Meditations on the cross

Front matter

MEDITATIONS ON THE

CROSS

By

Foreword

(3) as great Christian, meditating for himself on the greatest fact in human history. The first six chapters might be called “ The Cross in the Scriptures the last twelve, “ The Philosophy of the Cross.” The American reader who yields himself to the difficult task of intellec¬ tually and mystically laying hold on Kagawa’s concepts in the first part will find his faith rewarded; both as he reads the later pages in the relative ease with which he under¬ stands them, and in finding his mind implemented for social reconstruction after closing the book.

It has been suggested that chapters five and six on Paul might be read before chapter four, which may be to some the most difficult, dealing as it does with the Fourth Gos¬ pel. After seeing through Kagawa’s eyes the bourgeois nationalist intellectual that Saul was, converted into the best interpreter of the proletarian Jesus, one is prepared to find other bourgeois following him in repentance and conversion, as they do in the Fourth Gospel. To Kagawa this much debated document is largely a compilation of the confessions of officials who crucified Jesus and after¬ ward repented of it.

This makes it of importance as class literature for op¬ pressed proletarians. Kagawa does not care who coordi¬ nated the fragmentary recollections of Nicodemus, of Joseph of Arimathea and of the others who made their confessions as they joined the Christian community, or at the annual memorial services on the anniversaries of the crucifixion. But having himself suffered repeatedly the agonies of unjust arrest, trial and condemnation, he rec¬ ognizes the typical character and also the psychological soundness of the scripture records; and he knows that nothing, to persecuted proletarians, can take the place of the consolations afforded by these confessions of their converted oppressors. It is Jesus as not merely a typical

Foreword vii proletarian, but as a proletarian of the proletarians, the most oppressed of all, who is presented in the Fourth Gospel. In the period of reconstruction and consequent persecution that is upon us, we shall re-discover the Fourth Gospel, Kagawa says, as a spiritual foundation for presentday prophetism.

Formerly religion was called opium in Russia and with some reason. Kagawa is freeing Christianity from the enslavement it has suffered to bourgeois materialism, partly by re-interpreting its own records, obscured under the minutiae of bourgeois theologians of the last two cen¬ turies, who spent their lives in their capitalist-supported libraries and therefore did not understand their Bibles. Kagawa says that in order to do so it is necessary to get down into the social movements of the poor in which the Bible grew, the movements for human emancipation. The reader who grasps his thought will be the one who sees in the following pages the emergence of the gospel for the working classes, for the cooperative movement, and for all those who give themselves to sacrificial service for eco¬ nomic and social reconstruction. To such the Cross is not a theological dogma but the only possible Way of Life.

Helen F. Topping

Kansas City Baptist Theological Seminary October n, 1935

Contents

Translator’s Foreword v

Introduction 3

I. The Secret of the Cross 9

Introduction

Humanity’s winter has come round again and again in wearying repetition,

Nor since then has there yet appeared on earth The flower of Universal Love like that of Jesus Brought to blossom and fruition in a group, in a com¬ munity.

v

My heart is grieved within me at human degeneracy And at the weak, poor-spirited life of the human race! Compared with the lofty figure of Jesus I am disgusted with my poor self!

In this mood Paul longed to have his old self Crucified on the cross with Jesus.

Before asking it of others, I, too, would crucify myself, And living henceforward not for my own self,

Would awaken to the Love of the Universe,

As it continually dies for others.

vi

The sphere of Nature is a world of never-ending love. Without love and sacrifice it would be impossible To sustain this marvelous Temple of Life.

This law of love is unchanging even in

The realms of mammals, of birds, even of insects.

But these worlds the scientists point to Are those of mere instinctive loving; through Christ We discover that which goes beyond instinct — Redemptive love for the first time attaining its freedom And awakening as a human being!

VII

This Redemptive-Love-World is the only region In which a holy society can be created; and yet

Autocrats and social revolutionaries, capitalists and communists,

All treat as nonsense this Cross-consciousness Which rises beyond instinct. Without it,

Without awakening to this full Cross-consciousness, The social revolution is absolutely futile. He who hesi¬ tates to enter

His chrysalis will never become a butterfly.

Social creation is utterly impossible except by Traversing the Via Dolorosa of the Cross.

In the history of the human race there is needed The creation of this Cross-consciousness,

That is to say, the creation of The inner life of its very soul.

VIII

This is not a Way of petty superficial devices — it is a Way

Marked by blood, and the pouring out of Life’s volcanic eruption!

It is Life’s highest art, this most courageous loving, Reaching up to Heaven through the life-instincts;

It is the adventure of ultimate Love;

It is the consummate Art of the Universe.

Without it, the history of the Universe is equal to simply zero.

IX

As in a single Word, Christ’s Love-Movement Is summed up in the Cross. The Cross is The whole of Christ, the whole of Love.

God speaks to man through the Cross

Of Love’s mysteries concealed in the Divine Bosom.

Introduction x

Leave to the Greeks their theories of Divinity! Abandon to their musty libraries those scholars Who fail to love humanity, and prefer ivory pagodas! Those who have no love of humanity Have no way of knowing the Love of God;

The knowledge of the Love of God comes only By way of the Bloody Cross; he who fears to bear it Cannot know the Love of Christ. Bathing in the blood Flowing from the side of Christ We must continue today’s struggle for love.

XI

Is your love-citadel completed, friends?

Have you entered into your rightful inheritance Of death to self and service for others?

Have you done your portion of road-breaking For the Way of the Cross — among the lepers,

Among the tuberculous, among the barbarians of Formosa,

Or along the icebound straits of the Northern Seas?

XII

Without the Cross there is no victory.

Give way neither to weeping nor to cowardly violence; Before pointing a pistol at others, subdue your own spirit!

Press forward, O Cross! Make world history over Into the history of the Cross! Without the Cross The real uplifting of humanity is impossible,

No matter how the upper structure of society may vary. Press forward, O Cross, press forward!

Fearing neither the abuse of men nor their threatenings,

Let us go forward! In the blood-drops dripping Along the sorrowful road of the Via Dolorosa Will be written the history of man’s regeneration. Tracing those blood-stained and staggering footprints Let me go forward!

This day also must my blood flow, following In that blood-stained pathway.

I

Then he warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. Matthew 16:20.

Today it is very easy to talk about the Christian religion. And we take it for granted that Jesus went about talking about his being the Christ. Jesus, however, never once said that he was the Christ! Even when the disciples said to him, “ You are the Christ,” he said to them, “ Don’t tell it! K eep it a secret! ” This is what I call the secret of Christ.

Why did Jesus not let people say that he was the Christ? It was because he was not yet qualified to call himself the Messiah. Until he took the Cross he could not be the Christ, he thought. To us this fact is unexpected, strange, startling. Unless we study the Bible well we fail to under¬ stand this.

When the Salvation Army leader, General Booth, came to Tokyo, a certain man went to the station to meet him wearing a banner on which were inscribed the words, “ Buddha — Christ.” He maintained that he himself was the Christ. But no one believed him. About that time I met that man frequently, and knew him to be a quiet and fairly docile person, although so deeply self-deluded. He thought it was his duty to advertise himself as the Christ.

Quite recently another Japanese announced that since there were six moles on the back of Christ, and six moles io Meditations on the Cross

also on his own back, therefore he himself must be the Christ!

There was nothing of this sort of self-display in Jesus. Jesus was extremely modest. When John the Baptist sent him a letter from prison by messengers asking, “ Are you the coming Messiah? ” Jesus could not answer, “ Yes.” If he had been like that Japanese he would certainly have answered, “ Yes — the proof is that I have six moles on my back! ” But Jesus said, merely, “ Go and report to John what you hear and see. The blind are regaining their sight and the lame can walk, the lepers are being cured and the deaf can hear, the dead are being raised and good news is being preached to the poor. And blessed is the man who finds nothing that repels him in me.”

Jesus could not say more than this. He did not go around announcing that he was the Christ. In his in¬ herent nature lay his power to help the distressed. At this point lies the difference between the Christianity which does, and that which does not, advertise itself.

THE CHRIST WHO DODGED THE REVOLUTION

Up to the age of thirty, Jesus kept silence, and worked at the carpenter’s trade. Then he cast aside his saw and chisel and became a disciple of John the Baptist. After that for about a year he traveled around with John. In the spring of his thirty-first year, when John was cast into prison, the course of Christ’s life changed. From that time onward, for just about a year, he pursued his remark¬ able Galilean ministry.

At first he was working alone, but later he sent out twelve disciples and did an extensive and vigorous piece of evangelism.

# On the night of King Herod’s birthday, John the Bap¬ tist was beheaded. At that a revolt broke out. The mass

II of the people wanted to make Jesus king. (John 6:15.) This is written in John alone; not in Matthew or Mark. Therefore John’s Gospel is of great importance in telling the life-story of Christ.

We moderns think of the feeding of the five thousand, and later of the four thousand, as mere miracles performed by Christ, but we ought to realize that behind those mira¬ cles lay the above-mentioned situation. When John was killed the people became infuriated and cried: “ Down with the tyrant Herod who killed the prophet! ” And the revolutionary party thought that if they lost that chance they would never have another such favorable op¬ portunity in which to strike.

Most people see only the religious side of the scriptures, and do not grasp their underlying social factors. Being involved in the social movement as I am, I cannot but see the social side of the Bible.

To become the leader of five thousand revolutionists seemed to Jesus a very foolish thing to do. So he set out on a journey from Capernaum to Tyre and Sidon and back again. Upon returning, several months later, he investi¬ gated the situation very quietly, thinking that by that time the revolutionary ferment must have died down. He found, however, that the revolutionists were still active. At that time King Areta of Moab was coming to invade Judea with fifty thousand in his army, because his daugh¬ ter had been divorced by Herod Antipas. Probably be¬ cause of that circumstance the number of revolutionists was smaller than before, but there were still four thousand who came together at Jesus’ return.

When we read the Bible in the customary way and dis¬ cover these statements that Jesus first fed the five thou¬ sand, and later the four thousand, miraculously, we dis¬ miss them as merely “ two more miracles.” We need to know that behind these statements is the situation de¬ scribed above. As to why the scriptural accounts are not more explicit, it should be sufficient to explain that at that time it would be dangerous for any author to refer to the abolition of the kingship or to the rights of the common people. He might fully expect to lose his head as well as to have his book suppressed by the government.

Yet the people came together for three days with Christ, intending to hold a secret parley with him about a revolu¬ tion. If Jesus had acceded to their wishes they certainly would have followed him. Instead he said, “ Think of Moses! If you think of Moses, does not that make you realize that a revolution would be very foolish? ” He re¬ jected the advances of the five thousand and went on his journey, and later, on the second occasion, rejected the pleas of the four thousand and again went on his way.

TALKING OF THE CROSS

During this journey, thinking that the people must be calling him a coward, Jesus asked the disciples what the crowd was saying about him. They replied, “ Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “ But who do you say that I am?” In other words, he asked, “ Then what do you fellows think? ” and Peter answered promptly, “ You are the Christ! ”

At that Jesus said, “ What an extraordinary thing you are saying, Peter! God made you say that. But you fellows must all keep it a secret.” And at once he told them that he was to be put on the Cross. But the disciples thought that he was to be King, and to reign over the world. And here was Jesus himself saying that he was to be put on a cross!

Possessed with this idea that Jesus was to rule the world, and to promote the members of the twelve to high positions like glittering stars in his firmament, Peter protested to Jesus: “ Rabbi! Don’t say such a depressing thing — that you are soon to be executed! ” And Jesus scolded Peter: “ Now you are thinking differently, like a man, not like God! Get away from me! Satan! ”

To the very end the disciples failed to understand this.

There are two kinds of Christianity: success-Christianity and failure-Christianity. Jesus said, “ Unless I fail, my work will be useless.” It is, however, a fact that when anyone becomes a Christian there is the danger that he may become too successful! He does not drink nor smoke, he possesses the confidence of his fellows, so there is nothing left for him to do but to succeed. In contrast to that, Christ said a very gloomy thing; he said that he was intending to fail!

Meanwhile the disciples were thinking merely of how they themselves were to be elevated to high positions as members of his cabinet. On their way back to Capernaum from the second journey to the north the disciples were thinking of nothing but such things and were ashamed to confess them, so Jesus taught them, “ You fellows must become babies! ” And when he was on the way to the evangelization of Perea, the mother of James and John brought her two sons and appealed to him to put her chil¬ dren one on his right and one on his left as chief cabinet ministers, when he should become the king. The other disciples were extremely angry when they heard of this, because, (as they probably said) “ James and John even took their mother to Christ to make this request for them! ” Up to the very eve of the crucifixion the disciples were indulging in quarrels for place and position. Luke 22:24 pictures this last scene.

Thus while moving about from place to place, from the time Jesus returned from his northern trip to his last hour on the Cross, the disciples failed to comprehend his secret. Why did they fail so? Because they thought he was to be¬ come an earthly king! They did not grasp the profound thing that he himself was contemplating, that he was to be put on the Cross according to the scriptures, as a sacri¬ fice for all men. His teachings and his deeds they under¬ stood, but they had no comprehension whatever of his in¬ ner consciousness.

Modern theologians are mostly like that.

THE CRISES OF CHRIST

From the social point of view there were two crises in the life of Jesus. One was at the time of John’s imprison¬ ment and the other when John was executed. Though himself possessing a superior conception, Jesus took it very seriously when John said of him, “ Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” From that time forward Jesus assumed the attitude of kingship, that is, of a king who was to bear, as a sacrificial lamb, the sins of his people. Therefore from that time on Christ’s oppression by the governmental authorities in¬ creased. There were three causes for his arrest: first, outward condition, or the objective situation; second, governmental oppression; and, third, Christ’s own con¬ sciousness.

Why did Jesus have to be crucified? According to the explanation of the court, it was on three charges: Treason; Blasphemy; Disturbing the peace (violation of the Peace Preservation Law).

Jesus could not escape from any of these accusations. To the governmental authorities he was indeed a danger¬ ous person. But he did not himself intend to become a king. When Pilate asked, “ Are you a king? ” Jesus did indeed answer a simple “ Yes,” but the meaning in which he used the word “ king ” was entirely different from that of the politically ambitious disciples.

Why was it that when asked this question by Pilate, he answered in the affirmative? Well, the situation was something like this. Pilate had inquired, with a sort of impartial detachment, “ Is it true, as the chief priests say, that you are the king of the Jews? ” Jesus answered, be¬ coming bolder as he faced the court, “ My kingdom is not a kingdom of this world. Governor, please don’t mis¬ understand me! If I were talking of an earthly kingdom, my own countrymen would not approve.” At that Pilate replied: “ For the life of me I can’t understand you. Are you a king or are you not a king? ”

So, when he reiterated his question, Jesus answered, “ Yes.”

This is a short but very significant passage. The kingship Jesus was talking about was the kingship of the king¬ dom of truth, and he was saying that he was the king of that kingdom.

“ Then what is this ‘truth ’ you are talking about? ”

Pilate has grasped that this kingship Jesus was referring to was an abstraction; that he was a king in an abstract sense. So he reported, “ This Jew is a thought-criminal, but there is nothing to touch his thought-crime in Roman law.”

Therein lies the great reason why Jesus had to be tried.

CONSCIOUSNESS OF REDEMPTION

But what was the inner consciousness of Christ? With¬ out an understanding of the meaning of the lamb in Jew¬ ish ceremonial one does not grasp the consciousness of Jesus. Ceremonials were many in Palestine, and one of the most characteristic of them was the Purification Festival on July tenth, when they made cleansing for the sins of the entire preceding year. Moreover, such purifica¬ tion from sin is not understood except by persons who understand what sin itself is.

If he had really wanted to be a king, Christ could have been one. Since as many as five thousand followed him, had he once lifted his banner, he might have led a suc¬ cessful revolt. But instead of the wish to lead a revolu¬ tion, there was in the consciousness of Christ the will to make up for the deficiences of others to save them — the solidarity-responsibility consciousness.*

We can in a measure understand this from our own feelings today. Though I myself do not have the memory of having told a lie, or of having done anything wrong, and though I think myself innocent, yet when anyone else commits robbery — especially where such a responsible personage as a cabinet minister commits a crime and is thrown into prison — I feel a relationship to that crime, and that I must ask forgiveness of God for it. The Jesus who thought like that was truly the King of Truth.

The kingship of Truth becomes God-consciousness. One bears the faults of others on his own shoulders and asks forgiveness of God for them, as if they were his own. Jesus thought that unless he did that he would not qualify as a king.

Jesus was not merely an ordinary king. He was a king who, being a man, had God-consciousness, and be-

* “ Solidarity-responsibility consciousness ” The Japanese are strongly imbued with this feeling of social solidarity. It appears in a negative form in the Old Testament. The Hebrews thought of the family, the nation, rather than of the individual. Achan’s sin caused the defeat of the whole army, and the death of his entire family. In the New Testa¬ ment, Paul’s “ body ” chapters, i Cor. 12, Rom. 12, and Eph. 4, illustrate the growing conception of positive social solidarity in the Christian com¬ munity.

ing God, had human consciousness. A king cannot resign. A king has absolute responsibility. In this sense, Christ is King of the human race. He must undertake the re¬ sponsibility for this task. Students and learned men who have never undertaken to bear the consequences of the failures of others find it impossible to grasp this. Such academic recluses, while continually talking in a censori¬ ous way about the faults of others, have not the slightest intention of undertaking to bear the consequences of those faults on their own shoulders.

This, then, was the secret of Jesus Christ. And this we can fit into our daily lives. And advancing one more step, taking the “ filling up of the measure of what is lacking in the suffering of Christ ” as our responsibility, we must make the world’s sorrows our own. That is Christianity. The moment we ourselves are saved, we must set ourselves to saving others. The way Christ became the Atoning Lamb was by his hanging on the Cross and dying there. And Christianity for me means to dedicate myself to serve others even unto death. That, I am convinced, is the true Way of Jesus Christ. Chris¬ tianity means to save others. That is the way of the Cross, and the true way of Christ.

Father God: We thank Thee that we have been enabled to meditate on the Secret of Christ. As He chose the death of the Cross, fully embracing its ultimate bitter¬ ness, we too will walk the narrow path, chained to the Cross. Since this unworthy servant of Thine will hence¬ forward move only as bound to the Cross, I beseech Thee to lead even me in the Way of Christ. Through Christ we pray. Amen.

II

The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28.

There is a famous cathedral in the city of Gloucester, England, built eight hundred and fifty years ago and very beautiful. In its crypt lies the body of King Edward II arrayed in full armor. Up to a hundred years ago it was the custom for pilgrims to pass through the little door into the crypt and walk around the body of King Edward, and even today his name is not forgotten.

Edward II was the hero of the first great Crusade, and the Crusades are historic. There are many crosses on the walls of Jerusalem carved by the Crusaders, who at¬ tempted to regain the land of the Savior — snatched away by the Mohammedans. Through more than a dozen of these Crusades, over a period of more than two hundred years, and despite repeated failures, they continued in the effort, and many gave their lives in the attempt. They carved their crosses as a sign of their sacrifice and self¬ dedication.

The Crusades were of course an extremely crude ex¬ pression of Christian devotion. And yet, out of the very midst of this warlike period, with armies on the march all over Europe, grew one of the significant phases of the Christian Brotherhood Movement. Many of the Cru- 18 saders helped the poor and practised the brotherly kind¬ ness of the Christian church. In Florence, for instance, Crusaders at this period went out to look after the sick who lay ill in the streets. They put masks over their faces so that others would not find out who they were. We need today the spirit of the Crusader-nurses who put masks over their faces in old Florence.

I am against war. But I feel the glamour of the brave samurai spirit of the many hundreds of thousands of men who fought, not to regain territory or to hunt treasure, but for one single purpose, to win back the tomb in which Jesus was buried. While the crowds today seek night life and gambling parties I admire the sacrificial spirit of those who gave up honor, wealth and security to un¬ dertake a more than hundred day journey from England to Asia Minor.

Whence did it all come? Simply because the son of a common laborer, a carpenter, had hung on a cross and died. The crowned heads of Europe were controlled by that laborer’s spirit of sacrifice and devotion. Germany, France, Italy and other countries allied themselves and organized an army many times the size of that of Japan, while time after time they tried to regain the tiny plot of ground on which the Tomb is situated.

They did not seek more land but more religion. The Japanese remember the story of the occupation of Kaga Province by the Ikko Sect of Buddhism during a period of ninety-three years. But the Crusaders continued their effort for more than twice as long and were many times the size of the forces of Rennyo Shonin, the Ikko leader.

From the modern point of view, the Crusades were a strange adventure, but their motive was that of sacrificial service. For the sake of Christ the Crusaders plodded along on foot from England to France, France to Italy, thence to Greece and at last to Asia Minor. Consider the depth of feeling which must have inspired them! These were ideal warriors. They would forgive an enemy, if only he would give them leave to worship freely in the holy land of Jesus. They had developed the chivalry which renders merciful service to women and children. It is this chivalry which impresses us in reading the stories of the Crusades. It represents the height of ro¬ mance. I am against war but I find myself responding to the spirit of the Crusaders.

Once more I ask, whence did it arise? It came from the faith in the heart of that carpenter. He was convinced that for him to endure agony patiently was to become a vicarious sacrifice for the worst sin in the world. The Crusaders were possessed by the same belief. In the spirit of the Cross they died. They sought to protect the banner of the Cross. The Crusaders can be explained only by the Cross.

PRACTISING LOVE, NOT THEORIZING ABOUT IT

Modern Christians are called to be Crusaders also, but on a higher level. Like that crucified carpenter, we must also take upon ourselves the responsibility for our gen¬ eration. This means not only forgiving the folks who crucify us, but even laying hold of the worst of the sins of modern society and curing them, redeeming them, ad¬ justing them, just as much as if they were our own per¬ sonal sins that we ourselves had committed. Rejoicing in the incidental sacrifice and suffering, we must reor¬ ganize society so as to lift all human beings up to the high places of God. Therefore, as did the Crusaders of old, we choose the Cross as our symbol; for in this defini¬ tion of it lies the height of morality and the heart of Christianity.

Tolstoi was attracted to Jesus by his teaching of love, and in his turn interpreted it to many others. And yet I feel that Tolstoi never fully understood the very thing which he sought to exemplify, for he maintained that the most extraordinary thing about Jesus was his ideas. “ Man is a fool on his instinctive levels/’ wrote the Rus¬ sian prophet, “ but through ideas he can control his in¬ stincts. The reason for the greatness of Jesus was the superiority of his thinking.” So far, so good. But must we stop there? I cannot agree with Tolstoi in that the in¬ stincts can be controlled by mere ideas. Ideas alone are valueless. Deeds must express them. Tolstoi says the Sermon on the Mount is the great thing, but the actual life of Jesus in which he practised what he preached seems to me greater even than the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus in¬ carnated love in his ideas, but more than that he was the very incarnation of love in his practice.