Show tragedy 0 calvary challena Chal leng co fait at easter we face the challenge of the cross there Is no fact to in all the christian story ahiel alch Is at the same time so inspiring and so disquieting ns as the tact fact of calvary we cannot come within vision of the little hill that lay beyond the wall 0 of jerusalem and fall to feel our hearts strongly uplifted and profoundly disturbed it la Is the scene of sup supreme renje love for humanity of unfaltering loyalty to god in the former aspect it brings to us hope and consolation in in the latter it challenges ibs ua to exielue exIl lue the nature of our faith and the nian man leer of lasi exercise exer elste looking at the universe from tile alie standpoint of the risa ve discover the tremendous truth that hack back of nil all phenomena ix Is love no matter how much of contradiction there may lie foe ni all mutter liow how many thing appear in the llie ho lin tory of the race in the llie facts displayed liy by science in the exper experience letice of the individual which run counter to tit loe ioe calvary it it has say liny meaning tit at all means that the ultimate controlling fact Is love god to Is love that la Is what the cross means and if the ultimate sigal fl i cance of life and the universe Is god r then love Is the supreme motive and power which in the end roust must ex plain all must reconcile all must r re store everywhere and in all life the i harmony and happiness which our fall it 3 ur to understand and to believe thil j truth have lost to us for a time 4 01 faiths foundation when faith lays igya hold upon this fact f it gets solid groaned acrond beneath its feet nor can it be easily confounded by ay ati ces it has learned that the contradictions of appearance are due if to the incompleteness Incomplete nesa of vision g life itte Is regarded from froin any other tand krand point than that of calvary only oaly at ib the foot of tile cross on the summit g of the little hill can we see things j in their completeness we W must keep coming back to it for a renewed realization of the truth that when life Is viewed steadily and as a whole from point of gods purpose love Is seen to be the heart of 0 it but when faith finds the comfort of abl this fact it faces also the challenge which lies iles in it the practical significance of tile fact rests in the response which faith makes to it the fact must be acted upon we derive no benefit from the universal atmosphere it if we do not breathe it into our lungs A man with nostrils stopped and mouth closed dying of suffocation does not disprove tile the ex istance of air ile he proves only his own folly in falling to appropriate the essential element abundantly provided for his life if the room bec becomes onies etl tilling end respiration difficult we throw open the window vin dow acting upon our faith lal that ht gods supply of air Is ample gods love all powerful calvary Is a challenge to faith to act upon its belief that love Is tile supreme force in the to dare all things and to sulter suffer rill all things in unhesitating lell iel lance anve upon the hie certainty anil and sufficiency of gods love loe to conquer where every other po power falls fails jesus as lie ile turned ills steps toward jerusalem faced tile the apparent rol col lapse of ills mission if men were to judge by tile the sui sill face indications by the part picture which was visible to them the picture of jesus standing alone in the hie grip of ills enemies jeus with tile the organized prejudice of hierarchical judaism against him jesus with nith tile of imperial rome nome against him jesus without u human friend who had the courage to stand by him flim men could only say that this was catastrophe and defeat so judging jud hig jesu himself clitu elf could not have felt otherwise the failure of religion to conquer the world in the name of jesus Is chiefly due to lo the filet fact that too often it la Is thus that its exponents have judged they wanted immediate ble results they have shrunk from apparent failure with all that it it entailed of material loss and physical suffering they have compromised and resorted to other sources of seeming strength they have up sri an apparent success measured in terms of wealth or stige or numbers put but they have sacrificed the ftfe only thin tiling worth while the spiritual regeneration of humanity through tile the power of love savior chose victory jesus saw all oie gloomy appear ances of defeat long before they overwhelmed ills his disciples and sent them scurrying to cover but lie he saw that the only real detent defeat possible lay in H his ls surrender to appearances in ills his losing faith in th the love purpose of goil god had ue ile said by a little concession to the temple authorities by a small vvs aster CASTER is ii the time of the revel of the lilic the they are een in the hats and in the bands and of the ladies ladie real or artificial lilies lilie they are found at the bed bedsides bedi sides dei of pain in the hospitals and the rooms of the shut hut ins im they are held in the hand and cherished in the heart hearl but they are in the gardens also alo or in the windows window of homo homes and held in crystal vases vase they are regnant and royal and sweets according to the particular y type of lily the rose roe will have its if day after awhile and it will be a long iong ummer summer day but at easter the lily has ha way away yielding to ann annas s and pilate I 1 can n prolong my life and my aly service to my isly people I 1 can continue for another ten tell or twenty years to teach and to henl beat and to help belp ican gather a large following und and lay a stronger foundation for the work that must go when I 1 ani am no longer able to direct it that would have been tragic that would have hava meant utter titter failure hopeless defeat and yet how wise aud and co commonsensical seu it all sounds and how often men who count themselves ills followers have shaped their service of him by just such considerations as those these jesus went to tile the cross because ile he believed that love was mightier than thai organized prejudice and hatred mightier than the armies of rome mightier than death and that tile the way of gods triumph ran like a path of glory through all the midnight darkness which men termed catastrophe call to christians and when we turn back to calvary and salute with grateful and worshiping hearts the stan man who did not alinell from it we acknowledge that jesus judged truly when will christians answer the challenge of the cross rind and declare that they are willing aci to risk everything to fo lobe everything to in order to demonstrate anew the truth that love Is tile the only redemptive power for life that love Is the only answer to iti problems that love Is the only solvent bollent tor for its alts ills aben will christians courageously and with the heroism of their master build all their plans rest all their hopes chance everything upon the faith that the significance of life li 19 love ione that the controlling impulse of i the uh universe iverse Is love when that day comes the cross will I 1 return not as a symbol but as an experience I 1 per peri lence ence there may be another such appearance of failure and d defeat e feat a as a made midnight for the timid at calvary but beyond it will lie the dawn ot of which jesus spoke when he said and 1 I if I 1 be lifted up will draw all men unto tile mel all |