68/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE
Jesus declared: “Among them that are born of women [i.e. on the human plane] there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; yet he that is but little in the kingdom of heaven [i.e. in the divine order of free growth] is greater than he.”
“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which, indeed, is less than all seeds; but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and lodge in the branches thereof.”
Paul wrote: “For even as we have many members in one body,… so we who are many, are one body.”
In the main, schemes of social reform have taken into account, principally or solely, certain exigencies of the present moment, seeking, primarily, to stay the tide of injustice and oppression that threatens to engulf society and exterminate our modern civilization in the same manner that, one after another, the civilizations of antiquity perished.
They have aimed to ameliorate conditions and render existence more tolerable, in the hope that, with improved opportunities for material advancement, and the betterment of social relations, men would be induced to turn their attention toward the higher and deeper things of a spiritual life. But this method is exactly the reverse of that taught and practised by Jesus. No reformer ever encountered external conditions more discouraging for the promulgation of a spiritual doctrine of life.
The Jews, a proud race of noble ancestry, oppressed by tyranny and impoverished by unjust taxation, levied to support a corrupt and degenerate court at Rome, were looking intently for a long-promised leader, who was expected to free them from bondage and establish a regime in which justice and righteousness would be dealt impartially to all. The time was fully ripe for revolt, or, at all events, reform.
Jesus came, heralded by John the Baptist as a mighty prophet and reformer. The eyes of the nation were turned to him. But he disappointed the fondest expectations by announcing that his kingdom was “not of this world.” To the starving multitudes he offered “the bread of life.” To the persecuted and impoverished he said: “Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Throughout his career he never offered the slightest encouragement to those who sought to render their material circumstances more tolerable through political or social methods. Instead of avoiding the Jewish hierarchy and the Roman officials,
as he might easily have done, and as worldly prudence dictated, he openly faced their hostility, and allowed himself to be taken captive and executed; thus, it seemed even to his most devoted followers, unaccountably sacrificing every hope, either of a material or a moral reformation.