The Bible Speaks to You December 14, 1963 Issue

[The above is substantially the text of the program released for broadcast the week of December 6–12 in the radio series, "The Bible Speaks to You," heard internationally over more than 800 stations. This is one of the weekly programs prepared and produced by the Christian Science Committee on Publication, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.]

RADIO PROGRAM No. 88 - The Effect of Jesus' Coming

[This is the first of a special group of programs on the subject, "The Meaning of Christmas."]

INTERVIEWER: I'm sure many people would like to look beyond the tinsel and the rush and push of Christmas shopping and get closer to the real meaning of Christmas. Maybe that's what prompted the religious news writer Louis Cassels to pose this question: "What difference does it make to people of the space age that a baby named Jesus was born in a remote Judean village nearly 2,000 years ago?" (Copyright, 1962, United Press International.) How would you answer that question?

SPEAKER: It makes a tremendous difference. And it helps us to understand the nature of that difference if we look closely at the effect of Jesus' coming on the people he encountered, because the Bible makes plain he had a revolutionary impact upon them, in fact, he had a revolutionary impact upon history.

Take, for example, the story in Luke of Zacchaeus, who was a rich tax collector. Evidently Zacchaeus gave little to the poor, was dishonest in his collections, and was despised. When Jesus entered Jericho, Zacchaeus, who was small of stature, climbed a tree in order to get a view of him. Jesus saw him and called to him and said that he'd like to visit at his house. And the Bible tells us that Zacchaeus came down from the tree and welcomed him joyfully; but the crowd was displeased because they regarded Zacchaeus as a sinner. But the effect of Jesus upon this man was such that Zacchaeus was reformed right then and there!

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