The Tribune. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1951-19??, 1952-02-02

son can be read by S u SSM
some of his neigh. Or. foreman
bors, like a book in
plain English; to others who are
Just as close to him (close. that is.
measured by a foot-rule) he might
as well be written in Egyptian HER
oglyphics for anything they can
make out of him.
Strange Dinner Party
TRUE of all men, this was and Is
true of Jesus. Luke tells of din
ner party where he was a guest
and puts the spotlight on three per.
sons there: Jesus, the host Simon.
and an unnamed woman.
The woman was not supposed to
be there; she just wandered in Off
the street. Not that she was
stranger, exactly; she was well
enough known in the village SO that
the host knew what sort of woman
she was, even if (being a respecta-
BILE man) he did not know her name
Like all guests I'm those days,
Jesus had taken off his sandals
and vas reclining on the couch
beside the dinner table. This
woman stood behind him and
wept. Her tears feel on his bare
feet and she wiped them dry
with her long hair.
Jesus at first paid no attention.
but the host was scandalized. How
could Jesus take it SO calmly? How
could he let such a woman touch
him?
The conversation that went on. as
Luke reports it. between Jesus and
Sffsaosay rIaOpl0 tiseft the fsoos woman
OF the street understood Jesus
heart, while the leading citizen.
whose house 1t was, did not under.
stand Jesus at all One could read
Jesus. the other found him a closed
book. Why?
A Door Barred
THE MAN could not read jesus
mind and heart because, for
one thing, his own mind was made
up as to the kind of person Jesus
ought to be. He supposed Jesus
was the same sort of person as him.
self-proud, sensitive, careful of Lis
social standing, unwilling to asso.
ciate with the Clover classes"
wanting to be respectable much
more than he wanted to be helpful.
In his mind he carried a ready
made pattern Of what Prophet"
ought to be. and 20 when one who
was greater than all the prophets
sat at his own dinner table, he could
not see him for what he was.
His eyes were blinded, he
could not read Jesus, the door to
understanding him was closed.
He had never learned to read
the kind Of language which
Jesus life wrote large.
Then there was another reason
why this man could not "sce"
Jesus. 1t was his own pride, Simon
looked down on Jesus SO much that
he could not even treat him with
ordinary politeness.
A Door Open
pUT the woman understood. She
- did not know all there was to
know about Jesus. And still she I'M
derstood the depth of his heart.
The door Of his heart opened
to her--she could read the clear
writing of his spirit. She under
stood him because she was hum
bic. She did not try to fit him
into her pattern; in his presence
she knew, as the host Simon did
not, that his was the true pat
tern of life and hers the false.
She understood n,m too be-
cause of her love.
And so in spite of the immense
difference between them, there
flowed the light Of understanding.
even before word had been
spoken. She could read the bright
word FORGIVENESS which to
Simon was only blank.
.
And So Today
TO this very day, some people can
= read Jesus while others cannot.
And In between are uncounted peo-
pie who can read him only more OF
less dimiy as through glasses that
are not clean, or through the smoke
OF city twilight.
But 1t is still true that pride and
prejudice not only keep us from
reading the lives of those around us.
they keep us from reading the mind
of Jesus.
And 1t Is still true that humility
and love are the great teachers:
they show us how to read the lives
OF those around us every day, and
best Of all they teach us now to
read the word Forgiveness in the
mind and heart OF Jesus which
Ia the heart of GoA