114 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
seemingly Falstaffian army of fishermen, tax-collectors, and reformed revolutionists, could become in a few months the pil- lars of the great church at Jerusalem and the evangelists of the world ; it is unnecessary to argue as to Jesus' recognition of the equality of men as men. Indeed, nothing is more admirable than the catholicity of sympathy and practice that made him the friend of all sorts of people. Yet nothing more scandalized the aristocratic teachers and preachers and lawyers of his own day. How often did they rail against him as a friend of the publican and sinner! In their sight he could be no prophet, since he dared receive a repentant woman of the town. 1 With them as with all legalists the temptation was strong to judge harshly and superficially of all unusual characters, and their criticism of the generous habits of Jesus was a testimony to the openness of his sympathy with honest effort at reform and his disregard of all artificial distinctions. To the Pharisees the common people who knew not the law were accursed: to Jesus they were possible members of his kingdom. 2
And his words were the echoes of his life. One of the proofs of his Messiahship that the disciples of John were to carry back to their unfortunate master was that the gospel was being preached to the poor. 3 When a man was to give a feast, Jesus bade him invite the lame and the halt and the blind/ Could social equality combined with an avoidance of self-seeking be more strikingly enforced ?
IV.
Various objections may be urged to this conception of Jesus as a preacher of social equality.
i. It may be said that he discriminated against Samaritans and gentiles, holding both himself and his disciples straitly to a mission to " the lost sheep of the house of Israel." s Yet even assuming (which is quite absurd) that such a distinction is a distinction between social classes, it would be enough to reply
'Luke 7:36;?. 3 Matt. 11:5; Luke 7, 22. sMatt. 10:6; 15:24.
2 John7:49; Matt. 11:28. 4 Luke 14:13;?.
