A Hindu sadhu, "a holy man," pulled out a New Testament from his saffron robe and said, "This is my meat and drink."
Is humanity more and more pulling from the folds of its heart the New Testament out of sheer necessity? Are our deep down needs taking us by the hand and leading us to Him? Yes, increasingly so.
Jesus shut within a Book Is hardly worth a passing look; Jesus shut within a creed Is a fruitless Lord indeed. But Jesus in the hearts of men Shows His tenderness again. -- Gordon Grooms
"Jesus in the hearts of men? Yes, He is there in need -- increasingly there as the fulfillment of a need. What is man's greatest need? I have one unhesitating answer: Redemption!
This verse in Romans, the beginning letter of Paul, expresses that need: "They are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (3:24.) "Redemption which is in Christ Jesus." What is redemption?" asked a modern girl wistfully. Literally it means "to buy back" -- picture a man, woman, or child about to be sold into slavery; then someone comes along, pays the ransom price, and sets the slave free. Someone objects that the situation of the slave market is gone, therefore the idea of redemption is gone with it. Is it? Outer slaveries are going, but inner slaveries are increasing. We speak of being tied up," "tied in knots," all balled up, mixed up," "confused" -- revealing a bondage, an inner slavery far worse than the outer slavery ever was or could be. An outer slave could be free inwardly -- he could escape within -- but one who is in bondage within has no escape. To try to escape into the without only increases his inner tangles. He is caught. He needs redemption. And Jesus is the only open door.
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Eli Stanley Jones was a 20th century Methodist Christian missionary and theologian. He is remembered chiefly for his interreligious lectures to the educated classes in India, thousands of which were held across the Indian subcontinent during the first decades of the 20th century.
Jones was born in Baltimore, Maryland. After attending Asbury University, he became a missionary in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He traveled to India and began working with the lowest castes, including Dalits. He became close friends with many leaders in the Indian Independence movement, and became known for his interfaith work. He said, "“Peace is a by-product of conditions out of which peace naturally comes. If reconciliation is God’s chief business, it is ours—between man and God, between man and himself, and between man and man.” He was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for his reconciliation work in Asia, Africa, and between Japan and the United States.