Yesterday, Today, and Forever (12 page)

Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am (John 17:24).

A deep, long silence followed. It was not uncomfortable; it was rather a happy and satisfied silence. As we looked down on the treetops at our feet far out into the valley over to Mount Mansfield or, lying on our backs, up into the deep blue sky, the word started working in our hearts: “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word.” And with deep gratitude in our hearts, we understood that this meant us.

An indescribable happiness wells up in the heart when one realizes that this is the way He talks about His friends to the Father, even if He foresees that soon they will be scattered in their houses and leave Him alone. Thus enveloped and protected, the feeling of greatest peace — modern man calls it security — settles in the soul. With great eagerness one wishes, however, to make absolutely sure that one belongs to this inner circle. That’s why it is so good to know that He said, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” And also, “This is my commandment, that you love one another.”

Maria von Trapp

Chapter 16

“He ... Healed Them”

Once again we were sitting in the bay window with another family, very close friends of ours, Paul and Mary and their three oldest children, and Father Wasner. Paul is a doctor, and the conversation turned toward miracles.

“Not so long ago,” said Mary, “we had five doctors and their wives for dinner. On that evening we had a lively discussion of miracles. Paul and I have wanted ever since to look up all the miracles of our Lord, but we haven’t gotten around to it. Would it perhaps be possible …?”

In a short time we were busy turning pages again, Mary listing the headlines:

The wedding of Cana

Cure of the official’s son

Exorcism of a demonic

Peter’s mother-in-law

The draught of fishes

Cure of a leper

Cure of a paralytic

Cure of a withered hand

“Lord, I am not worthy….”

The widow of Nain

The storm on the lake

Geraza

The daughter of Jairus

The woman with the hemorrhage

Cure of two blind and one mute

The pool of Bethsaida

Feeding of five thousand

Feeding of four thousand

Walking on the water

The Syro-Phoenician woman

Cure of the deaf-mute

Cure of the blind

The Transfiguration

Cure of the lunatic boy

The money in the mouth of the fish

The man born blind

The paralytic in Capernaum

The stooped woman

The man with the dropsy

The ten lepers

Lazarus

His own Resurrection

Mass cures: “He …healed them.”

Every one of those stories had been read aloud. Now we looked up at the list, and quite naturally, miracles seemed to group themselves. There were cures; there were exorcisms; there were miracles of nature, like the storm on the lake and His walking on the water; there were miracles of a completely supernatural character like the happenings of Jesus’ baptism, the Transfiguration, and the Resurrection.

One of the youngsters suggested that we write the headlines of each one on a little card so that we could group them on the table. We did. The large group of cures was subdivided very soon into cures which happened through touching and others which took place through a mere act of His will. We found that while “He laid his hands on every one of them and healed them” (Luke 4:40), sometimes He says to the suffering ones, “Go,” and the miracle happens after their departure. Once He says to an official whose son was sick in another town, “Go; your son will live” (John 4:50). Another time He goes into quite a long ceremony with the deaf and dumb (Mark 7:32–35).

It was fascinating. Everybody plunged into the discussion. Everybody found a new angle. Quite naturally, everybody found questions to ask. “Why does He sometimes touch a person and sometimes not? Why does He go into ceremonies when He proved that He can change water into wine by merely willing it, without even saying so? And ... and ... and. ...”

It was one of those days when the supper bell found us still sitting in the bay window. None of us had noticed the time flying, and questions were by no means all answered. Letters went back and forth whenever one of the two families found a new angle for an answer. The questions have still not all been solved. What a great consolation that Augustine says that what he does not know about the Gospels is so much more than what he does know!

Another time the topic was our Lord as a storyteller. We picked out all the parables one by one.

The story of the prodigal son

“A sower went out to sow”

The laborers in the vineyard

The ten virgins

The story of the Good Samaritan

The story of the rich man and Lazarus

And so on. In looking at them more closely, we could see great differences among them according to the audiences our Lord was addressing.

Then came the questions: Why did He talk in parables at all? Why did He explain them at times, and at other times, not? Quite naturally, we people of today, the age of the short story, will admire such immortal masterpieces of storytelling as the Prodigal Son or the Good Samaritan.

Automatically this discussion led to another one — our Lord as a teacher. There we see Him in the Sermon on the Mount instructing the multitudes, instructing communities, and every so often instructing His disciples. He always followed a completely new method, His very own, so that the people said in admiration, “No man ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46). “For He taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 7:29). It was not only the method which was so new, but most of all, it was
what
He was teaching.

For the first time people listened to the greatest news of all that there is a Father in heaven so closely concerned about every one of them that not even a hair can fall from their heads without His knowing it.

For the first time also people listened to another piece of news. That because they are all children of the same “Father who art in heaven” (Matt. 6:9) they must feel like sisters and brothers among each other: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 19:19, 22:39, etc.).

For the first time they learned how they could themselves attain their Father’s kingdom: “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

For the first time they learned about spiritual life and how to nourish it, and how to regain it after it has been lost.

For the first time they learned how to become happy — not by winning friends and influencing people, but by becoming poor in spirit and, pure in heart: “Blessed are . . .” (Matt. 5:3–11).

There is no end to the new facets one can find on the divine crystal, Jesus as a teacher.

But the same can be said about our Lord as a leader, especially to us, the children of our times with their self-appointed duces, fuehrers, and leaders.

“I couldn’t imagine Christ or His mother ever having gone to a party,” exclaimed a lady once. Well, if we can’t imagine that, we had better look into the pages of the New Testament quickly. He went whenever He was invited, and that seems to have been quite frequently. Much too often for the taste of the Pharisees, who finally called Him disgustedly “a glutton and a drunkard” (Matt. 11:19). At the wedding of Cana we see Him and His mother attending one of those Oriental weddings which lasted at least a week, where there was entertainment for the guests in the form of dancing and music and speeches, much good food, and even more good wine. It is very profitable to do some research work on our Lord at parties. It makes Him so much more human.

Chapter 17

“O Woman, Great Is Your Faith”

Some years ago I gave a lecture in a large city. During the talk it happened several times that you could have heard that famous pin drop. Afterward there was a little party, and there I was offered the chance of a lifetime. A rich lady approached me and said, “If you talk like that, then you can also found a church.” She pleaded with me to found a church solely for women and be its first high priestess. Money would not matter. One million dollars would be available right away. I could also design my own vestments.

This was like a bombshell. A lively discussion followed. She complained bitterly that all the existing churches were catering to men. “Just look at your own church,” she frowned. “The pope, bishops, priests — always men. Women have nothing to say during the service. That goes back to the time when Christ chose only men for His disciples. He is to be blamed for it all. He brought women to submission under men. He enslaved them as they had never been enslaved before in history. Just remember the beautiful temple services of pagan times,” she exclaimed with enthusiasm, “where the high priestess conducted worship and music. We absolutely have to bring those times back!”

When I had made it unmistakably clear that she could not count on me, since I was already a member of what she had called “my church” and also because I didn’t believe what she said myself, she was disappointed and angry. “How undignified for a woman to follow Christ!” were her last words.

When I met my family, they didn’t want to believe me at first. It sounded so absurd. I had been taken completely by surprise, as much by the suggestion that I found a church as by the accusations against Christ and Christianity, and I couldn’t even retaliate. I knew it was silly and wrong, but I had never done too much thinking on that point. Now we all agreed that there was a great need for some real research on Christ and women.

We had to begin by finding out about the “good old times” before Christ. Father Wasner got the respective historical books from the public library, and now we studied the position of women among the old Greeks, among the Romans, among the Egyptians, the Buddhists, and the Confucians. The more we read, the more we found that women were the property of men. Fathers or husbands could sell them or kill them. Men were “wisdom personified” whereas women were born stupid, a mere zero for mankind. Nowhere in all the pagan lands and religions was there any respect for women. Classical paganism had done away completely with dignity of womanhood.

It was somewhat different among the ancient Jews. Whereas the pagans of antiquity glorified promiscuity, the Jews of the Old Testament always called a sin a sin. Marriage and family were held in high esteem. But the women themselves had just as little to say as their sisters among the pagans. The father gave his daughters in marriage without asking them. Women were restricted to running the household and caring for the little children. They were not worthy of being educated or of partaking in any of the religious ceremonies. At the time of Christ their position had become much worse. Women at that time were rather things than persons. The rabbis couldn’t insist enough on the superiority of the men. Women were inferior. They could not be legal witnesses. Women, slaves, and children were on the same level. To study the Torah — the law of the Old Testament — was the exclusive privilege of men. In the first century A.D., Rabbi Eliezer coined this expression: “Rather should the Torah be burned than entrusted to a woman.” The rabbis said that one hundred women were the equivalent of two men. (That was already a great improvement on the famous Euripides, who said that ten thousand women were worth less than one man.) At the time of Christ the people of Israel had lost the ways of old when they had venerated Deborah, Esther, Ruth, Rebekah, and Rachel. Just like her pagan sister, woman was sighing in her degradation for the coming Messiah in a twofold way — for all her people and for women especially.

This was the state of affairs when the time was fulfilled. This was now the time of “the woman.” When everything had been spoiled for men in paradise, God Himself had pronounced this prophecy addressed to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman” (Gen. 3:15). The great rabbis, teachers, and scribes did not know that when a certain little child was born in Nazareth, He was conceived without sin and His mother would be addressed by the angel, “Hail, full of grace.” Mary was “the woman” who would restore her sex to the dignity of the time before the Fall. Her Son would bring about this revolution which would reinstate women and place them at the side of men as it was in paradisiacal times when God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper
comparable to him
” (Gen. 2:18; NKJV, emphasis added).

After He had grown up and had lived under the same roof for 30 long years with the holiest of women, He who was the Son of God, but also the Son of Man — her Son — had the greatest respect for her whole sex. And when the time had finally come for Him to talk about the things His Father had told Him, this was among these things: that before God the soul of a woman is worth exactly as much as the soul of a man. He would teach this truth not only in words, but also by His actions.

This is one of the most revolutionary deeds in the three long years of His public life — that He will address women just as much as men. The rabbis taught that a man was not even supposed to greet a woman, not even so much as look at her on the street. He had to avert his eyes. If he had bad luck and had, for instance, to ask directions from a woman, he had to do it with the fewest possible words, eyes lowered. Not only should a man not talk
with
a woman, but he should also not mention them at all in his speech. Now there comes our Lord. Every so often He chose His parables from the world of women as well as from the world of men.

For instance, after He had just likened the kingdom of heaven to “a grain of mustard seed which a
man
took” He would liken it to “leaven which a
woman
took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened” (Matt. 13:31–33).

After He had painted the beautiful picture of the Good Shepherd who went tirelessly after the lost sheep, He immediately told about the woman having ten drachmas and losing one. Did she not “light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?” (Luke 15:8). Another time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins (Matt.25:1–13).

When He wants to tell them a parable — that they must pray always and not lose heart (Luke 18:1) — He tells them the story of the widow and the unjust judge.

“And he sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury” (Mark 12:41). This is the second time that He places a widow as an example before His disciples. The first widow has surmounted all obstacles with her persistent heart (Luke 18:1–5). The second one will be praised for her final generosity. “She out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living” (Mark 12:44).

On that same Tuesday when our Lord is teaching in the temple and has just told the beautiful story of the widow’s mite, the Sadducees also come with a “widow story” — “the wife of the seven brothers” (Matt. 22:23–27). The answer they get they have most certainly not expected: that the woman as well as her seven husbands will be equal to the angels. This is so terrific that the Gospel says, “And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did any one dare to ask him any more questions” (Matt. 22:46).

On that same day He tells them the story of the father with the two sons. The father said to the first son, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today,” but the boy said he didn’t want to. Afterward, he was sorry and went. The father went and said the same thing to the second son, who answered, “I go, sir,” but he did not go. Then He asks the question: “Which of the two did the father’s will?” His unwilling audience has to say the first. And now He says the hard words: “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him” (Matt. 21:28-32).

Another time He threatens them that “The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here” (Matt. 12:42).

In His own hometown He also starts talking about a widow, the widow of Sarepta. We know that His people got so angry about it that they tried to kill Him (Luke 4:25–29).

When He warns His listeners to be watchful because “you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matt. 25:13), He warns the men, “Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left.” Then He warns the women, “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left” (Matt 24:40–41).

On the last day He tries to explain to them because they don’t understand, “When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world” (John 16:21).

And then came the Sabbath on which something happened which led to a climax. Luke tells us the story.

And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him (Luke 13:11–17).

“DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM!” To call Abraham one’s father was the great pride of every Jew; but all over the Scriptures there is talk only of the sons of Abraham. It was our Lord’s very own invention to use the words “a daughter of Abraham.” What a deep impression it made on His listeners. The ones were put to shame while the others rejoiced.

If a man was supposed to not even talk with a woman, how much less was he supposed to touch one? But there we see Jesus taking Peter’s mother-in-law by the hand and curing her from the fever, and also taking Jairus’ daughter who had died and giving her back to her parents. He who could say to one leper, “I will; be clean” (Mark 1:41) and he was made clean — He did not have to touch the women. No, He wanted to.

And how He shows His emotions for women! Out of compassion for a mother who is a widow, He raises her only son from the dead. Out of compassion for two sisters who are among His best friends, He calls forth their brother, who was four days in the tomb.

One of the most revolutionary things He ever did happened in Samaria when His disciples found Him talking to the woman at Jacob’s Well. Not only was He talking to a woman, but she was also a Samaritan. Not only was He talking to her, but He had also accepted a drink of water at her hand. And not only that, but He finally disclosed His identity to her. And the first one to whom He Himself said that He was the Messiah was this sinful stranger (John 4:4–42).

The Apostles really thought they were doing the right thing when they told the mothers harshly to go away with their little ones. After all, weren’t they women? Unmistakably, our Lord taught them that they were still thinking in the ways of old, whereas He had already founded the New Covenant (Mark 10:13–16).

No rabbi would have defiled himself in talking to a woman taken in adultery (John 8:1–11). No rabbi would have allowed a sinful woman to touch his feet, to anoint his head (Luke 7:37–50). No rabbi would have allowed a girl to sit in at his talks to the men, and of all things, to sit right at his feet. He also would have never allowed her sister to break in and interrupt him in the middle of his speech. Still, Mary and Martha were His closest friends (Luke 10:40–42).

The poor, elderly lady who had spent all her fortune on doctors but couldn’t be helped, must have heard about His great kindness to women, because she said to herself,
If I only touch His garment, I shall be healed,
and she approached Him in the crowd and touched the hem of His garment (Luke 8:43–48).

His unequalled reputation traveled even across the border to the country of the Syro-Phoenicians. A mother from that country dared to approach Him, although she knew what the Jews in general thought about Gentiles. Then we see our Lord putting her off as He had once done, it seems, to His mother. This woman, also could not be cheated, and the final outcome was that Jesus not only did what she asked of Him, but also praised her: “O woman, great is your faith!” (Matt. 15:21–28).

Therefore, we cannot be the least bit astonished when we see how women all over the country responded to the Master. A number of them even got together and, in a little club, followed Him around wherever He went. Not only that, but they took care of His and the disciples’ needs. “And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means” (Luke 8:1–3).

The sober, critical men needed a direct invitation: “Come, follow me,” and after they had done so, they would still quarrel among themselves as to which one would be the greater and wonder a good deal about their reward. As Peter worded it, “Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?” (Matt. 19:27) Women are different, although they also must have received a special vocation, because our Lord said once, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44; KJV), and another time, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16).