The Human Personality of Jesus / Jesus of Nazareth - Hilarin Felder
Hilarin Felder
Jesus of Nazareth
from
Chapter 4. The Human Personality of Jesus
From the standpoint of psychology it is striking that Jesus, despite his complete devotion to his super-human mission, yet manifests an incomparable prudence and an extraordinary sense of reality. Rationalistic and rationalizing critics cannot understand this. Because they will accept the Man of Nazareth as man only, with a purely human purpose of life, they are forced to interpret his clear and determined avowal of, and devotion to, his Messianic mission as ecstatic exaltation. However, the portrait of Jesus, even the rationalistic one, rebels most decisively against this sort of diagnosis.
The fanatic is by nature eccentric, the opposite of a calm, deliberate, circumspect character. His monomania never allows him to arrive at sober reflection, unbiased judgment, and mental balance. He can do but one thing - drive recklessly forward on his erratic course, using the most despicable means and the most devious methods to attain his end. With force and violence, with fire and sword he smites down everything which stands in his way. Ruthless and irreconcilable toward dissenters and enemies, he has for them but hatred and persecution. Shameless and unreasonable toward friends and partisans, he exploits them for the furtherance of his cause with cold, devilish selfishness.
How entirely different is Jesus! In him was lofty, serene deliberation, an imperturbable calmness of mind, complete harmony of thought and will, of word and deed, unfathomable divine peace, which no passion could becloud, a freedom and serenity of the soul even under the greatest stress, such as no prophet before him ever possessed. Although he pledges all his powers to the fulfillment of his Messianic mission, nevertheless he does not wish to establish his kingdom by means of ruthless violence and fanatical despotism. Little by little, from within outward, by organic evolution and of its own power,the kingdom of God is to develop, like the mustard seed which quietly and silently grows into a great tree. He indignantly rejects all forceful methods. “Put up thy sword into the scabbard!’’ (Jn. 18:11) he cries out to Peter at a critical moment, and he sharply puts in their places the “sons of thunder,” who wished to call down fire from heaven upon his enemies: “You know not of what spirit you are! The Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save’’ (Lk. 9:55). “Blessed the meek . . . Blessed the merciful . . . Blessed the peacemakers … Blessed they that suffer persecution … blessed … blessed … blessed!” (Cf. Mt. 5:4-11.) Meekness, love, peaceableness, gentleness, mercy, forgiveness, devotion, self-denial, self-sacrifice unto the most grievous suffering, yes, even unto death for friend and foe - those are the underlying principles of his life and of his gospel. Thus he is able to recommend for imitation his meekness and humility - the personal opposite of and living contrast to fanaticism: “Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart!” (Mt. 11:29.)
The ideas of a religious enthusiast are fantastic. A fanatic is so very truly the man with a single idea, which is the product of his unbridled imagination - a monomania. In this lies the pith and essence of fanaticism, that it stands in contradiction to actual reality and lives only for a confused dream, the realization of which is simply impossible. For everything else in heaven and on earth it has no eyes to see, no ears to hear, and no heart to feel.
But who does not admire the sense of reality, the warmhearted understanding of human affairs which Jesus manifested! Whatever he has observed and felt himself, he depicted so graphically in his discourses and parables. How his interest was caught by the things about him! Home, hearth, and country; the playing and the banter of children, whom he caresses and blesses; the solicitude of the woman for her wheaten meal, its leavening and baking, for house cleaning, in her search for the lost groat; the son who wanders off into a far country, and the father, bowed down with grief, awaiting his return; the happiness and the peace of the friendly circle, which he knew how to enjoy to the fullest; the bridal procession and the nuptial customs, the wedding banquet in which he took part; joyous feasting of the living and mournful tears for the dead. Agriculture and wine growing, trade and commerce; the preparation of the soil and the teams of oxen in the field; the sowing of the seed, the growth and swelling of the grain, harrowing and watering, the withering of the stalks and the grain trodden on, the cutting of the sickle, storing in barns, the winnowing of the grain, and the burning of the cockle; the vintner among his vines, his labors and his cares; the laborers who stand idle in the market places; the steward who pays the daily wages; the shepherd in the field who seeks the lost sheep and carries it back to the fold on his shoulders; the pearl merchant on the sea; the fisherman in his boat and mending his nets on the shore. Life in all its gradations and in all its conditions: family relations, social conditions, and political institutions; mourning and tears, laughter and joy; wealth and poverty; hunger and thirst, health and sickness; the extravagance of the rich and the misery of beggars; the caste system of the upper classes and the political intrigues of parties; the pupil and the teacher; the tax gatherer in the customhouse, the money changer at his table, the dealer in doves and cattle, the magistrate in the courtroom, and the judge in the forum. Nature also, with all its beauty and rhythmic harmony: clouds and sunshine, rain and snow, flood and drought, the nearness of spring, harvest time and the approach of autumn; the trees as they burst into leaf, as they bear fruit each after its kind, as they are cut down and used for fuel; the lily of the field, which in its adornment Surpasses the fine raiment of Solomon; the brood hen which gathers the chickens under her wings and shields them; the birds of the air and the sparrow on the roof. These and a thousand other things Jesus has seen, felt, and experienced. What a contrast between him and the religious exalte who dreams in his home in the clouds, without the faintest idea of the realities of the world and of life!