Quiet Talks on John's GospelGordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Religion
Quiet Talks on John's Gospel
Gordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Bible. John -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
And all sorts of men understood. Jesus wiped out social differences and
distinctions in the crowds that gently jostled each other in His
presence. The aristocrat and the cultured, the student and the gentle
folk, mingled freely with simple country folk, the unlettered, the
humblest and lowliest, all drawn alike to Him, and all unconscious of
differences when under the holy spell of His presence. The wealthy like
Joseph of Arimathea, and the beggar like the man born blind, the pure in
heart like Mary of Bethany and the openly bad in life like the accused
woman of Jerusalem,--all felt alike that this Jesus belonged to them,
and they to Him.
The underneath tie of real kinship of heart rubbed out all outer
distinctions. The old families of Jerusalem were glad to unlock their
jealously guarded doors to Him. And the simple Capernaum fisherfolk were
grateful when He shared bread and roof with them. All men recognized
Jesus as belonging to themselves.
And the calendar has not changed this, neither Gregorian nor Old Style.
Time finds the race the same always. Centuries climb slowly by, but the
human heart is the same, and--so is Jesus. I was greatly struck with
this in my errand among the nations. The East balks at the ways of the
West sometimes. Many books say there is no point of contact between the
two. The East balks at our Western organization, our rule of the clock,
and our rush and hurry. Our Westernized church systems and our closely
mortised logical theologies are sometimes a bit bewildering, not exactly
comprehensible to their Orientalized mode of thought.
But they never balk at Jesus. When they are told of Him, and get some
glimpse of Him, their eyes light, their faces glow, their hearts leap in
response. You book people say there is no point of contact between
Orient and Occident? But there is. Jesus is the point of contact. One
real touch of Jesus makes all the world akin. No; that can be put
better. One touch of Jesus reveals the kinship that is there between Him
and men, _and_ between all men.
In Japan it was the Portuguese that first took the Gospel a few hundred
years ago. And you still find Japanese churches founded by the
Portuguese. Fifty odd years ago it was the English tongue that again
brought that message of life to them. But as I mingled among Japanese
Christians of different communions and heard them pray, they were not
praying in Portuguese nor in English. They had no thought that He was a
Portuguese Saviour they prayed to, nor yet an English. _They prayed in
Japanese_. They felt that Jesus spoke their tongue. He belonged to them.
He and they understood each other.
As I listened to Manchu and Chinese, to Korean and Hawaiian pour out
their hearts in prayer, I could feel the close personal burning touch of
their spirits with Jesus. They and He were kin to each other. Their
very voices told the certainty in their hearts on this point.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account