IT is sufficient to say that Luke agrees substantially with Matthew and
Mark.
"Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." Good!
"Judge not and ye shall not be judged: condemn not and ye shall not be
condemned: forgive and ye shall be forgiven." Good!
"Give and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, and
shaken together, and running over." Good! I like it.
"For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to
you again."
He agrees substantially with Mark; he agrees substantially with Matthew;
and I come at last to the nineteenth chapter.
"And Zaccheus stood and said unto the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, the half of
my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man
by false accusation, I restore him four fold.' And Jesus said unto him,
'this day is salvation come to this house.'"
That is good doctrine. He did not ask Zaccheus what he believed. He did
not ask him, "Do you believe in the Bible? Do you believe in the five
points? Have you ever been baptized--sprinkled? Or immersed?" "Half of
my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man
by false accusation, I restore him four fold." "And Christ said, this
day is salvation come to this house." Good!
I read also in Luke that Christ when upon the cross forgave his
murderers, and that is considered the shining gem in the crown of his
mercy. He forgave his murderers. He forgave the men who drove the nails
in his hands, in his feet, that plunged a spear in his side; the soldier
that in the hour of death offered him in mockery the bitterness to
drink. He forgave them all freely, and yet, although he would forgive
them, he will in the nineteenth century, as we are told by the orthodox
church, damn to eternal fire a noble man for the expression of his
honest thoughts. That will not do. I find, too, in Luke, an account
of two thieves that were crucified at the same time. The other gospels
speak of them. One says they both railed upon him. Another says nothing
about it. In Luke we are told that one railed upon him, but one of the
thieves looked and pitied Christ, and Christ said to that thief:
"To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Why did he say that? Because
the thief pitied him. God can not afford to trample beneath the feet
of his infinite wrath the smallest blossom of pity that ever shed its
perfume in the human heart!
Who was this thief? To what church did he belong? I do not know. The
fact that he was a thief throws no light on that question. Who was he?
What did he believe? I do not know. Did he believe in the Old Testament?
In the miracles? I do not know. Did he believe that Christ was God? I
do not know. Why then was the promise made to him that he should meet
Christ in Paradise? Simply because he pitied suffering innocence upon
the cross.
God can not afford to damn any man who is capable of pitying anybody.