14
JESUS AND THE LABOR QUESTION
The International Sunday School Lesson For November 30 Is,
"Jesus Teaches Peter True Greatness"—John 13:1-10
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS
The international committee which
selects the Sunday school lessons did I
its work on the present series several
years ago: yet here comes to-day's|
lesson as opportunely as though plan- I
ned last week. It lays a linger of!
wisdom upon the sensitive center ot'j
the labor question. Revealing the'
existence in apostolic times oi a class I
spirit such as blights our own day,!
it shows Jesus as pointing the way '
out of this old,old perplexity.
First for the lesson story itself,!
as we have it in the \Veynioiith |
Version: i
"Now just before the Feast of the I
Passover this iucident took place, j
Jesus knew that the time had come[
for Him to leave this world and go,
to the Father: and having loved Hisj
own who were in the world, He (
loved them to the end. While sup-,
per was proceeding, the Devil hav- !
ing by this time suggested to Judas'
iscariot, the son of Simon, the
thought of betraying Him, Jesus, i
although He knew that the Father (
had put everything into His hands,
and that He had come forth from!
Hod and was now going to God, rose!
from table, threw off His ouper gnr-j
ments, and took a towel and tied it
round Him. Then He poured water j
into a basin, and proceeded to wash;'
the feet of the disciples and to wipe',
them with the towel which He had i
put around Him. When He came toil
Simon Peter, Peter objected. 1 <
" Master,' he said, 'are you go- 1 :
ins to wash my feet ." [1
" What I am doing." answered Je-, 1
sus, 'for the present you do riot J:
know, but afterwards you shall i
know.' ;,
" 'Never, while the world lasts,'it
said Peter, 'shall you wash my l'eet.';!
" 'lf I do not wash you," replied !<
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FRIDAY EVENING,
Jesus, 'you have no share with me.'
I " 'Alnster,' sa'id Peter, 'wash not
only my feet, but also my hands and
I my head.'
" 'Any one who has lately bath
j ed,' said Jesus, 'does not need to
! wash more than his feet, hut is clean
■ all over. And you my disciples are
j clean, and yet this is not true of all
i of you.'
j "For He knew who was betraying
j Hint, and that was why lie said,
! " 'You are not all of you clean.'
"So nfter He had washed their
jfeet, put on His garments again, an-.t
I returned to the table. He said to 1
j them,
j "Do you understand what I have
, done to you? You call me 'The Rah-,
| bl" and 'The Master,' and rightly so, 1
t for such 1 ant. If 1 then, your Mns
(ter and Rabbi, have washed your
feet, it is also your duty to wash one
another's feet. For I have set you
an example in order that you may do
what I have done to you. In most
solemn truth 1 tell you that a serv
ant is not superior to his Master,
nor is a messenger superior to him'
who sent him.' "
W ho \\ ill I>o Manual Work?
Most of the conditions of to-day's;
labor troubles were there present.!
This group of fishermen friends of !
Jesus felt themselves superior to!
manual labor of a menial sort. They
had been quarreling among them-1
selves as to which was the greater, j
and about their own rights and privi-l
leges. That phase of the setting of
the incident is told by Luke (22: '
24-27. These plain men had he-1
come proud and self-centered. They
were jealous for their personal anil I
class rights. They had grown so.'
selfish and "sensitive" that on one
of them hud offered to fulfill the |
hospitable office of pouring water oft
the dusty feet of the others. No
body, in sort, wanted to do a slave's
I work.
j Therefore Jesus did tt himself,
i The carpenter had no trade scruples
| about entering domestic service. He
. was not above any task, however
menial. Not his to insist upon his
: "rights" and his superiority: he
proved his greatness by stooping to
the lowest labor. On all sides we
hear it said that our need of needs
is for everybody to work harder, and
at the nearest task. The servant
problem in homes is apparently only
going to be solved by a return to
the old-fashioned methods of women
doing their own work.
As a matter of everyday observa
tion, too many of us are, like the
apostles, standing on our dignity,
and hiring work done by others
which we should do ourselves. Half
the recruits to the overcrowded
classes of underpaid clerks are im
pelled primarily by a desire to wear
jwl.ite collars; or conversely, by an
aversion to overalls and soiled
I nands.
One.day in France I was talking
:with a group of young officers about
!the country's ufter-the-war prob
i lenis, especially as affecting immi
gration and labor. Up spoke one
man. "This war has taken the stig
ma from manual labor. The men
have dug countless miles of trench
es. and liavo grown strong at it.
They will not object to digging
trenches at home, if properly paid.
Hard work is healthful, and most of
us would rather be busy out of doors
than cooped up in offices." War
taught youth the dignity of 'hard
work. It made them servants un
abashed. They learned that
"Honor and shame from no condi
tion arise:
Act well thy part; there all the
honor lies."
The Rig Split
Seen from the angle of the upper
room, the present baneful division
into "working class" and "capital
istic class" Is not only wrong, but
incredibly stupid. All of us who
have any rights at all are workers I
tttRRISBtrRO TELEGKJtPHT
iin some guise or other; the real I
idlers in this new western wot Id
; are so few as to bo negligible. The
first test of a man's worth to the
j world Is what he contributes to the
j common well-being, by brain or
brawn. The person who looks down
j upon the manual laborers ts as bad
: a citizen as the Bolshev ik who rails
lat all others as "bourgeois." Both
| are silly', and exerting a malign in
| fluence out of ail proportion to their
personal importance. Anybody who
thinks or talks in terms of classes
to-day is adding to the world's woe,
I and intensifying its gravest present
| problem. Would that a great leader
(might arise to blazon upon the day's
f horizon, in fullest significance, the
j inspirited truth. "One is your Master,
(even Christ, and all ye are breth
ren."
Neither leisure nor pleasure is
alone worth living for. Work, real
work, hard work, taxing work, is
tlie human lot, our contribution to
our world. Into ttie thinking of the
oncoming generation there should be
instilled a love for work, a pride in
work, and a veritable passion l'or
work. Among memorized poems
be Henry van Dyke's:
1 "Let me tiut do my work from day
! to day,
j In field or forest, at the desk or
j loom.
; in roaring market-place, or tran
quil room:
| Let nie but tind it in my heart to
| . *>', ' |
| Wlien vagrant wishes beckon rue
astray,
j "This is my work; my blessing, I
not my doom;
Of all wlio live 1 am the one by
whom
This work can best lie done in my]
own way.'
Then shall 1 see it. not too greot i
nor smalt
To suit my spirit and arouse my I
po vvers;
] Then shall I cheerfully greet the'
laboring hours,
[And cheerfully turn, when the long!
shadows fall j
j At eventide, to play and love and |
I rest, I
I' Because 1 know for me my work I
I j is best."
> The King Witli a Towel
i| Only once in all his recorded
• words did Jesus say, "I have given
i! you an example." That was When
I; he was doing a servant's work. In
i his self-abasing service, tlie Master
l bade his putfed-up friends do as he
- did. He had, as it were, invested
r himself with all his royal state—
) "-—Jesus, knowing tliat the Father
s had given all things into His hands,
, and that He came forth from God,
t and goeth unto God"—before he
r girded himself with a towel, emblem
J of service.
? We are not left in any doubt as
. to the signiticunee of any phase of
-1 the incident, it was not a casual
unpremeditated bit of gracious con
s descension on the part of Jesus; but
l'a deliberate, self-conscious evidence
3j of his attitude toward service and
) I humility. It was a deep rebuke to
5; the prideful twelve, and a lesson for
•'his Church throughout all time,
i j When we want to be Christlike, we
• ] have to serve. "Ye call inc 'The
si Rabbi' and 'The Master," and rightly
iso, for such I am. if I then, your
| Master and Rabbi, have washed your
i feet, it is also your duty to wash
' one another's feet."
! If in every labor temple and every
gathering place of toilers, there
could le hung a picture of Jesus.
1 girded with a towel: and in every
J board of trade and directors' room
land employer's office a picture of
] Jesus as a carpenter, the message
'might sink home. That Figure is
jthe test and the Judge of all of us.
(Only in liis patient, tolerant, se'.f
--j abnegating spirit can we meet our
[ present emergency. Other teachers
j may arraign us against one another;
Jesus takes us all into his fellowship
ion the plane of service,
j Prideful wealth and arrogant labor
iin search of leisure both need th >
■ i word that is truly the golden text
j of this lesson: The Son of Man cume
:'not to be ministered unto but to min
ister." "Who follows In his train'"
;!That way ties the healing of the
j world's wounds, the meeting of its
j needs, the bridging ol" its chasms, the'
(securing of its peace. i
Suppose, instead of writing oU"-1
selves down, "John Doe, capitalist,"
we write, "John Doe. minister to
men, in imitation of Jesus Christ." :
Or, insteud of "Richard Roe, work- j
man," we write, "Richard Roe. min
ister to men, in imitation of Josr.Sj
Christ." ilow long would our in-:
dustriul crisis survive such a spirit'.' 1
The way out for to-day wast shown !
in the upper room in old Jerusalem, ;
the night before Jesus died.
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W. GROVE'S signature on each I
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NOVEMBER 28, i 919.
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