The Nearness of Nineteen Centuries

We seem sometimes to consider people and events of the far past as something quite apart from the present. But they are nearer to us than we sometimes suppose.
If we have lived twenty-five years, a century is only four times the length of the mortal life we have lived. If we have lived fifty years, a century is only twice the length of the life we have here lived—and quickly we come to know that a century isn’t very long. And if a century isn’t very long, there comes an awareness that neither are several centuries—neither, even, are nineteen.
And thinking along this pattern of perspective, we come acutely to know that we are not so very far in time from when the Master of mankind walked among men: not so far in time from the birth in Bethlehem; not so far from when He “…was baptized of John in Jordan…”; not so far from when humble fishermen were called to leave their nets and walk with Him, to be numbered among His apostles; not so far from the Sermon on the Mount, from His healing of the sick, His comforting the sorrowing; from His blessing the children, from the feeding of the multitudes; from the silencing of the winds and the waves; from His arrest and false trial, and death, and from the glorious reality of His resurrection.
With an awareness of these swiftly moving scenes, we come to know that the whole sweep of the centuries, past and future, is nearer to us than we sometimes suppose. And in thinking of the shortness of time, the nearness of eternity, the nearness even of events when the Master walked among men, we come to know that if a person has a good measure of peace and health, and love of loved ones, and useful willing work, and a solid purpose in life here, and a settled faith in life hereafter, with loved ones everlastingly—if these he has, so blessed is he that with his whole heart would he well give kindliness and encouragement to others also, and gratitude to the Lord God, and to His Son, the Prince of Peace, for these great gifts.