Understanding the ScripturesMcConnell, Francis John
Religion
Understanding the Scriptures
McConnell, Francis John
Bible -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Bible -- Study and teaching
of hunger? That would promise a quick solution of a sort. The peoples
would eagerly rally around the new deliverer. Should there be an
attempt to utilize the political machinery of the time? There could be
no doubt of the effectiveness of this plan. Should the exalted lofty
spiritual state of the Master be relied upon to carry him through
spectacular displays of extraordinary might that would capture the
popular mind? Each of these suggestions presented its advantages. Each
might have been rightfully followed by some one with less power than
Jesus had; but for him any one of them would have involved a misuse of
power, and hence he cast them all aside.
The miracles reported of Christ have this for their peculiarity, that
they show a power conceived of as divine used for a righteous purpose.
It is significant that practically all the miracles described are those
of healing or of relief. The kind of miracle that an irresponsible
leader would have wrought is suggested by the advice of James and John
to Jesus to call down fire on an inhospitable Samaritan village. The
reported reply of Jesus, "Ye know not what spirit you are of," is the
final comment on such use of power. Now, after we have made the most of
the miracles recorded of Jesus, after we have made them seem just as
extraordinary in themselves as possible, their most extraordinary
feature is this use to which the power was put; and on the other hand,
if we strip the miracles of everything that suggests breach of natural
law and make them just revelations of super-normal control over nature
through laws like those whose existence and significance we are
beginning to glimpse to-day, still we cannot empty these narratives of
their significance as revealing a morally responsible use of force. Let
us be just as orthodox as we can, the purpose of the use of the forces
is the supreme miracle; let us be just as destructively radical as we
please, we cannot eliminate from the Scriptures this impression of
Christ as one who used power with a sense of responsibility. This
revelation is one which the ages have always desired.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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