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Page 28
Jesus discarded speculation and found the key to the doctrine of God in
the family, the simplest and most elemental of human institutions. There
may be wide differences concerning the nature of government, the
sanctions of law, etc., but there is no room for debate concerning the
meaning of the parental relation. It interprets itself. Tell a child
that a man is his father, and he can be told no more. The name
interprets the relation. In earlier times the vastness of the creation
was but dimly appreciated, and then the idea of God was equally
contracted. Jesus taught that the Deity, whether the conception of Him
was small or large, was to be interpreted in terms of fatherhood. What
an ideal father is to his family God is to the race and to the universe.
That meant one thing when the father was little more than the protector
of a tribe; it means something greater, but not essentially different
now. The conception of the universe is one of the most revolutionary
that ever entered the human mind. The conception of a tribe is larger
than that of a family; of a nation larger than that of a tribe; of the
race larger than that of the nation; but the conception of the universe,
with its myriads of worlds and possible multiplicity of races, is the
amazing contribution which science has made to the thought of to-day.
While the conception of the Deity has been enlarged the principle of
interpretation remains unchanged. Are we thinking of Jehovah the God of
Israel? He is the Father of the tribe. Has our idea expanded so as to
include all the nations? God is the Father not of a limited number but
of all that dwell upon the earth. Has the horizon been lifted to take in
heavenly heights? Are we now thinking of immensities, eternities, and
the cosmic process? The teaching of Jesus is not transcended; we still
continue to interpret in terms of fatherhood, and say all time, all
space, all men, all purposes and processes in the infinities and
eternities are in the hands of the Father. But when we have ascended to
such a height what does the word Father mean? Exactly the same in
essence that it meant in the humblest of Judean households among which
Jesus moved. The father there was the one who made the home, sustained
it, defended it, watched over it by day and by night; in exactly the
same way the followers of Jesus think of the Spirit who pervades all
things. He creates, He cares for, He defends, He provides, He loves, He
causes all processes to work for blessing to the intelligent beings who
are His children.
Jesus in a peculiar way identified himself with the Deity. That does
not mean that all the divine omnipotence and glory were in that Man of
Nazareth, but it does mean that all of the Deity that could be expressed
in terms of humanity were visible in Him, so that those who saw Jesus
saw God as far as He could be manifested in the flesh. Beyond that veil
were abysses and heights of being which could not be expressed in human
terms; but in all the spaces we may dare to believe that there is
nothing essentially different from what was revealed in that unique Man.
A bay makes a curve in the Atlantic seaboard; its shallow waters are all
from the deeps of the sea. Tides that move along all the seas, and
forces which reach to the stars, fill that basin among the hills. The
bay is the ocean, but not all of it; for if we were to sail around the
earth we should find the same body of water reaching out to vaster
spaces.
Even so the person of Jesus included all of God that humanity can
contain, but Bethlehem and Jerusalem, Gethsemane and Calvary were to the
Deity as some land-locked harbor to the immensities of the universe. In
Him love reached to enemies, to the outcast, to those who had been
called refuse and rubbish, to men of all classes in all the ages, to
lepers, beggars, criminals, lunatics, harlots, thieves, little children;
those who appreciated and those who hated alike were all included in the
infinite purpose of blessing.
Those who have seen the love of Jesus, and its ministries, have seen the
Father; but beyond the love of Galilee and Calvary reach depths of love
which even the cross is powerless to express. Divine sympathy and divine
affection bind all men in a universal family; this we know, and this is
all we know.
That teaching is so simple that a child can understand it; so profound
that no philosopher has ever transcended it; and so satisfying that
neither child nor philosopher would have it changed either as to its
simplicity or its fullness.
Jesus furnishes the light which the soul needs on the nature of man.
Wonderfully has Holman Hunt elaborated this truth in his picture "The
Light of the World." The ideal humanity never had more beautiful
expression than in that great sermon in color. The poise of the figure
of Jesus indicates strength and self-control; the thorns on the brow
tell their story of sorrow and pain; the hand at the door shows that one
man at least is mindful of the welfare of His brother; the radiance on
the face and the inspiration in the eyes are the outshining of the
goodness which dwells within; while the light from the whole person,
which reaches far into the gloom, shows that the more nearly perfect the
being the more beneficent and beautiful his influence must be. Is Jesus
Christ the brightness of the Father's glory? He reveals also the beauty
and helpfulness, the love and the service of the ideal man. He is the
pattern of our common humanity. Are we in the midst of a process of
evolution? And is the man that is to be still far in the distance? When
he shall walk this earth he will be the spiritual reproduction of Jesus,
changed only to meet the requirements of other times and new conditions.
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