CHAPTER II

THE IDEALS OF THE KINGDOM

DAILY READINGS

How can all these problems be solved?

The followers of Jesus claim that in Him and in His principles lies the only sure hope for an enduring and wholesome social order, and for an abundant and satisfying spiritual life for the individual. They maintain that only thus can the individual work in harmony with God's plan for the world.

But can Jesus really have a message for this modern world? He lived long ago, spent His days among the people of a small and despised nation under conditions of life far remote from our present complex existence: what could He know of our problems? And yet somehow His influence has lasted through the centuries, and seems more powerful today than ever before. Perhaps He has some real answer for our present questions. Perhaps the conditions He faced were not so fundamentally different as we have been led to suppose. Just what was the movement that Jesus inaugurated? He seemed to be announcing a new kind of Kingdom in the world. What were the characteristics of this new enterprise?

FIRST DAY: When Jesus took up the task of establishing the Kingdom, He did it with a full understanding of the reality of the social conditions about Him. He took up the stern message of John the Baptist, which dealt not with coming glories of the Hebrew race, but with plain moral crooked(Compare Luke 3:7-14.)

ness.

And in those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judæa, saying, Repent ye;

for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is
he that was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet,
saying,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

Make ye ready the way of the Lord,

Make his paths straight.

Now John himself had his raiment of camel's hair,
and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was
locusts and wild honey. Then went out unto him
Jerusalem, and all Judæa, and all the region round
about the Jordan; and they were baptized of him
in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when
he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming
to his baptism, he said unto them, Ye offspring of
vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to
come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of re-
pentance: and think not to say within yourselves,
We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you,
that God is able of these stones to raise up children
unto Abraham. And even now the axe lieth at the
root of the trees: every tree therefore that bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the
fire.-Matt. 3: 1-10.

Now when he heard that John was delivered up,
he withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he
came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea,
in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. From
that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent
ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.—Matt.
4: 12, 13, 17.

And when later John sent his disciples to Jesus, Jesus answered in words that showed plainly enough His deep sense of the social significance of His mission.

Now when John heard in the prison the works of
the Christ, he sent by his disciples and said unto him,
Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and tell
John the things which ye hear and see: the blind

receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised
up, and the poor have good tidings preached to
them.-Matt. II: 2-5.

What was the significance of Jesus' acceptance of baptism at the hands of John?

Remembering the emphasis of the Pharisees on externals, how must they have received the message of John?

What particular forms of injustice must a true messenger of the Kingdom fight today?

Why should repentance have been mentioned so prominently in the call of the Kingdom?

SECOND DAY: It is interesting to note that Jesus placed Himself in line with the great social reformers of His racethe prophets of Israel. Coming from all ranks in society, this group of heroic men were one in their stern denunciation of national unrighteousness. The descriptions of the conditions they attack have a strangely modern ring-oppression of the poor, dishonesty in trade, and political knavery. Note that when He wanted to define His mission, He used the very words of one of these reformers.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

Because he anointed me to preach good tidings
to the poor:

He hath sent me to proclaim release to the
captives,

And recovering of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty them that are bruised,

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he closed the book, and gave it back to the atten

dant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the syna-
gogue were fastened on him. And he began to say
unto them, To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled
in your ears.-Luke 4: 16-21.

How would you paraphrase this passage so as to make clear the meaning of Jesus' mission today?

THIRD DAY: Plainly Jesus had to face many of the problems that occasion so much anxiety today. Far from being unacquainted with race prejudice, He lived in the very meetingplace of nations. Can you discover any case of race antagonism more intense than that which existed between Jew and Samaritan? What examples in the records show how He deliberately cut across this deep-seated prejudice of His people?

It is significant to note the cause which led to a concerted attack upon His life.

But of a truth I say unto you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and unto none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things; and they rose up, and cast him forth out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.-Luke 4:25-29.

How can we justify race feeling in the face of Jesus' attitude?

The record of His life is full of His dealings with the Gentiles; and while He first confined His efforts to His own people, the surest witness of the breadth of His teaching is

that, after His death, His disciples carried the message to all the world.

What was it in the religion of Jesus that seemed to force the early apostles out into the wider mission?

FOURTH DAY: If the need today is for vital spiritual leadership, was not the demand many times more urgent in Jesus' day? We have all known those whose religion con sists of a set of rules hard to be followed. That was the official religion of Palestine, represented by the Pharisees. These lived a life of minute observance of laws and insisted that such was the very essence of obedience to God. Have you noticed that words seem inadequate to express His towering indignation against those who tried to bind vital religious experience within a list of regulations?

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also.-Matt. 23: 23-26.

See the whole passage, Matt. 23: 13-36.

What was the central lack in the religion of the Pharisees? What elements of the religion of the Pharisees still persist today?

FIFTH DAY: We are not without multiplied instances of injustice to individuals, but the storm of protest they arouse shows plainly enough our recognition of the rights of each single human being. The exception in our time was the rule