The Spiritual Man and Other Sermons Author:Phillips Brooks Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE MAGDALENE. "And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner."—St. Luke vii. 37. In this incident in our Lord's life we have a conversation between ... more »Him and a Pharisee with whom He had gone up to sup. Yet there is a third person, who, although there comes no word from her, has a true part in the conversation. Sometimes silence is so full of expression that the person who stands by while two others talk seems to take part in the conversation, by continually giving directions to others' thoughts and words. In this case the company congregated is a significant one. Let us think of that for a few moments. It consisted of Jesus, the Pharisee at whose feast Jesus sat, and the poor woman, creeping in from the street and paying the homage of her devotion, gratitude, and humble love. We sometimes speak and feel as if Jesus had only to do with the poor and needy. Yet, as we look through the New Testament we are struck by seeing how often He had something to do with those who were rich and prosperous. Jesus was not simply the champion of the poor and sinful. He came, indeed, to call, not the righteous but sinners to repentance, because only they who know that they are sinners can know their need of repentance. But there is something larger than the mere championship by Jesus of one sort or condition of men. He contributed very much more to the solution of the great problems of human relationship than He could have done if He had made Himself the champion of one side or class or condition or sort of men. Jesus was the representative of humanity, in order that He might inspire humanity with love to God. The testimony which He bore, in His assertion of the richness and the possibilities of human life, was on both sides. On the one side He taught the rich man how to make his ri...« less