The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-04
For May Is, Jesus, the Servant OF
All."-John 13:1-17.
The King Mho Did Slave Work.

The King Who Did Slave Work.
What is the greatest form of artis
try in the world? 1t is to be found in
your town and my town, and OCCASION
ally. when it gets into the art galleries,
it holds the interest of the spectators
as does nothing else. Life, the great
artist, has done his work so well that
the lesser painters can only hope 20
reproduce his masterpiece.
This picture, the finest in the world,
is usually wrought upon a woman's
face, and that woman mother and
a home-maker. The lines are soft,
as high lights. A glow like sunset
peace suffuses the picture with q
light that never was on land or sea-.
Strength to endure and to do is there.
laid on by the pigments of anxiety and
suffering and experience of the deeps
of being. The title of the work IS
Love In Service"
These faces of the mothers of men
and especially of our own mothers
how they fortify our souls! Slowly,
deity, beautifully there has been
wrought into them by life the firm,
gentle lines of ministry and solicitude
and patience and tireless love. They
are strong in their beauty, and beauti-
full in their strength. No cosmetic
that a sophisticat ted world IN devise
serene and spiritual beauty which is
born of self-forgetting service for
loved ones. Sometimes. Mrs. Grundy
calls these faces plain and old
fashioned" but she has never been
able to devise a. substitute for them.
They have been adorned according to
the pattern set by Jesus Christ. when,
in an upper room. a few nights be-
fore He died He laid aside His kingly
dignities and gave himself to loWly
ministry saying, II have given you an
example" - The religion which holds
the world steady today is that of the
mothers who have learned this secret
of Jesus-love in lowliness of service.
Daring to Be Radical.
1t was at the apex of His life that
the peerless Philosopher, the match
less Master the Teacher of Truth, led
His closest friends into this supreme
lesson of the sublimity of self-abne-
CATION. 1t was a kinglier deed than
the triumphal entry; and truer to the
genius of His life than the shifting of
the money-changers or the healing of
the blind.
He had come to the nour of reveal
ing the inhermost meaning of His mis-
sion and His message. Time was
short. Only a few crowded hours re-
manned in which to lmpart the final
teaching that was to suffice whole
world for all the centuries. There was
termost power of the Christ was
crowded into the expression of His
message.
Dramatically. the Master took
towel and basin, and girding up His
cloak, He washed His disciples feet.
One would almost have to be first
century oriental to appreciate that
deed fully. Shoes were not worn in
doors. The having of the feet, after
a dusty journey against which SAN
dals were poor protection, was eth
er done by ones self or by slaves. 1t
was not the work of an equal. No
laws of etiquette required it of a host.
Perhaps never before had it been done
by a man of standing for his equals
or interiors.
How the company must have stared
and protested! Impossible! Prepos-
ferrous. The Orient cares more for
form and ceremony and dignity than
does the West; and this was ap orien-
tai scene. The Great Teacher doing
slaves work-and the echoes of the
hosannas of the multitude scarcely
yet died away? Incredible, We have
had the story for nineteen centuries,
and it is impossible for us to COM
prehend how radical the procedure
was. There is no modern parallel for
it.
When the Showers Stoop.