Note 28 — Part I

Here again Jesus makes clear His antipathy to churchly ceremonies and pharisaical formalism. No ceremony marks the joining of His disciples. He says to them, "Follow me," and they leave everything and follow Him. No more is necessary to make them members of His band. So, no rite, no ceremony marks the choosing or appointing of the twelve apostles, or bishops, as they would now be called. There is no laying on of hands, no formal induction or installation into office, no clothing them in peculiar vestments, or sacerdotal robes, or other visible insignia of their office or rank. Nor are they given any authority or pre-eminence over their fellow disciples. Nothing could have been more foreign to Jesus' ideas than the establishment of a priestly hierarchy. The instructions as to their preaching are of the simplest—"the kingdom of heaven is at hand." No creeds, no theological dogmas are to be impressed on their hearers. But the necessity of their doing good works—healing the sick, etc.—is emphasized. With Jesus works always were of more value than words. The admonition to travel simply, without money or extra raiment, and to depend on the hospitality of the people among whom they came, reminds us of the practice of the itinerant missionaries of frontier days in our own country.

Matthew's account is the only one containing the verse: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I come not to send peace but a sword" (Matt. X:34). This has often been cited, warped from its context, as meaning that Jesus sanctioned war as a means of spreading His religion. But nothing is more contrary to the whole spirit of His teaching and many express utterances. When His disciples would have Him call down fire from heaven to consume those who would not receive Him, He "rebuked them" and said: "For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them" (Luke IX:56). In this chapter from Matthew, Jesus is predicting that the spread of His Gospel will set individual against individual (even in the same family), and finally nation against nation, and that, owing to the weakness of human nature, this would lead to individual contests and to national contests. Results well justified His prophecy. So long as the Christians were in the minority, they preached, and, to some extent, practiced the doctrines of the Sermon on the Mount. But when they became the majority, the sword and torch and the fires of the Inquisition were their favorite arguments in converting recalcitrant heathen.