One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty.

He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never travelled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born
He did none of the things usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty three when the tide of public opinion turned against him.

His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth.
When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind’s progress.
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth as powerfully as that One Solitary Life.

Anonymous
(but attributed to Rev. James Allan Francis in a sermon delivered at the Baptist Young People’s Union Convention in Los Angeles on July 11 1926.)

同軛手記 – 短短的一生

他出生在一個不為人知偏僻的村莊
母親是農民
他在另一個不起眼的村莊成長
在那裡，他在一個木匠店鋪中工作
直到他三十歲

他從來沒有寫過一本書
他從未擁有過職位
他沒上過大學
他從未到過大城市
從他的出生地，他從來沒有走過超過200英哩的範圍以外
通常人認為與偉大有相關連的事情 ，他確實一件也沒有做過
他沒有任何認可文憑証書，他只有他自己

他在世上只活了三十三年，因公眾輿論與他為敵

他的朋友捨棄他
其中一人背叛出賣他
他被交給仇視他的人
並經歷嘲弄式的審判
他在兩個強盜之間，被釘掛在十字架上
儘管他奄奄一息，那些劊子手卻為他的衣物進行打賭瓜分
那些衣物就是他在世上，唯一擁有的財產

他死了
他被安放在一個借來的墳墓裡
這是出於一位朋友對他的同情與可憐

十九個世紀己過去了
今天，耶穌仍是人類的核心人物
和人類進步的領導者
所有曾經列隊的大軍
所有曾經巡航的海軍
所有曾經坐在議會內的議士
連同所有曾經在位的君王放在一起
都不及那短短一生的他，帶給在地球上生活的人類，那麼強大有力的影響。

無名者註
(但是歸因於James Allan Francis牧師在1926年7月11日在洛杉磯舉行的浸信會青年助道會大會上的講道。）