The Gospel I Preach: II
By The Rev. E. W. PRICE EVANS (Baptist, Pontypool)
(To whom a Second Prize has been awarded.) "1 7 HAT then shall I do with Jesus, which is called Christ ? "—St. Matthew, 27, 22. This question of Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea, presses upon every man. It is life's crucial question, charged with destiny. What we become, here and hereafter, is decided by our answer to it. Jesus, being who He is, confronts us all sooner or later.
In this chapter He confronts Pilate. He is a prisoner, and Pilate is His judge. But, prisoner though He is, poorly garbed and bearing the distressing marks of maltreatment, He gives undeniable evidence of superior quality. There is more than composure and self-assurance in His bearing. He exhales: a spirit of undeniable purity and uprightness. There is that in Him which indicates authority and suggests royalty. Pilate is deeply impressed. He has never, in all his wide and varied experience, encountered such a man. Not only does he find "no fault in Him," but he goes further and calls Him "a righteous man." That is perhaps as far as he can go in immediate recognition of worth, because he is ignorant of the significance of the title "Christ." Had he obeyed his insight and honest judgement, defying consequences, it would have been well with him. But, on the contrary, yielding to fear and immediate self- interest, he basely condemns Jesus to be crucified. There- after, no washing of his hands avails to cleanse his soul of its foul stain. He has descended in the scale of being. He has turned away from the light, choosing darkness. His tem- porary prisoner has become his Judge. Nay, throughout the trial scene, He was his Judge. .
"Thou judgest us: Thy purity Doth all our lusts condemn.'
The Jewish and the Roman authorities thought that the Cross would be the end of Jesus, and that they would be rid of Him. He was dead, and buried, and a guard was set to watch His tomb. But death could not hold Him, and on the morning of the third day it was affirmed and attested that He had risen from the dead—that He was alive again. The testimony came -from the lips of many witnesses. Their evi- dence was so strong that, although disputed and denied, it could not be disproved. The tomb was empty. No body could be found. No body was ever found, save when that same Jesus, the risen Lord, appeared to His disciples. And He was -gloriously alive. He had "swallowed up.' death in victory. As with Pilate, so with us. He had to decide, and so must we. The historical Jesus confronted him ; the living Lord Jesus Christ confronts us. What have we to say about Him ?
Nay, and more important, what shall we do with Him ? His Name has been so ploughed into the history of the world that our intellectual integrity requires an answer. From the long- past He comes down to us, and in this living present confronts us, saying: "I have somewhat to say unto thee."
Certainly we cannot get rid of Him, even if we wish to. Pilate and the Jewish leaders, tried, and failed. Soon He was back again, not only in Jerusalem and Judea and Galilee, but also in many other towns and cities of the Roman Empire. He was at large in the world. And in the world He has stayed, the same today as yesterday, and in the world He will stay for all the tomorrows of Time. Repeated efforts have been made, calculated and ruthless efforts, to extinguish His Church, and they too have failed. They have failed because the Church is His Church, indwelt and sustained by Him Who is her living and prevailing Lord.
Surely we must consider Him. And, considering Him we must see how impossible it is for us to confuse Him, or even to compare Him, with anybody else. He outsoars the biggest and the best among the great and the good of world history. Never man spoke as did He, and certainly no man has invited the weary and the heavy-laden to come to Him for rest. No man has promised to buy bread for the hungry and water for the thirsty. And what He has promised He has given, as countless men and women have testified.
The Church's testimony, throughout the Christian centuries, in all her several denominations, is that "Jesus is Lord.", Christian theology has developed the confession of the Apostle' Peter: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living Lord.'11 But it has been development, establishing the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ in the very heart of Deity.- What then shall we do with Him ? The least we can do is to consider Him, bringing to bear upon Him the reverent an concentrated attention of our disciplined faculties. The material is before us, in Holy Scripture and in the congrega-1 tion of the Christian Church. The Old Testament, if searched prepares for His coming, and the New Testament tells us o Him when come. Angels of God proclaimed the glad tidings o His birth, and in the Gospels we learn what manner of Person is He who was named Jesus because it was His divine an costly vocation to be the Saviour of the world. The growth of the Church, His body, is described in the Book of Acts, and therein, along with the Epistles of the New Testament, we learn of the blessed experiences of sinful, frustrated men Mid women who, humbly believing in Him, were transformed and exalted by Him. They counted "all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus" their Lord.
What then shall we do with this Jesus, who is called Christ ?- it is unthinkable that we "crucify Him afresh." And yet that is what we do if we share in the spirit of Pilate, of Annas or of Caiaphas. It is not enough that we admire Him, although we cannot fail to do that. We cannot, in our need, and in our integrity, stop short of adoration—as in the very presence of God Himself. And we must never forget that what we do with Him determines what He does for us. He comes in both mercy and in judgement. They who, like St Paul, give to Him their unreserved allegiance, who truly say, "My Lord and my God," will find that He indeed is their life, and death, when it comes, is gain.
"Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift in Jesus Christ our Lord."
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