It will be of interest to look at the environment of Paul and Jesus insofar as it appears to have affected the outward form of their teaching. Paul spent his childhood in a busy metropolis. Jesus' home lay in a quiet country village. It is true that Paul could have looked up from Tarsus at the shining snowcapped peaks of the Taurus Mountains beyond the rich Cilician plain. He could have watched the River Cydnus flowing by, but in his writings we miss much of that intimate appreciation of the beauties of nature, that harmony with all living and growing things that is such a delightful characteristic of the parables of Jesus.
The Prophet of Nazareth, who was born in a stable and was in the wilderness with the wild beasts, referred on more than one occasion to the feeding and humane treatment of animals. In his eyes the wild flowers in the fields of Palestine exceeded the fabulous glories of Solomon. His heavenly Father fed the fowls of the air, which neither sow nor reap, and He even watched over the sparrows. The sower scattering his seed, the golden grain and rich vineyards in harvesttime, the weeds in the furrows of the field, the grass burned to heat the primitive ovens of the country folk —all provided illustrations for his most lofty teaching. The thorn and the thistle, the fig tree and olive, the changing colors of the sky, are not forgotten; while he even compared himself to the humble, kindly shepherd caring for his flock. Almost every scene speaks to us of one with an intimate knowledge of, and love for, village and country life.
But when we turn back to Paul, we find a different emphasis. The apostle writes of the glory of the sun, moon, and stars; but the context shows his real interest to be in the difference between them rather than in their beauty as such; and he seeks to connect them with the resurrection, though somewhat obscurely (see I Cor. 15:40-42). He speaks of seed grain as a symbol of the resurrection; yet even there we miss the joyousness which surrounds Jesus' use of a similar metaphor (Mark 4:28): "First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." "Thou fool," writes Paul, "that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die" (I Cor. 15:36). He writes of how all creation eagerly awaits the manifestation of the sons of God, but it is groaning and travailing in bondage (see Rom. 8:"19-22).
