WHOLESOME AMUSEMENT 215 Jesus' Commendation of All Forms of Wholesome Amusement. It is a significant fact that banquets and social functions figure largely in the parables with which Jesus illustrated his most important teachings. Even the parable of the Prodigal Son ends with a great banquet to which the father summons all his friends to make merry with him. Clearly one of the chief ingredients which the "new wine" brought to his race was this spirit of wholesome recreation. Contemporary Judaism was bitterly opposed to most forms of popular amusement and especially to those which brought delight to the Græco-Roman world. In contrast to the rabbis, Jesus apparently uttered no word of protest against the sports of the stadium and amphitheatre, which even in Jerusalem itself rivalled the attractions of the Jewish temple. The silence of the gospel narratives is not of course in itself decisive, but Paul's many references to them are richly suggestive, and indicate that Jesus' greatest follower found in these sports much innocent delight. Everything which tended in a wholesome way to enlarge life and to develop personality also received his approval, even though it may have been condemned by the religious leaders of his race. Jesus' words and acts indicate that he was aware of the importance of play in enlarging and developing the life of the individual. This appreciation best explains the irresistible way in which children were drawn to him. His interest in their amusements is well illustrated by that vivid picture of the children playing their games in the streets which he used in describing the fickleness of his contemporaries (Mt. 1116-19): To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call their playmates and say, 'We piped to you but you did not dance. We lamented but you did not beat your breast.' For John came neither eating nor drinking and men say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking and men say, 'Here is a glutton and a winedrinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Only one who had watched with kindly interest children at play and had as a boy himself participated in their sports would use this homely illustration in discussing the vital question at issue. If we had a complete record of Jesus' teachings and life, many similar illustrations would undoubtedly be at hand to demonstrate his keen interest in all forms of harmless recreation and amusement. Jesus' Condemnation of the So-Called Amusements That Are Harmful. As a rule Jesus emphasised that which was good, and trusted that men who accepted his philosophy of living would instinctively reject the evil. In his day most forms of popular amusement were under state direction. Then the vast hordes of commercialised popular amusements, which today are taking not only the money but the time and in many cases the moral purity of the multitude, were not so highly organised. But the tendency to prey on the innate human fondness for play and amusement was evident even in that ancient life. Therefore, to those who simply for commercial reasons exploit and pervert this natural instinct, and to those who through neglect permit these great wrongs to exist, the principle underlying Jesus' words of warning applies even more forcibly to-day than in the first Christian century (Lk. 171, 2): It is inevitable that temptations should come, It were better for him that a millstone were fastened about his neck, And he were thrown into the sea, Than that he should be a source of temptation to any of these little ones. In combating the temptations presented by vicious amusements Jesus staked his faith pre-eminently on the individual. In the ultimate analysis, their power to injure a man depends entirely upon his personal attitude and choice. Jesus' appreciation of the importance of choosing the good and rejecting the evil is indicated by the dramatic form in which he expressed this teaching (Mk. 943-47): Should your hand cause you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than for you with your two hands to HARMFUL AMUSEMENTS 217 go away into Gehenna into the unquenchable fire. And should your foot cause you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with your two feet to be cast into Gehenna. And should your eye cause you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna. The logic is irrefutable. Men do not hesitate to resort to surgery to escape extreme physical ills. Why not also to escape the more deadly moral ills? By means of this dramatic analogy Jesus aimed to arouse men from their lethargy regarding moral values. He taught them to sacrifice everything else in order to preserve their honour and purity and clarity of vision -all those qualities which stand for upright character. Jesus' Rejection of the Pharisaic Interpretation of the Sabbath. The question of Sabbath observance was as vital and as hotly discussed in the first Christian century as it is to-day. In the years following the Babylonian exile the Sabbath had become one of the chief institutions of Judaism. With misguided zeal the later scribes and rabbis had endeavoured to preserve its sanctity by hedging it about with a vast number of rigid regulations. The huge structure of laws which they had reared about it had almost entirely obscured its real value and significance. Jesus, inspired by his profound appreciation of the paramount importance of developing personality, entirely rejected this institutional conception of the Sabbath and estimated it simply on the basis of its social and religious value to the individual. In so doing he took his stand squarely with the earlier prophets in opposition to its institutional interpretation by the priests and Pharisees. A vivid presentation of his position is found in Mark 223-28: And it came to pass that he was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears. And the Pharisees said to him, 'Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?' And he said to them, 'Have you never read what David did, when he had need and both he and those with him were hungry? how he entered into the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the showbread, which only the priests may eat, and gave also to those with him?' And he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; and so the son of man is also lord of the Sabbath.' Thus with one stroke Jesus did away with the old ceremonial interpretation which made the Sabbath a day of bondage, and proclaimed it to be God's good gift to man. Unfortunately it has taken his followers more than eighteen centuries fully to appreciate his position. Our present conception of the Sabbath is still befogged by the fact that our Puritan forefathers followed the Pharisees rather than Jesus in interpreting the aim and value of this day of rest. By his practice as well as in his teaching Jesus declared that the Sabbath is made for man. To the utter horror of his Pharisaic critics, he apparently redoubled on that day his acts of healing and helpful services. To their criticisms he replied with what was to them an unanswerable question (Mk. 34): Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do harm? to save a life or to kill? It is evident that Jesus and his critics were thinking on entirely different levels. Their idea that the Sabbath was an institution before which all men must slavishly bow was as repulsive to him as were many of the old Jewish ceremonial rites, which he quietly rejected. Paul doubtless reflects the spirit of his Master in regarding the conscientious scruples of the man who "rates one day above another." The apostle himself evidently "rated all days alike" (Rom. 145). The same attitude toward this Jewish institution is reflected in what may well be an original teaching of Jesus. It is preserved in one of the best Western texts (Codex Beza) of Luke 65 and recurs in the sayings of Jesus recently discovered in Egypt: Observing a man at work on the Sabbath, he said to him, 'Man, if you know what you are doing, happy are you; but if you do not know, you are cursed and a transgressor of the law,' USE OF THE SABBATH 219 Jesus' Example and Teachings Regarding the Larger Use of the Sabbath. Jesus not only swept away the ancient prohibitions which made the Jewish Sabbath a day of repression and anxiety, but he also gave to it a rich and positive meaning. It is significant that on that day he took his disciples out into the fields into touch with nature. He encouraged them in the free expression of their harmless natural impulses, even though in plucking the ears of grain they were deliberately disregarding the Pharisaic prohibitions. In the light of this specific example it is difficult to conceive that Jesus would have frowned on any use of the Sabbath which gives to toiling men rest and wholesome recreation without depriving other men of their rightful rest. It is also clear, in view of his profound emphasis on the importance of developing human personality, that he would have insisted that the form of recreation be not only wholesome, but adapted to the higher needs of each individual. The method which Jesus followed with his disciples also indicates that he appreciated the importance of change and variety in order to develop the entire man. No teacher ever emphasised more strongly than did he the higher and more abiding sources of joy and re-creation. He himself set the example of attending the synagogue on the Sabbath; but he did not stop with this merely conventional act. The Sabbath was for him a day of rich spiritual experience and activity. He made it, in the largest sense, "a day of joy and gladness." He taught by his acts that man's lordship of the Sabbath involved large responsibilities. Each hour of this unique day of rest was to be used, not only for the highest development of the individual, but also for the fullest service of his fellows. The great task remains for his followers to interpret the social spirit and attitude of Jesus toward the Sabbath into the terms of our complex modern life, and to make it again, not a day hedged in by prohibitions and shrouded by gloom, but in every sense a day of rest and growth and joyous service. Jesus' Analysis of the Sources of Real Happiness. The well-being and happiness of both the individual and of society |