The Carpenter and His kingdom

Chapter I The Friend Who Prepared The Way

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John the Baptist, his personality, manner of life, peculiarities and message. — His connection with the Essenes. — He baptizes Jesus and introduces Him. — The Harmony of Jesus and John. — The differences between the irdisciples. — Lack of details in the Gospels. — He is imprisoned by Herod Antipas. — His doubts. — His message to Jesus. — His death. — The startling comment of Jesus on John. Paragraphs

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Chapter II

The Childhood and Youth of Jesus. — His folks, His home, and the times in which He lived. — Jewish laws, sects, and parties. — Foreigners and foreign influence. — The Messianic hope. — The silent years. — His farewell to Nazareth. Paragraphs 13-21 20

Chapter III Beginning At Capernaum

Why Capernaum disappeared from the knowledge of men. — His first circle of friends. — His first sermon. The simplicity of the good news. — Opposition of the Elders. — The democracy of the new religion. — Unity in diversity. — A picture of the Kingdom. — The training of the Twelve. Paragraphs 22-27 34 vi CONTENTS

Chapter IV Page

The Spiritual struggle in the wilderness. — The temptation of physical hunger. — Good and Evil. — The call of the spirit. — The struggle for bread. — Truth, goodness, and beauty. — Labour the door to bread. — Power, its use and abuse. — The two Messiahs. — The two paths. — Calm after storm. Paragraphs 28-30 42

Chapter V

Fishermen became fishers of men. — Why working men were chosen. — A Sceptic and a Publican. — A farewell party. — Jesus accused of consorting with sinners. — The lesser lights. — He changes some of their names. — His relatives believe Him to be mad. — If Jesus should come again. — The gangrene of respectability. — The charm of His personality. Paragraphs 31-35 51

Chapter VI

Jesus as problem. — Questions of the ages. — Greek culture and the art of living. — His power as a teacher. — He was get-atable. — Jesus contrasted with modern religious teachers. — Christianity and Buddhism. — Jesus and the child. — The ultimate guide to God. — The conversion of an abandoned woman. — Jesus as influence. — How His mind affects other minds. Paragraphs 36-46 61

Chapter VII The Master And Labour

Jesus as a working man. — The Jewish attitude toward labour. — The 'Superior' classes. — Slavery in Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian civilisations. — Jesus a builder. — His vocabulary. — Jesus shared with the workers the stigma of ignorance. — They share with Him His attitude toward organised religion. Paragraphs 47-52 .... 79

CONTENTS vii

Chapter VIII Page

Jesus and Nicodemus. — The little man who climbed a tree to see Jesus. — The choice of the rich young ruler. — The home at Bethany. — The problem of kitchen-mindedness. — Lazarus and his sisters. — The conversation with a woman of Samaria, to whom He denned God and worship.— Jesus and usury. His ideas repudiated in modern business. — Expulsion of the Jews from England a matter of business Paragraphs 53-58 86

Chapter IX

The Sermon on the Mount as a charter of liberties and as a basic statement of the principles of life. — The poor and the poor in spirit. — Denunciation of the rich. — Thought and action. — Divorce. — Untruthfulness and laws against perjury. — Casuistry and lying. — Non-resistance. — The golden rule. — Kindness — Courtesy — Worship. — Almsgiving. — Prayer. — Fasting. — Judging. — The house built on a rock. — Review of the charter. — How the spiritual laws work. — Unity of life in God. — The faith of a Roman soldier — The Lord's Prayer. — Review of the Prayer. Paragraphs 59-81 99

Chapter X

The Philosophy of the spirit. — As a little child. — Citizenship in the Kingdom. — Differences fused in the alembic of love. — Contempt for the world. — Love and Law. — Rank. — Dignities. — Titles. — Distinctions. — Who is my neighbour? — The essence of Religion. — The Institutions of the Kingdom — The Kingdom and the Church. — The Kingdom ignored by the Church. — The Kingdom the real custodian of the faith. — The Kingdom illustrated and illuminated by parables. — Simon the Pharisee. — A certain King. — The religion of a Heretic. — The Good Samaritan. Paragraphs 83-112 129 viii CONTENTS

Chapter XI Page

The ethics of importunity. — The mind of a Capitalist. — The Pharisee and the Publican. — Work and Wages. — Courage and deceit. — The lost sheep. — The Prodigal Son. — The >w Sower. — The Grain of Mustard Seed. — The Parable of the Leaven. — The Wheat and the Tares. — Social Democracy in the Kingdom. — Religion in rags. — Foolish Virgins. — The Parable of the Talents. Paragraphs 113- 130 . 154

Chapter XII The Emotions Of Jesus

Anger, wonder, compassion, joy, and geniality. — His direct method of dealing with hypocrisy. — He was an atmosphere of spiritual helpfulness into which all men could easily enter at all times. — A jury of His followers compared with a jury of harlots. — His wonder at the faith of a pagan. — Soul health and Greek culture compared. Paragraphs I3I-I35 l8 5

Chapter XIII

Sayings of Jesus used as a cloak for meanness. — The economic background of the Kingdom. — Poverty and the soul of Man. — His attitude towards disease, discomfort, and unrest. — The victims of oppressive laws and customs found in Him a way out. — His love for little children. — The slavery of children under modern Christian civilisation. Paragraphs 136-139 196

Chapter XIV

The Master's attitude towards sin compared with that of Paul and the theologians. — Sin is missing the mark. — His eyes too pure to behold iniquity. — The new commandment.— Jesus accused by the religious leaders of consorting with sinners. — The prayer of Empedocles. — Around a forest fire. — His word picture of the Final Judgment. Paragraphs 140-142 205

CONTENTS ix

Chapter XV Page

Mammon the destroyer of souls. — The spiritual difficulties of the rich. — Jesus the champion of the poor. — His dream of a spiritual democracy, in which material wealth was to play a minor part. — Mammon modernised and made respectable. — Mammon has many names. — He is the arch enemy of the Kingdom of God. Paragraphs 143-145 . 217

Chapter XVI

The murder of the Master. — Deserted by His friends. — Beaten, insulted, and taken by force. — Before Pilate. — The mob mind. — Campanella quoted. — The fate of Jesus and Savanrola. — His condemnation a violation of both Roman and Jewish law. — The first Easter morn. — Is there a physical resurrection? Paragraphs 146-15 1 . . 225

Chapter XVII Who Then Are Citizens Of The Kingdom?

The theology of Jesus. — The essence of His teaching. — The universal note. — Love to the Father — Love to each other. — The transference of thought. — The practice of the Presence. Paragraphs 152-153 241

Chapter I The Friend Who Prepared The Way T I

The Records

The story of John the Baptist as found in the Gospels is amazingly brief. Mark tells it in a few sentences. Matthew gives more than twice as much material as Mark, but half of it concerns the miraculous incidents surrounding John's birth. Luke gives the longest account, but two-thirds of it concern the life of John's father and mother.

The account in the fourth Gospel is brief but dramatic. In the first three Gospels, John is objective, intense — a man of action. In the fourth he is subjective, and is used as a reflector of the light of the Logos.

AH of them write of John with a distinctly theological motive. One dominant note pervades them all. John was the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecy. He is made to fit with accuracy into frames made by Elijah and Isaiah and Malachi. That, however, does not rob him of personality. In the Gospels there is one major and many minor characters. John is the major of all minors.

Fragments of Information

At least a generation passed before any one committed to writing the events which convulsed Israel in John's day. That is a long time to trust even the best memories. What we get in the Gospels is not a biography. We get a synopsis of the life of Jesus and fragments of information concerning the life of John. The essentials are there. Sometimes, they are in the form of unattractive naked truth, sometimes in truth that is clothed and articulate, which is a higher form of the same thing.

Pen Picture of John

The picture of John is that of an unkempt and uncouth man who suddenly bursts upon the scene and with a fiery tongue calls upon the people to repent. The response is immediate and sincere. There must have been those who knew him. He was born at Hebron of well-known parents. He belonged to the order of the priesthood, but from the beginning he stood outside the pale of either synagogue or temple. The time was ripe for change. Religion had degenerated into dead formalism. The new voice seemed full of hope. He had just emerged from the Wilderness, where for years he had been concentrating his mind on spiritual things. Israel was in dire need of a revival, and the revivalist had arrived. Instantly there followed what seemed a massed conviction of sin, and the people in large crowds followed him wherever he went. He was a rather violent contrast to the special caste of religious goodness known as the Pharisees. He was without official sanction, he belonged to none of the prevalent schools. Ruthlessly he had thrown aside their time-honoured customs of feasts, fast, and phalacteries. His shaggy black hair was matted on his white brow. Instead of a priestly jibba, he wore the untanned skin of a wild beast, which was held close to his body by a rough leather thong. He not only threw overboard the useless baggage of prescribed habiliments, but he discarded the law as it related to food. He lived on what nature provided in the fastnesses of the mountains, the honey of wild bees and locusts and dried flies. He avoided all kinds of strong drink, he ate no flesh. In the storehouse of nature everything to him was Kosher. It is more than probable that John had spent some years with the Essenes, a Jewish sect that was a protest against Judaism. It was a communistic cult that lived the simple life in the wilderness where they worshipped God, cultivated the soil, and held things in common.

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Essenism and Christianity

Christian historians have always seemed very much afraid to say anything commendable about the apparent strivings of this off-shoot of Judaism, which was more in common with Christianity than with the religion of Israel. That it was an ethical and spiritual improvement on the older system, none can deny. They prohibited oaths, they prohibited slavery, they healed the sick, and devoted themselves to fasting and prayer. With regard to slavery they did not content themselves with holding a theory about it. They forbade its practice absolutely within their jurisdiction. In comparing the Christian and Essenic attitude toward slavery, Neander says: 'The law of the Essenes prohibited and so was Christ's intended to subvert it. The sect agreed with the Saviour in seeing that all men alike bear the image of God, and that none have the right by holding their fellows as property, to degrade that image into a brute or a chattel. So far, Essenism and Christianity agree, but see wherein they differ. The one was a formula for a small circle of devotees; the other was a system for the regeneration of mankind: the one made positive enactments, acting by pressure from without, the other implanted new moral principles to work from within: the one put its law in force at, and declared that no slave could be held in the communion: the other gave no direct command upon the subject. Yet the whole spirit of Christ's teaching tended to create in men's minds a moral sense of the evil of a relation so utterly subversive of all that is good in humanity, and thus to effect its entire prohibition.'

The soundness of a principle does not depend upon the number of people who hold it — even though a great German historian says it does. The simple answer to Neander's comparison is, that despite what Christ's teaching 'tended to create' in men's mind, it did not create it sufficiently effectively to abolish slavery. Christians practised and believed in it for over eighteen centuries after Christ's death.

Foolish Fear

The background of such casuistry seems to be a hidden fear that the Essenes exerted an influence on the beginnings of Christianity. The fear, though foolish, is well founded. Like the Pilgrim Fathers, the Essenes went out and braved the dangers and desolations of the deserts in order to be free to worship God according to the new light. The sect did not take the world by storm. Pioneers blaze a pathway and lay foundations, others follow and build. The Essenes followed their light, but their light faded, as the rays of a candle fade before the brighter rays of the sun.

A Candle in Sunlight

If John the Baptist came out from amongst them it was because his dominating personality was too pronounced to fuse in the democratic community. He followed their glimmer until he saw the brighter light. As they outgrew Judaism, he outgrew them. The red-hot message of his fiery soul demanded a larger anvil on which to be hammered out. On the banks of the Jordan he found a world anvil in the workshop of the world's religion.

FRIEND WHO PREPARED THE WAY S

If 3 The Ministry of the Baptist

Let us examine his message: It was a trumpet call to repentance. The call was not new. He gave it a new emphasis. When the Rabbis called, Israel seemed deaf. The prophets had called, but they were all dead; their call had been committed to writing, but it was a mere echo — revered but disregarded. The call of Isaiah was the most pungent, the most clear. It was a diagnosis, a rebuke, and a remedy. He saw the decay of the spirit and the growth of formalism. He told Israel it was futile to afflict their souls and leave the state of the soul unchanged. He told them that God could make Jews out of the stones under their feet.

What to do

A crowd on the banks of Jordan differed little from a crowd on the banks of the Thames or the Rhine or the Hudson. 'What shall we do?' they shouted at John. They know just as well as John, how to realise the ideal presented, but they wanted the assistance of his authority and the moral pressure of his advice. To readjust themselves mentally, was an easy task, but the adoption of a new mental attitude, that would disturb their economic status was not quite so easy. His answers were apt and to the point. They were to get out of the darkness and to face the light. They were to throw off heavy burdens that shackled their souls, and in spiritual freedom bring forth works meet for repentance, and in harmony with their changed condition of mind. The background of John's power was not merely the spiritual passion that possessed him. He was the exemplification of what he taught. His programme was less revolutionary than that of Jesus, but as far as it went it was just as specific. Micah, in what is considered the highest ethical note in the Old Testament, tells Israel that the supreme requirements of Jehovah are: 'to do justly, to love mercy, and to work humbly with God.'

The Mass Mind

On the banks of the Jordan, John reiterates with power this message. His words burned themselves into the conscience. Under such burning eloquence the crowd acts as one person, it moves in a positive direction. A reaction may come later — when the barrage lifts, they think. But for the time being, the crowd is moved out of a negative into a positive state of mind. It was thus with John's preaching. The Evangelists tell us that all Judea and all Jerusalem came out to hear and were baptized. All may have gone out, and all may have undoubtedly been influenced, but when John castigated without reserve certain groups and called them 'a generation of vipers,' we must understand that a reaction followed, and he was as bitterly opposed by those in power as was Jesus.

Answers to Questions

Luke groups the questioners. To a certain group — evidently the well-to-do — John said: 'he that hath two coats let him impart to him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.' Then ( came the Publicans, and to their questions he answered: 'extort no more than that which is appointed you.' The soldiers came and put the same questions, and he said: 'Put not man in fear, accuse no man falsely and be content with your allowance.'

Living Word

One Evangelist tells us that he characterised the multitude as a generation of vipers, and another says he reserved that characterisation for the Pharisees and Sadducees. The latter may have had it twice without feeling that they had more than their share. The more intelligent of those who listened must have recognised the words of Malachi in his discourses, but it would be a mistake to suppose that it was a mere mechanical reiteration. His work lay athwart the lines of priestly routine, but his words they had considered dead. The same is true of his baptism. He gave a new meaning to an old institution. Baptism was not an exclusively Jewish rite. The surrounding nations had practised it in a variety of forms.

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The Meeting of Jesus and John

The introduction of Jesus and John is sudden and dramatic. Although cousins, they were apparently strangers to each other. They followed widely divergent pathways — pathways which however widely apart now merged in an angle for a moment before diverging again. Scientific men have utterly failed to locate the spot where the meeting occurred. It is just as well. It was the locality of the spirit from which a new way led out — away out — to the ends of the earth.

'And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptized of John in the Jordan.'

Thus Mark condenses in one brief sentence material enough for many volumes. Matthew adds a significant detail. When Jesus asked for Baptism, John demurred: 'I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest Thou to me?' This may imply either previous acquaintance or a knowledge gained at the moment by the keen penetrating intellect of the Baptist. The latter seems the most probable though both may be true. 'Suffer it to be so now,' 1 Jesus said, 'for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.'

We are not quite clear as to the meaning of this sentence, but the fact that He was baptized in the Jordan by John and in the presence of a multitude is sufficient to convince us that He considered it the correct thing to do.

11 5 Baptism

Baptism is a symbol, an outward symbol of an inward spiritual fact. It is more than that, it is a symbol of unity — unity of faith and purpose. It is also the gateway into the Kingdom. In the ministry of John it followed confession of sin. It typified the cleansing of the soul. Jesus accepted it not for His own sake, but as an act of leadership and in endorsement of John and as an example to the flock, out of which He was to draw His disciples later.

In the passing centuries, Baptism has changed not only in form but in substance. With some it remains what it was on the banks of the Jordan — the symbol of a new life. With others it became a sacrament, and as such, to them, an essential in the plan of salvation. This conception has been carried to such an extreme that the door of the kingdom of heaven swings on the hinges of this strange theory.

Conflicting Theories

Ecclesiastical rigour has somewhat relaxed. Until recently the damnation of infants was an accepted tenet of some creeds. Even baptized infants had to receive the Eucharist or be equally damned with the unbaptized. This was harder on the Ecclesiastics than on the infants — whom it affected only in theory. That such theories should be based on the Gospel, and that they should have persisted so long, seems incomprehensible. In our day there is more liberty of interpretation. The controversy over baptism, though not yet relegated to the limbo of extinct controversies has been considerably modified. There are many forms, but there is one baptism. There is but one Kingdom, but there are many entrances. The letter mystifies before it kills — it is the spirit of the thing that illuminates and gives life.

11 6 Differences

At all points of personal contact Jesus and "John are in perfect harmony. John came first and prepared the way. When Jesus came He at once recognised and proclaimed him. From the first moment there is no variableness nor shadow of turning in the Baptist. Why the two leaders should go different ways we do not know. John goes his way and his disciples follow him. Jesus was as yet without followers. He goes and calls disciples. He never repudiated John. John was true to death.

Misunderstanding

In the course of time there arose misunderstandings between the two groups of disciples. John had a strict training. Naturally he imparted part of the discipline to his followers. When Jesus had called His disciples and had entered upon His ministry, His disciples said: 'Master, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.' The answer of Jesus was the Lord's Prayer. When the disciples of John heard of the popularity of Jesus they spoke to John about it. John's reply is characteristic: 'He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth at the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.'

Later the disciples of John came to Jesus and said: 'Why do we and the Pharisees fast, and Thy disciples fast not?' It is a simple question simply put. It shows they were on friendly terms and familiar. The answer of Jesus is startling. He takes the very metaphor John used, and by it illustrates His answer: 'Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them — then shall they fast.'

The Winnowing Fan

Here were differences, but they were differences of feethod. The two groups were travelling along difmrent roads, but they were journeying toward the same destination. John went on preaching and baptizing. His enthusiasm did not wane. The urge of the soul drove him into an unusual self-abandonment. He spoke without caution or reserve. His words were like barbed arrows. Where they penetrated they remained. Crowds continued to listen and followers increased, but the officials began to oppose him. His logic forced them to seek cover in one of two positions. They must abandon the old regime and follow him, or reject him and defend it. They drew away from John. Soon he felt their opposition. He had attacked sin in high places, that relieved the Pharisees of personally bringing John to task. They informed the court that he was dangerous. He was. AH men who have a sense of the reality of God know not what fear is. They couldn't starve John. They couldn't curtail his clothing. They could take his life, but on that John himself set little value.

f 7 John Leaves Galilee

The leaven of the Pharisees began to work. The huge gatherings dwindled down to negligible numbers, and it was probably John's most intimate disciples who urged him to continue his work, beyond the Jordan. Details of his movements are very meagre. A sentence covers miles of travelling and months of time. The scraps of information are used largely as filling for the Evangelists in their difficult task of putting together what men remembered. We do not know who went with him. Disciples visited him in prison. They probably went with him, and shared the pleasures and hardships of the journey.

FRIEND WHO PREPARED THE WAY n

Truth and Simplicity

We do not read of him visiting his birthplace, nor do we know whether any of his relatives were amongst his followers. Home to him was where he found a couch. He carried no baggage. He had no encumbrances. For companions he had converts. His temple floor was the earth beneath his feet, the dome was the vault of heaven above his head. Instead of preistly robes of the temple service, be wore what nature provided in its rough, raw state. His food was simple and easily obtained. The requirements of the flesh were reduced to the lowest degree. He lived the simple life, millenniums before the world ever dreamed of a cult of that character. Life to him was a spiritual pilgrimage. The vision never grew dim. His mission changed not, whether he preached to crowds or small groups.

Somewhere out there beyond Jordan, he came in contact with Jesus for the last time. Some commentators are of the opinion that a change came over John. John 3, 31-36 is cited as evidence. The passage is in the language of the author. It is his style, his thought. It is mystical and theological. It looks like a running comment on the well-known humility and loyalty of the Baptist.

Taking into consideration the difference in the accounts, we have reason to believe that his ministry beyond Jordan was of brief duration. He had left the jurisdiction of Pilate, for the more dangerous territory of Herod Antipas.

Mark gives the fullest and most graphic account of John's arrest, and imprisonment by Antipas, though it is at this time that Luke and Matthew give us the most startling comment that Jesus ever made on John.

John in Prison

' Herodias had a quarrel with him. and would have killed him,' says Mark 6, 19. John's fame had probably preceded him. His name was a household word in all Judea and the surrounding countries. The truth he preached had a general application to all life, but there evidently were times when he was tremendously specific.

John Attacks Sin in High Places

Herod Antipas and Herodias were married under circumstances which outraged the moral sentiment of the people over whom they vulgarly reigned. In order to effect the union Antipas divorced his wife, and Herodias discarded her husband, who was her own uncle and brother to Antipas. John probably not only told his hearers, but Antipas himself to his face, what he thought of the marriage. Herodias made up her mind to put John out of the way at once. Antipas restrained her. He feared the people.

The summary disposal of the revolutionist might precipitate the revolution, and the hands of the king were already full. Herod Antipas seems to have divided his royal time between Tiberius and the fortress or castles of Macherus in which John was imprisoned. His followers had access to him. Naturally his disciples were depressed — and questioned John about the outcome of his ministry, his imprisonment, the future, and, of course, about his beloved Messiah. Whatever John said, whatever hope he gave them, the fact remained that he was himself in the hand of Herod Antipas and a prisoner! One day when they were more discouraged than usual, and consequently more clamorous in their questions, John conceived an idea. He knew that he was the bond that held them together. His dissolution meant their disintegration. The Messiah was in the ascendancy. John was withdrawing within the veil. He had a duty to them as long as life lasted. It was to strengthen their faith, to lead them in their way. We can easily imagine the rugged champion saying to them: 'True, I am in irons and a victim of that king of Bashan above, true, I am physically helpless to break the power that holds me here, and in my helplessness you ask me if I have changed my mind, on the vision that came to me on the banks of the Jordan? Go find the beloved One ! Tell Him that he who lingers in this dungeon cell, hath sent thee unto Him, saying: 'Art Thou that One? or shall we look for another ?' He will tell thee. He will show thee signs. He will take the doubts from thy mind and the sorrow from thine hearts. Then shall I die in peace.'

The men went off with their doubts As they went they discussed the serious situation. The fate of John looked hopeless. It was unlikely that Herod and Herodias would condone an attack that held them up to the scorn of the people, by whose blood and sweat they were enabled to live a voluptuous life. If John should be put to death, and Jesus should not be the fulfilment of their hope, the case was still worse — it was the death of hope. From the darkness behind, to the light beyond, they travelled, and as they journeyed their hearts burned within them with hope and fear.

The khans on the trade routes were the news centres of those days. Travellers from all directions exchanged the news of one part for that of another. By the innkeepers, the doubting disciples were directed to the encampment of the Master and His disciples.