Chapter II
THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. A.U.C. 750, B.C. 4.
THE voice of Prophecy (Mic. v. 2) had declared that the Messiah should be born at Bethlehem of Judæa, a spot endeared to every Jew as the birth-place of the son of Jesse. Though Mary was now living at Nazareth, a circumstance apparently fortuitous, under the superintending hand of Divine Providence, brought about a fulfilment of the prediction.
At this particular period there was peace throughout the dominions of the Roman empire. The Temple of Janus was shut[195]. The fierce contests, which for so many years had been carried on with such relentless persistence, which had drenched with blood the fairest fields in the dominions of Augustus, had ceased, and the din of battles was hushed. As that monarch revolved in his mind the most suitable means for the administration of his numerous dependencies, it occurred to him that it would be well to carry out a general registration[196] of all his subjects, with a view to some fixed scale of taxation. He issued, therefore, a decree that all the world, which owned his sway, should be taxed[197] (Lk. ii. 1). Judæa was not indeed at this time a Roman “province,” but its reduction to that condition sooner or later was already determined[198]. The imperial edict, therefore, declaring the will of his master was placed in the hands of the Idumæan Herod as in those of other rulers, and he would naturally ordain that while the Roman orders were obeyed, the customs and traditions of the country should not be entirely overridden[199].
Toilsome, therefore, as was the journey, and not altogether free from danger, the Virgin left the place of her usual abode, and set out for the village of Bethlehem accompanied by Joseph. This he would have done as her natural protector, but the Jewish law required his presence in the town of his forefathers, because he, like Mary, was of the house and lineage of David (Lk. ii. 4)[200]. Accordingly, in the society, probably, of others bound on the same errand as themselves, they proceeded on their southward journey, either through Samaria or across the Jordan through Peræa[201], and after probably visiting and passing through Jerusalem, surmounted the long ascent leading to the village of Bethlehem, and sought shelter in the inn or khan, which the inhabitants had provided for the reception of strangers.
But they had reached it too late. Every guest-chamber was already full, and crowded with strangers, who, like themselves, had come up to be taxed. They were constrained, therefore, to seek shelter amongst the cattle and beasts of burden of the wayfarers, and so it was, that while they were there, the days were accomplished that the lowly Virgin should be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in one of the mangers by her side (Lk. ii. 6, 7).
Such was the first Advent of the Saviour “in great humility.” Thus did He who was with the Father before all worlds, by whom all things were made, and without whom was not any thing made that was made (Jn. i. 1–3), deign to take upon Him our nature. Unimportant, however, as appeared the event that had just taken place in that crowded inn, unknown to the Idumæan Herod, unknown to his imperial master in the City of the Cæsars, signs were not wanting that it had moved all heaven to its centre, and was there hailed with rapturous acclaim. On the bleak downs of Bethlehem shepherds were that night keeping watch over their flocks, when suddenly there came upon them a light brighter than the brightest of the countless stars that spangled the midnight sky, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them (Lk. ii. 9). Sore afraid, they would have fled in dismay. But a Voice came to them which calmed their fears. An Angel addressed them, and announced the Glad Tidings that in the city of David had that day been born to them a Saviour, even Christ the Lord, whom they would find wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Lk. ii. 11, 12). He ceased, and then a multitude of the heavenly host brake the silence of the night, and sang Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Peace, Goodwill towards men. Such an announcement roused all the wonder of the simple, humble men who heard it. Hastily leaving their flocks they repaired to Bethlehem, where they found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in the manger, and recounted all that they had heard from the heavenly visitants concerning the Child. Great was the astonishment of those who listened to their tale, but the holy Virgin treasured their words in her heart, and the shepherds returned to their lowly occupation, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard (Lk. ii. 16–20).
Born under the Law (Gal. iv. 4) the Saviour was to submit to all its ordinances. Accordingly on the eighth day after His birth He was circumcised, like any other Jewish child, and received the name of JESUS. Moreover on the fortieth day after His birth, the Virgin repaired to the Temple, and presented her humble offering of a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons (Lev. xii. 2, 6, 8), according to the law of her purification. Without pomp or earthly circumstance, the infant Saviour, the Messenger of the Covenant, came to His temple (Mal. iii. 1), and might have left it equally unnoticed. But two humble worshippers, who had long been waiting for the consolation of Israel (Lk. ii. 25), recognized “in helpless infancy and clad in mortal flesh” the long-expected Messiah.
There was living at Jerusalem a just and devout man named SYMEON. Though far advanced in years, he had received divine intimation that he should not see death till his eyes had rested on the Lord’s Christ. He was now present at the national sanctuary, when His parents brought in the Child to do for Him after the custom of the Law (Lk. ii. 27), and no sooner did he behold the Child, than he saw that the long-promised hour was come. He took Him up in his arms, and blessed God that at length his eyes had been permitted to see His Salvation, the Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of His people Israel (Lk. ii. 32). Then while Joseph and Mary were marvelling at his words, the aged seer, already on the verge of the eternal world, blessed them also, and addressing the Virgin Mother declared that her Child was appointed for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and that a sword should in days to come pierce through her own heart. At the same time there came forward an aged woman, a prophetess, ANNA, the daughter of Phanuel. Seven years had she lived with her husband after quitting her maiden state, and since his death had remained in widowhood upwards of 84 years. Though the territories of the tribe of Asher, to which she belonged (Lk. ii. 36), were at a great distance from the Holy City, yet there she had taken up her abode, and was constant in every act of worship and in her attendance at every sacred service. She too drew near while the Holy Child was being brought into His Father’s house, and, like the aged Symeon, gave thanks to God, and spake of Him to all those that were looking for redemption in Jerusalem (Lk. ii. 38).
But as she was thus proclaiming to the faithful in the Holy City the Advent of their King, pilgrims and worshippers were drawing near from far different and far distant lands. A short time after Joseph and Mary had returned to Bethlehem, there appeared certain travel-stained pilgrims, whose arrival stirred Jerusalem to its very centre. In their native home in Arabia or Persia, their attention had been directed to a luminous body in the sky, which had guided them to Palestine, and they now enquired where was He that was born King of the Jews[202], and declared that they had seen His star in the East, and had come to worship Him. The arrival of these Magi[203], as they were called in their own land, was quickly announced to Herod, and the enquiry respecting an hereditary King of the Jews roused the alarm and suspicion of one so jealous for the integrity of his own dynasty[204]. Hastily convening a formal assembly of the Chief Priests and Scribes, he enquired where, according to the prophetical books, the long- expected Messiah was to be born. Without the least hesitation they pointed to the words of the prophet Micah (v. 2), which declared Bethlehem in Judæa to be the favoured place. On this the monarch sought a private interview with the Magi (Mtt. ii. 7), and made diligent enquiries respecting the time of the appearance of the Star, and then bade them repair to Bethlehem and seek diligently for the young Child, declaring his intention, if they found Him, to come himself and lay his honours at the feet of the heir of David’s throne.
Thus advised the Magi set out, when lo! the Star, which they had seen in their far-off eastern home appeared before them, and guided their feet to the lowly abode where lay the object of their search. With great joy (Mtt. ii. 10) they entered the house, and seeing the young child and Mary His mother fell down and worshipped Him, and opening their treasures brought forth costly gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh[205]. Then warned in a dream not to return to the perfidious tyrant, they made their way to their own land by another route. Thus HE, who had been “manifested” to the shepherds, to the faithful Symeon and Anna, was manifested also to these His first Gentile worshippers from the distant East.
But that same night Joseph was also warned in a dream, of peril awaiting the young Child. Herod was watching his opportunity to put Him to death, and it was necessary that he should fly. So Joseph arose, and taking the Infant and His mother, went down into Egypt, where He and they were to remain till they received further intimations respecting their course.
Their departure had not been too soon. Perceiving that the strange visitors to his capital had not returned, and that his design against the young Child’s life had been frustrated, with a reckless ferocity, which, we have seen, he too often displayed, Herod sent and slew every male child in Bethlehem from two years old and under, to make sure that he had included the Object of his terrible vengeance. His cruel edict was carried out, and filled many a home in Bethlehem with sorrow and mourning[206]. The voice of lamentation and weeping arose in Ramah, of which an inspired Prophet (Jer. xxxi. 15) had spoken 400 years before, and which the Jewish historian Josephus does not record, even if he knew of it, as though it was a matter of little moment compared with other atrocities[207] of the same monarch, who could butcher on one occasion well-nigh every member of the Sanhedrin[208], and on the very eve of his death meditate the wholesale slaughter of the chiefs of the Jews in the Hippodrome[209] at Jericho.
Chapter III
THE SAVIOUR’S EARLY LIFE AT NAZARETH. B.C. 4‒A.D. 27.
THIS ferocious action was one of the last crimes in the bloodthirsty career of this guilty monarch. Very shortly afterwards he died under circumstances already related[210] at Jericho A.U.C 750. This event was made known to Joseph by an Angel in a dream (Mtt. ii. 19), and he was bidden to arise and return with the young Child and His mother into the land of Israel. Accordingly he set out, but hearing that the tyrant’s son Archelaus[211], who enjoyed a reputation worthy of his father, was reigning in his stead, he was afraid to continue his journey, and was only encouraged to proceed by another supernatural intimation. The place whither he was to go had not before been distinctly specified, and he might have supposed that Bethlehem, the city of David, was the proper place to rear the Son of David, so near to Jerusalem, the most religious, the most sacred part of Palestine[212]. But now he was directed to repair to the safer obscurity of his former residence in Galilee, and accordingly went down from the highlands of Judæa to Nazareth, and there the Holy Child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him (Lk. ii. 40).
From this time till the commencement of His public ministry a thick veil conceals from us all details of the Saviour’s life. The Evangelists pass this period by with a solemn reserve. One event, and one only, emerges from the obscurity that enshrouds it.
It was the custom of Joseph, and even of Mary[213], to go up year after year to attend the celebration of the great festival of the Passover at Jerusalem (Lk. ii. 41). When He had attained the age of twelve years, A.U.C. 762, the Holy Child accompanied them, having attained to that period of life when Jewish children were required to attend the feasts and began to be instructed in the Law. At the close of the Festival, and probably on the eighth day, His parents, in company with other pilgrims (Lk. ii. 44), set out on their return to Galilee. On reaching, however, their resting-place on the first evening[214], they found their Son was missing, and, full of trouble and anxiety, returned a day’s journey, and sought Him amongst their kinsfolk and acquaintance, and the travelling companies hastening homewards from the Holy City. But they found Him not. Still another day was spent in searching for Him in the city itself, but with the same result. At length on the third day[215] they found Him in the precincts of the Temple, probably in one of the chambers where the Rabbis were wont to give instruction during the festivals[216], sitting in the midst of learned Masters of Israel, not only listening to their words, but asking them questions. While all present were marvelling at the understanding He displayed, His parents drew near, and were amazed to find their Son in the midst of so august an assemblage, and the holy Mother expostulated with Him on the anxiety His absence had caused. To this He replied in artless but mysterious words, How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business? proving that even already He was aware of His heavenly origin. Then, while they understood not the saying, which nevertheless His Mother kept and treasured in her heart, He went down with them to the lowly home in despised Galilee. There in meek subjection He abode beneath their humble roof, and probably shared[217] in His reputed father’s earthly labours, growing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man (Lk. ii. 52; Mk. vi. 3).
While thus in silence and seclusion the Holy One was advancing towards man’s estate, great changes were taking place in the fortunes of the Jewish nation, which now demand our attention.
After the death of Herod some considerable delay took place before the confirmation of his will by Augustus arrived from Rome, and Jerusalem was the scene of tumult and violence. At length that emperor was pleased to announce his approval, and Archelaus was appointed to the government of Judæa[218], Idumæa, and Samaria, with the title of ethnarch; Herod Antipas obtained Galilee[219] and Peræa[220]; Herod Philip, Auranitis[221], Gaulanitis[222], Trachonitis[223], Batanæa[224] and Ituræa[225]; while Salome was declared mistress of Jamnia, Azotus, and Phasaëlis, with a palace at Askelon and a revenue of 60 talents[226]. The emperor promised to Archelaus the title of king, if he proved worthy of it. But his government was marked by such gross cruelty and injustice both towards the Jews and Samaritans that complaints were lodged against him before the emperor. After a reign, therefore, of nine years he was summoned to Rome, and his cause having been formally heard, sentenced to be banished to Vienne in Gaul[227], and to forfeit his estates[228], A.D. 6.
And now in truth the sceptre departed from Judah (Gen. xlix. 10), and the kingdom of David and Solomon, of the famous Asmonean house and of Herod, sank into the form of a Roman province[229], and was annexed to the prefecture of Syria. This office was now conferred on P. Sulpicius Quirinus, but the immediate government of Judæa and Samaria was given to a procurator, Coponius[230], a man of equestrian rank, who had a body[231] of troops at his command, and was entrusted in certain cases with the power of life and death[232].
Quirinus, as we have seen above[233], had in all probability been already governor of Syria, and in this capacity had conducted the preliminary enrolment of names preparatory to a general census. This census he was now entrusted to carry out[234], and with it a levying of imposts and rates in money. This was regarded by the Jews as the last and most degrading mark of their subjection to a foreign power. The whole country was in a ferment, and though the energy of the high-priest Joazar[235] repressed any actual outbreak at Jerusalem, the popular feeling could not be restrained in the provinces. At the head of the disaffected appeared one Judas of Gamala[236] in Gaulanitis.
A man of energy, eloquence, and undaunted courage, he quickly gathered around him a body of adventurers, and aided by a confederate Sadoc, of the Pharisaic faction, unfurled the banner of resistance to foreign dominion, and especially to foreign tribute. For a time the country was at the mercy of the fierce and lawless throng, which flocked to his standard, but the effort was utterly fruitless. Nothing could withstand the terrible Roman legions; Judas himself was slain (Acts v. 37), and his followers were dispersed, but his work lived after him, and the Zealots and Sicarii or Assassins, who drank deeply of his fierce and independent spirit, long kept alive the popular discontent under a foreign sway.
Having completed the confiscation of the property of Archelaus, Quirinus deposed Joazar from the high-priesthood, and substituted in his place Annas, the son of Seth[237], the ablest friend of Rome. He then returned to Syria, and Coponius having planted a small garrison on Zion and a guard at the Temple-gate, took up his abode at Cæsarea on the sea.
So long as Augustus filled the imperial throne the procurators in Judæa held their commands for a very limited number of years, and were rapidly changed. Thus Coponius, whose supremacy began in A.D. 6, was succeeded after four years, in A.D. 10, by Marcus Ambivius[238]. In three years Marcus Ambivius handed over the reins of power to Annius Rufus, who in the following year made way for Valerius Gratus. But in A.D. 14 Augustus died, and Tiberius resolved that such rapid changes should be discontinued[239]. Gratus, therefore, held his command till A.D. 26. He deposed the high-priest Annas, and set up Ishmael, son of Phabi, but a furious uproar ensuing he deposed Ishmael, and elevated Eleazar, a son of Annas, to the pontificate, permitting the latter, under the name of Sagan, or deputy, to discharge the spiritual functions of his office and conduct the ceremonial rites. But this appointment was of no long duration. Deeming Annas to possess too much influence the procurator deposed Eleazar, and set up Simon, son of Kamith, who held the office for less than a year, and then made way for Joseph Caiaphas, the Sagan’s son-in law[240]. These rapid changes shew how entirely the high-priesthood was at this time at the mercy of the Roman governors.
Valerius Gratus was succeeded in A.D. 26[241] by Pontius Pilate[242]. He brought with him his wife, and a Roman household, established himself at Cæsarea, but repaired oftener than any of his predecessors to Jerusalem. Resolved to keep on good terms with the noble families, and to unite with himself as many as possible who were likely to help him to preserve the public peace, he suffered the Jewish priests to manage their own affairs. So Annas remained Sagan, and Caiaphas high-priest.
But one of his first acts roused the furious animosity of his new subjects. He resolved to transport the head-quarters of the army from Cæsarea to Jerusalem. With the soldiers, followed, as a matter of course, the standards, bearing the image of Cæsar; but as they were introduced in the night-time they did not at first attract attention[243]. No sooner, however, was the fact observed, than there were no bounds to the rage of the people. They resorted in crowds to his residence at Cæsarea, and besought him to remove the obnoxious emblems. For five days they beset his palace, and at length he gave the signal to his troops to put them to death, unless they desisted from troubling him. Thereupon the petitioners flung themselves upon the ground, and declared their willingness to meet death in any shape, rather than see their city polluted with heathen symbols. Their undaunted bearing had its effect. The procurator deemed it best to concede the point, and the standards were brought back to Cæsarea.
In spite, however, of this warning, he on another occasion had a clear proof of the refractory spirit of the people. Anxious to signalise his reign in Judæa by erecting a noble aqueduct, which was to bring a supply of water to the city from a distance of twenty-five miles, and wanting funds, he appropriated the Corban[244], or the money laid up in the Temple and dedicated to God. This act roused the Jews to madness. They gathered in thousands and tens of thousands before his palace-gates, obstructed the works, and demanded that the sacred treasures should be restored[245]. Resolved not to be thwarted, Pilate ordered a company of the legionaries, carrying daggers under their garments, to surround and disperse them. The soldiers carried out his orders with greater cruelty than he had intended, charged the rioters, chased them into the Temple-courts, slew great numbers, and wounded many more, so that their blood was mingled with the blood of the victims on the altar.
Such was the man who now presided over the province of Judæa. Under his rule, and that of his predecessors, the Roman yoke cut more and more deeply into the heart of the nation. Finding no hope from their own chiefs, who all sided with the Romans, the people prayed with increased earnestness that the Messiah, the Deliverer, would come. The Galilæans in the North, the Separatists in the South waxed hotter and hotter in their hatred of their heathen rulers[246]. Many claiming the title of Messiah appeared, and gathered numbers of excited followers. But their careers were soon cut short, and they were swept away before the Roman legions.
But before Pilate had been many months in power, all Jerusalem and Judæa was roused by the appearance of a strange Preacher on the banks of the Jordan[247], announcing the advent of a very different Messiah from that expected by the nation, and the speedy establishment of a kingdom not of earth but of heaven.
Illustration: A MAP OF THE HOLY LAND to illustrate THE NEW TESTAMENT
and
A COMPARATIVE VIEW of the successive divisions of the Holy Land mentioned in the New Testament after the death of Herod the Great.
London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Stanford’s Geograph.ˡ Estab.ᵗ
Part II
FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE MINISTRY OF THE BAPTIST TO THE FIRST PASSOVER.
Chapter I
THE PREACHING OF JOHN――THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST. A.U.C. 780, ♦A.D. 27.
THE strange Preacher was none other than John, the son of Zacharias. Recalling in his garb and appearance one of the Prophets of the Old Testament, he now came forth from his retirement, and straightway commenced his task of preparing the way for the Messiah. The wilderness of Judæa (Mtt. iii. 1), that is the dry and unpeopled region extending from the gates of Hebron and Jerusalem to the shores of the Dead Sea, was the first scene of his ministration. Thence he moved northwards towards the Jordan, and at Bethabara, or rather Bethany[248], administered the rite of baptism in its rushing waters to all who were willing to receive it.
The news of his appearance quickly spread throughout the length and breadth of the land. From Jerusalem, the towns of Judæa, and the Jordan valley, multitudes flocked forth to hear him (Mtt. iii. 5; Mk. i. 5). The river’s banks became like the streets of a crowded city. Pharisees and Sadducees (Mtt. iii. 7), tax-gatherers (Lk. iii. 12), and soldiers (Lk. iii. 14), rich and poor, gathered around him and listened to his burning words. No temporal Messiah did he proclaim, no king higher than the Cæsars, no rising against the Roman yoke. Personal repentance, personal reformation, this was his message. To all alike his language was bold, severe, uncompromising. The chiefs of the great religious parties approached him, and were bidden to abjure all trust in mere descent from Abraham (Mtt. iii. 9), to bring forth fruits worthy of the repentance they professed, and to flee from the wrath to come. The multitudes groaning under the Roman dominion drew near, and enquired what they should do in view of the great crisis he proclaimed to be at hand, and were bidden to cultivate mutual charity (Lk. iii. 11). The tax-gatherers offered themselves for baptism, and were told that there was room for them, if they would practise justice (Lk. iii. 12). Rough, and too often brutal, soldiers enquired what they should do, and they too were not rejected, but exhorted to abstain from violence and pillage, and to be content with their wages (Lk. iii. 14).
With a boldness hitherto unparalleled, save in the teaching of the sternest of the prophets of the Old Covenant, the son of Zacharias declared the whole nation to be spiritually unclean. The baptism, which the Jewish teachers required of all who would be admitted as proselytes from heathenism[249], he demanded of the elect nation itself, of high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, if they would be prepared for the coming of the Messiah. The axe, he cried, lay at the root of the trees, and EVERY tree which brought not forth good fruit would be hewn down and cast into the fire (Mtt. iii. 10).
Great were the searchings of heart caused by the appearance of this strange Preacher, and the utterances of this Voice crying in the wilderness (Lk. iii. 15). Some thought he was the Messiah, the hope of Israel; others Elias; others the Prophet of whom Moses had spoken. John replied he was none of these. He was only preparing the way for Another. He, indeed, baptized with water unto repentance, but One was at hand far mightier than himself, the latchet of whose shoes he was not worthy to bear[250], He should baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. His winnowing fan was in His hand, and He would throughly purge His floor, gathering the wheat into His garner, but burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Lk. iii. 16–18).
The impression thus made upon the people was profound. How long the Baptist continued his work of preparation we are not told[251]. But at length, even as he declared, the MESSIAH appeared, and commenced His public ministry. Leaving the home of His childhood in retired Nazareth (Mtt. iii. 13; Mk. i. 9), probably about the close of the year A.D. 27, JESUS advanced southward towards the Jordan Valley. Either at the northern ford of Succoth or the more southern one east of Jericho, He found His great Forerunner, and desired to be baptized by him. The Baptist, who had hitherto rebuked without distinction the sins of all classes and all grades, was deeply moved by the request. With an instinctive conviction of the immaculate purity of Him, whose advent he had announced, he sought to prevent[252] Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? (Mtt. iii. 14). But his objection was overruled. Suffer it to be so now, replied the Holy One; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness (Mtt. iii. 15). Then at length the Baptist consented, and when all the people had been baptized (Lk. iii. 21), descended with Him into the river, and administered the initiatory rite, after which the Redeemer ascended from the water, and was engaged in solemn prayer (Lk. iii. 21), when the heavens were opened, and in an embodied form, like unto a Dove, the Holy Spirit descended, and abode upon Him. But this was not all, for at the same time there came a Voice from heaven, saying, Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mtt. iii. 16, 17; Lk. iii. 22; Mk. i. 11).
Thus in the presence of His Forerunner, the Divine nature of the Messiah was attested, and His work of Redemption inaugurated. He had come to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn. iii. 8), His very first work, therefore, was to enter on a conflict with the great Enemy of mankind. Full of the Holy Ghost, He was led up by the motions of that Spirit (Mtt. iv. 1), either into the wilderness of Judæa, or the lonely desert mountains east of the Jordan[253], to be tempted by the devil (Mtt. iv. 1; Mk. i. 12). For forty days and forty nights He remained amidst the thickets and caverns of that dreary region, abounding in fierce and savage beasts (Mk. i. 13), and during all this period He had nothing to eat.
At length, when hunger had weakened the energies of the body, the Tempter approached, and suggested that if He was in truth the Son of God, He should command the stones that lay around to become bread. But the Holy One detected at once the subtle insinuation to mistrust His heavenly Father’s power, and in the words of Scripture (Deut. viii. 3) replied, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Mtt. iv. 4; Lk. iv. 4).
Foiled in his attempt to induce the Redeemer by a selfish display of power to satisfy the wants of the body, the Tempter now sought by another avenue to achieve a victory over Him. Taking Him up to an exceeding high mountain, he displayed before His eyes in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and the glories of them, promising to place all in His power, if He would only fall down and worship him. But this temptation also the Holy One repelled. Falling back a second time on the revealed Word, and the same portion of it (Deut. vi. 13), He replied, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
But yet again the Evil One renewed his attack. Taking the Redeemer into the Holy City, he placed Him on the lofty pinnacle, the topmost ridge of the South side of the Temple, and bade Him, if He were the Son of God, vindicate His eternal nature, cast Himself down, and thus display by one dazzling exhibition of power His relation to the Supreme, and confirm His Messianic claims. But he was no more successful than before. The Redeemer saw through his wiles, and the sophistry wherewith he sought to support his demand by quoting the language of the Psalmist (Ps. xci. 11), He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee, and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone. For the third time He had recourse to the written Word, and for the third time referring to the same portion of it (Deut. vi. 16), made answer, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
With this last assault the Temptation was ended. Where the first Adam had fallen, the second Adam had triumphed, nor swerved for a moment from the path of strictest obedience to the will of His Father in Heaven. The Devil now left Him for a season (Lk. iv. 13), or rather till a more convenient occasion for renewing his attempt, and angels came and ministered unto Him, who had already proved Himself “more than conqueror” over the crafts and assaults of the Wicked One.
Chapter II
CALL OF THE FIRST DISCIPLES――THE MARRIAGE AT CANA. A.D. 27.
SUSTAINED by the ministries of these blessed spirits the Saviour returned towards the Jordan Valley, and drew near the ford of Bethabara or Bethany (Jn. i. 28). Here again He met the Baptist, who was still prosecuting his work, and baptizing the multitudes who flocked around him. Such was the effect produced by his preaching, that the rulers at Jerusalem determined to interpose, and the day before a formal deputation had waited upon him to enquire whether he was the Messiah, or Elias, or the prophet predicted by Moses (Jn. i. 21). Again he declared that he had no pretensions to such a dignity, that he was but the Voice of one crying in the wilderness, and preparing the way of the Messiah, of One infinitely mightier than himself, the very latchet of whose shoe he was unworthy to unloose.
But now, lifting up his eyes, he beheld Him to whom he had borne such faithful testimony (Jn. i. 29), and addressing Him as the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world, repeated his solemn and assured conviction of His Divine nature (Jn. i. 30–34). Again, the day following, as he was standing in the company of two of His disciples, he beheld the Redeemer, and in their hearing pointed Him out under the same impressive title. On this occasion his words were not without their effect. The two disciples, one of whom was Andrew, a native of Bethsaida (Jn. i. 41), and the other, in all probability, the Evangelist St John, were so powerfully affected by them, that, drawn as it were by a powerful magnet, they left the Baptist and followed Jesus (Jn. i. 37).
The Redeemer perceived them following Him, and enquired what they sought? Rabbi, where dwellest Thou? was their reply. He mercifully bade them come and see, and they went and abode with Him for the rest of that day (Jn. i. 39), and resolved to follow Him. Others soon followed their example. Andrew went in quest of his own brother Simon, and declaring that the true Messiah had been found brought him to Jesus, who named him Cephas or Peter, the Rock-man. The day following, the Saviour set out in the direction of Galilee, and finding Philip, a native, like Andrew and Peter, of Bethsaida, bade him join their company. Philip obeyed, and falling in with Nathanael[254], the son of Tolmai, a native of Cana in Galilee (Jn. xxi. 2), announced that HE, of whom Moses and the Prophets had written, had been discovered in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. Though a native of Galilee, Nathanael could not at first believe that any good could come out of a town which enjoyed so low a reputation as Nazareth. But his friend bade him come and judge for himself. He obeyed, and was drawing near the Holy One, when he heard His declaration that he was an Israelite indeed in whom was no guile (Jn. i. 48). So little was Nathanael prepared for such words of praise, that he could not refrain from enquiring how he had become known to Jesus. Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree[255], answered the Holy One. The reply convinced the other that One from whom no secrets were hid could be no ordinary Being. Rabbi, said he, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel, and was enrolled in the number of his new Master’s followers.
On the third day after His departure towards Galilee, the Saviour with His five disciples reached the little village of Cana[256], situated no great distance from Nazareth. Here a marriage-feast was about to be celebrated, at which the Virgin was present, and the Holy One with His new found followers was invited as well. Their presence appears to have increased beyond expectation the number of the guests, and to have rendered the provision made for their entertainment insufficient. When, therefore, they wanted wine, the mother of the Saviour directed His attention to the fact. Whatever was the precise meaning she herself attached to her words, they drew down upon her a slight rebuke. Woman, was His reply, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. But as though these words concealed a real granting of her request, she bade the servants execute any command He might give, and the issue justified her expectations (Jn. ii. 2–5).
In the apartment, where the feast was proceeding, were placed, for the sake of the frequent lustrations of the Jews, six large waterpots of water, containing as much as two or three firkins a-piece. These the Saviour commanded the servants to fill with water. And on their filling them up to the brim, bade them draw out and bear to the master of the feast, i.e. either one of the guests set over the banquet by general consent of the guests, or a chief attendant who ordered the course of the feast, and superintended the ministrations of the inferior servants. He tasted the water now converted into wine, and knowing not whence it was, remarked that men usually set forth good wine at the beginning of the feast, and afterwards that which was worse, but He had kept the good wine until then (Jn. ii. 10).
Unobtrusively, however, as it had been wrought, the reality of this first miracle could not escape the notice of the guests. The glory of the Saviour hitherto hidden was now manifested, and the faith of the disciples in their new-found Master was confirmed. The marriage festivities of the Jews usually lasted six or seven days, and at the close of this period with His mother, His brethren, and His five disciples (Jn. ii. 12), the Saviour went down to Capernaum[257] on the shore of the lake of Gennesaret. The Passover was now nigh at hand, and Capernaum would afford a convenient point for joining the pilgrim companies going up to Jerusalem[258], and there He abode a few days (Jn. ii. 12), engaging, probably, in private intercourse with His disciples, rather than any public ministrations in the city.
Chapter III
THE FIRST PASSOVER, AND CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. A.D. 28.
AFTER a stay of not many days at Capernaum (Jn. ii. 12) the Redeemer and His five disciples turned their steps southward towards Jerusalem, to celebrate the first Passover of His public ministry (Jn. ii. 13).
Strange and full of deep significance was the scene which the Holy City presented at this season. The streets were filled with multitudes of Jews and proselytes, who had come up from all quarters of the world to celebrate the Feast. The hills around were whitened with countless flocks of lambs[259] and kids. The gates, especially the Sheep-gate, were choked with moving masses of helpless victims ready to be examined by the priests, and on being pronounced free from blemish, to be selected by each Paschal company for their Paschal meal.
In the midst of a moving scene like this He, who had been already pointed out as the Lamb of God, entered the city. Repairing to the Temple, He was confronted, probably in the Court of the Gentiles, with a scene of desecration, which called forth the first[260] display of holy zeal for the dwelling-place of Him, whom He had already declared to be His Father (Lk. ii. 49). For the convenience of Jews and proselytes residing at a distance from the Holy City, a kind of market had been established in the outer court, and here sacrificial victims, incense, oil, wine, and other things necessary for the service and the sacrifices, were to be obtained. The common money, moreover, circulated in foreign countries not being receivable within the Temple, the money-changers had set up their tables in the same locality, to exchange all common and foreign coins for the sacred shekel, alone current in the Temple precincts. But together with the money-changing other business had gradually crept in, and in place of the order and decorum that ought to have reigned there, the noisy huckstering of merchants and traders disturbed the devotions of the worshippers, and converted the Sanctuary of the most High into the likeness of a wrangling mart.
Such was the scene that presented itself to the Saviour in the courts of His Father’s House. As soon as His eye had rested upon it, He made a scourge of small cords (Jn. ii. 15), and with this simple weapon, singly and alone, drove forth the sheep and oxen. Then overthrowing the tables of the money-changers, He poured out their unholy gains, and with a voice of conscious authority bade even those who sold doves, to take those things thence, nor make His Father’s house a house of merchandise. Awed by His words and His calm majesty, the desecrators left the scene of their unholy traffic, while others wondering at an act, which legally could only be performed by one of the Sanhedrin or a prophet, approached Him and requested a sign, the performance of some miracle or prodigy, in attestation of His right to do these things[261] (Jn. ii. 18).
Thus challenged the Holy One did not withhold a “sign.” With that majestic calmness, which ever distinguished Him, but without a single word of comment or explanation, He said, Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Perplexed and confounded the Jews replied, Forty and six years was this Temple in building, and wilt Thou raise it up in three days? But to their enquiry no answer was vouchsafed. They had asked for a “sign,” and a “sign” had been given, but in the shape of a “parable,” a “dark saying,” which they never forgot[262], and which, though not understood by the disciples at the time, was afterwards revealed to them in all its deep meaning (Jn. ii. 21, 22).
But another incident was to render this Passover forever memorable. During His stay at Jerusalem (Jn. ii. 23) the Saviour wrought signs and wonders, which stirred the hearts of those who witnessed them, and caused many to believe on His Name. But their faith sprang from imperfect motives, and He, who knew what was in man, would not entrust Himself to them, or unveil the mysteries of His kingdom. Still even thus early there was one to whom He could more nearly reveal Himself.
One of the members of the Sanhedrin[263] at this time was a Pharisee, named Nicodemus, who had probably heard of the marvellous incident, which had so lately occurred in the Temple-courts, and had witnessed one or more of the mighty works, which the Stranger from Nazareth had wrought. Convinced that He could be no ordinary person, that unassisted by Divine Power He could not perform such signs and wonders, he had resolved, in spite of his position, in spite of the risk he ran, in spite of the natural prejudice against so obscure a teacher, to go himself and ascertain who and what He was.
Under cover of night, therefore, he sought out the Saviour, who not only graciously received him, but unfolded to him the mystery of a birth, not of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of water and of the Holy Spirit (Jn. iii. 5–8). And when the wondering ruler enquired how could these things be, He went on to hint at a still deeper mystery, and to intimate the true purport of the coming of the Son of Man, the Messiah, whom he and the nation expected. As Moses, that Moses whose writings he studied and expounded, lifted up the serpent in the wilderness[264], even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Jn. iii. 12–16). How far the Jewish ruler entered into the meaning of this mysterious intimation, so entirely opposed to all that was expected by his nation of their Messiah, and how far it served to stimulate him to still deeper enquiries into the Law and the Prophets, we are not told. Certain, however, it is that he was not entirely alienated from the new Teacher, and we shall find at a later period that he, who thus came to Jesus by night, lived to plead for Him in open day before the council of the nation (Jn. vii. 50, 51), and to do honour to His crucified body, when all the Apostles had forsaken Him and fled (Jn. xix. 39).
Chapter I
IMPRISONMENT OF THE BAPTIST――THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. A.D. 28.
THE private interview with Nicodemus just related appears to have closed the occurrences at this first eventful Passover. When the pilgrim-companies broke up each for their own homes, the Saviour repaired with His more immediate followers to the north-eastern parts of Judæa near the Jordan. Here He too administered the rite of baptism by the hands of His disciples (Jn. iii. 22; iv. 2), and quickly drew around Him so great a number of followers, that the adherents of the Baptist began to find a sensible decrease in the multitude that flocked around their master.
Repairing, therefore, to him at Ænon[265] near Salim[266], where he was baptizing, they drew his attention to the fact that HE, to whom he had borne witness, was also baptizing, and all men were flocking to Him. But John knew nothing of the mortification of his followers. With a true greatness of soul far exalted above their wounded feelings, he asserted in the most emphatic manner that his position was only secondary with that of the Prophet of Nazareth. He must decrease, but the Other would increase, for He was the Bridegroom and had the Bride. He himself was but the friend of the Bridegroom, and rejoiced to hear His voice, and was satisfied with that measure of joy (Jn. iii. 29–32).
This was the last public testimony of the Baptist to the exalted nature of the Saviour’s person and work. His own career was rapidly drawing to a close. The place where he was baptizing was close to the dominions of Herod-Antipas, the ruler of Galilee and Peræa. This monarch had been married by his father to the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petræa, but becoming acquainted at Rome with Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Herod-Philip, he made overtures of marriage to her, which were accepted, on condition that he divorced the daughter of Aretas[267]. But the facts becoming known to the latter, she fled to her father’s court, who forthwith assembled an army to avenge her wrongs, and punish her guilty husband. The contest waxed hot on the frontier of Herod’s dominions, and it was, not improbably, on his way to confront his father-in-law, when he first encountered the Baptist. If he had hoped to escape the censure of one, whose influence with all classes was unbounded, he was utterly deceived. The Baptist was no reed shaken by the wind (Lk. vii. 24). Boldly, straight-forwardly, he not only rebuked the king for his notorious offences (Lk. iii. 19), but denounced the royal incest, and declared the marriage unlawful (Mtt. xiv. 4; Mk. vi. 18). Such an outspoken reproof from one, whom all reverenced as a prophet, the monarch could not forgive, and therefore flung the bold preacher into prison, probably in the gloomy castle of Machærus, which his father had built on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea to overawe the wild Arab tribes[268].
The imprisonment of His great forerunner was announced to the Saviour at a time when He was also aware that the results of His ministry had roused the jealousy of the Pharisees (Jn. iv. 1). Accordingly, He left Judæa, and prepared to return by the shortest route through Samaria to the hills of Galilee (Jn. iv. 3, 4). It was now late in December, four months from the harvest[269] (Jn. iv. 35), when He thus set out with His disciples, and reaching the well near Shechem[270], which Jacob had built in the parcel of ground he gave to his son Joseph, He sat upon it, weary with travel, for it was the sixth hour, the sultry hour of noon[271].
As He sat there alone, for His disciples had gone to the neighbouring town to purchase provisions, a woman of Samaria approached with her pitcher on her head, and the Saviour requested of her water to quench His thirst. Astounded that such a request should be made to her by a Jew, she enquired how He could thus address a Samaritan, with whom it was not lawful to have any dealings[272]? On this, drawing, as was ever His wont, similitudes from present circumstances, He excited her wonder by telling her of living waters at His command springing up unto everlasting life (Jn. iv. 10, 14), and increased it by revealing His acquaintance with the secret of her life, for she was living in adultery (Jn. iv. 18). Roused by this proof of superhuman knowledge to the fact that she was in the presence of no ordinary Being, she instantly sought to change the subject, and pointing to the slopes of Gerizim[273] near at hand, remarked that her fathers worshipped on that mountain, while the Jews affirmed that in Jerusalem was the place where men ought to worship. Thereupon the Saviour assured her that an hour was at hand, when neither on Gerizim nor yet at Jerusalem would men worship the Father; the Samaritans worshipped they knew not what; the Jews worshipped that which they knew, for of them was salvation; but a time was coming when the true worshippers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The astonished woman replied that this might be, when Messiah came, for He could teach them all things (Jn. iv. 25), and then heard from the Speaker’s own lips the first clear and distinct announcement that He was the long-expected Messiah (Jn. iv. 26)[274].
At this juncture the disciples returned with the provisions they had bought, and marvelled that their Master talked with one of the hateful race, but ventured on no open expostulation. Meanwhile the woman herself had returned to the town, and bade the inhabitants come and see One, who had told her all that ever she did, and could be no other than the Messiah (Jn. iv. 28, 29). Accordingly the townsfolk came forth to see the Saviour, and requested Him to abide with them, which He did, staying amongst them two days, during which period, the number, which had learned to believe on Him on account of the woman’s testimony to His Omniscience, was increased by many others, who, listening to His own gracious words, were convinced that He was indeed the Saviour of the world[274] (Jn. iv. 42).
Thus to a woman of Samaria He, whose meat it was to do the will of Him that sent Him and to finish His work (Jn. iv. 34), revealed Himself as the true Messiah, and she became the first herald of the Gospel, the firstfruits of a harvest now sown and to be afterwards reaped by Philip the Deacon (Jn. iv. 38; Acts viii. 5; &c.).
Chapter II
SECOND VISIT TO CANA AND JERUSALEM. A.D. 29.
AFTER this stay in Samaria the Saviour returned to Galilee. Thither had gone before Him the fame of the miracles He had wrought at Jerusalem, reported by those Galilæans who had returned from the Passover (Jn. iv. 45), and this was now confirmed by a second miracle wrought at Cana.
While staying in this little village, He was visited by a nobleman, or officer of state[275], not improbably in the service of Herod-Antipas, who besought him to go down to Capernaum, and heal his son who was lying at the point of death. Though he was clearly unable to conceive of any cure, save through the Lord’s bodily presence, and was urgent that He should come down to Capernaum, the Holy One sent him away with the assurance that his son was alive. Contented with this word, the father returned, and on the morrow was met by his servants, who announced his son’s recovery, and in answer to his enquiries when the youth had begun to amend, informed him that the day before, at the seventh hour[276], the fever not only began to abate, but left or suddenly forsook him. This the other remembered was the very hour when the Lord had assured him of his son’s recovery, and he became a believer with all his family (Jn. iv. 53).
After a brief stay in Galilee, the season approached for the celebration of the Feast of Purim[277], and the Redeemer went up to Jerusalem (Jn. v. 1). At this time there was near the Sheep-gate, through which the victims intended for sacrifice were usually brought into the city, a pool called in the Hebrew language Bethesda[278], or the House of Mercy, which at certain seasons possessed remarkable healing properties, heralded it would seem by a violent commotion or bubbling of the waters. Around the pool, sheltered by five porticoes (Jn. v. 2), there was wont to assemble a multitude of diseased persons, lame, blind, withered, waiting for the troubling of the waters (Jn. v. 3).
Amongst these was one who for upwards of 38 years had been a helpless paralytic, and had long watched in vain for an opportunity to descend into the healing stream. As often as with slow and painful motion he crawled towards the waters, another was certain to step in before him, and anticipate him in acquiring the welcome cure. Seeing this miserable sufferer, and knowing how long he had been thus afflicted, the Saviour drew near, and enquired whether he wished to be made whole. Deeming, probably, that he was only listening to words of casual sympathy, and little expecting a cure, the man contented himself with relating the sad story of his constant disappointments (Jn. v. 7). Great, then, must have been his astonishment, when the Saviour not only bade him rise and take up the bed or pallet on which he had lain so long, but with the word gave him also the power to obey, so that he was instantly made whole, and taking up his bed bore it away with healthy tread.
It was a Sabbath-day on which this marvellous cure was wrought, and the carrying of any burden was regarded by the Pharisaic interpreters of the Law as a heinous violation of the sanctity of the day. The sight, therefore, of a man whose case must have been well known, thus openly and publicly violating a received rule, could not but excite much attention. Accordingly “the Jews,” a term by which St John generally denotes the adherents of the Sanhedrin, summoned him before them, and questioned him closely concerning his conduct. With artless simplicity, the man replied that he was only acting up to the command of his Healer, but when further questioned who He was, could not say, for Jesus had vanished from the crowd when the cure was wrought (Jn. v. 13).
Shortly afterwards, however, he met his Healer in the Temple, and then returning informed the authorities that Jesus was the author of his cure. On this the Saviour Himself was called to account for His conduct (Jn. v. 16, 17), and proceeded to avow before His astonished and indignant auditors His union in dignity and honour with the eternal Father. This avowal, added to the fact that He had shewn dishonour to the Sabbath, roused the first symptoms of hostility on the part of the authorities at Jerusalem, and they even sought to kill Him (Jn. v. 18). But, undeterred by their opposition, the Holy One went on to claim plainly and unreservedly, the character and functions of the Messiah, to reiterate the fact of His Divine Original, and to declare that He was invested with power as the future Judge of mankind (Jn. v. 22–30). In support of these claims, He appealed to the testimony which the Baptist had publicly borne to His exalted nature (Jn. v. 33–35), to the miracles which He had wrought (Jn. v. 36), to the authority of the sacred writings which testified of Him (Jn. v. 39), and to the great Lawgiver Moses, who, He declared, had written of Him (Jn. v. 46).
This incident forms an important epoch in the Gospel history[279]. The degree of toleration, and even of acceptance, with which the preaching of the Saviour had been received in Judæa, was exchanged for hostility, which, though as yet it led to no attempt to seize His Person, manifested itself with increasing distinctness. Accordingly, He left Judæa, which had shewn itself unwilling to receive Him, and retired to Galilee, and there taught in the synagogues (Lk. iv. 15).
Chapter III
MIRACLES AT NAZARETH AND CAPERNAUM. A.D. 29.
AMONGST the places He now visited, the Redeemer repaired to Nazareth, where He had been brought up (Lk. iv. 16), and where many, if not all His kindred were residing. The Sabbath came round, and, as was His wont, He entered the Synagogue, and for the first time stood up to read in His native village. The worship, which began with prayer, was followed by the reading of the Law and the Prophets, and the portion of the latter either appointed for the day, or selected by His own Divine wisdom and foreknowledge, was taken from the 61st chapter of the prophet Isaiah. This portion was by universal consent applied to the Messiah, and spoke of Him as anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor, as sent to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that were bound (Lk. iv. 18, 19). Accordingly the Saviour read the words in the ears of those assembled, and then folding up the scroll, returned it to the ♦chazzan or minister, and sat down[280].
This last act was a sign that He intended to take upon Himself the office of interpreter, and the eyes of all were fastened upon Him (Lk. iv. 20). This day, He began to say, is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears, and proceeded to pour forth the long-hidden treasures of wisdom and grace. The first effect upon His audience was one of signal approval. They all marvelled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His lips (Lk. iv. 22). But other and very different feelings soon arose in their minds. They began to recall the fact of His lowly origin (Lk. iv. 22), and when the Holy One went on to intimate that no prophet was accepted in his own country, that, as was illustrated, even in Old Testament times, by the cases of the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian, the mercies of God were not restricted to the Jews only (Lk. iv. 24–28), they were wrought up to such a pitch of fury, that they not only arose and thrust the Speaker out of their synagogue, but leading Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built[281], would have cast Him down headlong, had He not, probably by an exercise of Divine power, escaped from their hands, and disappeared (Lk. iv. 30).
Thus rejected at Nazareth as He had been at Jerusalem, the Saviour turned His steps towards the busy neighbourhood of the lake of Gennesaret, and took up His abode at Capernaum[282] (Mtt. iv. 13; Lk. iv. 31), whence He could easily communicate, as well by land as by lake, with many important towns, and in the event of any threatened persecution retire into a more secure region[283].
Illustration: THE SHORES OF THE SEA OF GALILEE
London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Maclear’s New Test.ᵗ History Stanford’s Geog.ˡ Estab.ᵗ
The recent cure of the son of the officer in Herod’s court was not forgotten at Capernaum, and many pressing upon the Saviour to hear the word of God (Lk. v. 1), it became clear that an opportunity was now afforded for an active and systematic ministry among a people sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death (Mtt. iv. 16). The first act, therefore, of the Redeemer was permanently to attach to His Person, and invest with the authority of teachers, four of the number afterwards known as the “twelve Apostles.” As He walked by the lake, He saw Simon and Andrew employed in fishing, and the sons of Zebedee[284], James and John, in a vessel mending their nets (Mk. i. 16, 19; Mtt. iv. 18, 21; Lk. v. 2–6). They had already known Him for above a year, and now He would formally call them to leave their earthly occupations, and become fishers of men[285].
As the people, therefore, pressed upon Him, He requested Simon to push off his boat a little way from the shore, that He might teach the multitude, and at the close of His discourse, bade him thrust out into the deeper waters, and let down his net for a draught. The ill success that had attended his efforts the previous night, made Simon at first hesitate, but he had no sooner made the trial, than the net enclosed such a multitude of fishes, that it began to break (Lk. v. 6). On this he and Andrew beckoned to James and John, and their companions in the other boat, who had doubtless watched all that had occurred, and they immediately came to their help, and filled both the boats so that they began to sink (Lk. v. 7). So deep was the impression made by this unlooked-for success upon the mind of Peter, that yielding as always to the impulse of the moment, he cried, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord[286]. But the emblem of their future destinies, and the pledge of future success, having thus been given them, the Saviour bade him and the others leave their ships and become fishers of men. And thus Peter and Andrew, James and John, quitting their earthly occupations, henceforth became His regular attendants and disciples.
The report of this miracle, and of the determination of the four to follow the Prophet of Nazareth, would soon be noised abroad among the populous villages along the lake. It is no wonder, then, that on the following Sabbath the words of the Saviour were eagerly listened to in the synagogue of Capernaum (Mk. i. 22; Lk. iv. 32), confirmed as they also were by a remarkable occurrence that now took place. A man was present in the synagogue possessed with an evil spirit, which, in the hearing of all, cried out, What have I to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God. Thereupon the Redeemer rebuking him, and bidding him hold his peace, commanded the Evil Spirit to leave the sufferer he was tormenting, and the demon having thrown the man into strong convulsions (Mk. i. 26), and “uttering an inarticulate cry of rage and pain[287]” left him, amidst the awe and wonder of those assembled.
This miracle――the first of the kind――over unclean spirits was speedily noised abroad throughout the whole region of Galilee, and excited a strong enthusiasm in favour of the Prophet of Nazareth. Leaving the synagogue, the Saviour repaired to the abode of Peter, whose wife’s mother lay struck with a violent fever[288], and taking her by the hand lifted her up. Immediately the malady yielding before that Divine rebuke (Lk. iv. 39), left her, and in place of the exhausted energy and prostration usually following it, she found herself able not only to rise, but even to minister to the Healer and His disciples (Mk. i. 31).
When, however, the sun began to set, the effect of the miracle in the synagogue became still more apparent. The whole city seemed to have collected about the abode of the humble fisherman, bringing with them all who were sick, or afflicted with demons, and placed them before his Master. Nor did they come in vain, for laying His hands upon each of them, He, who Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses (Is. liii. 4; Mtt. viii. 17), restored to them the blessing of health.
Chapter IV
CALL OF MATTHEW――HOSTILITY OF THE PHARISEES. A.D. 28.
EARLY on the following morning Peter and his companions found that their Master had left the city, and retired to a solitary place for the purpose of engaging in secret prayer. Having discovered the place of His retreat, they announced that the excitement of the previous evening was not subsided, that all were seeking Him (Mk. i. 37); and soon their words were confirmed by the coming of a crowd, who besought Him not to leave them. But this could not be. The Divine Purpose required that He should proclaim the Glad Tidings of His kingdom in other places also; and He commenced a tour throughout Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, casting forth demons, and healing all manner of sickness and disease (Mtt. iv. 23; Mk. i. 39).
Among other recipients of His gracious bounty, was one afflicted with the awful malady of leprosy, which none ever hoped could be cured. Bearing about him all the emblems of his sad condition, his clothes rent, his head bare (Comp. Num. vi. 9; Ezek. xxiv. 17), his lip covered (Ezek. xxiv. 17), he drew near the Saviour, and flinging himself on the ground before His feet, besought Him, if it was His will, to cleanse him. Though the Law forbade all contact with one, afflicted with a disease, to which the Jews gave the significant name of the Stroke, the Holy One put forth His hand, and touched Him, saying, I will, be thou clean. Instantly his flesh returned to him as the flesh of a little child, and he was clean, and, at the command of his Healer, repaired to the priests at Jerusalem to present the offering required of one so cleansed[289], and thus in his own person bear witness against them[290], and their unbelief.
Obedient to this injunction of his Healer, the cleansed leper found it more difficult to remember His other command, and abstain from saying anything to any one of the way in which he had been healed (Mk. i. 44; Lk. v. 14). In the fulness of his exulting thankfulness he could not contain himself, but, wherever he went, began to blaze abroad the matter, so that crowds gathered round the Saviour, and, unable to enter Capernaum (Mk. i. 45), He was fain to remain in secluded places, where He continued in prayer (Lk. v. 16) and ministered unto such as sought Him (Mk. i. 45).
After the subsidence, however, of the first excitement, He returned to Capernaum (Mk. ii. 1), and either in His own abode (Mk. ii. 1), or possibly that of Peter, preached the word to the multitudes, who flocked thither. During His absence there had arrived not only from Galilee, but even from Judæa and Jerusalem (Lk. v. 17), Pharisees and lawyers, who insidiously watched all that He did. As, then, He was proclaiming the doctrines of the kingdom in their presence, an incident occurred, which roused in no small degree the ill-will of these doctors of the law. Four men approached the chamber where the Saviour was, bearing upon a litter a helpless paralytic, and finding an entrance in the usual way impracticable, they bore the man up the outside staircase, and let him down through the roof into His presence.
Perceiving their faith, the Saviour was ready to bestow upon the object of so much solicitude the boon they craved. But, instead of assuring him of the cure of his malady, He addressed the paralytic with the words Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. This expression, more startling than anything He had yet said, inasmuch as it implied a distinct equality with God in respect to one of His most incommunicable attributes, roused much disputing among the watchful emissaries from Jerusalem. Was not this a blasphemous utterance, for who could forgive sins, save God only? But, unmoved by their dark suspicions, and knowing the secret thoughts of their hearts, the Holy One bade the man rise, take up his bed, and walk, which he straightway did, and so revealed the completeness of his restored powers to the astonishment of all the spectators, who confessed that they had seen strange things that day, and glorified God, who had given such power unto men (Lk. v. 26; Mtt. ix. 8).
Overpowered by their wonder at this signal miracle, the Pharisees and Scribes did not give further vent to their indignation at this claim to exercise the awful power of forgiving sins. But their national prejudices were soon to receive a still greater shock. As He walked by the side of the lake of Gennesaret, the Saviour beheld sitting at the receipt of custom, probably at the port of Capernaum, a tax-gatherer named Levi or Matthew[291], the son of Alphæus. Though he belonged to a class above all others hated and despised by Jews of all orders, the Lord did not hesitate to invite him to become one of His immediate followers. The tax-gatherer, who may have had some prior acquaintance with the Prophet of Nazareth, straightway gave up his usual calling, and in honour of his new Master made a great feast (Lk. v. 29; Mk. ii. 15), to which he invited many of his old associates.
When the Scribes and Pharisees beheld Him thus openly associating with a degraded caste, they could not restrain themselves, and openly protested against such an infraction of custom and right behaviour. But they were speedily silenced by His wise reply. If those, amongst whom He sat, were sinners, then to them was it specially meet that He should vouchsafe His presence, for, as the Physician of souls, He had specially come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance (Mtt. ix. 13; Mk. ii. 17; Lk. v. 31, 32). Nor were they more successful in contrasting His apparent laxity and freedom with the strictness and austerity of the Baptist. The very garments worn by those around, the very wine they were drinking, suggested similes that conveyed the true answer to their objections[292]. To sew a piece of new cloth on an old and ragged garment, to pour new wine into old bottles of skin, was not more foolish than to attempt to unite with the Dispensation He was inaugurating the dead formalities of one which was rapidly passing away for ever (Mtt. ix. 14–17; Mk. ii. 18–22; Lk. v. 33–39).
The day following was a Sabbath, the second-first Sabbath[293], as St Luke calls it (Lk. vi. 1), and the Saviour walked through the corn-fields with His disciples, who began to pluck the ears of ripening grain, and to eat them, rubbing them in their hands. Such an act, though not forbidden by the Mosaic code, was declared unlawful by the traditional expounders[294]. The Pharisees, therefore, already scandalized by His assumption of power to forgive sins, and His associating with publicans, now urged a third complaint against His allowing His disciples to do what was unlawful on the Sabbath. But in full and explicit vindication of what they had done, the Saviour not only referred His accusers to the well-known incident in the life of David, when flying from Saul, he ate the shewbread, forbidden to all except the priests (1 Sam. xxi. 6), and to the words of the Prophet, who had declared that God would have mercy, and not sacrifice (Hos. vi. 6), but openly declared that HE, as the Son of Man, was Lord also of the Sabbath, which had been ordained for man, and not man for the sabbath (Mtt. xii. 8).
A week afterwards He entered the Synagogue, and descried a man having his right hand withered, occupying, it would seem, a prominent position, and surrounded by Scribes and Pharisees, who were maliciously on the watch to see what He would do, and to obtain matter for accusation (Mtt. xii. 10; Mk. iii. 2; Lk. vi. 7). They now propounded the distinct question whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day. In reply the Saviour reminded them that the Law allowed a man, whose sheep had fallen into a pit, to lift it out on the Sabbath, and enquired whether they deemed it more consistent with the holiness of the day to do good or to do evil, to save life or to slay. Silenced and abashed they had not a word to urge in their own defence, and were obliged to stand by, while He, looking round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts (Mk. iii. 5), bade the man stretch forth his hand, which was instantly restored whole as the other.
Such an exhibition of Divine power, such a calm and unanswerable protest against their narrow bigotry, was more than they could bear. Filled with madness (Lk. vi. 11), the Scribes and Pharisees went forth and called a council (Mtt. xii. 14), and not ashamed to unite with their political opponents, the followers of Herod Antipas (Mk. iii. 6), began to form plans for compassing His death (Mk. iii. 6; Lk. vi. 11).
Part IV
FROM THE ELECTION OF THE APOSTLES TO THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Chapter I
CALL OF THE APOSTLES――SERMON ON THE MOUNT. A.D. 28.
WE have now reached a very important turning-point in the Gospel History. While the fame of the Saviour had spread abroad in every direction throughout the land, the animosity of the ruling powers had clearly displayed itself alike in Judæa and in Galilee, and there was already an active correspondence between the Scribes and Pharisees in both districts respecting His claims and pretensions. As yet, while the current of popular feeling ran in His favour, their hostility confined itself to secretly plotting against Him, and devising means for hindering Him in His work, with the hope that some imprudence or sudden change in the feeling of the multitude might put him in their power.
It was at this juncture, then, that He took a more decided step towards the establishment of His Divine work. Hitherto He had seemed to stand almost alone. Though a few had been gathered around Him as His disciples they did not present the appearance of a regular and organized community, of which He was the Head, nor had they received a distinct and solemn commission to disseminate His doctrines.
Such a commission was now to be given.
Attracted by His miracles of healing, crowds gathered about Him not only from Judæa, Jerusalem and Galilee, but even from Peræa, Idumæa, and the country around Tyre and Sidon (Mk. iii. 7, 8; Lk. vi. 17), bringing such as were afflicted with any diseases, and beseeching his aid. While, therefore, He did not withhold that Divine assistance which they so eagerly craved (Lk. vi. 9), but graciously healed them, He now retired from the constant interruption, to which their coming exposed Him, and sought a retreat in the lonely mountain-range west of the sea of Tiberias. There he spent a night in solemn meditation and prayer (Lk. vi. 12), and on the following morning called to Him His disciples, and made selection amongst them of Twelve, who should be in continual personal attendance upon Him (Mk. iii. 14), and whom He might send forth to preach in His name, and to exercise power over evil spirits (Mk. iii. 15).
The Twelve thus selected and denominated Apostles were:――
1. Symeon or Simon, the son of Jonas (Jn. i. 42; xxi. 16), called also Cephas[295] or Peter (a stone or rock).
2. Andrew, his brother (Mtt. iv. 18), a native of Bethsaida, and a former disciple of the Baptist[296].
3. James, the son of Zebedee (Mtt. iv. 21) and Salome (Mk. xv. 40), also of Bethsaida, and
4. John, his brother, afterwards known as “the friend of Jesus,” the “♦disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn. xiii. 23), and in the ancient Church as ὁ ἐπιστήθιος, he who “leaned on His breast[297].”
5. Philip, a native of Bethsaida, and one of the earliest disciples (Jn. i. 43)[298].
6. Bartholomew = Bar-Tolmai, “the son of Tolmai,” most probably identical with Nathanael[299].
7. Matthew or Levi, a collector of customs at Capernaum[300].
8. Thomas or Didymus (a twin), (Jn. xi. 16; xx. 24).
9. James, the son of Alphæus, or “James the Less.”
10. Judas, a brother or, possibly, a son of James (Acts i. 13), and surnamed Thaddæus and Lebbæus (Mtt. x. 3; Mk. iii. 18).
11. Simon the ♦Canaanite (Mk. iii. 18) or Cananæan (Mtt. x. 24), in Greek Zelotes (Lk. vi. 15; Acts i. 13), one, probably, who before his call had belonged to the sect of the zealots[301].
12. Judas, sometimes called the son of Simon (Jn. vi. 71; xiii. 2, 26), more generally Iscariot, i.e. probably a native of Kerioth (Josh. xv. 25), a little village in the tribe of Judah.
After this formal selection and ordination of the Twelve Apostles, the Saviour descended from the mountain-peak[302], where He had spent the night, to a more level spot (Lk. vi. 17), and sitting down in the formal attitude of a Teacher in the presence of His disciples and the multitude, which had gathered around Him, proceeded to deliver that wondrous summary of Christian doctrine and practice known as the “Sermon on the Mount”[303] (Mtt. v.‒vii.; Lk. vi. 20–49).
At its conclusion, He repaired again to Capernaum (Lk. vii. 1), where He was met by certain elders of the synagogue bearing a message from a centurion belonging to the Roman garrison quartered in the place, one of whose slaves lay stricken with paralysis. Though an officer of imperial Rome, he had not regarded with contempt the religion of the people amongst whom He was placed, but had aided them in building their synagogue, and evinced much kindness towards them. At their request, therefore, the Saviour proceeded towards his house, but on the way was met by certain of the centurion’s friends, who bade Him not trouble Himself to enter his abode, but speak the word, and he was assured his slave would recover. Such faith, the faith of a true soldier[304], who could believe that the Holy One was as well able to command the unseen agencies producing sickness, as he was himself to rule his own soldiers, moved the wonder even of the Lord, and was quickly rewarded by the healing of apparently the first Gentile sufferer[305].
On the following day (Lk. vii. 11), leaving Capernaum, accompanied by His disciples and a large multitude, the Saviour proceeded in the direction of Nain, then a place of considerable extent in the Esdraelon plain, now little more than a cluster of ruins[306]. As he drew near, a sad and mournful spectacle met his eyes. A young man, the only son of his mother, and she a widow (Lk. vii. 12), was being carried on a bier towards his last resting-place, probably in one of the sepulchral caves which perforated the rock on the western side of the town. Beholding the forlorn and desolate mother, the Holy One was filled with the deepest compassion, and bidding her not weep, advanced towards the bier and touched it. Thereupon the bearers stood still, while addressing the corpse He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise, at which word of power the dead man instantly sat up and began to speak, and was restored to his wondering and rejoicing mother (Lk. vii. 15).
This first signal victory over death filled all those, who witnessed it, with awe and astonishment, and they thankfully glorified God who had raised up a prophet among them and truly visited His people (Lk. vii. 16). No such miracle had been wrought since the days of Elisha, and the fame of it went forth throughout all Judæa, and throughout all the region round about. (Lk. vii. 17). Amongst those to whom it was related, together with the mighty works of the Saviour, was the Baptist, still detained in prison in the gloomy castle of Machærus[307] (Mtt. xi. 2; Lk. vii. 18). Thereupon he sent two of his disciples[308] to Jesus with the question, Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another? Whatever was his precise motive in making this formal enquiry, whether it was for the sake of fully convincing his own disciples, or from a desire for the comfort of a definite assurance from the Saviour’s own lips, or from impatience at the slow establishment of the kingdom of the Messiah, it was fully answered. At the hour when the messengers arrived, the Saviour was actively engaged in His daily labours of love, healing diseases, casting out demons, and restoring sight to the blind (Lk. vii. 21); He therefore bade the two disciples return and tell their master what things they had seen and heard, how the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the dead were raised, the poor had the Gospel preached to them (Mtt. xi. 5). But besides these proofs of His Messiahship, which, as the Baptist could hardly fail to remember, had been distinctly indicated by the Prophets (comp. Isai. xxxv. 5, 6; lxi. 1), the Holy One added a special word for John’s weary prison-hours and the doubts of his disciples, saying, Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me (Mtt. xi. 6; Lk. vii. 23), “at My calm and unassuming course of mercy and love to mankind, at My total disregard of worldly honours, at My refusal to place Myself at the head of the people as a temporal Messiah[309].”
No sooner, however, had the messengers departed than the Saviour took the opportunity of vindicating before the bystanders[310], who, perhaps, from the enquiry he had put, might receive an unfavourable impression respecting the Baptist, the true greatness of his character. No reed shaken by the wind was he, whom, a little more than a year ago, all Judæa and Jerusalem had flocked forth into the wilderness to see; no effeminate prince clad in luxurious apparel; no prophet merely, such as those of the Old Testament dispensation. Himself the subject of prophecy (Mtt. xi. 10), he was greater than all the prophets that had preceded him, being no other than the long-expected Forerunner of the Messiah (Mtt. xi. 10; Lk. vii. 27), the true Elias of whom Malachi had spoken, as destined to prepare His way before Him.
Chapter II
TEACHING IN GALILEE. A.D. 28–9.
APPARENTLY while He was in the neighbourhood of Nain[311], the Saviour received an invitation from a Pharisee, named Simon, to enter his house, and sit at meat with him (Lk. vii. 36). Among the guests there pressed in a woman of unchaste life[312], which had brought her into bad repute amongst her neighbours. Standing behind Him weeping, she kissed His feet, and anointed them, as He reclined at meat, with a costly unguent from an alabaster box[313], and wiped away with her hair the copious tears that fell from her eyes. Shrinking from any moral or physical uncleanness, Simon marvelled that the Holy One suffered such a woman to approach Him, and could only attribute it to His ignorance of her real character. But the Saviour addressing His entertainer in the touching parable of the “Two Debtors[314]” (Lk. vii. 40–43), pointed out that there was hope and mercy even for the lowest and most degraded, and turning to the woman bade her go in peace, for her faith had saved her, and her sins, though many, were forgiven (Lk. vii. 10, 47).
Almost immediately after this striking incident, accompanied not only by the Twelve, but by pious women, amongst whom were Mary of Magdala, Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward[315], Susanna, and many others (Lk. viii. 3), He proceeded on a somewhat lengthened tour through the cities and villages of Galilee, preaching the kingdom of God. Returning, as it seems most probable, to Capernaum, the multitude quickly gathered around Him, thronged Him in such numbers, and importuned Him with such persistent craving for His merciful aid, that neither He nor His disciples had sufficient leisure even to eat bread (Mk. iii. 20). The enthusiastic zeal of Him, whose meat it was to do the will of Him that sent Him and to finish His work (Jn. iv. 34) inspired His mother and brethren with the desire to interpose, and to protest against such exhausting labours[316] (Mk. iii. 21). But the intelligence that they were without the circle of the crowd seeking Him, did not induce Him to suspend His loving toil. Stretching forth His hands towards His disciples (Mtt. xii. 49), He declared that they and all who heard and did the will of His Father in heaven were as dear to Him as brother, or sister, or mother (Mtt. xii. 49, 50; Mk. iii. 34, 35; Lk. viii. 21).
While, however, the feelings of the multitude were thus openly enlisted on the side of the Redeemer, those of the Scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem were tinged with the intensest virulence and hostility. The miraculous cure of a deaf and dumb demoniac (Mtt. xii. 22) caused the greatest astonishment amongst the multitudes, and roused the enquiry whether this was not the Messiah, the son of David (Mtt. xii. 23). Resolved to check their enthusiasm, the Pharisaic faction openly declared that the Saviour owed His authority over the inferior demons to a secret compact with Beelzebub, the prince of the powers of darkness (Mk. iii. 22). Such a fearful charge, which ascribed to the influence of the Author of Evil works of beneficence and divine power, brought down upon those who urged it a terrible reply. The Saviour’s acts, they were reminded, were those of purest beneficence, while evil spirits took a malignant pleasure in the miseries of men. Could it be believed that Satan would allow his kingdom thus to be divided, that he would cast out those who were only accomplishing his will? Such an ascription of works of purest mercy to the energy of the Prince of Darkness, was an outward expression of an inward hatred of all that was good and Divine, and bordered closely on a terrible climax of sin, incapable of forgiveness either in this world or the world to come, even sin against the Holy Ghost (Mtt. xii. 24–37; Mk. iii. 22–30; Lk. xi. 17–23).
In the afternoon or evening of the day on which these solemn warnings were uttered, the Lord went down to the shores of the Lake (Mtt. xiii. 1; Mk. iv. 1), followed by a great multitude from all the towns round about. So numerous, indeed, were the crowds which gathered around Him, that, for the sake of more conveniently addressing them, He entered into one of the fishing-vessels, and sitting there a little distance from the water’s edge, addressed them in a series of parables[317] illustrative of the growth and extension of His kingdom――the Sower (Mtt. xiii. 3–9; Mk. iv. 3–9; Lk. viii. 4–15); the Wheat and the Tares (Mtt. xiii. 24–30); the Seed growing secretly (Mk. iv. 26–29); the grain of Mustard-seed (Mtt. xiii. 31–33; Mk. iv. 30–32; Lk. xiii. 18–21); the Hid Treasure (Mtt. xiii. 44); the Merchant and the Pearl (Mtt. xiii. 45, 46); the Draw-net (Mtt. xiii. 47–50).
Later in the evening He requested of His disciples that they would push across the lake towards the Eastern shore; on which, they took Him as He was (Mk. iv. 36), i.e. without any preparations for the voyage, and made for the opposite coast. Wearied with the toils of that long and exhausting day He fell asleep on a cushion in the stern, when suddenly from one of the deep clefts in the surrounding hills a violent storm of wind[318] (Mk. iv. 37; Lk. viii. 23) burst upon the surface of the lake, lashed it into waves (Mk. iv. 37), which almost hid the little vessel (Mtt. viii. 24), and threatened to sink it to the bottom. Terror-stricken at the sudden tempest, the Apostles hastily awoke Him, and implored His aid, lest they should perish, whereupon He arose, rebuked the wind and the surging waters, and instantly there was a great calm (Mtt. viii. 26; Mk. iv. 39), amidst which they reached next morning the other side, deeply wondering at the power of their Master, which could reduce even the winds and the sea to obedience to His word.
In the country of the Gadarenes[319], where they now arrived, a fearful spectacle awaited them. Amongst the tombs, which existed, and can even now be traced in more than one of the ravines on the Eastern side of the lake, dwelt two demoniacs. The more notable or fiercer of the two was possessed of such extraordinary muscular strength that all efforts to bind and restrain him had proved ineffectual, and the chains and fetters, with which he had at times been secured, had been broken and crushed, nor had any been able to tame him (Mk. v. 4). Fleeing from the fellowship of his kind (Lk. viii. 27), he had for a long time taken up his dwelling in the tombs, and there in the paroxysms of his misery he often cried out and cut himself with stones (Mk. v. 5), and so terrified all travellers, that they dared not pass by that way (Mtt. viii. 28).
Such was the miserable being, who now in company with his companion, without any garment to cover him (Lk. viii. 27), issued from his lonely abode, and seeing the Saviour afar off (Mk. v. 6) ran and fell down before Him crying out What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of the most high God? I adjure Thee by God that Thou torment me not (Mk. v. 7; Lk. viii. 28).
Resolved in His infinite mercy to rid him of the terrible spirit that possessed him, the Great Physician enquired his name. Thereupon he replied, My name is Legion, for we are many, comparing the cruel and inexorable powers that mastered him to the “thick and serried ranks of a Roman legion, that fearful instrument of oppression, that sign of terror and fear to the conquered nations[320].”
Sensible that they were in the presence of the Lord of the spirit-world, the demons possessing him besought the Holy One that He would not drive them out of the country (Mk. v. 10), or send them into the Abyss of Hell[321], the abode of the lost (Lk. viii. 31), but suffer them to enter into a herd of swine (Mk. v. 12; Mtt. viii. 31), which numbering nearly 2000 was feeding close at hand (Mk. v. 13). The Saviour gave the required permission, and the whole herd rushing wildly down the cliff[322] into the lake were choked and destroyed.
Such a remarkable incident paralysed the keepers of the herd with fear, and straightway flying to the city, they recounted all that had occurred, as also the marvellous change, which had come over the terrible demoniac. Their report brought out wellnigh all the inhabitants (Mtt. viii. 34), and though in the man, probably a fellow-citizen[323], who sat at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind (Mk. v. 15), they saw a proof of the superhuman power of his Deliverer, they yet besought Him to depart from their neighbourhood.
Thereupon the Saviour, taking them at their word, turned towards the lake, and was in the act of stepping into the boat (Mk. v. 18), when the healed man prayed that he might be allowed to accompany Him. But this the Holy One did not see fit to concede, and bade the man return to his friends, and recount to them what great things the Lord had done to him. On which the other went his way, proclaiming throughout the region of Decapolis[324] the story of his wonderful deliverance, himself a witness and a standing monument of the Saviour’s grace and power.
Chapter III
MIRACLES AT CAPERNAUM――DEATH OF THE BAPTIST. A.D. 29.
IMMEDIATELY after this miracle the Lord crossed over to the western shore of the lake (Mk. v. 21), where a great multitude was awaiting Him, and amongst them one of the prefects of the synagogue, probably of Capernaum, whose name was Jairus. Falling down before His feet, he earnestly besought Him to come to his house, and lay His hands upon his little daughter, who was at the point of death. Thereupon the ever compassionate Redeemer arose and followed him, accompanied by His disciples, and a curious and eager crowd.
Amongst the rest, who thus followed and pressed upon Him, was a woman, that had laboured for upwards of twelve years under an issue of blood, which all the efforts of many physicians had proved powerless to asswage. Believing that, if she could but touch His clothes, she would be made whole, she now came behind, and touched the hem or blue fringe on the border of His garment. No sooner had she done so, than she felt within herself that the long wished-for cure had at length been accomplished. The fountain of her blood was stanched, and she was healed. But she was not to bear away the boon thus totally unobserved. Perceiving that power had gone out of Him, and turning round amidst the crowd, the Saviour enquired who had touched Him? The Apostles, with Peter at their head, would have put the enquiry aside, but the Saviour repeated it, and then the woman, trembling and alarmed, came and fell down before Him, confessed all that she had done, and was gladdened by the cheering words, Daughter, be of good cheer, thy faith hath saved thee go in peace (Mk. v. 34; Lk. viii. 48).
Meanwhile, though the delay must have been a sore trial to Jairus, “now when every moment was precious, when death was shaking the last few sands in the hour-glass of his daughter’s life[325],” he betrayed no signs of impatience at a boon so readily bestowed upon another. But at this juncture his faith was still more put to the proof. Messengers arrived informing him that the worst was over, and that his daughter was already dead, and suggesting that he should no further trouble the Master. Overhearing the announcement (Mk. v. 36), the Holy One bade him not be afraid, but only believe, and hastened towards his house. Entering it, accompanied only by Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the maiden, He advanced into the chamber of death, where He found a number of hired mourners weeping and wailing with all the boisterous and turbulent symbols of Oriental grief. Putting them forth, while they laughed to scorn His announcement that the damsel was not dead but only asleep, He went forward to the bed, and said, Talitha Cumi, “Maid, arise.” Instantly His word was obeyed. The spirit of the maiden came to her again, and she arose straightway, and began to walk, while “at once to strengthen that life which was come back to her, and to prove that she was indeed no ghost, but had returned to the realities of a mortal existence, He commanded to give her meat[326]” (Mk. v. 43).
Soon afterwards, accompanied by His disciples, He left Capernaum, and for the second time appeared on a Sabbath in the synagogue of His own town of Nazareth (Mk. vi. 2; Mtt. xiii. 54). The conduct of His hearers on this occasion did not betray the frantic violence they exhibited during His previous visit. The miraculous works wrought by His hands, of which they must have heard, could not be gainsaid, and the wondrous wisdom with which He spake filled them with astonishment (Mtt. xiii. 54; Mk. vi. 2). But again their minds recurred to the thought of His lowly origin, to the fact that He was the son of a carpenter, that his family connections were well known to them, and living in their midst (Mk. vi. 3; Mtt. xiii. 55). Stumbling at this rock of offence (Mtt. xiii. 57) they still refused to believe in Him, and the Lord Himself marvelling at their unbelief (Mk. vi. 6), confined His designs of mercy to laying His hands on a few sick folk (Mk. vi. 5), who felt the influence of that Divine touch and were healed.
On the morrow He and His disciples set out on another circuit amongst the towns and villages of Galilee (Mtt. ix. 35–38; Mk. vi. 6), preaching the glad tidings of the Kingdom, and healing the sick. Great multitudes from that thickly-peopled district followed Him, and deeply moved to see them scattered like sheep without a shepherd (Mtt. ix. 36), He said to His disciples that the harvest truly was plenteous, while the labourers were few, and calling the Apostles to Him (Mtt. x. 1; Mk. vi. 7; Lk. ix. 1), formally bestowed on them power over unclean spirits, and the ability to heal diseases, and sent them forth two and two with instructions not to enter into any heathen or Samaritan city (Mtt. x. 5), but to proclaim to the lost sheep of the house of Israel the near approach of the Kingdom of Heaven. Accordingly they went forth and preached in the various towns and villages the message of repentance, casting out demons, and healing the sick, and at the conclusion of this trial of their powers, returned to their Master, probably at Capernaum (Mk. vi. 30; Lk. ix. 10).
Meanwhile important events occurred in the gloomy prison, where John the Baptist was confined. The anger he had excited in the breast of Herodias by his outspoken denunciation of her sin, never slumbered or slept. She constantly kept her eye upon him, and would have put him out of the way without scruple, but Herod, though there was little from which he would shrink, dared not lay hands on one so venerated by the people, and whose exhortations he himself was not above listening to and in some respects obeying (Mk. vi. 20).
At length an opportunity for gratifying her revenge presented itself, which she instantly embraced. Herod’s birthday[327] came round, which, like a true Herod, conforming in this as in other things to Roman customs, he kept probably at Machærus, with feasting and revelry, surrounded by the petty chiefs and grandees of Galilee, the lords of his court, and the officers of his camp (Mk. vi. 21). During the feast the youthful Salome, the daughter of Herodias, entered the banqueting hall, and danced before the riotous company. So delighted were the guests, and especially Herod, with the brilliancy of her movements, that in the delirium of his admiration, he promised her anything, everything even to the half of his kingdom, and ratified his word with the royal oath.
The maiden departed, and consulted with her mother. Herodias saw that at last her hour was come, that at length the long-desired vengeance was within her grasp. No jewelled trinket, no royal palace, or splendid robe should be the reward of her daughter’s feat; Ask, said she, for John Baptist’s head in a charger (Mtt. xiv. 8; Mk. vi. 24), i.e. on one of the dishes on which the fruits and viands of the table had been served. Forthwith (Mk. vi. 25), as though not a moment was to be lost, Salome returned, and named her price to the assembled company.
Herod’s brow instantly fell. Even amidst the delirium of that riotous hour he was exceeding sorry (Mk. vi. 26) for the brave preacher, whose words he had so often listened to, and for whom he entertained much reverence. But he had promised, and ratified the promise with an oath. The captains and great lords, who had heard him swear, sat round the festive board, and none in that riotous company would say a word for the friendless prophet. So the word was given, and an officer was bidden to seek out the Baptist’s dungeon and bring the reward which the maiden claimed. He went, and executed his command, and Salome bore the bleeding head to her mother (Mk. vi. 28).
Before long the news of their master’s death became known to the disciples of the Baptist, and having consigned his headless body to the grave (Mtt. xiv. 12; Mk. vi. 29), they went and recounted all that had occurred to the Saviour (Mtt. xiv. 12), whom they appear to have found in or near Capernaum (Mtt. xiv. 13; Mk. vi. 30; Lk. ix. 10). On receiving these sad tidings respecting His Forerunner, the Lord left the place with His Apostles, who had just returned from their tentative mission, and crossing the lake of Gennesaret (Mtt. xiv. 13), sought the neighbourhood of Bethsaida-Julias[328] (Lk. ix. 10).
Meanwhile the news of the Baptist’s death excited much consternation amongst the Jews[329], who all regarded him as a prophet (Mtt. xiv. 5), and Herod’s conscience allowed him little rest after the cruel murder. Returning to Galilee[330], he received intelligence, probably from those who had witnessed the mission of the Twelve, of the wonderful works of the Prophet of Nazareth (Mtt. xiv. 1; Mk. vi. 14; Lk. ix. 7). Perplexed at the appearance of a new Teacher he enquired who this could be, and received different answers. Some said He was the awful Elias, whose coming had been so often predicted; others that He was a prophet, or as one of the prophets (Mk. vi. 15). But the uneasy and superstitious king could not be satisfied with these replies, and declared Him to be none other than the Baptist risen from the dead (Mk. vi. 16), come back to haunt his footsteps, and reproach him with his crimes. All that he heard awakened in him a desire to see the new Teacher, and destined he was to see Him, but not now (Lk. ix. 9).
Part V
FROM THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST TO THE VISIT OF THE SAVIOUR TO JERUSALEM AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
Chapter I
THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND, AND THE WALKING ON THE LAKE. A.D. 29.
AT this time the Passover, the second Passover, as seems most probable, during the Saviour’s public ministry, drew nigh (Jn. vi. 4), but on this occasion He does not appear to have gone up to Jerusalem, where the determined hostility of the ruling powers rendered any further activity dangerous, at least for the present.
It was probably, to commune in retirement with the Twelve, and to afford them a season of comparative rest after their late labours, that the Lord now sought the neighbourhood of Bethsaida-Julias (Mk. vi. 31). But the numbers moving about the country in consequence of the near approach of the great Festival, who came on foot from all the towns round about to see and hear Him (Mtt. xiv. 13; Mk. vi. 32; Lk. ix. 11), rendered the desired solitude impossible. The sight, moreover, of these multitudes scattered as sheep without a shepherd (Mk. vi. 34), again roused His deepest compassion, and He not only taught them many things concerning the Kingdom of God, and healed those amongst them that were afflicted with various diseases (Mtt. xiv. 14), but was moved on this occasion to minister still further to their temporal necessities.
Accordingly at a somewhat early period, as it would seem, in the afternoon[331], He enquired of the Apostle Philip where bread might be bought to satisfy the hunger of the multitudes (Jn. vi. 5). Though He Himself knew what He would do, He put this question to prove the trust of the Apostle. But Philip, thinking of no other supplies save such as natural means could procure, replied that two hundred pence (or rather denarii) would not be sufficient to procure sustenance for such a number (Jn. vi. 7). Having thus obtained from his own mouth a confession of the inability of all human power to satisfy the present need, the Holy One left “the difficulty and perplexity to work in his mind and the minds of the Apostles[332],” and thus prepare them for what He was about to do.
As the evening, however, drew on (Mtt. xiv. 15; Lk. ix. 12) the disciples approached Him, and drawing His attention to the desert[333] character of the locality, proposed that He should send away the multitudes, in order that they might seek refreshment in the neighbouring towns and villages. To this He replied that they need not depart (Mtt. xiv. 16), and bade them supply their needs, and when, reiterating the assertion[334] of Philip, they declared how impossible it was to do such a thing, He sent them to see what supplies they had. Returning they informed Him that from a lad in their company they had been enabled to procure five barley loaves and two small fishes (Jn. vi. 9), and were thereupon bidden to marshal the multitudes in companies[335] amid the green grass of the rich plain around. This done, He took the loaves and the two fishes and looking up to heaven He blessed, and brake, and gave of the food to the Apostles, who in their turn distributed to the different groups, till they did all eat and were filled. When the wondrous meal was over, the Holy One, who, as the Lord of nature, ever “makes the most prodigal bounty go hand in hand with the nicest and truest economy,” bade the disciples gather up the fragments that remained, that nothing might be lost, and though 5000 men besides women and children (Mtt. xiv. 21) had eaten and been satisfied, yet they took up twelve baskets full of fragments that still remained over and above (Mtt. xiv. 20; Mk. vi. 43; Jn. vi. 13).
The impression made upon the people by this miracle was profound. It was the popular expectation that the Messiah would repeat the miracles of Moses[336], and this “bread of wonder,” of which they had partaken, vividly recalled to the minds of the multitude their great Lawgiver, who had given their fathers manna in the wilderness. They were convinced, therefore, that the Holy One was none other than the Prophet, of whom Moses had spoken (Deut. xviii. 15), and in this conviction would have taken Him by force and made Him a king (Jn. vi. 14,15).
To defeat this their intention, the Saviour bade His Apostles take ship and cross over to Bethsaida[337] (Mk. vi. 45), on the other side of the lake, while He dismissed the multitudes. Having done so, He ascended to a point in the neighbouring mountain-range, and there continued in solitary communion with His Heavenly Father till near the fourth watch[338] of the night (Mtt. xiv. 23–25; Mk. vi. 46).
Meanwhile the Apostles had rowed about 25 or 30 furlongs[339] (Jn. vi. 19), when one of those sudden storms of wind to which the lake is subject, rushed down from the western mountains, and lashing the usually placid surface into waves (Mtt. xiv. 24) prevented them making their way towards Capernaum, and exposed them to imminent peril. At this moment, to add to their fears, they discerned amidst the darkness (Mk. vi. 50) a Figure walking on the water and approaching their vessel. Thinking it could be nothing but a Phantom, they cried out in their terror, when a well-known Voice was heard saying It is I, be not afraid. Thereupon the ardent, impetuous Peter replied, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. The rejoinder was Come; and so descending from the vessel (Mtt. xiv. 29) amidst the darkness and howling wind the Apostle made some little way towards his Lord. But soon the wind roared (Mtt. xiv. 30) and the waters raged, and his heart failed him, and beginning to sink he cried, Lord, save me. Thereupon Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him, and gently rebuking him for his want of faith took him with Him into the ship, which amidst the calm that now stilled the waves, quickly reached the harbour of Capernaum, while the Apostles, amazed beyond measure (Mk. vi. 51), worshipped Him, saying, Truly Thou art the Son of God (Mtt. xiv. 33).
Chapter II
THE DISCOURSE IN THE SYNAGOGUE OF CAPERNAUM. A.D. 29.
THE fact of the Saviour’s presence on the western side of the lake was soon spread abroad amongst the people (Mk. vi. 54), and, as so often before, they brought their sick, who experienced the effects of the healing word (Mtt. xiv. 36). Meanwhile many of the five thousand, who on the previous evening had witnessed the marvellous multiplication of the loaves, not finding the Lord on the eastern side of the lake, had taken ship[340] and crossed over to Capernaum seeking Him (Jn. vi. 24). Knowing that He had not embarked with His disciples after the miracle, they wondered how He had crossed over, and finding Him in the Synagogue of Capernaum (Jn. vi. 59) eagerly questioned Him on the subject.
But, as in the case of Nicodemus, the Holy One was not pleased to vouchsafe a direct answer to their question. He knew the superficial character of their enthusiasm, and the merely temporal objects that had brought them to Him; Verily, verily, I say unto you, He replied, ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for Him hath God the Father sealed. Apparently understanding the Bread He spoke of in a literal sense, they replied by asking how they might work the works of God, whereupon the Holy One declared that the work acceptable to God was to believe on Him whom He had sent (Jn. vi. 29). To this they rejoined, with their usual craving for miracle after miracle, by asking for some sign to confirm their belief in Him, and then proceeded to suggest “a sign from heaven” such as they desired. The miracle of the preceding evening had convinced many of them that the Speaker was indeed the Prophet that should come into the world, and whose Advent had been predicted by Moses. That Lawgiver had given them bread from heaven not once only, but during a space of forty years; could He give them such a sign from heaven?
In condescension to the associations they had themselves recalled, the Saviour replied that Moses had not given them the bread from heaven, but His Father was giving them the true Bread, even HIM who cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world (Jn. vi. 33). Still understanding Him to speak of some miraculous life-sustaining food, the Jews begged that He would evermore give them that Bread, whereupon, passing from indirect to direct assertions, He replied in the ever-memorable words,
I am the Bread of Life;
and in language majestic in its very simplicity proceeded to vindicate His Divine nature and His descent from heaven.
This last assertion gave great offence to His hearers; they called to mind the earthly parentage of the Speaker (Jn. vi. 42), and marvelled how He could claim a Divine origin. But, unmoved, unruffled by their increasing discontent, whether “they would hear or whether they would forbear,” He went on to repeat that He was the Bread from heaven, that the Bread He would give was His flesh, which He was about to give for the life of the world (Jn. vi. 47–51).
These mysterious words provoked still greater opposition on the part of the Jews; they strove with one another, saying, How can this man give us His flesh to eat? But their opposition and questionings moved not His calm majesty. With the same formula of solemnity, which He had already thrice used[341] (Jn. vi. 53), He resumed in language still more emphatic His assertion, that unless they ate the flesh of the Son of Man, and drank His blood, they could have no life in them――that His Flesh was meat indeed, and His Blood drink indeed――that whoso ate His Flesh and drank His Blood had eternal life, and He would raise him up at the last day (Jn. vi. 53–58).
These solemn words, so entirely in keeping with the associations of the Passover, now on the point of being[342] celebrated at Jerusalem, exerted a great influence on those who heard them. The Jews, as we have seen, were deeply offended. But many even of His disciples regarded what they had heard as a hard saying (Jn. vi. 60), and walked no more with Him (Jn. vi. 66). Turning to the Twelve, the Saviour enquired whether they too were about to join the general defection, whereupon Peter replied, in the name of the rest, that there was no other Teacher to whom they could go, for He had the words of eternal life, and they believed and were assured that He was the Holy One[343] of God (Jn. vi. 69). This declaration of faithful adherence their Omnipotent Master accepted, but with the sad remark that even now there was a traitor in their midst (Jn. vi. 70, 71).
After this memorable day in the synagogue of Capernaum, the Holy One appears to have continued a short time in the Plain of Gennesaret, during which period the excitement caused by His first landing was not diminished, His popularity was great in spite of the mysteriousness of His doctrines, and His mighty power continued to be marvellously displayed[344].
But soon His labours of love were interrupted. Having kept the Feast at Jerusalem the Scribes and Pharisees returned (Mk. vii. 1), and soon found matter for accusation against Him. In the social gatherings of the Saviour and His Apostles they noticed that He did not observe the strict and minute traditions of the elders, but ate bread with unwashen hands (Mtt. xv. 2; Mk. vii. 5). In reply the Holy One told them that by those commandments of men which they so studiously observed they were making of none effect the commandments of God, whom, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, they honoured only with their lips, while their hearts were far from Him (Isai. xxix. 13). The external defilement they were so careful to avoid was, He declared in the hearing of the people (Mk. vii. 14), nothing compared with the defilement of the heart, out of which proceeded all manner of evil thoughts, which ripened into the worst crimes――these truly defiled a man (Mtt. xv. 13–22).
The severity with which He thus, in the presence of the people, rebuked the rulers of the nation for a hypocritical observance of vain traditions, roused to a still greater height the animosity of the Pharisaic faction (Mtt. xv. 12). Knowing that He could not now shew Himself openly without being exposed to their machinations[345], the Lord passed north-west through the mountains of upper Galilee, and thence into the border-land of Tyre and Sidon (Mtt. xv. 21; Mk. vii. 24). Here He entered into a house, and would have no man know it (Mk. vii. 24). But the rest and seclusion He sought were not to be found. A Syrophœnician[346] woman crossed the frontier (Mk. vii. 25), and earnestly besought His aid in behalf of her daughter, who was grievously afflicted with a demon. At first it seemed as though she had come in vain. But in spite of silence (Mtt. xv. 23), refusal (Mtt. xv. 24), and seeming reproach (Mtt. xv. 26), she persevered in her petition, and at length, when the trial of her faith was ended, she obtained that which she had sought so earnestly, and with the encouraging assurance that though a descendant of ancient idolaters, her faith was great (Mtt. xv. 28), and that her daughter was made whole, returned to the place whence she came forth.
After a short stay in this region, the Saviour proceeded northwards, still nearer, as it would seem, to pagan Sidon[347], and thence passing round the sources of the Jordan and in a south-easterly circuit through Decapolis (Mk. vii. 31), to the further shore of the sea of Gennesaret. In this region His merciful aid was besought in behalf of a deaf and dumb[348] man (Mk. vii. 32), whom He withdrew from the throng of bystanders (Mk. vii. 33), and after using special outward signs[349] gradually restored to the full possession of his faculties, charging the multitudes to preserve a strict silence respecting the miracle (Mk. vii. 36). This injunction, however, was not obeyed, for the spectators spread abroad the news far and wide (Mk. vii. 36), and the effect was that many who were lame, blind, dumb, maimed (Mtt. xv. 30), were brought to Him, and experienced the beneficent results of the healing word.
Chapter III
THE FOUR THOUSAND FED――THE CONFESSION OF ST PETER. A.D. 29.
THE effect of these miraculous cures on the inhabitants of the half-pagan district of Decapolis was very great, and they confessed that the God who had chosen Israel was indeed above all gods[350] (Mtt. xv. 31). Before long, therefore, a great multitude, amounting to upwards of four thousand besides women and children (Mtt. xv. 38), were collected from the neighbouring region, and continued with the Lord three days (Mtt. xv. 32), beholding His works and listening to His words.
They had not, like the multitude earlier in the year, assembled for the purpose of going up to Jerusalem to keep the Passover, and their scanty provisions failing them, could only retire to their mountain-homes through the passes by which they had followed the Lord[351]. The compassionate Redeemer had no wish that they should return only to faint by the way (Mk. viii. 3), and enquired of the disciples how many loaves they had with them. To this they replied, Seven, and a few small fishes (Mtt. xv. 34), and were thereupon commanded to make the men sit down[352], when their scanty supply in the hands of Him, who was the true Bread from heaven, proved sufficient for the hungry multitude: they did eat and were filled, and took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets[353] full (Mtt. xv. 37).
Having dismissed the recipients of His bounty, the Lord immediately entered with His disciples into a ship[354], and crossed over, according to St Matthew, into the coasts of Magdala[355] (xv. 39), according to St Mark, into the parts of Dalmanutha[356] (viii. 10), a village close by. Here, however, His stay was of no long duration, for certain Pharisees, now for the first time combined with the Sadducees, approached (Mtt. xvi. 1) with a demand that He would shew them a sign from heaven. This request, already twice preferred[357], and now urged in explicit terms, He, who knew the hearts of those who claimed it, would not gratify. Sighing deeply in His spirit (Mk. viii. 12), and grieved at their continued unbelief, He denounced them as hypocrites, who could discern the face of the sky, but not discern the signs of the times (Mtt. xvi. 3), and refusing to give them any other sign than that of the prophet Jonah (Mtt. xvi. 4), straightway entered the vessel, in which He had come (Mk. viii. 13), and made for the other side.
Warning His disciples during the voyage against the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Mtt. xvi. 5–12; Mk. viii. 14–21), he reached the eastern shore of the lake and the neighbourhood of Bethsaida-Julias (Mk. viii. 22). Here a blind man was brought to Him, with a petition that He would touch him. Taking him, like the deaf and dumb man spoken of above, outside the village, the Lord anointed his eyes with the moisture from His own mouth, and laying His hands upon him enquired whether he saw aught? To this the sufferer looking up replied that he saw men, as trees, walking (Mk. viii. 24). Thereupon the Redeemer laid His hands again upon his eyes, and his sight was completely restored.
From Bethsaida, accompanied by His Apostles, He now set out in a northerly direction, and travelling along the eastern banks of the Jordan and beyond the waters of Merom, reached the confines or the villages (Mk. viii. 27) of Cæsarea Philippi[358]. In this neighbourhood, on one occasion, the Apostles found their Master engaged in solitary prayer (Lk. ix. 18), a solemn and significant action, the precursor of not a few important events[359], as now of a deeply momentous revelation. For as they resumed their journey, He addressed to them the formal enquiry, Whom do men say that I am?
This was not an ordinary question. He was speaking to those who had now for some time been His constant companions, hearers of His words, and spectators of the signs which accompanied them. He seems to have wished to ascertain from their own lips the results of those labours, which now, in one sense, were drawing to a close, and thence to pass on to other and more painful truths, which He had to communicate to them[360]. To this enquiry, then, the Apostles replied in words that reflected the various opinions then held amongst the people; Some say John the Baptist, others Elias, others Jeremias, or one of the prophets (Mtt. xvi. 14; Mk. viii. 28; Lk. ix. 19). But, continued the Holy One, whom say ye that I am? To this the Apostle Peter, speaking in the name of the rest, made the ever-memorable reply, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mtt. xvi. 16).
The object for which the question had been put was now partly achieved. By the mouth of one of their number the Apostles had expressed the conclusion, to which they had come after so long enjoying the society of their Master, that He was no other than the Messiah, the Son of God. This their testimony He accepted; acknowledged the truth of the Apostle’s confession; declared that it had not been revealed to him by flesh and blood, but by His Father in heaven; and bestowed upon him the promise of peculiar dignity in the Church He was about to establish (Mtt. xvi. 18, 19).
But now, having, as three Evangelists distinctly tell us (Mtt. xvi. 20; Mk. viii. 30; Lk. ix. 21), charged them strictly not to divulge the fact of His Messiahship to the world at large, He began to reveal to them strange and mournful tidings respecting Himself. The Son of Man, He declared, must go up to Jerusalem, and there suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be put to death, and after three days rise again. This was the first announcement, clear, distinct, peremptory of what lay before Him (Mk. viii. 32), revealing not only that He should suffer, but the agents in His sufferings, the form they would take, the place where He would undergo them, and their issue, a mysterious resurrection after three days. To the Apostles the announcement sounded utterly strange and inconceivable. The selfsame Peter, who, a moment before, had witnessed so noble and outspoken a confession to his Lord’s Divinity, was utterly unable even to endure the thought of His suffering. That be far from Thee, Lord, was his indignant reply. But with a solemn rebuke the Holy One checked his untimely expostulations, which savoured of the weakness of flesh and blood, not of holy obedience to a heavenly Father’s will. Nay more, as if to seal the words He had uttered in the presence of many witnesses, He called to Him some of the people that were standing near (Mk. viii. 34), and in their hearing, as well as that of the Apostles, bade any who would come after Him, take up his Cross and follow Him, for through the gate of suffering lay the road to Glory, not only for Himself, but for all His followers (Mtt. xvi. 24; Mk. viii. 34; Lk. ix. 23).
Chapter IV
THE TRANSFIGURATION――THE LUNATIC CHILD. A.D. 29.
AFTER the announcement we have just considered, the teaching of the Lord as addressed to His disciples assumed a new character. The mysterious close of His life had been already[361] more than once hinted at in figures or parables, but now He began gradually, as they were able to bear it, to speak clearly and openly of His death and rejection by the Jews. So far from establishing any earthly kingdom such as they expected, in which they might occupy distinguished places, He proceeded from this time to intimate in precise and distinct language how very different was the end that really awaited Him.
To the Apostles, who indulged to the close in dreams of a reign like that of earthly kings, these intimations of their Master sounded strange and unaccountable. To cheer, therefore, their wounded spirits, to enable them in some measure to comprehend the supernatural character of His kingdom, the Holy One was pleased to assure them that there were some standing there, who should not taste of death till they had seen, in spite of the sad announcement He had just made, the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Mtt. xvi. 28; comp. Mk. ix. 1; Lk. ix. 27).
Accordingly six days afterwards, with three of the most privileged of their number, who had already in the chamber of Jairus witnessed their Master’s power over death[362], He retired to one of the numerous mountain-ranges in the neighbourhood, not improbably one of the summits of Hermon[363]. From St Luke’s intimation that one object of His own withdrawal was that He might engage in solitary prayer (Lk. ix. 28), and that the three Apostles were wearied and oppressed by sleep (Lk. ix. 32), we infer that evening was the time of this retirement of the Holy One, the close, it may be, of a long day spent in going about doing good. While, then, they slept and He continued engaged in prayer, a marvellous change came over His person (Lk. ix. 29). His raiment suddenly became shining, exceeding white as snow, the fashion also of His countenance was altered, and shone like the sun (Mtt. xvii. 2; Mk. ix. 3; Lk. ix. 29).
Roused at length by the supernatural brightness around them, the Chosen Three awoke[364], and shaking off their slumbers, perceived not only the mysterious change that had come over their Master, but also that He was no longer alone! He was accompanied by two men, in whom they were enabled to recognize no others than the great pillars and representatives of the Old Testament dispensation, Moses and Elias. Nor did they only see their transfigured Lord attended by these strange visitants from the world of spirits, but they were privileged to overhear the subject of their mutual converse. They spake of, or described[365], the decease He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem (Lk. ix. 31).
Upon the ardent, impulsive Peter it was the scene itself, and not the topic of mysterious converse he overheard, that made the most impression. To him it seemed as though the kingdom of heaven was indeed “revealed in power.” In the excitement of the moment he would have made three tabernacles, one for his Lord, one for Moses, and one for Elias, in order that from thence the laws of the kingdom might be promulgated, and all men might recognise the true Messiah attended by the Pillars of the old Economy. But it was not to be. While he was yet speaking there came a cloud overshadowing them, and out of it there came a Voice, saying, This is My Beloved Son, hear ye Him. And then all was over. While the Apostles lay panic-stricken on their faces, their Master once more joined them, and bade them rise and not be afraid, and, as they descended from the Mount, He charged them to reveal to no man what they had seen, till (again the mysterious words recurred) He should have risen from the dead (Mtt. xvii. 9; Mk. ix. 9).
Rejoining the rest of their fellow-Apostles, the Chosen Three found them surrounded by a great crowd, amongst which were certain of the Lord’s old adversaries, the Scribes, not unwilling witnesses of a defeat which His disciples had sustained. During their Master’s absence a man had besought their aid in behalf of his son, who was possessed with an evil spirit of peculiar malignity. But he had besought their aid in vain. The Nine had been unable to expel the demon, and the Scribes, making the most of their discomfiture, were eagerly disputing with them (Mk. ix. 14), and doubtless “arguing from the impotence of the servants to the impotence of the Master[366],” when He suddenly appeared, bearing, it would seem, on His face and person traces of the celestial glory of the past night. Greatly amazed (Mk. ix. 15) at His appearance, the multitude no sooner saw Him, than they ran to Him and saluted Him (Mk. ix. 15), and as He was asking of the Scribes the reason of their dispute with His disciples, the father drew near, related what had occurred, and the terrible condition of his only son (Lk. ix. 38). Possessed he had been for a long time with a dumb spirit (Mk. ix. 17), but at times it seized him with such violence, that he foamed and gnashed with his teeth (Mk. ix. 18), or was driven with almost irresistible impulse into the water and into the fire (Mtt. xvii. 15).
With a sad rebuke of the faithlessness of the generation in which He lived, the Lord commanded the boy to be brought into His presence. He was brought, but no sooner did he see the Saviour (Mk. ix. 20), than he was seized with one of those sudden paroxysms, which the father had described, and falling on the ground, he wallowed foaming at the mouth (Mk. ix. 20). On beholding the miserable sufferer, the Lord enquired of his father how long he had been in this case. To this the other replied that it dated from his childhood (Mk. ix. 21), and described the terrible nature of the fits which came upon him, ending with a touching request, that if He could do anything, He would have compassion on him, and help him. All things are possible, said the Holy One, to him that believeth. Lord, I believe, replied the agonized father, help Thou mine unbelief (Mk. ix. 23, 24), and his faith, though but a little spark, was rewarded. Addressing the demon in words of solemn and conscious authority the Holy One commanded him to leave the child and enter him no more (Mk. ix. 25), and the foul spirit, unable to resist the word of power, uttering a piercing cry and rending the sufferer with one last convulsive paroxysm (Mk. ix. 26), left him lying on the ground, to all appearance dead. But his merciful Healer took him by the hand, and, invigorated by that touch, he rose up, and was restored to his rejoicing father (Lk. ix. 42).
Chapter V
THE COIN IN THE FISH’S MOUTH――TOUR THROUGH SAMARIA. A.D. 29.
AFTER the incidents just related, the Redeemer appears to have again turned His steps southward through the northern parts of Galilee and in the direction of Capernaum (Mtt. xvii. 22; Mk. ix. 30). This journey He wished should be as private as possible (Mk. ix. 30), undisturbed by the presence of the large crowds that usually gathered about Him. For now that He had so plainly and unreservedly spoken to His Apostles of His approaching death and resurrection, He desired that these His words should sink deep into their ears (Lk. ix. 44), and that they should be more fully instructed respecting their reality and certainty. Once more, therefore, He began to tell them of His coming rejection by the rulers of the nation, of His death, and resurrection. But His words took no root in the minds of His hearers. His “thoughts were not their thoughts,” nor His “ways their ways;” they could not understand that whereof He spake, or how One, whom they believed to be the Messiah, could be called upon to suffer, and were afraid to ask Him personally what He meant (Mk. ix. 32; Lk. ix. 45).
On their arrival at Capernaum, the collection of the half-shekel[367] due from every male Israelite, who had attained the age of 20 years, for the service of the sanctuary at Jerusalem, was going on. Approaching the Apostle Peter, the collectors enquired whether his Master did not pay this sum (Mtt. xvii. 24), to which he replied in the affirmative. Shortly afterwards on reaching the house where they were about to lodge (Mtt. xvii. 25), the Lord, aware of the incident, enquired of the Apostle whether earthly monarchs levied custom and tribute[368] of their own children or of strangers. Of strangers, was the instant reply. Then, said the Holy One, alluding to His own relation to His heavenly Father, are the children free, and He as the Son of God was exempt from a payment which went to the support of His Father’s house. Lest, however, it should be said that He and His Apostles despised the Temple, and so men should be offended, He bade him go down to the lake, cast in a hook, and take the first fish that came up, assuring him that, when he had opened its mouth, he would find sufficient[369] to pay both for the Apostle and his Master (Mtt. xvii. 27).
In spite of His repeated intimations respecting His own coming sufferings, the thoughts of the Apostles were still running on the high places they believed in store for them in their Master’s kingdom, and the late selection of three of their number to behold the glory of His transfiguration, added to the prominence of Simon in the miraculous payment of the tribute-money, excited their jealousy and carnal aspirations. While their Master was contemplating the cross, their imaginations were apportioning crowns, and the question which was the greatest amongst them excited much discussion (Mk. iv. 33; Lk. ix. 46, 47). Knowing their thoughts He replied to their question respecting the disputed point (Mtt. xviii. 1) by a touching symbolical action. Taking a little child in His arms (Mk. ix. 36) He placed him in their midst, and solemnly (Mk. ix. 35) declared that unless they laid aside all their thoughts of dignity and place and power, and became like little children (Mtt. xviii. 3), they could not hope to enter into His Kingdom at all; for in that Kingdom he was greatest who could humble himself like the little child before them, and whoso received even one such little child in His Name, received Him.
These last words reminded the Apostle John of a fault which he now confessed. On one occasion he and the rest of the Apostles had seen a man trying to cast out demons by pronouncing over the possessed the name of Jesus (Comp. Acts xix. 13), and they had forbidden him, on the ground that he was not one of their Master’s avowed followers (Mk. ix. 38; Lk. ix. 49). On being informed of this, the Holy One gently rebuked the spirit which had prompted the Apostle thus to act. No man, He declared, who could work a miracle in His name, could lightly speak evil of Him; he that was not against them was for them; and even a cup of cold water given to a disciple in His name should not lose its reward (Mk. ix. 41). Having thus urged upon them the duty of child-like humility, He proceeded to enforce that of avoiding offences (Mtt. xviii. 10), and of cultivating a spirit of love towards their Lord’s little ones. Then by the Parable of the Lost Sheep He taught them the joy that pervaded heaven at the repentance of a single sinner (Mtt. xviii. 10, &c.; Lk. xv. 3–7), and by that of the Debtor who owed ten thousand talents (Mtt. xviii. 23–35), how they were bound to forgive every one his brother their trespasses.
While the Apostles were being thus gradually trained for the reception of other ideas than those of earthly glory, in respect to the establishment of their Master’s Kingdom, the season for the celebration of the feast of Tabernacles drew near (Jn. vii. 2). The harvest being over, and the grapes trodden in the winepress, numerous caravans of Jewish pilgrims would be gathering together to go up to the Holy City and keep the Feast. At this juncture, then, the Lord’s brethren[370] (Jn. vii. 3) who, though they did not believe in His Divinity (Jn. vii. 5), were yet not above cherishing feelings of pride and exultation at the mighty works which He wrought[371], bade Him leave Galilee, and display proofs of His wonder-working power, no longer in obscure northern towns, but in the streets of Jerusalem itself (Jn. viii. 3–6).
Though He intended to keep the feast, the Redeemer could not go up to it for such a manifestation of Himself to the world as they desired (Jn. vii. 4). His Hour, the Hour for a very different exaltation, was not yet come (Jn. vii. 6), nor for the present could He take part in festal solemnities. They accordingly went their way to Jerusalem, and on their departure, amidst no open, avowed procession of a mere wonder-worker, but privately and unobtrusively as became a lowly Redeemer (Jn. vii. 10), accompanied by His Apostles, He set His face to go up to the Holy City (Lk. ix. 51).
Instead of taking the longer and more frequented route through Peræa, for the sake, probably, of greater seclusion, the Saviour chose that through Samaria (Lk. ix. 52), and sent messengers before Him to prepare for His coming. Entering a certain village of the Samaritans, the Apostles sought to do as He had bidden them. But the churlish inhabitants, perceiving the reason why He was passing through their land, usually so studiously avoided, refused to receive Him[372] (Lk. ix. 53). Indignant at this rebuff, the impetuous “Sons of Thunder,” James and John, would have had their Master act in the spirit of Elijah[373], and call down fire from heaven on the inhospitable and churlish villagers. But the Holy One rebuked their intemperate zeal, and the forgetfulness they evinced of the true spirit that became them as His followers, and sought shelter in another village (Lk. ix. 56).
Part VI
FROM THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES TO THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.
Chapter I
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES――HOSTILITY OF THE SANHEDRIN. A.D. 29.
MEANWHILE the excitement at Jerusalem respecting the Saviour was very great. The Festivals of Passover and Pentecost had alike passed away, and He had not assumed publicly the title or functions of the Messiah. The question whether He would present Himself at the Feast of Tabernacles was eagerly discussed (Jn. vii. 11), and many were the opinions advanced concerning Him; some affirming Him to be a good man; others, a deceiver of the people; while fear of the ruling powers in the city prevented any open declaration in His favour (Jn. vii. 12).
When, however, the Feast had reached its midst, He suddenly appeared in the Temple, and began to teach openly in its crowded courts. Such a step at a time when the Sanhedrin had pronounced Him guilty of a capital offence[374], when they were even seeking to kill Him (Jn. vii. 25), excited the greatest astonishment. That One, who had been brought up at the feet of none of the recognised and celebrated teachers (Jn. vii. 15), should venture thus openly to instruct the people, should claim for His doctrines a mysterious and exalted origin (Jn. vii. 16, 17), should justify His violation of the Sabbath by His works of mercy (Jn. vii. 21),――this, added to the hesitation and inactivity of the ruling powers[375], caused much perplexity. While, therefore, some could not recognise His claims to be regarded as the Messiah with His well-known Galilæan origin, and the uncertainty which was popularly ascribed to the quarter whence the Messiah was to come (Jn. vii. 27), many could not resist the impression His wondrous works made upon their minds, and refused to believe that the long-expected Deliverer would perform any greater miracles than those they now witnessed (Jn. vii. 31).
These murmurs of the multitude at length reached the ears of the Sanhedrin, and they resolved to take steps for securing His person (Jn. vii. 32). For this purpose they sent their officers to seize Him on the first favourable opportunity. But their hostility, though now clearly avowed, did not stay the Lord from continuing His teaching; He knew He was to be but a little while longer with the multitude, who listened to Him gladly, before He returned to Him that had sent Him, and now for the first time publicly, though darkly, hinted at His speedy removal (Jn. vii. 33–36), and on the last, the great day of the Feast (Jn. vii. 37), taking up His parable from the water brought in a golden vessel from the Pool of Siloam and poured before the Brazen Altar[376], preached with peculiar appropriateness on the living waters of the Spirit, which should flow forth when He was glorified (Jn. vii. 39).
This boldness, added to the solemnity of His words, exerted a still greater influence on the multitudes. Some declared He must be the Prophet (Jn. vii. 40); others that He was the Messiah (Jn. vii. 41); others would have thought so too had He not risen out of Galilee instead of Bethlehem of Judæa, as Prophecy had indicated (Jn. vii. 42; Mic. v. 2), while a fourth, but clearly a smaller party, wished to apprehend Him, but dared not from fear of the people.
Accordingly the Sanhedrin met a second time, and the officers they had deputed to effect His apprehension appeared before them (Jn. vii. 45), and in reply to the enquiry why they had not brought Him, declared it was impossible――never man spake like Him――and they felt powerless to carry out their instructions. Such an avowal was received with undisguised contempt (Jn. vii. 47, 48), but the Sanhedrin found that the influence of the mysterious Teacher had penetrated within their own council. While they were, apparently, proceeding to discuss some plan for His condemnation, Nicodemus interposed with the enquiry whether the Law did not demand an open examination of a man’s claims before they pronounced judgment? This candid and generous suggestion drew down upon the speaker the uttermost derision. He was asked whether he too was from Galilee, and bidden to search and see whether any prophet had risen out of that despised and half-heathen region[377]? (Jn. vii. 52).
On the following day the Pharisees, finding open hostility ineffectual, made a crafty and insidious effort to undermine the growing popularity of the Saviour[378]. When He returned from the Mount of Olives (Jn. viii. 1), and reappeared in the Temple surrounded by the multitude, they brought to Him a woman who had been taken in the act of adultery, and placing her in the midst requested His decision respecting her. The Law of Moses certainly denounced death as the penalty of her crime (Lev. xx. 10), but, owing to the corrupt morals of the times, such a sin seldom incurred any other penalty than divorce. If, then, He decided for the punishment of death, He would, they expected, lose ground with the people by rigidly adhering to an enactment which they themselves were wont to mitigate[379]; if, on the other hand, He pronounced her acquittal, they could denounce Him as One who set at nought the Law of Moses, and lowered its time-honoured authority (Jn. viii. 6).
While, however, they were eagerly claiming His decision, the Holy One, as if indifferent to their request, continued seated (Jn. viii. 2), and stooping down appeared to be tracing characters with His fingers in the dust. At length He looked up (Jn. viii. 7), and said, He that is without sin amongst you, let him first cast a stone at her, and then again bending downwards resumed the writing on the floor. Such was the solemnity of His words, and such the authority with which they appealed to the consciences of all present, that they dared not persist in advancing their charge, and stole out one by one. When, therefore, He looked up again, He found Himself alone with the woman, and enquired whether none was present to convict her. To this she replied, No man, Lord, and He, declining to assume the functions of the judge, or to pronounce her condemnation, bade her go and sin no more (Jn. viii. 11).
Chapter II
THE OPENING OF THE EYES OF ONE BORN BLIND. A.D. 29.
AFTER this signal discomfiture of His enemies, the Redeemer would seem to have been permitted to resume His discourses to the people in one of the temple corridors, known as the Treasury, where stood the numerous treasure-chests[380] to receive the contributions of the worshippers (Jn. viii. 20). Resuming, then, His teaching on the first Sabbath, probably, after the late festival, He reiterated with increasing boldness and authority His claims to be the Messiah, and drew attention to the testimonies whereby they had been confirmed (Jn. viii. 12, 20). Again, too, He hinted at His approaching removal, and declared with unruffled composure that, when He should have been lifted up upon the Cross, then men would truly know who He was, and recognise the authority with which He spake (Jn. viii. 28, 29).
The effect of these solemn declarations was again apparent, and many believed on Him (Jn. viii. 30). But His advice to those, who thus professed their belief in Him, to abide in His word, and His assurance that thus they would know the truth, and the truth would make them free (Jn. viii. 32, 33), excited much discussion amongst the Jews. How could they, the descendants of Abraham, who had never been slaves to any one, be made free? Though, as the Roman garrison in the tower of Antonia all too plainly attested, they were nationally in a condition of vassalage to a foreign power, they protested against the idea of their being in a state of bondage, and urged their descent from the great patriarch Abraham. The children of Abraham, the Holy One replied, they were not, for they were seeking to kill Him, Whose day Abraham had desired to see, and had rejoiced to behold. This assertion roused the utmost fury of their wrath; they heaped upon Him the most bitter taunts, declared Him a Samaritan, and possessed with a demon, and taking up some of the stones lying about ready for some repair of the temple, were on the point of inflicting upon Him the punishment of a blasphemer, when He passed through the midst of them, and withdrew beyond the present reach of their malice (Jn. viii. 33–59).
The Sabbath, however, was not to close without another manifestation of His divine and merciful power even in the midst of those who sought His life. As He passed by, accompanied by His disciples, he encountered a man, who, it was well known, had been blind from his birth (Jn. ix. 1). His sad affliction suggested to the Apostles the enquiry whether it was to be ascribed to sins of his own or to those of His parents; to which the Lord replied that it was due to neither of the causes they suggested; that his privations were intended to subserve higher objects of God’s love; and making clay with the moisture from His mouth, He anointed the sufferer’s eyes, and sent him to the Pool of Siloam, with the injunction to wash therein. The man went, and returned perfectly restored to sight (Jn. ix. 7).
Such a recovery of such a man, in such a manner, excited no small stir amongst his kinsfolk and acquaintance, and some actually doubted whether he could be the same as the man they had so long remembered sitting in pitiable plight at the corner of the street and begging alms of every passer by. He, however, persisted that he was really the same, and related in simple and artless language the particulars of his cure.
A miracle like this could not fail to arouse much attention, and the Sanhedrin determined, if possible, to invalidate its effect on the public mind, and summoning the man before them, began to investigate the circumstances of the cure. Their questions he answered with the same simplicity as those of his kinsfolk――whereas he was blind, now through the power of One, who had put clay upon his eyes, he saw. But it was a Sabbath-day when the cure had been effected, and some of the council wished to decide at once that one, who had flagrantly violated the law, could not be acting under the sanction of God (Jn. ix. 16). Others, however, were too much impressed by the evidence of the miracle, to acquiesce in such an off-hand decision, and there was a division in the council (Jn. ix. 16).
The man himself, therefore, was again examined, but he could add nothing to the information he had already given, and expressed his conviction that his Healer must be a Prophet (Jn. ix. 17). Hoping next in some way to throw discredit on the reality of his malady and its cure, they sent for his parents, who allowed that he was their son, and that he had been born blind, but, fearful of the terrible sentence of excommunication, with which the Council had threatened all the followers of Jesus, referred the judges to their son for any further information they might require.
Turning therefore, once more, to the healed man, they bade him give praise for the blessing he had received to God alone (Jn. ix. 24), and take no thought about Jesus of Nazareth, whom they authoritatively pronounced to be a sinner. But their dicta had no effect upon his resolute and honest temper; whether his Healer was a sinner or not he would not discuss before such an assembly; of the reality of his cure he was certain, and that was enough for him; it was useless to question him further, unless, perchance, they desired to become the disciples of Jesus.
This opened a door for the more violent party in the council. They began to revile the man, and to declare their conviction that he was a secret adherent of Jesus, while they were the followers of Moses. God had spoken to that great Lawgiver, but of the origin of Jesus they avowed themselves utterly ignorant. With increasing boldness the man commented on the extraordinary fact that One, of whose origin such a learned body was in such complete ignorance, could perform so great a miracle, utterly unheard of before, and inexplicable save on the supposition of Divine power (Jn. ix. 33). This outspoken language excited the utmost indignation, and after taunting the poor man with his blindness in which he had been born, and which marked him out as accursed of God, the Council proceeded to pass upon him the terrible sentence of excommunication (Jn. ix. 34).
Informed of the step they had taken, the Lord sought out the late recipient of His bounty, and enquired whether he believed on the Son of God? To this question the other replied, Who is He, Lord, that I may believe on Him? (Jn. ix. 35, 36); I that speak unto thee, rejoined the Holy One, am He, and accepted his act of instant adoration and avowal of belief (Jn. ix. 37).
But the present visit to Jerusalem was to be marked by yet another protest against the assumptions and errors of the ruling party in the city. The Holy One affirmed that they were guilty of misleading the people; that, whereas they pretended to see, they saw not; that they were hireling shepherds, caring not for the lives and souls of the people; that He, and He alone, was the true, the genuine Shepherd, the purport of whose coming into the world was to lay down His life for the sheep (Jn. x. 1–17). With this sublime discourse respecting the Good Shepherd, the occurrences of this visit to Jerusalem appear to have come to a close. On no occasion does such an effect appear to have been made on the minds of the people. We are told indeed of few works of mercy and redeeming power; but the gracious words that fell from His lips appear to have sufficed to produce a great influence on many and divers classes. “The mixed multitude, the dwellers at Jerusalem (Jn. vii. 25), the officials of the Temple (Jn. vii. 46), and to some extent even the hostile Jewish party (Jn. viii. 30), bore witness to the more than mortal power of the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth[381].”
Chapter III
MISSION OF THE SEVENTY――DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. A.D. 29.
FROM this point the exact movements of our blessed Lord are enwrapped in some obscurity, and the region whither he now retired is a matter of conjecture. It seems probable, however, that He did not leave Judæa, but continued His ministrations within its frontier, and about this period sent forth the Seventy Disciples[382] (Lk. x. 1–6), two and two before His face, to preach the word, and to visit various towns whither He Himself also intended to come (Lk. x. 1). After receiving specific instructions respecting their mission, the Seventy set out probably in the direction of Peræa, and after some short time returned to recount with much joy (Lk. x. 17) the success of their ministrations, and their discovery that even the evil spirits were subject to their Master’s Name.
One of the places visited by the Saviour during the present sojourn in Judæa, was the village of Bethany[383] (Lk. x. 38), situated about 15 stadia from Jerusalem (Jn. xi. 18). Here the abode of two sisters, Martha and Mary[384], and their brother Lazarus, was gladly thrown open to welcome Him, and each member of the little family enjoyed a share of His peculiar affection (Jn. xi. 5), and from time to time the sunshine of His presence.
Scanty as are the indications of the places the Holy One now visited, it seems clear that the effect of His ministry was not inconsiderable: multitudes gathered about Him to hear the Word of Life[385] (Lk. xi. 16), and behold His works of power[386]. But the enmity of the Pharisees and the ruling body of the nation increased rather than lessened in intensity (Lk. xi. 53, 54). They still persisted in ascribing His power over unclean spirits to a secret collusion with the Evil One (Lk. xi. 14, 15; Mtt. ix. 32–34); reiterated their demand for a sign from heaven (Lk. xi. 29–36); carped at His refusal to conform to their superstitious observances in respect to divers washings (Lk. xi. 37–42); and stung to the quick by His denunciations of their hypocritical and bloodthirsty spirit[387], bent all their efforts to entangle Him in His talk, and find some matter for accusation against Him (Lk. xi. 54).
Undeterred, however, by their ceaseless hostility, He persevered in His ministrations, warned His disciples in the presence of the multitudes, who crowded around Him in such numbers as to tread upon one another (Lk. xii. 1), against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Lk. xii. 1–4); reiterated His solemn words respecting blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Lk. xii. 10); and, refusing to accede to a request to divide an inheritance amongst two brothers, took occasion to warn His hearers against covetousness, and delivered the striking parable of the Rich Fool (Lk. xii. 13–21). Not merely, however, would He warn them against this common sin, but “knowing how often it springs from a distrust in God’s providential care[388],” He proceeded to teach them where they might find a preservative against over-anxiety[389] about the future, in the assurance of the loving care of a Father in heaven, who feeds the fowls of the heaven, though they neither sow nor reap, and have neither storehouse nor barn (Lk. xii. 22–24), and clothes the lilies[390] of the field with a beauty, such as Solomon in all his glory never approached (Lk. xii. 27).
It was probably about this time that certain persons informed the Lord of a fresh outrage amongst the many that Pilate had committed[391]. On the occasion of the visit of a body of Galilæans, whose turbulent character has been already noted[392], to Jerusalem, the governor for some unrecorded reason had slain them, and mingled their blood with the blood of the slain beasts they were offering on the Altar at the Temple[393]. If men “might have been supposed to be safe anywhere, or at any time, it would have been at the altar of God, and while in the act of offering sacrifices unto Him[394];” their terrible death, therefore, appears to have been urged by the narrators of this outrage as a peculiar evidence of God’s anger against them, and of some unknown awful guilt[395] on their part (Lk. xiii. 1, 2). But such hasty and cruel judgments the Lord instantly rebuked, and declared that the terrible ends of these sufferers no more marked them out as sinners above all other of their fellow-countrymen than certain eighteen persons on whom a tower of Siloam[396] had recently fallen and crushed them beneath its ruins (Lk. xiii. 4). In such swift calamities they were not to trace the evidence of a pre-eminence of guilt on the part of the sufferers[397], but a call to remember their own uncertain tenure of life, and to repentance[398] while as yet the day of grace lasted, which solemn considerations He still further enforced by the appropriate parable of the Barren Fig-Tree (Lk. xiii. 6–9).
On a subsequent occasion the Lord entered a synagogue on the Sabbath-day (Lk. xiii. 10), where there was a woman inwardly afflicted in her spirit[399] (Lk. xiii. 16), and outwardly with a permanent and unnatural contraction of her body (Lk. xiii. 11). Without waiting till His aid was sought, He forthwith called her to Him, and laying His hands upon her, said, Woman, thou art loosed from thy infirmity, whereupon the affliction of eighteen long years (Lk. xiii. 11) instantly left her, she was made straight, and glorified God. Such a cure, which excited the wonder of all present, was more than the ruler of the synagogue could bear, and he openly expressed his indignation at this violation of the Sabbath, remarking that there were six days in the week when such servile working as healing might be done, and bidding those who needed help come then, and not degrade the sanctity of the Sabbath-day (Lk. xiii. 14). Such hypocritical strictness on the part of one who sat in Moses’ seat and was regarded as a teacher of the Law, moved the Saviour’s righteous indignation. In words, the force of which was irresistible (Lk. xiii. 17), He justified that He had done by the “very relaxations of the Sabbath strictness[400],” which the ruler of the synagogue himself allowed. Would he not loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to water on the Sabbath-day, and should he be blamed for merely speaking a word and releasing a daughter of Abraham from a bond with which Satan had enthralled her for so many years? The question admitted of no reply; even His adversaries were ashamed, while the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that had been done by Him (Lk. xiii. 17).
Chapter IV
THE FEAST OF DEDICATION――TOUR IN PERÆA. A.D. 29.
BY the time the incident recorded in the last Chapter took place, the season of winter had returned (Jn. x. 22), and the snow lay upon the mountains[401]. With the return of winter came also the celebration of the Feast of Dedication[402], on the 25th of the month Chisleu, which lasted eight days. On this occasion the Lord once more visited Jerusalem, and presented Himself in the Temple, and probably on account of the wintry state of the weather sought shelter in “Solomon’s Porch[403],” where He was speedily encircled by the Jews (Jn. x. 24), who began with eager impetuosity to enquire how long He intended to keep them in suspense, and to ask that if He was the Messiah He would tell them so plainly and distinctly (Jn. x. 24).
The question appears to have been put neither in a hostile nor unfriendly tone, and indicates a wish on the part of the ruling powers to discover whether He might not be induced to set Himself forth as the Messiah they expected, and, like a second Judas Maccabæus, whose exploits they were commemorating, deliver them from the hated yoke of the foreigner[404].
In reply, however, to their question, the Holy One contented Himself with pointing to the wonderful works He had already wrought in their midst. This testimony they had refused to receive, for neither in their aims nor desires were they of His sheep (Jn. x. 26). His sheep heard His voice, and He knew them, and He would give them eternal life, nor should any ever snatch them out of His hand (Jn. x. 27, 28); for the Eternal Father in heaven had given them to Him, and He and the Father were one (Jn. x. 29).
This solemn and mysterious language, this claim to essential unity with the eternal Father, again[405] provoked the anger of His hearers. Their earthly and carnal hopes centered on some great earthly conqueror. The words of the Holy One sounded in their ears like blasphemy, and taking up some of the stones lying around for the repairs[406] of the Temple which were almost always going on, they were on the point of stoning Him as He stood.
But He calmed their fury by enquiring for which of His many works, that proved by their moral goodness no less than the power they displayed, His union with the Father, they wished to stone Him. In reply the Jews declared that it was His blasphemous words which made them act as they now did, for though a man, He claimed a union with God (Jn. x. 32, 33). This charge the Holy One repelled by reference to their own sacred books[407]. Was not the title of God sometimes applied there to the judges and rulers of the nation (Ps. lxxxii. 6[408]), and was it with less justice applicable to One, whose wondrous works proved His intercommunion with the Father and His Divine mission to the world? (Jn. x. 34–38). This reply only excited a fresh burst of fury, and though the Jews gave up their design of stoning Him, they tried to apprehend Him and bring Him before their courts (Jn. x. 29).
But His “hour” was not yet come, and retiring from the capital, He crossed the Jordan, and sought the fords of Bethabara or Bethany, where His forerunner at first baptized (Jn. x. 40). In this region, where that eminent servant of God had closed his course[409], it was proved that “though dead he yet spake.” Many remembered his burning words and faithful testimony to the Messiah, whom the Jews at Jerusalem had rejected, and acknowledging the truth of His words, gathered round the Saviour (Jn. x. 41), and avowed their belief in Him.
Still even here He had to encounter hostile opposition. His indefatigable enemies, the Pharisees, penetrated His seclusion and represented that Herod Antipas, within whose dominions He now was, sought opportunity to kill Him (Lk. xiii. 31). But He saw through their cunning and hypocrisy, no less than the fox-like (Lk. xiii. 32) craft of the Tetrarch, by whom they had been probably suborned[410]. He, doubtless, would be glad to get out of his territory[411] One, whose fame caused him so much perplexity, and they would be no less anxious to drive Him from a quarter, where He was comparatively safe, to the hostile neighbourhood of Jerusalem[412]. But though it was impossible that a prophet could perish elsewhere than in a capital, which had slain so many who had been sent to it[417], yet there was still time for the performance of works of mercy (Lk. xiii. 32, 33), for the healing of the sick, and the expulsion of demons, before He went up to Jerusalem, whose children He would so often have gathered together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing[418], but they would not, and whose house was now left unto them desolate (Lk. xiii. 34, 35).
Of the works of mercy here mentioned, apparently but one is actually recorded by the Evangelist. At the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, to which He had been invited (Lk. xiv. 1) on the Sabbath-day, for a hostile purpose[419], the Holy One healed a man afflicted with dropsy (Lk. xiv. 2–6), and taking occasion from the associations of the time and place, not only rebuked the haughty selfishness with which the Pharisees claimed the chief seats at feasts (Lk. xiv. 7–14), but also uttered the appropriate parable of the Great Supper (Lk. xiv. 15–24).
In the same neighbourhood also, finding Himself surrounded by great crowds, amongst which some indicated a wish to follow Him, He addressed them solemnly on the self-denial required of all who would be His real disciples (Lk. xiv. 25–35), and the necessity for first counting the cost, and taking up the cross if they would truly follow Him. On another occasion a great number of tax-gatherers, who were very numerous near Jericho and the Jordan fords[420], gathered round Him, together with many regarded as profligate sinners. Their eagerness to listen to His teaching, and His willingness to receive and eat with them (Lk. xv. 1), roused again the hostility of the Pharisees and Scribes, and provoked them to open murmuring. But, undeterred by their opposition, the Good Shepherd, with striking appropriateness now, gave utterance to the parables of the Lost Sheep (Lk. xv. 1), the Lost Coin (Lk. xv. 8–10), and the Prodigal Son (Lk. xv. 11–32), and afterwards addressed to His disciples, though in the hearing of the Pharisees, those of the Unjust Steward (Lk. xvi. 1–13), and of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Lk. xvi. 19–31).
Chapter V
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. A.D. 30.
WHILE the Lord was in Peræa, and apparently in the neighbourhood of Bethabara, a messenger reached Him from the sisters Martha and Mary[421], announcing that their brother Lazarus was sick (Jn. xi. 13). On receiving this intelligence, He replied in the hearing of His Apostles, but chiefly to the messenger, and for him to bring back to those that had sent him[422], This sickness is not unto death (Jn. xi. 4), but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
Whatever amount of hope this announcement may have raised in the minds of the sisters was for the present at least dashed to the ground. For He, to whom they had sent their simple message, and who had so often healed others at a distance by simply uttering a word, now neither spoke the word of power, nor came to them, but remained still two days in the same place where He was (Jn. xi. 6), and in the meantime Lazarus died, and was laid in a rock-hewn sepulchre.
At the close, however, of the two days, the Holy One proposed to His disciples that they should go into Judæa again. But the trembling Apostles, recollecting the extreme danger He had so lately incurred at Jerusalem, ventured to expostulate: a short time back the Jews were seeking to stone Him (Jn. xi. 8), and for the sake of safety He had been constrained to seek the seclusion of the region where He now was, would He venture then, so soon to incur afresh the malice of His foes?
Thereupon He calmed their apprehensions, and announced that their friend Lazarus was asleep, but He intended to wake him out of sleep (Jn. xi. 12). This announcement perplexed the Apostles still more. If Lazarus slept, it indicated a favourable crisis of his illness, and the perilous journey was unnecessary. Perceiving that they understood His words literally, He now told them plainly that Lazarus was dead, but still declared His intention of going to Bethany (Jn. xi. 15), on which the Apostle Thomas, betraying the tendency to misgiving and despondency which distinguished him[423], and convinced that his Master would fall into the hands of His deadly enemies, proposed to the rest that at least they should accompany Him, and share His end (Jn. xi. 16).
With these sad forebodings the Apostles accompanied their Lord, and on reaching Bethany found that Lazarus had been already dead four days[424], and as the village lay only three quarters of an hour’s journey from Jerusalem, many Jews (Jn. xi. 19) had come thither over the Mount of Olives, to pay the customary visit of condolence to the two sisters[425].
Tarrying Himself outside the village (Jn. xi. 30), the Lord suffered the tidings of His arrival to go before Him, and no sooner did Martha become aware of it, than she hurried forth to meet Him, while Mary remained in the house. In few and touching words Martha revealed the anguish of her heart. Lord, said she, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died, but added, shewing that even now she had not abandoned every hope, I know that even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee (Jn. xi. 22). In reply the Holy One assured her that her brother would rise again, and when she answered that she knew he would rise again at the last day (Jn. xi. 24), proceeded to declare Himself to be the Resurrection and the life, in whom whosoever believed should live though he died, and whosoever lived and believed should never die (Jn. xi. 25, 26).
Having spoken of Himself in these solemn and momentous words, He enquired whether Martha herself believed He was what He thus claimed to be. Yea, Lord, was her reply: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world (Jn. xi. 27), and with this assurance hastened away, and secretly called her sister. Informed of her Lord’s arrival Mary also hurried to meet Him, and was quickly followed by a large number of the Jews, who took for granted that, according to the usual custom[426], she was proceeding to the grave to weep there. Arrived at the spot where Jesus was, Mary could only fall down before His feet (Jn. xi. 32), and falter out the words her sister had already uttered, and then gave way to passionate grief. The spectacle of her deep sorrow deeply affected many of the Jews also, and they mingled their tears with hers, while the Lord Himself groaned in spirit and was troubled, and enquired where they had laid the dead (Jn. xi. 33).
With the words come and see, they conducted Him to the sepulchre, and on the road[427] He Himself, borne away by the “great tide of sorrow[428]” around, joined His tears with theirs (Jn. xi. 35).
On reaching the sepulchre, which, like the family vaults of the Jews, was a cave[429], with recesses in the sides, in which the bodies were laid, He commanded the stone, which closed the entrance, to be removed. On this Martha, shrinking from the exposure to the eyes of strangers of the body of one so dear, and already partially decomposed (Jn. xi. 39), ventured to expostulate; but Jesus reminded her of His promise that, if she believed, she should see the glory of God, and calmed her feelings. Accordingly the stone was removed, and then the Holy One, after a brief pause, during which He thanked the Eternal Father for having heard Him (Jn. xi. 41, 42), cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Instantly the word of Power was obeyed. There was a stir in the sepulchre. The dead man rose, and came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face covered with a napkin, while the Lord, who was never calmer than when during His greatest works, simply bade the bystanders loose him and let him go (Jn. xi. 44).
Chapter VI
RESOLVE OF THE SANHEDRIN――JESUS RETIRES TO EPHRAIM. A.D. 30.
THE remarkable miracle recorded at length in the preceding Chapter marks an important epoch in the life of our Lord.
The effect it exerted upon those who witnessed it was twofold. Many of those, who had come to mourn with the sisters of Bethany, avowed their belief in the Saviour’s claims (Jn. xi. 45), but others, with no friendly intentions, hurried to the Pharisees and recounted to them all that had taken place. Their report led to instant measures.
The ruling powers, hitherto comparatively calm, became very uneasy. A meeting of the Sanhedrin was convened, at which Caiaphas presided, and the course to be followed was keenly debated. It was clear that the sentence of excommunication (Jn. ix. 22), lately passed upon the followers of the Saviour, had not counteracted the impression made by His ministry on the minds of the people[430]. The notable miracle He had just wrought could not be gainsaid, and its effect upon the multitude was profound. If he was suffered to continue His ministry, all, it was argued, would believe on Him, and in all probability proclaim Him as their King. Such a proclamation would inevitably lead to a riot, a riot to a visit from Pilate, the ruthlessness of whose character had been again and again experienced[431], and this would be followed by a massacre, and the total deprivation of what remained of their national existence.
Many measures were, probably, advocated by various members of the Council, but found no general acceptance. At length Caiaphas arose, and with unconcealed contempt declared that his weak and vacillating colleagues knew nothing at all (Jn. xi. 49). The life and teaching of One Man threatened to imperil the whole nation, and to bring them into collision with their Roman masters. One effectual remedy alone existed. It was expedient that He should be put to death rather than the whole nation should be swept away. As a Sadducee[432] (Acts v. 17) Caiaphas believed in the might of the Roman legions, though he denied the doctrine of the resurrection and the existence of spiritual powers, and rather than embroil the nation in fresh troubles with their unscrupulous masters, he advocated the death of the Holy One, all unconscious[433] of the momentous results of the step he advised.
Though there were some dissentients (Lk. xxiii. 50, 51), his words expressed the feelings of the majority of the Council. The more decided and violent party triumphed. It was deliberately determined that Jesus should be put to death, and from that day forward continual councils were held to decide how this should be brought about (Jn. xi. 53).
But the Holy One, knowing that His “hour” was not yet come, retired with His disciples to Ephraim, a town situated[434] in the wide desert country north-east of Jerusalem, not far from Bethel, and on the confines of Samaria.
Here in quiet and seclusion He remained till the approach of the Passover, and then commenced a farewell-journey along the border-line of Samaria and Galilee, in the direction of the Jordan (Lk. xvii. 11; Mtt. xix. 1), and so to Peræa (Mk. x. 1).
It was probably while yet on the confines of Samaria, that at the entrance of a village, the name and position of which are not recorded, He encountered Ten Lepers, one of whom was a Samaritan[435] (Lk. xvii. 16). Standing afar off (Lk. xvii. 12), they all lifted up their voices, and implored His aid, on which, filled with compassion for their miserable condition, He bade them go and shew themselves to the priests at Jerusalem. Though they must have been aware that they could not expect healing from the priest, whose only office it was either to pronounce the sufferer affected with this fearful malady, or to restore him with ceremonial washings to the society of his fellow-men[436], the Lepers nevertheless set out, and lo! as they went (Lk. xvii. 14), their flesh came back to them like unto the flesh of a little child (2 K. v. 14), and they were cleansed. But though they all experienced His unlooked-for blessing, one only, and he a Samaritan, returned to give thanks to His Healer, who, accustomed as he was to man’s ingratitude, yet marvelled at this striking proof of it (Lk. xvii. 17, 18), and dismissed the grateful man with a higher and a peculiar blessing[437], saying, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole (Lk. xvii. 19).
Continuing His journey towards the Jordan, the Saviour at some place, the name of which is not mentioned, encountered certain Pharisees, who professed, probably in treachery or mockery, a question respecting the coming of the kingdom of God, to which He replied, that it would be with no such visible establishment as they expected (Lk. xvii. 20, 21), and proceeded to found upon the question a warning to His own disciples on the same subject (Lk. xvii. 22–37). It was now also, in all probability, either before or just after He crossed into Peræa[438], that He delivered the parables of the Unjust Judge and the Pharisee and Publican (Lk. xvii. 1–14), and replied to a question respecting the lawfulness of divorce (Mtt. xix. 3–12; Mk. x. 2–12), on which the rival schools of Hillel and Shammai[439] held opposite opinions.
In striking contrast to the malice which prompted these questionings, certain parents, who probably honoured Him, and valued His benediction, brought their children to Him, and begged that He would lay His hands upon them and offer up a prayer in their behalf (Mtt. xix. 13). To the disciples such an act appeared unfitting, and they would have kept back those that brought them (Mk. x. 13; Lk. xviii. 15), but with touching condescension He not only rebuked their interference (Mk. x. 14), and said, Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven, but called them to Him (Lk. xviii. 16), took them up in His arms, laid His hands upon them, and blessed them (Mk. x. 16; Mtt. xix. 15).
It was in this region also that a rich young ruler approached Him, desiring to know what he should do to inherit eternal life (Mtt. xix. 16; Mk. x. 17). The Holy One referred him to the commandments. These the other declared he had kept from his youth (Mk. x. 20), on which the Lord looked upon him with a glance of deep affection, informed him that he lacked yet one thing (Lk. xviii. 22), and bade him go and sell all that he had, and give to the poor, and take up his cross (Mk. x. 21) and follow Him. Such a demand, so totally opposed to the popular notions of the kingdom of the Messiah, in which the Jews expected every form of temporal blessing, was too severe a test for the ruler’s sincerity; he had great possessions (Mtt. xix. 22; Mk. x. 22), which he could not part with, and in sorrow he left the Saviour and went his way.
But the same ideas of temporal blessings were still held by the Apostles themselves. They had left everything to follow their Master, might they not look for some great reward? To Peter, who put the question (Mk. x. 28; Mtt. xix. 23) the Holy One replied, by assuring him and the rest that a reward they should have, though very different from what they expected, and taking them apart (Mtt. xx. 17; Mk. x. 32) began for the third time[440], and with greater particularity than before, to speak of the future that awaited Himself; how at Jerusalem He should be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, and be mocked, and scourged, and crucified (Mtt. xx. 18–24; Mk. x. 33–40; Lk. xviii. 32–34). But though awed by the unusual solemnity of His manner (Mk. x. 32), and the dauntless resolution with which He pressed on towards Jerusalem (Mk. x. 33), they could not enter into the meaning of His words. His predictions of suffering and death clashed with all their deeply-rooted ideas of the nature of the Messianic kingdom, and it was now that two of their number, James and John, encouraged by their mother, preferred the request[441] that in His kingdom they might sit the one on His right hand, and the other on His left. Even His reply that they should indeed drink of His cup, and be baptized with His baptism, sounded to the rest like the concession of some mysterious dignity, and provoked a jealousy on their part, which the Holy One strove to check by reminding them once more of the true nature of His kingdom, that therein He is truly first who is the servant of all; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.
With this final proof of the utter inability even of His own chosen Twelve to lighten by their sympathy a particle of what lay before Himself, the Holy One, having recrossed the Jordan, continued His way amidst the crowd of pilgrims setting forth towards Jerusalem. Approaching Jericho He healed two blind men[442], who sat by the wayside begging and implored His aid; He accepted in the City of Palm Trees itself the hospitality of Zacchæus[443], a superintendent of customs or tribute there (Lk. xix. 1–10); corrected, by delivering the Parable of the Pounds[444], the idea that the Kingdom of Heaven was about immediately to appear, and at length, six days before the Passover, reached the safe seclusion of the mountain hamlet of Bethany (Mtt. xxvi. 6–13; Mk. xiv. 3–9; Jn. xii. 1–11).
Illustration: JERUSALEM in the time of OUR LORD
London and New York: Macmillan & Co. For Maclear’s New Test.ᵗ History Stanford’s Geog.ˡ Estab.ᵗ
Chapter I
THE ANOINTING AT BETHANY――THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. A.D. 30.
IT was apparently on a Friday evening when the Saviour reached the hamlet of Bethany, where in quiet retirement He could spend His last earthly Sabbath. At Bethany resided one Simon (Mtt. xxvi. 6; Mk. xiv. 3), who had been a leper[445], and possibly had been restored by the Lord Himself, and at his house the sisters of Lazarus provided a festal repast[446], to welcome Him who had in so signal a manner restored happiness to their little circle (Jn. xii. 2).
In keeping with her character Martha on this occasion busied herself in ministering to the Lord (Jn. xii. 2), while Lazarus reclined at the table as one of the guests. As the feast proceeded, Mary approached with an alabaster casket in her hand, containing a pound of precious spikenard[447] (Jn. xii. 3), and breaking off the closed top (Mk. xiv. 3), poured a portion on the head of the Saviour. Then kneeling down she anointed His feet also (Jn. xii. 3), while the sweet odour diffused itself through the whole room.
But her act of beautiful affection did not win the approval of all the guests at the table. Judas Iscariot enquired why a casket of such precious unguent, which might have been sold for more than 300 denarii[448] and given to the poor, should be wasted in such a useless piece of extravagance[449] (Jn. xii. 5), and even others of the Apostles sympathised with his views, and had indignation and murmured against her (Mtt. xxvi. 8). He, however, for whom she had thus manifested her affectionate adoration, suffered scarcely a moment to elapse before He signified His opinion of that she had done. Not only did He bid the murmurers desist from troubling her, but declared that she had wrought a beautiful and worthy deed. The poor, for whom they pretended so much anxiety, they had always with them, but Himself they would not have always (Mk. xiv. 7), thus reminding them again of that speedy removal He had so often predicted. Moreover, He proceeded to declare that what she had done had a special significance. In reference to the mysterious event so soon about to befall Him, wherein He should receive so little assistance or comfort from any human being, she at least had done what she could (Mk. xiv. 8), she had come beforehand to anoint His Body for the burying, and wherever the Gospel should be preached throughout the whole world, there should also the deed which had moved their unworthy indignation be told for a memorial of her (Mtt. xxvi. 13; Mk. xiv. 9). Thus by a prophetic word He elevated and interpreted her act of affectionate adoration.
Thus the eventful evening wore on. Meanwhile the news of the Saviour’s presence at Bethany had reached Jerusalem, and great crowds (Jn. xii. 9) resorted thither not only to see Him but Lazarus also, whose resurrection from the dead caused many to avow their belief in the Lord of life (Jn. xii. 11). This fact was well known to the chief-priests, and a council was convened to consider the propriety of putting him also to death (Jn. xii. 10).
The next day dawned, the first day of the Holy week. Leaving Bethany, the Saviour proceeded towards Bethphage[450], and sending two of His disciples, desired them to bring an ass, and her colt with her, which they would find tied at the entrance of the village (Mtt. xxi. 2, 3; Lk. xix. 30; Mk. xi. 2). The disciples went, and in answer to the question of the owners (Lk. xix. 33), why they thus loosed them, replied, as bidden, that the Lord had need of them, and returned to their master.
The voice of ancient prophecy (Zech. ix. 9) had declared that her King would come to Zion meek, and sitting on an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass; and the hour for its fulfilment had now come. The road from Bethany to Jerusalem wound through rich plantations of palm-trees, and fruit- and olive-gardens[451], and was now crowded with pilgrims making their way towards the Holy City, or the encampments on the declivity of the Mount of Olives[452]. Amongst these would naturally be many who had witnessed the Saviour’s miracles in Galilee, and their enthusiasm would be much increased by the news of the wondrous event at Bethany. The heart of the people, therefore, was deeply stirred, and the disciples, filled with the general excitement, spread their garments on the animals they had brought to their Master (Mtt. xxi. 7), and placed Him thereon. Soon the crowds began to express their joy in a more lively manner. Some strewed their garments[453] on the rough mountain-path, others cut down branches[454] from the neighbouring gardens, and threw them on the road before Him.
Meanwhile a second stream issuing from the Holy City (Jn. xii. 12) came forth to meet the Conqueror of Death, and meeting the others coming from Bethany, turned round, and swelled the long procession towards Jerusalem. As they approached the descent of the Mount of Olives (Lk. xix. 37), their feelings found expression in the prophetic language of the Psalms, and with loud Hosannas they glorified God (Lk. xix. 37), and proclaimed the approach of the Son of David to receive the kingdom of His Father, and to establish His Messianic kingdom (Mtt. xxi. 9; Mk. xi. 9). Certain of the Pharisees alone were found to murmur. They would have had the Saviour rebuke the zeal of the multitude, but pointing to the stones beneath their feet, He declared that they would immediately cry out if these were to hold their peace.
Thus amidst loud Hosannas the procession swept along, till on a nearer approach, the whole of the magnificent City, as if rising from an abyss, burst into view, “with its back-ground of gardens and suburbs[455],” and its glorious Temple-tower. The procession paused, and the hour of triumph became the hour of deepest sorrow. In strange contrast with the excited emotions of the crowds around Him, the Holy One wept over the devoted city, foresaw the Roman legions gathered round its fated walls, its proud towers laid low in the dust, and its children within it, because they knew not the day of their visitation (Lk. xix. 41–44).
Such things were hidden from the eyes of the eager throngs who were shouting “Hosanna,” and believed that now at length the Messiah, welcomed and accepted, would claim the sceptre and ascend the throne. Passing through the City the Holy One advanced towards the Temple. Jerusalem was stirred to its very centre. Who is this? enquired many. This is the Prophet, Jesus, of Nazareth of Galilee (Mtt. xxi. 10, 11), was the eager reply of His believing followers, expecting, doubtless, that some unmistakeable sign would be given of His real character.
They were doomed to disappointment. Entering the Courts of the Temple, He surveyed with a clear and searching glance (Mk. xi. 11) the scene of disorder and mercenary desecration which they again presented, and in the evening returned with the Twelve (Mk. xi. 11) to the seclusion of Bethany, and the great Palm-Sunday was over.
Chapter II
THE SECOND CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. A.D. 30.
THE country between Bethany and Jerusalem, as has been observed in the previous Chapter, abounded in gardens of fig-trees, from which fact indeed Bethphage, or the “House of Figs,” derived its name.
Early in the morning after the Triumphal Entry the Saviour set out once more for the Holy City, where, as the inspection of the previous evening had too clearly testified, a second vindication of the sanctity of His Father’s house was needed. Being a hungred, probably after a night of fasting, and perceiving afar ♦off (♦Mk. xi. 13) a fig-tree standing alone by the way side (Mtt. xxi. 19), which presented an unusual show of leaves for the season, He went up to it to see if haply[456] He might find fruit thereon (Mk. xi. 13), but on reaching it found nothing but leaves. Though at this early period of the year neither leaves nor fruit were to be expected on a fig-tree, this tree by its ample foliage appeared to give promise of the fruit, which ordinarily appears before the leaves[457]. But a nearer approach proved that this promise it fulfilled only in appearance, and in the hearing of His disciples the Holy One laid upon it the doom of utter barrenness, saying, Let no man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever, and straightway it was dried up (Mtt. xxi. 19), and withered.
Passing onwards to Jerusalem, He entered the Temple. The nefarious scene He had rebuked at the first Passover of His public ministry was still enacted. The evil practices which had called forth that first display of holy zeal for the honour of His Father’s house had by degrees returned. The fruit, the reality of righteousness, which He had come seeking then and sought in vain, He found not now. As before, therefore, so on this occasion, He drove forth the intruders, the buyers, the sellers, and the money-changers, upset their tables, and poured forth their unholy gains, and declared in words of conscious authority that His House was not for thievish traffic, but for prayer and praise (Mk. xi. 17; Mtt. xxi. 13).
Having thus once more vindicated the sanctity of the Temple, He commenced teaching in its courts, and speedily gathered around Him many eager to listen, and astonished at His doctrine (Mk. xi. 18). But works of mercy were now to follow words of power. Those who needed His help sought Him in the Temple itself. The blind and the lame (Mtt. xxi. 14) came to Him, and experienced the effects of the healing word. The marvels that He wrought (Mtt. xxi. 15) moved the youngest pilgrims at the festival, and children’s voices cried Hosanna to the Son of David. This was more than the chief priests and scribes could endure. Eager as they were to put Him to death, they dared not lift a hand or show open violence, for the whole multitude hung upon Him to hear His words (Lk. xix. 48). In a tone of expostulation, however, they ventured to enquire whether He heard what these children were saying, to which He replied by asking whether they had never read the words of the Psalmist, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise (Ps. viii. 2); with which rebuke He left them, and when even was come returned to Bethany (Mk. xi. 19; Mtt. xxi. 17).
As He proceeded towards Jerusalem on the following day, the Apostles observed with surprise how rapidly the tree doomed the day before had withered away. The late hour at which they left the City the preceding evening had probably prevented their noticing it before, and now the Saviour took occasion by it to teach them a lesson respecting the nature and power of Faith (Mtt. xxi. 20–22; Mk. xi. 20–25).
On entering the Temple and recommencing His gracious work of teaching those assembled there, He was interrupted by the arrival of a formal deputation from the Sanhedrin, which had resolved to discredit Him if possible with the people (Mtt. xxi. 23; Lk. xx. 1).
They began by enquiring by what authority He acted as He was doing, and from whom He had received it (Mk. xi. 28). This question the Holy One met by another. Two years before[458] they had sent a deputation to the Baptist (Jn. i. 26), and he had borne a public and emphatic testimony to His Messianic claims. The prophetic character of John was generally admitted (Mtt. xxi. 26), and his bold rebuke of Herod had endeared him to the hearts of many――Whence, then, was his baptism, from heaven or from men? The question filled his hearers with embarrassment. If they replied that his was a divine commission, they exposed themselves to the obvious rejoinder, why had they not received his testimony respecting the Messiah? If they said of men, they would expose themselves to popular indignation (Mk. xi. 31, 32). Accordingly they preferred to own that they could not tell, whereupon He also declined to answer the question they had put to Him respecting His mission (Mtt. xxi. 27; Lk. xx. 8).
Though thus repulsed, His enemies do not appear to have left the Temple-courts, and were condemned to listen to still more humiliating language. In the parables of the Two Sons (Mtt. xxi. 28–32), and the Wicked Husbandmen (Mtt. xxi. 33–44; Mk. xii. 1–11; Lk. xx. 9–18), the Redeemer set forth with the utmost distinctness their neglect of their high vocation, the guilt of that outrage which they already meditated against Him in their hearts, their speedy rejection, and the bestowal of the privileges they had abused on other nations.
The drift of these parables the Pharisees and chief priests clearly discerned, and sought earnestly to lay hands upon Him (Mk. xii. 12; Lk. xx. 19), but feared to do so openly because of the multitude, who all regarded Him as a Prophet (Mtt. xxi. 46). Undeterred, however, by these manifestations of intended violence He warned them solemnly, for the last time, in the Parable of the Marriage of the King’s Son (Mtt. xxii. 1–14), that a day was at hand when the kingdom of God would be taken away from the Jewish people who had despised its privileges, and be bestowed upon the Gentiles[459].
Chapter III
THE DAY OF QUESTIONS――THE ENQUIRING GREEKS. A.D. 30.
THUS far the efforts of the ruling powers had been of no avail. The authority of the Lord with the people remained unshaken, His career was unchecked, and they themselves had been humiliated in the very midst of the Temple-courts[460]. A formal council was therefore held (Mtt. xxii. 15), and it was resolved to organize some plan for ensnaring Him in His speech (Mtt. xxii. 15; Mk. xii. 13), and beguiling Him into statements which might afford a pretext for delivering Him up to the Roman procurator (Lk. xx. 20). United, therefore, in one formidable conspiracy, the Pharisees[461], Sadducees[461], and Herodians[461], suborned (Lk. xx. 20) men, to all appearance right-minded and thoroughly in earnest, to propose various cases of conscience to Him as the Lord and Judge in the land[462].
i. First, then, approached the Herodians with certain of the Pharisees (Mtt. xxii. 16) enquiring whether it was lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or not? How keenly this question was debated in Palestine, and what disturbances it had caused, especially in Galilee, the province of Herod, has been already noticed[463]. To answer it now, and to avoid on the one hand giving offence to the excited crowds in the Temple-courts, and on the other supplying matter for accusation before the Roman governor in the Tower of Antonia, so close at hand, appeared impossible. No patriotic Jew would admit that tribute was due to Cæsar. No one claiming to be the Messiah could allow it for a moment, unless he would forfeit all his popularity with the people. And yet if the Redeemer denied this, a charge of treason, which the Romans were always quick to hear, was clearly made out. But the Holy One, thrown off His guard neither by the affected courtesy nor adulation of their address (Mtt. xxii. 18; Lk. xx. 23), saw through their hypocrisy and the snare they had laid. With infinite wisdom He called for the tribute-money. They brought Him a denarius[464]. Whose image and superscription is this? He enquired. They answered, Cæsar’s. Render, therefore, He replied, to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. The snare they had laid so cunningly was broken. A single word had rent the whole “web of craft and hypocrisy.” The enquirers themselves acknowledged the wisdom of His answer. There was nothing they could take hold of (Lk. xx. 26). They were silent, and went their way (Lk. xx. 26).
ii. The Herodians thus repulsed, the Sadducees approached. With their wonted[465] philosophic pride they usually kept aloof from all popular religious movements. Now, however, they advanced to the encounter with a religious difficulty respecting the position in another world of a woman who had had seven husbands in this[466]. But their coarse question was met with Divine wisdom. Had they known the Scriptures, or the power of God, they could never have asked it (Mtt. xxii. 29). Such corporeal and earthly relationships ceased with this life, and in the next man would be exalted to a higher order of beings by the almighty power of HIM, who even in the Law[467], which they professed to receive, had declared Himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of the living, and not of the dead (Ex. iii. 6).
iii. Struck with the singular wisdom, with which He had put the Sadducees to silence (Mtt. xxii. 34), a scribe belonging to the Pharisaic sect (Mk. xii. 28) now drew near, requesting information as to the relative greatness of the commandments of the Law (Mtt. xxii. 36). The point was probably one much debated in the Rabbinical schools, though it is not clear in what way it was calculated to ensnare the Saviour. But the sublime, though simple response it received, comprising the whole of religion, under the precepts of Love to God and Love to Man, struck even the questioner with admiration (Mk. xii. 32); he frankly owned that such love was better than all burnt-offerings and sacrifice[468], and obtained the gracious declaration from the Redeemer that he was not far from the kingdom of God (Mk. xii. 34).
After such successive proofs of Divine wisdom the Pharisees did not venture[469] to put any more questions to the Redeemer, and He Himself, taking advantage of the opportunity, now assumed the character of a questioner, and interrogated them (Mtt. xxii. 41) respecting the descent of the Messiah. Speaking under the influence of the Spirit, David in the Psalms (Ps. cx. 1) had called Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand, till I have made Thy foes a footstool for Thy feet. If the Messiah was to be David’s son, how could He be at the same time his Lord, thus mysteriously uniting a Divine and a human nature?
To this profound question those addressed did not even venture to make a reply, and were in their turn constrained to listen, while in words of awful and righteous judgment He denounced the hypocrisy (Mtt. xxiii. 1–12) and tyranny (Mtt. xxiii. 13–18) of the Pharisees, their bigoted attachment to the most minute observances, and their blindness to the spirit of true religion (Mtt. xxiii. 18–36), which had led them to pour out the blood of Jehovah’s prophets, even as they now thirsted for His own. For them and for their city the hour of desolation was at hand. The times of mercy, when He would have gathered the children of Jerusalem as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing[470] (Mtt. xxiii. 37–39), had passed away, never to return.
After this stern denunciation of the ruling powers, who veiling their malice and wickedness under the pretence of righteousness had so pertinaciously sought to entrap Him, the Redeemer sat down opposite the Treasury, in the Court of the Women[471], and looking up beheld the multitude casting in their voluntary[472] gifts and contributions. Amongst the rest His eye rested on a certain poor widow, one of the helpless class which He had just described as devoured by the extortion of the Scribes and Pharisees (Mk. xii. 40; Lk. xx. 47). All her possessions consisted of two mites[473], which together made a farthing, both of which she now cast into the Treasury, and knew not that One had called to Him His disciples (Mk. xii. 43), and declared that she had cast in more than all the rest, and that her gift should be known and remembered till the end of time.
It was apparently while the Redeemer was still in the Court of the Women that two of the Apostles, Andrew and Philip, approached Him with what they deemed a strange announcement. Amongst the thousands that crowded the Holy City were certain Greeks, not Grecian Jews[474], but Gentiles, proselytes of the gate, who were in the habit of coming up to the Feast. In common with many others they had heard of the famed Teacher of Nazareth, of His mighty works, and His wondrous words, and they wished with their own eyes to behold Him (Jn. xii. 21). Shrinking, however, from approaching Him directly, they had applied to the Apostle Philip, possibly on account of his Græcised name[475], saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip, apparently perplexed, consulted his brother Apostle Andrew, and together the two went and told their Lord.
No sooner did the Saviour hear their announcement, and perhaps behold these enquirers from the West, than He instantly broke forth into words of mysterious joy: The Hour, He declared, as if in a transport of holy rapture, The Hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there will also My servant be; if any man serve Me, him will My Father honour (Jn. xii. 24–26).
But with the thought of the seed-corn cast into the ground and dying, and the spectacle of these pledges[476] of the vast multitude He should draw unto Him if He was lifted up, came the thought of all that He must first undergo. There fell upon Him the shadow of the dreadful hour so close at hand, and He exclaimed, Now is My soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour; and then, as though a cloud had rolled away, the perfectly willing spirit spoke again, For this cause came I unto this hour[477]: Father, glorify Thy Name (Jn. xii. 27, 28).
But these words, expressive of such deep, such infinite resignation, were not to pass unheeded; they called forth the last of the Three[478] Heavenly Voices, which, during His life on earth, attested the Divinity of His mission. The Voice, which had been heard on the banks of Jordan and on the Mount of Transfiguration, was now heard in the courts of the Temple itself, saying in response to the Redeemer’s significant utterance, Father, glorify Thy Name; I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
Various[479] were the interpretations of this mysterious Voice by the surrounding crowd. Some thought that it thundered, others that an angel had spoken to Him (Jn. xii. 29). But the Redeemer set all doubts at rest, saying, This Voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes; and then He exclaimed in the same strain of triumph, which the announcement of two Apostles respecting the enquiring Greeks had called forth, Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the Prince of this world be cast out; and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me, signifying, adds the Evangelist, by what death He should die[480].
This striking incident was the appropriate close of this great day in the Temple. The public work of the Holy One was now over. He had given His last counsels and His final warnings to the ruling powers; He now departed and hid Himself from them (Jn. xii. 36). In spite of the mighty works He had wrought (Jn. xii. 37), the Jewish nation did not believe on Him. Many, indeed, of the rulers could not resist the evidence of His life and works, but they dared not openly avow their faith for fear of the Pharisees and the terrible ban of excommunication (Jn. xii. 42).
As thus, however, He quitted the Temple, which as a Teacher He was never to enter again, a striking incident took place. His disciples began to invite His attention to the magnificence and solidity of the structure, the enormous size of the stones (Mk. xiii. 1), the glistering of its marble blocks, and the gorgeous gifts with which it was endowed[481] (Mtt. xxiv. 1; Lk. xxi. 5). But their words of admiration could not mislead Him. The imposing building might seem to them to be founded for eternity. But He told them that a day was coming, when not one of these enormous masses of stone should be left standing upon the other.
With this mysterious announcement of a dreadful doom awaiting their national sanctuary ringing in their ears, the Apostles accompanied their Lord along the well-known road towards Bethany. But when they reached the Mount of Olives, He sat down (Mtt. xxiv. 3; Mk. xiii. 3), as if to take one last look at the glorious city and its still more glorious Temple. And as He sat there directly opposite to it in the evening twilight[482], four of the Apostles, Peter, James, John, and Andrew (Mk. xiii. 3), disquieted by the announcement of the coming destruction of their City, approached with an earnest enquiry when all these things should come to pass, and what should be the sign of His coming, and of the end of the world (Mtt. xxiv. 3; Lk. xxi. 7).
In reply to their enquiries the Holy One, with the utmost conceivable solemnity, proceeded to set forth the judgments destined to befall Jerusalem, and from these to lead up their thoughts to the contemplation of His own second coming to judge the world (Mtt. xxiv. 5–42), to describe the events that should precede it, and to enforce the necessity on their part of watchfulness and preparation by the striking parables of the Ten Virgins (Mtt. xxv. 1–13) and the Talents (Mtt. xxv. 14–30), closing His solemn revelations with a distinct declaration of the circumstances of the Awful Day, when the Son of Man should come in His glory to judge both the quick and dead (Mtt. xxv. 31–46).
Chapter IV
THE COMPACT OF JUDAS――THE LAST SUPPER. A.D. 30.
AT the close of these solemn prophecies the Redeemer reminded the Apostles that after two days the Passover would be celebrated, and the Son of Man would be betrayed to be crucified (Mtt. xxvi. 1,2). Having thus indicated the precise time, when the Hour so often spoken of before should come, He retired in all probability to Bethany[483], and there, hidden in holy seclusion (Jn. xii. 36), spent the last day preceding His sufferings.
Meanwhile the rulers of the nation were holding a formal and deliberate consultation as to the best means for putting Him to death. Humbled as they had been that day in the Temple in the eyes of the people, and disappointed in all their projects of ensnaring Him in a capital charge, they saw that their influence was lost unless they were willing to take extreme measures[484]. The chief priests, therefore, the scribes, and the elders (Comp. Mtt. xxvi. 3; Mk. xiv. 1) assembled not in their usual place of conclave, the hall Gazith[485] on the Temple Mount, but in the court of the palace of Caiaphas, the high-priest (Mtt. xxvi. 3). He, as we have seen, had already advised that the Holy One should be put to death[486], and doubtless many of those present would have gladly resolved on seizing Him by force. But by degrees they became alive to the difficulties of the case.
The recent events on the day of the Triumphal Entry convinced them of the great influence which the Redeemer wielded over many of the nation, and especially the bold and hardy mountaineers of Galilee. The only place where He appeared in public after the nights had been spent at Bethany was the Temple. But to seize Him there in the present excited state of popular feeling would certainly lead to a tumult (Mtt. xxvi. 5; Mk. xiv. 2; Lk. xxii. 2), and this to the interposition of the procurator in the fortress of Antonia. Forcible and hasty measures were therefore to be avoided, and it was formally resolved to take Him by craft, and therefore secretly, and for this purpose to await a favourable opportunity[487].
While, however, they were thus debating, a mode of apprehending Him suddenly presented itself which they had never anticipated[488]. Judas Iscariot, whose chagrin at the discovery of His real character[489] and the rebuke of His Master on the evening of the Anointing at Bethany has been already described, approached with an enquiry as to the sum they were willing to give him in the event of his betraying the Holy One into their hands (Mtt. xxvi. 14). Thereupon with a joyous alacrity (Mk. xiv. 11; Lk. xxii. 5) they covenanted to give him thirty pieces of silver[490], and he on his part began to watch for a seasonable occasion of delivering Him into their hands, without rousing the feelings of the multitude (Lk. xxii. 6).
Thus, then, the day of seclusion at Bethany, the Thursday of the Holy Week, passed away. Meanwhile the hour for the celebration of the Passover drew near. The Saviour had already reminded His disciples of its approach, and connected it with His own death. Accordingly the Apostles now enquired of Him where He intended to celebrate it, and in reply He bade two of their number, Peter and John, go into the city (Lk. xxii. 8), and informed them that on entering it they would meet a man bearing a pitcher of water, whom they were to follow to whatever house he should enter. On reaching it they were to address to the owner[491] of this house the significant words, The Master saith, My time is at hand; where is the guest-chamber where I may eat the Passover with My disciples? and he would shew them a large upper-room furnished and prepared; there they were to make ready[492] (Mtt. xxvi. 18; Mk. xiv. 14; Lk. xxii. 11).
Thus directed, the two Apostles went their way, and found everything as their Lord had described with such striking minuteness. The large upper-room is represented as already furnished and prepared (Mk. xiv. 15; Lk. xxii. 12). Hence we may perhaps infer that the searching for and putting away of every particle of leaven (1 Cor. v. 7), so important a preliminary to the Passover, had already been carried out, and that the preparation made by the Apostles included the provision of the unleavened cakes, of the bitter herbs, and the cups of wine; of everything, in short, that could be prepared on the day before the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb[493].
This done, they probably returned to their Lord, who later in the evening, when the hour was come (Lk. xxii. 14), left the little village of Bethany, crossed the Mount of Olives, and entering the city repaired with the Twelve to the upper-room. There they sat down, or reclined, according to the usual custom, and the Redeemer, taking the place of Celebrant or Proclaimer of the Feast, said, With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say unto you, I will no more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. With these words He took a Cup, the first Cup we may believe, usually devoted to the “announcement” of the Feast, and gave thanks, and said, Take ye this, and divide it amongst you; for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the Vine, till the Kingdom of God shall come (Lk. xxii. 17, 18).
But even now, even in this solemn hour, the old contention touching priority again broke out among the Apostles (Lk. xxii. 24). Thereupon the Holy One spake a few gentle but solemn words to repress so unseemly a dispute (Lk. xxii. 25–30); and to teach them in the most striking manner possible a lesson of humility, took upon Him the form of a servant, and girding Himself with a towel washed His disciples’ feet (Jn. xiii. 1–6). Simon Peter, with his wonted impetuosity, would have checked the loving designs of His Master, and when the Redeemer told him that, unless He washed his feet he had no part with Him (Jn. xiii. 9), with that quick revulsion so natural to him, he begged that He would wash not only his feet, but his hands and his head. He that hath bathed, replied his Master, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all (Jn. xiii. 10, 11).
With this sad intimation of treachery in their midst the Feast was resumed[494], and probably the second Cup of Wine was drunk. But soon the consciousness of the Traitor’s presence so wrought upon the Saviour, that His inmost soul was deeply moved and troubled, and He testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you will betray Me (Jn. xiii. 21). This announcement excited great surprise and deep sorrow among the Apostles, and many were the earnest questionings, Lord, is it I? At length He gave a special and private indication to the disciple that reclined upon His bosom. He was the Traitor to whom He should give the sop[495], when He had dipped it (Jn. xiii. 26). At this point Judas Iscariot, though he had already made his compact with the chief priests, dared to enquire, Lord, is it I? (Mtt. xxvi. 25). Thou hast said, replied the Redeemer, and gave him the sop, adding shortly afterwards, That thou doest do quickly (Jn. xiii. 27). The real import of these words remained unknown to the rest of the Apostles, and they imagined that they related only to the provision of something needed for the feast, or the bestowal of some charity on the poor. As soon, then, as he had received the sop, Judas arose and went forth to execute his awful purpose, and it was night (Jn. xiii. 30).
On his departure the Saviour was no more troubled in spirit, but brake forth into the same triumphant language which fell from His lips when He heard of the request of the Greeks in the Temple Courts: Now, said He, is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will straightway glorify Him (Jn. xiii. 31, 32).
Again the Meal proceeded, and soon taking one of the unleavened cakes that had been placed before Him, and giving thanks, probably in the usual words, He brake it, and gave it to His Apostles, saying,
Take, eat: this is My Body, which is given for you: do this in remembrance of Me[496].
Afterwards He took a Cup of wine, in all probability the third Cup, and known as the “Cup of blessing,” and having offered thanks, gave it unto them saying,
Drink ye all of this; for this Cup is My Blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins: this do ye, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of Me[497].
The Holy Eucharist thus instituted, He conversed with the Apostles concerning the events that were soon to happen to Himself and them, how they would desert Him in His most critical and trying hour, how their faith would fail, how they would be dispersed each unto his own. These announcements of coming failure sounded unbearable to the Apostle Peter. Lord, said he, I am ready to go with Thee unto prison and to death――I am ready to lay down my life for Thee (Mtt. xxvi. 33; Jn. xiii. 37). Verily, verily, I say unto thee, replied the Master, in solemn words, This night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice (Mtt. xxvi. 34; Mk. xiv. 30; Jn. xiii. 38). But this sad announcement, so far from solemnising the Apostle’s feelings, provoked him to fresh protestations of fidelity (Mk. xiv. 31). With still greater vehemence he declared, If I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee; and in these well-meant but short-sighted declarations the rest of the Apostles joined also (Mtt. xxvi. 35; Mk. xiv. 31).
And now, whereas at the usual Paschal Feast it had been customary to continue long in religious conversation respecting the great events of the Exodus, and the national deliverance from Egypt, so on this occasion did the Saviour continue long in earnest conversation with His chosen ones. But He spake to them of other and still more exalted themes; of His own departure to the Father and the coming of the Comforter (Jn. xiv. 1–31); of Himself as the true Vine and His disciples as the branches (Jn. xv. 1–6); of the hatred of the world and its sin against Him (Jn. xv. 18–25); of the trials which the Apostles must expect, and the assured aid of the Comforter (Jn. xvi. 1–16); of offering up prayer in His name (Jn. xvi. 23–27). And at the close of these solemn and affecting discourses, lifting up His eyes to heaven in rapt and solemn devotion, He committed the Apostles to the guardian care of the Eternal Father, and dedicated to Him His own completed work, contemplating it once more in its issues not only on these then present, but on all that should believe on His Name (Jn. xvii.).
The night was now far advanced. A hymn, probably the Hallel, was sung, and the Apostles went forth with their Lord through the quiet streets of the city towards the Mount of Olives (Mtt. xxvi. 30; Mk. xiv. 26).
Chapter V
THE AGONY AND BETRAYAL――PETER’S DENIAL. A.D. 30.
THE road, which the Redeemer and His Apostles now traversed, led across the Kidron, and thence to a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives, which from the produce of the adjacent hills was called Gethsemane[498], or the oil-press[499], and was a spot to which He often resorted with His disciples (Jn. xviii. 2).
On reaching this garden, the Holy One left the greater number of His Apostles at the outskirts (Mtt. xxvi. 36), while with three chosen witnesses[500], Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He Himself advanced further into the shadow of the overhanging olives. Here He began to be sore amazed (Mk. xiv. 33) and very heavy (Mtt. xxvi. 37; Mk. xiv. 33), and His soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death, and as a last request He begged them to watch, while He proceeded about a stone’s throw further (Lk. xxii. 41) and engaged in solitary prayer. And now had come the hour for the last and most terrible assault of the Prince of Darkness (Comp. Lk. iv. 13). Kneeling down (Lk. xxii. 41), and falling forward on the earth (Mk. xiv. 35), He twice prayed that, if it were possible, the cup of suffering might pass from Him, and as often with infinite resignation added, Not as I will, but as Thou wilt (Mtt. xxvi. 39). Soon the conflict deepened in intensity, and being in an “agony” He prayed yet more earnestly, while drops of bloody sweat fell from Him, and testified to the terrible nature of His sufferings (Lk. xxii. 44). Twice, as if to assure Himself of their sympathy and watchfulness, He came to the three Apostles, who had promised so eagerly even to die with Him, and twice He found them sleeping (Mtt. xxvi. 40, 43). The first time He awoke them, saying to Simon, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation (Mk. xiv. 37, 38). But on the second occasion He uttered not a word. Alone He retired to renew once more the conflict, and to offer for the third time the prayer of mingled entreaty and resignation to His Father in heaven; and then, having been strengthened by an angelic being, He for the third time revisited the Apostles to find them still sleeping. On this occasion, however, He awoke them, and with words of sorrowful expostulation told them that the golden opportunity for watching and prayer was over: Rise, said He, let us be going; behold he that betrayeth Me is at hand (Mtt. xxvi. 46; Mk. xiv. 42).
He had scarcely spoken, when the Garden was filled with armed men, and flashed with the light of numerous lanterns and torches[501]. At the head of a portion of the Roman cohort[502] with its captain (Jn. xviii. 12) in attendance on the procurator (Jn. xviii. 3), and of the Levitical guards of the Temple, attendants and apparitors of the Sanhedrin, the traitor[503] approached. Advancing he saluted his Master with a kiss, the signal which had been agreed upon, and received the reproachful reply, Friend, wherefore art thou come? betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? (Mtt. xxvi. 50; Lk. xxii. 48). Having thus rebuked the traitor, the Lord proceeded towards the entrance of the garden[504] (Jn. xviii. 4), and meeting the soldiers and officers enquired whom they sought. They replied, Jesus of Nazareth. I am He, answered the Holy One, and immediately, awed by His calm majesty and the sudden appearance of One whose name had so long had for them a mysterious significance, they recoiled backwards and fell to the ground (Jn. xviii. 6)[505]. Whom seek ye? the Redeemer again enquired, and when they answered as before, again declared that He was the object of their search, and covenanting only for the safe dismissal of His followers, freely surrendered Himself into their hands (Jn. xviii. 7–9).
But one of His followers was not minded to yield thus willingly. Drawing his sword the impetuous son of Jonas cut off the ear of Malchus, a servant of the high-priest. The soldiers were just on the point of laying hands on the Holy One, and taking Him into custody, but seeing what His Apostle had done, He said to them, Suffer ye thus far, and touching the ear of the wounded man restored it whole as before (Lk. xxii. 51); then rebuking the disciple for his over-hasty zeal, and protesting[506] meekly against the mode in which He had been arrested by His captors, He allowed Himself to be bound and led towards the city; for it was their hour and the power of darkness (Lk. xxii. 53).
On the part of the Apostles all was now terror and confusion. Though they had all promised to die with Him, they now forsook their Master and fled (Mtt. xxvi. 56; Mk. xiv. 50). Their last hope of a temporal kingdom of the Messiah had crumbled to pieces[507].
Meanwhile the Roman guard and the officers (Jn. xviii. 12) led the Saviour over the Kidron, and up the road leading into the city, and either at the suggestion of some of the ruling powers, or in accordance with previous concert, conducted Him to the palace of Annas[508], who as the father-in-law of Caiaphas, and as an able and experienced counsellor, had great influence with the nation.
It is not improbable that both Annas and his son-in-law occupied[509] a common official residence, and that before it or within the outer porch was a large square open court, in which public business was transacted. Into this court[510] or hall the Redeemer was led, and thither two of the Apostles, John and Peter (Jn. xviii. 15), recovering from their first alarm, ventured to follow. The former, as being acquainted with the high-priest[511], easily obtained admittance into the hall, but Peter appears to have been at first rejected by the porteress. After a while John missed his companion, and going back spake to the porteress, who thereupon immediately allowed him to enter (Jn. xviii. 16).
The night was chilly, and the servants having made a fire of charcoal in the centre of the court, were warming themselves before it (Jn. xviii. 18; Mk. xiv. 54), and thither Peter pressed forwards, anxious to see the end (Mtt. xxvi. 58). As he sat there, the porteress, whose suspicions appear to have been aroused, approached the group, and fixing her eye steadfastly upon him (Lk. xxii. 56) said, Surely thou art one of this Man’s disciples. Thrown off his guard, and perhaps disconcerted by the searching glances of the bystanders, the Apostle replied at first evasively[512], I know not what thou sayest (Mtt. xxvi. 70; Mk. xiv. 68), and then more strongly, I know Him not (Lk. xxii. 57; Jn. xviii. 17).
Thus silenced the maid withdrew, and after a brief delay the Apostle, anxious probably for a favourable opportunity of retiring, went back towards the porch (Mtt. xxvi. 71; Mk. xiv. 68). But here another maid approached and said to the bystanders, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth (Mtt. xxvi. 71). Thus a second time assailed, and not knowing what might happen, his faith again failed him, and with an oath he declared I know not the Man (Mtt. xxvi. 72); and the cock crew.
While this sad scene of moral cowardice was going on, Annas began to put several questions to the Saviour respecting His disciples and His doctrine (Jn. xviii. 19). Thus interrogated, the Redeemer appealed to the publicity of His teaching, and referred His enquirer to His hearers, whom he had so often addressed in the wonted places of resort, the synagogue and the Temple (Jn. xvii. 20, 21): He had no secret doctrines, and no secret society of dependants[513] for purposes either of tumult or sedition. This reply was the signal for the first beginning of a dreadful scene of insult and violence. An officer of the high-priest struck Him on the mouth, saying, Answerest thou the high-priest so? If I have spoken ill, bear witness of the ill, meekly replied the Holy One, but if well, why smitest thou me? (Jn. xviii. 22–24).
The day was now rapidly dawning, and the Sanhedrin, which had been hastily summoned, had begun to assemble. Annas therefore sent the Saviour, who was still in bonds, to the official judgment-hall of Caiaphas (Jn. xviii. 24), and it was not improbably as He was crossing the court[514], that He turned and looked upon the Apostle, who now for the third time denied that he had ever known Him. Recognised at the porch, Peter, it would seem, had returned again to the fire, and there mingling with the group of soldiers and servants (Jn. xviii. 25), conversed with them freely in his rough uncouth Galilæan dialect[515]. This excited suspicion, and an hour had scarcely elapsed (Lk. xxii. 59) before certain of the bystanders began to express their opinions. Surely, said one, this fellow was one of them. Thou art a Galilæan, said another (Mk. xiv. 70). Thy speech bewrayeth thee, added a third (Mtt. xxvi. 73). Did I not see thee in the garden with Him? broke in a fourth, a kinsman of the servant whose ear the Apostle had cut off (Jn. xviii. 26). Thus attacked on all sides he fell deeper still. With oaths and curses (Mtt. xxvi. 74; Mk. xiv. 71) he declared, I know not the Man, and for the second time the cock crew (Mk. xiv. 72). It was this base denial that the Holy One now overheard. Turning round He looked upon Peter (Lk. xxii. 61). The remembrance of all that He had said rushed to the Apostle’s recollection. He could not linger a moment in that Presence. His faith indeed had not utterly[516] failed, but Satan had sifted him as wheat. He went forth and wept bitterly (Mtt. xxvi. 75; Lk. xxii. 62)[517].
Chapter VI
THE JEWISH TRIAL――REMORSE AND SUICIDE OF JUDAS. A.D. 30.
BY this time the entire body of the Sanhedrin had assembled in the palace of Caiaphas, and the Redeemer was placed before them.
The first object was to secure the agreement of two witnesses on some specific charge (Mtt. xxvi. 59; Mk. xiv. 55). But this was found to be a matter of the utmost difficulty. Many indeed were at hand suborned to utter any falsehood, but their testimony was so confused and contradictory (Mk. xiv. 56), that the council could not receive it. At length two were found who could testify to the words the Holy One had uttered on the occasion of His first visit to the Temple[518]. This fellow said, was their charge, I will destroy this Temple made with hands, and in three days I will raise up another made without hands (Mk. xiv. 58). But besides the fact that their allegations were exaggerated, they themselves did not agree in their statements (Mk. xiv. 59), and though eager to pronounce the capital sentence, the council felt themselves unable with any decency to do so on such evidence.
Meanwhile the Redeemer preserved a solemn and impressive silence, neither interrupting, nor replying to the questions of the high-priest or the statements of His accusers (Mtt. xxvi. 62; Mk. xiv. 60). He condescended not to any defence.
Nothing therefore remained but, if possible, to make Him criminate Himself. Once more, then, the high-priest stood up in the midst (Mk. xiv. 60), and in the most solemn manner adjured Him in the name of Jehovah to declare whether He was the Messiah, the Son of God (Comp. Mtt. xxvi. 63; Mk. xiv. 61).
Thus formally addressed, the Holy One at length broke the silence He had hitherto maintained, saying, in reply to the question, I am; and hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven[519]. He thus in the most solemn and explicit manner asserted that He was not only the Messiah, but the Son of God, and that in the sublimest sense of the words.
All was now uproar and confusion. In token of his horror the high-priest rent his clothes, and pronounced the utterance of the Redeemer to be direct and treasonable blasphemy. What further need, he exclaimed, have we of witnesses? Ye have heard His blasphemy: what think ye? (Mtt. xxvi. 65; Mk. xiv. 63, 64). Carried away by his vehement gestures and words, and his great influence, the court pronounced their opinion, He is guilty of death (Mtt. xxvi. 66). Worse than false prophet, worse than false Messiah, He had declared Himself to be the Son of God, and that in the presence of the high-priest and the great council of the nation. He had incurred the capital penalty.
And now ensued a scene of fearful violence. The bystanders were permitted to do their worst to One thus declared guilty of blasphemy. Some spat upon His face; others smote Him with the palms of their hands; others blindfolded Him, and in derision of His Messianic claims bade Him detect the hand that had been raised against Him (Mtt. xxvi. 67, 68; Mk. xiv. 65; Lk. xxii. 63, 64).
But though the great council of the nation had thus passed sentence, there remained a serious obstacle before they could carry it out. Cases punishable with death, such as false claims to prophetic inspiration, or blasphemy, they were fully competent to try[520] (Comp. Acts iv. 5–21; v. 17–40; vi. 12–15; xxiii. 1–10), but they could not execute the sentence of death, for the right had been taken from them ever since Judæa became a Roman province[521]. Mistrusting, therefore, the people who might attempt to rescue the Holy One from the hands of their own officers, reluctant to incur the odium of profaning so sacred a day with a public execution, anxious to shift the responsibility from their own head upon that of the Romans, yet determined to insure the destruction of their Victim, they again reassembled their court (Mtt. xxvii. 1; Mk. xv. 1), and resolved to send the Redeemer before the tribunal of Pilate, who, they might not unreasonably suppose, “would not hesitate, at once, and on their authority, on the first intimation of a dangerous and growing party, to act without further examination or inquiry, and without scruple add one victim more to the robbers and turbulent insurgents, who, it appears, were kept in prison, in order to be executed, as a terrible example at that period of national concourse[522].” Pilate had, as usual, come up to Jerusalem to preserve order during the Passover, and was now residing either in a palace near the tower of Antonia[523], or in the splendid and luxurious structure which had been erected by Herod the Great[524]. Thither, therefore, the Saviour, after He had been again placed in bonds (Mtt. xxvii. 2), was led, attended by a deputation of the Sanhedrin to support and explain the charge[525].
Meanwhile the fact of His condemnation had become known[526] to the traitor Judas (Mtt. xxvii. 3), and filled him with the deepest remorse. Hitherto he had been lured on by covetousness, and his eyes had been blinded by the Evil One. Now they were opened, and he saw what he had done. He had betrayed innocent blood (Mtt. xxvii. 4). Filled with terror and anguish, he hurried to the chief priests and elders, and openly confessed his awful crime. But they received his confession with gibes and taunts. What is that to us? said they; see thou to that (Mtt. xxvii. 4). In frantic despair the wretched man resolved to get rid of the reward of his treachery. Rushing into the sanctuary[527] he flung down the thirty pieces of silver before the priests, and went and hanged himself[528] (Mtt. xxvii. 5), but, probably in consequence of the rope breaking, he fell headlong, and burst asunder in the midst (Acts i. 18), so that, when his body was found, all his bowels had gushed out. With the blood-money he had left in the Temple the chief priests were at first perplexed what to do. Though they had not scrupled to pledge it as the reward of the basest treachery, yet they were unwilling to return it to the Temple funds, and at length resolved to apply it to the purchase[529] of a field for the burial of strangers, which was afterwards known as Aceldama[530] (Acts i. 19), or the Field of Blood (Mtt. xxvii. 6–10; Zech. xi. 13).