The Social Principles of Jesus Part 3

And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pa.s.s away, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them again, and went away, and prayed a third time, saying again the same words.

Then cometh he to the disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that betrayeth me.-Matt. 26:36-46.

Jesus was personally very sociable. He evidently enjoyed mixing with people. He liked the give-and-take of life. He had friendships. A group of men and women gathered around him who gave him their devoted loyalty. He in turn needed them. The denial of Peter and the betrayal of Judas hurt him, partly because they were defections from the comradeship of his group. In Gethsemane he craved friendship. He prayed to G.o.d, but he reached out for Peter and John. The longing for friendship and the unrest of loneliness are proof of a truly human and social nature.

_In how far is a need for others a sign of strength or of weakness?_

_What connection has the spirit of a team, or the loyalty of a college cla.s.s, with the Christian law of love?_

Third Day: Restoring Solidarity

Then came Peter and said to him, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.-Matt. 18:21-22.

Love binds together; hate and anger cut apart. They destroy fellowship.

Therefore the chief effort of the Christian spirit must be to reestablish fellowship wherever men have been sundered by ill-will. This is done by confession and forgiveness. Forgiveness was so important to Jesus because social unity was so important to him. In the Lord's Prayer he makes full fellowship with men a condition of full fellowship with G.o.d: "Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors."

Are there any personal injuries which are beyond forgiveness?

_Think back to any striking experience of forgiving or being forgiven.

What was the religious and moral reaction on your life?_

Fourth Day: The Christian Intensification of Love

Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath the world's goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compa.s.sion from him, how doth the love of G.o.d abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth.-1 John 3:16-18.

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of G.o.d; and every one that loveth is begotten of G.o.d, and knoweth G.o.d. He that loveth not knoweth not G.o.d; for G.o.d is love. Herein was the love of G.o.d manifested in us, that G.o.d hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.-1 John 4:7-9.

Beloved, if G.o.d so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man hath beheld G.o.d at any time: if we love one another, G.o.d abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us.-1 John 4:11-12.

These are quotations from one of the early Christian writings. They are evidence of the emphasis put on love as a distinctive doctrine of the new religion. Note how the natural social instinct of human affection is intensified and uplifted by religious motives and forces. Which of these motives are directly taken from the personality and life of Christ?

_Do you remember any quotations from non-Christian literature in which a similar love for love is expressed?_

Fifth Day: Solidaristic Responsibility

Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.-Matt. 11:20-24.

We know that by constant common action a social group develops a common spirit and common standards of action, which then a.s.similate and standardize the actions of its members. Jesus felt the solidarity of the neighborhood groups in Galilee with whom he mingled. He treated them as composite personalities, jointly responsible for their moral decisions.

_What groups of which we have been a part in the past have stamped us with the group character for good or evil? How about those of which we are now a part?_

_What have we learned from the Great War about national solidarity?_

Sixth Day: The Solidarity of the Generations

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of h.e.l.l? Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.-Matt. 23:29-36.

Jesus saw a moral solidarity existing, not only between contemporaries who act together, but between generations that act alike. Every generation clings to its profitable wrongs and tries to silence those who stand for higher righteousness. Posterity takes comfort in being fairer about the dead issues, but is just as hot and bad about present issues. The sons reenact the old tragedies on a new stage, and so line up with their fathers. In looking back over the history of his nation, Jesus saw a continuity of wrong which bound the generations together in a solidarity of guilt.

_Does the connection consist only in similarity of action, or is there a causal continuity of wrong in the life of a community?_

_Is there anything in our personal family history or family wealth and business which threatens to line us up with past evils?_

Seventh Day: Social Consciousness in the Lord's Prayer

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.-Matt.

6:9-13.

_Is there anything more solitary than a human soul calling to the invisible Presence? Is there anything more social in consciousness than the Lord's Prayer?_

_Where in these pet.i.tions do you feel the sense of social coherence as the unspoken presupposition of the thought?_(_1_)

_Could Jesus have thought this prayer if the unity of the race had not been both an instinctive reality and a clear social principle with him?_

Study for the Week

That man is a social being is the fundamental fact with which all social sciences have to deal. We may like or dislike people; we can not well be indifferent to them if they get close to us. As Sartor Resartus puts it: "In vain thou deniest it; thou _art_ my brother. Thy very hatred, thy very envy, those foolish lies thou tellest of me in thy splenetic humour; what is all this but an inverted sympathy? Were I a steam-engine, wouldst thou take the trouble to tell lies of me?"

s.e.x admiration, parental love, "the dear love of comrades," the thrill of patriotism, the joy of play, are all forms of fellowship. They give us happiness because they satisfy our social instinct. To realize our unity gives relish to life. To be thrust out of fellowship is the great pain.

Many evil things get their attractiveness mainly through the fact that they create a bit of fellowship-such as it is. The slender thread of good in the saloon is comradeship. (See Jack London, "John Barleycorn.")

I

None ever felt this social unity of our race more deeply than Jesus. To him it was sacred and divine. Hence his emphasis on love and forgiveness.