December, 1937
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
475
“New birth! Ach! My new baby! Is he a boy?” “Your baby may not arrive until tomor row, Mr. Aaronson, and your wife is rest ing now, but what I mean about your wife is that she herself has been born into God’s family. I was reading to her from a Book that I have. The part that she liked best was a conversation between a ruler of the Jews and One who was called ‘Rabbi.’ Your wife asked me to read several times these words of the Great Teacher: ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God . . . Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God . . . Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.’ “And these words made her specially happy: ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believ- eth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.’ ” Esther smiled reassuringly at her bewil dered listener. “Your wife says she was never so happy in all her life as she is now. She wants to tell you about her joy. She knows her sins are all forgiven and that now she’s God’s child.” "We have always been in God’s family!” the jeweler remonstrated. “Aaron is the very name of the man God called to be His rabbi!” Earnestly Esther replied: “We have a greater than Aaron now. We have God’s own Son, and He is the High Priest with the power to forgive sins. He Himself is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He is the Innocent One who gave His own blood that each of us might [Continued on page 507]
of Weston’s throat tightened perceptibly. The jeweler said, “We can’t be calm in this world! We men push our thoughts into the future and worry! We do not stop to enjoy the moments. We push our thoughts until they come to separations, and then we wish to chloroform them and make them unable to run away with our love. But then—” He shrugged his shoul ders. “I guess we wouldn’t want chloro formed love! We want action in love and in everything else. But we don’t want wings on love. Or on money. Ach, man has nothing he can hold!” Wes cleared his throat. Here was his perfect opportunity! Should he begin with something about Abraham or David, or speak directly of Christ? “You’re right, Mr. Aaronson,” he began. “Riches take wings. That is what the good Book says. I’m thankful you invited me in here to night. You can’t know what is on my heart—” “Ah, my boy, I do! Pardon me for my many words. You want to see rings at once, and at once you shall see them!” He switched on another light and turned to the safe and drew out a tray from the vault. “You believe in protection of that which is precious, don’t you, Mr. Aaronson? And that is the way with—” “You betcha!” interrupted the jeweler. “Now here you have the best-looking pair of rings in any state. Esther will look lovely wearing this!” He held the dia mond engagement ring before Wes with a gesture of pride. But the telephone rang at that moment. “Excuse me. I must answer that phone. It has me so nervous I don’t know my own name. If that is the hospital . . . ach! Ach me! They said they, would not call me until tomorrow except for emergency!” “Hello. Hello! Yes, this is Aaronson himself talking. Sure it is my vife that is in the hospital. Tell me quick! Vants to see me? My Rosie! Tell her I’ll be there right away.” . Aaronson rushed back to the trays of rings and jewels and began to force them into the vault. “I must hurry!” he ex claimed. “But I can’t hurry! Have to get my car from the storage garage. It’s two blocks away, and on the top floor, prob ably! They’ll be so slow there that they’ll make me too late! There should be a law against slowness!” He jammed the vault closed and grabbed his hat from the counter beside them. “My car is out in front, Mr. Aaronson. Would you jlike me to take you to the hospital ?” “Emmanuel it is! Hurry, my boy, hurry! And . . . thank you.” “I’m to meet Esther there,” Wes said as they whirled out into the traffic. “She’s visiting a friend.” The Christmas Eve traffic dragged as Mr. Aaronson restlessly watched the car’s slow progress, speculating audibly about his wife’s prospect of recovery. “A stop light!” groaned the jeweler. “It’s a good thing to have, I suppose—a warning—but not tonight! So many kinds of warnings! There’s no calm in the world any more . . . I think we’ll soon have an other war. And poor Palestine, if we do.
Oh, me! The Jews always get the stop light from all nations.” “And yet they have been the means of bringing to the world the true Light,” be gan Wes. “I was wanting to talk to you about all this. I agree with you that we are to have another war. But isn’t it won derful that we have the love of----- ” The jeweler interrupted. “Ah, yes, yes! You are in love, and I took you away from the rings! Well, you see I know about love. They say that a Jew thinks only of money. But you see I left the store for my Rosie. When you’ve been married, you’ll know how I feel. Rosie and I’ve been married ten years, and this is the fifth time we’ve hoped for a little Joel Aaronson. And now the doctor says per haps they both will die. Or perhaps—to morrow—” “Tomorrow is Christmas!” exclaimed Wes, determined to get the conversation back where he might tell Mr. Aaronson of the Burden-Bearer, the Light of the World, the Messiah. “Think of having one’s baby born on that day! But I know of some thing better—” “Yes, yes! It is better to give him toys when he is three or four.” The anxious one laughed. “But you see, again my mind leaps forward!” Wes was beginning to be baffled and dis appointed in himself. He shifted gears for a cross street and said, “It is sensible to look forward to the future. Every soul knows that we——” “Oh, I’ve been having a savings account for him for ten years!” Then Aaronson launched out on what he wished his boy to do. But Weston failed to break in to tell what God’s Son had been born to do. When they arrived at the hospital, Esther
recognized the familiar ro a d s te r an d rushed eagerly to the curb, her face b eam ing . “Oh, Wes! Mrs. Aaronson is sa v ed ! G od w o rk ed so fast that it was over sooner than I dared to expect.” From the shadows be side her lover, the jew eler e x c la im e d some thing in Yiddish, then added, “All over before I cou ld c om e !” He groaned and sank back in the car. Then sud denly he s a t fo rw a rd an d asked frantically, “Did my Rosie die?”'; E s th e r was not ex pecting Mr. Aaronson, nor did she know him. A n u rse f rie n d h ad called her to talk with a Jewess, and the pa tie n t w as th is m an’s wife. “Indeed your wife d id no t die,” E sth e r said promptly. “She has her new birth!” Wes blushed as he got out of the car and came around to help Esther in at the other side.
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