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THE LIFE OF JESUS
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Copyright by the Curtis Publishing Co.
THE NATIVITY. From a painting by W. L. Taylor.
THE
LIFE OF JESUS
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
BY WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH
AUTHOR OF "CHILD STUDY AND CHILD TRAINING," " THE BOY PROBLEM," AND "THE COMING GENERATION"
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1917
Copyright, 1912, 1917, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
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SEP 19 1917 ©GU47S562
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A Boy of the Hills ., 3
II. Jesus' World 9
III. Jesus' Schooling 15
IV. A Country Boy's First Visit to the City . 21 V. The Village Carpenter 28
VI. The Man Who Had a New Message . . 34
VII. Jesus' Choice of a Calling 4c
VIII. How Jesus Went about His Work ... 48
LX. His Early Comrades 56
X. How Jesus Lived in His New Home ... 62
XL The Men Who Told Us about Jesus . . 71
XII. The Pharisees Studying Jesus 77
XIII. What Jesus' Teaching Was Like .... 81
XIV. Jesus' Message to His Neighbors ... 87 XV. Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom . . 92
XVI. A Night and Day of Peril 99
XVII. Back to His Old Home 105
XVIII. The Adventures of His Twelve Messengers 109
V
vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
XIX. Those Who Were with and against Jesus . 114
XX. The Martyrdom of a Hero 121
XXI. Jesus Sharing with the Multitude . . . 126
XXII. The Break with the Pharisees .... 130
XXIII. Jesus among a Foreign People .... 133
XXIV. The Source of Jesus' Courage .... 142 XXV. Jesus Taking the Harder Road .... 147
XXVI. A Preliminary Visit to Jerusalem . . , 152
XXVII. In Perea and Samaria 157
XXVIII. Going up to Jerusalem 161
XXIX. Jesus' Arrival at Jerusalem 168
XXX. Jesus' Attack upon the Corrupt Priests . 173
XXXI. The Conspiracy against Jesus 178
XXXII. Jesus' Attitude in the Face of Death . . 186
XXXIII. Betrayed, Denied, Condemned 194
XXXIV. The Death of Jesus 202
XXXV. The Christ Who Abides 209
XXXVI. The Radiance of the Master 214
ILLUSTRATIONS
COLOR PLATES The Nativity Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
O Little Town of Bethlehem 12
"Suffer Little Children to Come Unto Me; for of Such Is the
Kingdom of Heaven" 158
The Three Wise Men 218
HALF-TONE PLATES
Ancient "Fountain of the Virgin," Where Mary Came for
Water for Her Household — Nazareth 6
The Youth of Jesus 16
Nazareth, and the Plain of Esdraelon, Where the Boy Jesus
Played 18
Finding Christ in the Temple 26
Fishermen by the Sea of Galilee 58
In the Court of a Village Home, Cana of Galilee 64
Life on the Shore of Galilee, at Tiberias, Palestine .... 72
Jesus Preaching in a Ship 82
Christ Blessing Little Children 106
Plain of Gennesaret and the Sea, North from Above Magdala to
Upper Galilee, Palestine no
The Return of the Prodigal Son 118
Old Gate to Caesarea Philippi, at the Foot of Mt. Hermon,
Palestine 144
vii
viii ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
Purification of the Temple 176 v
The Last Supper 190 '
Golgotha ' 204 ^
Among the Lowly 212 /
ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT
PAGE
Nazareth 3
Outside Stairs to the Roof 5
Jesus Helping His Mother 7
A Roman Hall of Justice 10
Soldiers of the Praetorian Guard n
Tiberias, from the Lake 12
A Jewish School . 17
Nazareth. The Home of Christ for Nearly Thirty Years . 19
The Tower of Jezreel 22
Modern Bethel . 23
Nebi Samwil 23
General Plan of Temple and Courts as Rebuilt by Herod.
Drawn to Scale 25
A Book of the Law 32
John the Baptist Preaching 36
The Jordan River 38
The River Jordan, Near Jericho 40
The Mount of Temptation 42
Entrance to Vault over Jacob's Well 49
The Vault and the Mouth of the Well 49
ILLUSTRATIONS ix
PAGE
The Woman Anointing Jesus' Feet 55
Fishermen on the Sea of Galilee 56
The Shore at Khan Minyeh 57
St. Peter 60
Ruins of a Synagogue in Galilee 63
The Man Let Down Through the Roof 65
The Call of Matthew 66
Jairus' Daughter . 67
Tiberias 69
Kurn Hattin, or the Horns of Hattin 72
Mark , 75
A Group of Pharisees 79
Jesus by the Sea 80
Path through the Fields. Illustrating the Wayside Hearer . 81
The Sower 83
Preaching the Sermon on the Mount 87
The Sower 94
The Four Kinds of Soil in the Parable of the Sower .... 95
The Leaven 96
Sea of Galilee and Surroundings 99
Jesus Asleep in the Storm 100
The Gerasene Demoniac 101
The Hill near Gerasa 101
Touching Jesus' Garment 102
Jairus' Daughter 103
Christ in the Synagogue at Nazareth 105
x ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Disciples Journeying . 109
Saluting a House no
Sending Out the Disciples Two by Two in
Head of Peter 112
Peter Preaching 113
Praying to Be Seen by Men 114
Eastern Hand-Washing . 115
The Lost Son 118
John the Baptist in Prison 122
Jesus and the Disciples Setting Sail 127
Old Tyre . 133
Ruined Aqueduct at Tyre . 134
Old Castle at Sidon 135
Jesus and the Syrophcenician Woman 136
Jesus and the Nobleman 136
View in the Lebanon Mountains 137
Cedars of Lebanon 138
On the Road to Caesarea Philippi 138
Caesarea Philippi and a Part of Mount Hermon 139
Jesus Talking with His Disciples 140
Mount Hermon, the Probable Scene of the Transfiguration . . 143
Head of Elijah 145
Ruins of a Synagogue in Northern Galilee 148
Fords of the Jordan 150
The Golden Gate, Jerusalem 152
A Street in Jerusalem 153
ILLUSTRATIONS xi
PAGE
The Good Samaritan 158
Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler 159
On the Road from Jerusalem to Jericho 161
The Jordan Valley, Near Jericho 162
The Traditional House of Zacchaeus 164
The Road from Jerusalem to Jericho 165
Bethany 166
View on the Road from Jerusalem to Bethany 169
The Mount of Olives from Jerusalem . 170
Jerusalem, from the Mount of Olives . . . . . . . 171
The Temple Area in the Time of Christ 174
The Enemies of Jesus 179
Greeks Asking to See Jesus 182
The Pharisees Plotting Together 183
Judas Bargaining to Betray Jesus 184
Christ Comforting His Disciples at the Passover Supper . . 188
The Tomb of David 190
Bridge over the Brook Kidron, near Absalom's Tomb . . . 191
View in the Garden of Gethsemane 192
Old Olive-Tree in Gethsemane 193
The Kiss of Judas 194
Annas and Caiaphas 195
The Sanhedrin 196
Courtyard in the House of Caiaphas 196
The Jews Urging Pilate to Condemn Jesus 197
The Castle Antonia 197
xii ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
So-called House of Caiaphas, now an Armenian Monastery . . 198
Herod's Palace and Tower of Hippicus 199
Jesus Bearing His Cross 205
The Inscription on the Cross . . . . 205
The New Calvary and the Northern Wall of Jerusalem . . . 206
Jeremiah's Grotto, near Jerusalem 207
The "Garden Tomb" . . 209
Tomb with Rolling Stone 210
Entrance to the So-called New Tomb ........ 210
THE LIFE OF JESUS
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
THE LIFE OF JESUS
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
CHAPTER I
A BOY OF THE HILLS
If you were to take a three weeks' journey across the Atlantic, past Gibraltar and through the Mediterranean to its eastern or farthest shore, you would touch what we call "the Holy Land," Palestine, the land of the Bible. You could land on the shore of its northern or narrow part at the port of Haifa, the Acre of the Crusaders. Should you continue your journey on horse- back across a great and fertile valley you would find hidden away on the slope of the long range of foot-hills to the north, a town of about seven thousand persons. That was the town of Naza- reth, where Jesus lived. The Bible tells us so lit- tle about this village that we must depend upon scholars of our own time who have visited it and who are able to tell us how it looked in the time of Jesus.
1 - In the distance it is seen l clinging like a whitewashed wasp's nest to the hillside.' It is reached from the plain below by a crooked path, so steep and narrow that every
3
(From a photograph.)
Nazareth.
View from the so-called carpenter's shop of Joseph. This view of the beautiful hills south of the city was doubtless very familiar to Jesus.
4 THE LIFE OF JESUS
traveller has a bad word for it. The village lies in and reaches a little upward from a hollow. Clustering hills rise to 1,600 feet behind. There is but little pasturage upon them. In the spring season wild flowers grow- mignonette, larkspur, anemones and roses — and in the cultivated gardens of the village are clumps of olive-trees and palms. But at other times there is only barren rock." — J. Brough, — The Early Life of Our Lord.
We shall learn more later about the land in which Nazareth was situated. It is enough now to say that the whole country which was Jesus' world, was no larger than Vermont. This little secluded town had about the same relation to the great capital, Jerusalem, at the south, as a little Scottish town has to London, or a Vermont village to the city of Boston. The country just below Nazareth, however, was not barren, as much of Scot- land is, but it was so beautiful and fertile that there was a common saying then, that "it was easier to rear a forest of olive-trees in this region, than one child in Judea." The workingmen of Nazareth itself were mostly vine-dressers, for the hillside soil was less fertile, being stony. Farmers in those days objected to the loneli- ness of the country and lived in the villages, walking out to their fields. There were a few shepherds, how- ever, staying on the upland pastures. There were also smaller hamlets around, from which probably the in- habitants came in to Nazareth on market-days. Fish and fishermen, being twenty miles away, were seldom seen.
The main highway from Damascus to Egypt could be dimly seen from the hilltop above Nazareth, but the path which led through the village from the north was simply the outlet from the plateau villages toward the south. Except for a few traders, cattle merchants and foreignized Jews, there were few strangers' faces seen in Nazareth.
In order to see the kind of home Jesus had as a boy, let us turn to the author whom we have just quoted.
THE PLACE WHERE HE LIVED
' 'The houses in Eastern villages are, and were, of the simplest construction. That in which Joseph and Mary lived would be very small; it was only the well-to-do who had large ones, or had them built of brick or stone. The dwellings of the poor were mere square huts of clay, dried hard in the sun and whitewashed.
''Stairs on the outside led up to the roof, which was flat, and was used almost as much as the ground floor. Here lay drying in the sun vegetables and fruit for winter consumption. It was a promenade also, where the inhabitants enjoyed a fresher air than in the stuffy streets, or watched the flocks and herds pasturing in the plain; and in sum- mer it was often a sleep- ing place.
"There was only one room below — this was
the whole house of the poor — one room for kitchen, living- room, bedroom, tool-house, everything.
"It had no windows; what light there was, came through the open doorway, and in some houses from a hole in the centre of the roof, which served as chimney.
"There was very little furniture.
"The bedding of the family consisted of a few car- pets, rolled up and put in a corner during the day, or, in the summer, packed away in a big box, to keep them from insects. Some houses had a wooden couch, but this was a luxury.
"There were no chairs; a few mats and cushions served the purpose.
"The father's bench and tools were here also, when he was not using them outside; and it was troublesome in winter to keep the iron from rusting, for there was not
Outside Stairs to the Roof.
6 THE LIFE OF JESUS
much protection against damp air in an open clay hut whose floor was the bare ground.
"Some earthenware jars and pots held all that was wanted for cooking.
"In cold weather a charcoal fire was kindled in a pan of earthenware, narrow at the bottom and spreading to eighteen inches in diameter at the top ; but better houses had a brazier or stand of brass or copper, two feet high, with a chafing-dish in the upper surface to hold the fire.
"There was not much need for artificial light; it was bedtime when it was dark. Still, each house had a lamp and a stand to set it on. The lamp was of earth- enware, in the shape of a rather deep saucer, with a lip, like that of a cream-jug, to hold the wick. It stood some- times on a high ledge in the wall, but usually on the floor, and therefore its stand had to be a high one, so that it might, as Jesus said, 'give light to all that are in the house.' An earthen jar held the oil with which to re- plenish it when the light grew dim.
"The measure or 'bushel' stood ready to hand. It was useful in all sorts of ways. Things were put into it, as into a drawer or bag; it was turned upside down and the lamp set upon it : now it made a convenient little table, and now it was a plate.
"There was also a besom with which the housewife might sweep the floor, as did the woman in the parable who had lost a piece of silver.
"Lastly, in the doorway, hung the Mesusah, a little oblong box containing a roll of parchment on which were written in twenty-two lines two passages of the Law.
' ' We may imagine Jesus sitting with the other members of the family on the floor around a stool, on which was placed a dish containing the relish, whatever it might be — perhaps curds or sour wine or wheat porridge, or more rarely a stew of meat — and dipping His thin cake or bread into it to eat.
"Such was the humble home to which the parents of Jesus brought Him when still an infant, and in which
pyright by Underwood & Underwood.
ANCIENT "FOUNTAIN OF THE VIRGIN," WHERE MARY CAME FOR WATER FOR HER HOUSEHOLD— NAZARETH.
THE PARENTS OF JESUS
He lived and learned during those thirty years of quiet preparation for the great work that He was destined to do."
It is not known whether Jesus ever went to school, but we will discuss this in a later chapter. No doubt He helped His father at his work as a carpenter, and went each morning with His mother to the one well in the village, at the foot of the hill, which was the common meeting-place, to carry a water- jar for her up to His home.
Motherhood was the best thing in Israel. "God could not be everywhere," was one of the Hebrew sayings, "and so He made mothers."
The Jews gave women a no- bler place than did any other people. They recognized their mothers as the chief blessing of both present and future national life. Every account that has come down to us of
the mother of Jesus represents her as one devoted to the best religious ideals of her people, and as eager to give her son the very best she had. The village rabbi would teach Jesus of the past, but a mother lives in the future, and it would be she who would inspire her son to hope and to attain. A woman has no weapon for victory over wrong except her children. Through her son Mary might hope to help bring in the longings of her race.
Fathers among the Jews were held responsible for the education and conduct of their children, and were pun- ished in their stead if they were guilty of bad conduct when they were small. Of Joseph we know nothing directly. The adjective "just" or perhaps better, fair, which is applied to him in Matthew and in the early
|
/—IJ/% ^%n^ |
(Copyright, i8g6, by J. J. Tissot.) Jesus Helping His Mother.
8 THE LIFE OF JESUS
legends, suggests a quality which a son appreciates more than any other in a father. As "The Bible for Learners" says, "Since Jesus speaks of a father's love as a reflec- tion of the love of God, since He could find no higher nor more glorious name Himself than that of father, we may safely conclude that Joseph was a faithful, careful and affectionate parent — in a word, all that father ought to be." The touching little incident about the father in bed with his children getting up to help a poor neigh- bor as told in Luke 1 1 : 5-9 must have been a recollection which Jesus had of His own boyhood and of His own generous parent.
We know also that Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters. There was, then, a family of nine persons, with all that means of crowding, economy, sharing of labor, of trouble and of happiness.
CHAPTER II
JESUS' WORLD
Would Washington have been the same kind of man if he had been born in the circumstances of Lincoln ? What would Queen Elizabeth have been if she had lived in the time of the Crusades ? Would you yourself not have looked at life differently if you were a Greek boy of the day of Pericles, or lived as a French girl in the Gaul that Caesar was conquering ?
What was the world in which Jesus was brought up ?
It was, as you know, a Roman world. Jesus lived in the great Augustan age. Indeed, Augustus himself, the successor of Julius Caesar, was ruler of the world when Jesus was born, and lived until Jesus was seventeen years old. Some of you have learned from your school histories what the Roman Empire was at that time. The city of Rome was becoming a splendid capital, which, in a few years, Augustus rebuilt in marble. It had many modern institutions and comforts. There were public baths and playgrounds, daily bulletins sim- ilar to our newspapers, and libraries. Rome received tribute from the whole world, and there were many rich citizens, but there were also many more who were wretchedly poor. The capital alone had 200,000 people who were maintained at the public cost. Nearly one- half the population were slaves. The fortunate were living that life of ruinous dissipation which later made Rome the easy prey of the Gauls, and the poor aped or catered to the vices of the rich. The first chapter of epistle to the Romans shows how the low moral character of the age appeared to Paul, a serious-minded and an
9
10
THE LIFE OF JESUS
intelligent observer. In the provinces, especially in the cities, but also wherever the Romans settled, the same kind of conditions had begun to spread. In Jeru- salem, the Holy City, there was already an amphitheatre, and there were gladiatorial shows within sight and hear- ing of the temple.
On the other hand, it was, like our own, an age of intellectual alertness and energy. Men of force, not only in government and war, but also in thought and educa-
A Roman Hall of Justice.
tion, were appearing. Upon the pathway of the splendid Roman roads and using Greek, the universal language of culture, the ideals and hopes and achievements of all parts of the world, now neighborly under one strong government, were making their ways. Traders and travellers would bring something of this new awakening and amalgamating, even to obscure Nazareth. Jesus was protected from the degrading tendencies of Rome, while its influence in setting men on their feet, to learn, to think and to do, would stimulate Him, even in the discouraged province in which He had His home.
The known world in the time of Jesus was subject to one central power. The government of Rome was military in character. The emperors were generally successful generals, who were placed in power by the prestige of their victories and who were often in turn
THE GOVERNMENT
11
displaced by means of the armies of others. Judea, in which was Jerusalem, was ruled by a procurator who reported regularly to Rome. Galilee and Perea were ruled by one of the family of Herod, to whom was given the title of tetrarch, which was only less than that of king. He had his own army and raised his own taxes, but he was removable by the emperor.
Some of the Roman representatives were uncontrolled tyrants. None of them made much effort to under- stand the peculiar people whom they governed. All of them stamped out the first indication of revolt with extreme cruelty. The Jews, high-spirited and ever mindful of their past and their hopes for the future, could never be content to be mere subjects of Rome. They could not boast, it is true, of their own later na- tive kings, and it must be con- fessed that the Romans governed them on the whole better than they could have governed them- selves, but the race of David and Solomon, of Ahab and Hezekiah, could not possibly be content un- less they could be free. The village square of Nazareth, where Jesus was brought up, was the centre where many a knot of citizens frequently discussed the possibility of independence. Even while he was a boy, Judas, the Galilean, of His own province, had unfolded the banner of revolt with the cry, "No master for Israel but the Lord ! Tribute to Rome or submission to the tyrant is treason to Him !" This revolution had been at once crushed with much bloodshed, but notice that it was a religious movement, and that religion, when Jesus was a boy, meant to be a patriot.
The story of the coming of the shepherds, in the Gos-
soldiers of the p^etorian Guard.
From a bas-relief. The praetorians were the body-guard of the emperor.
12
THE LIFE OF JESUS
pel according to Luke, endeavors to tell us how the com- mon people were looking for help. . When they saw the angelic vision what were the words of the message ? Let us read them in the Twentieth Century version. "Lis- ten ! I am bringing to you good news of a great joy which is in store for the whole nation, for there has been born to you in the town of David a Saviour, who is Christ and Master!" You see the point of their hope? Out of the; native town of their hero-king is to come a national deliverer. Luke gives the views of two old
Tiberias, from the Lake.
The nearest Roman city to Nazareth, built during Jesus' lifetime, and containing a palace and fortress of Herod Antipas.
people. Simeon was probably an Essene, who had lived in Jerusalem through years of disappointment, and could speak the longing of their nation. Anna was an aged but patriot woman. She thanks God that He is about to "redeem Jerusalem." Simeon gives praise because one is coming who is "to be the glory of his people Israel." In the song of the priest Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, we get the bitterness as well as the hopes of a downtrodden people. "He prom- ised by the lips of His holy prophets of old, to be our salvation from our foes, and from the hands of them that hate us. This was the oath that He swore to our an- cestor Abraham, to grant unto us that we, being de- livered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him
Copyright by the Curtis Publishing Co.
O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM. From a painting by W. L. Taylor.
THE EXPECTATIONS OF JESUS' PARENTS 13
without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days."
The details of this hope as they were held, even by people of intelligence, were most fantastic. They ex- pected preliminary omens of a darkened sun and moon, armies marching through the skies, the reappearance of Elijah and the sudden and bloodless approach of the Messiah, as a victorious ruler. His whole career would be signalized by miracles and wonders. The time was ready, but He could not yet appear because of the trans- gressions of the people.
Mary and Joseph, as well as Simeon, Anna and Zacha- rias, may be regarded as representative of a class of peo- ple, not influential, nor rich, nor learned, but who never- theless were the strength of the nation. One of the Psalms calls them ''The Quiet of the land." They were not political schemers like the Pharisees, nor ardent revolutionaries like the Zealots, but they felt the deepest convictions as to their country's future. Joseph in his dream is represented as being told that the promised child is "to save his people from their sins." Mary, the carpenter's wife, rejoices, in the song which some one has called "the birth-song of Democracy," not only that "He is to put down the mighty from their seats," but that "He hath exalted them of low degree. The hungry he hath filled with good things." Jesus was born in a home where such hopes were passionately cherished. To-day our parents hope that their children may grow to be wise and successful, but the parents of Jesus, like all others in their neighborhood, dared to hope that their own child might prove to be the nation's saviour. To be a mother in Israel was more honorable than any- where else in the world, for she might become the parent or the ancestor of Israel's deliverer.
You are to think of Jesus then as a boy who had been taught these hopes from His earliest childhood. They were discussed not only in His home, but at the village well, and even in the synagogue services, which corre-
14 THE LIFE OF JESUS
spond to our modern church. He and the other young people were not only being trained for possible leader- ship, but they were all being educated to follow such a leader when He should appear. The future disciples of Jesus were being made ready as well as He.
CHAPTER III JESUS' SCHOOLING
We are not told that Jesus ever went to school. You remember some one asking once how it was that He knew 1 'letters" — this probably referred to rabbinical knowl- edge— since He had never had the chance to learn. There were at that time schools in many of the villages of Israel. These were usually housed in synagogues or churches, and the attendant or sexton was often the teacher. Boys of six years of age were sent to such schools, which were as free as the public schools in our own country.
Before Jesus could have gone to school, however, He had His first instruction from His parents at home. The first words that He would learn to say were from the Shema (pronounced Shem-a'), which was the Jews' solemn confession of faith. Its first words were written on parchment and enclosed in the shining metal case which was fastened to the door-post, which He must touch every time He came in and went out; they were also placed inside the square leather boxes which were worn on the foreheads and wrists of all grown-up men who were conscientious Jews. These cardinal doctrines were:
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord with all thine heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy might."
Just as soon as Jesus awoke in the morning, before He stirred, He had been trained to oifer a prayer of thanksgiving for being alive. Before He took four steps He must wash His hands in a special way, as a
15
16 THE LIFE OP JESUS
sign that He was clean in spirit as in body, If the sun rose after He was dressed He had to stop wherever He was at its first shining, whether outdoors or inside, and give thanks. Before and after each meal He must make a prayer. The very choice of food was a religious act.
The learning of these and other sacred quotations at home was not a sanctimonious duty, but since He was taught them when He was busy with His father at work or walking beside His mother with the pitcher on her head, they were all associated with His parents' love and care, and with the sights and sounds of the wonder- ful world about Him.
In Palestine the father was by Jewish law regarded as responsible for his child's education. This duty was regarded as more important than his meals. To omit it would be to deserve the name of a vulgar and irrelig- ious person, and in discharging this duty faithfully he was an ambassador of the Most High. As Moses carried the law from the mountain top down to the people, so it was the duty of every father to bestow knowledge upon his child. The parents not only taught Jesus the sacred sentences, but they also explained them by the fascinating stories of Jewish history.
The schoolhouse or church was a plain, whitewashed building, like a New England meeting-house. The boy sat on the floor in a circle with their masters, and studied their lessons at the top of their voices. They had only one text-book, and that was a part of the Old Testament. This was a cylinder of manuscript written on a leather roll from right to left, wound around two metal staves and kept in a silken case in a box on the platform of the meeting-house. This was Jesus' spelling-book, arith- metic and geography. It contained the stories of His country's heroes, the histories of His nation's wars, and the words of its best and greatest men.
Every lesson was a memory lesson. The teacher would drill his pupils day after day until they could recite word for word all the olden laws, then the stories,
s
Copyright by J. J. Tissot. Courtesy of the Tissot Picture Society.
THE YOUTH OF JESUS.
THE EDUCATION OF THE FESTIVALS 17
finally the prophets and the Psalms, until they knew by heart thousands of verses from their nation's book.
Many of the things which boys learn to-day in school were then taught at home. Every boy, no matter how wealthy his parents, must learn a trade. In learn- ing his trade the boy would get the elements of arith- metic. Jesus learned from Joseph how to handle the saw and a mason's trowel, and how to bend wood for
A Jewish School.
ox-yokes, while His sisters were learning from their mother how to sew and keep house.
Jesus' school-days would not be tiresome, for there were no lessons in the middle of the day nor in hot weather. About one day in every four was a religious holiday, and children did not go to school much after they were twelve or fourteen years old.
A very important part of Jesus' education was the national feast-days, what might be called "the Church Year" of the Jews. This was true because each feast had its meaning. The most important was the Sabbath. This weekly festival was anticipated by preparing all the food for a day in advance. The Sabbath began on Fri- day evening. The sacred day was Saturday. The Sabbath lamp was lighted then and burned all through the next day. It was a day of complete rest. Part of the time was spent by the father and the older chil-
18 THE LIFE OP JESUS
dren in the synagogue, and he, when he came home, pronounced the benediction upon his younger children before he sat down to dinner. The day was filled with visiting, feasting and short walks, and the Sabbath was over at sundown.
The Passover in the spring was a patriotic feast which corresponded in some ways to our Fourth of July, com- memorating the independence of Israel from Egypt. Next occurred the Feast of Weeks, or of First Fruits. In the autumn came the Feast of Tabernacles, when the whole family camped out in tents for a week and cele- brated thanksgiving time together. There was also the Feast of Dedication, which commemorated the revolt of Judas the Maccabee, and the springtime Feast of Purim, which commemorated the brave story of Esther. All these festivals were lessons in history.
When Jesus was old enough to go to church He heard the Scriptures read and explained by the most competent man in the village, and sometimes these explanations would be followed by a discussion, somewhat like that of a Bible class. This, of course, is the very best way to get at the meaning of the Bible. Jesus probably had access to a copy of the olden Scriptures, and there is some evidence that He knew a few other books, which were of a semisacred character.
Every one who has visited Nazareth has climbed the hill at the northwest of the village in order to get its famous view. This hilltop overlooks many of the most interesting places in the Holy Land. It was indeed a series of lessons to Jesus in history, patriotism and relig- ious spirit. Off to the north He could see the snowy shoulder of Mt. Hermon, the highest peak. At its foot was the summer palace of their Roman ruler. To the east He could see the chasm of the Jordan, and far be- yond it the steep, dark walls of the table-land of Gilead, where had lived Jephthah, the great warrior, and where Gideon had chased Israel's enemies into the woods and whipped the elders at Succoth with briers. Opposite,
opyright by Underwood & Underwood.
AZARETH, AND THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON, BOY JESUS PLAYED.
WHERE THE
NAZARETH AND HISTORY 19
westward, He saw a range of low hills, and beyond them a long purple mountain. This Mt. Carmel was asso- ciated with the grand story of Elijah. To the south, beyond a long, winding, narrow plain, a great triangle of waving grain and grass, were other hills. These were the mountains of Gilboa where Gideon had tested the great- ness of his volunteers at the water-springs. Yonder was Tabor, where Deborah, with a young man perhaps hardly more than a boy helping her, had gathered Is- rael's minutemen to the defense of their country. In the
Nazareth. The Home of Christ for Nearly Thirty Years.
spacious valley below, these soldiers had defeated Sisera, and across that plain later drove furious Jehu, who killed wretched Jezebel, the enemy of his people. Yonder too died the boy king Josiah, in a daring but vain endeavor to stem the power of Egypt. The pathway through this valley is the oldest road in the world — the bridge between Asia and Africa. How much history has flowed down that stream of pilgrimage since then ! Beyond rounded Tabor stood gray Gilboa again, the scene of the death of Saul and Jonathan, and of the coming into his kingdom of David, the great shepherd of Israel. What boy could live in such scenes and not be a patriot and a worshipper of the God who had protected Israel ?
Finally, there was the education of the village of Nazareth itself. All the grown people then took the
20 THE LIFE OF JESUS
deepest interest in children. Some of the wiser ones spent much of their time answering the questions of the younger folks, talking with them and teaching them wise sayings. One of the proverbs of the day encouraged the young to listen to such men. It ran: "Stay close by the seller of perfumes, if you wish to be fragrant yourself."
As soon as Jesus was old enough to understand, the discussions in and after the synagogue and around the village spring would give Him the standpoint of the men of His race, and occasionally a trader or a traveller would come who would bring something new from the outside world. Possibly Joseph, on his travels as a carpenter and mason, would learn much that would interest his children. The language of Jesus and His parents was Aramaic, a tongue that had somewhat the relation to Hebrew that Italian has to the Latin. In some way, no doubt at the expenditure of much pains and energy, it is possible that Jesus picked up Greek, the language of courts and of culture. He must have learned the Old Hebrew, the language of the Scriptures, which had now become a dead tongue, if He read the roll in the syna- gogue.
Men are discussing to-day how to provide religious education in a country in which the public school may not teach religion, but, as you can see, the Jews had, in a wonderful way, provided that all the education, both public and private, that the boys and girls obtained then was religious, that is, it tended toward love of God and country, and toward the wish to be righteous and of service to one's fellows.
CHAPTER IV
A COUNTRY BOY'S FIRST VISIT TO THE CITY
When Jesus was in His thirteenth year He was taken upon His first journey away from home. He had now become what was called "a Son of the Law"; that is, it was supposed that He was now old enough to be responsible for His own actions, and that He was upon the verge of manhood. It was now His privilege to take an active part in the principal feast^of His country, and it became His duty for the rest of His life to attend that festival in Jerusalem whenever it was possible.
One of the events which made this first journey of Jesus from home significant, was the fact that before He started He put on for the first time the clothing of a man. This garment of manhood consisted of a great striped cloak of the shape and size of a Scotch plaid, upon each corner of which was a long blue tassel. The stricter Jews also wore phylacteries. These tassels and phylacteries were worn with great pride. They were shown especially in the presence of foreigners. A Jew wore these patriotic emblems with the same pleasure which an American feels in showing the Stars and Stripes in a foreign country.
We can hardly emphasize too much that the first journey of Jesus was that of a Jewish boy going to the Jewish capital for the greatest event in Jewish life. We who sometimes sneer at Hebrews to-day, especially the unfortunate and ignorant emigrants who flee to America from Russia, need to realize that Jesus was a member of one of the grandest races of antiquity. Not only had His race produced several of the greatest men in history, but the Jewish thinking about God constituted
21
22
THE LIFE OF JESUS
the greatest religious gift which any race has made to the world. "The Jewish race," says a great Scottish scholar, "is our Mother of Sorrows, our first teacher of penitence and righteousness."
All the fathers and mothers and the older children of Nazareth, dressed in bright colors, started together upon a camping tour, which lasted ten days. The chief men of the village went first with the village banner, and a cav- alcade of donkeys and of people followed behind. No doubt the boys car- ried sticks to encourage the donkeys, for all, ex- cept the women, trav- elled on foot. Nobody was left behind except the old people and the little children.
The procession wound down the Nazareth hills to the great valley be- low, where, as it entered the old royal road, it joined a throng of travellers. Some were their countrymen living farther north or in foreign lands, others Greeks, Romans, and people from Asia Minor who came for trade or curi- osity to the great feast. In some of these groups stately camels ambled along, bearing bales of silk and bundles of spices and merchandise. It was springtime, and the green fields were dotted with wild flowers of many colors. The shepherd boys were watching their sheep beside the placid Kishon river, and the farmers were standing knee-deep in the verdant green.
The three days' journey passed place after place which aroused in Jesus' mind the deepest interest. First was Shunem, connected with the story of Elisha; then the weird caves of Endor, where the old witch used to live; then ruined Jezreel, Jezebel's old summer home. The first night they camped in a sheltered spot be-
The Tower of Jezreel.
WHAT HE SAW ON THE WAY
23
Modern Bethel.
tween grassy Carmel and barren Gilboa, where the road begins to climb the table-land. Big camp-fires were built along the plain, and it was hard to sleep in the midst of the marching songs of other pilgrims who were approaching, and the chatter of count- less voices happy with reunion. The full Pas- chal moon was shining, and the slopes of the en- circling hills were almost as light as day. The second day's journey probably took them through the highlands. A Jew travelling alone avoided Samaria, but not so a cavalcade. They passed the well where Joseph was left by his envious brothers, and came toward night beneath the walls of the city of Samaria. It was a magnificent town, but it was not a friendly one, for it was a Roman
fortress and, too, the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. Again they camped in sight of two mountains, Ebal and Gerizim, on whose two slopes Josh- ua, Jesus' great name- sake (Joshua in Greek is Jesus) had gathered the whole nation after the conquest. The next morning they passed the grave of Joseph, and drank at Jacob's well. During the day they scrambled across the rocky slope of Bethel, where Jacob slept the first night he was away from Hebron, upon the stones
Nebi Samwtl. Supposed to be Ramah, the home of Samuel.
24 THE LIFE OF JESUS
of his grandfather's altar; then Ramah, where Samuel, the kingmaker, lived, and Gibeah, where Saul was born. Some time the third day they found that their eighty-mile journey was nearly over, and knew that the Holy City, the goal of their pilgrimage, would soon be in sight. All the morning they had been singing the pilgrim songs, and now everybody put on his best clothes and his adornments, to be ready for entrance into the great city.
There is a little collection embedded in the Book of Psalms, from the 120th to the 134th inclusive, which is believed to contain some of the songs which were sung on the march and upon the approach and entrance to the Holy City. These were strongly patriotic in char- acter, and were probably as familiar to every Jewish child as "America" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic " are to us. You will enjoy turning to them again, and noticing their subjects. The 121st, which has always been loved by travellers and sailors, has been called An Evening Hymn in Sight of Jerusalem; the 128th, A Home Song of the Hebrew Race; the 134th, The Benediction of the Night Watch, in the temple. As the pilgrims went along the footpath way, no doubt they sang the Marching Song, which we call the 12 2d Psalm.
Though long awaited, the first sight of the city was unexpected. They climbed a hillock, and lo, it was already spread before them. On the right was the great stone castle of the Romans. The old gray wall, a hundred feet above the valley, protected every side, and the hills were, as of old, around Jerusalem, but there at the left before them was the temple, a mighty cathedral, with its snowy terraces of marble, and its roofs of gleaming gold. The whole company knelt in thanksgiving as the holy house flashed into view. To Jesus it was the most glorious sight He had ever seen.
When they caught sight of the temple they probably broke out into the notes of the 125th Psalm. If the 1 2 2d was sung to a marching melody, paced by drums,
WHAT JESUS DID IN THE CITY
25
this song would be set to a triumphant tune, and perhaps accompanied by trumpets.
All Jerusalem kept open house and every home enter- tained a group of friends or strangers. Multitudes were camping out upon the hill slopes of the Mount of Olives. In the early morning Jesus and His parents stood in the Jewish court. In the larger courtyard outside, foreigners gathered curi- ously and looked in, and read the stone tablet which warned them of death if they ventured farther. But Jesus belonged to the chosen people, "The Sons of God, " as they called themselves. And He listened eagerly and intently when the strange washings and burnings and recitatives went on, watched the incense overflow the curtains, and noted by the sound of the tinkling bells behind him, in what part of the service the unseen priest was engaged.
On the great day of the feast Joseph purchased a choice yearling lamb, and after a priest had killed it
Mary roasted it upon a cross of pomegranate wood. In the upper room, away from the crowd, Joseph and his wife and their boy ate the sacred meal.
Every part of the feast was a story. These bitter herbs were a symbol of the bitterness of slavery, and the paste of fruits was the emblem of the mortar which their fathers used when they were forced to make bricks in
General Plan oe Temple and Courts as Rebuilt by Herod. Drawn to Scale.
i. Holy of Holies. 2. Holy Place. 3. Temple Porch. 4. Great Altar of Burnt Offerings. 5. Court of the Priests. 6. Court of Israel. 7. Court of the Women. 8. Beautiful Gate. 9. Priests' Chambers. 10. "Soreg" or Balustrade, within which Gentiles were not allowed to go. 11. Court of the Gentiles. 12. Solomon's Porch. 13. Royal Porch. 14. Entrance to Castle of Antonia.
26 THE LIFE OF JESUS
Egypt. The silent lamb reminded them that redemp- tion is always at the cost of life. They ate standing up and in haste, as if just fleeing from bondage. They offered the old thanksgiving prayers and sang the ancient songs. At the close Jesus was expected to ask, "What do you mean by these services ? " and Joseph told again the Passover story. (Exodus 12 : 1-28.)
You can realize how much the three days meant to Jesus. Jerusalem was not only the capital and the shrine, but it was also the university of Israel. Here gathered not only all sanctity and wealth, but also all wisdom. The shallow shops along the narrow lanes were filled with goods and treasures from all nations. The tongues of twenty races could be heard among the gathered thousands. From the walls Jesus could see sites that repeated the entire story of this wonderful capital. The impregnable Roman fortress next door to the temple was a reminder of the decline and changed conditions of the nation's life, but, of course, the great centre of attraction was the temple itself. The build- ing was new and magnificent. Its many courts were always filled, the people talking, singing or praying, and even offering merchandise for sale. The services were accompanied by choruses of child musicians, and were brilliant with the bright gowns of the priests and doctors, and every afternoon, upon the grassy terrace outside the great building itself, a solemn company of scholars gathered to conduct public discussions and answer ques- tions. In all these places Jesus took delight, but espe- cially was He found in the temple at the hours of service, and each day He came eagerly to bring His questions, which were the old questions that He had heard discussed so often in the synagogue and market-place of Nazareth, to receive such answers as the wise men of His time could give. These things made deep impressions on the thoughtful boy, and they furnished food for many a subsequent meditation.
You know how there came a time in your own life
THE AWAKENING OF JESUS 27
when it seemed as if you had had an awakening, perhaps a sudden one, perhaps a slow one. It was as if you had always been blind, and now for the first time could see. You seemed to have outgrown all you had known, or had been before. You were no longer boy or girl; you were henceforth man or woman. No longer could other people settle questions for you. You must have not only the solemn privilege, but also the awful duty of carrying your own life. Was not this what Jesus meant in His reply to His anxious mother? Up to this time she had been saying to Him, "You must," and He had obeyed her; henceforth a voice within spoke, which said "I must." So He answered "Do you not know that I must be about my Father's work ?"
CHAPTER V THE VILLAGE CARPENTER
After the Passover which Jesus attended at Jerusalem we are told that He went down with His parents to His home in Nazareth and submitted to their control. Other scripture passages tell us that He became a carpenter, and this is all that we know directly about His life for the next seventeen or eighteen years, but from the fact that soon after the end of that period He removed His family to the new home in Capernaum, we get the im- pression that Joseph died during Jesus' boyhood or early manhood, and that Jesus had been engaged in the sup- port of His own home which, as we know, numbered no less than eight persons. But so much is now known about the artisan life in Palestine in the time of Jesus, that we can construct a very interesting picture of His young manhood.
The village of Nazareth was a rambling town centring upon a hillside. It had no paving or sewerage, and the small white houses stood along winding lanes, all of which led down to the square where was the village spring, the only water-supply for the town. The people were generally poor. They had only small farms, and the hillside soil was not good. They had lost heart under the exactions of the Roman tax-gatherers, and as they were not upon a main thoroughfare nor near a city, they had no market for their products.
As the houses were of clay or stone, there was not much work for a carpenter in constructing buildings. His neighbors would do all the repair work possible themselves. Joseph would perhaps be asked to lay new roof rafters, to be coated over with clay, and to make
28
JESUS' DAILY LIFE 29
simple furnishings of chests and benches, but the larger part of his work was probably the shaping of ox-yokes and the making of wheels for carts.
Is it not possible that Joseph and Jesus were called away at times to work at their craft upon the new palace of Herod Philip at Tiberias or even upon the completing of the temple at Jerusalem ?
An artisan in those days and clear through the middle ages was a man of an itinerant calling, and had a broader experience than almost any other, except a trader or a soldier. We get our best explanation of Jesus' immediate success at Capernaum later if we suppose that He already had an acquaintance there. He may have removed His home there long before His public ministry.
If Jesus was the village carpenter He must have been familiar with every home and family in Nazareth. He knew people of all ages and was acquainted with their circumstances of joy, sorrow and need. He learned about farm life as He made ploughs for the farmers, and He learned to sympathize with a house-builder, of whom He told in His stories, who started a house without having money enough to finish it, or who tried to build his home upon sandy soil instead of upon a stone founda- tion. Perhaps He thought of illustrations He would use from sheep and hens as He repaired sheep-folds and made hen-coops. When He went away from home He got new outlooks on human life and toil. He had the habit of walking in the fields on Sabbath afternoons, and no doubt loved the solitude of Nazareth's lonely hilltop.
If it be true that Joseph died when Jesus was a boy, then Jesus had to take the place of father to His younger brothers and sisters. He had, therefore, to spend much time in their education, and perhaps part of the skill of Jesus as a teacher came from His practice as school- teacher to the little group of six other children, of whom He was the instructor.
Jesus had so short a time to show what religion was
30 THE LIFE OF JESUS
like, yet of His three and thirty years all but three were spent in manual toil. He never had the leisure to go into a hermitage as John did. He never took time to fast but once. He had little privacy. He had to learn life and live out His life in just the same kind of circum- stances which cause us to complain or to excuse our- selves for not being more unselfish.
You can understand what the circumstances of a man's life have been by little incidents. You remember that when Jesus was consecrated by His parents in the tem- ple, we are told that they brought the offering of the very poor, — two doves. Upon one occasion when one of His friends was to be married, the groom was not able to provide sufficient wine, perhaps because of the unex- pected appearance of guests who came with Jesus. His disciples saved with scrupulous care any food that was left over, when they happened to have an abundance. Once they did not have money enough between them to pay their poll-tax, and when Jesus wished to show an illustration by money He had to borrow a shilling to do it. The language of Jesus was that of the poor man. Not only did He speak a rural dialect, not the language of the scholar or philosopher, but He spoke from the points of view of the laboring man. The only kinds of food He ever mentioned were bread and water, the common wine of the country, and the kid or the lamb that has been saved for the one fall festival of meat- eating or the annual Passover. His friends, Mary and Martha, and the mother of Peter's wife, as well as His own mother, did their own housework. "If you have two cloaks," He once said, as if this were an unusual luxury. He spoke of "the lamp" and "the bushel" as if there were but one in the house. He begins the Beati- tudes, especially as they are given to us in Luke, with words for those who are poor and hungry. The Lord's Prayer is a poor man's prayer, for it asks for bread for the coming day.
The persons of Jesus' stories are mostly poor. Lazarus
JESUS REFERS TO HIS TRADE 31
is a diseased beggar. In the story of the two debtors, one owes a poor man's debt. The rich fool is rich only as farmers are rich. The man who gave a great dinner had only one servant. The story of the feeding of the five thousand tells about multiplying bread and fishes, the working-man's lunch. The father in the story of the prodigal had but one fatted calf.
The silence of Jesus is as instructive as the things He said. From His vague references to kings and courts we know that He never saw a king. He refers to natural forces, sickness and medicine, not in the language of even the elementary science of His time, but in that of the common people. Jesus, so far as we know, never saw a picture. Probably He never rode a horse. He left His native land upon only one occasion, and then for only a walking trip.
Do you realize how often Jesus spoke about His trade ? He told once about a man making estimates for a house, of another who laid the foundation, of the heavy house beams, and of the splinter that got into the working- man's eye. He spoke of the double door and the narrow wicket gate, and of the few articles of furniture in the house. In a recently discovered manuscript Jesus is represented as saying, "Raise the stone and thou shalt find me; cleave the wood and there am I." That is, — when you work as a mason or carpenter, lifting burdens or working with tools, "Remember me, the carpenter who helps you." In two of the dearest passages in the New Testament people have failed to notice that Jesus was referring to the daily work of His youth. "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden," He said. "Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy." That is, when a young man, as a yoke-maker he could fit wooden yokes to the necks of oxen, so that they could more easily draw great loads. These sentences are a beautiful way of saying that we can all do hard work easier if one who is skilful to fit the burden to us is help- ing us. Again He said, "In my Father's house are many
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." In Naza- reth the "mansion" possessed only a single room. In order to prepare a place for a new family it was necessary either to build on a room to the house, or to divide the one room by a partition. "Our Father's house," as Jesus says, has many rooms, and He, the heavenly car- penter, is preparing one for each of the Father's children. Like our own Lincoln, the young man Jesus must have read and reread the few books He knew, until they meant much more to Him than our careless reading does now. It is possible for us to know, from Jesus' later teach- ing, what had impressed and influ- enced Him most deeply in the Old Testament. It is a very interesting matter to study this out.
His deepest interest was in the prophets. The prophets of Israel, es- pecially the earlier ones, were public men who had the greatest sympathy with the poor and the oppressed. It is doubtful if any other race ever pro- duced a literature whose whole key- note was this of social justice. They all believed in their country and its future, and they told of a kingdom that was to come, whose life was righteous and whose conditions were fair and happy. The Psalmists put the same thought in song, and both the prophets and the singers had faith that God, the God of the Hebrews, would bring this to pass.
Jesus did not care for the ceremonial laws, but He went back to the simpler enactments, like the Ten Com- mandments, and those which had to do with sincere worship, benevolence, mercy, friendship and the rela- tions of marriage and the home.
Some passages were especially dear to Him. Those referring to the better kingdom we have referred to.
A Book of the Law.
From a photograph of an ancient roll of the Penta- teuch at Shechem.
JESUS' READING 33
There are nearly a hundred repetitions in the Book of Ezekiel of the phrase "the Son of man," and this is found nowhere else in the Old Testament with reference to a human prophet. These verses Jesus loved to apply- to Himself, as being likewise the special ambassador of God. Does not His whole brave life show the influ- ence of the teaching in the Fifty-third of Isaiah about the one who is to redeem Israel not through conquest but by becoming a servant of mankind ?
Mastery of the spirit of a great collection like the Old Testament is gained only by sturdy patience and well- won insight. Such a student was Jesus the carpenter.
CHAPTER VI THE MAN WHO HAD A NEW MESSAGE
When Jesus was about thirty years old a man appeared in Judea, whose remarkable personality and influence were soon felt a hundred miles away, even as far as the secluded village of Nazareth. He was a young man of Jesus' own age, the son of a priest, but his experience had been a distinct contrast to that of his distant kins- man.
There was among the Jews at that time a small group of persons, never mentioned in the Bible, who held so firmly to the national anticipations of deliverance that they had secluded themselves like monks in order to await it. They were known as Essenes. They lived together, unmarried, in a kind of monastery. They were Jews, but they took no part in the temple service.
You will be interested to know something about them. Philo of Alexandria, who wrote probably before the death of Jesus, says that they pursued agriculture and other useful arts, but had no care to accumulate money, and whatever they possessed they held in common. They never married, and they never held slaves. They ob- served the Sabbath with great care, and spent much time sitting, the older above the younger, listening while those who were most wise explained the Scriptures. "Their life-long purity and their recognition of a good providence showed their love of God. Their love of man revealed itself in their kindliness, their equality, their fellowship passing all words." Even their tyrants, says Philo, had been impressed with their quiet but invincible free- dom and their beautiful friendship.
Pliny the elder, who wrote about fifty years after the death of Jesus, says that while they have no children
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THE ESSENES 35
"the number of their fellows is kept up, for there flock to them from afar many who, wearied of battling with the rough sea of life, drift into their system."
Josephus says that, before the rising of the sun, which they seem to have reverenced, "they never speak a word about profane things." He says also that those who joined them were required to be upon probation for three years before entering into fellowship. Then they were "allowed to join more closely in their way of life and partake of a purer quality of the waters of purification." This use of "waters of purification" by immersion or bathing was also, he says, their daily custom before meals.
John probably did not become a member of their body, but his education seems to have been in their neighbor- hood and he may have been their pupil. Their beauti- ful order of life may have suggested to him the kingdom of brotherhood which was to come, and their ceremonial bathing, the rite of baptism as an initiation into it. John also retained their ceremonial of fasting, though he seems not to have gone to their extremes in Sabbath observance. He may have learned from them the belief in the equality of man, and the doctrine of the sharing of possessions, which he taught. They were a body of men who were trying, by uttermost obedience to the Law, to bring in the kingdom at once, and from their pure example he may have learned to feel that it could really be "at hand."
There was a narrow and intolerant and superstitious side to their faith which John also may have shared, but in this chief respect he differed from them, that he be- lieved their principles should not be shut up to themselves in a monastery but carried out where all men might have a chance to share them. So John, though he shared their solitude for a time, either as their representative or as an outcomer from their school, finally appeared in the outer world, on the outskirts of the desert beside the great highway that leads up from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
The attraction of John the Baptist was that he was a Man. The leaders of the people at this time were pedants, merely imitative scholars of the old Scriptures, but this youth was an original thinker. The authorities in Jerusalem were ritualists and were ever busy about
tiresome observations. Here was one who lived entirely above the level of ritual. His aim was to reverse the down- ward currents of his time.
His appearance was the strik- ing symbol of his personality. He was dressed only in a rough shepherd's coat of black and white camel's hair, fastened at the waist by a girdle of lion's skin. He lived the life of a frontiersman and ate the food of the desert. He had a fierce face, and he spoke with a country dialect and in a voice of thunder. He did not weakly lament over the sorrows of the nation, and there was nothing compromising about his addresses. •
"What are you here for, you descendants of vipers ?" was his startling prologue to those who depended on their religious heritage. "Who told you to come here to take refuge from the judgment which is approaching ?" ' ' You say Abraham is your father ? I tell you God can make better descendants of Abraham out of these peb- bles."
John thus made a startling break with his own race. He also recognized no caste nor distinction in those whom he addressed. Some Roman soldiers who were thought beneath contempt by the Pharisees asked him humbly what they might do to please God. "Use violence to no one; exact nothing by false accusations, and be content with your pay," was his answer. Some
John the Baptist Preaching.
THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF JOHN 37
tax-collectors who were regarded generally as traitors because they were agents of the hated Roman authorities volunteered to proffer their services and learn the de- mands of God. " Extort no more than the law allows," was the prophet's simple reply. It was an easy thing to say, but it meant a revolution in their conduct. "If you have two cloaks," he said to the multitude, "give one to your neighbor." "If you have food share that also." Here was evidently a social movement, which, if it should succeed, was going to abolish poverty as well as racial barriers, and make religion a matter of every-day living. But the text of his usual addresses which he repeated almost monotonously from day to day, was this: "Repent! Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven draws near !"
We can at least dimly see the secrets of John's influ- ence. A rough, vigorous man who knows where he is going pushes his way anywhere. A man who curries no favor and treats all people alike wins admiration, and when one voices a nation's passionate desire and asserts that that desire is immediately to be fulfilled people see in him a leader and many desire to follow him.
And yet, when the religious leaders of the nation sent a delegation to John to ask him who he was and what he was about to do, he simply repeated a quotation from an ancient prophecy :
"I am the Voice of one who cries loudly in the desert: Prepare the way of Jehovah. Every chasm must be filled up, Every hill must be levelled. The winding ways must be made straight, And the stony pathways smooth, And all mankind shall see Salvation from God."
The most notable act by which John excited the curi- osity of those who came to hear him was that of demand- ing immediately the ceremony of baptism from those who had declared themselves loyal to his teaching. The
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
use of water for ceremonial ablutions was not unknown among the Jews, and was practised, as we have seen, by the Essenes. But when John led his followers into the muddy stream of the Jordan, the nation's one river, and immersed them there, there was no doubt in the minds of those who subjected themselves to this thorough and rather humiliating symbol of purification that he was organizing at least the elements of a band of men who were set apart for some heroic purpose. Some persons saw in him the spirit of their old patriot prophet
The Jordan River. At the traditional place of Christ's baptism.
(From a photograph.)
Elijah, who had dared to stand almost alone against the plots of the foreign and idolatrous queen Jezebel. Others felt that his proclamation of the kingdom meant the organizing of a rebellion.
Jesus hastened from His hilltop home, down the Jor- dan valley, to meet John. Through all these years of silence He had been studying the same problems which John had faced in the desert and He was, no doubt, now feeling very clearly that His own great future was just at hand. He must have listened to the impassioned speaker with admiration. He must have felt toward him something of hero-worship.
But even more than by mere admiration and feeling did John impress Jesus. Jesus was a shrewd student of
JESUS' OPINION OF JOHN 39
men. He measured His words also. The remark He made about John afterward should cause us to revise our opinion of this underestimated man. Jesus said of him that no greater man had been born among men than this same John. Does this seem exaggeration ? But consider just what Jesus meant. He did not refer to his fame or his personal achievements or even his influence. He compared him with the Hebrew prophets, who were the greatest men He knew. He considered the vision- less times in which John lived and remembered how he rose above the greatest of the prophets in his ignoring of race and ritual and in his practical demand that men should stop waiting for the golden age and should actually begin to create it. He saw in him the most inspired and also the most effective apostle of human betterment who had yet appeared. And can you compare, in these two great factors of magnificent conception and prac- tical endeavor, any philosopher of Greece or Rome ?
Jesus qualified His praise of John. He said that chil- dren who should live in the kingdom when it should actually come would be greater than He, that is, greater in their knowledge of what it should really mean to men. Jesus differed with John in many ways. For instance, He saw God as the God of construction and not of destruc- tion, as John did, but it is a strong tribute to His great- heartedness that He bowed Himself at the feet of John as his follower and allied Himself with this movement for the purifying of the nation's life. When Jesus came and asked to be baptized by John He was not claiming leadership, He was becoming a soldier in the ranks, but it was a distinct enlistment.
And it was then, according to accounts that seem to have come from Jesus' own lips, that He felt the Spirit of God descend into His life and set Him apart for His life-work.
CHAPTER VII
JESUS' CHOICE OF A CALLING
You have been learning what Jesus has been doing. What do you suppose has been going on within ? We have some valuable accounts, which seem to have come originally from Jesus Himself, which tell us so much about what Jesus was thinking during these days that
they may almost be called pages from His moral auto- biography.
We generally know these stories as "the temptation" of Jesus, but that word is hardly large enough. They describe to us Jesus' choice of a calling. Picture the circumstances. Jesus feels a sudden reaction from the tumult of the crowd. He sees the grandeur and He sees too the limitations of John's idea. All the pent-up questions of His early man- hood press for answer at once. A spiritual voice within Him tells Him that He needs to be alone and find out just what His attitude toward life is going to be.
Something of this sort happens when a young man or woman comes to the city to begin work or school. He leaves much behind, the cosey home atmosphere, the in- dulgent and approving faces of his parents and family, and the customs and recreations of his neighborhood. The ideals that are cherished by those whom he knows
40
The River Jordan, near Jericho.
JESUS IN THE DESERT 41
and loves meet a real test. He takes up much that is new: new work, difficult because unfamiliar, new teach- ers or employers and companions and the inspiring opportunities of a larger life. How hard it is to be at home in the new surroundings, to face each fresh day without any guidance but his own wisdom, and how care- ful is his task in discriminating between the ideals of his old surroundings and of the new, and in deciding which shall really be his own.
And so it was with Jesus.
Most pressing of all, no doubt, was this inquiry which Jesus may have put to Himself, in some such words as these: "Here am I, with only one life to invest for My Father. Just how am I to put it to service ? How may I avoid mistake and waste, and make it count most for the kingdom that is coming ? "
Well, this is the question you too have to answer, and you must be interested in trying to learn how Jesus faced the problem.
Many scholars think that it was winter when Jesus went down into the desert of Judea. It is a region of canons with tawny sides of rock and sand, little vegeta- tion, a few scanty brooks and many caverns, in one of which perhaps Jesus camped out. Mark states that "He was with the wild beasts," but some of the manu- scripts read instead, "He was with the Enlightened," that is, in a monastery of the Essenes. This reading is prob- ably an error. It is not impossible, however, that Jesus shared their hospitality. Even to this day this region contains many hermit shelters. It is not necessary to suppose that Jesus remained entirely in one spot. The temptation stories tell us of His being upon an exceedingly high mountain and again in the city of Jerusalem. One is sometimes never more alone than in a strange city, and it is possible that Jesus thought out part of His prob- lem walking in the country or even resting in the temple courts.
The fasting too is not to be made too prominent. It
42 THE LIFE OF JESUS
was not like Jesus to undertake deliberately to weaken His body or to imitate ascetic customs. He was no doubt too engrossed to think of food, and His mind grew clearer as He freed it from the demands of the body.
Nor are we to think of the tempter as a Satan with hoof and horns, or even, as Bengel has suggested, a scribe, who propounded questions that should shake His faith.
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The Mount of Temptation.
The Mount of Temptation (Mons Quarantania) , the traditional scene of Christ's temptation, is on the eastern edge of the rugged wilderness of Judea, a few miles north of Jericho. In its bare and desolate sides are many holes and caves which were the homes of hermits in past ages.
He was tempted "in all points as we are," and we are never tempted in such fashions. We are always tempted from within.
Indeed if the stories of the temptations represent at all what came to Jesus, they must have come from His own thoughts, and is it not best to think that He tried, as Orientals do, by a series of striking pictures to repre- sent what took place in His own heart ? Let us see if we can read those pictures.
The first was temptation of the body. The bodily life is good. Jesus was no ascetic. He was a sturdy working man. He had great endurance, and wholesome physical ideals.
He had to face the question, Is a life of bodily indulgence worth while ? This is the first and hardest temptation
WHAT THE TEMPTATIONS WERE 43
which young people have to face. It comes just when the bodily energies are at full tide, when the passions are fiercest, when the power of self-restraint is least trained, when the risks of indulgence are most readily accepted.
The body has its rights, its innocent joys, its demands for satisfaction.
How did the problem come to Him ? Was He tempted by that primal desire, physical indulgence ? We cannot deny it, if He were really a man. Was He tempted to a life of ease and of luxury? Who has failed to meet such enticements ?
You know how this trial meets you now, the tempta- tion to use the body as a toy, to overdo in the quest of pleasure, to be hungry for a perpetual good time. Jesus did not undervalue or despise any of these things. He was even criticised for being too fond of festivals. But He decided that it was not worth while to live just for these things. Man cannot live upon such things alone.
There was a sect in Jesus' time that had chosen this way of life, and one of the callings that beckoned to Him was theirs. They were called Sadducees. They met the unrest of Roman rule by saying: "Let us not worry about the future. Let us be comfortable and keep out of trouble. We will live our own lives, and let the country take care of itself." To this group belonged many of the priests, most of the educated people and all the wealthy people. If Jesus would identify Himself with them, His would be an easy life.
In our own time we see many who yield to this fever for indulgence as a life pursuit. The quest for money, for luxury, for selfishness has become a national peril. Others stand sternly above this passion, which is half savage, and work earnestly for the social good. Every young person comes to the parting of the ways, and has some time to decide where he belongs.
Jesus came to this point, and He determined that He would not side with the party of indulgence. He would not be a Sadducee.
44 THE LIFE OF JESUS
Next enthusiasm claimed Him.
Enthusiasm is a good thing. How much the world has been moved forward on the strength of the enthusiasts !
But enthusiasm has its perils. You know them. There is the tendency to "spill over," to overwork for a week and then be incapacitated for work for a month; to have violent attachments and fierce loyalties, succeeded by indifference ; to have hysteria, to do spectacular deeds ; to show off ; to bluff ; to do for effect ; to act on shallow learning or imperfect preparation; to dream impossible achievements and expect magical results.
This trial came to Jesus. Popularity was easy just then. He could easily outdo John. He could state things in an attractive manner that would have over- shadowed the desert enthusiast. He could climb any "pinnacle" and by leaping off gain an open-mouthed following.
There was a party, even a vocation, that represented that temptation at that time. They were the Pharisees. Originally by their pure principles the Puritan and patri- otic leaders of the nation, they had, in their enthusiasm for ideal conditions, separated themselves not only from the hated Romans but even from the common people. They had raised the commentaries on the ancient laws to a fetich and they spent all their time anxiously wor- shipping them. They anticipated a magical coming of a Messiah-Prince who should ride into Jerusalem through the air, and in reward for their fidelity to the law do a few sensational deeds that should lift Him and them to the summit of glory in a kingdom of the miraculous.
This very sort of temptation meets you now. America especially knows the man of the "short cut." Ours has been called "the Gilded Age," meaning the age that accepts imitations. We prepare for life with shallow studies and shoddy work. Much of our prosperity and a good deal of our play is gambling. We are guilty of inflated living. We expect results without waiting for them and without deserving them.
THE CALL OF POWER 45
Is it not hard, in school, in society, in business, in poli- tics, to belong to the side of sobriety and thoroughness ?
Jesus determined that He woulclrdo that, and He would not be a Pharisee.
Finally power beckoned to Him.
Power is good also. Jesus had by this time discovered that He was a man of power. You cannot be with men without unconsciously measuring yourself, and one of the joys of youth is the feeling that one is able, and able to match up to the strongest.
But power is often misused. To-day you know how the lawyer often misuses his knowledge, the physician his skill, the minister his influence, the business man or the corporation of business men their opportunity, the strong nation its strength. Ours is an age of power. It worships power, and it yields to the men of force.
Always misused power involves the selling of one's ideals. It means that simple, old-fashioned morality has to give way to opportunity, and one who yields to this temptation can no longer live on good terms with his conscience.
Power had its votaries in Jesus' day. These were the Zealots. Jesus later had one of them as a disciple. They were revolutionaries, perhaps somewhat like modern anarchists. They said: "Let us risk all! Let us start riots against our tyrants. Let us call every man a traitor who will not fight ! ' '
It was an attractive call, and it had its excuse. The Jews were truly a subject people, and patriotism seemed to counsel resistance. There was also some prospect, in those times of unrest, for success. Perhaps Jesus could have started a religious war, and become a Mo- hammed.
But the Jews at their best had never proved able to govern themselves. The world was not ripe for a re- public. Its so-called republics were military despotisms. Jesus could have baptized His nation in blood, and per- haps risen to the "mountain top" of despotic power.
46 THE LIFE OF JESUS
Another group of men who not only sought but pos- sessed power existed in the priestly party in Jerusalem. They were led by Annas, an ex-high priest, and were of the Sadducean faith and practice. They wielded great political power, by playing into the hands of the Romans ; they retained spiritual dominance by depending upon the religious devotion of the people, and they had en- riched themselves by seizing the monopoly of the sale of whatever was used for the temple sacrifices. Those who allied themselves with this unscrupulous group were the virtual rulers of Palestine.
To-day we who are young hear a similar call. The lust for power grips us. We see men stand above others through sheer lack of conscience. We have in politics the demagogue, in society the "climber," in the labor world the "grafter," in business the monopolist. Always there has been the sale of ideals, the use of unscrupulous methods, the denial of brotherhood. The individual has, as Jesus would say, "knelt down to Satan."
Jesus resisted the temptation of "success." He did not become a Zealot. He did not join the high-priestly party.
What Jesus finally did, then, in those fierce days in the desert was, first : to put His body in its rightful and minor place; to curb His enthusiasms within the limits of efficiency ; to hold His powers in the sway of conscience. He refused money-greed, short cuts and substitutes and the degradation of His talents. In our age when we have a clan of money-barons, a class of climbers and a group of men of conscienceless power who are conspicuous but not honored, Jesus would walk soberly apart.
What calling did Jesus choose ? Let us answer boldly, HE CHOSE TO BE THE MESSIAH. Not— let us hasten to say — the Messiah-Prince whom the Pharisees expected, but the Messiah-Servant whom the noblest of the prophets had foreseen. He had read the prophets more closely than had even the scribes of the law. He saw that the whole sympathy of the prophets was with
THE TASK OF JESUS 47
the man who is a servant, the poor and the oppressed. For the relief of a nation of such the prophets had asserted that a Messiah (the word means an "anointed" or com- missioned one) was to come. Jesus seized the hint that is found in the Fifty-third of Isaiah. "A nation of servants must be saved by their Servant," He had said. I will try to be that Servant."
The task of Jesus through life was to be the Messiah which His people needed, but which they did not expect or want. How He accomplished this marvellous task is the life story of Jesus of Nazareth.
These choices of Jesus of the great motives and re- sponses to duty are so close to our own decisions which we are making that they may well-nigh be put in a set of personal resolutions, somewhat as follows:
I will make my comforts, my leisure, my pleasures help and not hurt the life of the spirit ;
I will care little whether men know me, but much whether they feel me ;
I will not get power or wealth at the price of compromise with my conscience and I will use whatever wealth or power comes to me as a steward of my Father;
And in all my choices I will never forget that I am a son of God,
CHAPTER VIII HOW JESUS WENT ABOUT HIS WORK
Just at this point when we are most eager to know how Jesus put His life choices into effect, the evangelists leave us without complete information.
We know in a general way that, not long after the baptism of Jesus, the public work of John closed as suddenly as it had begun. The arrest of the fearless preacher ended his mission. Henceforth he decreased as Jesus increased in public notice.
Jesus returned to His own province and began to re- peat the substance of the message which John had spoken : ' ' The time is fulfilled ! The kingdom of God is at hand I Repent, and believe in the good news ! "
The evangelists are so entirely intent upon the public life of Jesus that we get only an occasional glimpse of the personal side. We do, however, by careful scrutiny, find that, behind the public teaching, Jesus was contin- ually engaged in personal conversation. This method probably, if we could know all the facts, would turn out to have been the most effective instrument that He used. You will recall in your own life that while you have often been stirred by some public address, the real changes of your thought and act have been more greatly helped by personal converse with a friend. It is a slow method and few have the patience to depend upon it, but Jesus saw that if He were to lead a nation toward righteousness He must begin to help make a nation of righteous persons.
When Jesus began to gather about Himself a circle of comrades, as we shall see Him doing in the next chapter, it meant the beginning of daily conferences with them which continued for a space of two or three years. He therefore spent more time in this way of personal approach
48
THE SAMARITAN WOMAN
49
than in any other. Many of His teachings which we think of as having been delivered in public address are no doubt handed down to us out of the memories of those to whom they first came not as discourses but who took part in them through question and dialogue in quiet interviews with Jesus alone.
The fourth and latest of the Gospels emphasizes this ■eature of Jesus' work, but as it places events in order
Entrance to Vault over Jacob's Well.
The Vault and the Mouth of the Well.
Jacob's well has been covered by a succession of churches, the last of which was destroyed at he time of the Crusades. Many of the ruins now remain. The mouth of the well is several eet below the present surface of the ground, and is approached by steps leading through a small ioorway into a vaulted chamber about fifteen feet square.
oi argument rather than of time we are not always sure low the conversations which it reports are to be dated. There is one conversation, one of the first related in the
ospel according to John, which we are sure from its contents did not come early in Jesus' ministry, but which ;he author places there because it is so typical.
The evangelist speaks of Jesus as having come at mid- lay to the well of Jacob which is between mounts Ebal md Gerizim in Samaria, near a hamlet called Sychar. ie sits down beside the well, tired and dusty, while His
50 THE LIFE OF JESUS
companions go into the village to buy food. While He is there a woman of the village comes out to draw water.
The story puts before us an individual who would seem to be hopeless as a subject for moral betterment by personal approach. In the first place, she was a Samaritan, a member of that mongrel race whom all Jews despised and who, set in the isolation of contempt in the heart of the land, had come in time to deserve most of the contempt that had been heaped upon them. They were regarded as many Christians to-day regard mormons. Although they had in times past been aggressive enemies of the Jews, they had Hebrew blood in their veins and in their own temple on the top of Mount Gerizim they continued to sacrifice according to what they held to be the primitive Jewish Custom. This fact added sectarian to racial hatred between the two peoples. This woman herself was, as her appearance showed, dissolute in character, and probably, as her untimely coming to the well suggests, a lazy slattern. It was then regarded as a breach of etiquette for a man to hold conversation in any public place with any woman not of his own family. The criticism which the companions of Jesus expressed of Him on their return was quite natural. Most rabbis would have entirely avoided so difficult and delicate a situation, by refraining from notic- ing the woman. It might have been questioned by any man whether there was any helpful fellowship possible between himself and one who was bad and idle and thoughtless. And especially so here. The life of the pure-minded Jesus was like a volume bound in gold, hers was like a yellow journal.
The Fourth Gospel tells us how Jesus instantly threw aside conventionality and, seeing here a fellow creature who was in bitter though unconscious need, endeavored by friendliness to help her. The conversation that fol- lowed is rightly regarded as one of the most remarkable dialogues in history.
How would you win the friendliness of an evil-doer:
THE SAMARITAN WOMAN 51
By doing him a favor. This is the natural answer, but there is a deeper one. By allowing him to do you a :avor. To do a favor may make its recipient uncomfort- able, but he who does you a favor is at once set at ease and feels presumptively friendly.
There was only one favor which the Samaritan woman could do Jesus, and He asked it.
"Will you give me a drink of water ?" ^
As the woman sank her bucket into the well, which was over a hundred feet deep, she could not forbear referring to the ancient feud.
"You must be very thirsty to be asking for a drink :rom a Samaria woman."
Jesus probably told her that He did not share in the old prejudice, but went on to say that He too could give a favor if asked.
"There is a thirst which I too can help to quench, [f you should ask Me I could tell you of a living water setter than this."
The Orientals are fond of talking in pictures, and the woman knew that this statement of Jesus was a puzzle, which she was asked to solve. But she chose to be xivolous.
"Sir, you know that you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Are you greater than our father Jacob who dug this well, and gave drink here to himself and his sons and his cattle ? ' '
"After one has drunk of this water one becomes thirsty again, but if you should have the water that I can give, you will never again be thirsty. The water that I shall give will become in you a well of water, springing up unto eternal life."
But the woman, who could see plainly now that He was asking her to think of His deeper meaning, refused to be serious.
"Ah, sir," she said yawning, "do give me this well of water, so that I shall not be thirsty and have to come clear out here."
52 THE LIFE OF JESUS
Jesus had been willing to break the rules of etiquette so long as the woman offered the same respect which He showed to her, but when she became, silly He could do nothing but ask that the conversation should continue according to Oriental notions of propriety.
"Go and call your husband," He said quietly.
"I haven't any husband," she answered airily.
The face of Jesus was downcast as He said in a low tone :
"The man with whom you are living — is not — your husband?"
There was a moment of silence. The tone of Jesus was, strangely enough, not of reproach but of pity. Still mockingly, but no longer smiling, the woman said,
"You are a soothsayer, I see."
Although she was embarrassed, the woman did not go. As if she would atone for her frivolity, she turned the conversation in a religious direction, and as though she would essay to prove that she was correct as a theologian even if she was imperfect as a moralist, she pointed to the temple on the adjoining hill.
"Our forefathers worshipped on yonder mountain, but your people say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
"Woman," said Jesus earnestly ("woman" was a title of respect, and Jesus had not used it before in speaking to her), "believe Me, the time is coming when men will worship our Father neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem. God is spirit, and they that worship Him then shall worship Him in spirit and in truth. The Father seeks to have such to worship Him."
We have only the briefest note of the remainder of the conversation. The writer of the Fourth Gospel represents the woman as saying, after a further dialogue perhaps, that the Messiah would some time appear, when He would explain everything. He also states that Jesus revealed to the woman that He Himself was the Messiah. Though Jesus himself was conscious of this fact, such a revelation, as we shall see, could have come
STUDYING HUMAN NEEDS 53
only very late in the life of Jesus, when He had prepared His friends to receive it, and He could have said this to the woman only after an explanation of Himself and of her relation to the Father to which she yielded in the most honest and complete surrender. The incident leads, in John's Gospel, to the going of Jesus to the village and remaining there with the Samaritan inhabitants for two days.
The explanation which Jesus gave His friends when they returned shows the purpose of relating this dialogue. They did not dare to reproach Him aloud for talking with the woman, but they looked their feelings.
"Rabbi, have something to eat," said one of them coldly.
"I have had meat that you do not know about."
"Has anybody brought him some meat?" one asked stupidly.
It was early spring. Jesus pointed across the open meadow, along which the woman was departing with her water-pot on her head.
"You say it is winter, and that it will be four months before harvest. Look, I tell you; the fields are already white for harvest."
And as they saw the woman and the distant village and understood His enigma, He continued,
"You speak of meat? It is meat to me to do the Father's will, and to accomplish His work."
And this was the chief method by which He did it.
The evangelists suggest many other occasions where Jesus was no doubt as masterfully efficient in studying a human need and meeting it with tact and patience and wisdom. They tell us of His going to a wedding, they show Him walking with a few men on the Sabbath through the grain, the Fourth Gospel places Him on a housetop in solitary converse with a ruler of the Jews.
There is another conversation, given only in Luke's Gospel, the time of the occurrence of which is not given, which illustrates further the tact of Jesus in dealing with
54 THE LIFE OF JESUS
a sinful person and His courage in meeting, at the same time, the criticism of one who boasted himself of his own goodness.
He had been invited to dinner by a Pharisee in a place that is not named.
The Pharisee had invited Jesus, not so much to be his guest as to be the object of his criticisms, and to exhibit Him to his friends. Jesus was being scrutinized by the Pharisaic party, and in a sense He was on trial this day.
The dining-room was full not only of guests, but also of others who, according to the curious custom of the times, gathered along the wall to watch the diners. Among them had come a woman who had been living a sinful life. Whether she was there, in harmony with a lately introduced Roman custom, to anoint the hair and feet of all the guests as they reclined on the long couches, we do not know, nor whether she had been sent in by the Pharisee who was giving the feast or had come on her own accord. Her coming brought Jesus into a dilemma. "If Jesus is a real prophet," no doubt thought Simon the Pharisee, "He will know what kind of a person she is, and He will not allow her to touch Him. If He does allow her, we shall discount His claims as a prophet."
But when she came to Jesus and knelt beside Him, Jesus did not repulse her, and, as she performed her gracious task, He could feel her tears falling silently upon His feet. He did not speak to her, even in kind- ness, for to have done so would have exposed her to ridicule. What followed next is one of the most exquisite instances of tact in history.
"Simon," said Jesus quietly from His place near the foot of the table, "I would like to speak to you."
"Yes, Rabbi," said the Pharisee condescendingly.
1 ' Once upon a time two men were in debt to a money- lender. One owed one hundred dollars, the other ten dollars. Neither of them could pay him his debt. The lender of money freely forgave them both. I would
THE PENITENT
55
like to ask you, which of them, do you suppose, would feel the greater love for the money-lender ?"
"Why," said Simon at once, "of course the one to whom he forgave the much greater debt."
1 ' Precisely, ' ' answered Jesus.
Then for the first time He turned toward the woman, and without pointing her out He continued :
"There is a woman here. When I came into your house, you did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet them — with her tears, and dried them with her hair. No kiss of greeting did you give me, but she, since I sat here, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not sprinkle even my head with oil, but she has covered my feet with perfume. And," He said, smiling down into the woman's face, "you may see that she is greatly forgiven, because she greatly loves."
As she went out, Jesus spoke to her directly for the first time, saying clearly, "Your sins are forgiven."
Then He turned sternly to His host, as He Himself went away: "Those who have little forgiven them, love but little."
Two deep impressions are ours after reading this con- versation: the wonderful insight of Jesus in taking the only good quality which the poor woman seemed to have, her capacity for love, and making that the means of lead- ing her to a better life, and the passionateness of such love which Jesus inspired in the hearts of the wretched persons who trusted Him. This unfailing ability to dis- cern at once whatever good qualities were possessed by those who met Jesus characterized all His work.
The Woman Anointing Jesus' Feet.
CHAPTER IX HIS EARLY COMRADES
The writer of the Fourth Gospel tells us that a few of the men who had believed in John the Baptist turned to Jesus as their leader after his imprisonment. He names especially Peter and Andrew, two brothers, who were fishermen in the town of Capernaum, a city beside the Lake of Galilee about twenty miles northeast of
Nazareth. Jesus may have known these men before, as it is possible that He had already moved His own home to that place.
There seems to have been an opportunity given them by Jesus to realize that He was going to take up the work of John in the province of Gali- lee, and probably He gave them some time in their homes to consider whether they would give up their business and spend their lives with Him. It was not a call to sacrifice, but to spend their time in something better. "You have been good fisher- men," Jesus said. "Now come and be better ones; come and catch men alive." He also called two other fisher- men from the same village. He seems to have invited them two by two, so that they would be companions for each other.
Perhaps some months before this time, perhaps at this time, Jesus showed that He wished to make the fisher-
56
(From a photograph copyright by Wm. H. Rau, Phila.)
Fishermen on the Sea of Galilee.
CAPERNAUM 57
men His partners in a very real fashion, by moving down from Nazareth and establishing His home for the rest of His life in their own city of Capernaum. It was as if He would say : "I will not ask you to come up where I am, among strangers, but I will come down where you are. We will go to work to meet the needs of your own city, which you know so well. You shall help show me what those needs are, and together we will try to meet
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Cuts from "Leeper photographs," copyright, 1902.
Many suppose that Capernaum was situated at the modern Tell Hum, about two miles west of the Jordan river. Others locate it at Khan Minyeh, two and a half miles farther west. The balance of opinion favors the latter site.
them." There were other reasons why Jesus decided to move from Nazareth. Nazareth was not on any main thoroughfare. It had little intercourse with strangers and little interchange of thought. It was not central to a large population. The people there were too much accustomed to Him to appreciate Him.
Capernaum was a considerable city, on the northwest shore of the beautiful heart-shaped lake of Galilee, whose white walls were reflected in its limpid water. The lake lay deep among yellow hills, — a sapphire sea in a cup of gold. The city stood on a tongue of land along a shining beach. Its gardens, its trees and its flowers were famous. The little lake on which it fronted
58 THE LIFE OF JESUS
was five hundred feet below the level of the sea, and it had a hot and fertile climate. There were other active towns along its shore, in the largest of which stood the palace of their governor, Herod the tetrarch.
You can hardly imagine John the Baptist living in this kind of town. He had called people away from their homes into a lonely place and demanded that they listen to his stern message. Jesus went down into the heart of the city where multitudes lived, and began to live such a life and to say such helpful words that people were won to Him. Is it not startling when we remember all that Jesus was, to think of real people having Him as their neighbor ? It is probable that He was known at first simply as "The young carpenter, who has come down from Nazareth to live among us."
Why do you think these four fishermen were willing to break off their work and live another life with Jesus ? They must have known very little about Him up to this time, because we find later how poorly they understood Him. They must have been men of vigorous and inde- pendent thought, for they had gone far out of their way in order to hear John, and perhaps had already expressed a willingness to give up their fishing in order to be help- ful to him. They were the kind of men who were willing to do hard things for the cause in which they believed. The tradition is that they were young men with the fresh enthusiasm of their years. We are certain, too, that they must have shared the expectations of their own people as to a coming deliverance, and these expectations must have been quickened by what they had heard John say, but the fact that they were willing to turn to Jesus shows that His person had already impressed them very deeply. What do you suppose there was about Jesus which could win such strong men as these? From our knowledge of His conversation with the woman at the well we can imagine how tactful and winsome He must have been to everybody. But if these disciples, as we know from John's Gospel, were dismayed to find Him
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood.
FISHERMEN BY THE SEA OF GALILEE.
THE FISHERMEN 59
talking with the woman, especially a woman of such a race and of such a character, when they decided to stand by Jesus they must have determined that, in spite of things they did not like or could not understand, He was the one leader in the world for them.
Perhaps the most important thing for us to realize is that Peter and Andrew began to follow Jesus because they liked Him. We are not to think of them as two theological students starting to study with a minister. We must think of them as two fishermen who had taken a great fancy to a carpenter. Their friendship began as our friendships do. The account in Luke describes a kindness that Jesus did them when they were at their daily work. The first place to which John's Gospel mentions Jesus as taking His new-found friends is to a wedding. The men who first followed Jesus did give up all, but they themselves never counted that. They believed from the very beginning that to be with Him was worth more to them than their daily work and in- come. They remind one of a veteran home missionary who had undergone many hardships. Some one was condoling with him for his many "sacrifices." "Sacri- fices ? " said he, "I never made but one, and that was the choice that I would be a missionary !"
So then, they liked Him. This was the first attraction. But there was another one that was deeper. These young men, wholesome and natural, were also deeply religious. The Jews are a serious-minded people, and these fishermen discovered beneath the winsomeness of Jesus a great reverence of soul. The baptism of Jesus, we are sure, had been the crisis of His life. He was never in rebellion against God. The awakening of His boyhood in the temple had been followed by quiet and manly years of service. But just as truly as He had felt Him- self called to care for His mother and His brothers and sisters until they no longer needed all His time, so the years had taught Him there was a wider work for Him to do. To Him the world appeared as a larger family,
60
THE LIFE OF JESUS
in which God was the Father of all. To this world family He would fain go as a brother. So when He en- listed in the movement of John, as a step toward the discovery of His special mission, it is not strange that "the Daughter of the Voice of God," as the Jews named any revelation from above, seemed to whisper as the motto of His life that phrase from an ancient Psalm: "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." From that
day He had felt Himself pe- culiarly the Son of the Father, for man's service. It is pos- sible that He did not yet know all that this should mean to Him, but such a sense of having been chosen by the most high God must have made His face sweet and strong, as if a king should tell his son that he has made him viceroy, for the good of his subjects. All of us have the privilege of such a com- missioning. Paul felt it, when he burst forth once in the splendid phrase: "We are am- bassadors of God." What power and influence it gives to one to be thus made the instrument of the Eternal !
The sensitive hearts of these good Galileans responded instantly to the influence of such a life.
These four men eventually seem to have become the most effective friends whom Jesus had. They were closest to Him throughout His life. They best under- stood Him, and we have a little more definite knowledge concerning their future than regarding any other of the companions of Jesus.
Peter, as we shall see, was not only the leader of the band of men whom Jesus called to surround Him during His lifetime, but he was their natural leader after Jesus' departure. It was he who first gave up his Jewish prej-
St. Peter. By Fra Bartolommeo.
THE FUTURE OF THE FISHERMEN 61
udices and granted that Romans might share the life which Jesus proclaimed. The tradition has come down that it was in the city of Rome that he completed his ministry as the leader of the early church there, being crucified head downward, upon the spot where now stands the greatest church in Christendom.
John, it is believed, died a natural death, after a long and useful ministry in the great city of Ephesus in Asia Minor.
James, his elder brother, was not permitted to express his loyalty through years of toil and suffering, but fell the first victim of the Twelve in the persecution under Herod Agrippa.
Of Andrew's later days we know nothing, but an early story is that he perished upon a cross of the shape which is now known as "St. Andrew's Cross," in his mission field in Greece.
Such were the heroic destinies of the stalwart men whom Jesus made His first friends.
i
CHAPTER X HOW JESUS LIVED IN HIS NEW HOME
It was a great change for Jesus when He came to live in Capernaum. Nazareth was an austere town, a stony village of vine-dressers, farmers and shepherds. Caper- naum was opulent in scenery as well as in prosperity. It was built, we believe, upon the shore of the Lake of Galilee, with a sandy beach on its eastern side and the great plain of Gennesaret, filled with other lively towns, stretching to the southwest. It was itself near the end of a valley that came down from the north and only a little way from the entrance of the Jordan into the lake. Down this valley came the great highroad from Damascus, which extended on, by way of Jerusalem or by way of the Mediterranean coast, to Egypt.
The location of the city, nearly seven hundred feet below the sea-level, made it a hot basin, in which vegeta- tion was tropical. Where now are scrubby bushes were once great woods, and instead of the occasional palms and oleanders of the present were graceful groups of trees and many fragrant gardens. The blue lake in front of the town made a beautiful contrast with the greenery of the shores, and the sudden winds which swept down upon the lake from the chilly mountains at the north brought frequent exhibitions of nature's grandeur, in thunder-storms, beating rains and gorgeous sunsets.
Although the very site of Capernaum is still so much in doubt that scholars are divided upon two meadows, with scant ruins, two miles apart, we can almost construct the town plan. There was no doubt a main street, narrow as all Oriental streets are, which was parallel to or even ran along the beach. There was an open square by the
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THE LIFE OF CAPERNAUM
63
city spring, which was the town centre. Very likely the city was enclosed by a low wall and near the city gate was the office of Matthew, the tax-collector. Along the main street, which, as we have said, perhaps faced the lake, were little shops, the fronts of homes, with all their wares displayed in their shallow niches. Still narrower lanes reached back from the water, along which were the bare, unbroken fronts of the houses, and in some secluded lane stood the synagogue, a square, stone building, with no ornament except a pot of manna carved over the doorway.
The city was full of noise, crowds and color. Every morning the beach thronged with fishermen, just in from a night on the deep, with their families, mending
their nets and selling their fish. Around the spring was a continually passing file of women with water-pots. Along the main street stalked lordly camels, laden with bright bales, and accompanied by men who spoke many lan- guages. At market and feast times these passers were increased by village processions and groups of foreign Jews coming home and hastening to perform their relig- ious duties. These strangers sometimes halted at the modest city taverns or even attended the synagogue if overtaken by the Sabbath. The nearness of Herod's capital, the new city of Tiberias, eight miles south, as well as the accessibility of Capernaum, brought some foreigners to live in the city, and there were always a hundred Roman soldiers or so in the city barracks.
One can see that the life of Capernaum was a more lib- eral one than that of Nazareth. There was the gradual absorption of foreign ways and the necessary tolerance
Ruins of a Synagogue in Galilee.
64 THE LIFE OF JESUS
of alien ideas. Capernaum was also less dominated by the Pharisees than was Jerusalem, the capital, for while the few who belonged to that school who lived in the city were no doubt influential by wealth and posi- tion, yet the Galileans, especially those in the large towns, shared an independence of thought which had been characteristic ever since the Ten Tribes separated from Judea. Especially in patriotism were the Capernaum people more brave than the Jerusalemites, for they had neither been cowed by constant display of armies nor wooed to compliance by the profitableness of catering to their conquerors. Capernaum was, like the rest of Galilee, governed by an independent ruler, Herod Anti- pas, who had a title only less than that of king, and whose control was characterized by cunning and tactfulness. This had, however, not prevented the home-loving Gali- leans from contempt of the man who had stolen away his brother's wife, and the preaching of John the Baptist had no doubt fomented an unrest which made the Gali- leans ready for an opportunity for revolt against one, who, though Idumean and Samaritan in blood, was Ro- man in morals and ideals.
To this city, a business centre rather than a centre of culture, a town of mixed population, a fevered, turbulent community, Jesus came for His manhood's home, making it, as the Gospels affectionately say, "his own city," and thus sharing the life not only of His personal friends but of this city and of the others which constituted the heart of His chosen province.
We may perhaps believe that Jesus lived in Caper- naum longer than some chronological tables that have been made allow, for the deep influence of Jesus in the community and upon those who attended Him suggests the need of time for men to know Him, to become attached to Him and to absorb His message.
The earliest Gospel tells us that Jesus made at least His temporary home when He first came to Capernaum with Simon Peter. Peter was married and perhaps had
pyright by Underwood & Underwood.
IX THE COURT OF A VILLAGE HOME, CANA OF GALILEE.
JESUS' NEIGHBORS
65
children, and there was also his wife's mother and prob- ably his brother Andrew in the family. With the east- ern ideas of liberal hospitality, we may be sure that Jesus shared the best such a home had to give, but it adds to the sympathy which the many to-day who live in boarding- houses must feel for Jesus that He knew for some time what it is to lack privacy and to miss the sanctity that comes from having a home of one's own.
There is an interesting and almost amusing story in the Gospel of Mark, in the second chapter, to show how people invaded His home life. He had been away for a little while, and when He came back the neighbors filled the house to such an extent that nobody else could get in. A helpless man was brought by four of his friends on a cot. They were so anxious to bring him' to the attention of Jesus that when they found they could not enter by the door, they did not wait for the meeting to break up, but they climbed up the outside stairway and tore open the flat roof, which, as we know, was made of rows of long poles covered with mortar or mud. Jesus could easily mend this Himself, because that was His trade, but the story shows how sure His neighbors felt of His good will and willingness to be of service.
A glimpse or two is given us of some of Jesus' neigh- bors. Two of them are mentioned because they were two whom most people would not have made their friends. One of them was the captain of the Roman garrison. This cultured and broad-minded officer had become so friendly to the Jewish faith that he had actually furnished the money to build them their synagogue. A very
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
beautiful story is told, representing this nobleman as receiving Jesus with the very greatest honor, and Jesus in return speaking words of praise of him, which He had not been able to speak of any of His own countrymen. Another friend whom He made was the customs collector, Levi, or Matthew. This man was a Jew in the employ of the Herodian government, and for that reason was regarded as worse than a traitor by his patriotic neigh- bors. The fact that he had become rich was thought the greater cause for suspicion. Jesus not only went directly to him at his public stall by the city gate, where everybody could see Him, but He also asked him to become one of His comrades. Levi, as the expression of his pathetic gratitude, signalized his de- sertion of his lucrative, but ignoble business, by inviting Jesus to dinner. The situation was embarrassing socially to one who expected to keep the good will of His neighbors, who had long ago ostracized Levi, but Jesus met it bravely by cordially accepting the invitation.
Let us not make too much of a break between the life of Jesus at Nazareth and at Capernaum. If He was a plain man in Nazareth, occasionally taking part modestly in the synagogue service and expressing Himself chiefly through personal conversation and friendships, let us think that this was the way He began to live at Caper- naum. We are not to think of Him as a city ''preacher," for while He was allowed to speak in the house of worship, there were two recognized classes of speakers, the author- ized interpreters of the law, and those who made their own original comments, and Jesus was classed as one of
(Copyright, 1896, by J. J. Tissot.) The Call of Matthew.
JESUS' DAILY LIFE
67
the latter. Neither are we to think of Jesus as a " pas- tor," going around making calls. To mingle thus freely with women in their homes was unknown in Jesus' day. Liberal as the Capernaum people were, the fact that Jesus never fasted (and perhaps never offered sacrifice) and that He took long walks in the fields and engaged in deeds of helpfulness on Sabbath days prevented His being regarded as in any sense the recognized religious head of the community. Another habit which prevented, if nothing else did, His being hailed as the chief rabbi of Capernaum was His attitude toward men and women of doubtful character. A rabbi thought the best way to show hatred for sin was to show contempt for a sinner, so no rabbi ever spoke to a man or a woman of ill fame. Jesus, on the contrary, took special pains to help such folk to change their way of living and He aroused criti- cism by doing so.
He was at first simply a new-comer, who gradually made close friends, who came where the citizens gathered and made one of the convers- ing group, who sometimes spoke in the synagogue. Even- ings and the Sabbath were the only moments of leisure for men in this workingman's city, and almost all the inci- dents related of Jesus' doings in Capernaum occurred at those times. Could He have taught at times in the public school ? If finally people loved to listen to Him so much that they thronged Him until He had to climb upon a boat seat by the beach, if as a good citizen His part in relieving the suffering of the sick in the city brought crowds to His house door at night, if the hands whose nails were broken with toil and the voice that had so often been heard in friendly greeting were used to hasten
Jairus' Daughter.
68 THE LIFE OF JESUS
the recovery of His little neighbor, the daughter of Jairus, it simply means that He had become a wellspring of blessing to Capernaum, but without a title of honor, just the first citizen of His city. The Gospel according to Mark pictures Him as a man of tireless energy and of eager earnestness. It throbs with the frequent word "straightway," as if Jesus were constant in friendly service and instant in efficient aid. Is it not helpful to think that Jesus Himself was the first Christian, and that His life in the town that was His home was an ideal for a good friend, a good neighbor, a good citizen now ?
Another difficulty which Jesus had to meet was lack of sympathy on the part of His own relatives. Their opposition to His manner of life grew rather than less- ened. One authority (Edersheim) supposes that Jesus knew in His own home circle the influence of three of the purest but most bigoted Jewish tendencies: "the earnest- ness of the Shammaites represented in James, the buoy- ancy of the Messianic watchers, represented in Jude, and the fervor of the nationalistic idea, represented in Simon the Zealot," whom he thinks to have been a cousin of Jesus. What would men like these have thought of Jesus' alliance with John the Baptist ? Must they not have watched with concern the development of new ideas in His mind when He was yet a young man at home with them or coming and going as an itinerant artisan? At first they thought He was singular, and finally they made up their minds that He was insane. We cannot even separate His mother, as she is represented in the Gospel story, from the rest of His relatives in this respect. On one occasion she and Jesus' brothers seem to have made an effort to take Jesus by force and compel Him to desist from His chosen career.
Another difficulty was the lack of quiet. The life of a tropical town is lived largely in the open air, and the moment one steps out of doors one is in the midst of a crowd. But soon Jesus' home began to be invaded. On days when the synagogue was closed those who wished
JESUS' HORIZON
69
to talk with Him and listen to Him seem to have used His home as an assembly place, and it is not hard to imagine how, on a winter evening, when He and Peter had sat down before the open fire to talk, there would come the patter of sandals on the flagging outside, and when the door was opened by Jesus there would be the flash of lanterns in the dark lane outside and the news of some sickness or sorrow for whose relief Jesus was wanted.
It must have been hard, with the problem of self- support and the constant pressure of the throng and the
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interruptions to His rest, for Him to get any time to Him- self. Yet He would not let the spiritual get crowded out, and so we are not surprised to hear Mark tell us of nights when He tried to find a solitary place where He could pray and think.
While Jesus was thus being taught by doing, He was not forgetful of the larger life which He was preparing to live. Even when His comrades in Capernaum exul- tantly told Him, "Everybody is seeking you," He assured them that He intended to lead them out from Caper- naum to spread His movement of brotherhood and mercy throughout their entire native province. He gave His best to His neighbors in Capernaum, but every day He did so
70 THE LIFE OF JESUS
He looked forward to the time when this strength which He gained as He gave should be shared by many. This vision was Jesus' horizon.
Already people who had visited Capernaum had gone back to tell their friends about Jesus. People from other places began to come to Him, and it was plain that Capernaum could not hold Him much longer. When He did go forth to the larger world, to serve it, it was of great help, not only to His reputation, but also to His mission, that He had for years been a working artisan, a neighbor, a citizen, a man with a record and with a broad human experience.
CHAPTER XI THE MEN WHO TOLD US ABOUT JESUS
We get the impression from the Gospels that Jesus gradually made friends for Himself, very much in the way in which we do. Some of our new comrades are introduced to us by old friends. So Jesus received His first two intimate companions, Peter and Andrew, from John the Baptist. We often find our friends in our daily work. Jesus, the carpenter, came down to Capernaum to live, and there He came to know more intimately some of the fishermen. We find some of our friends in the business world. Jesus saw Levi, the tax-collector, frequently at the town gate, and there formed his ac- quaintance.
Jesus finally singled out some men who accompanied Him in all of His ministry, who were known by the special title of "Apostles." The word "Apostle" means one who is not only a messenger but a delegate, bear- ing a commission. It is somewhat like the term ambassa- dor. "An Apostle," says the Talmud, "is as the man himself by whom he is deputed." They were twelve in number, the same number as that of the tribes of Israel, and thus emblematic of a national movement.
We do not know very much about the character and history of the Apostles of Jesus. Some very interesting facts appear, however, as to His method in choosing them. The twelve, who are mentioned, were always named in sets of four. They seem also to be named in pairs. Though the order of names differs in the four lists, Peter is always at the head of the first four, Philip of Bethsaida of the second, and James the Little, of the third. There | seem to have been either two or three sets of brothers,
71
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
and it is believed that two, and possibly four, of the twelve were relatives of Jesus. Apparently all but one of them came from Galilee, and perhaps all but two from Capernaum. At least four of them were fishermen. All this indicates that Jesus' desire was to bring together a body of men, bound together by every possible human tie of neighborhood, kinship, habit of life and religious feeling. They were to be a family of brothers. That Jesus believed men could work together who did not al-
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ways think alike seems to be shown by the fact that He called both Matthew and Simon the Zealot — the one a tax gatherer and the other a hater of taxes.
The choice of Judas Iscariot has always been a mystery. It seems incredible that Jesus would have deliberately selected a thief and a traitor. We are rather led to sup- pose that He chose as His only disciple from Judea a man of undecided possibilities of good and of evil, who, even in the light of Jesus' presence and confidence, chose the darkness and at length betrayed Him.
It is not necessary to suppose that all of the Twelve immediately and at the same time gave up their daily vocations. Probably the first thing Jesus asked of each of these men as a friend was some trifling deed of ser-
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LIFE ON THE SHORE OF GALILEE, AT TIBERIAS, PALESTINE.
THE TWELVE WERE NOT WRITERS 73
vice. We find Him on one occasion borrowing Peter's boat, and on another sending some of the disciples after the boat, and again asking two of His friends to go on an errand. In the story of the dinner by the lake we get the impression that they looked after the stock of food, and we know that Judas was the treasurer of their small hoard of money.
Very pleasant pictures come to us of the first days of Jesus' new-found friends with their leader. Whether or not they knew it, it was His intention that they should go to school to Him. They were to be with Him until they caught His spirit, and understood and could inter- pret to others His message. We see them, therefore, seated with the congregation in the synagogue at Caper- naum, walking again some Sabbath afternoon in the corn-fields, ushering the crowd which gathered on the hillside or at the crossroads, and hovering about Him as He performed His deeds of mercy.
We have been in the habit of thinking of the Twelve as chosen by Jesus partly for the sake of handing down to men who should follow a knowledge of the life and teach- ings of Jesus. Strange to say, it is only indirectly that we obtain what we know about Jesus from the Twelve. It is not certain that we have any book from the pen of any of the Apostles, although they may have influenced the writing of each of the four Gospels. It will be inter- esting to learn at this point just who took the place of the disciples in conveying the life of Jesus to those who have lived since His day.
When the early church came into being, a group of men gathered within it who were equally as able and serviceful as most of the Twelve. Among them was Stephen, the first Christian martyr, the great-hearted Barnabas, James, the brother of Jesus, who became the head of all the Jerusalem Christians, and Paul, the great- est personality, no doubt, that the Christian church has ever known. Of these we have writings only from Paul. Apparently none of these attempted to write a life of Jesus.
74 THE LIFE OF JESUS
The written accounts of Jesus' life seem to have come into being as follows: First the disciples and friends of Jesus gave their reminiscences orally. As they grew old and some died, the early Christians began to crave per- manent records of their great Master. Brief accounts of His deeds and teachings probably began to be written within twenty years of His death. These early writers, however, were not so much interested in the details of Jesus' career as a whole, as in the story of His death and resurrection. They were intensely interested in this story because on it were based the two beliefs which they held most precious, that "Christ died for our sins," and "Was raised for our justification."
So it came to pass that, during the only years when any one was capable of writing a biography of Jesus which should tell in fulness and order of both His private and public life, the Christian world desired rather books that should be arguments for the special truths that were of comfort to themselves. Accordingly many of the things we are most anxious to know can never be told us.
The first mention of Jesus in the world's literature is in the letters of Paul, and while he gives a vivid account of the Lord's Supper, he does not mention a single fact regarding Jesus which is not told us in the Gospels.
Not much more than thirty-five years after the death of Jesus a book was written which we call "The Gospel according to Mark," the earliest and most valuable book about Jesus in the world's possession. Mark became, as we know, a companion of Peter, but he probably had never seen Jesus more than two or three times, and then during the last week of His life. This is on the supposition that he was the young man whose mother owned the house in which was the upper room where Jesus kept the Passover with His friends.
The books which now bear the names of "Matthew" and "Luke" were evidently put together by men who were familiar with the writings of Mark. They both also
THE FOUR GOSPELS
75
used other exceedingly valuable writings, now lost, which seem to have consisted chiefly of selections from Jesus' teachings, with a few additional facts about His life. An early Christian writer states that the Apostle Matthew made such a collection of Jesus' teachings. These are probably quoted in our present Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The writers or compilers of these two books apparently were not personally acquainted with Jesus. The Gospel which bears the name and influence of "John" was written at least thirty years after Mark and its writer evidently had access to all the other three. None of the four was endeavoring to write a biography, in our modern sense of the word.
The Gospel according to Mark, which probably repre- sents much of the influence of Peter, describes a heroic reformer by giving eight dra- matic scenes from His life. The Gospel according to Matthew is what is called in
college a "thesis," a book written to prove that Jesus was the great Deliverer whom the Jews were expecting and also the Deliverer of all who will follow Him. The book which bears the name of "Luke" was probably by the physician companion of Paul. Though written by one who had not seen Jesus, it is a painstaking effort to tell a cultured friend about this gracious Representative from the Father.
The remarkable book which bears the name of "John" is not a biography at all, but is a sermon upon the Incar- nation, illustrated by a group of seven selected miracles and an account of the Passion, and containing an inter- pretation of Jesus' teachings. The book was probably
(Copyright, 1896, by J. J. Tissot.) Mark.
76 THE LIFE OF JESUS
written by a devout Christian philosopher, near the end of the first century. Many scholars accept the tradition that this philosopher was none other than the Apostle John, who lived to a great age at Ephesus, which was a centre of Greek philosophy. -
Interesting though exact personal knowledge about Jesus would be, we do not need it in order to under- stand His spirit and to be His followers. It is still possi- ble to reach behind the records which were made for a special need of second century Christians to the universal truths which Jesus taught and to the meaning of the life which Jesus lived.
No books could possibly be of greater value than the four Gospels. It is true that the writers were more inter- ested in Jesus' death and resurrection than in His life. It is true that most of them, perhaps all, did not have a first-hand acquaintance with the person of Jesus. And of course they shared the limitations as to knowledge of science, of disease and of Jesus' deepest meaning com- mon to their time. But what a priceless heritage they present ! Sincerity shines in every line. No one can compare them without finding how each different view- point gives us a new angle from which to see the wonder- ful life. Even with their limitations, we can hardly see how otherwise we could have come to so adequate an impression of the One whom no books can contain.
The greatest tribute to their worth is that each of them should have entirely obscured himself in order that he might throw the strongest light upon Him whom he was endeavoring to represent to the world.
CHAPTER XII THE PHARISEES STUDYING JESUS
Soon after Jesus begins to teach in Galilee we find that groups of Pharisees are coming frequently to study Him and His work. Who were these Pharisees ?
You remember how the Old Testament closes with the ruin of the Jewish kingdom ? You know how the Jews became subject successively to the Babylonians, the Persians and the Greeks, and finally, in the time of Jesus, to Rome. But their patriotism was not dead, and they were not without leaders. When they could no longer govern themselves politically, this strange, serious people became a spiritual organization. What we would call the state became a church. What we would call their national constitution was enlarged to become a text-book of religious obligation, and in place of their prophets arose a race of schoolmasters.
These schoolmasters, the intelligent patriots of the time, maintained among their countrymen a passionate and perpetual belief in one God. This belief was the one great gift which the Jewish exile gave to the world. The schoolmasters who taught it insisted upon the strict separation of every loyal Jew from any social or friendly relation to the idolatrous races which had conquered them. One of the names for this class whom we know as Pharisees means "The separated ones."
The word "Pharisee" has come to have such an un- pleasant meaning that it is worth while for us to try to realize how noble were their purposes and how great were their claims to the nation's gratitude. You can realize this by thinking what a splendid contrast they made to the other strong parties of their time. They
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differed from the Herodians, who had lost all their religious earnestness and were actually allying themselves with their conquerors. They were unlike the Zealots because they trusted God so earnestly that they would not appeal to force, and rather suffered patiently, await- ing His time. They differed from the Sadducees, who were a close corporation, largely of the priestly class. They spent their time in the synagogues in the school- ing of children and in teaching Judaism to the heathen. They made the hope of a Messiah the great dream of the nation, and they had so prepared the way for Jesus that He could take this glorified nationalism and graft upon it the kingdom of God. They, unlike the Sad- ducees, believed in immortality, and they trained the national will to the point where Jesus could lay hold upon it.
And they had been successful. They had, as Jesus said, "sat down in the seat of Moses." Their Torah had become the accepted book of laws. Their scholars, "the Scribes of the Pharisees," as they were called, work- ing without pay and working everywhere, had put the whole nation to school. They had put their stamp on the Judaism which was current for the next two hundred years, not only in the Holy Land, but wherever the Jews were dispersed, and when the temple was destroyed, they stood silently in front of it as its last hopeless defenders.
Jesus knew their worth better than do we. No doubt His own schoolmaster was one of these educated scribes. To one of them He said, "Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God." (Mark 12 : 34.) He acknowledged the value of the great truths and laws which they taught. But Jesus had outgrown them. Their faults had come almost to conceal their virtues. They had overlaid the simplicity of worship with ceremonials that were so burdensome that men were overwhelmed by them. The Sabbath, which had been originally designed as a joyous day of freedom and leisure, to commune with God and higher things, had become with its multiform and
THE PHARISEES STUDYING JESUS 79
unreasonable restrictions the hardest and most dreaded day of the whole week. It was itself really an object of worship. They had also become so pompous that they demanded unreasonable respect for themselves, and, as is often the case with formalists, some even kept up the most elaborate observances while their own lives were selfish and rotten.
As soon as these Pharisees came into contact with Jesus they began to question many of His actions. Their questions and His answers do more to throw light upon the difference between His spirit and theirs than would a volume of ex- planations. One Sabbath they found Jesus with His disciples walking through a grain field, and the disciples were pulling off the heads of grain and eating it. This would seem to us an innocent act, entirely in harmony with the joyous, festal day, but according to their Torah it was a sin- ful deed, for two reasons. It was a kind of reaping and a kind of winnowing. Jesus' sensible answer to their com- plaint was this: "The Sabbath belongs to man, and not man to the Sabbath." It was made for man's sake; men were not made for the Sabbath's sake.
Again they complained because He wrought deeds of healing on the Sabbath. Jesus told them in so many words that neglect to do kindness, even on that day, ap- peared to Him to be heathenish.
They asked Him why He did not engage in the cere- monial fasts which the disciples of John the Baptist were in the habit of observing. Jesus' reply was: "Why should people fast when they are happy ? These are
A Group of Pharisees.
(Copyright, i8g6, by J. J. Tissot. Courtesy of the McClure Tissot Co.)
80
THE LIFE OF JESUS
honeymoon days. During such days do the friends of the bridegroom fast ?" Indeed, Jesus seems not only to have ignored the fasts, but in principle at least He showed that it was irrational to abstain from certain meats as being ceremonially unclean, even though these were prohibited by the Mosaic law. The Gospel according to Mark tells us, "He made all meats clean."
Again they asked Him why He sat down at table with sinners. "To whom does a doctor go," asked Jesus, "to
well people or to sick people ? " Many of the Pharisees were conscientious. They were not Jesus' enemies at the begin- ning, but it was impossible for them either to understand or to permit such infractions of what they believed to be the very constitution of their na- tion. They could see no safety to the nation unless it was kept close within the bounds of habit and custom. If the Jews should act like the people of other races, they argued that they would become like them in every way, and they would no longer be a separate race, knowing God and being blessed by Him. On the other hand, Jesus, as has been said, had outgrown them. He could not be patient with the attempt to make life a pro- gramme of petty details. "I am come that they might have life," He once said, "and that they might have it more abundantly." One who had entered, as Jesus had, into intimate and joyous fellowship with God, and who felt every day the abounding life of God in His own soul could not but burst, as the springtide bursts its barriers, these dull and petty constructions of theirs, and His full tidal life spread forth into all the shallows of other lives, helping the good seed to fertility wherever it went.
Jesus by the Sea.
CHAPTER XIII
WHAT JESUS' TEACHING WAS LIKE
Horace Bushnell once said that he would have given more for one glimpse of Cato jogging afield than for an entire book about him. Have you not often felt that if you could have seen and heard Jesus for fifteen minutes, it would have done more to make you realize what His teaching was like than all that you read in the Gospels ? Let us try to make His manner of teach- ing seem as real as possible.
We have already seen that Jesus was not, in our. sense of the word, a preacher. While He went on the Sabbath into the synagogue and, when He was in- vited, explained the scriptures, it was more like a Bible-class teacher than like a clergyman. Week-days He sat upon the seat of a boat in the midst of fisher- men. The multitude crowded the rooms and courtyard of any home where He was entertained. He spoke to people in the vil- lage squares and at the cross- roads, and on at least one occasion thousands came to- gether upon a hill-slope near the lake and heard Him.
The impression which Jesus gave these people was probably chiefly that of joyous surprise. The word "gospel" means good news. Wherever Jesus spoke, it was as one who had made a discovery which He wished
81
Path through the Fields. Il- lustrating the Wayside Hearer.
(From "Leeper photographs," copy- right, 1902. Courtesy of Hammond Publishing Co., Milwaukee.)
82 THE LIFE OF JESUS
to share with everybody. You can see what an appeal this would make to curiosity, to the natural desire for joy and for possible benefit. The other teachers of Jesus' time never ventured upon anything new. They spent their time in prosy commentaries upon the olden laws, giving no explanations for their existence and no motives for obeying them.
Not only were they dull, but it was an age of dul- ness. Nothing ever happened in Galilee. No new movement had started, and no outstanding man had appeared, since Judas the Galilean had started a rebel- lion over twenty years before. There were no newspapers. Into this dull time came this bright young carpenter, telling people something which to them was entirely new.
Why has not some one called this wonderful teacher "Jesus, the Great"? Other men have been called "great, " who have led armies, captured cities or wrought in stone, canvas or literature, but the teaching of Jesus has been more dynamic than any of these and has trans- formed the thinking and doing of the world.
We see the greatness of Jesus more clearly when we realize under what conditions He worked. The thought of Jesus was limited to the knowledge of His day as to nature and science. The men whom He addressed were nearly all at least able to read and write, but their only book was the Old Testament. The women were gen- erally illiterate. To such people the whole world of scholarship was closed, and Jesus could use only the elements of common human experience.
Now notice how skilful were the methods of Jesus, thinking of them simply as intellectual devices; notice how perfectly well adapted they were to the people to whom He spoke.
His chief method was that of stories. At first how imperfect, how childish, seems such a method, but re- member, it is the oldest means of knowledge. It is a universal means, appealing to all ages, bridging all Ian-
JESUS' USE OF STORIES
83
guages, and understood by all races. You cannot trans- late a philosophy into the language of the savage, but you can tell the stories of Jesus to people of every race and creed. Stories are easily remembered and repeated. Woodrow Wilson, after twenty years of teaching, said that his students forgot his lectures, but remembered his illustrations. If Jesus wished to have His thought reproduced correctly He could not do so in any other way so well as by telling stories. People might mis- understand prosaic statements, but they would not for- get His stories. A story is the best interpretation of life. The best way to describe a man or an idea is not to write an essay about it, but to il- lustrate it by a story.
Notice the topics of Jesus' stories. They were about things near at hand. When He was out of doors in the springtime, He told spring- time stories about outdoor life. Over four hundred references to nature have been found in the Gospels. On other oc- casions He used illustrations
:rom His own trade, that of a carpenter. He mentioned the homely tasks of the housewife, and the games which the children were playing. He was fond of telling stories about the home life, using the father of the family as an illustration. He talked about the events of the day. A tower had fallen down and killed a few men, and Jesus referred to it. A patriot had started an insurrection, and Jesus mentioned that. Some years before, one of the Herods had gone to Rome to get a crown and had been refused, and Jesus told a story based upon his disappoint- ment. His topics were general, that is, He talked about common things. He selected also fascinating topics
The Sower.
84 THE LIFE OF JESUS
for stories. He told about feasts and weddings, and since everybody likes to hear about kings, He told about kings and their courts.
Jesus used another method which was even more graphic. He not only told stories, but He acted them out. He called a child to Him and taking him in His arms He made the life of the child His text. When He was helping sick people He seems to have connected His stories and His deeds, much as a medical missionary to-day does while he is busy in his dispensary or hospital.
Another method was the proverb. The difference between a proverb and any other statement of truth is the difference between a parcel with and without a handle. The proverb is the handle by which memory carries away a truth. People could not forget the proverbs of Jesus because sometimes they stated a startling contrast. Again they were cast in the form of poetry, and others, like the Beatitudes, would not be forgotten because each sentence began with the same phrase. Some of the most memorable of the proverbs of Jesus are these:
"Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, wherewith shall it be salted again ?"
"Whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so unto them."
"If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be light; But if your eye is diseased your whole body will be darkened. Watch, then, lest the light that is in you be darkness."
"It is better to go into life with one eye than to have two eyes and be cast into Gehenna."
"A sound tree cannot bear rotten fruit, nor a rotten tree sound fruit."
One of the most effective rhetorical devices which men can use is humor. The evangelists were serious-minded people, and probably thought humor beneath the dignity of Jesus. They have left us, however, a number of illus- trations of the humor of Jesus. You remember how one day Jesus was talking about intolerance. He told His
THE HUMOR OF JESUS 85
listeners that any one unwilling to make allowances for the faults of another was as if one carpenter should ask his comrade to let him remove a splinter from his eye, when he himself had had a timber driven into his own. Speaking of the difficulty which rich men have to handle their wealth, and at the same time be kind and generous, He pictured a camel loaded with a great bundle, trying to squeeze through the eye of a needle. Ridiculing the punctilious Pharisees, He said they would strain at a gnat and then swallow a camel. He made light of the readiness with which people followed the most foolish and burdensome requirements of the Pharisees, by saying that it reminded Him of blind men trying to lead blind men. His words suggest a number of blind men putting their hands upon each other's shoulders and forming a line behind another blind man, who, leading them along a winding lane in the meadow, topples them all off into the muddy ditch at the side. Humor flashes a sudden light upon a dark subject. It is much more effective than wit. A witty remark causes a laugh, but may hurt the feelings of a listener. Humor causes the hearer to take sides with the speaker.
There were other ways by which Jesus got His audience to take sides with Him, what President Tucker calls "Getting one's audience to preach with him."
Jesus appealed to knowledge. It flatters a hearer to be reminded that he knows something. He seems then to say to the speaker, "We start together at least." Thus the speaker builds upon what his hearers know, and upon that upon which they all agree. From that mutual standpoint it is not hard to broach something upon which they may not agree with him; so Jesus would say, "You have read, but ..."
Jesus appealed to experience. * This also arouses sympathy. We like to think back to what we have felt. Jesus was fond of saying, "What think ye?" "What man of you ? ' ' One universal experience that Jesus used most often was that of the "family," for the Jew
86 THE LIFE OF JESUS
was typically a family man, and the nation was the great- est topic of the day.
Then Jesus appealed to curiosity. His stories usually had a meaning that needed to be guessed or would naturally be discussed. He was always suggesting that there was something further to come. He urged them to "Learn of me." Once He told His listeners that He was going to reveal "what is known only to the initiated."
Jesus appealed to feeling. This is another way to get listeners to take sides. In all of Jesus' stories you find yourself taking just the side He wishes you to take. In the story of the prodigal you take sides three times, — first, in sympathy with the good father; second, in pity for the prodigal son ; and third, in contempt for the un- loving brother. In the story of the good Samaritan one takes sides four times, — first, in sympathy with the man who was robbed ; second, in impatience against the priest ; third, in contempt against the Levite; and fourth, in admiration for the good Samaritan.
Jesus appealed to reason. When He did this He would probably wait for a response. When He told men that anger was as evil as murder, that secret prayer was nobler than street praying, and that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, He knew it would take time for men to think out these statements and learn to agree with Him.
Finally Jesus appealed to action. He was always seem- ing to say, "Try this." He used the laboratory method. "Follow me." "Do and you will know." The Pharisee said "Wait for the kingdom"; Jesus said "Join it."
By all these appeals Jesus, the wonderful Teacher, touches the whole man,
CHAPTER XIV JESUS' MESSAGE TO HIS NEIGHBORS
We can best understand what was Jesus' message to His neighbors if we realize just who His neighbors were. When He sat upon the stern of a boat and talked to a Capernaum gathering He looked into the faces of peo- ple, most of whom were discouraged, many of whom were burdened, some of whom were sick. The most religious of them were living dull and dreary lives in the endeavor to conform to the Pharisaic customs, and many others had given up the task and were sinners and outcasts. All of them, Jesus saw, were misus- ing life. Each of them was, as He Himself said, "Losing or forfeiting his own self." Jesus' one topic, therefore, was: "How to live."
Can we, after all these many centuries, and with our knowl- edge of His words since our childhood, make His teaching seem fresh ? Or is it only to great sinners, to those deeply ignorant or in bitterest need, that what Jesus taught comes with freshness? If we cannot make it seem fresh we can at least make it seem true. And "Truth," as Phillips Brooks has said, is never trite." Jesus taught little that was wholly new. He took old ideas and believed them, He related them one to another, and He lived them.
87
(Copyright, 1896, by J. J. Tissot.)
Preaching the Sermon on the Mount.
88 THE LIFE OF JESUS
The three teachings on which Jesus laid most stress, in talking to His neighbors, were as follows :
The first was this: We must trust in the Heavenly Father. This sounds old and simple. But have men done it ?
In Jesus' time the thought of God as Father was not a new one. Modern Jews are fond of calling attention to the fact that every phrase in the Lord's Prayer was found in the old prayers of their race. This may be true. They had heard that God was their Father, but few acted as if this were so. No one could have prayed the Lord's Prayer until Jesus taught its meaning. If the Jews thought of God as Father, it was as a national King. What they meant was this: He was the Father of the chosen race, and therefore He owed them success. He was a patron, rather than a parent. The result was that they turned to Him with a frightened clinging, a dreary waiting or a pompous formalism. How little did they appreciate that beautiful phrase in one of their own psalms, "They looked unto him, and their faces were lightened." Not as a child's face brightens at his father's coming did their faces grow radiant at the thought of God.
Let us see what Jesus taught. He looked around and pointed to the natural sights on every side, and spoke somewhat like this: "It is our Father who has made the birds of the air, the flowers of the field, the food which we enjoy. He made the hearts of earthly fathers, who give gladly to their children, who wake in the night to comfort them, who carry them when they are little, who catch them when they stumble, and who recover them after they are lost. Our Father is here now. He is a listening Father. He hears us when we speak softly and in secret, even in our sin and our helpless longings. He is not a Father who is a mere King. Our King is our Father."
Jesus did not attempt to explain pain and bereavement and evil. He took the facts of life as they are, but He taught that God's power is as great as His love. That
SONSHIP 89
power is wielded by a will. That mighty will is for us, not against us. "It is not the will of your Father that one of his little ones should perish." 'Our Father is a militant God. He fights for us against diseases and misery. He fights in us against loneliness and sin. We are priceless to God.'
When Jesus said these things he was not speaking indefinitely. He did not think of men in general. He thought of Peter the impetuous; the woman who was a sinner; the sick who lay upon the strand about him, he thought even of Judas.
Another thing which Jesus taught His neighbors is this: We must live as God's children. This too is sim- ple and old, but the Jews were living, not as children, but as slaves or as courtiers of God. They hoped that sometime, somewhere, they might enter into their heri- tage. But to Jesus sonship of God was not so distant a thing as that. By living as God's children, Jesus meant simply: being like God, imitating God. God loves even evil-doers; let us treat kindly those who wrong us. God fights against disease and sin; let us fight against dis- ease and sin (Matt. 12 : 28). God is a peacemaker; let us make harmony in His world. God is uniting His children into a world brotherhood; let us live lovingly and generously as a part of His brotherhood.
Jesus told His hearers that they could live as God's children now and here. The most important thing was not that they should regain their political independence or have money and luxuries. Jesus wondered, as did our modern prophet, John Ruskin, "not so much at what men suffer, as at what they lose." What about the self ? Was each man keeping or losing that ? Our greatest English poet has put the question of Jesus in a most earnest way:
"Poor soul, the centre of this sinful earth,
Vexed by these rebel powers that thee array, Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth, Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?"
90 THE LIFE OF JESUS
So the third point which Jesus made in His early teach- ing was as to the necessity of whole-heartedness in claim- ing their divine sonship. "Let us throw our whole soul into this business of living as God's children; let us not permit minor things to obscure our vision of life's supreme goal." "Ye cannot serve God and mam- mon." "He that putteth his hand to the plough and looketh back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven." "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God" — not only — "with all thy heart" — but also — "with all thy strength."
Again as Jesus speaks He sees Peter giving only his half -best to his occupation as a fisherman, the sinful woman wasting the beautiful gifts of life, Judas asking of life only what it shall profit him in money-making. He sees what will happen if each of them gives his whole strength to a life as God's child. The fisherman will be not a hireling but a craftsman; the mother will be not a nurse, but an artist in life; the master will not be a slave-driver, but will be responsible for his brother workman; the man who has riches will be earnest in making them an expression of his sonship and brother- hood.
The one inquiry of Jesus was: "What are you doing with the gift of life?"
His own answer was "to trust God and to live as God's children."
One of the best summaries of what this kind of a life would mean is given in what we call the Beatitudes. We have them in their simplest form in the Gospel according to Luke, but in their best interpretation in the Gospel according to Matthew. They may be put in modern English as follows :
Happy are they who feel the need of God's help, for it is they who belong to the kingdom of heaven;
Happy are they who are hungry and thirsty for real good- ness, for it is they who will be made happy;
Happy are they who are dissatisfied with themselves, for it is they who will become like God;
THE BEATITUDES 91
Happy are they who become hated and persecuted for these things, for heaven remembers such, and in this way the ancient prophets became sainted.
i
Is it really possible for men to act all the time as if they were sons of God ? We might not think so, if some men had not disproved our doubt by really living in their divine sonship. Jesus was the first to do so. When He was telling His neighbors how to live this life, He was really painting His own portrait. The Beatitudes are Jesus' autobiography. The best that we know about Jesus is not the words that He spoke, but the life that He lived. We revere and follow Him to-day because He Himself believed that He was a Son of God, and lived the life of sonship so constantly. Multitudes since then because of His teaching and life have endeavored to do so. You yourselves have fathers and mothers and friends who are doing so to-day. We shall see in the next chap- ter how this kind of life is the foundation of the kingdom of heaven. Already we can realize that it is 'the way by which one makes the most of his own life. Jesus would build His kingdom of brotherhood out of men who were first true sons to the Father.
CHAPTER XV JESUS' PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM
Nowhere in His teachings does Jesus give a definition of the Kingdom of God. This was not necessary. His hearers knew perfectly well what the words meant. Long before Jesus came, the ancient prophets, heart- sick because of the wrong-doing and misery with which the world was cursed, had dreamed of a time when all these evils should be done away. In that future golden age, all nations should learn the principles of justice which had been taught to Israel by Jehovah. As a result, all injustice would cease among men. Even war, the great- est of all evils which have afflicted the human race, would be utterly abolished. Men would "beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Is. 2:4.) In the prophecy of Daniel, this glorious future age is described as the triumph of the Kingdom of God. King Nebuchadrezzar had dreamed of a great image, made of gold, silver, and various other materials. And in his dream, "a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image," and broke it in pieces. "And the stone which smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." According to Daniel's interpretation, this dream represented the final triumph of God's rule, or God's Kingdom, over the entire human race. These glowing hopes were earnestly cherished by the Jewish people in the time of Jesus. Many of the people, however, were selfish in their hopes. They believed that God would rule the world through Israel. Their hearts were set on the glory of being rulers, rather than on that abolition
92
THE KINGDOM IDEA 93
of injustice, to which the prophets had looked forward. John the Baptist had caught the ear of the nation by be- ginning his teaching with the startling announcement, "The Kingdom of Heaven is just at hand." Yet he demolished their self-confidence and pride of descent by telling them that if God wanted children of Abraham, in order to set up His Kingdom, He could turn the peb- bles of the Jordan valley into children of Abraham by the millions. He made it perfectly clear that the way for the nation to prepare for the era of their Messiah- King, and to escape His wrath, was not to depend upon the sup- posed prerogatives of their Israelitish blood, but to begin a brotherly life, and equalize their social inequalities.
These were the ideas which were current in men's minds when Jesus came. And the best and noblest of them Jesus accepted with all His heart. With all His heart He believed in the future ideal of a new order of society, in which the sovereign Father would rule the life and conduct of all; thus ancient injustice would be corrected, and ministration to the hungry, the poor, the sick, and evil-doers would be the employment of the sons of the Kingdom, until such ministrations should never more be needed.
This vision of the new era, indeed, was not entirely new with Jesus. His originality, however, is shown in His explanation of how and when it was to be brought into being. He differed from His neighbors on two vital points. They believed that the Kingdom was to be established by force and bloodshed. Jesus believed that God rules chiefly through moral influence. This idea He brought out in such parables as that of the forgiving king. "The Kingdom of heaven (that is the rule of heaven or God) is like a king who wished to make a reckoning with his servants. . . . And one debtor was brought before him who owed ten thousand talents. . . . So that servant fell down before him and did homage to him, saying, Be patient with me, and I will pay thee all. And the master of that servant pitied him and released
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
him, and forgave him the debt." (Matt. 18: 23-27.) In other words, the rule of our heavenly King is a merciful rule. He treats evil-doers kindly, and seeks in this way to win them to a better life. As we saw in an earlier chapter, Jesus taught that "God is a King who is a Father." His Kingdom is a kingdom of love; and love is the greatest force in the world. Armies and battleships can break down walls; but only love can soften hard hearts. And it is this force on which the sovereign
Father relies, to accomplish His righteous purposes among men.
In the second place, Jesus differed from His neighbors as to when the Kingdom was to appear. They believed that this present world was hopelessly bad, and that the new era could only be ushered in by a sudden catastrophe, which they pictured to them- selves as a great Judgment Day. Jesus perhaps agreed that the final and complete triumph of God's rule would only come after this Day of Judgment. But He also be- lieved that the Kingdom was beginning to triumph, al- ready. "If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons," He said, "then is the Kingdom of God come upon you." The best way for us to-day to understand just how and when the Kingdom of God was to appear, according to Jesus' thought, is to turn to that very early parable which Jesus spoke, of which the Gospels take great pains to give an explanation. This is the parable of the sower. Very likely as Jesus spoke these words a farmer might have been seen working his field in the early springtime, scattering the grain in the freshly prepared soil, in the confident hope of harvest.
The Sower.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
95
We may put the thought of Jesus, as expressed in this story, in language something like this : The thought that God has a right to rule human life has been sown broad- cast among men like good seed. When this thought falls into the life of a man who has no room for it, because his heart is utterly hard and selfish, it never appears above
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The Wayside. Stony Ground. Thorny Ground. Good Ground.
The Four Kinds of Soil in the Parable of the Sower.
the surface. When it falls into the lives of those who are too superficial to take it into the real depths of their hearts, it springs up too soon, and then withers away. When it falls into lives that are full of other things, it simply becomes smothered. When it is taken into thoughtful minds and sincere hearts, it grows and bears fruit. So, slowly and with many discouragements and failures, the Kingdom grows according to the varying responses of men.
The same teaching appears in the parable of the seed growing of itself, which only Mark has preserved for us.
So is the Kingdom of God," Jesus says, "as if a man should cast seed on the earth. . . . The earth beareth
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
fruit of herself, first the green shoot, then the ear, then the ripened grain in the ear. ' ' (Mark 4 : 2 6-2 8 . ) In other words, God's rule triumphs gradually as the result of the growth of new and righteous purposes in men's hearts.
Jesus was right. When men do receive into their lives the thought that God deserves their loyal obedience, they arouse and claim their sonship. But it takes a long time to get this thought to sprout. Jesus once hoped that all the people in Galilee would see this truth and receive it,
but the time came when they disappointed Him, and He had to turn to His few dis- ciples and spend the rest of His life in helping them to believe thoroughly in their sonship to God. A foreign missionary to-day often spends years in persuading his ignorant and hard-hearted hearers of the love and good- ness of God, and the privi- leges of sonship. Nevertheless, "the seed of the Kingdom" is good seed, and possesses re- markable vitality. In spite of difficulties it takes root in this individual and that. And then the process of growth spreads out beyond individ- uals, and, like yeast in a mass of dough (see Matt. 13 : 33), begins to revolutionize human society. Jesus was not a revolutionist, in the sense that He ever consented to lead a bloody revolution. But He was a revolutionist, in the sense that He sowed the idea of the triumph of God's Kingdom in the hearts of men, and this idea has ever since then been transforming the world.
The controlling purpose of our lives, according to Jesus, should be loyalty to God's Kingdom. "Seek ye first His kingdom." "When ye pray, say, Our Father . . . Thy Kingdom come." The force of these sayings of
The Leaven.
SOCIAL MESSAGE OF THE KINGDOM 97
Jesus is not always fully appreciated. Some men are selfish even in their religion. They seem to think of religion merely as a kind of passport whereby they them- selves by and by can be sure of entrance into heaven. But by "seeking first God's Kingdom," Jesus meant something nobler than that. He meant that we should first of all submit our own lives to God's rule; and not only that, but we should then do all in our power to help on the triumph of that rule among all our fellow men. We should seek to make the city in which we live a ' ' city of God," and our nation a nation "whose God is Jehovah." When one really catches the Kingdom idea of Jesus, one realizes the importance of many things that hitherto may have seemed trivial. If each duty and relation of ours is a Kingdom-duty and a Kingdom-relation, then, as Phillips Brooks has told us, we shall no longer "reduce life to the pettiness of our daily living; we shall exalt our daily living to the grandeur of life."
What a vision was this which Jesus held up before men ! Its spirit came from Him ; He was the first to inspire men with the unquenchable hope that such an ideal is possible, and ever since His time this glowing ideal which He gave to the world has been the noblest inspiration of men. Jesus believed not only that this Kingdom is to be a triumphant power in the world. He also thought of it as extending into the life beyond death, and including the immortal life of men with God. Here was a very great service, in that He not only made im- mortality seem sure, but He made it seem worth while.
His faith in the Kingdom is seen in the fact that He lived its life. This is the supreme fact about Jesus' proclamation. He lived what He proclaimed. He gave His own life to the rule of God. He lived as a brother to men. He wrought for the future. Some particular acts of His were noticeable expressions of this spirit. His refusal to pay deference to men of money, His fondness for the poor, His indifference whether His new-found brothers were Jews or Gentiles, His final processional
98 THE LIFE OF JESUS
into the capital, surrounded by the populace, His insist- ence, when on trial, that His mission was to establish a Kingdom, fidelity to which meant death at the hands of those who opposed it — these were the guarantees that He gave that He believed what He taught.
CHAPTER XVI
A NIGHT AND DAY OF PERIL
The life of Jesus at Capernaum was not without adventure. One afternoon, finding that the interested multitude would not give Him time even to sleep, He started to cross the lake of Galilee in a boat. In the gathering darkness He slipped away with His nearest friends from the city strand. The waters and the surround- ing hills were peaceful. There was a fine sunset, with per- haps a hint of storm on the horizon. Jesus dropped asleep on the square boat-seat in the stern, and the fisher-boat, wafted by the rising breeze, sprang swiftly forward, with the friends of Jesus on watch. Suddenly with the night the tempest fell. The fishermen leaped to furl the sail, and then bent to the heavy oars in an endeavor to keep the boat before the wind.
The Orientals are an excit- able people. Blithe in joy, they are like children in a panic, and it was not long before the nearest shook Jesus wildly by the shoulder, and spoke the terror of all, when he snouted through the storm,
"Awake ! We are sinking !"
Jesus leaped to His feet. Is there any greater trial of a man's courage than to wake him from sleep, face to face with death? This supreme test of manliness Jesus
99
Sea of Galilee and Sur- roundings.
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
met. He was not afraid ! Later the disciples thought that His lack of fear was because He had magic power to stop the storm and knew that He was in no real danger. We perhaps can judge His attitude more justly, when we recall what Jesus said. His quiet question of His friends was, "Why are you afraid ?" Why was He Himself not afraid ? Is not the answer, that He actually believed what He
had taught about the Father ? The storm was a real peril, but Jesus, even in peril, could brave it, because, as one of our own poets has said:
"Well roars the storm to those
who hear
A deeper Voice across the
storm."
If I am alone in the storm I must be frightened, as the disciples were, but if my God and Father is in the storm This was what Jesus was
Jesus Asleep in the Storm.
with me, I can be brave, thinking.
When they drew to land on the Eastern shore there came down from the cave-tomb to the strand to meet them a giant madman. He was foul and naked, and upon his mighty arms and legs were broken pieces of the chains with which men in vain had tried to hold him. Here he lived in the rocks, shouting and yelling and gashing his body in his periods of rage with the sharp flint, and no one now ever dared come near him. The fishermen quailed before this fiend as he loomed over them in the moonlight at the landing.
But Jesus stepped quietly out and faced him. Would not the wild man tear Him to pieces ? No ! At a quiet word from Jesus he fell humbly at His knees and em- braced them, crying out in a piteous voice: "What
THE GIANT MADMAN
101
I adjure you to simple shepherds of the
The Gerasene Demoniac.
is there between thee and me, Jesus ?
torment me not."
An hour later some of the
region ventured around the
shadowed crags, and there
they saw Jesus seated beside
the lunatic, who was now
clothed and in sound mind.
They were so superstitious
that they were alarmed at
the power Jesus had shown
over this mighty man, and
they made signs at Him, en- treating Him to leave their
country. Jesus went toward
His boat to depart. The giant
followed, still talking rever- ently with Him, and when
he understood that Jesus was
now going away, he begged eagerly, ' ' Let me go with you,
Jesus. Let me also be one of those who follow after you." For the first time and apparently the only time in His
life, Jesus encouraged a man to tell of the wonder which had been wrought in his own life.
1 ' Go back to your own home," said Jesus gently. "Go back to your old friends and tell them what great things God has done for you. ' ' Here again we can study the attitude of Jesus. Not only did He, who be- lieved that His Father
was with Him everywhere, not quail at the madman, but
He exerted His power, with the Father's help, to quell the
The Hill near Gerasa.
(Copyright, 1898, by A. J. Holman & Co delphia.)
Phila-
102
THE LIFE OP JESUS
turmoil in the madman's mind, and bring him back to self-control.
Jesus may have rested here in the solitudes a little while. Soon after, however, on His return, occurred one of the most touching incidents of which we have mention in the life of Jesus. No sooner had He reached the beach at Capernaum than the usual crowd gathered about Him. While He was still by the shore the president of the synagogue came down and fell impulsively at His feet,
sobbing with grief. ' ' O Mas- ter!" he cried. "My little daughter is at the point of death, but come, place your hands upon her and you can bring her back to life."
Jesus moved rapidly up the beach toward the city, with the distracted father, fol- lowed by the multitude who thronged Him on every side. The enthusiastic faith of many in Jesus was so great at this time that they believed even the touch of His body or of His garments would bring renewed strength. This very morning a woman who was ill felt her way to Him in the crowd, and pulled at the corner of His cloak and pressed her lips to the fluttering fringe. Secretly, so as not to expose Him to ceremonial uncleanness, she touched His garments. There is a touch of pathetic humor in the statement in the Gospels that "she had suffered much from many physicians." When we recall that some of the favorite remedies of the crude medical science of that time were the heads of mice, the eyes of crabs, owl's brains, boiled snails, and scorpions boiled in wine, we can understand what her mental as well as physical torments might have been. Jesus turned gently to see who it was, and called her forth from the crowd. He may have done this
Touching Jesus' Garment.
A NEIGHBOR'S LITTLE GIRL
103
to help her to a courage which should cast out fear, while He spoke to her a message of the Father which should use that very courage to help her recovery. * At any rate, her tremulous mind was calmed, she raised herself with a thankful smile, and went away, asserting that she was thoroughly well.
In all these instances in which Jesus showed in practical life how trust in the heavenly Father helps toward poise and peace and health, He accompanied his acts by words of faith: "Peace! Be still. " " Thy faith hath made thee whole." "Fear not, only believe." In both these instances of restoration to health one cannot but be impressed with the similarity of Jesus' method to those which are so commonly and successfully used to-day, in certain kinds of nervous and mental malady and unrest, in which encouragement to quiet Christian trust becomes the strongest possible aid to the other methods of the physician and the recovery of the patient.
In the meantime a rumor had come from the house of the president of the synagogue that the little girl was already dead. "Be of good cheer," whispered Jesus, with His hand in that of His friend. "Only have faith."
Jesus hastened on, and at the door of the home He asked His friends to drive back the crowd. Coming into the silent chamber where the little girl, a child of twelve years of age, was lying cold and still, Jesus seems to have suggested that she was not dead but in a state of coma. First, He reassured the distracted parents: "Fear not, only believe." Then He put out the noisy crowd of mourners. With a friend or two and the father
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Jairus' Daughter.
104 THE LIFE OF JESUS
and mother He stepped to the bedside. There was prob- ably a word of prayer, for His own sake that He might do the Father's work, for the parents that they might be trustful and comforted, since even death is not disaster but only one of the Father's ways of bringing our loved ones to Himself. Then going up to the child He took her by the hand, and in a strong, firm voice, as if He were calling her from her night sleep, He said: "My little girl, I am speaking to you. It is time for you to get up." The little girl slowly opened her eyes, and lifted by the arm of Jesus she slowly sat up and Jesus gave her to the embraces of her enraptured father and mother. He quietly insisted that they should not allow the news to get spread abroad, and in a sensible manner asked that she should be given her breakfast.
CHAPTER XVII
BACK TO HIS OLD HOME
It seems to have been a number of months after Jesus transferred His family from Nazareth to Capernaum, be- fore He went back to His old home again. He probably- hoped that the influence of His message would be greater after His old neighbors had learned of His reputation from outside.
One Sabbath He appeared in the synagogue where as a young man He had often lis- tened to the reading and ex- planation of the scriptures. After the service of praise and prayer was over Jesus was asked to read and explain the scripture for the day.
It is not difficult to imagine the animated scene. The sim- ple white building was, no doubt, crowded with villagers. The men sat in the body of the house upon the floor, and as many women as could get in sat behind the curtain in the rear. There is no evidence that His disciples were with Him, but it is natural to sup- pose that His mother, and perhaps some of His brothers and sisters were present to hear Him address His old neighbors.
The day, however, turned out to be one of heartache to Jesus and His relatives. The Nazareth people found it hard to believe in Jesus because they had not noticed anything extremely marvellous in His early life among
105
(Copyright, 1896, by J. J. Tissot.)
Christ in the Synagogue at Nazareth.
106 THE LIFE OF JESUS
them. They were hungry to see Him perform "a mighty work," such as they had heard exaggerated rumors of, in their own village square. They did not realize that their very attitude of love of sensation and distrust would be an effective hinderance to Jesus' en- deavors even to relieve the suffering. Still less did they understand that Jesus' every act was guided by the mo- tive of righteous and loving service. For Him to do a wonder for His own good or to give an exhibition of His powers for any purpose other than to comfort a dis- tressed heart or to help a pain-racked body was not con- sistent with His modest and noble character.
The early Christians were influenced to some extent by this common tendency to overemphasize mere mar- vels, and to underemphasize moral worth as an evidence of God's presence. This is especially clear in some of the writings which have come to us from a later period than the New Testament. In these later writings, for example, the boy Jesus is pictured as making birds of clay and then, by clapping His hands, causing them to fly away as real birds. Many other extravagant and purposeless deeds are attributed to Jesus by writers of the first Christian centuries. The writings of our New Testament evangelists, on the other hand, are conspicu- ously in contrast with these later writings, in this re- gard. The New Testament writers were indeed human like ourselves, and it would be strange if they did not reflect to some extent the human failings as well as the spiritual strength of the Christian communities in which they lived. On the whole, however, it is a striking fact that in the four Gospels the unique moral greatness of the Master is everywhere brought into the foreground.
We find, here at Nazareth, a Teacher with a great message from God and a humble spirit, ready to help the sick, but unwilling to seek self-aggrandizement, even when He was invited to it. And we find His old neigh- bors so anxious for some spectacular expression by Him which should convince the nation that the Messiah had
CHRIST BLESSING LITTLE CHILDREN. From a painting by H. Hofmann.
A DEMAND FOR MARVELS 107
come out of their own village that they were unwilling to give Him a hearing.
Jesus could not bear to leave any sufferer who was brought to Him without extending whatever relief was in His power. His motive was compassion. In instances where He healed we find that He rendered aid as quietly as possible, almost invariably insisting upon secrecy, from the patient and His friends. He was very dependent upon implicit faith in the Father, expressed in prayer, both by Himself and those who were present. He was also insistent that the sick man's heart should be made clean as well as his body. He often demanded that the sufferer should do something for himself, and at times He seems to have used simple medical appliances.
We feel that we now understand how some of His healings were wrought. For example, we know that " demon possession" was a name then given to various mental disorders, which are relieved now by mental treatment, in which talking to the patient is prominent. Further, it is probable that many other cures by Jesus we would to-day easily recognize as " mental healing." As to still other instances, we must admit that we are not quite sure of the medical aspects, because of lack of sufficient medical knowledge at that time to give a correct diagnosis.
The essential thing for us to learn to-day is that, at Nazareth, as probably was the case elsewhere, the atti- tude of the people prevented Jesus from doing what He would otherwise have been able to do. That is, they refused to give attention to the main thing. They raised side issues and even false issues. The main thing with Jesus was not healing a few sick people, but rescuing men from sin, bringing them into loving trust toward the Father and inspiring them to loving service of their fel- low men, of which the care and cure of the sick is a part. These were Jesus' real mighty works. His unique great- ness lies in His power to do this, not in His ability to control external forces.
108 THE LIFE OF JESUS
Your allegiance to Jesus does not depend, your disciple- ship of Him does not hang, upon an exact settling of the question of miracles, regarding which we can never get complete knowledge.
Whether they can be fully explained or not, the so- called miracles take their place in the Gospel portraits of Jesus, and they form a halo and not a disfigurement. They suggest that radiant transcendence which is seen in Him after every thoughtful study of Him has been made. They also hint at the unmeasurable result of His consecration of His fullest powers to express the Father's will by deeds of love and help. Even though many so-called miracles of Jesus can be explained by laws of God that we now call natural, this does not change the essential impression of the person and purpose of the Master which has been cherished by the Christian centuries. His whole life was the one great miracle of history. The supreme evidence that God was in Jesus is just Jesus Himself, and not any external or physical thing whatever.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE ADVENTURES OF HIS TWELVE
MESSENGERS
After the twelve Disciples had been with Jesus for a number of months He sent them out two by two through the villages and hamlets of Galilee. It seems to have been at this time that He gave them the name ' 'Apostles." This is a very important word because it defines what they were to do. An apostle is one who not only carries a message but represents the one who sends it. These twelve men were not only to repeat what they had learned from Jesus, but they were to try as far as they could to act as He would act in their places.
Their outfit was the sim- plest. Each of them carried nothing but a staff. They were not even to take a leather bag for carrying the provisions, and they were to put no money in their purses. In addition to sandals for the feet and a covering for the head, each one wore a tunic or coat, which was a garment something like a long shirt, with a girdle or belt around the waist, and a cloak, which was hardly more than a large square piece of cloth. When a man wore two tunics it was as a sign of wealth and Jesus forbade this. The reason that they needed neither money nor provisions was because they went afoot. Foot travellers can carry little if any extra food and clothing. It was the custom to give
109
Disciples Journeying.
,
110
THE LIFE OF JESUS
even strangers food and shelter for nothing, especially if they were fellow Israelites. People would have been insulted if they had been offered pay. Jesus told them after they had gone into a house to remain there until they left the town. Whatever the quality of their enter- tainment, they were to accept it patiently, and to have but one stopping-place for each village. He told them to eat also whatever was of- fered them, without asking questions.
At times a number of women accompanied them, al- though probably not for long journeys. One of them was the mother of James and John, and another was the mother of James the Little and Joses. These good friends seemed to have been their caretakers and nurses, and perhaps some- times when they were on long journeys, their food and the care of their clothing de- pended upon their activity. You may wonder what these Apostles could have to teach. We know how even to the very last they mis- understood Jesus in so many ways. They were often proud and selfish and obtuse, and they lacked sympathy with women and children. The Gospel according to Mark tells us that they ''preached that men should repent." Theirs must have been a very simple message. They probably went rapidly from place to place, talking informally with groups of people, and sometimes gather- ing large companies in village squares and in synagogues. Their work while urgent was not hurried, yet they would not remain long in a place, because they had not yet much to say. They could repeat and endeavor to ex- plain such teachings of Jesus so far as they understood
(Copyright, 1896, by J. J. Tissot.) Saluting a House.
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood.
PLAIN OF GENNESARET AND THE SEA, NORTH FROM ABOVE MAGDALA TO UPPER GALILEE, PALESTINE.
THE RESULTS OF THEIR WORK
111
them. They at least aroused a spirit of expectancy, they made the people feel that Jesus was continuing the work by which John the Baptist had made such a deep impres- sion throughout the nation, and they prepared the way for the coming of Jesus Himself, who probably often rejoined them, both for their encouragement and to give them further instruction.
The Apostles also imitated their Master in deeds of mercy. The special work which they were able to do was to relieve some who, according to the belief of the time, were possessed of demons. An instance is given, however, in which they failed in this work.
We do not know much about the results of their mission. No doubt they aroused the curiosity of people and prepared them to listen to Jesus with attention when He should appear. Al- though we find it easy to-day to criticise them because of their occasional meanness and short-sighted- ness, we must remember what splendid qualities they possessed. Although they were none of them well- to-do, they had left their little all to follow Jesus, and must have met with much ridicule and coldness in their work. Jesus was wise and thoughtful in sending them out in pairs, so that one could refresh the courage of the other. None of them, except Peter and John and James, ever made very much stir in the world, but they were the ones who, beyond everybody else, had the privilege of long companionship with the Master, and after they had learned to understand Him, we may be sure that their quiet work did much to convince others of His truth and love. Jesus certainly appreciated them,
(Copyright J. J. Tissot, 1895-6.) Sending Out the Disciples Two by Two.
112
THE LIFE OF JESUS
and as time went on and Jesus became popular, and other men craved the privilege of becoming of their number, Jesus gave His twelve comrades the indirect compliment of setting up before these new candidates conditions of discipleship which the Twelve had willingly met. When a doctor of the law wished to become one of the Twelve Jesus reminded him that He and His followers were more homeless than the foxes and the birds. He refused to let one say farewell to his friends
and still another to attend his father's funeral; and when His mother and brothers and sisters were waiting for Him one day in a crowd, and He was told that they were present, He looked lovingly around the circle of His faithful friends and said, — "These are my brothers, — these who know the will of God and do it."
After some weeks of journey- ing through the Galilean villages the Twelve seem to have come back to Jesus and continued as His pupils. Again and again they probably went forth as His commissioners, but as His days grew short He regarded as more important that they should thoroughly understand His teaching and be ready to take up His work after He must lay it down.
After the death of Jesus these twelve disciples did a varying and a few of them a distinguished work in spread- ing the gospel of Jesus. Their lives, though consecrated, were not abnormal. They married, some of them had homes, the majority of them continued to work each at his own calling. But the time of most of them was spent in journeyings, in labors and in sufferings. They could not but be conspicuous, this little handful who had actually lived with Jesus.
As we look back now upon the lives of the Twelve we
Head of Peter. From a Roman bas-relief.
THEIR LATER CAREERS
113
see that theirs was a fourfold work. First, it was their privilege, as it has been that of all Christians since, to try to imitate Jesus, to live the life which He would have them live. Second, they were interpreters of Jesus. It was theirs to endeavor to remember and tell the words of Jesus, to explain His acts and in every possible way to try to reproduce His spirit for the men who came after Him. Third, they gave up their lives to the spread of this knowledge of Jesus wherever possible. One perhaps remained in Jerusalem and sent out Jewish Christians
Peter Preaching.
wherever Jews were scattered to tell them about their Messiah ; another, like Peter, had the privilege of stepping over the boundaries of race and telling of the Master to people of other lands; some perhaps went back to their ishing-nets, and, according to their ability, witnessed :or Him in their daily work. Thus they represented the different fields of Christian service now. And lastly, it was the solemn privilege of many of them (tradition says of all but one of them) to die for the sake of Jesus, and thus witness to the world the power of a faith which is loyal to the uttermost.
Gigantic heroes ! At first humble workmen, how the presence and example of Jesus exalted them !
CHAPTER XIX
THOSE WHO WERE WITH AND AGAINST JESUS
Wherever Jesus went He came into daily contact with the Pharisees. They were the schoolmasters of the nation. It was they who were especially prominent as speakers in the synagogue services. While in theory any reputable Jew might be asked to explain the Scriptures, a difference was made between the interpretation of an
individual and the authorized pronouncements of the Phar- isaic body. Whenever the two clashed, as they did in the case of the teaching of Jesus and that of such Phar- isees as He met either in the synagogues of Galilee or in other places of public re- sort, there was bound to be opposition from those who claimed to be the official expounders of the law. The greater the influence of Jesus the more bitter must that opposition become. Among the many points concerning which Jesus and the Pharisees differed, two came into special prominence about this time.
The point about which Jesus and the Pharisees were most at discord was in regard to the whole matter of ceremonial observances. To the Pharisees these over- layings of the reasonable ancient laws were everything; to Jesus they were nothing. One matter that they brought up for discussion was the "washings." When-
114
Praying to Be Seen by Men.
THE ISSUE OF TRADITION
115
ever the Pharisees sat down to a meal, or finished read- ing the Scripture in public, or started other tasks, they went through a formula of washing their hands, not to be clean, but in a peculiar ceremonial fashion. When a Pharisee did not wish to take too much trouble he might wash his hands "by intention" early in the morn- ing, in advance for each possible defilement of the day. Jesus had positively ignored this custom, which had become so highly esteemed that the Pharisees would not eat with any man who did not ob- serve it. They were aroused to bitter opposition by this at- titude of Jesus and questioned Him regarding it. It was a little matter, but Jesus thought it might as well become an is- sue between them as any. He called the spectators to Him, while the attending Pharisees listened.
"This washing ceremony is to clean the hands which touch food, is it ? But the food that enters a man's body does not go to his heart. It goes to his stomach. Not the food that comes into a man's stomach defiles a man, but the words that go out of his heart, and no 'washing' can cleanse these."
In another matter the Pharisees had allowed an out- ward form to become an act of meanness. This was in the matter of vows. Jesus showed how heartless this might become.
"One of you has vowed that all his property shall be dedicated to God. Then his father or his mother becomes poor, and is in suffering, but the son who out of anger or enthusiasm has made his vow says to them : ' No ! I cannot help you; my money is sacred.' Is that the right way to keep the laws of your fathers?"
Eastern Hand-Washing.
116 THE LIFE OF JESUS
The Pharisees also observed two fast days each week, while Jesus permitted His disciples to ignore them.
You see how Jesus was standing for real righteousness and justice. It was a system against a man, and an iron- bound code vs. a life of compassion. The common people were ignorant and docile. They tried in a pitiful way to follow each fresh interpretation that made harder the ancient national laws, and the injustice of it all was that the scribes were all the time contriving substitutes and subterfuges whereby they themselves could be quite self-indulgent. This body of Pharisees which had once been the nation's defense against political tyranny was now itself a spiritual tyranny.
But Jesus had not stopped at that point. Not only did He ignore the tradition that overlay the Law, but He even dared to contradict the sacred Torah itself. In the matter of the observance of the Sabbath, which was not only "the badge of the Jew," but a matter of explicit direction in the Law, Jesus proclaimed His own lordship of that day. In all these radical positions Jesus was not a destroyer. Jesus claimed that the new Torah which He proclaimed for the Sabbath was diviner than the old. Fasts, He said, were not appropriate to the honeymoon days of the Kingdom; besides they did not fit into a system of free and joyous service of the Father, any more than a new piece of cloth does as a patch upon an old one or than fermenting wine does into old and cracked wine- skins. As to the sacrifices, Jesus stood with the almost forgotten prophets as against the priestly party, that God wants mercy rather than sacrifice and righteousness rather than gifts of lambs and calves.
Here too Jesus, not only in precept but in practice, was at complete odds with the Pharisees. They regarded themselves as ceremonially defiled when they had any physical contact with unrighteous persons. As guardians of the orthodoxy of the nation, they were particularly careful not to have intercourse with those who had been expelled from the synagogue, or excommunicated, as we
RELATIONS WITH SINNERS 117
would say. These were cut off from all civil and eccle- siastical privileges as Jews. Rich or poor, they were "un- clean."
On the other hand Jesus made it clear that He really wished to have this sort of people as His companions. "The Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost." His mission was "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." He was sent not to the well, but to the sick.
The result of Jesus' interest in these unchurched folks was unexpectedly encouraging. "All the tax-collectors and sinners used to come and associate with Him like friends. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured at it greatly, and said, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them ! ' " Even harder for them to understand than His religious tolerance was His genuine friendship for people who were not in polite society.
Among these outcasts two classes especially are often mentioned as having the courage to approach Jesus : tax- collectors and women of ill repute. That Jesus should not only form the acquaintance of taxmen, but should actually admit one of them to His inner circle, was a constant challenge to the intolerance of the Pharisees. The Gospel according to John relates the position which Jesus took when some of the Pharisees brought to His attention a woman whose sin had been most flagrant, and demanded that He coincide with the reiterated penal- ties laid down in the Law against such sin. "The Law deserves respect," was Jesus' verdict, "but which of you is worthy to throw the first stone at her!" None felt that he was so free from sin as to do this.
You see how Jesus was standing for the righteousness that is at the heart of all laws. The ancient code of Israel was perhaps more sacred to Him than to the Pharisees, for He often found unexpected truths and tendernesses in it, but it had no value for Him when it did not have a message for those who had failed in the true uses of life.
Jesus, as we have been saying, was on the side of the common people. The Pharisees claimed to be their
118
THE LIFE OF JESUS
teachers, but they were as fastidious as the high-caste people of India to-day in their fear of contact with what they called "the rabble." Jesus told a story in the pres- ence of some of the Pharisees and the multitude, to show how He believed God looks at this matter. Let us read it in our modern speech, and call it "The Story of the Good Father.''
' ' Once there was a father who had two sons. The older one represents you Pharisees, the younger these people
beside me. The younger son asked for his share of the property. So the father di- vided his property among them. A few days later this younger son gathered to- gether all he had, and went away into a distant land ; and there he squandered all his property foolishly."
You can seem to see the Pharisees smiling proudly. Truly that was a good picture of the way the common peo- ple wasted their opportuni- ties. But listen. "When he had spent all he had, a fearful famine set in all over that country, and he began to be in sore want. He was reduced to be a slave to a farmer in that country, who sent him to take care of unclean swine. And his food was the same as theirs."
The Pharisees nod their heads solemnly. "But by and by, coming to his senses, he thought of his father. 'Even his hired servants have more bread than they can eat, while I am here — dying of hunger. I will get up and go back to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have done wrong against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be your son. Treat me as one of your servants.' "
The Lost Son.
Copyright by J. J. Tissot. Courtesy of the Tissot Picture Societj
THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON.
THE STORY OF THE GOOD FATHER 119
You must imagine many of the people listening now with tears in their eyes. Such is their own pitiful situa- tion. Oh, what can be the end of the story !
"So he got up and went back to his father. While he was perhaps hesitating to approach his old home, his father spied him, and his heart was touched. He ran — he threw his arms around his neck — he began to kiss him. The son began to say what he had intended, but before he had finished, the father cried out to his servants, 'Be quick and fetch a robe — the best in the house — and put it on him; give him a ring for his finger and shoes for his feet; and bring the calf that we have been fattening and kill it, that we may eat and be joyful. For this is my son, who was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost and is found.' So they began merry- making."
Now Jesus turns directly to the Pharisees present.
"Meanwhile the older son (who represents you) was on the farm, but when he came home, after he got near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and inquired what it meant. 'Your brother has come back,' answered the servant, 'and your father has killed the calf that has been fattening, because he has him back safe and sound.'
"This made him angry, and he would not go in.
"So his father came out, and urged him.
" 'No,' he said, 'look at all the years I have been work- ing like a slave without ever once disobeying your laws, and yet to me you have never given a kid so that I might make merry with my friends.'
"'My child,' answered the father gently, 'you are al- ways with me. Everything that is here is yours. We could not help making merry and being glad, for your brother was dead, and he has come to life again ; he was lost and is found.' "
You see, Jesus was reminding his listeners that God is the Father of the foolish younger brother just as much as of the wise older one.
120 THE LIFE OF JESUS
Then notice how the word "brother" is emphasized. The father says to the older one, not "This my son" but "this your brother," and even the servant reminds him that the one who has come home safe is his brother.
These were the men who were against Jesus. Who was on His side ? The people of His province disowned Him. His own relatives entirely misunderstood Him. There were a few Galileans who were faithful, and later we shall see how they stood by His side in His days of danger. But the circle of His influence was now narrowing to that of His twelve Disciples. If we could look into their faces to-day, those men of stooped shoulders, hard, knotted hands and unenlightened countenances, we should feel a chill of despair in supposing that such men could be worthy to understand or hand down the message of the Master. One of them, at least, Simon the Zealot, had been a member of the revolutionary party, and was, no doubt, bitterly disappointed that Jesus did not assume the political leadership of the people. Probably Judas Iscariot shared the same hopes. The rest of them were full-blooded Jews, strongly influenced by the teachings of the Pharisees, and they interpreted the ancient Scrip- tures in accordance with the prejudices of their time. Through such men as these the cause of Jesus hereafter must endeavor to make its way.
CHAPTER XX THE MARTYRDOM OF A HERO
The wily Herod Antipas had foreseen the political danger if John the Baptist should continue to stir up the people, and long before his disciples had developed or- ganized strength to protect him, he shut him up in prison, leaving Jesus therefore to assume the leadership of this national movement alone.
Upon the highlands east of the Jordan in the country of Moab, overlooking the scenes of his short triumph, John had been placed in the fortress castle of Antipas, who was the ruler of Galilee and Perea. Antipas was the son of Herod the Great, and although he was not so vigorous as his masterly father he was as shrewd. Jesus once accurately described him as a ''fox." He rightly saw that he could not venture to leave at large a man who had such power over great multitudes of his subjects, if his own reign was to be undisputed. But neither dared he kill him, for fear of the people.
Herod seems to have felt no enmity toward John. One of the Gospels tells us that he enjoyed talking with him, and it suggests that the tremendous personality of John secured great influence over him. "He did many things" because of him, say some of the ancient manu- scripts. John had access to his own friends, and at this point in the story he sent some of them with a message to Jesus.
You are to think of John in prison as being like a wild beast in a cage. Always an outdoor man, he had little use even for the indoor luxuries of a court and no mind at all to be shut up within stone walls. It was doubly hard for a man who had swayed thousands to have no
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
companions but his jailers, a few friends and the weak and insincere half- Jew, Herod Antipas. Was he not often tempted to think his life a failure, and to wonder at the providence that had cut off his usefulness in the strength of his days ? A life in shackles was far from the ideal of one who wanted to level mountains and fill up valleys for the sake of the coming Israelite kingdom. But his was a soldier's heart, and when he could no longer
live on the firing line himself, he remembered that there was another who was free. What was Jesus doing? Was He fulfilling the promise of His youth? Was Jesus true to the message ? John had prob- ably heard broken accounts of Jesus' work in Galilee, ac- counts which had gratified him, for they indicated that his early supporter had de- veloped unusual power. But was He in line with John's own hopes ? Was He laying his axe at the root of the tree and cutting down the sinners who cumbered the ground ? Was He winnowing out the souls of men and gathering the wheat, and preparing the chaff for the burning ?
The particular question which John sent his friends to ask Jesus was a startling one, "Are you the One that was to come or must we look for another ?"
It is somewhat difficult for us to know just what John meant by this. So far as our information goes it is not certain that John had proclaimed the coming of the Messiah; he seems rather to have looked forward to the intervention of God himself. It was He for whom he believed himself to be the royal roadmaker. John held that the kingdom was coming after God had personally appeared to judge His people. John's question sounds
John the Baptist in Prison.
JOHN'S QUESTION 123
almost as if it referred to some secret conversation which he may have had with Jesus before his arrest.
"Are you taking up my work? Are you the Elijah whom God has given to take my place ? Are you true to the commission?" This is perhaps the meaning of the challenge of the fiery prisoner.
Jesus made no immediate answer. The day passed as usual. Jesus went on teaching those who gathered around Him. He ministered to the sick and troubled. It is in close connection with the story of this day that the Gospel according to Matthew quotes a saying of Jesus which has meant more of comfort to the distressed of earth than any other that He ever spoke. It may not have been spoken at just this time. It may have been spoken many times. But it so completely states the character of Jesus' personal influence that we may place it here :
"Come unto me, all you that are weary and heavy laden, And I will refresh you. Fit my yoke unto you and learn of me, For I am meek and lowly of heart, And you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy And my burden is fight."
And the Gospel of Matthew tells us that it was upon this day also, and perhaps at this very moment, that He lifted His eyes in prayer and thanked the Father that children could now know what the wise and understanding had never before been able to find out.
When evening came, it was time for John's comrades to start home. Jesus called them to Him, and said: 1 ' Go and give your report to John of what you have heard and seen. The blind of heart are getting their sight, the lame of heart are walking, the deaf of heart are getting their hearing, and the dead of heart are being raised to life, and the Good News is being told to the poor. Happy is the man who will believe in Me !"
124 THE LIFE OF JESUS
The evangelists also tell us that it was upon this same occasion that Jesus spoke those generous words about the undaunted desert preacher, which we may perhaps render as follows : ' ' He is greater than any prophet ! He is greater than any man who ever lived ! Yet — because he came before the days of the kingdom — he that is lesser in the kingdom has greater opportunity than he."
We do not know how John received this message and report. This was not the kind of Elijah he had been dreaming of. Instead of the axe and the winnowing fan and the fire for sinners, here was one who was kind to the most sinful. In place of fasting and ceremonies of penitence, this man was happy at men's feasts. And instead of cutting a royal road for a Deliverer, he was helping the lame to their feet and giving an easy yoke to the burdened. But what was that last word of Jesus ? "Happy is the man who will believe in Me !" It was as though Jesus assumed the command, and asked John to be patient and obey. John had a soldier's heart. We do not know, but we like to think that, even if he could not understand, he could be loyal.
The story comes to a sudden climax. Herod Antipas was an adulterer. He had met in Rome his brother's wife, and, without taking the trouble to divorce his own wife, he had married her. This sort of thing was done every day in dissolute Rome, but it was an offense be- yond all others to the Jews. "It is a sin for you to have her !" the prisoner John had stoutly told his royal jailer. We do not know how the guilty man received this fear- less rebuke, but it made the woman his mortal enemy. Herodias was of this same sin-stained family, for she was Antipas' niece as well as his wife. If he was a fox, she was a tigress. Her plot was heartless but sure. Antipas would not dare deliberately to kill John, but according to the story in Mark's Gospel, she was able to trick him into doing it.
At a great feast when many Jewish men of wealth were shaming their national ideals by being guests at an
THE MARTYRDOM OF JOHN 125
enemy's table, she brought forward her daughter Salome to entertain the company. High born though she was, this shameless woman imitated the coarse dances of the paid performers at Roman courts, and the king, perhaps half intoxicated, was so enraptured that he rose to his feet and cried aloud that she must ask any present in his power, as a reward for her skill.
The trap was instantly snapped. "Give me John's head, here, on a silver platter," she replied.
The king had passed his word. Nobody was present who would befriend the prisoner. He forgot caution, and yielded to the woman who had proven stronger and more shrewd than himself, and soon the hideous trophy was laid at the heartless woman's feet.
Herod did not live on without retribution. The ghost of John seemed to haunt him, and when he heard months later of Jesus it seemed to him as though the resurrected John was abroad through the land, gathering a new popular uprising against him. His own neglected wife brought her father's army against him and he was van- quished. Far off in Lyons, France, he spent his last broken days as an uncrowned exile.
CHAPTER XXI JESUS SHARING WITH THE MULTITUDE
The death of John the Baptist came at the apparent height of Jesus' popularity. It cast the shadow of an approaching change.
As long as John was in prison, the very fact that Herod did not dare to take his life was a testimony to the power of the popular movement which John had begun and which Jesus was now leading. His strong and picturesque character, while it survived, was a challenge to courage on the part of his friends. But if his death should be unavenged, what might prevent Herod, whose domain was Galilee as well as Perea, from laying his hand upon Jesus and His followers ?
The shock of this sudden catastrophe, the need of fore- thought as to the future, the personal bereavement, caused Jesus to feel the need of quiet both for Himself and His friends.
"Come," He said, "let us get away early, to some lonely spot by ourselves, and rest awhile."
There were perhaps fourteen in the party that left Capernaum. Besides Jesus and the Twelve there may have been a boy, the lad to whom John refers in his account of the events; he may have been Peter's son. With the lad perhaps at the tiller and Jesus on the seat beside him they made the short journey to the south- west shore in an hour. But the people were before them. It was probably Passover time and many were on the road to Jerusalem. These caravans along the lakeside road added themselves to the people of the neighboring villages who heard of Jesus' coming and filled the strand before His boat drew up. Within the
126
THE DAY BESIDE THE LAKE
127
morning hours one of the largest companies which Jesus had ever met surrounded Him. He at once gave up His promised rest, and devoted Himself to their needs.
It was almost a national gathering, and appropriately the Gospel according to Luke tells us that "he taught them concerning the kingdom of God." Toward night the great company sat down to dinner on the slope over- looking the lake, looking, so the account in Mark tells us, in their many- colored garments, against the background of the grass, like great flower-beds.
Jesus Himself had an important part in help- ing to furnish the multi- tude with food for this lakeside supper. It seems indeed a parable of His whole Galilean ministry, now drawing to a close. From the slenderest of resources Jesus satisfied the multitude. Without wealth, name or title, without a patron or an influential friend, Jesus, blessed by God, fed the hearts of men.
Furthermore this is the memorable fact : upon this na- tional anniversary, where a throng national in character was gathered, the outstanding leader of the nation (now that John was gone) engaged in an act by which He taught the method of the Kingdom of God. It is a kingdom of brotherhood. The Master shared with the Disciples, the Twelve shared with their neighbors, and these with theirs, clear to the outskirts of the throng. Not only were all fed, but all helped. Each one received not merely bread but also the helpful hand of his brother. The precise source of the food is unimportant, if only we know this, that it was a communion feast of brothers.
The day closed in the greatest excitement. The en-
Jesus and the Disciples Setting Sail.
128 THE LIFE OF JESUS
thusiasm of the happy, united throng was contagious. The martyrdom of John had stirred their patriotic feel- ings to the utmost. Who should avenge his death but his old comrade and co-worker, Jesus ? When would be a better time to arise than now, at the national anni- versary, when Herod's murder of John was the challenge to the nation either to demand revenge or forever remain supine? And when better could this Jesus, who had won such power over them without ever breaking silence as to His real purpose and aims for the nation, declare Himself than now, when all were expectant ? There was also the element of affection. As we have seen, the Disciples were first won to Jesus, without any real under- standing of Him, purely on the basis of personal friend- ship. Scores of poor and sick people owed their happi- ness and their very lives to Him. His contagious gracious- ness had won Him hosts of affectionate comrades. He had in His hands the keys to power, and if ever the voice spoke again, which in His earliest manhood told Him that He could lead a successful rebellion, it must have spoken now. And the urgency of the voice was that it was now or never. If He did not grasp, at this time, the reins of power, there would never again be so good an opportunity.
But Jesus had decided this question once for all. It would be popular indeed to be a Bread-King. Jesus knew the pathetic longings of these folk, poor, misgoverned and well-nigh hopeless, to be part of a new Israel in which they should have no more work, no more poverty and no more taxes. But the way to such a future was a path deep in blood. When He should have established Him- self as military conqueror, He would rule over a people who at their best had proven entirely unfit for self-govern- ment and who were less fitted for such a task than ever. His selfish domain would probably crumble at the £rs1 shock, and its people would have risen against Him as soon as He had disappointed their most foolish wish.
Jesus, however, had chosen His calling. He had de-
DEPARTURE OF THE MULTITUDE 129
termined not to be the petty monarch of a Jewish domain. He had a message for the world, a word that could be only spoken in His own short life, which must sink into the soil and wait for centuries for its growth, but which should bear fruit to feed the whole world.
This word was as to the kingdom of brotherhood. The heart of the story of the feeding of the five thousand is this saying of Jesus: "They need not go away. Bring them to me." When Jesus stood, with His Twelve about Him, sharing food with them, which each in turn shared with his next neighbor until all were fed, that was a picture of Jesus' kingdom of brotherhood : this, and not conquest or political revolution, was the spirit of its Master, the method of its life.
The greatness of Jesus is seen that day not merely in His abnegation, but in the skilful manner in which He handled a dangerous situation. His disciples were as much carried away as were the crowd by the excitement of thinking their hopes were at once to be gratified. They might easily commit Him by some act of folly to a posi- tion which He could not countenance. With instant authority He sent them to help in the dispersal of the multitude, and when they returned to find Him, He had vanished. Bewildered, they sailed home in the darkness, while Jesus on the lonely hillside renewed in prayer His poise and self-mastery.
CHAPTER XXII THE BREAK WITH THE PHARISEES
Up to this time the contact of Jesus with the Pharisees had been with individuals, but now His work had assumed such proportions as to demand official inquiry, and a delegation was sent down from Jerusalem to examine Him.
"When is the Kingdom of heaven, which you teach, coming ?" was probably their first question of Jesus.
"The Kingdom of God," replied Jesus, "comes in no visible form, and no one can say ' See ! here it is' ; or, 1 See ! there it is ! ' for behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you."
But as the Pharisees could imagine no "coming" ex- cept the celestial and marvellous appearing of their Mes- siah, they persisted: "But if the Kingdom is at hand, show us at least one of the signs of its coming."
"Do you want a sign in the sky ? " asked Jesus, bitterly. "When the sky is red at evening, you say, 'That is a sign that it will be fine to-morrow ! ' If it is red in the morning, you say, 'It will be stormy to-day.' You know well enough how to read the signs of the sky; why can you not read the signs of the times ?"
By this answer probably Jesus referred to the deep spiritual hunger which He had met on every hand, the works of the Kingdom which everywhere beckoned to be done, and the response of the few who had already en- listed in the service of the Kingdom.
Perhaps on the same occasion, when the Pharisees per- sisted in their demand for a sign, Jesus replied, "An evil and unfaithful generation is seeking after a sign; and no sign shall be given to it, but the sign of Jonah." By
130
THE GREAT DENUNCIATION 131
this He meant that just as the preaching of Jonah had converted the Ninevites, in spite of the fact that Jonah had performed no miracles, so His life and teaching should convince the Jews, without any additional marvels or signs.
There was indeed one "sign" which the Pharisees could not ignore, the merciful deeds of Jesus in healing the sick. This they did not recognize as a Messianic sign for they had anticipated that the Messiah would show His power in overwhelming the heathen rather than in strengthening the weak. They had evidently not read that great chapter in their own prophets (Ezekiel 34), where God rebukes His shepherds for their neglect of the sick and broken, and promises that He Himself will be- come the searching and healing Shepherd of His forgotten. These deeds of Jesus, however, required explanation, and it was easily found in their own system of thought. When an unexplainable event did not come as the result of the intervention of God from above, it must come from the powers beneath, and to these demonic forces they ascribed the merciful acts of Jesus. "That Kingdom," replied Jesus, perhaps with a touch of sarcasm, "is not likely thus to be divided against itself. For how can Satan cast out Satan ?"
It is at this time, according to Luke, that Jesus delivered the magnificent address which has been called "The Great Denunciation. ' ' The situation could no longer be covered up with gentle words. The people must choose between Him and the Pharisees. In some public place, "in the hearing of all the people," Jesus boldly called by name the hollow hypocrisies and the meaningless ceremonials by which these pretenders to religion deceived both them- selves and the people. In two different connections and in somewhat different language the Gospels give us por- tions of what must be considered as one of the world's great orations, an address in which biting sarcasm and searching analysis and immeasurable pity are mingled as Jesus held up for future generations His portrait of the hypocrite in religion.
132 THE LIFE OF JESUS
But the populace were not ready for their Liberator. The enshackling requirements of the Pharisees had be- come an accepted habit, and the authority which this impressive delegation from the capital represented was too real to be gainsaid. The Capernaum people yielded to the verdict of their religious oligarchy.
We do not know in just what terms the decision against Jesus was stated. The Fourth Gospel, which seems to have access to fresh sources, connects the rejection of Jesus closely with the feeding of the five thousand. That immense congregation of people had apparently been the occasion of the coming of the delegation from Jerusalem, and the refusal of Jesus to work a ' ' sign ' ' of His Messiah- ship immediately afterward was the signal for His expul- sion.
The decision probably took the form of a kind of ex- communication, and thenceforth Jesus was an unchurched Israelite. But it was more. Even an ostracized Jew could not be permitted to have such influence as Jesus was wielding. A longer stay in Capernaum was made impossible for Jesus and His disciples, and He was driven forth as an exile. Some have thought that the intention of the Pharisees was to force Jesus into Judea, where He would be more easily in their power.
What was the attitude of the disciples of Jesus after He had been disowned by the Pharisees ? The Gospel of John says that "upon this many of the disciples went back, and walked no more with him." It also adds Simon's word of pathetic loyalty: "Lord, to whom else shall we go ? It is you who have the words of eternal life." Simon and the Twelve were bewildered to find that their Teacher was unacceptable to the teachers of their race, but what could they do ? They could not go back to them and to bondage. They must go forward, on with Jesus, even if in darkness !
CHAPTER XXIII
JESUS AMONG A FOREIGN PEOPLE
After Jesus had been rejected by the Galileans, at the instigation of the Pharisees, He decided to take the dis- ciples away by themselves into a foreign country for a number of months, in order that He might thoroughly train them in the message of the Kingdom. He wished
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to fit them both to understand it and be able to teach it, if He Himself should finally be overwhelmed by the rising enmity of the religious leaders of Israel. Unwill- ing to meet His foes upon their own ground in Judea until this preparation should be complete and desirous also to avoid the dangerous suspicions of Herod, who already identified Him with the martyred John, Jesus surprised His friends by asking them to fill their haver- sacks for a long journey, and turned their footsteps away from the confines of their native land.
Jesus led His companions northwestward into the mountains of upper Galilee. Day by day they went
133
134 THE LIFE OF JESUS
farther from home and finally passed the boundary-line of their own country, and were over in Phoenicia. The summer heat which dries the springtime grass was com- ing on, but it was cool on the wind-swept table-lands and in the shadowed ravines. They probably covered two hundred miles that summer.
^ They may have visited both Tyre and Sidon, the mag- nificent capitals of the heroic race which had swept over all seas and touched every shore. Upon the quays of Tyre, among the crowded bales and heaps of merchandise,
Ruined Aqueduct at Tyre.
Jesus and His companions came face to face with black Moors, tawny Egyptians and dark-eyed Spaniards. They traversed the cliffs of Sidon, and beyond its temples and royal tombs, its groves and gardens, they saw the blue sea, the barrier, not the highway, of their nation. The Jews are not sailors, but these fishermen may have found excitement in listening to the sailors who told them fascinating tales of the sights in far-off lands. Jesus wished them to forget the disappointments of Galilee and to listen with sympathy, and even with admiration, to the thoughts of other races. It may have been somewhat startling to these exclusive Jewish men to find out that these Syrians ridiculed their race for its baseless pride of superiority and its isolation from other peoples.
JESUS AND FOREIGNERS
135
Jesus was probably not very successful, however, in developing a sense of fellowship between His followers and the strangers whom they met in these seaport cities. The Jews applied the coarse epithet "dogs" to all for- eigners. Perhaps some special displeasure of the Twelve at the willingness of Jesus to teach some of these Tyrians led to the incident which took place at this time.
One day there came to His Tyrian lodging-house a woman who sought relief for her little daughter, who was deranged. She was of the old aboriginal Canaanite
Old Castle at Sidon.
(From a photograph.)
stock that had settled in the land before the Jews, just as the Indians did in our own country. Jesus determined to let this opportunity be a test of the human sympathy of His friends.
Matthew seems to represent her as making her first appeal a shrewd reminder of the old friendly relations between King David and her ancestral monarch, King Hiram.
"Have pity, O Son of David !" she cried.
But Jesus deliberately turned away and went out of the house. The poor woman followed Him, begging for help. Jesus waited to see if the disciples would inter- vene in her behalf, but no, they were pleased that He ignored her and perhaps even urged that He should send her away.
136
THE LIFE OF JESUS
Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman.
"Lord, help me !" she cried out in despair. "I have been sent," He said, turning to her, "only to
the wandering sheep of Israel's fold. Let the chil- dren have enough first, for it is not fair to take the children's loaf and cast it to the household puppies." Do you suppose there was a twinkle in His eye as He said this, or did she notice that He did not speak of her as one of the homeless street dogs, but as the pets which the Tyrians kept in their houses ?
With quick-witted shrewd- ness she responded: "Yes, Master, but the puppies often feed off the scraps that fall from their owner's table!"
Was not that a keen an- swer ? ' ' Dogs ' ' her people might be, but God was their maker and the owner of them all.
"Well said!" cried Jesus, with hearty pleasure. ' ' What splendid faith ! Let it be even as you will. Go home. Your little daughter shall be well." It is interesting to remem- ber that the only other time Jesus had ever been able to use such warm terms of praise was a few days before in Ca- pernaum and to another for- eigner. The captain of the Roman city guard, who had built the synagogue for the Jews, had been in need of help
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JESUS AND FOREIGNERS
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for his man-servant. In this case even the Jews inter- ceded in his behalf, because of his benevolences to them. Jesus started at once to the man's home, but when He was close by, the officer sent one of his own friends with another message. "Sir," he said, "I am not of enough importance to have you come beneath my roof; that in- deed is the reason why I did not come to you. Just say
View in the Lebanon Mountains.
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During His first northern journey Jesus and His disciples probably spent considerable time in the region of these mountains.
the word and the boy will get well. For I know how it is myself; I, too, am under orders, and I have soldiers under me, and if I say to one ' Go, ' he goes, and to an- other 'Do this,' he does it." It was then that Jesus again exclaimed, ' ' Splendid faith ! Never in any Israelite have I seen faith like this."
Do you see Jesus standing on the cliffs of Tyre upon a summer evening, looking across the great sea toward the lands beyond, which He should never visit, and mur- muring to Himself what He said in Capernaum, concern- ing that Roman captain? "Many shall come from the
138
THE LIFE OF JESUS
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Cedars of Lebanon.
West as well as from the East and take their place at table beside Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven, while the heirs of Heaven will be banished into
the darkness outside."
Such were the men whom Jesus might have had as fol- lowers. As He looked toward Greece and Rome that day, was He tempted to leave His own bigoted countrymen and carry His gospel Himself to the outer world that needed Him and that seemed so ready to welcome Him ?
It has been said that Jesus was no patriot. His next ac- tion is the best answer. He deliberately turned His back upon whatever opportunities there were in other lands and returned to His own coun- try. He would not desert His race. He led His friends eastward through the deep gorge of the Leontes River, up over the sunny range of the Lebanon, to where on some golden autumn day they looked down the long eastern slopes to Damascus, the trea- sure city of the East. But even from this earth- ly Paradise Jesus turned to His own people.
With garments faded and torn, with bodies hardened by exposure
and exercise, but refreshed and invigorated by these wholesome methods of outdoor life, the Disciples hastened homeward. Understanding more deeply some of the
On the Road to CiESAREA Philippi.
THE RETURN TO CAPERNAUM
139
Master's ideals, though not yet in sympathy with His interest in foreigners, they returned with Jesus in the autumn to Capernaum.
When Jesus and His friends reached Capernaum they found the city all in turmoil against them. The Galileans were a passionate people, and, like His old neighbors at Nazareth, they could not remain merely neutral. If they would not take Jesus as their leader, they would be His in- veterate foes. There was no longer safety of life for Him in His home, and only once again after this departure was He seen in the streets of Capernaum.
This time they went direct- ly north about fifty miles to Caesarea Philippi, the northern capital which Herod Philip had rebuilt upon the very shoulder of lofty Mount Hermon.
They were all seated one day by the roadside, perhaps just after the common meal. Jesus had been waiting all through these months of adventure and experience to ask one question, the most important one which He could possi- bly ask.
"Who do people say that I am?" was His approach to the question. They had heard this question often before, though never from the lips of Jesus. You know, it is usually easy enough to say who a man is. If any one asked them who Herod Philip was, anybody would have said, He is the ruler of Iturea. Who is Simon Peter? A fisherman of Galilee. Who is Matthew? One who was recently the tax-gatherer of the Plain of Gennes- aret.
But who is Jesus ? The Twelve reported what people were saying.
Cjssarea Philippi and a Part of Mount Hermon.
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
"Some say, John the Baptist."
"Some say, Elijah."
"And some say, Jeremiah."
"And others say, Some other of the ancient prophets come back again."
"But who do you say that I am?"
Was there a long pause before any reply came ? Had they wrestled together about this during the days since they had first known Jesus? What should they say of One who had become their hero and cherished friend, and yet who daily disappointed them by His interest in for- eigners, His sympathy with outcasts, His contempt of
Jesus Talking with His Disciples.
their childhood teachers? Whom should they call this man of prayer who seldom prayed in public, this healer of disease who yet never allowed any one to boast of His cures, this teacher of religion who was being disowned by their religious leaders and their old neighbors? The prophets had told of a coming deliverer, yet was Jesus' way going to lead to deliverance ? But the one subject of His teaching was the same as theirs, the Kingdom of God. What Israel hoped and agonized for Jesus loved with all His heart, the return of the Kingdom to Israel. And so, although none of them saw how Jesus ' way could possibly be in harmony with their hopes, there was at least one man among them who loved and trusted Him
PETER'S CONFESSION 141
so much that he uttered aloud what had for many cen- turies been only the whisper of a nation's hope :
"You are the Messiah, the anointed of the Eternal !" Jesus grasped him eagerly by the hand. He had found one man who had begun to understand Him.
"Blessed art thou, Simon, son of John," he exclaimed. "You did not get this from men. This has come to you from my heavenly Father. And let me tell you who you are : you are the man like rock (the word Peter means rock), and upon such rock (he is speaking like a car- penter, and pointing perhaps to the corner-stone of a wayside shrine) I will build my church, and the Powers of Death shall never overcome it ! "
CHAPTER XXIV THE SOURCE OF JESUS' COURAGE
We do not know all of the conversation which ensued, in that quiet place, between Jesus and His friends. It seems likely that it continued in the direction in which it had begun. Perhaps Jesus propounded a question something like this: What did "Moses" (the Law) say about the truths which I have been teaching you ? What would "Elijah" (the Prophets) think about our work of ministry together ? What would these olden teachers say if they could know that the work which I am doing can have but one end, — my own rejection and death ?
It was at this point that Jesus broke to His dearest friends the news for which He had again led them into solitude. The attitude of His own city toward Him had removed all doubt from His mind as to what further was in store for Him from His enemies. If they had im- proved even His absence further to embitter His neigh- bors against Him, at what would they stop when He should present His message to the nation at Jerusalem? He therefore plainly told the Twelve that He was plan- ning to go to Jerusalem, but that He had no expectation but that His enemies would meet His coming with the endeavor to kill Him, and in this He believed that they would be successful.
Jesus, however, would not leave His friends under this shock of surprise without some relief. "But," He added immediately, "some of you who stand here will certainly not die until you have seen God's Kingdom come into power."
It was at this point that the impetuous Peter exclaimed, "God forbid. Master! This shall never be your fate,"
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JESUS FORETELLS HIS DEATH
143
Weakness of soul is not to be borne even from one's stanchest friends. Jesus swung Peter's hand from his shoulder and, turning, flashed upon him this sentence, Out of My way, tempter ! Now you are a stumbling- stone to Me. You look at things in man's way, not in God's." Then he turned to the others and said sternly, "If a man wishes to go always where I go, he must deny self and take up his cross every day and follow Me."
(From a photograph.) Mount Hermon, the Probable Scene of the Transfiguration.
The word "cross" is now the hallowed symbol of our religion. Then it was the punishment used only by the Roman tyrants for the most shameful crimes. This ter- rible sentence was as if Jesus had said, "If you follow Me you must walk behind Me on the way to the gallows."
It was in preparation for such a future that Jesus left nine of the Twelve in a village at the foot of the mountain, and took Peter and John and James with Him to climb up its lonely sides alone. These three were not only closest to Him, but they were the strongest of them all. Peter, as we have seen, He had named "The man of rock." His nickname for the two brothers was "Sons Df thunder." These phrases of appreciation show how He valued them.
Leaving the vineyards in the foot-hills they passed many shrines to Pan and other Roman and Grecian gods,
144 THE LIFE OF JESUS
that peeped from the ravines, that crowned the crests, and crossed the snow- worn curve beneath the lofty peaks above. It was late autumn and the country below was as golden as the halls of Heaven.
When night fell the four strong climbers had ascended far into the heights, and they ate their supper beside some icy brook that gushed from the snow-line just above. The unaccustomed air made them drowsy, and soon the three fishermen were rolled up in their heavy sheepskin cloaks beside the camp-fire and were at once asleep.
During this night there came to Jesus the greatest spiritual experience of His life. While He was praying, it entered into and glorified His communion. The words which describe it were like those which describe the temptations, figurative, for, as the Gospel of Matthew tells us, it was a vision. Probably the words have come to us from the lips of Jesus Himself.
During the desert temptations you remember that three voices spoke to Jesus. So it was in the spiritual trial upon the mountain.
The first voice which He heard was that of the Law and Prophets. These were personified to the Jews by Moses and Elijah. Malachi, the latest of the prophets, had said that they were both to reappear before the com- ing of "the day of the Lord." What had they to say about the death of the Messiah? First, it seemed to Jesus, Moses spoke, reminding Him how his whole life long he himself had waged war with the seen on the side of the unseen, when his whole people were faithless be- cause of discouragement. Then Elijah spoke for the later prophets, to say that, while at times they seemed to tell of a visible victory by the Messiah, there was a deeper voice which told of One who was to be "despised and rejected of men." The prince who had gone down to lead up a nation of slaves and the prophet who had given his strength to a thankless people were witnesses to the glory of a life of unappreciated love. The man who had passed from earth by the kiss of God, and the one who
opyright by Underwood & Underwood.
OLD GATE TO C^ESAREA PHILIPPI, AT THE FOOT OF MT. HERMON, PALESTINE.
JESUS' VISION ON THE MOUNTAIN 145
had gone up in a chariot of fire could tell Him that death was nothing to be feared. The two patriots who had not failed to find successors, the one in the commander Joshua, and the other in the healer Elisha, could tell Him that such lives as theirs and His could not finally perish. Thus the message of the past inspired the courage of Jesus.
The second voice was present and a human one. He seemed to hear Simon Peter, who was heavy with sleep, saying something about build- ing some mountain shepherd huts, so that these two guests of His vision might remain, as if He and they might expect to live forever in the mere dream of being heroic. That was, no doubt, the mood of all those who loved Him, but His time was now come; He could no longer tarry in the places where life was safe and beautiful.
Into the silence that followed there fell a third, a still, small voice, as if from the watching stars. It was the voice of the
Father: "This is my beloved Son, who pleases me so well." Before the challenge of that divine confidence could the Master linger longer upon the mountain ?
He awakened His three friends, and together they went down, facing the sunrise.
When Peter and James and John awoke, Jesus with glowing face told them the vision-parable and explained it to them. There was enough of the heroic in these three so that they could at least catch a glimpse of the possi- bility of a life so brave that it would not shrink from death, in the path of duty. They saw Jesus in a new light, transfigured. For them thereafter the Law and
Head of Elijah.
From the Copley Print of Sargent's "Frieze of the Prophets" in the Boston Public Library. (Copyright, 1898, by Cur- tis and Cameron.)
146 THE LIFE OF JESUS
the Prophets might vanish; "they saw no one, save Jesus only."
At the foot of the mountain, perhaps by the bridge at the city gate, Jesus and His three companions met a jeering crowd gathered around a helpless boy, whom their other comrades who had remained below had tried in vain to relieve. It was a sharp contrast to their eyes that had just been dazzled by a heavenly vision, but to us it seems an even more glorious thing to remember how patiently Jesus bent down among His limp-hearted dis- ciples and cured the young sufferer. "For the valley, not the mountain, is man's home, but the brook that gives man drink in the valley has its source on the mountains."
Years later, when the death of Jesus had come, and when they faced danger and death themselves, they were comforted many times by what one of the letters which bears the name of Peter called "the Voice from Heaven, when we were with him in the Holy Mount." That Voice, to which Jesus had listened all His life, had said "This is my beloved Son, who pleases me so well. Liste to him."
The life and words of Jesus gave them strength to follow Him, in "loving not their lives even unto death."
it
CHAPTER XXV JESUS TAKING THE HARDER ROAD
What was the situation in which Jesus found Himself after coming down from the mountain ? He was facing manifold difficulties. He had rejected the idea of becoming a revolutionary leader. He would not disown His mission and go back to live as a carpenter. He was so true to His race that He had overcome the temptation to carry His message to Syria, to Greece or to Rome. His plain duty was to go up to Jerusalem and present as clearly as possible the teachings of the Kingdom. Here, at the very centre of the Pharisaic party and the headquarters of the priests and the courtiers of Herod, there was manifest danger. Jesus had yet to discover whether the broader-minded Jews who, in that great city, had felt the Roman and Grecian influence and were restless under the tyranny of the Pharisees and priests, would welcome the freedom which His message offered. Un- certain though the result was and suggestive of failure, it was this perilous and heroic venture to which He was commissioned by the Father.
The key-note of the next six months in the life of Jesus is not so much that of tragedy as of commonplace. In this His career resembled that of John the Baptist. John had had first his period of popularity, and finally his martyrdom. Between came the dreary months of im- prisonment. So this period in Jesus' life might be called The Period of the Second Choice."
The first ambition of Jesus had been to develop a relig- ious commonwealth in Galilee. He could have wished to have the idyllic life of His earliest ministry indefinitely continued, with enthusiastic crowds, feasts and flowers,
147
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
and a hearty welcome everywhere. Naturally He desired the unhesitating devotion of His twelve disciples; a better understanding with His own family; the social success of His miracles, leading to a wider power, shared by His disciples and extending to the alleviation of suffer- ing generally; and finally the leavening of Jerusalem, the national centre, by His teaching.
Jesus now had to make a second choice. He was dis- appointed by the nation's failure to respond. The last opportunity for a religious or social movement in the Jew- ish nation, to which all their history had pointed, was to
be neglected. He dis- covered that they had no spiritual readiness. They were like prisoners whose leader had found a way to escape, but who preferred to sit timidly in their bond- age. The Kin g - dom which He had said was "at hand" seemed destined to postpone- ment without a date. He was wounded by the ingratitude of those He healed and those He taught. There are suggestions that there had begun a fading of His miracle-power, due to the lessen- ing of a co-operative trust in Him. The daily presence of Judas brought the constant influence of a growing treachery. His was a continually narrowing path. Once He had controlled events; hereafter events con- trolled Him. With no leisure, no opportunity for quiet meditation, He was henceforth hurried on, whether He would or no. It grew plainer that He must depend upon others to finish the work He had begun, others apparently poorly fitted to the great task. With no indolence nor mistake on His own part, the interest which He had aroused seemed slowly ebbing away. With "the half of
Ruins of a Synagogue in Northern Galilee.
HIGHER DEMANDS OF DISCIPLESHIP 149
a broken hope for a pillow at night" Jesus had to rebuild His whole life in six months.
There were special burdens which weighed upon His heart. The electric response of the throng was no longer felt. Jesus had no home. Not only did His kinsmen misunderstand Him, but He had, for the Kingdom's sake, renounced marriage, the universal lot of the Jew, the helpful intimacy of a tender and understanding help- meet and the sweet sanctities of a household of His own.
From this time on Jesus insisted more and more on whole-hearted surrender to His teaching by those who professed discipleship. He evidently realized that He could not win a large number of Jews to accept the Kingdom of God and that He would have to depend upon a few loyal disciples who would carry the work forward after His death. To a scribe of the Pharisees who came desiring to be a disciple, Jesus gave the challenging state- ment that while foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, the Son of man was utterly homeless. When an- other professed himself willing to follow, after the long service of lamentations for his dead father were finished, Jesus said, ' ' Let the dead bury their dead, but you go and preach the Kingdom of God." When still a third was willing to be a disciple, after he had said good-by to his friends at home, Jesus reminded him that these farewells often weakened the courage of a disciple, and that those who would follow Him must do so directly and without looking backward. These divisions, He said on another occasion, were more than mere earthly partings. They were sharp differences of belief and purpose between those who had been dearest friends. "From henceforth there shall be five in one house divided — three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son; the son against the father; the mother against the daughter; and the daughter against the mother."
To all who at this time were impressed by His message He told the carpenter's story of the man who started to
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
build a tower without counting the cost to see whether he would be able to finish it.
And yet, even when He was demanding the utmost consecration of the men and women who would follow Him, He showed a deeper tenderness toward individuals than ever before. Were His friends to plunge into danger ? Jesus said, "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God, but even the very hairs of your head are numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows." ^ At this time are we told of His taking children into His
arms and blessing them, and the world has never forgotten the picture of Jesus surrounded by eager mothers, who be- lieved the benediction of the great teacher was magical, and by crowds of happy children, while His own disciples, not understanding why He should pay any atten- tion to these who seemed to them of little account, stood darkly in the background. The Gospel according to Luke gives us at this time that great chapter, in which Jesus spoke what have been called "The three parables of grace," — the story of the sheep that was lost because of its wildness of heart; the story of the coin that was lost because it was not put to use; and the story of the boy who was lost because he drifted without sense or purpose away from his father's goodness. This spirit of graciousness showed itself at this time in His attitude toward those whom His disciples thought to be His enemies. A man was attempting to imitate the work of Jesus in relieving the possessed, with- out acknowledging Jesus as his master. "Forbid him not," said Jesus kindly, "he that is not against us, is on
Fords of the Jordan.
JESUS' DEEPER FEELING 151
our side." It may be that at this time, in answer to Peter's question as to how often he should forgive his enemies, the Master told the striking story of the steward who refused to forgive his fellow servant a trifling debt of twenty dollars, after he himself had been forgiven by his lord of an unpayable obligation of twelve million dollars. More than once, too, do we get glimpses of the deeper feeling which came to His own brave heart as He began to draw near the goal of His life's work. "I have a work to do," He once said, "and how am I distressed until I accomplish it !"
We, too, sometimes have to accept a second choice in securing an education, in making a home, in finding a calling. Many of us must accept the second instead of the first wish of our hearts. God often uses our second choice to fulfil His own will. It was so with Jesus. The delay of success to the Kingdom caused it to become more substantial. Its rejection by the Jews made it world- wide. If Jesus had won a temporal success, the world would have been lost. We cannot conceive a life of Jesus without a cross, if that life were to transform the world.
CHAPTER XXVI
A PRELIMINARY VISIT TO JERUSALEM
Scholars are divided as to the exact course of Jesus' journey after He left Galilee for the last time. If we had only the three earlier evangelists, we might suppose that Jesus went directly and publicly from Caesarea Philippi
to His death at Jerusalem. But the Fourth Gospel tells us that Jesus went up secretly upon a preliminary visit to Jerusalem, and then retreated to Perea and Samaria. This seems reasonable. Before presenting Himself to the nation as its Messiah, sur- rounded by His believers, He would find it helpful to dis- cover the exact situation in the capital. It was a danger- ous step to take, but a neces- sary one. Going up to one of the minor feasts, when the city was not thronged with strangers, Jesus could enter the city before the Pharisees had known that He was coming or had succeeded in organizing to capture Him. There, in one of the colon- nades of the temple, which was -open as an assemblage place and even for informal conferences, He could teach the people who chanced to gather about Him, as He had those who met Him in the village squares in Galilee.
It is noticeable in the accounts that have come down to us of these later teachings of Jesus, whether uttered in Jerusalem or not, that He seems to place a new emphasis
152
The Golden Gate, Jerusalem. This gate is now walled up.
JESUS' NEW EMPHASIS
153
upon Himself. When Napoleon, fresh returned from his victories across the Alps, urged his election by the people as Emperor, he had already crowded Paris with his sol- diers. When nobler Csesar came home again from his successes against Pompey, he won the heart of Rome by four magnificent triumphs, commemorating his victories in Gaul, Egypt, Pontus and Africa. But when Jesus came to claim the allegiance of His nation, He offered it nothing but Himself. ...
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Hitherto Jesus had most commonly spoken of Himself as "the Son of man." This phrase seems originally to have meant, "Son of Adam" or "of the dust," mean- ing merely a feeble hu- man creature. In the prophecy of Ezekiel the phrase had been used many times to describe such an one who had been honored by God in being made a prophet. In the Book of Daniel the Son of man was described as the angelic being who was to inaugurate the visible Kingdom of God. The phrase, as Jesus used it, seems to have been chosen as one avoiding the making of any special pretension, but as suggesting that He was like His brothers, except as God had conferred upon Him prophetic power and a glorious mission. In the Fourth Gospel, in which a loving student of Jesus at the end of the first century endeavored to inter- pret Him, this conception is stated over and over. Jesus says of Himself at this very time, "of myself I can do nothing"; "I seek not my own glory, but the glory of him that sent me"; "my words are not of myself, but I speak as the Father has taught me." And Jesus said further of His own limitations, that He knew not the time
A Street in Jerusalem.
154 THE LIFE OF JESUS
when His Kingdom was to come in triumph, and it was not for Him to assign its offices of honor.
But Jesus had now, as we have seen, acknowledged Himself as the Messiah of the Jews. This thought was not inconsistent with the first, but joined directly upon it. The Messiah, as the prophets thought of Him, was a man whom God was to send for His people's sake to save them. Glorified by God, He was to fulfil the noblest national offices: He was to be king, priest, judge and prophet. And these, in a better and spiritual sense, Jesus believed Himself to be. He was a king, because He ruled in the heart of those who believed in him. He was a priest, because He was bringing men to God. He was judge, because His discriminations were true. He was a prophet, because as Dr. Robert E. Speer beautifully says, "Not only was Jesus the master prophet, but He was the great Prophecy." What He was His friends might be- come.
There was a greater and earlier conception of Himself in Jesus' mind, which we have seen was there from His boyhood. He thought of Himself as "Son of God." To Him this was His life's greatest discovery. We saw Him in His twelfth year deciding to enter upon His Father's business. At His baptism the fulness of sonship was conferred, like knighthood, upon Him. Every temp- tation in the desert tended to cause Him to disown His belief in His divine sonship. The message from the Father upon the mountain had reassured Him that He was still the beloved Son of His Father.
This thought that He was Son of God bound together His work as Son of man and as Messiah. One may make this plain by a simple illustration. A man walking down a country road comes at a turn upon a wayside rose- bush. Here is the lowly, thorny shrub, and upon it the dainty, fragrant blossoms. "What is the source of this beauty ?" the traveller asks, as he looks upon the humble plant and the meagre soil beneath it. Just then the sun breaks through a cloud and the sunlight glorifies the bios-
GOD'S SPOKESMAN 155
the beauty of the flower!" So, behind the humble service of the Son of man, and explaining the glory of His work as the Messiah, was the Light from Above. Be- cause He fully recognized that He was Son of God, He was willing to be Son of man and was able to be the world's Messiah.
What Jesus believed about Himself is important just here because it explains His latest teachings. He accepted His sonship to God in all of its fulness and possible mean- ing. He told His listeners at Jerusalem and elsewhere that He was God's spokesman. ''My words shall never pass away." He felt that men could not get along with- out Him. "No man knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal him. " "I can satisfy, ' ' was what in one phrase or another He was continually saying. And in some way, as we shall see more clearly later, He was sure that the future of the Kingdom which He was establishing was to be bound up with His own person. He was sure that He must go away. "But," He began to say, "I shall return again."
Toward the last, Jesus taught more about Himself than about His Kingdom. He did this because His message, as His days grew short, became increasingly a personal and individual one. He was anxious to make others realize their sonship as He did Himself. As the Fourth Gospel has it, "that they might be one with the Father, even as he was."
And His work in Jerusalem was not in vain. The Jerusalemites were more learned and cultured than the people of Galilee. Many of the multitude believed on Him, others waited, wondering that the Pharisees did not acknowledge His claims, and a few even of the Sanhedrin secretly accepted Him as Messiah. Among these was one Nicodemus, whose wonderful secret dialogue with Jesus is briefly recorded in the third chapter of John.
Twice at least, according to John's Gospel, disorganized companies of the Pharisaic party in Jerusalem attempted
156 THE LIFE OF JESUS
to stone Jesus. The chief priests and Pharisees also authorized the temple guard to arrest Him. When they had not done so and were called to account, these Jewish guards stated the extraordinary impression which Jesus made upon them, by which He had so aroused their religious interest as to make them forget their police duty, when they exclaimed, "Never man spake like this man!"
Scornfully one of the leaders of the Pharisees voiced their impatience when he answered, "Have any of the rulers or of us Pharisees believed on Him yet ? This rabble which does not understand the Torah is cursed, anyhow."
Just then rose an unexpected voice from their own number. Nicodemus, the Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, who had personally talked with Jesus and learned what the heart of His message was, raised this fair question, "Does our Torah judge a man, unless it has heard what he says and knows what he is doing ?"
But the same intolerant objector replied, "You are one of this Galilean party, then ? Look in the Torah, and you will find that no prophet is going to come out of Galilee."
Jesus was forced to retreat from Jerusalem, and He found shelter beyond Jordan.
CHAPTER XXVII IN PEREA AND SAMARIA
Jesus once said, quoting an old saying in bitter pathos, "A prophet surely has a just claim to die inside Jeru- salem." Originally the proverb referred to the intoler- ance of Jerusalem and her constant persecution of her great prophets, but Jesus had in mind especially the fact that if He were to be done to death by His enemies, it were better that He had died in the Holy City after He had stated His full message and where His death should have the fullest influence in causing it to be remembered. It was therefore Jesus' concern that He should not be caught unawares in the country. After He had fully trained the Twelve in solitude and in safety, He knew that the proclamation of His mission in the capital was in- evitable, though it might be fatal to Himself. While we cannot trace His footsteps in detail, the evangelists tell us over and over of Jesus spending much of His time during the last few months of His life in Perea, that southeastern portion of Palestine, east of. the Jordan, which was yoked together with Galilee under the rule of Herod Antipas, in the remote regions of Judea associated into the last days of John the Baptist's work, and in Samaria. While Herod was already taking notice of Jesus and realizing the possible danger of allowing Him to be free, Perea was sparsely settled, and it was not difficult, by moving rapidly from point to point, to keep out of Herod's reach. In Samaria, which was governed by Pontius Pilate, Jesus would be comparatively safe because, on account of the Jewish contempt for the Samaritans, the Pharisees would neglect Him.
Luke tells us that at this time Jesus summoned a larger
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
number of disciples, perhaps seventy in all (a number equal to that of the translators of the Old Testament and of the Sanhedrin, the religious supreme court of the Jews) and that He sent them out two by two, as He had the twelve disciples, to the places whither He Himself was about to come. To these villages of the despised Samari- tans and the neglected Pereans across the Jordan He told them to go with haste, assuring them that Capernaum and Bethsaida and the other cities of His own province, which had rejected Him, had lost the priceless oppor- tunity that was now in store for all who would receive Him. In giving them their mission we are told that He offered a prayer of thanksgiving, rejoic- ing that if "the wise and un- derstanding" should remain blind, these "babes" should have the opportunity to hear the good news.
Everything that we know about the work of Jesus among these peoples increases our admiration for His gener- ous spirit. It was perhaps to them that He told the immor- tal story of "The Good Samaritan," in which He showed how, after priest and Levite had neglected the oppor- tunity for brotherhood, the despised Samaritan proved himself to be a true neighbor. To them also He told of the laborers who, though called last into the vineyard, were because of their readiness equally rewarded by the owner with the first, and of the great supper, which those out in the highways and hedges enjoyed after the invita- tion had been rejected by the neighbors of the host. In the incident of the ten lepers, told at this time and sup- posed by some scholars to have been a parable originally, the one healed man who was grateful was a Samaritan.
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"SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME; FOR
OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN."
From a painting by W. L. Taylor.
THE MISSION OF THE SEVENTY
159
Luke tells us that it was to these Pereans that Jesus told the story of "The Ninety-Nine" and the story of "The Prodigal Son." Most typical, however, of all the teachings of this time was the story of ' ' The Pharisee and the Publican," in which Jesus descended from general statements to show that God's love reaches over barriers of caste, and gave this double portrait of the self-righteous individual who loses God and of the humble, sinful peni- tent who finds Him. It was now, according to Luke too, that Jesus first taught the Lord's Prayer.
As beautiful as was the spirit with which Jesus lived and worked among these neglected races was the response that came to Him from some whom He met. It seemed as if never did the few who received His word believe in Him so deeply as now. Possibly at this time, rather than earlier, came the wonderful dialogue with the Samaritan woman at the well, recorded in John. It was during this journey, as we have said, that particular mention is made of His being surrounded by the eager faces of children. It was now that He found His second and last home with the friends in Bethany, of whom one comforted Him by her house- wifely attentions, and the other by Her eager acceptance of His teaching.
Just now, when it was evident that to become a com- panion of Jesus meant peril, the only man of wealth and rank who was ever associated closely with Jesus came and asked humbly the way to inherit eternal life. This story is so full of meaning that we need to stop to under- stand it. It does not seem fair that so fine a youth should be barred out of the Kingdom of Heaven because he was
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Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler.
160 THE LIFE OF JESUS
rich. But Jesus thought of the righteous society that He was establishing, and He realized that if the man kept his money, the others would have felt jealously that he was in a class by himself. If Jesus had shown him particular favor, his motives would have been suspected. Even if the man had divided his property with the others, this would only have attracted selfish men and would have paralyzed the influence of Jesus among the poor. As one of our own recent scholars interprets it — ' ' This was not a matter between the man and God, but between the man and God and the people." The young rich man probably did not come to Jesus when He was alone, but when He was surrounded by His disciples and a crowd of the plain people of the neighborhood. It was impossible for a youth, constituted as he was, to join such a company as this without sacrificing his money. No wonder that Jesus loved him, if he was willing to volunteer at such a time as this. No wonder also that it was hard for the youth to make the sacrifice which such an enlistment re- quired. Though sorrowful, yet he went away from Jesus, and made the great refusal.
Four times the Gospels reiterate that Jesus pressed steadily on toward Jerusalem. Mark says: "Jesus was going before them: and they were amazed; and they that followed were afraid." The earnestness of His determi- nation called forth both their wonder and their awe. His buoyant anticipation hastened their own footsteps to fol- low His. We wish we knew more of those expectant moments when the full vitality of Jesus' splendid faith must have expressed itself in clearer statements as to the great venture for the Kingdom which He was to undertake and as to the deeper meaning which lay the other side of the reception which He should meet at Jerusalem.
CHAPTER XXVIII
GOING UP TO JERUSALEM
From this time forward, say the Gospels, Jesus was continually surrounded by a multitude of His disciples. The national festival seems to have been the occasion for the gathering of those who believed in Him. The fact that Jesus had been rejected by the people of His own province and by the Samaritans might cause us to suppose that He was entirely without followers except the Twelve. On the contrary, Paul (i Cor. 16:6) tells
that even after His death several hundred men and women were found who were true to Him. Many of these came from Galilee, some from Samaria and Perea, and a few possi- bly from the regions to the North. They were a mixed company, not held together by com- mon bonds of acquain- tance or training; but for a time, at least, with Jesus as their centre, they presented the appearance of unity.
Amid the turmoil of this crowd Jesus preserved His inner calm. The last three events recorded at His de- parture from Perea show Him to us never more like Himself. These three acts were the blessing of the children, the placing before the rich young man of the higher conditions of the Kingdom, and His brave message to Herod who was threatening to kill Him.
161
On the Road from Jerusalem to Jericho.
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
Jesus was now near Jericho, the boundary city be- tween Palestine and Moab, whence the road turns to climb up through the desert toward Jerusalem. At this juncture occurred one of the most pitiful events in the career of Jesus. John and James, the brothers for whom He felt the highest trust and love, came to Him one morning when He was alone, with their mother, who was also one of those good women who had been
The Jordan Valley, Near Jericho.
(From a photograph.)
helping Him in Galilee. With unusual respect they bowed before Him as if He were a king.
"What do you wish, madam?" He asked Salome courteously.
"Sir," she said, boldly, "I want you to do for us what- ever we ask you."
"What is it you want me to do for you ?"
"I want you to say that in your Kingdom these two sons of mine shall sit as viceroys, one of them on your right side and the other on your left."
What could be more saddening than this complete misunderstanding of His work, after the experience of these brothers in Caesarea and upon the mountain top ?
"You do not know what you are asking," Jesus re- sponded warmly, turning to the brothers. "Are you fit to drink the cup that I have to drink ?"
"Yes !" the two young men shouted, "we can."
JESUS' EXPLANATION TO PETER 163
"You shall indeed drink my cup," said Jesus sadly, thinking of the sufferings they should bear for Him, "but as to the seat — that is not mine to give. It belongs to those to whom it has been assigned by my Father."
It was of course difficult for Jesus constantly to use the term "the Kingdom," as He did in order to connect Himself with the dearest hope of His race, without being misunderstood. He sought, in common with all His people, a state of social righteousness. They hoped to have it suddenly by the interposition of their Messiah. Jesus expected it to come slowly and gradually as the result of active and humble endeavor. He once made the distinction clear to Simon Peter, His most loyal friend. The incident is related only in Matthew, and is placed during the hurried last visit to Capernaum, when Jesus was closing His affairs, to withdraw forever from His native province. The story has a touch of gentle humor.
The tax-collector, who possibly had taken the place of Matthew, His disciple, came to Jesus and Peter to de- mand the poll-tax which was required of all adults, and which, though used to sustain the temple, was payable to "the kings of the land."
Jesus, as we shall see more clearly later, probably did not offer sacrifice, and so perhaps might have claimed exemption for that reason.
"How does this seem to you, Simon ? " He asked whim- sically. "From whom do the kings of the land receive tribute, from their sons or from strangers ? ' '
"From strangers," replied Simon.
"Then we sons are free," said Jesus.
The meaning was this: We are the sons of the new Kingdom that is to take the place of sacrifices and the temple. Why should we pay taxes to support that which we have outgrown ?
"But," continued Jesus, "lest people should not under- stand how it seems to us, you go down to the lake and cast a hook. When you catch a fish you will find that
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it is good for a coin. Go and sell the fish, and pay your tax and mine."
Not many days later Jesus made the great protest which began the movement that ere long abolished all the sacrificial system of the Jews. In the meantime and indeed long after that proclamation, it was the chief task of His disciples, not to engage in revolutionary acts, but in such humble tasks as fishing, and while earning their daily bread, both to inculcate the spirit that is above formalism and to await patiently the time when
the freedom of the King- dom was ready to be established.
Again — and the Gos- pels place this also in the home of Jesus just before He departed from it — Jesus illustrated the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven is not a place for personal ambition and struggle for pre- eminence.
"What were you talking about to-day on the road ?" He asked them. Everybody was abashed, for they had, as Jesus overheard, been eagerly discussing which of them would occupy the two high places which James and John were coveting.
Just then a neighbor's little child came running in and Jesus called him and took him up in His lap and put His arms around him.
"In the Kingdom of Heaven," said Jesus quietly, "the man who wants to be foremost is lowest of all. Un- less you turn yourselves about and become as little chil- dren (in their trustful helpfulness) you will not get into the Kingdom at all."
And as He gave the child back to his mother who came for him, He said, "Whosoever shall receive one of such
The Traditional House of ZACCHiEUS.
THE ISOLATION OF JESUS
165
little children in my name, receiveth me; and whosoever receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." Is it not possible that Jesus spoke these words to the mother, and that He meant something like this: " Whoever takes one little child and trains him for my sake, is my disciple, and my disciples are the disciples of him who sent me." It would be both deeply Jewish and truly Christian for Jesus thus to put the badge of honor upon faithful fathers and mothers.
Though surrounded by the multitude, Jesus was really alone. His Twelve were true, but just now even the best
The Road from Jerusalem to Jericho.
two had shown that they understood Him no more than children, and that they were thoroughly selfish. On the other hand, they at least trusted Him, and so far as they knew how tried to follow His way.
There is evidence in the Fourth Gospel that by the time of Jesus' private visit to Jerusalem, His brothers by blood had come to realize that He was not insane and, even if they did not believe in His spiritual mission, they assumed a friendly attitude and made suggestions, kindly if not wise, for the success of His work. They had not kept close enough to the situation to realize the peril of a public appearance before He was ready for the full and final proclamation of the Kingdom, and so they tried to persuade Him then to show Himself to the world.
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
"My opportunity," said Jesus, "has not come. Yours is always ready, for the world does not hate you. You go to the feast. I will follow soon." It was a little saddening to feel that, when His own brothers were dis- posed to be friendly, their past misunderstanding was the very barrier which deprived Him of their company at the time when it would have been most comforting.
Jesus at this time seemed to feel a special yearning toward the Twelve who had been true to Him so long. One day when He was speaking of the difficulty which
Bethany.
(From a photograph.)
The hill on the right is the Mount of Olives. The tall ruins at the left are said to mark the home of Lazarus.
rich men felt in entering the Kingdom, Peter reminded Him of the sacrifices which he and his companions had made. "Yes," answered Jesus quickly, "you have left homes and kindred, children and lands for my sake and the Gospel's, but you shall have a hundredfold now, and in the world to come eternal life." And again, think- ing of the many solitary hours which they had spent with Him discussing the deep things of life, He said lovingly to them, "You are the ones who have continued with me in my temptations, and the Kingdom is appointed unto -you, even as the Father has appointed it unto me."
On the way up to Jerusalem two events occurred which comforted the soul of Jesus before His great trial. A blind beggar believed in Him and understood Him. A
THE REST AT BETHANY 167
rich, despised tax-gatherer, a little fellow named Zac- chaeus, was so touched by Jesus' proffer of friendship that, repentant, he determined to restore his ill-gotten gains and divide them among the poor. Jesus smilingly did every honor possible to the man whose soul was so much greater than his stature.
Just over the hill from Jerusalem is the village of Bethany, where Jesus had found a foster home and choice souls who understood Him. To this quiet shelter, away from the constant pressure of the crowd, Jesus directed His steps, in order to win refreshment before the eventful week of the Passover.
CHAPTER XXIX JESUS' ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM
Jesus could not detach Himself from the eager multi- tude which had surrounded Him ever since He left Perea. Up through the wilderness of Judea, past the scenes of the education of John the Baptist, and along the thief - infested road mentioned in His own story of "The Good Samaritan," Jesus led the multitude. It was a hard and dreary journey, and pleasant indeed it must have been when He arrived among the gardens and olive-trees of Bethany. Here, on the last Sabbath of His life, He was the guest of a man named Simon, and in his house occurred that gracious act of impulsive love, the anointing of Jesus by Mary, which Jesus accepted as the uncon- scious anticipation of His burial.
The next morning Jesus entered Jerusalem. He could not well avoid making this a public occasion. Already both His friends and His enemies in the city were expecting His coming. The multitude, who had been camping upon the hill slopes around Bethany, would not leave Him to go alone. Jesus consented to this public arrival, not for Himself, but as a method by which He might most strongly present to Jerusalem the one pur- pose of His life, — the Kingdom of Heaven. Once His work could be quiet, gradual, careful; now, in order to attract the city's attention He must act forcibly, even dramatically. Jerusalem was the centre of His enemies, the Pharisees. If enough of the populace had become interested, or could be made interested in His message, there would be time for Him to teach, even in Jerusalem, the laws of His Kingdom. If the people failed Him this hope must be disappointed.
168
THE APPROACH TO THE CITY
1G9
We can now see the wisdom of the thoughtful plan which Jesus used in order to offer Himself to Jerusalem, in a way least likely to be misunderstood. As the centre of popular interest, it was appropriate that He should ride to the city gates. He did not choose a horse, which would at once have been recognized as the emblem of warfare, but He sent two of His disciples to a friend in Bethany and borrowed an ass, the common beast of burden, used, however, even by kings in times of peace. The significance was plain. Jesus came to Jerusalem,
(From a photograph.) View on the Road from Jerusalem to Bethany. Jesus passed between these two places several times during the closing week of His life.
not as a conqueror, but as a king of peace, who claimed and expected the loyalty of His own people. In a beauti- ful poem, embedded in the prophecy of Zechariah, there was the anticipation that a king of peace should thus, in future time, enter his capital. Jesus, no doubt, hoped that this old prophecy would be remembered.
A company from the city had already come out to meet Him. Among them were probably friends whom He had made during His previous visit, a mixed throng of citi- zens, and a few Pharisees. These turned at the hilltop and formed the vanguard of His escort. Around and be- hind Jesus was the multitude which had accompanied Him up from the desert. Nearest to Him were the Twelve, and surrounding them were people from all parts of Pales-
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
tine, most of them poor and from the country. In the midst, rode Jesus, dressed in His faded cloak, and the embodiment in speech and manner of the peasantry, despised by the silk-robed priests in Jerusalem.
The evangelists remember various cries which were raised as the excitement grew, but all of them unmis- takably meant the recognition of Jesus as the nation's king. The great company also joined from time to time in singing a national anthem, whose martial strains were of the same import. A scene, similar to that when the
The Mount of Olives from Jerusalem. Showing the temple area in the foreground and the roads over and around the Mount of Olives.
multitude were fed beside the lake, was being enacted. The old anticipations were again aroused that Jesus would lead a revolt against the Romans. Jesus could not prevent this momentary misunderstanding, but He was able to control it. When the Pharisees called His attention to the fact that such outcries were likely to awake the attention of the Roman authorities and lead to bloodshed, Jesus realized how soon these acclamations would change to distrust, yet insisted that these genuine, though fickle feelings, should have sway. "Should these hold their peace, the very stones," He said, "would cry out."
The southern roadway over the top of the Mount of Olives is hidden for a time by a hillock from the view of
JESUS' LAMENTATION OVER THE CITY 171
the city. Around a turn it comes out upon a natural platform, where suddenly the whole city is seen below. There, terrace on terrace, within the high and ancient walls of stone, rose houses, palaces, fortresses and public buildings, while in front of all, the gem of which the rest was but the setting, shone the Holy House beneath the splendor of the morning sun, a mass of snow and gold. Behind it was the surrounding circle of everlasting hills, and, lying beneath the multitude as it did, it seemed to them possible that their King and Messiah might now,
Jerusalem, prom the Mount of Olives.
(From a photograph.)
by raising His hands, cause its walls to crumble that He might ride over them, or, as many of them expected, suddenly expand the Holy City by a miracle until it should cover all Judea.
To the thoughtful mind a great city is always a terrible sight. Its needs, its sorrows, and its defilements are as visible as are its aspirations and its glory. The realiza- tion of the deeper needs of the great capital suddenly seized the mind of Jesus, and as Luke alone tells us, Jesus burst into momentary lamentation, feeling with a statesman's knowledge, how its restless spirit was cer- tain eventually to be crushed beneath the vindictive tyranny of Rome. But for the most part the ride of Jesus toward the city that day was one of mingled hope
172 THE LIFE OF JESUS
and joy. He could not be indifferent to the simple gladness of the men, women and children who threw palm branches, blossoms, and even garments in His pathway, and truly, as He recognized the awful perils before Him, He could not but cling to the hope that a sufficient num- ber of this enthusiastic escort would stand by His side to protect Him from the hatred of the Pharisees, and even to enable Him to rouse the spiritual soul of the city.
In the meantime the city itself was full of turmoil. Some priests, gathered upon a portico roof of the temple, had noticed the unusual crowd which was both leaving and approaching the city so early in the Passover week. Perhaps one of them caught sight of Jesus, mounted, in the foreground, upon the ridge at the hilltop beside the descending roadway. "Look!" he exclaimed. "The whole world has gone after Him." The captain of the temple-watch sounded the "assembly" to his company, and the city garrison in the fort close by was posted in readiness for an uprising from within or a concerted attack from without the walls. No beast was allowed to enter the great city, and as Jesus dismounted and walked on foot through the gate beneath the massive wall, some of the soldiers who were posted over the gate asked curi- ously of the excited, but peaceful, mob below, "Who is this?" Enthusiastically came the reply, "It is the prophet, Jesus of Nazareth." Through the narrow lanes of the city followed close by the multitude, to which, no doubt, was added a curious throng from every house- door, Jesus entered in through the eastern gate of the temple into the court of the Jews, where the excited choir-boys echoed the song which they had just heard, and here at the very heart of Israel, hailed Him as their King.
CHAPTER XXX
JESUS' ATTACK UPON THE CORRUPT PRIESTS
The Jewish temple, the successor of the simple tent of meeting, to which the Jews once brought the incense of their praise, was now the fortress of priestly privilege. In the court of the Gentiles, a large plaza, originally intended as a place where reverent foreigners might come and learn to love the Jewish faith, a market and fair had been set up. Annas, the high priest's father-in-law and the real ecclesiastical leader of the nation, had made an arrangement with Pontius Pilate, the Roman proc- urator, that the priests should have all the profit of this outrageous secular enterprise. The excuse was that the people otherwise would bring unclean and im- perfect offerings. The priests had gradually moved on from the custom of examining proposed sacrifices to the point where they would accept practically nothing but that which was bought in the temple market. The opportunity for extortion was plain, and it was fully utilized. At this period the common people brought a great many voluntary as well as prescribed offerings, and it was, of course, natural for the priests to encourage the multiplication of gifts to placate God or secure special benefits. For their sicknesses, their sorrows and their joys the people came bringing their gifts of cattle and grain. And the temple ministers were supported by this market, and the worship of Israel was built upon the foundation of graft.
We get here a new and interesting light upon the char- acter of Jesus. Beneath the self-control we see revealed a heart of fire. It has been said that the finest test of
173
174
THE LIFE OF JESUS
a man is what makes him indignant. This test Jesus magnificently met, for there is no nobler expression of anger than that against the abuse of the weak by the strong. We have already had other evidences of the ruggedness of Jesus' nature which we ought to remem- ber as we try to get a unified impression of Him. His strength had such various manifestations: in His self- effacement as a patient workman doing a humble duty, in His solitary conquest over the triple temptations of
The Temple Area in the Time of Christ. (From Selous' picture of Jerusalem in its Grandeur.)
young manhood, in His chivalry to sinners, in His mastery of His enraged neighbors at Nazareth, in His refusing a kingly crown, in facing His foes in Jerusalem by teaching in the holy place. We are about to see even grander expressions of His manhood in the midst of the tragedy which followed upon His declaration of war against the priestly tyrants who dominated Jerusalem.
Jesus had, no doubt, recognized upon His previous visit that He must purge the holy place before He could do anything else. It is often so in a city which needs moral reform. One of the latest of the prophets had fore- told that the Messiah should come with suddenness to this temple, and a still later prophetic writing, not found in the Old Testament, called '"The Psalms of Solomon,"
THE ATTACK UPON PRIESTCRAFT 175
had anticipated that the Messiah would cleanse Jeru- salem. Descending the steps from the court of the Jews, into the court of the Gentiles, solitary and alone, but watched with amazement by the throng which had followed Him into the temple, Jesus moved swiftly into the midst of the market, and seizing a handful of rushes from the floor, drove the confused marketmen and their cattle out of the enclosure and forbade the citizens of Jerusalem to use this open space as a thoroughfare for convenience in carrying their burdens across the city.
This brave and striking action of Jesus was more than an attack upon priestly abuses. It was in principle an assault upon the system of sacrifice itself. Jesus' words on this occasion show that He reverenced the temple because God had planned that it should be "a house of prayer," rather than because animal sacrifices were offered therein. In the age-long controversy between the proph- ets and the priests, Jesus took the side of the prophets, the greatest men in Israel's history, who insisted that the reek of blood and the heaping up of grain were not pleasing to God, but that the only sacrifice which He de- sired was that of an humble and sincere heart. It is possible that He had long determined that at a fitting opportunity He would strike a blow at this outgrown institution, through which people paid penance of their possessions in place of the honest penitence of their hearts, and allowed themselves license for sinful deeds under the cover of their sacrificial offerings.
It may have been at this time that He uttered that unforgettable sentence about the temple which was used against Him at His trial in a garbled form. Its original wording was probably somewhat as follows: ''This temple made with hands shall be destroyed. But an- other will soon arise made without hands." That is, this temple is doomed to destruction at the hands of the Romans. But temples, with their bloody sacrifices, are not essential to true religion; on the contrary, God is raising up a spiritual temple, not built with hands, the
176 THE LIFE OF JESUS
...
temple of a redeemed humanity. The same thought is expressed in different words in Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman. "The hour cometh when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem shall ye worship the Father. But . . . true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth."
The prophets had looked forward to the day when all Israel should know the Lord. Even the Pharisees differed in theory from the priests upon this matter, and had become the nation's schoolmasters so as to teach each Israelite how to know and worship God. They had, however, as we have learned, gradually substituted the knowledge of legal traditions for direct communion with the Father.
In the light of the cleansing of the temple by Jesus how startling seems the fulfilment of the saying of that stanch old Jerusalem prophet, Jeremiah:
"I will put my law in their inward parts, And in their heart will I write it; And I will be their God, And they shall be my people;
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor,
And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
For they shall all know me,
From the least of them unto the greatest of them."
And, again, read the saying of Zechariah, the prophet of a restored temple :
"Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy unto the Lord of hosts . . . And there shall be no more a trafficker in the house of the Lord of hosts."
As the marketmen and their cattle fled, at once there came flocking into the temple a crowd of the lame, the sick and the poor, groups of Gentiles who once more had access to the place of prayer, and companies of chil-
PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE. From a painting by H. Hofmann.
THE NATION'S LEADER 177
dren who again recognized the Master as the nation's leader. Such was the brave and noble presentation which Jesus made of His divine claims. As He had attacked the Pharisees without compunction, so now He attacked priestcraft without mercy. Jesus never destroyed except to put something better in its place; and as men saw the wrong of injustice and the uselessness of blood sacrifices, they also began to see how much more a genuine and direct communion with God might mean to themselves and to their nation.
CHAPTER XXXI THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST JESUS
The next morning when Jesus came in from Bethany to Jerusalem the court of the Gentiles was crowded. With difficulty He pressed His way to the top of the steps at the edge of the platform which led to the inner colonnade and enclosure. His coming was recognized with shouts and song. The prophet of Nazareth was the central figure in Jerusalem that day.
But His supremacy was not to be unquestioned. Hardly had Jesus found His way to a high and central spot where all could see and hear Him when there came out from the priests' chambers an imposing company. Escorted by a body of scribes of the Pharisees and mem- bers of the religious assembly of the Jews, came Caia- phas, the High Priest and Annas, his father-in-law, the most powerful man in the nation. In religious authority and official pomp, in historic dignity and splendor of costume no company of similar impressiveness to-day can be compared, short of that of the Pope and the College of Cardinals as they might appear before a vast concourse in front of St. Peter's at Rome. The great congregation outside bowed in reverent prostration. The dialogue that followed gets part of its force from the fact that it was overheard by at least a part of this throng.
' ' By what authority are you doing these things ? And who gave you this authority?" asked the High Priest sternly.
We can imagine the trepidation with which the Galilean fishermen heard this question from the lips of one whose office they had from childhood been taught to regard as that of the direct representative of Jehovah. What
178
JESUS' AUTHORITY
179
indeed could their friend, a carpenter, unlettered, un- ordained, say to such a question, a question which the High Priest was bound to ask ?
They were amazed to see that Jesus was quite self- possessed.
"Let me ask you a question first," replied Jesus courte- ously but firmly. "If you answer me fairly, then I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. Who gave John the Baptist authority for his baptizing — did it come from heaven — or from men?"
The word of Jesus struck like a thunderbolt. Its im- port was clear as lightning. If they should say, "It came from men," what would this congregation, who looked up- on John as a martyred saint, do to them ? If they should acknowledge that it came from God, this successor of John would need only to ask, "Why then did you not believe in him?" to put them to still greater confusion.
"Answer me," said Jesus quietly.
"We — do not know," some of them stammered.
"Then I will not tell you by whose authority I act," responded Jesus, closing the conversation.
It was a dangerous position in which Jesus had been placed, for the priestly body, with the learned scribes as experts, assumed the right to prevent what they decided to be heretical discourses, in this plaza of the temple. Jesus had not only postponed their silencing Him at this time, but by sounding the venerated name of John He became sure of the favorable attention of the multitude.
The Gospels give us fragments of the addresses of Jesus
(Copyright, 1895, by J. J. Tissot.) The Enemies of Jesus.
180 THE LIFE OF JESUS
in the temple, but they also tell us that He was interrupted that day by concerted endeavors on the part of His enemies to dislodge Him in the confidence of the people.
Some Pharisees, among them a few renegade Jews who were subservient courtiers of the Roman authority, met Him and, pretending that they admired His candor and fearlessness, asked Him to say frankly, whether He be- lieved in giving tribute to Caesar. If He should say, No, He would thereby assume to be a Messiah with revolutionary aims, and they could have Him arrested for high treason. If He should say, Yes, then they could per- suade the people that He was no patriot.
"You hypocrites!" exclaimed Jesus in indignation. 1 1 Why do you ask ? Show me some of the tribute-money. ' '
Some one held up a denarius.
"Whose portrait and name do you see on this coin?" asked Jesus of its owner.
"The Emperor's."
The very fact that they used the Roman coin showed that they owed at least protection to the Romans.
"Then what belongs to the Emperor pay to the Emperor — and pay God what belongs to God."
Abruptly Jesus turned to the multitude before Him and said, "Beware of these Pharisees in their long silken robes, who insist upon your prostrations in the market- places and who seize the principal seats in your synagogues and dinners. These are the men who gulp down widows' houses. They strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. They tithe the tiniest garden- seeds, and they leave un- done justice and mercy and faith. Do as they say, but do not do as they do. Their deeds deserve nothing but condemnation." By this time his solicitous ques- tioners had become invisible.
The same day, inspired no doubt from the same source, came some Sadducees to try to entangle Him. The Sadducees were theologically the bitter enemies of the Pharisees, but they were at one in their wish to be undisturbed. For the Sadducees were an aristocratic
THE SADDUCEES 181
party, chiefly of priests, holding the most conservative views, but chiefly interested in keeping their priestly privileges. Their special difference of thought with the Pharisees and the rest of their race was about immor- tality. The Jews in general had been taught by the Pharisees to believe that the souls of the righteous were to come back in their reanimated bodies to the earth, either as at present or renewed, and thus live immortally. The Sadducees, on the other hand, held the more ancient view that the soul continues in the shadowy land, called Sheol, forever. So they approached Him with an illus- tration by which they had probably often reduced to absurdity the matter-of-fact immortality of the Pharisees. It was about a woman who, being left a widow, and child- less, according to the olden custom was married by her late husband's brother, and, upon his death, by his other brothers, in turn until she had had seven husbands. "When they all come back to earth, whose wife will she be?"
Jesus would not take lightly the subject upon which He had the most certain convictions. His reply, in brief, was this: "You do not understand either our Scriptures or the power of God. The Scriptures tell us that God said : ' I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. ' Now the living God is not the God of poor, lifeless shades ; He is the God of the living. His sons never die ; they are the sons of God, sons of the resurrection. And as for your question, the sons of this age marry, but the sons of that age do not live in a world of marrying. Their life is that of the Sons of the Mighty."
This reply, while it confuted the shallow reasoning of the Sadducees, was not any more satisfying to the Phari- sees. Jesus evidently did not believe that immortality is an earthly paradise, devoted to housekeeping and money-getting. After His death His disciples remem- bered His noble faith, that there is no death to any of God's children.
By such responses as these Jesus strengthened His
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THE LIFE OF JESUS
hold upon the eager attention of the capital city, espe- cially intent at its central religious and patriotic festival upon whatever touched the matters of the soul.
During the rest of the day He was visited by various individuals and groups of a more friendly character. A candid scribe of the Pharisees, who asked Him for a summary of the Law, was charmed to hear the two golden sayings by which Jesus showed that He had caught the very spirit of the holy oracles. Some Greeks who were
present in the city and who had
listened to Him came to urge
m~^l JF^j^ Him to go with them and teach
in their own country. At this invitation from representatives of the nation which more than any other had sought for in- ward and outward beauty Jesus was deeply stirred. "No," He said, * ' the time has come for me. Those who love their own lives, lose them. Yet I am indeed perplexed. . . . What shall I say? 'Father, bring me safe out of this time of trial ? ' No, for this very thing I come say: 'Father, honor thine own name. ' "
He would not flee. He might not now even teach elsewhere. He must not give up His task. Here He must honor God, even if it cost Him His life.
On the way out of the temple, as they were returning to Bethany at evening, Jesus, ever alert to the finer ex- pressions of human goodness, called the attention of His friends to a touching incident. One poor widow came quietly up to one of the metal coffers by the door, placed there for free-will thank-offerings, down which pom- pous Pharisees were rattling their ostentatious gifts, and dropped in the smallest of coins, evidently all her liveli-
Greeks Asking to See Jesus.
unto this
time. I must
THE CONSPIRACY
183
hood for the day. "In the Father's sight," said Jesus kindly, "has she not put in more than anybody else ?"
By the purging of the temple Jesus had made the priests His foes. His silencing of the Sadducees made the priestly party even more bitter against Him. The Phari- sees had already condemned Him officially when He was in Galilee and now He had confronted them in Jerusalem and by denying their authority to silence Him had begun to turn the populace against them. It was evident that if Jesus were permitted to continue, He would end both the sacrificial system and the dominion of the scribes. He had steadily refused to stir up a revolt and had disowned any intention of subverting the Roman rule, but already Jerusalem, with its concourse of excited pilgrims from all Israel, was His audience and seemed likely to turn to His discipleship.
Persuasion, threats, intel- lectual fencing had failed to swerve the Nazarene. But one thing was left to do —
assassinate Him. To this priests and scribes agreed, and in this cowardly purpose inveterate enemies joined hands.
Although the Pharisees had for a long time been try- ing to put a stop to the influence of Jesus, they fall into the background as soon as the plot for His destruction gets under way. No doubt, some of them were numbered among the priests and the Sanhedrin, but the leadership in the destruction of Jesus was in the hands of the priestly party.
The first thought of the priests was that it would not do to throw Jerusalem into a turmoil during the feast, by interfering with the teaching of Jesus. It became
(Copyright by J. J. Tissot.) The Pharisees Plotting Together.
184 THE LIFE OF JESUS
evident, however, that He was taking such good advan- tage of this occasion that they must, at any cost, bring His work to a close before He got possession of the mind and heart of Jerusalem. It seemed wise, therefore, if possible, to arrest Him secretly some evening and get Him into the hands of the Romans, so that when His friends and partisans learned in the morning of His cap- ture, the blame could be thrown upon the Romans, and it would be impossible to release Him. In order to bring this about it was desirable that some one should be found
Judas Bargaining to Betray Jesus.
who knew the places where Jesus resorted, and who could lead a sufficient company of officers to surround and arrest Him. At the very moment of need such a person appeared in Judas Iscariot.
The character of Judas has long been the subject of study. Dante places him in the lowest abyss of the Inferno, among those who were traitors to their kind. It has been common to think of him as the worst man who ever lived. John Ruskin was, no doubt, nearer right when he asserted that Judas was "only a common money-lover." While he must have had some hopeful qualities in order to have attracted the attention of Jesus, the question "Will it pay?" soon began to be the test by which he guided all his actions. During the slow progress of the Galilean ministry he had managed to be-
JUDAS THE TRAITOR 185
come chosen treasurer of the small funds which the Twelve held in common, and in the use of these he had been a thief.
Apparently he had become convinced that the cause of Jesus was hopeless, and he determined to stand out from under it and leave his comrades and his Master in the lurch. Even in doing this he thought he might as well get whatever advantage there was possible. He had perhaps excused himself on the ground that it was plain that Jesus was going to be captured, anyway.
Just at the moment when the priests needed help he came to them and offered to co-operate in their plot. Whether they made a definite offer of money at the time, or promised to pay him a suitable amount, we do not know. It would hardly seem credible that Judas would have accepted so small a sum as the thirty pieces of silver, amounting in modern spending value to not more than as many dollars, unless indeed they persuaded him that his part in the conspiracy was such a trifling one that it deserved no larger recompense. It is a significant fact that Judas sold his Master for what was the price of a common slave. He agreed to dog Jesus' footsteps, and at the first suitable opportunity to discover to them some place where Jesus would be in retirement during the eve- ning, when they would place in his charge a sufficient body of soldiers to apprehend Him.
CHAPTER XXXII JESUS' ATTITUDE IN THE FACE OF DEATH
Jesus knew that He must die. He was familiar with the history of other prophets. He had watched the per- secution of John. He recognized the spirit of the men about Him.
Just as He was at the summit of His opportunity, He was to be sacrificed to the selfish interests of the two dominant religious parties of His race. What was the attitude of Jesus in the face of such a tragedy ?
Jesus was not unprepared for His fate. The Gospels imply that ever since His spiritual experience upon Mount Hermon the conviction had grown that, whatever the re- sponse Jerusalem might make to His teachings, He would be but one more of her prophets whom she should slay.
The whole attitude of Jesus toward death is summed up in His word to the Greeks who came to Him during the Passover: "The way for a man to lose his life is to love it too much." In saying this Jesus stood beside other heroes who could say with our modern Stevenson :
"My undissuaded heart I hear Whisper courage in my ear . . . To laugh, to love, to live, to die."
No doubt, like others who have found death in the path of duty, He did not know all that His death should do, but He knew, as the soldier, the sailor, the father knows who chooses to die when to live and let others die means dishonor, that life reaches its noblest estate only when it is sacrificed. Many have believed that the description of the suffering servant in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, who was "despised and rejected of
186
JESUS* FAITH IN IMMORTALITY 187
men" and "led to slaughter," persuaded Jesus that it was within the Father's will that the Messiah should die in shame, rather than immediately triumph, while, after He "poured out his soul unto death," in some mysterious way He should "see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied" in that He had been the means of rescue to many.
But though Jesus expected to die, He did not expect His spirit to perish. As we have learned from His dia- logue with the Sadducees, His faith in the Father lifted Him above such a despair. He did not even think, as they did, that He might survive as a lifeless shade in Sheol. Nor did He accept the belief of the Pharisees that, while a few heroes, like Enoch and Moses and Elijah, had been translated to the heavens, most men would come back, in their reanimated bodies, to this earth when it was renovated for them. We may accept as true to the con- viction of Jesus, if not His very words, the sayings which John represents Him as giving to His disciples on the night before His death : "In my Father's house are many abiding places. There I am going, to make a place ready for you." But that Jesus did not think , His life after death was to be separate in knowledge and inter- est from this earth and His friends upon it is seen by the other words which John gives: "If I go I will send the Comforter to you. . . . He shall take my words and shall explain them to you. ... I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice." In some spiritual way Jesus expected that He would very soon manifest Him- self to His friends in their daily life. This Comforter, this "Spirit of Christ" as Paul calls it, is to continue the Messianic work, for He will "convict the world of its sin, bring to it a new conception of righteousness and set up a new standard of judgment" and gradually "guide the disciples into all truth." In more than one of the Gospels the promise is that His presence shall be a help in doing their daily duties and in setting up there the Kingdom of Heaven.
188
THE LIFE OF JESUS
Concerning the future of that kingdom on earth we find it hard to learn just how far Jesus was able to foresee. At least one quotation crept into the Gospels from an apocalyptic (that is, an allegorical-prophetic) book written many years after the death of Jesus, and was attributed to His lips. Such enthusiastic "tracts in bad times" were favorite reading in the days of trial in the early church. We have one such in our New Testa- ment in the Book of Revelation. We find in them all
the idea that in the immediate future are to be persecutions and trials and that one of these early trials is to be the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. Surely Jesus was statesman enough to realize that the restless and uncompromising spirit of the Pharisees, which soon became well- nigh insane in its bigot- ry and obstinacy, could bring nothing else but bloodshed and ruin. It is pleasant to think that He may have had the tender foresight to warn His followers to avoid the horrors of the siege that came during the next generation, so that, as history tells us, the Christian community made its escape while yet the gates were open.
There is no doubt too that Jesus believed that the Kingdom of Heaven was to become worldwide. His Father was the Father of all men everywhere, and not merely of Jews. From His early ministry the great parables of the Sower, the Leaven, the Great Supper, the Lost Sheep, had taken for granted the exceeding broad- ness of the love and purpose of God. His heart, that had been so quick to welcome the faith of a Roman centurion, a Syro-Phcenician woman, the Samaritans
Christ Comforting His Disciples at the Passover Supper.
THE LAST SUPPER 189
and the Greeks, was in accord with the noblest of the prophets, who, like the author of the eighty-seventh Psalm, sang of :
"Rahab and Babylon as among them that know me. Behold, Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; This one was born there,"
or who, like Joel, represented God as saying :
"Afterward I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh . . . And whosoever calleth upon the name of Jehovah shall be saved."
The Christian world has rightly accepted as the resurrec- tion message of its Master those words found in Mark :
"Go ye into all the world, And preach the Gospel to every creature."
On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of the Passover week Jesus taught in the temple. Wednesday and Thurs- day it is believed He spent in solitary rest in Bethany or upon the slopes of the Mount of Olives. Thursday Jesus sent Peter and John into Jerusalem to complete a private arrangement which He had made with a friend that His guest-chamber should be fitted with a table and couches so that Jesus might there celebrate the Passover with the Twelve. Jesus had in some way become aware of the alienation of Judas, and He designed that Judas might not, by discovering beforehand where they were to meet, be able to arrest Him before He had said His parting words to His friends.
When the Twelve came into the room where the couches were arranged for the ceremonial, there was an unseemly crowding toward the head of the table, in order that each might secure one of the seats of honor. Jesus uttered no rebuke, but after all had reclined He retired to an ante- room, and soon came in, his cloak removed, girdled with a towel and carrying a basin of water — in short, attired as a slave. Silently He knelt at the back of each couch
190
THE LIFE OF JESUS
and began to wash His disciples' feet. All were ashamed to see the servile task performed by their Teacher, though only Simon objected. When Jesus was seated again, He explained himself. "Do you understand what I have been doing ? The kings of the Greeks and the Romans are accustomed to lord it over them. But it is not to be so with you. On the contrary, those who are greatest must become like the youngest, and the
chief is he who serves."
As they were
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very night they
will strike down
your shepherd,
and His sheep
will be scattered.
Simon, listen.
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demanded leave
to sift you like
wheat. But I
have prayed for
you, Simon, that your faith shall never fail. And I
look to you, when you have been turned again, to
strengthen your brothers."
Simon sprang to his feet.
"Me fail?" he shouted. "I shall never fail you. If every one else falls away from you, I never will. With you I am ready to go to dungeon, yes, even to death." The rest, too, excitedly swore an oath of eternal alle- giance.
"And yet," said Jesus sadly, "I fear that before cock- crow you will more than once have disowned me." "Are any of you armed ?" Jesus asked anxiously. Learning that some were thus protected against sur- prise, Jesus continued His conversation.
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JESUS' MEMORIAL 191
After the meal was over Jesus took some of the un- leavened flat cakes and an untouched cup of wine, and stood up. He broke the bread in pieces, and gave a morsel to each, and said,
1 'Take it and eat it. This is my body/'
Then He took the wine cup and carried it to each :
' ' This, ' ' he said, ' 4s my covenant-blood. ' '
And Paul says that he added, ''Continue to do this as a remembrance of me."
(From a photograph.)
Bridge over the Brook Kidron, near Absalom's Tomb.
This brook is full in winter and dry in summer. Christ crossed it many times during the last week of His life.
In after years the early Christians observed this cus- tom. At the end of a common meal, in the home or where several of them were together, they would set apart some bread and some wine, and as they solemnly ate and drank, one would say, repeating the words of Jesus, "This is my body; this is my covenant-blood." And as they did so with reverent and loving hearts, the spirit of Jesus became real to them, and gave fresh meaning to the words of Jesus.
For this was Jesus' last and greatest parable. Among all the words that Jesus spoke the night before His death, these two are conspicuous. "This is my body" — I am your daily food. "This is my covenant -blood " — I am helping you to keep the covenant of love between
192
THE LIFE OF JESUS
you and the Father. These are the ways that the Com- forter, His Spirit, brings the living Christ unto our daily life.
Because of abuses that crept in, the Lord's Supper was by and by separated from the daily meal, but it was the intention of Jesus that every common meal, shared together in brotherhood, should be a Lord's Supper; and that a cup of cold water, given in love, should be a veritable holy communion.
After the last supper Jesus led His disciples out through the eastern gate of the city and down over the bridge
across the Brook Kid- ron, toward Bethany. On the way up the slope of the Mount of Olives He turned in at an olive- orchard and there paused.
A young man from the city, possibly the son of the owner of the house of the upper room, seems to have followed them in the darkness. Probably he gave the alarm when the soldiers appeared. He barely escaped just after the arrest of Jesus, leaving his cloak in the hands of one of the soldiers. To him we probably are indebted for an account of what occurred in the orchard. This young man has been supposed to be the evangelist Mark.
Jesus left eight of the disciples near the orchard gate and took Peter, James and John with Him as He walked among the shadows from the Passover moon, into the quieter seclusion of its interior. Ere He left the three He told them that His anguish was well-nigh unto death, and He entreated them to stay awake while He went a little farther and engaged in prayer.
The words of the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane have
(From a photograph. View in the Garden of Gethsemane.
THE AGONY IN GETHSEMANE
193
always aroused the most reverent thoughtfulness of Chris- tians. The substance of the petition was that a certain "cup" of anguish might be removed from His lips, but if not, that He might be given by the Father strength to drink it. Perhaps none of us fully know what this "cup" was. It was surely not the fear of death, though one so young and strong and vital might well shudder at such an untimely end. The curse and shame of His approaching death were cer- tainly no minor grief. More deeply, though, Jesus felt in His loving heart the agony of being rejected by those He loved. His soul also stood aghast at the horror of such blind and cruel wickedness as that of Judas and the priests. Most keenly one realizes, how- ever, that at that hour He felt the desire not to leave His dis- ciples in their blindness and faint-heartedness, but to con- tinue personally the great and divine work to which He had given His life, and not to die
until He had seen the Kingdom no longer languishing in weakness, but coming in power and blessing.
His agony was so great that the watcher in the shadows reported His countenance bedewed as if with drops of blood. Again and again He came back to His three friends to be sustained by their human sympathy. Finally, in compassion at their exhaustion, He let them sleep. Then the Divine Spirit entered His heart and comforted Him. Thus His prayer was answered, and He arose, strong and fearless, to meet what was before Him.
(From a photograph.) Old Olive-Tree in Gethsemane.
CHAPTER XXXIII
BETRAYED, DENIED, CONDEMNED
In the meantime Judas had slipped from the upper room and hastened to the palace of the High Priest, and Caia- phas had summoned to his aid a mob with perhaps a sprinkling of the temple guard.
It is quite possible that Judas led the band first to the upper room, and finding Jesus already departed, set out
for Gethsemane. Stealing forward in advance of the main body of the soldiers and temple guards, Judas had probably discovered, as he would suspect that Jesus would pause in this favorite resting-place. He surrounded the orchard with men and led a squad in through the gateway. Many were armed with staves, and a number carried lanterns and torches, although the moon was full, so that they might search in the dark shadows, if Jesus should be in hiding. The deep impression which Jesus had made upon Jerusalem, and the fears which the priests felt as to His possible resistance or escape, may be judged by the careful arrangements that were made to arrest Him. So that they might watch their own triumph, some of His enemies accompanied the party.
Jesus aroused His three friends, and then the others who were resting beside the gate, and urged them to make
194
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The Kiss of Judas.
THE JEWISH EXAMINATION
195
their escape. Judas entered the orchard in advance of the rest as if to make believe that he was innocent of the presence of the soldiers behind him, and came up and embraced Jesus in pretended anxiety. This was the prearranged signal so that they might not seize the wrong victim.
"Is this the way," asked Jesus, with revulsion, "that you betray the Son of man — with a kiss?" Then He advanced boldly to meet the crowd. His first manly instinct was to assure them that He was not intending flight.
"Why have you come here as if against a thief, with swords and staves ? Why did you not arrest me in the temple where I have been teaching daily?"
This brave act of Jesus was not merely in defense of His own honor, but also to shelter His friends. He threw Himself between the soldiers and the Twelve, and they, after perhaps a brief and ineffective attempt at defense, forsook Him and fled.
The process of condemning Jesus to death was as fol- lows: First, He was examined before the Jewish author- ities and adjudged guilty, but as the Sanhedrin had no right to take away life, He was next tried before the Roman authorities. He was brought before Annas and Caia- phas for a preliminary examination, in the hope that He might say something which could be used as an excuse for condemning Him. This examination took place in the presence of an irregular assembly of some of the Sanhedrin which had been hastily brought together. As night sessions of the Sanhedrin were not lawful, the method of procedure was illegal throughout. Jesus was allowed
(Copyright, 1896, by J. J. Tissot.) Annas and Caiaphas.
196
THE LIFE OF JESUS
The Sanhedrin.
no legal representative and no adequate opportunity for defense. When He protested against the unlawful pro- ceedings He was smitten upon the face by an underling of
Annas, and, al- though a pris- oner was not allowed to in- criminate him- self, He was forced upon oath to declare whether He was or was not the Messiah. This He did not deny, and as all the testimony which had been hastily brought to- gether was foolishly inconclusive, this one statement was accepted as sufficient for His condemnation. His enemies also made much of some statement which Jesus had made that week regarding the destruction of the tem- ple. What Jesus had meant was that it was time its abuse came to an end. What they claimed that He meant was that He proposed the sacrilege of attempt- ing to destroy it with his own hands.
In the meantime, Si- mon Peter, who had found his way into the
courtyard of the palace of Caiaphas, being suddenly questioned by some who thought they recognized him as having been in the olive- orchard, impulsively and weakly denied his Master. It was while he was doing
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JESUS' TRIAL BEFORE PILATE
197
this with oaths, that Jesus was led across the courtyard. The anguish of the spectacle of the disloyalty of His
The Jews Urging Pilate to Condemn Jesus.
trusted friend was added to the burdens of this sorrowful night. Judas, too, suddenly saw the enormity of his offense, and in the early morning fruitlessly endeavored to make some reparation by restoring the fruits of his treachery.
The formal trial of Jesus was that before the Roman judge, Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea and Samaria, who had his capital at Caesarea, upon the coast of the Mediterranean. There was, however, a smaller palace and hall of justice in Jerusalem. To Him, in the >arly morning, they led Jesus. Pilate came forth to the ele- vated platform, where he fre- quently made judicial decisions, and to this elevated place Jesus also was lifted, to stand before him. Pilate,
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The Castle Antonia.
198
THE LIFE OF JESUS
as a Roman, indifferent to Jewish beliefs and customs, could hardly have realized how monstrous was the spectacle of the priests of the Jewish nation leading their Messiah to a foreign judge, in order to demand His death. The charges for which the priests had condemned Jesus would not have interested Pilate. What did he care about blasphemy of the Jewish God ? They tried first to get Pilate to condemn Jesus upon their own unsupported statements, but Pilate was too shrewd an administrator
So-called House of Caiaphas, now an Armenian Monastery.
to do this. They, therefore, charged that Jesus was a revolutionary and was ambitious to become king. In the private examination Pilate soon learned that the only claim of kingship Jesus made was that He was king in the realm of truth. The word " truth" did not especially interest Pilate. He lived in the realm of expediency, rather than that of truth, as the events of the morning soon showed. Pilate brought Jesus back to the platform and asserted that he found Him innocent.
Instead of releasing Him at once, as a judge should have done, he caught at the suggestion that the deeds which had been alleged against Him had some of them been performed in Galilee. Desiring to make friends with Herod Antipas, with whom he had quarrelled, he sent Jesus over to the palace of Herod, who had come down to the Passover in search of casual amusement.
THE WEAKNESS OF PILATE
199
To Herod, the murderer of His best friend, who strove to incite Jesus to some religious discussion, Jesus was mute. Resolving not to be cheated out of his pleasure, Herod scornfully dressed Jesus in the mock robes of a king and sent Him back to Pilate.
Again Pilate asserted publicly that the man was inno- cent, but again, instead of releasing Him, he endeavored to please his restless subjects by the cruel injustice of ordering Jesus to be scourged be- fore He was set free. He hoped in this way to excite their pity and satisfy their desire for re- venge. The Ro- man scourging was so cruel a punishment that men fainted, and often died beneath it. To the physical tor- ment of the scourging the
brutal soldiers added their curses and heartless persecu- tions, treating His almost insensate body like that of a brute beast. Again Pilate started to free Jesus. Not- ing that a large company of citizens had gathered in the open space before the platform, he appealed to the multi- tude, following a custom observed at the Passover Feast. He offered to set free any culprit they might choose. Selecting a brigand and murderer, who had started an insurrection, he offered them the choice between Jesus and this Barabbas. To his consternation the crowd, either desirous to show favor to a supposed patriot, or incited by the remonstrances of the priests, insisted
Herod's Palace and Tower of Hdppicus.
Nothing of the original Herod's palace now remains, but the lower portion of the massive tower of Hippicus still stands as left by Titus, to show future generations the strength of the city he had conquered.
200 THE LIFE OF JESUS
upon the freedom of Barabbas. Then Pilate determined to show his excessive generosity and satisfy his own con- science, by releasing them both.
The priests, who had skilfully taken advantage of the weaknesses of Pilate through this whole morning, now brought to bear the strongest argument, one by which they had always been able in the past to play on the fears of their governor. They now threatened that if he released Jesus and thus showed that he condoned such a revolutionary, he would prove thereby that he was not a friend of the emperor, and that they would complain of him to Rome. Pilate could not afford to have such a scrutiny made of his administration, for it had been stained with injustice. Indeed, when such an examination was made a few years later, he promptly lost his position. He, therefore, capitulated instantly and ordered Jesus to be turned over to a squad of soldiers to be executed.
This hasty summary does not do justice to the attitude of Jesus through these terrible hours. Though exhausted by the excitement of the previous day and night and by loss of sleep and food, Jesus preserved His self-control. He endured stoically the torments of the scourge and the insults that preceded and followed. He accepted His Messianic calling, though He knew that a denial would save His life. He defended Himself quietly, but by every legal means, when He was examined by Pilate, and He even told him pityingly that the blame was not so much his own as that of the conscienceless men who had brought the innocent victim before him, and who had insisted upon having their own way. Pilate seems to have been grad- ually won to a sincere admiration by the demeanor of Jesus, who had before this moment been to him a com- plete stranger. Toward the close of the hearing he led the Galilean to the front of the platform and made a final appeal to the citizens of Jerusalem, saying "Behold ! the Man !" The spectacle of Jesus — His hands fettered, His shoulders covered with the faded military cloak, His head bleeding from the crown of thorns which had been
THE DEMEANOR OF JESUS 201
crushed upon His forehead, His face the expression of innocence and virtue — might well have excited the sym- pathy of the most heartless. Had this been a Galilean throng they would, no doubt, have pleaded for His release and perhaps demanded it, but this was largely a company of Jerusalem people, many of whom perhaps had listened to the teachings of Jesus, but who had not the strength of mind nor the conscience to contend vigorously against their religious leaders for justice.
Four soldiers led Jesus. Bowing beneath the burden of a Roman cross which was ready at hand, and escorted by a small company of soldiers and by His eager enemies, He walked wearily along the northward lane which led to the hill of execution.
CHAPTER XXXIV THE DEATH OF JESUS
The death of Jesus may be viewed in many ways. We could think of that union of priestly hatred and Roman cruelty which crowned His agonies with insult and added the refinement of torture to a death of shame. We could dwell upon the circumstances of a day which began with the curses of a senseless mob, proceeded with the gambling of hired ruffians for the clothing of the victim, was made hideous by the curses of the malefactors who hung beside Him and which ended in the despair of all His friends. We could urge sympathy for one who was forsaken by tried comrades, who walked to death in utter loneliness, and who found His last sympathy from the hearts of stranger women, His last co-operation in the shoulders of a stranger forced at the point of Roman spears to help Him with His cross, His last deed of comfort from His executioner, and His last disciple in a dying thief. In short, it is easy to see the cross as the very emblem of pathos and tragedy, and its pathos has melted many hearts in compassion and even unto discipleship, while its tragedy has forced upon a forgetting world the eternal misery which sin brings to this world of men.
It is more fair to Jesus and a truer approach to His spirit if we consider His death in the light of His own attitude toward it and His own demeanor during the crucifixion.
Death had no terror for Jesus. To Him it was not finality. It was but the way by which men go to their Father's house. Since He had outgrown the crude conception of a Sheol of lifeless spirits as the house of the dead and disowned the imperfect faith of the men of His time that the abode of God was reserved for a select saint-
202
JESUS' UNSHAKEN FAITH 203
hood of great men and angels, to Him death was the re- lease of the soul for its immediate entrance into the Father's House. That He should die so young, that He should perish in shame and thus seem to close up the hope of the Kingdom, that He should not be permitted to remain as the champion and leader on earth of His faint- hearted followers, that He should be the victim of the demonic hatred of the leaders of a nation which He loved and was endeavoring to lead out into its spiritual rights — these were bitter burdens, and their load constituted the agony in the orchard of Gethsemane. But for all these He had prepared His heart on the mountain in upper Galilee, and even in Gethsemane He had patiently yielded to the necessity which tried both heart and faith.
The one great thought that sustained Jesus on the cross was the one by whose strength He had lived: the thought of the Father. He had all his life believed that the heart of the universe is love, and He had taught men that their only right attitude toward one another should be that which the Father has toward them, the attitude of unavenging, forgiving love. If Jesus at any time during the week of His passion had distrusted for a mo- ment the love of the Father, He would have avoided the cross. The proof of His implicit and unshaken faith in that love is seen in His willingness to die upon the cross. He Himself would show to men even to the last the Father's spirit, that of forgiving love.
Jesus also had faith in the victory of love. He believed it to be the strongest thing in the universe. Though God is baffled by the unlovingness of men, Jesus was sure that the secret of conquering hatred was simply more love. God would love men into loving Him. It was the duty of Jesus to love men to the last, believing that His ultimate expression of love, by dying for men, would do what even His loving life had not accomplished. So Jesus believed that even His death would contribute to the welfare of His Kingdom, and the personal good of men. He had used mystic expressions which suggest
204 THE LIFE OF JESUS
His hope. "The corn of wheat," John tells us He said, "must first fall into the ground and die, and then it brings forth much fruit." That His death was to re- lease a mighty energy into the world He felt certain, and expressed this when He said, "I have come to cast fire upon the earth. I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished." That His death was to help accomplish the release for which the Messiah was to come He announced when He said that He was "to give His life a ransom for many" and again, at the last supper, when, thinking of the covenant expressed in the burnt-offering of Moses, He said, "This is my covenant-blood which is shed for many."
Jesus therefore went to His cross not as a victim, but as one who gave His life for others. He did, it is true, defend Himself before Pilate with all the dignity of an innocent citizen, and yet when He was offered by the priests His life if He would deny His mission, He re- iterated boldly His office as the Messiah. He shrank, as was natural to a loving and brave spirit, from the scenes of hatred upon which He was to enter and the form of death which might cause His friends to lose faith in His leadership, but His shrinking did not prevent His going steadily forward along a way so dark that none but the Father could see light at the end of it. That which had been the object of His life work, the Kingdom of God, was no doubt the chief solace of His death. That was not a thing of flesh and blood merely and it was not susceptible of bodily death. It had already come; the seed He had Himself been sowing, men and women were springing up on every hand who were to be the good grain of the Kingdom, and the world was ready for the harvest. He Himself, living with the Father, though not in visible and earthly glory, would be at the very heart of that Kingdom and able by His spiritual presence to give it sunshine and rain for its fuller increase. Such a vision, even though perhaps not seen in detail, strengthened Jesus to meet His end.
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THE LAST HOURS OF JESUS
205
Jesus Bearing His Cross.
We are told in all the stories of the crucifixion how alert and characteristic was the spirit of Jesus until He breathed His last. Though worn out by loss of sleep, lack of food and the tortures of the scourging, Jesus bore His cross as long as His strength per- mitted, and, even almost fainting, was so oblivi- ous of His own physical condition as to express to the pitying women who lined the lanes His sympathy for their fu- ture, His patriotic hopes, and even His indignation at the prostitution of jus- tice by the priests. While being nailed to the cross, He refused the stupefy- ing drug which would have rendered His last hours partly unconscious. He bore the agony of His transfixion in prayer, and was heard by the soldiers to beg the Father for their forgiveness because of their ignorance. The fever and the congestion of crucifying usually produce great ex- citement followed by the deepest mental depression. Even here the soul of Jesus conquered the body. The priests, who had followed their victim to Golgotha, wrought to renewed rage by the taunt which Pilate had placed upon
the superscription, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews," gloated over the sufferings of Jesus by reminding Him of His prophecy that their cult should lose its control, and cried at Him : ' ' Here is the one who was going to destroy our temple and then rebuild it in three days. He saved others ; let him save himself, if he is indeed the Messiah." To this taunt Jesus made no direct reply, yet He could not have failed to have had it
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The Inscription on the Cross.
206
THE LIFE OF JESUS
in mind when He said to the repentant thief, "To-day (not in three days) we shall be together in Paradise." His invincible soul found a servant for the Kingdom in this brigand, won a victory for it in His death, and promised that, instead of the Pharisaic Sheol, this redeemed soul should enter at once with Him into the presence of the Father. The physical depression, like the agony of the transfixion, He met in prayer, a prayer from a Psalm learned in His childhood. His inquiring soul dared to ask "Why" even at its departure; He faced the blackness
(From a photograph.) The New Calvary and the Northern Wall of Jerusalem.
of desertion; yet, as Dr. Stalker so finely said, "No one is forsaken who can say, My God."
The human interests clung to Him to the end. He appealed to the brotherhood in the heart of His tormentors by asking them to quench His thirst, and, according to John, even prepared for the future care of His mother, who was present at His death. Indeed He was not al- lowed to forget mankind during His sufferings, for apparently He was made a spectacle by the roadside and was surrounded by a mob of blatant foes and secret sympathizers, some of whom gathered up the broken syllables of His latest hours. t
Yet it is plain that a season of spiritual communion was given to Him toward the end, and that He had even
THE DEATH OF JESUS
207
on His cross one of those experiences, as in the desert and upon the mountain top, in which it was given Him to see clearly that which the Father wished Him to know. The fragment from the twenty-second Psalm in which He expressed the sense of being forsaken by God was a part of a train of thought which began in the mood of deser- tion, but did not end there. After some moments He cried loudly, as if, though now doubtless blind to the faces around Him, He would testify the worker's faith in His achievement: "It is finished!" and again, at the
Jeremiah's Grotto, near Jerusalem.
(From a photograph.)
last moment, ending life with a shout, He said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit," a word that suggests His confidence that the most sacred trust which God gives, that of the spiritual life, had been guarded, to the last. It breathed also His faith in the Father's will and power, and His certainty of awakening to the immortal life.
Within a few hours the broken body refused to obey its Master's bidding, a rupture of the heart brought the sudden end, and while yet the crowd was watching the still living malefactors on either side, He was dead.
The dying of the Christ evidently brought an impression to the bystanders such as would not have been produced by that of an ordinarily passive victim. The thief, whose
208 THE LIFE OF JESUS
words can have no other interpretation than that he had at some time listened to Jesus and learned something of His message, found in his extremity a vision of who Jesus was which was not yet firmly held even by His nearest disciples. The multitude, says Luke, returned to the city, in contrition of heart. The centurion who was in charge of the execution and who had never heard of Jesus before was convinced, says Luke, that this was a righteous man. The earliest Gospel believed that He saw in Jesus even more, a son of the gods. To Luke the nobility of His character, to Mark the valor of His courage was impressive, even to a man accustomed to wounds and to the face of death. To all, His words of trust, of faith in His mission, of confidence of immortality made His death seem like a coronation. A member of the Sanhedrin, "who," says Mark, "was looking for the Kingdom of God," asked Pilate for the body, and gave it temporary burial in one of the tombs in the hillside near the place of crucifixion.
CHAPTER XXXV THE CHRIST WHO ABIDES
That there should grow out of the disorganized com- pany of the believers in Jesus after His death such a splendid force as the united and active movement of early Christianity, demands as its explanation some tremen- dous cause. The only cause discoverable that is adequate is the assured conviction that Jesus was still living. We find in the New Testa- ment that the central thought in the preach- ing of the Apostles was the resurrection of Jesus.
So certain was the en- tire body of Christian be- lievers of the continued and helpful existence of the Master, that it was many years before it was deemed necessary to com- mit the grounds of their conviction to writing. What need was there of written proofs, when men and women were manifestly living a spiritual life, whose only source and explanation was what Paul called, " Christ living in them"? The personal influence of Jesus was binding together a beauti- ful fellowship of men and women, was sending them forth to evangelize the world, and was sustaining them in privations, persecutions and martyrdom.
The first written record of the immortal life of Jesus is not in the Gospels, but in an epistle. In Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, written about fifteen years
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before the Gospel of Mark, he gave a careful list of the persons by whom Jesus was seen after His death. Among these he enumerated himself. This account is repeated in similar language in the Book of Acts. The substance of it is that Paul, an educated Pharisee, who had become convinced that it was his duty to endeavor to stamp out the little group of disciples who believed in whom he considered a false Messiah, was persuaded by a marvellous experience that Jesus was still living and was the spiritual Messiah whom God had sent to the world. Following this
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experience, Paul went forth into retirement and sat at the feet of his new spiritual Master, from whom he learned of a new race of men who had been freed from the law because the love of Christ ruled in their hearts. He felt himself commissioned by his Master as the organizer of a new empire, to supplement and supplant the Roman Empire, as the Kingdom of the spiritual in Christ. Paul's witness to the world then, and all through his later life, was that he had a personal acquaintance with the living Jesus, and he insisted that his knowledge of the Master was of equal value with any acquaintance or appearance of Him to any others. The experience of Paul seems to have been of a similar character to that of the dying Stephen, mentioned in the Book of Acts.
The earliest Gospel account of the resurrection was
THE RESURRECTION 211
written not less than thirty years after the death of Jesus. This account, as we have it in Mark, is unfortunately a mere fragment. The first eight verses of the last chapter are all that are found in the earliest manuscripts, and the conclusion is evidently borrowed from the other Gospels. This fragment contains no account of the actual resurrection. It states that three women came to the neighborhood of the burial-place of Jesus, on the day following the Sabbath after His death, to embalm His body. As they drew near, wondering how they could roll away the stone door from the tomb, they looked up and saw a youth sitting beside the tomb, who said, "This is not where he is." The account adds that the youth reminded them of a statement which the Gospel had pre- viously made, — that Jesus had said He would rise again and would go before His disciples into Galilee. The women ran away from the tomb and were so afraid that they said nothing to any one about what they had seen. Thus the fragment ends. Some have thought that as the last page of a book is always easily lost, this fact ex- plains its disappearance. We cannot, of course, recon- struct the story. We may say this much, — that the earliest Gospel suggests that in Galilee were the first experiences of seeing the risen Jesus. In Paul's account in the first epistle to the Corinthians he named an appear- ance to Peter alone. This may be the appearance which is recorded in the last chapter of the Gospel according to John as occurring in Galilee. The result of that appear- ance to Peter was that he became aware that Jesus was alive and had forgiven him for his denial of Him.
Paul also mentions an appearance to "above five hun- dred brethren at once," which is not mentioned else- where, unless the Pentecostal experience of the multi- tude of disciples, related in the Book of Acts, be the one referred to. The narratives in Matthew, Luke and John, are evidently built upon knowledge of the account by Mark, but with different inferences.
We gather from these accounts that the conviction
212 THE LIFE OF JESUS
arose early among the friends of Jesus, that there had been spiritual experiences among the Twelve upon their return to Galilee, which persuaded them that Jesus was still living. These experiences were shared by Paul and Stephen, and were early reflected in the company of dis- ciples who soon made their headquarters at Jerusalem.
While it is impossible for us to be certain as to the de- tails of these experiences, since the written accounts ap- peared so many years after the death of Jesus, all Chris- tians are united in certain great assurances. These assurances are all stated in those wonderful words found in the last chapters of the Gospel according to John.
The first of these assurances was that the power of Jesus was greater after than before His death. John reports Jesus as having said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father."
The second assurance was that the disciples could, as Jesus had prophesied, understand Him better now than before His death. Jesus had said, "The Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring to your remembrance the things that I said unto you." "He will guide you into all truth; he shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine and shall declare it unto you."
A third assurance was that the death of Jesus had turned out to be of real benefit to the church. John re- ports Jesus as having said, "Ye now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh away from you."
We have, therefore, as the marvel of history, these three facts, — that after Jesus' apparently complete downfall, His friends received from Him greater power, deeper knowl- edge and stronger joy than even during His lifetime. In this power, knowledge and joy they completed their organization; went forth to tell the story of His life and immortality, and began to establish His spiritual King- dom among the races of men.
Properly of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
AMONG THE LOWLY. From a painting by L'Hermitte.
THE LIVING CHRIST 213
These are the great spiritual facts which we call the resurrection, facts which Christians verify in their own fellowship with Christ to-day. In some of the details of the later Gospel accounts we recognize the answers which the early church was endeavoring to give to un- believers in the resurrection who lived from thirty to fifty years after the crucifixion of Jesus. Those answers and explanations are only incidental. The spiritual power which Jesus has exercised since Calvary is that which constitutes the Christ who abides.
While we may leave to scholars the problems which surround a detailed study of the New Testament accounts of the resurrection, we must ourselves feel indebted to that heroic church, out of whose mind came the Gospels, for that spectacle of true Christlikeness, which is the only convincing proof for all time of the central belief of all Christians. These Christian men and women proved by their faith and lives that the connecting bond between Jesus and us is not broken. He lived in them: in Paul, in Peter and in the multitude of unnamed Christian dis- ciples. The essential thing is not how nor when He appeared. Jesus so lived that He made His friends ab- solutely sure of His immortality and theirs. A living Jesus, not in Sheol nor in Galilee, but with the Father and with us, is the dynamic of Christians. He is such to-day. This is the Christ who abides.
CHAPTER XXXVI THE RADIANCE OF THE MASTER
The Christian church is the first evidence for the living and abiding Christ. The church poured itself like a pure mountain-stream into the foul river of the Augustan age and purified the waters wherever it flowed. It sanc- tified the relations of the home, it ennobled marriage and the position of woman, it showed new possibilities in human friendship, and its little circles of Christian fellow- ship became such unselfish and mutually helpful com- munities as the world had not known. While the early Christians believed that the end of the world was near, and so did not attempt to change society, nevertheless their social influence was revolutionary. Slavery and the abuses due to injustice grew less, there was an increased consideration and care for children, the sick, the poor and the aged, institutions of philanthropy began to rise and the democracy in the church was soon reflected in the state. In all the life of the early church these marks of progress owed their existence to personal devotion to Jesus. His rewarding face met the eyes of the dying Christian martyr, His character was the exemplar in personal relations and to some extent His ideals for the Kingdom on earth began to be definitely sought as the goal for Christian endeavor.
The influence of Jesus was soon felt in literature. In reading the Gospels, we are impressed with the sincerity and the earnestness of the authors. Nothing but a passion for Jesus could have produced writings that are so limpid, so convincing, so ennobling. It has been often remarked that it would take a Jesus to invent such a Jesus as they portray. Surely it must have been men
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JESUS AND HUMAN THOUGHT 215
who were very near to Jesus who could give portrayals so impersonal and modest and yet so clear and compelling as these. The imaginative in literature began at an early period to glorify Jesus. One form of imaginative litera- ture is that of song. In addition to the sacred songs which were composed around the birth of Jesus, the church from the first century began to utter hymns and rhythmic prayers in which the praise of Jesus was foremost. Those songs and prayers, amid the divisions of the sects, remain the best bond of spiritual unity, since "Christendom is still united in the chambers where good men pray."
Time fails to tell how the influence of Jesus actually purified and enlarged the moral possibilities of the Greek language, in which His Gospels and the earliest statements of Christian faith were written. Nor may we pause to dwell on the influence of Jesus in myth, drama, poetry, lyric and epic, fiction and general literature. So deeply is His life and teaching interwoven with all writing that it may be said that no man is truly educated who does not have, as a part of his intellectual furnishing, at least some elementary knowledge of what Jesus did and said. ,
Jesus has had a great influence upon thought. One of the first endeavors of men was to explain Jesus. The synoptic Gospels are evidence of somewhat unformed theories about Him, but in the Fourth Gospel a writer has applied a current philosophy to Him. Paul, in his epistles, had evidently worked out a mingling of Greek with his own Jewish thought. Many creeds have been framed since then, but in all of them the effort has been made to make Jesus central. The creeds have often been shackles to man's mind, but the influence of Jesus has been to free men's thinking. He who encouraged men to know the truth, because it would make them free, engaged in such a candid scrutiny of the only books and facts and ideas at His command as to encourage every thinker in the various realms of science ever since. A youth to-day may study with complete candor whatever
216 THE LIFE OF JESUS
God has made, knowing that Jesus is with him in his search to discover all that is to be known.
Jesus was never more alive in the thought of the world than now. Each age has to write its own life of Jesus, as His manifold character comes up for fresh study, and each generation tries to interpret it according to its own genius.
Jesus influenced the greatest human arts. There is scarcely any painting up to the Renaissance that does not represent either Jesus or His mother. The church, which took possession of old Greek and Roman basilicas and temples, finally created in Gothic cathedrals a form of art made solely for the purposes of Christian worship. Not only the sweetest hymns but the grandest oratorios have been composed in the adoration of Jesus.
Endeavors to portray the face and figure of Jesus have never been satisfying, since the character that shone behind them was transcendent. But with the awakening of the human spirit at the end of the Middle Ages there came among men a freshened conception of Jesus' faith in the essential beauty of life and of humanity. Then the artists, who had been nurtured in the church, began to look upon human faces and forms as models for their pictured angels, and soon after frankly acknowledged that men and nature were worth painting in themselves regardless of their possible uses in church decoration. So the world came to have the human madonnas of Raphael and Fra Angelico, the smiling children and cherubs of the Delia Robbias, the wonderful drawings and sculptures of the human figure of Angelo, the incisive character sketches of Durer and Holbein, the mysterious lights and shades of Rembrandt, the transcriptions to canvas of the wonder and charm of nature of Turner and Corot and Constable, and the painted parables of Holman Hunt and Watts. These were all Christian artists, and their inspiration may be traced directly from Jesus* attitude toward men and life.
Somewhat the same things may be said of the con-
JESUS IN THE LIVES OF MEN 217
scientious pains of the handicraftsmen, the endeavors to add to the comfort and beauty of human homes, of the architects and decorators, the rise of home music and balladry, and all humble arts and crafts that have brought the Kingdom of God into the beautiful ordering of personal and domestic life.
There have been ages when the prostitution of art caused a strong puritan influence to rise in protest, which confused beauty with its misuse and abolished both together. A saner Christianity regards such protests as having been necessary and noble, but believes that He who loved the flowers and the birds and song and the faces of men desires that these shall always minister to good- ness. Perhaps Jesus' distinguishing mental trait was that He succeeded in finding pleasure in more things than did any one else. He saw the inner beauty in neglected objects and He drew a serene strength from unlovely places and persons, and He set the world the example of a life which honored God in the fine art of beautiful living.
Jesus' most wonderful influence has been in the personal lives of men. Doubtless He is the human ideal realized. Men can conceive no higher type of purpose and conduct than to be like Him. He is one of the few sons of earth for whom men have been willing to die, and men have died for Jesus for reasons more unselfish and noble than for any other hero.
Let us not deny that crimes and wrongs have been done in the name of Jesus, that His church has at times so misrepresented Him by its motives and conduct as to bring shame upon Him. It remains true that, in every age, there has been a type of character so distinguished and so unique that it has been rightly recognized as Christian. That type of character has often been seen in men of so great ability or sanctity that it has been remarked that Jesus may be measured by the greatness of the men who have owned Him as Master. To make a list of such men would be to recapitulate most of the
218 THE LIFE OF JESUS
world's history since His day. But we may at least mention these: Paul, Augustine, Chrysostom, Francis of Assisi, Arnold of Brescia, Savonarola, Wyclif, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Livingstone, Gladstone, Shaftesbury, How- ard, Havelock, Gordon, Joan of Arc, Penn, Washington, Lincoln, Drummond and Brooks. These men, in their various places and according to their types of genius, acknowledged Jesus as their Master and endeavored to make the work of their lives a part of the upbuilding of His Kingdom.
Still more impressive has been the influence of Jesus among average men. Take the impression made by a foreign missionary. We may illustrate by India. " In- dia," says Dr. J. D. Jones of that country which gives more thought to religion than any other, " India has plenty of religious thought, but has never had a religious idea incarnated in any life." The truth of this may be seen in the fact that the most popular gods in India are, one the god of lust, a second the god of deviltry, and the third the god of cruelty. Into this country comes a missionary. He has a good education, a conservative the- ology and a genuine consecration to Jesus. The shrewd and acute Hindus can controvert all his arguments, they see no value in his theology, but they cannot resist the evidence of his life. Think what a pure, refined and noble Bible reader means when she appears in a dirty and degraded Indian village. Imagine the impression made by a skilled Christian physician who lays his life alongside the diseased, the plague-smitten, the suffer- ing people of an Indian province. Through such men and women's lives and deeds the gospel is sure to tri- umph, and such expressions of Jesus must transform the world.
For we need not look in foreign lands for testimonies as to the power of Jesus in the individual life. Every age collects its witness from men and women who, depraved in life, despondent of heart and impotent in will, have found a vital connection with God through Jesus, and
Copyright by the Curtis Publishing Co.
THE THREE WISE MEN. From a painting by W. L. Taylor.
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM 219
have been lifted by Him "out of the miry clay, their feet set upon a rock, and a new song put in their mouths, even praise to our God." An age that accepts no other miracle stops its mouth when it beholds what the Father of Jesus does with a yielded life. He who made His great Son the Messenger and Channel of His word to men has also made sons to Himself out of the scum and waste of humanity.
Since Christian men have seen that the Kingdom is to come by a campaign and not by a catastrophe, the in- fluence of Jesus has manifested itself in marvellous ways in establishing that Kingdom on earth. The motive and program of the foreign missionary crusade is the largest philanthropic plan that has ever entered the mind of man, and the church has at length mapped out the whole world as the field of Christian enterprise. At home Christians are beginning to study as never before how to seize the whole of life for the Kingdom and build its glory in every phase of it. Jesus was never so alive as to-day, when men are endeavoring to realize the new Jerusalem on earth.
The influence of Jesus either created or gave a vivify- ing impetus to the education of the people, to hospitals and medicine, to charity and philanthropy, and above all to the devotion of men in personal service to suffering and needy humanity. It is inspiring men not only to relieve distress but to study and remove its causes. It is leading Christian men to study politics, political economy, the relations of capital and labor, finance, land tenures and the conditions under which men labor, the protection of women and children, and has stimulated countless move- ments to apply the remedies in practical ways. There is still in the world an almost pathetic expectation that Jesus has a new word for our own time. Workingmen have been known to curse the Christian church for its apathy to their needs and in the same breath cheer the name of the Carpenter of Nazareth. Especially do men, rich and poor, still look to the principles of Jesus to save
220 THE LIFE OF JESUS
the class of humanity out of which He himself sprung, those who work with their hands.
Surely no one can read the life of Jesus without asking the question which Jesus Himself once asked of His dis- ciples, "Who do you say that I am?" We have seen something of what was meant when He was called "the Son of man," the human brother who was a prophet of God. We have seen how Jesus enlarged and spiritualized the old Jewish idea of a "Messiah" by becoming the founder of a world-wide Kingdom of devotion to God and to men. We cannot perhaps fully understand or measure that other title, "the Son of God," by which He was called by others more often than He called Him- self. Does it not at least mean to us that the God of many providences gave to the world this supreme Provi- dence? So mighty and enriching a stream surely came from some high and heavenly source. Does it not mean at least that the Father, to whom Jesus consecrated Him- self, poured the fulness of spiritual love and wisdom and power upon Him? Do we not feel that Jesus speaks to us from a character which we recognize as the char- acter of God and with the authority of an accepted and commissioned Son ?
After all, the chief influence of Jesus has been and is in commanding and challenging personal loyalty. As the will is higher than the feelings and the intellect, so Jesus' appeal to the will is greater than His appeal to the mind and the heart. Great Christians have always been men who have devoted their choices to the ends for which Jesus cared. It has been startling in considering the lives of the noblest of His followers, to note how they so identified their life work with the purpose of Jesus that they seemed to be doing just what He would have done in their place. It remains true still that to be a Christian is chiefly, after understanding the ideals of Jesus, to stand on His side, to devote one's self loyally to His work and to try to make His will the law of one's own life and of the life of the world.
THE CHALLENGE OF JESUS 221
The purpose of this story of the life of Jesus has been to help you to understand those ideals, so that you shall take His side as long as you live.
Can one know who Jesus was and what He stands for and not be willing to follow Him ?
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