12/5/54

Scripture: (Read Matthew 25: 31-46)

The Jesus of art often appears so meek and lowly as to lack the spiritual vitality and strength which surely were part of his nature. It takes an artist who appreciates the Master’s strength to portray the Jesus who is really Christ to our sinful lives.

It is good that we remember the Prince of Peace at another season of Advent. But as we approach the loveliness and the mellowness of Christmas, let us not forget that the presence of Jesus in the world is a judgment upon us people. [“Judgment” - the week’s theme in Daily Devotions].

The birth of a baby is fore-runner of the kind of man or woman the child is to be. The birth of Jesus is fore-runner of the Christ who brings judgment upon our lives -- be they good or evil -- partially or entirely. And the grown man, Jesus, spoke words of firm judgment upon people, as well as assurances of mercy and pardon and salvation.

It was while He sat one day upon a slope of the hill called the Mount of Olives, with listening people gathered around Him, that he tried to make people understand the ultimate judgment of a Righteous God upon His people. Men and women, said he, are as different from one another as sheep differ from goats in the attitudes by which people act. And they are judged by those acts which are the fruits of their attitudes. To love Christ and to serve Him, is to love and serve people who have need of that love and service --- to feed the hungry, minister to the sick and the imprisoned, to those who need shelter or clothing or compassion or companionship.

It is Christ’s judgment that whoever has in his heart the purpose to do deeds of kindness and mercy and understanding to his fellow creatures does the same to the Master himself. And whosoever shuts up his heart from such an attitude and such acts, closes his heart on the Lord also.

Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, in the 11th chapter, there is related an account of very stern judgment on the part of Jesus. John the Baptist had, by that time, been thrown into prison. But he was kept informed of events by those who might visit him there. He had questions which he would like to have asked of Jesus, so he sent a couple of his followers to see the Master and talk with Him. When questioned by them as to whether He were the Messiah, or just another fore-runner of the One to Come, Jesus said: “Go and show John again what you have seen: how the people are healed of their blindness, lameness and disease; how the poor receive the gospel as well as anyone else.” [Matthew 11: 1-6]. Then Jesus turned to the listening people with a rebuke for their idle curiosity, and a scalding judgment on those who had rejected Him; upon cities where folk had refused to repent.

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted in heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.” [Matthew 11: 21-24]. Here, then, is an utterance of Jesus that is far from the mildness of many a painted conception of Him. This story speaks to us of the little towns in Galilee where Jesus had preached and where He had done “mighty works” (as he called them) but yet the citizens of those towns had shown no repentance. They had not received his message to their lives. In these words of Jesus, His presence comes before us mightily, and more severely than we often think of Him. Here he is, almost terrifying in His majesty and strength.

Of course, Jesus must have done much of which there is little or no record preserved to us. It is strange that these three towns are mentioned. The only place in the Gospels where Chorazin is mentioned is here. Probably it is only a heap of ruins on a shore now. Bethsaida is mentioned more frequently in the gospels. But only here in this story are we told of deeds that Jesus had worked among its people. Apparently Capernaum was very well known to Jesus, for we know that he lived there for a time. Did its people ever think seriously of that?

But, wonder as we may about these three towns and what had happened in each, as well as what failed to happen, we wonder when we hear the claims that Jesus makes for himself. For in his claims, he appears in a strong consciousness of his unique position with God, who alone has power to exalt or to cast down. The blessed, and terrifying presence of the Eternal Lord is here in Jesus. One might call it, as Swedish Bishop Brilioth has called it, a dangerous presence.

What did he mean when Jesus thus spoke of places where he had performed his mighty deeds? What was his intention? Had he purposed to give them, as it were, “one last chance?” Did he expect that such a harsh-sounding pronouncement would waken them to serious consideration of their condition? And does it seem strange that our Savior should pronounce his judgment upon whole communities? There must have been many in those towns who had never met him in such way as to have basis for a decision for or against him. Surely there were little children playing in the streets at Chorazin and Bethsaida. There must have been old folk who seldom left their abode and who have never encountered the teacher while he was there. There were people for whom the press of need or busyness were such that they found no time to hear an itinerant teacher or prophet.

Did his judgment fall upon them as well as upon those who did hear, but not heed, him? Did they share in responsibility when they had not consciously turned from him? It may seem a mystery, but it appears to be a fact that members of a whole community, or a whole social order, prosper or fall together. Rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. And God, though He knows and cares for each individual person, still never leaves any person alone or isolated, but rather a member of a community, a congregation or parish, a nation, a society.

The spiritual condition of one man or woman is never something that concerns himself alone. It concerns the others of his or her group as well. And so every person has responsibility not alone for himself, but also for others. He can make it easier, or more difficult for others to believe; he can carry others with him toward grace and salvation, or toward perdition.

Thus we have reason to consider what it means that a place - a town, a congregation, a nation, can be brought near the Lord. Others can be sought in a special way. No Christian, and no church of Christians, can be sufficient to self alone. Our Christian World Mission, with practical concern for others along with ourselves, is an integral part of the practical expression of our faith.

Not only in little towns along a Palestinian shore were mighty deeds wrought by Jesus. The whole history of the church tells of his mighty deeds; how he met person after person, people after people, and entered into their lives with his purifying, healing power; how he infused into their countries something of his spirit; how he had met generation after generation with his healing, strengthening love.

The history of the mighty deeds of Jesus stretches through all the centuries. In our own time he continues his persisting progress into the lands of the gentiles, showing his power to help and heal and renew peoples that have not yet heard his name. But there are also fatal hours in history when it is decided if Christ shall remain with a people. It is a dreadful moment when a people, which has met Jesus, turns away from him. That time seems to have arrived in some of our world. For there are vast areas of the world’s society in which people that used to call themselves Christian now avow themselves as something else.

Some of the Christians of Europe are very sober indeed at the nearness to them of people whose main emphasis is on materialistic power. They know that their people have been blessed with the signs of the presence of Christ -- church spires and crosses; and the witness of his spirit in the ethics of their nations. But they are concerned at the formality of religious expressions, without the experience and conviction of church attendance and participation.

Visitors from other parts of the world, gathering last August at Evanston for the World Assembly of the Churches of Christ, were impressed with the picture of American Christianity. They see some evidence of an increase in the power of the Christian witness in our public life. They were impressed by the fact that our President took time to come and address their meeting -- not just as a formality, but in earnest religious conviction.

But they raise the same questions that some of us do. How far is church membership and attendance a personal conviction, or a social convention? Is our present religious interest a permanent part of our national being? Or is it a transitory phenomenon?

Henry Luce, of magazine fame, says that we are undoubtedly in a time of religious “boom.” But are we intelligent and informed about religion? Or are we, as many critics have said, largely illiterate in religion, despite our present spiritual interest?

The ancient Deuteronomic law was: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with” --- heart and soul and strength. Jesus added to it: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God” - with thy mind. [Luke 10: 27]. It behooves us to think about our relationship to God in Christ, as well as to know the emotions, or the formalities of that relationship. [Luce: will “depression” follow “boom.” Many “buyers’” now, without enough knowledge of what they are buying].

When Christ looks upon Christians today, what does he see? Does he find people who thank him for his gifts and strive to come nearer to him in their ways? Or does he see something very different -- peoples that slowly turn their backs to him; people that love the Lord with heart and mind and soul and strength; or people that look upon the commandments of God as old superstitions from which a new generation strives to free itself while it becomes more and more occupied with worldly cares and shallow amusements; people that hear the angel voices singing at Christmas tide or who hear only loud voices demanding attention.

God is not far from any of us. He seeks each and all of us. But now, if ever, we need to experience the presence of Jesus. We need that presence because of the judgment that he brings upon our lives. We need him for the sharpening of our consciences; for the humbling of our pride and complacency. We need him because his judgment is not alone unfeeling condemnation, but also compassion and mercy and forgiveness.

We need to come close, not only to his manger, but to his cross. We need to bring him the real sacrifice, which above all else he really wants -- our poor, insufficient, sin-ridden hearts in repentant devotion. His presence may mean judgment in our lives, but blessing and grace as well. For his judgment crushes only the evil within our sinful natures. He is really our Savior, releasing us from the bondage of being a self-centered, empty formality. He invites us to the liberty of the redeemed children of God.

God give you grace to want his presence, to seek and to find it, and to know it as an increasing blessing of your life for ever.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, December 5, 1954.