Jesus In India — Page 107
J e s u s i n I n d i a 107 what could have induced him to take such a long journey? This question requires a little detailed answer and should, therefore, receive a little fuller treatment in the present volume. Let it be noted, therefore, that it was extremely necessary, by reason of his office as divine messenger, for Jesus to have journeyed to the Punjab and its neighbourhood because the ten tribes of Israel, who in the Gospels have been called the lost sheep of Israel, had migrated to this country. It is a fact which no historian has been able to deny. It was necessary, therefore, that Jesus should have journeyed to this country and, after finding the lost sheep, should have conveyed to them the divine message vouchsafed to him. Had he not done so, the purpose for which he had been sent by God would have remained unfulfilled. His mission was to preach to the lost sheep of Israel. His passing away from the world without seeking the lost sheep, or, after finding them, failing to teach them the way to salvation, would have been quite like the case of a man who had been charged by his king to go to a desert tribe to dig a well and supply them with water, but who goes instead to some other place where he spends three or four years, taking no steps to search for the concerned tribe. Does such a man carry out the command of the king? Not in the least. The man cares not for that tribe, he merely looks to his own comfort. If, however, it is asked, how and why it should be supposed that the ten tribes of Israel had come to this country, the answer is that the supporting evidence of this thesis is so strong and incontrovertible that even a dullard will not deny it. It is too well known that people like the Afghans and the old inhabitants of Kashmir are in fact of