THE FUTURE OUTLOOK
J. F. JOHNSON? Editor & Publisher
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LBJ?A Sign
Of Greatness
A house divided, shall fall. Rome fell! France fell!
Why? Because of greed, jealousy, selfishness, hatred, and
suspicion. The few rich kept the many poor in hunger
and slavery. America has now reached that status and
President Lyndon B. Johnson saw the writing on the wall.
He saw dissension; he saw race and ethnic division; he
saw politics using America for its own greed and pocket
book. President Johnson became President because of the
assassination of President John Kennedy. But dating back
before the inheritance of the Presidency was a basketball
of troubles that L. B. J. had nothing to do with. The war
in Vietnam was not of his making and the difficulties
arising from this tragic born of another regime was push
ed in his lap and he did the best he could with a situation
that was impossible. No one person in the entire world
could resolve this war that was taking its toll in young
lives and untold suffering and billions of dollars down
the drain. So everyone, dove and hawk, looked for a
scapegoat and L. B. J. was their pigeon. With great cour
age he withstood criticism, persecution, vilification, in
sults by Democrats and Republicans alike. If it had in
volved only him. he could have taken all of the vilification, 1
but no, President Johnson put America first and himself
and politics last. He didn't take the easy way out; it took
guts. Thf.t's what it takes to be a real man. L. B. J. ? all
the way, showed himself to be a man tall in the saddle.
L. B. J. didn't make the ghettoes and slums ; he in
herited them, but he did more on the fight against slums
and ghettoes than the last ten Presidents. President John
son has been the greatest leader and President that
America has known, where segregation, discrimination
and injustices against the Black pian were concerned.
More black men have been hired in key positions during
L. B. J.'s tenure than the last five Presidents combined.
President Johnson, a positive action President, The
Great Society for Black and White alike against slums,
better education, more jobs created, equal opportunity
programs, fight for open housing in spite of the tremen
dous real estate, Senate and Congressional leaders lobby
against his program. The Civil Rights program against
terrorism, lynchings, and bombings. Many great things
could be attributed to President Johnson ? too numerous
to be mentioned. It took a noble gesture on not only a
peace effort, but his declining to run for the Presidency
that really proved to the many skeptics and scoffers and
all of America that we had a real President at the helm.
It takes at this time a personal prognostication, a
personal look into the future and so state, that all Ameri
cans will see the little and small stature of other candidates
for the Presidency, who would try to stand and fill L. B.
J.'s shoes and after comparing, realize their mistakes of
the blows below the belt and then you will see the snow
ball, you will see a great clamoring, a movement, if you
pledge a National Draft, A Popular Draft of L. B. J. all
the way, for President and Peace in Vietnam in 1968. Aa
of this writing, Monday and Tuesday April 1st and 2nd
of this article. The following day, Wednesday, April 3rd,
an announcement came over the radio, stating that Hanoi
would be ready for peace talks, therefore the Peace in
Vietnam in the 1968 Prophecy is now in the making and
look forward to a National Popular draft of Johnson also
Prophecied to take place at this writing.
The Trouble Shooter
? by Ricardo Raffle*
Poet's Corner
I shall have peace, when I go home."
"When I go home may quiet reign
And nothing will I say or do ?
To cause regret or needless pain
In those I love when I go home.
When I go home, my glory Crown
When heaven's host to Him bow down,
Will be that Christ is there enthroned;
This Weed's Sunday School Lesson
JESUS ACCEPTS THE CROSS
What Is Our Concern?
The story of a person's growth
from infancy to adulthood is
marked by the manner in which
he meets and handles the threats
to his life.
A hungry baby does not know
why he cries. He knows only
that he is uncomfortable. His
crying stops when his hunger is
satisfied with food. A child grabs
a playmate's toy. The one whose
toy is taken strikes back. Some
thing that is his has been taken,
and somehow this loss threatens
him.
A little later in life the indi
vidual's struggle to have his own
needs met and to defend what is
his may express itself in less
physical forms, as in a desire to
excel in studies, to win in games,
to be better than his fellows.
Somehow this striving is bound
up with an inner urge to prove
something about himself, to safe
guard himself against threats to
his very being.
Finally we come to a realiza
tion that the skills we gain in
dealing with these day-to-day
threats will not ultimately pro
tect us against death. To be a
human being is to face the threat
of death. How do we deal with
this threat?
The issue of this session is this:
How can we learn to meet these
threats in the light of our Chris
tian faith?
Before You Bead the Scripture
For the background of our
study we need to examine John
18 and 19. These chapters carry
John's account of the events in
Jesus' life from the end of the
Last Supper through his trial,
crucifixion, and burial.
To more fully understand
John's record of these events, we
need to compare his account
with the reports of the same per
iod in the other Gospels: Mat
thew 26:36 through 27:66; Mark
14.32 through 15:47; Luke 22:39
through 23:56.
As you make this comparison,
you will discover that although
John follows in the main the pat
tern of events as related in the
earlier Gospels, his account does
vary at a number of points.
Among these variations are the
day on which the Last Supper'
occurred and, therefore, the day
of the trial; the time Jesus went
to the cross; the presence of the
women at the cross (Including3
Jesus' mother); and the ornis-i
sion of any reference to help
from Simon of Cyrene in the
bearing of the cross. You will
find others.
Jesus' Attitude
One important difference be
tween John's account and that
of the other Gospels is that, for
John, Jesus' inner struggle had
already taken place. He knew
the cross was coming. He knew
it was the will of his Father, and
he spoke of joy Instead of inner
conflict. As evidence of this,
notice that John omits Jesus'
struggle in Gethsemane. Accord
ing to the other Gospels, Jesus
prayed to be spared the cup. He
recoiled from the threat of the
cross.
Who Was Responsible?
A second basic difference to be
noted in John's account is that
John lays more responsibility for
Jesus' death upon the Jaws than
do the other Gospel writers. He
even Indicates that Pilate turn
ed Jesus over to the Jews to
crucify.
What are we to make of John's
concern to place responsibility
for the Crucifixion upon the
Jews? We need to remember
that by the time this Gospel was
written, the separation of the
Christian movement from Ju
daism was almost complete.
John's account of the Crucifixion
simply reflects this break be
tween the two faiths and the
antagonisms that accompanied
The fact that John placed re
sponsibility for the Crucifixion
upon the Jews does raise the
question as to how much in
fluence this Gospel account may
have had on the bitter conflict
that developed between Chris
tians and Jews. Perhaps at this
point we need to look closely
to the first three Gospels for a
corrective. These Gospels point
the finger of blame not at the
Jews but at certain leaders of the
Jews.
What the Scripture Says
The Scripture for today is
John 18 and 19. Selected verses
are printedbelow.
John 19:17-30
17 So they took Jesus, and he
went out, bearing his own cross,
to the place called the place of
a skull, which is called in He- '
brew Golgotha. 18 There they
crucified him, and with him two |
others, one on either side, and
Jesus between them. 19 Pilate
also wrote a title and put it on
the cross; it read, "Jesus of Naz
areth, the King of the Jews." 20
Many of the Jews read this title,
for the place where Jesus was
crucified was near the city; and
it was written in Hebrew, in Lat
in, and in Greek. 21 The
priests of the Jews then said to
Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King
of the Jews,' but, "This man said,
am King of the Jews.' " 22 Pi
late answered, "What I have
written I have written."
23 When the soldiers had cru
cified Jesus they took his gar
ments and made four parts, one
for each soldier; also his tunic.
But the tunic was without seam
woven from top to bottom; 24
so they said to one another, "Let
us not tear it, but cast lots for
it to see whose it shall be." This
was to fulfil the scripture,
They parted my garments
among them,
and tor my ciothing cagt
lots."
23 So the soldiers did this. But
standing by the cross of Jesus
were his mother, and his moth
er- sister, Mary the wife of
Clopas and Mary Mag'dalene. 28
When Jesus saw his mother, and
?>e disciple whom he loved
2?h h6 Mld to his
mother, Woman, behold, your
son!" 27 Then he said to the dis- '
ciple, "Behold, your mother'"
Ajid from that hour the disci
ple took her to his own home
Iff ^tEr ** knowing
that all was now finished, said
(to fulfil the scripture) "r
thirst." 29 A bowl full of vinegar
stood there; so they put a sponge
full of the vinegar on hyssop asd
help it to his mouth. 30 When
Jesus had received the vinegar
he said, "It is finished"; and he
bowed his head and gave up his
spirit.
! M*"<>ry I, when I
am lifted up from the earth, will
ormw all men to myself.
~ ? ?John 12:32
How We Understand
The Scripture
The words of our printed
Scripture are so familiar that
there is always danger we will
fail to hear what they have to
say to us. To help offset this
danger, let us examine closely
five brief details from John's
account of the Crucifixion.
Carrying His Own Cross
Jesus carried his own cross.
John, as we mentioned, does not
report that Jesus stumbled un
der its weight and had to have
the help of a passer-by. But
whether or not he had help in
getting it to Golgotha, certainly
Jesus endured alone the agony of
being lifted up on the cross. He
faced the responsibility of the
cross and accepted it.
A Crucified King
Pilate wrote a title and put it
on the cross: "Jesus of Nazareth,
the King of the Jews." The Jew
ish authorities asked that it be
changed to read, in effect, "He
claimed to be King of the Jews."
But Pilate insisted that the sign
said just what he wanted it to
say.
Probably John, even with the
perspective that followed sixty
years of amazing growth by the
Christian movement, could not
fully comprehend the irony of
this contemptuous gesture. What
was intended as a clever evalu
ation of a people's hope for free
dom turned out to be history's
greatest misjudgment of the sig
nificance of an event.
Jesus' Concern for His Mother
Only John reports that Jesus'
mother was among those at the
cross and that Jesus gave his
mother into the care of "the
disciple whom he loved." Since
this disciple, whether John or
another, is regarded as being
either the author of this Gospel
or the author's source of infor
mation, we can recognize how
this incident was preserved.
But our author may well have
had another purpose for his use
of this incident. Perhaps it was
another bit of evidence to con
tradict the heresy that Christ's
human life was only an appear
ance. What better contradiction
than to report that his flesh
and-blood mother was present
at the crucifixion of her sonl
However, we might better
simply let the account speak to
us in our humanity. Jesus on
the cross, suffering physically
and mentally, could thinir of the
need of his mother.
Jeans' Heat Humanity
John, alone of the Gospel
writers, reports that Jesus said
on the cross, "I thirst" Matthew
and Mark report that before he
was crucified, he was offered
drugged wine. This he did not
take. But all four Gospels speak
of his being offered vinegar
while he hung on the cross.
Jesus' thirst was a physical
thirst. It came in spite of Jesus'
sure knowledge that he had ac
complished all he had been sent
by the Father to do, that what
was happening to him was the
result of his doing the will of
him who sent him.
Again this incident is evidence
of Jesus' genuine humanity. The
Crucifixion was not of a God
play-acting at being human. H
Jesus was truly God, he also was
truly man.
"It la Finished"
John reports that when Jesus
had received the vinegar, ha
said, "It is finished," and bowed
his head and gave up his spirit.
Luke gives a deeper dimension
f Continued on Pact J)