The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ: A Devotional History of Our Lord's PassionStalker, James
Religion
The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ: A Devotional History of Our Lord's Passion
Stalker, James
Jesus Christ -- Crucifixion; Jesus Christ -- Trial
It is the same; and this is a contrast which runs through His whole
life, the contrast between inward wealth and outward poverty. He was
able to enrich the whole world, yet He had to be supported by the
contributions of the women who followed Him; He could say, "I am the
bread of life," yet He sometimes hungered for a meal; He could promise
thrones and many mansions to those who believed on Him, yet He said
Himself, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, yet
the Son of man hath not where to lay His head."
In a materialistic age, when in so many circles money is the measure of
the man, and when people are so excessively concerned about what they
shall eat and what they shall drink and wherewithal they shall be
clothed, it is worth while to bear this contrast in mind. Seldom have
the noblest specimens of humanity been those who have been able to
wallow in luxury; and the men who have enriched the world with the
treasures of the mind have not infrequently been hardly able to procure
daily bread. Our older boys may have seen on some of their
school-books the name of Heyne. His is an immortal name in classical
scholarship; but when he was a student, and even when he was enriching
the literature of his country with splendid editions of the ancient
writers, he was literally starving, and had sometimes to subsist on
skins of apples and other offal picked up from the streets. Our own
Samuel Johnson, to whose wisdom the whole globe is now a debtor, when
engaged on some of his greatest works, had not shoes in which to go
out, and did not know where his dinner was to come from. It would be
easy from history to multiply instances of those who, though poor, yet
have made many rich.
The inference is not, that one must be poor externally if one desires
to be inwardly rich. The materially poor are not all spiritually rich
by any means; multitudes of them, alas, are as poverty-stricken in mind
and character as in physical condition. Perhaps one might even go so
far as to say that as a rule the inwardly rich enjoy at least a
competent portion of the good things of this life; for intelligence and
character have even a market value, Money, too, can be made subservient
to the highest aims of the soul. But what it is essential to remember
is, that the inward is the true wealth, and that we must seek and
obtain it, even, if necessary, at the sacrifice of the outward. If
life is not to be impoverished and materialised, some in every age must
make the choice between the inward and the outward wealth; and no one
is worthy to be the servant of scholarship, art or religion who is not
prepared for the choice should it fall to him. It is by the possession
of intelligence, generosity and spiritual power that we enter into the
higher ranks of manhood; and the most Christlike trait of all is to
have the will and the ability to overflow in influences and activities
which sweeten and elevate the lives of others.
III.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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