And I should have rejected Him for the same reason, because I had no
truly generous love of man as man. I should have been no better able
to perceive than they that it had pleased God to clothe Himself in the
flesh of one who united in His own person all those disabilities which
incur the scorn of those who account themselves superior and
cultivated, such as lowly and doubtful origin, poverty and the lack of
liberal education, and methods of life which outraged social use and
custom. Did not Jesus demand for the understanding of Himself
precisely that temper which enabled Him to understand others, the
temper which discerns the soul beneath all disguise of circumstance?
He discerned the splendid and divine beneath the sordid. He saw
beneath the drift of sin the buried magnificence of human nature as men
discover the hidden temple beneath the sand-drift of the desert. He
was able to love all men because all men were to Him living souls. And
His own manifestation to the world was such that only those who had
this temper could at all perceive His divine significance. The
Pharisee could not see that significance simply because he was not
accustomed to see men as men. He had no real interest in man as man.
He was not a lover of his kind. Hence, when the Son of Man came out of
Nazareth, the Pharisee was too careless or too supercilious to regard
Him with interest.
Pages:
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81