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GOD’S WILL
AND MAN’S FREEDOM
“He left Judaea, and departed again into Calilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
“Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her: if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence
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GREAT THEMES OF LIFE
then has thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
“Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the
hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we
worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour
cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God
is a Spirit: and they that worship him must wor
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ship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto
thee am he.” —St. John 4: 8-26
ONE’S first reaction is to rebel at the sound of a strange name and the name of Bahá’u’lláh does at first sound strange to our Western ears, even though it means the “Glory of God.”
But should we regard this name, or this person, as being any more strange than the repeated Bible references concerning Jesus (a Jew), dealing with the Samaritans, seeing that politically and socially they were such deadly rivals?
In this Scripture reading we have another lesson from Jesus explaining the true role of man. We see Jesus at a well, and a Samaritan woman is there drawing water. That He should even speak to her surprised the woman, but that He should ask for a drink of water from her left her amazed. “How is it that thou, being
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a Jew, askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria?” she asked, and ]esus’ reply is what we should hold in our thoughts: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink: thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.”
A Challenge like that is not easy to take! And the woman quickly bridled: “Sir, our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye Jews say, that in Jerusalem is the place Where men ought to worship!”
Jesus saw the old belligerency arising, the clash of Jew and Samaritan, and He instantly led her mind back to the realities which faced them: “Woman,” He said, “believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father . . . But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
But the woman, not willing to be browbeaten by any Jew, quickly flung back at Him: “I know that Messias cometh, which is called
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Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all things.”
And now, just listen to Jesus’ answer: “I that speak unto thee am He!”
A point blank assertion that He, this weary Jewish man who was sitting on the wall of the well, was the Messiah! Do you wonder that the woman was staggered! N o proofs. N 0 previous buiId-up. Just the plain assertion: I am He!
Unfortunately, in one way, this very interesting discussion is broken off here by the return of the disciples, who had been into the city to buy food. At their return, the woman gathered up her water bottles and put them on one side, and hurried into the town to let the people know what she had heard. We never hear the final word on this discussion between Jesus and the woman, but let us pay particular attention to one or two significant things: Firstly, the disciples are keen for Jesus to have a meal, but He is not nearly so interested in food as He is in His mission. “My meat,” He explains to them, “is to do the Will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.” Jesus’ purpose in life was to submit His will to God’s WilI—“I do the Will of Him that sent me”—and to finish God’s work!
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The second point to note is further on in the chapter from St. John and is recorded thus: “And many of the Samaritans of this city believed on Him for the saying of the woman,” And in another verse it is recorded: “And many more believed because of His own word.”
We in this twentieth century are faced with precisely the same challenge: there is conflict between nations and races; there is conflict between religions, and there is conflict between the sects within those religions. But over all is the conflict between a Being Who claims to be Supreme, who says, in fact, I am the return of the Spirit of Truth, and those divines and leaders of religion who are still awaiting the Coming of the Kingdom according to their theological beliefs.
Just as John the Baptist was a lone Voice crying in the wilderness, so was ]esus a lone Voice crying: “I am Messiah! Here am I!” So, too, today the voice of Bahá’u’lláh is saying: “The people have always busied themselves With such specious discourses, vainly protesting: ‘Wherefore hath not this or that sign appeared?’ —when, in fact, the Lord hath appeared.”
In another section of His Scripture He says: “To seek evidence, when the proof hath been
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established is but an unseemly act, and to be busied with the pursuit of knowledge when the Object of all learning hath been attained is truly blameworthy.”
Let us consider briefly three things: the Will of God, man’s freedom, and the proofs relative to both. '
There are, in reality, two Wills of God; one is that Will by which He exerts an irresistible power; it is His immutable Will, or Intention. Nothing we can do can interfere with that Will.
This immutable Will of God is the power which creates life, which orders the natural laws; it is the Will springing from His innate love which caused our creation: “I loved My creation, therefore I created thee.” By this Will God fulfils His purpose regarding creation in every kingdom—mineral, vegetable, animal and human. That immutable Will is above and beyond us; it is something no finite mind can grasp, because it deals with the plans of Infinity. The Great Architect can know His plans, but the plans can never know the Architect.
The second Will of God, however, is something we can and should know, because God has created in us the powers necessary for its comprehension. “God’s greatest gift to man,”
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says Bahá’u’lláh, “is that of intellect or understanding.” And will is the center or focus of human understanding. By this second Will of God He has decreed that man should have the faculties necessary to be a co-worker with Him in, at least, part of His great plan for humanity.
That we should have knowledge of good and evil is the result of God’s Will toward us; that man should be able to study the arts and sciences; that he should be able to explore the surface of the earth, the depths of the seas and the infinity of outer space, is all because God willed that it be so. And the Will of God is perfect, even as the Psalmist expresses it, in terms of Law: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the SOul.”
God never willed anything, either in the material realm or in the spiritual realm, that is not good for mankind. And, too, by that same Will whereby God ordained that man should have this knowledge, He also willed that man should not be coerced into obeying the Almighty Will. God requires that men of their own volition shall cooperate with Him.
Thinking along these lines gives one a new light on the words of Bahá’u’lláh when He tells us that God says: “Man is my mystery and I
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am his mystery.” God willed that man should have a will of his own by Which he could actively participate in his own spiritual evolution. He can will to cooperate with that second Will of God, or he can rebel against that Which God has willed.
One might very well say: It is indisputable that all men have not the same intellect; therefore, their interpretation of what is that Will of God concerning man, may well differ! That is perfectly true, and there is a great divergence of opinion concerning what God requires of man. But that difference of opinion springs from one source—man’s unwillingness to be bound by the plain statements of the Savior in which he professes to believe. No matter whether he be Jew or Samaritan, Christian or Muslim, he theorizes about what his Christ probably meant, building up for himself a creed which, in time, leads to other creeds.
One thing we do know, however, is that Jesus left nothing ambiguous about His desire, that we should strive to live as He lived, and to conform our lives to that meekness displayed in His life. In that alone lies man’s right of choice.
Not until Christ had any one arisen to give
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a new teaching instead of that of Moses and to take unto himself the authority which once had belonged to Moses, just as fifteen hundred years before, Moses had taken the torch of revelation from Abraham. As day succeeds day, each with its own sun, so there is no sun to challenge God’s latest Manifestation whenever and Wherever He appears.
But that second Will of God places a limitation on each of His Manifestations in that God requires that man, of his own volition should accept that Manifestation. God will not substitute His Will for theirs, neither does He, as it were, drive them to an acceptance by any display of force. Because He has endowed man with intellect and will, He is ready to educate him, little by little, as man can absorb the truth —-and profit by it! He does not cast pearls before swine! On the contrary, God measures His Revelation to the capacity of man to absorb it.
We find Jesus frequently lamenting over the
peoples slowness of understanding, their feebleness of faith. His sorrow was not for Himself,
or for God, for the final, irresistible Will of God
Will accomplish its purpose, but He sorrowed
for the people, for the blessings and happiness
they forfeited through their unbelief and hard
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ness of heart. Do you recall God’s rebuke to Miriam and Aaron because they would not accept Moses? He said to them, as recorded in the Book of Numbers: “Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord Will make myself known unto him in a Vision and Will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them.”
In the life and teachings of both Moses and Jesus one doesn’t find any overbearing attitude of mind, nor any desire to browbeat anyone into an acceptance of their teachings. They were meek and lowly of heart.
The simplicity and quietness with which Jesus came among men was also due to God’s Will, so that man should have the power of choice. Had His advent been accompanied by any great signs and wonders, the faith and sincerity of the people would not have been tested. There would have been no freedom of choice. Men’s minds would have been appalled;
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their judgment unbalanced; their imagination enslaved and their wills would have been forced to submit to an evident display of superhuman power. All men (good, bad, and indifferent), a Herod, a Pilate, the Scribes and Pharisees, Jews and Samaritans, along with Peter, James and Iohn—all would have been reduced to a terrified acceptance of Him. Whereas, to recognize in the carpenter from Galilee the Lord of the Age would be proof of intuitive Vision and sincerity.
Through this freedom of choice, the Cause of God has brought among men confusion, division and strife because no man can escape his responsibility of exercising his right of choice. One way or the other, he must be with God’s Cause or against it. Whichever he decides, the choice is his own. God does not compel him, in any way, in his choice to either support the Army of Light or the Army of Darkness. In God’s eyes there are two kinds of men onlythe spiritual and the unspiritual.
What we choose to believe; what cause we choose to espouse is our own affair. Bahá’u’lláh expresses it thus: “A man’s faith is conditioned by no one but himself.”
Often the question is asked: “But where is
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the proof of Bahá’u’fléh?” The proof is in Himself, even as the proof of Jesus was in Himself. Jesus said: “I am!” And those Who were meek and lowly of heart believed Him and followed Him and then experienced the truth in their own lives.
At other times someone asks: “Are any of the great people of the world believers in this Faith-the leaders of the world?” Were the great ones of the earth ever in the vanguard of a new Manifestation? Social classifications such as the world makes, based on wealth, rank, learning, reputation and the like, are in the Bible regarded of small importance. The true basis for division is spirituality. Between the spiritual man and the unspiritual, an internecine war has never ceased to be waged. On the one hand you always have an Isaac, 21 Joshua, an Elijah, Isaiah and the Rachels and Hannahs, while on the other side are arrayed, Cain, the Pharaohs, Jezebels, Pilates, Judases and Herods.
Man has ever had the right of choice as to whether he believed the Messiah to be the weary Jewish man beside a well or a so-called malefactor crucified upon a cross. We have the choice of either letting this message pass
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us by, or of inquiring further into the claims of a Persian nobleman, who sacrificed all his possessions and endured forty years of banishment, imprisonment and torture in order that we might find the Christ returned in Him in all the glory of the Father.
In this age we are being told again: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” We are living in an age which our forefathers longed to behold. It is our special privilege to be present when God has, by His Divine Will, sent the Spirit of Truth into our midst. That Resplendent One calls unto us: “With fixed and steady gaze, born of the unerring eye of God, scan for awhile the horizon of divine knowledge, and contemplate those words of perfection which the Eternal hath revealed, that haply the mysteries of divine wisdom, hidden ere now beneath the veil of glory and treasured within the tabernacle of His grace, may be made manifest unto you.
All too often we are engrossed in the material, cultural and philosophical things of life, treating these as our meat, when in fact, our
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real meat is to do the Will of God as revealed in all the Holy Scriptures. Do we want to be a Miriam or an Aaron, and have God rebuke us: “Wherefore were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
Let us not neglect to investigate the call of Bahá’u’lláh, who proclaims emphatically, that He is the “return” of the Messiah of every revealed religion.
