2117.—Jesus and His Associates.
Did Christ when on earth belong to any organization whatever, such as a carpenter's guild or anything similar? 2. Would He become a member of the Carpenter's Union if He were upon earth to-day? There is not the shadow of a scintilla of evidence that our Lord Jesus Christ belonged to any such a society or organization. There were guilds and associations, unions, perhaps, we would call them, in that day. The union or class spirit was there. We have an instance of priestly cult in the case of the Jew that had fallen among thieves. The priest looked upon him and saw that he was not of his class, and passed him by. A Levite came along and looked upon him, saw that he was not of his set, and he passed him by. A despised Samaritan came along, looked upon the poor Jew, knew that he was not of his set or nation, and yet he took him and cared for him. Jesus commended the Samaritan, and left for all time the injunction, "Go, and do thou likewise." Christ's heart was ever open to all classes, going out to the needy of all people. The Pharisee, the scribe, the priest, the publican, the poor isolated leper, the sick, the needy, the foreigner, all classes found in Him their Friend. His disciples wanted to make of His association a union of their own. They found some disciples one day who were preaching and working miracles in the name of Christ, and they forbade them, and said to them, "You have no business to do this because you do not go with us." Jesus rebuked them. On another occasion certain Samaritans would not receive Jesus because He was going down to the—to them—hated city of Jerusalem. They said, "Lord, let us call down fire and destroy them." The Master replied, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Now that is what the Lord did when He was here upon the earth; and in reply to the second question, we do not know why He would do anything different, nor teach any different principles were He here, for He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever."