the Social Crisis, Ch. I. 
 
 2. Robert Louis Stevenson. 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON II 
 
 THE SOCIAL NATURE OF JESUS 
 
 Pilate's question, "What is truth ?" could not have 
 been better answered than he answered it himself 
 when he placed Jesus before the multitude and said, 
 "Behold the Man!"^ Christianity is not a system 
 of abstract truth, but the incarnation of truth, the 
 manifestation of truth in the deeds and spirit of 
 human lives. 
 
 "And so the Word had breath, and wrought 
 With human hands the creed of creeds 
 In loveliness of perfect deeds."^ 
 
 The fundamental social message of Jesus is there- 
 fore to be found not in what He said, but in what 
 He was. His words interpreted for men the spirit 
 of His own life. To understand what He taught, 
 then, we must come to know Him as He moved in 
 and out among men, sharing their joys and sorrows, 
 their labor and their rest, and glorifying all by the 
 atmosphere of His own spirit. We must study 
 first His attitude toward the social life of His day. 
 1. Jesus drew a contrast between Himself and 
 His forerunner, John the Baptist, Matt. 11: 18, 19 
 (Luke 7 : 33, 34). From a study of the entire pas- 
 sage, Matt. 11:2-19 (Luke 7:18-35), and such 
 passages as Luke 1:15-17; Matt. 3:1-12; Luke 
 3 : 1-20, answer the following questions : 
 
 1. J. Monro Gibson, Sermons. 
 
 2. Tennyson, In Memoriam, XXXVI. 
 
16 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 (1) To what type of life was John consecrated 
 at his birth? 
 
 (2) Where had John's home been before his min- 
 istry began? What had been his manner of life, 
 his clothing, food, etc.? 
 
 (3) Before his ministry, w4iat had been his atti- 
 tude toward the life of his time, and what was it 
 during his ministry, e.g., toward those who came 
 to consult him at the Jordan ? toward Herod ? 
 
 (4) What was John's social message? 
 
 (5) What does Jesus mean to imply about His 
 own relationship to the life of His time, in contrast 
 with John's ? 
 
 2. Accepting Jesus' suggestion as to His own 
 relationship to His fellows, let us study Him as the 
 records reveal Him to us in the midst of the sur- 
 roundings in which He grew up and in which He 
 labored. 
 
 (1) His home. Where was it? Luke 2:39. 
 What were the characteristics of the place? John 
 1 : 46 has often been quoted in support of the theory 
 that the village was unwholesome morally, but prob- 
 ably Nathanael was Avondering how such a leader as 
 the Messiah could come out of such an obscure 
 place. The community was a small one, but it was 
 on one of the caravan roads from Damascus to 
 Egypt, and from the hills about could be seen the 
 Mediterranean and its ships. So the great world 
 was in sight of the boy Jesus. ^ 
 
 For the characteristics of a typical Jewish home 
 
 1. George Adam Smith, Historical Geographv of tlie Holv Land, 
 pp. 432-435. 
 
THE SOCIAL NATURE OF JESUS 17 
 
 of the class in which Jesus was brought up, see 
 Stapfer, Palestine in the Time of Jesus, Book I., 
 Ch. VIL, VIII. 
 
 How large was the family? How many brothers 
 and sisters were there? What is the last mention 
 of Joseph in the New Testament ? Luke 2:48; 
 Matt. 13 : 54-56 ; Mark 6 : 1-3. The suggestion of 
 these passages implies what as to the extent of 
 Jesus' responsibility in the home? What were 
 the characteristics of the mother of Jesus? Luke 
 1:26-38, 46-55; 2:19, 48-51; Mark 3 : 31-35 ;i 15: 
 40 ; John 2 : 1-5 ; 19 : 25. 
 
 Does Luke 2 : 43-49 throw any light upon the 
 hom.e training? 
 
 How sympathetic were the family with Him 
 and His work ? Mark 3 : 21, 31 ; John 7:3-6; Acts 
 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 1:19. 
 
 (2) His occupation. Again of. Matt. 13:55 and 
 Mark 6 : 3. How did Jesus' occupation relate Him 
 to the community life? Contrast Him in this par- 
 ticular with John the Baptist. Does John 8 : 29 
 include in its scope the carpenter period ? 
 
 (3) His interest in social festivities. Jesus did 
 not hold Himself aloof from the friendly gatherings 
 in which the social spirit principally manifested 
 itself. Note some of the occasions when He shared 
 in them. Mark 2:14-17; 14:12-26; Luke 7:36; 
 14 : 1 ; 15:1, 2 ; 19 : 1-10 ; 24 : 29-31 ; John 2:1-11; 
 12 : 3-8. 
 
 (4) His attendance upon Church festivities. In 
 His personal relation to the Jewish worship Jesus 
 
 1.. Mark 3: 21 is thought by some to belong with 3: 31-35. 
 
18 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 showed His purpose was not to destroy but to ful- 
 fill. He was loyal alike to the synagogue and to the 
 temple. Christianity is an evolution out of Juda- 
 ism, a historical growth, not a magical gift to the 
 world. Luke 2:41-51; Mark 14:12-17; John 
 2:13; 5:1; 7:2, 10; 12:12-15. 
 
 (5) His frequent association with crowds. Dur- 
 ing His ministry, except at certain periods of retire- 
 ment, He was almost continually thronged with 
 the sick and those who were eager to hear His mes- 
 sage. Mark 2 : 1, 2, 13 ; 3 : 20 ; 11 : 8-10 ; 15 : 29-31 ; 
 Luke 3:21; 4:42; 23:27; John 6:2 and many 
 other passages. 
 
 (6) The breadth of His social affinities. The 
 ease with which Lie put Himself on good terms with 
 the multitudes reveals the complete absence of the 
 spirit of social exclusiveness. Nor did He have the 
 class feeling that w^ould prompt a man to consort 
 merely with the poor. He cut through society 
 "not horizontally, but perpendicularly." He seems 
 equally at home with rich and poor, cultivated and 
 uncultivated, saint and sinner, with persons of all 
 ages, sexes and nationalities. Note in the follow- 
 ing passages some of the individuals and groups 
 with whom He associated. Matt. 8:5; 9:9; Mark 
 1 : 16-20 (cf. verse 20 with John 18 : 15, 16) ; 5 : 22 ; 
 7:26; 10:13-16, 17-22, 46-52; Luke 5:12, 17-26; 
 7:36-50; 8:1-3; 14:1; 15:1; 19:5-7; John 3:1, 
 2 ; 4: 27 (cf. old and revised versions) ; 4: 46; 12 : 1, 
 2, 20, 21; 19:38-42. 
 
 (7) His friendships. Jesus evidently had crav- 
 ings which even the consciousness of a great mis- 
 
THE SOCIAL NATURE OF JESUS 19 
 
 sion could not satisfy. He longed for human sym- 
 pathy and the sustaining help of friends. There is 
 a note of deep personal sadness in John 6 : 67. 
 There were circles of persons of varying nearness 
 to the center of His friendly affection in the multi- 
 tude of the disciples, the Twelve with a few women, 
 a group of three disciples, and at the center "the 
 beloved disciple." There were homes in which He 
 was always welcome, notably the Bethany circle. 
 Mark 3 : 13-19 ; 5 : 37 ; 14 : 33 ; Luke 8:1-3; 10 : 38- 
 42; John 11:1-44; 12:1-8; 19:26; 21:7, 20; cf. 
 Acts" 1:13, 14. 
 
 It has been suggested that this preference of Jesus 
 for a small group of the disciples was the cause of 
 the frequent dissensions among them. Matt. 20 : 
 20-28 ; Luke 22 : 24-30. Some interpreters believe 
 the ambition of the sons of Zebedee and their 
 mother was due to a kinship between them and 
 Jesus, a conjecture suggested by a comparison of 
 John 19:25 with Matt. 27:56 and Mark 15:40. 
 There is no proof of this interesting theory. 
 
 (8) His work. This was done almost wholly in 
 a social environment. 
 
 (a) His works of healing were usually per- 
 formed, not in out-of-the-way places, but in the 
 presence of others, often of a multitude. Matt. 
 12 : 9-14 ; 15 : 29-31 ; Mark 1 : 23-28 ; Mark 5 : 25-34 ; 
 9 : 14-27 ; 10 : 46-52 ; Luke 5 : 17-26 ; 13 : 10-17 ; John 
 5:2-9; 9:1-7. 
 
 (b) His teaching, too, was in a social environ- 
 ment. It was, as a rule, not contained in set dis- 
 courses, but consisted of words spoken man to man. 
 
20 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 Its method was "the case system." A human need 
 or a human problem met Him ; His treatment of 
 the individual case contained in it the universal 
 principle. Matt. 8 : 5-13 ; 18 : 21-35 ; Mark 7 : 1-23 ; 
 9 : 33-37 ; Luke 7 : 18-35 ; 10 : 25-37 ; 12 : 13-21 ; 15 : 
 1-32 ; John 4 : 7-42 ; 6 : 1-59. 
 
 Are the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), the 
 instructions to the Twelve and to the Seventy 
 (Matt. 10:5-42; Luke 10:1-24), the parables in 
 Matt. 13, the discourses in Matt. 24 and 25, excep- 
 tions to the above statements? 
 
 (c) Once, at least, Jesus took an active part in 
 the work of social reform. John 2 : 13-22 ; Matt. 
 ^1 : 12-17.^ 
 
 (9) His spirit. Jesus not only lived and worked 
 in the midst of men and women, but He always had 
 uppermost in His mind the desire to be of use to 
 them. A good motto of His life is to be found in 
 John 17:19. He came in the spirit of service. 
 John 13 : 2-17. To be of service He sought to be in 
 sympathetic relations with all men and He was con- 
 stantly urging His disciples to break down the 
 barriers between themselves and their fellows. It is 
 remarkable how often He inculcated the spirit of 
 forgiveness (Matt. 5:23, 24; 6:12-15; 18:15-35; 
 Mark 11 : 25 ; Luke 17 : 1-4), an attitude which He 
 illustrated fully in His own life (Luke 23:34). 
 Nothing could have been more striking, too, than 
 the patience with which He waited for the slow 
 development of the disciples and meanwhile bore 
 
 1. For a discussion of the question whether there occurred one 
 or two cleansings of the temple, see Rhees, The Life of Jesus of 
 Nazareth, p. 109. 
 
THE SOCIAL NATURE OF JESUS 21 
 
 with their misunderstandings and their jealous 
 bickerings. IMatt. 20 : 20-28 ; Luke 22 : 24-30. 
 
 The above study reveals the fact that Jesus was 
 not a being exalted to a lofty position above the life 
 of His time and ministering to it from without, but 
 that He was "found in fashion as a man," and lived 
 in the midst of men, vitalizing them by His contact 
 with them in the daily relationships of life. He did 
 not preach down to them from a pulpit. He shared 
 life with them and taught them through the ques- 
 tions and the experiences which they brought to 
 Him. Thus His truth, His character and His spirit 
 became "the leaven" which has been slowly but 
 surely since His time leavening the lump of human 
 Hfe. 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON III 
 THE SOCIAL IDEAL OF JESUS 
 
 Every great movement has great ideas out of 
 which it grows, which dominate its development. 
 A historical movement, like a person, to be largely 
 influential must have a creed, something it believes 
 in and ardently wishes and works to bring to pass. 
 Jesus, too, did not seek to transform the world by 
 haphazard deeds of helpfulness. His work had 
 an intellectual center, an idea and ideal to which it 
 was pointing and by which it was guided and con- 
 trolled. 
 
 Like every other great teacher, Jesus had one 
 comprehensive theme into which He gathered the 
 whole of His message, which gave unity and co- 
 herence to all His utterances, occasional though 
 the}'^ were, and directed to cases of individual need 
 rather than arranged in a system. This theme 
 was the subject of His first preaching. The im- 
 prisonment of John seems to have been the signal 
 to Jesus that the time had come for the formal open- 
 ing of His work, so, as the prison doors closed upon 
 the prophet, Jesus, catching up the message of the 
 forerunner which had expressed in itself the long- 
 ing of the nation, annovmced Himself with the 
 words : "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of 
 God is at hand : repent ye and believe in the gospel."^ 
 
 1. Mark 1: 15; Mark and Luke use the expression, "kingdom 
 of God," Luke 6: 20; Matthew, "kingdom of heaven," 4: 17. 
 Neither expression occurs in John. Instead we have there the phrase 
 "eternal life," expressing the quality of life which faith in Jesus 
 
26 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 Jesus' ideal of the kingdom had its definite rela- 
 tion to the conception which had been developing 
 through the centuries of Jewish history. The 
 growth of this conception may be summarized as 
 follows : 
 
 Man was made in the image of God and given the 
 dominion over all creatures. To secure his true 
 place he must be obedient to Jehovah. Through 
 disobedience sin enters the world and battles with 
 the good in man, the promise being that the good 
 shall in the end triumph. Jehovah comes into pecu- 
 liar relationship with Israel, abiding in the nation 
 and fulfilling His promises in it. He brings it into 
 its own land and there becomes Father, Husband 
 and Shepherd of His people, relations which become 
 increasingly tender as the years pass. A kingdom 
 develops of which Jehovah is King, which is to be 
 victorious over all enemies. The victory is post- 
 poned by the sins of Judah and Israel, but the 
 delay is only temporary. The Day of Jehovah will 
 come in which He will bless Israel with redemption 
 and will punish all its enemies. The nation has 
 become enslaved but Jehovah will not leave it deso- 
 late. He is represented by the faithful, suffering 
 prophet who by his heroism and self-sacrifice wins 
 for himself and for his people the reward of deliv- 
 erance and exaltation at the hands of Jehovah. 
 Side by side with the growth of the conception of 
 the prophet is developing that of the ideal King, 
 
 develops. John 6: 40, 47; 17: 3. There is no ground for a common 
 misapprehension that the phrase, "kingdom of heaven," is equivalent 
 to "heaven." It means the Messianic kingdom, begun and developed 
 on earth, consummated in the completed work of the Messiah here 
 and in the heavenly life. 
 
THE SOCIAL IDEAL OF JESUS 27 
 
 Jehovah's Son, greater than David, Who shall 
 bring peace to the world by overthrowing His 
 enemies and restoring Israel to the highest place 
 among the nations, where she shall become the chan- 
 nel of Jehovah's blessing to all mankind. And the 
 people, redeemed and restored, will have a new rela- 
 tion to Jehovah, Who shall write His law hence- 
 forth not on tables of stone but on the fleshly tables 
 of the heart. ^ 
 
 Thus had the national ideal been shaping itself 
 under the influence of the people's longing and the 
 genius of creative minds. It has often been pointed 
 out that while the golden age of Greece and Rome 
 was behind those nations, the golden age of Israel 
 was in the future, not something lost never to be 
 regained, but something to be attained and held as 
 a perpetual blessing. And this blessing is not to 
 be the selfish possession of one race. In Abraham 
 all nations of the earth are to be blessed (Gen. 
 22:18). When Jehovah's house is established on 
 the top of the mountains all nations shall flow unto 
 it (Isa. 2:2). The completion of the Messiah's 
 kingdom is to be the consummation of human 
 history. 
 
 In the time of Jesus the Messianic hope was 
 taking form in two movements : 
 
 1. Popular revolutionary Messianism. The ex- 
 planation of this outburst of national feeling was 
 
 1. Condensed from Briggs, Messianic Prophecy, Ch. XV. 
 
 A few of the passages upon which the above is based are the 
 following: Gen. 1:26-30; 3:14, 15; 22:15-18; Ex. 19:3-6; Deut. 
 18:16-19; 2 Sam. 7:10-16; Ps. 21, 22 and 72; Joel 3:9-21; Amos 
 9:9-15; Hosea 11:8-11; Isa. 2:2-4; 7:13-17; 9:6, 7; 11; 63:1-6; 
 35, 52 and 53, 60, 61; Zech. 14; Micah 5:2-4; Jer. 31:27-40; Ezek. 
 17: 22-24; 34: 11-31; 36: 25-36. 
 
28 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 the poverty and suffering of the masses of the 
 people. To them in their need the coming of the 
 kingdom seemed too long deferred, and they sought 
 to "force the hand of Jehovah" by armed revolts 
 against the government. Their ideal was "a peasant 
 high priest, a new state, a new people, and no king 
 
 but God Its members believed that if once 
 
 they coufd organize an independent republic, during 
 its struggle with Rome the Messiah Himself would 
 come to their aid."^ This form of Messianism 
 began to be prominent about the time of the death 
 of Herod the Great, and during the first century 
 there were a number of attempts, chiefly on the 
 part of the Zealots, to realize the ideal of an inde- 
 pendent kingdom. Suggestions of these insurrec- 
 tions are to be found in such passages as Mark 13 : 
 32 (Matt. 24' : 11, 24) ; Acts 5 : 34-39 ; 21 : 38. 
 
 2. Pharisaic Messianism. This form of the 
 Messianic hope was fashioned in the study rather 
 than on the field. It was developed by men who 
 did not feel the immediate burden of a crushing 
 poverty. During the Maccabean days the Phari- 
 saic party had had political hopes, but with the 
 complete subjection of Israel to Rome these were 
 transformed into religious longings. God was the 
 founder and guardian of the nation. His plan was 
 behind its development and some day He would 
 fulfill His promises. But He was not to be hurried ; 
 force could not hasten the issue ; all would come 
 
 1. Mathews, The Messianic Hope in the New Testament, pp. 19, 
 20. This book is a very valuable and interesting discussion of the 
 theme of this lesson and to it the writer is largely indebted. The 
 student is also referred to Cone, Rich and Poor in the New Testa- 
 ment, Ch. III., for a careful presentation of the same subject. 
 
THE SOCIAL IDEAL OF JESUS 29 
 
 out right in His own time. Men must trust Him 
 and patiently wait His will. Meanwhile a creed 
 developed, an interpretation of what would happen 
 when God was ready. The following were the 
 principal articles : 
 
 (1) There are, in God's plan, two ages — "this 
 age," evil, under the control in part at least of 
 Satan, and "the coming age," the good time ahead 
 of the nation and the world, to be introduced by a 
 catastrophe, beginning and establishing the rule of 
 Jehovah. 
 
 (2) The new kingdom will be limited to Jews; 
 it will involve a judgment upon the enemies of 
 Israel. It will not come as an evolution, but as the 
 free gift of God. 
 
 (3) The righteous dead will share in this king- 
 dom by a resurrection. 
 
 (4) A personal Messiah will be king of this 
 kingdom, announced, as some writers thought, by 
 a forerunner, Elijah. 
 
 Such being the thought of the Jews in Jesus' day 
 in these two opposing camps, we must now ask, 
 How far did Jesus share the thought of His time? 
 From a study of the following passages try to deter- 
 mine the extent to which He subscribed to the posi- 
 tions of the Zealots and the Pharisees and how far 
 He rejected them. John 18:36, 37; Mark 10:29, 
 30 ; Matt. 13 : 24-30, 36-43 ; Luke 10 : 18 ; 22 : 31, 53 ; 
 John 13:31; Luke 12:32; Mark 12:18-27; Matt. 
 25 : 31-46 ; John 5 : 28, 29 ; Mark 8 : 27-30 ; 11 : 1-11 
 (Matt. 21 : 4, 5) ; 14 : 61, 62 ; Matt. 11 : 2-6 [cf. Isa. 
 61:1-3]; 11:10; 17:10-13. 
 
30 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 Is there any part of the Pharisaic creed which 
 Jesus seems distinctly to reject? Matt. 8:11, 12; 
 Mark 12:1-12; Luke 4:25-27; 13 : 28-30.^ 
 
 The framework of Jesus' thought was evidently 
 inherited, and inherited from Pharisaism. We are 
 accustomed to think that the only relation between 
 Jesus and the Pharisees was one of hostility. His 
 harshest criticisms are directed against them. But 
 may it not have been true that the reason why He 
 was so hostile in some points was that He sym- 
 pathized with the Pharisaic party so fully in others ? 
 He saw their great opportunity; He saw how far 
 they had gone toward the truth ; He saw, too, how 
 their thought and spirit had hardened into tradi- 
 tion, how the reality of their religious life was dying 
 out. By the lashing of His intense words, by His 
 exposure of their selfishness and their hypocrisy, 
 He hoped to quicken to a new and better life the 
 spirit that was dying in them. No one who studies 
 the religious parties of the time of Jesus can doubt 
 that His sympathies were most fully with the Phari- 
 sees. They were the preservers of what was best 
 in the national spirit. In their faith Jesus had no 
 doubt been brought up, and to them His appeal was 
 made for leadership toward a better national devel- 
 opment. 
 
 In Lesson II. we found Jesus a part of the social 
 life of His time, not on a pedestal, nor in a pulpit, 
 but a man among men. In the above study we have 
 
 1. An interesting question for which there is no place here for 
 an adequate discussion is. Did Jesus believe in an external apoca- 
 lyptic kingdom, or is His language figurative? See Shailer Mathews, 
 ^Irssianic Hope, p. 67 i. 
 
THE SOCIAL IDEAL OE JESUS 31 
 
 been finding Him a part also of its intellectual life. 
 He grew up among the intellectual conceptions of 
 His land and of His age just as He shared in the 
 social customs and conventions of those among 
 whom He lived. Does it lower Him in our con- 
 ception to discover this fact about Him? Every 
 great religious movement starts on the plane of the 
 intellectual life of the nation. It does not first 
 utterly drive out the old and supplant it with the 
 new. It starts wath the old and leavens it with the 
 new.^ In the same way a great religious leader is 
 not an iconoclast, but a builder. He does not seek 
 to tear down but to build up, to fulfill, not to 
 destroy. So he starts with what he finds, but inter- 
 fuses with it something which at last transforms the 
 old into the new. 
 
 What was the new which Jesus interfused with 
 the inherited conceptions and traditions of Judaism ? 
 The form of His social ideal, as has been said, was 
 inherited, but His ideal includes something more 
 vital than its form. Its essence was far from being 
 an inheritance. 
 
 (1) The Jews thought of the kingdom as a mili- 
 tary rule which should subdue the whole earth. 
 Was this Jesus' idea? John 18:36, 37. In the 
 temptation (Matt. 4: 1-11) what was Jesus tempted 
 to do? 
 
 (2) When, according to Jesus' teaching, does 
 the kingdom become a reality? Matt. 5:3-10; 
 
 1. For a good illustration of this fact see Stopford Brooke. 
 Early English Literature, Ch. XI. It is significant that many of 
 our Christmas customs are pre-Christian and that the name of our 
 chief Christian festival, Easter, is derived from that of a heathen 
 goddess. 
 
32 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 12:28; Mark 10:14; Luke 10:9; 17:20, 21 (see 
 margin). 
 
 (3) What is the spirit of the kingdom? Matt. 
 6:12-15; 25-34; 23:8-12; Mark 10:42-45; Luke 
 10 : 25-37 ; 14 : 25-35 ; John 18 : 36, 37. 
 
 (4) How is the kingdom to develop within? 
 Matt. 13:33. 
 
 (5) How is the kingdom to develop wiihout? 
 Matt. 13 : 31, 32. 
 
 (6) What was the fundamental fact in. Jesus' 
 thought of Himself as the Messiah ? Mark 8 : 
 27—9 : 1 ; Luke 22 : 27 ; John 13 : 1-5 ; 17 : 19. 
 
 Thus Jesus was seeking, as the goal of His effort, 
 the perfecting of a social order in which all men 
 are brothers, because they are children of a common 
 Father, bound together in the spirit of loving ser- 
 vice, a social relationship in which He is supreme 
 because He is fullest of the spirit of the kingdom. 
 While the externals and the phraseology of the 
 kingdom are those which were familiar to the Jews 
 of His time, the spirit in which He sought to launch 
 it and which He was to pass on to others, by pos- 
 sessing which, and in no other way, they would 
 become members of it — this spirit was new, and 
 by the contagion of its influence He foresaw the 
 kingdom would advance and spread until it should 
 reach to the remotest corner of the earth and trans- 
 form every human relationship. Its consumma- 
 tion would be in the heavenly life, but not until 
 the city of God had come down to earth and earth 
 had become itself a heaven. 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON IV 
 
 THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE 
 PERSONAL TEACHING OF JESUS 
 
 Having now gained some understanding of Jesus 
 in His social relations and of the ideal which was 
 behind His work, let us come a little nearer to the 
 teaching itself. This is usually separated, for 
 convenience of treatment, into two sections, the 
 personal teaching and the social teaching, but fun- 
 damentally they are one and inseparable. The per- 
 sonal teaching of Jesus is simply His teaching 
 turned in the direction of the individual, and His 
 social teaching, that same teaching turned in the 
 direction of the relation of individuals in social life. 
 These two aspects of Jesus' message are two sides 
 of the same shield ; both are needed to give the 
 complete significance of His word to men. In the 
 next three lessons the attempt will be made to show 
 how inseparable are these two aspects, how they 
 blend in almost every utterance of Jesus. 
 
 Professor Peabody, who has written so wisely 
 upon the principles which must lie at the basis of 
 any right settlement of the social question, says : 
 The ethics of the Bible "are, as a rule, personal ; 
 yet the consequences of its ethics are, as a rule, 
 
 social To plant in the soil of the world the 
 
 strong seed of the Christian character was to be 
 certain of an abundant harvest of social conse- 
 quences."^ If this is true of the teaching of the 
 Bible, as a whole, it is emphatically true of the mes- 
 
 1. JesKS Christ and the Christian Character, pp. 196, 197. 
 
36 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 sage of Jesus. To test the validity of Professor 
 Peabody's words, let us study broadly certain char- 
 acteristic teachings of Jesus to discover how in 
 them the personal and the social mingle, how the 
 personal cannot be confined to the individual but 
 has its bearing upon all the relationships of the 
 individual in society. 
 
 ] . The Sermon on the Mount, Matt. 5-7. 
 
 5 : 3-12. The Beatitudes. These should be 
 placed almost at the center of the personal teaching 
 of Jesus. But what is the source of the happiness 
 promised? The "for" clauses seem to be variations 
 in the Hebrew manner of the same thought. For 
 example, it would be just as true to say, "Blessed 
 are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, 
 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," as to say, 
 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the king- 
 dom of heaven." If this is so, the personal blessed- 
 ness is complete only in what sphere? 
 
 5:13-16. Personal or social teaching? 
 
 5:17-32. This passage suggests definitely the 
 theme of the Sermon on the Mount, the righteous- 
 ness of members of the kingdom in contrast with 
 the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Is 
 the theme personal or social? What then is the 
 motive which Jesus suggests for the cultivation of 
 Christian righteousness? Anger, lust, are personal 
 sins to be eradicated from the individual character, 
 but do they stop with the individual?^ The accept- 
 
 1. The offense in 5:22 is the same under different forms — - 
 "angry," "Raca," "fool" — each an expression of anger. The pun- 
 ishments form a rhetorical climax. Anger deserves the judgment; 
 it deserves a still severer punishment, the council; it deserves even 
 the Gehenna of iire. 
 
PERSONAL TEACHING OF JESUS 37 
 
 ance of the individual's worship is dependent upon 
 what? (Cf. Matt. 6:12.) 
 
 5 : 33-37. Jesus is evidently discussing a matter 
 of personal practice here, but what was the purpose 
 of the oath ? How do you reconcile this teaching 
 with Jesus' practice in Matt. 26: 63, 64? As is well 
 known, the Quakers have followed the teaching of 
 the Sermon on the Mount here as elsewhere liter- 
 ally. Such is their character for truthfulness that 
 their affirmation is accepted by the courts as of the 
 same validity as an oath. 
 
 5 : 38-48. The first few verses of this section are 
 among the most difficult to interpret of all Jesus' 
 utterances. The principle laid down here is the 
 same which Paul enunciates in Romans 12 : 21, that 
 of "love yielding and putting to shame in the spirit 
 of self-denial." But for us to interpret Jesus' illus-' 
 tration of the principle as a rule of practice on all 
 occasions would be to introduce moral confusion 
 into human relationships. "This principle of Chris- 
 tian morality, laid down absolutely as an ideal, by 
 no means excludes, under the determining circum- 
 stances of sinful life, the duty of seeking one's legal 
 rights, as is clear moreover from the history of 
 Christ and His Apostles." {Meyer's Commentary 
 on Matthczv 5:38.) See John 18:22, 23; Acts 
 16:35-39; 23:3; 25:9-11. 
 
 But whatever may be the exact interpretation, 
 the whole passage discusses the attitude of the 
 Christian in what sphere? The appeal is made to 
 whose example and to what in that example ? 
 
 6:1-18. This passage discusses the Christian 
 
38 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 attitude toward alms, prayer and fasting. The 
 essential point in the discussion is noted in verse 1 ; 
 in what phrase? Is the Lord's Prayer a purely 
 personal prayer? Is "our" a social word, or simply 
 a plural, used because Jesus was giving this prayer 
 to a number of people? How many of the petitions 
 can, by the most liberal interpretation, be limited 
 to the personal sphere? What disposition in us is 
 recognized in the prayer as the ground of our 
 acceptance with God? 
 
 6 : 19-3-i. This passage will be taken up later in 
 connection with Jesus' teaching about wealth. 
 From wdiat standpoint is the subject of the amass- 
 ing of wealth treated? What is the key verse of 
 the section, and what is the key phrase in that 
 verse ? 
 
 7 : 1-12. The opening verses of this section are 
 clearly in the social sphere. They are another state- 
 ment of the words, which, as has been said, may be 
 considered a life motto of Jesus Himself (John 
 17: 19). This suggests the question. How far can 
 morality be a personal matter ? Would morality be 
 a requirement of a human being if he were alone 
 in the world? If God and our fellows were blotted 
 out, could there be such a thing as morality? 
 
 Following out the suggestion of this passage, 
 what should our belief in the goodness of God lead 
 us to? W'hat then is the philosophical basis of the 
 Golden Rule? ^^'hat word in the verse (7:12) 
 indicates this? Can a man, then, be a follower of 
 the Golden Rule and not be a religious man ? 
 
 7 : 13, 14. The Christian pilgrim moves forward 
 
PERSONAL TEACHING OP JESUS 39 
 
 along the straightened way with companions in 
 front, behind and by his side. If Bunyan were 
 writing Pilgrim's Progress to-day. would he let 
 Christian desert his family in the City of Destruc- 
 tion and make his pilgrimage alone ?^ Though 
 obedience to Jesus is superior to the claims of every 
 human relationship, is not the scene in Acts IG : 34 
 truer to the essential spirit of Christianity than 
 Bunyan's interpretation? 
 
 7:15-27. Jesus' teaching in the Sermon issues 
 in this practical exhortation. Life is the test of 
 profession. What are the fruits to be borne, the 
 deeds to be done? Study Alatt. 25:31-46 as a 
 commentary upon the meaning of such verses as 
 21-23. 
 
 Looking back over the Sermon on the Mount, 
 what proportion of it should you say deals with 
 strictly personal teaching? How much of the per- 
 sonal teaching can be considered as not going 
 beyond the individual in its implication? 
 
 1. p. 8. 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON V 
 
 THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE 
 
 PERSONAL TEACHING OF JESUS 
 
 (Continued) 
 
 2. Jesus' great summary of the Law. Matt. 
 22: 34-40 (Mark 12: 28-34). Cf. also Luke 10: 25- 
 37. The first half of the summary is quoted from 
 Deut. 6 : 5, the second half from Lev. 19 : 18. Jesus' 
 profound study of the Old Testament and His in- 
 sight into its deeper meaning are well illustrated by 
 His choice of these two passages from different 
 books to form a unified and comprehensive state- 
 ment of Scripture teaching. 
 
 The fundamental article in Jesus' creed and mes- 
 sage is the Fatherhood of God. This fact calls for 
 what response in us? What is it to "love" God? 
 The New Testament has two words for "love"- — 
 phileo and agapao — the first, the love of kindred and 
 friends, love of the emotions ; the second, the love 
 of moral choice, love of the will. The second is 
 the word used of our attitude toward God and 
 Jesus. Does this distinction throw any light upon 
 the meaning of "love" to God? What is it to love 
 God with the heart, with the soul, with the mind, 
 with the strength? 
 
 What is the full implication of loving God ? What 
 is the relation of the second part of Jesus' summary 
 to the first ? Cf . 1 John 4 : 20. Who, according to 
 Jesus' interpretation, is our "neighbor"? How in- 
 clusive in Jesus' thought is Christian brotherhood? 
 For the comprehension of His thought by His fol- 
 
44 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 lowers, see Acts 17 : 26 ; Gal. 3 : 28 ; 1 Peter 2 : 17a. 
 Who is our "neighbor" in the United States, wait- 
 ing to be helped by us in the spirit of Christian 
 brotherhood ? 
 
 In the scene, the description of which is added 
 to the Fourth Gospel [John 21], is a practical illus- 
 tration of the union, as Jesus saw it, of the two 
 parts of the summary. "Lovest thou me?" he three 
 times asks the repentant Peter. And when the 
 answer comes, "Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I 
 love thee," Jesus adds, as the necessary conclusion 
 of genuine love, "Tend my lambs," "Feed my 
 sheep." 
 
 3. The two great paradoxes of Jesus' teaching. 
 
 (1) Mark 8:35 (Matt. 10:39; 16:25; Luke 
 9:24), the paradox of sacrifice. Jesus is pointing 
 out that there is only one avenue by which the pos- 
 sibilities of character can be realized. Does self- 
 renunciation or self-denial express what He means ? 
 What is the distinction to be drawn between the 
 two? David Livingstone pointed out in an address 
 to Scotch students that the sacrifices of the mis- 
 sionary life are not essentially different from, nor 
 in reality any greater than, those which are made 
 by soldiers, explorers, seekers after wealth.^ The 
 
 1. "Hundreds of young men annually leave our shores as cadets. 
 All their friends rejoice when they think of them as bearing the 
 commission of our Queen. When any dangerous expedition is 
 planned by government, more volunteers apply than are necessary 
 
 to man it And what thousands rushed to California from 
 
 different parts of America on the discovery of gold! .... How 
 many Christian men tore themselves away from all home endear- 
 ments to suffer, and toil, and perish of cold and starvation on the 
 overland route! .... Yet no word of sacrifices there. And why 
 should we so regard all we give and do for the Well-beloved of our 
 souls? Our talk of sacrifices is ungenerous and heathenish." 
 
 Quoted Blackie, The Personal Life of David Livingstone, pp. 476, 
 477. 
 
PERSONAL TEACHING OF JESUS 45 
 
 value of sacrifice depends altogether upon the 
 motive. A man may sacrifice for the basest as well 
 as for the best ends. 
 
 Does Jesus' principle apply only to character 
 development ? Can you see any relation of it to art, 
 literature, scientific research, etc. ? Is it not true 
 that only he who has learned to forget himself can 
 be fully himself as a painter or a poet? The man 
 who constantly sees himself in his work, who is 
 thinking of personal distinction, is producing second- 
 grade work. Self-consciousness is the bane of the 
 highest effort. Only the man who can find a work 
 big enough to command all his powers and can 
 lose himself in it will be all he can be for the world, 
 or for his own self-development. 
 
 A young woman in one of our western colleges 
 was anxious to be a foreign missionary. She was 
 not strong physically, she seemed to have no apti- 
 tude for foreign languages, and her friends tried 
 to dissuade her from her determination. But there 
 was a great desire of helpfulness in her heart and 
 she found an outlet for it in a remote district of the 
 Turkish Empire. Spurred on by her love she was 
 able to get an almost incredible amount of service 
 out of her weak body, and, what was stranger still, 
 she became a linguist, able to speak and write in 
 several languages. When the great massacre of 
 the Armenians was in progress, the soldiers came 
 one day to force an entrance into her girls' school. 
 She met them at the door and told them that the 
 only way they could get in was over her dead body. 
 They fell back and the girls she loved were saved. 
 
46 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 By forgetting herself in love for a needy world, 
 Corinna Shattuck became a saint, a hero, a never- 
 to-be-forgotten instrument in the up-building of 
 Christian civilization in the East. 
 
 A recent putting of Jesus' paradox is to be found 
 in Professor Royce's The Philosophy of Loyalty: 
 "A loyal man is one who has found and who sees 
 .... some social cause, or some system of causes, 
 so rich, so .well knit, and to him so fascinating and 
 withal so kindly in its appeal to his natural self- 
 will, that he says to his cause : 'Thy will is mine 
 and mine is thine. In thee I do not lose but find 
 myself, living intensely in proportion as I live for 
 thee.' "^ 
 
 Indeed Professor Royce's book is little more than 
 the exposition and application of this paradox of 
 Jesus. 
 
 (2) Matt. 20:26, 27. The paradox of service. 
 This is really a corollary of the first. For other 
 statements of the same truth see Matt. 23:11; 
 Mark 9 : 35 ; 10 : 43, 44 ; Luke 22 : 25, 26. At the 
 Last Supper Jesus gave an object lesson of what 
 He meant, John 13 : 1-17. The reason why He did 
 this was no doubt His knowledge of the jealousy 
 and dissension among the Twelve as pictured in 
 Luke 22 : 24-30. They were expecting an earthly 
 kingdom and they wanted positions of prominence 
 in it. 
 
 State in your own words the principle He is try- 
 ing to set forth. 
 
 So in Jesus' view, character becomes what it is 
 
 1. p. 43. 
 
PERSONAL TEACHING OF JESUS 47 
 
 by virtue of its relation to the lives of others. Read 
 again John 17:19. According to Matt. 25:31-46 
 what is to be the basis of the judgment? Is this 
 consistent with Matt. 5: 21, 22, 27, 28? 
 
 It is suggestive to put side by side with Jesus' 
 teaching the words of His best interpreter, Paul. 
 See in Gal. 5 : 22, 23 his summary of the personal 
 Christian virtues. How many of these are self- 
 centered? Cf. also 1 Cor. 13, especially 13:13. 
 
 "Faith, hope, love, all the graces and qualities of 
 the spiritual life are social. They lead the indi- 
 vidual out of himself into relations with others."^ 
 
 1. Hyde, Outlines of Social Tlicology, p. 175. 
 
 It is natural to think of Christian joy as a merely personal virtue. 
 But the following shows its social bearing: "At the very heart of 
 this mystery of conversion is a wild joy. A soul consciously 
 unhappy has become consciously happy. A soul bound and in prison 
 
 kas been loosed and is free The enchanted felicity which 
 
 sends this man singing and marching into the slums is not only the 
 token of the miracle in himself, but is the magic, as my book shows 
 over and over again, which draws unhappy and dejected souls to 
 make surrender of their sin and wretchedness." Begbie, Twice-horn 
 Men, p. 20. 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON VI 
 
 THE PERSONAL BASIS OF JESUS' SOCIAL 
 TEACHING 
 
 Our study thus far has brought us to the posi- 
 tion that in Jesus' teaching what concerns the indi- 
 vidual really reaches out and includes those with 
 whom the individual stands in relationship. But 
 though Jesus' personal teaching thus inevitably 
 widens out and includes the social sphere, one of 
 the most striking characteristics of His career was 
 its "aloofness" from the social and political prob- 
 lems of His day/ There was an abundance of 
 these problems — the corruption of government, the 
 iniquity of taxation, slavery, low business and home 
 standards, the degradation of womanhood, etc. 
 Jesus, in His teaching, sometimes comes near these 
 problems. Note His approach to some in the fol- 
 lowing passages : 
 
 Matt. 20 : 25 ; 23 : 17-21 ; 25 : 14-30 ; 26 : 11 ; Mark 
 10 : 2-1 2 ; 12 : 13-17, 41-44 ; Luke 5 : 27-32 ; 6 : 20, 21 ; 
 7:30-50; 10:30-37; 12:13-21; 18:2-5; 19:1-10; 
 John 4:16-18, What are some of the problems 
 involved here, and how does Jesus meet them? 
 
 The question has already been asked, Would it 
 not have been an advantage if Jesus had taken up 
 the pressing problems of His time and definitely 
 enlightened people about them? How much help 
 He could have given, we think. But Jesus' work 
 
 1. p. 12. 
 
52 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 was fundamental, not merely symptomatic. He 
 was after cavises, lying out of sight in human char- 
 acter, not mere results in the surface of society. 
 He knew that if He could solve the problem of the 
 individual, the problem of society would be solved. 
 Environment is a most potent influence in the de- 
 velopment of human character; no fact is revealed 
 more clearly than this by modern expert study of 
 social conditions. No character can reach abso- 
 lute completeness except in a perfect society. But 
 at bottom it is not good society which makes good 
 individuals. The quality of society is ultimately 
 determined by the quality of the individuals who 
 make it up. 
 
 Jesus saw this fact with the greatest clearness. 
 While He was seeking to establish a kingdom, the 
 kingdom was the goal of His effort and not its 
 beginning. "He was not primarily the deviser of 
 a social system, but the quickener of single lives. "^ 
 Indeed the kingdom always comes when an indi- 
 vidual bows to the sceptre of the King of the king- 
 dom, and it will come in its fullness when all men 
 have accepted, within and without, His rule. 
 
 According to Jesus, then, where is to be found 
 the solution of every social problem? Study the 
 following: Alatt. 5:3-12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 43-48; 
 10:7, 8, 34-39 ; 23 : 34-40 ; 23 : 8-12 ; 25 : 34-40 ; 
 Mark 3:31-35; 10:13-16, 43-44; Luke 10:25-37; 
 13 : 23-34 ; 15 : 1-32. 
 
 Jesus' creed was a simple one. A just and loving 
 Father is seeking to establish His kingdom in the 
 
 1. Peabody, Jesus Christ and the Social Question, p. 90. 
 
JESUS' SOCIAL TEACHING 53 
 
 earth. That it may he a kingdom such as He can 
 approve, He seeks to develop individual citizens 
 who shall be worthy of places in the kingdom, men 
 and women who shall express His own spirit of 
 truth and love. In the realization of this spirit in 
 the individual life, the citizens of the kingdom will 
 discover that they are all brethren, and in the reali- 
 zation of the spirit of brotherhood will be found 
 the solution of every problem which can arise out 
 of their relations one to another. 
 
 It will be seen thus that Christianity is not in any 
 sense a transaction, something wrought out inde- 
 pendently of those who are to share in it. The only 
 salvation that is worth anything is one which saves 
 from sin to a character like that of Jesus Christ. 
 Paul is agonizing until Christ be formed in His dis- 
 ciples (Gal. -i: 19), not until they shall express their 
 assent to certain intellectual or moral positions, but 
 until they become Jesus Christ, until His spirit bears 
 in their character the fruits of love, joy, peace, long- 
 suffering, gentleness, kindness, self-control. Just 
 as Jesus Himself incarnates the spirit of God, so 
 every true follower of Him will in turn incarnate 
 His spirit. 
 
 We are now ready to consider the question. How 
 in Jesus' estimation is the kingdom to advance? 
 What is the unit of social force? 
 
 ]. As has already been pointed out,^ the Mes- 
 sianic ideal held by many in Jesus' own time in- 
 cluded the idea of the advance of the kingdom by 
 force. The Messiah was to become a military king. 
 
 1. p. 27f. 
 
54 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 crush out all opposition, and by pressure from with- 
 out fuse all elements into one coherent kingdom. 
 This Jewish conception, which presented itself to 
 Jesus for acceptance and was constantly being urged 
 upon Him by those nearest Him, has had its place in 
 the history of the Church, e.g., the Crusades, the 
 Inquisition, the Thirty Years' War, St. Bartholo- 
 mew's Day, the use of the state to crush out dissent 
 in England and in New England in the seventeenth 
 century, etc. The same spirit shows itself fre- 
 quently in our own time ; for example, in the attempt 
 to establish truth and overthrow error by the force 
 of ecclesiastical organization. How successful has 
 this spirit been historically in advancing the king- 
 dom? What place has force in progress? Would 
 the victories which have been won by force have 
 been won without it, if those fighting the battle of 
 the truth had been content to wait and let the spirit 
 of truth conquer by its own inherent force ? 
 
 Undoubtedly there come times Avhen force seems 
 to be absolutely necessary to secure an advance in 
 Christian civilization, but probably such times are 
 less frequent than the world has supposed. A keen 
 student of public affairs who has been long a resi- 
 dent of the South and in the closest contact with its 
 problems, a northerner by birth and education, has 
 recently said that he has become more and more 
 convinced that the issue between the North and the 
 South could have been settled, and would have been 
 settled, without bloodshed if it had not been that 
 the people on both sides were lashed into enmity and 
 bitterness by agitators. Before the war began, the 
 
JESUS' SOCIAL TEACHING 55 
 
 Quakers throughout the South had already given 
 their slaves freedom, and their example, added to 
 that of England and other European nations, was 
 steadily leavening the entire nation. 
 
 One of our modern exhibitions of this age-old 
 conception of force is the glorification of legisla- 
 tion as of superlative value. Unquestionably legis- 
 lation is of the utmost value under the right con- 
 ditions. \Miat are those conditions? Is legislation 
 which is on the statute books but not enforced a 
 good or an evil? The ideal of some of our social 
 workers to-day seems to be to secure the passage 
 of legislation covering every evil in society, appar- 
 ently with the supposition that when the law is 
 passed the work is done. It is true that only by 
 legislation can some of the worst evils of modern 
 society be controlled, and at last eradicated. But 
 such legislation is worse than useless unless it has 
 behind it the spirit of justice and love in a sufficient 
 number of lives to ensure its enforcement. A pro- 
 hibitory law is a source of demoralization if it is 
 only on the statute books. A law limiting the labor 
 of women and children is worthless without ade- 
 quate inspection, and adequate inspection depends 
 for the most part upon the temper of the community. 
 
 In our time there is a glorification also of organi- 
 zation. It is true that our marvelous modern prog- 
 ress is largely the result of organization and that 
 without it w^e should be utterly helpless in front of 
 many of the problems of the time.^ But the larger 
 
 1. "If a ring is to be put into the snout of the greedy strong, 
 only organized society can do it." Ross, Sin and Society, p. 93. 
 
56 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 the organization, the more necessary the inner power 
 to make it effective. One loom can easily be moved 
 by the hand or the foot, but a thousand looms are 
 a cumbrance to the ground unless there is power 
 at the center of the factory adequate to put them 
 into motion. 
 
 ''Wheels there must be, and wheels within wheels, 
 and the adjustment of this intricate mechanism is 
 essential to eft'ective philanthropy ; but the wheels 
 are moved by the power of love and the mechanism 
 halts imtil the spirit of the living creatures is in 
 the wheels.'"^ 
 
 How much stress did Jesus put upon organiza- 
 tion? How far did He organize His followers for 
 their work? How far in His teaching do we find 
 the suggestion of the development of a church? 
 
 2. Another ancient conception of the effective 
 force in social progress, a conception which is being 
 revived to-day in many quarters, is that the 
 world is to advance chiefly by intellectual enlighten- 
 ment. The Greeks held strongly to this conception. 
 To the Greek "insight becomes the innermost soul 
 of life ; goodness appears to depend upon correct 
 knowledge, evil, on the other hand, is an intellectual 
 mistake, an error of judgment."" The same thought 
 frequently comes to the surface in modern discus- 
 sions. 
 
 wSin, we are told, is ignorance. Teach a man the 
 right way and he will w'alk in it. Enlightenment 
 will solve the social question. 
 
 1. Peabody, The Approach to the Social Question, p. 93. 
 
 2. Eucken, The Problem of Human Life, p. 8. 
 
JESUS' SOCIAL TEACHING 57 
 
 Is this conception Jesus' conception? What is 
 His attitude toward the intellectual life? How 
 fundamental is the education of the intellect in 
 progress ? 
 
 In a time when the intellect has won such amaz- 
 ing victories both in the theoretical and in the prac- 
 tical field, it is easy to imagine it the most impor- 
 tant force in human progress. But it requires only 
 a little reflection to discover that the value of intel- 
 lectual capacity and training lies in what is behind it. 
 
 It is true that knowledge and virtue can never be 
 divorced; the clearest' discernment is always essen- 
 tial to the highest type of character. There are sins 
 of ignorance as fatally destructive as sins of choice. 
 Nevertheless, while intellect and character should 
 never be considered as in opposition to one another, 
 the intellect is after all the instrument of the char- 
 acter. As someone has put it, the superb intellec- 
 tual training of to-day is like the marvelous con- 
 struction and equipment of the modern ocean liner, 
 but whether or not all this marvel of ingenuity and 
 skill is to be for the world's best use or not depends 
 upon the man on the bridge. Character is at the 
 helm in every life. Given truth and the spirit of 
 love at the center, the perfection of the intellect 
 means ever increasing blessing to the world. But 
 under the control of selfishness, the intellect becomes 
 increasingly a curse. Intellectual training not in- 
 frequently engenders "pride of intellect." Pride 
 of wealth, pride of birth, are essentially vulgar; is 
 pride of intellect, intellectual snobbery, any Iqss 
 vulgar? We are emphasizing to-day stewardship 
 
58 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 of material wealth ; is it not time also to emphasize 
 stewardship of intellectual wealth? The greater the 
 intellectual resources and training the greater the 
 responsibility and the opportunity of service. For 
 their sakes not only do I sanctify myself, and win 
 wealth, but I educate myself ! 
 
 It is the duty then of those who know to share 
 their knowledge and their trained power with those 
 who do not know. But this duty does not alter the 
 fact that telling people what is right does not neces- 
 sarily mean their doing what is right. The seat of 
 action is deeper than knowledge and the intellect 
 has only a part in the final result. 
 
 3. How then is the kingdom to advance? How 
 did it begin ? John 1:17. As has been pointed out^ 
 Christianity is not a system of abstract truth but the 
 incarnation of truth. What then is the leaven men- 
 tioned in Matt. 13:33? What according to John 
 1:17 are the constituent elements of the Christ 
 spirit? The kingdom having started in the world, 
 how does it spread? There is contagion of good- 
 ness as well as of evil. Goodness has the power 
 to leaven the lump. Given one life filled with the 
 spirit of grace and truth, justice and the spirit of 
 good will, how can such lives be multiplied? Their 
 multiplication involves co-operation, grouping, or- 
 ganization, and greatly increased power of service. 
 In organized effort two and two can easily equal 
 five. But wherein lies the value of such united 
 efifort? Is there any real advance of the kingdom 
 
 1. p. 15. 
 
JESUS' SOCIAL TEACH I XG 59 
 
 possible except through the increase in the number 
 of lives genuinely filled with the spirit of justice 
 and good will? "Ye are the light of the world." 
 "Ye are the salt of the earth." 
 
 Jesus' thought, then, is that the only effective 
 agency of social progress, the unit of social force, 
 is personality charged with love. "The good seed, 
 these are the sons of the kingdom" (Matt. 13: 38). 
 
 We are so accustomed to see the work of social 
 betterment directed by organizations and machinery 
 of every sort, that one is tempted to forget this 
 fundamental fact of Jesus' message. We need to 
 see this energy at work in virgin soil to realize its 
 power. 
 
 In 1875 Arnold Toynbee, a .student of Balliol Col- 
 lege, Oxford, took up his residence in the White- 
 chapel district in London, believing that the only 
 way to help the poor is to have a vital and intelligent 
 sympathy with them, and that such sympathy can 
 be gained only by living in the midst of the condi- 
 tions in which they live. Out of the influence of 
 his brief life have grown the social settlements of 
 the world. His influence sent a brilliant American 
 student, Stanton Coit, to live in a tenement house in 
 Rivington Street, New York. His work in that 
 needy neighborhood expanded into the Neighbor- 
 hood Guild of New York, which was the forerunner 
 of the University Settlement of New York and of 
 all the social settlements of the United States with 
 their multiplied organizations and agencies to meet 
 the physical, educational, social and moral needs of 
 the neglected districts of the great cities. 
 
60 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 The life of every pioneer missionary is an illus- 
 tration of the same fact ; at the beginning of every 
 great missionary achievement, which issues in 
 churches and colleges and hospitals and a renewed 
 community and national life, lies the self-forgetful 
 heroism and good will of a devoted personality.^ 
 
 In this teaching of Jesus, that the unit of social 
 force is personality charged with love, we have the 
 fundamental fact of His social message. All His 
 developed teaching is the application of this prin- 
 ciple to particular circumstances. Every problem 
 of human society yields to the spirit of brotherhood. 
 
 It may be a disappointment to some that we have 
 not reached a spectacular solution of social diffi- 
 culties, some brilliant panacea for all the ills of the 
 world. We are most of us waiting like Naaman 
 to be bidden to do some great thing. But what 
 Jesus would have us do is a simple, everyday matter. 
 If we fill the relationships of our lives, be they many 
 or few, far-reaching or insignificant in their influ- 
 ence, with the spirit of justice and good will, then so 
 far as in us lies we have made the kingdom of God 
 come upon the earth. 
 
 "See what turn the mind of the apostle took when 
 he was arming his disciples for the great conflict 
 of the age. Children, obey your parents — Fathers, 
 provoke not your children — Servants, be obedient 
 to your masters — Masters, forbear threatenings. 
 Finally to include all, put on the wTiole armor of 
 God. As if the first thought, in arming the Church 
 
 1. E.g., the lives of Carey, Moffat, Livingstone, Paton, etc. 
 
JESUS' SOCIAL TEACHING 61 
 
 for great trials and stout victories, was to fill com- 
 mon life and the relations of the house with a 
 Christian spirit."^ 
 
 1. Bushnell, Christian Nurture, p. 63. An interesting illustration 
 that this was the real power of the early church is given by Pliny 
 in his description of the Christian communities in Asia Minor in 
 111 or 112 A. D. "They affirmed the whole of their guilt, or their 
 error, was, that they met on a stated day before it was light, and 
 addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity, binding them- 
 selves by a solemn oath, not for the purposes of any wicked design, 
 but never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to falsify 
 their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to 
 deliver it up, after which it was their custom to separate, and then 
 reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal." 
 
 Pliny's Letters, Bohn trans., p. 395. 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON VII 
 SOCIAL GROUPS: THE FAMILY 
 
 Having discovered the fundamental principle in 
 Jesus' message, that personality charged with the 
 spirit of justice and good will is the unit of social 
 force, we turn to see how in His teaching Jesus 
 brings this principle to bear upon the varied rela- 
 tionships of life. First of all, how in Jesus' thought 
 does this principle apply in the primary human rela- 
 tionship, the original social group, the family? The 
 relations of husband and wife, father and mother 
 and children, children and children, constitute a 
 world by themselves, a microcosm. If the problem 
 of the family can be perfectly solved, every social 
 problem will be solved, for there every human insti- 
 tution has its roots. 
 
 1 . Jesus was profoundly interested in the family. 
 This interest is shown not only in the fullness and 
 definitcness of His teaching upon marriage, where 
 He departs from His usual practice of avoiding the 
 discussion of particular problems, but also in the 
 frequency with which He draws upon the language 
 of family ties to express the higher relationships of 
 the spiritual life. His supreme revelation of God 
 is in terms of the family. God is Father (Matt. 
 G:9, 14; 23:9; John 20:17); mankind are His 
 children (Matt. 5:45) ; those who do the will of 
 God are to Jesus brother, sister^ mother (Mark 
 
66 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 3: 35). Study also the following passages as illus- 
 trations of Jesus' frequent references to home rela- 
 tionships either directly or in figure. Matt. 5 : 22- 
 24;. 10: 21, 34-37; 13/52; 18:15-17; 22:2, 3; 24: 
 43 ; 35 : 1 ; Mark 7 : 9-13 ; 10 : 28-30 ; Luke 14 : 12-14, 
 26; 15:11-32; 16:27-31. 
 
 2. We find Jesus in close touch with home life. 
 He is continually meeting men and women in their 
 joys and sorrows, sharing in the festivities of the 
 home, proving Himself the friend of little children, 
 moving in and out of the home as a companion and 
 counselor. See Lesson IL Study the following: 
 Matt. 20 : 20 ; Mark 1 : 16-20, 29-31 ; 2 : 1 (see mar- 
 gin of A. R. V.) ; 5: 22, 23, 35-43; 7: 25-30; Luke 
 7 : 2, 11-] 7 ; 11 : 37 ; 12 : 13 ; 19 : 1-10 ; John 11:1-5; 
 19:25-27. 
 
 3. The appeal of Jesus is both to men and to 
 women. As the circumstances of the time deter- 
 mined, He was thrown mostly with men and His 
 chief utterances were to them. They formed the 
 whole body of the Twelve. They made up, for 
 the most part, the crowds which gathered about 
 Him. His teaching was principally in terms of 
 their lives. E.g., Matt. 5:45; 8:12; Mark 4:26, 
 etc. His gospel and His life exalted the manly 
 virtues of energy, endurance, courage, determina- 
 tion, devotion to duty.^ But the Gospels show that 
 Jesus did not hold Himself aloof from the life of 
 women. His use of illustrations from their life 
 shows he was acquainted with their daily activities 
 (Luke 15:8-10; Matt. 24:41). And the story of 
 
 1. Thomas Hughes, Tlie Manliness of Christ. 
 
SOCIAL GROUPS: THE FAMILY 67 
 
 His own life reveals the fact that He was constantly 
 thrown into personal relations with them. 
 
 (1) His relations with His mother, Luke 2:48; 
 Mark 3 : 20, 21, 31-35 ; John 2 : 1-11 ; 19 : 25-27. 
 
 (2) Sisters in the home, Mark 6:3. 
 
 (3) Women in the circle of His companions and 
 friends, Luke 8 : 1-3 ; 10 : 38-42 ; 23 : 55 ; 24 : 10 ; 
 John 11:1-44. 
 
 (4) Many women mentioned whom He met 
 casually, Mark 1 : 30, 31 ; 7 : 25-30 ; 12 : 41-44 ; Luke 
 7:11-15, 36-50; 8:43-48; 11:27, 28; 13:10-16; 
 23:27-31; John 4:7-29; 8:3-11. 
 
 In John 4:27 is expressed the current notion of 
 the attitude a Jewish rabbi should take toward a 
 woman (cf. the authorized version and the revised 
 version here). But Jesus met woman on the plane 
 of equality (cf. Mark 10 : 11, 12).^ He never talked 
 down to them. Some of His loftiest teaching was 
 called forth by their needs. He inspired His dis- 
 ciples with His own spirit, which Paul expressed in 
 Gal. 3 : 28. And wherever, since His day, His 
 teaching has been fully and frankly accepted, there 
 woman has taken her true place by the side of man. 
 Woman was right in being "last at the cross and 
 first at the tomb,'' for to the Christ she largely owes 
 her social and legal emancipation. 
 
 4. Jesus also had the closest sympathy with 
 
 1. "With Jesus there is neither a recognition of a past subjec- 
 tion, an attempt at her emancipation, nor a lament on the difficulties 
 to be foreseen in the enforcement of His teaching in regard to 
 marriage. He simply treats woman as an equal — equal in the 
 matters of marriage and divorce, equal as a companion." Shailer 
 Mathews, The Social Teaching of Jesus, p. 97. Dr. Mathews points 
 out that the Greek word to express Jesus' feeling toward women is 
 agapao and not phileo. Ditto 99, note. See supra, p. 33. 
 
68 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 child life. His was one of those unspoiled natures 
 who have not forgotten their own childhood and 
 who see in the child nature the expression of some 
 of the supreme qualities of the human soul. 
 
 (1) What were some of the characteristics of 
 His own boyhood as indicated by Luke 2 : 40-52 ? 
 What may be considered as suggested by such 
 phrases as "grew and waxed strong," "filled with 
 wisdom," "the grace of God was upon him," "sub- 
 ject unto them," "advanced in wisdom and stature," 
 "in favor with God and man" ? 
 
 The boyhood of Jesus contained the ideal ele- 
 ments, (a) of an environment of retirement and 
 quiet, yet with glimpses of the great world, a place 
 where He could mature slowly without the hothouse 
 forcing which is so destructive to many children's 
 development to-day, (b) of a truly filial attitude 
 of the boy toward his father and mother, (c) of a 
 rounded symmetrical growth, body, mind and spirit, 
 (d) of a wide range of relationships — family, 
 neighbors and friends, God. 
 
 (2) What attitude did Jesus take toward the 
 children with whom He came into contact? Mark 
 5:22-24, 35-43; 9:17-27; 10:13-16; Matt. 21:15, 
 16. What was His sense of the worth of the child? 
 Matt. 10 : 42 ; 18 : 1-14 ; Luke 17 : 2.^ 
 
 (3) What was His feeling about the child spirit? 
 Mark 9 : 33-37 ; 10 : 13-16 ; Matt. 11 : 25. 
 
 What in the child nature makes it the natural 
 possessor of the kingdom? What childlike quality 
 
 1. If "little children" is figurative for "new disciples," the figure 
 itself, nevertheless, expresses Jesus' feelings for childhood. 
 
SOCIAL GROUPS: THE FAMILY 69 
 
 must the mature person acquire to enter the king- 
 dom? Many traits of the child have been men- 
 tioned as the cause of Christ's commendation, e.g., 
 innocence, faith, self-forgetfuhiess, eagerness to 
 learn, obedience. What do you think Jesus meant ?^ 
 5. Very frequently Jesus alludes to the spirit 
 which should animate home relationships. 
 
 (1) What is His attitude toward the fifth com- 
 mandment? Mark 7:10-13.- How did His own 
 life illustrate this? Luke 2: 51; see also 3 (1). 
 
 (2) He alludes now and then to breaches between 
 members of the household. What attitude of mind 
 would He see cultivated : As a personal preparation 
 of helpfulness? Matt. 7:3-5. After a breach has 
 come? Matt. 18:15-35. 
 
 He has a clear discernment of what influence 
 His message is to have upon the spirit of these rela- 
 tionships. Matt. 10:21, 34-36; Mark 13:12, 13; 
 Luke 12 : 49-53. But He is perfectly uncompromis- 
 ing in His teaching of the relation of the kingdom 
 to home ties. Matt. 10 : 37 ; Mark 3 : 31-35 ; 10 : 
 28-30; Luke 9 : 59-G2 ; 14:2G-35.=^ 
 
 Jesus demands of His followers absolute self- 
 renunciation. He wants all or nothing. If any 
 
 1. An interesting commentary on Jesus' words is the following: 
 "It is written in the Book that holds the wisdom of our race that 
 one who is reborn into the kingdom of God enters as a little child. 
 It is there in black and white, yet few people get the idea into their 
 consciousness. Thej' expect regeneration to produce an upright 
 
 man. God knows better than that For a little child stumbles 
 
 and fails and goes the wrong way many times before it learns the 
 way of life." White, A Certain Rich Man, p. 405. 
 
 2. For a discussion of the subject of Corban see Edersheim, Life 
 and Times of Jesus the Ulessiah, II, 18f. 
 
 3. Luke 14: 26 has always been considered "a hard saying." But 
 it is a statement of relative values. Just as the candle flame in the 
 presence of the arc light is as a dark opaque object and is cast 
 as a shadow, so in comparison with the love of Christ ordinary 
 human love is as hatred. 
 
70 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 human love can compete with the soul's love for 
 Him, then the latter is not thoroughgoing. Over 
 and over again Jesus seems to repulse those who 
 want to follow Him, bidding them wait until they 
 are ready to give Him this undivided allegiance. 
 Yet the higher allegiance gives to the human affec- 
 tions a new glory and a new satisfaction. 
 
 6. We are now ready to discuss a subject of 
 the greatest importance in Jesus' time as it is in 
 ours — marriage and divorce. We have now, as a 
 background for the discussion, Jesus' valuation of 
 the home and of the relationships which are in- 
 cluded within it. So vital to the welfare of society 
 did Jesus think the right and wrong of this subject 
 to be that, as has been suggested,^ He departed here 
 from His usual practice and discussed the theme 
 with a good deal of definiteness and fullness. The 
 passages which contain Jesus' teaching are the fol- 
 lowing: Matt. 5:27-32; ]9:3-12 (Mark 10:2-12; 
 Luke 16:18); 22:23-32 (Mark 12:18-27; Luke 
 20:27-40). 
 
 From a study of these passages try to answer the 
 following questions. 
 
 (1) Has Jesus any of the ascetic view of mar- 
 riage ?" 
 
 (2) Is He insistent upon monogamy? 
 
 (3) How long is marriage to continue? 
 
 (4) What was Moses' attitude toward divorce? 
 
 1. p. 65. 
 
 2. The ascetic view was influenced no doubt by Paul's teaching, 
 1 Cor. 7: 8f., though he urged his particular position in view of 
 what he felt was the fact that Christ was soon -to return (see espe- 
 cially ver. 29-34). Also the moral conditions of the times drove 
 many to asceticism. 
 
SOCIAL GROUPS: THE FAMILY 71 
 
 (5) Does Jesus permit divorce? 
 
 (()) Is there any difference between the sugges- 
 tion of Matthew and that of Mark and Luke on this 
 point ? 
 
 (7) Should we interpret Jesus according to the 
 freer or the stricter statement? 
 
 (8) Would Jesus admit the application of the 
 Mosaic principle to-day? 
 
 (9) What is the essential fact in unfaithfulness 
 to the marriage bond? 
 
 (10) Is Jesus legislating on this subject, or set- 
 ting forth an ideal ? 
 
 (11) How far should statutory enactment in this 
 field be in advance of public sentiment? 
 
 Jesus' stern attitude was utterly distasteful to 
 His own generation as it is to ours. Do you think 
 it too ideal for modern conditions? What should 
 be the attitude of the ministry of to-day toward the 
 marriage of divorced persons? Wliat should be the 
 attitude of the Church toward the reception of such 
 persons to membership and church activities? 
 What should be our social attitude toward them? 
 
 There are great difficulties in the way of holding 
 that Jesus is legislating here. If He is, it is the 
 sole place where He does legislate, and moreover 
 He places unfaithfulness to the marriage bond in 
 the thought ; hence the strict interpretation of 
 Matthew as legislation would make lustful thought 
 a ground for absolute divorce. Jesus seems rather, 
 here as elsewhere, to be presenting an ideal. To 
 Him marriage is indissoluble.^ The spirit of Chris- 
 
 1. With one possible exception. 
 
72 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OE JESUS 
 
 tian love — of justice and good will — should fill the 
 relation. When love is gone, what shall be done 
 must be determined as Christ everywhere else sug- 
 gests, by treating the individual case as an indi- 
 vidual case. The ideal for the Church and for 
 the Christian individual must be kept where Jesus 
 put it, but law must represent not the ideal but the 
 practical. We ought to work earnestly to keep the 
 ideals of marriage high, to correct the flippancy 
 with which men and women enter the relation — in 
 other words, to attack the evil at its source. Mean- 
 while we should seek to limit as far as possible the 
 legal causes for divorce, to secure full publicity for 
 all divorce proceedings, and, in the individual case, 
 before divorce is sought, to counsel patience and 
 Christian forbearance, and especially thoughtful- 
 ness for the children, if there are any. The saddest 
 result of divorce is the blighting of childhood. 
 
 Some of the modern causes of the prevalence of 
 divorce should be carefully considered — "the ape 
 and the tiger" still surviving in human nature, the 
 strength of the individualistic philosophy, the edu- 
 cation and development of woman, her ability to 
 earn her own way, a false conception of marriage — 
 that it is a contribution to the happiness of two 
 individuals instead of being a training school of 
 their character and that of their children. 
 
 Professor Peabody points out that the present-day 
 conflict is betv/een the individualistic and the social 
 theories of marriage, between "the conception of it 
 as a temporary contract, involving the interests of 
 those who are known as 'the parties concerned'; 
 
SOCIAL GROUPS: THE FAMILY 7Z 
 
 and the conception of it as a social institution in- 
 volving the fabric of the social order."^ Jesus sides 
 with those who hold the social conception. To Him 
 the family is the unit of social life and development 
 and on its integrity depends the present and the 
 future welfare of society. In this respect, as in 
 others, His attitude toward the family is strikingly 
 modern. 
 
 1. Jesus Christ and the Social Question, p. 131. The same posi- 
 tion is emphasized in a wise little book, Adler, Marriage and 
 Divorce, which every student of the problem should ponder: "I 
 venture to say that in nine cases out of ten, even fine and lovely 
 people will enter into marriage with never a thought beyond that 
 of their own happiness. They forget that they are servants, that 
 there are great social ends to which they must bow; and the fact 
 that these ends are lost sight of is the chief explanation of the 
 increase of the evil of divorce" (pp. 13, 14). 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON VIII 
 SOCIAL GROUPS: THE RICH 
 
 The acquisition and right use of wealth is one 
 of the subjects most frequently discussed by Jesus. 
 Perhaps the reason why it appears so often is in- 
 directly given in Luke 16 : 14. Moreover, in the life 
 of any civilized community a large part of the time 
 and the effort of the individuals who make it up has 
 to be occupied with economic affairs. "What shall 
 we eat, what shall we drink, wherewithal shall we 
 be clothed?" were engrossing questions to the Jew 
 of Jesus' time as they are to-day. 
 
 1. Apparently the Gospel writers were not 
 equally interested in this aspect of Jesus' message. 
 John makes no reference to it whatever. Of the 
 characteristic words used elsewhere in the discussion 
 the Fourth Gospel employs only one and that only 
 incidentally— John 12 : 5, 8 ; 13 : 29. The Gospel of 
 Mark has not much more material. Five passages, 
 4 : 18, 19 ; 6 : 8-10 ; 10 : 17-30 ; 12 : 1-11, 41-44, cover 
 all which bears even remotely upon the theme. 
 Both of these Gospels have other objects in view. 
 The great sources of the teaching are Matthew and 
 Luke. The material in Matthew is as follows: 5 
 42; 6:19-34; 8:20; 10:9-11; 13:22, 44-46; 18 
 21-35; 19:16-30; 20:1-16; 21:12, 13, 33-41; 25 
 14-46. Luke's is found in the following sections 
 2 : 24 ; 6 : 20, 21, 24, 25, 30, 34, 35, 38 ; 7 : 41-43 ; 8 
 14 ; 9 : 3, 4, 58 ; 10 : 4-7 ; 1 2,: 13-34 ; 14 : 15-24, 28-30 
 15: 8-10; 16: 1-14, 19-31 ; 18 : 18-30; 19: 11-27; 20 
 
78 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 9-16; 31 : 1-4. A surface comparison of the amount 
 of this material will show that there is nearly twice 
 as much of it in Luke as in Matthew. But there is 
 a much deeper difference than appears upon the 
 surface. Luke is a gospel of the poor. The sym- 
 pathies of the writer are evidently with the unprivi- 
 leged classes. Whenever he and Matthew repeat 
 the same sayings they are almost always to be found 
 in his Gospel in a balder, sterner form ;^ and his 
 material includes a number of vigorous passages not 
 recorded elsewhere. - 
 
 2. Before we can grasp Jesus' teaching on this 
 subject we must look at His practice. He Himself 
 belonged to the poorer classes, Luke 2:22-24 (cf. 
 Lev. 12:8; 5:11). He had no home after His 
 ministry was fully under way (Matt. 8:20). He 
 was Himself the recipient of charity (Luke 8: 1-3). 
 But as far as His own associations were concerned. 
 He seemed to have no thought of rich or poor. 
 See Lesson H., 2 (6), p. 16. Other passages men- 
 tion well-to-do friends. Matt. 8:14; 9:10; Mark 
 1 : 20 ; 16:1; Luke 8 : 2, 3 ; 10 : 38-42 ; 18 : 23 ; 
 John 18 : 15, 16 ; John 19 : 38, 39.=^ Jesus estimated 
 
 1. Matt. S: 3, 6 and Luke 6: 20, 24; Matt. S: 42 and Luke 6: 30; 
 Matt. 19:21 and Luke 18:22. 
 
 2. Luke 12: 16-21; 16: 1-13, 19-31. The discussion of tliis point 
 in Peabody's Jesus Christ and the Social Question is especially valu- 
 able. He sums it up with the words: "In short, between Matthew 
 and Luke there is as marked a difference of teaching as may be 
 found in modern literature between the teaching of an earnest phil- 
 anthropist and the teaching of a socialist agjtator" (p. 194). He 
 attributes the difference to the fact that "Luke like Paul, with 
 whom he lived and taught, had a larger social experience and a 
 keener human sympathy than the other evangelists." Other writers 
 attribute this spirit in Luke to the influence of the ascetic Jewish 
 sect, the Ebionites. 
 
 3. See Heuver, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning Wealth, pp. 
 110-112. 
 
SOCIAL GROUPS: THE RICH 79 
 
 men not by the standards of riches or poverty, but 
 in the spirit of brotherhood, and from the stand- 
 point of their common origin in God. 
 
 3. Turning now to the teaching of Jesus itself 
 we are struck : 
 
 (1) With an apparently ascetic quality. This, 
 as has been stated, is accentuated in Luke, but it 
 exists also in Matthew and Mark. 
 
 (a) What is Jesus' apparent attitude toward the 
 rich in such passages as Matt. 6:19-24; 13:22; 
 19:24; Mark 10:23; Luke 6:20, 24; 12:15-21; 
 16:19-31; 18:22? 
 
 (b) What is His apparent requirement of the 
 rich man who seeks admission to the kingdom? 
 Matt. 19 : 21 ; Luke 12 : 33, 34 (cf. Luke 19 : 8). 
 
 (c) What is His attitude toward the reception 
 of charity by His disciples? Matt. 10:9-11; Luke 
 10: 5-7. His own example? Luke 8: 1-3. 
 
 That the ascetic note is real and not merely 
 apparent has been urged by some writers who have 
 appealed for the corroboration of their judgment 
 to that early bit of Christian literaturCj the Epistle 
 of James (see especially 1:9-11; 2:1-9; 5:1-6), 
 and also to the communistic spirit in the early Jeru- 
 salem church (Acts 4: 34, 35). But Paul's teaching 
 is proof of another spirit in the church at large 
 (1 Cor. 13:3; 16:2; 2 Cor. 8:14; 9:7; 12:14; 
 1 Thess. 4: 11), and the story of Ananias and Sap- 
 phira (Acts 5: 1-11) contradicts the idea that such 
 communism was anything but a voluntary expres- 
 sion of the spirit of fellowship. Moveover, the 
 Jerusalem practice did not extend to other churches. 
 
80 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 (3) What Jesus was attacking was not wealth 
 itself, but the supremacy of wealth, the control of 
 life by "things" (Matt. 6 : 24; Luke 12 : 15).^ When 
 riches take the first place in life they are evil ; when 
 they keep the place of due subordination, they serve 
 a useful purpose. But they are constantly seeking 
 to usurp the place which is not truly theirs. So 
 Jesus is constantly calling attention to the dangers 
 of wealth. From a study of the following what 
 should you say are some of the dangers He thought 
 most subtle? Luke 12:13-21; 18:18-30; 16:19- 
 31 ; Matt. 6 : 25-34. What does Jesus mean by the 
 phrase, "the deceitfulness of riches"? Matt. 13: 22 
 (Mark 4:19). Luke in the same parable uses the 
 phrase, "choked with riches" (Luke 8:14). All 
 these dangers can be summed up in the peril to the 
 spirit of love. Men who are seeking riches as their 
 goal tend inevitably to become self-centered, hard- 
 hearted, to lose "the quality of mercy," and even 
 the sense of any personal need. A smug self- 
 content is the common characteristic of those who 
 are rich toward self and not toward God. "Saint 
 Francis Xavier, the noble Jesuit missionary, said 
 that in the confessional men had confessed to him 
 all sins that he knew and some that he had never 
 imagined, but none had ever of his own accord con- 
 fessed that he was covetous."- All this destroys 
 the sense of unity with one's fellows and of depend- 
 ence upon them and upon God, creates class dis- 
 
 1. Mark 10:24 with its significant change from ver. 23 supports 
 this view if the text can be sustained, but many ancient authorities 
 omit the important words of the verse. (See revised version, 
 margin.) 
 
 2. Rauschenbusch. Christianity and the Social Crisis, p. 74. 
 
SOCIAL GROUPS: THE RICH 81 
 
 tinctions, and so breaks down the sense of social 
 solidarity which the kingdom of God is seeking to 
 develop and make effective in society.^ 
 
 (3) But Jesus' teaching in respect to wealth is 
 not merely negative. He lays emphasis upon the 
 right uses of wealth. The principal passages are 
 Matt. 25:14-30, 31-46; Luke 12:13-21; 16:1-13, 
 19-31; 19:11-27. 
 
 The parables of the Minae and of the Talents are 
 so nearly alike that they suggest two reports of the 
 same story. Yet apparently Jesus did not hesitate 
 to repeat material when He felt it could be of use. 
 Our use of the word talent is of course figurative. 
 The talent to which Jesus referred was a sum of 
 money equal to about $1200. The mina was between 
 $15 and $20. What is the teaching of each parable? 
 They have their relation to what? Luke 19:1L 
 So the gifts of God specified here are for service in 
 the kingdom. Who is it in each parable that bears 
 the brunt of Jesus' criticism ? Our criticism of 
 unfaithfulness to stewardship is usually directed 
 against the men and women of to-day who have 
 great possessions ; does Jesus look at the matter 
 from this angle? 
 
 Two other parables show the sin and folly of a 
 neglect of the duty of stewardship : the Rich Fool 
 (Luke 12:13-21) and Dives and Lazarus (Luke 
 16:19-31). The first was under the control of 
 "things," seeking "treasure for himself." What is 
 it to be "rich toward God"? What is the onlv 
 
 .1. Jesus does not point out any of the perils of poverty to the 
 religious spirit. What are some of these? 
 
82 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OE JESUS 
 
 treasure which can be carried out of this world? 
 Cf. 1 Cor. 13: 13. 
 
 The second parable is the most awful which Jesus 
 spoke. It is clothed in the imagery of the rabbinical 
 thought of the time. Dives had evidently been an 
 almsgiver, else Lazarus would not have lain day by 
 day at his gate. But he did not "give himself with 
 his alms ; they were merely incidental. His life 
 and that of his brothers centered in the enjoyment 
 of their possessions and this selfish absorption pro- 
 duced a hardening of the heart which made the 
 punishment of the other world inevitable, a spiritual 
 condition which could not be changed even by the 
 warning of one sent from the world of the dead. 
 
 Two other parables point out the right use of 
 wealth. First, that which has caused so much labor 
 to the commentators, the Unjust Steward (Luke 
 1G:1-13).^ But the point is not difficult to see. 
 Here was a shrewd man who saw his chance to use 
 his employer's money to make friends for himself. 
 If such a man were wise enough to see and use his 
 opportunity, how much more" should the children 
 of the kingdom use the possessions which they have 
 acquired — the mammon of unrighteousness when 
 wrongly used — to win for themselves the true riches 
 of friendship and brotherhood in the kingdom. In 
 what practical ways can the spirit of the parable be 
 carried out? 
 
 1. "In the case of the parable of the Unjust Steward there are 
 something like thirty-six interpretations on record." Rauschenbusch, 
 Christianity and the Social Crisis, p. 78. 
 
 2. A favorite form of argument with Jesus — the a fortiori-r-is 
 implied here. 
 
SOCIAL GROUPS: THE RICH 83 
 
 In the other parable, that of the Sheep and the 
 Goats (Matt. 25:31-iG), in what terms does Jesus 
 express His conception of stewardship? The judg- 
 ment is determined by what? 
 
 Summing up then Jesus' teaching on the subject 
 of the acquisition and the right use of wealth, Jesus 
 here, as elsewhere, was no ascetic. He was a poor 
 man, full of profound sympathy with the poor. 
 Yet in the body of the disciples it was John, appar- 
 ently one of those in the most comfortable circum- 
 stances (Mark 1 : 19, 20 ; John 18 : 15, 16), who was 
 His closest friend. In His associations He seemed 
 to make no distinction whatever between poor and 
 rich. He penetrated beneath such artificial dis- 
 tinctions as those of wealth and poverty to essential 
 manhood. He saw the seductive dangers of wealth 
 and the difficulty in the rich man's taking the atti- 
 tude of absolute self-renunciation which He de- 
 manded of all His followers. But He saw also in 
 wealth the possibility of service and He called to 
 men to leave the service of mammon and to use 
 their possessions to build up the spirit of brother- 
 hood, which is the essence of the kingdom.^ 
 
 1. Some of the topics which are worthy of sober discussion are: 
 
 What do you think is Jesus' attitude toward the accumulation of 
 property ? 
 
 What constitutes luxury ? 
 
 How far can money be rightfully used for personal development? 
 for dress, etc.? 
 
 What are some of the underlying causes of the mad race for 
 wealth in our generation? How far is man, and how far is woman, 
 responsible for it? 
 
 Can any rule be laid down as to what part of one's income 
 should be given away? 
 
 An interesting discussion of the question, "Was Jesus a Social- 
 ist?" is to be found in Shailer Mathews, Social Teaching of Jesus, 
 pp. 148-1S5. The same question is discussed from the opposite 
 point of view in Campbell, Christianity and the Social Order, Ch. VI. 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON IX 
 SOCIAL GROUPS: THE POOR 
 
 The existence of the rich, such has been the con- 
 struction of society thus far, presupposes the exis- 
 tence of the poor. Rich and poor are complemen- 
 tary terms. Up to our time poverty has not been 
 looked upon as a problem to be solved ; it has been 
 considered as a state to be deplored and endured. 
 But to-day we are beginning to see that poverty like 
 all other ills from which man suffers has its deep 
 underlying causes. It used to be charged up entirely 
 to individual thriftlessness or individual wrong- 
 doing, but now we are realizing that society is 
 largely to blame and that if social conditions can be 
 altered there is hope of eliminating poverty alto- 
 gether. 
 
 The problem of poverty was much more hopeless 
 in Jesus' time than it is in ours. It stared Him in 
 the face at every turn, as it everywhere confronts 
 the visitor of to-day in Palestine. So it is not 
 strange that He is frequently, directly or implicitly, 
 dealing with it. Once He gave utterance to an ex- 
 pression about the poor which might be construed 
 as a bit of hopeless fatalism, Matt. 2G:1] (Mark 
 14 : ? ; John 13 : 8). Is this Jesus' meaning? What 
 is the point of His reference? In several other 
 passages He seems to imply that there is a merit in 
 being poor (Luke 6 : 20, 31 ; 9 : 3, 4 ; 10 : 4-7) . Do 
 you think this is Jesus' meaning? Did He look 
 
88 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 upon His disciples as objects of charity? Luke 
 10:7. 
 
 As has been already more than once pointed out 
 in these studies, Jesus was a poor man. He came 
 out of a poor home and His associates were mostly, 
 but by no means all, of the poorer class. And His 
 work was principally done among the poor. Al- 
 though Pharisees and scribes, rulers of the syna- 
 gogue, centurions, and now and then a royal per- 
 sonage, appear in the Gospel scenes, the multitudes 
 that thronged Him for healing and for instruction 
 were principally made up of the poor. Why was 
 He attracted to them? Was His the motive of the 
 revolutionary leader? What light do Matt. 14: 
 14 ; 15 : 32, throw on His motive ? He felt the needs 
 of this large class and it was His nature to go where 
 the need lay ( Mark 3:17). Knowing from per- 
 sonal contact the suffering of the poor. He wanted 
 to help them. 
 
 How was this help to be administered ? 
 
 1. The poverty of the time was everywhere pal- 
 liated by almsgiving. Does He sanction this? 
 Matt. 5 : 42 ; 6 : 2-4 ; Luke 6 : 30 ; 12 : 33. What was 
 the practice of the company to which He belonged, 
 although they themselves were supported by gifts? 
 John 12 : 4-6 ; 13 : 29. What was the effect of His 
 influence upon one of His rich followers? Luke 
 19 : 8. What was the command laid upon another 
 rich man who wished spiritual help? Matt. 19: 21. 
 What does He set forth as the decisive test of char- 
 acter? Matt. 25:34-45. But while Jesus accepted 
 the principle of almsgiving as natural. He felt the 
 
SOCIAL GROUPS: THE POOR 89 
 
 dangers of its abuse (Matt. 6:"?-4). Moreover, 
 can you think of any time when He Himself gave 
 alms ? What did He do for the poor people who 
 came to Him asking help? Cf. Mark 8 : 22-36 ; 10 : 
 46-52. (Cf. Acts 3:2-8.) How important was 
 almsgiving in the most characteristic story of His 
 teaching about charity? Luke 10: 30-37. 
 
 Thus while Jesus advocated giving as a primary 
 duty (Acts 20 : 35), He Himself is busy doing some- 
 thing for the poor which is far better. Just as He 
 does not deal with symptoms in other difficult cases 
 in human pathology, but goes down to the causes of 
 the trouble, so here what He has to give is given to 
 reach the cause. The poverty and beggary of Bar- 
 timaeus had been due to blindness, so He removes 
 that instead of giving money or food, and thus 
 makes it possible for the man to become again a self- 
 respecting and self-supporting member of society. 
 
 The spirit of Christian love which was the fruit 
 of Jesus' presence in the world issued in the virtue 
 of Caritas which became specialized as Charity. 
 As time went on, this became one of the most signifi- 
 cant virtues of the Christian Church. But it was 
 more and more looked upon, especially during the 
 Middle Ages, as a merit merely to give, without 
 thought of what effect the gift might have upon the 
 recipient.^ It was the effect upon the giver that 
 was chiefly thought of, upon his present state of 
 mind, his future in the heavenly life. Then came 
 the great reaction against such charity, a reaction 
 which is embodied in modern organized charity. 
 
 1. Uhlhorn, Christian Charity in the Ancient Church. 
 
90 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 How far do Jesus' teaching and practice harmonize 
 with this movement? When Jesus says, "Give to 
 him that asketh thee, and from him that would bor- 
 row of thee turn not thou away" (Matt. 5:42), 
 how far does He mean to present the method of 
 giving? Are we to give or lend without any thought 
 as to the result in the character of the gift or the 
 loan? Often our so-called benevolence is prompted 
 merely by a desire to dismiss a case or save our 
 personal feelings. How would Jesus Christ regard 
 this? 
 
 2. When John sent to Jesus his messenger to ask 
 "Art thou he that cometh or look we for another?" 
 (Luke 7: 20), part of the reply was a reference to 
 Isaiah 61:1 (see margin).^ What did He mean? 
 What were the good tidings to the poor? Did Jesus 
 mean that there was to be an abundance of alms 
 for them in the new kingdom? Did He refer to 
 their physical necessities? Is His word limited to 
 either the physical or the spiritual realm ? WHiat do 
 you consider that the fulfillment of His "good 
 tidings to the poor" will include? What will the 
 complete coming of the kingdom mean for the poor 
 and for all the unprivileged classes? 
 
 1. "That the 'poor' in question are the literally poor, and the 
 'lame and blind and the lepers' are those physically afflicted is 
 obvious." Cone, Rich and Poor, p. 71. 
 
 See also Jesus' use of this passage from Isaiah at Xazareth, Luke 
 4: 16-21. 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON X 
 SOCIAL CLASSES 
 
 There were in the time of Jesus, as there are 
 to-day, lines of social cleavage. There were higher 
 classes and lower classes, and it was difficult, then 
 as now, to pass from one group to the other. 
 Wealth, birth, education, character, nationality, all 
 had their influence in determining the social status 
 of the individual. Throughout these studies we 
 have had glimpses of the different social strata in 
 Palestine within the Jewish nation and outside it. 
 The scribes and Pharisees form one group with 
 which the "publicans and sinners" are often con- 
 trasted (Mark 2:15, 16; Luke 15:1). We now 
 and then catch sight of a member or tw^o of the 
 Roman governing class (Matt. 27:11-26). The 
 Jewish rulers and the Pharisees as a whole are 
 revealed as having a frank contempt for the people 
 at large, the "multitude" who do not have the 
 conventional standard of legal observances (John 
 7:49). 
 
 What was Jesus' attitude toward these social 
 distinctions? Does He observe them? Can we 
 classify Him in any social group? 
 
 1. As has been pointed out (p. 18) in His own 
 practice He never recognized social classes. He 
 moved in and out among all classes and conditions 
 of men without definitely affiliating with any. He 
 had the "heart of love" wdiich makes it possible for 
 
94 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 the one who possesses it to adapt himself to any 
 social group. 
 
 2. In His teaching there is no room for a fun- 
 damental division into social classes. All stand on 
 a common ground because all are children of one 
 Father and the pupils of one Teacher (Matt. 23: 8- 
 12). This is the ideal of pure democracy^ and it is 
 no wonder that the great political democracies of 
 the world have been made such from the influence 
 of this teaching. 
 
 3. Does this mean that Jesus teaches the abso- 
 lute equality of all men? Cf. Matt. 25: 29. Does 
 Jesus indicate that men are equally equipped for 
 the work of life, that they will meet its opportuni- 
 ties in such a way as to get from them equal 
 rewards ? Matt. 13:3-8; 25 : 14-30 ; Luke 19:12- 
 26. What is the difference between democracy and 
 equality ? 
 
 The teaching of Jesus has always been a strong 
 influence in the development of individuality. It 
 has never set an outward standard to which all men 
 must conform. It has sought to transform the 
 inner life, to set free the essential power of each 
 individual. In Puritanism this individualistic trend 
 of Christianity was carried to an extreme,- and now 
 the reaction has come, but there is no danger that 
 in the future development of the kingdom the indi- 
 vidual will be lost in society. 
 
 4. The spirit of brotherhood should prevent any 
 
 1. Theodore Parker said that, "Democracy meant not 'I'm as 
 good as you are,' but 'You're as good as I am.' " Lowell, Democ- 
 racv, Works VI., p. 20. 
 
 2. p. 8. 
 
SOCIAL CLASSES 95 
 
 groups which will naturally form, by the law of like 
 attracting like, from becoming mutually exclusive 
 (Luke 14:12-14). We cannot conceive of Jesus' 
 frowning upon the close associations of kinship and 
 friendship, but what He seeks is that the spirit of 
 brotherhood shall rule, that the home and social life 
 shall not become a center of selfish exclusiveness, 
 but shall be increasingly one of the great instru- 
 ments in the progress of the kingdom. 
 
 5. There is only one class which Jesus recog- 
 nizes as having distinction in the kingdom. Mark 
 9:35; 10:35-45; Luke 22:35-27; Matt. 23:11 
 (cf. John 13:1-20). He Himself is Master and 
 Lord because He perfectly embodies the spirit He 
 is seeking to reproduce in His disciples. 
 
 While Jesus moved freely in and out among the 
 different groups which made up the social life of 
 His time and nation without distinctly affiliating 
 Himself with any, yet He had a profound interest 
 especially in one. They found a large proportion 
 of the men and women of His time, the submerged 
 class, the outcasts from the religious and social life 
 of the nation. These "outcasts" — to use a word 
 which in its broad meaning will include them all — 
 were of several sorts. 
 
 1. There were the outcasts who had become 
 such by disease. Luke 8 : 26-39 ; Mark ] : 40-42 ; 
 Luke 17 : 11-19 ; cf. Lev. 13 : 46. 
 
 2. There was the outcast, shut out, for one 
 reason or another, from religious associations and 
 privileges. John 9 : 34. 
 
 3. There was the outcast, made such by the 
 
96 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 circumstances of national development. John 4:9; 
 Luke 9:51-55; 10:33; 17:15-18; cf. also Mark 
 7 : 25-30. In these particular cases, how had this 
 feeling originated? 
 
 4. There was the outcast made such by his rela- 
 tion to a hated ruling race. Matt. 9 : 9-11 ; Luke 
 19 : 1-10. This group was always associated with 
 the lowest elements of society. Matt. 9 : 10 ; 31 : 32 ; 
 Luke 15 : 1. 
 
 5. Finally there was the group of those whom 
 the Gospels call "sinners." Matt. 9:10; 21:32; 
 Luke 15:1; John 8 : 3-11. 
 
 What Jesus' teaching was concerning these "out- 
 casts" from Jewish society we must get at for the 
 most part inductively. Here, even more than ordi- 
 narily, His teaching is wrapped up in His action. 
 We discover the principles of his gospel toward 
 these ostracized men and women by a study of the 
 way He treated them. What, then, was His atti- 
 tude toward the outcast of His time, an attitude 
 which by implication He iirges upon us? 
 
 1. He did not shun contact and association with 
 these people. He felt that they were in real and 
 conscious need of Him. Those sick in body and 
 sick in soul, those outside the pale of social respect, 
 knew they needed His aid (Matt. 9:10-13; Luke 
 18: 9-14), and this drew Him to them. INIoreover, 
 He realized that there was far more hope of reach- 
 ing them than of affecting the self-satisfied Phari- 
 see (Matt. 21 : 31 ; John 4 : 35, 39 ; Luke 8 : 38, 39). 
 So He mingled with them, to the disgust of the 
 Jewish ecclesiastical leaders. Again and again He 
 
SOCIAL CLASSES 97 
 
 broke convention and tradition, even the form of 
 the law itself, in the interest of humanity. He 
 touched the leper (Mark 1:41) ; He made friends 
 with the man whom the rulers of the synagogue 
 had excommunicated (John 9:35); He was in 
 frequent association with the Samaritans, with 
 whom the Jews ordinarily have no dealings (John 
 4:4f^) ; He ate with publicans and sinners (Mark 
 2: 15). He knew that if the leaven is to leaven the 
 lump, it must be in the dough, not outside the dish. 
 
 2. He took this attitude toward these classes 
 not only because He realized their need, but because 
 He recognized that they are all children of a 
 common Father, that the Father's heart is as warm 
 toward these despised ones as toward any others 
 of His children. This is the whole point of Luke 
 15. Verse 1 gives the reason why Jesus related the 
 parables continued in this chapter. 
 
 3. Again He took this attitude because He 
 believed in the moral value and capacity for spirit- 
 ual development in every man, no matter where he 
 is in the social or the moral scale. He had a pro- 
 found belief in human nature. This is the under- 
 lying thought of the parable of the Seed Growing 
 Secretly (Mark 4:26-29).^ The parable of the 
 Lost Sheep shows Jesus' estimate of the value of 
 a single soul (Luke 15:4-7). In the hands of the 
 individual is his destiny, he is "master of his fate." 
 John 5 : 40 ; Matt. 23 : 37. 
 
 There is a peculiar tenderness in Jesus' attitude 
 
 1. More than once He sets np the Samaritan as an example to 
 the Jews. Luke 10:33; 17:17, 18. 
 
 2. See the interesting marginal note to Luke 6: 35. 
 
98 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 toward this class about which we have been study- 
 ing, especially toward those who have gone astray 
 through sins of the senses. There are no more 
 beautiful pictures in the New Testament than 
 those in Luke 7:36-50; 15:11-32; John 8:3-11. 
 It has again and again been pointed out that Jesus 
 seems to share none of the implacable bitterness of 
 so large a part of modern society toward such 
 offenders. To Him there are far more hopeless 
 states of sin (Mark 3:38-30; Matt. 23:13-33). 
 He bids men beware of covetousness, and of selfish- 
 ness in its varied forms, but He does not hold up 
 sins of the flesh for special attack. This is not 
 because He undervalues the family, as has been 
 already pointed out in Lesson VH., not because He 
 does not realize the gravity of such sins (cf. Matt. 
 5:27-30), but because relatively such sins do not 
 put men in bondage as do the sins of the intellect 
 and of the heart. The woman in Simon's house is 
 still capable of love ; her heart has not been with- 
 ered by hypocrisy and pride. The Pharisee thanks 
 God he is not like other men ; the publican knows 
 he is a sinner. There is always hope for the man 
 who realizes how far down he is, how much climb- 
 ing there is to do beyond the place w^here he is 
 standing, to which perhaps he has sunk. 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON XI 
 SOCIAL GROUPS: THE STATE 
 
 Jesus was not a teacher of politics any more than 
 He was a teacher of economics, but He was deeply 
 interested in life, which includes both as important 
 elements. This interest is reflected here as else- 
 where in His speech, one of the best of tests. His 
 language, is full of political suggestion. Indeed His 
 message — His good tidings — is in terms of the 
 state. Study the following: Matt. 12:25; 18:23; 
 22 : 2 ; Mark 15:2; Luke 14 : 31, 32 ; John 18 : 33-37. 
 
 1. He had a deep interest in His own country. 
 He was constantly alluding to its physical charac- 
 teristics — flowers, animals, birds, mountains, etc. 
 Matt. G : 26-30 ; 13 : 3-8 ; Mark 6 : 31, 46 ; Luke 
 9:58; John 6 : 10. Its history and its literature 
 were at His tongue's end. Matt. 4:4, 6, 10 ; 5 : 17, 
 21, 27, 33, 38, 43; 9:13; 11:14; Luke 4:16-27; 
 6:3, 4; 11:30-32. He declared that His mission 
 was first to His own people. Matt. 15 : 21-28. And 
 nothing could be tenderer than His lament over the 
 city which will not heed His entreaties and warn- 
 ings. Matt. 23 : 27. 
 
 As has been pointed out,^ His great temptation, 
 often recurring, had been to fall in with the current 
 Jewish expectation and become a revolutionary 
 leader, wresting the government from the Romans 
 and administering it Himself. Matt. 4:1-11; 
 16 : 21-25 ; John 6 : 15 ( Alark 6 : 46) ; cf. also Mark 
 
 1. p. 31. 
 
102 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 14 : 36. But He conquered this temptation and took 
 the attitude of respect for, and obedience to, the 
 constituted authority. Mark 12:13-17; Matt. 17: 
 24-27.^ He came into conflict with the regula- 
 tions of both the Jewish and the Roman state but 
 He showed no disposition to dispute their authority 
 (John 18 and 19:1-26). 
 
 In Jesus' teaching the old ideal of government 
 appears in contrast to His own. The luxury of the 
 court life (Luke 7:25), the self-interest of rulers, 
 their authority founded on power, etc. (Mark 
 10:42), these are touched upon with a suggestion 
 of irony in His crisp words. Over against them is 
 His own thought, a theocracy in which all the 
 members are on the same level — like children in a 
 home with a loving Father to care for them, like 
 scholars in a school with one Teacher over them 
 (Matt. 23:8-10), a pure democracy as far as the 
 members of the kingdom are concerned, under "the 
 fatherly monarchy of God." The only basis of 
 rank in the kingdom is service. The great one in 
 the new rule will be great because he does most for 
 the Hfe of others (Matt. 20:26-28; 23:11; Mark 
 9:35; 10:43, 44; Luke 22:26; John 13:1-17). 
 Not self-interest nor self-satisfaction, nor the pos- 
 session of power is to be the ruling motive of the 
 court of the new kingdom, but those in whom the 
 
 1. The question about the tribute to Cassar was of such a nature 
 as to call forth from Jesus an equivocal reply, and the incident 
 about the temple tax is not a governmental matter, but each 
 reveals His general attitude and spirit toward authority. See 
 Shailer Mathews, Tlie Social Teaching of Jcsiis, pp. 116-119. Cf. the 
 attitude of the apostolic leaders toward the government under which 
 they lived. Acts 16:37; 22:25; 25:10. 11; 1 Tim. 2:2; 1 Peter 
 2: 13-17. 
 
SOCIAL GROUPS: THE STATE 103 
 
 spirit of brotherhood is most completely incarnate 
 are to be the nobility in it who shall vie with each 
 other in deeds of helpfulness. 
 
 Who shall say, when he looks out upon the world 
 of to-day, with its aristocracy of the men and the 
 women who are putting their all of strength and 
 wealth and intellect and character at the service of 
 the world in utter self-forgetfulness, that the king- 
 dom of God is not coming? 
 
 2. But much as Jesus loved His own country 
 and longed to rescue it from the hypocrisy and the 
 selfishness of its rulers, yet His was a broader ideal 
 than that of national patriotism — great as is that 
 virtue. The national Messianic ideal pictured a 
 kingdom which should bring relief and blessing to 
 the Jew.^ What the attitude of the Jew had become 
 toward outside nations is suggested by Matt. 5 : 43. 
 The Pharisee had built about himself a wall of 
 ceremonial to protect him from the defilement 
 which even contact with the outside world would 
 bring. Such caste feeling could easily lead to race 
 hatred, and to the Jew, as to other nations of 
 antiquity, a foreigner was an enemy. But Jesus 
 caught up and still further amplified the noble 
 words of the great prophets (Isa. 49:6) and pro- 
 claimed that His kingdom was to embrace the 
 whole earth. His followers were to go out and 
 make disciples of all the nations (Matt. 28 : ]9). 
 
 Only after the message has been thus proclaimed 
 to all men can the kingdom come in its complete- 
 ness (Mark 13: 10). 
 
 .1. p. 29. 
 
104 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 Such is Jesus' ideal of the Christian state — each 
 nation filled with the spirit of brotherhood, its 
 rulers those who best embody the self-forgetful- 
 ness and the desire to be of use which Jesus Him- 
 self so perfectly exemplified; all the nations, be- 
 cause each is filled with the Christ spirit, becoming 
 servants one of another, making up one great 
 "Federation of the World" of Avhich the control- 
 ling spirit is love to God and love to man. That 
 this happy result of the leaven of Christ's message 
 is to be achieved no one who has come under His 
 spell can doubt. Even the prophets looked for- 
 ward eagerly to the time when swords would be 
 beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning 
 hooks, and when war should be no more (Tsa. 
 2:4; Micah 4:3; Joel 3:10). How much more 
 shall we who believe that nothing can eventually 
 stand against the spirit of Jesus see in vision, not 
 so remote as once men thought it to be, the day 
 when the world shall be one in desire to serve one 
 another in the spirit of Him who "made of one 
 every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the 
 earth" (Acts 17:26). Meanwhile shall not we 
 who honor the name of the Prince of Peace use 
 whatever influence may in us lie to bring to an end 
 the "insane cultivation of the art of war" which "is 
 the reproach and breakdown of statesmanship"^ of 
 to-day? The victories of the world are won first in 
 the ideal realm, and if war ceases it will be because 
 the majority of the influence of the world has been 
 won to the side of peace. Let labor and education 
 
 1. Stalker, The Ethics of Jesus, p. 365. 
 
SOCIAL GROUPS: THE STATE 105 
 
 and religion stand together and the day of the 
 dreadnaught will be over, and the millions upon 
 millions which to-day are lavished upon armaments 
 will become available for the betterment of national 
 and international life, and the kingdom of Christ 
 will come by leaps and bounds instead of in the 
 slow progress of a laborious evolution.^ 
 
 1. At the opposite extreme from the philosophy of the dread- 
 naught is the non-resistance attitude of Tolstoi, which is founded 
 on a narrow exegesis of Matt. 5 : 38-42. 
 
 The student will find Professor James' article on The Moral 
 Equivalent of War, McClurcs Magazine, August, 1910, full of 
 suggestions. 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
LESSON XII 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 Such in its main outline is the social message of 
 Jesus. Nothing could be more simple but nothing 
 could be more far-reaching. Everyone is a child of 
 God, the Heavenly Father. God is love, and the 
 spirit of love should control all the life of each of 
 His children. Each should, as far as in him lies, 
 fill the relationships of life with the spirit of broth- 
 erhood and then the kingdom of God will come — 
 has come. Jesus' message to the social life of His 
 time and ours is not an academic formulation of a 
 theory of social conduct, but is simply the applica- 
 tion of the principle and motive of brotherhood 
 to the particular cases which came to His attention. 
 And the problems of the social world can be solved 
 in no other way than by the embodiment of this 
 spirit in individual human lives. Organization and 
 legislation can focus influence that otherwise would 
 be scattering and ineffective, but organization and 
 legislation, to achieve results, must have behind 
 them the energy of earnest and loving spirits who 
 believe heart and soul in the ideal of the kingdom 
 and are seeking to make it the rule of the world. 
 
 If we accept this interpretation of Jesus' mes- 
 sage, the question which confronts us is : What is 
 our personal duty and responsibility? Phillips 
 Brooks once said : "I know no truth which is not 
 the parent of duty." Some truth may perhaps 
 be held simply in the intellectual sphere, without 
 affecting life. But spiritual truth is not of this 
 
110 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 sort. To know spiritual truth is to become a new 
 man/ If such knowledge does not make us better, 
 it makes us worse. The apprehension' of spiritual 
 truth is a personal judgment. 
 
 Therefore what are we to do with this social 
 message of Jesus? Only one thing — we too must 
 seek to fill our lives, as He filled His, with the 
 spirit of brotherhood. Our only responsibility is 
 to fill with justice and good will every relationship 
 of life in which God has placed us, to treat as our 
 neighbor everyone who is within the reach of our 
 help. 
 
 As the gospel of the kingdom was to be preached 
 first at Jerusalem, so those relationships which are 
 nearest the center of the life of each individual 
 are first to be transformed by this new spirit." 
 Oftentimes it is in the home that men and women 
 find it most difficult to manifest the spirit of broth- 
 erliness ; there an opportunity is too often found 
 for a relief of the tension under which the restraints 
 of good society put the individual, and a wife, or a 
 child, or a brother, or a sister, is the object of an 
 irritation which its subject would be ashamed to 
 manifest toward anyone outside the home. The 
 spirit of the kingdom must change all this. 
 
 And there are others with whom we are brought 
 into relationship in the home. Many pass in and 
 out of the home in service of one sort or another. 
 In many homes there are helpers more or less per- 
 manent. How shall the spirit of brotherhood be 
 
 1. "If there is a God, I must love Him. I must pour out my 
 soul upon Him. I must worship at His feet. I must be at one 
 with Him." Hunger, On the Threshold, p. 218. 
 
CONCLUSION 111 
 
 manifested toward these? How many persons 
 there are who are interested in the broad industrial 
 question, who perhaps are putting time and money 
 into the betterment of condition of the shirtwaist 
 maker, or of the child laborer, but who overlook 
 the industrial problem as illustrated in their own 
 homes and perhaps are making slaves of their own 
 workers. Some, perhaps, are interested in the prob- 
 lem of the overcrowding of the tenement, but are 
 not asking whether some of the tenement house 
 conditions are not reproduced in their own homes. 
 Have their helpers the air space necessary for work 
 and sleep? Are they driven out into the street to 
 meet their friends because no adequate place is 
 provided wnthin the walls of the home?^ 
 
 We are coming to realize that the only way in 
 which the broad industrial question can be answered 
 is by the practical exhibition of the spirit of broth- 
 erhood. Its manifestation cannot be one-sided. 
 Employer must manifest it toward employee and 
 employee toward employer, the stronger of course 
 having the greater responsibility for sharing the 
 burden of the weak. Many women as well as men 
 are large employers of labor through their pos- 
 session of invested wealth. How far is that wealth 
 filled with the spirit of brotherhood? For after all 
 the greatest opportunity for benevolence is through 
 the regular channels of the use of money, not 
 through the avocation of giving. 
 
 By the natural affinities of circumstance and 
 
 1. For an interesting description of a movement with the true 
 ideal of helpfulness to the home workers, the Good Fellowship Club 
 at Vassar, see The Survey, July 2, 1910, p. 523. 
 
112 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 character we are all of us members of social groups. 
 What is the attitude of those groups toward one 
 another? Is the spirit of Christian brotherhood 
 filling the social circles in which we move? Is Luke 
 14:13-14 the practice of our friends or of our- 
 selves? Is the educated man or woman filling his 
 or her education with the spirit of brotherhood? 
 Does it make him or her a better member of the 
 home and of society, or is it a barrier of separation 
 between himself and his father and mother and his 
 old friends? Is his education an instrument of 
 social service or does it minister to personal selfish- 
 ness? 
 
 We are in the larger relationships of the nation. 
 Are we, as far as in us lies, infusing the spirit of 
 brotherhood into the political life of which we are 
 a part? Are we standing outside political life, look- 
 ing on in a critical mood, or trying from within to 
 leaven it ? Are we helping to realize there the ideals 
 of Jesus? For our rulers are we content with any- 
 thing short of Jesus' ideal of greatness by service? 
 What is our attitude toward the men and women 
 who have come from other lands to share in our 
 national life? On the Fourth of July, 1910, in the 
 city of Rochester, New York, a civic banquet was 
 held at which the city clubs welcomed to the life of 
 the city the two hundred men, Italians, Russians, 
 Germans and Englishmen, who had been natural- 
 ized within the city during the year just closed. 
 After a time of conversation and good fellowship 
 there were speeches, then all rose and clasping 
 hands said together the old freeman's oath : "I do 
 
CONCLUSION 113 
 
 solemnly bind myself that I will give my vote and 
 suffrage as I shall judge in my own conscience may 
 best conduce to the public weal." Then with hands 
 still clasped, the friends new and old sang: "My 
 country, 'tis of thee!"^ Shall we help make such a 
 manifestation of brotherhood as this prevail in the 
 whole land? Shall the Chinese and the Japanese 
 feel the warmth of a similar welcome? What shall 
 be our attitude toward those "aliens in their native 
 land"^ — the Indian and the negro? Are all these 
 our brothers? 
 
 Does our Christianity reach beyond the borders 
 of our own land? Is it "too light a thing"- for us 
 also that our Christ should raise up the United 
 States or Europe? Do we desire that He be a light 
 to every nation, the salvation of Jehovah to the end 
 of the earth ? Do we desire that all nations should 
 share the blessings a Christian civilization has 
 brought us? Or is it too great a task for us to 
 attempt to leaven every human relationship, 
 wherever humanity is found, the world over, with 
 the spirit of Christian brotherhood? 
 
 Such are a few hints of the way in which we can 
 follow in the footsteps of the great Teacher in help- 
 ing Him build up His kingdom in the twentieth 
 century. But as students of the social problem we 
 may be seeking something more than this general 
 service, we may be asking for some definite work to 
 do for the betterment of the world. Social service 
 is the watchword of the time. How can we help 
 
 1. The Survcx, Tuly \6, 1910, p. 604. 
 
 2. Isa. 49:6. 
 
114 THE SOCIAL MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 directly the unprivileged and those who suffer to 
 share in the blessings of the kingdom ? 
 
 The present is a time of unfolding opportunity. 
 One has simply to read such a paper as The Survey 
 week by week to see how the avenues of social 
 service are steadily multiplying. The older oppor- 
 tunities of the Social Settlement, the Child Labor 
 Committee, the Playground Association, the Asso- 
 ciation for the Study and Prevention of Tuber- 
 culosis, do not close, but other doors open : training 
 classes in Philanthropy, Societies of Social and 
 Moral Hygiene, Associations for the Prevention 
 of Blindness, Know-Your-City institutes, etc. All 
 these and scores of other organizations are testi- 
 mony to the quickening sense of social responsi- 
 bility. But in seeking for new opportunities, let 
 us not overlook those that are oldest and nearest. 
 For most of us the great social opportunity of 
 present-day service is the Christian Church. It 
 possesses organization, ideals, wealth, the spirit of 
 benevolence. It forms a center of social unity and 
 can be utilized to bring into fellowship and co-oper- 
 ation those whom society so often separates. In it 
 are the little children within reach of those who 
 would mould them for future service. The possi- 
 bilities of the Church as a social force have not 
 as yet been at all adequately realized. What is 
 needed is leadership, and — not less important — 
 those who will follow the new leadership which is 
 developing within the Church itself. The Church 
 needs students who shall discover for themselves 
 "the simplicity which is in Christ," and shall turn 
 
CONCLUSION 115 
 
 from theological disquisition to the service of their 
 fellow men in the spirit of Jesus, using the organi- 
 zation of the Church and the untold power of the 
 co-operation of those whom it has gathered into its 
 membership to bring in the fullness of the promise 
 of the kingdom.^ 
 
 "Lovest thou me?" "Feed my sheep." "Come 
 unto me." "Go ye into all the world." Looking 
 to God for strength and wisdom, to Jesus for the 
 ideal and the inspiration of life, we are called to 
 go out in the spirit of justice and good will to 
 protect the weak, to comfort the suffering, to help 
 the unprivileged share the opportunities of the 
 noblest manhood and womanhood, to do what we 
 can by filling life full of love to establish at last on 
 earth the City of God, of which the seers of every 
 age have dreamed since man first began to believe 
 in God or to love his neighbor. 
 
 " Oh, strengthen me, that while I stand 
 Firm on the Rock, and strong in Thee, 
 I may stretch out a loving hand 
 To wrestlers with the troubled sea. 
 
 " Oh, teach me, Lord, that I may teach 
 The precious things Thou dost impart; 
 And wing my words, that they may reach 
 The hidden depths of many a heart. 
 
 " Oh, fill me with Thy fullness, Lord, 
 Until my very heart o'erflow 
 In kindling thought and glowing word 
 Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show." 
 
 1. Nothing is more significant socially and religious!}', of 
 better things to be than the drawing together of the labor unions 
 and the churches. What can we do more than we are doing to 
 complete this movement? 
 
NOTES 
 
NOTES 
 
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