Article January 13, 1917 Issue

Brotherhood

BERTHA V. ZEREGA

Universal brotherhood based on spiritual understanding is fundamentally one of the teachings of Jesus, echoing as it does the prophet's cry, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," for none are excluded from this spiritual drink. The Master classified as his brethren and sisters and mother all who did the will of his Father—lived the Christ-life. We read in the gospels that Jesus at one time withheld his doctrine from certain ones, having instructed his disciples to "go not into the way of the Gentiles;" also saying, "Into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not." This was no doubt because his disciples did not then possess the understanding needed to overcome their own prejudices as well as those of other nationalities. We must also remember that these classes of people represented the pagan, unprepared thought, that swinish phase of the carnal mind which, because of its hatred of the truth, turns and rends the distributer of the priceless pearls of spiritual wisdom.

May not admonition of the Master have betokened a tender care on his part for his beloved disciples, that they might be protected from going among those who would thus rudely despoil them of their spiritual treasures? He told them to "go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," those dissatisfied with an unspiritual, ritualistic religion, who had wandered in thought from the fold, and who therefore were ready meekly and joyfully to accept the simple teachings of the Christ. His advice to his disciples, moreover, warned them of the danger of attempting more than they could demonstrate.

In his parable of the good Samaritan, however, Jesus pointed in illustration of neighborliness to a loving, receptive thought, and used this apt comparison of operative Christianity expressed through the medium of despised heterodoxy versus self-righteous heathenism manifested through the channel of accepted orthodoxy, as an example of reproof to his sanctimonious hearers. Though there were many unbelievers who rejected his doctrine and followed him only for the loaves and the fishes, who demanded of him a sign, and accused him of breaking the law by healing on the Sabbath day, nevertheless his teachings were for all—Jew and Gentile, Sadducee, Pharisee, Samaritan, and Levite. Lack of individual responsiveness erected the only barrier that existed between him, the Christ, and any man. He said, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture ... and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."

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