WHAT human being that ever lived on this earth could be compared with Jesus? His saving influence, His spiritual power, is simply beyond estimation. Even unbelievers acknowledge this fact. As Napoleon I said, "To-day there are thousands of human beings who would cheerfully lay down their lives for Jesus." Think of it: who would lay down his life for a dead Caesar or Homer?
What nation then would not be supremely proud and happy, even from this worldly point of view, that such a Saviour of men was born among them? The influence of Jesus is stamped on the whole civilized world—stamped with His name and not with His Spirit, it is true, but there it is! Time is reckoned from His birth. The greatest festivals are celebrated to commemorate some event of His life, and laws and usages are molded according to the letter (if not the Spirit) of His teachings. His blessed influence enters into men's hearts; thousands, yes millions of human beings begin and end their prayers with that holy name. It is on the lips of the holiest saint as well as in the depths of the soul of the vilest and remorse-stricken sinner. Loving mothers teach their prattling babes that blessed name as one of the first words. It is the sweetest name to soothe the pain of declining age, and thousands of sinking lives have whispered with the last breath that holiest name. No name on earth is so sweet to the pure in heart and the sin-crushed soul!
The Polish nation feels proud of such men as Kopernikus and Kosciusko; every nation feels proud of its great men. But what man, from the beginning of the world, could for an instant compare with that majestic Spirit, that moral grandeur—Jesus Christ?
And yet, what is the attitude of the orthodox Jew toward that incomparable Man—a Jew? How infinitely sad, how strange, sounds the following letter from a Jewish mother to the son of her heart, who became a meek follower of Jesus. I take the letter from the Good Tidings of the Messiah. It does not begin with the affectionate "My darling son," of a natural mother, but:—
"Max, you are no longer my son; we have buried you in effigy; we mourn you as one dead. And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob strike you blind, deaf, and dumb, and damn your soul forever. You have left your father's religion and the synagog for that of Jesus, the impostor; and now take your mother's curse. Clara."
How sad, how strange and inexplicable from the point of any natural law! And yet, my dear reader, this is only the mystery of sin. It belongs to the same strange spiritual power that is striving for supremacy in my heart and in your heart. Instead of arousing indignation in our souls, this strange behavior of the poor, blinded Jews should only inspire us with pity and love for their salvation. The least hatred and dislike for them, if cherished in our hearts, leads to the same depths of infamous hatred and spiritual insanity that we find in so many of the orthodox Jews.
And it is only by the power of this same Jesus that you and I can conquer this unreasonable and inhuman foe. Rom. 8:6, 7. Acts 4:12.