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Meantime the crowd was breathless with expectancy, and crowded and crushed towards the Master as He stood near the weeping father, who was endeavoring to hold down his maniac child. Jesus waited till the multitude could fairly see and hear what He would do. Then His voice, imperious and threatening, was heard: "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command thee, go out of him, and enter not any more into him. And crying out and greatly tearing him, he went out of him, and he became as dead, so that many said, He is dead. But Jesus taking him by the hand lifted him up, and restored him to his father, and the child was cured from that hour."

And now Jesus, having overcome both the demon and the Scribes, had to reckon with His own disciples. Their failure was made the more notorious by His easy success. The disciples said to Jesus secretly: "Why could not we cast him out? Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief. For Amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you." The lesson is simple. Faith and power are in Christ's Kingdom. But how obtain this faith and power? Is it by merely putting additional pressure upon one's reasonable adherence to God and His teaching? The answer of Jesus to this implied question (perhaps it was even spoken among the disciples) shows the practical side of faith, even miraculous faith: "And He said to them, this kind [of demon] can go out by nothing but by prayer and fasting." Let a man with but a little grain of faith unite himself with God in prayer, and conquer his bodily appetites by fasting, and he can then conquer devils and remove mountains.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

THE PASSION AGAIN FORETOLD.-JESUS AND
PAYMENT OF THE TAX. THE DISPUTE

PRECEDEnce.

THE

ABOUT

Matt. xvii. 21-26, and xviii. 1-5; Mark ix. 29–40; Luke ix. 44-50.

"AND departing from thence they passed through Galilee and He would not that any man should know it for Fe would not walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill Him." They were tarrying, it would seem, apart from the common route, withdrawn from general contact with the people, when Jesus repeated to the Apostles His prediction of His death and resurrection. "And when they abode together in Galilee, Jesus said to them: The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again. But they understood not this word, and it was hid from them, so that they perceived it not." St. Matthew adds that "they were troubled exceedingly concerning this word"; and yet they were afraid to ask for further explanation. They wished to take it figuratively, while it was plain fact and was meant to be taken as such. We shall see that even to the very end they hoped, nay they believed, that it was impossible that this all-powerful wonder-worker would allow Himself to be put to death.

"And when they were come to Capharnaum, they that received the didrachmas came to Peter and said to him: Doth not your Master pay the didrachma? He said: Yes." This was either the tax of the Tetrarch, Herod-Antipas, or, more probably, the annual contribution fixed by the law of Moses for the

no

"GIVE IT TO THEM FOR ME

THEE.

AND FOR

support of the Temple. Peter entered the house to get
the money (about thirty cents of our standard), but was
anticipated by the Master: "And when he was come
into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying: What is
thy opinion, Simon; the kings of the earth, of whom
do they receive tribute or custom? of their own chil-
dren or of strangers? And he said: Of strangers.
Jesus said to him: Then the chil-
dren are free." There was
power on earth which could exact
tribute from Jesus, or which was not
bound to pay Him tribute. He was
greater than the Temple, He was
Lord of the Herods and the Cæsars.
But Jesus did not come on earth to
stand upon such rights as these,
but to save men's souls. Meantime
He had trouble enough on His hands
without adding a dispute with tax-
gatherers. And, finally, to pay
tribute by working a miracle was to gather tribute in-
stead of paying it. Hence He not only avoided giving
scandal to weak souls, but edified them by teaching
His beautiful union with men as members of the church
and of the state in the payment of their share for the
public support. Jesus said to Peter: "But that we
may not scandalize them, go to the sea and cast in a
hook, and that fish which shall first come up, take,
and when thou hast opened its mouth, thou shalt
find a stater; take that, and give it to them for Me
and for thee." We may notice here one of the many
cases in which the Saviour distinguished Peter from
his brother Apostles.

And when they were come to Capharnaum, they that received the didrachmas came to Peter and said to him: Doth not your Master pay the didrachma? He said: Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying: What is thy opinion, Simon ? The kings of the earth, of whom do they receive tribute or custom? of their own children or of strangers? And he said: Of strangers. Jesus said to him: Then the children are free. But that we may not scandalize them, go to the sea, and cast in a hook, and that fish which shall first come up, take, and when thou hast opened its mouth, thou shalt find a stater; take that, and give it to them for me and for thee.

It shows the tender solicitude of our Saviour, that He was constantly reading the thoughts of his Apos

tles, in their faces, or in their very silence. After
the incident of the didrachma tax He perceived that
something was the matter. He suspected that they had
been disputing hotly. He said: "What did you
treat of in the way? But they held their peace, for in
the way they had disputed among themselves which
of them should be greater." Restiveness under His
constant preference for Peter may have caused this
dispute. It therefore became necessary to show that
this dignity was official and concerned authority. He
would plainly indicate that in bestowing office He
need not always follow the perfection of personal
virtue. And as a matter of fact, Peter, though the
highest in the Apostolic order, was not the "disciple
whom Jesus loved" by preference.
Meantime personal humility was to
be cultivated by all, whether in au-
thority or in subjection to authority.
The bearer of office should be per-
sonally as humble as he is official-
ly exalted, otherwise he is as per-
sonally unworthy as he is officially
favored. But let us admire the
kindly method our Saviour took to
illustrate this. "And calling unto
Him a little child, He set him in the
midst of them, whom when He had
embraced, He saith to them: Amen

WHO IS GREATER IN THE KINGDOM OF
HEAVEN."

And when they were in the house, he asked them: What did you treat of in the way? But they held their peace, for in the way they had disputed among themselves which of them should be greater. But Jesus, seeing the thoughts of their hearts, sitting down, he called the twelve, and said to them: If any man desire to be first, he shall be the last of all and the minister of all. And Jesus, calling unto him a little child, set him in the midst of them; whom when he had embraced, he saith to them: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven.

I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." As if to say, Why dispute about who shall be first in the kingdom before you have found out how to enter it? A life as blameless as this innocent child's is the key. Simplicity, frankness, love, trustfulness, content-these childlike virtues are the

great qualities for citizenship in My Kingdom. Added to these qualities are those that make men leaders, such as wisdom and prudence and fortitude. But it is childlike confidence in God, and a child's trustful love of parents and brothers and sisters and friends and companions: it is this type of character that is the Christian one, whether for subject or for ruler in the kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven is not a barrack of soldiers but a household of loving parents and children.

So Jesus taught. As to authority itself, it has its representatives in the Kingdom of God whose prerogatives are divine. Jesus had said to His Apostles on a previous occasion that whosoever received them received Him. That was a right attached to their office, and it armed them with a penalty wherewith to punish disobedience. He now and in words very similar-enforces that other right which empowers them to stand for God, and not them only but all others, even the simple and the lowly and the ignorant, all whose personal virtue makes them teachers by the strong right of good example, true counsel or zealous reproof: "And he that shall receive one such little child in My name, receiveth Me. And whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me."

Our Saviour's comparison of official dignity with personal virtue, even that of childlike innocence and simplicity, bears with it a useful lesson, especially to such as would make official power the absorbent of all other power in religion. The ideal condition is that in which authority is vested in persons distinguished. by private virtue; these bring to bear in the loving. exercise of their office the compulsion of personal holiness. We know that even in dealing with sinners

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