Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1915-10-30

Iext' ~ new commandment ] give
unto you that ys love one another;
even az ! have loved you, that ye also
love one another. Love never Sail
sth.-John 1884, and I. Corinthians
1873.
There il contrast between the love
Of John and the callous unresponsive-
ness Of Judas toward the Master.
What elements can we discover
In this love which Is prominently
the love of Jesus? Are they not these.
namely-vision, faith, sacrifice? AS
to vision. Just recall the age or rath-
or Jesus point Of contact with the
age. Through Nazareth ran one of
the great caravan routes connecting
the great sea on the west with Dam
ascus In the east, and this was crossed
at points by the coast route to Egypt.
SO that Naxareth's streets were fami-
liar with Syrian and Tyrian, Roman
and Greek, as well as Jew. AS cara
van centre much that was coarse, un-
clean and degraded, the detritus OF
humanity, was In evidence, to say
nothing Of the vices Of the Roman
times that even socaned culture
boosted. No wonder the exclamation,
Can any good thing come out Of Naz-
areth?" Thirty years of that unique
life were spent here. There Is also
His contact with His own people, the
Jews; well did He know their incon-
sistency Of character, 30 startlingly
revealed when one day they cried,
"Hosannah, blessed Ia He that CON-
eth in the name of the Lord" and the
next with equal vehemence, Away
with Him; cruelty HIM" And then
there Is the irreligious attitude and
activity of the great leaders Of relig-
ion, Pharisee, Sadducee and scribe,
whose envy and hatred bounded Him
to death. to say nothing of the weak,
hating and vacillating character Of
those called to be His disciples.
Such was the Masters world con-
tact-His touch at different points
with the spirit and conditions of His
age. This was what He saw; but
was this all that He saw? For this
surely no vision was needed and no
man need become a seer.
The love of Jesus Is charac-
ter1zed not only by vision, which
sees the best in man and his
noblest possibilities, but also by faith
which unfalteringly believes that
there can and shall be realized in the
spirit and life of personal experience
by man. 30 that He shall be their hv-
ing expression. Will you say that His
own experience had nothing to do
with this faith? Then remember
HE was tempted at all points like
as we are" He knew what the power
Of sin was and He also knew that sin
could overcome by the faith and the
love Of God, and He overcame az We
must overcome. How else His atti.
tude toward the woman of sin at His
feet IN the temple whom tho religion
lists accused, when He said to her.
penitent. Neither do I condemn thee"
Or how understand His potent, pains
taking efforts to teach and train. to
develop and to give character to His
very imperfect and Outlines shining
disciplesf
And once more He not only saw
the vision beautiful, not only believed
that 1t could be realised in living hu-
man expression. but He utterly aban-
doned Himself In sacrifice to its act
ual realization. who for the Joy set
before Him endured tho cross. despis-
Ing In shame"
The vhton with IN penetrating
glance into the depths Of life with
their wondrous possibilities, which an
gels might envy; the faith that be-
neved, yea. knew that all this could
DO actualixed In the living expert
ence and expression Of spirit and
character In man. these and only
these made possible the joyous aban-
donment of Jesus Christ In the self
sacrifice of love to their certain roan-
cation.
Then take that scene In the upper
chamber. Jesus bathes the disciples
feetf Yes. but notice, He bathes the
feet OF Judas! Judasl yea, moro, a.
He sits down He says. He that eat
eth My bread lifted up his heel
against Me-" II would seem as though
q heart Of stone would break. Yet
there sits Judas unmoved. Did Jesus
desist? He speaks again. and He II
moving toward q climax In His reach.
ing after the soul Of this man. "veri-
ly, verify. / say unto you that one Of
you shall betray Me-" just imagine
the oppressive awesomeness of that
moment as the disciples conscience
smitten cry. Lord, 10 II II"
The sop. that mark of love and 70
vr In Oriental custom which implies
honor and affection! II anything ID
calculated to touch to the quick the
hidden life Of noble manhood that isi
But, alas. no sooner does he receive
the sop than he goes out straightway,
but ere he goes that Master win make
one more effort. for Jesus has seen
the vision of the capable life In Judas
L. -xa ~ i'll -