Socialism of Christ

by Austin Bierbower

  The opposition of the rulers, however, went farther than this indirect opposition. They crucified Christ Himself, as they subsequently did many of His followers. And, not satisfied with killing Him, they added indignity to death, as in the case of Cromwell and Robespierre, in order to destroy the effect of His example. A crown of thorns was put upon His head, in satiric recognition of His royalty, and over Him was written in all the languages that His followers could read, "This is the King of the Jews." And, hooting Him to His death in the same vein of mock allegiance, they cried, "Hail King of the Jews !" Vive le roi the under current of all which was Sic semper aemulis.

  There was a similar opposition on the part of the priests to the Christian movement, just as there was on the part of the Christians to the priests. The clergy and the church have always opposed socialistic movements, being even to-day the most violent and bitter antagonists of the communists of France, Russia and other countries.

  For, next to the governmental officials, the clergy would lose most by the realization of the commune, being destined in such event to be swept away, like the nobility, supported as they are by the government, and living, like parasites, off the people. Feeling, furthermore, that to them are committed the interests of the existing society, they recognize all such agitators as their especial enemies. If Christ should come to the earth to-day in the same capacity as before, He would in all probability be taken by the priests and treated as He was then, so far have His "representatives" drifted away from their master.

  At all events we are told that while the people generally accepted Christ, "the Pharisees and lawyers rejected His views." In prophesying concerning His future, Jesus said that He "must be rejected of elders and chief priests and scribes;" and, as we have already seen, the priests in dissuading the people against Him, asked, "Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed on Him?" It is elsewhere related that "the high priests laid hold on the apostles, and put them in the common prison." And as Jesus went about doing good, and was favorably received by the people, it is said "that the priests were angry" at His success. When a conspiracy was raised against Him, it was not only participated in by the priests, but instigated in the metropolitan residence: "They went to the palace of the high priest and consulted to kill Him." They would have killed Him earlier than they did were it not for the people who threatened resistance. "They were afraid to kill Him on the feast day, lest the people should make an uproar." Instead, therefore, of choosing a public holiday, when the people, being at leisure and crowding the streets, would have defeated their purpose, they got Judas to betray Him privately, that, like the Prince of Orange, He might be despatched with certainty and yet with safety to themselves. It was the priests who accused Him, and insisted on His death; for the reproach can never be laid to the charge of the people that they killed their God of their own accord; but they were led on by the priests, as when they recently killed a missionary in Mexico, and as has always been done when the mob has hunted down heretics.

  There was a like opposition to the Christian movement on the part of the lawyers, who are generally conservative, non-progressive, and opposed to innovations and agitations. They opposed Christ not so much from hostility to His religion, as from lack of sympathy with it, and from fear of the probable unsettling of property titles and money interests, which His cause threatened. For, just as the priests have always thought that to them is committed the security of religion, the lawyers have thought that in their hands is placed the security of property. Among the reforms proposed by the modern socialists, and in particular by the communists, is, as we have seen, one to do away with lawyers as the next worst class after the nobility and the priests.

  Christ was, accordingly, severe on the lawyers, and the lawyers on him. When He was once denouncing in general terms all classes of His opponents, the evangelist relates, "Then said one of the lawyers to Him, 'Master, thus speaking, thou reproachest us also.' And He said, 'Woe unto you also, ye lawyers, for ye laden men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burden with one of your fingers.'" And, again, He said, "Woe unto you lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered;" referring evidently to the common recognition by the lawyers of the falsity and rottenness of the existing religion and society, and their unwillingness nevertheless to do or favor ' anything looking toward the needed social revolution. It is elsewhere said that "the Pharisees and lawyers rejected His views."

  In the characteristic speech of Gamaliel, we have the representative lawyer, sitting on the fence, trying to be non-committal, and giving conservative advice to both sides. It was when the apostles, who had just escaped from prison, were arrested again, and the priests were counselling what to do with them. "Ye men ol Israel," said Gamaliel, "take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do touching these men;" and then, bringing up his precedents, he continues, citing first the case of one "Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves; who was slain, and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to nought. And after this rose up Judas of Galilee, in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him; he also perished, and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel, or this work, be of men, it will come to nought, but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God."

  Paul, too, though converted to Christianity, still retained the conservatism which characterized him as a lawyer (and disciple of Gamaliel) ; and to him, as we shall presently show, is due a great change in the political character of Christianity; counselling, as he did, submission to the powers that be, and a recognition of the existing state of society, even to its aristocracy and slavery.

  CHAPTER III

  POLITICAL PROPAGATION

  I have thus far shown that early Christianity was a revolutionary movement, undertaken in the interest of the people, and have indicated how it was received by the different classes of society. I shall speak next of the propagation for this revolution, and for the new kingdom which was to follow.

  It was along dreary outlook to the disciples, to expect with a handful of forces, to subject the world to their idea and their practical system. Yet nothing less than this was their aim. We accordingly find Christ repeatedly encouraging them with assurances that the kingdom will ultimately come. Though its beginning is small, He tells them that it will increase. He,

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  compares it to a grain of a mustard seed, which will grow to great proportions in time, and to leaven hid in meal, which however insignificant, will yet leaven the whole lump of society. It may not be this month, or this year, or this generation, but it will be. "One soweth and another reapeth," He says ; and He promises that there shall be a harvest, and a harvest home.

  He asks them, accordingly, like all idealists, to look to the future for its realization, and in the mean time to labor and wait for it. Like the communists of to-day, few and persecuted, poor and powerless, who to a man believe that in time their system will prevail in all the world, this hope sustained the early Christians. For it is not, in either case, the existing state of the cause that retains them in such enterprises. Something more and different was to follow. ' Fear not, little flock," says Christ, "for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." "All things are delivered unto me by my Father," He continues, and assures them, like Paul, that all things are theirs, and they are Christ's. Though Christ is "to be rejected of men, and of the high priests and powers," He promises that "the rejected stone is to become the chief of the corner," and that the stone cut without hands in the mountains is to grow until it covers the whole earth.

  And not only is every assurance given that this kingdom will certainly come, but that it will come soon. There is abundant evidence in the Gospels that it was expe
cted at once. The apostles and some others had already begun to ask for the offices and good places for themselves and their friends. The mother of Zebedee's children came with her two sons, and wanted to bespeak for each a position near Christ in power—one to sit on the right, and the other on the left of His throne. In sending out His agents to work, Jesus assures them that, though they "shall be brought before governors and kings for His sake," and shall be punished, they shall immediately after be compensated with places of power. Advising them "when persecuted in one city to go to another," He assures them that "the Son of God will come before they get round the cities of Israel." 'There be some standing here," He says, "which shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

  He thinks He foresees the near triumph of His cause foreshadowed in the state of society which had already begun to be produced, and asks His hearers in astonishment if they "cannot discern the signs of the times." "Say not there are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest. Behold I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest." "The kingdom of Heaven is at hand," He says, and He orders them to be ready for action at any time. They know not how soon He may call upon them to execute His designs. The exact hour is, indeed, not made known, which would only defeat the outbreak; but the fact of its near approach is declared. "It is not for you to know," He says, "the times nor the seasons that the Father has put in His power," The kingdom of Heaven is to come "like a thief in the night." Counsel must, accordingly, be kept secret, as in all similar cases. "The kingdom of Heaven," He says, "cometh not with observation." "Be ye therefore ready," He adds, "for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not," and "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh shall find watching."

  Every means was used to induce men to enter this cause, and to commit themselves openly and unreservedly to its advancement. Promises, threats, and: perhaps, even force were employed. "Whoso," says Christ, "confesseth me before men, him will I confess before my Father." In other words, patronage in the future kingdom is offered for present work for it, just as it is offered in France and Spain to-day where the Bonapartists and Carlists make all kinds of promises about what they will do when their cause is enthroned. "Enter in," says Christ, "at the strait gate," while the company is small, and the way comparatively difficult, for when the cause becomes popular, your services will not be so sorely needed, and you will not be rewarded to so great an extent. "Many shall come hereafter," He says, when the offices are all given out, "and shall not be able to enter." He required everybody to work for Him, and would take no excuse, not even a delay to bury one's father, support his wife, improve his land, or train his oxen. His command to all was, "Take up your cross and follow me."

  The propagation was to be on an elaborate and all-cornprehensive plan. Not satisfied with the acquisition of a few cities, He says: "I must preach the Gospel to other cities also;" and He advises His followers, as we have seen, when persecuted in one city to go to another. Ultimately it was, He said, to be preached to all the world.

  It was also to be cautious and prudent. As His disciples proceeded in their work He cautioned them to study well their men and means, to observe the signs of the times, and to take the current at its flood. Now He charged them to proclaim His kingdom openly and to all, and now He told them to tell no man that He was the Christ. That is, they were to sometimes conceal His designs, and sometimes make a bare breast of them. Frequently His disciples, on learning His purposes, had to ask whether they were to be kept secret or made known. "Lord," said Peter on one such occasion, "speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?" He generally spoke plainly to His disciples, but in parables to the public; though some things He dared not let even His disciples know. "It is not for you to know the times nor the seasons which the Father hath put in His power." Comparing the ushering in of His kingdom to the coming of a thief in the night, He thinks it is not safe to let too much be known; for, says He, "This know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through."

  Knowing what Christ's ambition was, and believing that all means open and secret, and good and bad, were being used to attain it, the devil, (we will not say what power is intended by this representation,) offered to secure for Him His object, including the subjection of the whole world to Him for a kingdom, if He would enter into an alliance with him, and fall down and worship him, that is, if Christ would acknowledge him as his superior, and take Himself a second place under him ; a proposition which Christ rejected with scorn, and insisted that the devil should stand after Him: "Get thee behind me, Satan;" God only will I serve as a superior. To one not believing in the divine purity of Christ, this interview with the devil will appear like a consultation with evil spirits with a view to help Him to get the kingdom. He went up into a mountain for the purpose, and went expressly "to be tempted of the devil," much as Saul went to the .witch of Endor, and as ambitious and anxious men and women often go now to witches and clairvoyants to get the aid of the unseen world for their projects. Christ's open means seem all justifiable, but His secret means have never been made known, so that a sceptic may naturally doubt their legitimacy.

  In the parable of the unjust steward we have a similar hint that He conciliated all parties, and made use of all means, just and unjust, to promote His cause. This parable pictures the steward of a great man, who, being about to be dismissed, went to his master's debtors and settled their accounts at a loss to the master, his object being to put the debtors under obligation to himself. He offered to scale their debts forty and fifty per cent, for cash, allowing one, for example, who owed his master one hundred measures of oil to make it fifty, and one who owed him fifty measures of wheat to make it thirty, (pocketing no doubt part of the difference). He thought to thus make friends enough among his master's debtors to support him when out of employment. Jesus cites this example with apparent approval, and advises His disciples to do likewise. "Make ye to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, " He says, "that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations. " This, doubtless, meant to His hearers that, in propagating His cause, they should not only make use of dishonest means, as well as of honest, but also enter into compacts with all parties, even their opponents, so that if they should fail they might not be left without support or position under the adverse regime ; in other words that they should be ready to compromise, if compelled thereto as a last resort; as much as to say: if you cannot carry the cause of Christ, be on good terms with Caesar, so that when you must give up you can get a second best place under him for selling out. It is like Napoleon the Third's policy, who, though he had every interest in the empire, still laid up in the Bank of England a few millions on which to retire in case of failure. Use all means, says Christ, in effect, and in the meanwhile keep a way of retreat open for the contingency of non-success. For "if ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" It is a kind of Jesuitism, or making of one's self all things to all men, on the ground that the end justifies the means. I do not think that this was Christ's settled policy, or that He wholly justified such proceedings; but His followers evidently understood Him in this sense, as have some of His followers since, and as they do even to-day.

  But not only were promises and trickery to be used in the propagation of Christ's enterprise, but also threats, and perhaps even force. "To those who do not receive you," He says, "shake the dust off your feet, and say to them that it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for them." "Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which are done in you were done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented long ago in sack-cloth and ashes." "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to Heaven, shall be cast down to hell." In inviting all into the movement they are to excuse none. We have seen in the parable of th
e great supper that neither the man who had a father to bury, nor he who had just married a wife, nor he who had bought land or cattle, had sufficient excuse to stay away. The disciples were ordered to go out into the highways and hedges, and to compel them to come in. The one alternative is to take up this cause or be damned. "Go and proclaim my system to all the world," is the substance of His recruiting commission; "and he that accepteth it, and taketh the badge of baptism, (the sign of enrollment or entrance into His cause) shall be saved, and he that does not shall be ruined in the convulsion that is to follow."

  No matter what stood in the way, the people were to give up all for His cause. When Peter said, "Lo, we have left all and followed thee," Jesus answered, "Verily, I say unto you there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and the world to come life everlasting." He says that those who think more of their parents or property than of His movement are not worthy of Him. They must not even count their lives dear in His cause. "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it."