Man is not in the world to work for himself; he is in the world to work
for others, and the laborer is worthy of his hire. These truths are
justified by universal experience; now, always, and everywhere, the man
who labors receives the means of bodily subsistence. This subsistence is
assured to him who works against his will; for such a workman desires
only to relieve himself of the necessity of work, and acquires all that
he possibly can in order that he may take the yoke from his own neck and
place it upon the neck of another. A workman like this--envious,
grasping, toiling against his will--will never lack for food and will be
happier than one, who without labor, lives upon the labor of others. How
much more happy, then, will that laborer be who labors in obedience to
the doctrine of Jesus with the object of accomplishing all the work of
which he is capable and wishing for it the least possible return? How
much more desirable will his condition be, as, little by little, he sees
his example followed by others. For services rendered he will then be
the recipient of equal services in return.
The doctrine of Jesus with regard to labor and the fruits of labor is
expressed in the story of the loaves and fishes, wherein it was shown
that man enjoys the greatest sum of the benefits accessible to humanity,
not by appropriating all that he can possibly grasp and using what he
has for his personal pleasure, but by administering to the needs of
others, as Jesus did by the borders of Galilee.
There were several thousand men and women to be fed. One of the
disciples told Jesus that there was a lad who had five loaves and two
fishes. Jesus understood that some of the people coming from a distance
had brought provisions with them and that some had not, for after all
were filled, the disciples gathered up twelve basketsful of fragments.
(If no one but the boy had brought anything, how could so much have been
left after so many were fed?) If Jesus had not set them an example, the
people would have acted as people of the world act now. Some of those
who had food would have eaten all that they had through gluttony or
avidity, and some, after eating what they could eat, would have taken
the rest to their homes. Those who had nothing would have been famished,
and would have regarded their more fortunate companions with envy and
hatred; some of them would perhaps have tried to take food by force from
them who had it, and so hunger and anger and quarrels would have been
the result. That is, the multitude would have acted just as people act
nowadays.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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