Week 21—Monday John 8:29-32
John 8:29-32
CHRISTIAN FAITH IDEALISM?
We are considering the Sermon on the Mount as realism. I was seated in a train with a Russian actress. She said, “I suppose you are a religious man? You are religious because you are weak. You want someone to hold your hand. You want God to comfort you.” I replied, “You are wrong really. I don’t want religion as comfort, but as adequacy. I don’t want God to hold my hand, I want God to strengthen my arm that I might reach out a helping hand to others. I don’t want God to wipe away my tears, I want God to give me a handkerchief so I can wipe away the tears of others.” Seeing she was on the wrong track, she said, “I suppose you are an idealist?” I replied, hesitatingly, “Yes, I suppose I am.” “Au revoir,” she replied, “I’m a realist.” This set me to thinking. I came to the conclusion that if I’m a Christian, then I must be a realist. For Christianity is not the Word become idea but the Word become flesh. It resulted in my writing the book, Is the Kingdom of God Realism? Since then, my conviction has deepened, and I find myself writing this book on the same theme with a slightly different slant.
The Sermon on the Mount seems to undercut this—it seems a sermon and sermons are usually classed as idealism. But this Sermon on the Mount was a Sermon on for the Mart—it was a revelation of the principles underlying the universe, therefore workable anywhere. And not one word did Jesus utter that was a mere word—it was the Word become flesh in himself. Here, as everywhere, his words were deeds and his deeds were words. And you can’t tell where his words end and his deeds begin—it was two sides of one reality. It was harmony—the highest harmony, moral and spiritual harmony. It was a revelation of life—his inner life.
O Divine Son of God, I thank you for this inner revelation. We are in awe at the wonder of it and yet the awe doesn’t repel us—it draws us—draws us to emulate. So open to us this Sermon and open us to the Sermon. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: If I am a Christian, I am a realist—an out-and-out realist.