Socialism of Christ

by Austin Bierbower

  The people, too, when the royal propagation began, and the masses commenced to accept Him as their future king, recognized His kingship as flowing from His divine birth, or, at least, as connected therewith. For, "Nathaniel said unto Him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel;" this being, it seems the common form of recognition by an adherent of

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  the legitimacy of a royal pretender.

  And when, on one occasion, He wished to draw the people out to a recognition of His divine birth, (they already believing in His royal birth.) He asked, "What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He?" And when they said, "the son of David," He replied that that was not sufficient, and asked them, "How then, doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, 'The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool ?' If David then call Him Lord, how is He his son?" The only answer, of course, is that He is the Son of God, and that He possesses whatever dignity and authority that greater title implies.

  The attendant circumstances of Christ's birth also proclaimed Him a king. If the regal displays alleged, did actually accompany His birth, even by a false report, they prove that He was then considered a destined king; if they did not, but were invented afterwards as probable circumstances of a preceding event, they prove at least, that when He made His pretensions to royalty, His followers were anxious to get up for Him a fitting birth. He is represented as being announced with proclamations and rejoicings, and as being testified to by such omens as commonly attend the birth of a prince. A Heavenly messenger is sent to proclaim the good news to all people. A star appears in the east, announcing His birth to the whole world. Celestial phenomena and signs such as generally accompany the birth of a royal personage—sometimes a comet, sometimes a meteor, and sometimes a great wonder, but generally a star or light in the heavens — appear in this case. Wise men come from the East to worship Him. Kings and princes bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh—the usual offerings to a newborn prince—Herod himself, though in treachery, offers to come and do reverence to the baby king.

  The words of the angelic ambassador and others that prophesy concerning His mission are also in keeping with the same idea. " Fear not," says the angel of annunciation, " for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day a Savior which is Christ the Lord, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of my people Israel." ''Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel." "He shall be great and called the Son of the Highest; the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David. He shall reign over the House of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end;" In short, the phenomena witnessed, the reverence shown, and the promises and prophecies attending Christ's birth are all such as attended the birth, or as are alleged to attend the birth, of every one destined to reign.

  The names given to Christ have also all a suggestion of royalty. The word : ( Christ" itself means "anointed," or "crowned;" anointing being the ancient mode of crowning. His name, therefore, implies a crowned head, or royal personage. He is sometimes called the " Lord's Anointed," or the one elected or designed by God to be king. Like the uncrowned pre tenders of Europe to-day, who set themselves up as kings by right, if not in fact, He, notwithstanding His temporary dethronement, felt, like the Count de Chamborde, that He was a king under the favor and purpose of God.

  He was called the "Son of David/' or successor of the last king of Israel. Like William of Prussia who took up the broken line of Bar- barossa, He, the new Shiloh, was to take up that of Judah. He is called "the Prince of the House of David," "the lion of the tribe of Judah," "the Holy One of Israel," and other names strongly regal and national.

  His additional epithet of "Jesus," or "Savior," like that of "the Conquerer, " or ''the Great," was a title intended to express His character as a prince. For while, like Alexander, Charlemagne and William of Normandy, He was to aggrandize His own name and people, and to conquer others, He was principally to save them from their miseries. While, therefore, He was also to be "called Great and the Son of the Highest," His common name was to be " Savior j" " Ye shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save the people from their sins."

  He was also called "the Son of God," since divine birth, if not deity itself, is one of the attributes of kings, as just explained. He wag sometimes called "the King of the Jews; " but He dared not openly assume this name; partly because many of the Jews did not accept Him as their king, but protested, "We will not have this man to rule over us," and partly because of the air of treason to Rome, which gathered about such a title. But that He aimed at royalty, or that some of His followers did so for Him, there can be no doubt, even if we consider His names alone as evidence.

  The reverence and allegiance shown Him as king, also indicate that He was esteemed as destined for royalty. He was called "Lord," "Master," -'Good Master," "Reverence,"' "Worship," "My Lord and My God," etc. He discountenanced the use of these terms at first, and from time to time reproved His followers for such un-republicanism ; but afterwards, whether through a lapse from His republican principles, or owing to ambitious designs, He allowed them, if He did not actually encourage them.

  At the transfiguration, which was a sort of secret crowning, or establishing of Christ in His royal office, His disciples fell on their faces with true eastern devotion, and swore everlasting fealty to His cause. At His entry into Jerusalem the people strewed garments and branches of trees in His way, and cried, " Hozannah, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The centurian desiring to send for Him hesitated, saying, "I am not worthy that He should come unto me;" but observed that, being a man of rank himself, and accustomed to order others under him, he knew what was due to superiors, and, like all proteges of royalty, was interested in having rank etiquette maintained. When John the Baptist was sent to prepare the people for His accession, and was himself taken for a superior or royal personage, he said of Christ, "There cometh after me one mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to loose," and added, "He must increase and I must decrease.'' Wise men, rich men and kings, as already observed, came at His birth to do Him homage. He Himself refused, as Lord over all, to reverence, or bow down to Satan, or any one else than God. "Angels came and ministered unto Him" as to a superior. The people on one occasion sought to forcibly take Him, and make Him king. The daughters of Jerusalem at His crucifixion wept for Him as for their dying monarch, and pledged themselves, like the Imperialists at the grave of Napoleon, to be faithful to His cause whoever might be His successor.

  The people believed Him as one who could not err, and obeyed Him as one who could command no wrong. His ipse dixit was law; and they understood Him, when speaking, as "one having authority, and not as the scribes." In short, it is clear that all persons monarchically inclined, regarded Christ as a king, and were in favor of His elevation, like that of Napoleon, to the throne, notwithstanding the republican and socialistic movement in which His cause, like Napoleon's, had its birth.

  The monarchical character of His movement, and His aspirations to royalty, may be further in ferred from the opposition of rival kings to His plan and work. Herod commenced this opposition at His birth, and Pilate ended it with His death. Driven from Judea, driven from the whole continent of Asia, and driven at last from the world itself. Jesus was an almost perpetual refugee from the fury of the rulers. Exiled to Africa, exiled to the grave, and exiled at last to Heaven, His every flight was from persecution. Felix and the Caesars continued the opposition against His followers, until the blood of the martyrs had been sown over the whole Roman empire. Nor did the persecution cease until in the harvest under Constantine the cause of Christ like that of Louis Philippe, reached at last the throne; whither it, like that of the Orleans family, had been tending three hundred years.

  It was the jealousy of the rulers that dictated the whole policy and attitude of the state toward the early Christians, feeling, as they did, th
at with the Christian agitations none of the existing thrones were safe. In the accusation brought against Paul and his companions,are these words: " These all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus;" when it is said that ' they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things." So also the Jews, in urging the death of Christ before Pilate, did it on the political ground of Christ's dangerous rivalry. " If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar." Pilate himself asked Christ before condemning Him: "Art thou a king then ? " and at the same time he asked the Jews, "Shall I crucify your king ? " to which the Jews, in denying complicity with Christ's ambitious project, answered, "We have no king but Caesar." As in derision of His royal pretensions, and to kill the effect of His agitation, the authorities placed on Him a crown of thorns and a purple robe; and cried, as they crucified Him in imperial colors, " Hail King of the Jews." They put on His cross an inscription, written in the three popular languages of the day. " This is the King of the Jews."

  The whole conduct of the rulers toward Christ was, in short, that of opposition; so that the sacred writer is justified in the sweeping assertion, "The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. For of a truth against the holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people of Israel, were gathered together. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings."

  Again, the pretensions and authority manifested by Christ Himself are suggestive of designs of royalty While sympathizing with the common people in their misery, and espousing their cause in general, it was often as a superior or patronizing leader rather than as one out of their midst. He represented Himself as a champion, em-, peror, or Caesar, who, like Napoleon, comprehended the situation, and meant to be their hero of deliverance. Like many popular leaders, who start out as one of the people, and subsequently get above them, He came to love them as a father or king, rather than as one of them. In answering the mother of Zebedee's children, who, with democratic familiarity, asked that her sons might be allowed sit by Him on the same seat of honor, one on His right side and the other on His left, He recalled her to a recognition of His rank and that of His peers. "Ye know not what ye ask," said He; "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

  No sooner, in fact, does He arrive at a position of acknowledged superiority over His followers, than He assumes an air of authority, like one about

  to make a coup d'etat. Not satisfied longer with the adoption by the people of His political and ethical sentiments, He wants them to think of Him as a superior, and entrust Him with dicta- tional power. More than once, like Caesar at the first of the Lupercal, He tried the people with a refusal of the crown, as if to test whether they were ready for His accession. On one occasion, after feeding the people with loaves and fishes, which doubtless made a good impression, He called His disciples aside, and asked, "Whom say the people that I amp" What are my prospects? Is my time yet come? "They answering, said, John the Baptist, but some say Elias; and others say that one of the old prophets is risen again; "at all of which Christ, like Caesar, seems to be disappointed, and asks, "But whom say ye that I am ?" Are you, my disciples, all right and capable of being trusted ? Peter answering said, "The Christ (anointed) of God;" which answer was approved by Jesus, who "straightway charged them and commanded them to tell no man that thing, saying, the Son of Man must first suffer many things and be rejected."

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  According to another Gospel, Christ was so encouraged by Peter's recognition of His claims that He then and there determined to found His kingdom, and to reward with the first place the man who had so boldly confessed His royalty "Thou art Peter," He says, and upon this rock (or according to the Catholic interpretation ' 'Thou art Peter, and with you as my chief minister,") I will build my church (kingdom, ekklessia) and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

  He claimed that He had all power, and that He would yet assume it; waiting only for His time, like Henri of Bourbon, who said, "The choice is with the French people, but the time is with God." "AH things," He said, "are delivered unto me by my Father," after the manner of the claims of the Bouibon right to rule.

  That this project.of assuming royal authority was entertained, appears also from the temptation by Satan, who, shrewd old devil that he was knew where to ply his inducements. As, therefore, because Christ was hungry after a forty days' fast, he tempted Him with bread; so, because he supposed Him to be ambitious and aspiring to a throne, he tempted Him with crowns. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and said, "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them. If thou, therefore, wilt wqrship me, all shall be thine."

  Christ refuses this offer for the same reason, among others, that Henri of Bourbon refused the crown of France, namely, that He considered that He possessed the original right to it, and would not receive it from anybody, or be accountable for it to any other power. Like Henry V, He would bow to no one, since that would be to acknowledge the supremacy of another dynasty. "Thou shall worship the Lord God, and Him only shalt thou serve," God only being above Christ and the Bourbon, in their royal pretensions. He was not, like the Orleanists, to be satisfied with a division of royal honors, or a limited monarchy. He taught, consistently with straight out Bourbonism, that "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to destruction," and that "a house, (dynasty) divided against itself fallethj" and added as a bit of wisdom for His opponents: ''If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand ? "

  He pretended to unlimited power and dignity, speaking as one having authority, and not as the scribes; laying down law as well as Gospel (equity), and setting aside the Jewish statute with a mere, "I say unto you." "Ye call me Master and Lord," He said, "and ye say well; for so I am " And what authority He did not assume Himself, His disciples ascribe to Him, or, at least, those monarchically inclined. "One is your Master, even Christ;" and, ''All things are yours, whether principalities or powers; and ye are Christ's."

  But not only did Jesus make pretensions to authority, but also promises that His right to rule would be enforced; much as the Pope makes promises to-day with regard to his temporal power, and as the Bourbons make promises of their universal restoration. For never has a prince pretended to the right to rule, who has not hoped for the opportunity. Christ assures His followers that His time will come, and that speedily. The kingdom of Heaven, He tells them, is near them; and "the people," we are told, "thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear." In answer to the oft-repeated question, so longingly and impatiently put by His disciples, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Judah?" He replies, "There be many of you standing here that shall not see death till ye see the Son of Man coming in His glory;" that, "This generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled; " and that " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away." ' 'Fear not little flock," He says encouragingly, " for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." "All things are delivered unto me by my Father"—not only promised but delivered, He having the possession as well as the right. And in planning the administration of this kingdom, He says, "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table, in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

  It is true, He admits, that for the present all power and the goods of the world are at the disposition of others, and that "the Son of Man has not where to lay His head;" but He assures them that this is only temporary. "When a strong

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  man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace," He says, " but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils."

 
; In view of the probable success of Jesus, and of the advantage that in such event will attend His partisans, He wants His disciples to commit themselves unreservedly to Him, whatever He may do, and, in particular, to not be offended at His monarchical designs, He offers them the in ducements of office in return for the sacrifice of their republican principles, as if to buy them over as Napoleon III bought over Ollivier and other republicans. "Whosoever shall confess me before men," He says, "him will I confess before my Father which is in Heaven; " as much as to say that whosoever acknowledges Christ in the campaign shall be remembered by Him in the kingdom; or, that commitment shall be rewarded by patronage, and fidelity by office and rank.

  He wanted them in particular, to commit themselves to Him personally, rather than to any principles or policy, His personnel, like that of Napoleon and Cromwell, constituting the identity of His cause. Thrice He asked of Peter, " Lovest thou me more than these ? " and questioned him so strongly upon the sinister significance of His inquiry, that Peter became impatient and said, "Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I."

  He wanted them also, in this commitment, to work as well as to profess. "Let those who love me," said Prim in the Spanish Cortes, "come and stand by me." So Christ in a like crisis said, "If ye love me keep my commandments." "Not every one that saith unto me 'Lord, Lord,' shall inherit the kingdom, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven." Work and fighting are to precede possession, a mere idle acknowledgment of his title not being enough. "To him that overcometh will I give a crown of life."