This post is part six of a series of blog posts I’m doing on George H. Morrison’s piece, “The Intolerance of Jesus”.
To read the rest of the series–
- Part One–The Intolerance of Jesus
- Pat Two–Intolerance Must be Knowledgeable
- Part Three–Christ Died Because of His Intolerance
- Part Four–Intolerance of Sharing the Allegiance
- Part Five–Child of Glowing Faith
Christ’s Intolerance Was Found in His Perfect Understanding
Then once again the intolerance of Jesus is the intolerance of perfect understanding. It was because He knew so fully, and sympathised so deeply, that there were certain things He could not bear. One great complaint we make against intolerance is that it does not sympathetically understand us. It is harsh in judgment, and fails in comprehension, and has no conception of what things mean for us. We have all met with intolerance like that, but remember there is another kind. Take the case of drunkenness, for instance; there are many people very tolerant of drunkenness. They talk about it lightly, make a jest of it; they are none of your rigid, longfaced Pharisees. But sometimes you meet a man, sometimes a woman, to whom such jesting talk is quite intolerable, and it is intolerable not because they know so little; it is intolerable because they know so much. The curse has crossed the threshold of their home, and laid its fatal grip on someone who was dear. They have seen the wreck and ruin of it, and all its daily misery, and the drying up of every wellspring of the heart. So in their grief they grow terribly intolerant, and it is not because they do not understand; they are intolerant because they understand so well. Never forget that it is so with Christ. He is intolerant because He comprehends. He knows what sin is; He knows how sweet it is; He knows its havoc, its loneliness, its dust and ashes. And therefore is He stern, uncompromising, and says to us, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” There are men who are intolerant because of ignorance; Christ is intolerant because He knows. — George H. Morrison 1866-1928 — The Intolerance of Jesus
We live in a very difficult age. Some would say maybe even the “end times”. Jesus told us that the signs of the times would point to His return. There is a line in the song “Chicago”…”the town that Billy Sunday could not shut down.” Billy Sunday was an American athlete who, after being a popular outfielder in baseball’s National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century. Sunday was a strong supporter of Prohibition, and his preaching likely played a significant role in the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919. Our generation seems to be in short supply of preachers with the kind of fire that is needed to fight against the evils that are destroying our marriages, families, churches and ultimately this country. I personally don’t believe morality can be legislated, we only need look to the past to see how prohibition worked out. But, what we could really use is some Holy fire, set in our hearts, individually and collectively. Love is characterized today in many ways…it is my belief that real love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth…” 1 Corinthians 13:6 We have lost our zeal for holiness in an effort to embrace the sinner, and while that is needed, we need to be careful not to embrace the sin as well.
[…] Part Six–Intolerance in His Perfect Understanding […]