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The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hid in a field which a man found and hid. In his joy over it, he goes, sells all he has, and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who is seeking fine pearls. Upon finding a pearl of great price, he went off and sold all that he had, and bought it.

Jesus' observation also taught him that not those who regard themselves as morally righteous but those who have plunged deepest into moral degradation are most conscious of their spiritual needs and therefore are often the first to respond to the call to the higher love and loyalty. He illustrated this fact by the story of the prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector in the temple and also by the story of the way in which each of the two sons responded to their father's call to duty (Mt. 2128-32):

What do you think? A man had two sons; and going to the first he said, 'Son, go, work to-day in the vineyard.' And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he changed his mind and went. And going to the second, he spoke in the same way. And he answered, 'I will go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wished? They say, "The first.' Jesus said to them, 'I tell you truly, the tax collectors and sinners shall enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, yet you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and harlots believed him. And when you saw it, you did not even change your minds afterward, that you might believe him.'

The Relation of the Kingdom to Existing Society. Jesus was no mere social dreamer. His teachings prove themselves to be the outgrowth of close and sympathetic observation and deep personal experience. He did not, like many of the contemporary teachers of his race, hold up social ideals that could be realised only in some distant, indefinite future. He built squarely on society as he found it. The question of how the present society could be transformed so as to conform to the ideals of the kingdom of God was one in which he was intensely interested and which he recognised must be frankly met. His

answer is found in certain familiar parables drawn from the every-day life of the people. In the first place, he taught with superbly practical as well as prophetic insight that although its beginning would be very small and insignificant it would go on quietly growing until it should become a mighty factor in the universe (Mt. 1331, 32):

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. Though smaller than all other seeds, yet when it grows it is greater than herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and lodge in its branches.

He taught also that men are needed to provide the conditions and to plant in human consciousness the germinal principles of the kingdom, but that, when this preliminary work has been done, these principles will constantly develop and spread, for they meet universal human needs and find in the heart of man the natural soil in which to take root. Furthermore, he taught that the extension as well as the inauguration of the kingdom would not be revolutionary but evolutionary:

First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

This was one of the many positive ways in which Jesus quietly rejected the popular conception of the kingdom as a new social order which was to be suddenly, supernaturally, and catastrophically inaugurated. The ingathering comes only after a long process of natural growth (Mk. 426-29):

The kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed upon the earth, and sleep and rise by night and day, while the seed sprouts and springs up-he knows not how. The earth bears crops of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear; but when the crop is ripe, he has the sickle put in at once, because the harvest has come.

Jesus also taught that the ideals of the kingdom are allpervasive. They are known by their effects rather than

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through their process of working, for that process is not external but in the lives and minds of men. They quietly transform all whom they touch until in the end society as a whole is to be leavened (Lk. 1320, 21):

The kingdom of God is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.

Nowhere in the gospels is Jesus' world-wide outlook and his conviction that the social principles which he proclaimed were to transform all society more clearly expressed than in this homely little parable.

In the light of Jesus' intimate knowledge of the human heart, he was fully aware that two difficult problems would assail his followers. The one was that which troubled the soul

of the heroic author of the book of Job: if God is good, why does he allow evil to flourish? The other, from a practical point of view, is even more perplexing: how is the loyal citizen of the kingdom of God to live the perfect life in the midst of an imperfect world?

In the parable of the good seed and the tares Jesus offers illuminating suggestions regarding the solutions of both these problems. He does not attempt to explain why God has permitted evil to flourish in the world. It is simply a part of the nature of things, and he quietly assumes that what is is best. Also he teaches that evil is but an impermanent element in the universe: the good alone will permanently survive. Meantime it is possible for the ideals of the kingdom to germinate and spread, even though they come into constant contact and competition with evil forces. Even so, the individual man can be loyal to God and to the ideals of the kingdom in a society which contains many who do not recognise this higher loyalty. Jesus does not for a moment deny the fact that the presence of these disloyal elements makes it far more difficult for his followers to "seek first the kingdom of God." He himself knew this by painful experience. So also his early apostles, who faced persecution and death; so also every man to-day

who "seeks first the kingdom of God" in the midst of a society that is only partially Christianised. To the fishermen in his audience he taught these great truths by the use of the parable of the net which gathered in all kinds of fish; to the farmers he told the story of the good seed and the tares (Mt. 1324-30):

Another parable he set before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while men were asleep, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat and went away. Now when the blade sprouted and brought forth fruit, the tares appeared also, and the servant of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it contain tares?' And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Will you have us go then and gather them?' But he said, 'No, lest while you are gathering the tares, you might root up the wheat with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; then at the harvest time I will say to the reapers, "Gather the tares first, and bind them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'

The Realisation of Jesus' Ideal of the Kingdom in Society. Jesus taught in unmistakable terms that the realisation of his social ideal was not left to some distant future, although he himself was keenly alive to the fact that its complete realisation lay far beyond the immediate horizon. As we have already noted, his work in Galilee and Jerusalem indicates clearly that he ardently desired during his lifetime to present to his race a concrete illustration of the transformation which his social teachings, when accepted by the members of a typical community, would effect. This purpose explains his tireless zeal; it throws new light on the call and training of his disciples and his successful endeavours to build up a fraternal community in the greater Capernaum. His was not an esoteric social doctrine. He sought to realise his ideal of the kingdom, not in the lives of a few gifted followers apart from the great currents of national life, but through ordinary men and women and children, citizens of a typical Palestinian city. In large measure

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279 Jesus was able, in the face of supreme odds and during an exceedingly brief period, to effect this practical demonstration of the application of his social principles. The leaven that was planted in the teeming community which lay on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee had quietly but rapidly spread until it had begun to transform the entire mass. Jesus had hoped that this transformation would be even more rapid and complete, but the reality was in itself as marvellous as it was significant. Within less than a decade after his death the tiny mustardseed that had been sown in the rocky soil of Palestine had begun to grow into a great tree with many branches, under which Gentiles as well as Jews, ignorant pagans as well as learned Greeks, found rest and shelter.

Jesus imposed upon the children of the kingdom (those who have accepted his attitude of complete loyalty toward God and their fellow men) no external organisation except what their simple daily needs required; no bonds, except the supreme obligation to be perfect even as their heavenly Father is perfect, to do to others as they would have them do to them, and to seek first and always the kingdom of God. He taught them to pray,

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,

and thus held up ever before them as the goal of all their efforts a perfect social order. But while he taught them that the complete realisation of the ideals of the kingdom lay in the future, its beginning and the progressive realisation of these ideals are here and now. The imperfections of existing society are only the tares which divine wisdom allows to survive, even though they are but the remnants of an older world order which is doomed to destruction. Meantime, the principles of the kingdom are at work in the hearts of men, transforming their motives and therefore their acts and characters, and thereby like leaven permeating all society. Men who see merely through the physical eye cannot say of the kingdom, ""Behold, here it is!' or 'There!'" But he who can look beyond externals to