The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-10-15

Country Boy, City Man, World Leader.
Fighting in the Holy Land keeps
travellers away this winter. Up in
Galilee the French and the natives are
at death grips. War is on the increase
amid the scenes of the Bible. Not yet
are Christian powers ready to come
into subsection to the one Leader who
can bring peace not only to His home
land, but also to the world. Neverthe-
less, peace will be found ultimately not
in the counsels of statesmen in Eu-
rope, but in the words of Jesus spoken
in the now-harried Land which He
loved and in which He lived.
Hold fast to the faith that only
Christ can pacify and save this dis
traught world. He is the only Hero
who can deliver humanity. Therefore,
every incident of His life, every phase
of His background and experience. and
every aspect OF His teaching is to be
looked upon of present interest.
While it is important to know interna-
tional affairs today, it is more impor-
tant to know the universal Christ.
After the soldiers and the diplomats
have retreated, baffled, from the field.
the men and women who know Christ
will come to the fore. So it is real
education, real wisdom, to familiarize
ourselves with the mind of the Master.
Reared as a country boy, Jesus be-
came a city man. Living as an inte
grail part of the life of a pastoral and
agricultural people, He was Himself
skilled mechanic The friend Of fish
ermen (while I was watching the
olive-skinned. black-eyed. beautiful
boys OF Tiberias disportfng themselves
in the water last summer, my
thoughts, of course. turned to another
Syrian Boy, looking just like them.
from Nazareth to go swimming in this
same lake). Jesus was also the con-
frere of scholars and a teacher in the
synagogue.
In the Home Town of Jesus.
What a yindication the centuries
have brought, that now the very Ca
pernaum synagogue in which Jesus
once taught has been excavated, and
made a tourist sight, not because of
its architectural beauty, but simply
because it is a relic of the home town
of Jesus. All that the world knows
or cares about the cosmopolitan city
of Capernaum, at the head of the Lake
of Galilee, is that Jesus once lived and
taught and ministered there.
There is a sort of defeatist propo-
ganda in some quarters which regards
the present-day city as a well-nigh
hopeless field for Christianity. Some
persons even look upon the city as a
sort of modern anti-Christ. They look
to the country and the small town as
the hope of the church. This craven
spirit overlooks the first fact of the
present Lesson, which is that Jesus be-
gan His ministry in a big city, the
metropolis of His neighborhood, a pa
gan, wicked city. Into the midst of
these adverse conditions, Jesus pro-
jected His personality and His mes
sage and HIS mission. There He lived
| and preached and began His work of
building up the Kingdom that should
be universal. Is 1t any wonder that
high hearts and heroic. eager to fol-
low in the footsteps of Jesus. adven-
ture the great modern cities, with all
of their formidableness?
Dare the Laymen Do 1t?
Big city newspapers are read over
| a radius of manN hundreds of miles:
which Is one reason why the example
| of Jesus should be ernulated today,
| in striking for the cities as the center
| of evangelism. The strategy of such
| a campaign is obvious. With an un-
precedented call for message that
will salt and save our world, is not the
| hour ripe for men who. Jesus fashion,
will launch out into the very maei-
Strom of our problems with an evan
! gel of salvation?
am not suggesting merely the
| building of more churches or the
creation of additional ecclesiastical
| committees and officials: the land has
already too many of these. Nor have
!
| The simple procedure, modelled on the
practice of Jesus at Capernaun1, would
! be for self-supporting laymen, to
whom the Word has come. to carry
the Evangel, by tongue and pen and
practice, to the great cities This is
| the sort of ''1aymen's movement now
needed. 1t. would have no salaried
! officers and no pretentious organiza-
| ton. 1t would remove the faint of
commercialism from evangelism. Cali
! ing for penitence and prayer, rather
| than for money, this ministry would
affirmation of the external truth that
only Christ can deliver our world;
and that discipleship to Him is the
first of all duties.
With straining eyes. the whole
world is looking for a Deliverer and a
save our time. Everybody who thinks
| laments the lack of great spiritual
leadership. Editors business men.
professional men-plain people of all
walks perceive the urgency OF our
need for a new religious dynamic in
| our day. Possibly we have all been
| wrong in seeking for some one voice,
| some one leader, whom we may fol-
low into paths of peace. Is 1t not
possible that in these times, when God
is so strangely expressing Himself in
| democratic ways that our help is TO
come-not thru new leadership, but
| thru new discipleship-by the devo-
ton and service of unprofessional men
| and women who are themselves sim
ply following tie clear example of our
sufficient Leader, Jesus Christ? Who
knows but that the long-expected re-
vival may be an awakening to volun-
| teer service by those who already
| bear the name of the Master? 1t is
easy to envisage new-fashioned meet
: inEs. for the presentation of the Cos
! pei of the times in every club and
lodge and factory and labor union
and theater and church in every city
| in the land. There is sufficient war
rant for 1t all in the way Jesus set
about His public ministry in Caper-
I naum.
Creating New Party.
| Something more than a civic COM
motion was caused by Jesus in
| Capernaum. He did even more than