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How can we relate to someone ‘too much’ like Jesus?

Sept. 28, 2008
Background Scripture: Matthew  20:1-28; Mark 10:35-45
Devotional Reading: Philippians 2:1-11

Throughout my 78 years I have experienced a considerable number of people whose demeanor and manner suggested the presence of Jesus himself. There were probably considerably more who, had I been more perceptive, would have evoked that same feeling.

Probably no one ever made me feel closer to Jesus than a short, stooped man with weak eyes and voice to match, and wearing a suit that obviously was badly in need of pressing. His name was Toyohiko Kagawa.

Though you may never have heard of him, believe me when I say that in the first half of the 20th century, no one was as greatly loved and respected by knowing Christians.

Physically unimpressive, oratorically disadvantaged, his presence was like the presence of Jesus.

It was the late autumn of 1954 and I was in my senior year at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. The editor of our student newspaper told me that Kagawa was coming to town and asked if I would be willing to cover the event for our paper. Because I had read so much about him, I enthusiastically agreed.

He had a worldwide reputation as a Christian, not because of what he said or wrote, but because of what he did: He lived his life among his people in much the same way that Jesus had lived his.

Toyohiko Kagawa

In Cecil Northcott’s Famous Life Decisions, we learn that Kagawa chose to live in a tiny hut in a Tokyo slum. On his first night there he was asked to share his bed with a man suffering from a terrible rash. It was a serious test of his faith, but he welcomed the stranger.

Later, a beggar asked him for his shirt and Kagawa willingly gave it. The next day, the man returned and asked for Kagawa’s coat and trousers. When he left, Kagawa was clothed only in a ragged, old kimono.

His slum neighbors laughed at this peculiar man who stood and coughed as he preached, “God is love. Where love is, there is God.” But they came to respect Kagawa and when, exhausted, he fell down, they picked him up and carried him back to his hut.
Later, when he wrote: “God dwells among the lowliest of men. He sits on the dust heap among the prison convicts. He stands with the juvenile delinquents. He is there with the beggars. He is among the sick, he stands with the unemployed. Therefore, let him who would meet God visit the prison cell before going to the temple. Before he goes to Church let him visit the hospital. Before he reads his Bible let him help the beggar” … who could challenge his authenticity?
He didn’t just talk about Jesus; whenever possible, he was Jesus for those who needed him.

Jesus the radical

So far as I know, Kagawa never held an office in the church, lay or clergy. I’m not aware that he was awarded any prestigious prizes or titles. People seldom recognized him when they met him because he didn’t look important and didn’t sound impressive.

Once, when he lived in the slums of Kobe, he invited a distinguished preacher to speak at a public meeting. Dressed in the garments of the poor with whom he lived, Kagawa went to the train station to greet the famous preacher. But the preacher mistook Kagawa for a porter and said, “Here, fellow, carry my bags; I’ll look for Kagawa.”

For all of the world’s admiration of Kagawa, I don’t think it knew what to do with him. He was too much, much too much, like Jesus.
He seemed to be the personification of Jesus’ revolutionary standard of greatness: “… whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and gave his life as a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:26-28).
Wonderful as that may sound, we can’t run the world like that; why, we can’t even run our churches like that! If we were to be like that, we’d be too close to Jesus – the Christ who wants to turn our world upside down.
 
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.

9/24/2008