The chains of our selfishness, however, are strong. They are not broken easily, as we know from our own experience. And so we need not be surprised to find Christ meeting bitter opposition from those who were unwilling to make the effort to overcome their own selves.
In the following extracts from the Gospel, we see how insistent Jesus was on the importance of self-conquest. But Christ did not stop merely with words and parables. He demanded action. He Himself set before us the supreme example of self-conquest when He sacrificed Himself for us on the cross. Like a Good Shepherd, He not only cared for His lock, but actually laid down His life for His sheep. In the words of St. Paul: “He loved me and sacrificed Himself for me” (Gal. 2, 20). And He demands the same of His followers.
A SIMPLE PIECE OF BEAD
The Gospel story is full of surprises, and one of the greatest of these is the importance given by Christ to a simple piece of bread, and the difference it will make to our eternal destiny.
One day He described that terrible moment that will come to us immediately after death – not someone else’s death - but our own.
What will be the test by which I shall be judged? The length of the prayers I have said. The pilgrimages I have made? The ritual baths I have taken?
No, it will be a simple piece of bread! But let us listen to Christ’s own words:
“When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, he will sit down on the throne of His glory, and all nations will be gathered in His presence, where He will divide men one from the other as the shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those who are on His right hand, `Come, you that received a blessing from my Father, take possession of the kingdom which has been prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you brought me home, naked you clothed me, sick and you cared for me, a prisoner and you came to me.’
“Whereupon the just will answer, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and fed you, and thirsty and gave drink? When was it that we saw you a stranger and brought you home, or naked and clothed you? When was it that we saw you sick or in prison and came to you?’
“And the King will answer them, `Believe me, when you did it to one of the least of my brethren here, you did it to me.”
“Then He will say to those who are on His left hand, in their turn, `Go far from me, you that are cursed, into that eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For, I was hungry and you never gave me food. I was thirsty and you never gave me drink. I was stranger and you did not bring me home. I was naked and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not care for me.’
“Whereupon they, in their turn, will answer, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not minister to you?
“And He will answer them, `Believe me, when you refused it to one of the least of my brethren here, you refused it to me.’ And these shall pass on to eternal punishment, and the just to eternal life” (Matthew 25, 31-49).
These words can at first be surprising because of the importance Christ puts on simple acts of kindness. But a little thought shows that the division between those who are saved and those who are lost is really the division between those who think only of self and worship self and those who forget self and love their fellowman and God in him.
A piece of bread, or the welcome given to a stranger are small and simple things, but they can measure the success or failure of a whole life, for they are the measure of selfishness or unselfishness.
THE RICH YOUG MAN
The struggle with self can be bitter indeed. Self dies slowly. And unless I can overcome it, it can ruin my life. It can stop me from following the one path that leads me to the Father.
One of the saddest Gospel story is that of a rich young man who felt himself called to a higher life but did not have the courage to give up everything in order to follow Christ. The self in him prevailed over Christ’s invitation.
This man asked Christ, “Good Master, what must I do to win eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: You shall do no murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honour your father and mother.” “I have kept these,” he said, “ever since I my youth.”
“When He heard that, Jesus said, `In one thing you are still lacking; sell all that belongs to you and give the money to the poor; so that the treasure you have shall be in heaven; then come back and follow Me.’
“The answer filled him with sadness, for he was very rich; and Jesus seeing his sad look, said, `With what difficulty will those who have riches enter God’s kingdom!” (Luke 18, 18-24)
PEARL OF GREAT VALUE
No student succeeds in a difficult examination unless he struggles against his desire to escape work. No research scientist succeeds without struggling against the temptation to do careless work. Similarly, no one gains the kingdom of heaven without struggle with self and overcoming difficulties.
Jesus taught this with a parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure in a field. A man has found it and hid it again, and now, for the joy it gives him, he goes home to sell all that he has to buy that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is as if a trader were looking for rare pearls: and now he has found one pearl of great price, and he sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13, 44-46).
CHRIST FORGIVES A SINFUL WOMAN
The religious leaders at that time were quick to see in Jesus a threat to their own privileged positions. They saw that He puts less emphasis on external rituals than on a man’s heart. They saw that He brought real freedom from exaggerated observances to which they had given such an importance. He was challenging them to change and they were afraid of that. He was touching their own self and asking them to reconsider their views. And they resisted violently.
One day when He was with the common folk, they brought before Him a woman who was leading an immoral life. “Master,” they said, “this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Moses, in his law, prescribed that such persons should be stoned to death; what of you? What is your sentence?’, they said this to put Him to the test, hoping to find a charge to bring against Him.
“But Jesus bent down and began writing on the ground with His finger. When He found that they continued to question Him, He looked up and said to them, `Whoever among you is free from sin shall cast the first stone at her.’ Then He bent down again and went on writing on the ground.
“And they began to go out one by one, beginning with the eldest, till Jesus was left alone with the woman, still standing in full view. Then Jesus looked up and asked her, `Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?’ `No one, Lord’, she said. And Jesus said to her, `I will not condemn you either. Go, do not sin again in the future,”(John 8, 4-11).
On another occasion, Christ said even more clearly to people, “Go in peace your sins are forgiven.”
If He were only an ordinary man, those words would not have very much meaning; for since sin is an offence against God, only God can forgive sin. No one can ever forgive a person who has offended you. Only you can.
From Christ’s way of acting, from His tremendous love for all, from His words, I have to judge now for myself whether Christ can really claim my belief, my confidence, my hope.
Here with this woman, He does not condemn her. He offers her the chance of a new start; He offers her a new life. He shows her the way to escape from self.
BLIND MAN OR BLIND MEN?
It is rather frightening to see in my own life at times how easily self can blind me to the truth and to what is the true path my life should follow. I know that I can be terribly blind when I do not wish to see the truth because of the demands it will make on me.
This shines out clearly in Christ’s life which is full of many practical lessons:
“Jesus saw, as He passed on His way, a man who had been blind from his birth. Whereupon His disciples asked Him, `Master, was this man guilty of sin, or was it his parents, that he should have been born blind?’ `Neither he nor his parents were guilty,’ Jesus answered. `It was so that God’s action might declare itself in him. While daylight lasts, I must work in the service of Him who sent me; the night is coming when there is no working any more. As long as I am in the world, I am the world’s light….’
“With that, He spat on the ground and made clay with the the spittle; then He spread the clay on the man’s eyes and said to him, `Go and wash in the pool of Siloe.’ So he went and washed there, and came back with his sight restored.
“And now the neighbours and those who had been accustomed to see him begging began to say, `Is not this the man who used to sit here and beg?’ Some said, ‘This is the man’; and others, `No, but he looks like him.’ And he told them, `Yes, I am the man.’ `How is it, then,’ they asked him, `that your eyes have been opened?’ He answered, `A man called Jesus made clay and anoited my eyes with it and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloe and wash there’. So I went and wahsed and recovered my sight.’ `Where is He?’ they asked; and he said, `I do not know.’
“They brought him before the Pharisees, this man who had once been blind. Now it was a sabbath day (Jewish day of worship) when Jesus made clay and opened his eyes. And so the Pharisees in their turn asked him how he had recovered his sight. `He put clay on my eyes; and then I washed, and now I can see.’
“Whereupon some of the Pharisees said, `This man can be no messenger from God; He does not observe the sabbath.’ Others asked, `How can a man do miracles like this, and be a sinner?’ Thus there was a division of opinion among them. And now they questioned the blind man again, `Qhat account do you give of Him, that He should thus have opened you eyes?’ `Why,’ he said `He must be a prophet.”
“The Jews send for the parents of the man who had recovered his sight before they wuld believe his story that he had been blind, and that he had his sight restored to him. And they questioned them, `Is this your son, who, you say, was born blind? How comes it, then, that he is now able to see?’ His parents answered them, `We can tell you that this is our son, and that he was blind when he was born. We cannot tell how he is able to see now; we have no means of knowing who opened his eyes for him. Ask him; he id of age; let him tell you his own story.’ It was fear of the Jews that made the parents to talk in this way, for the Jews had by now come to an agreement that anyone who acknowledged Jesus as the Christ should be forbidden to enter the synagogue (temple); that was why his parents said, `He is of age, ask him himself.’
“So once more they summoned the man who had been blind. `give God praise,’ they said; `this man, to our knowledge, is a sinner.’ `Sinner or not,’ said the other, `I connot tell; all I know is that once I was blind, and now I can see.’ Then they asked him over again, `What was it He did to you?’ By what means did He open your eyes?’
“And he answered them, `I have told you already, and you would not listen to me. Why must you hear it over again? Would you too become His disciples?’ Upon this they covered him with abuse. `Keep His discipleship for yourself; we are disciples of Moses. We know for certain that God spoke to Moses; we know nothing of this man or whence He comes.”
“Why,’ the man answered, `here is a matter for astonishment: here is a man that comes you cannot tell whence, and He has opened my eyes. And yet we know for certain that God does not answer the prayers of sinners; it is only when a man is devout and does His will that his prayer is answered. That a man should open the eyes of one born blind is something unheard of since the world began. No, if this man did not come from God, He would have no powers at all.’ `What,’ they answered, `are we to have lessons from you,all stteeped insin from your birth?’ And they cast him out from their presence.
“When Jesus heard that they and so cast him out, He went to find and asked him, `Do you believe in the Son of God?’ `Tell me who he is , Lord,’ he answered, `so that I can believe in him.’ `He is one whom you have seen,’ Jesus told him. `It is He who is speaking to you.’ Then he said, `I do believe Lord,’ and he fell down to worship Him. Hereupon Jesus said, `I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees heard this, such as were in His company, and they asked Him, `Are we blind too?’ `If you were blind,’ Jesus told them, `you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, we can see clearly, that you cannot be rid of your guilt”
(John 9, 1-47).
THE ATTACK OF THE SILVERSMITHS
During His life Christ’s words and actions drew many people to follow Him. But these same words and actions roused violent storms of protest and opposition. We hav already seen how the Pharisees and high priests were always trying to trick Him up. We shall see later how violent their hatred became. We shall see how it brought Him to death on a cross.
This will be the story of all who try to follow Christ. They will meet sympathy and kindness from some, but they will meet with violent opposition from others. This will always happen because Christ makes war on selfishness.
Paul, one of the early followeres of Christ, was preaching the message that Christ had opened the way for all men to go straight to God, our Father: “It was just at this time that the way of the Lord was the cause of a notable disturbance. There was a silversmith called Demetrius who used to make silver models of Diana’s temple and so gave plentiful employment to the craftsmen. And now he called a meeting these and of the workmen who were in the same trade and spoke thus, `Friends, you all know that our prosperity depends on this business of ours. And you can see and hear for yourselves that this Paul has persuaded a whole multitude to change their allegiance, not only at Ephesus but over most of Asia, by telling them that gods made by men’s hands are no gods at all. It is not only that we are in dager of finding this work of ours discredited. The temple of the great goddess Diana will count for nothing, She will be shorn of her greatness, the goddess whom all the world revers.’
“At these words they were all overcome with rage, and began to shout, `Great is Diana of Ephesus!’ Their uproar filled the whole city, as they ran by common consent into the theatre , carrying with them Gaius and Aristarchus, who were companions of Paul from Macedonia. When Paul had a mind to show himself before the people, his disciples tried to prevent it; and some of the delegated of Asia, who were his friends, sent a message to him, imploreing him not to risk his life in the theatre” (Acts 19, 23-31).
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
The opposition to Jesus increased as the days went by. All the time He knew what would happen to Him. He knew what the very people whom He loved so much would do to Him. But He loved them – even the ones who attacked Him. He would show what real love is. But let us hear His own words on this: “Believe me when I
tell you this; the man who climbs into the sheepfold by some other way, instead of entering by the door, comes to steal and to plunder. It is the shepherd who cares for the sheep that comes in by the door. At his coming the keeper of the door throws it open, and the sheep are attentive to his voice; and so he calls by name the sheep which belong to him, and leads them out with him. When he has brought out all the sheep which belong to him he walks in front of them, and the sheep follow him, recognising his voice. If a stranger comes, they run away from him instead of following him; they cannot recognise the voice of a stranger.”
“This was a parable which Jesus told them, but they could not understand what He meant to say to them. So Jesus spoke to them again: `Believe me,’ He said, `It is I who am the door of the sheepfod. Those others who have found their way in are all thieves and robbers; to these, the sheep pad no attention. I am the door; a man will find salvation if he makes his way in though me; he will come and go at will, and find pasture. The thief only comes to steal, to slaughter, to destroy. I have come so that they may hav life, and have it more abundantly.”
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, but the hireling, who is no shepherd and does not claim the sheep as his own, abandons the sheep and takes to flight as soon as he sees the wolf coming; and so the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling, then, takes to flight because he is only a hireling, because he has no concern over the sheep.”
“I am the good shepherd. My sheep are known to me and know me just as I am known to my Father and I know Him. And for these sheep I am laying down my life. I have other sheep, too, which do not belong to this fold. I must bring them in, too, and they will listen to my voice; so there will be one fold and one shepherd. This my Father loves in me that I am laying down my life totake it up again. That is the charge which my Father has given me.”
“These words of His led to a fresh division of opinion among the Jews. Many of hem said, `He must be possessed of a devil; he is a madman; why do you listen to Him?’ While others said, `This is not the language of a man who is possessed by a devil. Has a devil power to open blind men’s eyes?” (John 10, 1-21).
It is time once more to pause and think quietly about the words and deeds I have dealt with here in the silence of my own heart. I am not reading pleasant stories of mere literature. I am meeting something that can make a real difference to my life—that can help me to overcome the tyranny of my own self.