A Case of Soseki Natsume, Great Author of Japan
The purpose of preaching by Christ Jesus is to invite the Kingdom of God. But what is the Kingdom while Christ Jesus said that it would come as intangible?
Simply we may think that any community in this world includes evil men. If the population of a community is ten, there would be surely nine bad men and three of them should be evil.
But in the Kingdom of God, if its population is ten, there would be no bad men and evil men among the ten; all the ten people should be good and righteous. And, this must be the final target of mankind. It is not to attain the highest status possible materially, scientifically, technologically, and economically what mankind should target. To wipe out all the evil men from the world must be the ultimate end of mankind.
It is a process of purification of souls. Every year a ratio of evil men to all the population of any human community must be decreased to reach zero eventually. And then, we may say that the Kingdom of God has come.
There living was one very successful author in Japan 100 years ago. Soseki Natume (1867-1916) is still today counted as one of the most popular and praised authors in the modern era of Japan.
Natsume had one close disciple, among a dozen or so who periodically gathered in his home for friendly talks about literature and so on, that often borrowed money from him. This young disciple, named Hyakken Uchida (1889-1971), graduated from the Imperial University of Tokyo to be a German language teacher in schools of the Imperial Army and Navy and a certain private university. Uchida, who admired Natsume since his collage days, even became himself a popular author in 1930s. But, despite these social conditions, he was uniquely poor or needed money more than he earned. So, he sometimes went to Natsume's house to borrow money, often a big amount of money.
As Natsume contracted with a major newspaper company to write novels for its readers, he was somewhat affluent. But, he never rejected requests from Uchida for money, though there seems to have been no other close followers of Natsume who would ask him for money.
Once, Soseki Natsume was spending his holidays in a hot-spring hotel in Yugawara on the Pacific coast, 100 km west of Tokyo, since Natsume had a chronic gastric disorder. But, one night suddenly Uchida came to the hotel to borrow money without prior notice. Though railroad services were available from Tokyo to Yugawara even 100 years ago, Uchida had to make hard travelling as he had almost no money but a train ticket.
When Uchida somehow arrived at the hotel at night, Natsume warmly accepted him. Natsume arranged a room and a supper for Uchida at his expense. And, after hearing a request for money, Natsume told Uchida to go back to Natsume's house in Tokyo and receive the money from Natsume's wife next day, though he would continue to stay in the hotel. In this way, Uchida borrowed money from great author Soseki Natsume so many times; however Uchida seems to have never returned money.
When Soseki Natsume died, Uchida went to the funeral service hall. There were many notable authors and parties concerned in the ceremony. But when Uchida was entering the hall, he saw a strange gentleman, though looking neat and tidy or even dignified, uttering strange words outside the entrance to the hall like a mad man. He sometimes expressed words such as those of Soseki Natsume. And before the mad man, a strange dog was hotly barking at him. Nobody else seemed to mind the mad man and the dog. Maybe only Uchida could see them.
I think that the mad man was the soul of Soseki Natsume and the dog was Satan. It proves that Natsume wrote some great novels against the evil spirit of Satan. Natsume gave money so many times unconditionally to young, poor, and strange followers such as Uchida, which must be an act that Satan most dislikes.
Like in Nastume's case, the Kingdom of God can be realized by giving one's money generously to the needy.
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Mar 8:12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.