Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-02

velopments of, the war. and as old as
the Christian Scriptures, is the IN
escapable question, What are you go
ing to do with the crowds?" For
good many milleniums the answer mas
been that of snobbishness and arls-
tocracy, so well expressed by the Phar-
isees who scorned Jesus and his toi-
lowing of common people, This mui- III
.i4ude is accused. Inc pls
crowds have beer but material Tor
kings and supernen to work upon,
throughout most of the long reach OF
history. Old philosophers spoke OF the
rabble with contempt, even as 90 GER
tain supercilious writer's ana speakers
in our own day
Not so Jesus the Great Democrat.
He lived and worked with the COM
mon people. He gave the best of his
teaching to them. The CRIME ana
sweat of the tbilers were more famll-
lar to him than the exquisite perfumes
which burdened the air of the homes
of the rich of his time. All that Jesus
did and taug1+ looked for its fulnll-
ment to the new purposes that SHOULD
be established in the hearts OF the
great mass of mankind. A key WORD,
which unlocls the life and thought
of Jesus, is this: Seeing the multi
tudes he had compassion on them.
That is a true miniature portrait OF
the heart of Jesus Christ. He recos-
nized the claims of the crowd. The
common people had a right to his
best All that he could command or
the resources of heaven and earth was
at the disposal of the multitude,
which had no standing with the aris-
tocracy of his time. Although he
touched thelife at all levels, and num-
bered the 1ich and noble among his
friends, Jesus undeniably gave of his
best to thote who had the least. 1t
is his spirit and his example which
have established the common people
upon their new plane. All the surg
ing social consciousness of our time,
all the triumphant emergence or DEM
ocracy, are owing to the Workingman
of Nazareth, who is to-day acclaimed
first of all the worlds teachers and
leaders.
The struggle For Bread
OF the many economic qquestions in
our own day the high cost of living
is the most absorbing. No other ma
terial issue so closely touches all the
people In all time this %has been
mankind's first concern. SO there Is
meaning in the fact that the one mira
Gle of Jesus which is recorded py all
four Gospels, and the one which was
most determinative of the popular at
titude toward him, is the miracle or
the loaves and the fishes. Next to the
raising of Lazarus, this was the Mas
ter's greatest sign" Written large
upon the surface of this lesson is the
truth that Jesus cares for the every
day affairs 0! mankind. He who
taught us to play for our daily bread
is still solicitors for the material we'll
being of humanity. DR.. Maltbie u.
Babcock once wrote Daily Bread
poem that relates our everyday sub
sistence to he eternal purposes of
God.
Back of the loaf is the snowy -four,
Back of tie flour the mill;
Back of the mill the field and the
shower,
The sun and Our Fathers will"
If, God is interested in anything
about man, il must necessarily be In
those things which touch the life of
the people most closely. Everybody
has to lean On 1.-The staff of life" NO
degree of sriritual devotion can free
us from the necessity to partake of
daily food. Most of the problems that
concern humanity are intimately re-
lated to the provision for the needs OF
the body. II is a real comfort to md
that the Saviour took thought for this
commonest of concerns of life. He
not only cared for the crowds, but he
also cared that they should not go
hungry. If, He were alive to-day, In
the midst Of sour social unrest, he
would not merely preach cdntentment
with ones lot; he would seek to pro
vide the needy with bread. We are fol-
lowing in the train of Jesus when we
address ourselves to the problems of
poverty.
Sought SoIicitude: Found Crowds
Fine spirits incline to select COM
pany and seclusion; they sbun the rab-
BILE. Jesus lived ever amidst the null
titudes. He regarded the claims of
the common folk upon HIM as sacred.
In the present lesson we find the
Master, deeply moved by the news of
the death of John the Baptist, seeking
seclusion on the eastern shore of the
Lake of Galilee. But He could not be
hid. With never SHADE OF annoyance
He gave up His own cherished plan,
and addressed Himself to the needs of
the people. People with wants could
command His services at any hour of
the day or night. He was the Good
Physician. S~t
Because it was Passover time the
country was astir with people. Those
of us who have been in Syria at the
season of the annual Moslem Pilgrim
age to Mecca can understand how
every center of the land was crowded
with eager folk, alet for every new
thing. All Jewry had by this time
heard of the new Wonder-worker. So
the throngs sought Fin. out wherever
He was. And with tie heedlessness of
crowd, they took little thought of the
their wanderings Bad led them from
the food baZars.
Thus we have te setting of the
story: an uninhaHted bit of country,
a multitude of pAople hanging upon
the words of Christ, and SO interested
in the sermon that they forgot about
their meals-whth is rather in con-
trast to the waymany a housewife is
needless of the $rmon, from thinking
about the Sund$ dinner. Now some
preachers wouldhave been above con-
Germ about foodfor that motley COM
pany. Not so JESUS. We are not told
His sermon, butwe are shown His So
licitude that tht people should be fed.
A Bafuh Businessman
"Send the Multitude away" said the
disciples, as thy saw the problem that
had arisen. T1at is the commonest of
all ways to leal with difficulties
dodge them. What the followers
thought was nine of their business the
Master acceptId as His responsibility
Did Jesus smiR to Himself at the petty
prudence anGffear of His friends
Would they nTer learn the greatness
of His resources? So to test Philip,
the canny, cautious businessman of
the crowd, he lsked, Whence shall we
buy bread, thft these may eat?"
Be sure that this practical" disciple
has figured tie matter all out. He
knew to a pehnvworth what it would
cost to give tbs host even a little food