He did not work for riches or crave the glory and the doubtful pleasure of being acclaimed a national hero.
He wanted the people to look beyond the immediate desires of this earth and to seek the companionship of that spirit who was to unite them in love and in charity and pity for their fellow-men.
He had no patience with those who saw in him simply another (if better)representative of that old royal power which was now associated with the name of Herod.
Instead of confessing himself the Messiah,he stated repeatedly and clearly and as publicly as possible that his life,his own happiness and comfort meant nothing to him but that his ideals about the kinship of all men and the love of a kindly God meant everything.
Instead of harking back to those commandments which had been revealed to a few people amidst the thunder of Mount Sinai,he told the masses who listened to him on the smiling hillsides of Galilee that the God of whom he spoke was a spirit of love which knew neither race nor creed.Instead of giving practical advice about saving money and acquiring wealth,he cautioned his friends against those useless treasures which lie accumulated in the attic of the miser (where they are an easy prey to cunning thieves)and asked them to make their own souls an imperishable storagehouse of good deeds and noble thoughts.
Finally he summed up his entire philosophy of life in one single discourse,the famous Sermon on the Mount,whose most exalted passage I here repeat:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit:for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are they that mourn:for they shall be comforted.Blessed are the meek:for they shall inherit the earth.Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:for they shall be filled.Blessed are the merciful:for they shall obtain mercy.Blessed are the pure in heart:for they shall see God.Blessed are the peacemakers:for they shall be called the children of God.Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness'sake:for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are ye,when men shall revile you,and persecute you,and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely,for my sake.Rejoice,and be exceeding glad:for great is your reward in heaven:for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.Ye are the salt of the earth:but if the salt have lost his savour,wherewith shall it be salted?It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out,and to be trodden under foot of men.Ye are the light of the world.A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.Neither do men light a candle,and put it under a bushel,but on a candlestick:and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.Let your light so shine before men,that they may see your good works,and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
And as a daily and practical guide on the difficult path of life he gave them that short prayer which is this very day repeated by a hundred million people when they say:
“Our Father who art in heaven,Hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come.Thy will be done on earth,as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.And lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from evil.For thine is the kingdom,and the power,and the glory,for ever.Amen.”
Then,having laid down the general outline of a new philosophy both of life and of death entirely at variance with the old and narrow faith of the Pharisees,he asked those twelve men who were now his steady and faithful companions to follow him that he might show all the world how completely he had broken with those old Jewish prejudices which had made his race the enemy of all other men.
He left Galilee and visited the territory which since time immemorial had been known as Phoenicia.
Next he once more traversed the country of his birth,rowed across the river Jordan and deliberately passed into the land of the Ten Cities,which the Greeks (who formed a majority of the population)called the Dekapolis.
There the cures of a few demented people which he performed among the heathen caused as much grateful wonder as similar cures had done in his native land.
And it was then and immediately afterwards that Jesus began to illustrate his teaching with those very simple stories which appealed so greatly to the imagination of the people who flocked together to hear him and which have become part of the language of every European country.
It would be foolish,however,for me to try to retell them in my own way.
I am not,as I have so often said before,writing a new version of the Bible.
I am merely giving you the general outline of a book which (especially in its early parts)is often somewhat too complicated for the readers of our own hurrying days.
The gospels,however,are simple and direct and very short.
Even the busiest of men can find leisure to read them.
Fortunately they have been translated into English by a group of scholars who were masters of the language.Several attempts have been made since the seventeenth century to revaluate the ancient Greek ideas into modern words.All of these are rather disappointing,and none of them has been able to replace the version made by order of King James.It stands supreme to-day as it did three centuries ago.
If my little book can give you the desire to read the original,to study those wise parables,to comprehend the immense vision of this greatest of all teachers,I shall not have written in vain.
And that is really all I am trydng to do.
