Archives: Episodes

Jesus the Supreme Authority on Human Life

Did Jesus not teach, while carrying the Cross, that we stood to God as children to a Father, and must do His will; that for no sin was there, or could there be, forgiveness till it was abandoned; that the state of the soul, and not the mere outside life, was everything; that the sacrifice of self, and not self-aggrandisement, was His method of salvation; that love was life? and when He said,— “Believe in me”; “Carry my cross,” was He not calling men to fulfil His Gospel?

If anyone had come to Christ at Capernaum or Jerusalem, and said, “Master, there is nothing I so desire as to keep Thy sayings. Wilt Thou have me, weak and ignorant although I be, as Thy disciple?” can you imagine Christ then, or now, or at any time interposing with a series of doctrinal tests regarding either the being of God or the history of man? It is impossible, because it would be incongruous. Indeed if Christ did revise and improve the conditions of discipleship, we should learn that from His last address in the upper room. But what was the obligation He then laid on the disciples’ conscience, as with His dying breath? “This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you.” It is the Sermon on the Mount in brief.

—John Watson.

God Reigneth

Jehovah reigneth; let the earth rejoice;
Let the multitude of isles be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him:
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

—The Psalms.

The Blindness of Riches

Is there no hope? the sick man said.
The silent doctor shook his head.
Thus said the man with gasping breath:—
I feel the chilling wound of death;
Since I must bid the world adieu,
Let me my former life review.
I grant, my bargains well were made,
But all men overreach in trade;
‘Tis self-defense in each profession;
Sure, self-defense is no transgression.
The little portion in my hands,
By good security on lands,
Is well increased. If unawares,
My justice to myself and heirs
Hath let my debtor rot in jail,
For want of good sufficient bail;
If I by writ, or bond, or deed,
Reduced a family to need,—
My will hath made the world amends;
My hope on charity depends.
When I am numbered with the dead,
And all my pious gifts are read,
By heaven and earth ’twill then be known,
My charities were amply shown.
An angel came. Ah, friend! he cried,
No more in flattering hope confide.
Can thy good deeds in former times
Outweigh the balance of thy crimes?
What widow or what orphan prays
To crown thy life with length of days?
A pious action’s in thy power;
Embrace with joy the happy hour.
Now, while you draw the vital air,
Prove your intention is sincere:
This instant give a hundred pound;
Your neighbors want, and you abound.
But why such haste? the sick man whines:
Who knows as yet what heaven designs?
Perhaps I may recover still;
That sum and more are in my will.
Fool, says the vision, now ’tis plain,
Your life, your soul, your heaven was gain;
From every side with all your might,
You scraped, and scraped beyond your right;
And after death would fain atone,
By giving what is not your own.
Where there is life there is hope, he cried;
Then why such haste?—so groaned and died.

—John Gay.

Alternate Reading: Mark 10:1-12.

Jesus at Work

At sunset, all who had friends suffering from various diseases took them to Jesus; and he placed his hands upon every one of them and cured them. And even demons came out from many people, screaming “You are the Son of God.” Jesus rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

At daybreak, Jesus went out and walked to a lonely spot. But crowds of people began to look for him; and they came to where he was and tried to detain him and prevent his leaving them. Jesus, however, said to them:

“I must take the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, for that was why I was sent.”

And he continued to make his proclamation in the Synagogues of Judaea.

—Luke.

We May Not Climb the Heavenly Steeps

We may not climb the heavenly steeps
To bring the Lord Christ down;
In vain we search the lowest deeps,
For Him no depths can drown.

But warm, sweet, tender, even yet
A present help is He;
And faith has still its Olivet,
And love its Galilee.

The healing of the seamless dress
Is by our beds of pain;
We touch Him in life’s throng and press,
And we are whole again.

O Lord and Master of us all,
Whate’er our name or sign,
We own Thy sway, we hear
Thy call, We test our lives by Thine.

—John G. Whittier.

The New Law of Jesus

I now understand the words of Jesus: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say to you, that ye resist not evil.” Jesus’ meaning is: “You have thought that you were acting in a reasonable manner in defending yourselves by violence against evil, in tearing out an eye for an eye, by fighting against evil by criminal tribunals, guardians of the peace, armies; but I say unto you, renounce violence; have nothing to do with violence; do harm to no one, not even to your enemy.” In saying this Jesus formulated a new law whose effect would be to deliver humanity from its self-inflicted woes. His declaration was: “You believe that your laws reform criminals; as a matter of fact they only make more criminals. There is only one way to suppress evil, and that is to return good for evil, without respect of persons. For thousands of years you have tried the other method; now try mine, try the reverse.”—As fire cannot extinguish fire, so evil cannot suppress evil. Good alone, confronting evil and resisting its contagion, can overcome evil.

—Lyoff N. Tolstoi.

Alternate Reading: Psalm 1.

Letters from God Everywhere

And to glance with an eye or show a bean in its pod confounds the learning of all times,
And there is no trade or employment but the young man following it may become a hero,
And there is no object so soft but it makes a hub for the wheel’d universe.
And I say to any man or woman, “Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.”

I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,
In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass,
I find letters from God dropt in the street, and every one is sign’d by God’s name,
And I leave them where they are, for I know that whereso’er I go, Others will punctually come forever and ever.

—Walt Whitman.

Always Something Sings

Let me go where’er I will,
I hear a sky-born music still:
It sounds from all things old,
It sounds from all things young,
From all that’s fair, from all that’s foul,
Peals out a cheerful song.

It is not only in the rose,
It is not only in the bird,
Not only where the rainbow glows,
Nor in the song of woman heard,
But in the darkest, meanest things
There alway, alway something sings.

‘Tis not in the high stars alone,
Nor in the cup of budding flowers,
Nor in the redbreast’s mellow tone,
Nor in the bow that smiles in showers,
But in the mud and scum of things
There alway, alway something sings.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Alternate Reading: Luke 5:17-26.

Jesus Praying Alone Before Daylight

In the morning, long before daylight, Jesus rose and went out, and, going to a lonely spot, there began to pray. But Simon and his companions hastened after him; and, when they found him, they exclaimed:

“Every one is looking for you!”

But Jesus said to them:

“Let us go somewhere else, into the country towns near, that I may make my proclamation in them also; for that was why I came.”

And he went about making his proclamation in their Synagogues all through Galilee, and driving out the demons.

Cure of a Leper

One day a leper came to Jesus and, falling on his knees, begged him for help.

“If only you are willing,” he said, “you are able to make me clean.”

Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out bis hand and touched him, saying as he did so:

“I am willing; become clean.”

Instantly the leprosy left the man, and he became clean; and then Jesus, after sternly warning him, immediately sent him away, and said to him:

“Be careful not to say anything to any one; but go and show yourself to the Priest, and make the offerings for your cleansing directed by Moses as evidence of your cure.”

The man, however, went away, and began to speak about it publicly, and to spread the story so widely that Jesus could no longer go openly into a town, but stayed outside in lonely places; and people came to him from every direction.

—Mark.

A Child’s Thought of God

They say that God lives very high!
But if you look above the pines
You cannot see our God. And why?

And if you dig down in the mines,
You never see Him in the gold.
Though from Him all that’s glory shines.

God is so good, He wears a fold
Of Heaven and earth across His face—
Like secrets kept for love untold.

But still I feel that His embrace
Slides down by thrills, through all things made,
Through sight and sound of every place;

As if my tender mother laid
On my shut lids her kisses’ pressure,
Half waking me at night, and said,
“Who kissed you through the dark, dear guesser?”

—Elizabeth B. Browning.

“Educate children without religion, and you make a race of clever devils.”

—Duke of Wellington.

Alternate Reading: Luke 4: 31-37.

Be Careful with Your Own

If I had known, in the morning,
How wearily all the day
The words unkind would trouble my mind
I spoke when you went away,
I had been more careful, darling,
Nor given you needless pain;
But—we vex our own with look and tone
We might never take back again.

For though in the quiet evening,
You may give me the kiss of peace,
Yet it well might be that never for me
The pain of the heart should cease!
How many go forth at morning
Who never come home at night;
And hearts have broken for harsh words spoken
That sorrow can ne’er set right.

We have careful thought for the stranger,
And smiles for the sometime guest,
But oft for our own the bitter tone,
Though we love our own the best.
Ah, lip with the curve impatient,
Ah, brow with the shade of scorn,
‘Twere a cruel fate were the night too late
To undo the work of the mom.

—Anon.

Alternate Reading: Proverbs 17: 1-10.

Jesus with Babies

Some of the people were bringing even their babies to Jesus, for him to touch them; but, when the disciples saw it, they began to find fault with those who had brought them. Jesus, however, called the little children to him.

“Let the little children come to me,” he said, “and do not hinder them; for it is to the childlike that the Kingdom of God belongs. I tell you, unless a man receives the Kingdom of God like a child, he will not enter it at all.”

—Luke.

What Jesus Teaches About Babies

It is Jesus’ teaching concerning the child which helps us to understand clearly His teaching concerning the family. He makes the child the center of gravity in His system of concrete values not less clearly than does modern social science. So great is the value of the child, He tells His disciples, that an offense to a child is among the worst of sins, while the slightest service, even the giving of a cup of cold water, is a religious act of the highest significance. He tells His disciples further that whoever receives a little child in His name receives Him, and that to children belongs the Kingdom of God.

If humanity is to progress, the whole of human society has to be so organized as to maximize the number of normal homes in which children can be properly cared for and given a fair start in life.

—C. A. Ellwood.

The Man of Life Upright

The man of life upright,
Whose guiltless heart is free
From all dishonest deeds,
Or thought of vanity;

The man whose silent days
In harmless joys are spent,
Whom hopes cannot delude
Nor sorrow discontent;

That man needs neither towers
Nor armor for defense,
Nor secret vaults to fly
From thunder’s violence:

Thus scorning all the cares
That fate or fortune brings,
He makes the heaven his book,
His wisdom heavenly things,

Good thoughts his only friends,
His wealth a well-spent age,
The earth his sober inn
And quiet pilgrimage.

—Thomas Champion.

Alternate Reading: Leviticus 19: 33-37.