As the Roman Pontiff left Rome and made his historic flight to Bombay, India, last December, the Church of Rome gained prominence and stature. Never before had a Pope of Rome set forth on such a mission which took him into the heart of a great non-Christian nation. Perhaps more than one million persons saw the reigning head of the greatest religious body on earth. They were impressed by the so-called "holy man" of the West, and they pressed forward if perhaps they might touch him. Many Hindus thought that such a touch might heal their bodies or bring them luck. How different was all this to the meek and lowly Jesus who was despised and rejected of men.
It was indeed a gala day when Christians, Hindus, Parsis, Moslems, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and Sikhs shouted "hail, hail" to the Pope; he replied with lavish greetings, lauding the ancient cultures of India. The Pontiff said that "Rarely has this longing for God been expressed with words so full of the spirit of advent as in your sacred books many centuries before Christ."
What vain words! Did Hinduism know Christ? or point the way to Christ? The whole populace was steeped in heathen darkness, without a ray of hope. They did not seek after God; much less did they seek Him with "relentless desire," as the Pontiff said. Man has not sought after God. "The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God." Psalm 14:22The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. (Psalm 14:2). The verdict is uniformly the same.
Take the Pope's quotation from the Hindu books called the Upanishads: "From the unreal lead me to the real, from darkness to light, from death lead me to immortality." What an empty group of sayings these are! How can man find the real, the light, and immortality? Apart from Christ and His finished work, these are forlorn hopes. We had a display of the futility of Hinduism when the great Nehru recently died. There was no hope, no comfort, no solace. The great statesman died, and the dying embers of the ashes of his funeral pyre soon blew away to settle on the streams. But men forget that "God shall bring every work into judgment," and at the Great White Throne Christ will be the Judge. Not one who dies without repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ will escape the judgment to come. Solemn indeed!
Think of the ancient Greeks who developed the great centers of mythology, and built the renowned temples which the world admires. They had celebrated philosophers, and these highly cultured Greeks turned their minds to work on these problems; but did these eminently civilized people tell us of God who made the worlds? Their genius never produced a thought worthy of God. If they thought of Him, they thought of Him as an unknown God. Him the Apostle Paul preached unto them. But as in that day, so today, many mock when Christ is preached. It is foolishness to them. Man is totally dependent upon the revelation that God has been pleased to give of Himself.
All the blandishments of all the mystics together offer nothing real; it is all a delusion. And all the soothing nostrums of religious doctors will only end in disappointment. And all the panaceas of false religions in the world do but deceive mankind, and even in the great profession of Christianity there is little of bringing of the soul to God. We are much impressed by the recent pageantry which ostensibly brought men into contact with Christianity. The 38th Eucharistic Congress in Bombay at the time of the Papal visit was a great spectacle where more than 100,000 clergy and laity arrived for the occasion. This set out Christianity as apart from all the pagan idolatry of the masses of the great subcontinent; but this Christianity bears little resemblance to the true faith in Christ as the Savior of sinners, as was found in the early Christians who "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven." That Christianity bore fruit to His name. It was vital and living faith.
Let us take notice of the Eucharistic Congress. This was started by a Bishop Louis Gaston de Segur in Lille, France, on June 21, 1881. It was for the purpose of calling attention to what Rome calls "the host." It is the exaltation of a wafer which is supposed to present Christ to the people. It is far removed from the simple remembrance of the Lord Jesus in His death on the cross which He instituted in the loaf and the cup as a memorial of His death. The priest now claims to actually change the wafer into the "body, blood, soul and spirit" of Christ, so that it may be held on high for adoration. Is not this but a form of idolatry? Can man, even a priest, change a wafer into God? It is preposterous.
The first Eucharistic Congress was a comparatively small affair, but each time it becomes a larger display, and has been held in various parts of the world. From 1881 to 1964 there have been 38 such commemorative displays. The Eucharist, as it is called, is one of the principle dogmas of Catholicism. But carnal ordinances and ritualistic observances have shut out the Christ of God. We may well quote from a devoted servant of Christ: "The Lord Jesus is kept at a distance; religious observances are brought near; and the people (for they have ever been so minded) like the feelings that come from all that which is acted before them. Their eye and ear are engaged, a certain sacred sense of God is awakened; but the precious immediate confidence of the heart and conscience is refused."
We are reminded how the blessed Lord Himself forgave sins on earth. What peace, what assurance, it gave to the troubled soul who met Christ as the Savior of sinners! Think of the woman who was a sinner, in Luke 7! Think of the poor adulteress of Sychar who found forgiveness and found Him who gave her living water! Think of the blind man whose eyes the Lord opened, in John 9! This dear man did not know about theology, but after his eyes were opened he could speak with assurance: "One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." We see Christ and the sinner found often in company, precious company! But whether we meet people on the ground of Paganism, or in any other way apart from Christ-the Christ of God -nothing satisfies the hungry soul but having personally to do with Him.
A few more lines from an already-quoted servant of Christ emphasizes the all-importance of the sinner's hope which can alone be found in Him:
"The religious rulers found this way of Jesus to interfere with them. Their interest was to keep God and the people separate, for then they had hopes of being used themselves. Thus they were angry when the Lord said to the man, Thy sins be forgiven thee. It was a great interference with them. It trespassed on their places. 'Who can forgive sins but God only?'- and God was in heaven. The Son of man forgiving sins on earth was a sad disturbance of that by which they lived in credit in the world. But whether they received it or not, this was the way of the Son on earth. He dwelt with our necessities in such wise as encouraged the happy, near, and confident approach of all needy ones to Him. He did all to show that He was a cheerful giver-nay more-that He gave Himself with His gift. For with His own hand, we have seen, He brought the blessing home to every man's door.
"It was therefore only the happy confidence of faith which fully met and refreshed His Spirit-that faith which knew the title of a needy one to come right up to Him, the faith of a Bartimaeus which was not to be silenced by the mistaken scrupulousness even of disciples. And little children are to be in His arms, though the same mistake would forbid them.
"This was His mind; He came into the world to be used by sick and needy sinners; and the faith that understood and used Him accordingly was its due answer. Such answers we see recorded by the Evangelists here in the action of the faithful little band, who, breaking up the roof, let down the bed whereon the sick of the palsy lay 'into the midst before Jesus.' There was no ceremoniousness in this, nothing of the ancient reserve of the temple, no waiting for introduction. This little company felt their necessity, knew the virtues of the Son of God, and believed that these suited each other-nay, that the Lord carried the one, because necessitous sinners were bearing the other. It was a strong expression of faith, and I believe the strength of it was according to the mind of Jesus; so that, on seeing their faith, as we read, without further to-do or more words, His heart and the grace that it carried uttered itself in an expression as full and strong; 'Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.'
"Here was sympathy. Jesus was rending all veils between God and sinners, and so was the faith of this happy little company. His blood was soon to rend from top to bottom the veil of the temple, which kept God from poor sinners; and now their faith was rending that which kept them from Jesus. This surely was meeting and entertaining the Son of God in character; and His Spirit deeply owns it: 'Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.' "