The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1951-01-11

South where pedi-
grees are so much 8
treasured, they r
ask: who was 0~"
your granfather?" But out In the
wide-open west they have only one
question: What can you do?"
Action in Religion
TT is fair question. II the answer
! is Nothing" then it does not
make any difference at all what a
man can answer to the other three
questions.
To be sure, they look at T. )
differently in the Orient. A.
cording to the ancient phil0sO-
ply Of the East, II Is only the
Inferior man who rushes around
doing things. The superior man
sits and thinks. The Vests adj
miration for action, and the Or
tents admiration for contem-
plation, enter into religion itself.
The typical Oriental saint"
may be q man who never turned
his hand to a piece of work In
all his life. The typical western
saint" is likely to be a very
busy and active sort Of person.
1t is all the more interesting that
Jesus combined both the western
and the eastern ideas Of religion.
He was man of prayer and medi-
tation, yet man Of strenuous life
too.
Life of Action
THE Gospel by Mark, reliable
I tradition claims, actually comes
from Simon Peter. During Peters
missionary travels he used to speak
often about the life and work Of
Jesus, and young John Mark would
take down notes of what he said.
Then later Mark worked up into a
connected gospel many of those
story-sermons. It Is easy to believe
the tradition, because this gospel
sounds SO much like what would
appeal to Peter. man of action.
At any rate, in Mark we have
very little said about Jesus
teaching, great deal said about
what he did. Jesus does not have
"a spare minute, not a day off.
What about the rest of us? Sup
pose some biographer were to write
up you who read these lines. Sup
pose he could use in his story only
your actions, not your words or
ideas. Would there be enough ma
terial for him to write a book?
80
Words of Power
vI7HILE Mark almost never tells
w US what Jesus taught, he does
tell us that Jesus was teacher. Ir
describing the synagogue-service ir
Capernaum Mark tells us the PEG
pie were astonished. and even two
demon-ridden men were struck
down with terror.
What Jesus said that aston
ished the people and alarmed
the demoniacs we do not know.
Possibly Peter, who was there,
may have been too busy watch
ing peoples faces to hear what
Jesus was saying. However that
may be, Jesus is here introduced
to us not only as q doer but as
. thinker and teacher.
Life is not all action; it Is ais
thought. Jesus acts were full o
power; so and not less so were hi
ideas. words. teachings. Look a
the rest Of us again: We may b
full of talk, but how much powe
is there in our ideas?
Straightway
NNE word is found many time
~ in Marks stories of Jesus
"Straightway" as the older version
have it.-that is. Immediately.
Is not just Marks style. It is hi
way of bringing out something in
portant about Jesus life and habit.
There were no blank spaces.
no pages unwritten, no empty
gaps, no waiting around, in
Jesus life. In his life one &C
tiyity followed on the heels Of
another. He had no time to
waste, and he wasted none.
Let the honest reader try to max
a realistic budget of his time. A
the beginning of q week let him dra'
UP kind Of chart showing how b
expects to spend his 16 wakin
hours each day.--so much for worl
recreation. study and so forth. The
at the end of the week let him as
himself: Where did my time 60
He will often have to admit that b
did not really live the whole da,
any day,-only parts of it. Living a
a Christian means living ones flu
time, living one Of those l6 hours
day.
(Copyrigbt by the International Coui
all of Religious Education on behalf
| 40 Protestant denominations. Release
| By WNU FeaturesD
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