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diff --git a/33288-8.txt b/33288-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e905105 --- /dev/null +++ b/33288-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11113 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St +John, Vol. II, by Marcus Dods + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St John, Vol. II + +Author: Marcus Dods + +Release Date: July 29, 2010 [EBook #33288] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE, ST. JOHN, VOL II *** + + + + +Produced by Marcia Brooks, Colin Bell, Nigel Blower and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian +Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + [Transcriber's Note: + + This e-text is intended for users whose text readers cannot display + the Unicode (utf-8) version of the file. Greek words have been + transliterated and enclosed in equals signs, e.g. =ho logos=. + + _Italic_ words have been similarly enclosed in underscores. + + A few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected. + + The Table of Contents refers to page numbers in the original text. + + All advertising material has been placed at the end of the text.] + + + + + THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. + + + EDITED BY THE REV. + W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D. + + _Editor of "The Expositor."_ + + + THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. + + BY + MARCUS DODS, D.D. + + + London: + HODDER AND STOUGHTON, + 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + MDCCCXCII. + + + + + THE + GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. + + BY + MARCUS DODS, D.D., + + PROFESSOR OF EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY, NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH. + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + _VOL. II._ + + + London: + HODDER AND STOUGHTON, + 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + MDCCCXCII. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + I. + THE ANOINTING OF JESUS 3 + + II. + THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM 19 + + III. + THE CORN OF WHEAT 31 + + IV. + THE ATTRACTIVE FORCE OF THE CROSS 47 + + V. + RESULTS OF CHRIST'S MANIFESTATION 65 + + VI. + THE FOOT-WASHING 75 + + VII. + JUDAS 91 + + VIII. + JESUS ANNOUNCES HIS DEPARTURE 109 + + IX. + THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE 123 + + X. + THE FATHER SEEN IN CHRIST 137 + + XI. + THE BEQUEST OF PEACE 159 + + XII. + THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES 175 + + XIII. + NOT SERVANTS, BUT FRIENDS 193 + + XIV. + THE SPIRIT CHRIST'S WITNESS 205 + + XV. + LAST WORDS 229 + + XVI. + CHRIST'S INTERCESSORY PRAYER 247 + + XVII. + THE ARREST 263 + + XVIII. + PETER'S DENIAL AND REPENTANCE 281 + + XIX. + JESUS BEFORE PILATE 299 + + XX. + MARY AT THE CROSS 321 + + XXI. + THE CRUCIFIXION 335 + + XXII. + THE RESURRECTION 351 + + XXIII. + THOMAS' TEST 365 + + XXIV. + APPEARANCE AT SEA OF GALILEE 383 + + XXV. + RESTORATION OF PETER 399 + + XXVI. + CONCLUSION 413 + + + + +I. + +_THE ANOINTING OF JESUS._ + + + "Jesus therefore six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where + Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead. So they made Him a + supper there: and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that + sat at meat with Him. Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of + spikenard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped + His feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of + the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, which should + betray Him, saith, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred + pence, and given to the poor? Now this he said, not because he cared + for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the bag took + away what was put therein. Jesus therefore said, Suffer her to keep + it against the day of My burying. For the poor ye have always with + you; but Me ye have not always. The common people therefore of the + Jews learned that He was there: and they came, not for Jesus' sake + only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom He had raised from + the dead. But the chief priests took counsel that they might put + Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the + Jews went away, and believed on Jesus."--JOHN xii. 1-11. + + +This twelfth chapter is the watershed of the Gospel. The +self-manifestation of Jesus to the world is now ended; and from this +point onwards to the close we have to do with the results of that +manifestation. He hides Himself from the unbelieving, and allows their +unbelief full scope; while He makes further disclosures to the faithful +few. The whole Gospel is a systematic and wonderfully artistic +exhibition of the manner in which the deeds, words, and claims of Jesus +produced,--on the one hand, a growing belief and enthusiasm; on the +other, a steadily hardening unbelief and hostility. In this chapter the +culmination of these processes is carefully illustrated by three +incidents. In the first of these incidents evidence is given that there +was an intimate circle of friends in whose love Jesus was embalmed, and +His work and memory insured against decay; while the very deed which had +riveted the faith and affection of this intimate circle is shown to have +brought the antagonism of His enemies to a head. In the second incident +the writer shows that on the whole popular mind Jesus had made a +profound impression, and that the instincts of the Jewish people +acknowledged Him as King. In the third incident the influence He was +destined to have and was already to some extent exerting beyond the +bounds of Judaism is illustrated by the request of the Greeks that they +might see Jesus. + +In this first incident, then, is disclosed a devotedness of faith which +cannot be surpassed, an attachment which is absolute; but here also we +see that the hostility of avowed enemies has penetrated even the inner +circle of the personal followers of Jesus, and that one of the chosen +Twelve has so little faith or love that he can see no beauty and find no +pleasure in any tribute paid to his Master. In this hour there meet a +ripeness of love which suddenly reveals the permanent place which Jesus +has won for Himself in the hearts of men, and a maturity of alienation +which forebodes that His end cannot be far distant. In this beautiful +incident, therefore, we turn a page in the gospel and come suddenly into +the presence of Christ's death. To this death He Himself freely alludes, +because He sees that things are now ripe for it, that nothing short of +His death will satisfy His enemies, while no further manifestation can +give Him a more abiding place in the love of His friends. The chill, +damp odour of the tomb first strikes upon the sense, mingling with and +absorbed in the perfume of Mary's ointment. If Jesus dies, He cannot be +forgotten. He is embalmed in the love of such disciples. + +On His way to Jerusalem for the last time Jesus reached Bethany "six +days before the Passover"--that is to say, in all probability[1] on the +Friday evening previous to His death. It was natural that He should wish +to spend His last Sabbath in the congenial and strengthening society of +a family whose welcome and whose affection He could rely upon. In the +little town of Bethany He had become popular, and since the raising of +Lazarus He was regarded with marked veneration. Accordingly they made +Him a feast, which, as Mark informs us, was given in the house of Simon +the leper. Any gathering of His friends in Bethany must have been +incomplete without Lazarus and his sisters. Each is present, and each +contributes an appropriate addition to the feast. Martha serves; +Lazarus, mute as he is throughout the whole story, bears witness by his +presence as a living guest to the worthiness of Jesus; while Mary makes +the day memorable by a characteristic action. Coming in, apparently +after the guests had reclined at table, she broke an alabaster of very +costly spikenard[2] and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet +with her hair. + +This token of affection took the company by surprise. Lazarus and his +sisters may have been in sufficiently good circumstances to admit of +their making a substantial acknowledgment of their indebtedness to +Jesus; and although this alabaster of ointment had cost as much as would +keep a labouring man's family for a year, this could not seem an +excessive return to make for service so valuable as Jesus had rendered. +It was the manner of the acknowledgment which took the company by +surprise. Jesus was a poor man, and His very appearance may have +suggested that there were other things He needed more urgently than +such a gift as this. Had the family provided a home for Him or given +Him the price of this ointment, no one would have uttered a remark. But +this was the kind of demonstration reserved for princes or persons of +great distinction; and when paid to One so conspicuously humble in His +dress and habits, there seemed to the uninstructed eye something +incongruous and bordering on the grotesque. When the fragrance of the +ointment disclosed its value, there was therefore an instantaneous +exclamation of surprise, and at any rate in one instance of blunt +disapproval. Judas, instinctively putting a money value on this display +of affection, roundly and with coarse indelicacy declared it had better +have been sold and given to the poor. + +Jesus viewed the act with very different feelings. The rulers were +determining to put Him out of the way, as not only worthless but +dangerous; the very man who objected to this present expenditure was +making up his mind to sell Him for a small part of the sum; the people +were scrutinising His conduct, criticising Him;--in the midst of all +this hatred, suspicion, treachery, coldness, and hesitation comes this +woman and puts aside all this would-be wisdom and caution, and for +herself pronounces that no tribute is rich enough to pay to Him. It is +the rarity of such action, not the rarity of the nard, that strikes +Jesus. This, He says, is a noble deed she has done, far rarer, far more +difficult to produce, far more penetrating, and lasting in its fragrance +than the richest perfume that man has compounded. Mary has the +experience that all those have who for Christ's sake expose themselves +to the misunderstanding and abuse of vulgar and unsympathetic minds; she +receives from Himself more explicit assurance that her offering has +given pleasure to Him and is gratefully accepted. We may sometimes find +ourselves obliged to do what we perfectly well know will be +misunderstood and censured; we may be compelled to adopt a line of +conduct which seems to convict us of heedlessness and of the neglect of +duties we owe to others; we may be driven to action which lays us open +to the charge of being romantic and extravagant; but of one thing we may +be perfectly sure--that however our motives are mis-read and condemned +by those who first make their voices heard, He for whose sake we do +these things will not disparage our action nor misunderstand our +motives. The way to a fuller intimacy with Christ often lies through +passages in life we must traverse alone. + +But we are probably more likely to misunderstand than to be +misunderstood. We are so limited in our sympathies, so scantily +furnished with knowledge, and have so slack a hold upon great +principles, that for the most part we can understand only those who are +like ourselves. When a woman comes in with her effusiveness, we are put +out and irritated; when a man whose mind is wholly uneducated utters his +feelings by shouting hymns and dancing on the street, we think him a +semi-lunatic; when a member of our family spends an hour or two a day in +devotional exercises, we condemn it as waste of time which might be +better spent on practical charities or household duties. + +Most liable of all to this vice of misjudging the actions of others, and +indeed of misapprehending generally wherein the real value of life +consists, are those who, like Judas, measure all things by a +utilitarian, if not a money, standard. Actions which have no immediate +results are pronounced by such persons to be mere sentiment and waste, +while in fact they redeem human nature and make life seem worth living. +The charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava served none of the +immediate purposes of the battle, and was indeed a blunder and waste +from that point of view; yet are not our annals enriched by it as they +have been by few victories? On the Parthenon there were figures placed +with their backs hard against the wall of the pediment; these backs were +never seen and were not intended to be seen, but yet were carved with +the same care as was spent upon the front of the figures. Was that care +waste? There are thousands of persons in our own society who think it +essential to teach their children arithmetic, but pernicious to instil +into their minds a love of poetry or art. They judge of education by the +test, Will it pay? can this attainment be turned into money? The other +question, Will it enrich the nature of the child and of the man? is not +asked. They proceed as if they believed that the man is made for +business, not business for the man; and thus it comes to pass that +everywhere among us men are found sacrificed to business, stunted in +their moral development, shut off from the deeper things of life. The +pursuits which such persons condemn are the very things which lift life +out of the low level of commonplace buying and selling, and invite us to +remember that man liveth not by bread alone, but by high thoughts, by +noble sacrifice, by devoted love and all that love dictates, by the +powers of the unseen, mightier by far than all that we see. + +In the face, then, of so much that runs counter to such demonstrations +as Mary's and condemns them as extravagance, it is important to note the +principles upon which our Lord proceeds in His justification of her +action. + +First, He says, this is an occasional, exceptional tribute. "The poor +always ye have with you, but me ye have not always." Charity to the poor +you may continue from day to day all your life long: whatever you spend +on me is spent once for all. You need not think the poor defrauded by +this expenditure. Within a few days I shall be beyond all such tokens of +regard, and the poor will still claim your sympathy. This principle +solves for us some social and domestic problems. Of many expenses common +in society, and especially of expenses connected with scenes such as +this festive gathering at Bethany, the question always arises, Is this +expenditure justifiable? When present at an entertainment costing as +much and doing as little material good as the spikenard whose perfume +had died before the guests separated, we cannot but ask, Is not this, +after all, mere waste? had it not been better to have given the value to +the poor? The hunger-bitten faces, the poverty-stricken outcasts, we +have seen during the day are suggested to us by the superabundance now +before us. The effort to spend most where least is needed suggests to +us, as to these guests at Bethany, gaunt, pinched, sickly faces, bare +rooms, cold grates, feeble, dull-eyed children--in a word, starving +families who might be kept for weeks together on what is here spent in a +few minutes; and the question is inevitable, Is this right? Can it be +right to spend a man's ransom on a mere good smell, while at the end of +the street a widow is pining with hunger? Our Lord replies that so long +as one is day by day considering the poor and relieving their +necessities, he need not grudge an occasional outlay to manifest his +regard for his friends. The poor of Bethany would probably appeal to +Mary much more hopefully than to Judas, and they would appeal all the +more successfully because her heart had been allowed to utter itself +thus to Jesus. There is, of course, an expenditure for display under the +guise of friendship. Such expenditure finds no justification here or +anywhere else. But those who in a practical way acknowledge the +perpetual presence of the poor are justified in the occasional outlay +demanded by friendship. + +2. But our Lord's defence of Mary is of wider range. "Let her alone," He +says, "against the day of my burying hath she kept this." It was not +only occasional, exceptional tribute she had paid Him; it was solitary, +never to be repeated. Against my burial she has kept this unguent; for +me ye have not always. Would you blame Mary for spending this, were I +lying in my tomb? Would you call it too costly a tribute, were it the +last? Well, it is the last.[3] Such is our Lord's justification of her +action. Was Mary herself conscious that this was a parting tribute? It +is possible that her love and womanly instinct had revealed to her the +nearness of that death of which Jesus Himself so often spoke, but which +the disciples refused to think of. She may have felt that this was the +last time she would have an opportunity of expressing her devotion. +Drawn to Him with unutterable tenderness, with admiration, gratitude, +anxiety mingling in her heart, she hastens to spend upon Him her +costliest. Passing away from _her_ world she knows He is; buried so far +as she was concerned she knew Him to be if He was to keep the Passover +at Jerusalem in the midst of His enemies. Had the others felt with her, +none could have grudged her the last consolation of this utterance of +her love, or have grudged Him the consolation of receiving it. For this +made Him strong to die, this among other motives--the knowledge that His +love and sacrifice were not in vain, that He had won human hearts, and +that in their affection He would survive. This is His true embalming. +This it is that forbids that His flesh see corruption, that His earthly +manifestation die out and be forgotten. To die before He had attached to +Himself friends as passionate in their devotion as Mary would have been +premature. The recollection of His work might have been lost. But when +He had won men like John and women like Mary, He could die assured that +His name would never be lost from earth. The breaking of the alabaster +box, the pouring out of Mary's soul in adoration of her Lord--this was +the signal that all was ripe for His departure, this the proof that His +manifestation had done its work. The love of His own had come to +maturity and burst thus into flower. Jesus therefore recognises in this +act His true embalming. + +And it is probably from this point of view that we may most readily see +the appropriateness of that singular commendation and promise which our +Lord, according to the other gospels, added: "Verily I say unto you, +wherever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this +also that she hath done shall be spoken for a memorial of her." + +At first sight the encomium might seem as extravagant as the action. Was +there, a Judas might ask, anything deserving of immortality in the +sacrifice of a few pounds? But no such measurements are admissible here. +The encomium was deserved because the act was the irrepressible +utterance of all-absorbing love--of a love so full, so rich, so rare +that even the ordinary disciples of Christ were at first not in perfect +sympathy with it. The absolute devotedness of her love found a fit +symbol in the alabaster box or vase which she had to break that the +ointment might flow out. It was not a bottle out of which she might take +the stopper and let a carefully measured quantity dribble out, reserving +the rest for other and perhaps very different uses--fit symbol of our +love to Christ; but it was a hermetically sealed casket or flask, out of +which, if she let one drop fall, the whole must go. It had to be broken; +it had to be devoted to one sole use. It could not be in part reserved +or in part diverted to other uses. Where you have such love as this, +have you not the highest thing humanity can produce? Where is it now to +be had on earth, where are we to look for this all-devoting, unreserving +love, which gathers up all its possessions and pours them out at +Christ's feet, saying, "Take all, would it were more"? + +The encomium, therefore, was deserved and appropriate. In her love the +Lord would ever live: so long as she existed the remembrance of Him +could not die. No death could touch her heart with his chilly hand and +freeze the warmth of her devotion. Christ was immortal in her, and she +was therefore immortal in Him. Her love was a bond that could not be +broken, the truest spiritual union. In embalming Him, therefore, she +unconsciously embalmed herself. Her love was the amber in which He was +to be preserved, and she became inviolable as He. Her love was the +marble on which His name and worth were engraven, on which His image was +deeply sculptured, and they were to live and last together. Christ +"prolongs His days" in the love of His people. In every generation there +arise those who will not let His remembrance die out, and who to their +own necessities call out the living energy of Christ. In so doing they +unwittingly make themselves undying as He; their love of Him is the +little spark of immortality in their soul. It is that which indissolubly +and by the only genuine spiritual affinity links them to what is +eternal. To all who thus love Him Christ cannot but say, "Because I +live, ye shall live also." + +Another point in our Lord's defence of Mary's conduct, though it is not +explicitly asserted, plainly is, that tributes of affection paid +directly to Himself are of value to Him. Judas might with some +plausibility have quoted against our Lord His own teaching that an act +of kindness done to the poor was kindness to Him. It might be said that, +on our Lord's own showing, what He desires is, not homage paid to +Himself personally, but loving and merciful conduct. And certainly any +homage paid to Himself which is not accompanied by such conduct is of no +value at all. But as love to Him is the spring and regulator of all +right conduct, it is necessary that we should cultivate this love; and +because He delights in our well-being and in ourselves, and does not +look upon us merely as so much material in which He may exhibit His +healing powers, He necessarily rejoices in every expression of true +devotedness that is paid to Him by any of us. + +And on our side wherever there is true and ardent love it must crave +direct expression. "If ye love me," says our Lord, "keep my +commandments"; and obedience certainly is the normal test and exhibition +of love. But there is that in our nature which refuses to be satisfied +with obedience, which craves fellowship with what we love, which carries +us out of ourselves and compels us to express our feeling directly. And +that soul is not fully developed whose pent-up gratitude, cherished +admiration, and warm affection do not from time to time break away from +all ordinary modes of expressing devotion and choose some such direct +method as Mary chose, or some such straightforward utterance as Peter's: +"Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee." + +It may, indeed, occur to us, as we read of Mary's tribute to her Lord, +that the very words in which He justified her action forbid our +supposing that any so grateful tribute can be paid Him by us. "Me ye +have not always" may seem to warn us against expecting that so direct +and satisfying an intercourse can be maintained now, when we no longer +have Him. And no doubt this is one of the standing difficulties of +Christian experience. We can love those who live with us, whose eye we +can meet, whose voice we know, whose expression of face we can read. We +feel it easy to fix our affections on one and another of those who are +alive contemporaneously with ourselves. But with Christ it is different: +we miss those sensible impressions made upon us by the living bodily +presence; we find it difficult to retain in the mind a settled idea of +the feeling He has towards us. It is an effort to accomplish by faith +what sight without any effort effectually accomplishes. We do not _see_ +that He loves us; the looks and tones that chiefly reveal human love are +absent; we are not from hour to hour confronted, whether we will or no, +with one evidence or other of love. Were the life of a Christian +nowadays no more difficult than it was to Mary, were it brightened with +Christ's presence as a household friend, were the whole sum and +substance of it merely a giving way to the love He kindled by palpable +favours and measurable friendship, then surely the Christian life would +be a very simple, very easy, very happy course. + +But the connection between ourselves and Christ is not of the body that +passes, but of the spirit which endures. It is spiritual, and such a +connection may be seriously perverted by the interference of sense and +of bodily sensations. To measure the love of Christ by His expression of +face and by His tone of voice is legitimate, but it is not the truest +measurement: to be drawn to Him by the accidental kindnesses our present +difficulties must provoke is to be drawn by something short of perfect +spiritual affinity. And, on the whole, it is well that our spirit should +be allowed to choose its eternal friendship and alliance by what is +specially and exclusively its own, so that its choice cannot be +mistaken, as the choice sometimes is when there is a mixture of physical +and spiritual attractiveness. So much are we guided in youth and in the +whole of our life by what is material, so freely do we allow our tastes +to be determined and our character to be formed by our connection with +what is material, that the whole man gets blunted in his _spiritual_ +perceptions and incapable of appreciating what is not seen. And the +great part of our education in this life is to lift the spirit to its +true place and to its appropriate company, to teach it to measure its +gains apart from material prosperity, and to train it to love with +ardour what cannot be seen. + +Besides, it cannot be doubted that this incident itself very plainly +teaches that Christ came into this world to win our love and to turn all +duty into a personal acting towards Him; to make the _whole_ of life +like those parts of it which are now its bright exceptional holiday +times; to make all of it a pleasure by making all of it and not merely +parts of it the utterance of love. Even a little love in our life is the +sunshine that quickens and warms and brightens the whole. There seems at +length to be a reason and a satisfaction in life when love animates us. +It is easy to act well to those whom we really love, and Christ has come +for the express purpose of bringing our whole life within this charmed +circle. He has come not to bring constraint and gloom into our lives, +but to let us out into the full liberty and joy of the life that God +Himself lives and judges to be the only life worthy of His bestowal upon +us. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] It is uncertain whether the "six days" are inclusive or exclusive of +the day of arrival and of the first day of the Feast. It is also +uncertain on what day of the week the Crucifixion happened. + +[2] In _The Classical Review_ for July 1890 Mr. Bennett suggests that +the difficult word =pistikęs= should be written =pistakęs=, and that it +refers to the _Pistacia terebinthus_, which grows in Cyprus and Judæa, +and yields a very fragrant and very costly unguent. + +[3] So Stier. + + + + +II. + +_THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM._ + + + "On the morrow a great multitude that had come to the feast, when + they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of + the palm trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried out, Hosanna: + Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, even the King of + Israel. And Jesus, having found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is + written, Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, + sitting on an ass's colt. These things understood not His disciples + at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they + that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these + things unto Him. The multitude therefore that was with Him when He + called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, bare + witness. For this cause also the multitude went and met Him, for + that they heard that He had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore + said among themselves, Behold, how ye prevail nothing: lo, the world + is gone after Him."--JOHN xii. 12-19. + + +If our Lord arrived in Bethany on Friday evening and spent the Sabbath +with His friends there, "the next day" of ver. 12 is Sunday; and in the +Church year this day is known as Palm Sunday, from the incident here +related. It was also the day, four days before the Passover, on which +the Jews were enjoined by the law to choose their paschal lamb. Some +consciousness of this may have guided our Lord's action. Certainly He +means finally to offer Himself to the people as the Messiah. Often as He +had evaded them before, and often as He had forbidden His disciples to +proclaim Him, He is now conscious that His hour has come, and by +entering Jerusalem as King of peace He definitely proclaims Himself the +promised Messiah. As plainly as the crowning of a new monarch and the +flourish of trumpets and the kissing of his hand by the great officers +of state proclaim him king, so unmistakably does our Lord by riding into +Jerusalem on an ass and by accepting the hosannas of the people proclaim +Himself the King promised to men through the Jews, as the King of peace +who was to win men to His rule by love and sway them by a Divine Spirit. + +The scene must have been one not easily forgotten. The Mount of Olives +runs north and south parallel to the east wall of Jerusalem, and +separated from it by a gully, through which flows the brook Kidron. The +Mount is crossed by three paths. One of these is a steep footpath, which +runs direct over the crest of the hill; the second runs round its +northern shoulder; while the third crosses the southern slope. It was by +this last route the pilgrim caravans were accustomed to enter the city. +On the occasion of our Lord's entry the road was probably thronged with +visitors making their way to the great annual feast. No fewer than three +million persons are said to have been sometimes packed together in +Jerusalem at the Passover; and all of them being on holiday, were ready +for any kind of excitement. The idea of a festal procession was quite to +their mind. And no sooner did the disciples appear with Jesus riding in +their midst than the vast streams of people caught the infection of +loyal enthusiasm, tore down branches of the palms and olives which were +found in abundance by the roadside, and either waved them in the air or +strewed them in the line of march. Others unwrapped their loose cloaks +from their shoulders and spread them along the rough path to form a +carpet as He approached--a custom which is still, it seems, observed in +the East in royal processions, and which has indeed sometimes been +imported into our own country on great occasions. Thus with every +demonstration of loyalty, with ceaseless shoutings that were heard +across the valley in the streets of Jerusalem itself, and waving the +palm branches, they moved towards the city. + +Those who have entered the city from Bethany by this road tell us that +there are two striking points in it. The first is when at a turn of the +broad and well-defined mountain track the southern portion of the city +comes for an instant into view. This part of the city was called "the +city of David," and the suggestion is not without probability that it +may have been at this point the multitude burst out in words that linked +Jesus with David. "Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is the King that +cometh in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father +David. Hosanna, peace and glory in the highest." This became the +watchword of the day, so that even the boys who had come out of the city +to see the procession were heard afterwards, as they loitered in the +streets, still shouting the same refrain. + +After this the road again dips, and the glimpse of the city is lost +behind the intervening ridge of Olivet; but shortly a rugged ascent is +climbed and a ledge of bare rock is reached, and in an instant the whole +city bursts into view. The prospect from this point must have been one +of the grandest of its kind in the world, the fine natural position of +Jerusalem not only showing to advantage, but the long line of city wall +embracing, like the setting of a jewel, the marvellous structures of +Herod, the polished marble and the gilded pinnacles glittering in the +morning sun and dazzling the eye. It was in all probability at this +point that our Lord was overcome with regret when He considered the sad +fate of the beautiful city, and when in place of the smiling palaces and +apparently impregnable walls His imagination filled His eye with +smoke-blackened ruins, with pavements slippery with blood, with walls +breached at all points and choked with rotting corpses. + +Our Lord's choice of the ass was significant. The ass was commonly used +for riding, and the well-cared-for ass of the rich man was a very fine +animal, much larger and stronger than the little breed with which we +are familiar. Its coat, too, is as glossy as a well-kept +horse's--"shiny black, or satiny white, or sleek mouse colour." It was +not chosen by our Lord at this time that He might show His humility, for +it would have been still humbler to walk like His disciples. So far from +being a token of humility, He chose a colt which apparently had never +borne another rider. He rather meant by claiming the ass and by riding +into Jerusalem upon it to assert His royalty; but He did not choose a +horse, because that animal would have suggested royalty of quite another +kind from His--royalty which was maintained by war and outward force; +for the horse and the chariot had always been among the Hebrews symbolic +of warlike force. The disciples themselves, strangely enough, did not +see the significance of this action, although, when they had time to +reflect upon it, they remembered that Zechariah had said: "Rejoice +greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy +King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and +riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut +off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the +battle bow shall be cut off: and He shall speak peace unto the heathen." + +When John says, "these things understood not His disciples at the +first," he cannot mean that they did not understand that Jesus by this +act claimed to be the Messiah, because even the mob perceived the +significance of this entry into Jerusalem and hailed Him "Son of David." +What they did not understand, probably, was why He chose this mode of +identifying Himself with the Messiah. At any rate, their perplexity +brings out very clearly that the conception was not suggested to Jesus. +He was not induced by the disciples nor led on by the people to make a +demonstration which He Himself scarcely approved or had not intended to +make. On the contrary, from His first recorded act that morning He had +taken command of the situation. Whatever was done was done with +deliberation, at His own instance and as His own act.[4] + +This then in the first place; it was His own deliberate act. He put +Himself forward, knowing that He would receive the hosannas of the +people, and intending that He should receive them. All His backwardness +is gone; all shyness of becoming a public spectacle is gone. For this +also is to be noted--that no place or occasion could have been more +public than the Passover at Jerusalem. Whatever it was He meant to +indicate by His action, it was to the largest possible public He meant +to indicate it. No longer in the retirement of a Galilean village, nor +in a fisherman's cottage, nor in dubious or ambiguous terms, but in the +full blaze of the utmost publicity that could possibly be given to His +proclamation, and in language that could not be forgotten or +misinterpreted, He now declared Himself. He knew He must attract the +attention of the authorities, and His entrance was a direct challenge to +them. + +What was it then that with such deliberation and such publicity He meant +to proclaim? What was it that in these last critical hours of His life, +when He knew He should have few more opportunities of speaking to the +people, He sought to impress upon them? What was it that, when free from +the solicitations of men and the pressure of circumstances, He sought +to declare? It was that He was the Messiah. There might be those in the +crowd who did not understand what was meant. There might be persons who +did not know Him, or who were incompetent judges of character, and +supposed He was a mere enthusiast carried away by dwelling too much on +some one aspect of Old Testament prophecy. In every generation there are +good men who become almost crazed upon some one topic, and sacrifice +everything to the promotion of one favourite hope. But however He might +be misjudged, there can be no question of His own idea of the +significance of His action. He claims to be the Messiah. + +Such a claim is the most stupendous that could be made. To be the +Messiah is to be God's Viceroy and Representative on earth, able to +represent God adequately to men, and to bring about that perfect +condition which is named "the kingdom of God." The Messiah must be +conscious of ability perfectly to accomplish the will of God with man, +and to bring men into absolute harmony with God. This is claimed by +Jesus. He stands in His sober senses and claims to be that universal +Sovereign, that true King of men, whom the Jews had been encouraged to +expect, and who when He came would reign over Gentiles as well as Jews. +By this demonstration, to which His previous career had been naturally +leading up, He claims to take command of earth, of this world in all its +generations, not in the easier sense of laying down upon paper a +political constitution fit for all races, but in the sense of being able +to deliver mankind from the source of all their misery and to lift men +to a true superiority. He has gone about on earth, not secluding Himself +from the woes and ways of men, not delicately isolating Himself, but +exposing Himself freely to the touch of the malignities, the +vulgarities, the ignorance and wickedness of all; and He now claims to +rule all this, and implies that earth can present no complication of +distress or iniquity which he cannot by the Divine forces within Him +transform into health and purity and hope. + +This then is His deliberate claim. He quietly but distinctly proclaims +that He fulfils all God's promise and purpose among men; is that +promised King who was to rectify all things, to unite men to Himself, +and to lead them on to their true destiny; to be practically God upon +earth, accessible to men and identified with all human interests. Many +have tested His claim and have proved its validity. By true allegiance +to Him many have found that they have gained the mastery over the world. +They have entered into peace, have felt eternal verities underneath +their feet, and have attained a connection with God such as must be +everlasting. They are filled with a new spirit towards men and see all +things with purged eyes. Not abruptly and unintelligibly, by leaps and +bounds, but gradually and in harmony with the nature of things, His +kingdom is extending. Already His Spirit has done much: in time His +Spirit will everywhere prevail. It is by Him and on the lines which He +has laid down that humanity is advancing to its goal. + +This was the claim He made; and this claim was enthusiastically admitted +by the popular instinct.[5] The populace was not merely humouring in +holiday mood a whimsical person for their own diversion. Many of them +knew Lazarus and knew Jesus, and taking the matter seriously gave the +tone to the rest. The people indeed did not, any more than the +disciples, understand how different the kingdom of their expectation was +from the kingdom Jesus meant to found. But while they entirely +misapprehended the purpose for which He was sent, they believed that He +was sent by God: His credentials were absolutely satisfactory, His work +incomprehensible. But as yet they still thought He must be of the same +mind as themselves regarding the work of the Messiah. To His claim, +therefore, the response given by the people was loud and demonstrative. +It was indeed a very brief reign they accorded to their King, but their +prompt acknowledgment of Him was the instinctive and irrepressible +expression of what they really felt to be His due. A popular +demonstration is notoriously untrustworthy, always running to extremes, +necessarily uttering itself with a loudness far in excess of individual +conviction, and gathering to itself the loose and floating mass of +people who have no convictions of their own, and are thankful to any one +who leads them and gives them a cue, and helps them to feel that they +have after all a place in the community. Who has not stood by as an +onlooker at a public demonstration and smiled at the noise and glare +that a mass of people will produce when their feelings are ever so +little stirred, and marked how even against their own individual +sentiments they are carried away by the mere tide of the day's +circumstances, and for the mere sake of making a demonstration? This +crowd which followed our Lord with shoutings very speedily repented and +changed their shouts into a far blinder shriek of rage against Him who +had been the occasion of their folly. And it must indeed have been a +humbling experience for our Lord to have Himself ushered into Jerusalem +by a crowd through whose hosannas He already heard the mutter of their +curses. Such is the homage He has to content Himself with--such is the +homage a perfect life has won. + +For He knew what was in man; and while His disciples might be deceived +by this popular response to His claim, He Himself was fully aware how +little it could be built upon. Save in His own heart, there is no +premonition of death. More than ever in His life before does His sky +seem bright without a cloud. He Himself is in His early prime with life +before Him; His followers are hopeful, the multitude jubilant; but +through all this gay enthusiasm He sees the scowling hate of the priests +and scribes; the shouting of the multitude does not drown in His ear the +mutterings of a Judas and of the Sanhedrim. He knew that the throne He +was now hailed to was the cross, that His coronation was the reception +on His own brows of all the thorns and stings and burdens that man's sin +had brought into the world. He did not fancy that the redemption of the +world to God was an easy matter which could be accomplished by an +afternoon's enthusiasm. He kept steadily before His mind the actual +condition of the men who were by His spiritual influence to become the +willing and devoted subjects of God's kingdom. He measured with accuracy +the forces against Him, and understood that His warfare was not with the +legions of Rome, against whom this Jewish patriotism and indomitable +courage and easily roused enthusiasm might tell, but with principalities +and powers a thousandfold stronger, with the demons of hatred and +jealousy, of lust and worldliness, of carnality and selfishness. Never +for a moment did He forget His true mission and sell His spiritual +throne, hard-earned as it was to be, for popular applause and the +glories of the hour. Knowing that only by the utmost of human goodness +and self-sacrifice, and by the utmost of trial and endurance, could any +true and lasting rule of men be gained, He chose this path and the +throne it led to. With the most comprehensive view of the kingdom He was +to found, and with a spirit of profound seriousness strangely +contrasting in its composed and self-possessed insight with the blind +tumult around Him, He claimed the crown of the Messiah. His suffering +was not formal and nominal, it was not a mere pageant; equally real was +the claim He now made and which brought Him to that suffering. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] This is more distinctly brought out in the Synoptic Gospels than in +St. John: cp. Mark xi. 1-10. + +[5] According to the reading of the scene by St. John, the people needed +no prompting. + + + + +III. + +_THE CORN OF WHEAT._ + + + "Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship + at the feast: these therefore came to Philip, which was of Bethsaida + of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip + cometh and telleth Andrew: Andrew cometh, and Philip, and they tell + Jesus. And Jesus answereth them, saying, The hour is come, that the + Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, + Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by + itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit. He that loveth + his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall + keep it unto life eternal."--JOHN xii. 20-26. + + +St. John now introduces a third incident to show that all is ripe for +the death of Jesus. Already he has shown us that in the inmost circle of +His friends He has now won for Himself a permanent place, a love which +ensures that His memory will be had in everlasting remembrance. Next, he +has lifted into prominence the scene in which the outer circle of the +Jewish people were constrained, in an hour when their honest enthusiasm +and instincts carried them away, to acknowledge Him as the Messiah who +had come to fulfil all God's will upon earth. He now goes on to tell us +how this agitation at the centre was found rippling in ever-widening +circles till it broke with a gentle whisper on the shores of the isles +of the Gentiles. This is the significance which St. John sees in the +request of the Greeks that they might be introduced to Jesus. + +These Greeks were "of those that came up to worship at the feast." They +were proselytes, Greeks by birth, Jews by religion. They suggest the +importance for Christianity of the leavening process which Judaism was +accomplishing throughout the world. They may not have come from any +remoter country than Galilee, but from traditions and customs separate +as the poles from the Jewish customs and thoughts. From their heathen +surroundings they came to Jerusalem, possibly for the first time, with +wondering anticipations of the blessedness of those who dwelt in God's +house, and feeling their thirst for the living God burning within them +as their eyes lighted on the pinnacles of the Temple, and as at last +their feet stood within its precincts. But up through all these desires +grew one that overshadowed them, and, through all the petitions which a +year or many years of sin and difficulty had made familiar to their +lips, this petition made its way: "Sir, we would see Jesus." + +This petition they address to Philip, not only because he had a Greek +name, and therefore presumably belonged to a family in which Greek was +spoken and Greek connections cultivated, but because, as St. John +reminds us, he was "of Bethsaida of Galilee," and might be expected to +understand and speak Greek, if, indeed, he was not already known to +these strangers in Jerusalem. And by their request they obviously did +not mean that Philip should set them in a place of vantage from which +they might have a good view of Jesus as He passed by, for this they +could well have accomplished without Philip's friendly intervention. But +they wished to question and make Him out, to see for themselves whether +there were in Jesus what even in Judaism they felt to be +lacking--whether He at last might not satisfy the longings of their +Divinely awakened spirits. Possibly they may even have wished to +ascertain His purposes regarding the outlying nations, how the Messianic +reign was to affect them. Possibly they may even have thought of +offering Him an asylum where He might find shelter from the hostility of +His own people. + +Evidently Philip considered that this request was critical. The +Apostles had been charged not to enter into any Gentile city, and they +might naturally suppose that Jesus would be reluctant to be interviewed +by Greeks. But before dismissing the request, he lays it before Andrew +his friend, who also bore a Greek name; and after deliberation the two +make bold, if not to urge the request, at least to inform Jesus that it +had been made. At once in this modestly urged petition He hears the +whole Gentile world uttering its weary, long-disappointed sigh, "We +would see." This is no mere Greek inquisitiveness; it is the craving of +thoughtful men recognising their need of a Redeemer. To the eye of +Jesus, therefore, this meeting opens a prospect which for the moment +overcomes Him with the brightness of its glory. In this little knot of +strangers He sees the firstfruits of the immeasurable harvest which was +henceforth to be continuously reaped among the Gentiles. No more do we +hear the heart-broken cry, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" no longer the +reproachful "Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life," but the +glad consummation of His utmost hope utters itself in the words, "The +hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified." + +But while promise was thus given of the glorification of the Messiah by +His reception among all men, the path which led to this was never absent +from the mind of our Lord. Second to the inspiriting thought of His +recognition by the Gentile world came the thought of the painful means +by which alone He could be truly glorified. He checks, therefore, the +shout of exultation which He sees rising to the lips of His disciples +with the sobering reflection: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a +corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it +die, it bringeth forth much fruit." As if He said, Do not fancy that I +have nothing to do but to accept the sceptre which these men offer, to +seat Myself on the world's throne. The world's throne is the Cross. +These men will not know My power until I die. The manifestation of +Divine presence in My life, has been distinct enough to win them to +inquiry; they will be for ever won to Me by the Divine presence revealed +in My death. Like the corn of wheat, I must die if I would be abundantly +fruitful. It is through death My whole living power can be disengaged +and can accomplish all possibilities. + +Two points are here suggested: (I.) That the life, the living force that +was in Christ, reached its proper value and influence through His death; +and (II.) that the proper value of Christ's life is that it propagates +similar lives. + +I. The life of Christ acquired its proper value and received its fit +development through His death. This truth He sets before us in the +illuminating figure of the corn of wheat. "Except a corn of wheat fall +into the ground and die, it abideth alone." There are three uses to +which wheat may be put: it may be stored for sale, it may be ground and +eaten, it may be sown. For our Lord's purposes these three uses may be +considered as only two. Wheat may be eaten, or it may be sown. With a +pickle of wheat or a grain of oats you may do one of two things: you may +eat it and enjoy a momentary gratification and benefit; or you may put +it in the ground, burying it out of sight and suffering it to pass +through uncomely processes, and it will reappear multiplied a +hundredfold, and so on in everlasting series. Year by year men sacrifice +their choicest sample of grain, and are content to bury it in the earth +instead of exposing it in the market, because they understand that +except it die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much +fruit. The proper life of the grain is terminated when it is used for +immediate gratification: it receives its fullest development and +accomplishes its richest end when it is cast into the ground, buried out +of sight, and apparently lost. + +As with the grain, so is it with each human life. One of two things you +can do with your life; both you cannot do, and no third thing is +possible. You may consume your life for your own present gratification +and profit, to satisfy your present cravings and tastes and to secure +the largest amount of immediate enjoyment to yourself--you may eat your +life; or you may be content to put aside present enjoyment and profits +of a selfish kind and devote your life to the uses of God and men. In +the one case you make an end of your life, you consume it as it goes; no +good results, no enlarging influence, no deepening of character, no +fuller life, follows from such an expenditure of life--spent on yourself +and on the present, it terminates with yourself and with the present. +But in the other case you find you have entered into a more abundant +life; by living for others your interests are widened, your desire for +life increased, the results and ends of life enriched. "He that loveth +his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall +keep it unto life eternal." It is a law we cannot evade. He that +consumes his life now, spending it on himself--he who cannot bear to let +his life out of his own hand, but cherishes and pampers it and gathers +all good around it, and will have the fullest present enjoyment out of +it,--this man is losing his life; it comes to an end as certainly as the +seed that is eaten. But he who devotes his life to other uses than his +own gratification, who does not so prize self that everything must +minister to its comfort and advancement, but who can truly yield himself +to God and put himself at God's disposal for the general good,--this +man, though he may often seem to lose his life, and often does lose it +so far as present advantage goes, keeps it to life everlasting. + +The law of the seed is the law of human life. Use your life for present +and selfish gratification and to satisfy your present cravings, and you +lose it for ever. Renounce self, yield yourself to God, spend your life +for the common good, irrespective of recognition or the lack of it, +personal pleasure or the absence of it, and although your life may thus +seem to be lost, it is finding its best and highest development and +passes into life eternal. Your life is a seed now, not a developed +plant, and it can become a developed plant only by your taking heart to +cast it from you and sow it in the fertile soil of other men's needs. +This will seem, indeed, to disintegrate it and fritter it away, and +leave it a contemptible, obscure, forgotten thing; but it does, in fact, +set free the vital forces that are in it, and give it its fit career and +maturity. + +Looking at the thing itself, apart from figure, it is apparent that "he +that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this +world shall keep it unto life eternal." The man who most freely uses his +life for others, keeping least to himself and living solely for the +common interests of mankind, has the most enduring influence. He sets in +motion forces which propagate fresh results eternally. And not only so. +He who freely sows his life has it eternally, not only in so far as he +has set in motion an endless series of beneficent influences, but +inasmuch as he himself enters into life eternal. An immortality of +influence is one thing and a very great thing; but an immortality of +personal life is another, and this also is promised by our Lord when He +says (ver. 26), "Where I am, there shall also My servant be." + +This, then, being the law of human life, Christ, being man, must not +only enounce but observe it. He speaks of Himself even more directly +than of us when He says, "He that loveth his life shall lose it." His +disciples thought they had never seen such promise in His life as at +this hour: seedtime seemed to them to be past, and the harvest at hand. +Their Master seemed to be fairly launched on the tide that was to carry +Him to the highest pinnacle of human glory. And so He was, but not, as +they thought, by simply yielding Himself to be set as King and to +receive adoration from Jew and Gentile. He saw with different eyes, and +that it was a different exaltation which would win for Him lasting +sovereignty: "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." He knew +the law which governed the development of human life. He knew that a +total and absolute surrender of self to the uses and needs of others was +the one path to permanent life, and that in His case this absolute +surrender involved death. + +A comparison of the good done by the life of Christ with that done by +His death shows how truly He judged when He declared that it was by His +death He should effectually gather all men to Him. His death, like the +dissolution of the seed, seemed to terminate His work, but really was +its germination. So long as He lived, it was but His single strength +that was used; He abode alone. There was great virtue in His life--great +power for the healing, the instruction, the elevation, of mankind. In +His brief public career He suggested much to the influential men of His +time, set all men who knew Him a-thinking, aided many to reform their +lives, and removed a large amount of distress and disease. He +communicated to the world a mass of new truth, so that those who have +lived after Him have stood at quite a different level of knowledge from +that of those who lived before Him. And yet how little of the proper +results of Christ's influence, how little understanding of Christianity, +do you find even in His nearest friends until He died. By the visible +appearance and the external benefits and the false expectations His +greatness created, the minds of men were detained from penetrating to +the spirit and mind of Christ. It was expedient for them that He should +go away, for until He went they depended on His visible power, and His +spirit could not be wholly received by them. They were looking at the +husk of the seed, and its life could not reach them. They were looking +for help from Him instead of themselves becoming like Him. + +And therefore He chose at an early age to cease from all that was +marvellous and beneficent in His life among men. He might, as these +Greeks suggested, have visited other lands and have continued His +healing and teaching there. He might have done more in His own time than +He did, and His time might have been indefinitely prolonged; but He +chose to cease from all this and voluntarily gave Himself to die, +judging that thereby He could do much more good than by His life. He was +straitened till this was accomplished; He felt as a man imprisoned and +whose powers are held in check. It was winter and not spring-time with +Him. There was a change to pass upon Him which should disengage the +vital forces that were in Him and cause their full power to be felt--a +change which should thaw the springs of life in Him and let them flow +forth to all. To use His own figure, He was as a seed unsown so long as +He lived, valuable only in His own proper person; but by dying His life +obtained the value of seed sown, propagating its kind in everlasting +increase. + +II. The second point suggested is, that the proper value of Christ's +life consists in this--that it propagates similar lives. As seed +produces grain of its own kind, so Christ produces men like Christ. He +ceasing to do good in this world as a living man, a multitude of others +by this very cessation are raised in His likeness. By His death we +receive both inclination and ability to become with Him sons of God. +"The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one +died for all, then all died; and that He died for all, that they which +live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him that died +for them." By His death He has effected an entrance for this law of +self-surrender into human life, has exhibited it in a perfect form, and +has won others to live as He lived. So that, using the figure He used, +we may say that the company of Christians now on earth are Christ in a +new form, His body indeed. "That which thou sowest, thou sowest not that +body which shall be, but bare grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath +pleased Him, and to every seed his own body." Christ having been sown, +lives now in His people. They are the body in which He dwells. And this +will be seen. For standing and looking at a head of barley waving on its +stalk, no amount of telling would persuade you that that had sprung from +a seed of wheat; and looking at any life which is characterised by +selfish ambition and eagerness for advancement and little regard for the +wants of other men, no persuasion can make it credible that that life +springs from the self-sacrificing life of Christ. + +What Christ here shows us, then, is that the principle which regulates +the development of seed regulates the growth, continuance, and +fruitfulness of human life; that whatever is of the nature of seed gets +to its full life only through death; that our Lord, knowing this law, +submitted to it, or rather by His native love was attracted to the life +and death which revealed this law to Him. He gave His life away for the +good of men, and therefore prolongs His days and sees His seed +eternally. There is not one way for Him and another for us. The same law +applies to all. It is not peculiar to Christ. The work He did was +peculiar to Him, as each individual has his own place and work; but the +principle on which all right lives are led is one and the same +universally. What Christ did He did because He was living a human life +on right principles. We need not die on the cross as He did, but we must +as truly yield ourselves as living sacrifices to the interests of men. +If we have not done so, we have yet to go back to the very beginning of +all lasting life and progress; and we are but deceiving ourselves by +attainments and successes which are not only hollow, but are slowly +cramping and killing all that is in us. Whoever will choose the same +destiny as Christ must take the same road to it that He took. He took +the one right way for men to go, and said, "If any man follow Me, where +I am there will he be also." If we do not follow Him, we really walk in +darkness and know not whither we go. We cannot live for selfish purposes +and then enjoy the common happiness and glory of the race. Self-seeking +is self-destroying. + +And it is needful to remark that this self-renunciation must be real. +The law of sacrifice is the law not for a year or two in order to gain +some higher selfish good--which is not self-sacrifice, but deeper +self-seeking; it is the law of all human life, not a short test of our +fidelity to Christ, but the only law on which life can ever proceed. It +is not a barter of self I make, giving it up for a little that I may +have an enriched self to eternity; but it is a real foregoing and +abandonment of self for ever, a change of desire and nature, so that +instead of finding my joy in what concerns myself only I find my joy in +what is serviceable to others. + +Thus only can we enter into permanent happiness. Goodness and happiness +are one--one in the long-run, if not one in every step of the way. We +are not asked to live for others without any heart to do so. We are not +asked to choose as our eternal life what will be a constant pain and can +only be reluctantly done. The very heathen would not offer in sacrifice +the animal that struggled as it was led to the altar. All sacrifice must +be willingly made; it must be the sacrifice which is prompted by love. +God and this world demand our best work, and only what we do with +pleasure can be our best work. Sacrifice of self and labour for others +are not like Christ's sacrifice and labour unless they spring from love. +Forced, reluctant, constrained sacrifice or service--service which is no +joy to ourselves through the love we bear to those for whom we do it--is +not the service that is required of us. Service into which we can throw +our whole strength, because we are convinced it will be of use to +others, and because we long to see them enjoying it--this is the service +required. Love, in short, is the solution of all. Find your happiness in +the happiness of many rather than in the happiness of one, and life +becomes simple and inspiring. + +Nor are we to suppose that this is an impracticable, high-pitched +counsel of perfection with which plain men need not trouble themselves. +_Every_ human life is under this law. There is no path to goodness or to +happiness save this one. Nature herself teaches us as much. When a man +is truly attracted by another, and when genuine affection possesses his +heart, his whole being is enlarged, and he finds it his best pleasure to +serve that person. The father who sees his children enjoying the fruit +of his toil feels himself a far richer man than if he were spending all +on himself. But this family affection, this domestic solution of the +problem of happy self-sacrifice, is intended to encourage and show us +the way to a wider extension of our love, and thereby of our use and +happiness. The more love we have, the happier we are. Self-sacrifice +looks miserable, and we shrink from it as from death and destitution, +because we look at it in separation from the love it springs from. +Self-sacrifice without love _is_ death; we abandon our own life and do +not find it again in any other. It is a seed ground under the heel, not +a seed lightly thrown into prepared soil. It is in love that goodness +and happiness have their common root. And it is this love which is +required of us and promised to us. So that as often as we shudder at the +dissolution of our own personal interests, the scattering of our own +selfish hopes and plans, the surrender of our life to the service of +others, we are to remember that this, which looks so very like death, +and which often throws around our prospects the chilling atmosphere of +the tomb, is not really the termination, but the beginning of the true +and eternal life of the spirit. Let us keep our heart in the fellowship +of the sacrifice of Christ, let us feel our way into the meanings and +uses of that sacrifice, and learn its reality, its utility, its grace, +and at length it will lay hold of our whole nature, and we shall find +that it impels us to regard other men with interest and to find our true +joy and life in serving them. + + + + +IV. + +_THE ATTRACTIVE FORCE OF THE CROSS._ + + + "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from + this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify + Thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, saying, I have + both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The multitude + therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it had thundered: + others said, An angel hath spoken to Him. Jesus answered and said, + This voice hath not come for My sake, but for your sakes. Now is the + judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast + out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto + Myself. But this He said, signifying by what manner of death He + should die. The multitude therefore answered Him, We have heard out + of the law that the Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, + The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? Jesus + therefore said unto them, Yet a little while is the light among you. + Walk while ye have the light, that darkness overtake you not: and he + that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye + have the light, believe on the light, that ye may become sons of + light."--JOHN xii. 27-36. + + +The presence of the Greeks had stirred in the soul of Jesus conflicting +emotions. Glory by humiliation, life through death, the secured +happiness of mankind through His own anguish and abandonment,--well +might the prospect disturb Him. So masterly is His self-command, so +steadfast and constant His habitual temper, that one almost inevitably +underrates the severity of the conflict. The occasional withdrawal of +the veil permits us reverently to observe some symptoms of the turmoil +within--symptoms which it is probably best to speak of in His own words: +"Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Shall I say, 'Father, +save Me from this hour'? But for this cause came I unto this hour. +Father, glorify Thy name." This Evangelist does not describe the agony +in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was needless after this indication of +the same conflict. Here is the same shrinking from a public and shameful +death conquered by His resolution to deliver men from a still darker and +more shameful death. Here is the same foretaste of the bitterness of the +cup as it now actually touches His lips, the same clear reckoning of all +it meant to drain that cup to the dregs, together with the deliberate +assent to all that the will of the Father might require Him to endure. + +In response to this act of submission, expressed in the words, "Father, +glorify Thy name," there came a voice from heaven, saying, "I have both +glorified it, and will glorify it again." The meaning of this assurance +was, that as in all the past manifestation of Christ the Father had +become better known to men, so in all that was now impending, however +painful and disturbed, however filled with human passions and to all +appearance the mere result of them, the Father would still be glorified. +Some thought the voice was thunder; others seemed almost to catch +articulate sounds, and said, "An angel spake to Him." But Jesus +explained that it was not "to Him" the voice was specially addressed, +but rather for the sake of those who stood by. And it was indeed of +immense importance that the disciples should understand that the events +which were about to happen were overruled by God that He might be +glorified in Christ. It is easy for us to see that nothing so glorifies +the Father's name as these hours of suffering; but how hard for the +onlookers to believe that this sudden transformation of the Messianic +throne into the criminal's cross was no defeat of God's purpose, but its +final fulfilment. He leads them, therefore, to consider that in His +judgment the whole world is judged, and to perceive in His arrest and +trial and condemnation not merely the misguided and wanton outrage of a +few men in power, but the critical hour of the world's history. + +This world has commonly presented itself to thoughtful minds as a +battle-field in which the powers of good and evil wage ceaseless war. In +the words He now utters the Lord declares Himself to be standing at the +very crisis of the battle, and with the deepest assurance He announces +that the opposing power is broken and that victory remains with Him. +"Now is the prince of this world cast out; and I will draw all men unto +Me." The prince of this world, that which actually rules and leads men +in opposition to God, was judged, condemned, and overthrown in the death +of Christ. By His meek acceptance of God's will in the face of all that +could make it difficult and dreadful to accept it, He won for the race +deliverance from the thraldom of sin. At length a human life had been +lived without submission at any point to the prince of this world. As +man and in the name of all men Jesus resisted the last and most violent +assault that could be made upon His faith in God and fellowship with +Him, and so perfected His obedience and overcame the prince of this +world,--overcame him not in one act alone--many had done that--but in a +completed human life, in a life which had been freely exposed to the +complete array of temptations that can be directed against men in this +world. + +In order more clearly to apprehend the promise of victory contained in +our Lord's words, we may consider (I.) the object He had in view--to +"draw all men" to Him; and (II.) the condition of His attaining this +object--namely, His death. + +I. The object of Christ was to draw all men to Him. The opposition in +which He here sets Himself to the prince of this world shows us that by +"drawing" He means attracting _as a king attracts_, to His name, His +claims, His standard, His person. Our life consists in our pursuance of +one object or another, and our devotion is continually competed for. +When two claimants contest a kingdom, the country is divided between +them, part cleaving to the one and part to the other. The individual +determines to which side he shall cleave,--by his prejudices or by his +justice, as it may be; by his knowledge of the comparative capacity of +the claimants, or by his ignorant predilection. He is taken in by +sounding titles, or he penetrates through all bombast and promises and +douceurs to the real merit or demerit of the man himself. One person +will judge by the personal manners of the respective claimants; another +by their published manifesto, and professed object and style of rule; +another by their known character and probable conduct. And while men +thus range themselves on this side or on that, they really pass judgment +on themselves, betraying as they do what it is that chiefly draws them, +and taking their places on the side of good or evil. It is thus that we +all judge ourselves by following this or that claimant to our faith, +regard, and devotion, to ourself and our life. What we spend ourselves +on, what we aim at and pursue, what we make our object, that judges us +and that rules us and that determines our destiny. + +Christ came into the world to be our King, to lead us to worthy +achievements. He came that we might have a worthy object of choice and +of the devotion of our life. He serves the same purpose as a king: He +embodies in His own person, and thereby makes visible and attractive, +the will of God and the cause of righteousness. Persons who could only +with great difficulty apprehend His objects and plans can appreciate His +person and trust Him. Persons to whom there would seem little attraction +in a cause or in an undefined "progress of humanity" can kindle with +enthusiasm towards Him personally, and unconsciously promote His cause +and the cause of humanity. And therefore, while some are attracted by +His person, others by the legitimacy of His claims, others by His +programme of government, others by His benefactions, we must beware of +denying loyalty to any of these. Expressions of love to His person may +be lacking in the man who yet most intelligently enters into Christ's +views for the race, and sacrifices his means and his life to forward +these views. Those who gather to His standard are various in +temperament, are drawn by various attractions, and must be various in +their forms of showing allegiance. And this, which is the strength of +His camp, can only become its weakness when men begin to think there is +no way but their own; and that allegiance which is strenuous in labour +but not fluent in devout expression, or loyalty which shouts and throws +its cap in the air but lacks intelligence, is displeasing to the King. +The King, who has great ends in view, will not inquire what it is +precisely which forms the bond between Him and His subjects so long as +they truly sympathise with Him and second His efforts. The one question +is, Is He their actual leader? + +Of the kingdom of Christ, though a full description cannot be given, one +or two of the essential characteristics may be mentioned. + +1. It is _a kingdom_, a community of men under one head. When Christ +proposed to attract men to Himself, it was for the good of the race He +did so. It could achieve its destiny only if He led it, only if it +yielded itself to His mind and ways. And those who are attracted to Him, +and see reason to believe that the hope of the world lies in the +universal adoption of His mind and ways, are formed into one solid body +or community. They labour for the same ends, are governed by the same +laws, and whether they know one another or not they have the most real +sympathy and live for one cause. Being drawn to Christ, we enter into +abiding fellowship with all the good who have laboured or are labouring +in the cause of humanity. We take our places in the everlasting kingdom, +in the community of those who shall see and take part in the great +future of mankind and the growing enlargement of its destiny. We are +hereby entered among the living, and are joined to that body of mankind +which is to go on and which holds the future--not to an extinct party +which may have memories, but has no hopes. In sin, in selfishness, in +worldliness, individualism reigns, and all profound or abiding unity is +impossible. Sinners have common interests only for a time, only as a +temporary guise of selfish interests. Every man out of Christ is really +an isolated individual. But passing into Christ's kingdom we are no +longer isolated, abandoned wretches stranded by the stream of time, but +members of the undying commonwealth of men in which our life, our work, +our rights, our future, our association with all good, are assured. + +2. It is a _universal_ kingdom. "I will draw _all_ men unto Me." The one +rational hope of forming men into one kingdom shines through these +words. The idea of a universal monarchy has visited the great minds of +our race. They have cherished their various dreams of a time when all +men should live under one law and possibly speak one language, and have +interests so truly in common that war should be impossible. But an +effectual instrument for accomplishing this grand design has ever been +wanting. Christ turns this grandest dream of humanity into a rational +hope. He appeals to what is universally present in human nature. There +is that in Him which every man needs,--a door to the Father; a visible +image of the unseen God; a gracious, wise, and holy Friend. He does not +appeal exclusively to one generation, to educated or to uneducated, to +Orientals or to Europeans alone, but to man, to that which we have in +common with the lowest and the highest, the most primitive and most +highly developed of the species. The attractive influence He exerts upon +men is not conditioned by their historical insight, by their ability to +sift evidence, by this or that which distinguishes man from man, but by +their innate consciousness that some higher power than themselves +exists, by their ability, if not to recognise goodness when they see it, +at least to recognise love when it is spent upon them. + +But while our Lord affirms that there is that in Him which all men can +recognise and learn to love and serve, He does not say that His kingdom +will therefore be quickly formed. He does not say that this greatest +work of God will take a shorter time than the common works of God which +prolong one day of our hasty methods into a thousand years of solidly +growing purpose. If it has taken a million ages for the rocks to knit +and form for us a standing-ground and dwelling-place, we must not expect +that this kingdom, which is to be the one enduring result of this +world's history, and which can be built up only of thoroughly convinced +men and of generations slowly weeded of traditional prejudices and +customs, can be completed in a few years. No doubt interests are at +stake in human destiny and losses are made by human waste which had no +place in the physical creation of the world; still, God's methods are, +as we judge, slow, and we must not think that He who "works hitherto" is +doing nothing because the swift processes of jugglery or the hasty +methods of human workmanship find no place in the extension of Christ's +kingdom. This kingdom has a firm hold of the world and must grow. If +there is one thing certain about the future of the world, it is that +righteousness and truth will prevail. The world is bound to come to the +feet of Christ. + +3. Christ's kingdom being universal, it is also and necessarily +_inward_. What is common to all men lies deepest in each. Christ was +conscious that He held the key to human nature. He knew what was in man. +With the penetrating insight of absolute purity He had gone about among +men, freely mixing with rich and with poor, with the sick and the +healthy, with the religious and the irreligious. He was as much at home +with the condemned criminal as with the blameless Pharisee; saw through +Pilate and Caiaphas alike; knew all that the keenest dramatist could +tell Him of the meannesses, the depravities, the cruelties, the blind +passions, the obstructed goodness, of men; but knew also that He could +sway all that was in man and exhibit that to men which should cause the +sinner to abhor his sin and seek the face of God. This He would do by a +simple moral process, without violent demonstration or disturbance or +assertion of authority. He would "draw" men. It is by inward conviction, +not by outward compulsion, men are to become His subjects. It is by the +free and rational working of the human mind that Jesus builds up His +kingdom. His hope lies in a fuller and fuller light, in a clearer and +clearer recognition of facts. Attachment to Christ must be the act of +the soul's self; everything, therefore, which strengthens the will or +enlightens the mind or enlarges the man brings him nearer to the kingdom +of Christ, and makes it more likely he will yield to His drawing. + +And because Christ's rule is inward it is therefore of universal +application. The inmost choice of the man being governed by Christ, and +his character being thus touched at its inmost spring, all his conduct +will be governed by Christ and be a carrying out of the will of Christ. +It is not the frame of society Christ seeks to alter, but the spirit of +it. It is not the occupations and institutions of human life which the +subject of Christ finds to be incompatible with Christ's rule, so much +as the aim and principles on which they are conducted. The kingdom of +Christ claims all human life as its own, and the spirit of Christ finds +nothing that is essentially human alien from it. If the statesman is a +Christian, it will be seen in his policy; if the poet is a Christian, +his song will betray it; if a thinker be a Christian, his readers soon +find it out. Christianity does not mean religious services, churches, +creeds, Bibles, books, equipment of any kind; it means the Spirit of +Christ. It is the most portable and flexible of all religions, and +therefore the most pervasive and dominant in the life of its adherent. +It needs but the Spirit of God and the spirit of man, and Christ +mediating between them. + +II. Such being Christ's object, what is the condition of His attaining +it? "I, _if I be lifted up_, will draw all men unto Me." The elevation +requisite for becoming a visible object to men of all generations was +the elevation of the Cross. His death would accomplish what His life +could not accomplish. The words betray a distinct consciousness that +there was in His death a more potent spell, a more certain and real +influence for good among men than in His teaching or in His miracles or +in His purity of life. + +What is it, then, in the death of Christ which so far surpasses His life +in its power of attraction? The life was equally unselfish and devoted; +it was more prolonged; it was more directly useful,--why, then, would it +have been comparatively ineffective without the death? It may, in the +first place, be answered, Because His death presents in a dramatic and +compact form that very devotedness which is diffused through every part +of His life. Between the life and the death there is the same difference +as between sheet lightning and forked lightning, between the diffused +heat of the sun and the same heat focussed upon a point through a lens. +It discloses what was actually but latently there. The life and the +death of Christ are one and mutually explain each other. From the life +we learn that no motive can have prompted Christ to die but the one +motive which ruled Him always--the desire to do all God willed in men's +behalf. We cannot interpret the death as anything else than a consistent +part of a deliberate work undertaken for men's good. It was not an +accident; it was not an external necessity: it was, as the whole life +was, a willing acceptance of the uttermost that was required to set men +on a higher level and unite them to God. But as the life throws this +light upon the death of Christ, how that light is gathered up and thrown +abroad in world-wide reflection from the death of Christ! For here His +self-sacrifice shines completed and perfect; here it is exhibited in +that tragic and supreme form which in all cases arrests attention and +commands respect. Even when a man of wasted life sacrifices himself at +last, and in one heroic act saves another by his death, his past life is +forgotten or seems to be redeemed by his death, and at all events we own +the beauty and the pathos of the deed. A martyr to the faith may have +been but a poor creature, narrow, harsh and overbearing, vain and +vulgar in spirit; but all the past is blotted out, and our attention is +arrested on the blazing pile or the bloody scaffold. So the death of +Christ, though but a part of the self-sacrificing life, yet stands by +itself as the culmination and seal of that life; it catches the eye and +strikes the mind, and conveys at one view the main impression made by +the whole life and character of Him who gave Himself upon the cross. + +But Christ is no mere hero or teacher sealing his truth with his blood; +nor is it enough to say that His death renders, in a conspicuous form, +the perfect self-sacrifice with which He devoted Himself to our good. It +is conceivable that in a long-past age some other man should have lived +and died for his fellows, and yet we at once recognise that, though the +history of such a person came into our hands, we should not be so +affected and drawn by it as to choose him as our king and rest upon him +the hope of uniting us to one another and to God. Wherein, then, lies +the difference? The difference lies in this--that Christ was the +representative of God. This He Himself uniformly claimed to be. He knew +He was unique, different from all others; but He advanced no claim to +esteem that did not pass to the Father who sent Him. Always he explained +His powers as being the proper equipment of God's representative, "The +words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself." His whole life was +the message of God to man, the Word made flesh. His death was but the +last syllable of this great utterance--the utterance of God's love for +man, the final evidence that nothing is grudged us by God. Greater love +hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. His +death draws us because there is in it more than human heroism and +self-sacrifice. It draws us because in it the very heart of God is laid +bare to us. It softens, it breaks us down, by the irresistible +tenderness it discloses in the mighty and ever-blessed God. Every man +feels it has a message for him, because in it the God and Father of us +all speaks to us. + +It is this which is special to the death of Christ, and which separates +it from all other deaths and heroic sacrifices. It has a universal +bearing--a bearing upon every man, because it is a Divine act, the act +of that One who is the God and Father of all men. In the same century as +our Lord many men died in a manner which strongly excites our +admiration. Nothing could well be more noble, nothing more pathetic, +than the fearless and loving spirit in which Roman after Roman met his +death. But beyond respectful admiration these heroic deeds win from us +no further sentiment. They are the deeds of men who have no connection +with us. The well-worn words, "What's Hecuba _to me_ or I to Hecuba?" +rise to our lips when we try to fancy any deep connection. But the death +of Christ concerns all men without exception, because it is the greatest +declarative act of the God of all men. It is the manifesto all men are +concerned to read. It is the act of One with whom all men are already +connected in the closest way. And the result of our contemplation of it +is, not that we admire, but that we are drawn, are attracted, into new +relations with Him whom that death reveals. This death moves and draws +us as no other can, because here we get to the very heart of that which +most deeply concerns us. Here we learn what our God is and where we +stand eternally. He who is nearest us of all, and in whom our life is +bound up, reveals Himself; and seeing Him here full of ungrudging and +most reliable love, of tenderest and utterly self-sacrificing +devotedness to us, we cannot but give way to this central attraction, +and with all other willing creatures be drawn into fullest intimacy and +firmest relations to the God of all. + +The death of Christ, then, draws men chiefly because God here shows men +His sympathy, His love, His trustworthiness. What the sun is in the +solar system, Christ's death is in the moral world. The sun by its +physical attraction binds the several planets together and holds them +within range of its light and heat. God, the central intelligence and +original moral Being, draws to Himself and holds within reach of His +life-giving radiance all who are susceptible of moral influences; and He +does so through the death of Christ. This is His supreme revelation. +Here, if we may say so with reverence, God is seen at His best--not that +at any time or in any action He is different, but here He is _seen_ to +be the God of love He ever is. Nothing is better than self-sacrifice: +that is the highest point a moral nature can touch. And God, by the +sacrifice which is rendered visible on the cross, gives to the moral +world a real, actual, immovable centre, round which moral natures will +more and more gather, and which will hold them together in self-effacing +unity. + +To complete the idea of the attractiveness of the Cross, it must further +be kept in view that this particular form of the manifestation of the +Divine love was adapted to the needs of those to whom it was made. To +sinners the love of God manifested itself in providing a sacrifice for +sin. The death on the cross was not an irrelevant display, but was an +act required for the removal of the most insuperable obstacles that lay +in man's path. The sinner, believing that in the death of Christ his +sins are atoned for, conceives hope in God and claims the Divine +compassion in his own behalf. To the penitent the Cross is attractive as +an open door to the prisoner, or the harbour-heads to the storm-tossed +ship. + +Let us not suppose, then, that we are not welcome to Christ. He desires +to draw us to Himself and to form a connection with us. He understands +our hesitations, our doubts of our own capacity for any steady and +enthusiastic loyalty; but He knows also the power of truth and love, the +power of His own person and of His own death to draw and fix the +hesitating and wavering soul. And we shall find that as we strive to +serve Christ in our daily life it is still His death that holds and +draws us. It is His death which gives us compunction in our times of +frivolity, or selfishness, or carnality, or rebellion, or unbelief. It +is there Christ appears in His own most touching attitude and with His +own most irresistible appeal. We cannot further wound One already so +wounded in His desire to win us from evil. To strike One already thus +nailed to the tree in helplessness and anguish, is more than the hardest +heart can do. Our sin, our infidelity, our unmoved contemplation of His +love, our blind indifference to His purpose--these things wound Him more +than the spear and the scourge. To rid us of these things was His +purpose in dying, and to see that His work is in vain and His sufferings +unregarded and unfruitful is the deepest injury of all. It is not to the +mere sentiment of pity He appeals: rather He says, "Weep not for Me; +weep for yourselves." It is to our power to recognise perfect goodness +and to appreciate perfect love. He appeals to our power to see below the +surface of things, and through the outer shell of this world's life to +the Spirit of good that is at the root of all and that manifests itself +in Him. Here is the true stay of the human soul: "Come unto Me, all ye +that labour and are heavy laden"; "I am come a light into the world: +walk in the light." + + + + +V. + +_RESULTS OF CHRIST'S MANIFESTATION._ + + + "But though He had done so many signs before them, yet they believed + not on Him: that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, + which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath + the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this cause they could not + believe, for that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and + He hardened their heart; lest they should see with their eyes, and + perceive with their heart, and should turn, and I should heal them. + These things said Isaiah, because he saw His glory; and he spake of + Him. Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed on Him; but + because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they should + be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the glory of men more + than the glory of God. And Jesus cried and said, He that believeth + on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me. And he that + beholdeth Me beholdeth Him that sent Me. I am come a light into the + world, that whosoever believeth on Me may not abide in the darkness. + And if any man hear My sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not: + for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that + rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My sayings, hath One that judgeth + him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last + day. For I spake not from Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He + hath given Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should + speak. And I know that His commandment is life eternal: the things + therefore which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto Me, so I + speak."--JOHN xii. 37-50. + + +In this Gospel the death of Christ is viewed as the first step in His +glorification. When He speaks of being "lifted up," there is a double +reference in the expression, a local and an ethical reference.[6] He is +lifted up on the cross, but lifted up on it as His true throne and as +the necessary step towards His supremacy at God's right hand. It was, +John tells us, with direct reference to the cross that Jesus now used +the words: "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." The Jews, +who heard the words, perceived that, whatever else was contained in +them, intimation of His removal from earth was given. But, according to +the current Messianic expectation, the Christ "abideth for ever," or at +any rate for four hundred or a thousand years. How then could this +Person, who announced His immediate departure, be the Christ? The Old +Testament gave them ground for supposing that the Messianic reign would +be lasting; but had they listened to our Lord's teaching they would have +learned that this reign was spiritual, and not in the form of an earthly +kingdom with a visible sovereign. + +Accordingly, although they had recognised Jesus as the Messiah, they +are again stumbled by this fresh declaration of His. They begin to fancy +that perhaps after all by calling Himself "the Son of man" He has not +meant exactly what they mean by the Messiah. From the form of their +question it would seem that Jesus had used the designation "the Son of +man" in intimating His departure; for they say, "How sayest thou, The +Son of man must be lifted up?" Up to this time, therefore, they had +taken it for granted that by calling Himself the Son of man He claimed +to be the Christ, but now they begin to doubt whether there may not be +two persons signified by those titles. + +Jesus furnishes them with no direct solution of their difficulty. He +never betrays any interest in these external identifications. The time +for discussing the relation of the Son of man to the Messiah is past. +His manifestation is closed. Enough light has been given. Conscience has +been appealed to and discussion is no longer admissible. "Ye have light: +walk in the light." The way to come to a settlement of all their doubts +and hesitations is to follow Him. There is still time for that. "Yet a +little while is the light among you." But the time is short; there is +none to waste on idle questionings, none to spend on sophisticating +conscience--time only for deciding as conscience bids. + +By thus believing in the light they will themselves become "children of +light." The "children of light" are those who live in it as their +element,--as "the children of this world" are those who wholly belong to +this world and find in it what is congenial; as "the son of perdition" +is he who is identified with perdition. The children of light have +accepted the revelation that is in Christ, and live in the "day" that +the Lord has made. Christ contains the truth for them--the truth which +penetrates to their inmost thought and illuminates the darkest problems +of life. In Christ they have seen that which determines their relation +to God; and that being determined, all else that is of prime importance +finds a settlement. To know God and ourselves; to know God's nature and +purpose, and our own capabilities and relation to God,--these constitute +the light we need for living by; and this light Christ gives. It was in +a dim, uncertain twilight, with feebly shining lanterns, the wisest and +best of men sought to make out the nature of God and His purposes +regarding man; but in Christ God has made noonday around us. + +They, therefore, that stood, or that stand, in His presence, and yet +recognise no light, must be asleep, or must turn away from an excess of +light that is disagreeable or inconvenient. If we are not the fuller of +life and joy the more truth we know, if we shrink from admitting the +consciousness of a present and holy God, and do not feel it to be the +very sunshine of life in which alone we thrive, we must be spiritually +asleep or spiritually dead. And this cry of Christ is but another form +of the cry that His Church has prolonged: "Awake, thou that sleepest, +and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." + +The "little while" of their enjoyment of the light was short indeed, for +no sooner had He made an end of these sayings than He "departed, and did +hide Himself from them." He probably found retirement from the feverish, +inconstant, questioning crowd with His friends in Bethany. At any rate +this removal of the light, while it meant darkness to those who had not +received Him and who did not keep His words, could bring no darkness to +His own, who had received Him and the light in Him. Perhaps the best +comment on this is the memorable passage from _Comus_: + + "Virtue could see to do what virtue would + By her own radiant light, though sun and moon + Were in the great sea sunk. + He that has light within his own clear breast + May sit i' the centre and enjoy bright day; + But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts + Benighted walks under the midday sun, + Himself is his own dungeon." + +And now the writer of this Gospel, before entering upon the closing +scenes, pauses and presents a summary of the results of all that has +been hitherto related. First, he accounts for the unbelief of the Jews. +It could not fail to strike his readers as remarkable that, "though He +had done so many miracles before the people, yet they believed not in +Him." In this John sees nothing inexplicable, however sad and +significant it may be. At first sight it is an astounding fact that the +very people who had been prepared to recognise and receive the Messiah +should not have believed in Him. Might not this to some minds be +convincing evidence that Jesus was not the Messiah? If the same God who +sent Him forth had for centuries specially prepared a people to +recognise and receive Him when He came, was it possible that this people +should repudiate Him? Was it likely that such a result should be +produced or should be allowed? But John turns the point of this argument +by showing that a precisely similar phenomenon had often appeared in the +history of Israel. The old prophets had the very same complaint to make: +"Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been +revealed?" The people had habitually, as a people with individual +exceptions, refused to listen to God's voice or to acknowledge His +presence in prophet and providence. + +Besides, might it not very well be that the blindness and callousness of +the Jews in rejecting Jesus was the inevitable issue of a long process +of hardening? If, in former periods of their history, they had proved +themselves unworthy of God's training and irresponsive to it, what else +could be expected than that they should reject the Messiah when He came? +This hardening and blinding process was the inevitable, natural result +of their past conduct. But what nature does, God does; and therefore the +Evangelist says "they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, +He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should +not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart." The organ for +perceiving spiritual truth was blinded, and their susceptibility to +religious and moral impressions had become callous and hardened and +impervious. + +And while this was no doubt true of the people as a whole, still there +were not a few individuals who eagerly responded to this last message +from God. In the most unlikely quarters, and in circumstances calculated +to counteract the influence of spiritual forces, some were convinced. +"Even among the chief rulers many believed on Him." This belief, +however, did not tell upon the mass, because, through fear of +excommunication, those who were convinced dared not utter their +conviction. "They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." +They allowed their relations to men to determine their relation to God. +Men were more real to them than God. The praise of men came home to +their hearts with a sensible relish that the praise of God could not +rival. They reaped what they had sown; they had sought the esteem of +men, and now they were unable to find their strength in God's approval. +The glory which consisted in following the lowly and outcast Jesus, the +glory of fellowship with God, was quite eclipsed by the glory of living +in the eye of the people as wise and estimable persons. + +In the last paragraph of the chapter John gives a summary of the claims +and message of Jesus. He has told us (ver. 36) that Jesus had departed +from public view and had hidden Himself, and he mentions no return to +publicity. It is therefore probable that in these remaining verses, and +before he turns to a somewhat different aspect of Christ's ministry, he +gives in rapid and brief retrospect the sum of what Jesus had advanced +as His claim. He introduces this paragraph, indeed, with the words, +"Jesus cried and said"; but as neither time nor place is mentioned, it +is quite likely that no special time or place is supposed; and in point +of fact each detail adduced in these verses can be paralleled from some +previously recorded utterance of Jesus. + +First, then, as everywhere in the Gospel, so here, He claims to be the +representative of God in so close and perfect a manner that "he that +believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me. And he +that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me." No belief terminates in Christ +Himself: to believe in Him is to believe in God, because all that He is +and does proceeds from God and leads to God. The whole purpose of +Christ's manifestation was to reveal God. He did not wish to arrest +thought upon Himself, but through Himself to guide thought to Him whom +He revealed. He was sustained by the Father, and all He said and did +was of the Father's inspiration. Whoever, therefore, "saw" or +understood Him "saw" the Father; and whoever believed in Him believed in +the Father. + +Second, as regards men, He is "come a light into the world." Naturally +there is in the world no sufficient light. Men feel that they are in +darkness. They feel the darkness all the more appalling and depressing +the more developed their own human nature is. "More light" has been the +cry from the beginning. What are we? where are we? whence are we? +whither are we going? what is there above and beyond this world? These +questions are echoed back from an unanswering void, until Christ comes +and gives the answer. Since He came men have felt that they did not any +longer walk in darkness. They see where they are going, and they see why +they should go. + +And if it be asked, as among the Jews it certainly must have been asked, +why, if Jesus is the Messiah, does He not punish men for rejecting Him? +the answer is, "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." +Judgment, indeed, necessarily results from His coming. Men are divided +by His coming. "The words that I have spoken, the same shall judge men +in the last day." The offer of God, the offer of righteousness, is that +which judges men. Why are they still dead, when life has been offered? +This is the condemnation. "The commandment of the Father is life +everlasting." This is the sum of the message of God to men in Christ; +this is "the commandment" which the Father has given Me; this is +Christ's commission: to bring God in the fulness of His grace and love +and life-giving power within men's reach. It is to give life eternal to +men that God has come to them in Christ. To refuse that life is their +condemnation. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] See iii. 14. + + + + +VI. + +_THE FOOT-WASHING._ + + +"Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour was +come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having +loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. And +during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas +Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had +given all things into His hands, and that He came forth from God, and +goeth unto God, riseth from supper, and layeth aside His garments; and +He took a towel, and girded Himself. Then He poureth water into the +basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the +towel wherewith He was girded. So He cometh to Simon Peter. He saith +unto Him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto +him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt understand +hereafter. Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus +answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me. Simon Peter +saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. +Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, +but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For He knew him +that should betray Him; therefore said He, Ye are not all clean. So when +He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and sat down again, He +said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call Me, Master, +and, Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the +Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. +For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done +to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, A servant is not greater than +his lord; neither one that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye +know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them."--JOHN xiii. 1-17. + + +St. John, having finished his account of the public manifestation of +Jesus, proceeds now to narrate the closing scenes, in which the +disclosures He made to "His own" form a chief part. That the transition +may be observed, attention is drawn to it. At earlier stages of our +Lord's ministry He has given as His reason for refraining from proposed +lines of action that His hour was not come: now He "knew that His hour +was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father." This +indeed was the last evening of His life. Within twenty-four hours He was +to be in the tomb. Yet according to this writer it was not the paschal +supper which our Lord now partook of with His disciples; it was "before +the feast of the Passover." Jesus being Himself the Paschal Lamb was +sacrificed on the day on which the Passover was eaten, and in this and +the following chapters we have an account of the preceding evening. + +In order to account for what follows, the precise time is defined in the +words "supper being served"[7] or "supper-time having arrived"; not, as +in the Authorised Version, "supper being ended," which plainly was not +the case;[8] nor, as in the Revised Version, "during supper." The +difficulty about washing the feet could not have arisen after or during +supper, but only as the guests entered and reclined at table. In +Palestine, as in other countries of the same latitude, shoes were not +universally worn, and were not worn at all within doors; and where some +protection to the foot was worn, it was commonly a mere sandal, a sole +tied on with a thong. The upper part of the foot was thus left exposed, +and necessarily became heated and dirty with the fine and scorching dust +of the roads. Much discomfort was thus produced, and the first duty of a +host was to provide for its removal. A slave was ordered to remove the +sandals and wash the feet.[9] And in order that this might be done, the +guest either sat on the couch appointed for him at table, or reclined +with his feet protruding beyond the end of it, that the slave, coming +round with the pitcher and basin,[10] might pour cool water gently over +them. So necessary to comfort was this attention that our Lord +reproached the Pharisee who had invited Him to dinner with a breach of +courtesy because he had omitted it. + +On ordinary occasions it is probable that the disciples would perform +this humble office by turns, where there was no slave to discharge it +for all. But this evening, when they gathered for the last supper, all +took their places at the table with a studied ignorance of the +necessity, a feigned unconsciousness that any such attention was +required. As a matter of course, the pitcher of cool water, the basin, +and the towel had been set as part of the requisite furnishing of the +supper chamber; but no one among the disciples betrayed the slightest +consciousness that he understood that any such custom existed. Why was +this? Because, as Luke tells us (xxii. 24), "there had arisen among them +a contention, which of them is accounted to be the greatest." Beginning, +perhaps, by discussing the prospects of their Master's kingdom, they had +passed on to compare the importance of this or that faculty for +forwarding the interests of the kingdom, and had ended by easily +recognised personal allusions and even the direct pitting of man against +man. The assumption of superiority on the part of the sons of Zebedee +and others was called in question, and it suddenly appeared how this +assumption had galled the rest and rankled in their minds. That such a +discussion should arise may be disappointing, but it was natural. All +men are jealous of their reputation, and crave that credit be given them +for their natural talent, their acquired skill, their professional +standing, their influence, or at any rate for their humility. + +Heated, then, and angry and full of resentment these men hustle into the +supper-room and seat themselves like so many sulky schoolboys. They +streamed into the room and doggedly took their places; and then came a +pause. For any one to wash the feet of the rest was to declare himself +the servant of all; and that was precisely what each one was resolved +he, for his part, would not do. No one of them had humour enough to see +the absurdity of the situation. No one of them was sensitive enough to +be ashamed of showing such a temper in Christ's presence. There they +sat, looking at the table, looking at the ceiling, arranging their +dress, each resolved upon this--that he would not be the man to own +himself servant of all. + +But this unhealthy heat quite unfits them to listen to what their Lord +has to say to them that last evening. Occupied as they are, not with +anxiety about Him nor with absorbing desire for the prosperity of His +kingdom, but with selfish ambitions that separate them alike from Him +and from one another, how can they receive what He has to say? But how +is He to bring them into a state of mind in which they can listen wholly +and devotedly to Him? How is He to quench their heated passions and stir +within them humility and love? "He riseth from the supper-table, and +laid aside His garments, and took a towel, and girded Himself. After +that He poureth water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' +feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded." Each +separate action is a fresh astonishment and a deeper shame to the +bewildered and conscience-stricken disciples. "Who is not able to +picture the scene,--the faces of John and James and Peter; the intense +silence, in which each movement of Jesus was painfully audible; the +furtive watching of Him, as He rose, to see what He would do; the sudden +pang of self-reproach as they perceived what it meant; the bitter +humiliation and the burning shame?" + +But not only is the time noted, in order that we may perceive the +relevancy of the foot-washing, but the Evangelist steps aside from his +usual custom and describes the mood of Jesus that we may more deeply +penetrate into the significance of the action. Around this scene in the +supper-chamber St. John sets lights which permit us to see its various +beauty and grace. And first of all he would have us notice what seems +chiefly to have struck himself as from time to time he reflected on this +last evening--that Jesus, even in these last hours, was wholly possessed +and governed by love. Although He knew "that His hour had come, that He +should depart out of this world unto the Father, yet having loved His +own which were in the world He loved them unto the end." Already the +deep darkness of the coming night was touching the spirit of Jesus with +its shadow. Already the pain of the betrayal, the lonely desolation of +desertion by His friends, the defenceless exposure to fierce, unjust, +ruthless men, the untried misery of death and dissolution, the critical +trial of His cause and of all the labour of His life, these and many +anxieties that cannot be imagined, were pouring in upon His spirit, wave +upon wave. If ever man might have been excused for absorption in His own +affairs Jesus was then that man. On the edge of what He knew to be the +critical passage in the world's history, what had He to do attending to +the comfort and adjusting the silly differences of a few unworthy men? +With the weight of a world on His arm, was He to have His hands free for +such a trifling attention as this? With His whole soul pressed with the +heaviest burden ever laid on man, was it to be expected He should turn +aside at such a call? + +But His love made it seem no turning aside at all. His love had made Him +wholly theirs, and though standing on the brink of death He was +disengaged to do them the slightest service. His love was love, devoted, +enduring, constant. He had loved them, and He loved them still. It was +their condition which had brought Him into the world, and His love for +them was that which would carry Him through all that was before Him. The +very fact that they showed themselves still so jealous and childish, so +unfit to cope with the world, drew out His affection towards them. He +was departing from the world and they were remaining in it, exposed to +all its opposition and destined to bear the brunt of hostility directed +against Him--how then can He but pity and strengthen them? Nothing is +more touching on a death-bed than to see the sufferer hiding and making +light of his own pain, and turning the attention of those around him +away from him to themselves, and making arrangements, not for his own +relief, but for the future comfort of others. This which has often +dimmed with tears the eyes of the bystanders struck John when he saw his +Master ministering to the wants of His disciples, although He knew that +His own hour had come. + +Another side-light which serves to bring out the full significance of +this action is Jesus' consciousness of His own dignity. "Jesus, knowing +that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He came +forth from God, and goeth unto God," riseth from supper, and took a +towel and girded Himself. It was not in forgetfulness of His Divine +origin, but in full consciousness of it, He discharged this menial +function. As He had divested Himself of the "form of God" at the first, +stripping Himself of the outward glory attendant on recognised Divinity, +and had taken upon Him the form of a servant, so now He "laid aside His +garments and girded Himself," assuming the guise of a household slave. +For a fisherman to pour water over a fisherman's feet was no great +condescension; but that He, in whose hands are all human affairs and +whose nearest relation is the Father, should thus condescend is of +unparalleled significance. It is this kind of action that is suitable to +One whose consciousness is Divine. Not only does the dignity of Jesus +vastly augment the beauty of the action, but it sheds new light on the +Divine character. + +Still another circumstance which seemed to John to accentuate the grace +of the foot-washing was this--that Judas was among the guests, and that +"the devil had now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to +betray him." The idea had at last formed itself in Judas' mind that the +best use he could make of Jesus was to sell Him to His enemies. His +hopes of gain in the Messianic kingdom were finally blighted, but he +might still make something out of Jesus and save himself from all +implication in a movement frowned upon by the authorities. He clearly +apprehended that all hopes of a temporal kingdom were gone. He had +probably not strength of mind enough to say candidly that he had joined +the company of disciples on a false understanding, and meant now quietly +to return to his trading at Kerioth. If he could break up the whole +movement, he would be justified in his dissatisfaction, and would also +be held to be a useful servant of the nation. So he turns traitor. And +John does not whitewash him, but plainly brands him as a traitor. Now, +much may be forgiven a man; but treachery--what is to be done with it; +with the man who uses the knowledge only a friend can have, to betray +you to your enemies? Suppose Jesus had unmasked him to Peter and the +rest, would he ever have left that room alive? Instead of unmasking him, +Jesus makes no difference between him and the others, kneels by his +couch, takes his feet in His hands, washes and gently dries them. +However difficult it is to understand why Jesus chose Judas at the +first, there can be no question that throughout His acquaintance with +him He had done all that was possible to win him. The kind of treatment +Judas had received throughout may be inferred from the treatment he +received now. Jesus knew him to be a man of a low type and impenitent; +He knew him to be at that very time out of harmony with the little +company, false, plotting, meaning to save himself by bringing ruin on +the rest. Yet Jesus will not denounce him to the others. His sole weapon +is love. Conquests which He cannot achieve with this He will not achieve +at all. In the person of Judas the utmost of malignity the world can +show is present to Him, and He meets it with kindness. Well may Astié +exclaim: "Jesus at the feet of the traitor--what a picture! what lessons +for us!" + +Shame and astonishment shut the mouths of the disciples, and not a sound +broke the stillness of the room but the tinkle and plash of the water in +the basin as Jesus went from couch to couch. But the silence was broken +when He came to Peter. The deep reverence which the disciples had +contracted for Jesus betrays itself in Peter's inability to suffer Him +to touch his feet. Peter could not endure that the places of master and +servant should thus be reversed. He feels that shrinking and revulsion +which we feel when a delicate person or one much above us in station +proceeds to do some service from which we ourselves would shrink as +beneath us. That Peter should have drawn up his feet, started up on the +couch, and exclaimed, "Lord, do you actually propose to wash my feet!" +is to his credit, and just what we should have expected of a man who +never lacked generous impulses. Our Lord therefore assures him that his +scruples will be removed, and that what he could not understand would be +shortly explained to him. He treats Peter's scruples very much as He +treated the Baptist's when John hesitated about baptizing Him. Let Me, +says Jesus, do it now, and I will explain My reason when I have +finished the washing of you all. But this does not satisfy Peter. Out he +comes with one of his blunt and hasty speeches: "Lord, Thou shalt never +wash my feet!" He knew better than Jesus, that is to say, what should be +done. Jesus was mistaken in supposing that any explanation could be +given of it. Hasty, self-confident, knowing better than anybody else, +Peter once again ran himself into grave fault. The first requirement in +a disciple is entire self-surrender. The others had meekly allowed Jesus +to wash their feet, cut to the heart with shame as they were, and +scarcely able to let their feet lie in His hands; but Peter must show +himself of a different mind. His first refusal was readily forgiven as a +generous impulse; the second is an obstinate, proud, self-righteous +utterance, and was forthwith met by the swift rebuke of Jesus: "If I +wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me." + +Superficially, these words might have been understood as intimating to +Peter that, if he wished to partake of the feast prepared, he must allow +Jesus to wash his feet. Unless he was prepared to leave the room and +reckon himself an outcast from that company, he must submit to the +feet-washing which his friends and fellow-guests had submitted to. There +was that in the tone of our Lord which awakened Peter to see how great +and painful a rupture this would be. He almost hears in the words a +sentence of expulsion pronounced on himself; and as rapidly as he had +withdrawn from the touch of Christ, so rapidly does he now run to the +opposite extreme and offer his whole body to be washed--"not my feet +only, but my hands and my head." If this washing means that we are Thy +friends and partners, let me be all washed, for every bit of me is +Thine. Here again Peter was swayed by blind impulse, and here again he +erred. If he could only have been quiet! If he could only have held his +tongue! If only he could have allowed his Lord to manage without his +interference and suggestion at every point! But this was precisely what +Peter had as yet not learned to do. In after-years he was to learn +meekness; he was to learn to submit while others bound him and carried +him whither they would; but as yet that was impossible to him. His +Lord's plan is never good enough for him; Jesus is never exactly right. +What He proposes must always be eked out by Peter's superior wisdom. +What gusts of shame must have stormed through Peter's soul when he +looked back on this scene! Yet it concerns us rather to admire than to +condemn Peter's fervour. How welcome to our Lord as He passed from the +cold and treacherous heart of Judas must this burst of enthusiastic +devotion have been! "Lord, if washing be any symbol of my being Thine, +wash hands and head as well as feet." + +Jesus throws a new light upon His action in His reply: "He that is +washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and +ye are clean, but not all." The words would have more readily disclosed +Christ's meaning had they been literally rendered: He that has bathed +needeth not save to wash his feet. The daily use of the bath rendered it +needless to wash more than the feet, which were soiled with walking from +the bath to the supper-chamber. But that Christ had in view as He washed +the disciples' feet something more than the mere bodily cleansing and +comfort is plain from His remark that they were not all clean. All had +enjoyed the feet-washing, but all were not clean. The feet of Judas were +as clean as the feet of John or Peter, but his heart was foul. And what +Christ intended when He girt Himself with the towel and took up the +pitcher was not merely to wash the soil from their feet, but to wash +from their hearts the hard and proud feelings which were so uncongenial +to that night of communion and so threatening to His cause. Far more +needful to their happiness at the feast than the comfort of cool and +clean feet was their restored affection and esteem for one another, and +that humility that takes the lowest place. Jesus could very well have +eaten with men who were unwashed; but He could not eat with men hating +one another, glaring fiercely across the table, declining to answer or +to pass what they were asked for, showing in every way malice and +bitterness of spirit. He knew that at bottom they were good men; He knew +that with one exception they loved Him and one another; He knew that as +a whole they were clean, and that this vicious temper in which they at +present entered the room was but the soil contracted for the hour. But +none the less must it be washed off. _And He did effectually wash it off +by washing their feet._ For was there a man among them who, when he saw +his Lord and Master stooping at his couch-foot, would not most gladly +have changed places with Him? Was there one of them who was not softened +and broken down by the action of the Lord? Is it not certain that shame +must have cast out pride from every heart; that the feet would be very +little thought of, but that the change of feeling would be marked and +obvious? From a group of angry, proud, insolent, implacable, resentful +men, they were in five minutes changed into a company of humbled, meek, +loving disciples of the Lord, each thinking hardly of himself and +esteeming others better. They were effectually cleansed from the stain +they had contracted, and could enter on the enjoyment of the Last +Supper with pure conscience, with restored and increased affection for +one another, and with deepened adoration for the marvellous wisdom and +all-accomplishing grace of their Master. + +Jesus, then, does not mistake present defilement for habitual impurity, +nor partial stain for total uncleanness. He knows whom He has chosen. He +understands the difference between deep-seated alienation of spirit and +the passing mood which for the hour disturbs friendship. He +discriminates between Judas and Peter: between the man who has not been +in the bath, and the man whose feet are soiled in walking from it; +between him who is at heart unmoved and unimpressed by His love, and him +who has for a space fallen from the consciousness of it. He does not +suppose that because we have sinned this morning we have no real root of +grace in us. He knows the heart we bear Him; and if just at present +unworthy feelings prevail, He does not misunderstand as men may, and +straightway dismiss us from His company. He recognises that our feet +need washing, that our present stain must be removed, but not on this +account does He think we need to be all washed and have never been right +in heart towards Him. + +These present stains, then, Christ seeks to remove, that our fellowship +with Him may be unembarrassed; and that our heart, restored to humility +and tenderness, may be in a state to receive the blessing He would +bestow. It is not enough to be once forgiven, to begin the day "clean +every whit." No sooner do we take a step in the life of the day than our +footfall raises a little puff of dust which does not settle without +sullying us. Our temper is ruffled, and words fall from our lips that +injure and exasperate. In one way or other stain attaches to our +conscience, and we are moved away from cordial and open fellowship with +Christ. All this happens to those who are at heart as truly Christ's +friends as those first disciples. But we must have these stains washed +away even as they had. Humbly we must own them, and humbly accept their +forgiveness and rejoice in their removal. As these men had with shame to +lay their feet in Christ's hands, so must we. As His hands had to come +in contact with the soiled feet of the disciples, so has His moral +nature to come in contact with the sins from which He cleanses us. His +heart is purer than were His hands, and He shrinks more from contact +with moral than with physical pollution; and yet without ceasing we +bring Him into contact with such pollution. When we consider what those +stains actually are from which we must ask Christ to wash us, we feel +tempted to exclaim with Peter, "Lord, Thou shalt never wash my feet!" As +these men must have shivered with shame through all their nature, so do +we when we see Christ stoop before us to wash away once again the +defilement we have contracted; when we lay our feet soiled with the miry +and dusty ways of life in His sacred hands; when we see the +uncomplaining, unreproachful grace with which He performs for us this +lowly and painful office. But only thus are we prepared for communion +with Him and with one another. Only by admitting that we need cleansing, +and by humbly allowing Him to cleanse us, are we brought into true +fellowship with Him. With the humble and contrite spirit which has +thrown down all barriers of pride and freely admits His love and +rejoices in His holiness does He abide. Whoso sits down at Christ's +table must sit down clean; he may not have come clean, even as those +first guests were not clean, but he must allow Christ to cleanse him, +must honestly suffer Christ to remove from his heart, from his desire +and purpose, all that He counts defiling. + +But our Lord was not content to let His action speak for itself; He +expressly explains (vv. 12-17) the meaning of what He had now done. He +meant that they should learn to wash one another's feet, to be humble +and ready to be of service to one another even when to serve seemed to +compromise their dignity.[11] No disciple of Christ need go far to find +feet that need washing, feet that are stained or bleeding with the hard +ways that have been trodden. To recover men from the difficulties into +which sin or misfortune has brought them--to wipe off some of the soil +from men's lives--to make them purer, sweeter, readier to listen to +Christ, even unostentatiously to do the small services which each hour +calls for--is to follow Him who girt Himself with the slave's apron. As +often as we thus condescend we become like Christ. By putting Himself in +the servant's place, our Lord has consecrated all service. The disciple +who next washed the feet of the rest would feel that he was representing +Christ, and would suggest to the minds of the others the action of their +Lord; and as often as we lay aside the conventional dignity in which we +are clad, and gird ourselves to do what others despise, we feel that we +are doing what Christ would do, and are truly representing Him. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Compare Mark vi. 2, =genomenou sabbatou=; and the Latin "posita +mensa." + +[8] See ver. 2. + +[9] =hypolyete, paides, kai aponizete=. + +[10] The "tûsht" and "ibrîek" of modern Palestine. + +[11] For the formal Foot-washing by the Lord High Almoner, the Pope, or +other officials, see Augustine's _Letters_ LV.; Herzog art. +_Fusswaschung_; Smith's _Dict. of Christian Antiq._ art. _Maundy +Thursday_. + + + + +VII. + +_JUDAS._ + + + "I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the + Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth My bread lifted up his + heel against Me. From henceforth I tell you before it come to pass, + that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He. Verily, + verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send + receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me. + When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in the spirit, and + testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you + shall betray Me. The disciples looked one on another, doubting of + whom He spake. There was at the table reclining in Jesus' bosom one + of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoneth + to him, and saith unto him, Tell us who it is of whom He speaketh. + He leaning back, as he was, on Jesus' breast saith unto Him, Lord, + who is it? Jesus therefore answereth, He it is, for whom I shall dip + the sop, and give it to him. So when He had dipped the sop, He + taketh and giveth it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. And after + the sop, then entered Satan into him. Jesus therefore saith unto + him, That thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for + what intent He spake this unto him. For some thought, because Judas + had the bag, that Jesus said unto him, Buy what things we have need + of for the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. He + then having received the sop went out straightway: and it was + night."--JOHN xiii. 18-30. + + +When Jesus had washed the disciples' feet, apparently in dead silence +save for the interruption of Peter, He resumed those parts of His dress +He had laid aside, and reclined at the table already spread for the +supper. As the meal began, and while He was explaining the meaning of +His act and the lesson He desired them to draw from it, John, who lay +next Him at table, saw that His face did not wear the expression of +festal joy, nor even of untroubled composure, but was clouded with deep +concern and grief. The reason of this was immediately apparent: already, +while washing Peter's feet, He had awakened the attention and excited +the consciences of the disciples by hinting that on some one of them at +least, if not on more, uncleansed guilt still lay, even though all +partook in the symbolic washing. And now in His explanation of the +foot-washing He repeats this limitation and warning, and also points at +the precise nature of the guilt, though not yet singling out the guilty +person. "I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen; I have not +been deceived: but it was necessary that this part of God's purpose be +fulfilled, and that this Scripture, 'He that eateth bread with Me, hath +lifted up his heel against Me,' receive accomplishment in Me." + +It was impossible that Jesus should undisturbedly eat out of the same +dish with the man whom He knew to have already sold Him to the priests; +it were unfair to the other disciples and a violence to His own feelings +to allow such a man any longer to remain in their company. But our Lord +does not name the traitor and denounce him; he singles him out and sends +him from the table on his hateful mission by a process that left every +man at the table unaware on what errand he was despatched. In this +process there were three steps. First of all, our Lord indicated that +among the disciples there was a traitor. With dismay these true-hearted +men hear the firmly pronounced statement "one of _you_ shall betray Me" +(ver. 21). All of them, as another Evangelist informs us, were exceeding +sorrowful, and looked on one another in bewilderment; and unable to +detect the conscious look of guilt in the face of any of their +companions, or to recall any circumstance which might fix even suspicion +on any of them, each, conscious of the deep, unfathomed capacity for +evil in his own heart, can but frankly ask of the Master, "Lord, is it +I?" It is a question that at once proves their consciousness of actual +innocence and possible guilt. It was a kindness in the Lord to give +these genuine men, who were so shortly to go through trial for His sake, +an opportunity of discovering how much they loved Him and how closely +knit their hearts had really become to Him. This question of theirs +expressed the deep pain and shame that the very thought of the +possibility of their being false to Him gave them. They must at all +hazards be cleared of this charge. And from this shock of the very idea +of being untrue their hearts recoiled towards Him with an enthusiastic +tenderness that made this moment possibly as moving a passage as any +that occurred that eventful night But there was one of them that did not +join in the question "Lord, is it I?"--else must not our Lord have +broken silence? The Twelve are still left in doubt, none noticing in the +eagerness of questioning who has not asked, each only glad to know he +himself is not charged. + +The second step in the process is recorded in the 26th chapter of +Matthew, where we read that, when the disciples asked "Lord, is it I?" +Jesus answered, "He that dippeth his hand with Me in the dish, the same +shall betray Me." It was a large company, and there were necessarily +several dishes on the table, so that probably there were three others +using the same dish as our Lord: John we know was next Him; Peter was +near enough to John to make signs and whisper to him; Judas was also +close to Jesus, a position which he either always occupied as treasurer +and purveyor of the company, or into which he thrust himself this +evening with the purpose of more effectually screening himself from +suspicion. The circle of suspicion is thus narrowed to the one or two +who were not only so intimate as to be eating at the same table, but as +to be dipping in the same dish. + +The third step in the process of discovery went on almost simultaneously +with this. The impatient Peter, who had himself so often unwittingly +given offence to his Master, is resolved to find out definitely who is +pointed at, and yet dare not say to Christ "Who is it?" He beckons +therefore to John to ask Jesus privately, as he lay next to Jesus. John +leans a little back towards Jesus and puts in a whisper the definite +question "Who is it?" and Jesus in the ear of the beloved disciple +whispers the reply, "He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have +dipped it." And when He had dipped the sop, He gave it to Judas +Iscariot. This reveals to John, but to no one else, who the traitor was, +for the giving of the sop was no more at that table than the handing of +a plate or the offer of any article of food is at any table. John alone +knew the significance of it. But Judas had already taken alarm at the +narrowing of the circle of suspicion, and had possibly for the moment +ceased dipping in the same dish with Jesus, lest he should be identified +with the traitor. Jesus therefore dips for him and offers him the sop +which he will not himself take, and the look that accompanies the act, +as well as the act itself, shows Judas that his treachery is discovered. +He therefore mechanically takes up in a somewhat colder form the +question of the rest, and says, "Master, is it I?" His fear subdues his +voice to a whisper, heard only by John and the Lord; and the answer, +"Thou hast said. That thou doest, do quickly," is equally unobserved by +the rest. Judas need fear no violence at their hands; John alone knows +the meaning of his abrupt rising and hurrying from the room, and John +sees that Jesus wishes him to go unobserved. The rest, therefore, +thought only that Judas was going out to make some final purchases that +had been forgotten, or to care for the poor in this season of festivity. +But John saw differently. "The traitor," he says, "went immediately out; +and it was night." As his ill-omened, stealthy figure glided from the +chamber, the sudden night of the Eastern twilightless sunset had fallen +on the company; sadness, silence, and gloom fell upon John's spirit; the +hour of darkness had at length fallen in the very midst of this quiet +feast. + +This sin of Judas presents us with one of the most perplexed problems +of life and character that the strange circumstances of this world have +ever produced. Let us first of all look at the connection of this +betrayal with the life of Christ, and then consider the phase of +character exhibited in Judas. In connection with the life of Christ the +difficulty is to understand why the death of Christ was to be brought +about in this particular way of treachery among His own followers. It +may be said that it came to pass "that Scripture might be fulfilled," +that this special prediction in the 41st Psalm might be fulfilled. But +why was such a prediction made? It was of course the event which +determined the prediction, not the prediction which determined the +event. Was it, then, an accident that Jesus should be handed over to the +authorities in this particular way? Or was there any significance in it, +that justifies its being made so prominent in the narrative? Certainly +if our Lord was to be brought into contact with the most painful form of +sin, He must have experience of treachery. He had known the sorrow that +death brings to the survivors; He had known the pain and disappointment +of being resisted by stupid, obstinate, bad-hearted men; but if He was +to know the utmost of misery which man can inflict upon man, He must be +brought into contact with one who could accept His love, eat His bread, +press His hand with assurance of fidelity, and then sell Him. + +When we endeavour to set before our minds a clear idea of the character +of Judas, and to understand how such a character could be developed, we +have to acknowledge that we could desire a few more facts in order to +certify us of what we can now only conjecture. Obviously we must start +from the idea that with extraordinary capacity for wickedness Judas had +also more than ordinary leanings to what was good. He was an Apostle, +and had, we must suppose, been called to that office by Christ under the +impression that he possessed gifts which would make him very serviceable +to the Christian community. He was himself so impressed with Christ as +to follow Him: making those pecuniary sacrifices of which Peter +boastfully spoke, and which must have been specially sore to Judas. It +is possible, indeed, that he may have followed Jesus as a speculation, +hoping to receive wealth and honour in the new kingdom; but this motive +mingled with the attachment to Christ's person which all the Apostles +had, and mingles in a different form with the discipleship of all +Christians. With this motive, therefore, there probably mingled in the +mind of Judas a desire to be with One who could shield him from evil +influences; he judged that with Jesus he would find continual aid +against his weaker nature. Possibly he wished by one bold abandonment of +the world to get rid for ever of his covetousness. That Judas was +trusted by the other Apostles is manifest from the fact that to him they +committed their common fund,--not to John, whose dreamy and abstracted +nature ill fitted him for minute practical affairs; not to Peter, whose +impulsive nature might often have landed the little company in +difficulties; not even to Matthew, accustomed as he was to accounts; but +to Judas, who had the economical habits, the aptitude for finance, the +love of bargaining, which regularly go hand in hand with the love of +money. This practical faculty for finance and for affairs generally +might, if rightly guided, have become a most serviceable element in the +Apostolate, and might have enabled Judas more successfully than any +other of the Apostles to mediate between the Church and the world. That +Judas in all other respects conducted himself circumspectly is proved by +the fact that, though other Apostles incurred the displeasure of Christ +and were rebuked by Him, Judas committed no glaring fault till this last +week. Even to the end he was unsuspected by his fellow-Apostles; and to +the end he had an active conscience. His last act, were it not so awful, +would inspire us with something like respect for him: he is overwhelmed +with remorse and shame; his sense of guilt is stronger even than the +love of money that had hitherto been his strongest passion: he judges +himself fairly, sees what he has become, and goes to his own place; +recognises as not every man does recognise what is his fit habitation, +and goes to it. + +But this man, with his good impulses, his resolute will, his enlightened +conscience, his favouring circumstances, his frequent feelings of +affection towards Christ and desire to serve Him, committed a crime so +unparalleled in wickedness that men practically make very little attempt +to estimate it or measure it with sins of their own. Commonly we think +of it as a special, exceptional wickedness--not so much the natural +product of a heart like our own and what may be reproduced by ourselves, +as the work of Satan using a man as his scarcely responsible tool to +effect a purpose which needs never again to be effected. + +If we ask what precisely it was in the crime of Judas that makes us so +abhor it, manifestly its most hateful ingredient was its treachery. "It +was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it; but it +was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance." Cæsar +defended himself till the dagger of a friend pierced him; then in +indignant grief he covered his head with his mantle and accepted his +fate. You can forgive the open blow of a declared enemy against whom you +are on your guard; but the man that lives with you on terms of the +greatest intimacy for years, so that he learns your ways and habits, the +state of your affairs and your past history--the man whom you so confide +in and like that you communicate to him freely much that you keep hidden +from others, and who, while still professing friendship, uses the +information he has gained to blacken your character and ruin your peace, +to injure your family or damage your business,--this man, you know, has +much to repent of. So one can forgive the Pharisees who knew not what +they did, and were throughout the declared opponents of Christ; but +Judas attached himself to Christ, knew that His life was one of unmixed +benevolence, was conscious that Christ would have given up anything to +serve him, felt moved and proud from time to time by the fact that +Christ loved him, and yet at the last used all these privileges of +friendship against his Friend. + +And Judas did not scruple to use this power that only the love of Jesus +could have given him, to betray Him to men whom he knew to be +unscrupulous and resolved to destroy Him. The garden where the Lord +prayed for His enemies was not sacred to Judas; the cheek that a seraph +would blush to kiss, and to salute which was the beginning of joy +eternal to the devout disciple, was mere common clay to this man into +whom Satan had entered. The crime of Judas is invested with a horror +altogether its own by the fact that this Person whom he betrayed was the +Son of God and the Saviour of the world, the Best-beloved of God and +every man's Friend. The greatest blessing that God had ever given to +earth Judas was forward to reject: not altogether unaware of the majesty +of Christ, Judas presumed to use Him in a little money-making scheme of +his own. + +The best use that Judas could think of putting Jesus to, the best use he +could make of _Him_ whom all angels worship, was to sell Him for Ģ5.[12] +He could get nothing more out of Christ than that. After three years' +acquaintanceship and observation of the various ways in which Christ +could bless people, this was all he could get from Him. And there are +still such men: men for whom there is nothing in Christ; men who can +find nothing in Him that they sincerely care for; men who, though +calling themselves His followers, would, if truth were told, be better +content and feel they had more substantial profit if they could turn Him +into money. + +So difficult is it to comprehend how any man who had lived as the friend +of Jesus could find it in his heart to betray Him, should resist the +touching expressions of love that were shown him, and brave the awful +warning uttered at the supper-table--so difficult is it to suppose that +any man, however infatuated, would so deliberately sell his soul for Ģ5, +that a theory has been started to explain the crime by mitigating its +guilt. It has been supposed that when he delivered up his Master into +the hands of the chief priests he expected that our Lord would save +Himself by a miracle. He knew that Jesus meant to proclaim a kingdom; he +had been waiting for three years now, eagerly expecting that this +proclamation and its accompanying gains would arrive. Yet he feared the +opportunity was once more passing: Jesus had been brought into the city +in triumph, but seemed indisposed to make use of this popular +excitement for any temporal advantage. Judas was weary of this +inactivity: might he not himself bring matters to a crisis by giving +Jesus into the hands of His enemies, and thus forcing Him to reveal His +real power and assert by miracle His kingship? In corroboration of this +theory, it is said that it is certain that Judas did not expect Jesus to +be condemned; for when he saw that he was condemned he repented of his +act. + +This seems a shallow view to take of Judas' remorse, and a feeble ground +on which to build such a theory. A crime seems one thing before, another +after, its commission. The murderer expects and wishes to kill his +victim, but how often is he seized with an agony of remorse as soon as +the blow is struck? Before we sin, it is the gain we see; after we sin, +the guilt. It is impossible to construe the act of Judas into a mistaken +act of friendship or impatience; the terms in which he is spoken of in +Scripture forbid this idea; and one cannot suppose that a keen-sighted +man like Judas could expect that, even supposing he did force our Lord +to proclaim Himself, his own share in the business would be rewarded. He +could not suppose this after the terrible denunciation and explicit +statement that still rang in his ears when he hanged himself: "The Son +of man goeth as it is written of Him: but woe unto that man by whom the +Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been +born." + +We must then abide by the more commonplace view of this crime. The only +mitigating circumstance that can be admitted is, that possibly among the +many perplexed thoughts entertained by Judas he may have supposed that +Jesus would be acquitted, or would at least not be punished with death. +Still, this being admitted, the fact remains that he cared so little +for the love of Christ, and regarded so little the good He was doing, +and had so little common honour in him, that he sold his Master to His +deadly enemies. And this monstrous wickedness is to be accounted for +mainly by his love of money. Naturally covetous, he fed his evil +disposition during those years he carried the bag for the disciples: +while the rest are taken up with more spiritual matters, he gives more +of his thought than is needful to the matter of collecting as much as +possible; he counts it his special province to protect himself and the +others against all "the probable emergencies and changes of life." This +he does, regardless of the frequent admonitions he hears from the Lord +addressed to others; and as he finds excuses for his own avarice in the +face of these admonitions, and hardens himself against the better +impulses that are stirred within him by the words and presence of +Christ, his covetousness roots itself deeper and deeper in his soul. Add +to this, that now he was a disappointed man: the other disciples, +finding that the kingdom of Christ was to be spiritual, were pure and +high-minded enough to see that their disappointment was their great +gain. The love of Christ had transformed them, and to be like Him was +enough for them; but Judas still clung to the idea of earthly grandeur +and wealth, and finding Christ was not to give him these he was soured +and embittered. He saw that now, since that scene at Bethany the week +before, his covetousness and earthliness would be resisted and would +also betray him. He felt that he could no longer endure this +poverty-stricken life, and had some rage at himself and at Christ that +he had been inveigled into it by what he might be pleased to say to +himself were false pretences. His self-restraint, he felt, was breaking +down; his covetousness was getting the better of him; he felt that he +must break with Christ and His followers; but in doing so he would at +once win what he had lost during these years of poverty, and also +revenge himself on those who had kept him poor, and finally would +justify his own conduct in deserting this society by exploding it and +causing it to cease from among men. + +The sin of Judas, then, first of all teaches us the great power and +danger of the love of money. The mere thirty pieces of silver would not +have been enough to tempt Judas to commit so dastardly and black a +crime; but he was now an embittered and desperate man, and he had become +so by allowing money to be all in all to him for these last years of his +life. For the danger of this passion consists very much in this--that it +infallibly eats out of the soul every generous emotion and high aim: it +is the failing of a sordid nature--a little, mean, earthly nature--a +failing which, like all others, may be extirpated through God's grace, +but which is notoriously difficult to extirpate, and which notoriously +is accompanied by or produces other features of character which are +among the most repulsive one meets. The love of money is also dangerous, +because it can be so easily gratified; all that we do in the world day +by day is in the case of most of us connected with money, so that we +have continual and not only occasional opportunity of sinning if we be +inclined to the sin. Other passions are appealed to only now and again, +but our employments touch this passion at all points. It leaves no long +intervals, as other passions do, for repentance and amendment; but +steadily, constantly, little by little, increases in force. Judas had +his fingers in the bag all day; it was under his pillow and he dreamt +upon it all night; and it was this that accelerated his ruin. And by +this constant appeal it is sure to succeed at one time or other, if we +be open to it. Judas could not suppose that his quiet +self-aggrandisement by pilfering little coins from the bag could ever +bring him to commit such a crime against his Lord: so may every covetous +person fancy that his sin is one that is his own business, and will not +damage his religious profession and ruin his soul as some wild lust or +reckless infidelity would do. But Judas and those who sin with him in +making continually little gains to which they have no right are wrong in +supposing their sin is less dangerous; and for this reason--that +covetousness is more a sin of the _will_ than sins of the flesh or of a +passionate nature; there is more choice in it; it is more the sin of the +whole man unresisting; and therefore it, above all others, is called +idolatry--it, above all others, proves that the man is in his heart +choosing the world and not God. Therefore it is that even our Lord +Himself spoke almost despairingly, certainly quite differently, of +covetous men in comparison with other sinners. + +Disappointment in Christ is not an unknown thing among ourselves. Men +still profess to be Christians who are so only in the degree in which +Judas was. They expect _some_ good from Christ, but not all. They attach +themselves to Christ in a loose, conventional way, expecting that, +though they are Christians, they need not lose anything by their +Christianity, nor make any great efforts or sacrifices. They retain +command of their own life, and are prepared to go with Christ only so +far as they find it agreeable or inviting. The eye of an observer may +not be able to distinguish them from Christ's true followers; but the +distinction is present and is radical. They are seeking to use Christ, +and are not willing to be used by Him. They are not wholly and heartily +His, but merely seek to derive some influences from Him. The result is +that they one day find that, through all their religious profession and +apparent Christian life, their characteristic sin has actually been +gaining strength. And finding this, they turn upon Christ with +disappointment and rage in their hearts, because they become aware that +they have lost both this world and the next--have lost many pleasures +and gains they might have enjoyed, and yet have gained no spiritual +attainment. They find that the reward of double-mindedness is the most +absolute perdition, that both Christ and the world, to be made anything +of, require the whole man, and that he who tries to get the good of both +gets the good of neither. And when a man awakes to see that this is the +result of his Christian profession, there is no deadliness of hatred to +which the bitter disappointment of his soul will not carry him. He has +himself been a dupe, and he calls Christ an impostor. He know himself to +be damned, and he says there is no salvation in Christ. + +But to this disastrous issue _any_ cherished sin may also in its own way +lead; for the more comprehensive lesson which this sin of Judas brings +with it is the rapidity of sin's growth and the enormous proportions it +attains when the sinner is sinning against light, when he is in +circumstances conducive to holiness and still sins. To discover the +wickedest of men, to see the utmost of human guilt, we must look, not +among the heathen, but among those who know God; not among the +profligate, dissolute, abandoned classes of society, but among the +Apostles. The good that was in Judas led him to join Christ, and kept +him associated with Christ for some years; but the devil of +covetousness that was cast out for a while returned and brought with him +seven devils worse than himself. There was everything in his position to +win him to unworldliness: the men he lived with cared not one whit for +comforts or anything that money could buy; but instead of catching their +spirit he took advantage of their carelessness. He was in a public +position, liable to detection; but this, instead of making him honest +perforce, made him only the more crafty and studiedly hypocritical. The +solemn warnings of Christ, so far from intimidating him, only made him +more skilful in evading all good influence, and made the road to hell +easier. The position he enjoyed, and by which he might have been for +ever enrolled among the foremost of mankind, one of the twelve +foundations of the eternal city, he so skilfully misused that the +greatest sinner feels glad that he has yet not been left to commit the +sin of Judas. Had Judas not followed Christ he could never have attained +the pinnacle of infamy on which he now for ever stands. In all +probability he would have passed his days as a small trader with false +weights in the little town of Kerioth, or, at the worst, might have +developed into an extortionous publican, and have passed into oblivion +with the thousands of unjust men who have died and been at last forced +to let go the money that should long ago have belonged to others. Or had +Judas followed Christ truly, then there lay before him the noblest of +all lives, the most blessed of destinies. But he followed Christ and yet +took his sin with him: and thence his ruin. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[12] More exactly, Ģ3 10 8, the legal value of a slave. + + + + +VIII. + +_JESUS ANNOUNCES HIS DEPARTURE._ + + + "When therefore he was gone out, Jesus saith, Now is the Son of man + glorified, and God is glorified in Him; and God shall glorify Him in + Himself, and straightway shall He glorify Him. Little children, yet + a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me: and as I said unto + the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say unto you. A new + commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I + have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men + know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another. Simon + Peter saith unto Him, Lord, whither goest Thou? Jesus answered, + Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow + afterwards. Peter saith unto Him, Lord, why cannot I follow Thee + even now? I will lay down my life for Thee. Jesus answereth, Wilt + thou lay down thy life for Me? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The + cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied Me thrice. Let not your + heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My + Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have + told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and + prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto + Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye + know the way."--JOHN xiii. 31-xiv. 4. + + +When Judas glided out of the supper-room on his terrible mission, a +weight seemed to be lifted from the spirit of Jesus. The words which +fell from Him, however, indicated that He not only felt the relief of +being rid of a disturbing element in the company, but that He recognised +that a crisis in His own career had been reached and successfully passed +through. "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him." +In sending Judas forth He had in point of fact delivered Himself to +death. He had taken the step which cannot be withdrawn, and He is +conscious of taking it in fulfilment of the will of the Father. The +conflict in His own mind is revealed only by the decision of the +victory. No man in soundness of body and of mind can voluntarily give +himself to die without seeing clearly other possibilities, and without +feeling it to be a hard and painful thing to relinquish life. Jesus had +made up His mind. His death is the beginning of His glorification. In +choosing the cross He chooses the crown. "The Son of man is glorified" +in His perfect self-sacrifice that wins all men to Him; and God is +glorified in Him because this sacrifice is a tribute at once to the +justice and the love of God. The Cross reveals God as nothing else +does. + +Not only has this decision glorified the Son of man and God through Him +and in Him, but as a consequence "God will glorify" the Son of man "in +Himself." He will lift Him to participation in the Divine glory. It was +well that the disciples should know that this would "straightway" result +from all that their Master was now to pass through; that the perfect +sympathy with the Father's will which He was now showing would be +rewarded by permanent participation in the authority of God. It must be +through such an one as their Lord, who is absolutely at one with God, +that God fulfils His purpose towards men. By this life and death of +perfect obedience, of absolute devotedness to God and man, Christ +necessarily wins dominion over human affairs and exercises a determining +influence on all that is to be. In all that Christ did upon earth God +was glorified; His holiness, His fatherly love were manifested to men: +in all that God now does upon earth Christ will be glorified; the +uniqueness and power of His life will become more manifest, the +supremacy of His Spirit be more and more apparent. + +This glorification was not the far-off result of the impending +sacrifice. It was to date from the present hour and to begin in the +sacrifice. God will glorify Him "straightway." "Yet _a little while_" +was He to be with His disciples. Therefore does He tenderly address +them, recognising their incompetence, their inability to stand alone, as +"little children"; and in view of the exhibition of bad feeling, and +even of treachery, which the Twelve had at that very hour given, His +commandment, "Love one another," comes with a tenfold significance. I am +leaving you, He says: put away, then, all heart-burnings and +jealousies; cling together; do not let quarrels and envyings divide +you. This was to be their safeguard when He left them and went where +they could not come. "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love +one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this +shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to +another." + +The commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves was no new +commandment. But to love "as I have loved you" was so new that its +practice was enough to identify a man as a disciple of Christ. The +manner and the measure of the love that is possible and that is +commanded could not even be understood until Christ's love was revealed. +But probably what Jesus had even more directly in view was the love that +was to bind His followers together[13] and make them one solid body. It +was on their mutual attachment that the very existence of the Christian +Church depended; and this love of men to one another springing out of +the love of Christ for them, and because of their acknowledgment and +love of a common Lord, was a new thing in the world. The bond to Christ +proved itself stronger than all other ties, and those who cherished a +common love to Him were drawn to one another more closely than even to +blood relations. In fact, Christ, by His love for men, has created a new +bond, and that the strongest by which men can be bound to one another. +As the Christian Church is a new institution upon earth, so is the +principle which forms it a new principle. The principle has, indeed, too +often been hidden from sight, if not smothered, by the institution; too +little has love been regarded as the one thing by which the disciple of +Christ is to be recognised, the one note of the true Church. But that +this form of love was a new thing upon earth is apparent.[14] + +Tenderly as Jesus made the announcement of His departure, it filled the +minds of the disciples with consternation. Even the buoyant and hardy +Peter felt for the moment staggered by the intelligence, and still more +by the announcement that he was not able to accompany his Lord. He was +assured that one day he should follow Him, but at present this was +impossible. This, Peter considered a reflection upon his courage and +fidelity; and although his headlong self-confidence had only a few +minutes before been so severely rebuked, he exclaims, "Lord, why cannot +I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake." This was the +true expression of Peter's present feeling, and he was allowed in the +end to give proof that these vehement words were not mere bluster. But +as yet he had not at all apprehended the separateness of his Lord and +the uniqueness of His work. He did not know precisely what Jesus alluded +to, but he thought a strong arm would not be out of place in any +conflict that was coming. The offers which even true fidelity makes are +often only additional hindrances to our Lord's purposes, and additional +burdens for Him to bear. On Himself alone must He depend. No man can +counsel Him, and none can aid save by first receiving from Him His own +spirit. + +Peter thus rebuked falls into unwonted silence, and takes no further +part in the conversation. The rest, knowing that Peter has more courage +than any of them, fear that if he is thus to fall it cannot be hopeful +for themselves. They feel that if they are left without Jesus they have +no strength to make head against the rulers, no skill in argument such +as made Jesus victorious when assailed by the scribes, no popular +eloquence which might enable them to win the people. Eleven more +helpless men could not well be. "Sheep without a shepherd" was not too +strong an expression to depict their weakness and want of influence, +their incompetence to effect anything, their inability even to keep +together. Christ was their bond of union and the strength of each of +them. It was to be with Him that they had left all. And in forsaking +all--father and mother, wife and children, home and kindred and +calling--they had found in Christ that hundredfold more even in this +life which He had promised. He had so won their hearts, there was about +Him something so fascinating, that they felt no loss when they enjoyed +His presence, and feared no danger in which He was their leader. They +had perhaps not thought very definitely of their future; they felt so +confident in Jesus that they were content to let Him bring in His +kingdom as He pleased; they were so charmed with the novelty of their +life as His disciples, with the great ideas that dropped from His lips, +with the wonderful works He did, with the new light He shed upon all the +personages and institutions of the world, that they were satisfied to +leave their hope undefined. But all this satisfaction and secret +assurance of hope depended on Christ. As yet He had not given to _them_ +anything which could enable them to make any mark upon the world. They +were still very ignorant, so that any lawyer could entangle and puzzle +them. They had not received from Christ any influential position in +society from which they could sway men. There were no great visible +institutions with which they could identify themselves and so become +conspicuous. + +It was with dismay, therefore, that they heard that He was going where +they could not accompany Him. A cloud of gloomy foreboding gathered on +their faces as they lay round the table and fixed their eyes on Him as +on one whose words they would interpret differently if they could. Their +anxious looks are not disregarded. "Let not your heart be troubled," He +says: "believe in God, and in Me, too, believe." Do not give way to +disturbing thoughts; do not suppose that only failure, disgrace, +helplessness, and calamity await you. Trust God. In this, as in all +matters, He is guiding and ruling and working His own good ends through +all present evil. Trust Him, even when you cannot penetrate the +darkness. It is His part to bring you successfully through; it is your +part to follow where He leads. Do not question and debate and vex your +soul, but leave all to Him. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why +art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise +Him who is the health of my countenance and my God." + +"And in Me, too, trust." I would not leave you had I not a purpose to +serve. It is not to secure My own safety or happiness I go. It is not to +occupy the sole available room in My Father's house. There are many +rooms there, and I go to prepare a place for you. Trust Me. In order +that they may fully understand the reasonableness of His departure He +assures them, first of all, that it has a purpose. The parent mourns +over the son who in mere waywardness leaves his home and his occupation; +but with very different feelings does he follow one who has come to see +that the greater good of the family requires that he should go, and who +has carefully ascertained where and how he can best serve those he +leaves behind. To such an absence men can reconcile themselves. The +parting is bitter, but the greater good to be gained by it enables them +to approve its reasonableness and to submit. And what our Lord says to +His disciples is virtually this: I have not wearied of earth and tired +of your company, neither do I go because I must. I could escape Judas +and the Jews. But I have a purpose which requires that I should go. You +have not found Me impulsive, neither am I now acting without good +reason. Could I be of more use to you by staying, I would stay. + +This is a new kind of assertion to be made by human lips: "I am going +into the other world to effect a a purpose." Often the sense of duty has +been so strong in men that they have left this world without a murmur. +But no one has felt so clear about what lies beyond, or has been so +confident of his own power to effect any change for the better in the +other world, that he has left this for a sphere of greater usefulness. +This is what Christ does. + +But He also explains what His purpose is: "In My Father's house are many +mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." The Father's house was a new +figure for heaven. The idea of God's house was, however, familiar to the +Jews. But in the Temple the freedom and familiarity which we associate +with home were absent. It was only when One came who felt that His real +home was in God that the Temple could be called "the Father's house." +Yet there is nothing that the heart of man more importunately craves +than the freedom and ease which this name implies. To live unafraid of +God, not shrinking from Him, but so truly at one with Him that we live +as one household brightened by His presence--this is the thirst for God +which is one day felt in every heart. And on His part God has many +mansions in His house, proclaiming that He desires to have us at home +with Him; that He wishes us to know and trust Him, not to change our +countenances when we meet Him at a corner, save by an added brightness +of joy. And this is what we have to look forward to--that after all our +coldness and distrust have been removed and our hearts thawed by His +presence, we shall live in the constant enjoyment of a Father's love, +feeling ourselves more truly at home with Him than with any one else, +delighting in the perfectness of His sympathy and the abundance of His +provision. + +Into this intimacy with God, this freedom of the universe, this sense +that "all things are ours" because we are His, this entirely attractive +heaven, we are to be introduced by Christ. "I go to prepare a place for +you." It is He who has transformed the darkness of the grave into the +bright gateway of the Father's home, where all His children are to find +eternal rest and everlasting joy. As an old writer says, "Christ is the +quartermaster who provides quarters for all who follow Him." He has gone +on before to make ready for those whom He has summoned to come after +Him. + +If we ask why it was needful that Christ should go forward thus, and +what precisely He had to do in the way of preparation, the question may +be answered in different ways. These disciples in after-years compared +Christ's passing into the Father's presence to the high priest's +entrance within the veil to present the blood of sprinkling and to make +intercession. But in the language of Christ there is no hint that such +thoughts were in His mind. It is the Father's house that is in His mind, +the eternal home of men; and He sees the Father welcoming Him as the +leader of many brethren, and with gladness in His heart going from room +to room, always adding some new touch for the comfort and surprise of +the eagerly expected children. If God, like a grieved and indignant +father whose sons have preferred other company to his, had dismantled +and locked the rooms that once were ours, Christ has made our peace, and +has given to the yearning heart of the Father opportunity to open these +rooms once more and deck them for our home-coming. With the words of +Christ there enters the spirit a conviction that when we pass out of +this life we shall find ourselves as much fuller of life and deeper in +joy as we are nearer to God, the source of all life and joy; and that +when we come to the gates of God's dwelling it will not be as the +vagabond and beggar unknown to the household and who can give no good +account of himself, but as the child whose room is ready for him, whose +coming is expected and prepared for, and who has indeed been sent for. + +This of itself is enough to give us hopeful thoughts of the future +state. Christ is busied in preparing for us what will give us +satisfaction and joy. When we expect a guest we love and have written +for, we take pleasure in preparing for his reception,--we hang in his +room the picture he likes; if he is infirm, we wheel in the easiest +chair; we gather the flowers he admires and set them on his table; we go +back and back to see if nothing else will suggest itself to us, so that +when he comes he may have entire satisfaction. This is enough for us to +know--that Christ is similarly occupied. He knows our tastes, our +capabilities, our attainments, and he has identified a place as ours and +holds it for us. What the joys and the activities and occupations of the +future shall be we do not know. With the body we shall lay aside many of +our appetites and tastes and proclivities, and what has here seemed +necessary to our comfort will at once become indifferent. We shall not +be able to desire the pleasures that now allure and draw us. The need of +shelter, of retirement, of food, of comfort, will disappear with the +body; and what the joys and the requirements of a spiritual body will be +we do not know. But we do know that at home with God the fullest life +that man can live will certainly be ours. + +It is a touching evidence of Christ's truthfulness and fidelity to His +people that is given in the words, "If it were not so, I would have told +you"--that is to say, if it had not been possible for you to follow Me +into the Father's presence and find a favourable reception there, I +would have told you this long ago. I would not have taught you to love +Me, only to have given you the grief of separation. I would not have +encouraged you to hope for what I was not sure you are to receive. He +had all along seen how the minds of the disciples were working; He had +seen that by being admitted to familiarity with Him they had learnt to +expect God's eternal favour; and had this been a deceitful expectation +He would have undeceived them. So it is with Him still. The hopes His +word begets are not vain. These dreams of glory that pass before the +spirit that listens to Christ and thinks of Him are to be realised. If +it were not so, He would have told us. We ourselves feel that we are +scarcely acting an honest part when we allow persons to entertain false +hopes, even when these hopes help to comfort and support them, as in the +case of persons suffering from disease. So our Lord does not beget hopes +He cannot satisfy. If there were still difficulties in the way of our +eternal happiness, He would have told us of these. If there were any +reason to despair, He Himself would have been the first to tell us to +despair. If eternity were to be a blank to us, if God were inaccessible, +if the idea of a perfect state awaiting us were mere talk, He would have +told us so. + +Neither will the Lord leave His disciples to find their own way to the +Father's home: "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, +and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." +Present separation was but the first step towards abiding union. And as +each disciple was summoned to follow Christ in death, he recognised that +this was the summons, not of an earthly power, but of his Lord; he +recognised that to him the Lord's promise was being kept, and that he +was being taken into eternal union with Jesus Christ. From many all the +pain and darkness of death have been taken away by this assurance. They +have accepted death as the needful transition from a state in which much +hinders fellowship with Christ to a state in which that fellowship is +all in all. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] "That ye love _one another_" is the twice-expressed commandment. + +[14] "Any Church that professes to be _the_ Church of Christ cannot be +that Church. The true Church refuses to be circumscribed or parted by +any denominational wall. It knows that Christ is repudiated when His +people are repudiated. Not even a Biblical creed can yield satisfactory +evidence that a specified Church is the true Church. True Christians are +those who love one another across denominational differences, and +exhibit the spirit of Him who gave Himself to death upon the cross that +His murderers might live." + + + + +IX. + +_THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE._ + + + "Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; how + know we the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, and the Truth, + and the Life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me. If ye had + known Me, ye would have known My Father also: from henceforth ye + know Him, and have seen Him."--JOHN xiv. 5-7. + + +It surprises us to find that words which have become familiar and most +intelligible to us should have been to the Apostles obscure and +puzzling. Apparently they were not yet persuaded that their Master was +shortly to die; and, accordingly, when He spoke of going to His Father's +house, it did not occur to them that He meant passing into the spiritual +world. His assuring words, "Where I am, there ye shall be also," +therefore fell short. And when He sees their bewilderment written on +their faces, He tentatively, half interrogatively, adds, "And whither I +go ye know, and the way ye know."[15] Unless they knew where He was +going, there was less consolation even in the promise that He would come +for them after He had gone and prepared a place for them. And when He +thus challenges them candidly to say whether they understood where He +was going, and where He would one day take them also, Thomas, always the +mouthpiece for the despondency of the Twelve, at once replies, "Lord, we +know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way?" + +This interruption by Thomas gives occasion to the great declaration, "I +am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, +but by Me." It is, then, to the Father that Christ is the Way. And He is +the Way by being the Truth and the Life. We must first, then, consider +in what sense He is the Truth and the Life. + +I. I am the Truth. Were these words merely equivalent to "I speak the +truth," it would be much to know this of One who tells us things of so +measureless a consequence to ourselves. The faith of the disciples was +being strained by what He had just been saying to them. Here was a man +in most respects like themselves: a man who got hungry and sleepy, a man +who was to be arrested and executed by the rulers, assuring them that He +was going to prepare for them everlasting habitations, and that He would +return to take them to these habitations. He saw that they found it hard +to believe this. Who does not find it hard to believe all our Lord tells +us of our future? Think how much we trust simply to His word. If He is +not true, then the whole of Christendom has framed its life on a false +issue, and is met at death by blank disappointment. Christ has aroused +in our minds by His promises and statements a group of ideas and +expectations which nothing but His word could have persuaded us to +entertain. Nothing is more remarkable about our Lord than the calmness +and assurance with which He utters the most astounding statements. The +ablest and most enlightened men have their hesitations, their periods of +agonising doubt, their suspense of judgment, their laboured inquiries, +their mental conflicts. With Jesus there is nothing of this. From first +to last He sees with perfect clearness to the utmost bound of human +thought, knows with absolute certainty whatever is essential for us to +know. His is not the assurance of ignorance, nor is it the dogmatism of +traditional teaching, nor the evasive assurance of a superficial and +reckless mind. It is plainly the assurance of One who stands in the full +noon of truth and speaks what He knows. + +But in His endeavours to gain the confidence of men there is discernible +no anger at their incredulity. Again and again He brings forward reasons +why His word should be believed. He appeals to their knowledge of His +candour: "If it were not so, I would have told you." It was the _truth_ +He came into the world to bear witness to. Lies enough were current +already. He came to be the Light of the world, to dispel the darkness +and bring men into the very truth of things. But with all His +impressiveness of asseveration there is no anger, scarcely even wonder +that men did not believe, because He saw as plainly as we see that to +venture our eternal hope on His word is not easy. And yet He answered +promptly and with authority the questions which have employed the +lifetime of many and baffled them in the end. He answered them as if +they were the very alphabet of knowledge. These alarmed and perturbed +disciples ask Him: "Is there a life beyond? is there another side of +death?" "Yes," He says, "through death I go to the Father." "Is there," +they ask, "for us also a life beyond? shall such creatures as we find +sufficient and suitable habitation and welcome when we pass from this +warm, well-known world?" "In My Father's house," He says, "are many +mansions." Confronted with the problems that most deeply exercise the +human spirit, He without faltering pronounces upon them. For every +question which our most anxious and trying experiences dictate He has +the ready and sufficient answer. "He is the Truth." + +But more than this is contained in His words. He says not merely "I +speak the truth," but "I am the Truth." In His person and work we find +all truth that it is essential to know. He is the true Man, the +revelation of perfect manhood, in whom we see what human life truly is. +In His own history He shows us our own capacities and our own destiny. +An angel or an inanimate law might _tell_ us the truth about human life, +but Christ is the Truth. He is man like ourselves. If we are +extinguished at death, so is He. If for us there is no future life, +neither is there for Him. He is Himself human. + +Further and especially, He is the truth about God: "If ye had known Me, +ye had known My Father also." Strenuous efforts are being made in our +day to convince us that all our search after God is vain, because by the +very nature of the case it is impossible to know God. We are assured +that all our imaginations of God are but a reflection of ourselves +magnified infinitely; and that what results from all our thinking is not +God, but only a magnified man. We form in our thoughts an ideal of human +excellence--perfect holiness and perfect love; and we add to this +highest moral character we can conceive a supernatural power and wisdom, +and this we call God. But this, we are assured, is but to mislead +ourselves; for what we thus set before our minds as Divine is not God, +but only a higher kind of man. But God is not a higher kind of man: He +is a different kind of being--a Being to whom it is absurd to ascribe +intelligence, or will, or personality, or anything human. + +We have felt the force of what is thus urged; and feeling most deeply +that for us the greatest of all questions is, What is God? we have been +afraid lest, after all, we have been deluding ourselves with an image of +our own creating very different from the reality. We have felt that +there is a great truth lying at the heart of what is thus urged, a truth +which the Bible makes as much of as philosophy does--the truth that we +cannot find out God, cannot comprehend Him. We say certain things about +Him, as that He is a Spirit; but which of us knows what a pure spirit +is, which of us can conceive in our minds a distinct idea of what we so +freely speak of as a spirit? Indeed, it is because it is impossible for +us to have any sufficient idea of God as He is in Himself that He has +become man and manifested Himself in flesh. + +This revelation of God in man implies that there is an affinity and +likeness between God and man--that man is made in God's image. Were it +not so, we should see in Christ, not God at all, but only man. If God is +manifest in Christ, it is because there is that in God which can find +suitable expression in a human life and person. In fact, this revelation +takes for granted that in a sense it is quite true that God is a +magnified Man--that He is a Being in whom there is much that resembles +what is in man. And it stands to reason that this must be so. It is +quite true that man can only conceive what is like himself; but that is +only half the truth. It is also true that God can only create what is +consistent with His own mind. In His creatures we see a reflection of +Himself. And as we ascend from the lowest of them to the highest, we see +what He considers the highest qualities. Finding in ourselves these +highest qualities--qualities which enable us to understand all lower +creatures and to use them--we gather that in God Himself there must be +something akin to our mind and to our inner man. + +Christ, then, is "the Truth," because He is the Revealer of God. In Him +we learn what God is and how to approach Him. But knowledge is not +enough. It is conceivable that we should have learned much about God and +yet have despaired of ever becoming like Him. It might gradually have +become our conviction that we were for ever shut out from all good, +although that is incompatible with a true knowledge of God; for if God +is known at all, He must be known as Love, as self-communicating. But +the possibility of having knowledge which we cannot use is precluded by +the fact that He who is the Truth is also the Life. In Him who is the +Revealer we at the same time find power to avail ourselves of the +revelation. For: + +II. "I am the Life." The declaration need not be restricted to the +immediate occasion, Christ imparts to men power to use the knowledge of +the Father He gives them. He gives men desire, will, and power to live +with God and in God. But is not all life implied in this? This is life +as men are destined to know it. + +In every man there is a thirst for life. Everything that clogs, impedes, +or retards life we hate; sickness, imprisonment, death, whatever +diminishes, enfeebles, limits, or destroys life, we abhor. Happiness +means abundant life, great vitality finding vent for itself in healthy +ways. Great scope or opportunity of living to good purpose is useless to +the invalid who has little life in himself; and, on the other hand, +abundant vitality is only a pain to the man who is shut up and can spend +his energy only in pacing a cell eight feet by four. Our happiness +depends upon these two conditions--perfect energy and infinite scope. + +But can we assure ourselves of either? Is not the one certainty of life, +as we know it, that it must end? Is it not certain that, no matter what +energy the most vigorous of us enjoy, we shall all one day "lie in cold +obstruction"? Naturally we fear that time, as if all life were then to +end for us. We shrink from that apparent termination, as if beyond it +there could be but a shadowy, spectral life in which nothing is +substantial, nothing lively, nothing delightsome, nothing strong. That +state which we shrink from our Lord chooses as a condition of perfect +life, abundant and untrammelled. And what He has chosen for Himself He +means to bestow upon us. + +Why should we find it so hard to believe in that abundant life? There is +a sufficient source of physical life which upholds the universe and is +not burdened, which in continuance and exuberantly brings forth life in +inconceivably various forms. The world around us indicates a source of +life which seems always to grow and expand rather than to be exhausted. +So there is a source of spiritual life, a force sufficient to uphold all +men in righteousness and in eternal vitality of spirit, and which can +give birth to ever new and varied forms of heroic, holy, godly living--a +force which is ever pressing forward to find expression through all +moral beings, and capable of making all human action as perfect, as +beautiful, and infinitely more significant than the products of physical +life which we see around us. If the flowers profusely scattered by the +wayside are marvels of beauty, if the bodily frame of man and of the +other animals is continually surprising us with some new revelation of +exquisite arrangement of parts, if nature is so lavish and so perfect in +physical life, may we not believe that there is as rich a fountain of +moral and spiritual life? Nay, "the youths may faint and be weary, and +the young men utterly fall," physical life may fail and in the nature of +things must fail, "but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their +strength, they shall run and not be weary." + +It is Jesus Christ who brings us into connection with this source of +life eternal--He bears it in His own person. In Him we receive a new +spirit; in Him our motive to live for righteousness is continually +renewed; we are conscious that in Him we touch what is undying and never +fails to renew spiritual life in us. Whatever we need to give us true +and everlasting life we have in Christ. Whatever we need to enable us to +come to the Father, whatever we shall need between this present stage of +experience and our final stage, we have in Him. + +The more, then, we use Christ, the more life we have. The more we are +with Him and the more we partake of His Spirit, the fuller does our own +life become. It is not by imitating successful men we become influential +for good, but by living with Christ. It is not by adopting the habits +and methods of saints we become strong and useful, but by accepting +Christ and His Spirit. Nothing can take the place of Christ. Nothing can +take His words and say to us, "I am the Life." If we wish life, if we +see that we are doing little good and desire energy to overtake the good +that needs to be done, it is to Him we must go. If we feel as if all our +efforts were vain, and as if we could not bear up any longer against our +circumstances or against our wicked nature we can receive fresh vigour +and hopefulness only from Christ. We need not be surprised at our +failures if we are not receiving from Christ the life that is in Him. +And nothing can give us the life that is in Him but our own personal +application to Him, our direct dealing with Himself. Ordinances and +sacraments help to bring Him clearly before us, but they are not living +and cannot give us life. It is only in so far as through and in them we +reach Christ and receive Him that we partake of that highest of all +forms of life--the life that is in Him, the living One, by whom all +things were made, and who in the very face of death can say, "Because I +live ye shall live also." + +III. Being the Revealer of the Father, and giving men power to approach +God and live in Him, Jesus legitimately designates Himself "the Way." +Jesus never says "I am the Father"; He does not even say "I am God," for +that might have produced misunderstanding. He uniformly speaks as if +there were One on whom He Himself leant, and to whom He prayed, and with +whom, as with another person, He had fellowship. "I am the Way," He +says; and a way implies a goal beyond itself, some further object to +which it leads and brings us. He is not the Being revealed, but the +Revealer; not the terminal object of our worship, but the image of the +invisible God, the Priest, the Sacrifice. + +Christ announces Himself to Thomas as the Way, in order to remove from +the mind of the disciple the uncertainty he felt about the future. He +knew there were heights of glory and blessedness to which the Messiah +would certainly attain, but which seemed dim and remote and even quite +unattainable to sinful men. Jesus defines at once the goal and the way. +All our vague yearnings after what will satisfy us He reduces to this +simple expression: "the Father." This, He implies, is the goal and +destiny of man; to come to the Father, who embraces in His loving care +all our wants, our incapacities, our sorrows; to reach and abide in a +love that is strong, wise, educative, imperishable; to reach this love +and be so transformed by it as to feel more at home with this perfectly +holy God than with any besides. And to bring us to this goal is the +function of Christ, the Way. It is His to bring together what is highest +and what is lowest. It is His to unite those who are separated by the +most real obstacles: to bring us, weak and unstable and full of evil +imaginings, into abiding union with the Supreme, glad to be conformed to +Him and to accomplish His purposes. In proclaiming Himself "the Way," +Christ pronounces Himself able to effect the most real union between +parties and conditions as separate as heaven and earth, sin and +holiness, the poor creature I know myself to be and the infinite and +eternal God who is so high I cannot know Him. + +Further, the way to which we commit ourselves when we seek to come to +the Father through Christ is a _Person_. "I am the Way." It is not a +cold, dead road we have to make the most of for ourselves, pursuing it +often in darkness, in weakness, in fear. It is a living way--a way that +renews our strength as we walk in it, that enlivens instead of +exhausting us, that gives direction and light as we go forward. Often we +seem to find our way barred; we do not know how to get farther forward; +we wonder if there is no book in which we can find direction; we long +for some wise guide who could show us how to proceed. At such times +Christ would have us hear Him saying, "I am the Way. If you abide in Me, +if you continue in My love, you are in the way and must be carried +forward to all good." Often we seem to lose ourselves and cannot tell +whether our faces and our steps are directed aright or not; we become +doubtful whether we have been making any progress or have not rather +been going back. Often we lose heart and begin to doubt whether it is +possible for us men ever to reach any purer, higher life; we are going, +we say, we know not whither; this life is full of blunders and failures. +Many of the best and most earnest and gifted men have owned their +ignorance of the purpose of life and of its end. No voice comes to us +out of the unseen world to give us assurance that there is life there. +How can lonely, ignorant, irresolute, weak, and helpless creatures such +as we are ever attain to anything we can call blessedness? To all such +gloom and doubting Christ, with the utmost confidence, says, "I am the +Way. Wherever you are, at whatever point of experience, at whatever +stage of sin, this way begins where you are, and you have but to take it +and it leads to God, to that unknown Highest you yearn for even while +you shrink from Him. From your person, as you are at this moment, there +leads a way to the Father." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] Or, "And whither I go ye know the way." + + + + +X. + +_THE FATHER SEEN IN CHRIST._ + + + "Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth + us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so longtime with you, and dost + thou not know Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; + how sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in + the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I say unto you I + speak not from Myself: but the Father abiding in Me doeth His works. + Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else + believe Me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, + 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 the Father. + And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the + Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask Me anything in + My name, that will I do. If ye love Me, ye will keep My + commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you + another Comforter, that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit + of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth Him not, + neither knoweth Him: ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall + be in you. I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you. Yet a + little while, and the world beholdeth Me no more; but ye behold Me: + because I live, ye shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I + am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. He that hath My + commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that + loveth Me shall be loved of My Father and I will love him, and will + manifest Myself unto him."--JOHN xiv. 8-21. + + +A third interruption on the part of one of the disciples gives the Lord +occasion to be still more explicit. Philip is only further bewildered by +the words, "from henceforth ye know the Father and have seen Him." He +catches, however, at the idea that the Father can be seen, and eagerly +exclaims, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." In this +exclamation there may be a little of that vexed and almost irritated +feeling that every one at times has felt in reading the words of Christ. +We feel as if He might have made things plainer. We unconsciously +reproach Him with making a mystery, with going about and about a subject +and refusing to speak straight at it. Philip felt that if Christ could +show the Father, then there was no need of any more enigmatical talk. + +Ignorant as this request may be, it sprang from the thirst for God which +was felt by an earnest and godly man. It arose from the craving that now +and again visits every soul to get to the heart of all mystery. Here in +this life we are much in the dark. We feel ourselves to be capable of +better enjoyments, of a higher life. The whole creation groaneth and +travaileth, as if striving towards some better and more satisfying +state. There is a something not yet attained which we feel we must +reach. Were this life all, we should pronounce existence a failure. And +yet there is great uncertainty over our future. There is no familiar +intercourse with those who have passed on and are now in the other +world. We have no opportunity of informing ourselves of their state and +occupations. We go on in great darkness and often with a feeling of +great insecurity and trepidation; feeling lost, in darkness, not knowing +whither we are going, not sure that we are in the way to life and +happiness. Why, we are tempted to ask, should there be so much +uncertainty? Why should we live so remote from the centre of things, and +have to grope our way to life and light, clouded by doubts, beset by +misleading and disturbing influences? "_Show_ us the Father," we are +tempted to say with Philip--show us the Father and it sufficeth us. Show +us the Supreme. Show us the eternal One who governs all. Take us but +once to the centre of things and show us the Father in whom we live. +Take us for once behind the scenes and let us see the hand that moves +all things; let us know all that can be known, that we may see what it +is we are going to, and what is to become of us when this visible world +is done. Give us assurance that behind all this dumb, immovable mask of +outward things there is a living God whose love we can trust and whose +power can preserve us to life everlasting. + +To Philip's eager request Jesus replies: "Have I been so long time with +you, and hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen +the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father?" And it is thus our +Lord addresses all whose unsatisfied craving finds voice in Philip's +request. To all who crave some more immediate, if not more sensible +manifestation of God, to all who live in doubt and feel as if more might +be done to give us certitude regarding the relation we hold to God and +to the future, Christ says: No further revelation is to be made, because +no further revelation is needed or can be made. All has been shown that +can be shown. There is no more of the Father you can see than you have +seen in Me. God has taken that form which is most comprehensible to +you--your own form, the form of man. You have seen the Father. I am the +truth, the reality. It is no longer a symbol telling you something about +a distant God, but the Father Himself is in Me, speaking and acting +among you through Me. + +What do we find in Christ? We find perfection of moral character, +superiority to circumstances, to the elements, to disease, to death. We +find in Him One who forgives sin and brings peace of conscience, who +bestows the Holy Spirit and leads to perfect righteousness. We cannot +imagine anything in God which is not made present to us in Christ In any +part of the universe we should feel secure with Christ. In the most +critical spiritual emergency we should have confidence that He could +right matters. In the physical and in the spiritual world He is equally +at home and equally commanding. We can believe Him when He says that he +that has seen Him has seen the Father. + +What precisely does this utterance mean? Does it only mean that Jesus in +His holy and loving ways and in the whole of His character was God's +very image? As you might say of a son who strongly resembles his father, +"If you have seen the one, you have seen the other." It is true that the +self-sacrifice and humility and devotedness of Jesus did give men new +views of the true character of God, that His conduct was an exact +transcript of God's mind and conveyed to men new thoughts of God. + +But it is plain that the connection between Jesus and God was a +different _kind_ of connection from that which subsists between every +man and God. Every man might in a sense say, "I am in the Father and the +Father in me." But plainly the very fact that Jesus said to Philip, +"Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?" is +proof that it was not this ordinary connection He had in view. Philip +could have had no difficulty in perceiving and acknowledging that God +was in Jesus as He is in every man. But if that were all that Jesus +meant, then it was wholly out of place to appeal to the works the Father +had given Him to do in proof of this assertion. + +When, therefore, Jesus said, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the +Father," He did not merely mean that by His superior holiness He had +revealed the Father as no other man had done (although even this would +be a most surprising assertion for any mere man to make--that He was so +holy that whoever had seen Him had seen the absolutely holy God), but He +meant that God was present with Him in a special manner. + +So important was it that the disciples should firmly grasp the truth +that the Father was in Christ that Jesus proceeds to enlarge upon the +proof or evidence of this. In the course of doing so He imparts to them +three assurances fitted to comfort them in the prospect of His +departure: first, that so far from being weakened by His going to the +Father, they will do greater works than even those which had proved that +the Father was present with Him; second, that He would not leave them +friendless and without support, but would send them the Paraclete, the +Spirit of truth, who should abide with them; and third, that although +the world would not see Him, they would, and would recognise that He was +the maintainer of their own life. + +But all this experience would serve to convince them that the Father was +in Him. He had, He says, lived among them as the representative of the +Father, uttering His will, doing His works. These works might have +convinced them even if they were not spiritual enough to perceive that +His words were Divine utterances. But a time was coming when a +satisfying conviction of the truth that God had been present with them +in the presence of Jesus would be wrought in them. When, after His +departure, they found _themselves_ doing the works of God, greater works +than Jesus had done, when they found that the Spirit of truth dwelt in +them, imparting to them the very mind and life of Christ Himself, then +they should be certified of the truth that Jesus now declared, that the +Father was in Him and He in the Father. "At that day ye shall know that +I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." What their +understanding could not at present quite grasp, the course of events and +their own spiritual experience would make plain to them. When in the +prosecution of Christ's instructions they strove to fulfil His commands +and carry out His will upon earth, they would find themselves +countenanced and supported by powers unseen, would find their life +sustained by the life of Christ. + +Jesus, then, speaks here of three grades of conviction regarding His +claim to be God's representative: three kinds of evidence--a lower, a +higher, and the highest. There is the evidence of His miracles, the +evidence of His words or His own testimony, and the evidence of the new +spiritual life He would maintain in His followers. + +Miracles are not the highest evidence, but they are evidence. One +miracle might not be convincing evidence. Many miracles of the same +kind, such as a number of cures of nervous complaints, or several +successful treatments of blind persons, might only indicate superior +knowledge of morbid conditions and of remedies. A physician in advance +of his age might accomplish wonders. Or had all the miracles of Jesus +been such as the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, it might, with +a shade of plausibility, have been urged that this was legerdemain. But +what we see in Jesus is not power to perform an occasional wonder to +make men stare or to win for Himself applause, but power as God's +representative on earth to do whatever is needful for the manifestation +of God's presence and for the fulfilment of God's will. It may surely at +this time of day be taken for granted that Jesus was serious and true. +The works are given Him by the Father to do: it is as an exhibition of +God's power He performs them. They are therefore performed not in one +form only, but in every needed form. He shows command over all nature, +and gives evidence that spirit is superior to matter and rules it. + +The miracles of Christ are also convincing because they are performed by +a miraculous Person. That an ordinary man should seem to rule nature, or +should exhibit wonders on no adequate occasion, must always seem +unlikely, if not incredible. But that a Person notoriously exceptional, +being what no other man has ever been, should do things that no other +man has done, excites no incredulity. That Christ was supremely and +absolutely holy no one doubts; but this itself is a miracle; and that +this miraculous Person should act miraculously is not unlikely. +Moreover, there was adequate occasion both for the miracle of Christ's +person and the miracle of His life and separate acts. There was an end +to be served so great as to justify this interruption of the course of +things as managed by men. If miracles are possible, then they could +never be more worthily introduced. If at any time it might seem +appropriate and needful that the unseen, holy, and loving God should +assert His power over all that touches us His children, so as to give us +the consciousness of His presence and of His faithfulness, surely that +time was precisely then when Christ came forth from the Father to reveal +His holiness and His love, to show men that supreme power and supreme +holiness and love reside together in God. + +At present men are swinging from an excessive exaltation of miracles to +an excessive depreciation of them. They sometimes speak as if no one +could work a miracle, and sometimes as if any one could work a miracle. +Having discovered that miracles do not convince every one, they leap to +the conclusion that they convince no one; and perceiving that Christ +does not place them on the highest platform of evidence, they proceed to +put them out of court altogether. This is inconsiderate and unwise. The +miracles of Christ are appealed to by Himself as evidence of His truth; +and looking at them in connection with His person, His life, and His +mission or object, considering their character as works of compassion, +and their instructive revelation of the nature and purpose of Him who +did them, we cannot, I think, but feel that they carry in them a very +strong claim upon our most serious attention and do help us to trust in +Christ. + +But Christ Himself, in the words before us, expects that those who have +listened to His teaching and seen His life should need no other evidence +that God is in Him and He in God--should not require to go down and back +to the preliminary evidence of miracles which may serve to attract +strangers. And, obviously, we get closer to the very heart of any +person, nearer to the very core of their being, through their ordinary +and habitual demeanour and conversation than by considering their +exceptional and occasional acts. And it is a great tribute to the power +and beauty of Christ's personality that it actually is not His miracles +which solely or chiefly convince us of His claims upon our confidence, +but rather His own character as it shines through His talks with His +disciples and with all men He met. This, we feel, is the Person for us. +Here we have the human ideal. The characteristics here disclosed are +those which ought everywhere to prevail. + +But the crowning evidence of Christ's unity with the Father can be +enjoyed only by those who share His life. The conclusive evidence which +for ever scatters doubt and remains abidingly as the immovable ground of +confidence in Christ is our individual acceptance of His Spirit. +Christ's life in God, His identification with the ultimate source of +life and power, is to become one of the unquestioned facts of +consciousness, one of the immovable data of human existence. We shall +one day be as sure of His unity with the Father, and that in Christ our +life is hid in God, as we are sure that now we are alive. Faith in +Christ is to become an unquestioned certainty. How then is this +assurance to be attained? It is to be attained when we ourselves as +Christ's agents do greater works than He Himself did, and when by the +power of His spiritual presence with us we live as He lived. + +Christ calls our attention to this with His usual formula when about to +declare a surprising but important truth: "Verily, verily, I say unto +you, He that believeth on Me shall do greater works than these." +Beginning with such evidence and such trust as we can attain, we shall +be encouraged by finding the practical strength which comes of union +with Christ. It speedily became apparent to the disciples that our Lord +meant what He said when He assured them that they would do greater works +than He had done. His miracles had amazed them and had done much good. +And yet, after all, they were necessarily very limited in number, in the +area of their exercise, and in the permanence of their results. Many +were healed; but many, many more remained diseased. And even those who +were healed were not rendered permanently unassailable by disease. The +eyes of the blind which were opened for a year or two must close shortly +in death. The paralysed, though sent from Christ's presence healed, must +yield to the debilitating influences of age and betake themselves again +to the crutch or the couch. Lazarus given back for a time to his +sorrowing sisters must again, and this time without recall, own the +power of death. And how far did the influence of Christ penetrate into +these healed persons? Did they all obey His words and sin no more? or +did some worse thing than the disease He freed them from fall upon some +of them? Was there none who used his restored eyesight to minister to +sin, his restored energies to do more wickedness than otherwise would +have been possible? In one word, the miracles of Christ, great as they +were and beneficent as they were, were still confined to the body, and +did not directly touch the spirit of man. + +But was this the object of Christ's coming? Did He come to do a little +less than several of the great medical discoverers have done? Assuredly +not. These works of healing which He wrought on the bodies of men were, +as John regularly calls them, "signs"; they were not acts terminating in +themselves, and finding their full significance in the happiness +communicated to the healed persons; they were signs pointing to a power +over men's spirits, and suggesting to men analogous but everlasting +benefits. Christ wrought His miracles that men, beginning with what they +could see and appreciate, might be led on to believe in and trust Him +for power to help them in all their matters. And now He expressly +announces to His disciples that these works which He had been doing were +not miracles of the highest kind; that miracles of the highest kind were +works of healing and renewal wrought not on the bodies but on the souls +of men, works whose effects would not be deleted by disease and death, +but would be permanent, works which should not be confined to Palestine, +but should be coextensive with the human race. And these greater works +He would now proceed to accomplish through His disciples. By His removal +from earth His work was not to be stopped, but to pass into a higher +stage. He had come to earth not to make a passing display of Divine +power, not to give a tantalising glimpse of what the world might be were +His power acting freely and continuously in it; but He had come to lead +us to apprehend the value of spiritual health and to trust Him for that. +And now that He had won men's trust and taught a few to love Him and to +value His Spirit, He removes Himself from their sight, and puts Himself +beyond the reach of those who merely sought for earthly benefits, that +He may through the Spirit come to all who understood how much greater +are spiritual benefits. + +This crowning evidence of Christ's being with the Father and in Him the +disciples very soon enjoyed. On the day of Pentecost they found such +results following from their simple word as had never followed the word +of Christ. Thousands were renewed in heart and life. And from that day +to this these greater works have never ceased. And why? "Because I go to +the Father." And two reasons are given in these simple words. In the +first place, no such results could be accomplished by Christ because not +till He died was the Father's love fully known. It was the death and +resurrection of Christ that convinced men of the truth of what Christ +had proclaimed in His life and in His words regarding the Father. The +tender compunction which was stirred by His death gave a purchase to the +preacher of repentance which did not previously exist. It is Christ's +death and resurrection which have been the converting influence through +all the ages, and these Christ Himself could not preach. It was only +when He had gone to the Father that the greater works of His kingdom +could be done. Besides, it was only then that the greater works could be +understood and longed for. The fact is, that the death and resurrection +of Christ radically altered men's conceptions of the spiritual world, +and gave them a belief in a future life of the spirit such as they +previously had not and could not have. When men came experimentally into +contact with One who had passed through death, and who now entered the +unseen world full of plans and of vitality to execute them, a new sense +of the value of spiritual benefits was born within them. The fact of +being associated with a living Christ at God's right hand has refined +the spiritual conceptions of men, and has given a quality to holiness +which was not previously conspicuous. The spiritual world is now real +and near, and men no longer think of Christ as a worker of miracles on +physical nature, but as the King of the world unseen and the willing +Source of all spiritual good. We sometimes wonder Christ preached so +little and spoke so little as men do now in directing sinners to Him; +but He knew that while He lived this was almost useless, and that events +would proclaim Him more effectually than any words. + +But when Christ gives as a reason for the greater works of His disciples +that He Himself went to the Father, He also means that, being with the +Father, He would be in the place of power, able to respond to the +prayers of His people. "I go unto the Father, and whatsoever ye shall +ask in My name that will I do." No man in Christ's circumstances would +utter such words at random. They are uttered with a perfect knowledge of +the difficulties and in absolute good faith. But praying "in Christ's +name" is not so easy an achievement as we are apt to think. Praying in +Christ's name means, no doubt, that we go to God, not in our own name, +but in His. He has given us power to use His name, as when we send a +messenger we bid him use our name. Sometimes when we send a person to a +friend we are almost afraid to give him our name, knowing that our +friend will be anxious for our sakes to do all he can and perhaps too +much for the applicant. And in going to God in the name of Christ, as +those who can plead His friendship and are identified with Him, we know +we are sure of a loving and liberal reception. + +But praying in Christ's name means more than this. It means that we pray +for such things as will promote Christ's kingdom. When we do anything in +another's name, it is for him we do it. When we take possession of a +property or a legacy in the name of some society, it is not for our own +private advantage but for the society we take possession. When an +officer arrests any one in the Queen's name, it is not to satisfy his +private malice he does so; and when he collects money in the name of +government, it is not to fill his own pocket. Yet how constantly do we +overlook this obvious condition of acceptable prayer! To pray in +Christ's name is to seek what He seeks, to ask aid in promoting what He +has at heart. To come in Christ's name and plead selfish and worldly +desires is absurd. To pray in Christ's name is to pray in the spirit in +which He Himself prayed and for objects He desires. When we measure our +prayers by this rule, we cease to wonder that so few seem to be +answered. Is God to answer prayers that positively lead men away from +Him? Is He to build them up in the presumption that happiness can be +found in the pursuit of selfish objects and worldly comfort? It is when +a man stands, as these disciples stood, detached from worldly hopes and +finding all in Christ, so clearly apprehending the sweep and benignity +of Christ's will as to see that it comprehends all good to man, and that +life can serve no purpose if it do not help to fulfil that will--it is +then a man prays with assurance and finds his prayer answered. Christ +had won the love of these men and knew that their chief desire would be +to serve Him, that their prayers would always be that they might fulfil +His purposes. Their fear was, not that He would summon them to live +wholly for the ends for which He had lived, but that when He was gone +they should find themselves unfit to contend with the world. + +And therefore He gives them the final encouragement that He would still +be with them, not indeed in a visible form apparent to all eyes, but in +a valid and powerful spiritual manner appreciable by those who loved +Christ and strove to do His will. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. +And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter," +another _Advocate_, one _called to_ your aid, and who shall so +effectually aid you that in His presence and help you will know Me +present with you. "I will not leave you comfortless, like orphans: I +will come to you." Christ Himself was still to be with them. He was not +merely to leave them His memory and example, but was to be with them, +sustaining and guiding and helping them even as He had done. The only +difference was to be this--that whereas up to this time they had +verified His presence by their senses, seeing His body, hearing His +words, and so forth, they should henceforward verify His presence by a +spiritual sense which the world of those who did not love Him could not +make use of. "Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye +see Me: because I live, ye shall live also." They would find that their +life was bound up in His; and as that new life of theirs grew strong and +proved itself victorious over the world and powerful to subdue men's +hearts to Christ and win the world to Christ's kingdom, they should feel +a growing persuasion, a deepening consciousness, that this life of +theirs was but the manifestation of the continued life of Christ. "At +that day they would know that Christ was in the Father, and they in Him, +and He in them." + +Consciousness, then, of Christ's present life and of His close relation +to ourselves is to be won only by loving Him and living in Him and for +Him. Lower grades of faith there are on which most of us stand, and by +which, let us hope, we are slowly ascending to this assured and +ineradicable consciousness. Drawn to Christ we are by the beauty of His +life, by His evident mastery of all that concerns us, by His knowledge, +by the revelation He makes; but doubts assail us, questionings arise, +and we long for the full assurance of the personal love of God and of +the continued personal life and energy of Christ which would give us an +immovable ground to stand on. According to Christ's explanation given in +this passage to His disciples, this deepest conviction, this +unquestionable consciousness of His presence, is attained only by those +who proceed upon the lower grades of faith, and with true love for Him +seek to find their life in Him. It is a conviction which can only be won +experimentally. The disciples passed from the lower to the higher faith +at a bound. The sight of the risen Lord, the new world vividly present +to them in His person, gave their devotedness an impulse which carried +them at once and for ever to certainty. There are many still who are so +drawn by spiritual affinity to Christ that unhesitatingly and +unrepentingly they give themselves wholly to Him, and have the reward of +a conscious life in Christ. Others have more slowly to win their way +upwards, fighting against unbelief, striving to give themselves more +undividedly to Christ, and encouraging themselves with the hope that +from their hearts also all doubts will one day for ever vanish. Certain +it is that Christ's life can only be given to those who are willing to +receive it--certain it is that only those who seek to do His work seek +to be sustained by His life. If we are not striving to attain those ends +which He gave His life to accomplish, we cannot be surprised if we are +not sensible of receiving His aid. If we aim at worldly ends, we shall +need no other energy than what the world supplies; but if we throw +ourselves heartily into the Christian order of things and manner of +life, we shall at once be sensible of our need of help, and shall know +whether we receive it or not. + +Christ's promise is explicit--a promise given as the stay of His friends +in their bitterest need: "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth +them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of +My Father, and I will love Him, and will manifest Myself to him." It +will still be a spiritual manifestation which can be perceived only by +those whose spirits are exercised to discern such things; but it will be +absolutely satisfying. We shall find one day that Christ's work has been +successful, that He has brought men and God into a perfect harmony. +"That day" shall arrive for us also, when we shall find that Christ has +actually accomplished what He undertook, and has set our life and +ourselves on an enduring foundation--has given us eternal life in God, a +life of perfect joy. Things are under God's guidance progressive, and +Christ is the great means He uses for the progress of all that concerns +ourselves. And what Christ has done is not to be fruitless or only half +effective; He will see of the travail of His soul and be +satisfied--satisfied because in us the utmost of happiness and the +utmost of good have been attained, because greater and richer things +than man has conceived have been made ours. + +These utterances are fitted to dispel a form of unbelief which seriously +hinders many sincere inquirers. It arises from the difficulty of +believing in Christ as now alive and able to afford spiritual +assistance. Many persons who enthusiastically admit the perfectness of +Christ's character and of the morality He taught, and who desire above +all else to make that morality their own, are yet unable to believe that +He can give them any real and present assistance in their efforts after +holiness. A teacher is a very different thing from a Saviour. They are +satisfied with Christ's teaching; but they need more than teaching--they +need not only to see the road, but to be enabled to follow it. Unless a +man can find some real connection between himself and God, unless he can +rely upon receiving inward support from God, he feels that there is +nothing which can truly be called salvation. + +This form of unbelief assails almost every man. Very often it results +from the slow-growing conviction that the Christian religion is not +working in ourselves the definite results we expected. When we read the +New Testament, we see the reasonableness of faith, we cannot but +subscribe to the _theory_ of Christianity; but when we endeavour to +practise it we fail. We have tried it, and it does not seem to work. At +first we think this is something peculiar to ourselves, and that through +some personal carelessness or mistake we have failed to receive all the +benefit which others receive. But as time goes on the suspicion +strengthens in some minds that faith is a delusion: prayer seems to be +unanswered; effort seems to be unacknowledged. The power of an almighty +spirit within the human spirit cannot be traced. Perhaps this +suspicion, more than all other causes put together, produces undecided, +heartless Christians. + +What, then, is to be said in view of such doubts? Perhaps it may help us +past them if we consider that spiritual things are spiritually +discerned, and that the one proof of His ascension to God's right hand +which Christ Himself promised was the bestowal of His Spirit. If we find +that, however slowly, we are coming into a truer harmony with God; if we +find that we can more cordially approve the Spirit of Christ, and give +to that Spirit a more real place in our life; if we are finding that we +can be satisfied with very little in the way of selfish and worldly +advancement, and that it is a greater satisfaction to us to do good than +to get good; if we find ourselves in any degree more patient, more +temperate, more humble,--then Christ is manifesting in us His present +life in the only way in which He promised to do so. Even if we have more +knowledge, more perception of what moral greatness is, if we see through +the superficial formalisms which once passed for religion with us, this +is a step in the right direction, and if wisely used may be the +foundation of a superstructure of intelligent service and real +fellowship with God. Every discovery and abandonment of error, every +unmasking of delusion, every attainment of truth, is a step nearer to +permanent reality, and is a true spiritual gain; and if in times past we +have had little experience of spiritual joy and confidence, if our +thoughts have been sceptical and questioning and perplexed, all this may +be the needful preliminary to a more independent and assured and truer +faith, and may be the very best proof that Christ is guiding our mind +and attending to our prayers. It is for "the world" to refuse to +believe in the Spirit, because "it beholdeth Him not, neither knoweth +Him." + +It may also be said that to think of Christ as a good man who has passed +away like other good men, leaving an influence and no more behind Him, +to think of Him as lying still in His tomb outside Jerusalem, is to +reverse not only the belief of those who knew Christ best, but the +belief of godly men in all ages. For in all ages both before and after +Christ it has been the clear conviction of devout souls that God sought +them much more ardently and persistently than they sought God. The truth +which shines most conspicuously in the experience of all the saved is +that they were saved by God and not by themselves. If human experience +is to be trusted at all, if it in any case reflects the substantial +verities of the spiritual world, then we may hold it as proved in the +uniform experience of men that God somehow communicated to them a living +energy, and not only taught them what to do, but gave them strength to +do it. If under the Christian dispensation we are left to make the best +we can for ourselves of the truth taught by Christ and of the example He +set us in His life and death, then the Christian dispensation, so far +from being an advance on all that went before, fails to supply us with +that very thing which is sought through all religions--actual access to +a living source of spiritual strength. I believe that the resurrection +of Christ is established by stronger evidence than exists for any other +historical fact; but apart altogether from the historical evidence, the +entire experience of God's people goes to show that Christ, as the +mediator between God and man, as the representative of God and the +channel of His influence upon us, must be now alive, and must be in a +position to exert a personal care and a personal influence, and to yield +a present and inward assistance. Were it otherwise, we should be left +without a Saviour to struggle against the enemies of the soul in our own +strength, and this would be a complete reversal of the experience of all +those who in past ages have been engaged in the same strife and have +been victorious. + + + + +XI. + +_THE BEQUEST OF PEACE._ + + + "Judas (not Iscariot) saith unto Him, Lord, what is come to pass + that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? + Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My + word: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and + make our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My words: + and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent + Me. These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding with you. + But 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 all that I said unto you. Peace I leave with you; My + peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let + not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. Ye heard how + I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved Me, ye + would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the Father is + greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, + that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe. I will no more speak + much with you, for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath + nothing in Me; but that the world may know that I love the Father, + and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us + go hence."--JOHN xiv. 22-31. + + +The encouraging assurances of our Lord are interrupted by Judas +Thaddeus. As Peter, Thomas, and Philip had availed themselves of their +Master's readiness to solve their difficulties, so now Judas utters his +perplexity. He perceives that the manifestation of which Jesus has +spoken is not public and general, but special and private; and he says, +"Lord, what has happened, that Thou art to manifest Thyself to us, and +not to the world?" It would seem as if Judas had been greatly impressed +by the public demonstration in favour of Jesus a day or two previously, +and supposed that something must have occurred to cause Him now to wish +to manifest Himself only to a select few. + +Apparently Judas' construction of the future was still entangled with +the ordinary Messianic expectation. He thought Jesus, although departing +for a little, would return speedily in outward Messianic glory, and +would triumphantly enter Jerusalem and establish Himself there. But how +this could be done privately he could not understand. And if Jesus had +entirely altered His plan, and did not mean immediately to claim +Messianic supremacy, but only to manifest Himself to a few, was this +possible? + +By His reply our Lord shows for the hundredth time that outward +proclamation and external acknowledgment were not in His thoughts. It is +to the individual and in response to individual love He will manifest +Himself. It is therefore a spiritual manifestation He has in view. +Moreover, it was not to a specially privileged few, whose number was +already complete, that He would manifest Himself. Judas supposed that to +him and his fellow-Apostles, "us," Jesus would manifest Himself, and +over against this select company he set "the world." But this mechanical +line of demarcation our Lord obliterates in His reply, "If _any man_ +loveth Me, ... We will come to him." He enounces the great spiritual law +that they who seek to have Christ's presence manifested to them must +love and obey Him. He that longs for more satisfying knowledge of +spiritual realities, he that thirsts for certainty and to see God as if +face to face, must expect no sudden or magical revelation, but must be +content with the true spiritual education which proceeds by loving and +living. To the disciples the method might seem slow--to us also it often +seems slow; but it is the method which nature requires. Our knowledge of +God, our belief that in Christ we have a hold of ultimate truth and are +living among eternal verities, grow with our love and service of Christ. +It may take us a lifetime--it will take us a lifetime--to learn to love +Him as we ought, but others have learned and we also may learn, and +there is no possible experience so precious to us. + +It is, then, to those who serve Him that Christ manifests Himself, and +manifests Himself in an abiding, spiritual, influential manner. That +those who do not serve Him do not believe in His presence and power is +to be expected. But were those who have served Him asked if they had +become more convinced of His spiritual and effectual presence, their +voice would be that this promise had been fulfilled. And this is the +very citadel of the religion of Christ. If Christ does not now abide +with and energetically aid those who serve Him, then their faith is +vain. If His spiritual presence with them is not manifested in spiritual +results, if they have no evidence that He is personally and actively +employed in and with them, their faith is vain. To believe in a Christ +long since removed from earth and whose present life cannot now +influence or touch mankind is not the faith which Christ Himself +invites. And if His promise to abide with those who love and serve Him +is not actually performed, Christendom has been produced by a mistake +and has lived on a delusion. + +At this point (ver. 25) Jesus pauses; and feeling how little He had time +to say of what was needful, and how much better they would understand +their relation to Him after He had finally passed from their bodily +sight, He says: "These things I have spoken to you, while yet I remain +with you; but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send +in My name, He will teach you all things, and will remind you of all +that I have said to you." Jesus cannot tell them all He would wish them +to know; but the same Helper whom He has already promised will +especially help them by giving them understanding of what has already +been told them, and by leading them into further knowledge. He is to +come "in the name" of Jesus--that is to say, as His representative--and +to carry on His work in the world.[16] + +Here, then, the Lord predicts that one day His disciples will know more +than He has taught them. They were to advance in knowledge beyond the +point to which He had brought them. His teaching would necessarily be +the foundation of all future attainment, and whatever would not square +with that they must necessarily reject; but they were to add much to the +foundation He had laid. We cannot therefore expect to find in the +teaching of Jesus all that His followers ought to know regarding Himself +and His connection with them. All that is absolutely necessary we shall +find there; but if we wish to know all that He would have us know, we +must look beyond. The teaching which we receive from the Apostles is the +requisite and promised complement of the teaching which Christ Himself +delivered. He being the subject taught as much as the teacher, and His +whole experience as living, dying, rising, and ascending, constituting +the facts which Christian teaching was to explain, it was impossible +that He Himself should be the final teacher. He could not at once be +text and exposition. He lived among men, and by His teaching shed much +light on the significance of His life; He died, and was not altogether +silent regarding the meaning of His death, but it was enough that He +furnished matter for His Apostles to explain, and confined Himself to +sketching the mere outline of Christian truth. + +Again and again throughout this last conversation Jesus tries to break +off, but finds it impossible. Here (ver. 27), when He has assured them +that, although He Himself leaves them in ignorance of many things, the +Spirit will lead them into all truth, He proceeds to make His parting +bequest. He would fain leave them what will enable them to be free from +care and distress; but He has none of those worldly possessions which +men usually lay up for their children and those dependent on them. +House, lands, clothes, money, He had none. He could not even secure for +those who were to carry on His work an exemption from persecution which +He Himself had not enjoyed. He did not leave them, as some initiators +have done, stable though new institutions, an empire of recent origin +but already firmly established. "Not as the world giveth, give I unto +you." + +But He does give them that which all other bequests aim at producing: +"Peace I leave with you." Men may differ as to the best means of +attaining peace, or even as to the kind of peace that is desirable, but +all agree in seeking an untroubled state. We seek a condition in which +we shall have no unsatisfied desires gnawing at our heart and making +peace impossible, no stings of conscience, dipped in the poison of past +wrong-doing, torturing us hour by hour, no foreboding anxiety darkening +and disturbing a present which might otherwise be peaceful. The +comprehensive nature of this possession is shown by the fact that peace +can be produced only by the contribution of past, present, and future. +As health implies that all the laws which regulate bodily life are being +observed, and as it is disturbed by the infringement of any one of +these, so peace of mind implies that in the spiritual life all is as it +should be. Introduce remorse or an evil conscience, and you destroy +peace; introduce fear or anxiety, and peace is impossible. Introduce +anything discordant, ambition alongside of indolence, a sensitive +conscience alongside of strong passions, and peace takes flight. He, +therefore, who promises to give peace promises to give unassailable +security, inward integrity and perfectness, all which goes to make up +that perfect condition in which we shall be for ever content to abide. + +Jesus further defines the peace which He was leaving to the disciples as +that peace which He had Himself enjoyed: "_My_ peace I give unto +you,"--as one hands over a possession he has himself tested, the shield +or helmet that has served him in battle. "That which has protected Me in +a thousand fights I make over to you." The peace which Christ desires +His disciples to enjoy is that which characterised Himself; the same +serenity in danger, the same equanimity in troublous circumstances, the +same freedom from anxiety about results, the same speedy recovery of +composure after anything which for a moment ruffled the calm surface of +His demeanour. This is what He makes over to His people; this is what He +makes possible to all who serve Him. + +There is nothing which more markedly distinguishes Jesus and proves His +superiority than His calm peace in all circumstances. He was poor, and +might have resented the incapacitating straitness of poverty. He was +driven from place to place, His purpose and motives were suspected, His +action and teaching resisted, the good He strove to do continually +marred; but He carried Himself through all with serenity. It is said +that nothing shakes the nerve of brave men so much as fear of +assassination: our Lord lived among bitterly hostile men, and was again +and again on the brink of being made away with; but He was imperturbably +resolute to do the work given Him to do. Take Him at an unguarded +moment, tell Him the boat is sinking underneath Him, and you find the +same undisturbed composure. He was never troubled at the results of His +work or about His own reputation; when He was reviled, He reviled not +again. + +This unruffled serenity was so obvious a characteristic of the demeanour +of Jesus, that as it was familiar to His friends, so it was perplexing +to His judges. The Roman governor saw in His bearing an equanimity so +different from the callousness of the hardened criminal and from the +agitation of the self-condemned, that he could not help exclaiming in +astonishment, "Dost Thou not know that I have power over Thee?" +Therefore without egotism our Lord could speak of "My peace." The world +had come to Him in various shapes, and He had conquered it. No +allurement of pleasure, no opening to ambition had distracted Him and +broken up His serene contentment; no danger had filled His spirit with +anxiety and fear. On one occasion only could He say, "Now is My soul +troubled." Out of all that life had presented to Him He had wrought out +for Himself and for us peace. + +By calling it specifically "My peace" our Lord distinguishes it from the +peace which men ordinarily pursue. Some seek it by accommodating +themselves to the world, by fixing for themselves a low standard and +disbelieving in the possibility of living up to any high standard in +this world. Some seek peace by giving the fullest possible gratification +to all their desires; they seek peace in external things--comfort, ease, +plenty, pleasant connections. Some stifle anxiety about worldly things +by impressing on themselves that fretting does no good, and that what +cannot be cured must be endured; and any anxiety that might arise about +their spiritual condition they stifle by the imagination that God is too +great or too good to deal strictly with their shortcomings. Such kinds +of peace, our Lord implies, are delusive. It is not outward things which +can give peace of mind, no more than it is a soft couch which can give +rest to a fevered body. Restfulness must be produced from within. + +There are, in fact, two roads to peace--we may conquer or we may be +conquered. A country may always enjoy peace, if it is prepared always to +submit to indignities, to accommodate itself to the demands of stronger +parties, and absolutely to dismiss from its mind all ideas of honour or +self-respect. This mode of obtaining peace has the advantages of easy +and speedy attainment--advantages to which every man naturally attaches +too high a value. For in the individual life we are daily choosing +either the one peace or the other; the unrighteous desires which +distract us we are either conquering or being conquered by. We are +either accepting the cheap peace that lies on this side of conflict, or +we are attaining or striving towards the peace that lies on the other +side of conflict. But the peace we gain by submission is both +short-lived and delusive. It is short-lived, for a gratified desire is +like a relieved beggar, who will quickly find his way back to you with +his request rather enlarged than curtailed; and it is delusive, because +it is a peace which is the beginning of bondage of the worst kind. Any +peace that is worth the having or worth the speaking about lies beyond, +at the other side of conflict. We cannot long veil this from ourselves: +we may decline the conflict and put off the evil day; but still we are +conscious that we have not the peace our natures crave until we subdue +the evil that is in us. We look and look for peace to distil upon us +from without, to rise and shine upon us as to-morrow's sun, without +effort of our own, and yet we know that such expectation is the merest +delusion, and that peace must begin within, must be found in ourselves +and not in our circumstances. We know that until our truest purposes are +in thorough harmony with our conscientious convictions we have no right +to peace. We know that we can have no deep and lasting peace until we +are satisfied with our own inward state, or are at least definitely on +the road to satisfaction. + +Again, the peace of which Christ here speaks may be called His, as being +wrought out by Him, and as being only attainable by others through His +communication of it to them. We do at first inquire with surprise how it +is possible that any one can bequeath to us his own moral qualities. +This, in fact, is what one often wishes were possible--that the father +who by long discipline, by many painful experiences, has at last become +meek and wise, could transmit these qualities to his son who has life +all before him. As we read the notices of those who pass away from among +us, it is the loss of so much moral force we mourn; it may be, for all +we know, as indispensable elsewhere, but nevertheless it is our loss, a +loss for which no work done by the man, nor any works left behind him, +compensate; for the man is always, or generally, greater than his works, +and what he has done only shows us the power and possibilities that are +in him. Each generation needs to raise its own good men, not +independent, certainly, of the past, but not altogether inheriting what +past generations have done; just as each new year must raise its own +crops, and only gets the benefit of past toil in the shape of improved +land, good seed, better implements and methods of agriculture. Still, +there is a transmission from father to son of moral qualities. What the +father has painfully acquired may be found in the son by inheritance. +And this is _analogous_ to the transfusion of moral qualities from +Christ to His people. For it is true of all the graces of the Christian, +that they are first acquired by Christ, and only from Him derived to the +Christian. It is of His fulness we all receive, and grace for grace. He +is the Light at whom we must all kindle, the Source from whom all flows. + +How, then, does Christ communicate to us His peace or any of His own +qualities--qualities in some instances acquired by personal experience +and personal effort? He gives us peace, first, by reconciling us to God +by removing the burden of our past guilt and giving us access to God's +favour. His work sheds quite a new light upon God; reveals the fatherly +love of God following us into our wandering and misery, and claiming us +in our worst estate as His, acknowledging us and bidding us hope. +Through Him we are brought back to the Father. He comes with this +message from God, that He loves us. Am I, then, troubled about the past, +about what I have done? As life goes on, do I only see more and more +clearly how thoroughly I have been a wrong-doer? Does the present, as I +live through it, only shed a brighter and brighter light on the evil of +the past? Do I fear the future as that which can only more and more +painfully evolve the consequences of my past wrong-doing? Am I gradually +awaking to the full and awful import of being a sinner? After many +years of a Christian profession, am I coming at last to see that above +all else my life has been a life of sin, of shortcoming or evasion of +duty, of deep consideration for my own pleasure or my own purpose, and +utter or comparative regardlessness of God? Are the slowly evolving +circumstances of my life at length effecting what no preaching has ever +effected? are they making me understand that sin is the real evil, and +that I am beset by it and my destiny entangled and ruled by it? To me, +then, what offer could be more appropriate than the offer of peace? From +all fear of God and of myself I am called to peace in Christ. + +Reconcilement with God is the foundation, manifestly and of course, of +all peace; and this we have as Christ's direct gift to us. But this +fundamental peace, though it will eventually pervade the whole man, does +in point of fact only slowly develop into a peace such as our Lord +Himself possessed. The peace which our Lord spoke of to His disciples, +peace amidst all the ills of life, can only be attained by a real +following of Christ, and a hearty and profound acceptance of His +principles and spirit. And it is not the less His gift because we have +thus to work for it, to alter or be altered wholly in our own inward +being. It is not therefore a deceptive bequest. When the father gives +his son a good education, he cannot do so irrespective of the hard work +of the son himself. When the general promises victory to his men, they +do not expect to have it without fighting. And our Lord does not upset +or supersede the fundamental laws of our nature and of our spiritual +growth. He does not make effort of our own unnecessary; He does not give +us a ready-made character irrespective of the laws by which character +grows, irrespective of deep-seated thirst for holiness in ourselves and +long-sustained conflict with outward obstacles and internal weaknesses +and infidelities. + +But He helps us to peace, not only though primarily by bringing us back +to God's favour, but also by showing us in His own person and life how +peace is attained and preserved, and by communicating to us His Spirit +to aid us in our efforts to attain it. He found out more perfectly than +any one else the secret of peace; and we are stirred by His example and +success, not only as we are stirred by the example of any dead saint or +sage with whom we have no present personal living fellowship, but as we +are stirred by the example of a living Father who is always with us to +infuse new heart into us, and to give us effectual counsel and aid. +While we put forth our own efforts to win this self-conquest, and so +school all within us as to enter into peace, Christ is with us securing +that our efforts shall not be in vain, giving us the fixed and clear +idea of peace as our eternal condition, and giving us also whatever we +need to win it. + +These words our Lord uttered at a time when, if ever, He was not likely +to use words of course, to adopt traditional and misleading phrases. He +loved the men He was speaking to, He knew He was after this to have few +more opportunities of speaking with them, His love interpreted to Him +the difficulties and troubles which would fall upon them, and this was +the armour which He knew would bear them scathless through all. That His +promise was fulfilled we know. We do not know what became of the +majority of the Apostles, whether they did much or little; but if we +look at the men who stood out prominently in the early history of the +Church, we see how much they stood in need of this peace and how truly +they received it. Look at Stephen, sinking bruised and bleeding under +the stones of a cursing mob, and say what characterises him--what makes +his face shine and his lips open in prayer for his murderers? Look at +Paul, driven out of one city, dragged lifeless out of another, clinging +to a spar on a wild sea, stripped by robbers, arraigned before +magistrate after magistrate--what keeps his spirit serene, his purpose +unshaken through a life such as this? What put into his lips these +valued words and taught him to say to others, "Rejoice evermore, and let +the peace of God which passeth understanding keep your heart and mind"? +It was the fulfilment of this promise--a promise which is meant for us +as for them. It will be fulfilled in us as in these men, not by a mere +verbal petition, not by a craving however strong, or a prayer however +sincere, but by a true and profound acceptance of Christ, by a +conscientious following of Him as our real leader, as that One from whom +we take our ideas of life, of what is worthy and what is unworthy. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] "In this designation of the teaching Spirit as holy, there lie +lessons for two classes of people. All fanatical professions of +possessing Divine illumination, which are not warranted and sealed by +purity of life, are lies or self-delusion. And, on the other hand, +cold-blooded intellectualism will never force the locks of the palace of +Divine truth; but they that come there must have clean hands and a pure +heart; and only those who have the love and the longing for goodness +will be wise scholars in Christ's school."--MACLAREN. + + + + +XII. + +_THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES._ + + + "Arise, let us go hence. I am the true Vine, and My Father is the + Husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh it + away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it, that it + may bear more fruit. Already ye are clean because of the word which + I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch + cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither + can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the branches: + He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: + for apart from Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is + cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and + cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and + My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done + unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; + and so shall ye be My disciples. Even as the Father hath loved Me, I + also have loved you; abide ye in My love. If ye keep My + commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My + Father's commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I + spoken unto you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be + fulfilled. This is My commandment, that ye love one another, even as + I have loved you."--JOHN xiv. 31-xv. 12. + + +Like a friend who cannot tear himself away and has many more last words +after he has bid us good-bye, Jesus continues speaking to the disciples +while they are selecting and putting on their sandals and girding +themselves to face the chill night air. He had to all appearance said +all He meant to say. He had indeed closed the conversation with the +melancholy words, "Henceforth I will not talk much with you." He had +given the signal for breaking up the feast and leaving the house, rising +from table Himself and summoning the rest to do the same. But as He saw +their reluctance to move, and the alarmed and bewildered expression that +hung upon their faces, He could not but renew His efforts to banish +their forebodings and impart to them intelligent courage to face +separation from Him. All He had said about His spiritual presence with +them had fallen short: they could not as yet understand it. They were +possessed with the dread of losing Him whose future was their future, +and with the success of whose plans all their hopes were bound up. The +prospect of losing Him was too dreadful; and though He had assured them +He would still be with them, there was an appearance of mystery and +unreality about that presence which prevented them from trusting it. +They knew they could effect nothing if He left them: their work was +done, their hopes blighted. + +As Jesus, then, rises, and as they all fondly cluster round Him, and as +He recognises once more how much He is to these men, there occurs to His +mind an allegory which may help the disciples to understand better the +connection they have with Him, and how it is still to be maintained. It +has been supposed that this allegory was suggested to Him by some vine +trailing round the doorway or by some other visible object, but such +outward suggestion is needless. Recognising their fears and difficulties +and dependence on Him as they hung upon Him for the last time, what more +natural than that He should meet their dependence and remove their fears +of real separation by saying, "I am the Vine, ye the branches"? What +more natural, when He wished to set vividly before them the importance +of the work He was bequeathing to them, and to stimulate them faithfully +to carry on what He had begun, than to say, "I am the Vine, ye the +fruit-bearing branches: abide in Me, and I in you"? + +Doubtless our Lord's introduction of the word "true" or "real"--"I am +the true Vine"--implies a comparison with other vines, but not +necessarily with any vines then outwardly visible. Much more likely is +it that as He saw the dependence of His disciples upon Him, He saw new +meaning in the old and familiar idea that Israel was the vine planted by +God. He saw that in Himself[17] and His disciples all that had been +suggested by this figure was in reality accomplished. God's intention in +creating man was fulfilled. It was secured by the life of Christ and by +the attachment of men to Him that the purpose of God in creation would +bear fruit. That which amply satisfied God was now in actual existence +in the person and attractiveness of Christ. Seizing upon the figure of +the vine as fully expressing this, Christ fixes it for ever in the mind +of His disciples as the symbol of His connection with them, and with a +few decisive strokes He gives prominence to the chief characteristics of +this connection. + +I. The first idea, then, which our Lord wished to present by means of +this allegory is, that He and His disciples together form one whole, +neither being complete without the other. The vine can bear no fruit if +it has no branches; the branches cannot live apart from the vine. +Without the branches the stem is a fruitless pole; without the stem the +branches wither and die. Stem and branches together constitute one +fruit-bearing tree. I, for my part, says Christ, am the Vine; ye are the +branches, neither perfect without the other, the two together forming +one complete tree, essential to one another as stem and branches. + +The significance underlying the figure is obvious, and no more welcome +or animating thought could have reached the heart of the disciples as +they felt the first tremor of separation from their Lord. Christ, in His +own visible person and by His own hands and words, was no longer to +extend His kingdom on earth. He was to continue to fulfil God's purpose +among men, no longer however in His own person, but through His +disciples. They were now to be His branches, the medium through which He +could express all the life that was in Him, His love for man, His +purpose to lift and save the world. Not with His own lips was He any +longer to tell men of holiness and of God, not with His own hand was He +to dispense blessing to the needy ones of earth, but His disciples were +now to be the sympathetic interpreters of His goodness and the +unobstructed channels through which He might still pour out upon men all +His loving purpose. As God the Father is a Spirit and needs human hands +to do actual deeds of mercy for Him, as He does not Himself in His own +separate personality make the bed of the sick poor, but does it only +through the intervention of human charity, so can Christ speak no +audible word in the ear of the sinner, nor do the actual work required +for the help and advancement of men. This He leaves to His disciples, +His part being to give them love and perseverance for it, to supply them +with all they need as His branches. + +This, then, is the last word of encouragement and of quickening our Lord +leaves with these men and with us: I leave you to do all for Me; I +entrust you with this gravest task of accomplishing in the world all I +have prepared for by My life and death. This great end, to attain which +I thought fit to leave the glory I had with the Father, and for which I +have spent all--this I leave in your hands. It is in this world of men +the whole results of the Incarnation are to be found, and it is on you +the burden is laid of applying to this world the work I have done. You +live for Me. But on the other hand I live for you. "Because I live, ye +shall live also." I do not really leave you. If I say, "Abide in Me," I +none the less say, "and I in you." It is in you I spend all the Divine +energy you have witnessed in my life. It is through you I live. I am the +Vine, the life-giving Stem, sustaining and quickening you. Ye are the +branches, effecting what I intend, bearing the fruit for the sake of +which I have been planted in the world by My Father, the Husbandman. + +II. The second idea is that this unity of the tree is formed by unity +_of life_. It is a unity brought about, not by mechanical juxtaposition, +but by organic relationship. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, +but must abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye abide in Me." A +ball of twine or a bag of shot cannot be called a whole. If you cut off +a yard of the twine, the part cut off has all the qualities and +properties of the remainder, and is perhaps more serviceable apart from +the rest than in connection with it. A handful of shot is more +serviceable for many purposes than a bagful, and the quantity you take +out of the bag retains all the properties it had while in the bag; +because there is _no common life_ in the twine or in the shot, making +all the particles one whole. But take anything which is a true unity or +whole--your body, for example. Different results follow here from +separation. Your eye is useless taken from its place in the body. You +can lend a friend your knife or your purse, and it may be more +serviceable in his hands than in yours; but you cannot lend him your +arms or your ears. Apart from yourself, the members of your body are +useless, because here there is one common life forming one organic +whole. + +It is thus in the relation of Christ and His followers. He and they +together form one whole, _because_ one common _life_ unites them. "_As_ +the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, so neither can ye." Why can the +branch bear no fruit except it abide in the vine? Because it is a +_vital_ unity that makes the tree one. And what is a vital unity between +persons? It can be nothing else than a spiritual unity--a unity not of +a bodily kind, but inward and of the spirit. In other words, _it is a +unity of purpose and of resources for attaining that purpose_. The +branch is one with the tree because it draws its life from the tree and +bears the fruit proper to the tree. We are one with Christ when we adopt +His purpose in the world as the real governing aim of our life, and when +we renew our strength for the fulfilment of that purpose by fellowship +with His love for mankind and His eternal purpose to bless men. + +We must be content, then, to be branches. We must be content not to +stand isolated and grow from a private root of our own. We must utterly +renounce selfishness. Successful selfishness is absolutely impossible. +The greater the apparent success of selfishness is, the more gigantic +will the failure one day appear. An arm severed from the body, a branch +lopped off the tree, is the true symbol of the selfish man. He will be +left behind as the true progress of mankind proceeds, with no part in +the common joy, stranded and dying in cold isolation. We must learn that +our true life can only be lived when we recognise that we are parts of a +great whole, that we are here not to prosecute any private interest of +our own and win a private good for ourselves, but to forward the good +that others share in and the cause that is common. + +How this unity is formed received no explanation on this occasion. The +manner in which men become branches of the true Vine was not touched +upon in the allegory. Already the disciples were branches, and no +explanation was called for. It may, however, be legitimate to gather a +hint from the allegory itself regarding the formation of the living bond +between Christ and His people. However ignorant we may be of the +propagation of fruit trees and the processes of grafting we can at any +rate understand that no mere tying of a branch to a tree, bark to bark, +would effect anything save the withering of the branch. The branch, if +it is to be fruitful, must form a solid part of the tree, must be +grafted so as to become of one structure and life with the stem. It must +be cut through, so as to lay bare the whole interior structure of it, +and so as to leave open all the vessels that carry the sap; and a +similar incision must be made in the stock upon which the branch is to +be grafted, so that the cut sap-vessels of the branch may be in contact +with the cut sap-vessels of the stock. Such must be our grafting into +Christ. It must be a laying bare of our inmost nature to His inmost +nature, so that a vital connection may be formed between these two. What +we expect to receive by being connected with Christ is the very Spirit +which made Him what He was. We expect to receive into the source of +conduct in us all that was the source of conduct in Him. We wish to be +in such a connection with Him that His principles, sentiments, and aims +shall become ours. + +On His side Christ has laid bare His deepest feelings and spirit. In His +life and in His death He submitted to that severest operation which +seemed to be a maiming of Him, but which in point of fact was the +necessary preparation for His receiving fruitful branches. He did not +hide the true springs of His life under a hard and rough bark; but +submitting Himself to the Husbandman's knife, He has suffered us through +His wounds to see the real motives and vital spirit of His +nature--truth, justice, holiness, fidelity, love. Whatever in this life +cut our Lord to the quick, whatever tested most thoroughly the true +spring of His conduct, only more clearly showed that deepest within Him +and strongest within Him lay holy love. And He was not shy of telling +men His love for them: in the public death He died He loudly declared +it, opening His nature to the gaze of all. And to this open heart He +declined to receive none; as many as the Father gave Him were welcome; +He had none of that aversion we feel to admit all and sundry into close +relations with us. He at once gives His heart and keeps back nothing to +Himself; He invites us into the closest possible connection with Him, +with the intention that we should grow to Him and for ever be loved by +Him. Whatever real, lasting, and influential connection can be +established between two persons, this He wishes to have with us. If it +is possible for two persons so to grow together that separation in +spirit is for ever impossible, it is nothing short of this Christ seeks. + +But when we turn to the cutting of the branch, we see reluctance and +vacillation and much to remind us that, in the graft we now speak of, +the Husbandman has to deal, not with passive branches which cannot +shrink from his knife, but with free and sensitive human beings. The +hand of the Father is on us to sever us from the old stock and give us a +place in Christ, but we feel it hard to be severed from the root we have +grown from and to which we are now so firmly attached. We refuse to see +that the old tree is doomed to the axe, or after we have been inserted +into Christ we loosen ourselves again and again, so that morning by +morning as the Father visits His tree He finds us dangling useless with +signs of withering already upon us. But in the end the Vinedresser's +patient skill prevails. We submit ourselves to those incisive operations +of God's providence or of His gentler but effective word which finally +sever us from what we once clung to. We are impelled to lay bare our +heart to Christ and seek the deepest and truest and most influential +union. + +And even after the graft has been achieved the husbandman's care is +still needed that the branch may "abide in the vine," and that it may +"bring forth more fruit." There are two risks--the branch may be +loosened, or it may run to wood and leaves. Care is taken when a graft +is made that its permanent participation in the life of the tree be +secured. The graft is not only tied to the tree, but the point of +juncture is cased in clay or pitch or wax, so as to exclude air, water, +or any disturbing influence. Analogous spiritual treatment is certainly +requisite if the attachment of the soul to Christ is to become solid, +firm, permanent. If the soul and Christ are to be really one, nothing +must be allowed to tamper with the attachment. It must be sheltered from +all that might rudely impinge upon it and displace the disciple from the +attitude towards Christ he has assumed. When the graft and the stock +have grown together into one, then the point of attachment will resist +any shock; but, while the attachment is recent, care is needed that the +juncture be hermetically secluded from adverse influences. + +The husbandman's care is also needed that after the branch is grafted it +may bring forth fruit increasingly. Stationariness is not to be +tolerated. As for fruitlessness, that is out of the question. More fruit +each season is looked for, and arranged for by the vigorous prunings of +the husbandman. The branch is not left to nature. It is not allowed to +run out in every direction, to waste its life in attaining size. Where +it seems to be doing grandly and promising success, the knife of the +vinedresser ruthlessly cuts down the flourish, and the fine appearance +lies withering on the ground. But the vintage justifies the husbandman. + +III. This brings us to the third idea of the allegory--that the result +aimed at in our connection with Christ is fruit-bearing. The allegory +bids us think of God as engaged in the tendance and culture of men with +the watchful, fond interest with which the vinedresser tends his plants +through every stage of growth and every season of the year, and even +when there is nothing to be done gazes on them admiringly and finds +still some little attention he can pay them; but all in the hope of +fruit. All this interest collapses at once, all this care becomes a +foolish waste of time and material, and reflects discredit and ridicule +on the vinedresser, if there is no fruit. God has prepared for us in +this life a soil than which nothing can be better for the production of +the fruit He desires us to yield; He has made it possible for every man +to serve a good purpose; He does His part not with reluctance, but, if +we may say so, as His chief interest; but all in the expectation of +fruit. We do not spend days of labour and nights of anxious thought, we +do not lay out all we have at command, on that which is to effect +nothing and give no satisfaction to ourselves or any one else; and +neither does God. He did not make this world full of men for want of +something better to do, as a mere idle pastime. He made it that the +earth might yield her increase, that each of us might bring forth fruit. +Fruit alone can justify the expense put upon this world. The wisdom, the +patience, the love that have guided all things through the slow-moving +ages will be justified in the product. And what this product is we +already know: it is the attainment of moral perfection by created +beings. To this all that has been made and done in the past leads up. +"The whole creation groaneth and travaileth,"--for what? "For the +manifestation of the sons of God." The lives and acts of good men are +the adequate return for all past outlay, the satisfying fruit. + +The production of this fruit became a certainty when Christ was planted +in the world as a new moral stem. He was sent into the world not to make +some magnificent outward display of Divine power, to carry us to some +other planet, or alter the conditions of life here. God might have +departed from His purpose of filling this earth with holy men, and might +have used it for some easier display which for the moment might have +seemed more striking. He did not do so. It was human obedience, the +fruit of genuine human righteousness, of the love and goodness of men +and women, that He was resolved to reap from earth. He was resolved to +train men to such a pitch of goodness that in a world contrived to tempt +there should be found nothing so alluring, nothing so terrifying, as to +turn men from the straight path. He was to produce a race of men who, +while still in the body, urged by appetites, assaulted by passions and +cravings, with death threatening and life inviting, should prefer all +suffering rather than flinch from duty, should prove themselves actually +superior to every assault that can be made on virtue, should prove that +spirit is greater than matter. And God set Christ in the world to be the +living type of human perfection, to attract men by their love for Him to +His kind of life, and to furnish them with all needed aid in becoming +like Him--that as Christ had kept the Father's commandments, His +disciples should keep His commandments, that thus a common +understanding, an identity of interest and moral life, should be +established between God and man. + +Perhaps it is not pressing the figure too hard to remark that the fruit +differs from timber in this respect--that it enters into and nourishes +the life of man. No doubt in this allegory fruit-bearing primarily and +chiefly indicates that God's purpose in creating man is satisfied. The +tree He has planted is not barren, but fruitful. But certainly a great +distinction between the selfish and the unselfish man, between the man +who has private ambitions and the man who labours for the public good, +lies in this--that the selfish man seeks to erect a monument of some +kind for himself, while the unselfish man spends himself in labours that +are not conspicuous, but assist the life of his fellows. An oak carving +or a structure of hard wood will last a thousand years and keep in +memory the skill of the designer: fruit is eaten and disappears, but it +passes into human life, and becomes part of the stream that flows on for +ever. The ambitious man longs to execute a monumental work, and does not +much regard whether it will be for the good of men or not; a great war +will serve his turn, a great book, anything conspicuous. But he who is +content to be a branch of the True Vine will not seek the admiration of +men, but will strive to introduce a healthy spiritual life into those he +can reach, even although in order to do so he must remain obscure and +must see his labours absorbed without notice or recognition. + +Does the teaching of this allegory, then, accord with the facts of life +as we know them? Is it a truth, and a truth we must act upon, that apart +from Christ we can do nothing? In what sense and to what extent is +association with Christ really necessary to us? + +Something may of course be made of life apart from Christ. A man may +have much enjoyment and a man may do much good apart from Christ. He may +be an inventor, who makes human life easier or safer or fuller of +interest. He may be a literary man, who by his writings enlightens, +exhilarates, and elevates mankind. He may, with entire ignorance or +utter disregard of Christ, toil for his country or for his class or for +his cause. But the best uses and ends of human life cannot be attained +apart from Christ. Only in Him does the reunion of man with God seem +attainable, and only in Him do God and God's aim and work in the world +become intelligible. He is as necessary for the spiritual life of men as +the sun is for this physical life. We may effect something by +candle-light; we may be quite proud of electric light, and think we are +getting far towards independence; but what man in his senses will be +betrayed by these attainments into thinking we may dispense with the +sun? Christ holds the key to all that is most permanent in human +endeavour, to all that is deepest and best in human character. Only in +Him can we take our place as partners with God in what He is really +doing with this world. And only from Him can we draw courage, +hopefulness, love to prosecute this work. In Him God does reveal +Himself, and in Him the fulness of God is found by us. He is in point of +fact the one moral stem apart from whom we are not bearing and cannot +bear the fruit God desires. + +If, then, we are not bringing forth fruit, it is because there is a flaw +in our connection with Christ; if we are conscious that the results of +our life and activity are not such results as He designs, and are in no +sense traceable to Him, this is because there is something about our +adherence to Him that is loose and needs rectification. Christ calls us +to Him and makes us sharers in His work; and he who listens to this call +and counts it enough to be a branch of this Vine and do His will is +upheld by Christ's Spirit, is sweetened by His meekness and love, is +purified by His holy and fearless rectitude, is transformed by the +dominant will of this Person whom he has received deepest into his soul, +and does therefore bring forth, in whatever place in life he holds, the +same kind of fruit as Christ Himself would bring forth; it is indeed +Christ who brings forth these fruits, Christ at a few steps removed--for +every Christian learns, as well as Paul, to say, "Not I, but Christ in +me." If, then, the will of Christ is not being fulfilled through us, if +there is good that it belongs to us to do, but which remains undone, +then the point of juncture with Christ is the point that needs looking +to. It is not some unaccountable blight that makes us useless; it is not +that we have got the wrong piece of the wall, a situation in which +Christ Himself could bear no precious fruit. The Husbandman knew His own +meaning when He trained us along that restricted line and nailed us +down; He chose the place for us, knowing the quality of fruit He desires +us to yield. The reason of our fruitlessness is the simple one, that we +are not closely enough attached to Christ. + +How, then, is it with ourselves? By examining the results of our lives, +would any one be prompted to exclaim, "These are trees of +_righteousness_, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified"? For +this examination is made, and made not by one who chances to pass, and +who, being a novice in horticulture, might be deceived by a show of +leaves or poor fruit, or whose examination might terminate in wonder at +the slothfulness or mismanagement of the owner who allowed such trees +to cumber his ground; but the examination is made by One who has come +for the express purpose of gathering fruit, who knows exactly what has +been spent upon us and what might have been made of our opportunities, +who has in His own mind a definite idea of the fruit that should be +found, and who can tell by a glance whether such fruit actually exists +or no. To this infallible Judge of produce what have we to offer? From +all our busy engagement in many affairs, from all our thought, what has +resulted that we can offer as a satisfactory return for all that has +been spent upon us? It is deeds of profitable service such as men of +large and loving nature would do that God seeks from us. And He +recognises without fail what is love and what only seems so. He +infallibly detects the corroding spot of selfishness that rots the whole +fair-seeming cluster. He stands undeceivable before us, and takes our +lives precisely for what they are worth. + +It concerns us to make such inquiries, for fruitless branches cannot be +tolerated. The purpose of the tree is fruit. If, then, we would escape +all suspicion of our own state and all reproach of fruitlessness, what +we have to do is, not so much to find out new rules for conduct, as to +strive to renew our hold upon Christ and intelligently to enter into His +purposes. "Abide in Him." This is the secret of fruitfulness. All that +the branch needs is in the Vine; it does not need to go beyond the Vine +for anything. When we feel the life of Christ ebbing from our soul, when +we see our leaf fading, when we feel sapless, heartless for Christian +duty, reluctant to work for others, to take anything to do with the +relief of misery and the repression of vice, there is a remedy for this +state, and it is to renew our fellowship with Christ--to allow the mind +once again to conceive clearly the worthiness of His aims, to yield the +heart once again to the vitalising influence of His love, to turn from +the vanities and futilities with which men strive to make life seem +important to the reality and substantial worth of the life of Christ. To +abide in Christ is to abide by our adoption of His view of the true +purpose of human life after testing it by actual experience; it is to +abide by our trust in Him as the true Lord of men, and as able to supply +us with all that we need to keep His commandments. And thus abiding in +Christ we are sustained by Him; for He abides in us, imparts to us, His +branches now on earth, the force which is needful to accomplish His +purposes. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] That the vine was a recognised symbol of the Messiah is shown by +Delitzsch in the _Expositor_, 3rd series, vol. iii., pp. 68, 69. See +also his _Iris_, pp. 180-190, E. Tr. + + + + +XIII. + +_NOT SERVANTS, BUT FRIENDS._ + + + "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life + for his friends. Ye are My friends, if ye do the things which I + command you. No longer do I call you servants; for the servant + knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for + all things that I heard from My Father I have made known unto you. + Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye + should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that + whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it + you. These things I command you, that ye may love one + another."--JOHN xv. 13-17. + + +These words of our Lord are the charter of our emancipation. They give +us entrance into true freedom. They set us in the same attitude towards +life and towards God as Christ Himself occupied. Without this +proclamation of freedom and all it covers we are the mere drudges of +this world,--doing its work, but without any great and far-reaching aim +that makes it worth doing; accepting the tasks allotted to us because we +must, not because we will; living on because we happen to be here, but +without any part in that great future towards which all things are +running on. But this is of the very essence of slavery. For our Lord +here lays His finger on the sorest part of this deepest of human sores +when He says, "The slave knows not what his master does." It is not that +his back is torn with the lash, it is not that he is underfed and +overworked, it is not that he is poor and despised; all this would be +cheerfully undergone to serve a cherished purpose and accomplish ends a +man had chosen for himself. But when all this must be endured to work +out the purposes of another, purposes never hinted to him, and with +which, were they hinted, he might have no sympathy, this is slavery, +this is to be treated as a tool for accomplishing aims chosen by +another, and to be robbed of all that constitutes manhood. Sailors and +soldiers have sometimes mutinied when subjected to similar treatment, +when no inkling has been given them of the port to which they are +shipped or the nature of the expedition on which they are led. Men do +not feel degraded by any amount of hardship, by going for months on +short rations or lying in frost without tents; but they do feel degraded +when they are used as weapons of offence, as if they had no intelligence +to appreciate a worthy aim, no power of sympathising with a great +design, no need of an interest in life and a worthy object on which to +spend it, no share in the common cause. Yet such is the life with which, +apart from Christ, we must perforce be content, doing the tasks +appointed us with no sustaining consciousness that our work is part of a +great whole working out the purposes of the Highest. Even such a spirit +as Carlyle is driven to say: "Here on earth we are soldiers, fighting in +a foreign land, that understand not the plan of campaign and have no +need to understand it, seeing what is at our hand to be +done,"--excellent counsel for slaves, but not descriptive of the life we +are meant for, nor of the life our Lord would be content to give us. + +To give us true freedom, to make this life a thing we choose with the +clearest perception of its uses and with the utmost ardour, our Lord +makes known to us all that He heard of the Father. What He had heard of +the Father, all that the Spirit of the Father had taught Him of the need +of human effort and of human righteousness, all that as He grew up to +manhood He recognised of the deep-seated woes of humanity, and all that +He was prompted to do for the relief of these woes, He made known to His +disciples. The irresistible call to self-sacrifice and labour for the +relief of men which He heard and obeyed, He made known and He makes +known to all who follow Him. He did not allot clearly defined tasks to +His followers; He did not treat them as slaves, appointing one to this +and another to that: He showed them His own aim and His own motive, and +left them as His friends to be attracted by the aim that had drawn Him, +and to be ever animated with the motive that sufficed for Him. What had +made His life so glorious, so full of joy, so rich in constant reward, +He knew would fill their lives also; and He leaves them free to choose +it for themselves, to stand before life as independent, unfettered, +undriven men, and choose without compulsion what their own deepest +convictions prompted them to choose. The "friend" is not compelled +blindly to go through with a task whose result he does not understand or +does not sympathise with; the friend is invited to share in a work in +which he has a direct personal interest and to which he can give himself +cordially. All life should be the forwarding of purposes we approve, the +bringing about of ends we earnestly desire: all life, if we are free +men, must be matter of choice, not of compulsion. And therefore Christ, +having heard of the Father that which made Him feel straitened until the +great aim of His life could be accomplished, which made Him press +forward through life attracted and impelled by the consciousness of its +infinite value as achieving endless good, imparts to us what moved and +animated Him, that we may freely choose as He chose and enter into the +joy of our Lord. + +This, then, is the point of this great utterance: Jesus takes our lives +up into partnership with His own. He sets before us the same views and +hopes which animated Himself, and gives us a prospect of being useful to +Him and in His work. If we engage in the work of life with a dull and +heartless feeling of its weariness, or merely for the sake of gaining a +livelihood, if we are not drawn to labour by the prospect of result, +then we have scarcely entered into the condition our Lord opens to us. +It is for the merest slaves to view their labour with indifference or +repugnance. Out of this state our Lord calls us, by making known to us +what the Father made known to Him, by giving us the whole means of a +free, rational, and fruitful life. He gives us the fullest satisfaction +moral beings can have, because He fills our life with intelligent +purpose. He lifts us into a position in which we see that we are not the +slaves of fate or of this world, but that _all things are ours_, that +we, through and with Him, are masters of the position, and that so far +from thinking it almost a hardship to have been born into so melancholy +and hopeless a world, we have really the best reason and the highest +possible object for living. He comes among us and says, "Let us all work +together. Something can be made of this world. Let us with heart and +hope strive to make of it something worthy. Let unity of aim and of work +bind us together." This is indeed to redeem life from its vanity. + +He says this, and lest any should think, "This is fantastic; how can +such an one as I am forward the work of Christ? It is enough if I get +from Him salvation for myself," He goes on to say, "Ye have not chosen +Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring +forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. It was," He says, +"precisely in view of the eternal results of your work that I selected +you and called you to follow Me." It was true then, and it is true now, +that the initiative in our fellowship with Christ is with Him. So far as +the first disciples were concerned Jesus might have spent His life +making ploughs and cottage furniture. No one discovered Him. Neither +does any one now discover Him. It is He who comes and summons us to +follow and to serve Him. He does so because He sees that there is that +which we can do which no one else can: relationships we hold, +opportunities we possess, capacities for just this or that, which are +our special property into which no other can possibly step, and which, +if we do not use them, cannot otherwise be used. + +Does He, then, point out to us with unmistakable exactness what we are +to do, and how we are to do it? Does He lay down for us a code of rules +so multifarious and significant that we cannot mistake the precise piece +of work He requires from us? He does not. He has but one sole +commandment, and this is no commandment, because we cannot keep it on +compulsion, but only at the prompting of our own inward spirit: He bids +us love one another. He comes back and back to this with significant +persistence, and declines to utter one other commandment. In love alone +is sufficient wisdom, sufficient motive, and sufficient reward for human +life. It alone has adequate wisdom for all situations, new resource for +every fresh need, adaptability to all emergencies, an inexhaustible +fertility and competency; it alone can bring the capability of each to +the service of all. Without love we beat the air. + +That love is our true life is shown further by this--that it is its own +reward. When a man's life is in any intelligible sense proceeding from +love, when this is his chief motive, he is content with living, and +looks for no reward. His joy is already full; he does not ask, What +shall I be the better of thus sacrificing myself? what shall I gain by +all this regulation of my life? what good return in the future shall I +have for all I am losing now? He cannot ask these questions, if the +motive of his self-sacrificing life be love; just as little as the +husband could ask what reward he should have for loving his wife. A man +would be astounded and would scarcely know what you meant if you asked +him what he expected to get by loving his children or his parents or his +friends. Get? Why he does not expect to get anything; he does not love +for an object: he loves because he cannot help it; and the chief joy of +his life is in these unrewarded affections. He no longer looks forward +and thinks of a fulness of life that is to be; he already lives and is +satisfied with the life he has. His happiness is present; his reward is +that he may be allowed to express his love, to feed it, to gratify it by +giving and labouring and sacrificing. In a word, he finds in love +eternal life--life that is full of joy, that kindles and enlivens his +whole nature, that carries him out of himself and makes him capable of +all good. + +This truth, then, that whatever a man does from love is its own reward, +is the solution of the question whether virtue is its own reward. Virtue +is its own reward when it is inspired by love. Life is its own reward +when love is the principle of it. We know that we should always be happy +were we always loving. We know that we should never weary of living nor +turn with distaste from our work were all our work only the expression +of our love, of our deep, true, and well-directed regard for the good +of others. It is when we disregard our Lord's one commandment and try +some other kind of virtuous living that joy departs from our life, and +we begin to hope for some future reward which may compensate for the +dulness of the present--as if a change of time could change the +essential conditions of life and happiness. If we are not joyful now, if +life is dreary and dull and pointless to us, so that we crave the +excitement of a speculative business, or of boisterous social meetings, +or of individual success and applause, then it should be quite plain to +us that as yet we have not found life, and have not the capacity for +eternal life quickened in us. If we are able to love one human being in +some sort as Christ loved us--that is to say, if our affection is so +fixed upon any one that we feel we could give our life for that +person--let us thank God for this; for this love of ours gives us the +key to human life, and will better instruct us in what is most essential +to know, and lead us on to what is most essential to be and to do than +any one can teach us. It is profoundly and widely true, as John says, +that every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. If we love +one human being, we at least know that a life in which love is the main +element needs no reward and looks for none. We see that God looks for no +reward, but is eternally blessed because simply God is eternally love. +Life eternal must be a life of love, of delight in our fellows, of +rejoicing in their good and seeking to increase their happiness. + +Sometimes, however, we find ourselves grieving at the prosperity of the +wicked: we think that they should be unhappy, and yet they seem more +satisfied than ourselves. They pay no regard whatever to the law of life +laid down by our Lord; they never dream of living for others; they have +never once proposed to themselves to consider whether His great law, +that a man must lose his life if he is to have it eternally, has any +application to them; and yet they seem to enjoy life as much as anybody +can. Take a man who has a good constitution, and who is in easy +circumstances, and who has a good and pure nature; you will often see +such a man living with no regard to the Christian rule, and yet enjoying +life thoroughly to the very end. And of course it is just such a +spectacle, repeated everywhere throughout society, that influences men's +minds and tempts all of us to believe that such a life is best after +all, and that selfishness as well as unselfishness can be happy; or at +all events that we can have as much happiness as our own disposition is +capable of by a self-seeking life. Now, when we are in a mood to compare +our own happiness with that of other men, our own happiness must +obviously be at a low ebb; but when we resent the prosperity of the +wicked, we should remember that, though they may flourish like the green +bay tree, their fruit does not remain: living for themselves, their +fruit departs with themselves, their good is interred with their bones. +But it is also to be considered that we should never allow ourselves to +get the length of putting this question or of comparing our happiness +with that of others. For we can only do so when we are ourselves +disappointed and discontented and have missed the joy of life; and this +again can be only when we have ceased to live lovingly for others. + +But this one essential of Christian service and human freedom--how are +we to attain it? Is it not the one thing which seems obstinately to +stand beyond our grasp? For the human heart has laws of its own, and +cannot love to order or admire because it ought. But Christ brings, in +Himself, the fountain out of which our hearts can be supplied, the fire +which kindles all who approach it. No one can receive His love without +sharing it. No one can dwell upon Christ's love for him and treasure it +as his true and central possession without finding his own heart +enlarged and softened. Until our own heart is flooded with the great and +regenerating love of Christ, we strive in vain to love our fellows. It +is when we fully admit it that it overflows through our own satisfied +and quickened affections to others. + +And perhaps we do well not too curiously to question and finger our +love, making sure only that we are keeping ourselves in Christ's +fellowship and seeking to do His will. Affection, indeed, induces +companionship, but also companionship produces affection, and the honest +and hopeful endeavour to serve Christ loyally will have its reward in a +deepening devotion. It is not the recruit but the veteran whose heart is +wholly his chief's. And he who has long and faithfully served Christ +will not need to ask where his heart is. We hate those whom we have +injured, and we love those whom we have served; and if by long service +we can win our way to an intimacy with Christ which no longer needs to +question itself or test its soundness, in that service we may most +joyfully engage. For what can be a happier consummation than to find +ourselves finally overcome by the love of Christ, drawn with all the +force of a Divine attraction, convinced that here is our rest, and that +this is at once our motive and our reward? + + + + +XIV. + +_THE SPIRIT CHRIST'S WITNESS._ + + + "If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated Me before it + hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: + but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the + world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said + unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted + Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will + keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for My + name's sake, because they know not Him that sent Me. If I had not + come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have + no excuse for their sin. He that hateth Me hateth My Father also. If + I had not done among them the works which none other did, they had + not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My + Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word may be fulfilled that + is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause. But when the + Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even + the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear + witness of Me: and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with + Me from the beginning. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye + should not be made to stumble. They shall put you out of the + synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall + think that he offereth service unto God. And these things will they + do, because they have not known the Father, nor Me. But these things + have I spoken unto you, that when their hour is come, ye may + remember them, how that I told you. And these things I said not unto + you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go unto + Him that sent Me; and none of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou? But + because I have spoken these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your + heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you + that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come + unto you; but if I go, I will send Him unto you. And He, when He is + come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of + righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on + Me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold Me + no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been + judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear + them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall + guide you into all the truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; + but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak: and He + shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify + Me: for He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you. All + things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that + He taketh of Mine, and shall declare it unto you."--JOHN xv. 18-xvi. + 15. + + +Having shown His disciples that by them only can His purposes on earth +be fulfilled, and that He will fit them for all work that may be +required of them, the Lord now adds that their task will be full of +hazard and hardship: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the +time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he offereth +service unto God." This was but a dreary prospect, and one to make each +Apostle hesitate, and in the privacy of his own thoughts consider +whether he should face a life so devoid of all that men naturally crave. +To live for great ends is no doubt animating, but to be compelled in +doing so to abandon all expectation of recognition, and to lay one's +account for abuse, poverty, persecution, calls for some heroism in him +that undertakes such a life. He forewarns them of this persecution, that +when it comes they may not be taken aback and fancy that things are not +falling out with them as their Lord anticipated. And He offers them two +strong consolations which might uphold and animate them under all they +should be called upon to suffer. + +I. "If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated Me before it +hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but +because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, +therefore the world hateth you." Persecution is thus turned into a joy, +because it is the testimony paid by the world to the disciples' identity +with Christ. The love of the world would be a sure evidence of their +unfaithfulness to Christ and of their entire lack of resemblance to Him; +but its hate was the tribute it would pay to their likeness to Him and +successful promotion of His cause. They might well question their +loyalty to Christ, if the world which had slain Him fawned upon them. +The Christian may conclude he is reckoned a helpless and harmless foe if +he suffers no persecution, if in no company he is frowned upon or felt +to be uncongenial, if he is treated by the world as if its aims were his +aims and its spirit his spirit. No faithful follower of Christ who mixes +with society can escape every form of persecution. It is the seal which +the world puts on the choice of Christ. It is proof that a man's +attachment to Christ and endeavour to forward His purposes have been +recognised by the world. Persecution, then, should be welcome as the +world's testimony to the disciple's identity with Christ. + +No idea had fixed itself more deeply in the mind of John than this of +the identity of Christ and His people. As he brooded upon the life of +Christ and sought to penetrate to the hidden meanings of all that +appeared on the surface, he came to see that the unbelief and hatred +with which He was met was the necessary result of goodness presented to +worldliness and selfishness. And as time went on he saw that the +experience of Christ was exceptional only in degree, that His experience +was and would be repeated in every one who sought to live in His Spirit +and to do His will. The future of the Church accordingly presented +itself to him as a history of conflict, of extreme cruelty on the part +of the world and quiet conquering endurance on the part of Christ's +people. And it was this which he embodied in the Book of Revelation. +This book he wrote as a kind of detailed commentary on the passage +before us, and in it he intended to depict the sufferings and final +conquest of the Church. The one book is a reflex and supplement to the +other; and as in the Gospel he had shown the unbelief and cruelty of the +world against Christ, so in the Revelation he shows in a series of +strongly coloured pictures how the Church of Christ would pass through +the same experience, would be persecuted as Christ was persecuted, but +would ultimately conquer. Both books are wrought out with extreme care +and finished to the minutest detail, and both deal with the cardinal +matters of human history--sin, righteousness, and the final result of +their conflict. Underneath all that appears on the surface in the life +of the individual and in the history of the race there are just these +abiding elements--sin and righteousness. It is the moral value of things +which in the long run proves of consequence, the moral element which +ultimately determines all else. + +II. The second consolation and encouragement the Lord gave them was that +they would receive the aid of a powerful champion--_the_ Paraclete, the +one effectual, sufficient Helper. "When the Paraclete is come, whom I +will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which +proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of Me: and ye also +bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning." +Inevitably the disciples would argue that, if the words and works of +Jesus Himself had not broken down the unbelief of the world, it was not +likely that anything which they could say or do would have that effect. +If the impressive presence of Christ Himself had not attracted and +convinced all men, how was it possible that mere telling about what He +had said and done and been would convince them? And He has just been +reminding them how little effect His own words and works had had. "If I +had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: ... if I had +not done among them the works which none other did, they had not had +sin: but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father." What +power, then, could break down this obstinate unbelief? + +Our Lord assures them that together with their witness-bearing there +will be an all-powerful witness--"the Spirit of truth"; one who could +find access to the hearts and minds to which they addressed themselves +and carry truth home to conviction. It was on this account that it was +"expedient" that their Lord should depart, and that His visible presence +should be superseded by the presence of the Spirit. It was necessary +that His death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the +Father should take place, in order that His supremacy might be secured. +And in order that He might be everywhere and inwardly present with men, +it was necessary that He should be visible nowhere on earth. The inward +spiritual presence depended on the bodily absence. + +Before passing to the specific contents of the Spirit's testimony, as +stated in vv. 8-11, it is necessary to gather up what our Lord indicates +regarding the Spirit Himself and His function in the Christian +dispensation. First, the Spirit here spoken of is a personal existence. +Throughout all that our Lord says in this last conversation regarding +the Spirit personal epithets are applied to Him, and the actions +ascribed to Him are personal actions. He is to be the substitute of the +most marked and influential Personality with whom the disciples had ever +been brought in contact. He is to supply His vacated place. He is to be +to the disciples as friendly and staunch an ally and a more constantly +present and efficient teacher than Christ Himself. What as yet was not +in their minds He was to impart to them; and He was to mediate and +maintain communication between the absent Lord and themselves. Was it +possible that the disciples should think of the Spirit otherwise than as +a conscious and energetic Person when they heard Him spoken of in such +words as these: "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall +guide you into all the truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; but +what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak: and He shall +declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify Me: for +He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you"? From these words +it would seem as if the disciples were justified in expecting the +presence and aid of One who was very closely related to their Lord, but +yet distinct from Him, who could understand their state of mind and +adapt Himself to them, who is not identical with the Master they are +losing, and yet comes into still closer contact with them. What +underlies this, and what is the very nature of the Spirit and His +relation to the Father and the Son, we do not know; but our Lord chose +these expressions which to our thought involve personality because this +is the truest and safest form under which we can now conceive of the +Spirit. + +The function for the discharge of which this Spirit is necessary is the +"glorification" of Christ. Without Him the manifestation of Christ will +be lost. He is needed to secure that the world be brought into contact +with Christ, and that men recognise and use Him. This is the most +general and comprehensive aspect of the Spirit's work: "He shall glorify +Me" (ver. 14). In making this announcement our Lord assumes that +position of commanding importance with which this Gospel has made us +familiar. The Divine Spirit is to be sent forth, and the direct object +of His mission is the glorifying of Christ. The meaning of Christ's +manifestation is the essential thing for men to understand. In +manifesting Himself He has revealed the Father. He has in His own person +shown what a Divine nature is; and therefore in order to His +glorification all that is required is that light be shed upon what He +has done and been, and that the eyes of men be opened to see Him and His +work. The recognition of Christ and of God in Him is the blessedness of +the human race; and to bring this about is the function of the Spirit. +As Jesus Himself had constantly presented Himself as the revealer of the +Father and as speaking His words, so, in "a rivalry of Divine humility," +the Spirit glorifies the Son and speaks "what He shall hear." + +To discharge this function a twofold ministry is undertaken by the +Spirit: He must enlighten the Apostles, and He must convince the world. + +He must enlighten the Apostles. From the nature of the case much had to +be left unsaid by Christ. But this would not prevent the Apostles from +understanding what Christ had done, and what applications His work had +to themselves and their fellow-men. "I have yet many things to say unto +you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, +is come, He will guide you into all the truth." A great untravelled +country lay before them. Their Master had led them across its border, +and set their faces in the right direction; but who was to find a way +for them through all its intricacies and perplexities? The Spirit of +truth, He who is Himself perfect knowledge and absolute light, "will +guide you"; He will go before you and show you your way.[18] There may +be no sudden impartation of truth, no lifting of the mist that hangs on +the horizon, no consciousness that now you have mastered all +difficulties and can see your way to the end; there may be no violation +of the natural and difficult processes by which men arrive at truth; the +road may be slow, and sometimes there may even be an appearance of +ignominious defeat by those who use swifter but more precarious means of +advance; much will depend on your own patience and wakefulness and +docility; but if you admit the Spirit, He will guide you into all the +truth. + +This promise does not involve that the Apostles, and through them all +disciples, should know everything. "All the truth" is relative to the +subject taught. All that they need to know regarding Christ and His work +for them they will learn. All that is needed to glorify Christ, to +enable men to recognise Him as the manifestation of God, will be +imparted. To the truth which the Apostles learn, therefore, nothing need +be added. Nothing essential has been added. Time has now been given to +test this promise, and what time has shown is this--that while libraries +have been written on what the Apostles thought and taught, their +teaching remains as the sufficient guide into all the truth regarding +Christ. Even in non-essentials it is marvellous how little has been +added. Many corrections of misapprehensions of their meaning have been +required, much laborious inquiry to ascertain precisely what they meant, +much elaborate inference and many buildings upon their foundations; but +in their teaching there remain a freshness and a living force which +survive all else that has been written upon Christ and His religion. + +This instruction of the Apostles by the Spirit was to recall to their +minds what Christ Himself had said, and was also to show them things to +come. The changed point of view introduced by the dispensation of the +Spirit and the abolition of earthly hopes would cause many of the +sayings of Jesus which they had disregarded and considered +unintelligible to spring into high relief and ray out significance, +while the future also would shape itself quite differently in their +conception. And the Teacher who should superintend and inspire this +altered attitude of mind is the Spirit.[19] + +Not only must the Spirit enlighten the Apostles; He must also convince +the world. "He shall bear witness of Me," and by His witness-bearing the +testimony of the Apostles would become efficacious. They had a natural +fitness to witness about Christ, "because they had been with Him from +the beginning." No more trustworthy witnesses regarding what Christ had +said or done or been could be called than those men with whom He had +lived on terms of intimacy. No men could more certainly testify to the +identity of the risen Lord. But the significance of the facts they spoke +of could best be taught by the Spirit. The very fact of the Spirit's +presence was the greatest evidence that the Lord had risen and was using +"all power in heaven" in behalf of men. And possibly it was to this +Peter referred when he said: "We are His witnesses of these things; and +so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him." +Certainly the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the power to speak with tongues +or to work miracles of healing, were accepted by the primitive Church as +a seal of the Apostolic word and as the appropriate evidence of the +power of the risen Christ. + +But it is apparent from our Lord's description of the subject-matter of +the Spirit's witness that here He has especially in view the function of +the Spirit as an inward teacher and strengthener of the moral powers. He +is the fellow-witness of the Apostles, mainly and permanently, by +enlightening men in the significance of the facts reported by them, and +by opening the heart and conscience to their influence. + +The subject-matter of the Spirit's testimony is threefold: "He will +convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of +judgment." + +I. He should convict the world of sin. No conviction cuts so deeply and +produces results of such magnitude as the conviction of sin. It is like +subsoil ploughing: it turns up soil that nothing else has got down to. +It alters entirely a man's attitude towards life. He cannot know himself +a sinner and be satisfied with that condition. This awakening is like +the waking of one who has been buried in a trance, who wakes to find +himself bound round with grave-clothes, hemmed in with all the insignia +of corruption, terror and revulsion distracting and overwhelming his +soul. In spirit he has been far away, weaving perhaps a paradise out of +his fancies, peopling it with choice and happy society, and living +through scenes of gorgeous beauty and comfort in fulness of interest and +life and felicity; but suddenly comes the waking, a few brief moments of +painful struggle and the dream gives place to the reality, and then +comes the certain accumulation of misery till the spirit breaks beneath +its fear. So does the strongest heart groan and break when it wakes to +the full reality of sin, when the Spirit of Christ takes the veil from a +man's eyes and gives him to see what this world is and what he has been +in it, when the shadows that have occupied him flee away and the naked +inevitable reality confronts him. + +Nothing is more overwhelming than this conviction, but nothing is more +hopeful. Given a man who is alive to the evil of sin and who begins to +understand his errors, and you know some good will come of that. Given a +man who sees the importance of being in accord with perfect goodness and +who feels the degradation of sin, and you have the germ of all good in +that man. But how were the Apostles to produce this? how were they to +dispel those mists which blurred the clear outline of good and evil, to +bring to the self-righteous Pharisee and the indifferent and worldly +Sadducee a sense of their own sin? What instrument is there which can +introduce to every human heart, howsoever armoured and fenced round, +this healthy revolution? Looking at men as they actually are, and +considering how many forces are banded together to exclude the knowledge +of sin, how worldly interest demands that no brand shall be affixed to +this and that action, how the customs we are brought up in require us to +take a lenient view of this and that immorality, how we deceive +ourselves by sacrificing sins we do not care for in order to retain sins +that are in our blood, how the resistance of certain sins makes us a +prey to self-righteousness and delusion--considering what we have learnt +of the placidity with which men content themselves with a life they know +is not the highest, does there seem to be any instrument by which a true +and humbling sense of sin can be introduced to the mind? + +Christ, knowing that men were about to put Him to death because He had +tried to convict them of sin, confidently predicts that His servants +would by His Spirit's aid convince the world of sin and of this in +particular--that they had not believed in Him. That very death which +chiefly exhibits human sin has, in fact, become the chief instrument in +making men understand and hate sin. There is no consideration from which +the deceitfulness of sin will not escape, nor any fear which the +recklessness of sin will not brave, nor any authority which self-will +cannot override but only this: Christ has died for me, to save me from +my sin, and I am sinning still, not regarding His blood, not meeting His +purpose. It was when the greatness and the goodness of Christ were +together let in to Peter's mind that he fell on his face before Him, +saying, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man." And the +experience of thousands is recorded in that more recent confession: + + "In evil long I took delight, unawed by shame or fear, + Till a new object struck my sight and stopped my wild career: + I saw One hanging on a tree in agonies and blood. + Who fixed His languid eyes on me as near His cross I stood. + Sure never till my latest breath can I forget that look; + It seemed to charge me with His death, though not a word He spoke." + +Of other convictions we may get rid; the consequences of sin we may +brave, or we may disbelieve that in our case sin will produce any very +disastrous fruits; but in the death of Christ we see, not what sin may +possibly do in the future, but what it actually has done in the past. In +presence of the death of Christ we cannot any longer make a mock of sin +or think lightly of it, as if it were on our own responsibility and at +our own risk we sinned. + +But not only does the death of Christ exhibit the intricate connections +of our sin with other persons and the grievous consequence of sin in +general, but also it exhibits the enormity of this particular sin of +rejecting Christ. "He will convince the world of sin, _because they +believe not on Me_." It was this sin in point of fact which cut to the +heart the crowd at Jerusalem first addressed by Peter. Peter had nothing +to say of their looseness of life, of their worldliness, of their +covetousness: he did not go into particulars of conduct calculated to +bring a blush to their cheeks; he took up but one point, and by a few +convincing remarks showed them the enormity of crucifying the Lord of +glory. The lips which a few days before had cried out "Crucify Him, +crucify Him!" now cried, Men and brethren, what shall we do, how escape +from the crushing condemnation of mistaking God's image for a criminal? +In that hour Christ's words were fulfilled; they were convinced of sin +because they believed not on Him. + +This is ever the damning sin--to be in presence of goodness and not to +love it, to see Christ and to see Him with unmoved and unloving hearts, +to hear His call without response, to recognise the beauty of holiness +and yet turn away to lust and self and the world. This is the +condemnation--that light is come into the world and we have loved +darkness rather than the light. "If I had not come and spoken unto +them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He +that hateth Me, hateth My Father also." To turn away from Christ is to +turn away from absolute goodness. It is to show that however much we may +relish certain virtues and approve particular forms of goodness, +goodness absolute and complete does not attract us. + +II. The conviction of righteousness is the complement, the other half, +of the conviction of sin. In the shame of guilt there is the germ of the +conviction of righteousness. The sense of guilt is but the +acknowledgment that we ought to be righteous. No guilt attaches to the +incapable. The sting of guilt is poisoned with the knowledge that we +were capable of better things. Conscience exclaims against all excuses +that would lull us into the idea that sin is insuperable, and that there +is nothing better for us than a moderately sinful life. When conscience +ceases to condemn, hope dies. A mist rises from sin that obscures the +clear outline between its own domain and that of righteousness, like the +mist that rises from the sea and mingles shore and water in one +undefined cloud. But let it rise off the one and the other is at once +distinctly marked out; and so in the conviction of sin there is already +involved the conviction of righteousness. The blush of shame that +suffuses the face of the sinner as the mist-dispelling Sun of +righteousness arises upon him is the morning flush and promise of an +everlasting day of righteous living. + +For each of us it is of the utmost importance to have a fixed and +intelligent persuasion that righteousness is what we are made for. The +righteous Lord loveth righteousness and made us in His image to widen +the joy of rational creatures. He waits for righteousness and cannot +accept sin as an equally grateful fruit of men's lives. And though in +the main perhaps our faces are turned towards righteousness, and we are +on the whole dissatisfied and ashamed of sin, yet the conviction of +righteousness has much to struggle against in us all. Sin, we +unconsciously plead, is so finely interwoven with all the ways of the +world that it is impossible to live wholly free from it. As well cast a +sponge into the water and command that it absorb none nor sink as put me +in the world and command that I do not admit its influences or sink to +its level. It presses in on me through all my instincts and appetites +and hopes and fears; it washes ceaselessly at the gateways of my senses, +so that one unguarded moment and the torrent bursts in on me and pours +over my wasted bulwarks, resolves, high aims, and whatever else. It is +surely not now and here that I am expected to do more than learn the +rudiments of righteous living and make small experiments in it; +endeavours will surely stand for accomplishment, and pious purposes in +place of heroic action and positive righteousness. Men take sin for +granted and lay their account for it. Will not God also, who remembers +our frailty, consider the circumstances and count sin a matter of +course? Such thoughts haunt and weaken us; but every man whose heart is +touched by the Spirit of God clings to this as his hopeful prayer: +"Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God: Thy Spirit is good; lead +me into the land of uprightness." + +But, after all, it is by fact men are convinced; and were there no facts +to appeal to in this matter conviction could not be attained. It does +seem that we are made for righteousness, but sin is in this world so +universal that there must surely be some way of accounting for it which +shall also excuse it. Had righteousness been to be our life, surely some +few would have attained it. There must be some necessity of sin, some +impossibility of attaining perfect righteousness, and therefore we need +not seek it. Here comes in the proof our Lord speaks of: "The Spirit +will convince of righteousness, because I go to the Father." +Righteousness has been attained. There has lived One, bone of our bone, +and flesh of our flesh, tempted in all points like as we are, open to +the same ambitious views of life, growing up with the same appetites and +as sensitive to bodily pleasure and bodily pain, feeling as keenly the +neglect and hatred of men, and from the very size of His nature and +width of His sympathy tempted in a thousand ways we are safe from, and +yet in no instance confounding right and wrong, in no instance falling +from perfect harmony with the Divine will to self-will and self-seeking; +never deferring the commandments of God to some other sphere or waiting +for holier times; never forgetting and never renouncing the purpose of +God in His life; but at all times, in weariness and lassitude, in +personal danger and in domestic comfort, putting Himself as a perfect +instrument into God's hand, ready at all cost to Himself to do the +Father's will. Here was One who not only recognised that men are made to +work together with God, but who actually did so work; who not only +approved, as we all approve, of a life of holiness and sacrifice, but +actually lived it; who did not think the trial too great, the privation +and risk too dreadful, the self-effacement too humbling; but who met +life with all it brings to all of us--its conflict, its interests, its +opportunities, its allurements, its snares, its hazards. But while out +of this material we fail to make a perfect life, He by His integrity of +purpose and devotedness and love of good fashioned a perfect life. Thus +He simply by living accomplished what the law with its commands and +threats had not accomplished: He condemned sin in the flesh. + +But it was open to those whom the Apostles addressed to deny that Jesus +had thus lived; and therefore the conviction of righteousness is +completed by the evidence of the resurrection and ascension of Christ. +"Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more." +Without holiness no man shall see God. It was this that the Apostles +appealed to when first moved to address their fellow-men and proclaim +Christ as the Saviour. It was to His resurrection they confidently +appealed as evidence of the truth of His claim to have been sent of God. +The Jews had put Him to death as a deceiver; but God proclaimed His +righteousness by raising Him from the dead. "Ye denied the Holy One and +the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the +Prince of life whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are +witnesses." + +Probably, however, another idea underlies the words "because I go to My +Father, and ye see Me no more." So long as Christ was on earth the Jews +believed that Jesus and His followers were plotting a revolution: when +He was removed beyond sight such a suspicion became ludicrous. But when +His disciples could no longer see Him, they continued to serve Him and +to strive with greater zeal than ever to promote His cause. Slowly then +it dawned on men's minds that righteousness was what Christ and His +Apostles alone desired and sought to establish on earth. This new +spectacle of men devoting their lives to the advancement of +righteousness, and confident they could establish a kingdom of +righteousness and actually establishing it--this spectacle penetrated +men's minds, and gave them a new sense of the value of righteousness, +and quite a new conviction of the possibility of attaining it. + +III. The third conviction by which the Apostles were to prevail in their +preaching of Christ was the conviction "of judgment, because the prince +of this world is judged." Men were to be persuaded that a distinction is +made between sin and righteousness, that in no case can sin pass for +righteousness and righteousness for sin. The world that has worldly ends +in view and works towards them by appropriate means, disregarding moral +distinctions, will be convicted of enormous error. The Spirit of truth +will work in men's minds the conviction that all and every sin is +mistake and productive of nothing good, and can in no instance +accomplish what righteousness would have accomplished. Men will find, +when truth shines in their spirit, that they have not to await a great +day of judgment in the end, when the good results of sin shall be +reversed and reward allotted to those who have done righteously, but +that judgment is a constant and universal element in God's government +and to be found everywhere throughout it, distinguishing between sin and +righteousness in every present instance, and never for one moment +allowing to sin the value or the results which only righteousness has. +In the minds of men who have been using the world's unrighteous methods +and living for the world's selfish ends, the conviction is to be wrought +that no good can come of all that--that sin is sin and not valid for any +good purpose. Men are to recognise that a distinction is made between +human actions, and that condemnation is pronounced on all that are +sinful. + +And this conviction is to be wrought in the light of the fact that in +Christ's victory the prince of this world is judged. The powers by which +the world is actually led are seen to be productive of evil, and not the +powers by which men can permanently be led or should at any time have +been led. The prince of this world was judged by Christ's refusal +throughout His life to be in anything guided by him. The motives by +which the world is led were not Christ's motives. + +But it is in the death of Christ the prince of this world was especially +judged. That death was brought about by the world's opposition to +unworldliness. Had the world been seeking spiritual beauty and +prosperity, Christ would not have been crucified. He was crucified +because the world was seeking material gain and worldly glory, and was +thereby blinded to the highest form of goodness. And unquestionably the +very fact that worldliness led to this treatment of Christ is its most +decided condemnation. We cannot think highly of principles and +dispositions which so blind men to the highest form of human goodness +and lead them to actions so unreasonable and wicked. As an individual +will often commit one action which illustrates his whole character, and +flashes sudden light into the hidden parts of it, and discloses its +capabilities and possible results, so the world has in this one act +shown what worldliness essentially is and at all times is capable of. No +stronger condemnation of the influences which move worldly men can be +found than the crucifixion of Christ. + +But, besides, the death of Christ exhibits in so touching a form the +largeness and power of spiritual beauty, and brings so vividly home to +the heart the charm of holiness and love, that here more than anywhere +else do men learn to esteem beauty of character and holiness and love +more than all the world can yield them. We feel that to be wholly out of +sympathy with the qualities and ideas manifested in the Cross would be a +pitiable condition. We adopt as our ideal the kind of glory there +revealed, and in our hearts condemn the opposed style of conduct that +the world leads to. As we open our understanding and conscience to the +meaning of Christ's love and sacrifice and devotedness to God's will, +the prince of this world is judged and condemned within us. We feel that +to yield to the powers that move and guide the world is impossible for +us, and that we must give ourselves to this Prince of holiness and +spiritual glory. + +In point of fact the world is judged. To adhere to worldly motives and +ways and ambitions is to cling to a sinking ship, to throw ourselves +away on a justly doomed cause. The world may trick itself out in what +delusive splendours it may; it is judged all the same, and men who are +deluded by it and still in one way or other acknowledge the prince of +this world destroy themselves and lose the future. + +Such was the promise of Christ to His disciples. Is it fulfilled in us? +We may have witnessed in others the entrance and operation of +convictions which to all appearance correspond with those here +described. We may even have been instrumental in producing these +convictions. But a lens of ice will act as a burning-glass, and itself +unmelted will fire the tinder to which it transmits the rays. And +perhaps we may be able to say with much greater confidence that we have +done good than that we are good. Convinced of sin we may be, and +convinced of righteousness we may be--so far at least as to feel most +keenly that the distinction between sin and righteousness is real, wide, +and of eternal consequence--but is the prince of this world judged? has +the power that claims us as the servants of sin and mocks our strivings +after righteousness been, so far as we can judge from our own +experience, defeated? For this is the final test of religion, of our +faith in Christ, of the truth of His words and the efficacy of His work. +Does He accomplish in me what He promised? + +Now, when we begin to doubt the efficacy of the Christian method on +account of its apparent failure in our own case, when we see quite +clearly how it ought to work and as clearly that it has not worked, when +this and that turns up in our life and proves beyond controversy that we +are ruled by much the same motives and desires as the world at large, +two subjects of reflection present themselves. First, have we remembered +the word of Christ, "The servant is not greater than his Lord"? Are we +so anxious to be His servants that we would willingly sacrifice whatever +stood in the way of our serving Him? Are we content to be as He was in +the world? There are always many in the Christian Church who are, first, +men of the world, and, secondly, varnished with Christianity; who do not +seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; who do not yet +understand that the _whole_ of life must be consecrated to Christ and +spring from His will, and who therefore without compunction do make +themselves greater in every worldly respect than their professed Lord. +There are also many in the Christian Church at all times who decline to +make more of this world than Christ Himself did, and whose constant +study it is to put all they have at His disposal. Now, we cannot too +seriously inquire to which of these classes we belong. Are we making a +_bonâ-fide_ thing of our attachment to Christ? Do we feel it in every +part of our life? Do we strive, not to minimise our service and His +claims, but to be wholly His? Have His words, "The servant is not +greater than his Lord," any meaning to us at all? Is His service truly +the main thing we seek in life? I say we should seriously inquire if +this is so; for not hereafter, but now, are we finally determining our +relation to all things by our relation to Christ. + +But, secondly, we must beware of disheartening ourselves by hastily +concluding that in our case Christ's grace has failed. If we may accept +the Book of Revelation as a true picture, not merely of the conflict of +the Church, but also of the conflict of the individual, then only in the +end can we look for quiet and achieved victory--only in the closing +chapters does conflict cease and victory seem no more doubtful. If it is +to be so with us, the fact of our losing some of the battles must not +discourage us from continuing the campaign. Nothing is more painful and +humbling than to find ourselves falling into unmistakable sin after much +concernment with Christ and His grace; but the very resentment we feel +and the deep and bitter humiliation must be used as incentive to further +effort, and must not be allowed to sound permanent defeat and surrender +to sin. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] =hodęgęsei=. + +[19] Godet says: "The saying xiv. 26 gives the formula of the +inspiration of our Gospels; ver. 13 gives that of the inspiration of the +Epistles and the Apocalypse." + + + + +XV. + +_LAST WORDS._ + + + "A little while, and ye behold Me no more; and again a little while, + and ye shall see Me. Some of His disciples therefore said one to + another, What is this that He saith unto us, A little while, and ye + behold Me not; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me: and, + Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that + He saith, A little while? We know not what He saith. Jesus perceived + that they were desirous to ask Him, and He said unto them, Do ye + inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, A little + while, and ye behold Me not, and again a little while, and ye shall + see Me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and + lament, but the world shall rejoice: ye shall be sorrowful, but your + sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath + sorrow, because her hour is come: but when she is delivered of the + child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man + is born into the world. And ye therefore now have sorrow: but I will + see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one + taketh away from you. And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. + Verily, verily, I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the + Father, He will give it you in My name. Hitherto have ye asked + nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be + fulfilled. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: the hour + cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but shall + tell you plainly of the Father. In that day ye shall ask in My name: + and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the + Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have + believed that I came forth from the Father. I came out from the + Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go + unto the Father. His disciples say, Lo, now speakest Thou plainly, + and speakest no proverb. Now know we that Thou knowest all things, + and needest not that any man should ask Thee: by this we believe + that Thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now + believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is come, that ye shall be + scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: and yet I + am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things have I + spoken unto you, that in Me ye may have peace. In the world ye have + tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."--JOHN + xvi. 16-33. + + +In the intercourse of Jesus with His disciples He at all times showed +one of the most delightful qualities of a friend--a quick and perfect +apprehension of what was passing in their mind. They did not require to +bring their mental condition before Him by laboured explanations. He +knew what was in man, and He especially knew what was in them. He could +forecast the precise impression which His announcements would make upon +them, the doubts and the expectations they would give rise to. Sometimes +they were surprised at this insight, always they profited by it. In +fact, on more occasions than one this insight convinced them that Jesus +had this clear knowledge of men given to Him that He might effectually +deal with all men. It seemed to them, as of course it is, one of the +essential equipments of One who is to be a real centre for the whole +race and to bring help to each and all men. How could a person who was +deficient in this universal sympathy and practical understanding of the +very thoughts of each of us offer himself as our helper? There is +therefore evidence in the life of Jesus that He was never non-plussed, +never at a loss to understand the kind of man He had to do with. There +is evidence of this, and it would seem that we all receive this +evidence; for are we not conscious that our spiritual condition is +understood, our thoughts traced, our difficulties sympathised with? We +may feel very unlike many prominent Christians; we may have no sympathy +with a great deal that passes for Christian sentiment; but Christ's +sympathy is universal, and nothing human comes wrong to Him. Begin with +Him as you are, without professing to be, though hoping to be, different +from what you are, and by the growth of your own spirit in the sunshine +of His presence and under the guidance of His intelligent sympathy your +doubts will pass away, your ungodliness be renounced. He is offered for +your help as the essential condition of your progress and your growth. + +Seeing the perplexity which certain of His expressions had created in +the minds of His disciples, He proceeds to remove it. They had great +need of hopefulness and courage, and He sought to inspire them with +these qualities. They were on the edge of a most bitter experience, and +it was of untold consequence that they should be upheld in it. He does +not hide from them the coming distress, but He reminds them that very +commonly pain and anxiety accompany the birth-throes of a new life; and +if they found themselves shortly in depression and grief which seemed +inconsolable, they were to believe that this was the path to a new and +higher phase of existence and to a joy that would be lasting. Your +grief, He says, will shortly end: your joy never. Your grief will soon +be taken away: your joy no one shall take away. When Christ rose again, +the disciples remembered and understood these words; and a few chapters +further on we find John returning upon the word and saying, "When they +saw the Lord, they were glad,"--they had this _joy_. It was a joy to +them, because love for Christ and hope in Him were their dominant +feelings. They had the joy of having their Friend again, of seeing Him +victorious and proved to be all and more than they had believed. They +had the first glowing visions of a new world for which the preparation +was the life and resurrection of the Son of God. What were they not +prepared to hope for as the result of the immeasurably great things they +had themselves seen and known? It was a mere question now of Christ's +will: of His power they were assured. + +The resurrection of Christ was, however, meant to bring lasting joy, not +to these men only, but to all. These greatest of all events, the descent +to earth of the Son of God with all Divine power and love, and His +resurrection as the conqueror of all that bars the path of men from a +life of light and joy, became solid facts in this world's history, that +all men might calculate their future by such a past, and might each for +himself conclude that a future of which such events are the preparation +must be great and happy indeed. Death, if not in all respects the most +desolating, is the most certain of all human ills. Anguish and mourning +it has brought and will bring to many human hearts. Do what we will we +cannot save our friends from it; by us it is unconquerable. Yet it is in +this most calamitous of human ills God has shown His nearness and His +love. It is to the death of Christ men look to see the full brightness +of God's fatherly love. It is this darkest point of human experience +that God has chosen to irradiate with His absorbing glory. Death is at +once our gravest fear and the spring of our hope; it cuts short human +intercourse, but in the cross of Christ it gives us a never-failing, +divinely loving Friend. The death of Christ is the great compensation +of all the ill that death has brought into human life; and when we see +death made the medium of God's clearest manifestation, we are almost +grateful to it for affording material for an exhibition of God's love +which transforms all our own life and all our own hopes. + +Lasting joy is the condition in which God desires us to be, and He has +given us cause of joy. In Christ's victory we see all that is needed to +give us hopefulness about the future. Each man finds for himself +assurance of God's interest in us and in our actual condition: assurance +that whatever is needful to secure for us a happy eternity has been +done; assurance that in a new heavens and a new earth we shall find +lasting satisfaction. This true, permanent, all-embracing joy is open to +all, and is actually enjoyed by those who have something of Christ's +Spirit, whose chief desire is to see holiness prevail and to keep +themselves and others in harmony with God. To such the accomplishment of +God's will seems a certainty, and they have learned that the +accomplishment of that will means good to them and to all who love God. +The holiness and harmony with God that win this joy are parts of it. To +be the friends of Christ, imbued with His views of life and of God, this +from first to last is a thing of joy. + +That which the disciples at length believed and felt to be the +culmination of their faith was that Jesus had come forth from God. He +Himself more fully expresses what He desired them to believe about Him +in the words: "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: +again I leave the world, and go to the Father." No doubt there is a +sense in which any man may use this language of himself. We can all +truthfully say we came forth from God and came into the world; and we +pass out from the world and return to God. But that the disciples did +not understand the words in this sense is obvious from the difficulty +they found in reaching this belief. Had Jesus merely meant that it was +true of Him, as of all others, that God is the great existence out of +whom we spring and to whom we return, the disciples could have found no +difficulty and the Jews must all have believed in Him. In some special +and exceptional sense, then, He came forth from God. What, then, was +this sense? + +When Nicodemus came to Jesus, he addressed Him as a teacher "come from +God," because, he added, "no man can do these miracles which Thou doest +except God be with Him." In Nicodemus' lips, therefore, the words "a +teacher come from God" meant a teacher with a Divine mission and +credentials. In this sense all the prophets were teachers "come from +God." And accordingly many careful readers of the Gospels believe that +nothing more than this is meant by any of those expressions our Lord +uses of Himself, as "sent from God," "come forth from God," and so on. +The only distinction, it is supposed, between Christ and other prophets +is that He is more highly endowed, is commissioned and equipped as God's +representative in a more perfect degree than Moses or Samuel or Elijah. +He had their power to work miracles, their authority in teaching; but +having a more important mission to accomplish, He had this power and +authority more fully. Now, it is quite certain that some of the +expressions which a careless reader might think conclusive in proof of +Christ's divinity were not intended to express anything more than that +He was God's commissioner. Indeed, it is remarkable how He Himself seems +to wish men to believe this above all else--that He was sent by God. In +reading the Gospel of John one is tempted to say that Jesus almost +intentionally avoids affirming His divinity explicitly and directly when +there seemed opportunity to do so. Certainly His main purpose was to +reveal the Father, to bring men to understand that His teaching about +God was true, and that He was sent by God. + +There are, however, some expressions which unquestionably affirm +Christ's pre-existence, and convince us that before He appeared in this +world He lived with God. And among these expressions the words He uses +in this passage hold a place: "I came forth from the Father, and am come +into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." These +words, the disciples felt, lifted a veil from their eyes; they told Him +at once that they found an explicitness in this utterance which had been +a-wanting in others. And, indeed, nothing could be more explicit: the +two parts of the sentence balance and interpret one another. "I leave +the world, and go to the Father," interprets "I came forth from the +Father, and am come into the world." To say "I leave the world" is not +the same as to say "I go to the Father": this second clause describes a +state of existence which is entered upon when existence in this world is +done. And to say "I came forth from the Father" is not the same as to +say "I came into the world"; it describes a state of existence +antecedent to that which began by coming into the world. + +Thus the Apostles understood the words, and felt therefore that they had +gained a new platform of faith. This they felt to be plain-speaking, +meant to be understood. It so precisely met their craving and gave them +the knowledge they sought, that they felt more than ever Christ's +insight into their state of mind and His power to satisfy their minds. +At length they are able to say with assurance that He has come forth +from God. They are persuaded that behind what they see there is a higher +nature, and that in Christ's presence they are in the presence of One +whose origin is not of this world. It was this pre-existence of Christ +with God which gave the disciples assurance regarding all He taught +them. He spoke of what He had seen with the Father. + +This belief, however, assured though it was, did not save them from a +cowardly desertion of Him whom they believed to be God's representative +on earth. They would, when confronted with the world's authorities and +powers, abandon their Master to His fate, and "would leave Him alone." +He had always, indeed, been alone. All men who wish to carry out some +novel design or accomplish some extensive reform must be prepared to +stand alone, to listen unmoved to criticism, to estimate at their real +and very low value the prejudiced calumnies of those whose interests are +opposed to their design. They must be prepared to live without reward +and without sympathy, strong in the consciousness of their own rectitude +and that God will prosper the right. Jesus enjoyed the affection of a +considerable circle of friends; He was not without the comfort and +strength which come of being believed in; but in regard to His purpose +in life He was always alone. And yet, unless He won men over to His +views, unless He made some as ardent as Himself regarding them, His work +was lost. This was the special hardship of Christ's solitariness. Those +whom He had gathered were to desert Him in the critical hour; but the +sore part of this desertion was that they were to go "each to his +own"--oblivious, that is to say, of the great cause in which they had +embarked with Christ. + +At all times this is the problem Christ has to solve: how to prevail +upon men to look at life from His point of view, to forget their own +things and combine with Him, to be as enamoured of His cause as He +Himself is. He looks now upon us with our honest professions of faith +and growing regard, and He says: Yes, you believe; but you scatter each +to his own at the slightest breath of danger or temptation. This +scattering, each to his own, is that which thwarts Christ's purpose and +imperils His work. The world with its enterprises and its gains, its +glitter and its glory, its sufficiency for the present life, comes in +and tempts us; and apart from the common good, we have each our private +schemes of advantage. And yet there is nothing more certain than that +our ultimate advantage is measured by the measure in which we throw in +our lot with Christ--by the measure in which we practically recognise +that there is an object for which all men in common can work, and that +to scatter "each to his own" is to resign the one best hope of life, the +one satisfying and remunerative labour. + +In revealing what sustained Himself Christ reveals the true stay of +every soul of man. His trial was indeed severe. Brought without a single +friend to the bar of unsympathetic and unscrupulous judges: the Friend +of man, loving as no other has ever loved, and craving love and sympathy +as no other has craved it, yet standing without one pitying eye, without +one voice raised in His favour. Alone in a world He came to convince and +to win; at the end of His life, spent in winning men, left without one +to say He had not lived in vain; abandoned to enemies, to ignorant, +cruel, profane men. He was dragged through the streets where He had +spoken words of life and healed the sick, but no rescue was attempted. +So outcast from all human consideration was He, that a Barabbas found +friendly voices where He found none. Hearing the suborned witnesses +swear His life away, He heard at the same time His boldest disciple deny +that he knew any person of the name of Jesus. But through this +abandonment He knew the Father's presence was with Him. "I am not alone, +because the Father is with Me." + +Times which in their own degree try us with the same sense of +solitariness come upon us all. All pain is solitary; you must bear it +alone: kind friends may be round you, but they cannot bear one pang for +you. You feel how separate and individual an existence you have when +your body is racked with pain and healthy people are by your side; and +you feel it also when you visit some pained or sorrowing person and sit +silently in their presence, feeling that the suffering is theirs and +that they must bear it. We should not brood much over any apparent want +of recognition we may meet with; all such brooding is unwholesome and +weak. Many of our minor sufferings we do best to keep to ourselves and +say nothing about them. Let us strive to show sympathy, and we shall +feel less the pain of not having it. To a large extent every one must be +alone in life--forming his own views of things, working out his own idea +of life, conquering his own sins, and schooling his own heart. And every +one is more or less misunderstood even by his most intimate friends. He +finds himself congratulated on occurrences which are no joy to him, +applauded for successes he is ashamed of; the very kindnesses of his +friends reveal to him how little they understand his nature. But all +this will not deeply affect a healthy-minded man, who recognises that he +is in the world to do good, and who is not always craving applause and +recognition. + +But there are occasional times in which the want of sympathy is +crushingly felt. Some of the most painful and enduring sorrows of the +human heart are of a kind which forbid that they be breathed to the +nearest friend. Even if others know that they have fallen upon us they +cannot allude to them; and very often they are not even known. And there +are times even more trying, when we have not only to bear a sorrow or an +anxiety all our own, but when we have to adopt a line of conduct which +exposes us to misunderstanding, and to act continuously in a manner +which shuts us off from the sympathy of our friends. Our friends +remonstrate and advise, and we feel that their advice is erroneous: we +are compelled to go our own way and bear the charge of obstinacy and +even of cruelty; for sometimes, like Abraham offering Isaac, we cannot +satisfy conscience without seeming to injure or actually injuring those +we love. + +It is in times like these that our faith is tested. We gain a firmer +hold of God than ever before when we in actual life prefer His +countenance and fellowship to the approbation and good-will of our +friends. When in order to keep conscience clean we dare to risk the +good-will of those we depend upon for affection and for support, our +faith becomes a reality and rapidly matures. For a time we may seem to +have rendered ourselves useless, and to have thrown ourselves out of all +profitable relations to our fellow-men: we may be shunned, and our +opinions and conduct may be condemned, and the object we had in view may +seem to be further off than ever; but such was the experience of Christ +also, till even He was forced to cry out, not only Why have ye, My +friends, forsaken Me? but "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" But as in +His case, so in ours--this is only the natural and necessary path to the +perfect justification of ourselves and of the principles our conduct has +represented. If in obedience to conscience we are exposed to isolation +and the various loss consequent upon it, we are not alone--God is with +us. It is in the line of our conduct He is working and will carry out +His purposes. And well might such an one be envied by those who have +feared such isolation and shrunk from the manifold wretchedness that +comes of resisting the world's ways and independently following an +unworldly and Christian path. + +For really in our own life, as in the life of Christ, all is summed up +in the conflict between Christ and the world; and therefore the last +words of this His last conversation are: "In the world ye shall have +tribulation: but be of good courage. I have overcome the world." When +Christ speaks of "the world" as comprising all that was opposed to Him, +it is not difficult to understand His meaning. By "the world" we +sometimes mean this earth; sometimes all external things, sun, moon, and +stars as well as this earth; sometimes we mean the world of men, as when +we say "All the world knows" such and such a thing, or as when Christ +said "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son." But +much more commonly Christ uses it to denote all in the present state of +things which opposes God and leads man away from God. We speak of +worldliness as fatal to the spirit, because worldliness means preference +for what is external and present to what is inward and both present and +future. Worldliness means attachment to things as they are--to the ways +of society, to the excitements, the pleasures, the profits, of the +present. It means surrender to what appeals to the sense--to comfort to +vanity, to ambition, to love of display. Worldliness is the spirit which +uses the present world without reference to the lasting and spiritual +purposes for the sake of which men are in this world. It ignores what is +eternal and what is spiritual; it is satisfied with present comfort, +with what brings present pleasure, with what ministers to the beauty of +this present life, to the material prosperity of men. And no soul +whatsoever or wheresoever situated can escape the responsibility of +making his choice between the world and God. To each of us the question +which determines all else is, Am I to live for ends which find their +accomplishment in this present life, or for ends which are eternal? Am I +to live so as to secure the utmost of comfort, of ease, of money, of +reputation, of domestic enjoyment, of the good things of this present +world? or am I to live so as to do the most I can for the forwarding of +God's purposes with men, for the forwarding of spiritual and eternal +good? There is no man who is not living for one or other of these ends. +Two men enter the same office and transact the same business; but the +one is worldly, the other Christian: two men do the same work, use the +same material, draw the same salary; but one cherishes a spiritual end, +the other a worldly,--the one works, always striving to serve God and +his fellows, the other has nothing in view but himself and his own +interests. Two women live in the same street, have children at the same +school, dress very much alike; but you cannot know them long without +perceiving that the one is worldly, with her heart set on position and +earthly advancement for her children, while the other is unworldly and +prays that her children may learn to conquer the world and to live a +stainless and self-sacrificing life though it be a poor one. This is the +determining probation of life; this it is which determines what we are +and shall be. We are, every one of us, living either with the world as +our end or for God. The difficulty of choosing rightly and abiding by +our choice is extreme: no man has ever found it easy; for every man it +is a sufficient test of his reality, of his dependence on principle, of +his moral clear-sightedness, of his strength of character. + +Therefore Christ, as the result of all His work, announces that He has +"overcome the world." And on the ground of this conquest of His He bids +His followers rejoice and take heart, as if somehow His conquest of the +world guaranteed theirs, and as if their conflict would be easier on +account of His. And so indeed it is. Not only has every one now who +proposes to live for high and unworldly ends the satisfaction of knowing +that such a life is possible, and not only has he the vast encouragement +of knowing that One has passed this way before and attained His end; +but, moreover, it is Christ's victory which has really overcome the +world in a final and public way. The world's principles of action, its +pleasure-seeking, its selfishness, its childish regard for glitter and +for what is present to sense, in a word, its worldliness when set over +against the life of Christ, is for ever discredited. The experience of +Christ in this world reflects such discredit upon merely worldly ways, +and so clearly exhibits its blindness, its hatred of goodness, its +imbecility when it strives to counterwork God's purposes, that no man +who morally has his eyes open can fail to look with suspicion and +abhorrence on the world. And the dignity, the love, the apprehension of +what is real and abiding in human affairs, and the ready application of +His life to a real and abiding purpose--all this, which is so visible in +the life of Christ, gives certainty and attractiveness to the principles +opposed to worldliness. We have in Christ's life at once an +authoritative and an experimental teaching on the greatest of all human +subjects--how life should be spent. + +Christ has overcome the world, then, by resisting its influence upon +Himself, by showing Himself actually superior to its most powerful +influences; and His overcoming of the world is not merely a private +victory availing for Himself alone, but it is a public good, because in +His life the perfect beauty of a life devoted to eternal and spiritual +ends is conspicuously shown. The man who can look upon the conflict +between the world and Christ as John has shown it, and say, "I would +rather be one of the Pharisees than Christ," is hopelessly blind to the +real value of human life. But what says our life regarding the actual +choice we have made? + + + + +XVI. + +_CHRIST'S INTERCESSORY PRAYER._ + + + "These things spake Jesus; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He + said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may + glorify Thee: even as Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh, that + whatsoever Thou hast given Him, to them He should give eternal life. + And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true + God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ. I glorified + Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast + given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own + self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. I + manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the + world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me; and they have + kept Thy word. Now they know that all things whatsoever Thou hast + given Me are from Thee: for the words which Thou gavest Me I have + given unto them; and they received them, and knew of a truth that I + came forth from Thee, and they believed that Thou didst send Me. I + pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom Thou + hast given Me; for they are Thine: and all things that are Mine are + Thine, and Thine are Mine: and I am glorified in them. And I am no + more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee. + Holy Father, keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me, that + they may be one, even as We are. While I was with them, I kept them + in Thy name which Thou hast given Me: and I guarded them, and not + one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture + might be fulfilled. But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak + in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I + have given them Thy word; and the world hated them, because they are + not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that + Thou shouldest take them from the world, but that Thou shouldest + keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am + not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth. As + Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the + world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves + also may be sanctified in truth. Neither for these only do I pray, + but for them also that believe on Me through their word; that they + may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that + they also may be in Us: that the world may believe that Thou didst + send Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto + them; that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and Thou + in Me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know + that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me. + Father, that which Thou hast given Me, I will that, where I am, they + also may be with Me; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast + given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. O + righteous Father, the world knew Thee not, but I knew Thee; and + these knew that Thou didst send Me; and I made known unto them Thy + name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou lovedst + me may be in them, and I in them."--JOHN xvii. + + +This prayer of Christ is in some respects the most precious relic of the +past. We have here the words which Christ addressed to God in the +critical hour of His life--the words in which He uttered the deepest +feeling and thought of His Spirit, clarified and concentrated by the +prospect of death. What a revelation it would be to us had we Christ's +prayers from His boyhood onwards! what a liturgy and promptuary of +devotion if we knew what He had desired from His early years--what He +had feared, what He had prayed against, what He had never ceased to hope +for; the things that one by one dropped out of His prayers, the things +that gradually grew into them; the persons He commended to the Father +and the manner of this commendation; His prayers for His mother, for +John, for Peter, for Lazarus, for Judas! But here we have a prayer +which, if it does not so abundantly satisfy pardonable curiosity, does +at least bring us into as sacred a presence. For even among the prayers +of Christ this stands by itself as that in which He gathered up the +retrospect of His past and surveyed the future of His Church; in which, +as if already dying, He solemnly presented to the Father Himself, His +work, and His people. Recognising the grandeur of the occasion, we may +be disposed to agree with Melanchthon, who, when giving his last +lecture shortly before His death, said: "There is no voice which has +ever been heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, +more fruitful, more sublime, than this prayer offered up by the Son of +God Himself." + +The prayer was the natural conclusion to the conversation which Jesus +and the disciples had been carrying on. And as the Eleven saw Him +lifting His eyes to heaven, as if the Father He addressed were visible, +they no doubt felt a security which had not been imparted by all His +promises. And when in after-life they spoke of Christ's intercession, +this instance of it must always have risen in memory and have formed all +their ideas of that part of the Redeemer's work. It has always been +believed that those who have loved and cared for us while on earth +continue to do so when through death they have passed nearer to the +Source of all love and goodness; this lively interest in us is supposed +to continue because it formed so material an element in their life here +below; and it was impossible that those who heard our Lord thus awfully +commending them to the Father should ever forget this earnest +consideration of their state or should ever come to fancy that they were +forgotten. + +Beginning with prayer for Himself, our Lord passes at the sixth verse +into prayer for His disciples, and at the twentieth verse the prayer +expands still more widely and embraces the world, all those who should +believe on Him. + +First, Jesus prays for Himself; and His prayer is, "Father, glorify Thy +Son; glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with +Thee before the world was." The work for which He came into the world +was done; "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." There +remains no more reason why He should stay longer on earth; "the hour is +come," the hour for closing His earthly career and opening to Him a new +period and sphere. He does not wish and does not need a prolongation of +life. He has found time enough in less than a half of three-score years +and ten to do all He can do on earth. It is character, not time, we need +to do our work. To make a deep and abiding impression it is not longer +life we need, but intensity. Jesus did not find Himself cramped, +limited, or too soon hurried out of life. He viewed death as the +suitable timely step, and took it with self-command and in order to pass +to something better than earthly life. + +How immeasurably beneath this level is the vaunted equanimity of the +thinker who says, "Death can be no evil because it is universal"! How +immeasurably beneath it is the habit of most of us! Which of us can +stand in that clear air on that high point which separates life from +what is beyond and can say, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest +Me to do"? A broken column is the fit monument of our life, unfinished, +frustrated, useless. Wasted energy, ill-repaired blunders, unfulfilled +purposes, fruitless years, much that is positively evil, much that was +done mechanically and carelessly and for the day; plans ill conceived +and worse executed; imperfect ideals of life imperfectly realised; +pursuits dictated by uneducated tastes, unchastened whims, accidental +circumstances,--such is the retrospect which most of us have as we look +back over life. Few men even recognise the reality of life as part of an +eternal order, and, of the few who do so, still fewer seriously and +persistently aim at fitting in their life as a solid part of that +order. + +Before we know whether we have finished the work given us to do we must +know what that work is. At the outset of his account of Christ's work +John gives us his conception of it. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt +among us; and _we beheld His glory_, the glory as of the Only-begotten +of the Father." This work was now accomplished, and Jesus can say, "I +have glorified Thee on the earth"; "I have manifested Thy name unto the +men which Thou gavest Me out of the world." We may all add our humble +responsive "Amen" to this account of His finished work. John has carried +us through the scenes in which Jesus manifested the glory of the Father +and showed the full meaning of that name, displaying the Father's love +in His self-sacrificing interest in men, the Father's holiness and +supremacy in His devoted filial obedience. Never again can men separate +the idea of the true God from the life of Jesus Christ; it is in that +life we come to know God, and through that life His glory shines. This +many a man has felt is the true Divine glory; this God yearning over His +lost and wretched children, coming down and sharing in their +wretchedness to win them to Himself and blessedness--this is the God for +us. This alone is glory such as we bow before and own to be infinitely +worthy of trust and adoration, almightiness applying itself to the +necessities and fears of the weak, perfect purity winning to itself the +impure and the outcast, love showing itself to be Divine by its +patience, its humility, its absolute sacrifice. It is Christ who has +found entrance for these conceptions of God once for all into the human +mind; it is to Christ we owe it that we know a God we can entirely love +and increasingly worship. With the most assured truth He could say, "I +have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do; I have glorified +Thee on the earth; I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou +gavest Me out of the world." + +But Christ recognises a work which ran parallel with this, a work which +continually resulted from His manifestation of the Father. By His +manifesting the Father He gave eternal life to those who accepted and +believed His revelation. The power to reveal the Father which Christ had +received He had not on His own account, but that He might give eternal +life to men. For "this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the +only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." Eternal life is +not merely life indefinitely prolonged. It is rather life under new +conditions and fed from different sources. It can be entered upon now, +but a full understanding of it is now impossible. The grub might as well +try to understand the life of the butterfly, or the chick in the shell +the life of the bird. To know what Christ revealed, this is the birth to +life eternal. To know that love and holiness are the governing powers in +conformity with which all things are carried onward to their end; to +know what God is, that He is a Father who cannot leave us His children +of earth behind and pass on to His own great works and purposes in the +universe, but stoops to our littleness and delays that He may carry +every one of us with Him,--this is life eternal. This it is that subdues +the human heart and cleanses it from pride, self-seeking, and lust, and +that inclines it to bow before the holy and loving God, and to choose +Him and life in Him. This it is that turns it from the brief joys and +imperfect meanings of time and gives it a home in eternity--that severs +it in disposition and in destiny from the changing, passing world and +gives it an eternal inheritance as God's child. To as many as believed +Christ, to them He gave power to become the sons of God. To believe Him +and to accept the God He reveals is to become a son of God and is to +enter into life eternal. To be conquered by the Divine love shown us; to +feel that not in worldly ambition or any self-seeking, but only in +devotion to interests that are spiritual and general, is the true life +for us; to yield ourselves to the Spirit of Christ and seek to be +animated and possessed by that Spirit,--this is to throw in our lot with +God, to be satisfied in Him, to have eternal life. + +The earthly work of Christ, then, being finished, He asks the Father to +glorify Him with His own self, with the glory He had with Him before the +world was. It seems to me vain to deny that this petition implies on +Christ's part a consciousness of a life which He had before He appeared +on earth. His mind turns from the present hour, from His earthly life, +to eternity, to those regions beyond time into which no created +intelligence can follow Him, and in which God alone exists, and in that +Divine solitude He claims a place for Himself. If He merely meant that +from eternity God had conceived of Him, the ideal man, and if the +existence and glory He speaks of were merely existence in God's mind, +but not actual, His words do not convey His meaning. The glory which He +prayed for now was a conscious, living glory; He did not wish to become +extinct or to be absorbed in the Divine being; He meant to continue and +did continue in actual, personal, living existence. This was the glory +He prayed for, and this therefore must also have been the glory He had +before the world was. It was a glory of which it was proper to say, "_I +had_ it," and not merely God conceived it: it was enjoyed by Christ +before the worlds were, and was not only in the mind of God. + +What that glory was, who can tell? We know it was a glory not of +position only, but of character--a glory which disposed and prepared Him +to sympathize with suffering and to give Himself to the actual needs of +men. From that glory He came to share with men in their humiliation, to +expose Himself to their scorn and abuse, to win them to eternal life and +to some true participation in His glory. + +But Christ's removal from the earthly and visible life involved a great +change in the condition of the disciples. Hitherto He had been present +with them day by day, always exhibiting to them spiritual glory, and +attracting them to it in His own person. So long as they saw God's glory +in so attractive and friendly a form it was not difficult for them to +resist the world's temptations. "While I was with them in the world, I +kept them in Thy name"--that is, by revealing the Father to them; but +"now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come +to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast +given Me. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." Christ +had been the Word Incarnate, the utterance of God to men; in Him men +recognised what God is and what God wills. And this sanctified them; +this marvellous revelation of God and His love for men drew men to Him: +they felt how Divine and overcoming a love this was; they adored the +name Father which Christ the Son made known to them; they felt +themselves akin to God and claimed by Him, and spurned the world; they +recognised in themselves that which could understand and be appealed to +by such a love as God's. Their glory was to be God's children. + +But now the visible image, the Incarnate Word, is withdrawn, and Christ +commits to the Father those whom He leaves on earth. "Holy Father," Thou +whose holiness moves Thee to keep men separate to Thyself from every +evil contagion, "keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given +Me." It is still by the recognition of God in Christ that we are to be +kept from evil, by contemplating and penetrating this great +manifestation of God to us, by listening humbly and patiently to this +Incarnate Word. Knowledge of the God whose the world and all existence +is, knowledge of Him in whom we live and whose holiness is silently +judging and ruling all things, knowledge that He who rules all and who +is above all gives Himself to us with a love that thinks no sacrifice +too great--it is this knowledge of the truth that saves us from the +world. It is the knowledge of those abiding realities which Christ +revealed, of those great and loving purposes of God to man, and of the +certainty of their fulfilment, which recalls us to holiness and to God. +There is reality here; all else is empty and delusive. + +But these realities are obscured and thrust aside by a thousand +pretentious frivolities which claim our immediate attention and +interest. We are in the world, and day by day the world insists that we +shall consider it the great reality. Christ had conquered it and was +leaving it. Why, then, did He not take with Him all whom He had won to +Himself out of the world? He did not do so because they had a work to +accomplish which could only be accomplished in the world. As He had +consecrated Himself to the work of making known the Father, so must +they consecrate themselves to the same work. As Christ in His own person +and life had brought clear before their minds the presence of the +Father, so must they by their person and life manifest in the world the +existence and the grace of Christ. They must make permanent and +universal the revelation He had brought, that all the world might +believe that He was the true representative of God. Christ had lighted +them, and with their light they were to kindle all men, till the world +was full of light. A share in this work is given to each of us. We are +permitted to mediate between God and men, to carry to some the knowledge +which gives life eternal. It is made possible to us to be benefactors in +the highest kind, to give to this man and that a God. To parents it is +made possible to fill the opening and hungry mind of their child with a +sense of God which will awe, restrain, encourage, gladden him all his +life through. To relieve the wants of to-day, to refresh any human +spirit by kindness, and to forward the interests of any struggler in +life is much; but it is little compared with the joy and solid utility +of disclosing to a human soul that which he at last recognises as +Divine, and before which at last he bows in spontaneous adoration and +absolute trust. To the man who has long questioned whether there is a +God, who has doubted whether there is any morally perfect Being, any +Spirit existent greater and purer than man, you have but to show Christ, +and through His unconquerable love and untemptable holiness reveal to +him a God. + +But as it was not by telling men about God that Christ convinced men +that somewhere there existed a holy God who cared for them, but by +showing God's holiness and love present to them in His own person, so +our words may fail to accomplish much if our life does not reveal a +presence men cannot but recognise as Divine. It was by being one with +the Father Christ revealed Him; it was the Father's will His life +exhibited. And the extension of this to the whole world of men is the +utmost of Christ's desire. All will be accomplished when all men are +one, even as Christ and the Father are already one. + +This text is often cited by those who seek to promote the union of +churches. But we find it belongs to a very different category and much +higher region. That all churches should be under similar government, +should adopt the same creed, should use the same forms of worship, even +if possible, is not supremely desirable; but real unity of sentiment +towards Christ and of zeal to promote His will is supremely desirable. +Christ's will is all-embracing; the purposes of God are wide as the +universe, and can be fulfilled only by endless varieties of +dispositions, functions, organisations, labours. We must expect that, as +time goes on, men, so far from being contracted into a narrow and +monotonous uniformity, will exhibit increasing diversities of thought +and of method, and will be more and more differentiated in all outward +respects. If the infinitely comprehensive purposes of God are to be +fulfilled, it must be so. But also, if these purposes are to be +fulfilled, all intelligent agents must be at one with God, and must be +so profoundly in sympathy with God's mind as revealed in Christ that, +however different one man's work or methods may be from another's, God's +will shall alike be carried out by both. If this will can be more freely +carried out by separate churches, then outward separation is no great +calamity. Only when outward separation leads one church to despise or +rival or hate another is it a calamity. But whether churches abide +separate or are incorporated in outward unity, the desirable thing is +that they be one in Christ, that they have the same eagerness in His +service, that they be as regiments of one army fighting a common foe and +supporting one another, diverse in outward appearance, in method, in +function, as artillery, infantry, cavalry, engineers, or even as the +army and navy of the same country, but fighting for one flag and one +cause, and their very diversity more vividly exhibiting their real +unity. + +But why should unity be the ultimate desire of Christ, the highest point +to which the Saviour's wishes for mankind can reach? Because spirit is +that which rules; and if we be one with God in spirit the future is +ours. This mighty universe in which we find ourselves, apparently +governed by forces compared to which the most powerful of human engines +are weak as the moth--forces which keep this earth, and orbs +immeasurably larger, suspended in space,--this universe is controlled by +spirit, is designed for spiritual ends, for ends of the highest kind and +which concern conscious and moral beings. + +It is as yet only by glimpses we can see the happiness of those who are +one with God; it is only by inadequate comparisons and with mental +effort we can attain to even a rudimentary conception of the future that +awaits those who are thus eternally blessed. Of them well may Paul say, +"All things are yours; for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." It is +for Christ all things are governed by God; to be in Him is to be above +the reach of catastrophe--to be, as Christ Himself expresses it, beside +Himself on the throne, from which all things are ruled. Having been +attracted by His character, by what He is and does, and having sought +here on earth to promote His will, we shall be His agents hereafter, but +in a life in which spiritual glory irradiates everything, and in which +an ecstasy and strength which this frail body could not contain will be +the normal and constant index of the life of God in us. To do good, to +utter by word or deed the love and power that are in us, is the +permanent joy of man. With what alacrity does the surgeon approach the +operation he knows will be successful! with what pleasure does the +painter put on canvas the idea which fills his mind and which he knows +will appeal to every one who sees it! And whoever learns to do good by +partaking of God's spirit of communicative goodness will find +everlasting joy in imparting what he has and can. He will do so, not +with the feeble and hesitating mind and hand which here make almost +every good action partly painful, but with a spontaneity and sense of +power which will be wholly pleasure; he will know that being one with +God he can do good, can accomplish and effect some solid and needful +work. Slowly, very slowly, is this arrived at; but time is of no +consequence in work that is eternal, so long only as we are sure we do +not idly miss present opportunities of learning, so long only as we know +that our faces are turned in the right direction, and that a right +spirit is in us. + +If there lingers in our minds a feeling that the end Christ proposes and +utters as His last prayer for men does not draw us with irresistible +force, it might be enough to say to our own heart that this is our +weakness, that certainly in this prayer we do touch the very central +significance of human life, and that however dimly human words may be +able to convey thoughts regarding eternity we have here in Christ's +words sufficient indication of the one abiding end and aim of all wisely +directed human life. Whatever the future of man is to be, whatever joy +_life_ is to become, in whatever far-reaching and prolonged experiences +we are to learn the fruitfulness and efficacy of God's love, whatever +new sources and conditions of happiness we may in future worlds be +introduced to, whatever higher energies and richer affections are to be +opened in us, all this can only be by our becoming one with God, in +whose will the future now lies. And it may also be said, if we think +this the prayer of One who was not in the full current of actual human +life, and had little understanding of men's ways, that this prayer is +fulfilled in very many who are deeply involved and busily occupied in +this world. They give their mind to their employment, but their heart +goes to higher aims and more enduring results. To do good is to them of +greater consequence than to make money. To see the number of Christ's +sincere followers increasing is to them truer joy than to see their own +business extending. In the midst of their greatest prosperity they +recognise that there is something far better than worldly prosperity, +and that is, to be kept from the evil that is in the world and to extend +the knowledge of God. They feel in common with all men that it is not +always easy to remember that great spiritual kingdom with its mighty but +unobtrusive interests, but they are kept by the Father's name, and they +do on the whole live under the influence of God and hoping in His +salvation. And it would help us all to do so were we to believe that +Christ's interest in us is such as this prayer reveals, and that the +great subject of His intercession is, that we be kept from the evil that +is in the world and be helpful in the great and enduring work of +bringing into truer fellowship men's lives and God's goodness. Alongside +of all our profitless labour and unworthiness of aim there runs this +lofty aim of Christ for us; and while we are greedily following after +pleasure, or thoughtlessly throwing ourselves into mere worldliness, our +Lord is praying the Father that we be lifted into harmony with Him and +be used as channels of His grace to others. + + + + +XVII. + +_THE ARREST._ + + + "When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples + over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, into the which He + entered, Himself and His disciples. Now Judas also, which betrayed + Him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with His + disciples. Judas then, having received the band of soldiers, and + officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither + with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all + the things that were coming upon Him, went forth, and saith unto + them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus + saith unto them, I am He. And Judas also, which betrayed Him, was + standing with them. When therefore He said unto them, I am He, they + went backward, and fell to the ground. Again therefore He asked + them, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus + answered, I told you that I am He: if therefore ye seek Me, let + these go their way: that the word might be fulfilled which He spake, + Of those whom Thou hast given Me I lost not one. Simon Peter + therefore having a sword drew it, and struck the high priest's + servant, and cut off his right ear. Now the servant's name was + Malchus. Jesus therefore said unto Peter, Put up the sword into the + sheath: the cup which the Father hath given Me, shall I not drink + it? So the band and the chief captain, and the officers of the Jews, + seized Jesus and bound Him, and led Him to Annas first; for he was + father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was high priest that year. Now + Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was + expedient that one man should die for the people."--JOHN xviii. + 1-14. + + +Jesus having commended to the Father Himself and His disciples, left the +city, crossed the Kidron, and entered the Garden of Gethsemane, where He +frequently went for quiet and to pass the night. The time He had spent +in encouraging His disciples and praying for them Judas had spent in +making preparations for His arrest. In order to impress Pilate with the +dangerous nature of this Galilean he asks him for the use of the Roman +cohort to effect His capture. It was possible His arrest might occasion +a tumult and rouse the people to attempt a rescue. Perhaps Judas also +had an alarming remembrance of the miraculous power he had seen Jesus +put forth, and was afraid to attempt His apprehension with only the +understrappers of the Sanhedrim or the Temple guard; so he takes the +Roman cohort of five hundred men, or whatever number he would reckon +would be more than a match for a miracle. And though the moon was full, +he takes the precaution of furnishing the expedition with lanterns and +torches, for he knew that down in that deep Kidron gully it was often +dark when there was plenty of light above; and might not Jesus hide +Himself in some of the shadows, in some thicket or cavern, or in some +garden-shed or tower? He could not have made more elaborate +preparations had he been wishing to take a thief or to surprise a +dangerous chief of banditti in his stronghold. + +The futility of such preparations became at once apparent. So far from +trying to hide Himself or slip out by the back of the garden, Jesus no +sooner sees the armed men than He steps to the front and asks, "Whom +seek ye?" Jesus, in order that He might screen His disciples, wished at +once to be identified by His captors themselves as the sole object of +their search. By declaring that they sought Jesus of Nazareth, they +virtually exempted the rest from apprehension. But when Jesus identified +Himself as the person they sought, instead of rushing forward and +holding Him fast, as Judas had instructed them, those in front shrank +back; they felt that they had no weapons that would not break upon the +calmness of that spiritual majesty; they went backward and fell to the +ground. This was no idle display; it was not a needless theatrical +garnishing of the scene for the sake of effect. If we could imagine the +Divine nobility of Christ's appearance at that critical moment when He +finally proclaimed His work done and gave Himself up to die, we should +all of us sink humbled and overcome before Him. Even in the dim and +flickering light of the torches there was that in His appearance which +made it impossible for the bluntest and rudest soldier to lay a hand +upon Him. Discipline was forgotten; the legionaries who had thrown +themselves on spear-points unawed by the fiercest of foes saw in this +unarmed figure something which quelled and bewildered them. + +But this proof of His superiority was lost upon His disciples. They +thought that armed force should be met by armed force. Recovering from +their discomfiture, and being ashamed of it, the soldiers and servants +of the Sanhedrim advance to bind Jesus. Peter, who had with some dim +presentiment of what was coming possessed himself of a sword, aims a +blow at the head of Malchus, who having his hands occupied in binding +Jesus can only defend himself by bending his head to one side, and so +instead of his life loses only his ear. To our Lord this interposition +of Peter seemed as if he were dashing out of His hand the cup which the +Father had put into it. Disengaging His hands from those who already +held them He said, "Suffer ye thus far"[20] (Permit Me to do this one +thing); and laying His hand on the wound He healed it, this forgiving +and beneficent act being the last done by His unbound +hands--significant, indeed, that such should be the style of action from +which they prevented Him by binding His hands. Surely the Roman officer +in command, if none of the others, must have observed the utter +incongruity of the bonds, the fatuous absurdity and wickedness of tying +hands because they wrought miracles of healing. + +While our Lord thus calmly resigned Himself to His fate, He was not +without an indignant sense of the wrong that was done Him, not only in +His being apprehended, but in the manner of it. "Are ye come out as +against a thief with swords and with staves? I sat daily teaching in the +Temple, and ye laid no hold on Me." Many of the soldiers must have felt +how ungenerous it was to treat such a Person as a common felon,--coming +upon Him thus in the dead of night, as if He were one who never appeared +in the daylight; coming with bludgeons and military aid, as if He were +likely to create a disturbance. Commonly an arrest is considered to be +best made if the culprit is seized red-handed in the very act. Why, +then, had they not thus taken Him? They knew that the popular conscience +was with Him, and they dared not take Him on the streets of Jerusalem. +It was the last evidence of their inability to understand His kingdom, +its nature and its aims. Yet surely some of the crowd must have felt +ashamed of themselves, and been uneasy till they got rid of their +unsuitable weapons, stealthily dropping their sticks as they walked or +hurling them deep into the shade of the garden. + +This, then, is the result produced by our Lord's labours of love and +wisdom. His conduct had been most conciliatory--conciliatory to the +point of meekness unintelligible to those who could not penetrate His +motives. He had innovated certainly, but His innovations were blessings, +and were so marked by wisdom and sanctioned by reason that every direct +assault against them had broken down. He did not seek for power further +than for the power of doing good. He knew He could lift men to a far +other life than they were living, and permission to do so was His grand +desire. The result was that He was marked as the object of the most +rancorous hatred of which the human heart is capable. Why so? Do we need +to ask? What is more exasperating to men who fancy themselves the +teachers of the age than to find another teacher carrying the +convictions of the people? What is more painful than to find that in +advanced life we must revolutionise our opinions and admit the truth +taught by our juniors? He who has new truths to declare or new methods +to introduce must recognise that he will be opposed by the combined +forces of ignorance, pride, self-interest, and sloth. The majority are +always on the side of things as they are. And whoever suggests +improvement, whoever shows the faultiness and falseness of what has been +in vogue, must be prepared to pay the price and endure misunderstanding, +calumny, opposition, and ill-usage. If all men speak well of us, it is +only while we go with the stream. As soon as we oppose popular customs, +explode received opinions, introduce reforms, we must lay our account +for ill-treatment. It has always been so, and in the nature of things it +must always be so. We cannot commit a crime more truly hated by society +than to convince it there are better ways of living than its own and a +truth beyond what it has conceived, and it has been the consolation and +encouragement of many who have endeavoured to improve matters around +them and have met with contempt or enmity that they share the lot of Him +whose reward for seeking to bless mankind was that He was arrested as a +common felon. + +When thus treated, men are apt to be embittered towards their fellows. +When all their efforts to do good are made the very ground of accusation +against them, there is the strongest provocation to give up all such +attempts and to arrange for one's own comfort and safety. This world has +few more sufficient tests to apply to character than this; and it is +only the few who, when misinterpreted and ill-used by ignorance and +malignity, can retain any loving care for others. It struck the +spectators, therefore, of this scene in the garden as a circumstance +worthy of record, that when Jesus was Himself bound He should shield His +disciples. "If ye seek Me, let these go their way." Some of the crowd +had perhaps laid hands on the disciples or were showing a disposition to +apprehend them as well as their Master. Jesus therefore interferes, +reminding His captors that they had themselves said that _He_ was the +object of this midnight raid, and that the disciples must therefore be +scatheless. + +In relating this part of the scene John puts an interpretation on it +which was not merely natural, but which has been put upon it +instinctively by all Christians since. It seemed to John as if, in thus +acting, our Lord was throwing into a concrete and tangible form His true +substitution in the room of His people. To John these words He utters +seem the motto of His work. Had any of the disciples been arrested along +with Jesus and been executed by His side as act and part with Him, the +view which the Christian world has taken of Christ's position and work +must have been blurred if not quite altered. But the Jews had +penetration enough to see where the strength of this movement lay. They +believed that if the Shepherd was smitten the sheep would give them no +trouble, but would necessarily scatter. Peter's flourish with the sword +attracted little attention; they knew that great movements were not led +by men of his type. They passed him by with a smile and did not even +arrest him. It was Jesus who stood before them as alone dangerous. And +Jesus on His side knew that the Jews were right, that He was the +responsible person, that these Galileans would have been dreaming at +their nets had He not summoned them to follow Him. If there was any +offence in the matter, it belonged to Him, not to them. + +But in Jesus thus stepping to the front and shielding the disciples by +exposing Himself, John sees a picture of the whole sacrifice and +substitution of Christ. This figure of his Master moving forward to meet +the swords and staves of the party remains indelibly stamped upon his +mind as the symbol of Christ's whole relation to His people. That night +in Gethsemane was to them all the hour and power of darkness; and in +every subsequent hour of darkness John and the rest see the same Divine +figure stepping to the front, shielding them and taking upon Himself all +the responsibility. It is thus Christ would have us think of Him--as our +friend and protector, watchful over our interests, alive to all that +threatens our persons, interposing between us and every hostile event. +If by following Him according to our knowledge we are brought into +difficulties, into circumstances of trouble and danger, if we are +brought into collision with those in power, if we are discouraged and +threatened by serious obstacles, let us be quite sure that in the +critical moment He will interpose and convince us that, though He cannot +save Himself, He can save others. He will not lead us into difficulties +and leave us to find our own way out of them. If in striving to +discharge our duty we have become entangled in many distressing and +annoying circumstances, He acknowledges His responsibility in leading us +into such a condition, and will see that we are not permanently the +worse for it. If in seeking to know Him more thoroughly we have been led +into mental perplexities, He will stand by us and see that we come to no +harm. He encourages us to take this action of His in shielding His +disciples as the symbol of what we all may expect He will do for +ourselves. In all matters between God and us He interposes and claims to +be counted as the true Head who is accountable, as that One who desires +to answer all charges that can be made against the rest of us. If +therefore, in view of much duty left undone, of many sinful imaginings +harboured, of much vileness of conduct and character, we feel that it is +ourselves the eye of God is seeking and with _us_ He means to take +account; if we know not how to answer Him regarding many things that +stick in our memory and conscience,--let us accept the assurance here +given us that Christ presents Himself as responsible. + +It is not without surprise that we read that when Jesus was arrested all +the disciples forsook Him and fled. John, indeed, and Peter speedily +recovered themselves and followed to the hall of judgment; and the +others may not only have felt that they were in danger so long as they +remained in His company, but also that by accompanying Him they could +not mend matters. Still, the kind of loyalty that stands by a falling +cause, and the kind of courage that risks all to show sympathy with a +friend or leader, are qualities so very common that one would have +expected to find them here. And no doubt had the matter been to be +decided in Peter's fashion, by the sword, they would have stood by Him. +But there was a certain mysteriousness about our Lord's purpose that +prevented His followers from being quite sure where they were being led +to. They were perplexed and staggered by the whole transaction. They had +expected things to go differently and scarcely knew what they were doing +when they fled. + +There are times when we feel a slackening of devotion to Christ, times +when we are doubtful whether we have not been misled, times when the +bond between us and Him seems to be of the slenderest possible +description, times when we have as truly forsaken Him as these +disciples, and are running no risks for Him, doing nothing to advance +His interests, seeking only our own comfort and our own safety. These +times will frequently be found to be the result of disappointed +expectations. Things have not gone with us in the spiritual life as we +expected. We have found things altogether more difficult than we looked +for. We do not know what to make of our present state nor what to expect +in the future, and so we lose an active interest in Christ and fall away +from any hope that is living and influential. + +Another point which John evidently desires to bring prominently before +us in this narrative is Christ's willingness to surrender Himself; the +voluntary character of all He afterwards suffered. It was at this point +of His career, at His apprehension, this could best be brought out. +Afterwards He might say He suffered willingly, but so far as appearances +went He had no option. Previous to His apprehension His professions of +willingness would not have been attended to. It was precisely now that +it could be seen whether He would flee, hide, resist, or calmly yield +Himself. And John is careful to bring out His willingness. He went to +the garden as usual, "knowing all things that should come upon Him." It +would have been easy to seek some safer quarters for the night, but He +would not. At the last moment escape from the garden could not have been +impossible. His followers could have covered His retreat. But He +advances to meet the party, avows Himself to be the man they sought, +will not suffer Peter to use his sword, in every way shows that His +surrender is voluntary. Still, had He not shown His power to escape, +onlookers might have thought this was only the prudent conduct of a +brave man who wished to preserve His dignity, and therefore preferred +delivering Himself up to being ignominiously dragged from a +hiding-place. Therefore it was made plain that if He yielded it was not +for want of power to resist. By a word He overthrew those who came to +bind Him, and made them feel ashamed of their preparations. He spoke +confidently of help that would have swept the cohort off the field.[21] +And thus it was brought out that, if He died, He laid down His life and +was not deprived of it solely by the hate and violence of men. The hate +and violence were there; but they were not the sole factors. He yielded +to these because they were ingredients in the cup His Father wished Him +to drink. + +The reason of this is obvious. Christ's life was to be all sacrifice, +because self-sacrifice is the essence of holiness and of love. From +beginning to end the moving spring of all His actions was deliberate +self-devotement to the good of men or to the fulfilment of God's will; +for these are equivalents. And His death as the crowning act of this +career was to be conspicuously a death embodying and exhibiting the +spirit of self-sacrifice. He offered Himself on the cross through the +eternal Spirit. That death was not compulsory; it was not the outcome of +a sudden whim or generous impulse; it was the expression of a constant +uniform "eternal" Spirit, which on the cross, in the yielding of life +itself, rendered up for men all that was possible. Unwillingly no +sacrifice can be made. When a man is taxed to support the poor, we do +not call that a sacrifice. Sacrifice must be free, loving, uncompelled; +it must be the exhibition in act of love, the freest and most +spontaneous of all human emotions. "It is a true Christian instinct in +our language which has seized upon the word _sacrifice_ to express the +self-devotion prompted by an unselfish love for others: we speak of the +_sacrifices_ made by a loving wife or mother; and we test the sincerity +of a Christian by the _sacrifices_ he will make for the love of Christ +and the brethren.... The reason why Christianity has approved itself a +living principle of regeneration to the world is specially because a +Divine example and a Divine spirit of self-sacrifice have wrought +together in the hearts of men, and thereby an ever-increasing number +have been quickened with the desire and strengthened with the will to +spend and be spent for the cleansing, the restoration, and the life of +the most guilty, miserable, and degraded of their fellows." It was in +Christ's life and death this great principle of the life of God and man +was affirmed: there self-sacrifice is perfectly exhibited. + +It is to this willingness of Christ to suffer we must ever turn. It is +this voluntary, uncompelled, spontaneous devotion of Himself to the good +of men which is the magnetic point in this earth. Here is something we +can cleave to with assurance, something we can trust and build upon. +Christ in His own sovereign freedom of will and impelled by love of us +has given Himself to work out our perfect deliverance from sin and evil +of every kind. Let us deal sincerely with Him, let us be in earnest +about these matters, let us hope truly in Him, let us give Him time to +conquer by moral means all our moral foes within and without, and we +shall one day enter into His joy and His triumph. + +But when we thus apply John's words we are haunted with a suspicion that +they were perhaps not intended to be thus used. Is John justified in +finding in Christ's surrender of Himself to the authorities, on +condition that the disciples should escape, fulfilment of the words that +of those whom God had given Him He had lost none? The actual occurrence +we see here is Jesus arrested as a false Messiah, and claiming to be the +sole culprit if any culprit there be. Is this an occurrence that has any +bearing upon us or any special instruction regarding the substitution of +a sin-bearer in our room? Can it mean that He alone bears the punishment +of our sin and that we go free? Is it any more than an illustration of +His substitutionary work, one instance out of many of His habit of +self-devotion in the room of others? Can I build upon this act in the +Garden of Gethsemane and conclude from it that He surrenders Himself +that I may escape punishment? Can I legitimately gather from it anything +more than another proof of His constant readiness to stand in the +breach? It is plain enough that a person who acted as Christ did here is +one we could trust; but had this action any special virtue as the actual +substitution of Christ in our room as sin-bearer? + +It is, I think, well that we should occasionally put to ourselves such +questions and train ourselves to look at the events of Christ's life as +actual occurrences, and to distinguish between what is fanciful and what +is real. So much has been said and written regarding His work, it has +been the subject of so much sentiment, the basis of so many conflicting +theories, the text of so much loose and allegorising interpretation, +that the original plain and substantial fact is apt to be overlaid and +lost sight of. And yet it is that plain and substantial reality which +has virtue for us, while all else is delusive, howsoever finely +sentimental, howsoever rich in coincidences with Old Testament sayings +or in suggestions of ingenious doctrine. The subject of substitution is +obscure. Inquiry into the Atonement is like the search for the North +Pole: approach it from what quarter we may, there are unmistakable +indications that a finality exists in that direction; but to make our +way to it and take a survey all round it at once is still beyond us. We +must be content if we can correct certain variations of the compass and +find so much as one open waterway through which our own little vessel +can be steered. + +Looking, then, at this surrender of Christ in the light of John's +comment, we see clearly enough that Christ sought to shelter His +disciples at His own expense, and that this must have been the habit of +His life. He sought no companion in misfortune. His desire was to save +others from suffering. This willingness to be the responsible party was +the habit of His life. It is impossible to think of Christ as in any +matter sheltering Himself behind any man or taking a second place. He is +always ready to bear the burden and the brunt. We recognise in this +action of Christ that we have to do with One who shirks nothing, fears +nothing, grudges nothing; who will substitute Himself for others +wherever possible, if danger is abroad. So far as the character and +habit of Christ go, there is unquestionably here manifest a good +foundation for His substitution in our stead wheresoever such +substitution is possible. + +It is also in this scene, probably more than in any other, that we see +that the work Christ had come to do was one which He must do entirely by +Himself. It is scarcely exaggeration to say He could employ no assistant +even in its minor details. He did indeed send forth men to proclaim His +kingdom, but it was to proclaim what He _alone did_. In His miracles He +did not use His disciples as a surgeon uses His assistants. Here in the +garden He explicitly puts the disciples aside and says that this +question of the Messiahship is solely His affair. This separate, +solitary character of Christ's work is important: it reminds us of the +exceptional dignity and greatness of it; it reminds us of the unique +insight and power possessed by Him who alone conceived and carried it +through. + +There is no question, then, of Christ's willingness to be our +substitute; the question rather is, Is it possible that He should suffer +for our sin and so save us from suffering? and does this scene in the +garden help us to answer that question? That this scene, in common with +the whole work of Christ, had a meaning and relations deeper than those +that appear on the surface none of us doubts. The soldiers who arrested +Him, the judges who condemned Him, saw nothing but the humble and meek +prisoner, the bar of the Sanhedrim, the stripes of the Roman scourge, +the material cross and nails and blood; but all this had relations of +infinite reach, meaning of infinite depth. Through all that Christ did +and suffered God was accomplishing the greatest of His designs, and if +we miss this Divine intention we miss the essential significance of +these events. The Divine intention was to save us from sin and give us +eternal life. This is accomplished by Christ's surrender of Himself to +this earthly life and all the anxiety, the temptation, the mental and +spiritual strain which this involved. By revealing the Father's love to +us He wins us back to the Father; and the Father's love was revealed in +the self-sacrificing suffering He necessarily endured in numbering +Himself with sinners. Of Christ's satisfying the law by suffering the +penalty under which we lay Paul has much to say. He explicitly affirms +that Christ bore and so abolished the curse or penalty of sin. But in +this Gospel there may indeed be hints of this same idea, but it is +mainly another aspect of the work of Christ which is here presented. It +is the exhibition of Christ's self-sacrificing love as a revelation of +the Father which is most prominent in the mind of John. + +We can certainly say that Christ suffered our penalties in so far as a +perfectly holy person can suffer them. The gnawing anguish of remorse He +never knew; the haunting anxieties of the wrong-doer were impossible to +Him; the torment of ungratified desire, eternal severance from God, He +could not suffer; but other results and penalties of sin He suffered +more intensely than is possible to us. The agony of seeing men He loved +destroyed by sin, all the pain which a sympathetic and pure spirit must +bear in a world like this, the contradiction of sinners, the provocation +and shame which daily attended Him--all this He bore because of sin and +for us, that we might be saved from lasting sin and unrelieved misery. +So that even if we cannot take this scene in the garden as an exact +representation of the whole substitutionary work of Christ, we can say +that by suffering with and for us He has saved us from sin and restored +us to life and to God. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] Luke xxii. 51. + +[21] Matt. xxvi. 53. + + + + +XVIII. + +_PETER'S DENIAL AND REPENTANCE._ + + + "So the band and the chief captain, and the officers of the Jews, + seized Jesus and bound Him, and led Him to Annas first; for he was + father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was high priest that year. Now + Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was + expedient that one man should die for the people. And Simon Peter + followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was + known unto the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court + of the high priest; but Peter was standing at the door without. So + the other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, went out + and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. The + maid therefore that kept the door saith unto Peter, Art thou also + one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. Now the servants + and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals; + for it was cold; and they were warming themselves: and Peter also + was with them, standing and warming himself.... Now Simon Peter was + standing and warming himself. They said therefore unto him, Art thou + also one of His disciples? He denied, and said, I am not. One of the + servants of the high priest, being a kinsman of him whose ear Peter + cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with Him? Peter + therefore denied again: and straightway the cock crew."--JOHN xviii. + 12-18, 25-27. + + +The examination of Jesus immediately followed His arrest. He was first +led to Annas, who at once sent Him to Caiaphas, the high priest, that he +might carry out his policy of making one man a scapegoat for the +nation.[22] To John the most memorable incident of this midnight hour +was Peter's denial of his Master. It happened on this wise. The high +priest's palace was built, like other large Oriental houses, round a +quadrangular court, into which entrance was gained by a passage running +from the street through the front part of the house. This passage or +archway is called in the Gospels the "porch," and was closed at the end +next the street by a heavy folding gate with a wicket for single +persons. This wicket was kept on this occasion by a maid. The interior +court upon which this passage opened was paved or flagged and open to +the sky, and as the night was cold the attendants had made a fire here. +The rooms round the court, in one of which the examination of Jesus was +proceeding, were open in front--separated, that is to say, from the +court only by one or two pillars or arches and a railing, so that our +Lord could see and even hear Peter. + +When Jesus was led in bound to this palace, there entered with the crowd +of soldiers and servants one at least of His disciples. He was in some +way acquainted with the high priest, and presuming on this +acquaintanceship followed to learn the fate of Jesus. He had seen Peter +following at a distance, and after a little he goes to the gate-keeper +and induces her to open to his friend. The maid seeing the familiar +terms on which these two men were, and knowing that one of them was a +disciple of Jesus, very naturally greets Peter with the exclamation, +"Art not thou also one of this man's disciples?" Peter, confused by +being suddenly confronted with so many hostile faces, and remembering +the blow he had struck in the garden, and that he was now in the place +of all others where it was likely to be avenged, suddenly in a moment of +infatuation, and doubtless to the dismay of his fellow-disciple, denies +all knowledge of Jesus. Having once committed himself, the two other +denials followed as matter of course. + +Yet the third denial is more guilty than the first. Many persons are +conscious that they have sometimes acted under what seems an +infatuation. They do not plead this in excuse for the wrong they have +done. They are quite aware that what has come out of them must have +been in them, and that their acts, unaccountable as they seem, have +definite roots in their character. Peter's first denial was the result +of surprise and infatuation. But an hour seems to have elapsed between +the first and the third. He had time to think, time to remember his +Lord's warning, time to leave the place if he could do no better. But +one of those reckless moods which overtake good-hearted children seems +to have overtaken Peter, for at the end of the hour he is talking right +round the whole circle at the fire, not in monosyllables and guarded +voice, but in his own outspoken way, the most talkative of them all, +until suddenly one whose ear was finer than the rest detected the +Galilean accent, and says, "You need not deny you are one of this man's +disciples, for your speech betrays you." Another, a kinsman of him whose +ear Peter had cut off, strikes in and declares that he had seen him in +the garden. Peter, driven to extremities, hides his Galilean accent +under the strong oaths of the city, and with a volley of profane +language asseverates that he has no knowledge of Jesus. At this moment +the first examination of Jesus closes and He is led across the court: +the first chill of dawn is felt in the air, a cock crows, and as Jesus +passes He looks upon Peter; the look and the cock-crow together bring +Peter to himself, and he hurries out and weeps bitterly. + +The remarkable feature of this sin of Peter's is that at first sight it +seems so alien to his character. It was a lie; and he was unusually +straightforward. It was a heartless and cruel lie, and he was a man full +of emotion and affection. It was a cowardly lie, even more cowardly than +common lies, and yet he was exceptionally bold. Peter himself was quite +positive that this at least was a sin he would never commit. "Though +all men should deny Thee, yet will not I." Neither was this a baseless +boast. He was not a mere braggart, whose words found no correspondence +in his deeds. Far from it; he was a hardy, somewhat over-venturesome +man, accustomed to the risks of a fisherman's life, not afraid to fling +himself into a stormy sea, or to face the overwhelming armed force that +came to apprehend his Master, ready to fight for him single-handed, and +quickly recovering from the panic which scattered his fellow-disciples. +If any of his companions had been asked at what point of Peter's +character the vulnerable spot would be found, not one of them would have +said, "He will fall through cowardice." Besides, Peter had a few hours +before been so emphatically warned against denying Christ that he might +have been expected to stand firm this night at least. + +Perhaps it was this very warning which betrayed Peter. When he struck +the blow in the garden, he thought he had falsified his Lord's +prediction. And when he found himself the only one who had courage to +follow to the palace, his besetting self-confidence returned and led him +into circumstances for which he was too weak. He was equal to the test +of his courage which he was expecting, but when another kind of test was +applied in circumstances and from a quarter he had not anticipated his +courage failed him utterly. + +Peter probably thought he might be brought bound with his Master before +the high priest, and had he been so he would probably have stood +faithful. But the devil who was sifting him had a much finer sieve than +that to run him through. He brought him to no formal trial, where he +could gird himself for a special effort, but to an unobserved, casual +questioning by a slave-girl. The whole trial was over before he knew he +was being tried. So do our most real trials come; in a business +transaction that turns up with others in the day's work, in the few +minutes' talk or the evening's intercourse with friends, it is +discovered whether we are so truly Christ's friends that we cannot +forget Him or disguise that we are His. A word or two with a person he +never saw before and would never see again brought the great trial of +Peter's life; and as unexpectedly shall we be tried. In these battles we +must all encounter, we receive no formal challenge that gives us time to +choose our ground and our weapons; but a sudden blow is dealt us, from +which we can be saved only by habitually wearing a shirt of mail +sufficient to turn it, and which we can carry into all companies. + +Had Peter distrusted himself and seriously accepted his Lord's warning, +he would have gone with the rest; but ever thinking of himself as able +to do more than other men, faithful where others were faithless, +convinced where others hesitated, daring where others shrank, he once +again thrust himself forward, and so fell. For this self-confidence, +which might to a careless observer seem to underprop Peter's courage, +was to the eye of the Lord undermining it. And if Peter's true bravery +and promptitude were to serve the Church in days when fearless +steadfastness would be above all other qualities needed, his courage +must be sifted and the chaff of self-confidence thoroughly separated +from it. In place of a courage which was sadly tainted with vanity and +impulsiveness Peter must acquire a courage based upon recognition of his +own weakness and his Lord's strength. And it was this event which +wrought this change in Peter's character. + +Frequently we learn by a very painful experience that our best qualities +are tainted, and that actual disaster has entered our life from the very +quarter we least suspected. We may be conscious that the deepest mark +has been made on our life by a sin apparently as alien to our character +as cowardice and lying were to the too venturesome and outspoken +character of Peter. Possibly we once prided ourselves on our honesty, +and felt happy in our upright character, plain-dealing, and direct +speech; but to our dismay we have been betrayed into double-dealing, +equivocation, evasive or even fraudulent conduct. Or the time was when +we were proud of our friendships; it was frequently in our mind that, +however unsatisfactory in other respects our character might be, we were +at any rate faithful and helpful friends. Alas! events have proved that +even in this particular we have failed, and have, through absorption in +our own interests, acted inconsiderately and even cruelly to our friend, +not even recognising at the time how his interests were suffering. Or we +are by nature of a cool temperament, and judged ourselves safe at least +from the faults of impulse and passion; yet the mastering combination of +circumstances came, and we spoke the word, or wrote the letter, or did +the deed which broke our life past mending. + +Now, it was Peter's salvation, and it will be ours, when overtaken in +this unsuspected sin, to go out and weep bitterly. He did not +frivolously count it an accident that could never occur again; he did +not sullenly curse the circumstances that had betrayed and shamed him. +He recognised that there was that in him which could render useless his +best natural qualities, and that the sinfulness which could make his +strongest natural defences brittle as an egg-shell must be serious +indeed. He had no choice but to be humbled before the eye of the Lord. +There was no need of words to explain and enforce his guilt: the eye can +express what the tongue cannot utter. The finer, tenderer, deeper +feelings are left to the eye to express. The clear cock-crow strikes +home to his conscience, telling him that the very sin he had an hour or +two ago judged impossible is now actually committed. That brief space +his Lord had named as sufficient to test his fidelity is gone, and the +sound that strikes the hour rings with condemnation. Nature goes on in +her accustomed, inexorable, unsympathetic round; but he is a fallen man, +convicted in his own conscience of empty vanity, of cowardice, of +heartlessness. He who in his own eyes was so much better than the rest +had fallen lower than all. In the look of Christ Peter sees the +reproachful loving tenderness of a wounded spirit, and understands the +dimensions of his sin. That he, the most intimate disciple, should have +added to the bitterness of that hour, should not only have failed to +help his Lord, but should actually at the crisis of His fate have added +the bitterest drop to His cup, was humbling indeed. There was that in +Christ's look that made him feel the enormity of his guilt; there was +that also that softened him and saved him from sullen despair. + +And it is obvious that if we are to rise clear above the sin that has +betrayed us we can do so only by as lowly a penitence. We are all alike +in this: that we have fallen; we cannot any more with justice think +highly of ourselves; we have sinned and are disgraced in our own eyes. +In this, I say, we are all alike; that which makes the difference among +us is, how we deal with ourselves and our circumstances in connection +with our sin. It has been very well said by a keen observer of human +nature that "men and women are often more fairly judged by the way in +which they bear the burden of their own deeds, the fashion in which they +carry themselves in their entanglements, than by the prime act which +laid the burden on their lives and made the entanglement fast knotted. +The deeper part of us shows in the manner of accepting consequences." +The reason of this is that, like Peter, we are often _betrayed_ by a +weakness; the part of our nature which is least able to face difficulty +is assaulted by a combination of circumstances which may never again +occur in our life. There was guilt, great guilt it may be, concerned in +our fall, but it was not deliberate, wilful wickedness. But in our +dealing with our sin and its consequences our whole nature is concerned +and searched; the real bent and strength of our will is tried. We are +therefore in a crisis, _the_ crisis, of our life. Can we accept the +situation? Can we humbly, frankly own that, since that evil has appeared +in our life, it must have been, however unconsciously, in ourselves +first? Can we with the genuine manliness and wisdom of a broken heart +say to ourselves and to God, Yes, it is true I am the wretched, pitiful, +bad-hearted creature that was capable of doing, and did that thing? I +did not think that was my character; I did not think it was in me to +sink so very low; but now I see what I am. Do we thus, like Peter, go +out and weep bitterly? + +Every one who has passed through a time such as this single night was to +Peter knows the strain that is laid upon the soul, and how very hard it +is to yield utterly. So much rises up in self-defence; so much strength +is lost by the mere perplexity and confusion of the thing; so much is +lost in the despondency that follows these sad revelations of our +deep-seated evil. What is the use, we think, of striving, if even in +the point in which I thought myself most secure I have fallen? What is +the meaning of so perplexed and deceiving a warfare? Why was I exposed +to so fatal an influence? So Peter, had he taken the wrong direction, +might have resented the whole course of the temptation, and might have +said, Why did Christ not warn me by His look before I sinned, instead of +breaking me by it after? Why had I no inkling of the enormity of the sin +before as I have after the sin? My reputation now is gone among the +disciples; I may as well go back to my old obscure life and forget all +about these perplexing scenes and strange spiritualities. But Peter, +though he was cowed by a maid, was man enough and Christian enough to +reject such falsities and subterfuges. It is true we did not see the +enormity, never do see the enormity, of the sin until it is committed; +but is it possible it can be otherwise? Is not this the way in which a +blunt conscience is educated? Nothing seems so bad until it finds place +in our own life and haunts us. Neither need we despond or sour because +we are disgraced in our own eyes, or even in the eyes of others; for we +are hereby summoned to build for ourselves a new and different +reputation with God and our own consciences--a reputation founded on a +basis of reality and not of seeming. + +It may be worth while to note the characteristics and danger of that +special form of weakness which Peter here exhibited. We commonly call it +moral cowardice. It is originally a weakness rather than a positive sin, +and yet it is probably as prolific of sin and even of great crime as any +of the more definite and vigorous passions of our nature, such as hate, +lust, avarice. It is that weakness which prompts a man to avoid +difficulties, to escape everything rough and disagreeable, to yield to +circumstances, and which above all makes him incapable of facing the +reproach, contempt, or opposition of his fellow-men. It is often found +in combination with much amiability of character. It is commonly found +in persons who have some natural leanings to virtue, and who, if +circumstances would only favour them, would prefer to lead, and would +lead, at least an inoffensive and respectable, if not a very useful, +noble, or heroic life. Finely strung natures that are very sensitive to +all impressions from without, natures which thrill and vibrate in +response to a touching tale or in sympathy with fine scenery or soft +music, natures which are housed in bodies of delicate nervous +temperament, are commonly keenly sensitive to the praise or blame of +their fellows, and are therefore liable to moral cowardice, though by no +means necessarily a prey to it. + +The examples of its ill-effects are daily before our eyes. A man cannot +bear the coolness of a friend or the contempt of a leader of opinion, +and so he stifles his own independent judgment and goes with the +majority. A minister of the Church finds his faith steadily diverging +from that of the creed he has subscribed, but he cannot proclaim this +change because he cannot make up his mind to be the subject of public +astonishment and remark, of severe scrutiny on the one side and still +more distasteful because ignorant and canting sympathy on the other. A +man in business finds that his expenditure exceeds his income, but he is +unable to face the shame of frankly lowering his position and curtailing +his expenses, and so he is led into dishonest appearances; and from +dishonest appearances to fraudulent methods of keeping them up the +step, as we all know, is short. Or in trade a man knows that there are +shameful, contemptible, and silly practices, and yet he has not moral +courage to break through them. A parent cannot bear to risk the loss of +his child's good-will even for an hour, and so omits the chastisement he +deserves. The schoolboy, fearing his parents' look of disappointment, +says he stands higher in his class than he does; or fearing to be +thought soft and unmanly by his schoolfellows, sees cruelty or a cheat +or some wickedness perpetrated without a word of honest anger or manly +condemnation. All this is moral cowardice, the vice which brings us down +to the low level which bold sinners set for us, or which at any rate +sweeps the weak soul down to a thousand perils, and absolutely forbids +the good there is in us from finding expression. + +But of all the forms into which moral cowardice develops this of denying +the Lord Jesus is the most iniquitous and disgraceful. One of the +fashions of the day which is most rapidly extending and which many of us +have opportunity to resist is the fashion of infidelity. Much of the +strongest and best-trained intellect of the country ranges itself +against Christianity--that is, against Christ. No doubt the men who have +led this movement have adopted their opinions on conviction. They deny +the authority of Scripture, the divinity of Christ, even the existence +of a personal God, because by long years of painful thought they have +been forced to such conclusions. Even the best of them cannot be +acquitted of a contemptuous and bitter way of speaking of Christians, +which would seem to indicate that they are not quite at ease in their +belief. Still, we cannot but think that so far as any men can be quite +unbiassed in their opinions, they are so; and we have no right to judge +other men for their honestly formed opinions. The moral cowards of whom +we speak are not these men, but their followers, persons who with no +patience or capacity to understand their reasonings adopt their +conclusions because they seem advanced and are peculiar. There are many +persons of slender reading and no depth of earnestness who, without +spending any serious effort on the formation of their religious belief, +presume to disseminate unbelief and treat the Christian creed as an +obsolete thing merely because part of the intellect of the day leans in +that direction. Weakness and cowardice are the real spring of such +persons' apparent advance and new position regarding religion. They are +ashamed to be reckoned among those who are thought to be behind the age. +Ask them for a reason of their unbelief, and they are either unable to +give you any, or else they repeat a time-worn objection which has been +answered so often that men have wearied of the interminable task and let +it pass unnoticed. + +Such persons we aid and abet when we do either of two things: when we +either cleave to what is old as unreasoningly as they take up with what +is new, refusing to look for fresh light and better ways and acting as +if we were already perfect; or when we yield to the current and adopt a +hesitating way of speaking about matters of faith, when we _cultivate_ a +sceptical spirit and seem to connive at if we do not applaud the cold, +irreligious sneer of ungodly men. Above all, we aid the cause of +infidelity when in our own life we are ashamed to live godly, to act on +higher principles than the current prudential maxims, when we hold our +allegiance to Christ in abeyance to our fear of our associates, when we +find no way of showing that Christ is our Lord and that we delight in +opportunities of confessing Him. The confessing of Christ is a duty +explicitly imposed on all those who expect that He will acknowledge them +as His. It is a duty to which we might suppose every manly and generous +instinct in us would eagerly respond, and yet we are often more ashamed +of our connection with the loftiest and holiest of beings than of our +own pitiful and sin-infected selves, and as little practically +stimulated and actuated by a true gratitude to Him as if His death were +the commonest boon and as if we were expecting and needing no help from +Him in the time that is yet to come.[23] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[22] There is a difficulty in tracing the movements of Jesus at this +point. John tells us He was led to Annas first, and at ver. 24 he says +that Annas sent Him to Caiaphas. We should naturally conclude, +therefore, that the preceding examination was conducted by Annas. But +Caiaphas has been expressly indicated as chief priest, and it is by the +chief priest and in the chief priest's palace the examination is +conducted. The name "chief priest" was not confined to the one actually +in office, but was applied to all who had held the office, and might +therefore be applied to Annas. Possibly the examination recorded vv. +19-23 was before him, and probably he was living with his son-in-law in +the palace of the chief priest. + +[23] Some of the ideas in this chapter were suggested by a sermon of +Bishop Temple's. + + + + +XIX. + +_JESUS BEFORE PILATE._ + + + "They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the palace: and it was + early; and they themselves entered not into the palace, that they + might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. Pilate therefore + went out unto them, and saith, What accusation bring ye against this + man? They answered and said unto him, If this man were not an + evil-doer, we should not have delivered Him up unto thee. Pilate + therefore said unto them, Take Him yourselves, and judge Him + according to your law. The Jews said unto him, It is not lawful for + us to put any man to death: that the word of Jesus might be + fulfilled, which He spake, signifying by what manner of death He + should die. Pilate therefore entered again into the palace, and + called Jesus, and said unto Him, Art Thou the King of the Jews? + Jesus answered, Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it + thee concerning Me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation + and the chief priests delivered Thee unto me: what hast Thou done? + Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were + of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be + delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence. Pilate + therefore said unto Him, Art Thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou + sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this + end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the + truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice. Pilate saith + unto Him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out + again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find no crime in Him. + But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the + Passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the + Jews? They cried out therefore again, saying, Not this man, but + Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Then Pilate therefore took + Jesus, and scourged Him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, + and put it on His head, and arrayed Him in a purple garment; and + they came unto Him, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they + struck Him with their hands. And Pilate went out again, and saith + unto them, Behold I bring Him out to you, that ye may know that I + find no crime in Him. Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of + thorns and the purple garment. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold, + the man! When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw Him, + they cried out, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith unto + them, Take Him yourselves, and crucify Him: for I find no crime in + Him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by that law He ought + to die, because He made Himself the Son of God. When Pilate + therefore heard this saying he was the more afraid; and he entered + into the palace again, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art Thou? But + Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore saith unto Him, Speakest + Thou not unto me? knowest Thou not that I have power to release + Thee, and have power to crucify Thee? Jesus answered Him, Thou + wouldest have no power against Me, except it were given thee from + above: therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath greater sin. + Upon this Pilate sought to release Him: but the Jews cried out, + saying, If thou release this man, thou art not Cæsar's friend: every + one that maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar. When Pilate + therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on + the judgment-seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, + Gabbatha. Now it was the preparation of the Passover: it was about + the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews, Behold, your King! They + therefore cried out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. + Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests + answered, We have no king but Cæsar. Then therefore he delivered Him + unto them to be crucified."--JOHN xviii. 28-xix. 16. + + +John tells us very little of the examination of Jesus by Annas and +Caiaphas, but he dwells at considerable length on His trial by Pilate. +The reason of this different treatment is probably to be found in the +fact that the trial before the Sanhedrim was ineffective until the +decision had been ratified by Pilate, as well as in the circumstance +noted by John that the decision of Caiaphas was a foregone conclusion. +Caiaphas was an unscrupulous politician who allowed nothing to stand +between him and his objects. To the weak councillors who had expressed a +fear that it might be difficult to convict a person so innocent as Jesus +he said with supreme contempt: "Ye know nothing at all. Do you not see +the opportunity we have of showing our zeal for the Roman Government by +sacrificing this man who claims to be King of the Jews? Innocent of +course He is, and all the better so, for the Romans cannot think He dies +for robbery or wrong-doing. He is a Galilean of no consequence, +connected with no good family who might revenge His death." This was the +scheme of Caiaphas. He saw that the Romans were within a very little of +terminating the incessant troubles of this Judæan province by enslaving +the whole population and devastating the land; this catastrophe might +be staved off a few years by such an exhibition of zeal for Rome as +could be made in the public execution of Jesus. + +So far as Caiaphas and his party were concerned, then, Jesus was +prejudged. His trial was not an examination to discover whether He was +guilty or innocent, but a cross-questioning which aimed at betraying Him +into some acknowledgment which might give colour to the sentence of +death already decreed. Caiaphas or Annas[24] invites Him to give some +account of His disciples and of His doctrines. In some cases His +disciples carried arms, and among them was one zealot, and there might +be others known to the authorities as dangerous or suspected characters. +And Annas might expect that in giving some account of His teaching the +honesty of Jesus might betray Him into expressions which could easily be +construed to His prejudice. But he is disappointed. Jesus replies that +it is not for Him, arraigned and bound as a dangerous prisoner, to give +evidence against Himself. Thousands had heard Him in all parts of the +country. He had delivered those supposed inflammatory addresses not to +midnight gatherings and secret societies, but in the most public places +He could find--in the Temple, from which no Jew was excluded, and in the +synagogues, where official teachers were commonly present. Annas is +silenced; and mortified though he is, he has to accept the ruling of his +prisoner as indicating the lines on which the trial should proceed. His +mortification does not escape the notice of one of those poor creatures +who are ever ready to curry favour with the great by cruelty towards the +defenceless, or at the best of that large class of men who cannot +distinguish between official and real dignity; and the first of those +insults is given to the hitherto sacred person of Jesus, the first of +that long series of blows struck by a dead, conventional religion +seeking to quench the truth and the life of what threatens its slumber +with awakening. + +Had the Roman governor not been present in the city the high priests and +their party might have ventured to carry into effect their own sentence. +But Pilate had already shown during his six years of office that he was +not a man to overlook anything like contempt of his supremacy. Besides, +they were not quite sure of the temper of the people; and a rescue, or +even an attempted rescue, of their prisoner would be disastrous. +Prudence therefore bids them hand Him over to Pilate, who had both legal +authority to put Him to death and means to quell any popular +disturbance. Besides, the purpose of Caiaphas could better be served by +bringing before the governor this claimant to the Messiahship. + +Pilate was present in Jerusalem at this time in accordance with the +custom of the Roman procurators of Judæa, who came up annually from +their usual residence at Cæsarea to the Jewish capital for the double +purpose of keeping order while the city was crowded with all kinds of +persons who came up to the feast, and of trying cases reserved for his +decision. And the Jews no doubt thought it would be easy to persuade a +man who, as they knew to their cost, set a very low value on human blood +to add one victim more to the robbers or insurgents who might be +awaiting execution. Accordingly, as soon as day dawned and they dared to +disturb the governor, they put Jesus in chains as a condemned criminal +and led Him away, all their leading men following, to the quarters of +Pilate, either in the fortress Antonia or in the magnificent palace of +Herod. Into this palace, being the abode of a Gentile, they could not +enter lest they should contract pollution and incapacitate themselves +for eating the Passover,--the culminating instance of religious +scrupulosity going hand in hand with cruel and blood-thirsty +criminality. Pilate with scornful allowance for their scruples goes out +to them, and with the Roman's instinctive respect for the forms of +justice demands the charge brought against this prisoner, in whose +appearance the quick eye so long trained to read the faces of criminals +is at a loss to discover any index to His crime. + +This apparent intention on Pilate's part, if not to reopen the case at +least to revise their procedure, is resented by the party of Caiaphas, +who exclaim, "If He were not a malefactor we would not have delivered +Him up unto thee. Take our word for it; He is guilty; do not scruple to +put Him to death." But if they were indignant that Pilate should propose +to revise their decision, he is not less so that they should presume to +make him their mere executioner. All the Roman pride of office, all the +Roman contempt and irritation at this strange Jewish people, come out in +his answer, "If you will make no charge against Him and refuse to allow +me to judge Him, take Him yourselves and do what you can with Him," +knowing well that they dared not inflict death without his sanction, and +that this taunt would pierce home. The taunt they did feel, although +they could not afford to show that they felt it, but contented +themselves with laying the charge that He had forbidden the people to +give tribute to Cæsar and claimed to be Himself a king. + +As Roman law permitted the examination to be conducted within the +prætorium, though the judgment must be pronounced outside in public, +Pilate re-enters the palace and has Jesus brought in, so that apart from +the crowd he may examine Him. At once he puts the direct question, +Guilty or not guilty of this political offence with which you stand +charged?--"Art Thou the King of the Jews?" But to this direct question +Jesus cannot give a direct answer, because the words may have one sense +in the lips of Pilate, another in His own. Before He answers He must +first know in which sense Pilate uses the words. He asks therefore, +"Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee?" Are you +inquiring because you are yourself concerned in this question? or are +you merely uttering a question which others have put in your mouth? To +which Pilate with some heat and contempt replies, "Am I a Jew? How can +you expect me to take any personal interest in the matter? Thine own +nation and the chief priests have delivered Thee unto me." + +Pilate, that is to say, scouts the idea that he should take any interest +in questions about the Messiah of the Jews. And yet was it not possible +that, like some of his subordinates, centurions and others, he too +should perceive the spiritual grandeur of Jesus and should not be +prevented by his heathen upbringing from seeking to belong to this +kingdom of God? May not Pilate also be awakened to see that man's true +inheritance is the world unseen? may not that expression of fixed +melancholy, of hard scorn, of sad, hopeless, proud indifference, give +place to the humble eagerness of the inquiring soul? may not the heart +of a child come back to that bewildered and world-encrusted soul? Alas! +this is too much for Roman pride. He cannot in presence of this bound +Jew acknowledge how little life has satisfied him. He finds the +difficulty so many find in middle life of frankly showing that they have +in their nature deeper desires than the successes of life satisfy. There +is many a man who seals up his deeper instincts and does violence to his +better nature because, having begun his life on worldly lines, he is too +proud now to change, and crushes down, to his own eternal hurt, the +stirrings of a better mind within him, and turns from the gentle +whisperings that would fain bring eternal hope to his heart. + +It is possible that Jesus by His question meant to suggest to Pilate the +actual relation in which this present trial stood to His previous trial +by Caiaphas. For nothing could more distinctly mark the baseness and +malignity of the Jews than their manner of shifting ground when they +brought Jesus before Pilate. The Sanhedrim had condemned Him, not for +claiming to be King of the Jews, for that was not a capital offence, but +for assuming Divine dignity. But that which in their eyes was a crime +was none in the judgment of Roman law; it was useless to bring Him +before Pilate and accuse Him of blasphemy. They therefore accused Him of +assuming to be King of the Jews. Here, then, were the Jews "accusing +Jesus before the Roman governor of that which, in the first place, they +knew that Jesus denied in the sense in which they urged it, and which, +in the next place, had the charge been true, would have been so far from +a crime in their eyes that it would have been popular with the whole +nation." + +But as Pilate might very naturally misunderstand the character of the +claim made by the accused, Jesus in a few words gives him clearly to +understand that the kingdom He sought to establish could not come into +collision with that which Pilate represented: "My kingdom is not of this +world." The most convincing proof had been given of the spiritual +character of the kingdom in the fact that Jesus did not allow the sword +to be used in forwarding His claims. "If My kingdom were of this world, +then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the +Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence." This did not quite satisfy +Pilate. He thought that still some mystery of danger might lurk behind +the words of Jesus. There was nothing more acutely dreaded by the early +emperors than secret societies. It might be some such association Jesus +intended to form. To allow such a society to gain influence in his +province would be a gross oversight on Pilate's part. He therefore +seizes upon the apparent admission of Jesus and pushes Him further with +the question, "Thou art a king then?" But the answer of Jesus removes +all fear from the mind of His judge. He claims only to be a king of the +truth, attracting to Himself all who are drawn by a love of truth. This +was enough for Pilate. "Aletheia" was a country beyond his jurisdiction, +a Utopia which could not injure the Empire. "Tush!" he says, "what is +Aletheia? Why speak to me of ideal worlds? What concern have I with +provinces that can yield no tribute and offer no armed resistance?" + +Pilate, convinced of the innocence of Jesus, makes several attempts to +save Him. All these attempts failed, because, instead of at once and +decidedly proclaiming His innocence and demanding His acquittal, he +sought at the same time to propitiate His accusers. One generally +expects from a Roman governor some knowledge of men and some +fearlessness in his use of that knowledge. Pilate shows neither. His +first step in dealing with the accusers of Jesus is a fatal mistake. +Instead of at once going to his judgment-seat and pronouncing +authoritatively the acquittal of his Prisoner, and clearing his court of +all riotously disposed persons, he in one breath declared Jesus innocent +and proposed to treat Him as guilty, offering to release Him as a boon +to the Jews. A weaker proposal could scarcely have been made. There was +nothing, absolutely nothing, to induce the Jews to accept it, but in +making it he showed a disposition to treat with them--a disposition they +did not fail to make abundant use of in the succeeding scenes of this +disgraceful day. This first departure from justice lowered him to their +own level and removed the only bulwark he had against their insolence +and blood-thirstiness. Had he acted as any upright judge would have +acted and at once put his Prisoner beyond reach of their hatred, they +would have shrunk like cowed wild beasts; but his first concession put +him in their power, and from this point onwards there is exhibited one +of the most lamentable spectacles in history,--a man in power tossed +like a ball between his convictions and his fears; a Roman not without a +certain doggedness and cynical hardness that often pass for strength of +character, but held up here to view as a sample of the weakness that +results from the vain attempt to satisfy both what is bad and what is +good in us. + +His second attempt to save Jesus from death was more unjust and as +futile as the first. He scourges the Prisoner whose innocence he had +himself declared, possibly under the idea that if nothing was confessed +by Jesus under this torture it might convince the Jews of His innocence, +but more probably under the impression that they might be satisfied when +they saw Jesus bleeding and fainting from the scourge. The Roman +scourge was a barbarous instrument, its heavy thongs being loaded with +metal and inlaid with bone, every cut of which tore away the flesh. But +if Pilate fancied that when the Jews saw this lacerated form they would +pity and relent, he greatly mistook the men he had to do with. He failed +to take into account the common principle that when you have wrongfully +injured a man you hate him all the more. Many a man becomes a murderer, +not by premeditation, but having struck a first blow and seeing his +victim in agony he cannot bear that that eye should live to reproach him +and that tongue to upbraid him with his cruelty. So it was here. The +people were infuriated by the sight of the innocent, unmurmuring +Sufferer whom they had thus mangled. They cannot bear that such an +object be left to remind them of their barbarity, and with one fierce +yell of fury they cry, "Crucify Him, crucify Him."[25] + +A third time Pilate refused to be the instrument of their inhuman and +unjust rage, and flung the Prisoner on their hands: "Take Him +yourselves, and crucify Him: for I find no crime in Him." But when the +Jews answered that by their law He ought to die, because "He made +Himself the Son of God," Pilate was again seized with dread, and +withdrew his Prisoner for the fourth time into the palace. Already he +had remarked in His demeanour a calm superiority which made it seem +quite possible that this extraordinary claim might be true. The books he +had read at school and the poems he had heard since he grew up had told +stories of how the gods had sometimes come down and dwelt with men. He +had long since discarded such beliefs as mere fictions. Still, there was +something in the bearing of this Prisoner before him that awakened the +old impression, that possibly this single planet with its visible +population was not the whole universe, that there might be some other +unseen region out of which Divine beings looked down upon earth with +pity, and from which they might come and visit us on some errand of +love. With anxiety written on his face and heard in his tone he asks, +"Whence art Thou?" How near does this man always seem to be to breaking +through the thin veil and entering with illumined vision into the +spiritual world, the world of truth and right and God! Would not a word +now from Jesus have given him entrance? Would not the repetition of the +solemn affirmation of His divinity which He had given to the Sanhedrim +have been the one thing wanted in Pilate's case, the one thing to turn +the scale in the favour of Jesus? At first sight it might seem so; but +so it seemed not to the Lord. He preserves an unbroken silence to the +question on which Pilate seems to hang in an earnest suspense. And +certainly this silence is by no means easy to account for. Shall we say +that He was acting out His own precept, "Give not that which is holy to +dogs"? Shall we say that He who knew what was in man saw that though +Pilate was for the moment alarmed and in earnest, yet there was beneath +that earnestness an ineradicable vacillation? It is very possible that +the treatment He had received at Pilate's hand had convinced Him that +Pilate would eventually yield to the Jews; and what need, then, of +protracting the process? No man who has any dignity and self-respect +will make declarations about his character which he sees will do no +good: no man is bound to be at the beck of every one to answer +accusations they may bring against him; by doing so he will often only +involve himself in miserable, petty wranglings, and profit no one. Jesus +therefore was not going to make revelations about Himself which He saw +would only make Him once again a shuttlecock driven between the two +contending parties. + +Besides--and this probably is the main reason of the silence--Pilate was +now forgetting altogether the relation between himself and his Prisoner. +Jesus had been accused before him on a definite charge which he had +found to be baseless. He ought therefore to have released Him. This new +charge of the Jews was one of which Pilate could not take cognisance; +and of this Jesus reminds him by His silence. Jesus might have made +influence for Himself by working upon the superstition of Pilate; but +this was not to be thought of. + +Offended at His silence, Pilate exclaims: "Speakest Thou not unto me? +Knowest Thou not that I have power to release Thee, and have power to +crucify Thee?" Here was an unwonted kind of prisoner who would not curry +favour with His judge. But instead of entreating Pilate to use this +power in His favour Jesus replies: "Thou wouldest have no power against +Me, except it were given thee from above; therefore he that delivered Me +unto thee hath greater sin." Pilate's office was the ordinance of God, +and therefore his judgments should express the justice and will of God; +and it was this which made the sin of Caiaphas and the Jews so great: +they were making use of a Divine ordinance to serve their own +God-resisting purposes. Had Pilate been a mere irresponsible executioner +their sin would have been sufficiently heinous; but in using an +official who is God's representative of law, order, and justice to +fulfil their own wicked and unjust designs they recklessly prostitute +God's ordinance of justice and involve themselves in a darker +criminality. + +More impressed than ever by this powerful statement falling from the +lips of a man weakened by the scourging, Pilate makes one more effort to +save Him. But now the Jews play their last card and play it +successfully. "If thou release this man, thou art not Cæsar's friend." +To lay himself open to a charge of treason or neglect of the interests +of Cæsar was what Pilate could not risk. At once his compassion for the +Prisoner, his sense of justice, his apprehensions, his proud +unwillingness to let the Jews have their way, are overcome by his fear +of being reported to the most suspicious of emperors. He prepared to +give his judgment, taking his place on the official seat, which stood on +a tesselated pavement, called in Aramaic "Gabbatha," from its elevated +position in sight of the crowds standing outside. Here, after venting +his spleen in the weak sarcasm "Shall I crucify your King?" he formally +hands over his Prisoner to be crucified. This decision was at last come +to, as John records, about noon of the day which prepared for and +terminated in the Paschal Supper. + +Pilate's vacillation receives from John a long and careful treatment. +Light is shed upon it, and upon the threat which forced him at last to +make up his mind, from the account which Philo gives of his character +and administration. "With a view," he says, "to vex the Jews, Pilate +hung up some gilt shields in the palace of Herod, which they judged a +profanation of the holy city, and therefore petitioned him to remove +them. But when he steadfastly refused to do so, for he was a man of +very inflexible disposition and very merciless as well as very +obstinate, they cried out, 'Beware of causing a tumult, for Tiberius +will not sanction this act of yours; and if you say that he will, we +ourselves will go to him and supplicate your master.' This threat +exasperated Pilate in the highest degree, as he feared that they might +really go to the Emperor and impeach him with respect to other acts of +his government--his corruption, his acts of insolence, his habit of +insulting people, his cruelty, his continual murders of people untried +and uncondemned, and his never-ending and gratuitous and most grievous +inhumanity. Therefore, being exceedingly angry, and being at all times a +man of most ferocious passions, he was in great perplexity, neither +venturing to take down what he had once set up nor wishing to do +anything which could be acceptable to his subjects, and yet fearing the +anger of Tiberius. And those who were in power among the Jews, seeing +this and perceiving that he was inclined to change his mind as to what +he had done, but that he was not willing to be thought to do so, +appealed to the Emperor."[26] This sheds light on the whole conduct of +Pilate during this trial--his fear of the Emperor, his hatred of the +Jews and desire to annoy them, his vacillation and yet obstinacy; and we +see that the mode the Sanhedrim now adopted with Pilate was their usual +mode of dealing with him: now, as always, they saw his vacillation, +disguised as it was by fierceness of speech, and they knew he must yield +to the threat of complaining to Cæsar. + +The very thing that Pilate feared, and to avoid which he sacrificed the +life of our Lord, came upon him six years after. Complaints against him +were sent to the Emperor; he was deposed from his office, and so +stripped of all that made life endurable to him, that, "wearied with +misfortunes," he died by his own hand. Perhaps we are tempted to think +Pilate's fate severe; we naturally sympathise with him; there are so +many traits of character which show well when contrasted with the +unprincipled violence of the Jews. We are apt to say he was weak rather +than wicked, forgetting that moral weakness is just another name for +wickedness, or rather is that which makes a man capable of any +wickedness. The man we call wicked has his one or two good points at +which we can be sure of him. The weak man we are never sure of. That he +has good feelings is nothing, for we do not know what may be brought to +overcome these feelings. That he has right convictions is nothing; we +may have thought he was convinced to-day, but to-morrow his old fears +have prevailed. And who is the weak man who is thus open to every kind +of influence? He is the man who is not single-minded. The single-minded, +worldly man makes no pretension to holiness, but sees at a glance that +that interferes with his real object; the single-minded, godly man has +only truth and righteousness for his aim, and does not listen to fears +or hopes suggested by the world. But the man who attempts to gratify +both his conscience and his evil or weak feelings, the man who fancies +he can so manipulate the events of his life as to secure his own selfish +ends as well as the great ends of justice and righteousness, will often +be in as great a perplexity as Pilate, and will come to as ruinous if +not to so appalling an end. + +In this would-be equitable Roman governor, exhibiting his weakness to +the people and helplessly exclaiming, "What shall I do with Jesus which +is called Christ?"[27] we see the predicament of many who are suddenly +confronted with Christ--disconcerted as they are to have such a prisoner +thrown on their hands, and wishing that anything had turned up rather +than a necessity for answering this question, What shall I do with +Jesus? Probably when Jesus was led by the vacillating Pilate out and in, +back and forward, examined and re-examined, acquitted, scourged, +defended, and abandoned to His enemies, some pity for His judge mingled +with other feelings in His mind. This was altogether too great a case +for a man like Pilate, fit enough to try men like Barabbas and to keep +the turbulent Galileans in order. What unhappy fate, he might afterwards +think, had brought this mysterious Prisoner to his judgment-seat, and +for ever linked in such unhappy relation his name to the Name that is +above every name? Never with more disastrous results did the resistless +stream of time bring together and clash together the earthen and the +brazen pitcher. Never before had such a prisoner stood at any judge's +bar. Roman governors and emperors had been called to doom or to acquit +kings and potentates of all degrees and to determine every kind of +question, forbidding this or that religion, extirpating old dynasties, +altering old landmarks, making history in its largest dimensions; but +Pilate was summoned to adjudicate in a case that seemed of no +consequence at all, yet really eclipsed in its importance all other +cases put together. + +Nothing could save Pilate from the responsibility attaching to his +connection with Jesus, and nothing can save us from the responsibility +of determining what judgment we are to pronounce on this same Person. +It may seem to us an unfortunate predicament we are placed in; we may +resent being called upon to do anything decided in a matter where our +convictions so conflict with our desires; we may inwardly protest +against human life being obstructed and disturbed by choices that are so +pressing and so difficult and with issues so incalculably serious. But +second thoughts assure us that to be confronted with Christ is in truth +far from being an unfortunate predicament, and that to be compelled to +decisions which determine our whole after-course and allow fullest +expression of our own will and spiritual affinities is our true glory. +Christ stands patiently awaiting our decision, maintaining His +inalienable majesty, but submitting Himself to every test we care to +apply, claiming only to be the King of the truth by whom we are admitted +into that sole eternal kingdom. It has come to be our turn, as it came +to be Pilate's, to decide upon His claims and to act upon our +decision--to recognise that we men have to do, not merely with pleasure +and place, with earthly rewards and relations, but above all with the +truth, with that which gives eternal significance to all these present +things, with the truth about human life, with the truth embodied for us +in Christ's person and speaking intelligibly to us through His lips, +with God manifest in the flesh. Are we to take part with Him when He +calls us to glory and to virtue, to the truth and to eternal life, or +yielding to some present pressure the world puts upon us attempt some +futile compromise and so renounce our birthright? + +Could Pilate really persuade himself he made everything right with a +basin of water and a theatrical transference of his responsibility to +the Jews? Could he persuade himself that by merely giving up the +contest he was playing the part of a judge and of a man? Could he +persuade himself that the mere words, "I am innocent of the blood of +this righteous man: see ye to it," altered his relation to the death of +Christ? No doubt he did. There is nothing commoner than for a man to +think himself forced when it is his own fear or wickedness that is his +only compulsion. Would every man in Pilate's circumstances have felt +himself forced to surrender Jesus to the Jews? Would even a Gallio or a +Claudius Lysias have done so? But Pilate's past history made him +powerless. Had he not feared exposure, he would have marched his cohort +across the square and cleared it of the mob and defied the Sanhedrim. It +was not because he thought the Jewish law had any true right to demand +Christ's death, but merely because the Jews threatened to report him as +conniving at rebellion, that he yielded Christ to them; and to seek to +lay the blame on those who made it difficult to do the right thing was +both unmanly and futile. The Jews were at least willing to take their +share of the blame, dreadful in its results as that proved to be. + +Fairly to apportion blame where there are two consenting parties to a +wickedness is for us, in many cases, impossible; and what we have to do +is to beware of shifting blame from ourselves to our circumstances or to +other people. However galling it is to find ourselves mixed up with +transactions which turn out to be shameful, or to discover that some +vacillation or imbecility on our part has made us partakers in sin, it +is idle and worse to wash our hands ostentatiously and try to persuade +ourselves we have no guilt in the matter. The fact that we have been +brought in contact with unjust, cruel, heartless, fraudulent, +unscrupulous, worldly, passionate people may explain many of our sins, +but it does not excuse them. Other people in our circumstances would not +have done what we have done; they would have acted a stronger, manlier, +more generous part. And if we have sinned, it only adds to our guilt and +encourages our weakness to profess innocence now and transfer to some +other party the disgrace that belongs to ourselves. Nothing short of +physical compulsion can excuse wrong-doing. + +The calmness and dignity with which Jesus passed through this ordeal, +alone self-possessed, while all around Him were beside themselves, so +impressed Pilate that he not only felt guilty in giving Him up to the +Jews, but did not think it impossible that He might be the Son of God. +But what is perhaps even more striking in this scene is the directness +with which all these evil passions of men--fear, and self-interest, and +injustice, and hate--are guided to an end fraught with blessing. +Goodness finds in the most adverse circumstances material for its +purposes. We are apt in such circumstances to despair and act as if +there were never to be a triumph of goodness; but the little seed of +good that one individual can contribute even by hopeful and patient +submission is that which survives and produces good in perpetuity, while +the passion and the hate and the worldliness cease. In so wild a scene +what availed it, we might have said, that one Person kept His +steadfastness and rose superior to the surrounding wickedness? But the +event showed that it did avail. All the rest was scaffolding that fell +away out of sight, and this solitary integrity remains as the enduring +monument. In our measure we must pass through similar ordeals, times +when it seems vain to contend, useless to hope. When all we have done +seems to be lost, when our way is hid and no further step is visible, +when all the waves and billows of an ungodly world seem to threaten with +extinction the little good we have cherished, then must we remember this +calm, majestic Prisoner, bound in the midst of a frantic and +blood-thirsty mob, yet superior to it because He was living in God. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[24] See note to chapter xviii. + +[25] The cry according to the best reading was simply "Crucify, +crucify," or as it might be rendered, "The cross, the cross." + +[26] Philo, _Ad Caium_, c. 38. + +[27] Mark xv. 12. + + + + +XX. + +_MARY AT THE CROSS._ + + + "They took Jesus therefore: and He went out, bearing the cross for + Himself, unto the place called The place of a skull, which is called + in Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified Him, and with Him two + others, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote + a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written, JESUS + OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title therefore read many of + the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the + city: and it was written in Hebrew, and in Latin, and in Greek. The + chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The + King of the Jews; but, that He said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate + answered, What I have written I have written. The soldiers + therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments, and + made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat: now the + coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said + therefore one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, + whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled, which + saith, They parted My garments among them, And upon My vesture did + they cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. But there + were standing by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's + sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus + therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He + loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith + He to the disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour the + disciple took her unto his own home."--JOHN xix. 17-27. + + +If we ask on what charge our Lord was condemned to die, the answer must +be complex, not simple. Pilate indeed, in accordance with the usual +custom, painted on a board the name and crime of the Prisoner, that all +who could understand any of the three current languages might know who +this was and why He was crucified. But in the case of Jesus the +inscription was merely a ghastly jest on Pilate's part. It was the +coarse retaliation of a proud man who found himself helpless in the +hands of people he despised and hated. There was some relish to him in +the crucifixion of Jesus when by his inscription he had turned it into +an insult to the nation. A gleam of savage satisfaction for a moment lit +up his gloomy face when he found that his taunt had told, and the chief +priests came begging him to change what he had written. + +Pilate from the first look he got of his Prisoner understood that he had +before him quite another kind of person than the ordinary zealot, or +spurious Messiah, or turbulent Galilean. Pilate knew enough of the Jews +to feel sure that if Jesus had been plotting rebellion against Rome He +would not have been informed against by the chief priests. Possibly he +knew enough of what had been going on in his province to understand +that it was precisely because Jesus would _not_ allow Himself to be made +a king in opposition to Rome that the Jews detested and accused Him. +Possibly he saw enough of the relations of Jesus to the authorities to +despise the abandoned malignity and baseness which could bring an +innocent man to his bar and charge Him with what in their eyes was no +crime at all and make the charge precisely because He was innocent of +it. + +Nominally, but only nominally, Jesus was crucified for sedition. If we +pass, in search of the real charge, from Pilate's judgment-seat to the +Sanhedrim, we get nearer to the truth. The charge on which He was in +this court condemned was the charge of blasphemy. He was indeed examined +as to His claims to be the Messiah, but it does not appear that they had +any law on which He could have been condemned for such claims. They did +not expect that the Messiah would be Divine in the proper sense. Had +they done so, then any one falsely claiming to be the Messiah would +thereby have falsely claimed to be Divine, and would therefore have been +guilty of blasphemy. But it was not for claiming to be the Christ that +Jesus was condemned; it was when He declared Himself to be the Son of +God that the high priest rent His garments and declared Him guilty of +blasphemy. + +Now, of course it was very possible that many members of the Sanhedrim +should sincerely believe that blasphemy had been uttered. The unity of +God was the distinctive creed of the Jew, that which had made his +nation, and for any human lips to claim equality with the one infinite +God was not to be thought of. It must have fallen upon their ears like a +thunder-clap; they must have fallen back on their seats or started from +them in horror when so awful a claim was made by the human figure +standing bound before them. There were men among them who would have +advocated His claim to be the Messiah, who believed Him to be a man sent +from God; but not a voice could be raised in His defence when the claim +to be Son of God in a Divine sense passed His lips. His best friends +must have doubted and been disappointed, must have supposed He was +confused by the events of the night, and could only await the issue in +sorrow and wonder. + +Was the Sanhedrim, then, to blame for condemning Jesus? They sincerely +believed Him to be a blasphemer, and their law attached to the crime of +blasphemy the punishment of death. It was in ignorance they did it; and +knowing only what they knew, they could not have acted otherwise. Yes, +that is true. But they were responsible for their ignorance. Jesus had +given abundant opportunity to the nation to understand Him and to +consider His claims. He did not burst upon the public with an +uncertified demand to be accepted as Divine. He lived among those who +were instructed in such matters; and though in some respects He was very +different from the Messiah they had looked for, a little openness of +mind and a little careful inquiry would have convinced them He was sent +from God. And had they acknowledged this, had they allowed themselves to +obey their instincts and say, This is a true man, a man who has a +message for us--had they not sophisticated their minds with quibbling +literalities, they would have owned His superiority and been willing to +learn from Him. And had they shown any disposition to learn, Jesus was +too wise a teacher to hurry them and overleap needed steps in conviction +and experience. He would have been slow to extort from any a confession +of His divinity until they had reached the belief of it by the working +of their own minds. Enough for Him that they were willing to see the +truth about Him and to declare it as they saw it. The great charge He +brought against His accusers was that they did violence to their own +convictions. The uneasy suspicions they had about His dignity they +suppressed; the attraction they at times felt to His goodness they +resisted; the duty to inquire patiently into His claims they refused. +And thus their darkness deepened, until in their culpable ignorance they +committed the greatest of crimes. + +From all this, then, two things are apparent. First, that Jesus was +condemned on the charge of blasphemy--condemned because He made Himself +equal with God. His own words, pronounced upon oath, administered in the +most solemn manner, were understood by the Sanhedrim to be an explicit +claim to be the Son of God in a sense in which no man could without +blasphemy claim to be so. He made no explanation of His words when He +saw how they were understood. And yet, were He not truly Divine, there +was no one who could have been more shocked than Himself by such a +claim. He understood, if any man did, the majesty of God; He knew better +than any other the difference between the Holy One and His sinful +creatures; His whole life was devoted to the purpose of revealing to men +the unseen God. What could have seemed to Him more monstrous, what could +more effectually have stultified the work and aim of His life, than that +He, being a man, should allow Himself to be taken for God? When Pilate +told Him that He was charged with claiming to be a king, He explained to +Pilate in what sense He did so, and removed from Pilate's mind the +erroneous supposition this claim had given birth to. Had the Sanhedrim +cherished an erroneous idea of what was involved in His claim to be the +Son of God, He must also have explained to them in what sense He made +it, and have removed from their minds the impression that He was +claiming to be properly Divine. He did not make any explanation; He +allowed them to suppose He claimed to be the Son of God in a sense which +would be blasphemous in a mere man. So that if any one gathers from this +that Jesus was Divine in a sense in which it were blasphemy for any +other man to claim to be, he gathers a legitimate, even a necessary, +inference. + +Another reflection which is forced upon the reader of this narrative is, +that disaster waits upon stifled inquiry. The Jews honestly convicted +Christ as a blasphemer because they had dishonestly denied Him to be a +good man. The little spark which would have grown into a blazing light +they put their heel upon. Had they at the first candidly considered Him +as He went about doing good and making no claims, they would have become +attached to Him as His disciples did, and, like them, would have been +led on to a fuller knowledge of the meaning of His person and work. It +is these beginnings of conviction we are so apt to abuse. It seems so +much smaller a crime to kill an infant that has but once drawn breath +than to kill a man of lusty life and busy in his prime; but the one, if +fairly dealt with, will grow to be the other. And while we think very +little of stifling the scarcely breathed whisperings in our own heart +and mind, we should consider that it is only such whisperings that can +bring us to the loudly proclaimed truth. If we do not follow up +suggestions, if we do not push inquiry to discovery, if we do not value +the smallest grain of truth as a seed of unknown worth and count it +wicked to kill even the smallest truth in our souls, we can scarcely +hope at any time to stand in the full light of reality and rejoice in +it. To accept Christ as Divine may be at present beyond us; to +acknowledge Him as such would simply be to perjure ourselves; but can we +not acknowledge Him to be a true man, a good man, a teacher certainly +sent from God? If we do know Him to be all that and more, then have we +thought this out to its results? Knowing Him to be a unique figure among +men, have we perceived what this involves? Admitting Him to be the best +of men, do we love Him, imitate Him, ponder His words, long for His +company? Let us not treat Him as if He were non-existent because He is +not as yet to us all that He is to some. Let us beware of dismissing +_all_ conviction about Him because there are some convictions spoken of +by other people which we do not feel. It is better to deny Christ than +to deny our own convictions; for to do so is to extinguish the only +light we have, and to expose ourselves to all disaster. The man who has +put out his own eyes cannot plead blindness in extenuation of his not +seeing the lights and running the richly laden ship on the rocks. + +Guided by the perfect taste which reverence gives, John says very little +about the actual crucifixion. He shows us indeed the soldiers sitting +down beside the little heap of clothes they had stripped off our Lord, +parcelling them out, perhaps already assuming them as their own wear. +For the clothes by which our Lord had been known these soldiers would +now carry into unknown haunts of drunkenness and sin, emblems of our +ruthless, thoughtless desecration of our Lord's name with which we +outwardly clothe ourselves and yet carry into scenes the most +uncongenial. John, writing long after the event, seems to have no heart +to record the poor taunts with which the crowd sought to increase the +suffering of the Crucified, and force home upon His spirit a sense of +the desolation and ignominy of the cross. Gradually the crowd wearies +and scatters, and only here and there a little whispering group remains. +The day waxes to its greatest heat; the soldiers lie or stand silent; +the centurion sits motionless on his motionless, statue-like horse; the +stillness of death falls upon the scene, only broken at intervals by a +groan from one or other of the crosses. Suddenly through this silence +there sound the words, "Woman, behold thy son: son, behold thy +mother."--words which remind us that all this dreadful scene which makes +the heart of the stranger bleed has been witnessed by the mother of the +Crucified. As the crowd had broken up from around the crosses, the +little group of women whom John had brought to the spot edged their way +nearer and nearer till they were quite close to Him they loved, though +their lips apparently were sealed by their helplessness to minister +consolation. + +These hours of suffering, as the sword was slowly driven through Mary's +soul, according to Simeon's word, who shall measure? Hers was not a +hysterical, noisy sorrow, but quiet and silent. There was nothing wild, +nothing extravagant, in it. There was no sign of feminine weakness, no +outcry, no fainting, no wild gesture of uncontrollable anguish, nothing +to show that she was the exceptional mourner and that there was no +sorrow like unto her sorrow. Her reverence for the Lord saved her from +disturbing His last moments. She stood and saw the end. She saw His head +lifted in anguish and falling on His breast in weakness, and she could +not gently take it in her hands and wipe the sweat of death from His +brow. She saw His pierced hands and feet become numbed and livid, and +might not chafe them. She saw Him gasp with pain as cramp seized part +after part of His outstretched body, and she could not change His +posture nor give liberty to so much as one of His hands. And she had to +suffer this in profound desolation of spirit. Her life seemed to be +buried at the cross. To the mourning there often seems nothing left but +to die with the dying. One heart has been the light of life, and now +that light is quenched. What significance, what motive, can life have +any more?[28] We valued no past where that heart was not; we had no +future which was not concentrated upon it or in which it had no part. +But the absorption of common love must have been far surpassed in Mary's +case. None had been blessed with such a love as hers. And now none +estimated as she did the spotless innocence of the Victim; none could +know as she knew the depth of His goodness, the unfathomable and +unconquerable love He had for all; and none could estimate as she the +ingratitude of those whom He had healed and fed and taught and comforted +with such unselfish devotedness. She knew that there was none like Him, +and that if any could have brought blessing to this earth it was He, and +there she saw Him nailed to the cross, the end actually reached. We know +not if in that hour she thought of the trial of Abraham; we know not +whether she allowed herself to think at all, whether she did not merely +suffer as a mother losing her son; but certainly it must have been with +intensest eagerness she heard herself once more addressed by Him. + +Mary was commended to John as the closest friend of Jesus. These two +would be in fullest sympathy, both being devoted to Him. It was perhaps +an indication to those who were present, and through them to all, that +nothing is so true a bond between human hearts as sympathy with Christ. +We may admire nature, and yet have many points of antipathy to those who +also admire nature. We may like the sea, and yet feel no drawing to some +persons who also like the sea. We may be fond of mathematics, and yet +find that this brings us into a very partial and limited sympathy with +mathematicians. Nay, we may even admire and love the same person as +others do, and yet disagree about other matters. But if Christ is chosen +and loved as He ought to be, that love is a determining affection which +rules all else within us, and brings us into abiding sympathy with all +who are similarly governed and moulded by that love. That love indicates +a certain past experience and guarantees a special type of character. It +is the characteristic of the subjects of the kingdom of God. + +This care for His mother in His last moments is of a piece with all the +conduct of Jesus. Throughout His life there is an entire absence of +anything pompous or excited. Everything is simple. The greatest acts in +human history He does on the highway, in the cottage, among a group of +beggars in an entry. The words which have thrilled the hearts and mended +the lives of myriads were spoken casually as He walked with a few +friends. Rarely did He even gather a crowd. There was no advertising, no +admission by ticket, no elaborate arrangements for a set speech at a set +hour. Those who know human nature will know what to think of this +unstudied ease and simplicity, and will appreciate it. The same +characteristic appears here. He speaks as if He were not an object of +contemplation; there is an entire absence of self-consciousness, of +ostentatious suggestion that He is now making atonement for the sins of +the world. He speaks to His mother and cares for her as He might have +done had they been in the home at Nazareth together. One despairs of +ever learning such a lesson, or indeed of seeing others learn it. How +like an ant-hill is the world of men! What a fever and excitement! what +a fuss and fret! what an ado! what a sending of messengers, and calling +of meetings, and raising of troops, and magnifying of little things! +what an absence of calmness and simplicity! But this at least we _may_ +learn--that no duties, however important, can excuse us for not caring +for our relatives. They are deceived people who spend all their charity +and sweetness out of doors, who have a reputation for godliness, and are +to be seen in the forefront of this or that Christian work, but who are +sullen or imperious or quick-tempered or indifferent at home. If while +saving a world Jesus had leisure to care for His mother, there are no +duties so important as to prevent a man from being considerate and +dutiful at home. + +Those who witnessed the hurried events of the morning when Christ was +crucified might be pardoned if their minds were filled with what their +eyes saw, and if little but the outward objects were discernible to +them. We are in different circumstances, and may be expected to look +more deeply into what was happening. To see only the mean scheming and +wicked passions of men, to see nothing but the pathetic suffering of an +innocent and misjudged person, to take our interpretation of these rapid +and disorderly events from the casual spectators without striving to +discover God's meaning in them, would indeed be a flagrant instance of +what has been called "reading God in a prose translation," rendering His +clearest and most touching utterance to this world in the language of +callous Jews or barbarous Roman soldiers. Let us open our ear to God's +own meaning in these events, and we hear Him uttering to us all His +Divine love, and in the most forcible and touching tones. These are the +events in which His deepest purposes and tenderest love find utterance. +How He is striving to win His way to us to convince us of the reality of +sin and of salvation! To be mere spectators of these things is to +convict ourselves of being superficial or strangely callous. Scarcely +any criminal is executed but we all have our opinion on the justice or +injustice of his condemnation. We may well be expected to form our +judgment in _this_ case, and to take action upon it. If Jesus was +unjustly condemned, then we as well as His contemporaries have to do +with His claims. If these claims were true, we have something more to do +than merely to say so. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] See Faber's _Bethlehem_. + + + + +XXI. + +_THE CRUCIFIXION._ + + + "The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took His + garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the + coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. + They said therefore one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast + lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be + fulfilled, which saith, They parted My garments among them, And upon + My vesture did they cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers + did.... After this Jesus, knowing that all things are now finished, + that the scripture might be accomplished, saith, I thirst. There was + set there a vessel full of vinegar: so they put a sponge full of the + vinegar upon hyssop, and brought it to His mouth. When Jesus + therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He + bowed His head, and gave up His spirit. The Jews therefore, because + it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the + cross upon the Sabbath (for the day of that Sabbath was a high day), + asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might + be taken away. The soldiers therefore came, and brake the legs of + the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him: but when + they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not + His legs: howbeit one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, + and straightway there came out blood and water. And he that hath + seen hath borne witness, and his witness is true: and he knoweth + that he saith true, that ye also may believe. For these things came + to pass, that the scripture might be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall + not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on + Him whom they pierced."--JOHN xix. 23, 24, 28-37. + + +Possibly the account which John gives of the Crucifixion is somewhat +spoiled to some readers by his frequent reference to apparently +insignificant coincidences with Old Testament prophecy. It is, however, +to be remembered that John was himself a Jew, and was writing for a +public which laid great stress on such literal fulfilments of prophecy. +The wording of the narrative might lead us to suppose that John believed +Jesus to be intentionally fulfilling prophecy. Where he says, "After +this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the +scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst," it might be fancied that +John supposed that Jesus said "I thirst" in order that Scripture might +be fulfilled. This is, of course, to misconceive the Evangelist's +meaning. Such a fulfilment would have been fictitious, not real. But +John believes that in each smallest act and word of our Lord the will of +God was finding expression, a will which had long since been uttered in +the form of Old Testament prophecy. In these hours of dismay, when Jesus +was arrested, tried, and crucified before the eyes of His disciples, +they tried to believe that this was God's will; and long afterwards, +when they had found time to think, and when they had to deal with men +who felt the difficulty of believing in a crucified Saviour, they +pointed to the fact that even in small particulars the sufferings of the +Messiah had been anticipated and were to be expected. + +The first instance of this which John cites is the manner in which the +soldiers dealt with His clothes. After fixing Jesus to the cross and +raising it, the four men who were detailed to this service sat down to +watch. Such was the custom, lest friends should remove the crucified +before death supervened. Having settled themselves for this watch, they +proceeded to divide the clothes of Jesus among them. This also was +customary among the Romans, as it has been everywhere usual that the +executioners should have as their perquisite some of the articles worn +by the condemned. The soldiers parted the garments of Jesus among them, +each of the four taking what he needed or fancied--turban, shoes, +girdle, or under-coat; while for the large seamless plaid that was worn +over all they cast lots, being unwilling to tear it. All this fulfilled +an old prediction to the letter. The reason why it had been spoken of +was that it formed a weighty element in the suffering of the crucified. +Few things can make a dying man feel more desolate than to overhear +those who sit round his bed already disposing of his effects, counting +him a dead man who can no longer use the apparatus of the living, and +congratulating themselves on the profit they make by his death. How +furious have old men sometimes been made by any betrayal of eagerness on +the part of their heirs! Even to calculate on a man's death and make +arrangements for filling his place is justly esteemed indecorous and +unfeeling. To ask a sick man for anything he has been accustomed to use, +and must use again if he recovers health, is an act which only an +indelicate nature could be guilty of. It was a cruel addition, then, to +our Lord's suffering to see these men heartlessly dividing among them +all He had to leave. It forced on His mind the consciousness of their +utter indifference to His feelings. His clothes were of some little +value to them: He Himself of no value. Nothing could have made Him feel +more separated from the world of the living--from their hopes, their +ways, their life--as if already He were dead and buried. + +This distribution of His clothes was also calculated to make Him +intensely sensible of the reality and finality of death. Jesus knew He +was to rise again; but let us not forget that Jesus was human, liable to +the same natural fears, and moved by the same circumstances as +ourselves. He knew He was to rise again; but how much easier had it been +to believe in that future life had all the world been expecting Him to +rise! But here were men showing that they very well knew He would never +again need these clothes of His. + +A comparison of this narrative with the other Gospels brings out that +the words "I thirst" must have been uttered immediately after the +fearful cry "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" For when the +soldier was mercifully pressing the sponge steeped in vinegar to His +parched lips, some of the bystanders called out, "Let be: let us see +whether Elias will come to save Him," referring to the words of Jesus, +which they had not rightly understood. And this expression of bodily +suffering is proof that the severity of the spiritual struggle was over. +So long as that deep darkness covered His spirit He was unconscious of +His body; but with the agonised cry to His Father the darkness had +passed away; the very uttering of His desolation had disburdened His +spirit, and at once the body asserts itself. As in the wilderness at the +opening of His career He had been for many days so agitated and absorbed +in mind that He did not once think of food, but no sooner was the +spiritual strife ended than the keen sensation of hunger was the first +thing to demand His attention, so here His sense of thirst is the sign +that His spirit was now at rest. + +The last act of the Crucifixion, in which John sees the fulfilment of +Old Testament prophecy, is the omission in the case of Jesus of the +common mode of terminating the life of the crucified by breaking the +legs with an iron bar. Jesus being already dead, this was considered +unnecessary; but as possibly He might only have swooned, and as the +bodies were immediately taken down, one of the soldiers makes sure of +His death by a lance thrust. Medical men and scholars have largely +discussed the causes which might produce the outflow of blood and water +which John affirms followed this spear thrust, and various causes have +been assigned. But it is a point which has apparently only physiological +interest. John indeed follows up his statement of what he saw with an +unusually strong asseveration that what he says is true. "He that saw it +bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, +that ye might believe." But this strong asseveration is introduced, not +for the sake of persuading us to believe that water as well as blood +flowed from the lance wound, but for the sake of certifying the actual +death of Jesus. The soldiers who had charge of the execution discharged +their duty. They made sure that the Crucified was actually dead. And +John's reason for insisting on this and appending to his statement so +unusual a confirmation is sufficiently obvious. He was about to relate +the Resurrection, and he knows that a true resurrection must be preceded +by a real death. If he has no means of establishing the actual death, he +has no means of establishing the Resurrection. And therefore for the +first and only time in his narrative he departs from simple narration, +and most solemnly asseverates that he is speaking the truth and was an +eyewitness of the things he relates. + +The emphatic language John uses regarding the certainty of Christ's +death is, then, only an index to the importance he attached to the +Resurrection. He was aware that whatever virtue lay in the life and +death of Christ, this virtue became available for men through the +Resurrection. Had Jesus not risen again all the hopes His friends had +cherished regarding Him would have been buried in His tomb. Had He not +risen His words would have been falsified and doubt thrown upon all His +teaching. Had He not risen His claims would have been unintelligible and +His whole appearance and life a mystery, suggesting a greatness not +borne out--different from other men, yet subject to the same defeat. Had +He not risen the very significance of His life would have been obscured; +and if for a time a few friends cherished His memory in private, His +name would have fallen back to an obscure, possibly a dishonoured, +place. + +It is not at once obvious what we are to make of the physical sufferings +of Christ. Certainly it is very easy to make too much of them. For, in +the first place, they were very brief and confined to one part of His +life. He was exempt from the prolonged weakness and misery which many +persons endure throughout life. Born, as we may reasonably suppose, +with a healthy and vigorous constitution, carefully reared by the best +of mothers, finding a livelihood in His native village and in His +father's business, His lot was very different from the frightful doom of +thousands who are born with diseased and distorted body, in squalid and +wicked surroundings, and who never see through the misery that +encompasses them to any happy or hopeful life. And even after He left +the shelter and modest comforts of the Nazareth home His life was spent +in healthy conditions, and often in scenes of much beauty and interest. +Free to move about through the country as He pleased, passing through +vineyards and olive-groves and cornfields, talking pleasantly with His +little company of attached friends or addressing large audiences, He +lived an open-air life of a kind in which of necessity there must have +been a great deal of physical pleasure and healthful enjoyment. At times +He had not where to lay His head; but this is mentioned rather as a +symptom of His want of friends than as implying any serious physical +suffering in a climate like that of Palestine. And the suffering at the +close of His life, though extreme, was brief, and was not to be compared +in its cruelty to what many of His followers have endured for His sake. + +Two things, however, the physical sufferings of Christ do secure: they +call attention to His devotedness, and they illustrate His willing +sacrifice of self. They call attention to His devotedness and provoke a +natural sympathy and tenderness of spirit in the beholder, qualities +which are much needed in our consideration of Christ. Had He passed +through life entirely exempt from suffering, in high position, with +every want eagerly ministered to, untouched by any woe, and at last +passing away by a painless decease, we should find it much harder to +respond to His appeal or even to understand His work. Nothing so quickly +rivets our attention and stirs our sympathy as physical pain. We feel +disposed to listen to the demands of one who is suffering, and if we +have a lurking suspicion that we are somehow responsible for that +suffering and are benefited by it, then we are softened by a mingled +pity, admiration, and shame, which is one of the fittest attitudes a +human spirit can assume. + +Besides, it is through the visible suffering we can read the willingness +of Christ's self-surrender. It was always more difficult for Him to +suffer than for us. We have no option: He might have rescued Himself at +any moment. We, in suffering, have but to subdue our disposition to +murmur and our sense of pain: He had to subdue what was much more +obstinate--His consciousness that He might if He pleased abjure the life +that involved pain. The strain upon His love for us was not once for all +over when He became man. He Himself intimates, and His power of working +miracles proves, that at each point of His career He might have saved +Himself from suffering, but would not. + +When we ask ourselves what we are to make of these sufferings of Christ, +we naturally seek aid from the Evangelist and ask what he made of them. +But on reading his narrative we are surprised to find so little comment +or reflection interrupting the simple relation of facts. At first sight +the narrative seems to flow uninterruptedly on, and to resemble the +story which might be told of the closing scenes of an ordinary life +terminating tragically. The references to Old Testament prophecy alone +give us the clue to John's thoughts about the significance of this +death. These references show us that he considered that in this public +execution, conducted wholly by Roman soldiers, who could not read a word +of Hebrew and did not know the name of the God of the Jews, there was +being fulfilled the purpose of God towards which all previous history +had been tending. That purpose of God in the history of man was +accomplished when Jesus breathed His last upon the cross. The cry "It is +finished" was not the mere gasp of a worn-out life; it was not the cry +of satisfaction with which a career of pain and sorrow is terminated: it +was the deliberate utterance of a clear consciousness on the part of +God's appointed Revealer that now all had been done that could be done +to make God known to men and to identify Him with men. God's purpose had +ever been one and indivisible. Declared to men in various ways, a hint +here, a broad light there, now by a gleam of insight in the mind of a +prophet, now by a deed of heroism in king or leader, through rude +symbolic contrivances and through the tenderest of human affections and +the highest human thoughts God had been making men ever more and more +sensible that His one purpose was to come closer and closer into +fellowship with them and to draw them into a perfect harmony with Him. +Forgiveness and deliverance from sin were provided for them, knowledge +of God's law and will that they might learn to know and to serve +Him--all these were secured when Jesus cried, "It is finished." + +Why, then, does John just at this point of the life of Jesus see so many +evidences of the fulfilment of all prophecy? Need we ask? Is not +suffering that which is the standing problem of life? Is it not grief +and trouble and sorrow which press home upon our minds most convincingly +the reality of sin? Is it not death which is common to all men of every +age, race, station, or experience? And must not One who identifies +Himself with men identify Himself in this if in anything? It is the +cross of Jesus that stands before the mind of John as the completion of +that process of incarnation, of entrance into human experience, which +fills his Gospel; it is here he sees the completion and finishing of +that identification of God with man he has been exhibiting throughout. +The union of God with man is perfected when God submits Himself to the +last darkest experience of man. To some it seems impossible such a thing +should be; it seems either unreal, unthought-out verbiage, or blasphemy. +To John, after he had seen and pondered the words and the life of Jesus, +all his ideas of the Father were altered. He learned that God is love, +and that to infinite love, while there remains one thing to give, one +step of nearness to the loved to be taken, love has not its perfect +expression. It came upon him as a revelation that God was really in the +world. Are we to refuse to God any true participation in the strife +between good and evil? Is God to be kept out of all reality? Is He +merely to look on, to see how His creatures will manage, how this and +that man will bear himself heroically, but Himself a mere name, a lay +figure crowned but otiose, doing nothing to merit His crown, doing +nothing to warrant the worship of untold worlds, commanding others to +peril themselves and put all to the proof, but Himself well out of range +of all risk, of all conflict, of all tragedy? How can we hope to love a +God we remove to a throne remote and exalted, from which He looks down +on human life, and cannot look on it as we do from the inside! Is God to +be only a dramatist, who arranges thrilling situations for others to +pass through, and assigns to each the part he is to play, but Himself +has no real interests at stake and no actual entrance into the world of +feeling, of hope, of trial? + +And if a Divine Person were in the course of things to come into this +human world, to enter into our actual experiences, and feel and bear the +actual strain that we bear, it is obvious He must come incognito--not +distinguished by such marks as would bring the world to His feet, and +make an ordinary human life and ordinary human trials impossible to Him. +When sovereigns wish to ascertain for themselves how their subjects +live, they do not proclaim their approach and send in advance an army of +protection, provision, and display; they do not demand to be met by the +authorities of each town, and to be received by artificial, stereotyped +addresses, and to be led from one striking sight to another and from one +comfortable palace to another: but they leave their robes of state +behind them, they send no messenger in advance, and they mix as one of +the crowd with the crowd, exposed to whatever abuse may be going, and +living for the time on the same terms as the rank and file. This has +been done often in sport, sometimes as matter of policy or of interest, +but never as the serious method of understanding and lifting the general +habits and life of the people. Christ came among us, not as a kind of +Divine adventure to break the tedium of eternal glory, nor merely to +make personal observations on His own account, but as the requisite and +only means available for bringing the fulness of Divine help into +practical contact with mankind. But as all filth and squalor are hidden +away in the slums from the senses of the king, so that if he is to +penetrate into the burrows of the criminal classes and see the +wretchedness of the poor, he must do it incognito, so if Christ sought +to bring Divine mercy and might within reach of the vilest, He must +visit their haunts and make Himself acquainted with their habits. + +It is also obvious that such a Person would concern Himself not with art +or literature, not with inventions and discoveries, not even with +politics and government and social problems, but with that which +underlies all these and for which all these exist--with human character +and human conduct, with man's relation to God. It is with the very root +of human life He concerns Himself. + +The sufferings of Christ, then, were mainly inward, and were the +necessary result of His perfect sympathy with men. That which has made +the cross the most significant of earthly symbols, and which has +invested it with so wonderful a power to subdue and purify the heart, is +not the fact that it involved the keenest physical pain, but that it +exhibits Christ's perfect and complete identification with sinful men. +It is this that humbles us and brings us to a right mind towards God and +towards sin, that here we see the innocent Son of God involved in +suffering and undergoing a shameful death through our sin. It was His +sympathy with men which brought Him into this world, and it was the same +sympathy which laid Him open to suffering throughout His life. The +mother suffers more in the illness of a child than in her own; the shame +of wrong-doing is often more keenly felt by a parent or friend than by +the perpetrator himself. If Paul's enthusiasm and devoted life for men +made him truly say, "Who is weak, and I am not weak?" who shall measure +the burden Christ bore from day to day in the midst of a sinning and +suffering world? With a burning zeal for God, He was plunged into an +arctic region where thick-ribbed ice of indifference met His warmth; +consumed with devotion to God's purposes, He saw everywhere around Him +ignorance, carelessness, self-seeking, total misunderstanding of what +the world is for; linked to men with a love which irrepressibly urged +Him to seek the highest good for all, He was on all hands thwarted; +dying to see men holy and pure and godly, He everywhere found them weak, +sinful, gross. It was this which made Him a man of sorrows and +acquainted with grief--loving God and man with a love which was the +chief element in His being, He could not get man reconciled to God. The +mere sorrows of men doubtless affected Him more than they affect the +most tender-hearted of men; but these sorrows--poverty, failure, +sickness--would pass away and would even work for good, and so might +well be borne. But when He saw men disregarding that which would save +them from lasting sorrow; when He saw them giving themselves to +trivialities with all their might, and doing nothing to recover their +right relation to God, the spring of all good; when He saw them day by +day defeating the purpose He lived to accomplish, and undoing the one +only work He thought worth doing,--who can measure the burden of shame +and grief He had to bear? + +But it is not the suffering that does us good and brings us to God, but +the love which underlies the suffering. The suffering convinces us that +it is love which prompts Christ in all His life and death,--a love we +may confidently trust to, since it is staggered at no difficulty or +sacrifice; a love which aims at lifting and helping us; a love that +embraces us, not seeking to accomplish only one thing for us, but +necessarily, because it is love for us, seeking our good in all things. +The power of earthly love, of the devotedness of mother, wife, or +friend, we know;--we know what length such love will go: shall we then +deny to God the happiness of sacrifice, the joy of love? Let it not +enter our thoughts that He who is more closely related to us than any, +and who will far less disclaim this relationship than any, does not love +us in practical ways, and cannot fit us by His loving care for all that +His holiness requires. + + + + +XXII. + +_THE RESURRECTION._ + + + "Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while + it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from + the tomb. She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to + the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have + taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have + laid Him. Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and + they went toward the tomb. And they ran both together: and the other + disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb; and stooping and + looking in, he seeth the linen cloths lying; yet entered he not in. + Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into + the tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, + that was upon His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled + up in a place by itself. Then entered in therefore the other + disciple also, which came first to the tomb, and he saw, and + believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that He must rise + again from the dead. So the disciples went away again unto their own + home. But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping: so, as she + wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she beholdeth two + angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where + the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why + weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my + Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him. When she had thus + said, she turned herself back, and beholdeth Jesus standing, and + knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest + thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, + saith unto Him, Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where + thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away, Jesus saith unto her, + Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him in Hebrew, Rabboni; + which is to say, Master. Jesus saith to her, Touch Me not; for I am + not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto My brethren, and say + to them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and + your God. Mary Magdalene cometh and telleth the disciples, I have + seen the Lord; and how that He had said these things unto + her."--JOHN xx. 1-18. + + +John gives no narrative of the Resurrection itself. He gives us what is +much more valuable--a brief account of the manner in which he himself +was convinced that a resurrection had taken place. His shy nature, his +modest reluctance to put himself forward or use the first person in his +narrative, does not prevent him from seeing that the testimony of one +who, like himself, was an eyewitness of the facts is invaluable; and +nothing but additional interest and reality is added to his testimony by +the varied periphrases with which he veils his identity, as "the +disciple whom Jesus loved," "that other disciple," and so forth. + +When Mary brought the startling intelligence that the tomb was empty, +Peter and John instantly made for the spot at the top of their speed. +The older man was left behind by John, but natural reverence kept him +from entering the rocky chamber. He looked in, however, and to his +surprise saw enough to convince him that the body had not been removed +for interment elsewhere or to be cast out with the bodies of criminals. +For there were the linen cloths in which He had been wrapped, carefully +taken off and left behind. The impression made by this circumstance was +confirmed when Peter came up, and they both entered and examined the +tomb and made their inferences together. For then they saw still clearer +evidence of deliberation; the napkin which had been tied round the head +of the dead body was there in the tomb, and it was folded and laid in a +place by itself, suggesting the leisurely manner of a person changing +his clothes, and convincing them that the body had not been removed to +be laid elsewhere. At once John was convinced that a resurrection had +taken place; his Lord's words took a new meaning in this empty tomb. +Standing and gazing at the folded cloths, the truth flashed into his +mind: Jesus has Himself risen and disencumbered Himself from these +wrappings, and has departed. It was enough for John: he visited no other +tomb; he questioned no one; he made no inquiries of his friends in the +high priest's household,--he went to his own house, filled with +astonishment, with a thousand thoughts chasing one another through his +mind, scarcely listening to Peter's voluble tongue, but convinced that +Jesus lived. + +This simple narrative will be to many minds more convincing than an +accumulation of elaborate arguments. The style is that of an eyewitness. +Each movement and every particular is before his eye: Mary bursting, +breathless, and gasping out the startling news; the hasty springing up +of the two men, and their rapid racing along the streets and out through +the city gates to the garden; John standing panting at the rock-hewn +sepulchre, his stooping down and peering into the dark chamber; Peter +toiling up behind, but not hesitating a moment, and entering and gazing +at this and that till the dumb articles tell their story; and the two +men leave the sepulchre together, awed and convinced. And the eyewitness +who thus graphically relates what he knew of that great morning adds +with the simplicity of a truthful nature, "he saw and +believed"--believed then for the first time; for as yet they had not +seen the significance of certain scriptures which now seemed plainly +enough to point to this. + +To some minds this simple narrative will, I say, carry home the +conviction of the truth of the Resurrection more than any elaborate +argumentation. There is an assuring matter-of-factness about it. +Sceptics tell us that visions are common, and that excited people are +easily deceived. But we have no word of visions here. John does not say +he saw the Lord: he tells us merely of two fishermen running; of solid, +commonplace articles such as grave-clothes; and of observations that +could not possibly be mistaken, such as that the tomb was empty and that +they two were in it. For my part I feel constrained to believe a +narrative like this, when it tells me the grave was empty. No doubt +their conclusion, that Jesus had Himself emptied the tomb, was not a +certain but only a probable inference, and, had nothing more occurred, +even John himself might not have continued so confident; but it is +important to notice how John was convinced, not at all by visions or +voices or embodied expectations of his own, but in the most +matter-of-fact way and by the very same kind of observation that we use +and rely upon in common life. And, moreover, more did occur; there +followed just such results as were in keeping with so momentous an +event. + +One of these immediately occurred. Mary, exhausted with her rapid +carrying of the news to Peter and John, was not able to keep pace with +them as they ran to the tomb, and before she arrived they were gone. +Probably she missed them in the streets as she came out of the city; at +any rate, finding the tomb still empty and none present to explain the +reason of it, she stands there desolate and pours out her distress in +tears. That grave being empty, the whole earth is empty to her: the dead +Christ was more to her than a living world. She could not go as Peter +and John had gone, for she had no thought of resurrection. The rigid +form, the unanswering lips and eye, the body passive in the hands of +others, had fixed on her heart, as it commonly does, the one impression +of death. She felt that all was over, and now she had not even the poor +consolation of paying some slight additional attention. She can but +stand and lay her head upon the stone and let her tears flow from a +broken heart. And yet again in the midst of her grief she cannot believe +it true that He is lost to her; she returns, as love will do, to the +search, suspects her own eyesight, seeks again where she had sought +before, and cannot reconcile herself to a loss so total and +overwhelming. So absorbing is her grief that the vision of angels does +not astonish her; her heart, filled with grief, has no room for wonder. +Their kindly words cannot comfort her; it is another voice she longs +for. She had but the one thought, "They have taken away my Lord,"--_my_ +Lord, as if none felt the bereavement as she. She supposes, too, that +all must know about the loss and understand what she is seeking, so that +when she sees the gardener she says, "Sir, if thou hast borne _Him_ +hence." What need to say who? Can any one be thinking of any other but +of Him who engrosses her thought? + +In all this we have the picture of a real and profound grief, and +therefore of a real and profound love. We see in Mary the kind of +affection which a knowledge of Jesus was fitted to kindle. And to Mary +our Lord remembered His promise: "He that loveth Me shall be loved of +My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him." None is +so unable as He to leave any who love Him without any response to their +expressions of affection. He could not coldly look on while this woman +was eagerly seeking Him; and it is as impossible that He should hide +Himself now from any who seek Him with as true a heart. Sometimes it +would seem as if real thirst for God were not at once allayed, as if +many were allowed to spend the best part of their days in seeking; but +this does not invalidate the promise, "He that seeketh, findeth." For as +Christ is again and again removed from the view of men, and as He is +allowed to become a remote and shadowy figure, He can be restored to a +living and visible influence in the world only by this man and that man +becoming sensible of the great loss we sustain by His absence, and +working his own way to a clear apprehension of His continued life. No +experience which an honest man has in his search for the truth is +worthless; it is the solid foundation of his own permanent belief and +connection with the truth, and it is useful to other men. + +Mary standing without at the sepulchre weeping is a concrete +representation of a not uncommon state of mind. She stands wondering why +she was ever so foolish, so heartless, as to leave the tomb at all--why +she had allowed it to be possible to become separated from the Lord. She +looks despairingly at the empty grave-clothes which so lately had held +all that was dear to her in the world. She might, she thinks, had she +been present, have prevented the tomb from being emptied, but now it is +empty she cannot fill it again. It is thus that those who have been +careless about maintaining communion with Christ reproach themselves +when they find He is gone. The ordinances, the prayers, the quiet hours +of contemplation, that once were filled with Him are now, like the linen +clothes and the napkin, empty, cold, pale forms, remembrances of His +presence that make His absence all the more painful. When we ask where +we can find Him, only the hard, mocking echo of the empty tomb replies. +And yet this self-reproach is itself a seeking to which He will respond. +To mourn His absence is to desire and to invite His presence; and to +invite His presence is to secure it.[29] + +The Evangelist Mark saw more in the Lord's appearance to Mary than a +response to her seeking love. He reminds his readers that this was the +woman out of whom the Lord had cast seven devils, meaning apparently to +suggest that those who have most need of encouragement from Him are +surest to get it. He had not appeared to Peter and John, though these +men were to build up His Church and be responsible for His cause. To the +man whom He loved, who had stood by Him at His trial and in His death, +who had received His mother and was now to be in His place to her, He +made no sign, but allowed him to examine the empty tomb and retire. But +to this woman He discloses Himself at once. The love which sprang from a +sense of what she owed Him kept her at the tomb and threw her in His +way. Her sense of dependence was the magnetic point on earth which +attracted and disclosed His presence. Observe the situation. Earth lay +uncertain; some manifestation is needed to guide men at this critical +time; blank disappointment or pointless waiting broods everywhere. At +what point shall the presence of Christ break through and quicken +expectation and faith? Shall He go to the high priest's palace or to +Pilate's prætorium and triumph over their dismay? Shall He go and lay +busy plans with this and that group of followers? On the contrary, He +appears to a poor woman who can do nothing to celebrate His triumph and +might only discredit it, if she proclaimed herself His friend and +herald. But thus continuous is the character of Jesus through death and +resurrection. The meekness, the true perception of the actual sorrows +and wants of men, the sense for spiritual need, the utter disregard of +worldly powers and glory, characterise Him now as before. The sense of +need is what always effectually appeals to Him. The soul that truly +recognises the value and longs for the fellowship and possession of +Christ's purity, devotion to God, superiority to worldly aims and +interests, always wins His regard. When a man prays for these things not +with his lips but with his life's effort and his heart's true craving, +his prayer is answered. To seek Christ is to feel as Mary felt, to see +with practical constraining clearness as she saw, that He is the most +precious of all possessions, that to be like Him is the greatest of all +attainments; it is to see His character with clearness, and to be +persuaded that, if the world gives us opportunity of becoming like Him +and actually makes us like Him, it has done for us all that is vital and +permanently important. + +As Mary answered the angels she heard a step behind or saw the tomb +darkened by a shadow, and on turning discerns dimly through her tears a +figure which naturally enough she supposes to be the gardener--not +because Jesus had assumed the clothes or lifted the tools of the +gardener, but because he was the likeliest person to be going about the +garden at that early hour. As the heart overburdened with grief is often +unconscious of the presence of Christ and refuses to be comforted +because it cannot see Him for its sorrow, so Mary through the veil of +her tears can see only a human form, and turns away again, unconscious +that He for whom she seeks is with her. As she turns, one word wipes the +tears from her eyes and penetrates her heart with sudden joy. The +utterance of her name was enough to tell her it was some one who knew +her that was there; but there was a responsive thrill and an awaking of +old memories and a vibration of her nature under the tone of that voice, +which told her whose alone it could be. The voice seemed a second time +to command a calm within her and turn her whole soul to Himself only. +Once before, that voice had banished from her nature the foul spirits +that had taken possession of her; she had "awaked from hell beneath the +smile of Christ," and now again the same voice brought her out of +darkness into light. From being the most disconsolate, Mary became at a +word the happiest creature in the world. + +Mary's happiness is easily understood. No explanation is needed of the +peace and bliss she experienced when she heard herself owned as the +friend of the risen Lord, and called by her name in the familiar tone by +Him who stood now superior to all risk, assault, and evil. This perfect +joy is the reward of all in the measure of their faith. Christ rose, not +that He might bring ecstasy to Mary alone, but that He might fill all +things with His presence and His fulness, and that our joy also might be +full. Has He not called us also by name? Has He not given us at times a +consciousness that He understands our nature and what will satisfy it, +that He claims an intimacy no other can claim, that His utterance of our +name has a significance which no other lips can give it? Do we find it +difficult to enter into true intercourse with Him; do we envy Mary her +few minutes in the garden? As truly as by the audible utterance of our +name does Christ now invite us to the perfect joy there is in His +friendship; so truly as if He stood with us alone, as with Mary in the +garden, and as if none but ourselves were present; as if our name alone +filled His lips, our wants alone occupied His heart. Let us not miss +true personal intercourse with Christ. Let nothing cheat us of this +supreme joy and life of the soul. Let us not slothfully or shyly say, "I +can never be on such terms of intimacy with Christ,--I who am so unlike +Him; so full of desires He cannot gratify; so frivolous, superficial, +unreal, while He is so real, so earnest; so unloving while He is so +loving; so reluctant to endure hardness, with views of life and aims so +opposed to His; so unable to keep a pure and elevated purpose +steadfastly in my mind." Mary was once trodden under foot of evil, a +wreck in whom none but Christ saw any place for hope. It is what is in +_Him_ that is powerful. He has won His supremacy by love, by refusing to +enjoy His private rights without our sharing them; and He maintains His +supremacy by love, teaching all to love Him, subduing to devotedness the +hardest heart--not by a remote exhibition of cold, unemotional +perfection, but by the persistence and depth of His warm and individual +love. + +Mary had no time to reason and doubt. With one quick exclamation of +ecstatic recognition and joy she sprang towards Him. The one word "my +Master,"[30] uttered all her heart. It is related of George Herbert +that when he was inducted into the cure of Bemerton he said to a friend: +"I beseech God that my humble and charitable life may so win upon others +as to bring glory to my Jesus, whom I have this day taken to be my +Master and my Governor, and I am so proud of His service that I will +always call Him Jesus, my Master." His biographer adds: "He seems to +rejoice in that word Jesus, and says that the adding these words 'my +Master' to it and the often repetition of them seemed to perfume his +mind." With Mary the title was one of indefinite respect; she found in +Jesus one she could always reverence and trust. The firm, loving hand +that admits no soft evasion of duty; the steadfast step that with +equanimity ever goes straight forward; the strong heart that has always +room for the distresses of others; the union with God which made Him a +medium to earth of God's superiority and availing compassion,--these +things had made the words "my Master" His proper designation in her +lips. And our spirit cannot be purified and elevated but by worthy love +and deserved reverence, by living in presence of that which commands our +love and lifts up our nature to what is above it. It is by letting our +heart and mind be filled by what is above us that we grow in abiding +stature and become in our turn helpful to what is at a still lower stage +than we are. + +But as Mary sprang forward, and in a transport of affection made as +though she would embrace the Lord, she is met by these quick words: +"Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father." Various +conjectural reasons for this prohibition have been supposed,--as, that +it was indecorous, an objection which Christ did not make when at a +dinner-table a woman kissed his feet, scandalising the guests and +provoking the suspicions of the host; or, that she wished to assure +herself by touch of the reality of the appearance, an assurance which He +did not object to the disciples making, but rather encouraged them to +make, as He would also have encouraged Mary had she needed any such +test, which she did not; or, that this vehement embrace would disturb +the process of glorification which was proceeding in His body! It is +idle to conjecture reasons, seeing that He Himself gives the reason, +"for I am not yet ascended," implying that such "touching" would no +longer be prohibited when He was ascended. Mary seems to have thought +that already the "little while" of His absence was past, and that now He +was to be always with them upon earth, helping them in the same familiar +ways and training them by His visible presence and spoken words. This +was a misconception. He must first ascend to the Father, and those who +love Him on earth must learn to live without the physical appearance, +the actual seeing, touching, hearing, of the well-known Master. There +must be no more kissing of His feet, but homage of a sterner, deeper +sort; there must be no more sitting at table with Him, and filling the +mind with His words, until they sit down with Him in the Father's +presence. Meanwhile His friends must walk by faith, not by sight--by +their inward light and spiritual likings; they must learn the truer +fidelity that serves an absent Lord; they must acquire the independent +and inherent love of righteousness which can freely grow only when +relieved from the over-mastering pressure of a visible presence, +encouraging us by sensible expressions of favour, guaranteeing us +against defeat and danger. Thus only can the human spirit freely grow, +showing its native bent, its true tastes and convictions; thus only can +its capacities for self-development and for choosing and fulfilling its +own destiny be matured. + +And if these words of Jesus seemed at first chilling and repellent, they +were followed by words of unmistakable affection: "Go to my brothers, +and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My +God and your God." This is the message of the risen Lord to men. He has +become the link between us and all that is highest and best. We know +that He has overcome all evil and left it behind; we know that He is +worthy of the highest place, that by His righteousness and love He +merits the highest place. We know that if such an one as He cannot go +boldly to the highest heaven and claim God as His God and Father, there +is no such thing as moral worth, and all effort, conscience, hope, +responsibility, are vain and futile. We know that Christ must ascend to +the highest, and yet we know also that He will not enter where we cannot +follow. We know that His love binds Him to us as strongly as His rights +carry Him to God. We can as little believe that He will abandon us and +leave us out of His eternal enjoyment, as we can believe that God would +refuse to own Him as Son. And it is this which Christ puts in the +forefront of His message as risen and ascending: "I ascend unto My +Father and your Father." The joy that awaits Me with God awaits you +also; the power I go to exercise is the power of your Father. This +affinity for heaven which you see in Me is coupled with affinity for +you. The holiness, the power, the victory, I have achieved and now enjoy +are yours; I am your Brother: what I claim, I claim for you. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] See Pusey's sermon on this subject. + +[30] "Rabboni" had more of reverence in it than would be conveyed by "my +Teacher," and it is legitimate here to use "Master" in its wider sense. + + + + +XXIII. + +_THOMAS' TEST._ + + + "When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the + week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for + fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto + them, Peace be unto you. And when He had said this, He showed unto + them His hands and His side. The disciples therefore were glad, when + they saw the Lord. Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto + you: as the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had + said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the + Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto + them; whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one + of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. + The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. + But he said unto them, Except I shall see in His hands the print of + the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my + hand into His side, I will not believe. And after eight days again + His disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the + doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto + you. Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and see My + hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into My side: and be + not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered and said unto Him, My + Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen Me, + thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet + have believed."--JOHN xx. 19-29. + + +On the evening of the day whose dawning had been signalised by the +Resurrection, the disciples, and, according to Luke, some others, were +together. They expected that the event which had restored hope in their +own hearts would certainly excite the authorities and probably lead to +the arrest of some of their number. They had therefore carefully closed +the doors, that some time for parley and possibly for escape might be +interposed. But to their astonishment and delight, while they were +sitting thus with closed doors, the well-known figure of their Lord +appeared in their midst, and His familiar greeting, "Peace be with you," +sounded in their ears. Further to identify Himself and remove all doubt +or dread He showed them His hands and His side; and, as St. Luke tells +us, even ate before them. There is here a strange mingling of identity +and difference between the body He now wears and that which had been +crucified. Its appearance is the same in some respects, but its +properties are different. Immediate recognition did not always follow +His manifestation. There was something baffling in His appearance, +suggesting a well-known face, and yet not quite the same. The marks on +the body, or some characteristic action or movement or utterance, were +needed to complete the identification. The properties of the body also +were not reducible to any known type. He could eat, speak, walk, yet He +could dispense with eating and could apparently pass through physical +obstacles. His body was a glorified, spiritual body, not subject to the +laws which govern the physical part of man in this life. These +characteristics are worth noticing, not only as giving us some inkling +of the type of body which awaits ourselves, but in connection with the +identification of the risen Lord. Had the appearance been the mere fancy +of the disciples, how should they have required any identification? + +Having saluted them and removed their consternation, He fulfils the +object of His appearance by giving them their commission, their +equipment, and their authority as His Apostles: "As the Father hath sent +Me, even so send I you"--to fulfil still the same purpose, to complete +the work begun, to stand to Him in the same intimate relation as He had +occupied to the Father. To impart to them at once all that they required +for the fulfilment of this commission He bestows upon them the Holy +Spirit, breathing on them, to convey to them the impression that He was +actually there and then communicating to them that which constituted the +very breath of His own life. This is His first act as Lord of all power +in heaven and on earth, and it is an act which inevitably conveys to +them the assurance that His life and theirs is one life. Impulse and +power to proclaim Him as risen they did not yet experience. They must be +allowed time to settle to some composure of mind and to some clear +thoughts after all the disturbing events of these last days. They must +also have the confirmatory testimony to the Resurrection, which could +only be furnished after repeated appearances of the Lord to themselves +and to others. The gift of the Spirit, therefore, as a spirit of +powerful witness-bearing, was reserved for six weeks. + +With this perfect equipment our Lord added the words: "Whosesoever sins +ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whosesoever sins ye retain, +they are retained." These words have been the occasion of endless +controversy.[31] They certainly convey the ideas that the Apostles were +appointed to mediate between Christ and their fellow-men, that the chief +function they should be required to discharge in this mediation was the +forgiving and retention of sins, and that they were furnished with the +Holy Spirit to guide them in this mediation. Apparently this must mean +that the Apostles were to be the agents through whom Christ was to +proclaim the terms of admission to His kingdom. They received authority +to say in what cases sins were to be forgiven and in what to be +retained. To infer from this that the Apostles have successors, that +these successors are constituted by an external ordinance or nomination, +that they have power to exclude or admit individuals seeking entrance +into the kingdom of God, is to leave logic and reason a long way behind, +and to erect a kind of government in the Church of Christ which will +never be submitted to by those who live in the liberty wherewith His +truth has made them free. The presence of the Holy Spirit, and no bare +external appointment, is that which gives authority to those who guide +the Church of Christ. It is because they are inwardly one with Christ, +not because they happen to be able to claim a doubtful outward +connection with Him, that they have that authority which Christ's people +own. + +But when our Lord thus appeared on the day of His resurrection to His +disciples one of their number was absent. This might not have been +noticed had not the absentee been of a peculiar temper, and had not this +peculiarity given rise to another visit of the Lord and to a very +significant restoration of belief in the mind of a sceptical disciple. +The absent disciple was commonly known as Thomas or Didymus, the Twin. +On various occasions he appears somewhat prominently in the +gospel-story, and his conduct and conversation on those occasions show +him to have been a man very liable to take a desponding view of the +future, apt to see the darker side of everything, but at the same time +not wanting in courage, and of a strong and affectionate loyalty to +Jesus. On one occasion, when our Lord intimated to the disciples His +intention of returning within the dangerous frontier of Judæa, the +others expostulated, but Thomas said, "Let us also go, that we may die +with Him"--an utterance in which his devoted loyalty to his Master, his +dogged courage, and his despondent temperament are all apparent. And +when, some time afterwards, Jesus was warning His disciples that He must +shortly leave them and go to the Father, Thomas sees in the departure of +his Master the extinction of all hope; life and the way to life seem to +him treacherous phrases, he has eyes only for the gloom of death: "Lord, +we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way?" + +The absence of such a man from the first meeting of the disciples was to +be expected.[32] If the bare possibility of his Lord's death had plunged +this loving and gloomy heart in despondency, what dark despair must +have preyed upon it when that death was actually accomplished! How the +figure of his dead Master had burnt itself into his soul is seen from +the manner in which his mind dwells on the print of the nails, the wound +in the side. It is by these only, and not by well-known features of face +or peculiarities of form, he will recognise and identify his Lord. His +heart was with the lifeless body on the cross, and he could not bear to +see the friends of Jesus or speak with those who had shared his hopes, +but buried his disappointment and desolation in solitude and silence. +His absence can scarcely be branded as culpable. None of the others +expected resurrection any more than himself, but his hopelessness acted +on a specially sensitive and despondent nature. Thus it was that, like +many melancholy persons, he missed the opportunity of seeing what would +effectually have scattered his darkness. + +But though he might not be to blame for absenting himself, he was to +blame for refusing to accept the testimony of his friends when they +assured him they had seen Jesus risen. There is a tone of doggedness +that grates upon us in the words, "Except I shall see in His hands the +print of the nails, _and put my finger_ into the print of the nails, and +thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." Some deference was +due to the testimony of men whom he knew to be truthful and as little +liable to delusion as himself. We cannot blame him for not being +convinced on the spot; a man cannot compel himself to believe anything +which does not itself compel belief. But the obstinate tone sounds as if +he was beginning to nurse his unbelief, than which there is no more +pernicious exercise of the human spirit. He demands, too, what may never +be possible--the evidence of his own senses. He claims that he shall be +on the same footing as the rest. Why is he to believe on less evidence +than they? It has cost him pain enough to give up his hope: is he then +to give up his hopelessness as cheaply as all this? He is supremely +miserable; his Lord dead and life left to him--a life which already +during these few days had grown far too long, a weary, intolerable +burden. Is he in a moment and on their mere word to rise from his +misery? A man of Thomas' temperament hugs his wretchedness. You seem to +do him an injury if you open the shutters of his heart and let in the +sunshine. + +Obviously, therefore, the first inference we naturally draw from this +state of mind is that it is weak and wrong to lay hold of one difficulty +and insist that except this be removed we will not believe. Let this +difficulty about the constitution of Christ's person, or this about the +impossibility of proving a miracle, or this about the inspiration of +Scripture be removed, and I will accept Christianity; let God grant me +_this_ petition, and I will believe that He is the hearer of prayer; let +me see this inconsistency or that explained, and I will believe He +governs the course of things in this world. The understanding begins to +take a pride in demanding evidence more absolute and strict than has +satisfied others, and seems to display acuteness and fairness in holding +to one difficulty. The test which Thomas proposed to himself seemed an +accurate and legitimate one; but that he should have proposed it shows +that he was neglecting the evidence already afforded him, the testimony +of a number of men whose truthfulness he had for years made proof of. +True, it was a miracle they required him to believe; but would his own +senses be better authentication of a miracle than the unanimous and +explicit declaration of a company of veracious men? He could have no +doubt that they believed they had seen the Lord. If they could be +deceived, ten of them, or many more, why should his senses prove more +infallible? Was he to reject their testimony on the ground that their +senses had deceived them, and accept the testimony of his own senses? +Was the ultimate test in his own case to be that very evidence which in +the case of others he maintained was insufficient? + +But if this tells seriously against Thomas, we must not leave out of +account what tells in his favour. It is true he was obstinate and +unreasonable and a shade vain in his refusal to accept the testimony of +the disciples, but it is also true that he was with the little Christian +community on the second Lord's Day. This puts it beyond a doubt that he +was not so unbelieving as he seemed. That he did not now avoid the +society of those happy, hopeful men shows that he was far from unwilling +to become, if possible, a sharer in their hope and joy. Perhaps already +he was repenting having pledged himself to unbelief, as many another has +repented. Certainly he was not afraid of being convinced that his Lord +had arisen; on the contrary, he sought to be convinced of this and put +himself in the way of conviction. He had doubted because he wished to +believe, doubted because it was the full, entire, eternal confidence of +his soul that he was seeking a resting-place for. He knew the tremendous +importance to him of this question--knew that it was literally +everything to him if Christ was risen and was now alive and to be found +by His people, and therefore he was slow to believe. Therefore also he +kept in the company of believers; it was on their side he wished to get +out of the terrible mire and darkness in which he was involved. + +It is this which distinguishes Thomas and all right-minded doubters from +thorough-going and depraved unbelievers. The one wishes to believe, +would give the world to be free from doubt, will go mourning all his +days, will pine in body and sicken of life because he cannot believe: +"he _waits_ for light, but behold obscurity, for brightness, but he +walks in darkness." The other, the culpable unbeliever, thrives on +doubt; he likes it, enjoys it, sports it, lives by it; goes about +telling people his difficulties, as some morbid people have a fancy for +showing you their sores or detailing their symptoms, as if everything +which makes them different from other men, even though it be disease, +were a thing to be proud of. Convince such a man of the truth and he is +angry with you; you seem to have done him a wrong, as the mendicant +impostor who has been gaining his livelihood by a bad leg or a useless +eye is enraged when a skilled person restores to him the use of his limb +or shows him that he can use it if he will. You may know a dishonest +doubter by the fluency with which he states his difficulties or by the +affectation of melancholy which is sometimes assumed. You may always +know him by his reluctance to be convinced, by his irritation when he is +forced to surrender some pet bulwark of unbelief. When you find a man +reading one side of the question, courting difficulties, eagerly seizing +on new objections, and provoked instead of thankful when any doubt is +removed, you may be sure that this is not a scepticism of the +understanding so much as an evil _heart_ of unbelief. + +The hesitancy and backwardness, the incredulity and niggardliness of +faith, of Thomas have done as much to confirm the minds of succeeding +believers as the forward and impulsive confidence of Peter. Then, as +now, this critical intellect, when combined with a sound heart, wrought +two great boons for the Church. The doubts which such men entertain +continually provoke fresh evidence, as here this second appearance of +Christ to the Eleven seems due to the doubt of Thomas. So far as one can +gather it was solely to remove this doubt our Lord appeared. And, +besides, a second boon which attends honest and godly doubt is the +attachment to the Church of men who have passed through severe mental +conflict, and therefore hold the faith they have reached with an +intelligence and a tenacity unknown to other men. + +These two things were simply brought about in Thomas' instance. The +disciples were again assembled on the following Sunday, probably in the +same place, consecrated for ever in their memories as the place where +their risen Lord had appeared. It is doubtful whether they were more +expectant of a fresh appearance of their Lord this day than they had +been any day throughout the week, but certainly every reader feels that +it is not without significance that after a blank and uneventful week +the first day should again be singled out to have this honour put upon +it. Some sanction is felt to be given to those meetings of His followers +which ever since have been assembled on the first day of the week; and +the experience of thousands can testify that this day seems still the +favourite with our Lord for manifesting Himself to His people, and for +renewing the joy which a week's work has somewhat dimmed. Silently and +suddenly as before, without warning, without opening of doors, Jesus +stood in their midst. But there was no terror now--exclamations only of +delight and adoration. And perhaps it was not in human nature to resist +casting a look of triumphant interrogation at Thomas, a look of inquiry +to see what he would make of this. Surprise, unutterable surprise, +undiminished by all he had been led to expect, must have been written on +Thomas' wide-gazing eyes and riveted look. But this surprise was +displaced by shame, this eager gaze cast down, when he found that his +Lord had heard his obstinate ultimatum and had been witness of his +sullen unbelief. As Jesus repeats almost in the same words the hard, +rude, bare, material test which he had proposed, and as He holds forth +His hands for his inspection, shame and joy struggle for the mastery in +his spirit, and give utterance to the humble but glowing confession, "My +Lord and my God." His own test is superseded; he makes no movement to +put it in force; he is satisfied of the identity of his Lord. It is the +same penetrating knowledge of man's inmost thoughts, the same loving +treatment of the erring, the same subduing presence. + +And thus it frequently happens that a man who has vowed that he will not +believe except this or that be made plain finds, when he does believe, +that something short of his own requirements has convinced him. He finds +that though he was once so express in his demands for proof, and so +clear and accurate in his declarations of the precise amount of evidence +required, at the last he believes and could scarcely tell you why, could +not at least show his belief as the fine and clean result of a logical +process. Thomas had maintained that the rest were too easily satisfied, +but at the last he is himself satisfied with precisely the same proof as +they. And it is somewhat striking that in so many cases unbelief gives +way to belief, not by the removal of intellectual difficulties, not by +such demonstration as was granted to Thomas, but by an undefinable +conquest of the soul by Christ. The glory, holiness, love of His person, +subdue the soul to Him. + +The faith of Thomas is full of significance. First, it is helpful to our +own faith to hear so decisive and so full a confession coming from the +lips of such a man. John himself felt it to be so decisive that after +recording it he virtually closes the Gospel which he had undertaken to +write in order to persuade men that Jesus is the Son of God. After this +confession of Thomas he feels that no more can be said. He stops not for +want of matter; "many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His +disciples" which are not written in this Gospel. These seemed +sufficient. The man who is not moved by this will not be moved by any +further proof. Proof is not what such a doubter needs. Whatever we think +of the other Apostles, it is plain that Thomas at least was not +credulous. If Peter's generous ardour carried him to a confession +unwarranted by the facts, if John saw in Jesus the reflection of his own +contemplative and loving nature, what are we to say of the faith of +Thomas? He had no determination to see only what he desired, no +readiness to accept baseless evidence and irresponsible testimony. He +knew the critical nature of the situation, the unique importance of the +matter presented to his faith. With him there was no frivolous or +thoughtless underrating of difficulties. He did not absolutely deny the +possibility of Christ's resurrection, but he went very near doing so, +and showed that practically he considered it either impossible or +unlikely in the extreme. But in the end he believes. And the ease with +which he passes from doubt to faith proves his honesty and +sound-heartedness. As soon as evidence which to him is convincing is +produced, he proclaims his faith. + +His confession, too, is fuller than that of the other disciples. The +week of painful questioning had brought clearly before his mind the +whole significance of the Resurrection, so that he does not hesitate to +own Jesus as his God. When a man of profound spiritual feeling and of +good understanding has doubts and hesitations from the very intensity +and subtlety of his scrutiny of what appears to him of transcendent +importance; when he sees difficulties unseen by men who are too little +interested in the matter to recognise them even though they stare them +in the face,--when such a man, with the care and anxiety that befit the +subject, considers for himself the claims of Christ, and as the result +yields himself to the Lord, he sees more in Christ than other men do, +and is likely to be steadier in his allegiance than if he had slurred +over apparent obstacles instead of removing them, and stifled objections +in place of answering them. It was not the mere seeing of Christ risen +which prompted the full confession of Thomas. But slowly during that +week of suspense he had been taking in the full significance of the +Resurrection, coming at the close of such a life as he knew the Lord had +lived. The very idea that such a thing was believed by the rest forced +his mind back upon the exceptional character of Jesus, His wonderful +works, the intimations He had given of His connection with God. The +sight of Him risen came as the keystone of the arch, which being wanting +all had fallen to the ground, but being inserted clenched the whole, and +could now bear any weight. The truths about His person which Thomas had +begun to explain away return upon his mind with resistless force, and +each in clear, certain verity. He saw now that his Lord had performed +all His word, had proved Himself supreme over all that affected men. He +saw Him after passing through unknown conflict with principalities and +powers come to resume fellowship with sinful men, standing with all +things under His feet, yet giving His hand to the weak disciple to make +him partake in His triumph. + +This was a rare and memorable hour for Thomas, one of those moments that +mark a man's spirit permanently. He is carried entirely out of himself, +and sees nothing but his Lord. The whole energy of his spirit goes out +to Him undoubtingly, unhesitatingly, unrestrained. Everything is before +him in the person of Christ; nothing causes the least diversion or +distraction. For once his spirit has found perfect peace. There is +nothing in the unseen world that can dismay him, nothing in the future +on which he can spend a thought; his soul rests in the Person before +him. He does not draw back, questioning whether the Lord will now +receive him; he fears no rebuke; he does not scrutinise his spiritual +condition, nor ask whether his faith is sufficiently spiritual. He +cannot either go back upon his past conduct, or analyse his present +feelings, or spend one thought of any kind upon himself. The scrupulous, +sceptical man is all devoutness and worship; the thousand objections are +swept from his mind; and all by the mere presence of Christ He is rapt +in this one object; mind and soul are filled with the regained Lord; he +forgets himself; the passion of joy with which he regains in a +transfigured form his lost Leader absorbs him quite: "he had lost a +possible king of the Jews; he finds his Lord and his God." There can be +no question here about himself, his prospects, his interests. He can +but utter his surprise, his joy, and his worship in the cry, "My Lord +and my God." + +On such a man even the Lord's benediction were useless. This is the +highest, happiest, rarest state of the human soul. When a man has been +carried out of himself by the clear vision of Christ's worth; when his +mind and heart are filled with the supreme excellence of Christ; when in +His presence he feels he can but worship, bowing in his soul before +actually achieved human perfection rooted in and expressing the true +Divine glory of love ineffable; when face to face, soul to soul, with +the highest and most affecting known goodness, conscious that he now in +this very moment stands within touch of the Supreme, that he has found +and need never more lose perfect love, perfect goodness, perfect +power,--when a man is transported by such a recognition of Christ, this +is the true ecstasy, this is man's ultimate blessedness. + +And this blessedness is competent not only to those who saw with the +bodily eye, but much more to those who have not seen and yet have +believed. Why do we rob ourselves of it, and live as if it were not +so--as if such certitude and the joy that accompanies it had passed from +earth and were no more possible? We cannot apply Thomas' test, but we +can test his test; or, like him, we can forego it, and rest on wider, +deeper evidence. Was he right in so eagerly confessing his belief? And +are we right to hesitate, to doubt, to despond? Should we have counted +it strange if, when the Lord addressed Thomas, he had sullenly shrunk +back among the rest, or merely given a verbal assent to Christ's +identity, showing no sign of joy? And are we to accept the signs He +gives us of His presence as if it made little difference to us and did +not lift us into heaven? Have we so little sense of spiritual things +that we cannot believe in the life of Him round whom the whole fortunes +of our race revolve? Do we not know the power of Christ's resurrection +as Thomas could not possibly know it? Do we not see as he could not see +the boundless spiritual efficacy and results of that risen life? Do we +not see the full bearing of that great manifestation of God's nearness +more clearly? Do we not feel how impossible it was that such an one as +Christ should be holden of death, that the supremacy in human affairs +which He achieved by absolute love and absolute holiness should be +proved inferior to a physical law, and should be interrupted in its +efficacious exercise by a physical fact? If Thomas was constrained to +acknowledge Christ as his Lord and his God, much more may we do so. By +the nature of the case our conviction, implying as it does some +apprehension of spiritual things, must be more slowly wrought. Even if +at last the full conviction that human life is a joy because Christ is +with us in it, leading us to eternal partnership with Himself,--even if +this conviction flash suddenly through the spirit, the material for it +must have been long accumulating. Even if at last we awake to a sense of +the present glory of Christ with the suddenness of Thomas, yet in any +case this must be the result of purified spiritual affinities and +leanings. But on this very account is the conviction more indissolubly +intertwined with all that we truly are, forming an essential and +necessary part of our inward growth, and leading each of us to respond +with a cordial amen to the benediction of our Lord, "Blessed are they +that have not seen and yet have believed." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[31] See Steitz' article _Schlüsselgewalt_ in _Herzog_. + +[32] In this chapter there are reminiscences of Trench. + + + + +XXIV. + +_APPEARANCE AT SEA OF GALILEE._ + + + "After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples + at the Sea of Tiberias; and He manifested Himself on this wise. + There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and + Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other + of His disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They + say unto him, We also come with thee. They went forth, and entered + into the boat; and that night they took nothing. But when day was + now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach: howbeit the disciples knew + not that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore saith unto them, Children, + have ye aught to eat? They answered Him, No. And He said unto them, + Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and ye shall find. They + cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the + multitude of fishes. That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved saith + unto Peter, It is the Lord. So when Simon Peter heard that it was + the Lord, he girt his coat about him (for he was naked), and cast + himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little + boat (for they were not far from the land, but about two hundred + cubits off), dragging the net full of fishes. So when they got out + upon the land, they see a fire of coals there, and fish laid + thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which + ye have now taken. Simon Peter therefore went up, and drew the net + to land, full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three: and + for all there were so many, the net was not rent. Jesus saith unto + them, Come and break your fast. And none of the disciples durst + inquire of Him, Who art Thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus + cometh, and taketh the bread, and giveth them, and the fish + likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to + the disciples, after that He was risen from the dead."--JOHN xxi. + 1-14. + + +The removal of the doubts of Thomas restored the Eleven to unity of +faith, and fitted them to be witnesses of the Lord's resurrection. And +the Gospel might naturally have closed at this point, as indeed the last +verses of the twentieth chapter suggest that the writer himself felt +that his task was done. But as throughout his Gospel he had followed the +plan of adducing such of Christ's miracles as seemed to throw a strong +light on His spiritual power, he could not well close without mentioning +the last miracle of all, and which seemed to have only a didactic +purpose. Besides, there was another reason for John adding this chapter. +He was writing at the very close of the century. So long had he survived +the unparalleled events he narrates that an impression had gone abroad +that he would never die. It was even rumoured that our Lord had foretold +that the beloved disciple should tarry on earth till He Himself should +return. John takes the opportunity of relating what the Lord had really +said, as well as of recounting the all-important event out of which the +misreported conversation had arisen. + +When the disciples had spent the Passover week at Jerusalem, they +naturally returned to their homes in Galilee. The house of the old +fisherman Zebedee was probably their rendezvous. We need not listen to +their talk as they relate what had passed in Jerusalem, in order to see +that they are sensible of the peculiarity of their situation and are in +a state of suspense. + +They are back among the familiar scenes, the boats are lying on the +beach, their old companions are sitting about mending their nets as they +themselves had been doing a year or two before when summoned by Jesus to +follow Him on the moment. But though old associations are thus laying +hold of them again, there is evidence that new influences are also at +work; for with the fishermen are found Nathanael and others who were +there, not for the sake of old associations, but of the new and common +interest they had in Christ. The seven men have kept together; they +participate in an experience of which their fellow-townsmen know +nothing; but they must live. Hints have been thrown out that seven +strong men must not depend on other arms than their own for a +livelihood. And as they stand together that evening and watch boat after +boat push off, the women wishing their husbands and sons good-speed, the +men cheerily responding and busily getting their tackle in trim, with a +look of pity at the group of disciples, Peter can stand it no longer, +but makes for his own or some unoccupied boat with the words, "I go +a-fishing." The rest were only needing such an invitation. The whole +charm and zest of the old life rushes back upon them, each takes his own +accustomed place in the boat, each hand finds itself once more at home +at the long-suspended task, and with an ease that surprises themselves +they fall back into the old routine. + +And as we watch their six oars flashing in the setting sun, and Peter +steering them to the familiar fishing ground, we cannot but reflect in +how precarious a position the whole future of the world is. That boat +carries the earthly hope of the Church; and as we weigh the feelings of +the men that are in it, what we see chiefly is, how easily the whole of +Christianity might here have broken short off, and never have been heard +of, supposing it to have depended for its propagation solely on the +disciples. Here they were, not knowing what had become of Jesus, without +any plan for preserving His name among men, open to any impulse or +influence, unable to resist the smell of the fishing boats and the +freshness of the evening breeze, and submitting themselves to be guided +by such influences as these, content apparently to fall back into their +old ways and obscure village life, as if the last three years were a +dream, or were like a voyage to foreign parts, which they might think of +afterwards, but were not to repeat. All the facts they were to use for +the conversion of the world were already in their possession; the death +of Christ and His resurrection were not a fortnight old; but as yet they +had no inward impulse to proclaim the truth; there was no Holy Ghost +powerfully impelling and possessing them; they were not endued with +power from on high. One thing only they seemed to be decided and agreed +about--that they must live; and therefore they go a-fishing. + +But apparently they were not destined to find even this so easy as they +expected. There was One watching that boat, following it through the +night as they tried place after place, and He was resolved that they +should not be filled with false ideas about the satisfactoriness of +their old calling. All night they toiled, but caught nothing. Every old +device was tried; the fancies of each particular kind of fish were +humoured, but in vain. Each time the net was drawn up, every hand knew +before it appeared that it was empty. Weary with the fruitless toil, and +when the best part of the night was gone, they made for a secluded part +of the shore, not wishing to land from their first attempt empty in +presence of the other fishermen. But when about one hundred yards from +the shore a voice hails them with the words, "Children"--or, as we would +say, "Lads"--"have you taken any fish?" It has been supposed that our +Lord asked this question in the character of a trader who had been +watching for the return of the boats that he might buy, or that it was +with the natural interest every one takes in the success of a person +that is fishing, so that we can scarcely pass without asking what take +they have had. The question was asked for the purpose of arresting the +boat at a sufficient distance from the shore to make another cast of the +net possible. It has this effect; the rowers turned round to see who is +calling them, and at the same time tell Him they have no fish. The +Stranger then says, "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye +shall find"; and they do so, not thinking of a miracle, but supposing +that before any man would give them such express instructions he must +have had some good reason for believing there were fish there. But when +they found that the net was at once absolutely loaded with fish, so that +they could not draw it into the boat, John looks again at the Stranger, +and whispers to Peter, "It is the Lord." This was no sooner heard by +Peter than he snatched up and threw over him his upper garment, and +throwing himself into the water swam or waded ashore. + +In every trifling act character betrays itself. It is John who is first +to recognise Jesus; it is Peter who casts himself into the sea, just as +he had done once before on that same lake, and as he had been first to +enter the sepulchre on the morning of the Resurrection. John recognises +the Lord, not because he had better eyesight than the rest, nor because +he had a better position in the boat, nor because while the rest were +busied with the net he was occupied with the figure on the beach, but +because his spirit had a quicker and profounder apprehension of +spiritual things, and because in this sudden turn of their fortune he +recognised the same hand which had filled their nets once before and had +fed thousands with one or two little fishes. + +The reason of Peter's impetuousness on this occasion may partly have +been that their fishing vessel was now as near the land as they could +get it, and that he was unwilling to wait till they should get the small +boat unfastened. The rest, we read, came ashore, not in the large vessel +in which they had spent the night, but in the little boat they carried +with them, the reason being added, "for they were not far from +land"--that is to say, not far enough to use the larger vessel any +longer. Peter, therefore, ran no risk of drowning. But his action +reveals the eagerness of love. No sooner has he only heard from another +that his Lord is near, than the fish for which he had been watching and +waiting all night are forgotten, and for him, the master of the vessel, +the net and all its contents might have sunk to the bottom of the lake. +What this action of Peter suggested to the Lord is apparent from the +question which a few minutes later He put to him: "Lovest thou Me more +than these?" + +Neither would Peter have sustained any serious loss even though his nets +had been carried away, for when he reaches the shore he finds that the +Lord was to be their host, not their guest. A fire is ready lit, fish +laid on it and bread baking. He who could so fill their nets could also +provide for His own wants. But there was to be no needless +multiplication of miracles; the fish already on the fire was not to be +multiplied in their hands when plenty were lying in the net. He directs +them, therefore, to bring of the fish they had caught. They go to the +net, and mechanically, in their old fashion, count the fish they had +taken, one hundred and fifty and three; and John, with a fisher's memory +can tell you, sixty years after, the precise number. From these +miraculously provided fish they break their long fast. + +The significance of this incident has perhaps been somewhat lost by +looking at it too exclusively as symbolical. No doubt it was so; but it +carried in the first place a most important lesson in its bare, literal +facts. We have already noticed the precarious position in which the +Church at this time was. And it will be useful to us in many ways to +endeavour to rid our mind of all fancies about the beginning of the +Christian Church, and look at the simple, unvarnished facts here +presented to our view. And the plain and significant circumstance which +first invites our attention is, that the nucleus of the Church, the men +on whom the faith of Christ depended for its propagation, were +fishermen. + +This was not merely the picturesque drapery assumed by men of ability so +great and character so commanding that all positions in life were alike +to them. Let us recall to memory the group of men we have seen standing +at a corner in a fishing village or with whom we have spent a night at +sea fishing, and whose talk has been _at the best_ old stories of their +craft or legends of the water. Such men were the Apostles. They were +men who were not at home in cities, who simply could not understand the +current philosophies, who did not so much as know the names of the great +contemporary writers of the Roman world, who took only so much interest +in politics as every Jew in those troublous times was forced to +take--men who were at home only on their own lake, in their fishing +boat, and who could quite contentedly, even after all they had recently +gone through, have returned to their old occupation for life. They were +in point of fact now returning to their old life--returning to it partly +because they had no impulse to publish what they knew, and partly +because, even though they had, they must live, and did not know how they +should be supported but by fishing. + +And this is the reason of this miracle; this is the reason why our Lord +so pointedly convinced them that without Him they could not make a +livelihood: that they might fish all the night through and resort to +every device their experience could contrive and yet could catch +nothing, but that He could give them sustenance as He pleased. If any +one thinks that this is a secular, shallow way of looking at the +miracle, let him ask what it is that chiefly keeps men from serving God +as they think they should, what it is that induces men to live so much +for the world and so little for God, what it is that prevents them from +following out what conscience whispers is the right course. Is it not +mainly the feeling that by doing God's will we ourselves are likely to +be not so well off, not so sufficiently provided for. Above all things, +therefore, both we and the Apostles need to be convinced that our Lord, +who asks us to follow Him, is much better able to provide for us than we +ourselves are. They had the same transition to make as every man among +ourselves has to make; we and they alike have to pass from the natural +feeling that we depend on our own energy and skill for our support to +the knowledge that we depend on God. We have to pass from the life of +nature and sense to the life of faith. We have to come to know and +believe that the fundamental thing is God, that it is He who can support +us when nature fails, and _not_ that we must betake ourselves to nature +at many points where God fails--that we live, not by bread alone, but by +every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, and are much safer +in doing His bidding than in struggling anxiously to make a livelihood. + +And if we carefully read our own experience, might we not see, as +clearly as the Apostles that morning saw, the utter futility of our own +schemes for bettering ourselves in the world? Is it not the simple fact +that we also have toiled through every watch of the night, have borne +fatigue and deprivation, have abandoned the luxuries of life and given +ourselves to endure hardness, have tried contrivance after contrivance +to win our cherished project, and all in vain? Our net is empty and +light at the rising sun as it was at the setting. Have we not again and +again found that when every boat round was being filled we drew nothing +but disappointment? Have we not many times come back empty-handed to our +starting-place? But no matter how much we have thus lost or missed every +man will tell you it is much better so than if he had succeeded, if only +his own ill-success has induced him to trust Christ, if only it has +taught him really what he used with everybody else verbally to +say,--that in that Person dimly discerned through the light that begins +to glimmer round our disappointments there is all power in heaven and +on earth--power to give us what we have been trying to win, power to +give us greater happiness without it. + +But this being so, it being the case that our Lord came this second time +and called them away from their occupations to follow Him, and showed +them how amply He could support them, they could not but remember how He +had once before in very similar circumstances summoned them to leave +their occupation as fishermen and to become fishers of men. They could +not but interpret the present by the former miracle, and read in it a +renewed summons to the work of catching men, and a renewed assurance +that in that work they should not draw empty nets. Most suitably, then, +does this miracle stand alone, the only one wrought after the +Resurrection, and most suitably does it stand last, giving the Apostles +a symbol which should continually reanimate them to their laborious +work. Their work of preaching was well symbolised by _sowing_; they +passed rapidly through the field of the world, at every step scattering +broadcast the words of everlasting life, not examining minutely the +hearts into which these words might fall, not knowing where they might +find prepared soil and where they might find inhospitable rock, but +assured that after a time whoso followed in their track should see the +fruit of their words. Not less significant is the figure of the net; +they let down the net of their good tidings, not seeing what persons +were really enclosed in it, but trusting that He who had said, "Cast +your net on the right side of the ship," knew what souls it would fall +over. By this miracle He gave the Apostles to understand that not only +when with them in the flesh could He give them success. Even now after +His resurrection and when they did not recognise Him on the shore He +blessed their labour, that they might even when they did not see Him +believe in His nearness and in His power most effectually to give them +success. + +This is the miracle which has again and again restored the drooping +faith and discouraged spirit of all Christ's followers who endeavour to +bring men under His influence, or in any way to spread out this +influence over a wider surface. Again and again their hope is +disappointed and their labour vain; the persons they wish to influence +glide out from below the net, and it is drawn empty; new opportunities +are watched for, and new opportunities arrive and are used, but with the +same result; the patient doggedness of the fisherman long used to turns +of ill-success is reproduced in the persevering efforts of parental love +or friendly anxiety for the good of others, but often the utmost +patience is at last worn out, the nets are piled away, and the gloom of +disappointment settles on the mind. Yet this apparently is the very hour +which the Lord often chooses to give the long-sought-for success; in the +dawn, when already the fish might be supposed to see the net and more +vigilantly to elude it, our last and almost careless effort is made, and +we achieve a substantial, countable success--a success not doubtful, but +which we could accurately detail to others, which makes a mark in the +memory like the hundred and fifty and three of these fishers, and which +were we to relate to others they must acknowledge that the whole weary +night of toil is amply repaid. And it is then a man recognises who it is +that has directed his labour--it is then he for the moment forgets even +the success in the more gladdening knowledge that such a success could +only have been given by One, and that it is the Lord who has been +watching his disappointments, and at last turning them into triumph. + +The Evangelist adds, "None of the disciples durst ask Him, Who art Thou? +knowing that it was the Lord"--a remark which unquestionably implies +that there was some ground for the question, Who art Thou? They knew it +was the Lord from the miracle He had wrought and from His manner of +speaking and acting; but yet there was in His appearance something +strange, something which, had it not also inspired them with awe, would +have prompted the question, Who art Thou? The question was always on +their lips, as they found afterwards by comparing notes with one +another, but none of them durst put it. There was this time no +certification of His identity further than the aid He had given, no +showing of His hands and feet. It was, that is to say, by faith now they +must know Him, not by bodily eyesight; if they wished to deny Him, there +was room for doing so, room for questioning who He was. This was in the +most delicate correspondence with the whole incident. The miracle was +wrought as the foundation and encouraging symbol of their whole vocation +as fishers of men during His bodily absence; it was wrought in order to +encourage them to lean on One whom they could not see, whom they could +at best dimly descry on another element from themselves, and whom they +could not recognise as their Lord apart from the wonderful aid He gave +them; and accordingly even when they come ashore there is something +mysterious and strange about His appearance, something that baffles +eyesight, something that would no longer have satisfied a Thomas, +something therefore which is the fit preparation for a state in which +they were to live altogether by faith and not at all by sight. This is +the state in which we now live. He who believes will know that his Lord +is near him; he who refuses to believe will be able to deny His +nearness. It is faith then that we need: we need to know our Lord, to +understand His purposes and His mode of fulfilling them, so that we may +not need the evidence of eyesight to say where He is working and where +He is not. If we are to be His followers, if we are to recognise that He +has made a new life for us and all men, if we are to recognise that He +has begun and is now carrying forward a great cause in this world, and +if we see that, let our lives deny it as they may, there is nothing else +worth living for than this cause, and if we are seeking to help it, then +let us confirm our faith by this miracle and believe that our Lord, who +has all power in heaven and on earth, is but beyond eyesight, has a +perfectly distinct view of all we are doing and knows when to give us +the success we seek. + +This, then, explains why it was that our Lord appeared only to His +friends after His resurrection. It might have been expected that on His +rising from the dead He would have shown Himself as openly as before He +suffered, and would specially have shown Himself to those who had +crucified Him; but this was not the case. The Apostles themselves were +struck with this circumstance, for in one of his earliest discourses +Peter remarks that He showed Himself "not to all the people, but unto +witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with +Him after He rose from the dead." And it is obvious from the incident +before us and from the fact that when our Lord showed Himself to five +hundred disciples at once in Galilee, probably a day or two after this, +some even of them doubted--it is obvious from this that no good or +permanent effect could have been produced by His appearing to all and +sundry. It might have served as a momentary triumph, but even this is +doubtful; for plenty would have been found to explain away the miracle +or to maintain it was a deception, and that He who appeared was not the +same as He who died. Or even supposing the miracle had been admitted, +why was this miracle to produce any more profound spiritual effect in +hearts unprepared than the former miracles had produced. It was not by +any such sudden process men could become Christians and faithful +witnesses of Christ's resurrection. "Men are not easily wrought upon to +be faithful advocates of any cause." They advocate causes to which they +are by nature attached, or else they become alive to the merit of a +cause only by gradual conviction and by deeply impressed and often +repeated instruction. To such a process the Apostles were submitted; and +even after this long instruction their fidelity to Christ was tested by +a trial which shook to the foundations their whole character, which +threw out one of their number for ever, and which revealed the +weaknesses of others. + +In other words, they needed to be able to certify Christ's spiritual +identity as well as His physical sameness. They were so to know Him and +so to sympathise with His character that they might be able after the +Resurrection to recognise Him by the continuity of that character and +the identity of purpose He maintained. They were by daily intercourse +with Him to be gradually led to dependence upon Him, and to the +strongest attachment to His person; so that when they became witnesses +to Him they might not only be able to say, "Jesus whom you crucified +rose again," but might be able to illustrate His character by their +own, to represent the beauty of His holiness by simply telling what +they had seen Him do and heard Him say, and to give convincing evidence +in their own persons and lives that He whom they loved on earth lives +and rules now in heaven. + +And what we need now and always is, not men who can witness to the fact +of resurrection, but who can bear in upon our spirits the impression +that there is a risen Lord and a risen life through dependence on Him. + + + + +XXV. + +_RESTORATION OF PETER._ + + + "So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, + Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me more than these? He saith unto + Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, + Feed My lambs. He saith to him again a second time, Simon, son of + John, lovest thou Me? He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest + that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Tend My sheep. He saith unto + him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me? Peter was + grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me? And + he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I + love Thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed My sheep."--JOHN xxi. 15-17. + + +To the interpretation of this dialogue between the Lord and Peter we +must bring a remembrance of the immediately preceding incident. The +evening before had found several of those who had followed Jesus +standing among the boats that lay by the sea of Galilee. Boat after boat +put out from shore; and as the familiar sights and smells and sounds +awakened slumbering instincts and stirred old associations, Peter with +characteristic restlessness and independence turned away to where his +own old boat lay, saying, "I go a-fishing." The rest only needed the +example. And as we watch each man taking his old place at the oar or +getting ready the nets, we recognise how slight a hold the Apostolic +call had taken of these men, and how ready they were to fall back to +their old life. They lack sufficient inward impulse to go and proclaim +Christ to men; they have no plans; the one inevitable thing is that they +must earn a livelihood. And had they that night succeeded as of old in +their fishing, the charm of the old life might have been too strong for +them. But, like many other men, their failure in accomplishing their own +purpose prepared them to discern and to fulfil the Divine purpose, and +from catching fish worth so much a pound they became the most +influential factors in this world's history. For the Lord had need of +them, and again called them to labour for Him, showing them how easily +He could maintain them in life and how full their nets would be when +cast under His direction. + +When the Lord made Himself known by His miraculous action while yet the +disciples were too far off to see His features, Peter on the moment +forgot the fish he had toiled for all night, and though master of the +vessel left the net to sink or go to pieces for all he cared, and sprang +into the water to greet his Lord. Jesus Himself was the first to see the +significance of the act. This vehemence of welcome was most grateful to +Him. It witnessed to an affection which was at this crisis the most +valuable element in the world. And that it was shown not by solemn +protestations made in public or as part of a religious service, but in +so apparently secular and trivial an incident, makes it all the more +valuable. Jesus hailed with the deepest satisfaction Peter's impetuous +abandonment of his fishing gear and impatient springing to greet Him, +because as plainly as possible it showed that after all Christ was +incomparably more to him than the old life. And therefore when the first +excitement had cooled down Jesus gives Peter an opportunity of putting +this in words by asking him, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more +than these?" Am I to interpret this action of yours as really meaning +what it seems to mean--that I am more to you than boat, nets, old ways, +old associations? Your letting go the net at the critical moment, and so +risking the loss of all, seemed to say that you love Me more than your +sole means of gaining a livelihood. Well, is it so? Am I to draw this +conclusion? Am I to understand that with a mind made up you do love Me +more than these things? If so, the way is again clear for Me to commit +to your care what I love and prize upon earth--to say again, "Feed My +sheep." + +Thus mildly does the Lord rebuke Peter by suggesting that in his recent +conduct there were appearances which must prevent these present +expressions of his love from being accepted as perfectly genuine and +trustworthy. Thus gracefully does He give Peter opportunity to renew the +profession of attachment he had so shamefully denied by three times over +swearing that he not only did not love Jesus, but knew nothing whatever +about the man. And if Peter at first resented the severity of the +scrutiny, he must afterwards have perceived that no greater kindness +could have been done him than thus to press him to clear and resolved +confession. Peter had probably sometimes compared himself to Judas, and +thought that the difference between his denial and Judas' betrayal was +slight. But the Lord distinguished. He saw that Peter's sin was +unpremeditated, a sin of surprise, while his heart was essentially +sound. + +We also must distinguish between the forgetfulness of Christ, to which +we are carried by the blinding and confusing throng of this world's ways +and fashions and temptations, and a betrayal of Christ that has in it +something deliberate. We admit that we have acted _as if_ we had no +desire to serve Christ and to bring our whole life within His kingdom; +but it is one thing to deny Christ through thoughtlessness, through +inadvertence, through sudden passion or insidious, unperceived +temptation--another thing consciously and habitually to betake ourselves +to ways which He condemns, and to let the whole form, appearance, and +meaning of our life plainly declare that our regard for Him is very +slight when compared with our regard for success in our calling or +anything that nearly touches our personal interests. Jesus lets Peter +breakfast first, He lets him settle, before He puts His question, +because it matters little what we say or do in a moment of excitement. +The question is, what is our deliberate choice and preference--not what +is our judgment, for of that there can be little question; but when we +are self-possessed and cool, when the whole man within us is in +equilibrium, not violently pulled one way or other, when we feel, as +sometimes we do, that we are seeing ourselves as we actually are, do we +then recognise that Christ is more to us than any gain, success, or +pleasure the world can offer? + +There are many who when the alternative is laid before them in cold +blood choose without hesitation to abide with Christ at all costs. Were +we at this moment as conscious as Peter was when this question fell from +the lips of the living Person before him, whose eyes were looking for +his reply, that we now must give our answer, many of us, God helping us, +would say with Peter, "Thou knowest that I love Thee." We could not say +that our old associations are easily broken, that it costs us nothing to +hang up the nets with which so skilfully we have gathered in the world's +substance to us, or to take a last look of the boat which has so +faithfully and merrily carried us over many a threatening wave and made +our hearts glad within us. But our hearts are not set on these things; +they do not command us as Thou dost; and we can abandon whatever hinders +us from following and serving Thee. Happy the man who with Peter feels +that the question is an easily answered one, who can say, "I may often +have blundered, I may often have shown myself greedy of gain and glory, +but Thou knowest that I love Thee." + +In this restoration of Peter our Lord, then, tests not the conduct, but +the heart. He recognises that while the conduct is the legitimate and +normal test of a man's feeling, yet there are times at which it is fair +and useful to examine the heart itself apart from present manifestations +of its condition; and that the solace which a poor soul gets after great +sin, in refusing to attempt to show the consistency of his conduct with +love to Christ, and in clinging simply to the consciousness that with +all his sin there is most certainly a surviving love to Christ, is a +solace sanctioned by Christ, and which He would have it enjoy. This is +encouraging, because a Christian is often conscious that, if he is to be +judged solely by his conduct, he must be condemned. He is conscious of +blemishes in his life that seem quite to contradict the idea that he is +animated by a regard for Christ. He knows that men who see his +infirmities and outbreaks may be justified in supposing him a +self-deceived or pretentious hypocrite, and yet in his own soul he is +conscious of love to Christ. He can as little doubt this as he can doubt +that he has shamefully denied this in his conduct. He would rather be +judged by omniscience than by a judgment that can scrutinise only his +outward conduct. He appeals in his own heart from those who know in part +to Him who knows all things. He knows perfectly well that if men are to +be expected to believe that he is a Christian he must prove this by his +conduct; nay, he understands that love must find for itself a constant +and consistent expression in conduct; but it remains an indubitable +satisfaction to be conscious that, despite all his conduct has said to +the contrary, he does in his soul love the Lord. + +The determination of Christ to clear away all misunderstanding and all +doubtfulness about the relation His professed followers hold to Him is +strikingly exhibited in His subjecting Peter to a second and third +interrogation. He invites Peter to search deeply into his spirit and to +ascertain the very truth. It is the most momentous of all questions; and +our Lord positively refuses to take a superficial, careless, +matter-of-course answer. He will thus question, and thrice question, and +probe to the quick all His followers. He seeks to scatter all doubt +about our relation to Him, and to make our living connection with Him +clear to our own consciousness, and to place our whole life on this +solid basis of a clear, mutual understanding between Him and us. Our +happiness depends upon our meeting His question with care and sincerity. +Only the highest degree of human friendship will permit this persistent +questioning, this beating of us back and back on our own feelings, +deeper and deeper into the very heart of our affections, as if still it +were doubtful whether we had not given an answer out of mere politeness +or profession or sentiment. The highest degree of human friendship +demands certainty, a basis on which it can build, a love it can entirely +trust. Christ had made good His right thus to question His followers and +to require a love that was sure of itself, because on His part He was +conscious of such a love and had given proof that His affection was no +mere sentimental, unfruitful compassion, but a commanding, consuming, +irrepressible, unconquerable love--a love that left Him no choice, but +compelled Him to devote Himself to men and do them all the good in His +power. + +Peter's self-knowledge is aided by the form the question now takes. He +is no longer asked to compare the hold Christ has upon him with his +interest in other things; but he is asked simply and absolutely whether +love is the right name for that which connects him with his Lord. +"_Lovest thou Me?_" Separating yourself and Me from all others, looking +straight and simply at Me only, is "love" the right name for that which +connects us? Is it love, and not mere impulse? Is it love, and not +sentiment or fancy? Is it love, and not sense of duty or of what is +becoming? Is it love, and not mere mistake? For no mistake is more +disastrous than that which takes something else for love. + +Now, to apprehend the significance of this question is to apprehend what +Christianity is. Our Lord was on the point of leaving the world; and He +left its future, the future of the sheep He loved so well and had spent +His all upon, in the keeping of Peter and the rest, and the one security +He demanded of them was the confession of love for Himself. He did not +draw up a creed or a series of articles binding them to this and that +duty, to special methods of governing the Church or to special truths +they were to teach it; He did not summon them into the house of Peter or +of Zebedee, and bid them affix their signatures or marks to such a +document. He rested the whole future of the work He had begun at such +cost on their love for Him. This security alone He took from them. This +was the sufficient guarantee of their fidelity and of their wisdom. It +is not great mental ability that is wanted for the furtherance of +Christ's aims in the world. It is love of what is best, devotion to +goodness. No question is made about their knowledge; they are not asked +what views they have about the death of Christ; they are not required to +analyse their feelings and say whence their love has sprung--whether +from a due sense of their indebtedness to Him for delivering them from +sin and its consequence, or from the grace and beauty of His character, +or from His tender and patient consideration of them. There is no +omission of anything vital owing to His being hurried in these morning +hours. Three times over the question comes, and the third is as the +first, a question solely and exclusively as to their love. Three times +over the question comes, and three times over, when love is +unhesitatingly confessed, comes the Apostolic commission, "Feed My +sheep." Love is enough--enough not only to save the Apostles themselves, +but enough to save the world. + +The significance of this cannot be exaggerated. What is Christianity? It +is God's way of getting hold of us, of attaching us to what is good, of +making us holy, perfect men. And the method He uses is the presentation +of goodness in a personal form. He makes goodness supremely attractive +by exhibiting to us its reality and its beauty and its permanent and +multiplying power in Jesus Christ. Absolutely simple and absolutely +natural is God's method. The building up of systems of theology, the +elaborate organisation of churches, the various, expensive, and +complicated methods of men, how artificial do they seem when set +alongside of the simplicity and naturalness of God's method! Men are to +be made perfect. Show them, then, that human perfection is perfect love +for them, and can they fail to love it and themselves become perfect? +That is all. The mission of Christ and the salvation of men through Him +are as natural and as simple as the mother's caress of her child. Christ +came to earth because He loved men and could not help coming. Being on +earth, He expresses what is in Him--His love, His goodness. By His +loving all men and satisfying all their needs, men came to feel that +this was the Perfect One, and humbly gave themselves to Him. As simply +as love works in all human affairs and relationships, so simply does it +work here. + +And God's method is as effectual as it is simple. Men do learn to love +Christ. And this love secures everything. As a bond between two persons, +nothing but love is to be depended upon. Love alone carries us out of +ourselves and makes other interests than our own dear to us. + +But Christ requires us to love Him and invites us to consider whether we +do now love Him, because this love is an index to all that is in us of a +moral kind. There is so much implied in our love of Him, and so much +inextricably intertwined with it, that its presence or absence speaks +volumes regarding our whole inward condition. It is quite true that +nothing is more difficult to understand than the causes of love. It +seems to ally itself with equal readiness with pity and with admiration. +It is attracted sometimes by similarity of disposition, sometimes by +contrast. It is now stirred by gratitude and again by the conferring of +favours. Some persons whom we feel we ought to love we do not draw to. +Others who seem comparatively unattractive strongly draw us. But there +are always some persons in every society who are universally beloved; +and these are persons who are not only good, but whose goodness is +presented in an attractive form--who have some personal charm, in +appearance or manner or disposition. If some churlish person does not +own the ascendency, you know that the churlishness goes deep into the +character. + +But this poorly illustrates the ascendency of Christ and what our +denial of it implies. His goodness is perfect and it is complete. Not to +love Him is not to love goodness; it is to be out of sympathy with what +attracts pure and loving spirits. For whatever be the apparent or +obscure causes of love, this is certain--that we love that which best +fits and stimulates our whole nature. Love lies deeper than the will; we +cannot love because we wish to do so, any more than we can taste honey +bitter because we wish to do so. We cannot love a person because we know +that their influence is needful to forward our interests. But if love +lies deeper than the will, what power have we to love what at present +does not draw us? We have no power to do so immediately; but we can use +the means given us for altering, purifying, and elevating our nature. We +can believe in Christ's power to regenerate us, we can faithfully follow +and serve Him, and thus we shall learn one day to love Him. + +But the presence or absence in us of the love of Christ is an index not +only to our present state, but a prophecy of all that is to be. The love +of Christ was that which enabled and impelled the Apostles to live great +and energetic lives. It was this simple affection which made a life of +aggression and reformation possible to them. This gave them the right +ideas and the sufficient impulse. And it is this affection which is open +to us all and which equally now as at first impels to all good. Let the +love of Christ possess any soul and that soul cannot avoid being a +blessing to the world around. Christ scarcely needed to say to Peter, +"Feed My sheep; be helpful to those for whom I died," because in time +Peter must have seen that this was his calling. Love gives us sympathy +and intelligence. Our conscience is enlightened by sympathy with the +person we love; through their desires, which we wish to gratify, we see +higher aims than our own, aims which gradually become our own. And +wherever the love of Christ exists, there sooner or later will the +purposes of Christ be understood, His aims be accepted, His fervent +desire and energetic endeavour for the highest spiritual condition of +the race become energetic in us and carry us forward to all good. +Indeed, Jesus warns Peter of the uncontrollable power of this affection +he expressed. "When you were younger," He says, "you girded yourself and +walked where you would; but when you are old another shall gird you, and +carry you on to martyrdom." For he who is possessed by the love of +Christ is as little his own master and can as little shrink from what +that love carries him to as the man that is carried to execution by a +Roman guard. Self-possession terminates when the soul can truly say, +"Thou knowest that I love Thee." There is henceforth no choosing of ways +of our own; our highest and best self is evoked in all its power, and +asserts itself by complete abnegation of self and eager identification +of self with Christ. This new affection commands the whole life and the +whole nature. No more can the man spend himself in self-chosen +activities, in girding himself for great deeds of individual +glorification, or in walking in ways that promise pleasure or profit to +self; he willingly stretches forth his hands, and is carried to much +that flesh and blood shrink from, but which is all made inevitable, +welcome, and blessed to him through the joy of that love that has +appointed it. + +But are we not thus pronouncing our own condemnation? This is, it is +easy to see, the true and natural education of the human spirit--to love +Christ, and so learn to see with His eyes and become enamoured of His +aims and grow up to His likeness. But where in us is this absorbing, +educating, impelling, irresistible power? To recognise the beauty and +the certainty of God's method is not the difficulty; the difficulty is +to use it, to find in ourselves that which carries us into the presence +of Christ, saying, "Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love +Thee." Admiration we have; reverence we have; faith we have; but there +is more than these needed. None of these will impel us to life-long +obedience. Love alone can carry us away from sinful and selfish ways. +But this testing question, "Lovest thou Me?" was not the first but the +last put to Peter by our Lord. It was only put after they had passed +through many searching experiences together. And if we feel that for us +to adopt as our own Peter's assured answer would only be to deceive +ourselves and trifle with the most serious of matters, we are to +consider that Christ seeks to win our love also, and that the ecstasy of +confessing our love with assurance is reserved even for us. It is +possible we may already have more love than we think. It is no uncommon +thing to love a person and not know it until some unusual emergency or +conjuncture of circumstances reveals us to ourselves. But if we are +neither conscious of love nor can detect any marks of it in our life, if +we know ourselves to be indifferent to others, deeply selfish, unable to +love what is high and self-sacrificing, let us candidly admit the full +significance of this, and even while plainly seeing what we are, let us +not relinquish the great hope of being at length able to give our heart +to what is best and of being bound by an ever-increasing love to the +Lord. + + + + +XXVI. + +_CONCLUSION._ + + + "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou + girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou + shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall + gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Now this he + spake, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God. And + when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me. Peter, + turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which + also leaned back on His breast at the supper, and said, Lord, who is + he that betrayed Thee? Peter therefore seeing Him saith to Jesus, + Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will + that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou Me. + This saying therefore went forth among the brethren, that that + disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, that he should + not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to + thee? This is the disciple which beareth witness of these things, + and wrote these things: and we know that his witness is true. And + there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they + should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself + would not contain the books that should be written."--JOHN xxi. + 18-25. + + +Peter, springing up in the boat, and snatching his fisher's coat, and +girding it round him, and dashing into the water, seemed to Jesus a +picture of impetuous, inexperienced, fearless love. And as He looked +upon it another picture began to shine through it from behind and +gradually take its place--the picture of what was to be some years later +when that impetuous spirit had been tamed and chastened, when age had +damped the ardour though it had not cooled the love of youth, and when +Peter should be bound and led out to crucifixion for his Lord's sake. As +Peter wades and splashes eagerly to the shore the eye of Jesus rests on +him with pity, as the eye of a parent who has passed through many of the +world's darkest places rests on the child who is speaking of all he is +to do and to enjoy in life. Fresh from His own agony, our Lord knows how +different a temper is needed for prolonged endurance. But little +disposed to throw cold water on genuine, however miscalculating +enthusiasm, having it for His constant function to fan not to quench the +smoking flax, He does not disclose to Peter all His forebodings, but +merely hints, as the disciple comes dripping out of the water, that +there are severer trials of love awaiting him than those which mere +activity and warmth of feeling can overcome, "When thou wast young, +thou girdedst thyself and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou +shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird +thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." + +To a man of Peter's impulsive and independent temperament no future +could seem less desirable than that in which he should be unable to +choose for himself and do as he pleased. Yet this was the future to +which the love he was now expressing committed him. This love, which at +present was a delightful stimulus to his activities, diffusing joy +through all his being, would gain such mastery over him that he would be +impelled by it to a course of life full of arduous undertaking and +entailing much suffering. The free, spontaneous, self-considering life +to which Peter had been accustomed; the spirit of independence and right +of choosing his own employments which had so clearly shown itself the +evening before in his words, "I go a-fishing"; the inability to own +hindrances and recognise obstacles which so distinctly betrayed itself +in his leaping into the water,--this confident freedom of action was +soon to be a thing of the past. This ardour was not useless; it was the +genuine heat which, when plunged in the chilling disappointments of +life, would make veritable steel of Peter's resolution. But such trial +of Peter's love did await it; and it awaits all love. The young may be +arrested by suffering, or they may be led away from the directions they +had chosen for themselves; but the chances of suffering increase with +years, and what is possible in youth becomes probable and almost certain +in the lapse of a lifetime. So long as our Christian life utters itself +in ways we choose for ourselves and in which much active energy can be +spent and much influence exerted, there is so much in this that is +pleasing to self that the amount of love to Christ required for such a +life may seem very small. Any little disappointment or difficulty we +meet with acts only as a tonic, like the chill of the waters of the lake +at dawn. But when the ardent spirit is bound in the fetters of a +disabled, sickly body; when a man has to lay himself quietly down and +stretch forth his hands on the cross of a complete failure that nails +him down from ever again doing what he would, or of a loss that makes +his life seem a living death; when the irresistible course of events +leads him past and away from the hopefulness and joy of life; when he +sees that his life is turning out weak and ineffectual, even as the +lives of others,--then he finds he has a more difficult part to play +than when he had to choose his own form of activity and vigorously put +forth the energy that was in him. To suffer without repining, to be laid +aside from the stir and interest of the busy world, to submit when our +life is taken out of our own hands and is being moulded by influences +that pain and grieve us--this is found to test the spirit more than +active duty. + +The contrast drawn by our Lord between the youth and age of Peter is +couched in language so general that it throws light on the usual course +of human life and the broad characteristics of human experience. In +youth attachment to Christ will naturally show itself in such gratuitous +and yet most pardonable and even touching exhibitions of love as Peter +here made. There is a girding of oneself to duty and to all manner of +attainment. There is no hesitation, no shivering on the brink, no +weighing of difficulties; but an impulsive and almost headstrong +commital of oneself to duties unthought of by others, an honest surprise +at the laxity of the Church, much brave speaking, and much brave acting +too. Some of us, indeed, taking a hint from our own experience, may +affirm that a good deal we hear about youth being warmer in Christ's +service than maturity is not true, and that it had been a very poor +prospect for ourselves if it had been true; and that with greater truth +it may be said that youthful attachment to Christ is often delusive, +selfish, foolish, and sadly in need of amendment. This may be so. + +But however this may be, there can be no doubt that in youth we are free +to choose. Life lies before us like the unhewn block of marble, and we +may fashion it as we please. Circumstances may seem to necessitate our +departing from one line of life and choosing another; but, +notwithstanding, all the possibilities are before us. We may make ours a +high and noble career; life is not as yet spoiled for us, or determined, +while we are young. The youth is free to walk whither he will; he is not +yet irrecoverably pledged to any particular calling; he is not yet +doomed to carry to the grave the marks of certain habits, but may gird +on himself whatever habit may fit him best and leave him freest for +Christ's service. + +Peter heard the words "Follow Me," and rose and went after Jesus; John +did the same without any special call. There are those who need definite +impulses, others who are guided in life by their own constant love. John +would always absorbedly follow. Peter had yet to learn to follow, to own +a leader. He had to learn to seek the guidance of his Lord's will, to +wait upon that will and to interpret it--never an easy thing to do, and +least of all easy to a man like Peter, fond of managing, of taking the +lead, too hasty to let his thoughts settle and his spirit fixedly +consider the mind of Christ. + +It is obvious that when Jesus uttered the words "Follow Me," He moved +away from the spot where they had all been standing together. And yet, +coming as they did after so very solemn a colloquy, these words must +have carried to Peter's mind a further significance than merely an +intimation that the Lord wished His company then. Both in the mind of +the Lord and of Peter there seems still to have been a vivid remembrance +of Peter's denial; and as the Lord has given him opportunity of +confessing his love, and has hinted what this love will lead him to, He +appropriately reminds him that any penalties he might suffer for his +love were all in the path which led straight to where Christ Himself for +ever is. The superiority to earthly distresses which Christ now enjoyed +would one day be his. But while he is beginning to take in these +thoughts Peter turns and sees John following; and, with that promptness +to interfere which characterised him, he asked Jesus what was to become +of this disciple. This question betrayed a want of steadiness and +seriousness in contemplating his own duty, and met therefore with +rebuke: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? +follow thou Me." Peter was prone to intermeddle with matters beyond his +sphere, and to manage other people's affairs for them. Such a +disposition always betrays a lack of devotion to our own calling. To +brood over the easier lot of our friend, to envy him his capacity and +success, to grudge him his advantages and happiness, is to betray an +injurious weakness in ourselves. To be unduly anxious about the future +of any part of Christ's Church, as if He had omitted to arrange for that +future, to act as if we were essential to the well-being of some part of +Christ's Church, is to intermeddle like Peter. To show astonishment or +entire incredulity or misunderstanding if a course in life quite +different from ours is found to be quite as useful to Christ's people +and to the world as ours; to show that we have not yet apprehended how +many men, how many minds, how many methods, it takes to make a world, is +to incur the rebuke of Peter. Christ alone is broad as humanity and has +sympathy for all. He alone can find a place in His Church for every +variety of man. + +Coming to the close of this Gospel, we cannot but most seriously ask +ourselves whether in our case it has accomplished its object. We have +admired its wonderful compactness and literary symmetry. It is a +pleasure to study a writing so perfectly planned and wrought out with +such unfailing beauty and finish. No one can read this Gospel without +being the better for it, for the mind cannot pass through so many +significant scenes without being instructed, nor be present at so many +pathetic passages without being softened and purified. But after all the +admiration we have spent upon the form and the sympathy we have felt +with the substance of this most wonderful of literary productions, there +remains the question: Has it accomplished its object? John has none of +the artifice of the modern teacher who veils his didactic purpose from +the reader. He plainly avows his object in writing: "These signs are +written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, +and that believing ye might have life through His name." After half a +century's experience and consideration, he selects from the abundant +material afforded him in the life of Jesus those incidents and +conversations which had most powerfully impressed himself and which +seemed most significant to others, and these he presents as sufficient +evidence of the divinity of his Lord. The mere fact that he does so is +itself very strong evidence of his truth. Here is a Jew, trained to +believe that no sin is so heinous as blasphemy, as the worshipping more +gods than one or making any equal with God--a man to whom the most +attractive of God's attributes was His truth, who felt that the highest +human joy was to be in fellowship with Him in whom is no darkness at +all, who knows the truth, who is the truth, who leads and enables men to +walk in the light as He is in the light. What has this hater of idolatry +and of lying found as the result of a holy, truth-seeking life? He has +found that Jesus, with whom he lived on terms of the most intimate +friendship, whose words he listened to, the working of whose feelings he +had scanned, whose works he had witnessed, was the Son of God. I say the +mere fact that such a man as John seeks to persuade us of the divinity +of Christ goes far to prove that Christ was Divine. This was the +impression His life left on the man who knew Him best, and who was, +judging from his own life and Gospel, better able to judge than any man +who has since lived. It is sometimes even objected to this Gospel that +you cannot distinguish between the sayings of the Evangelist and the +sayings of his Master. Is there any other writer who would be in the +smallest danger of having his words confounded with Christ's? Is not +this the strongest proof that John was in perfect sympathy with Jesus, +and was thus fitted to understand Him? And it is this man, who seems +alone capable of being compared with Jesus, that explicitly sets Him +immeasurably above himself, and devotes his life to the promulgation of +this belief. + +John, however, does not expect that men will believe this most +stupendous of truths on his mere word. He sets himself therefore to +reproduce the life of Jesus, and to retain in the world's memory those +salient features which gave it its character. He does not argue nor draw +inferences. He believes that what impressed him will impress others. One +by one he cites his witnesses. In the simplest language he tells us what +Christ said and what He did, and lets us hear what this man and that man +said of Him. He tells us how the Baptist, himself pure to asceticism, so +true and holy as to command the submission of all classes in the +community, assured the people that he, though greater and felt to be +greater than any of their old prophets, was not of the same world as +Jesus. This man who stands on the pinnacle of human heroism and +attainment, reverenced by his nation, feared by princes for the sheer +purity of his character, uses every contrivance of language to make the +people understand that Jesus is infinitely above him, incomparable. He +himself, he said, was of the earth: Jesus was from above and above all; +He was from heaven, and could speak of things He had seen; He was the +Son. + +The Evangelist tells us how the incredulous but guileless Nathanael was +convinced of the supremacy of Jesus, and how the hesitating Nicodemus +was constrained to acknowledge Him a teacher sent by God. And so he +cites witness after witness, never garbling their testimony, not making +all bear the one uniform testimony which he himself bears; nay, showing +with as exact a truthfulness how unbelief grew, as how faith rose from +one degree to another, until the climax is reached in Thomas's explicit +confession, "My Lord and my God!" No doubt some of the confessions which +John records were not acknowledgments of the full and proper divinity +of Christ. The term "Son of God" cannot, wherever used, be supposed to +mean that Christ is God. We, though human, are all of us sons of God--in +one sense by our natural birth, in another by our regeneration. But +there are instances in which the interpreter is compelled to see in the +term a fuller significance, and to accept it as attributing divinity to +Christ. When, for example, John says, "No man hath seen God at any time: +the _only-begotten Son_, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath +declared Him," it is evident that he thinks of Christ as standing in a +unique relation to God, which separates Him from the ordinary relation +in which men stand to God. And that the disciples themselves passed from +a more superficial use of the term to a use which had a deeper +significance is apparent in the instance of Peter. When Peter in answer +to the inquiry of Jesus replied, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the +living God," Jesus replied, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto +thee"; but this was making far too much of Peter's confession if he only +meant to acknowledge Him to be the Messiah. In point of fact, flesh and +blood did reveal the Messiahship of Jesus to Peter, for it was his own +brother Andrew who told Peter that he had found the Messiah, and brought +him to Jesus. Plainly therefore Jesus meant that Peter had now made a +further step in his knowledge and in his faith, and had learned to +recognise Jesus as not only Messiah, but as Son of God in the proper +sense. + +In this Gospel, then, we have various forms of evidence. We have the +testimonies of men who had seen and heard and known Jesus, and who, +though Jews, and therefore intensely prejudiced against such a +conception, enthusiastically owned that Christ was in the proper sense +Divine. We have John's own testimony, who writes his Gospel for the +purpose of winning men to faith in Christ's Sonship, who calls Christ +Lord, applying to Him the title of Jehovah, and who in so many words +declares that "the Word was God"--the Word who became flesh in Jesus +Christ. And what is perhaps even more to the purpose, we have +affirmations of the same truth made by Jesus Himself: "Before Abraham +was I am"; "I and the Father are one"; "The glory which I had with Thee +before the world was"; "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." Who +that listens to these sayings can marvel that the horrified Jews +considered that He was making Himself equal with God and took up stones +to stone Him for blasphemy? Who does not feel that when Jesus allowed +this accusation to be brought against Him at the last, and when He +allowed Himself to be condemned to death on the charge, He must have put +the same meaning on His words that they put? Otherwise, if He did not +mean to make Himself equal with the Father, would He not have been the +very first to unmask and protest against so misleading a use of +language? Had He not known Himself to be Divine, no member of the +Sanhedrim could have been so shocked as He to listen to such language or +to use it. + +But in reading this Gospel one cannot but remark that John lays great +stress on the miracles which Christ wrought. In fact, in announcing his +object in writing it is especially to the miracles he alludes when he +says, "These signs are written that ye might believe." In recent years +there has been a reaction against the use of miracles as evidence of +Christ's claim to be sent by God. This reaction was the necessary +consequence of a defective view of the nature, meaning, and use of +miracles. For a long period they were considered as merely wonders +wrought in order to prove the power and authority of the Person who +wrought them. This view of miracles was so exclusively dwelt upon and +urged, that eventually a reaction came; and now this view is +discredited. This is invariably the process by which steps in knowledge +are gained. The pendulum swings first to the one extreme, and the height +to which it has swung in that direction measures the momentum with which +it swings to the opposite side. A one-sided view of the truth, after +being urged for a while, is found out and its weakness is exposed, and +forthwith it is abandoned as if it were false; whereas it is only false +because it claimed to be the whole truth. Unless it be carried with us, +then, the opposite extreme to which we now pass will in time be found +out in the same way and its deficiencies be exposed. + +In regard to miracles the two truths which must be held are: first, that +they were wrought to make known the character and the purposes of God; +and, secondly, that they serve as evidence that Jesus was the revealer +of the Father. They not only authenticate the revelation; they +themselves reveal God. They not only direct attention to the Teacher; +they are themselves the lessons He teaches. + +During the Irish famine agents were sent from England to the distressed +districts. Some were sent to make inquiries, and had credentials +explaining who they were and on what mission; they carried documents +identifying and authenticating them. Other agents went with money and +waggon-loads of flour, which were their own authentication. The +charitable gifts told their own story; and while they accomplished the +object the charitable senders of the mission had in view, they made it +easy of belief that they came from the charitable in England. So the +miracles of Christ were not bare credentials accomplishing nothing else +than this--that they certified that Christ was sent from God; they were +at the same time, and in the first place, actual expressions of God's +love, revealing God to men as their Father. + +Our Lord always refused to show any bare authentication. He refused to +leap off a pinnacle of the Temple, which could serve no other purpose +than to prove He had power to work miracles. He resolutely and uniformly +declined to work mere wonders. When the people clamoured for a miracle, +and cried, "How long dost Thou make us doubt?" when they pressed Him to +the uttermost to perform some marvellous work solely and merely for the +sake of proving His Messiahship or His mission, He regularly declined. +On no occasion did He admit that such authentication of Himself was a +sufficient cause for a miracle. The main object, then, of the miracles +plainly was not evidential. They were not wrought chiefly, still less +solely, for the purpose of convincing the onlookers that Jesus wielded +super-human power. + +What, then, was their object? Why did Jesus so constantly work them? He +wrought them because of His sympathy with suffering men,--never for +Himself, always for others; never to accomplish political designs or to +aggrandise the rich, but to heal the sick, to relieve the mourning; +never to excite wonder, but to accomplish some practical good. He +wrought them because in His heart He bore a Divine compassion for men +and felt for us in all that distresses and destroys. His heart was +burdened by the great, universal griefs and weaknesses of men: "Himself +took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." But this was the very +revelation He came to make. He came to reveal God's love and God's +holiness, and every miracle He wrought was an impressive lesson to men +in the knowledge of God. Men learn by what they see far more readily +than by what they hear, and all that Christ taught by word of mouth +might have gone for little had it not been sealed on men's minds by +these consistent acts of love. To tell men that God loves them may or +may not impress them, may or may not be believed; but when Jesus +declared that He was sent by God, and preached His gospel by giving +sight to the blind, legs to the lame, health to the hopeless, that was a +form of preaching likely to be effectual. And when these miracles were +sustained by a consistent holiness in Him who worked them; when it was +felt that there was nothing ostentatious, nothing self-seeking, nothing +that appealed to mere vulgar wonder in them, but that they were dictated +solely by love,--when it was found that they were thus a true expression +of the character of Him who worked them, and that that character was one +in which human judgment at least could find no stain, is it surprising +that He should have been recognised as God's true representative? + +Supposing, then, that Christ came to earth to teach men the fatherhood +and fatherliness of God--could He have more effectually taught it than +by these miracles of healing? Supposing He wished to lodge in the minds +of men the conviction that man, body and soul, was cared for by God; +that the diseased, the helpless, the wretched were valued by Him,--were +not these works of healing the most effectual means of making this +revelation? Have not these works of healing in point of fact proved the +most efficient lessons in those great truths which form the very +substance of Christianity? The miracles are themselves, then, the +revelation, and carry to the minds of men more directly than any words +or arguments the conception of a loving God, who does not abhor the +affliction of the afflicted, but feels with His creatures and seeks +their welfare. + +And, as John is careful throughout his Gospel to show, they suggest even +more than they directly teach. John uniformly calls them "signs," and on +more than one occasion explains what they were signs of. He that loved +men so keenly and so truly could not be satisfied with the bodily relief +He gave to a few. The power He wielded over disease and over nature +seemed to hint at a power supreme in all departments. If He gave sight +to the blind, was He not also the light of the world? If He fed the +hungry, was He not Himself the bread which came down from heaven? + +The miracles, then, are evidences that Christ is the revealer of the +Father, because they do reveal the Father. As the rays of the sun are +evidences of the sun's existence and heat, so are the miracles evidences +that God was in Christ. As the natural and unstudied actions of a man +are the best evidences of his character; as almsgiving that is not meant +to disclose a charitable spirit, but for the relief of the poor, is +evidence of charity; as irrepressible wit, and not clever sayings +studied for effect, is the best evidence of wit--so these miracles, +though not wrought for the sake of proving Christ's union with the +Father, but for the sake of men, do most effectually prove that He was +one with the Father. Their evidence is all the stronger because it was +not their primary object. + +But for us the question remains, What has this Gospel and its careful +picture of Christ's character and work done for us? Are we to close the +Gospel and shut away from us this great revelation of Divine love as a +thing in which we claim no personal share? This exhibition of all that +is tender and pure, touching and hopeful, in human life--are we to look +at it and pass on as if we had been admiring a picture and not looking +into the very heart of all that is eternally real? This accessibility of +God, this sympathy with our human lot, this undertaking of our burdens, +this bidding us be of good cheer--is it all to pass by us as needless +for us? The presence that shines from these pages, the voice that sounds +so differently from all other voices--are we to turn from these? Is all +that God can do to attract us to be in vain? Is the vision of God's +holiness and love to be without effect? In the midst of all other +history, in the tumult of this world's ambitions and contendings, +through the fog of men's fancies and theories, shines this clear, +guiding light: are we to go on as if we had never seen it? Here we are +brought into contact with the truth, with what is real and abiding in +human affairs; here we come into contact with God, and can for a little +look at things as He sees them: are we, then, to write ourselves fools +and blind by turning away as if we needed no such light--by saying, "We +see, and need not be taught?" + + +_Printed by Hazell Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._ + + + + +THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. + +EDITED BY THE REV. W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D. + +_Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d. each vol._ + + + FIRST SERIES, 1887-88. + + Colossians. + By A. MACLAREN, D.D. + + St. Mark. + By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh. + + Genesis. + By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. + + 1 Samuel. + By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D. + + 2 Samuel. + By the same Author. + + Hebrews. + By Principal T. C. EDWARDS, D.D. + + + SECOND SERIES, 1888-89. + + Galatians. + By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A. + + The Pastoral Epistles. + By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. + + Isaiah I.--XXXIX. + By G. A. SMITH, M.A. Vol. I. + + The Book of Revelation. + By Prof. W. MILLIGAN, D.D. + + 1 Corinthians. + By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. + + The Epistles of St. John. + By Rt. Rev. W. ALEXANDER, D.D. + + + THIRD SERIES, 1889-90. + + Judges and Ruth. + By Rev. R. A. WATSON, D.D. + + Jeremiah. + By Rev. C. J. BALL, M.A. + + Isaiah XL.--LXVI. + By G. A. SMITH, M.A. Vol. II. + + St. Matthew. + By Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D. + + Exodus. + By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh. + + St. Luke. + By Rev. H. BURTON, B.A. + + + FOURTH SERIES, 1890-91. + + Ecclesiastes. + By Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D. + + St. James and St. Jude. + By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. + + Proverbs. + By Rev. R. F. HORTON, M.A. + + Leviticus. + By Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D. + + The Gospel of St. John. + By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. I. + + The Acts of the Apostles. + By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. I. + + + FIFTH SERIES, 1891-92. + + The Psalms. + By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. I. + + 1 and 2 Thessalonians. + By JAS. DENNEY, B.D. + + The Book of Job. + By R. A. WATSON, D.D. + + Ephesians. + By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A. + + The Gospel of St. John. + By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. II. + + The Acts of the Apostles. + By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. II. + + +LONDON: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + + + +_WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ + + +THE BOOK OF GENESIS. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. + +THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. Vol. I. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. + +THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. Third Edition. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. + +AN INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + +THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD. (Matthew.) Seventh Thousand. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. + +THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD. Second Series. (Luke.) Sixth Thousand. 3s. 6d. + +THE PRAYER THAT TEACHES TO PRAY. Seventh Edition. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. + +ISAAC, JACOB, AND JOSEPH. Sixth Thousand. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. + +ISRAEL'S IRON AGE: Sketches from the Period of the Judges. Sixth Edition. +Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. + +MOHAMMED, BUDDHA, AND CHRIST. Sixth Thousand. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. + +ERASMUS AND OTHER ESSAYS. Second Edition, Crown 8vo, 5s. + + +LONDON: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + + + +_WORKS BY THE_ REV. MARCUS DODS, D.D. + + +THE BOOK OF GENESIS. + +_Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d._ + + "The execution of this (_Expositor's Bible_) series has been + excellent. Dean Chadwick's treatment of the Gospel of St. Mark is in + almost perfect proportion, happy in style, just and reasonable in + temper, and full of helpful and suggestive thinking. The Colossians + and Philemon, by Dr. Maclaren, finely illustrate those subtle, + spiritual gifts of intellect and imagination that have made him the + favourite teacher of so many earnest and devout readers. In the Book + of Genesis a much more difficult and thorny piece of work fell to + the lot of Dr. Marcus Dods. There are at the present moment peculiar + difficulties in the treatment of those early chapters of Bible + story. The minds of general readers are hesitating between the old + literal and somewhat secular interpretation of the narrative, and + the new, more scientific, but not always more ideal and spiritual + reading of the record. That a settlement of the problem is possible, + and indeed not far off, is the conviction of many who have most + thoroughly studied the course and meaning of current thought; and + they do not doubt that the result will be to restore to us, in the + prelude of the history of redemption, everything the heart of faith + needs and loves, perchance in a purer and nobler form. Dr. Dods has + a steady head, a practised hand, and a determined will. With + admirable address he has steered his way between the shoals and + rocks of preliminary questions, and has brought safely to port his + rich cargo of exposition, the produce of many an arduous voyage of + discovery and research."--_Rev. Prof. W. G. Elmslie, D.D._ + + +THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. + +_Third Edition. Crown 8vo, price 7s. 6d._ + + "He shows himself to be thoroughly at home with his subject, and + that his exposition is clear, intelligent, and characterised by a + sobriety of judgment, a candour, and a sweet reasonableness which + are worthy of all praise, is only what might be expected from a + writer of Dr. Dods' well-known abilities and culture."--_Scotsman._ + + "The most varied of Paul's Epistles demands in its expositor a + combination of qualities which is very rarely met with. He who would + read it aright from beginning to end must be theologian, casuist, + and historian all in one; he must be equally at home in the ancient + and the modern Church, in ancient and in modern life. There is + probably no man living in whom these characters are more at one than + Dr. Dods; and though the student of exegesis may sometimes look in + this book for what he will not find, the practical expositor will + recognise in it a model of what his work should be."--_British + Weekly._ + + +THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. + +IN TWO VOLUMES. + +_Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d. each._ + + "An excellent contribution to the series (_Expositor's Bible_). Dr. + Dods appears to us always to write with clearness and with vigour. + He has the gift of lucidity of expression, and by means of apt + illustrations he avoids the cardinal sin of dryness, so that the + interest, even of the general reader, will not flag as he smoothly + glides through these chapters."--_Guardian._ + + +ERASMUS AND OTHER ESSAYS. + +_Second Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, price 5s._ + + "Professor Marcus Dods is a theologian, and much more. The essays in + this volume show him, not for the first time, as a man of much + reading, of broad and genial sympathies, refined but liberal + judgment, possessed of no little literary culture, and keenly + appreciative of literary and mental power in other men even when + they do not happen to belong to his own school. They have all more + or less permanent value. They are good literature, and make a book + worth having and reading."--_Scotsman._ + + +AN INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT. + +_Fourth Edition. Fcap. 8vo, price 2s. 6d._ + + "The compiler has placed in the hands of ordinary readers the + results of the latest scholarship respecting the authorship, + genuineness, date and place of writing, and circumstances attending + the production of all the books of the New Testament. The work is + very well done indeed."--_English Churchman._ + + "When we compare it with even the best of the extant volumes on the + same subject, we are bound to acknowledge that Dr. Dods has + compressed into the 247 pages of this little book more than is to be + found in much bulkier works."--_Christian Leader._ + + "It contains an admirable, brief statement of the conclusions + arrived at concerning the books of the New Testament, after the most + recent and careful investigations of modern scholars. Dr. Marcus + Dods has packed away an immense amount of information in very small + space."--_Methodist Recorder._ + + "A more admirable manual we could not conceive. The student will + here find great riches in little room."--_Baptist Magazine._ + + "Dr. Dods has earned the gratitude of Biblical students by the + preparation of this work. It is an invaluable manual, so compact in + form and so concise in matter as to render it specially suitable for + use in public schools and colleges as a preparation for the study of + larger works when time permits. Let any young minister master this + portable volume, and he will be well furnished indeed."--_Methodist + New Connexion Magazine._ + + +THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD. + +As Recorded by St. Matthew. + +_Seventh Thousand. Price 3s. 6d._ + + "Unfolded with a lucidity which ought to satisfy even Mr. Matthew + Arnold. The crisp, pointed, and graphic style of Dr. Dods is in + harmony with the keen and spiritual insight which marks him out as a + prince among the living expositors of the sacred + writings."--_Christian Leader._ + + "No thoughtful reader could rise from its perusal without being + imbued with holier feelings and actuated by sublimer aspirations + than when he took the book up."--_Liverpool Post._ + + "Eminently popular in style and practical in aim."--_Christian._ + + "Marked alike by careful language and sober thought."--_Guardian._ + + "Intelligent, reverent, and spiritual, marked by much literary + beauty, and will be read by both learned and simple."--_British + Quarterly._ + + "An interesting contribution to a most important + subject."--_Presbyterian Churchman._ + + +THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD. + +Second Series. Parables Recorded by St. Luke. + +_Sixth Thousand. Crown 8vo, cloth, price 3s. 6d._ + + "Dr. Dods is a model for all expositors. He is lucid, reverent, and + suggestive. Though his style is usually somewhat austere, it + frequently blossoms into rare beauty and tenderness."--_Sheffield + Independent._ + + "He offers an original exposition, marked by strong common sense and + practical exhortation. He not only makes the circumstances of the + parable stand distinctly before the reader, introduces him into the + circle that heard it, and shows distinctly how it affected the + bystanders, but he also applies it skilfully to the conduct and + practices, the views and feelings, of the men of our day, and drives + its lesson home to their very hearts. This gives a great value to + the work."--_Literary Churchman._ + + +THE PRAYER THAT TEACHES TO PRAY. + +_Seventh Edition. Crown 8vo, price 2s. 6d._ + + "It is highly instructive, singularly lucid, and unmistakably for + quiet personal use."--_Clergyman's Magazine._ + + "It is very rarely that so much solid exposition can be found + compressed into so small a space. Soundly evangelical, the lectures + are at the same time luminous, refined, and practical, abounding not + only in fine glimpses of spiritual intuition, but also in keen + analysis of human character, and its sources and motives of + action."--_Freeman._ + + "A work so simple in style and in structure, breathing at every + point the spirit of the Master, can hardly fail to find acceptance, + and is eminently fitted to be at once edifying and + elevating."--_Scotsman._ + + +ISAAC, JACOB, AND JOSEPH + +_Sixth Thousand. Price 3s. 6d._ + + "The present volume is worthy of the writer's reputation. He deals + with the problems of human life and character which these + biographies suggest in a candid and manly fashion, and where he + discovers a spiritual significance in them his course is always + marked by sobriety and caution, yet he is not wanting in fervour and + earnestness."--_Spectator._ + + "We commend this volume to our readers as a model of popular + exposition.... For insight into the depths of the character + portrayed, an insight which amounts to _intimacy_, we have not for + many a day found any work superior to this."--_Baptist._ + + "Dr. Dods has the double qualifications for writing biography. He is + at once a student of books and a student of life. For reality + therefore, for freshness, for penetration, for insight into + character, these chapters are incomparable, and for the purposes of + 'Household Exposition' we can conceive of no healthier form of + literature coming into our families."--_Christian._ + + +ISRAEL'S IRON AGE: + +Sketches from the Period of the Judges. + +_Sixth Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, price 3s. 6d._ + + "The popularity of this volume is richly deserved. The sketches are + bright and forcible, and abound in moral teaching and practical + lessons for the golden age of Victoria as well as for the iron age + of Israel."--_Evangelical Magazine._ + + "Powerful lectures. This is a noble volume, full of strength. Young + men especially will find in it a rich storehouse of prevailing + incentive to a godly life. Dr. Dods searches with a masterly + hand."--_Nonconformist._ + + "The characters are vividly and truthfully drawn, and many practical + lessons in daily life are enforced from their virtues and + vices."--_Standard._ + + +MOHAMMED, BUDDHA, AND CHRIST. + +_Sixth Thousand. Crown 8vo, cloth, price 3s. 6d._ + + "Four lectures by one of the most mature, competent, and able + theologians of the sister Church of Scotland. The book closes with + an essay on Christianity which is not only of much interest, but + full of thought and reverent Christian speculation. The last paper, + indeed, is a decided contribution to comparative theology, and as a + summary of the leading points on which the science of comparative + religion may be said to turn is of permanent usefulness and + worth."--_Christian._ + + "Its general truth few reflecting Christians will doubt, and its + elevating tendency nobody, Christian or unbeliever, will deny. To us + this book is specially welcome, as an evidence, in addition to many + others, of a new outburst of earnest religious thought and + sentiment."--_Spectator._ + + +LONDON: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of +St John, Vol. II, by Marcus Dods + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE, ST. 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