4. JESUS AND MATERIAL THINGS
What attitude did Jesus adopt towards material things?
Did he even notice them? Obviously he did. This is proved by his parables
about the "lilies of the field" (anemones), the birds of the air, the
farmer and his kinship with the soil, the shepherd and his flock, the corn
and the threshing floor, bread, and salt, and lamps. They also show that he
was not indifferent to these things. He understood and appreciated them.
We must, of course, discount the sentimentality of legends and pious
writers. In order to understand his relation to material things we must go
back to the Old Testament views about God's creation. Things do not
constitute "nature" in the modern sense. They are God's handiwork, and
anything that happens is not some spontaneous natural process but proceeds
from the power of God. Jesus was always referring to this creating and
ruling God, completing the picture, however, by presenting him as the
Father, and showing that God's activity was the work of the Father's
Providence. This thought explains his attitude towards things. To him they
were not merely scientific, poetic, or cultural data; they were the
materials and tools of Providence.
Not only was Jesus perfectly at ease with all things; because his will was
at one with his Father's, he felt himself to be Lord of all things. He was
the one who had been sent. His will was not for his personal interests; it
was devoted entirely to the purposes of his mission. And so through
obedience to this mission, "all power in heaven and on earth" was given to
him, a power as great as that of the Father himself. This is a staggering
thought, but it is the view of Jesus. Yet this power is never apart from or
contrary to that of the Father: it is always joined with it, in obedience
to it. "My Father worketh until now; and I work" (John 5. 17). The saying:
"If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this
mountain, Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove" (Mat. 17. 20) is
not a mere description of the limitless faith which his followers ought to
have, but of his own faith too, only we cannot speak of his having "faith"
in our sense of the word. He possesses, rather, that which evokes faith in
us and makes it possible, namely, his essential identification with the
truth and the will of the Father. That is why all things obey him.
When we look at his miracles in their true light, they reveal the peculiar
contact in reality that the will of Jesus has with material things. This
contact is not established through something in the way of "powers" of a
higher order, but flows from obedience, from his union with the Father's
will and the mighty course of sacred history, working itself out from hour
to hour. At the point of contact between the exercise of the Father's power
when he is forming the world that is to be, and the faith of men which
links them with Providence, Christ is at work.
What value did things have for Jesus? What use were they to him? Did he
enjoy them or prize them?
First of all, we must assert that he was not insensitive to the attraction
of things. Had he been so, then an experience like that of the temptation
in the wilderness (Mat. 4.
ff.) would not have made sense. "The kingdom
of this world" could be used as a temptation only for someone who was aware
of their "glory". Jesus was no ascetic. He said so himself in connection
with John the Baptist's way of life. Jesus fully recognized this way of
life; but he himself lived otherwise. Did they not even call him a "glutton
and a wine-bibber" (Mat. 11. 19)? An account such as that of the marriage
in Cana reveals anything but a contempt for things; and the same is true of
the story, also in St. John, of the anointing with precious oil at Bethany
(John 2. 1 ff.; 12. 1 ff.).On the other hand he himself mentions his lack
of a home and possessions (Mat. 8. 20; 19. 21). Nowhere does he show any
special interest in the value of things. Indeed, he warns us against the
danger of this, especially in his sayings about the rich, in the parable
about the needle's eye, and in the story about Lazarus the beggar.
We would, no doubt, be nearer the mark were we to say that he was
completely detached from things, not as a result of self-discipline and a
more spiritual view of things, but by nature. To him, things were simply
there, part of his Father's world. He used them when it was necessary to do
so, and took pleasure in them without making any special fuss over them.
Things represented no danger to him, as they do to men. But he does not
demand of men that they should dispense with all things, as any ascetic or
dualist system would. He asks men to free themselves from the thraldom of
things. This idea is expressed most tellingly in the story of the rich
young man (Mat. 19. 16 ff.). In answer to the question about what he should
do in order to have eternal life, Jesus told him to keep the commandments,
that is, to use things properly in obedience to the will of God; then all
would be right. However, as soon as the desire to do even more is aroused,
Jesus accepts this and even enters into the relationship of "love" for it.
This is not because a man wants to be rid of evil things, but because he
desires to attain greater freedom and love. And now Jesus says: "Go sell
what thou hast and give to the poor." Jesus does not by any means demand
that everybody should be poor. Many are to be: those, that is, who "are
able to take it". Among men, such people are to be witnesses to the
possibility of becoming free from all things; and as such they are to be a
help to those who retain possessions, enabling them to maintain freedom
while using them.
