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diff --git a/37120.txt b/37120.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a5b97e --- /dev/null +++ b/37120.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13663 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gospel According to St. Mark by G. A. +Chadwick + + + +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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The Gospel According to St. Mark + +Author: G. A. Chadwick + +Release Date: August 18, 2011 [Ebook #37120] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK*** + + + + + + The Expositor's Bible + + The Gospel According to St. Mark + + By The + + Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D. + + Dean of Armagh + + Hodder & Stoughton + + New York + + George H. Doran Company + + 1900 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Chapter I. +Chapter II. +Chapter III. +Chapter IV. +Chapter V. +Chapter VI. +Chapter VII. +Chapter VIII. +Chapter IX. +Chapter X. +Chapter XI. +Chapter XII. +Chapter XIII. +Chapter XIV. +Chapter XV. +Chapter XVI. +Footnotes + + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + + + +The Beginning Of The Gospel. + + + "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Even + as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send My + messenger before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way; The voice of + one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, + Make His paths straight; John came, who baptized in the wilderness + and preached the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins. And + there went out unto him all the country of Judaea, and all they of + Jerusalem; and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, + confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and + had a leathern girdle about his loins, and did eat locusts and + wild honey."--MARK, i. 1-6 (R.V.). + + +The opening of St. Mark's Gospel is energetic and full of character. St. +Matthew traces for Jews the pedigree of their Messiah; St. Luke's +worldwide sympathies linger with the maiden who bore Jesus, and the +village of His boyhood; and St. John's theology proclaims the Divine +origin of the Eternal Lord. But St. Mark trusts the public acts of the +Mighty Worker to do for the reader what they did for those who first +"beheld His glory." How He came to earth can safely be left untold: what +He was will appear by what He wrought. It is enough to record, with +matchless vividness, the toils, the energy, the love and wrath, the defeat +and triumph of the brief career which changed the world. It will prove +itself to be the career of "the Son of God." + +In so deciding, he followed the example of the Apostolic teaching. The +first vacant place among the Twelve was filled by an eye-witness, +competent to tell what Jesus did "from the baptism of John to the day when +He was received up," the very space covered by this Gospel. That "Gospel +of peace," which Cornelius heard from St. Peter (and hearing, received the +Holy Ghost) was the same story of Jesus "after the baptism which John +preached." And this is throughout the substance of the primitive teaching. +The Apostles act as men who believe that everything necessary to salvation +is (implicit or explicit) in the history of those few crowded years. +Therefore this is "the gospel." + +Men there are who judge otherwise, and whose gospel is not the story of +salvation wrought, but the plan of salvation applied, how the Atonement +avails for us, how men are converted, and what privileges they then +receive. But in truth men are not converted by preaching conversion, any +more than citizens are made loyal by demanding loyalty. Show men their +prince, and convince them that he is gracious and truly royal, and they +will die for him. Show them the Prince of Life, and He, being lifted up, +will draw all men unto Him; and thus the truest gospel is that which +declares Christ and Him crucified. As all science springs from the +phenomena of the external world, so do theology and religion spring from +the life of Him who was too adorable to be mortal, and too loving to be +disobeyed. + +Therefore St. Paul declares that the gospel which he preached to the +Corinthians and by which they were saved, was, that Christ died for our +sins and was buried and rose again, and was seen of sufficient witnesses +(1 Cor. xv. 1-8). + +And therefore St. Mark is contented with a very brief record of those +wondrous years; a few facts, chosen with a keen sense of the intense +energy and burning force which they reveal, are what he is inspired to +call the gospel. + +He presently uses the word in a somewhat larger sense, telling how Jesus +Himself, before the story of His life could possibly be unfolded, preached +as "the gospel of God" that "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God +is at hand," and added (what St. Mark only has preserved for us), "Repent, +and believe in the gospel" (i. 14-15). So too it is part of St. Paul's +"gospel" that "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" (Rom. +ii. 16). For this also is good news of God, "the gospel of the kingdom." +And like "the gospel of Jesus Christ," it treats of His attitude toward +us, more than ours toward Him, which latter is the result rather than the +substance of it. That He rules, and not the devil; that we shall answer at +last to Him and to none lower; that Satan lied when he claimed to possess +all the kingdoms of the earth, and to dispose of them; that Christ has now +received from far different hands "all power on earth"; this is a gospel +which the world has not yet learned to welcome, nor the Church fully to +proclaim. + +Now the scriptural use of this term is quite as important to religious +emotion as to accuracy of thought. All true emotions hide their fountain +too deep for self-consciousness to find. We feel best when our feeling is +forgotten. Not while we think about finding peace, but while we approach +God as a Father, and are anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer +and supplication with thanksgiving make known our requests, is it promised +that the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall guard our +hearts and our thoughts (Phil. iv. 7). And many a soul of the righteous, +whom faith in the true gospel fills with trembling adoration, is made sad +by the inflexible demand for certain realised personal experiences as the +title to recognition as a Christian. That great title belonged at the +first to all who would learn of Jesus: the disciples were called +Christians. To acquaint ourselves with Him, that is to be at peace. + +Meantime, we observe that the new movement which now begins is not, like +Judaism, a law which brings death; nor like Buddhism, a path in which one +must walk as best he may: it differs from all other systems in being +essentially the announcement of good tidings from above. + +Yet "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ" is a profound agitation +and widespread alarm. Lest the soothing words of Jesus should blend like +music with the slumber of sinners at ease in Zion, John came preaching +repentance, and what is more, a baptism of repentance; not such a +lustration as was most familiar to the Mosaic law, administered by the +worshipper to himself, but an ablution at other hands, a confession that +one is not only soiled, but soiled beyond all cleansing of his own. Formal +Judaism was one long struggle for self-purification. The dawn of a new +system is visible in the movement of all Judaea towards one who bids them +throw every such hope away, and come to him for the baptism of repentance, +and expect A Greater One, who shall baptize them with the Holy Ghost and +with fire. And the true function of the predicted herald, the best +levelling of the rugged ways of humanity for the Promised One to traverse, +was in this universal diffusion of the sense of sin. For Christ was not +come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. + +In truth, the movement of the Baptist, with its double aspect, gathers up +all the teaching of the past. He produced conviction, and he promised +help. One lesson of all sacred history is universal failure. The innocence +of Eden cannot last. The law with its promise of life to the man who doeth +these things, issued practically in the knowledge of sin; it entered that +sin might abound; it made a formal confession of universal sin, year by +year, continually. And therefore its fitting close was a baptism of +repentance universally accepted. Alas, not universally. For while we read +of all the nation swayed by one impulse, and rushing to the stern teacher +who had no share in its pleasures or its luxuries, whose life was +separated from its concerns, and whose food was the simplest that could +sustain existence, yet we know that when they heard how deep his censures +pierced, and how unsparingly he scourged their best loved sins, the +loudest professors of religion rejected the counsel of God against +themselves, being not baptized of Him. Nevertheless, by coming to Him, +they also had pleaded guilty. Something they needed; they were sore at +heart, and would have welcomed any soothing balm, although they refused +the surgeon's knife. + +The law did more than convict men; it inspired hope. The promise of a +Redeemer shone like a rainbow across the dark story of the past. He was +the end of all the types, at once the Victim and the Priest. To Him gave +all the prophets witness, and the Baptist brought all past attainment to +its full height, and was "more than a prophet" when he announced the +actual presence of the Christ, when he pointed out to the first two +Apostles, the Lamb of God. + + + + +At The Jordan. + + + "And he preached, saying, There cometh after me He that is + mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to + stoop down and unloose. I baptized you with water; but He shall + baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And it came to pass in those + days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized + of John in the Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, + He saw the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove + descending upon Him: and a voice came out of the heavens, Thou art + My Beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased."--MARK i. 7-11 (R.V.). + + +It was when all men mused in their hearts whether John was the Christ or +no, that he announced the coming of a Stronger One. By thus promptly +silencing a whisper, so honourable to himself, he showed how strong he +really was, and how unselfish "a friend of the Bridegroom." Nor was this +the vague humility of phrase which is content to be lowly in general, so +long as no specified individual stands higher. His word is definite, and +accepts much for himself. "The Stronger One than I cometh," and it is in +presence of the might of Jesus (whom yet this fiery reformer called a +Lamb), that he feels himself unworthy to bend to the dust and unbind the +latchets or laces of his shoe. + +So then, though asceticism be sometimes good, it is consciously not the +highest nor the most effective goodness. Perhaps it is the most +impressive. Without a miracle, the preaching of John shook the nation as +widely as that of Jesus melted it, and prepared men's hearts for His. A +king consulted and feared him. And when the Pharisees were at open feud +with Jesus, they feared to be stoned if they should pronounce John's +baptism to be of men. + +Yet is there weakness lurking even in the very quality which gives +asceticism its power. That stern seclusion from an evil world, that +peremptory denial of its charms, why are they so impressive? Because they +set an example to those who are hard beset, of the one way of escape, the +cutting off of the hand and foot, the plucking out of the eye. And our +Lord enjoins such mutilation of the life upon those whom its gifts betray. +Yet is it as the halt and maimed that such men enter into life. The +ascetic is a man who needs to sternly repress and deny his impulses, who +is conscious of traitors within his breast that may revolt if the enemy be +suffered to approach too near. + +It is harder to be a holy friend of publicans and sinners, a witness for +God while eating and drinking with these, than to remain in the desert +undefiled. It is greater to convert a sinful woman in familiar converse by +the well, than to shake trembling multitudes by threats of the fire for +the chaff and the axe for the barren tree. And John confessed this. In the +supreme moment of his life, he added his own confession to that of all his +nation. This rugged ascetic had need to be baptized of Him who came eating +and drinking. + +Nay, he taught that all his work was but superficial, a baptism with water +to reach the surface of men's life, to check, at the most, exaction and +violence and neglect of the wants of others, while the Greater One should +baptize with the Holy Ghost, should pierce the depths of human nature, and +thoroughly purge His floor. + +Nothing could refute more clearly than our three simple narratives, the +sceptical notion that Jesus yielded for awhile to the dominating influence +of the Baptist. Only from the Gospels can we at all connect the two. And +what we read here is, that before Jesus came, John expected his Superior; +that when they met, John declared his own need to be baptized of Him, that +he, nevertheless, submitted to the will of Jesus, and thereupon heard a +voice from the heavens which must for ever have destroyed all notion of +equality; that afterwards he only saw Jesus at a distance, and made a +confession which transferred two of his disciples to our Lord. + +The criticism which transforms our Lord's part in these events to that of +a pupil is far more wilful than would be tolerated in dealing with any +other record. And it too palpably springs from the need to find some human +inspiration for the Word of God, some candle from which the Sun of +Righteousness took fire, if one would escape the confession that He is not +of this world. + +But here we meet a deeper question: Not why Jesus accepted baptism from an +inferior, but why, being sinless, He sought for a baptism of repentance. +How is this act consistent with absolute and stainless purity? + +Now it sometimes lightens a difficulty to find that it is not occasional +nor accidental, but wrought deep into the plan of a consistent work. And +the Gospels are consistent in representing the innocence of Jesus as +refusing immunity from the consequences of guilt. He was circumcised, and +His mother then paid the offering commanded by the law, although both +these actions spoke of defilement. In submitting to the likeness of sinful +flesh He submitted to its conditions. He was present at feasts in which +national confessions led up to sacrifice, and the sacrificial blood was +sprinkled to make atonement for the children of Israel, because of all +their sins. When He tasted death itself, which passed upon all men, for +that all have sinned, He carried out to the utmost the same stern rule to +which at His baptism He consciously submitted. Nor will any theory of His +atonement suffice, which is content with believing that His humiliations +and sufferings, though inevitable, were only collateral results of contact +with our fallen race. Baptism was avoidable, and that without any +compromise of His influence, since the Pharisees refused it with impunity, +and John would fain have exempted Him. Here at least He was not "entangled +in the machinery," but deliberately turned the wheels upon Himself. And +this is the more impressive because, in another aspect of affairs, He +claimed to be out of the reach of ceremonial defilement, and touched +without reluctance disease, leprosy and the dead. + +Humiliating and penal consequences of sin, to these He bowed His head. Yet +to a confession of personal taint, never. And all the accounts agree that +He never was less conscience-stricken than when He shared the baptism of +repentance. St. Matthew implies, what St. Luke plainly declares, that He +did not come to baptism along with the crowds of penitents, but +separately. And at the point where all others made confession, in the hour +when even the Baptist, although filled with the Holy Ghost from his +mother's womb, had need to be baptized, He only felt the propriety, the +fitness of fulfilling all righteousness. That mighty task was not even a +yoke to Him, it was an instinct like that of beauty to an artist, it was +what became Him. + +St. Mark omits even this evidence of sinlessness. His energetic method is +like that of a great commander, who seizes at all costs the vital point +upon the battle field. He constantly omits what is subordinate (although +very conscious of the power of graphic details), when by so doing he can +force the central thought upon the mind. Here he concentrates our +attention upon the witness from above, upon the rending asunder of the +heavens which unfold all their heights over a bended head, upon the +visible descent of the Holy Spirit in His fulness, upon the voice from the +heavens which pealed through the souls of these two peerless worshippers, +and proclaimed that He who had gone down to the baptismal flood was no +sinner to be forgiven, but the beloved Son of God, in whom He is well +pleased. + +That is our Evangelist's answer to all misunderstanding of the rite, and +it is enough. + +How do men think of heaven? Perhaps only as a remote point in space, where +flames a material and solid structure into which it is the highest bliss +to enter. A place there must be to which the Body of our Lord ascended and +whither He shall yet lead home His followers in spiritual bodies to be +with Him where He is. If, however, only this be heaven, we should hold +that in the revolutions of the solar system it hung just then vertically +above the Jordan, a few fathoms or miles aloft. But we also believe in a +spiritual city, in which the pillars are living saints, an all-embracing +blessedness and rapture and depth of revelation, whereinto holy mortals in +their highest moments have been "caught up," a heaven whose angels ascend +and descend upon the Son of man. In this hour of highest consecration, +these heavens were thrown open--rent asunder--for the gaze of our Lord and +of the Baptist. They were opened again when the first martyr died. And we +read that what eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor heart conceived of the +preparation of God for them that love Him, He hath already revealed to +them by His Spirit. To others there is only cloud or "the infinite azure," +as to the the crowd by the Jordan and the murderers of Stephen. + +Now it is to be observed that we never read of Jesus being caught up into +heaven for a space, like St. Paul or St. John. What we read is, that while +on earth the Son of man is in Heaven (John iii. 13),(1) for heaven is the +manifestation of God, whose truest glory was revealed in the grace and +truth of Jesus. + +Along with this revelation, the Holy Spirit was manifested wondrously. His +appearance, indeed, is quite unlike what it was to others. At Pentecost He +became visible, but since each disciple received only a portion, +"according to his several ability," his fitting symbol was "tongues +parting asunder like as of fire." He came as an element powerful and +pervasive, not as a Personality bestowed in all His vital force on any +one. + +So, too, the phrase which John used, when predicting that Jesus should +baptize with the Holy Ghost, slightly though it differs from what is here, +implies(2) that only a portion is to be given, not the fulness. And the +angel who foretold to Zacharias that John himself should be filled with +the Holy Ghost, conveyed the same limitation in his words. John received +all that he was able to receive: he was filled. But how should mortal +capacity exhaust the fulness of Deity? And Who is this, upon Whom, while +John is but an awe-stricken beholder, the Spirit of God descends in all +completeness, a living organic unity, like a dove? Only the Infinite is +capable of receiving such a gift, and this is He in Whom dwelleth all the +fulness of the Godhead bodily. No wonder then that "in bodily form" as a +dove, the Spirit of God descended upon Him alone. Henceforward He became +the great Dispenser, and "the Spirit emanated from Him as perfume from the +rose when it has opened." + +At the same time was heard a Voice from heaven. And the bearing of this +passage upon the Trinity becomes clear, when we combine the manifestation +of the Spirit in living Personality, and the Divine Voice, not from the +Dove but from the heavens, with the announcement that Jesus is not merely +beloved and well-pleasing, but a Son, and in this high sense the only Son, +since the words are literally "Thou art the Son of Me, the beloved." And +yet He is to bring many sons unto glory. + +Is it consistent with due reverence to believe that this voice conveyed a +message to our Lord Himself? Even so liberal a critic as Neander has +denied this. But if we grasp the meaning of what we believe, that He upon +taking flesh "emptied Himself," that He increased in wisdom during His +youth, and that there was a day and hour which to the end of life He knew +not, we need not suppose that His infancy was so unchildlike as the +realisation of His mysterious and awful Personality would make it. There +must then have been a period when His perfect human development rose up +into what Renan calls (more accurately than he knows) identification of +Himself with the object of His devotion, carried to the utmost limit. Nor +is this period quite undiscoverable, for when it arrived it would seem +highly unnatural to postpone His public ministry further. Now this +reasonable inference is entirely supported by the narrative. St. Matthew +indeed regards the event from the Baptist's point of vision. But St. Mark +and St. Luke are agreed that to Jesus Himself it was also said, "_Thou_ +art My beloved Son." Now this is not the way to teach us that the +testimony came only to John. And how solemn a thought is this, that the +full certitude of His destiny expanded before the eyes of Jesus, just when +He lifted them from those baptismal waters in which He stooped so low. + + + + +The Temptation. + + + "And straightway the Spirit driveth Him forth into the wilderness. + And He was in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan; and He + was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto + Him."--MARK i. 12, 13 (R.V.). + + +St. Mark has not recorded the details of our Lord's temptations, and lays +more stress upon the duration of the struggle, than the nature of the last +and crowning assaults. But he is careful, like the others, to connect it +closely with the baptism of Jesus, and the miraculous testimony then borne +to Him. + +It is indeed instructive that He should have suffered this affront, +immediately upon being recognised as the Messiah. But the explanation will +not be found in the notion, which Milton has popularised, that only now +Satan was assured of the urgent necessity for attacking Him: + + + "That heard the adversary ... and with the voice Divine + Nigh thunderstruck, the exalted Man, to whom + Such high attest was given, awhile surveyed + With wonder." + + +As if Satan forgot the marvels of the sacred infancy. As if the spirits +who attack all could have failed to identify, after thirty years of +defeat, the Greater One whom the Baptist had everywhere proclaimed. No. +But Satan admirably chose the time for a supreme effort. High places are +dizzy, and especially when one has just attained them; and therefore it +was when the voice of the herald and the Voice from the heavens were +blended in acclaim, that the Evil One tried all his arts. He had formerly +plunged Elijah into despair and a desire to die, immediately after fire +from heaven responded to the prophet's prayer. Soon after this, he would +degrade Peter to be his mouthpiece, just when his noblest testimony was +borne, and the highest approval of his Lord was won. In the flush of their +triumphs he found his best opportunity; but Jesus remained unflushed, and +met the first recorded temptation, in the full consciousness of +Messiahship, by quoting the words which spoke to every man alike, and as +man. + +It is a lesson which the weakest needs to learn, for little victories can +intoxicate little men. + +It is easy then to see why the recorded temptations insist upon the +exceptional dignity of Christ, and urge Him to seize its advantages, while +He insists on bearing the common burden, and proves Himself greatest by +becoming least of all. The sharp contrast between His circumstances and +His rank drove the temptations deep into His consciousness, and wounded +His sensibilities, though they failed to shake His will. + +How unnatural that the Son of God should lack and suffer hunger, how right +that He should challenge recognition, how needful (though now His sacred +Personality is cunningly allowed to fall somewhat into the background) +that He should obtain armies and splendour. + +This explains the possibility of temptation in a sinless nature, which +indeed can only be denied by assuming that sin is part of the original +creation. Not because we are sinful, but because we are flesh and blood +(of which He became partaker), when we feel the pains of hunger we are +attracted by food, at whatever price it is offered. In truth, no man is +allured by sin, but only by the bait and bribe of sin, except perhaps in +the last stages of spiritual decomposition. + +Now, just as the bait allures, and not the jaws of the trap, so the power +of a temptation is not its wickedness, not the guilty service, but the +proffered recompense; and this appeals to the most upright man, equally +with the most corrupt. Thus the stress of a temptation is to be measured +by our gravitation, not towards the sin, but towards the pleasure or +advantage which is entangled with that. And this may be realised even more +powerfully by a man of keen feeling and vivid imagination who does not +falter, than by a grosser nature which succumbs. + +Now Jesus was a perfect man. To His exquisite sensibilities, which had +neither inherited nor contracted any blemish, the pain of hunger at the +opening of His ministry, and the horror of the cross at its close, were +not less intense, but sharper than to ours. And this pain and horror +measured the temptation to evade them. The issue never hung in the scales; +even to hesitate would have been to forfeit the delicate bloom of absolute +sinlessness; but, none the less, the decision was costly, the temptation +poignant. + +St. Mark has given us no details; but there is immense and compressed +power in the assertion, only his, that the temptation lasted all through +the forty days. We know the power of an unremitting pressure, an incessant +importunity, a haunting thought. A very trifling annoyance, long +protracted, drives men to strange remedies. And the remorseless urgency of +Satan may be measured by what St. Matthew tells us, that only after the +forty days Jesus became aware of the pains of hunger. Perhaps the +assertion that He was with the wild beasts may throw some ray of light +upon the nature of the temptation. There is no intimation of bodily peril. +On the other hand it seems incredible that what is hinted is His own +consciousness of the supernatural dignity from which + + + "The fiery serpent fled, and noxious worm; + The lion and fierce tiger glared aloof." + + +Such a consciousness would have relieved the strain of which their +presence is evidently a part. Nay, but the oppressive solitude, the waste +region so unlike His blooming Nazareth, and the ferocity of the brute +creation, all would conspire to suggest those dread misgivings and +questionings which are provoked by "the something that infects the world." + +Surely we may believe that He Who was tempted at all points like as we +are, felt now the deadly chill which falls upon the soul from the shadow +of our ruined earth. In our nature He bore the assault and overcame. And +then His human nature condescended to accept help, such as ours receives, +from the ministering spirits which are sent forth to minister to them that +shall be heirs of salvation. So perfectly was He made like unto His +brethren. + + + + +The Early Preaching And The First Disciples. + + + "Now after that John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee + preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, + and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe in the + gospel. And passing along by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and + Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they + were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after Me, and I + will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they left + the nets, and followed Him. And going on a little further, He saw + James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in + the boat mending the nets. And straightway He called them: and + they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired + servants, and went after Him."--MARK i. 14-20 (R.V.). + + +St. Mark has shown us the Baptist proclaiming Christ. He now tells us that +when John was imprisoned, Jesus, turning from that Judean ministry which +stirred the jealousy of John's disciples (John iii. 26), "came into +Galilee, preaching." And one looks twice before observing that His +teaching is a distinct advance upon the herald's. Men are still to repent; +for however slightly modern preachers may heal the hurt of souls, real +contrition is here taken over into the gospel scheme. But the time which +was hitherto said to be at hand is now fulfilled. And they are not only to +believe the gospel, but to "believe in it." Reliance, the effort of the +soul by which it ceases equally to be self-confident and to despair, +confiding itself to some word which is a gospel, or some being who has +salvation to bestow, that is belief in its object. And it is highly +important to observe that faith is thus made prominent so early in our +Lord's teaching. The vitalizing power of faith was no discovery of St. +Paul; it was not evolved by devout meditation after Jesus had passed from +view, nor introduced into His system when opposition forced Him to bind +men to Him in a stronger allegiance. The power of faith is implied in His +earliest preaching, and it is connected with His earliest miracles. But no +such phrase as the power of faith is ever used. Faith is precious only as +it leans on what is trustworthy. And it is produced, not by thinking of +faith itself, but of its proper object. Therefore Christ did not come +preaching faith, but preaching the gospel of God, and bidding men believe +in that. + +Shall we not follow His example? It is morally certain that Abraham never +heard of salvation by faith, yet he was justified by faith when he +believed in Him Who justifieth the ungodly. To preach Him, and His gospel, +is the way to lead men to be saved by faith. + +Few things are more instructive to consider than the slow, deliberate, yet +firm steps by which Christ advanced to the revelation of God in flesh. +Thirty years of silence, forty days of seclusion after heaven had +proclaimed Him, leisurely intercourse with Andrew and John, Peter and +Nathanael, and then a brief ministry in a subject nation, and chiefly in a +despised province. It is not the action of a fanatic. It exactly fulfils +His own description of the kingdom which He proclaimed, which was to +exhibit first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. And +it is a lesson to all time, that the boldest expectations possible to +faith do not justify feverish haste and excited longings for immediate +prominence or immediate success. The husbandman who has long patience with +the seed is not therefore hopeless of the harvest + +Passing by the sea of Galilee, Jesus finds two fishermen at their toil, +and bids them follow Him. Both are men of decided and earnest character; +one is to become the spokesman and leader of the Apostolic band, and the +little which is recorded of the other indicates the same temperament, +somewhat less developed. Our Lord now calls upon them to take a decided +step. But here again we find traces of the same deliberate progression, +the same absence of haste, as in His early preaching. He does not, as +unthinking readers fancy, come upon two utter strangers, fascinate and +arrest them in a moment, and sweep their lives into the vortex of His own. +Andrew had already heard the Baptist proclaim the Lamb of God, had +followed Jesus home, and had introduced his brother, to whom Jesus then +gave the new name Cephas. Their faith had since been confirmed by +miracles. The demands of our Lord may be trying, but they are never +unreasonable, and the faith He claims is not a blind credulity. + +Nor does He, even now, finally and entirely call them away from their +occupation. Some time is still to elapse, and a sign, especially +impressive to fishermen, the miraculous draught of fishes, is to burn into +their minds a profound sense of their unworthiness, before the vocation +now promised shall arrive. Then He will say, From henceforth ye shall +catch men: now He says, I will prepare you for that future, I will make +you to become fishers of men. So ungrounded is the suspicion of any +confusion between the stories of the three steps by which they rose to +their Apostleship. + +A little further on, He finds the two sons of Zebedee, and calls them +also. John had almost certainly been the companion of Andrew when he +followed Jesus home, and his brother had become the sharer of his hopes. +And if there were any hesitation, the example of their comrades helped +them to decide--so soon, so inevitably does each disciple begin to be a +fisher of other men--and leaving their father, as we are gracefully told, +not desolate, but with servants, they also follow Jesus. + +Thus He asks, from each group, the sacrifice involved in following Him at +an inconvenient time. The first are casting their nets and eager in their +quest. The others are mending their nets, perhaps after some large draught +had broken them. So Levi was sitting at the receipt of toll. Not one of +the Twelve was chosen to that high rank when idle. + +Very charming, very powerful still is the spell by which Christ drew His +first apostles to His side. Not yet are they told anything of thrones on +which they are to sit and judge the tribes of Israel, or that their names +shall be engraven on the foundations of the heavenly city besides being +great on earth while the world stands. For them, the capture of men was +less lucrative than that of fish, and less honourable, for they suffered +the loss of all things and were made as the filth of the earth. To learn +Christ's art, to be made helpful in drawing souls to Him, following Jesus +and catching men, this was enough to attract His first ministers; God +grant that a time may never come when ministers for whom this is enough, +shall fail. Where the spirit of self devotion is absent how can the Spirit +of Christ exist? + + + + +Teaching With Authority. + + + "And they go into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day He + entered into the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at + His teaching: for He taught them as having authority, and not as + the scribes."--MARK i. 21, 22 (R.V.). + + +The worship of the synagogues, not having been instituted by Moses, but +gradually developed by the public need, was comparatively free and +unconventional. Sometimes it happened that remarkable and serious-looking +strangers were invited, if they had any word of exhortation, to say on +(Acts xiii. 15). Sometimes one presented himself, as the custom of our +Lord was (Luke iv. 16). Amid the dull mechanical tendencies which were +then turning the heart of Judaism to stone, the synagogue may have been +often a centre of life and rallying-place of freedom. In Galilee, where +such worship predominated over that of the remote Temple and its +hierarchy, Jesus found His trusted followers and the nucleus of the +Church. In foreign lands, St. Paul bore first to his brethren in their +synagogues the strange tidings that their Messiah had expired upon a +cross. And before His rupture with the chiefs of Judaism, the synagogues +were fitting places for our Lord's early teaching. He made use of the +existing system, and applied it, just as we have seen Him use the teaching +of the Baptist as a starting-point for His own. And this ought to be +observed, that Jesus revolutionized the world by methods the furthest from +being revolutionary. The institutions of His age and land were corrupt +well-nigh to the core, but He did not therefore make a clean sweep, and +begin again. He did not turn His back on the Temple and synagogues, nor +outrage sabbaths, nor come to destroy the law and the prophets. He bade +His followers reverence the seat where the scribes and Pharisees sat, and +drew the line at their false lives and perilous examples. Amid that evil +generation He found soil wherein His seed might germinate, and was content +to hide His leaven in the lump where it should gradually work out its +destiny. In so doing He was at one with Providence, which had slowly +evolved the convictions of the Old Testament, spending centuries upon the +process. Now the power which belongs to such moderation has scarcely been +recognised until these latter days. The political sagacity of Somers and +Burke, and the ecclesiastical wisdom of our own reformers, had their +occult and unsuspected fountains in the method by which Jesus planted the +kingdom which came not with observation. But who taught the Carpenter? It +is therefore significant that all the Gospels of the Galilean ministry +connect our Lord's early teaching with the synagogue. + +St. Mark is by no means the evangelist of the discourses. And this adds to +the interest with which we find him indicate, with precise exactitude, the +first great difference that would strike the hearers of Christ between His +teaching and that of others. He taught with authority, and not as the +scribes. Their doctrine was built with dreary and irrational ingenuity, +upon perverted views of the old law. The shape of a Hebrew letter, words +whereof the initials would spell some important name, wire-drawn +inferences, astounding allusions, ingenuity such as men waste now upon the +number of the beast and the measurement of a pyramid, these were the +doctrine of the scribes. + +And an acute observer would remark that the authority of Christ's teaching +was peculiar in a farther-reaching sense. If, as seems clear, Jesus said, +"Ye have heard that it hath been said" (not "by," but) "to them of old +time, but I say unto you," He then claimed the place, not of Moses who +heard the Divine Voice, but of Him Who spoke. Even if this could be +doubted, the same spirit is elsewhere unmistakable. The tables which Moses +brought were inscribed by the finger of Another: none could make him the +Supreme arbitrator while overhead the trumpet waxed louder and louder, +while the fiery pillar marshalled their journeying, while the mysterious +Presence consecrated the mysterious shrine. Prophet after prophet opened +and closed his message with the words, "Thus saith the Lord." ... "For the +mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Jesus was content with the attestation, +"Verily, I say unto you." Blessed as a wise builder was the hearer and +doer of "these words of Mine." Everywhere in His teaching the centre of +authority is personal. He distinctly recognises the fact that He is adding +to the range of the ancient law of respect for human life, and for purity, +veracity and kindness. But He assigns no authority for these additions, +beyond His own. Persecution by all men is a blessed thing to endure, if it +be for His sake and the gospel's. Now this is unique. Moses or Isaiah +never dreamed that devotion to himself took rank with devotion to his +message. Nor did St. Paul. But Christ opens His ministry with the same +pretensions as at the close, when others may not be called Rabbi, nor +Master, because these titles belong to Him. + +And the lapse of ages renders this "authority" of Christ more wonderful +than at first. The world bows down before something other than His +clearness of logic or subtlety of inference. He still announces where +others argue, He reveals, imposes on us His supremacy, bids us take His +yoke and learn. And we still discover in His teaching a freshness and +profundity, a universal reach of application and yet an unearthliness of +aspect, which suit so unparalleled a claim. Others have constructed +cisterns in which to store truth, or aqueducts to convey it from higher +levels. Christ is Himself a fountain; and not only so, but the water which +He gives, when received aright, becomes in the faithful heart a well of +water springing up in new, inexhaustible developments. + + + + +Miracles. + + + "And straightway there was in their synagogue a man with an + unclean spirit."--MARK i. 23 (R.V.). + + +We have just read that Christ's teaching astonished the hearers. He was +about to astonish them yet more, for we have now reached the first miracle +which St. Mark records. With what sentiments should such a narrative be +approached? The evangelist connects it emphatically with Christ's +assertion of authority. Immediately upon the impression which His manner +of teaching produced, straightway, there was in the synagogue a man with +an unclean spirit. And upon its expulsion, what most impressed the people +was, that as He taught with authority, so "with authority He commandeth +even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." + +Let us try whether this may not be a providential clue, to guide us amid +the embarrassments which beset, in our day, the whole subject of miracles. + +A miracle, we are told, is an interference with the laws of nature; and it +is impossible, because they are fixed and their operation is uniform. But +these bold words need not disconcert any one who has learned to ask, In +what sense are the operations of nature uniform? Is the operation of the +laws which govern the wind uniform, whether my helm is to port or +starboard? Can I not modify the operation of sanitary laws by +deodorization, by drainage, by a thousand resources of civilization? The +truth is, that while natural laws remain fixed, human intelligence +profoundly modifies their operation. How then will the objector prove that +no higher Being can as naturally do the same? He answers, Because the sum +total of the forces of nature is a fixed quantity: nothing can be added to +that sum, nothing taken from it: the energy of all our machinery existed +ages ago in the heat of tropical suns, then in vegetation, and ever since, +though latent, in our coal beds; and the claim to add anything to that +total is subversive of modern science. But again we ask, If the physician +adds nothing to the sum of forces when he banishes one disease by +inoculation, and another by draining a marsh, why must Jesus have added to +the sum of forces in order to expel a demon or to cool a fever? It will +not suffice to answer, because His methods are contrary to experience. +Beyond experience they are. But so were the marvels of electricity to our +parents and of steam to theirs. The chemistry which analyses the stars is +not incredible, although thirty years ago its methods were "contrary" to +the universal experience of humanity. Man is now doing what he never did +before, because he is a more skilful and better informed agent than he +ever was. Perhaps at this moment, in the laboratory of some unknown +student, some new force is preparing to amaze the world. But the sum of +the forces of nature will remain unchanged. Why is it assumed that a +miracle must change them? Simply because men have already denied God, or +at least denied that He is present within His world, as truly as the +chemist is within it. If we think of Him as interrupting its processes +from without, laying upon the vast machine so powerful a grasp as to +arrest its working, then indeed the sum of forces is disturbed, and the +complaints of science are justified. This may, or it may not, have been +the case in creative epochs, of which science knows no more than of the +beginning of life and of consciousness. But it has nothing to say against +the doctrine of the miracles of Jesus. For this doctrine assumes that God +is ever present in His universe; that by Him all things consist; that He +is not far from any one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our +being, although men may be as unconscious of Him as of gravitation and +electricity. When these became known to man, the stability of law was +unaffected. And it is a wild assumption that if a supreme and vital force +exist, a living God, He cannot make His energies visible without affecting +the stability of law. + +Now Christ Himself appeals expressly and repeatedly to this immanent +presence of God as the explanation of His "works." + +"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." "The Father loveth the Son, and +showeth Him all things that Himself doeth." "I, by the finger of God, cast +out devils." + +Thus a miracle, even in the Old Testament, is not an interruption of law +by God, but a manifestation of God who is within nature always; to common +events it is as the lightning to the cloud, a revelation of the +electricity which was already there. God was made known, when invoked by +His agents, in signs from heaven, in fire and tempest, in drought and +pestilence, a God who judgeth. These are the miracles of God interposing +for His people against their foes. But the miracles of Christ are those of +God carrying forward to the uttermost His presence in the world, God +manifest in the flesh. They are the works of Him in Whom dwelleth all the +fulness of the Godhead bodily. + +And this explains what would otherwise be so perplexing, the essentially +different nature of His miracles from those of the Old Testament. +Infidelity pretends that those are the models on which myth or legend +formed the miracles of Jesus, but the plain answer is that they are built +on no model of the kind. The difference is so great as to be startling. + +Tremendous convulsions and visitations of wrath are now unknown, because +God is now reconciling the world unto Himself, and exhibiting in miracles +the presence of Him Who is not far from every one of us, His presence in +love to redeem the common life of man, and to bless, by sharing it. +Therefore His gifts are homely, they deal with average life and its +necessities, bread and wine and fish are more to the purpose than that man +should eat angels' food, the rescue of storm-tossed fishermen than the +engulfment of pursuing armies, the healing of prevalent disease than the +plaguing of Egypt or the destruction of Sennacherib. + +Such a Presence thus manifested is the consistent doctrine of the Church. +It is a theory which men may reject at their own peril if they please. But +they must not pretend to refute it by any appeal to either the uniformity +of law or the stability of force. + +Men tell us that the divinity of Jesus was an afterthought; what shall we +say then to this fact, that men observed from the very first a difference +between the manner of His miracles and all that was recorded in their +Scriptures, or that they could have deemed fit? It is exactly the same +peculiarity, carried to the highest pitch; as they already felt in His +discourses. They are wrought without any reference whatever to a superior +will. Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do? Elijah said, +Hear me O Lord, hear me. But Jesus said, I will ... I charge thee come out +... I am able to do this. And so marked is the change, that even His +followers cast out devils in His name, and say not, Where is the Lord God +of Israel? but, In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. His power is +inherent, it is self-possessed, and His acts in the synoptics are only +explained by His words in St. John, "What things soever the Father doeth, +these the Son also doeth in like manner." No wonder that St. Mark adds to +His very first record of a miracle, that the people were amazed, and +asked, What is this? a new teaching! with authority He commandeth even the +unclean spirits and they do obey Him! It was divinity which, without +recognising, they felt, implicit in His bearing. No wonder also that His +enemies strove hard to make Him say, Who gave Thee this authority? Nor +could they succeed in drawing from Him any sign from heaven. The centre +and source of the supernatural, for human apprehension, has shifted +itself, and the vision of Jesus is the vision of the Father also. + + + + +The Demoniac. + + + "And straightway there was in their synagogue a man with an + unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, What have we to do with + Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us? I know + Thee Who Thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, + saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And the unclean + spirit, tearing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. + And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among + themselves, saying, What is this? a new teaching! with authority + He commandeth even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him. And the + report of Him went out straightway everywhere into all the region + of Galilee round about."--MARK i. 23-28 (R.V.). + + +We have seen that belief in the stability of natural law does not forbid +us to believe in miracles. + +Special objections are urged, however, against the belief in demoniacal +possession. The very existence of demons is declared to be inconsistent +with the omnipotence of God, or else with His goodness. + +And it may be granted that abstract reasoning in an ideal world, thought +moving in a vacuum, would scarcely evolve a state of things so far removed +from the ideal. This, however, is an argument against the existence, not +of demons, but of evil in any shape. It is the familiar insoluble problem +of all religions, How can evil exist in the universe of God? And it is +balanced by the insoluble problem of all irreligious systems: In a +universe without God, how can either good or evil exist, as distinguished +from the advantageous and the unprofitable? Whence comes the +unquestionable difference between a lie and a bad bargain? + +But the argument against evil spirits professes to be something more than +a disguised reproduction of this abstract problem. What more is it? What +is gained by denying the fiends, as long as we cannot deny the fiends +incarnate--the men who take pleasure in unrighteousness, in the seduction +and ruin of their fellows, in the infliction of torture and outrage, in +the ravage and desolation of nations? Such freedom has been granted to the +human will, for even these ghastly issues have not been judged so deadly +as coercion and moral fatalism. What presumption can possibly remain +against the existence of other beings than men, who have fallen yet +farther? If, indeed, it be certainly so much farther. For we know that men +have lived, not outcasts from society, but boastful sons of Abraham, who +willed to perform the lusts ({~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}) of their father the devil. Now +since we are not told that the wickedness of demons is infinite,(3) but +only that it is abysmal, and since we know that abysses of wickedness do +actually exist, what sort of vindication of Deity is this which will +believe that such gulfs are yawning only in the bosom of man? + +It alarms and shocks us to think that evil spirits have power over the +human mind, and still more that such power should extend, as in cases of +possession, even to the body. Evil men, however, manifestly wield such +power. "They got rid of the wicked one," said Goethe, "but they could not +get rid of the wicked ones." Social and intellectual charm, high rank, the +mysterious attraction of a strong individuality, all are employed at times +to mislead and debase the shuddering, reluctant, mesmerised wills of +weaker men and women. And then the mind acts upon the body, as perhaps it +always does. Drunkenness and debauchery shake the nerves. Paralysis and +lunacy tread hard on the footsteps of excess. Experience knows no reason +for denying that when wickedness conquers the soul it will also deal +hardly with the body. + +But we must not stop here. For the Gospels do not countenance the popular +notion that special wickedness was the cause of the fearful wretchedness +of the possessed. Young children suffered. Jesus often cautioned a +sufferer to sin no more lest worse results should follow than those He had +removed; but He is never known to have addressed this warning to +demoniacs. They suffered from the tyranny of Satan, rather than from his +seduction; and the analogies which make credible so frightful an outrage +upon human nature, are the wrongs done by despots and mobs, by invading +armies and persecuting religionists. Yet people who cannot believe that a +demon could throw a child upon the fire, are not incredulous of Attila, +Napoleon, and the Inquisition. + +Thus it appears that such a narrative need startle no believer in God, and +in moral good and evil, who considers the unquestionable facts of life. +And how often will the observant Christian be startled at the wild +insurrection and surging up of evil thought and dark suggestions, which he +cannot believe to be his own, which will not be gainsaid nor repulsed. How +easily do such experiences fall in with the plain words of Scripture, by +which the veil is drawn aside, and the mystery of the spiritual world laid +bare. Then we learn that man is not only fallen but assaulted, not only +feeble but enslaved, not only a wandering sheep but led captive by the +devil at his will. + +We turn to the narrative before us. They are still wondering at our Lord's +authoritative manner, when "straightway," for opportunities were countless +until unbelief arose, a man with an unclean spirit attracts attention. We +can only conjecture the special meaning of this description. A recent +commentator assumes that "like the rest, he had his dwelling among the +tombs: an overpowering influence had driven him away from the haunts of +men." (Canon Luckock, _in loco_). To others this feature in the +wretchedness of the Gadarene may perhaps seem rather to be exceptional, +the last touch in the appalling picture of his misery. It may be that +nothing more outrageous than morbid gloom or sullen mutterings had +hitherto made it necessary to exclude this sufferer from the synagogue. Or +the language may suggest that he rushed abruptly in, driven by the frantic +hostility of the fiend, or impelled by some mysterious and lingering hope, +as the demoniac of Gadara ran to Christ. + +What we know is that the sacred Presence provoked a crisis. There is an +unbelief which never can be silent, never wearies railing at the faith, +and there is a corruption which resents goodness and hates it as a +personal wrong. So the demons who possessed men were never able to +confront Jesus calmly. They resent His interference; they cry out; they +disclaim having anything to do with Him; they seem indignant that He +should come to destroy them who have destroyed so many. There is something +weird and unearthly in the complaint. But men also are wont to forget +their wrong doing when they come to suffer, and it is recorded that even +Nero had abundance of compassion for himself. Weird also and terrible is +it, that this unclean spirit should choose for his confession that pure +and exquisite epithet, the Holy One of God. The phrase only recurs in the +words of St. Peter, "We have believed and know that Thou art the Holy One +of God" (John vi. 69, R.V.). Was it not a mournful association of ideas +which then led Jesus to reply, "Have I not chosen you the Twelve, and one +of you is a devil?(4)" But although the phrase is beautiful, and possibly +"wild with all regret," there is no relenting, no better desire than to be +"let alone." And so Jesus, so gentle with sinful men, yet sometime to be +their judge also, is stern and cold. "Hold thy peace--be muzzled," He +answers, as to a wild beast, "and come out of him." Whereupon the evil +spirit exhibits at once his ferocity and his defeat. Tearing and +screaming, he came out, but we read in St. Luke that he did the man no +harm. + +And the spectators drew the proper inference. A new power implied a new +revelation. Something far-reaching and profound might be expected from Him +who commanded even the unclean spirits with authority, and was obeyed. + +It is the custom of unbelievers to speak as if the air of Palestine were +then surcharged with belief in the supernatural. Miracles were everywhere. +Thus they would explain away the significance of the popular belief that +our Lord wrought signs and wonders. But in so doing they set themselves a +worse problem than they evade. If miracles were so very common, it would +be as easy to believe that Jesus wrought them as that He worked at His +father's bench. But also it would be as inconclusive. And how then are we +to explain the astonishment which all the evangelists so constantly +record? On any conceivable theory, these writers shared the beliefs of +that age. And so did the readers who accepted their assurance that all +were amazed, and that His report "went out straightway everywhere into all +the region of Galilee." These are emphatic words, and both the author and +his readers must have considered a miracle to be more surprising than +modern critics believe they did. + +Yet we do not read that any one was converted by this miracle. All were +amazed, but wonder is not self-surrender. They were content to let their +excitement die out, as every violent emotion must, without any change of +life, any permanent devotion to the new Teacher and His doctrine. + + + + +A Group Of Miracles. + + + "And straightway, when they were come out of the synagogue, they + came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now + Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever; and straightway they + tell Him of her: and He came and took her by the hand, and raised + her up; and the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. And + at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto Him all that were + sick, and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city + was gathered together at the door. And He healed many that were + sick with divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and He + suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew Him."--MARK i. + 29-34 (R.V.). + + +St. Matthew tells us that on leaving the synagogue they entered into +Peter's house. St. Mark, with his peculiar sources of information, is +aware that Andrew shared the house with his brother. + +Especial interest attaches to the mention of the mother-in-law of Peter, +as proving that Jesus chose a married man to be an apostle, the very +apostle from whom the celibate ministry of Rome professes to have received +the keys. The evidence does not stand alone. When St. Paul's apostolic +authority was impugned, he insisted that he had the same right to bring +with him in his travels a believing wife, which Peter exercised. And +Clement of Alexandria tells us that Peter's wife acted as his coadjutor, +ministering to women in their own homes, by which means the gospel of +Christ penetrated without scandal the privacy of women's apartments. Thus +the notion of a Zenana mission is by no means modern. + +The mother of such a wife is afflicted by fever of a kind which still +haunts that district. "And they tell Him of her." Doubtless there was +solicitude and hope in their voices, even if desire did not take the shape +of formal prayer. We are just emerging from that early period when belief +in His power to heal might still be united with some doubt whether free +application might be made to Him. His disciples might still be as unwise +as those modern theologians who are so busy studying the miracles as a +sign that they forget to think of them as works of love. Any such +hesitation was now to be dispelled for ever. + +It is possible that such is the meaning of the expression, and if so, it +has a useful lesson. Sometimes there are temporal gifts which we scarce +know whether we should pray for, so complex are our feelings, so entangled +our interests with those of others, so obscure and dubious the springs +which move our desire. Is it presumptuous to ask? Yet can it be right to +keep anything back, in our communion with our Father? + +Now there is a curious similarity between the expression "they tell Jesus +of her" and that phrase which is only applied to prayer when St. Paul bids +us pray for all that is in our hearts. "In nothing be anxious, but in +everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests +be made known unto God." So shall the great benediction be fulfilled: "The +peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and +your thoughts" (Phil. iv. 6, 7). All that is unholy shall be purified, all +that is unwise subdued, all that is expedient granted. + +If this be indeed the force of St. Mark's phrase, Jesus felt their modest +reticence to be a strong appeal, for St. Luke says "they besought Him," +while St. Matthew merely writes that He saw her lying. The "Interpreter of +St. Peter" is most likely to have caught the exact shade of anxiety and +appeal by which her friends drew His attention, and which was indeed a +prayer. + +The gentle courtesy of our Lord's healings cannot be too much studied by +those who would know His mind and love Him. Never does He fling a careless +blessing as coarse benefactors fling their alms; we shall hereafter see +how far He was from leaving fallen bread to be snatched as by a dog, even +by one who would have welcomed a boon thus contemptuously given to her; +and in the hour of His arrest, when He would heal the ear of a persecutor, +His courtesy appeals to those who had laid hold on Him, "Suffer ye thus +far." Thus He went to this woman and took her by the hand and raised her +up, laying a cool touch upon her fevered palm, bestowing His strength upon +her weakness, healing her as He would fain heal humanity. For at His touch +the disease was banished; with His impulse her strength returned. + +We do not read that she felt bound thereupon to become an obtrusive public +witness to His powers: that was not her function; but in her quiet home +she failed not to minister unto Him who had restored her powers. Would +that all whose physical powers Jesus renews from sickness, might devote +their energies to Him. Would that all for whom He has calmed the fever of +earthly passion, might arise and be energetic in His cause. + +Think of the wonder, the gladness and gratitude of their humble feast. But +if we felt aright the sickness of our souls, and the grace which heals +them, equal gratitude would fill our lives as He sups with us and we with +Him. + +Tidings of the two miracles have quickly gone abroad, and as the sun sets, +and the restraint of the sabbath is removed, all the city gathers all the +sick around His door. + +Now here is a curious example of the peril of pressing too eagerly our +inferences from the expressions of an evangelist. St. Mark tells us that +they brought "all their sick and them that were possessed with devils. And +He healed" (not all, but) "many that were sick, and cast out many devils." +How easily we might distinguish between the "all" who came, and the "many" +who were healed. Want of faith would explain the difference, and spiritual +analogies would be found for those who remained unhealed at the feet of +the good Physician. These lessons might be very edifying, but they would +be out of place, for St. Matthew tells us that He healed them all. + +But who can fail to contrast this universal movement, the urgent quest of +bodily health, and the willingness of friends and neighbours to convey +their sick to Jesus, with our indifference to the health of the soul, and +our neglect to lead others to the Saviour. Disease being the cold shadow +of sin, its removal was a kind of sacrament, an outward and visible sign +that the Healer of souls was nigh. But the chillness of the shadow +afflicts us more than the pollution of the substance, and few professing +Christians lament a hot temper as sincerely as a fever. + +As Jesus drove out the demons, He suffered them not to speak because they +knew Him. We cannot believe that His rejection of their impure testimony +was prudential only, whatever possibility there may have been of that +charge of complicity which was afterwards actually brought. Any help which +might have come to Him from the lips of hell was shocking and revolting to +our Lord. And this is a lesson for all religious and political partisans +who stop short of doing evil themselves, but reject no advantage which the +evil deeds of others may bestow. Not so cold and negative is the morality +of Jesus. He regards as contamination whatever help fraud, suppressions of +truth, injustice, by whomsoever wrought, can yield. He rejects them by an +instinct of abhorrence, and not only because shame and dishonour have +always befallen the purest cause which stooped to unholy alliances. + +Jesus that day showed Himself powerful alike in the congregation, in the +home, and in the streets, and over evil spirits and physical disease +alike. + + + + +Jesus In Solitude. + + + "And in the morning, a great while before day, He rose up and went + out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed. And Simon + and they that were with him followed after Him; and they found + Him, and say unto Him, All are seeking Thee. And He saith unto + them, Let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach + there also; for to this end came I forth. And He went into their + synagogues throughout all Galilee, and preaching casting out + devils."--MARK i. 35-39 (R.V.). + + +St. Mark is pre-eminently the historian of Christ's activities. From him +chiefly we learn to add to our thought of perfect love and gentleness that +of One whom the zeal of God's house ate up. But this evangelist does not +omit to tell us by what secret fountains this river of life was fed; how +the active labours of Jesus were inspired in secret prayers. Too often we +allow to one side of religion a development which is not excessive, but +disproportionate, and we are punished when contemplation becomes +nerveless, or energy burns itself away. + +After feeding the five thousand, St. Mark tells us that Jesus, while the +storm gathered over His disciples on the lake, went up into a mountain to +pray. And St. Luke tells of a whole night of prayer before choosing His +disciples, and how it was to pray that He climbed the mountain of +transfiguration. + +And we read of Him going into a desert place with His disciples, and to +Olivet, and oft-times resorting to the garden where Judas found Him, +where, in the dead of night, the traitor naturally sought Him. + +Prayer was the spring of all His energies, and His own saying indicated +the habit of His mortal life as truly as the law of His mysterious +generation: "I live by the Father." + +His prayers impress nothing on us more powerfully than the reality of His +manhood. He, Who possesses all things, bends His knees to crave, and His +prayers are definite, no empty form, no homage without sense of need, no +firing of blank cartridge without an aim. He asks that His disciples may +be with Him where He is, that Simon's strength may fail not, that He may +Himself be saved from a dreadful hour. "Such touches" said Godet "do not +look like an artificial apotheosis of Jesus, and they constitute a +striking difference between the gospel portrait and the legendary +caricature." + +The entire evening had been passed in healing the diseases of the whole +town; not the light and careless bestowal of a boon which cost nothing, +but wrought with so much sympathy, such draining of His own vital forces, +that St. Matthew found in it a fulfilment of the prophecy that He should +Himself bear our sicknesses. And thus exhausted, the frame might have been +forgiven for demanding some indulgence, some prolongation of repose. + +But the course of our Lord's ministry was now opening up before Him, and +the hindrances becoming visible. How much was to be hoped from the great +impression already made; how much to be feared from the weakness of His +followers, the incipient envy of priest and Pharisee, and the volatile +excitability of the crowd. At such a time, to relieve His burdened heart +with Divine communion was more to Jesus than repose, as, at another time, +to serve Him was meat to eat. And therefore, in the still fresh morning, +long before the dawn, while every earthly sight was dim but the abysses of +heaven were vivid, declaring without voice, amid the silence of earth's +discord, the glory and the handiwork of His Father, Jesus went into a +solitary place and prayed. + +What is it that makes solitude and darkness dreadful to some, and +oppressive to very many? + +Partly the sense of physical danger, born of helplessness and uncertainty. +This He never felt, who knew that He must walk to-day and to-morrow, and +on the third day be perfected. And partly it is the weight of unwelcome +reflection, the searching and rebukes of memory, fears that come of guilt, +and inward distractions of a nature estranged from the true nature of the +universe. Jesus was agitated by no inward discords, upbraided by no +remorse. And He had probably no reveries; He is never recorded to +soliloquise; solitude to Him was but another name for communion with God +His Father; He was never alone, for God was with Him. + +This retirement enabled Him to remain undisturbed until His disciples +found Him, long after the crowds had besieged their dwelling. They had not +yet learned how all true external life must rest upon the hidden life of +devotion, and there is an accent of regret in the words, "All are seeking +Thee," as if Jesus could neglect in self-culture any true opportunity for +service. + +The answer, noteworthy in itself, demands especial attention in these +times of missions, demonstrations, Salvation Armies, and other wise and +unwise attempts to gather excited crowds around the cross. + +Mere sensation actually repelled Jesus. Again and again He charged men not +to make Him known, in places where He would stay; while in Gadara, which +He had to leave, His command to the demoniac was the reverse. Deep and +real convictions are not of kin with sight-seeing and the pursuit of +wonders. Capernaum has now heard His message, has received its full share +of physical blessing, is exalted unto heaven. Those who were looking for +redemption knew the gospel, and Jesus must preach it in other towns also. +Therefore, and not to be the centre of admiring multitudes, came He forth +from His quiet home. + +Such is the sane and tranquil action of Jesus, in face of the excitement +caused by His many miracles. Now the miracles themselves, and all that +depends on them, are declared to be the creation of the wildest +fanaticism, either during His lifetime or developing His legend +afterwards. And if so, we have here, in the action of human mind, the +marvel of modern physicists, ice from a red-hot retort, absolute +moderation from a dream of frenzy. And this paradox is created in the act +of "explaining" the miracles. The explanation, even were it sustained by +any evidence, would be as difficult as any miracle to believe. + + + + +The Leper. + + + "And there cometh to Him a leper, beseeching Him, and kneeling + down to Him, and saying unto Him, If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me + clean. And being moved with compassion, He stretched forth His + hand, and touched him, and saith unto him I will; be thou made + clean. And straightway the leprosy departed from him, and he was + made clean. And He strictly charged him, and straightway sent him + out, and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go + thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing + the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But + he went out, and began to publish it much, and to spread abroad + the matter insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into a + city, but was without in desert places: and they came to Him from + every quarter."--MARK i. 40-45 (R.V.). + + +The disease of leprosy was peculiarly fearful to a Jew. In its stealthy +beginning, its irresistible advance, the utter ruin which it wrought from +the blood outward until the flesh was corroded and fell away, it was a fit +type of sin, at first so trivial in its indications, but gradually +usurping all the nature and corrupting it. And the terrible fact, that the +children of its victims were also doomed, reminded the Israelite of the +transmission of the taint of Adam. + +The story of Naaman and that of Gehazi make it almost certain that the +leprosy of Scripture was not contagious, for they were intimate with +kings. But apparently to complete the type, the law gave to it the +artificial contagion of ceremonial uncleanness, and banished the unhappy +sufferer from the dwellings of men. Thus he came to be regarded as under +an especial ban, and the prophecy which announced that the illustrious Man +of Sorrows would be esteemed "stricken of God," was taken to mean that He +should be a leper. This banishment of the leper was indeed a remarkable +exception to the humanity of the ancient law, but when his distress began +to be extreme, and "the plague was turned into white," he was released +from his uncleanness (Lev. xiii. 17). And this may teach us that sin is to +be dreaded most while it is yet insidious; when developed it gives a +sufficient warning against itself. And now such a sufferer appeals to +Jesus. The incident is one of the most pathetic in the Gospel; and its +graphic details, and the shining character which it reveals, make it very +perplexing to moderate and thoughtful sceptics. + +Those who believe that the charm of His presence was "worth all the +resources of medicine," agree that Christ may have cured even leprosy, and +insist that this story, as told by St. Mark, "must be genuine." Others +suppose that the leper was already cured, and Jesus only urged him to +fulfil the requirements of the law. And why not deny the story boldly? Why +linger so longingly over the details, when credence is refused to what is +plainly the mainspring of the whole, the miraculous power of Jesus? The +answer is plain. Honest minds feel the touch of a great nature; the misery +of the suppliant and the compassion of his Restorer are so vivid as to +prove themselves; no dreamer of a myth, no process of legend-building, +ever wrought after this fashion. But then, the misery and compassion being +granted, the whole story is practically conceded. It only remains to ask, +whether the "presence of the Saintly Man" could work a chemical change in +tainted blood. For it must be insisted that the man was "full of leprosy," +and not, as one suggests, already far advanced towards cure. The contrast +between his running and kneeling at the very feet of Jesus, and the +conduct of the ten lepers, not yet released from their exclusion, who +stood afar off while they cried out (Luke xvii. 12), is sufficient +evidence of this, even if the express statement of St. Luke were not +decisive. + +Repulsive, and until now despairing, only tolerated among men through the +completeness of his plague, this man pushes through the crowd which +shrinks from him, kneels in an agony of supplication, and says "If Thou +wilt, Thou canst make me clean." If Thou wilt! The cruelty of man has +taught him to doubt the heart, even though satisfied of the power of +Jesus. In a few years, men came to assume the love, and exult in the +reflection that He was "able to keep what 'was' committed to Him," "able +to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." It did not +occur to St. Paul that any mention of His will was needed. + +Nor did Jesus Himself ask a later suppliant, "Believest thou that I am +willing," but "Believest thou that I am able to do this?" + +But the charm of this delightful incident is the manner in which our Lord +grants the impassioned prayer. We might have expected a shudder, a natural +recoil from the loathsome spectacle, and then a wonder-working word. But +misery which He could relieve did not repel Jesus; it attracted Him. His +impulse was to approach. He not only answered "I will,"--and deep is the +will to remove all anguish in the wonderful heart of Jesus,--but He +stretched forth an unshrinking hand, and touched that death in life. It is +a parable of all His course, this laying of a clean hand on the sin of the +world to cleanse it. At His touch, how was the morbid frame thrilled with +delightful pulses of suddenly renovated health. And how was the +despairing, joyless heart, incredulous of any real will to help him, +soothed and healed by the pure delight of being loved. + +This is the true lesson of the narrative. St. Mark treats the miraculous +cure much more lightly than the tender compassion and the swift movement +to relieve suffering. And He is right. The warm and generous nature +revealed by this fine narrative is what, as we have seen, most impresses +the doubter, and ought most to comfort the Church. For He is the same +yesterday and to-day. And perhaps, if the divinity of love impressed men +as much as that of power, there would be less denial of the true Godhead +of our Lord. + +The touch of a leper made a Jew unclean. And there is a surprising theory, +that when Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, it was because the +leper had disobediently published what implied His ceremonial defilement. +As if our Lord were one to violate the law by stealth. + +But is it very remarkable that Christ, Who was born under the law, never +betrayed any anxiety about cleanness. The law of impurity was in fact an +expression of human frailty. Sin spreads corruption far more easily than +virtue diffuses purity. The touch of goodness fails to reproduce goodness. +And the prophet Haggai has laid stress upon this contrast, that bread or +pottage or wine or oil or any meat will not become holy at the touch of +one who bears holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, but if one that is +unclean by a dead body touch any of these, it shall be unclean (ii. 12, +13). Our hearts know full well how true to nature is the ordinance. + +But Christ brought among us a virtue more contagious than our vices are, +being not only a living soul, but a life-imparting Spirit. And thus He +lays His hand upon this leper, upon the bier at Nain, upon the corpse of +the daughter of Jairus, and as fire is kindled at the touch of fire, so +instead of pollution to Him, the pureness of healthful life is imparted to +the defiling and defiled. + +And His followers also are to possess a religion that is vitalizing, to be +the light of the world, and the salt of the earth. + +If we are thus to further His cause, we must not only be zealous but +obedient, Jesus strictly charged the leper not to fan the flame of an +excitement which already impeded His work. But there was an invaluable +service which he might render: the formal registration of his cure, the +securing its official recognition by the priests, and their consent to +offer the commanded sacrifices. In many a subsequent controversy, that +"testimony unto them" might have been embarrassing indeed. But the leper +lost his opportunity, and put them upon their guard. And as through his +impulsive clamour Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but even +in desert places was beset by excited crowds, so is He deprived today of +many a tranquil ministration and lowly service, by the zeal which despises +order and quiet methods, by the undisciplined and ill-judged +demonstrations of men and women whom He has blessed. + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + + + +The Sick Of The Palsy. + + + "And when He entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was + noised that He was in the house."--MARK ii. 1 (R.V.). + + +Jesus returns to Capernaum, and an eager crowd blocks even the approaches +to the house where He is known to be. St. Mark, as we should expect, +relates the course of events, the multitudes, the ingenious device by +which a miracle is obtained, the claim which Jesus advances to yet greater +authority than heretofore, and the impression produced. But St. Luke +explains that there were "sitting by," having obtained the foremost places +which they loved, Pharisees and doctors of the law from every village of +Galilee and Judaea, and from Jerusalem itself. And this concourse, +evidently preconcerted and unfriendly, explains the first murmurs of +opposition recorded by St. Mark. It was the jealousy of rival teachers +which so readily pronounced Him a blasphemer. + +The crowds besieged the very passages, there was no room, no, not around +the door, and even if one might struggle forward, four men bearing a +litter might well despair. But with palsied paralysis at stake, they would +not be repulsed. They gained the roof by an outer staircase, such as the +fugitives from Jerusalem should hereafter use, not going through the +house. Then they uncovered and broke up the roof, by which strong phrases +St. Mark means that they first lifted the tiles which lay in a bed of +mortar or mud, broke through this, and then tore up the poles and light +rafters by which all this covering was supported. Then they lowered the +sick man upon his pallet, in front of the Master as He taught. + +It was an unceremonious act. However carefully performed, the audience +below must have been not only disturbed but inconvenienced, and doubtless +among the precise and unmerciful personages in the chief seats there was +many an angry glance, many a murmur, many a conjecture of rebukes +presently to be inflicted on the intruders. + +But Jesus never in any circumstances rebuked for intrusion any suppliant. +And now He discerned the central spiritual impulse of these men, which was +not obtrusiveness nor disrespect. They believed that neither din while He +preached, nor rubbish falling among His audience, nor the strange +interruption of a patient and a litter intruded upon His discourse, could +weigh as much with Jesus as the appeal on a sick man's face. And this was +faith. These peasants may have been far enough from intellectual +discernment of Christ's Personality and the scheme of salvation. They had +however a strong and practical conviction that He would make whole their +palsied friend. + +Now the preaching of faith is suspected of endangering good works. But was +this persuasion likely to make these men torpid? Is it not plain that all +spiritual apathy comes not from over-trust but from unbelief, either +doubting that sin is present death, or else that holiness is life, and +that Jesus has a gift to bestow, not in heaven, but promptly, which is +better to gain than all the world? Therefore salvation is linked with +faith, which earns nothing but elicits all, like the touch that evokes +electricity, but which no man supposes to have made it. + +Because they knew the curse of palsy, and believed in a present remedy, +these men broke up the roof to come where Jesus was. They won their +blessing, but not the less it was His free gift. + +Jesus saw and rewarded the faith of all the group. The principle of mutual +support and co-operation is the basis alike of the family, the nation, and +the Church. Thus the great Apostle desired obscure and long-forgotten men +and women to help together with him in their prayers. And He who visits +the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth +generation, shows mercy unto many more, unto thousands, in them that love +Him. What a rebuke is all this to men who think it enough that they should +do no harm, and live inoffensive lives. Jesus now bestowed such a blessing +as awoke strange misgivings among the bystanders. He divined the true +burden of that afflicted heart, the dreary memories and worse fears which +haunted that sick bed,--and how many are even now preparing such remorse +and gloom for a bed of pain hereafter!--and perhaps He discerned the +consciousness of some guilty origin of the disease. Certainly He saw there +one whose thoughts went beyond his malady, a yearning soul, with hope +glowing like red sparks amid the ashes of his self-reproach, that a +teacher so gracious as men reported Jesus, might bring with Him a gospel +indeed. We know that he felt thus, for Jesus made him of good cheer by +pardon rather than by healing, and spoke of the cure itself as wrought +less for his sake than as evidence. + +Surely that was a great moment when the wistful gaze of eyes which disease +had dimmed, met the eyes which were as a flame of fire, and knew that all +its sullied past was at once comprehended and forgiven. + +Jesus said to him, "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee." The term of +endearment was new to his lips, and very emphatic; the same which Mary +used when she found Him in the temple, the same as when He argued that +even evil men give good gifts unto their children. Such a relation towards +Himself He recognised in this afflicted penitent. On the other hand, the +dry argumentative temper of the critics is well expressed by the short +crackling unemotional utterances of their orthodoxy: "Why doth this man +thus speak? He blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins but one, God." There is +no zeal in it, no passion for God's honour, no spiritual insight, it is as +heartless as a syllogism. And in what follows a fine contrast is implied +between their perplexed orthodoxy, and Christ's profound discernment. For +as He had just read the sick man's heart, so He "perceived in His spirit +that they so reasoned within themselves." And He asks them the searching +question, "Whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, +Arise and walk?" Now which is really easier? It is not enough to lay all +the emphasis upon "to say," as if with Jesus the ease of an utterance +depended on the difficulty of testing it. There is indeed a certain irony +in the question. They doubtless imagined that Jesus was evading their +scrutiny by only bestowing what they could not test. To them forgiveness +seemed more easily offered than a cure. To the Christian, it is less to +heal disease, which is a mere consequence, than sin, which is the source +of all our woes. To the power of Jesus they were alike, and connected with +each other as the symptom and the true disease. In truth, all the +compassion which blesses our daily life is a pledge of grace; and He Who +healeth all our diseases forgiveth also all our iniquities. But since +healing was the severer test in their reckoning, Jesus does not evade it. +He restores the palsied man to health, that they might know that the Son +of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins. So then, pardon does not +lie concealed and doubtful in the councils of an unknown world, it is +pronounced on earth. The Son of man, wearing our nature and touched with +our infirmities, bestows it still, in the Scriptures, in the Sacraments, +in the ministrations of His servants. Wherever He discerns faith, He +responds with assurance of the absolution and remission of sins. + +He claims to do this, as men had so lately observed that He both taught +and worked miracles, "with authority." We then saw that this word +expressed the direct and personal mastery with which He wrought, and which +the apostles never claimed for themselves. + +Therefore this text cannot be quoted in defence of priestly absolutions, +as long as these are hypothetical, and depend on the recipient's +earnestness, or on any supposition, any uncertainty whatever. Christ did +not utter a hypothesis. + +Fortunately, too, the argument that men, priestly men, must have authority +on earth to forgive sins, because the Son of man has such authority, can +be brought to an easy test. There is a passage elsewhere, which asserts +His authority, and upon which the claim to share it can be tried. The +words are, "The Father gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He +is the Son of man," and they are immediately followed by an announcement +of the resurrection to judgment (John v. 27, 29). Is any one prepared to +contend that such authority as that is vested in other sons of men? And if +not that, why this? + +But if priestly absolutions are not here, there remains the certainty that +Jesus brought to earth, to man, the gift of prompt effective pardon, to be +realized by faith. + +The sick man is ordered to depart at once. Further discourse might perhaps +be reserved for others, but he may not linger, having received his own +bodily and spiritual medicine. The teaching of Christ is not for +curiosity. It is good for the greatly blessed to be alone. And it is +sometimes dangerous for obscure people to be thrust into the centre of +attention. + +Hereupon, another touch of nature discovers itself in the narrative, for +it is now easy to pass through the crowd. Men who would not in their +selfishness give place for palsied misery, readily make room for the +distinguished person who has received a miraculous blessing. + + + + +The Son Of Man. + + + "The Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins."--MARK ii. 10. + + +When asserting His power to forgive sins, Jesus, for the first time in our +Gospel, called Himself the Son of man. + +It is a remarkable phrase. The profound reverence which He from the first +inspired, restrained all other lips from using it, save only when the +first martyr felt such a rush of sympathy from above poured into his soul, +that the thought of Christ's humanity was more moving than that of His +deity. So too it is then alone that He is said to be not enthroned in +heaven, but standing, "the Son of man, standing on the right hand of God" +(Acts vii. 56).(5) + +What then does this title imply? Beyond doubt it is derived from Daniel's +vision: "Behold there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a Son +of man, and He came even to the Ancient of Days" (vii. 13). And it was by +the bold and unequivocal appropriation of this verse that Jesus brought +upon Himself the judgment of the council (Matt. xxvi. 64; Mark xiv. 62). + +Now the first impression which the phrase in Daniel produces is that of +strong and designed contrast between the Son of man and the Eternal God. +We wonder at seeing man "brought nigh" to Deity. Nor may we suppose that +to be "like unto a Son of man," implies only an appearance of manhood. In +Daniel the Messiah can be cut off. When Jesus uses the epithet, and even +when He quotes the prophecy, He not only resembles a Son of man, He is +truly such; He is most frequently "_the_ Son of man," the pre-eminent, +perhaps the only one.(6) + +But while the expression intimates a share in the lowliness of human +nature, it does not imply a lowly rank among men. + +Our Lord often suggested by its use the difference between His +circumstances and His dignity. "The Son of man hath not where to lay His +head:" "Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss," in each of these we +feel that the title asserts a claim to different treatment. And in the +great verse, God "hath given Him authority to execute judgment, because He +is the Son of man," we discern that although human hands are chosen as +fittest to do judgment upon humanity, yet His extraordinary dignity is +also taken into account. The title belongs to our Lord's humiliation, but +is far from an additional abasement; it asserts His supremacy over those +whom He is not ashamed to call brethren. + +We all are sons of men; and Jesus used the phrase when He promised that +all manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven to us. But there is a +higher sense in which, among thousands of the ignoble, we single out one +"real man;" and in this sense, as fulfilling the idea, Jesus was the +Second Man. What a difference exists between the loftiest sons of vulgar +men, and the Son of our complete humanity, of the race, "of Man." The +pre-eminence even of our best and greatest is fragmentary and incomplete. +In their veins runs but a portion of the rich life-blood of the race: but +a share of its energy throbs in the greatest bosom. We seldom find the +typical thinker in the typical man of action. Originality of purpose and +of means are not commonly united. To know all that holiness embraces, we +must combine the energies of one saint with the gentler graces of a second +and the spiritual insight of a third. There is no man of genius who fails +to make himself the child of his nation and his age, so that Shakespeare +would be impossible in France, Hugo in Germany, Goethe in England. Two +great nations slay their kings and surrender their liberties to military +dictators, but Napoleon would have been unendurable to us, and Cromwell +ridiculous across the channel. + +Large allowances are to be made for the Greek in Plato, the Roman in +Epictetus, before we can learn of them. Each and all are the sons of their +tribe and century, not of all mankind and all time. But who will point out +the Jewish warp in any word or institution of Jesus? In the new man which +is after His image there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and +uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman, but Christ is all +and in all, something of Him represented by each, all of them concentrated +in Him. He alone speaks to all men without any foreign accent, and He +alone is recognised and understood as widely as the voices of nature, as +the sigh of waves and breezes, and the still endurance of the stars. +Reading the Gospels, we become aware that four writers of widely different +bias and temperament have all found an equally congenial subject, so that +each has given a portrait harmonious with the others, and yet unique. It +is because the sum total of humanity is in Christ, that no single writer +could have told His story. + +But now consider what this implies. It demands an example from which +lonely women and heroic leaders of action should alike take fire. It +demands that He should furnish meditation for sages in the closet, and +should found a kingdom more brilliant than those of conquerors. It demands +that He should strike out new paths towards new objects, and be supremely +original without deviating from what is truly sane and human, for any +selfish or cruel or unwholesome joy. It demands the gentleness of a sheep +before her shearers, and such burning wrath as seven times over denounced +against the hypocrites of Jerusalem woe and the damnation of hell. It +demands the sensibilities which made Gethsemane dreadful, and the strength +which made Calvary sublime. It demands that when we approach Him we should +learn to feel the awe of other worlds, the nearness of God, the sinfulness +of sin, the folly of laying up much goods for many years; that life should +be made solemn and profound, but yet that it should not be darkened nor +depressed unduly; that nature and man should be made dear to us, little +children, and sinners who are scorned yet who love much, and lepers who +stand afar off--yes, and even the lilies of the field, and the fowls of the +air; that He should not be unaware of the silent processes of nature which +bears fruit of itself, of sunshine and rain, and the fury of storms and +torrents, and the leap of the lightning across all the sky. Thus we can +bring to Jesus every anxiety and every hope, for He, and only He, was +tempted in all points like unto us. Universality of power, of sympathy, +and of influence, is the import of this title which Jesus claims. And that +demand Jesus only has satisfied, Who is the Master of Sages, the Friend of +sinners, the Man of Sorrows, and the King of kings, the one perfect +blossom on the tree of our humanity, the ideal of our nature incarnate, +the Second Adam in Whom the fulness of the race is visible. The Second Man +is the Lord from Heaven. And this strange and solitary grandeur He +foretold, when He took to Himself this title, itself equally strange and +solitary, the Son of man. + + + + +The Call And Feast Of Levi. + + + "And He went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude + resorted unto Him, and He taught them. And as He passed by, He saw + Levi the _son_ of Alphaeus sitting at the place of toll, and He + saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him. And it + came to pass, that He was sitting at meat in his house, and many + publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and His disciples: for + there were many, and they followed Him. And the scribes of the + Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with the sinners and + publicans, said unto His disciples, He eateth and drinketh with + publicans and sinners. And when Jesus heard it, He saith unto + them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they + that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but + sinners."--MARK ii. 13-17 (R.V.). + + +Jesus loved the open air. His custom when teaching was to point to the +sower, the lily, and the bird. He is no pale recluse emerging from a +library to instruct, in the dim religious light of cloisters, a world +unknown except by books. Accordingly we find Him "again by the sea-side." +And however the scribes and Pharisees may have continued to murmur, the +multitudes resorted to Him, confiding in the evidence of their experience, +which never saw it on this fashion. + +That argument was perfectly logical; it was an induction, yet it led them +to a result curiously the reverse of theirs who reject miracles for being +contrary to experience. "Yes," they said, "we appeal to experience, but +the conclusion is that good deeds which it cannot parallel must come +directly from the Giver of all good." + +Such good deeds continue. The creed of Christ has re-formed Europe, it is +awakening Asia, it has transformed morality, and imposed new virtues on +the conscience. It is the one religion for the masses, the lapsed, and +indeed for the sick in body as truly as in soul; for while science +discourses with enthusiasm upon progress by the rejection of the less fit, +our faith cherishes these in hospitals, asylums, and retreats, and +prospers by lavishing care upon the outcast and rejected of the world. Now +this transcends experience: we never saw it on this fashion; it is +supernatural. Or else let scientific atheism produce its reformed +magdalens, and its homes for the hopelessly diseased and imbecile, and all +"the weakest" who go, as she tenderly assures us, "to the wall." + +Jesus now gave a signal proof of His independence of human judgment, His +care for the despised and rejected. For such a one He completed the +rupture between Himself and the rulers of the people. + +Sitting at the receipt of toll, in the act of levying from his own nation +the dues of the conqueror, Levi the publican received the call to become +an Apostle and Evangelist. It was a resolute defiance of the pharisaic +judgment. It was a memorable rebuke for those timid slaves of expediency +who nurse their influence, refuse to give offence, fear to "mar their +usefulness" by "compromising themselves," and so make their whole life one +abject compromise, and let all emphatic usefulness go by. + +Here is one upon whom the bigot scowls more darkly still than upon Jesus +Himself, by whom the Roman yoke is pressed upon Hebrew necks, an apostate +in men's judgment from the national faith and hope. And such judgments +sadly verify themselves; a despised man easily becomes despicable. + +But however Levi came by so strange and hateful an office, Jesus saw in +him no slavish earner of vile bread by doing the foreigner's hateful work. +He was more willing than they who scorned him to follow the true King of +Israel. It is even possible that the national humiliations to which his +very office testified led him to other aspirations, longings after a +spiritual kingdom beyond reach of the sword or the exactions of Rome. For +his Gospel is full of the true kingdom of heaven, the spiritual +fulfilments of prophecy, and the relations between the Old Testament and +the Messiah. + +Here then is an opportunity to show the sneering scribe and carping +Pharisee how little their cynical criticism weighs with Jesus. He calls +the despised agent of the heathen to His side, and is obeyed. And now the +name of the publican is engraven upon one of the foundations of the city +of God. + +Nor did Jesus refuse to carry such condescension to its utmost limit, +eating and drinking in Levi's house with many publicans and sinners, who +were already attracted by His teaching, and now rejoiced in His +familiarity. Just in proportion as He offended the pharisaic scribes, so +did He inspire with new hope the unhappy classes who were taught to +consider themselves castaway. His very presence was medicinal, a rebuke to +foul words and thoughts, an outward and visible sign of grace. It brought +pure air and sunshine into a fever-stricken chamber. + +And this was His justification when assailed. He had borne healing to the +sick. He had called sinners to repentance. And therefore His example has a +double message. It rebukes those who look curiously on the intercourse of +religious people with the world, who are plainly of opinion that the +leaven should be hid anywhere but in the meal, who can never fairly +understand St. Paul's permission to go to an idolater's feast. But it +gives no licence to go where we cannot be a healing influence, where the +light must be kept in a dark lantern if not under a bushel, where, instead +of drawing men upward, we shall only confirm their indolent +self-satisfaction. + +Christ's reason for seeking out the sick, the lost, is ominous indeed for +the self-satisfied. The whole have no need of a physician; He came not to +call the righteous. Such persons, whatever else they be, are not +Christians until they come to a different mind. + +In calling Himself the Physician of sick souls, Jesus made a startling +claim, which becomes more emphatic when we observe that He also quoted the +words of Hosea, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice" (Matt. ix. 13; Hos. +vi. 6). For this expression occurs in that chapter which tells how the +Lord Himself hath smitten and will bind us up. And the complaint is just +before it that when Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then +went Ephraim to Assyria and sent to king Jareb, but he is not able to heal +you, neither shall he cure you of your wound (Hos. v. 13-vi. 1). As the +Lord Himself hath torn, so He must heal. + +Now Jesus comes to that part of Israel which the Pharisees despise for +being wounded and diseased, and justifies Himself by words which must, +from their context, have reminded every Jew of the declaration that God is +the physician, and it is vain to seek healing elsewhere. And immediately +afterwards, He claims to be the Bridegroom, whom also Hosea spoke of as +divine. Yet men profess that only in St. John does He advance such claims +that we should ask, Whom makest Thou Thyself? Let them try the experiment, +then, of putting such words into the lips of any mortal. + +The choice of the apostles, and most of all that of Levi, illustrates the +power of the cross to elevate obscure and commonplace lives. He was born, +to all appearance, to an uneventful, unobserved existence. We read no +remarkable action of the Apostle Matthew; as an Evangelist he is simple, +orderly and accurate, as becomes a man of business, but the graphic energy +of St. Mark, the pathos of St. Luke, the profundity of St. John are +absent. Yet his greatness will outlive the world. + +Now as Christ provided nobility and a career for this man of the people, +so He does for all. "Are all apostles?" Nay, but all may become pillars in +the temple of eternity. The gospel finds men plunged in monotony, in the +routine of callings which machinery and the subdivision of labour make +ever more colourless, spiritless, and dull. It is a small thing that it +introduces them to a literature more sublime than Milton, more sincere and +direct than Shakespere. It brings their little lives into relationship +with eternity. It braces them for a vast struggle, watched by a great +cloud of witnesses. It gives meaning and beauty to the sordid present, and +to the future a hope full of immortality. It brings the Christ of God +nearer to the humblest than when of old He ate and drank with publicans +and sinners. + + + + +The Controversy Concerning Fasting. + + + "And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they + come and say unto Him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples + of the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples fast not?"--MARK ii. 18 + (R.V.). + + +The Pharisees had just complained to the disciples that Jesus ate and +drank in questionable company. Now they join with the followers of the +ascetic Baptist in complaining to Jesus that His disciples eat and drink +at improper seasons, when others fast. And as Jesus had then replied, that +being a Physician, He was naturally found among the sick, so He now +answered, that being the Bridegroom, fasting in His presence is +impossible: "Can the sons of the bridechamber fast while the Bridegroom is +with them?" A new spirit is working in Christianity, far too mightily to +be restrained by ancient usages; if the new wine be put into such +wineskins it will spoil them, and itself be lost. + +Hereupon three remarkable subjects call for attention: the immense +personal claim advanced; the view which Christ takes of fasting; and, +arising out of this, the principle which He applies to all external rites +and ceremonies. + +I. Jesus does not inquire whether the fasts of other men were unreasonable +or not. In any case, He declares that His mere presence put everything on +a new footing for His followers who could not fast simply because He was +by. Thus He assumes a function high above that of any prophet or teacher: +He not only reveals duty, as a lamp casts light upon the compass by which +men steer; but He modifies duty itself, as iron deflects the needle. + +This is because He is the Bridegroom. + +The disciples of John would hereupon recall his words of self-effacement; +that He was only the friend of the Bridegroom, whose fullest joy was to +hear the Bridegroom's exultant voice. + +But no Jew could forget the Old Testament use of the phrase. It is clear +from St. Matthew that this controversy followed immediately upon the last, +when Jesus assumed a function ascribed to God Himself by the very passage +from Hosea which He then quoted. Then He was the Physician for the soul's +diseases; now He is the Bridegroom, in Whom centre its hopes, its joys, +its affections, its new life. That position in the spiritual existence +cannot be given away from God without idolatry. The same Hosea who makes +God the Healer, gives to Him also, in the most explicit words, what Jesus +now claims for Himself. "I will betroth thee unto Me for ever.... I will +even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord" +(ii. 19, 20). Isaiah too declares "thy Maker is thy husband," and "as the +bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee" +(liv. 5; lxii. 5). And in Jeremiah, God remembers the love of Israel's +espousals, who went after Him in the wilderness, in a land that was not +sown (ii. 2). Now all this is transferred throughout the New Testament to +Jesus. The Baptist is not alone in this respect. St. John regards the +Bride as the wife of the Lamb (Rev. xxi. 9). St. Paul would fain present +his Corinthian Church as a pure virgin to Christ, as to one husband (2 +Cor. xi. 2). For him, the absolute oneness of marriage is a mystery of the +union betwixt Christ and His Church (Eph. v. 32). If Jesus be not God, +then a relation hitherto exclusively belonging to Jehovah, to rob Him of +which is the adultery of the soul, has been systematically transferred by +the New Testament to a creature. His glory has been given to another. + +This remarkable change is clearly the work of Jesus Himself. The marriage +supper of which He spoke is for the King's son. At His return the cry will +be heard, Behold the Bridegroom cometh. In this earliest passage His +presence causes the joy of the Bride, who said to the Lord in the Old +Testament, Thou art my Husband (Hosea ii. 16). + +There is not to be found in the Gospel of St. John a passage more +certainly calculated to inspire, when Christ's dignity was assured by His +resurrection and ascension, the adoration which His Church has always paid +to the Lamb in the midst of the throne. + +II. The presence of the Bridegroom dispenses with the obligation to fast. +Yet it is beyond denial that fasting as a religious exercise comes within +the circle of New Testament sanctions. Jesus Himself, when taking our +burdens upon Him, as He had stooped to the baptism of repentance, +condescended also to fast. He taught His disciples when they fasted to +anoint their head and wash their face. The mention of fasting is indeed a +later addition to the words "this kind (of demon) goeth not out but by +prayer" (Mark ix. 29), but we know that the prophets and teachers of +Antioch were fasting when bidden to consecrate Barnabas and Saul, and they +fasted again and prayed before they laid their hands upon them (Acts xiii. +2, 3). + +Thus it is right to fast, at times and from one point of view; but at +other times, and from Jewish and formal motives, it is unnatural and +mischievous. It is right when the Bridegroom is taken away, a phrase which +certainly does not cover all this space between the Ascension and the +Second Advent, since Jesus still reveals Himself to His own though not +unto the world, and is with His Church all the days. Scripture has no +countenance for the notion that we lost by the Ascension in privilege or +joy. But when the body would fain rise up against the spirit, it must be +kept under and brought into subjection (1 Cor. ix. 27). When the closest +domestic joys would interrupt the seclusion of the soul with God, they may +be suspended, though but for a time (1 Cor. vii. 5). And when the supreme +blessing of intercourse with God, the presence of the Bridegroom, is +obscured or forfeited through sin, it will then be as inevitable that the +loyal heart should turn away from worldly pleasures, as that the first +disciples should reject these in the dread hours of their bereavement. + +Thus Jesus abolished the superstition that grace may be had by a +mechanical observance of a prescribed regimen at an appointed time. He did +not deny, but rather implied the truth, that body and soul act and +counteract so that spiritual impressions may be weakened and forfeited by +untimely indulgence of the flesh. + +By such teaching, Jesus carried forward the doctrine already known to the +Old Testament. There it was distinctly announced that the return from +exile abrogated those fasts which commemorated national calamities, so +that "the fast of the fourth month, and of the fifth, and of the seventh +and of the tenth shall be to the house of Israel joy and gladness, +cheerful feasts" (Zech. vii. 3, viii. 19). Even while these fasts had +lasted they had been futile, because they were only formal. "When ye +fasted and mourned, did ye at all fast unto me? And when ye eat, and when +ye drink, do ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?" (Zech. +vii. 5, 6). And Isaiah had plainly laid down the great rule, that a fast +and an acceptable day unto the Lord was not a day to afflict the soul and +bow the head, but to deny and discipline our selfishness for some good +end, to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and +to let the oppressed go free, to deal bread to the hungry, and to bring +home the poor that is cast out (Isa. lviii. 5-7). + +The true spirit of fasting breathes an ampler breath in any of the +thousand forms of Christian self-denial, than in those petty abstinences, +those microscopic observances, which move our wonder less by the +superstition which expects them to bring grace than by the childishness +which expects them to have any effect whatever. + +III. Jesus now applies a great principle to all external rites and +ceremonies. They have their value. As the wineskin retains the wine, so +are feelings and aspirations aided, and even preserved, by suitable +external forms. Without these, emotion would lose itself for want of +restraint, wasted, like spilt wine, by diffuseness. And if the forms are +unsuitable and outworn, the same calamity happens, the strong new feelings +break through them, "and the wine perisheth, and the skins." In this +respect, how many a sad experience of the Church attests the wisdom of her +Lord; what losses have been suffered in the struggle between forms that +had stiffened into archaic ceremonialism and new zeal demanding scope for +its energy, between the antiquated phrases of a bygone age and the new +experience, knowledge and requirements of the next, between the frosty +precisions of unsympathetic age and the innocent warmth and freshness of +the young, too often, alas, lost to their Master in passionate revolt +against restraints which He neither imposed nor smiled upon. + +Therefore the coming of a new revelation meant the repeal of old +observances, and Christ refused to sew His new faith like a patchwork upon +ancient institutions, of which it would only complete the ruin. Thus He +anticipated the decision of His apostles releasing the Gentiles from the +law of Moses. And He bestowed on His Church an adaptiveness to various +times and places, not always remembered by missionaries among the heathen, +by fastidious critics of new movements at home, nor by men who would +reduce the lawfulness of modern agencies to a question of precedent and +archaeology. + + + + +The Sabbath. + + + "And it came to pass, that He was going on the sabbath day through + the cornfields; and His disciples began, as they went, to pluck + the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do + they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And He said unto + them, Did ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was + an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he entered into + the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and did eat the + shewbread, which it is not lawful to eat save for the priests, and + gave also to them that were with him? And He said unto them, The + sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: so that the + Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath."--MARK ii. 23-28 (R.V.). + + +Twice in succession Christ had now asserted the freedom of the soul +against His Jewish antagonists. He was free to eat with sinners, for their +good, and His followers were free to disregard fasts, because the +Bridegroom was with them. A third attack in the same series is prepared. +The Pharisees now take stronger ground, since the law itself enforced the +obligation of the Sabbath. Even Isaiah, the most free-spirited of all the +prophets, in the same passage where he denounced the fasts of the +self-righteous, bade men to keep their foot from the Sabbath (Isa. lviii. +13, 14). Here they felt sure of their position; and when they found the +disciples, in a cornfield where the long stems had closed over the path, +"making a way," which was surely forbidden labour, and this by "plucking +the ears," which was reaping, and then rubbing these in their hands to +reject the chaff, which was winnowing, they cried out in affected horror, +Behold, why do they that which is not lawful? To them it mattered nothing +that the disciples really hungered, and that abstinence, rather than the +slight exertion which they condemned, would cause real inconvenience and +unrest. + +Perhaps the answer of our Lord has been as much misunderstood as any other +words He ever spoke. It has been assumed that He spoke across the boundary +between the new dispensation and the old, as One from whose movements the +restraints of Judaism had entirely fallen away, to those who were still +entangled. And it has been inferred that the Fourth Commandment was no +more than such a restraint, now thrown off among the rest. But this is +quite a misapprehension both of His position and theirs. On earth He was a +minister of the circumcision. He bade His disciples to observe and do all +that was commanded from the seat of Moses. And it is by Old Testament +precedent, and from Old Testament principles, that He now refutes the +objection of the Pharisees. This is what gives the passage half its charm, +this discovery of freedom like our own in the heart of the stern old +Hebrew discipline, as a fountain and flowers on the face of a granite +crag, this demonstration that all we now enjoy is developed from what +already lay in germ enfolded in the law. + +David and his followers, when at extremity, had eaten the shewbread which +it was not lawful for them to eat. It is a striking assertion. We should +probably have sought a softer phrase. We should have said that in other +circumstances it would have been unlawful, that only necessity made it +lawful; we should have refused to look straight in the face the naked ugly +fact that David broke the law. But Jesus was not afraid of any fact. He +saw and declared that the priests in the Temple itself profaned the +Sabbath when they baked the shewbread and when they circumcised children. +They were blameless, not because the Fourth Commandment remained +inviolate, but because circumstances made it right for them to profane the +Sabbath. And His disciples were blameless also, upon the same principle, +that the larger obligation overruled the lesser, that all ceremonial +observance gave way to human need, that mercy is a better thing than +sacrifice. + +And thus it appeared that the objectors were themselves the transgressors; +they had condemned the guiltless. + +A little reflection will show that our Lord's bold method, His startling +admission that David and the priests alike did that which was not lawful, +is much more truly reverential than our soft modern compromises, our +shifty devices for persuading ourselves that in various permissible and +even necessary deviations from prescribed observances, there is no real +infraction of any law whatever. + +To do this, we reduce to a minimum the demands of the precept. We train +ourselves to think, not of its full extension, but of what we can compress +it into. Therefore, in future, even when no urgency exists, the precept +has lost all beyond this minimum; its sharp edges are filed away. Jesus +leaves it to resume all its energy, when mercy no longer forbids the +sacrifice. + +The text, then, says nothing about the abolition of a Day of Rest. On the +contrary, it declares that this day is not a Jewish but a universal +ordinance, it is made for man. At the same time, it refuses to place the +Sabbath among the essential and inflexible laws of right and wrong. It is +made for man, for his physical repose and spiritual culture; man was not +made for it, as he is for purity, truth, and godliness. Better for him to +die than outrage these; they are the laws of his very being; he is royal +by serving them; in obeying them he obeys his God. It is not thus with +anything external, ceremonial, any ritual, any rule of conduct, however +universal be its range, however permanent its sanctions. The Sabbath is +such a rule, permanent, far-reaching as humanity, made "for man." But this +very fact, Jesus tells us, is the reason why He Who represented the race +and its interests, was "Lord even of the Sabbath." + +Let those who deny the Divine authority of this great institution ponder +well the phrase which asserts its universal range, and which finds it a +large assertion of the mastery of Christ that He is Lord "even of the +Sabbath." But those who have scruples about the change of day by which +honour is paid to Christ's resurrection, and those who would make +burdensome and dreary, a horror to the young and a torpor to the old, what +should be called a delight and honourable, these should remember that the +ordinance is blighted, root and branch, when it is forbidden to minister +to the physical or spiritual welfare of the human race. + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + + + +The Withered Hand. + + + "And He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man + there which had his hand withered. And they watched Him, whether + He would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse Him. + And He saith unto the man that had his hand withered, Stand forth. + And He saith unto them, Is it lawful on the sabbath day to do good + or to do harm? to save a life, or to kill? But they held their + peace. And when He had looked round about on them with anger, + being grieved at the hardening of their heart, He saith unto the + man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth: and his + hand was restored. And the Pharisees went out, and straightway + with the Herodians took counsel against Him, how they might + destroy Him."--MARK iii. 1-6 (R.V.). + + +In the controversies just recorded, we have recognised the ideal Teacher, +clear to discern and quick to exhibit the decisive point at issue, +careless of small pedantries, armed with principles and precedents which +go to the heart of the dispute. + +But the perfect man must be competent in more than theory; and we have now +a marvellous example of tact, decision and self-control in action. When +Sabbath observance is again discussed, his enemies have resolved to push +matters to extremity. They watch, no longer to cavil, but that they may +accuse Him. It is in the synagogue; and their expectations are sharpened +by the presence of a pitiable object, a man whose hand is not only +paralyzed in the sinews, but withered up and hopeless. St. Luke tells us +that it was the right hand, which deepened his misery. And St. Matthew +records that they asked Christ, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? +thus urging Him by a challenge to the deed which they condemned. What a +miserable state of mind! They believe that Jesus can work the cure, since +this is the very basis of their plot; and yet their hostility is not +shaken, for belief in a miracle is not conversion; to acknowledge a +prodigy is one thing, and to surrender the will is quite another. Or how +should we see around us so many Christians in theory, reprobates in life? +They long to see the man healed, yet there is no compassion in this +desire, hatred urges them to wish what mercy impels Christ to grant. But +while He relieves the sufferer, He will also expose their malice. +Therefore He makes His intention public, and whets their expectation, by +calling the man forth into the midst. And then He meets their question +with another: Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day or evil, to save +life or to kill? And when they preserved their calculated silence, we know +how He pressed the question home, reminding them that not one of them +would fail to draw His own sheep out of a pit upon the Sabbath day. +Selfishness made the difference, for a man was better than a sheep, but +did not, like the sheep, belong to them. They do not answer: instead of +warning Him away from guilt, they eagerly await the incriminating act: we +can almost see the spiteful subtle smile playing about their bloodless +lips; and Jesus marks them well. He looked round about them in anger, but +not in bitter personal resentment, for He was grieved at the hardness of +their hearts, and pitied them also, even while enduring such contradiction +of sinners against Himself. This is the first mention by St. Mark of that +impressive gaze, afterwards so frequent in every Gospel, which searched +the scribe who answered well, and melted the heart of Peter. + +And now, by one brief utterance, their prey breaks through their meshes. +Any touch would have been a work, a formal infraction of the law. +Therefore there is no touch, neither is the helpless man bidden to take up +any burden, or instigated to the slightest ritual irregularity. Jesus only +bids him do what was forbidden to none, but what had been impossible for +him to perform; and the man succeeds, he does stretch forth his hand: he +is healed: the work is done. Yet nothing has been done; as a work of +healing not even a word has been said. For He who would so often defy +their malice has chosen to show once how easily He can evade it, and not +one of them is more free from any blame, however technical, than He. The +Pharisees are so utterly baffled, so helpless in His hands, so "filled +with madness" that they invoke against this new foe the help of their +natural enemies, the Herodians. These appear on the stage because the +immense spread of the Messianic movement endangers the Idumaean dynasty. +When first the wise men sought an infant King of the Jews, the Herod of +that day was troubled. That instinct which struck at His cradle is now +reawakened, and will not slumber again until the fatal day when the new +Herod shall set Him at nought and mock Him. In the meanwhile these strange +allies perplex themselves with the hard question, How is it possible to +destroy so acute a foe. + +While observing their malice, and the exquisite skill which baffles it, we +must not lose sight of other lessons. It is to be observed that no offence +to hypocrites, no danger to Himself, prevented Jesus from removing human +suffering. And also that He expects from the man a certain co-operation +involving faith: he must stand forth in the midst; every one must see his +unhappiness; he is to assume a position which will become ridiculous +unless a miracle is wrought. Then he must make an effort. In the act of +stretching forth his hand the strength to stretch it forth is given; but +he would not have tried the experiment unless he trusted before he +discovered the power. Such is the faith demanded of our sin-stricken and +helpless souls; a faith which confesses its wretchedness, believes in the +good will of God and the promises of Christ, and receives the experience +of blessing through having acted on the belief that already the blessing +is a fact in the Divine volition. + +Nor may we overlook the mysterious impalpable spiritual power which +effects its purposes without a touch, or even an explicit word of healing +import. What is it but the power of Him Who spake and it was done, Who +commanded and it stood fast? + +And all this vividness of look and bearing, this innocent subtlety of +device combined with a boldness which stung His foes to madness, all this +richness and verisimilitude of detail, this truth to the character of +Jesus, this spiritual freedom from the trammels of a system petrified and +grown rigid, this observance in a secular act of the requirements of the +spiritual kingdom, all this wealth of internal evidence goes to attest one +of the minor miracles which sceptics declare to be incredible. + + + + +The Choice Of The Twelve. + + + "And Jesus with His disciples withdrew to the sea: and a great + multitude from Galilee followed: and from Judaea, and from + Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and beyond Jordan, and about Tyre and + Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what great things He did, came + unto Him. And He spake to His disciples, that a little boat should + wait on Him because of the crowd, lest they should throng Him: for + He had healed many; insomuch that as many as had plagues pressed + upon Him that they might touch Him. And the unclean spirits, + whensoever they beheld Him, fell down before Him, and cried, + saying, Thou art the Son of God. And He charged them much that + they should not make Him known. And He goeth up into the mountain, + and calleth unto Him whom He Himself would: and they went unto + Him. And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and + that He might send them forth to preach, and to have authority to + cast out devils: and Simon he surnamed Peter; and James the _son_ + of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and them He surnamed + Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder: and Andrew, and Philip, and + Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the _son_ of + Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, + which also betrayed Him."--MARK iii. 7-19 (R.V.). + + +We have reached a crisis in the labours of the Lord, when hatred which has +become deadly is preparing a blow. The Pharisees are aware, by a series of +experiences, that His method is destructive to their system, that He is +too fearless to make terms with them, that He will strip the mask off +their faces. Their rage was presently intensified by an immense extension +of His fame. And therefore He withdrew from the plots which ripen most +easily in cities, the hotbeds of intrigue, to the open coast. It is His +first retreat before opposition, and careful readers of the Gospels must +observe that whenever the pressure of His enemies became extreme, He +turned for safety to the simple fishermen, among whom they had no party, +since they had preached no gospel to the poor, and that He was frequently +conveyed by water from point to point, easily reached by followers, who +sometimes indeed outran Him upon foot, but where treason had to begin its +wiles afresh. Hither, perhaps camping along the beach, came a great +multitude not only from Galilee but also from Judaea, and even from the +capital, the headquarters of the priesthood, and by a journey of several +days from Idumaea, and from Tyre and Sidon, so that afterwards, even there, +He could not be hid. Many came to see what great things He did, but others +bore with them some afflicted friend, or were themselves sore stricken by +disease. And Jesus gave like a God, opening His hand and satisfying their +desires, "for power went out of Him, and healed them all." Not yet had the +unbelief of man restrained the compassion of His heart, and forced Him to +exhibit another phase of the mind of God, by refusing to give that which +is holy to the dogs. As yet, therefore, He healeth all their diseases. +Then arose an unbecoming and irreverent rush of as many as had plagues to +touch Him. A more subtle danger mingled itself with this peril from undue +eagerness. For unclean spirits, who knew His mysterious personality, +observed that this was still a secret, and was no part of His teaching, +since His disciples could not bear it yet. Many months afterwards, flesh +and blood had not revealed it even to Peter. And therefore the demons made +malicious haste to proclaim Him the Son of God, and Jesus was obliged to +charge them much that they should not make Him known. This action of His +may teach His followers to be discreet. Falsehood indeed is always evil, +but at times reticence is a duty, because certain truths are a medicine +too powerful for some stages of spiritual disease. The strong sun which +ripens the grain in autumn, would burn up the tender germs of spring. + +But it was necessary to teach as well as to heal. And Jesus showed his +ready practical ingenuity, by arranging that a little boat should wait on +Him, and furnish at once a pulpit and a retreat. + +And now Jesus took action distinctly Messianic. The harvest of souls was +plenteous, but the appointed labourers were unfaithful, and a new +organisation was to take their place. The sacraments and the apostolate +are indeed the only two institutions bestowed upon His Church by Christ +Himself; but the latter is enough to show that, so early in His course, He +saw His way to a revolution. He appointed twelve apostles, in clear +allusion to the tribes of a new Israel, a spiritual circumcision, another +peculiar people. A new Jerusalem should arise, with their names engraven +upon its twelve foundation stones. But since all great changes arrive, not +by manufacture but by growth, and in co-operation with existing +circumstances, since nations and constitutions are not made but evolved, +so was it also with the Church of Christ. The first distinct and format +announcement of a new sheepfold, entered by a new and living Way, only +came when evoked by the action of His enemies in casting out the man who +was born blind. By that time, the apostles were almost ready to take their +place in it. They had learned much. They had watched the marvellous career +to which their testimony should be rendered. By exercise they had learned +the reality, and by failure the condition of the miraculous powers which +they should transmit. But long before, at the period we have now reached, +the apostles had been chosen under pressure of the necessity to meet the +hostility of the Pharisees with a counter-agency, and to spread the +knowledge of His power and doctrine farther than One Teacher, however +endowed, could reach. They were to be workers together with Him. + +St. Mark tells us that He went up into the mountain, the well known hill +of the neighbourhood, as St. Luke also implies, and there called unto Him +whom He Himself would. The emphasis refutes a curious conjecture, that +Judas may have been urged upon Him with such importunity by the rest that +to reject became a worse evil than to receive him.(7) The choice was all +His own, and in their early enthusiasm not one whom He summoned refused +the call. Out of these He chose the Twelve, elect of the election. + +We learn from St. Luke (v. 12) that His choice, fraught with such +momentous issues, was made after a whole night of prayer, and from St. +Matthew that He also commanded the whole body of His disciples to pray the +Lord of the Harvest, not that they themselves should be chosen, but that +He would send forth labourers into His harvest. + +Now who were these by whose agency the downward course of humanity was +reversed, and the traditions of a Divine faith were poured into a new +mould? + +It must not be forgotten that their ranks were afterwards recruited from +the purest Hebrew blood and ripest culture of the time. The addition of +Saul of Tarsus proved that knowledge and position were no more proscribed +than indispensable. Yet is it in the last degree suggestive, that Jesus +drew His personal followers from classes, not indeed oppressed by want, +but lowly, unwarped by the prejudices of the time, living in close contact +with nature and with unsophisticated men, speaking and thinking the words +and thoughts of the race and not of its coteries, and face to face with +the great primitive wants and sorrows over which artificial refinement +spreads a thin, but often a baffling veil. + +With one exception the Nazarene called Galileans to His ministry; and the +Carpenter was followed by a group of fishermen, by a despised publican, by +a zealot whose love of Israel had betrayed him into wild and lawless +theories at least, perhaps into evil deeds, and by several whose previous +life and subsequent labours are unknown to earthly fame. Such are the +Judges enthroned over the twelve tribes of Israel. + +A mere comparison of the lists refutes the notion that any one Evangelist +has worked up the materials of another, so diverse are they, and yet so +easily reconciled. Matthew in one is Levi in another. Thaddaeus, Jude, and +Lebbaeus, are interchangeable. The order of the Twelve differs in all the +four lists, and yet there are such agreements, even in this respect, as to +prove that all the Evangelists were writing about what they understood. +Divide the Twelve into three ranks of four, and in none of the four +catalogues will any name, or its equivalent, be found to have wandered out +of its subdivision, out of the first, second, or third rank, in which +doubtless that apostle habitually followed Jesus. Within each rank there +is the utmost diversity of place, except that the foremost name in each is +never varied; Peter, Philip, and the Lesser James, hold the first, fifth, +and ninth place in every catalogue. And the traitor is always last. These +are coincidences too slight for design and too striking for accident, they +are the natural signs of truth. For they indicate, without obtruding or +explaining, some arrangement of the ranks, and some leadership of an +individual in each. + +Moreover, the group of the apostles presents a wonderfully lifelike +aspect. Fear, ambition, rivalry, perplexity, silence when speech is called +for, and speech when silence is befitting, vows, failures, and yet real +loyalty, alas! we know them all. The incidents which are recorded of the +chosen of Christ no inventor of the second century would have dared to +devise; and as we study them, we feel the touch of genuine life; not of +colossal statues such as repose beneath the dome of St. Peter's, but of +men, genuine, simple and even somewhat childlike, yet full of strong, +fresh, unsophisticated feeling, fit therefore to become a great power, and +especially so in the capacity of witnesses for an ennobling yet +controverted fact. + + + + +Characteristics Of The Twelve. + + + "And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He + might send them forth to preach, and to have authority to cast out + devils: and Simon He surnamed Peter; and James the _son_ of + Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and them He surnamed + Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder: and Andrew, and Philip, and + Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the _son_ of + Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, + which also betrayed Him."--MARK iii. 14-19 (R.V.). + + +The pictures of the Twelve, then, are drawn from a living group. And when +they are examined in detail, this appearance of vitality is strengthened, +by the richest and most vivid indications of individual character, such +indeed as in several cases to throw light upon the choice of Jesus. To +invent such touches is the last attainment of dramatic genius, and the +artist rarely succeeds except by deliberate and palpable +character-painting. The whole story of Hamlet and of Lear is constructed +with this end in view, but no one has ever conjectured that the Gospels +were psychological studies. If, then, we can discover several well-defined +characters, harmoniously drawn by various writers, as natural as the +central figure is supernatural, and to be recognised equally in the common +and the miraculous narratives, this will be an evidence of the utmost +value. + +We are all familiar with the impetuous vigour of St. Peter, a quality +which betrayed him into grave and well-nigh fatal errors, but when +chastened by suffering made him a noble and formidable leader of the +Twelve. We recognise it when He says, "Thou shalt never wash my feet," +"Though all men should deny Thee, yet will I never deny Thee," "Lord, to +whom should we go? Thou hast the words of everlasting life," "Thou art the +Christ, the Son of the living God," and in his rebuke of Jesus for +self-sacrifice, and in his rash blow in the garden. Does this, the best +established mental quality of any apostle, fail or grow faint in the +miraculous stories which are condemned as the accretions of a later time? +In such stories he is related to have cried out, "Depart from me, for I am +a sinful man, O Lord," he would walk upon the sea to Jesus, he proposed to +shelter Moses and Elijah from the night air in booths (a notion so natural +to a bewildered man, so exquisite in its officious well-meaning absurdity +as to prove itself, for who could have invented it?), he ventured into the +empty sepulchre while John stood awe-stricken at the portal, he plunged +into the lake to seek his risen Master on the shore, and he was presently +the first to draw the net to land. Observe the restless curiosity which +beckoned to John to ask who was the traitor, and compare it with his +question, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" But the second of these was +after the resurrection, and in answer to a prophecy. Everywhere we find a +real person and the same, and the vehemence is everywhere that of a warm +heart, which could fail signally but could weep bitterly as well, which +could learn not to claim, though twice invited, greater love than that of +others, but when asked "Lovest thou Me" at all, broke out into the +passionate appeal, "Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I +love Thee." Dull is the ear of the critic which fails to recognise here +the voice of Simon. Yet the story implies the resurrection. + +The mind of Jesus was too lofty and grave for epigram; but He put the +wilful self-reliance which Peter had to subdue even to crucifixion, into +one delicate and subtle phrase: "When thou wast young, thou girdedst +thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest." That self-willed stride, +with the loins girded, is the natural gait of Peter, when he was young. + +St. James, the first apostolic martyr, seems to have over-topped for a +while his greater brother St. John, before whom he is usually named, and +who is once distinguished as "the brother of James." He shares with him +the title of a Son of Thunder (Mark iii. 17). They were together in +desiring to rival the fiery and avenging miracle of Elijah, and to partake +of the profound baptism and bitter cup of Christ. It is an undesigned +coincidence in character, that while the latter of these events is +recorded by St. Matthew and St. Mark, the former, which, it will be +observed implies perfect confidence in the supernatural power of Christ, +is found in St. Luke alone, who has not mentioned the title it justifies +so curiously (Matt. xx. 20; Mark x. 35; Luke ix. 54). It is more +remarkable that he whom Christ bade to share his distinctive title with +another, should not once be named as having acted or spoken by himself. +With a fire like that of Peter, but no such power of initiative and of +chieftainship, how natural it is that his appointed task was martyrdom. Is +it objected that his brother also, the great apostle St. John, received +only a share in that divided title? But the family trait is quite as +palpable in him. The deeds of John were seldom wrought upon his own +responsibility, never if we except the bringing of Peter into the palace +of the high priest. He is a keen observer and a deep thinker. But he +cannot, like his Master, combine the quality of leader with those of +student and sage. In company with Andrew he found the Messiah. We have +seen James leading him for a time. It was in obedience to a sign from +Peter that He asked who was the traitor. With Peter, when Jesus was +arrested, he followed afar off. It is very characteristic that he shrank +from entering the sepulchre until Peter, coming up behind, went in first, +although it was John who thereupon "saw and believed."(8) + +With like discernment, he was the first to recognise Jesus beside the +lake, but then it was equally natural that he should tell Peter, and +follow in the ship, dragging the net to land, as that Peter should gird +himself and plunge into the lake. Peter, when Jesus drew him aside, turned +and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, with the same silent, +gentle, and sociable affection, which had so recently joined him with the +saddest and tenderest of all companions underneath the cross. At this +point there is a delicate and suggestive turn of phrase. By what incident +would any pen except his own have chosen to describe the beloved disciple +as Peter then beheld him? Assuredly we should have written, The disciple +whom Jesus loved, who also followed Him to Calvary, and to whom He +confided His mother. But from St. John himself there would have been a +trace of boastfulness in such a phrase. Now the author of the Fourth +Gospel, choosing rather to speak of privilege than service, wrote "The +disciple whom Jesus loved, which also leaned back on His breast at the +supper, and said, Lord, who is he that betrayeth Thee?" + +St. John was again with St. Peter at the Beautiful Gate, and although it +was not he who healed the cripple, yet his co-operation is implied in the +words, "Peter, fastening his eyes on him, _with John_." And when the +Council would fain have silenced them, the boldness which spoke in Peter's +reply was "the boldness of Peter and John." + +Could any series of events justify more perfectly a title which implied +much zeal, yet zeal that did not demand a specific unshared epithet? But +these events are interwoven with the miraculous narratives. + +Add to this the keenness and deliberation which so much of his story +exhibits, which at the beginning tendered no hasty homage, but followed +Jesus to examine and to learn, which saw the meaning of the orderly +arrangment of the graveclothes in the empty tomb, which was first to +recognise the Lord upon the beach, which before this had felt something in +Christ's regard for the least and weakest, inconsistent with the +forbidding of any one to cast out devils, and we have the very qualities +required to supplement those of Peter, without being discordant or +uncongenial. And therefore it is with Peter, even more than with his +brother, that we have seen John associated. In fact Christ, who sent out +His apostles by two and two, joins these in such small matters as the +tracking a man with a pitcher into the house where He would keep the +Passover. And so, when Mary of Magdala would announce the resurrection, +she found the penitent Simon in company with this loving John, comforted, +and ready to seek the tomb where he met the Lord of all Pardons. + +All this is not only coherent, and full of vital force, but it also +strengthens powerfully the evidence for his authorship of the Gospel, +written the last, looking deepest into sacred mysteries, and comparatively +unconcerned for the mere flow of narrative, but tender with private and +loving discourse, with thoughts of the protecting Shepherd, the sustaining +Vine, the Friend Who wept by a grave, Who loved John, Who provided amid +tortures for His mother, Who knew that Peter loved Him, and bade him feed +the lambs--and yet thunderous as becomes a Boanerges, with indignation half +suppressed against "the Jews" (so called as if he had renounced his +murderous nation), against the selfish high-priest of "that same year," +and against the son of perdition, for whom certain astute worldlings have +surmised that his wrath was such as they best understand, personal, and +perhaps a little spiteful. The temperament of John, revealed throughout, +was that of August, brooding and warm and hushed and fruitful, with low +rumblings of tempest in the night. + +It is remarkable that such another family resemblance as between James and +John exists between Peter and Andrew. The directness and self-reliance of +his greater brother may be discovered in the few incidents recorded of +Andrew also. At the beginning, and after one interview with Jesus, when he +finds his brother, and becomes the first of the Twelve to spread the +gospel, he utters the short unhesitating announcement, "We have found the +Messiah." When Philip is uncertain about introducing the Greeks who would +see Jesus, he consults Andrew, and there is no more hesitation, Andrew and +Philip tell Jesus. And in just the same way, when Philip argues that two +hundred pennyworth of bread are not enough for the multitude, Andrew +intervenes with practical information about the five barley loaves and the +two small fishes, insufficient although they seem. A man prompt and ready, +and not blind to the resources that exist because they appear scanty. + +Twice we have found Philip mentioned in conjunction with him. It was +Philip, apparently accosted by the Greeks because of his Gentile name, who +could not take upon himself the responsibility of telling Jesus of their +wish. And it was he, when consulted about the feeding of the five +thousand, who went off into a calculation of the price of the food +required--two hundred pennyworth, he says, would not suffice. Is it not +highly consistent with this slow deliberation, that he should have +accosted Nathanael with a statement so measured and explicit: "We have +found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of +Nazareth, the Son of Joseph." What a contrast to Andrew's terse +announcement, "We have found the Messiah." And how natural that Philip +should answer the objection, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" +with the passionless reasonable invitation, "Come and see." It was in the +same unimaginative prosaic way that he said long after, "Lord, show us the +Father, and it sufficeth us." To this comparatively sluggish temperament, +therefore, Jesus Himself had to address the first demand He made on any. +"Follow me," He said, and was obeyed. It would not be easy to compress +into such brief and incidental notices a more graphic indication of +character. + +Of the others we know little except the names. The choice of Matthew, the +man of business, is chiefly explained by the nature of his Gospel, so +explicit, orderly, and methodical, and until it approaches the +crucifixion, so devoid of fire. + +But when we come to Thomas, we are once more aware of a defined and vivid +personality, somewhat perplexed and melancholy, of little hope but settled +loyalty. + +All the three sayings reported of him belong to a dejected temperament: +"Let us also go, that we may die with Him"--as if there could be no +brighter meaning than death in Christ's proposal to interrupt a dead man's +sleep. "Lord, we know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the +way?"--these words express exactly the same despondent failure to +apprehend. And so it comes to pass that nothing short of tangible +experience will convince him of the resurrection. And yet there is a warm +and devoted heart to be recognised in the proposal to share Christ's +death, in the yearning to know whither He went, and even in that agony of +unbelief, which dwelt upon the cruel details of suffering, until it gave +way to one glad cry of recognition and of worship; therefore his demand +was granted, although a richer blessing was reserved for those who, not +having seen, believed. + + + + +The Apostle Judas. + + + "And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed Him."--MARK iii. 19. + + +The evidential value of what has been written about the apostles will, to +some minds, seem to be overborne by the difficulties which start up at the +name of Judas. And yet the fact that Jesus chose him--that awful fact which +has offended many--is in harmony with all that we see around us, with the +prodigious powers bestowed upon Napoleon and Voltaire, bestowed in full +knowledge of the dark results, yet given because the issues of human +freewill never cancel the trusts imposed on human responsibility. +Therefore the issues of the freewill of Judas did not cancel the trust +imposed upon his responsibility; and Jesus acted not on His foreknowledge +of the future, but on the mighty possibilities, for good as for evil, +which heaved in the bosom of the fated man as he stood upon the mountain +sward. + +In the story of Judas, the principles which rule the world are made +visible. From Adam to this day men have been trusted who failed and fell, +and out of their very downfall, but not by precipitating it, the plans of +God have evolved themselves. + +It is not possible to make such a study of the character of Judas as of +some others of the Twelve. A traitor is naturally taciturn. No word of his +draws our attention to the fact that he had gained possession of the bag, +even though one who had sat at the receipt of custom might more naturally +have become the treasurer. We do not hear his voice above the rest, until +St. John explains the source of the general discontent, which remonstrated +against the waste of ointment. He is silent even at the feast, in despite +of the words which revealed his guilty secret, until a slow and tardy +question is wrung from him, not "Is it I, Lord?" but "Rabbi, is it I?" His +influence is like that of a subtle poison, not discerned until its effects +betray it. + +But many words of Jesus acquire new force and energy when we observe that, +whatever their drift beside, they were plainly calculated to influence and +warn Iscariot. Such are the repeated and urgent warnings against +covetousness, from the first parable, spoken so shortly after his +vocation, which reckons the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other +things among the tares that choke the seed, down to the declaration that +they who trust in riches shall hardly enter the kingdom. Such are the +denunciations against hypocrisy, spoken openly, as in the Sermon on the +Mount, or to His own apart, as when He warned them of the leaven of the +Pharisees which is hypocrisy, that secret vice which was eating out the +soul of one among them. Such were the opportunities given to retreat +without utter dishonour, as when He said, "Do ye also will to go away? ... +Did I not choose you the Twelve, and one of you is a devil?" (John vi. 67, +70). And such also were the awful warnings given of the solemn +responsibilities of special privileges. The exalted city which is brought +down to hell, the salt which is trodden under foot, the men whose sin +remained because they can claim to see, and still more plainly, the first +that shall be last, and the man for whom it were good that he had not been +born. In many besides the last of these, Judas must have felt himself +sternly because faithfully dealt with. And the exasperation which always +results from rejected warnings, the sense of a presence utterly repugnant +to his nature, may have largely contributed to his final and disastrous +collapse. + +In the life of Judas there was a mysterious impersonation of all the +tendencies of godless Judaism, and his dreadful personality seems to +express the whole movement of the nation which rejected Christ. We see +this in the powerful attraction felt toward Messiah before His aims were +understood, in the deadly estrangement and hostility which were kindled by +the gentle and self-effacing ways of Jesus, in the treachery of Judas in +the garden and the unscrupulous wiliness of the priests accusing Christ +before the governor, in the fierce intensity of rage which turned his +hands against himself and which destroyed the nation under Titus. Nay the +very sordidness which made a bargain for thirty pieces of silver has ever +since been a part of the popular conception of the race. We are apt to +think of a gross love of money as inconsistent with intense passion, but +in Shylock, the compatriot of Judas, Shakespeare combines the two. + +Contemplating this blighted and sinister career, the lesson is burnt in +upon the conscience, that since Judas by transgression fell, no place in +the Church of Christ can render any man secure. And since, falling, he was +openly exposed, none may flatter himself that the cause of Christ is bound +up with his reputation, that the mischief must needs be averted which his +downfall would entail, that Providence must needs avert from him the +natural penalties of evil-doing. Though one was as the signet upon the +Lord's hand, yet was he plucked thence. There is no security for any soul +anywhere except where love and trust repose, upon the bosom of Christ. + +Now if this be true, and if sin and scandal may conceivably penetrate even +the inmost circle of the chosen, how great an error is it to break, +because of these offences, the unity of the Church, and institute some new +communion, purer far than the Churches of Corinth and Galatia, which were +not abandoned but reformed, and more impenetrable to corruption than the +little group of those who ate and drank with Jesus. + + + + +Christ And Beelzebub. + + + "And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not + so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard it, they went out + to lay hold on Him: for they said, He is beside Himself. And the + scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, + and, By the prince of the devils casteth He out the devils. And He + called them unto Him, and said unto them in parables, How can + Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, + that kingdom cannot stand. And if an house be divided against + itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan hath + risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but + hath an end. But no one can enter into the house of the strong + _man_, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong _man_; + and then he will spoil his house."--MARK iii. 20-27 (R.V.). + + +While Christ was upon the mountain with His more immediate followers, the +excitement in the plain did not exhaust itself; for even when He entered +into a house, the crowds prevented Him and His followers from taking +necessary food. And when His friends heard of this, they judged Him as men +who profess to have learned the lesson of His life still judge, too often, +all whose devotion carries them beyond the boundaries of convention and of +convenience. For there is a curious betrayal of the popular estimate of +this world and the world to come, in the honour paid to those who cast +away life in battle, or sap it slowly in pursuit of wealth or honours, and +the contempt expressed for those who compromise it on behalf of souls, for +which Christ died. Whenever by exertion in any unselfish cause health is +broken, or fortune impaired, or influential friends estranged, the +follower of Christ is called an enthusiast, a fanatic, or even more +plainly a man of unsettled mind. He may be comforted by remembering that +Jesus was said to be beside Himself when teaching and healing left Him not +leisure even to eat. + +To this incessant and exhausting strain upon His energies and sympathies, +St. Matthew applies the prophetic words, "Himself took our infirmities and +bare our diseases" (viii. 17). And it is worth while to compare with that +passage and the one before us, Renan's assertion, that He traversed +Galilee "in the midst of a perpetual fete," and that "joyous Galilee +celebrated in fetes the approach of the well-beloved." (_Vie de J._, pp. +197, 202). The contrast gives a fine illustration of the inaccurate +shallowness of the Frenchman's whole conception of the sacred life. + +But it is remarkable that while His friends could not yet believe His +claims, and even strove to lay hold on Him, no worse suspicion ever +darkened the mind of those who knew Him best than that His reason had been +disturbed. Not these called Him gluttonous and a winebibber. Not these +blasphemed His motives. But the envoys of the priestly faction, partisans +from Jerusalem, were ready with an atrocious suggestion. He was Himself +possessed with a worse devil, before whom the lesser ones retired. By the +prince of the devils He cast out the devils. To this desperate evasion, +St. Matthew tells us, they were driven by a remarkable miracle, the +expulsion of a blind and dumb spirit, and the perfect healing of his +victim. Now the literature of the world cannot produce invective more +terrible than Jesus had at His command for these very scribes and +Pharisees, hypocrites. This is what gives majesty to His endurance. No +personal insult, no resentment at His own wrong, could ruffle the sublime +composure which, upon occasion, gave way to a moral indignation equally +sublime. Calmly He calls His traducers to look Him in the face, and +appeals to their own reason against their blasphemy. Neither kingdom nor +house divided against itself can stand. And if Satan be divided against +himself and his evil works, undoing the miseries and opening the eyes of +men, his kingdom has an end. All the experience of the world since the +beginning was proof enough that such a suicide of evil was beyond hope. +The best refutation of the notion that Satan had risen up against himself +and was divided was its clear expression. But what was the alternative? If +Satan were not committing suicide, he was overpowered. There is indeed a +fitful temporary reformation, followed by a deeper fall, which St. Matthew +tells us that Christ compared to the cleansing of a house from whence the +evil tenant has capriciously wandered forth, confident that it is still +his own, and prepared to return to it with seven other and worse fiends. A +little observation would detect such illusory improvement. But the case +before them was that of an external summons reluctantly obeyed. It +required the interference of a stronger power, which could only be the +power of God. None could enter into the strong man's house, and spoil his +goods, unless the strong man were first bound, "and then he will spoil his +house." No more distinct assertion of the personality of evil spirits than +this could be devised. Jesus and the Pharisees are not at all at issue +upon this point. He does not scout as a baseless superstition their belief +that evil spirits are at work in the world. But He declares that His own +work is the reversal of theirs. He is spoiling the strong man, whose +terrible ascendancy over the possessed resembles the dominion of a man in +his own house, among chattels without a will. + +That dominion Christ declares that only a stronger can overcome, and His +argument assumes that the stronger must needs be the finger of God, the +power of God, come unto them. The supernatural exists only above us and +below. + +Ages have passed away since then. Innumerable schemes have been devised +for the expulsion of the evils under which the world is groaning, and if +they are evils of merely human origin, human power should suffice for +their removal. The march of civilisation is sometimes appealed to. But +what blessings has civilisation without Christ ever borne to savage men? +The answer is painful: rum, gunpowder, slavery, massacre, small-pox, +pulmonary consumption, and the extinction of their races, these are all it +has been able to bestow. Education is sometimes spoken of, as if it would +gradually heal our passions and expel vice and misery from the world, as +if the worst crimes and most flagrant vices of our time were peculiar to +the ignorant and the untaught, as if no forger had ever learned to write. +And sometimes great things are promised from the advance of science, as if +all the works of dynamite and nitro-glycerine, were, like those of the +Creator, very good. + +No man can be deceived by such flattering hopes, who rightly considers the +volcanic energies, the frantic rage, the unreasoning all-sacrificing +recklessness of human passions and desires. Surely they are set on fire of +hell, and only heaven can quench the conflagration. Jesus has undertaken +to do this. His religion has been a spell of power among the degraded and +the lost; and when we come to consider mankind in bulk, it is plain enough +that no other power has had a really reclaiming, elevating effect upon +tribes and races. In our own land, what great or lasting work of +reformation, or even of temporal benevolence, has ever gone forward +without the blessing of religion to sustain it? Nowhere is Satan cast out +but by the Stronger than he, binding him, overmastering the evil principle +which tramples human nature down, as the very first step towards spoiling +his goods. The spiritual victory must precede the removal of misery, +convulsion and disease. There is no golden age for the world, except the +reign of Christ. + + + + +"Eternal Sin." + + + "Verily I say unto you, All their sins shall be forgiven unto the + sons of men, and their blasphemies wherewith soever they shall + blaspheme: but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit + hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin."--MARK + iii. 28, 29 (R.V.). + + +Having first shown that His works cannot be ascribed to Satan, Jesus +proceeds to utter the most terrible of warnings, because they said, He +hath an unclean spirit. + +"All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and their +blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme, but whosoever shall +blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness; but is guilty of +an eternal sin." + +What is the nature of this terrible offence? It is plain that their +slanderous attack lay in the direction of it, since they needed warning; +and probable that they had not yet fallen into the abyss, because they +could still be warned against it. At least, if the guilt of some had +reached that depth, there must have been others involved in their offence +who were still within reach of Christ's solemn admonition. It would seem +therefore that in saying, "He casteth out devils by Beelzebub.... He hath +an unclean spirit," they approached the confines and doubtful boundaries +between that blasphemy against the Son of man which shall be forgiven, and +the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which hath never forgiveness. + +It is evident also that any crime declared by Scripture elsewhere to be +incurable, must be identical with this, however different its guise, since +Jesus plainly and indisputably announces that all other sins but this +shall be forgiven. + +Now there are several other passages of the kind. St. John bade his +disciples to pray, when any saw a brother sinning a sin not unto death, +"and God will give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a +sin unto death: not concerning this do I say that he should make request" +(1 John v. 16). It is idle to suppose that, in the case of this sin unto +death, the Apostle only meant to leave his disciples free to pray or not +to pray. If death were not certain, it would be their duty, in common +charity, to pray. But the sin is so vaguely and even mysteriously referred +to, that we learn little more from that passage than that it was an overt +public act, of which other men could so distinctly judge the flagrancy +that from it they should withhold their prayers. It has nothing in common +with those unhappy wanderings of thought or affection which morbid +introspection broods upon, until it pleads guilty to the unpardonable sin, +for lapses of which no other could take cognizance. And in Christ's words, +the very epithet, blasphemy, involves the same public, open revolt against +good.(9) And let it be remembered that every other sin shall be forgiven. + +There are also two solemn passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews (vi. 4-6; +x. 26-31). The first of these declares that it is impossible for men who +once experienced all the enlightening and sweet influences of God, "and +then fell away," to be renewed again unto repentance. But falling upon the +road is very different from thus falling away, or how could Peter have +been recovered? Their fall is total apostasy, "they crucify to themselves +the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." They are not +fruitful land in which tares are mingled; they bear only thorns and +thistles, and are utterly rejected. And so in the tenth chapter, they who +sin wilfully are men who tread under foot the Son of God, and count the +blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and do despite (insult) unto the +Spirit of grace. + +Again we read that in the last time there will arise an enemy of God so +unparalleled that his movement will outstrip all others, and be "_the_ +falling away," and he himself will be "the man of sin" and "the son of +perdition," which latter title he only shares with Iscariot. Now the +essence of his portentous guilt is that "he opposeth and exalteth himself +against all that is called God or that is worshipped": it is a monstrous +egotism, "setting himself forth as God," and such a hatred of restraint as +makes him "the lawless one" (2 Thess. ii. 3-10). + +So far as these passages are at all definite in their descriptions, they +are entirely harmonious. They describe no sin of the flesh, of impulse, +frailty or passion, nor yet a spiritual lapse of an unguarded hour, of +rash speculation, of erring or misled opinion. They speak not of sincere +failure to accept Christ's doctrine or to recognise His commission, even +though it breathe out threats and slaughters. They do not even apply to +the dreadful sin of denying Christ in terror, though one should curse and +swear, saying, I know not the man. They speak of a deliberate and +conscious rejection of good and choice of evil, of the wilful aversion of +the soul from sacred influences, the public denial and trampling under +foot of Christ, the opposing of all that is called God. + +And a comparison of these passages enables us to understand why this sin +never can be pardoned. It is because good itself has become the food and +fuel of its wickedness, stirring up its opposition, calling out its rage, +that the apostate cannot be renewed again unto repentance. The sin is +rather indomitable than unpardonable: it has become part of the sinner's +personality; it is incurable, an eternal sin. + +Here is nothing to alarm any mourner whose contrition proves that it has +actually been possible to renew him unto repentance. No penitent has ever +yet been rejected for this guilt, for no penitent has ever been thus +guilty. + +And this being so, here is the strongest possible encouragement for all +who desire mercy. Every other sin, every other blasphemy shall be +forgiven. Heaven does not reject the vilest whom the world hisses at, the +most desperate and bloodstained whose life the world exacts in vengeance +for his outrages. None is lost but the hard and impenitent heart which +treasures up for itself wrath against the day of wrath. + + + + +The Friends Of Jesus. + + + "And there come His mother and His brethren; and, standing + without, they sent unto Him, calling Him. And a multitude was + sitting about Him; and they say unto Him, Behold, Thy mother and + Thy brethren without seek for Thee. And He answereth them, and + saith, Who is My mother and My brethren? And looking round on them + which sat round about Him He saith, Behold My mother and My + brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My + brother, and sister, and mother."--MARK iii. 31-35 (R.V.). + + +We have lately read that the relatives of Jesus, hearing of His +self-sacrificing devotion, sought to lay hold on Him, because they said, +He is beside Himself. Their concern would not be lightened upon hearing of +His rupture with the chiefs of their religion and their nation. And so it +was, that while a multitude hung upon His lips, some unsympathizing +critic, or perhaps some hostile scribe, interrupted Him with their +message. They desired to speak with Him, possibly with rude intentions, +while in any case, to grant their wish might easily have led to a painful +altercation, offending weak disciples, and furnishing a scandal to His +eager foes. + +Their interference must have caused the Lord a bitter pang. It was sad +that they were not among His hearers, but worse that they should seek to +mar His work. To Jesus, endowed with every innocent human instinct, worn +with labour and aware of gathering perils, they were an offence of the +same kind as Peter made himself when he became the mouthpiece of the +tempter. For their own sakes, whose faith He was yet to win, it was +needful to be very firm. Moreover, He was soon to make it a law of the +kingdom that men should be ready for His sake to leave brethren, or +sisters, or mother, and in so doing should receive back all these a +hundredfold in the present time (x. 29, 30). To this law it was now His +own duty to conform. Yet it was impossible for Jesus to be harsh and stern +to a group of relatives with His mother in the midst of them; and it would +be a hard problem for the finest dramatic genius to reconcile the +conflicting claims of the emergency, fidelity to God and the cause, a +striking rebuke to the officious interference of His kinsfolk, and a full +and affectionate recognition of the relationship which could not make Him +swerve. How shall He "leave" His mother and His brethren, and yet not deny +His heart? How shall He be strong without being harsh? + +Jesus reconciles all the conditions of the problem, as pointing to His +attentive hearers, He pronounces these to be His true relatives, but yet +finds no warmer term to express what He feels for them than the dear names +of mother, sisters, brethren. + +Observers whose souls were not warmed as He spoke, may have supposed that +it was cold indifference to the calls of nature which allowed His mother +and brethren to stand without. In truth, it was not that He denied the +claims of the flesh, but that He was sensitive to other, subtler, +profounder claims of the spirit and spiritual kinship. He would not +carelessly wound a mother's or a brother's heart, but the life Divine had +also its fellowships and its affinities, and still less could He throw +these aside. No cold sense of duty detains Him with His congregation while +affection seeks Him in the vestibule; no, it is a burning love, the love +of a brother or even of a son, which binds Him to His people. + +Happy are they who are in such a case. And Jesus gives us a ready means of +knowing whether we are among those whom He so wonderfully condescends to +love. "Whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven." +Feelings may ebb, and self-confidence may be shaken, but obedience depends +not upon excitement, and may be rendered by a breaking heart. + +It is important to observe that this saying declares that obedience does +not earn kinship; but only proves it, as the fruit proves the tree. +Kinship must go before acceptable service; none can do the will of the +Father who is not already the kinsman of Jesus, for He says, Whosoever +shall (_hereafter_) do the will of My Father, the same is (_already_) My +brother and sister and mother. There are men who would fain reverse the +process, and do God's will in order to merit the brotherhood of Jesus. +They would drill themselves and win battles for Him, in order to be +enrolled among His soldiers. They would accept the gospel invitation as +soon as they refute the gospel warnings that without Him they can do +nothing, and that they need the creation of a new heart and the renewal of +a right spirit within them. But when homage was offered to Jesus as a +Divine teacher and no more, He rejoined, Teaching is not what is required: +holiness does not result from mere enlightenment: Verily, verily, I say +unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. +Because the new birth is the condition of all spiritual power and energy, +it follows that if any man shall henceforth do God's will, he must already +be of the family of Christ. + +Men may avoid evil through self-respect, from early training and +restraints of conscience, from temporal prudence or dread of the future. +And this is virtuous only as the paying of a fire-insurance is so. But +secondary motives will never lift any man so high as to satisfy this +sublime standard, the doing of the will of the Father. That can only be +attained, like all true and glorious service in every cause, by the heart, +by enthusiasm, by love. And Jesus was bound to all who loved His Father by +as strong a cord as united His perfect heart with brother and sister and +mother. + +But as there is no true obedience without relationship, so is there no +true relationship unfollowed by obedience. Christ was not content to say, +Whoso doeth God's will is My kinsman: He asked, Who is My kinsman? and +gave this as an exhaustive reply. He has none other. Every sheep in His +fold hears His voice and follows Him. We may feel keen emotions as we +listen to passionate declamations, or kneel in an excited prayer-meeting, +or bear our part in an imposing ritual; we may be moved to tears by +thinking of the dupes of whatever heterodoxy we most condemn; tender and +soft emotions may be stirred in our bosom by the story of the perfect life +and Divine death of Jesus; and yet we may be as far from a renewed heart +as was that ancient tyrant from genuine compassion, who wept over the +brevity of the lives of the soldiers whom he sent into a wanton war. + +Mere feeling is not life. It moves truly; but only as a balloon moves, +rising by virtue of its emptiness, driven about by every blast that veers, +and sinking when its inflation is at an end. But mark the living creature +poised on widespread wings; it has a will, an intention, and an +initiative, and as long as its life is healthy and unenslaved, it moves at +its own good pleasure. How shall I know whether or not I am a true kinsman +of the Lord? By seeing whether I advance, whether I work, whether I have +real and practical zeal and love, or whether I have grown cold, and make +more allowance for the flesh than I used to do, and expect less from the +spirit. Obedience does not produce grace. But it proves it, for we can no +more bear fruit except we abide in Christ, than the branch that does not +abide in the vine. + +Lastly, we observe the individual love, the personal affection of Christ +for each of His people. There is a love for masses of men and +philanthropic causes, which does not much observe the men who compose the +masses, and upon whom the causes depend. Thus, one may love his country, +and rejoice when her flag advances, without much care for any soldier who +has been shot down, or has won promotion. And so we think of Africa or +India, without really feeling much about the individual Egyptian or +Hindoo. Who can discriminate and feel for each one of the multitudes +included in such a word as Want, or Sickness, or Heathenism? And judging +by our own frailty, we are led to think that Christ's love can mean but +little beyond this. As a statesman who loves the nation may be said, in +some vague way, to love and care for me, so people think of Christ as +loving and pitying us because we are items in the race He loves. But He +has eyes and a heart, not only for all, but for each one. Looking down the +shadowy vista of the generations, every sigh, every broken heart, every +blasphemy, is a separate pang to His all-embracing heart. "Before that +Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw _thee_," +lonely, unconscious, undistinguished drop in the tide of life, one leaf +among the myriads which rustle and fall in the vast forest of existence. +St. Paul speaks truly of Christ "Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." +He shall bring every secret sin to judgment, and shall we so far wrong Him +as to think His justice more searching, more penetrating, more +individualizing than His love, His memory than His heart? It is not so. +The love He offers adapts itself to every age and sex: it distinguishes +brother from sister, and sister again from mother. It is mindful of "the +least of these My brethren." But it names no Father except One. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + + + +The Parables. + + + "And again He began to teach by the sea side. And there is + gathered unto Him a very great multitude, so that He entered into + a boat, and sat in the sea; and all the multitude were by the sea + on the land. And He taught them many things in parables, and said + unto them in His teaching.... + + "And when He was alone, they that were about Him with the twelve + asked of Him the parables. And He said unto them, Unto you is + given the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are + without, all things are done in parables: that seeing they may + see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not + understand; lest haply they should turn again, and it should be + forgiven them. And He saith unto them, Know ye not this parable? + and how shall ye know all the parables?"--MARK iv. 1, 2, 10-13 + (R.V.). + + +As opposition deepened, and to a vulgar ambition, the temptation to retain +disciples by all means would have become greater, Jesus began to teach in +parables. We know that He had not hitherto done so, both by the surprise +of the Twelve, and by the necessity which He found, of giving them a clue +to the meaning of such teachings, and so to "all the parables." His own +ought to have understood. But He was merciful to the weakness which +confessed its failure and asked for instruction. + +And yet He foresaw that they which were without would discern no spiritual +meaning in such discourse. It was to have, at the same time, a revealing +and a baffling effect, and therefore it was peculiarly suitable for the +purposes of a Teacher watched by vindictive foes. Thus, when +cross-examined about His authority by men who themselves professed to know +not whence John's baptism was, He could refuse to be entrapped, and yet +tell of One Who sent His own Son, His Beloved, to receive the fruit of the +vineyard. + +This diverse effect is derived from the very nature of the parables of +Jesus. They are not, like some in the Old Testament, mere fables, in which +things occur that never happen in real life. Jotham's trees seeking a +king, are as incredible as AEsop's fox leaping for grapes. But Jesus never +uttered a parable which was not true to nature, the kind of thing which +one expects to happen. We cannot say that a rich man in hell actually +spoke to Abraham in heaven. But if he could do so, of which we are not +competent to judge, we can well believe that he would have spoken just +what we read, and that his pathetic cry, "Father Abraham," would have been +as gently answered, "Son, remember." There is no ferocity in the skies; +neither has the lost soul become a fiend. Everything commends itself to +our judgment. And therefore the story not only illustrates, but appeals, +enforces, almost proves. + +God in nature does not arrange that all seeds should grow: men have +patience while the germ slowly fructifies, they know not how; in all +things but religion such sacrifices are made, that the merchant sells all +to buy one goodly pearl; an earthly father kisses his repentant prodigal; +and even a Samaritan can be neighbour to a Jew in his extremity. So the +world is constructed: such is even the fallen human heart. Is it not +reasonable to believe that the same principles will extend farther; that +as God governs the world of matter so He may govern the world of spirits, +and that human helpfulness and clemency will not outrun the graces of the +Giver of all good? + +This is the famous argument from analogy, applied long before the time of +Butler, to purposes farther-reaching than his. But there is this +remarkable difference, that the analogy is never pressed, men are left to +discover it for themselves, or at least, to ask for an explanation, +because they are conscious of something beyond the tale, something +spiritual, something which they fain would understand. + +Now this difference is not a mannerism; it is intended. Butler pressed +home his analogies because he was striving to silence gainsayers. His Lord +and ours left men to discern or to be blind, because they had already +opportunity to become His disciples if they would. The faithful among them +ought to be conscious, or at least they should now become conscious, of +the God of grace in the God of nature. To them the world should be +eloquent of the Father's mind. They should indeed find tongues in trees, +books in the running brooks, sermons in stones. He spoke to the sensitive +mind, which would understand Him, as a wife reads her husband's secret +joys and sorrows by signs no stranger can understand. Even if she fails to +comprehend, she knows there is something to ask about. And thus, when they +were alone, the Twelve asked Him of the parables. When they were +instructed, they gained not only the moral lesson, and the sweet pastoral +narrative, the idyllic picture which conveyed it, but also the assurance +imparted by recognizing the same mind of God which is revealed in His +world, or justified by the best impulses of humanity. Therefore, no +parable is sensational. It cannot root itself in the exceptional, the +abnormal events on which men do not reckon, which come upon us with a +shock. For we do not argue from these to daily life. + +But while this mode of teaching was profitable to His disciples, and +protected Him against His foes, it had formidable consequences for the +frivolous empty followers after a sign. Because they were such they could +only find frivolity and lightness in these stories; the deeper meaning lay +farther below the surface than such eyes could pierce. Thus the light they +had abused was taken from them. And Jesus explained to His disciples that, +in acting thus, He pursued the fixed rule of God. The worst penalty of +vice is that it loses the knowledge of virtue, and of levity that it +cannot appreciate seriousness. He taught in parables, as Isaiah +prophesied, "that seeing they may see, and not perceive, and hearing they +may hear, and not understand; lest haply they should turn again and it +should be forgiven them." These last words prove how completely penal, how +free from all caprice, was this terrible decision of our gentle Lord, that +precautions must be taken against evasion of the consequences of crime. +But it is a warning by no means unique. He said, "The things which make +for thy peace ... are hid from thine eyes" (Luke xix. 42). And St. Paul +said, "If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that are perishing"; +and still more to the point, "The natural man receiveth not the things of +the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know +them, because they are spiritually discerned" (2 Cor. iv. 3; 1 Cor. ii. +14). To this law Christ, in speaking by parables, was conscious that He +conformed. + +But now let it be observed how completely this mode of teaching suited our +Lord's habit of mind. If men could finally rid themselves of His Divine +claim, they would at once recognise the greatest of the sages; and they +would also find in Him the sunniest, sweetest and most accurate +discernment of nature, and its more quiet beauties, that ever became a +vehicle for moral teaching. The sun and rain bestowed on the evil and the +good, the fountain and the trees which regulate the waters and the fruit, +the death of the seed by which it buys its increase, the provision for +bird and blossom without anxiety of theirs, the preference for a lily over +Solomon's gorgeous robes, the meaning of a red sky at sunrise and sunset, +the hen gathering her chickens under her wing, the vine and its branches, +the sheep and their shepherd, the lightning seen over all the sky, every +one of these needed only to be re-set and it would have become a parable. + +All the Gospels, including the fourth, are full of proofs of this rich and +attractive endowment, this warm sympathy with nature; and this fact is +among the evidences that they all drew the same character, and drew it +faithfully, + + + + +The Sower. + + + "Hearken: Behold the sower went forth to sow: and it came to pass, + as he sowed, some _seed_ fell by the way side, and the birds came + and devoured it. And other fell on the rocky _ground_, where it + had not much earth; and straightway it sprang up, because it had + no deepness of earth: and when the sun was risen, it was scorched; + and because it had no root, it withered away. And other fell among + the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded + no fruit. And others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, + growing up and increasing; and brought forth, thirtyfold, and + sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. And He said, Who hath ears to hear, + let him hear.... + + "The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the wayside, + where the word is sown; and when they have heard, straightway + cometh Satan, and taketh away the word which hath been sown in + them. And these in like manner are they that are sown upon the + rocky _places_, who, when they have heard the word, straightway + receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but + endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution ariseth + because of the word, straightway they stumble. And others are they + that are sown among the thorns; these are they that have heard the + word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, + and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it + becometh unfruitful. And those are they that were sown upon the + good ground; such as hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, + thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold."--MARK iv. 3-9, 14-20 + (R.V.). + + +"Hearken" Jesus said; willing to caution men against the danger of +slighting His simple story, and to impress on them that it conveyed more +than met their ears. In so doing He protested in advance against +fatalistic abuses of the parable, as if we were already doomed to be hard, +or shallow, or thorny, or fruitful soil. And at the close He brought out +still more clearly His protest against such doctrine, by impressing upon +all, that if the vitalising seed were the imparted word, it was their part +to receive and treasure it. Indolence and shallowness _must_ fail to bear +fruit: that is the essential doctrine of the parable; but it is not +necessary that we should remain indolent or shallow: "He that hath ears to +hear, let him hear." + +And when the Epistle to the Hebrews reproduces the image of land which +bringeth forth thorns and thistles, our Revised Version rightly brings out +the fact, on which indeed the whole exhortation depends, that the same +piece of land might have borne herbs meet for those for whose sake it is +tilled (vi. 7). + +Having said "Hearken," Jesus added, "Behold." It has been rightly inferred +that the scene was before their eyes. Very possibly some such process was +within sight of the shore on which they were gathered; but in any case, a +process was visible, if they would but see, of which the tilling of the +ground was only a type. A nobler seed was being scattered for a vaster +harvest, and it was no common labourer, but the true sower, who went forth +to sow. "The sower soweth the word." But who was he? St. Matthew tells us +"the sower is the Son of man," and whether the words were expressly +uttered, or only implied, as the silence of St. Mark and St. Luke might +possibly suggest, it is clear that none of His disciples could mistake His +meaning. Ages have passed and He is the sower still, by whatever +instrument He works, for we are God's husbandry as well as God's building. +And the seed is the Word of God, so strangely able to work below the +surface of human life, invisible at first, yet vital, and grasping from +within and without, from secret thoughts and from circumstances, as from +the chemical ingredients of the soil and from the sunshine and the shower, +all that will contribute to its growth, until the field itself is +assimilated, spread from end to end with waving ears, a corn-field now. +This is why Jesus in His second parable did not any longer say "the seed +is the word," but "the good seed are the sons of the kingdom" (Matt. xiii. +38). The word planted was able to identify itself with the heart. + +And this seed, the Word of God, is sown broadcast as all our opportunities +are given. A talent was not refused to him who buried it. Judas was an +apostle. Men may receive the grace of God in vain, and this in more ways +than one. On some it produces no vital impression whatever; it lies on the +surface of a mind which the feet of earthly interests have trodden hard. +There is no chance for it to expand, to begin its operation by sending out +the smallest tendrils to grasp, to appropriate anything, to take root. And +it may well be doubted whether any soul, wholly indifferent to religious +truth, ever retained even its theoretic knowledge long. The foolish heart +is darkened. The fowls of the air catch away for ever the priceless seed +of eternity. Now it is of great importance to observe how Jesus explained +this calamity. We should probably have spoken of forgetfulness, the fading +away of neglected impressions, or at most of some judicial act of +providence hiding the truth from the careless. But Jesus said, +"straightway cometh Satan and taketh away the word which hath been sown in +them." No person can fairly explain this text away, as men have striven to +explain Christ's language to the demoniacs, by any theory of the use of +popular language, or the toleration of harmless notions. The introduction +of Satan into this parable is unexpected and uncalled for by any demand +save one, the necessity of telling all the truth. It is true therefore +that an active and deadly enemy of souls is at work to quicken the +mischief which neglect and indifference would themselves produce, that +evil processes are helped from beneath as truly as good ones from above; +that the seed which is left to-day upon the surface may be maliciously +taken thence long before it would have perished by natural decay; that men +cannot reckon upon stopping short in their contempt of grace, since what +they neglect the devil snatches quite away from them. And as seed is only +safe from fowls when buried in the soil, so is the word of life only safe +against the rapacity of hell when it has sunk down into our hearts. + +In the story of the early Church, St. Paul sowed upon such ground as this +in Athens. Men who spent their time in the pursuit of artistic and +cultivated novelties, in hearing and telling some new thing, mocked the +gospel, or at best proposed to hear its preacher yet again. How long did +such a purpose last? + +But there are other dangers to dread, besides absolute indifference to +truth. And the first of these is a too shallow and easy acquiescence. The +message of salvation is designed to affect the whole of human life +profoundly. It comes to bind a strong man armed, it summons easy and +indifferent hearts to wrestle against spiritual foes, to crucify the +flesh, to die daily. On these conditions it offers the noblest blessings. +But the conditions are grave and sobering. If one hears them without +solemn and earnest searching of heart, he has only, at the best, +apprehended half the message. Christ has warned us that we cannot build a +tower without sitting down to count our means, nor fight a hostile king +without reckoning the prospects of invasion. And it is very striking to +compare the gushing and impulsive sensationalism of some modern schools, +with the deliberate and circumspect action of St. Paul, even after God had +been pleased miraculously to reveal His Son in him. He went into +seclusion. He returned to Damascus to his first instructor. Fourteen years +afterwards he deliberately laid his gospel before the Apostles, lest by +any means he should be running or had run in vain. Such is the action of +one penetrated with a sense of reality and responsibility in his decision; +it is not the action likely to result from teaching men that it suffices +to "say you believe" and to be "made happy." And in this parable, our +Saviour has given striking expression to His judgment of the school which +relies upon mere happiness. Next to those who leave the seed for Satan to +snatch away, He places them "who, when they have heard the word, +straightway receive it with joy." They have taken the promises without the +precepts, they have hoped for the crown without the cross. Their type is +the thin layer of earth spread over a shelf of rock. The water, which +cannot sink down, and the heat reflected up from the stone, make it for a +time almost a hot bed. Straightway the seed sprang up, because it had no +deepness of earth. But the moisture thus detained upon the surface +vanished utterly in time of drought; the young roots, unable to penetrate +to any deeper supplies, were scorched; and it withered away. That +superficial heat and moisture was impulsive emotion, glad to hear of +heaven, and love, and privilege, but forgetful to mortify the flesh, and +to be partaker with Christ in His death. The roots of a real Christian +life must strike deeper down. Consciousness of sin and its penalty and of +the awful price by which that penalty has been paid, consciousness of what +life should have been and how we have degraded it, consciousness of what +it must yet be made by grace--these do not lead to joy so immediate, so +impulsive, as the growth of this shallow vegetation. A mature and settled +joy is among "the fruits of the spirit:" it is not the first blade that +shoots up. + +Now because the sense of sin and duty and atonement have not done their +sobering work, the feelings, so easily quickened, are also easily +perverted: "When tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, +straightway they stumble." These were not counted upon. Neither trouble of +mind nor opposition of wicked men was included in the holiday scheme of +the life Divine. And their pressure is not counter-weighted by that of any +deep convictions. The roots have never penetrated farther than temporal +calamities and trials can reach. In the time of drought they have _not_ +enough. They endure, but only for a while. + +St. Paul sowed upon just such soil in Galatia. There his hearers spoke of +such blessedness that they would have plucked out their eyes for him. But +he became their enemy because he told them all the truth, when only a part +was welcome. And as Christ said, Straightway they stumble, so St. Paul had +to marvel that they were so soon subverted. + +If indifference be the first danger, and shallowness the second, mixed +motive is the third. Men there are who are very earnest, and far indeed +from slight views of truth, who are nevertheless in sore danger, because +they are equally earnest about other things; because they cannot resign +this world, whatever be their concern about the next; because the soil of +their life would fain grow two inconsistent harvests. Like seed sown among +thorns, "choked" by their entangling roots and light-excluding growths, +the word in such hearts, though neither left upon a hard surface nor +forbidden by rock to strike deep into the earth, is overmastered by an +unworthy rivalry. A kind of vegetation it does produce, but not such as +the tiller seeks: the word becometh unfruitful. It is the same lesson as +when Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters. Ye cannot serve God and +mammon." + +Perhaps it is the one most needed in our time of feverish religious +controversy and heated party spirit, when every one hath a teaching, hath +a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation, but scarcely any have +denied the world and taken in exchange a cross. + +St. Paul found a thorny soil in Corinth which came behind in no gift, if +only gifts had been graces, but was indulgent, factious and selfish, +puffed up amid flagrant vices, one hungry and another drunken, while +wrangling about the doctrine of the resurrection. + +The various evils of this parable are all of them worldliness, differently +manifested. The deadening effect of habitual forgetfulness of God, +treading the soil so hard that no seed can enter it; the treacherous +effect of secret love of earth, a buried obstruction refusing to admit the +gospel into the recesses of the life, however it may reach the feelings; +and the fierce and stubborn competition of worldly interests, wherever +they are not resolutely weeded out, against these Jesus spoke His earliest +parable. And it is instructive to review the foes by which He represented +His Gospel as warred upon. The personal activity of Satan; "tribulation or +persecution" from without, and within the heart "cares" rather for self +than for the dependent and the poor, "deceitfulness of riches" for those +who possess enough to trust in, or to replace with a fictitious importance +the only genuine value, which is that of character (although men are still +esteemed for being "worth" a round sum, a strange estimate, to be made by +Christians, of a being with a soul burning in him); and alike for rich and +poor, "the lusts of other things," since none is too poor to covet, and +none so rich that his desires shall not increase, like some diseases, by +being fed. + +Lastly, we have those on the good ground, who are not described by their +sensibilities or their enjoyments, but by their loyalty. They "hear the +word and accept it and bear fruit." To accept is what distinguishes them +alike from the wayside hearers into whose attention the word never sinks, +from the rocky hearers who only receive it with a superficial welcome, and +from the thorny hearers who only give it a divided welcome. It is not +said, as if the word were merely the precepts, that they obey it. The +sower of this seed is not he who bade the soldier not to do violence, and +the publican not to extort: it is He who said, Repent, and believe the +gospel. He implanted new hopes, convictions, and affections, as the germ +which should unfold in a new life. And the good fruit is borne by those +who honestly "accept" His word. + +Fruitfulness is never in the gospel the condition by which life is earned, +but it is always the test by which to prove it. In all the accounts of the +final judgment, we catch the principle of the bold challenge of St. James, +"Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my +works." The talent must produce more talents, and the pound more pounds; +the servant must have his loins girt and a light in his hand; the blessed +are they who did unto Jesus the kindness they did unto the least of His +brethren, and the accursed are they who did it not to Jesus in His people. + +We are not wrong in preaching that honest faith in Christ is the only +condition of acceptance, and the way to obtain strength for good works. +But perhaps we fail to add, with sufficient emphasis, that good works are +the only sufficient evidence of real faith, of genuine conversion. Lydia, +whose heart the Lord opened and who constrained the Apostle to abide in +her house, was converted as truly as the gaoler who passed through all the +vicissitudes of despair, trembling and astonishment, and belief. + +"They bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and an hundredfold." And all +are alike accepted. But the parable of the pounds shows that all are not +alike rewarded, and in equal circumstances superior efficiency wins a +superior prize. One star differeth from another star in glory, and they +who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the sun for ever. + + + + +Lamp And Stand. + + + "And He said unto them, Is the lamp brought to be put under the + bushel, or under the bed? and not to be put on the stand? For + there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested; neither + was anything made secret, but that it should come to light. If any + man hath ears to hear, let him hear. And He said unto them, Take + heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete it shall be measured + unto you: and more shall be given unto you. For he that hath, to + him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken + away even that which he hath."--MARK iv. 21-25 (R.V.). + + +Jesus had now taught that the only good ground was that in which the good +seed bore fruit. And He adds explicitly, that men receive the truth in +order to spread it, and are given grace that they may become, in turn, +good stewards of the manifold grace of God. + +"Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel or under the bed, and not +to be put on the stand?" The language may possibly be due, as men have +argued, to the simple conditions of life among the Hebrew peasantry, who +possessed only one lamp, one corn-measure, and perhaps one bed. All the +greater marvel is it that amid such surroundings He should have announced, +and not in vain, that His disciples, His Church, should become the light +of all humanity, "the lamp." Already He had put forward the same claim +even more explicitly, saying, "Ye are the light of the world." And in each +case, He spoke not in the intoxication of pride or self-assertion, but in +all gravity, and as a solemn warning. The city on the hill could not be +hid. The lamp would burn dimly under the bed; it would be extinguished +entirely by the bushel. Publicity is the soul of religion, since religion +is light. It is meant to diffuse itself, to be, as He expressed it, like +leaven which may be hid at first, but cannot be concealed, since it will +leaven all the lump. And so, if He spoke in parables, and consciously hid +His meaning by so doing, this was not to withdraw His teaching from the +masses, it was to shelter the flame which should presently illuminate all +the house. Nothing was hid, save that it should be manifested, nor made +secret, but that it should come to light. And it has never been otherwise. +Our religion has no privileged inner circle, no esoteric doctrine; and its +chiefs, when men glorified one or another, asked, What then is Apollos? +And what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed. Agents only, for +conveying to others what they had received from God. And thus He Who now +spoke in parables, and again charged them not to make Him known, was able +at the end to say, In secret have I spoken nothing. Therefore He repeats +with emphasis His former words, frequent on His lips henceforward, and +ringing through the messages He spoke in glory to His Churches. If any man +hath ears to hear, let him hear. None is excluded but by himself. + +Yet another caution follows. If the seed be the Word, there is sore danger +from false teaching; from strewing the ground with adulterated grain. St. +Mark, indeed, has not recorded the Parable of the Tares. But there are +indications of it, and the same thought is audible in this saying, "Take +heed what ye hear." The added words are a little surprising: "With what +measure ye mete it shall be measured unto you, and more shall be given +unto you." The last clause expresses exactly the principle on which the +forfeited pound was given to Him who had ten pounds already, the open hand +of God lavishing additional gifts upon him who was capable of using them. +But does not the whole statement seem to follow more suitably upon a +command to beware what we teach, and thus "mete" to others, than what we +hear? A closer examination finds in this apparent unfitness, a deeper +harmony of thought. To "accept" the genuine word is the same as to bring +forth fruit for God; it is to reckon with the Lord of the talents, and to +yield the fruit of the vineyard. And this is to "mete," not indeed unto +man, but unto God, Who shows Himself froward with the froward, and from +him that hath not, whose possession is below his accountability, takes +away even that he hath, but gives exceeding abundantly above all they ask +or think to those who have, who are not disobedient to the heavenly +calling. + +All this is most delicately connected with what precedes it; and the +parables, hiding the truth from some, giving it authority, and colour, and +effect to others, were a striking example of the process here announced + +Never was the warning to be heedful what we hear, more needed than at +present. Men think themselves free to follow any teacher, especially if he +be eloquent, to read any book, if only it be in demand, and to discuss any +theory, provided it be fashionable, while perfectly well aware that they +are neither earnest inquirers after truth, nor qualified champions against +its assailants. For what then do they read and hear? For the pleasure of a +rounded phrase, or to augment the prattle of conceited ignorance in a +drawing-room. + +Do we wonder when these players with edged tools injure themselves, and +become perverts or agnostics? It would be more wonderful if they remained +unhurt, since Jesus said, "Take heed what ye hear ... from him that hath +not shall be taken even that he hath." A rash and uninstructed exposure of +our intellects to evil influences, is meting to God with an unjust +measure, as really as a wilful plunge into any other temptation, since we +are bidden to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the spirit as well +as of the flesh. + + + + +The Seed Growing Secretly. + + + "And He said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast + seed upon the earth; and should sleep and rise night and day, and + the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. The earth + beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the + full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he + putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come."--MARK iv. + 26-29 (R.V.). + + +St. Mark alone records this parable of a sower who sleeps by night, and +rises for other business by day, and knows not how the seed springs up. +That is not the sower's concern: all that remains for him is to put forth +the sickle when the harvest is come. + +It is a startling parable for us who believe in the fostering care of the +Divine Spirit. And the paradox is forced on our attention by the words +"the earth beareth fruit of herself," contrasting strangely as it does +with such other assertions, as that the branch cannot bear fruit of +itself, that without Christ we can do nothing, and that when we live it is +not we but Christ who liveth in us. + +It will often help us to understand a paradox if we can discover another +like it. And exactly such an one as this will be found in the record of +creation. God rested on the seventh day from all His work, yet we know +that His providence never slumbers, that by Him all things consist, and +that Jesus defended His own work of healing on a Sabbath day by urging +that the Sabbath of God was occupied in gracious provision for His world. +"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Thus the rest of God from +creative work says nothing about His energies in that other field of +providential care. Exactly so Jesus here treats only of what may be called +the creative spiritual work, the deposit of the seed of life. And the +essence of this remarkable parable is the assertion that we are to expect +an orderly, quiet and gradual development from this principle of life, not +a series of communications from without, of additional revelations, of +semi-miraculous interferences. The life of grace is a natural process in +the supernatural sphere. In one sense it is all of God, who maketh His sun +to rise, and sendeth rain, without which the earth could bear no fruit of +herself. In another sense we must work out our own salvation all the more +earnestly because it is God that worketh in us. + +Now this parable, thus explained, has been proved true in the wonderful +history of the Church. She has grown, not only in extent but by +development, as marvellously as a corn of wheat which is now a waving +wheat-stem with its ripening ear. When Cardinal Newman urged that an +ancient Christian, returning to earth, would recognise the services and +the Church of Rome, and would fail to recognise ours, he was probably +mistaken. To go no farther, there is no Church on earth so unlike the +Churches of the New Testament as that which offers praise to God in a +strange tongue. St. Paul apprehended that a stranger in such an assembly +would reckon the worshippers mad. But in any case the argument forgets +that the whole kingdom of God is to resemble seed, not in a drawer, but in +the earth, and advancing towards the harvest. It must "die" to much if it +will bring forth fruit. It must acquire strange bulk, strange forms, +strange organisms. It must become, to those who only knew it as it was, +quite as unrecognisable as our Churches are said to be. And yet the +changes must be those of logical growth, not of corruption. And this +parable tells us they must be accomplished without any special +interference such as marked the sowing time. Well then, the parable is a +prophecy. Movement after movement has modified the life of the Church. +Even its structure is not all it was. But these changes have every one +been wrought by human agency, they have come from within it, like the +force which pushes the germ out of the soil, and expands the bud into the +full corn in the ear. There has been no grafting knife to insert a new +principle of richer life; the gospel and the sacraments of our Lord have +contained in them the promise and potency of all that was yet to be +unfolded, all the gracefulness and all the fruit. And these words, "the +earth beareth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the +full corn in the ear," each so different, and yet so dependent on what +preceded, teach us two great ecclesiastical lessons. They condemn the +violent and revolutionary changes, which would not develop old germs but +tear them open or perhaps pull them up. Much may be distasteful to the +spirit of sordid utilitarianism; a mere husk, which nevertheless within it +shelters precious grain, otherwise sure to perish. If thus we learn to +respect the old, still more do we learn that what is new has also its +all-important part to play. The blade and the ear in turn are innovations. +We must not condemn those new forms of Christian activity, Christian +association, and Christian councils, which new times evoke, until we have +considered well whether they are truly expansions, in the light and heat +of our century, of the sacred life-germ of the ancient faith and the +ancient love. + +And what lessons has this parable for the individual? Surely that of +active present faith, not waiting for future gifts of light or feeling, +but confident that the seed already sown, the seed of the word, has power +to develop into the rich fruit of Christian character. In this respect the +parable supplements the first one. From that we learned that if the soil +were not in fault, if the heart were honest and good, the seed would +fructify. From this we learn that these conditions suffice for a perfect +harvest. The incessant, all-important help of God, we have seen, is not +denied; it is taken for granted, as the atmospheric and magnetic +influences upon the grain. So should we reverentially and thankfully rely +upon the aid of God, and then, instead of waiting for strange visitations +and special stirrings of grace, account that we already possess enough to +make us responsible for the harvest of the soul. Multitudes of souls, +whose true calling is, in obedient trust, to arise and walk, are at this +moment lying impotent beside some pool which they expect an angel to stir, +and into which they fain would then be put by some one, they know not +whom--multitudes of expectant, inert, inactive souls, who know not that the +text they have most need to ponder is this: "the earth beareth fruit of +itself." For want of this they are actually, day by day, receiving the +grace of God in vain. + +We learn also to be content with gradual progress. St. John did not blame +the children and young men to whom he wrote, because they were not mature +in wisdom and experience. St. Paul exhorts us to grow up in all things +into Him which is the Head, even Christ. They do not ask for more than +steady growth; and their Master, as He distrusted the fleeting joy of +hearers whose hearts were shallow, now explicitly bids us not to be +content with any first attainment, not to count all done if we are +converted, but to develop first the blade, then the ear, and lastly the +full corn in the ear. + +Does it seem a tedious weary sentence? Are we discontent for want of +conscious interferences of heaven? Do we complain that, to human +consciousness, the great Sower sleeps and rises up and leaves the grain to +fare He knows not how? It is only for a little while. When the fruit is +ripe, He will Himself gather it into His eternal garner. + + + + +The Mustard Seed. + + + "And He said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God? or in what + parable shall we set it forth? It is like a grain of mustard seed, + which, when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all + the seeds that are upon the earth, yet when it is sown, groweth + up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great + branches; so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the + shadow thereof. And with many such parables spake He the word unto + them, as they were able to hear it: and without a parable spake He + not unto them: but privately to His own disciples He expounded all + things."--MARK iv. 30-34 (R.V.). + + +St. Mark has recorded one other parable of this great cycle. Jesus now +invites the disciples to let their own minds play upon the subject. Each +is to ask himself a question: How shall we liken the kingdom of God? or in +what parable shall we set it forth? + +A gentle pause, time for them to form some splendid and ambitious image in +their minds, and then we can suppose with what surprise they heard His own +answer, "It is like a grain of mustard seed." And truly some Christians of +a later day might be astonished also, if they could call up a fair image +of their own conceptions of the kingdom of God, and compare it with this +figure, employed by Jesus. + +But here one must observe a peculiarity in our Saviour's use of images. +His illustrations of His first coming, and of His work of grace, which are +many, are all of the homeliest kind. He is a shepherd who seeks one sheep. +He is not an eagle that fluttereth over her young and beareth them on her +pinions, but a hen who gathereth her chickens under her wings. Never once +does He rise into that high and poetic strain with which His followers +have loved to sing of the Star of Bethlehem, and which Isaiah lavished +beforehand upon the birth of the Prince of Peace. There is no language +more intensely concentrated and glowing than He has employed to describe +the judgment of the hypocrites who rejected Him, of Jerusalem, and of the +world at last. But when He speaks of His first coming and its effects, it +is not of that sunrise to which all kings and nations shall hasten, but of +a little grain of mustard seed, which is to become "greater than all the +herbs," and put forth great branches, "so that the birds of the heaven can +lodge under the shadow of them." When one thinks of such an image for such +an event, of the founding of the kingdom of God, and its advance to +universal supremacy, represented by the small seed of a shrub which grows +to the height of a tree, and even harbours birds, he is conscious almost +of incongruity. But when one reconsiders it, he is filled with awe and +reverence. For this exactly expresses the way of thinking natural to One +who has stooped immeasurably down to the task which all others feel to be +so lofty. There is a poem of Shelley, which expresses the relative +greatness of three spirits by the less and less value which they set on +the splendours of the material heavens. To the first they are a +palace-roof of golden lights, to the second but the mind's first chamber, +to the last only drops which Nature's mighty heart drives through thinnest +veins. Now that which was to Isaiah the exalting of every valley and the +bringing low of every mountain, and to Daniel the overthrow of a mighty +image whose aspect was terrible, by a stone cut out without hands, was to +Jesus but the sowing of a grain of mustard seed. Could any other have +spoken thus of the founding of the kingdom of God? An enthusiast +over-values his work, he can think of nothing else; and he expects +immediate revolutions. Jesus was keenly aware that His work in itself was +very small, no more than the sowing of a seed, and even of the least, +popularly speaking, among all seeds. Clearly He did not over-rate the +apparent effect of His work on earth. And indeed, what germ of religious +teaching could be less promising than the doctrine of the cross, held by a +few peasants in a despised province of a nation already subjugated and +soon to be overwhelmed? + +The image expresses more than the feeble beginning and victorious issue of +His work, more than even the gradual and logical process by which this +final triumph should be attained. All this we found in the preceding +parable. But here the emphasis is laid on the development of Christ's +influence in unexpected spheres. Unlike other herbs, the mustard in +Eastern climates does grow into a tree, shoot out great branches from the +main stem, and give shelter to the birds of the air. So has the Christian +faith developed ever new collateral agencies, charitable, educational, and +social: so have architecture, music, literature, flourished under its +shade, and there is not one truly human interest which would not be +deprived of its best shelter if the rod of Jesse were hewn down. Nay, we +may urge that the Church itself has become the most potent force in +directions not its own: it broke the chains of the negro; it asserts the +rights of woman and of the poor; its noble literature is finding a +response in the breast of a hundred degraded races; the herb has become a +tree. + +And so in the life of individuals, if the seed be allowed its due scope +and place to grow, it gives shelter and blessing to whatsoever things are +honest and lovely, not only if there be any virtue, but also if there be +any praise. + +Well is it with the nation, and well with the soul, when the faith of +Jesus is not rigidly restricted to a prescribed sphere, when the leaves +which are for the healing of the nations cast their shadow broad and cool +over all the spaces in which all its birds of song are nestling. + +A remarkable assertion is added. Although the parabolic mode of teaching +was adopted in judgment, yet its severe effect was confined within the +narrowest limits. His many parables were spoken "as they were able to +hear," but only to His own disciples privately was all their meaning +expounded. + + + + +Four Miracles. + + + "And there was a great calm."--MARK iv. 39 (R.V.). + + "Behold, him that was possessed with devils, sitting, clothed and + in his right mind, _even_ him that had the legion."--v. 15 (R.V.). + + "Who touched Me?"--v. 31 (R.V.). + + "Talitha cumi."--v. 41 (R.V.). + + +There are two ways, equally useful, of studying Scripture, as there are of +regarding the other book of God, the face of Nature. We may bend over a +wild flower, or gaze across a landscape; and it will happen that a +naturalist, pursuing a moth, loses sight of a mountain-range. It is a +well-known proverb, that one may fail to see the wood for the trees, +losing in details the general effect. And so the careful student of +isolated texts may never perceive the force and cohesion of a connected +passage. + +The reader of a Gospel narrative thinks, that by pondering it as a whole, +he secures himself against any such misfortune. But a narrative +dislocated, often loses as much as a detached verse. The actions of our +Lord are often exquisitely grouped, as becometh Him Who hath made +everything not beautiful only, but especially beautiful in its season. And +we should not be content without combining the two ways of reading +Scripture, the detailed and the rapid,--lingering at times to apprehend the +marvellous force of a solitary verse, and again sweeping over a broad +expanse, like a surveyor, who, to map a country, stretches his triangles +from mountain peak to peak. + +We have reached a point at which St. Mark records a special outshining of +miraculous power. Four striking works follow each other without a break, +and it must not for a moment be supposed that the narrative is thus +constructed, certain intermediate discourses and events being sacrificed +for the purpose, without a deliberate and a truthful intention. That +intention is to represent the effect, intense and exalting, produced by +such a cycle of wonders on the minds of His disciples. They saw them come +close upon each other: we should lose the impression as we read, if other +incidents were allowed to interpose themselves. It is one more example of +St. Mark's desire to throw light, above all things, upon the energy and +power of the sacred life. + +We have to observe therefore the bearing of these four miracles on each +other, and upon what precedes, before studying them one by one. + +It was a time of trial. The Pharisees had decided that He had a devil. His +relatives had said He was beside Himself. His manner of teaching had +changed, because the people should see without perceiving, and hear +without understanding. They who understood His parables heard much of seed +that failed, of success a great way off, of a kingdom which would indeed +be great at last, but for the present weak and small. And it is certain +that there must have been heavy hearts among those who left, with Him, the +populous side of the lake, to cross over into remote and semi-pagan +retirement. To encourage them, and as if in protest against His rejection +by the authorities, Jesus enters upon this great cycle of miracles. + +They find themselves, as the Church has often since been placed, and as +every human soul has had to feel itself, far from shore, and +tempest-beaten. The rage of human foes is not so deaf, so implacable, as +that of wind and wave. It is the stress of adverse circumstances in the +direst form. But Jesus proves Himself to be Master of the forces of nature +which would overwhelm them. + +Nay, they learn that His seeming indifference is no proof that they are +neglected, by the rebuke He speaks to their over-importunate appeals, Why +are ye so fearful? have ye not yet faith? And they, who might have been +shaken by the infidelity of other men, fear exceedingly as they behold the +obedience of the wind and the sea, and ask, Who then is this? + +But in their mission as His disciples, a worse danger than the enmity of +man or convulsions of nature awaits them. On landing, they are at once +confronted by one whom an evil spirit has made exceeding fierce, so that +no man could pass by that way. It is their way nevertheless, and they must +tread it. And the demoniac adores, and the evil spirits themselves are +abject in supplication, and at the word of Jesus are expelled. Even the +inhabitants, who will not receive Him, are awe-struck and deprecatory, and +if at their bidding Jesus turns away again, His followers may judge +whether the habitual meekness of such a one is due to feebleness or to a +noble self-command. + +Landing once more, they are soon accosted by a ruler of the synagogue, +whom sorrow has purified from the prejudices of his class. And Jesus is +about to heal the daughter of Jairus, when another form of need is brought +to light. A slow and secret decline, wasting the vital powers, a silent +woe, speechless, stealthily approaching the Healer--over this grief also He +is Lord. And it is seen that neither the visible actions of Jesus nor the +audible praises of His petitioners can measure the power that goes out of +Him, the physical benefits which encompass the Teacher as a halo envelopes +flame. + +Circumstances, and the fiends of the pit, and the woes that waste the +lives of men, over these He has been seen to triumph. But behind all that +we strive with here, there lurks the last enemy, and he also shall be +subdued. And now first an example is recorded of what we know to have +already taken place, the conquest of death by his predicted Spoiler. Youth +and gentle maidenhood, high hope and prosperous circumstances have been +wasted, but the call of Jesus is heard by the ear that was stopped with +dust, and the spirit obeys Him in the far off realm of the departed, and +they who have just seen such other marvels, are nevertheless amazed with a +great amazement. + +No cycle of miracles could be more rounded, symmetrical and exhaustive; +none could better vindicate to His disciples His impugned authority, or +brace their endangered faith, or fit them for what almost immediately +followed, their own commission, and the first journey upon which they too +cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and +healed them. + + + + +The Two Storms. + + + "And on that day, when even was come, He saith unto them, Let us + go over unto the other side. And leaving the multitude, they take + Him with them, even as He was, in the boat. And other boats were + with Him. And there ariseth a great storm of wind, and the waves + beat into the boat, insomuch that the boat was now filling. And He + Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion: and they awake + Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish? And + He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be + still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He + said unto them, Why are ye fearful? have ye not yet faith? And + they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, Who then is + this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"--MARK iv. 35-41 + (R.V.). + + "And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and + He alone on the land. And seeing them distressed in rowing, for + the wind was contrary unto them, about the fourth watch of the + night He cometh unto them, walking on the sea; and He would have + passed by them: but they, when they saw Him walking on the sea, + supposed that it was an apparition, and cried out: for they all + saw Him, and were troubled. But He straightway spake with them, + and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And + He went up unto them into the boat; and the wind ceased: and they + were sore amazed in themselves. For they understood not concerning + the loaves, but their hearts were hardened."--MARK vi. 47-52 + (R.V.). + + +Few readers are insensible to the wonderful power with which the Gospels +tell the story of the two storms upon the lake. The narratives are +favourites in every Sunday school; they form the basis of countless hymns +and poems; and we always recur to them with fresh delight. + +In the first account we see as in a picture the weariness of the great +Teacher, when, the long day being over and the multitude dismissed, He +retreats across the sea without preparation, and "as He was," and sinks to +sleep on the one cushion in the stern, undisturbed by the raging tempest +or by the waves which beat into the boat. We observe the reluctance of the +disciples to arouse Him until the peril is extreme, and the boat is "now" +filling. We hear from St. Mark, the associate of St. Peter, the +presumptuous and characteristic cry which expresses terror, and perhaps +dread lest His tranquil slumbers may indicate a separation between His +cause and theirs, who perish while He is unconcerned. We admire equally +the calm and masterful words which quell the tempest, and those which +enjoin a faith so lofty as to endure the last extremities of peril without +dismay, without agitation in its prayers. We observe the strange incident, +that no sooner does the storm cease than the waters, commonly seething for +many hours afterwards, grow calm. And the picture is completed by the +mention of their new dread (fear of the supernatural Man replacing their +terror amid the convulsions of nature), and of their awestruck questioning +among themselves. + +In the second narrative we see the ship far out in the lake, but watched +by One, Who is alone upon the land. Through the gloom He sees them +"tormented" by fruitless rowing; but though this is the reason why He +comes, He is about to pass them by. The watch of the night is remembered; +it is the fourth. The cry of their alarm is universal, for they all saw +Him and were troubled. We are told of the promptitude with which He +thereupon relieved their fears; we see Him climb up into the boat, and the +sudden ceasing of the storm, and their amazement. Nor is that +after-thought omitted in which they blamed themselves for their +astonishment. If their hearts had not been hardened, the miracle of the +loaves would have taught them that Jesus was the master of the physical +world. + +Now all this picturesque detail belongs to a single Gospel. And it is +exactly what a believer would expect. How much soever the healing of +disease might interest St. Luke the physician, who relates all such events +so vividly, it would have impressed the patient himself yet more, and an +account of it by him, if we had it, would be full of graphic touches. Now +these two miracles were wrought for the rescue of the apostles themselves. +The Twelve took the place held in others by the lame, the halt and the +blind: the suspense, the appeal, and the joy of deliverance were all their +own. It is therefore no wonder that we find their accounts of these +especial miracles so picturesque. But this is a solid evidence of the +truth of the narratives; for while the remembrance of such actual events +should thrill with agitated life, there is no reason why a legend of the +kind should be especially clear and vivid. The same argument might easily +be carried farther. When the disciples began to reproach themselves for +their unbelieving astonishment, they were naturally conscious of having +failed to learn the lesson which had been taught them just before. Later +students and moralists would have observed that another miracle, a little +earlier, was a still closer precedent, but they naturally blamed +themselves most for being blind to what was immediately before their eyes. +Now when Jesus walked upon the waters and the disciples were amazed, it is +not said that they forgot how He had already stilled a tempest, but they +considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened. In +touches like this we find the influence of a bystander beyond denial. + +Every student of Scripture must have observed the special significance of +those parables and miracles which recur a second time with certain +designed variations. In the miraculous draughts of fishes, Christ Himself +avowed an allusion to the catching of men. And the Church has always +discerned a spiritual intention in these two storms, in one of which +Christ slept, while in the other His disciples toiled alone, and which +express, between them, the whole strain exercised upon a devout spirit by +adverse circumstances. Dangers never alarmed one who realized both the +presence of Jesus and His vigilant care. Temptation enters only because +this is veiled. Why do adversities press hard upon me, if indeed I belong +to Christ? He must either be indifferent and sleeping, or else absent +altogether from my frail and foundering bark. It is thus that we let go +our confidence, and incur agonies of mental suffering, and the rebuke of +our Master, even though He continues to be the Protector of His unworthy +people. + +On the voyage of life we may conceive of Jesus as our Companion, for He is +with us always, or as watching us from the everlasting hills, whither it +was expedient for us that He should go. Nevertheless, we are storm-tossed +and in danger. Although we are His, and not separated from Him by any +conscious disobedience, yet the conditions of life are unmitigated, the +winds as wild, the waves as merciless, the boat as cruelly "tormented" as +ever. And no rescue comes: Jesus is asleep: He cares not that we perish. +Then we pray after a fashion so clamorous, and with supplication so like +demands, that we too appear to have undertaken to awake our Lord. Then we +have to learn from the first of these miracles, and especially from its +delay. The disciples were safe, had they only known it, whether Jesus +would have interposed of His own accord, or whether they might still have +needed to appeal to Him, but in a gentler fashion. We may ask help, +provided that we do so in a serene and trustful spirit, anxious for +nothing, not seeking to extort a concession, but approaching with boldness +the throne of grace, on which our Father sits. It is thus that the peace +of God shall rule our hearts and minds, for want of which the apostles +were asked, Where is your faith? Comparing the narratives, we learn that +Jesus reassured their hearts even before He arose, and then, having first +silenced by His calmness the storm within them, He stood up and rebuked +the storm around. + +St. Augustine gave a false turn to the application, when he said, "If +Jesus were not asleep within thee, thou wouldst be calm and at rest. But +why is He asleep? Because thy faith is asleep," etc, (Sermon lxiii.) The +sleep of Jesus was natural and right; and it answers not to our spiritual +torpor, but to His apparent indifference and non-intervention in our time +of distress. And the true lesson of the miracle is that we should trust +Him Whose care fails not when it seems to fail, Who is able to save to the +uttermost, and Whom we should approach in the direst peril without panic. +It was fitly taught them first when all the powers of the State and the +Church were leagued against Him, and He as a blind man saw not and as a +dumb man opened not His mouth. + +The second storm should have found them braver by the experience of the +first; but spiritually as well as bodily they were farther removed from +Christ. The people, profoundly moved by the murder of the Baptist, wished +to set Jesus on the throne, and the disciples were too ambitious to be +allowed to be present while He dismissed the multitudes. They had to be +sent away, and it was from the distant hillside that Jesus saw their +danger. Surely it is instructive, that neither the shades of night, nor +the abstracted fervour of His prayers, prevented him from seeing it, nor +the stormlashed waters from bringing aid. And significant also, that the +experience of remoteness, though not sinful, since He had sent them away, +was yet the result of their own worldliness. It is when we are out of +sympathy with Jesus that we are most likely to be alone in trouble. None +was in their boat to save them, and in heart also they had gone out from +the presence of their God. Therefore they failed to trust in His guidance +Who had sent them into the ship: they had no sense of protection or of +supervision; and it was a terrible moment when a form was vaguely seen to +glide over the waves. Christ, it would seem, would have gone before and +led them to the haven where they would be. Or perhaps He "would have +passed by them," as He would afterwards have gone further than Emmaus, to +elicit any trustful half-recognition which might call to Him and be +rewarded. But they cried out for fear. And so it is continually with God +in His world, men are terrified at the presence of the supernatural, +because they fail to apprehend the abiding presence of the supernatural +Christ. And yet there is one point at least in every life, the final +moment, in which all else must recede, and the soul be left alone with the +beings of another world. Then, and in every trial, and especially in all +trials which press in upon us the consciousness of the spiritual universe, +well is it for him who hears the voice of Jesus saying, It is I, be not +afraid. + +For only through Jesus, only in His person, has that unknown universe +ceased to be dreadful and mysterious. Only when He is welcomed does the +storm cease to rage around us. + +It was the earlier of these miracles which first taught the disciples that +not only were human disorders under His control, and gifts and blessings +at His disposal, but also the whole range of nature was subject to Him, +and the winds and the sea obey Him. + +Shall we say that His rebuke addressed to these was a mere figure of +speech? Some have inferred that natural convulsions are so directly the +work of evil angels that the words of Jesus were really spoken to them. +But the plain assertion is that He rebuked the winds and the waves, and +these would not become identical with Satan even upon the supposition that +he excites them. We ourselves continually personify the course of nature, +and even complain of it, wantonly enough, and Scripture does not deny +itself the use of ordinary human forms of speech. Yet the very peculiar +word employed by Jesus cannot be without significance. It is the same with +which He had already confronted the violence of the demoniac in the +synagogue, Be muzzled. At the least it expresses stern repression, and +thus it reminds us that creation itself is made subject to vanity, the +world deranged by sin, so that all around us requires readjustment as +truly as all within, and Christ shall at last create a new earth as well +as a new heaven. + +Some pious people resign themselves much too passively to the mischiefs of +the material universe, supposing that troubles which are not of their own +making, must needs be a Divine infliction, calling only for submission. +But God sends oppositions to be conquered as well as burdens to be borne; +and even before the fall the world had to be subdued. And our final +mastery over the surrounding universe was expressed, when Jesus our Head +rebuked the winds, and stilled the waves when they arose. + +As they beheld, a new sense fell upon His disciples of a more awful +presence than they had yet discerned. They asked not only what manner of +man this is? but, with surmises which went out beyond the limits of human +greatness, Who then is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him? + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + + + +The Demoniac Of Gadara. + + + "And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of + the Gerasenes. And when He was come out of the boat, straightway + there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who + had his dwelling in the tombs; and no man could any more bind him, + no, not with a chain; because that he had been often bound with + fetters and chains, and the chains had been rent asunder by him, + and the fetters broken in pieces: and no man had strength to tame + him. And always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, + he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones. And when he + saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped Him; and crying out + with a loud voice, he saith, What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, + Thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee by God, torment me + not. For He said unto him, Come forth, thou unclean spirit, out of + the man. And He asked him, What is thy name? And he saith unto + Him, My name is Legion; for we are many. And he besought Him much + that He would not send them away out of the country. Now there was + there on the mountain side a great herd of swine feeding. And they + besought Him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter + into them. And He gave them leave. And the unclean spirits came + out, and entered into the swine: and the herd rushed down the + steep into the sea, _in number_ about two thousand; and they were + choked in the sea. And they that fed them fled, and told it in the + city, and in the country. And they came to see what it was that + had come to pass. And they come to Jesus, and behold him that was + possessed with devils sitting, clothed and in his right mind, + _even_ him that had the legion: and they were afraid. And they + that saw it declared unto them how it befell him that was + possessed with devils, and concerning the swine. And they began to + beseech Him to depart from their borders. And as He was entering + into the boat, he that had been possessed with devils besought Him + that he might be with Him. And He suffered him not, but saith unto + him, Go to thy house unto thy friends, and tell them how great + things the Lord hath done for thee, and _how_ He had mercy on + thee. And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how + great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel."--MARK + v. 1-20 (R.V.). + + +Fresh from asserting His mastery over winds and waves, the Lord was met by +a more terrible enemy, the rage of human nature enslaved and impelled by +the cruelty of hell. The place where He landed was a theatre not unfit for +the tragedy which it revealed. A mixed race was there, indifferent to +religion, rearing great herds of swine, upon which the law looked askance, +but the profits of which they held so dear that they would choose to +banish a Divine ambassador, and one who had released them from an +incessant peril, rather than be deprived of these. Now it has already been +shown that the wretches possessed by devils were not of necessity stained +with special guilt. Even children fell into this misery. But yet we should +expect to find it most rampant in places where God was dishonoured, in +Gerasa and in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And it is so. All misery is +the consequence of sin, although individual misery does not measure +individual guilt. And the places where the shadow of sin has fallen +heaviest are always the haunts of direst wretchedness. + +The first Gospel mentions two demoniacs, but one was doubtless so +pre-eminently fierce, and possibly so zealous afterward in proclaiming his +deliverance, that only St. Matthew learned the existence of another, upon +whom also Satan had wrought, if not his worst, enough to show his hatred, +and the woes he would fain bring upon humanity. + +Among the few terrible glimpses given us of the mind of the fallen angels, +one is most significant and sinister. When the unclean spirit is gone out +of a man, to what haunts does he turn? He has no sympathy with what is +lovely or sublime; in search of rest he wanders through dry places, +deserts of arid sand in which his misery may be soothed by congenial +desolation. Thus the ruins of the mystic Babylon become an abode of +devils. And thus the unclean spirit, when he mastered this demoniac, drove +him to a foul and dreary abode among the tombs. One can picture the victim +in some lucid moment, awakening to consciousness only to shudder in his +dreadful home, and scared back again into that ferocity which is the child +of terror. + + + "Is it not very like, + The horrible conceit of death and night, + Together with the terror of the place + + ------------------------------------- + + Oh! if I wake, shall I not be distraught, + Environed with all these hideous fears?" + + _Romeo and Juliet_, iv. 3. + + +There was a time when he had been under restraint, but "now no man could +any more bind him" even with iron upon feet and wrists. The ferocity of +his cruel subjugator turned his own strength against himself, so that +night and day his howling was heard, as he cut himself with stones, and +his haunts in the tombs and in the mountains were as dangerous as the lair +of a wild breast, which no man dared pass by. What strange impulse drove +him thence to the feet of Jesus? Very dreadful is the picture of his +conflicting tendencies: the fiend within him struggling against something +still human and attracted by the Divine, so that he runs from afar, yet +cries aloud, and worships yet disowns having anything to do with Him; and +as if the fiend had subverted the true personality, and become the very +man, when ordered to come out he adjures Jesus to torment him not. + +And here we observe the knowledge of Christ's rank possessed by the evil +ones. Long before Peter won a special blessing for acknowledging the Son +of the living God, the demoniac called Him by the very name which flesh +and blood did not reveal to Cephas. For their chief had tested and +discovered Him in the wilderness, saying twice with dread surmise, If Thou +be the Son of God. It is also noteworthy that the phrase, the most High +God, is the name of Jehovah among the non-Jewish races. It occurs in both +Testaments in connection with Melchizedek the Canaanite. It is used +throughout the Babylonian proclamations in the book of Daniel. Micah puts +it into the lips of Balaam. And the damsel with a spirit of divination +employed it in Philippi. Except once, in a Psalm which tells of the return +of apostate Israel to the Most High God (lxxviii. 35), the epithet is used +only in relation with the nations outside the covenant. Its occurrence +here is probably a sign of the pagan influences by which Gadara was +infected, and for which it was plagued. By the name of God then, whose Son +He loudly confessed that Jesus was, the fiend within the man adjures Him +to torment Him not. But Jesus had not asked to be acknowledged: He had +bidden the devil to come out. And persons who substitute loud confessions +and clamorous orthodoxies for obedience should remember that so did the +fiend of Gadara. Jesus replied by asking, What is thy name? The question +was not an idle one, but had a healing tendency. For the man was beside +himself; it was part of his cure that he was found in his right mind; and +meanwhile his very consciousness was merged in that of the fiends who +tortured him, so that his voice was their voice, and they returned a +vaunting answer through His lips. Our Lord sought therefore both to calm +His excitement and to remind him of himself, and of what he once had been +before evil beings dethroned his will. These were not the man, but his +enemies by whom he was "carried about," and "led captive at their will." +And it is always sobering to think of "Myself," the lonely individual, +apart from even those who most influence me, with a soul to lose or save. +With this very question the Church Catechism begins its work of arousing +and instructing the conscience of each child, separating him from his +fellows in order to lead him on to the knowledge of the individualising +grace of God. + +It may be that the fiends within him dictated his reply, or that he +himself, conscious of their tyranny, cried out in agony, We are many; a +regiment like those of conquering Rome, drilled and armed to trample and +destroy, a legion. This answer distinctly contravened what Christ had just +implied, that he was one, an individual, and precious in his Maker's eyes. +But there are men and women in every Christian land, whom it might startle +to look within, and see how far their individuality is oppressed and +overlaid by a legion of impulses, appetites, and conventionalities, which +leave them nothing personal, nothing essential and characteristic, nothing +that deserves a name. The demons, now conscious of the power which calls +them forth, besought Him to leave them a refuge in that country. St. Luke +throws light upon this petition, as well as their former complaint, when +he tells us they feared to be sent to "the abyss" of their final +retribution. And as we read of men who are haunted by a fearful looking +for of judgment and a fierceness of fire, so they had no hope of escape, +except until "the time." For a little respite they prayed to be sent even +into the swine, and Jesus gave them leave. + +What a difference there is between the proud and heroic spirits whom +Milton celebrated, and these malignant but miserable beings, haunting the +sepulchres like ghosts, truculent and yet dastardly, as ready to +supplicate as to rend, filled with dread of the appointed time and of the +abyss, clinging to that outlying country as a congenial haunt, and +devising for themselves a last asylum among the brutes. And yet they are +equally far from the materialistic superstitions of that age and place; +they are not amenable to fumigations or exorcisms, and they do not upset +the furniture in rushing out. Many questions have been asked about the +petition of the demons and our Lord's consent. But none of them need much +distress the reverential enquirer, who remembers by what misty horizons +all our knowledge is enclosed. Most absurd is the charge that Jesus acted +indefensibly in destroying property. Is it then so clear that the owners +did not deserve their loss through the nature of their investments? Was it +merely as a man, or as the Son of the living God, that His consent was +felt to be necessary? And was it any part of His mission to protect brutes +from death? + +The loss endured was no greater than when a crop is beaten down by hail, +or a vineyard devastated by insects, and in these cases an agency beyond +the control of man is sent or permitted by God, Who was in Christ. + +A far harder question it is, How could devils enter into brute creatures? +and again, Why did they desire to do so? But the first of these is only a +subdivision of the vaster problem, at once inevitable and insoluble, How +does spirit in any of its forms animate matter, or even manipulate it? We +know not by what strange link a thought contracts a sinew, and transmutes +itself into words or deeds. And if we believe the dread and melancholy +fact of the possession of a child by a fiend, what reason have we, beyond +prejudice, for doubting the possession of swine? It must be observed also, +that no such possession is proved by this narrative to be a common event, +but the reverse. The notion is a last and wild expedient of despair, +proposing to content itself with the uttermost abasement, if only the +demons might still haunt the region where they had thriven so well. And +the consent of Jesus does not commit Him to any judgment upon the merit or +the possibility of the project. He leaves the experiment to prove itself, +exactly as when Peter would walk upon the water; and a laconic "Go" in +this case recalls the "Come" in that; an assent, without approval, to an +attempt which was about to fail. Not in the world of brutes could they +find shelter from the banishment they dreaded; for the whole herd, frantic +and ungoverned, rushed headlong into the sea and was destroyed. The second +victory of the series was thus completed. Jesus was Master over the evil +spirits which afflict humanity, as well as over the fierceness of the +elements which rise against us. + + + + +The Men Of Gadara. + + + "And they that fed them fled, and told it in the city, and in the + country. And they came to see what it was that had come to pass. + And they come to Jesus, and behold him that was possessed with + devils sitting, clothed and in his right mind, _even_ him that had + the legion: and they were afraid. And they that saw it declared + unto them how it befell him that was possessed with devils, and + concerning the swine. And they began to beseech him to depart from + their borders. And as He was entering into the boat, he that had + been possessed with devils besought Him that he might be with Him. + And He suffered him not but saith unto him, Go to thy house unto + thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for + thee, and _how_ He had mercy on thee. And he went his way, and + began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for + him: and all men did marvel."--MARK v. 14-20 (R.V.). + + +The expulsion of the demons from the possessed, their entrance into the +herd, and the destruction of the two thousand swine, were virtually one +transaction, and must have impressed the swineherds in its totality. They +saw on the one hand the restoration of a dangerous and raging madman, +known to be actuated by evil spirits, the removal of a standing peril +which had already made one tract of country impassable, and (if they +considered such a thing at all) the calming of a human soul, and its +advent within the reach of all sacred influences. On the other side what +was there? The loss of two thousand swine; and the consciousness that the +kingdom of God was come nigh unto them. This was always an alarming +discovery. Isaiah said, Woe is me! when his eyes beheld God high and +lifted up. And Peter said, Depart from me, when he learned by the +miraculous draught of fish that the Lord was there. But Isaiah's concern +was because he was a man of unclean lips, and Peter's was because he was a +sinful man. Their alarm was that of an awakened conscience, and therefore +they became the heralds of Him Whom they feared. But these men were simply +scared at what they instinctively felt to be dangerous; and so they took +refuge in a crowd, that frequent resort of the frivolous and +conscience-stricken, and told in the city what they had seen. And when the +inhabitants came forth, a sight met them which might have won the +sternest, the man sitting, clothed (a nice coincidence, since St. Mark had +not mentioned that he "ware no clothes,") and in his right mind, even him +that had the legion, as the narrative emphatically adds. And doubtless the +much debated incident of the swine had greatly helped to reassure this +afflicted soul; the demons were palpably gone, visibly enough they were +overmastered. But the citizens, like the swineherds, were merely +terrified, neither grateful nor sympathetic; uninspired with hope of pure +teaching, of rescue from other influences of the evil one, or of any +unearthly kingdom. Their formidable visitant was one to treat with all +respect, but to remove with all speed, "and they began to beseech Him to +depart from their borders." They began, for it did not require long +entreaty; the gospel which was free to all was not to be forced upon any. +But how much did they blindly fling away, who refused the presence of the +meek and lowly Giver of rest unto souls; and chose to be denied, as +strangers whom He never knew, in the day when every eye shall see Him. + +With how sad a heart must Jesus have turned away. Yet one soul at least +was won, for as He was entering into the boat, the man who owed all to Him +prayed Him that he might be with Him. Why was the prayer refused? +Doubtless it sprang chiefly from gratitude and love, thinking it hard to +lose so soon the wondrous benefactor, the Man at whose feet he had sat +down, Who alone had looked with pitiful and helpful eyes on one whom +others only sought to "tame." Such feelings are admirable, but they must +be disciplined so as to seek, not their own indulgence, but their Master's +real service. Now a reclaimed demoniac would have been a suspected +companion for One who was accused of league with the Prince of the devils. +There is no reason to suppose that he had any fitness whatever to enter +the immediate circle of our Lord's intimate disciples. His special +testimony would lose all its force when he left the district where he was +known; but there, on the contrary, the miracle could not fail to be +impressive, as its extent and permanence were seen. This man was perhaps +the only missionary who could reckon upon a hearing from those who +banished Jesus from their coasts. And Christ's loving and unresentful +heart would give this testimony to them in its fulness. It should begin at +his own house and among his friends, who would surely listen. They should +be told how great things the Lord had done for him, and Jesus expressly +added, how He had mercy upon thee, that so they might learn their mistake, +who feared and shrank from such a kindly visitant. Here is a lesson for +these modern days, when the conversion of any noted profligate is sure to +be followed by attempts to push him into a vagrant publicity, not only +full of peril in itself, but also removing him from the familiar sphere in +which his consistent life would be more convincing than all sermons, and +where no suspicion of self-interest could overcloud the brightness of his +testimony. + +Possibly there was yet another reason for leaving him in his home. He may +have desired to remain close to Jesus, lest, when the Saviour was absent, +the evil spirits should resume their sway. In that case it would be +necessary to exercise his faith and convince him that the words of Jesus +were far-reaching and effectual, even when He was Himself remote. If so, +he learned the lesson well, and became an evangelist through all the +region of Decapolis. And where all did marvel, we may hope that some were +won. What a revelation of mastery over the darkest and most dreadful +forces of evil, and of respect for the human will (which Jesus never once +coerced by miracle, even when it rejected Him), what unwearied care for +the rebellious, and what a sense of sacredness in lowly duties, better for +the demoniac than the physical nearness of his Lord, are combined in this +astonishing narrative, which to invent in the second century would itself +have required miraculous powers. + + + + +With Jairus. + + + "And when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat unto the other + side, a great multitude was gathered unto Him: and He was by the + sea. And there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus + by name; and seeing Him, he falleth at His feet, and beseecheth + Him much, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death: _I + pray Thee_ that Thou come and lay Thy hands on her, that she may + be made whole, and live. And He went with him; and a great + multitude followed Him, and they thronged Him. And a woman, which + had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things + of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was + nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, having heard the things + concerning Jesus, came in the crowd behind, and touched His + garment. For she said, If I touch but His garments, I shall be + made whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried + up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her plague. + And straightway Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power + _proceeding_ from Him had gone forth, turned Him about in the + crowd, and said, Who touched My garments? And His disciples said + unto Him, Thou seest the multitude thronging Thee, and sayest + Thou, Who touched Me? And He looked round about to see her that + had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing + what had been done to her, came and fell down before Him, and told + Him all the truth. And He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath + made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. While He + yet spake, they come from the ruler of the synagogue's _house_, + saying, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any + further? But Jesus not heeding the word spoken, saith unto the + ruler of the synagogue, Fear not, only believe. And He suffered no + man to follow with Him, save Peter, and James, and John the + brother of James. And they come to the house of the ruler of the + synagogue; and He beholdeth a tumult, and _many_ weeping and + wailing greatly. And when He was entered in, He saith unto them, + Why make ye a tumult, and weep? the child is not dead, but + sleepeth. And they laughed Him to scorn. But He, having put them + all forth, taketh the father of the child and her mother and them + that were with Him, and goeth in where the child was. And taking + the child by the hand, He saith unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, + being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise. And straightway + the damsel rose up, and walked; for she was twelve years old. And + they were amazed straightway with a great amazement. And He + charged them much that no man should know this; and He commanded + that _something_ should be given her to eat."--MARK v. 21-43 + (R.V.). + + +Repulsed from Decapolis, but consoled by the rescue and zeal of the +demoniac, Jesus returned to the western shore, and a great multitude +assembled. The other boats which were with Him had doubtless spread the +tidings of the preternatural calm which rescued them from deadly peril, +and it may be that news of the event of Gadara arrived almost as soon as +He Whom they celebrated. We have seen that St. Mark aims at bringing the +four great miracles of this period into the closest sequence. And so he +passes over a certain brief period with the words "He was by the sea." But +in fact Jesus was reasoning with the Pharisees, and with the disciples of +John, who had assailed Him and His followers, when one of their natural +leaders threw himself at His feet. + +The contrast is sharp enough, as He rises from a feast to go to the house +of mourning, from eating with publicans and sinners to accompany a ruler +of the synagogue. These unexpected calls, these sudden alternations all +found Him equally ready to bear the same noble part, in the most +dissimilar scenes, and in treating temperaments the most unlike. But the +contrast should also be observed between those harsh and hostile critics +who hated Him in the interests of dogma and of ceremonial, and Jairus, +whose views were theirs, but whose heart was softened by trouble. The +danger of his child was what drove him, perhaps reluctantly enough, to +beseech Jesus much. And nothing could be more touching than his prayer for +his "little daughter," its sequence broken as if with a sob; wistfully +pictorial as to the process, "that Thou come and lay Thy hands upon her," +and dilating wistfully too upon the effect, "that she may be made whole +and live." If a miracle were not in question, the dullest critic in Europe +would confess that this exquisite supplication was not composed by an +evangelist, but a father. And he would understand also why the very words +in their native dialect were not forgotten, which men had heard awake the +dead. + +As Jesus went with him, a great multitude followed Him, and they thronged +Him. It is quite evident that Jesus did not love these gatherings of the +idly curious. Partly from such movements He had withdrawn Himself to +Gadara; and partly to avoid exciting them He strove to keep many of His +miracles a secret. Sensationalism is neither grace nor a means of grace. +And it must be considered that the perfect Man, as far from mental apathy +or physical insensibility as from morbid fastidiousness, would find much +to shrink away from in the pressure of a city crowd. The contact of +inferior organizations, selfishness driving back the weak and gentle, +vulgar scrutiny and audible comment, and the desire for some miracle as an +idle show, which He would only work because His gentle heart was full of +pity, all these would be utterly distressing to Him who was + + + "The first true gentleman that ever breathed," + + +as well as the revelation of God in flesh. It is therefore noteworthy that +we have many examples of His grace and goodness amid such trying scenes, +as when He spoke to Zacchaeus, and called Bartimaeus to Him to be healed. +Jesus could be wrathful but He was never irritated. Of these examples one +of the most beautiful is here recorded, for as He went with Jairus, amidst +the rude and violent thronging of the crowds, moving alone (as men often +are in sympathy and in heart alone amid seething thoroughfares), He +suddenly became aware of a touch, the timid and stealthy touch of a +broken-hearted woman, pale and wasted with disease, but borne through the +crowd by the last effort of despair and the first energy of a newborn +hope. She ought not to have come thither, since her touch spread +ceremonial uncleanness far and wide. Nor ought she to have stolen a +blessing instead of praying for it. And if we seek to blame her still +further, we may condemn the superstitious notion that Christ's gifts of +healing were not conscious and loving actions, but a mere contagion of +health, by which one might profit unfelt and undiscovered. It is urged +indeed that hers was not a faith thus clouded, but so majestic as to +believe that Christ would know and respond to the silent hint of a gentle +touch. And is it supposed that Jesus would have dragged into publicity +such a perfect lily of the vale as this? and what means her trembling +confession, and the discovery that she could not be hid? But when our +keener intellects have criticised her errors, and our clearer ethics have +frowned upon her misconduct, one fact remains. She is the only woman upon +whom Jesus is recorded to have bestowed any epithet but a formal one. Her +misery and her faith drew from His guarded lips, the tender and yet lofty +word Daughter. + +So much better is the faith which seeks for blessing, however erroneous be +its means, than the heartless propriety which criticises with most +dispassionate clearness, chiefly because it really seeks nothing for +itself at all. Such faith is always an appeal, and is responded to, not as +she supposed, mechanically, unconsciously, nor, of course, by the _opus +operatum_ of a garment touched (or of a sacrament formally received), but +by the going forth of power from a conscious Giver, in response to the +need which has approached His fulness. He knew her secret and fearful +approach to Him, as He knew the guileless heart of Nathanael, whom He +marked beneath the fig-tree. And He dealt with her very gently. Doubtless +there are many such concealed woes, secret, untold miseries which eat deep +into gentle hearts, and are never spoken, and cannot, like Bartimaeus, cry +aloud for public pity. For these also there is balm in Gilead, and if the +Lord requires them to confess Him publicly, He will first give them due +strength to do so. This enfeebled and emaciated woman was allowed to feel +in her body that she was healed of her plague, before she was called upon +for her confession. Jesus asked, Who touched my clothes? It was one thing +to press Him, driven forward by the multitude around, as circumstances +impel so many to become churchgoers, readers of Scripture, interested in +sacred questions and controversies until they are borne as by physical +propulsion into the closest contact with our Lord, but not drawn thither +by any personal craving or sense of want, nor expecting any blessed +reaction of "the power proceeding from Him." It was another thing to reach +out a timid hand and touch appealingly even that tasselled fringe of His +garment which had a religious significance, whence perhaps she drew a +semi-superstitious hope. In the face of this incident, can any orthodoxy +forbid us to believe that the grace of Christ extends, now as of yore, to +many a superstitious and erring approach by which souls reach after +Christ? + +The disciples wondered at His question: they knew not that "the flesh +presses but faith touches;" but as He continued to look around and seek +her that had done this thing, she fell down and told Him all the truth. +Fearing and trembling she spoke, for indeed she had been presumptuous, and +ventured without permission. But the chief thing was that she had +ventured, and so He graciously replied, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee +whole, go in peace and be whole of thy plague. Thus she received more than +she had asked or thought; not only healing for the body, but also a +victory over that self-effacing, fearful, half morbid diffidence, which +long and weakening disease entails. Thus also, instead of a secret cure, +she was given the open benediction of her Lord, and such confirmation in +her privilege as many more would enjoy if only with their mouth confession +were made unto salvation. + +While He yet spoke, and the heart of Jairus was divided between joy at a +new evidence of the power of Christ, and impatience at every moment of +delay, not knowing that his Benefactor was the Lord of time itself, the +fatal message came, tinged with some little irony as it asked, Why +troublest thou the Teacher any more? It is quite certain that Jesus had +before now raised the dead, but no miracle of the kind had acquired such +prominence as afterwards to claim a place in the Gospel narratives. + +One is led to suspect that the care of Jesus had prevailed, and they had +not been widely published. To those who brought this message, perhaps no +such case had travelled, certainly none had gained their credence. It was +in their eyes a thing incredible that He should raise the dead, and indeed +there is a wide difference between every other miracle and this. We +struggle against all else, but when death comes we feel that all is over +except to bury out of our sight what once was beautiful and dear. Death is +destiny made visible; it is the irrevocable. Who shall unsay the words of +a bleeding heart, I shall go to him but he shall not return to me? But +Christ came to destroy him that had the power of death. Even now, through +Him, we are partakers of a more intense and deeper life, and have not only +the hope but the beginning of immortality. And it was the natural seal +upon His lofty mission, that He should publicly raise up the dead. For so +great a task, shall we say that Jesus now gathers all His energies? That +would be woefully to misread the story; for a grand simplicity, the easy +bearing of unstrained and amply adequate resources, is common to all the +narratives of life brought back. We shall hereafter see good reason why +Jesus employed means for other miracles, and even advanced by stages in +the work. But lest we should suppose that effort was necessary, and His +power but just sufficed to overcome the resistance, none of these supreme +miracles is wrought with the slightest effort. Prophets and apostles may +need to stretch themselves upon the bed or to embrace the corpse; Jesus, +in His own noble phrase, awakes it out of sleep. A wonderful ease and +quietness pervade the narratives, expressing exactly the serene bearing of +the Lord of the dead and of the living. There is no holding back, no +toying with the sorrow of the bereaved, such as even Euripides, the +tenderest of the Greeks, ascribed to the demigod who tore from the grip of +death the heroic wife of Admetus. Hercules plays with the husband's +sorrow, suggests the consolation of a new bridal, and extorts the angry +cry, "Silence, what have you said? I would not have believed it of you." +But what is natural to a hero, flushed with victory and the sense of +patronage, would have ill become the absolute self-possession and gentle +grace of Jesus. In every case, therefore, He is full of encouragement and +sympathy, even before His work is wrought. To the widow of Nain He says, +"Weep not." He tells the sister of Lazarus, "If thou wilt believe, thou +shalt see the salvation of God." And when these disastrous tidings shake +all the faith of Jairus, Jesus loses not a moment in reassuring Him: "Fear +not, only believe," He says, not heeding the word spoken; that is to say, +Himself unagitated and serene.(10) + +In every case some co-operation was expected from the bystanders. The +bearers of the widow's son halted, expectant, when this majestic and +tender Wayfarer touched the bier. The friends of Lazarus rolled away the +stone from the sepulchre. But the professional mourners in the house of +Jairus were callous and insensible, and when He interrupted their +clamorous wailing, with the question, Why make ye tumult and weep? they +laughed Him to scorn; a fit expression of the world's purblind +incredulity, its reliance upon ordinary "experience" to disprove all +possibilities of the extraordinary and Divine, and its heartless +transition from conventional sorrow to ghastly laughter, mocking in the +presence of death--which is, in its view, so desperate--the last hope of +humanity. Laughter is not the fitting mood in which to contradict the +Christian hope, that our lost ones are not dead, but sleep. The new and +strange hope for humanity which Jesus thus asserted, He went on to prove, +but not for them. Exerting that moral ascendency, which sufficed Him twice +to cleanse the Temple, He put them all forth, as already He had shut out +the crowd, and all His disciples but "the elect of His election," the +three who now first obtain a special privilege. The scene was one of +surpassing solemnity and awe; but not more so than that of Nain, or by the +tomb of _Lazarus_. Why then were not only the idly curious and the +scornful, but nine of His chosen ones excluded? Surely we may believe, for +the sake of the little girl, whose tender grace of unconscious maidenhood +should not, in its hour of reawakened vitality, be the centre of a gazing +circle. He kept with Him the deeply reverential and the loving, the ripest +apostles and the parents of the child, since love and reverence are ever +the conditions of real insight. And then, first, was exhibited the gentle +and profound regard of Christ for children. He did not arouse her, as +others, with a call only, but took her by the hand, while He spoke to her +those Aramaic words, so marvellous in their effect, which St. Peter did +not fail to repeat to St. Mark as he had heard them, Talitha cumi; Damsel, +I say unto thee, Arise. They have an added sweetness when we reflect that +the former word, though applied to a very young child, is in its root a +variation of the word for a little lamb. How exquisite from the lips of +the Good Shepherd, Who gave His life for the sheep. How strange to be thus +awakened from the mysterious sleep, and to gaze with a child's fresh eyes +into the loving eyes of Jesus. Let us seek to realise such positions, to +comprehend the marvellous heart which they reveal to us, and we shall +derive more love and trust from the effort than from all such doctrinal +inference and allegorizing as would dry up, into a _hortus siccus_, the +sweetest blooms of the sweetest story ever told. + +So shall we understand what happened next in all three cases. Something +preternatural and therefore dreadful, appeared to hang about the lives so +wondrously restored. The widow of Nain did not dare to embrace her son +until Christ "gave him to his mother." The bystanders did not touch +Lazarus, bound hand and foot, until Jesus bade them "loose him and let him +go." And the five who stood about this child's bed, amazed straightway +with a great amazement, had to be reminded that being now in perfect +health, after an illness which left her system wholly unsupplied, +something should be given her to eat. This is the point at which Euripides +could find nothing fitter for Hercules to utter than the awkward boast, +"Thou wilt some day say that the son of Jove was a capital guest to +entertain." What a contrast. For Jesus was utterly unflushed, undazzled, +apparently unconscious of anything to disturb His composure. And so far +was He from the unhappy modern notion, that every act of grace must be +proclaimed on the housetop, and every recipient of grace however young, +however unmatured, paraded and exhibited, that He charged them much that +no man should know this. + +The story throughout is graphic and full of character; every touch, every +word reveals the Divine Man; and only reluctance to believe a miracle +prevents it from proving itself to every candid mind. Whether it be +accepted or rejected, it is itself miraculous. It could not have grown up +in the soil which generated the early myths and legends, by the working of +the ordinary laws of mind. It is beyond their power to invent or to dream, +supernatural in the strictest sense. + +This miracle completes the cycle. Nature, distracted by the Fall, has +revolted against Him in vain. Satan, intrenched in his last stronghold, +has resisted, and humbled himself to entreaties and to desperate +contrivances, in vain. Secret and unspoken woes, and silent germs of +belief, have hidden from Him in vain. Death itself has closed its bony +fingers upon its prey, in vain. Nothing can resist the power and love, +which are enlisted on behalf of all who put their trust in Jesus. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + + + +Rejected In His Own Country. + + + "And He went out from thence; and He cometh into His own country; + and His disciples follow Him."--MARK vi. 1-6 (R.V.). + + +We have seen how St. Mark, to bring out more vividly the connection +between four mighty signs, their ideal completeness as a whole, and that +mastery over nature and the spiritual world which they reveal, grouped +them resolutely together, excluding even significant incidents which would +break in upon their sequence. Bearing this in mind, how profoundly +instructive it is that our Evangelist shows us this Master over storm and +demons, over too-silent disease, and over death, too clamorously bewailed, +in the next place teaching His own countrymen in vain, and an offence to +them. How startling to read, at this juncture, when legend would surely +have thrown all men prostrate at his feet, of His homely family and His +trade, and how He Who rebuked the storm "could there do no mighty work." + +First of all, it is touching to see Jesus turning once more to "His own +country," just at this crisis. They had rejected Him in a frenzy of rage, +at the outset of His ministry. And He had very lately repulsed the rude +attempt of His immediate relatives to interrupt His mission. But now His +heart leads Him thither, once again to appeal to the companions of His +youth, with the halo of His recent and surpassing works upon His forehead. +He does not abruptly interrupt their vocations, but waits as before for +the Sabbath, and the hushed assembly in the sacred place. And as He +teaches in the synagogue, they are conscious of His power. Whence could He +have these things? His wisdom was an equal wonder with His mighty works, +of the reality of which they could not doubt. And what excuse then had +they for listening to His wisdom in vain? But they went on to ask, Is not +this the carpenter? the Son of Mary? they knew His brothers, and His +sisters were living among them. And they were offended in Him, naturally +enough. It _is_ hard to believe in the supremacy of one, whom +circumstances marked as our equal, and to admit the chieftainship of one +who started side by side with us. In Palestine it was not disgraceful to +be a tradesman, but yet they could fairly claim equality with "the +carpenter." And it is plain enough that they found no impressive or +significant difference from their neighbours in the "sisters" of Jesus, +nor even in her whom all generations call blessed. Why then should they +abase themselves before the claims of Jesus? + +It is an instructive incident. First of all, it shows us the perfection of +our Lord's abasement. He was not only a carpenter's son, but what this +passage only declares to us explicitly, He wrought as an artizan, and +consecrated for ever a lowly trade, by the toil of those holy limbs whose +sufferings should redeem the world. + +And we learn the abject folly of judging by mere worldly standards. We are +bound to give due honour and precedence to rank and station. Refusing to +do this, we virtually undertake to dissolve society, and readjust it upon +other principles, or by instincts and intuitions of our own, a grave task, +when it is realized. But we are not to be dazzled, much less to be misled, +by the advantages of station or of birth. Yet if, as it would seem, +Nazareth rejected Christ because He was not a person of quality, this is +only the most extreme and ironical exhibition of what happens every day, +when a noble character, self-denying, self-controlled and wise, fails to +win the respect which is freely and gladly granted to vice and folly in a +coronet. + +And yet, to one who reflected, the very objection they put forward was an +evidence of His mission. His wisdom was confessed, and His miracles were +not denied; were they less wonderful or more amazing, more supernatural, +as the endowments of the carpenter whom they knew? Whence, they asked, had +He derived His learning, as if it were not more noble for being original. + +Are we sure that men do not still make the same mistake? The perfect and +lowly humanity of Jesus is a stumbling block to some who will freely admit +His ideal perfections, and the matchless nobility of His moral teaching. +They will grant anything but the supernatural origin of Him to Whom they +attribute qualities beyond parallel. But whence had He those qualities? +What is there in the Galilee of the first century which prepares one for +discovering there and then the revolutionizer of the virtues of the world, +the most original, profound, and unique of all teachers, Him Whose example +is still mightier than His precepts, and only not more perfect, because +these also are without a flaw, Him Whom even unbelief would shrink from +saluting by so cold a title as that of the most saintly of the saints. To +ask with a clear scrutiny, whence the teaching of Jesus came, to realize +the isolation from all centres of thought and movement, of this Hebrew, +this provincial among Hebrews, this villager in Galilee, this carpenter in +a village, and then to observe His mighty works in every quarter of the +globe, is enough to satisfy all candid minds that His earthly +circumstances have something totally unlike themselves behind them. And +the more men give ear to materialism and to materialistic evolution +without an evolving mind, so much the more does the problem press upon +them, Whence hath this man this wisdom? and what mean these mighty works? + +From our Lord's own commentary upon their rejection we learn to beware of +the vulgarising effects of familiarity. They had seen His holy youth, +against which no slander was ever breathed. And yet, while His teaching +astonished them, He had no honour in his own house. It is the same result +which so often seems to follow from a lifelong familiarity with Scripture +and the means of grace. We read, almost mechanically, what melts and +amazes the pagan to whom it is a new word. We forsake, or submit to the +dull routine of, ordinances the most sacred, the most searching, the most +invigorating and the most picturesque. + +And yet we wonder that the men of Nazareth could not discern the divinity +of "the carpenter," whose family lived quiet and unassuming lives in their +own village. + +It is St. Mark, the historian of the energies of Christ, who tells us that +He "could there do no mighty work," with only sufficient exception to +prove that neither physical power nor compassion was what failed Him, +since "He laid His hands upon a few sick folk and healed them." What then +is conveyed by this bold phrase? Surely the fearful power of the human +will to resist the will of man's compassionate Redeemer. He would have +gathered Jerusalem under His wing, but she would not; and the temporal +results of her disobedience had to follow; siege, massacre and ruin. God +has no pleasure in the death of him who dieth, yet death follows, as the +inevitable wages of sin. Therefore, as surely as the miracles of Jesus +typified His gracious purposes for the souls of men, Who forgiveth all our +iniquities, Who healeth all our diseases, so surely the rejection and +defeat of those loving purposes paralysed the arm stretched out to heal +their sick. + +Does it seem as if the words "He could not," even thus explained, convey a +certain affront, throw a shadow upon the glory of our Master? And the +words "they mocked, scourged, crucified Him," do these convey no affront? +The suffering of Jesus was not only physical: His heart was wounded; His +overtures were rejected; His hands were stretched out in vain; His pity +and love were crucified. + +But now let this be considered, that men who refuse His Spirit continually +presume upon His mercy, and expect not to suffer the penalty of their evil +deeds. Alas, that is impossible. Where unbelief rejected His teaching, He +"could not" work the marvels of His grace. How shall they escape who +reject so great salvation? + + + + +The Mission Of The Twelve. + + + "And He called unto Him the twelve, and began to send them forth + by two and two; and He gave them authority over the unclean + spirits; and He charged them that they should take nothing for + _their_ journey, save a staff only; no bread, no wallet, no money + in their purse; but _to go_ shod with sandals: and, _said He_, put + not on two coats. And He said unto them, Wheresoever ye enter into + a house, there abide till ye depart thence. And whatsoever place + shall not receive you, and they hear you not, as ye go forth + thence, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony + unto them. And they went out, and preached that _men_ should + repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many + that were sick, and healed them."--MARK vi. 7-13 (R.V.). + + +Repulsed a second time from the cradle of His youth, even as lately from +Decapolis, with what a heavy heart must the Loving One have turned away. +Yet we read of no abatement of His labours. He did not, like the fiery +prophet, wander into the desert and make request that He might die. And it +helps us to realise the elevation of our Lord, when we reflect how utterly +the discouragement with which we sympathise in the great Elijah would ruin +our conception of Jesus. + +It was now that He set on foot new efforts, and advanced in the training +of His elect. For Himself, He went about the villages, whither slander and +prejudice had not yet penetrated, and was content to break new ground +among the most untaught and sequestered of the people. The humblest field +of labour was not too lowly for the Lord, although we meet, every day, +with men who are "thrown away" and "buried" in obscure fields of +usefulness. We have not yet learned to follow without a murmur the +Carpenter, and the Teacher in villages, even though we are soothed in +grief by thinking, because we endure the inevitable, that we are followers +of the Man of Sorrows. At the same moment when democracies and priesthoods +are rejecting their Lord, a king had destroyed His forerunner. On every +account it was necessary to vary as well as multiply the means for the +evangelisation of the country. Thus the movement would be accelerated, and +it would no longer present one solitary point of attack to its +unscrupulous foes. + +Jesus therefore called to Him the Twelve, and began to send them forth. In +so doing, His directions revealed at once His wisdom and His fears for +them. + +Not even for unfallen man was it good to be alone. It was a bitter +ingredient in the cup which Christ Himself drank, that His followers +should be scattered to their own and leave Him alone. And it was at the +last extremity, when he could no longer forbear, that St. Paul thought it +good to be at Athens alone. Jesus therefore would not send His +inexperienced heralds forth for the first time except by two and two, that +each might sustain the courage and wisdom of his comrade. And His example +was not forgotten. Peter and John together visited the converts in +Samaria. And when Paul and Barnabas, whose first journey was together, +could no longer agree, each of them took a new comrade and departed. +Perhaps our modern missionaries lose more in energy than is gained in area +by neglecting so humane a precedent, and forfeiting the special presence +vouchsafed to the common worship of two or three. + +St. Mark has not recorded the mission of the seventy evangelists, but this +narrative is clearly coloured by his knowledge of that event. Thus He does +not mention the gift of miraculous power, which was common to both, but He +does tell of the authority over unclean spirits, which was explicitly +given to the Twelve, and which the Seventy, returning with joy, related +that they also had successfully dared to claim. In conferring such power +upon His disciples, Jesus took the first step towards that marvellous +identification of Himself and His mastery over evil, with all His +followers, that giving of His presence to their assemblies, His honour to +their keeping, His victory to their experience, and His lifeblood to their +veins, which makes Him the second Adam, represented in all the newborn +race, and which finds its most vivid and blessed expression in the +sacrament where His flesh is meat indeed and His blood is drink indeed. +Now first He is seen to commit His powers and His honour into mortal +hands. + +In doing this, He impressed on them the fact that they were not sent at +first upon a toilsome and protracted journey. Their personal connection +with Him was not broken but suspended for a little while. Hereafter, they +would need to prepare for hardship, and he that had two coats should take +them. It was not so now: sandals would suffice their feet; they should +carry no wallet; only a staff was needed for their brief excursion through +a hospitable land. But hospitality itself would have its dangers for them, +and when warmly received they might be tempted to be feted by various +hosts, enjoying the first enthusiastic welcome of each, and refusing to +share afterwards the homely domestic life which would succeed. Yet it was +when they ceased to be strangers that their influence would really be +strongest; and so there was good reason, both for the sake of the family +they might win, and for themselves who should not become self-indulgent, +why they should not go from house to house. + +These directions were not meant to become universal rules, and we have +seen how Jesus afterwards explicitly varied them. But their spirit is an +admonition to all who are tempted to forget their mission in personal +advantages which it may offer. Thus commissioned and endowed, they should +feel as they went the greatness of the message they conveyed. Wherever +they were rejected; no false meekness should forbid their indignant +protest, and they should refuse to carry even the dust of that evil and +doomed place upon their feet. + +And they went forth and preached repentance, casting out many devils, and +healing many that were sick. In doing this, they anointed them with oil, +as St. James afterwards directed, but as Jesus never did. He used no +means, or when faith needed to be helped by a visible application, it was +always the touch of His own hand or the moisture of His own lip. The +distinction is significant. And also it must be remembered that oil was +never used by disciples for the edification of the dying, but for the +recovery of the sick. + +By this new agency the name of Jesus was more than ever spread abroad, +until it reached the ears of a murderous tyrant, and stirred in his bosom +not the repentance which they preached, but the horrors of ineffectual +remorse. + + + + +Herod. + + + "And king Herod heard _thereof;_ for His name had become known: + and he said, John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and + therefore do these powers work in him. But others said, It is + Elijah. And others said, _It is_ a prophet, _even_ as one of the + prophets. But Herod, when he heard _thereof_, said, John, whom I + beheaded, he is risen. For Herod himself had sent forth and laid + hold upon John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, + his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her. For John said + unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. + And Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him; and + she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a + righteous man and a holy, and kept him safe. And when he heard + him, he was much perplexed; and he heard him gladly. And when a + convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper + to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee; + and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she + pleased Herod and them that sat at meat with him; and the king + said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will + give it thee. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of + me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went + out, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The + head of John the Baptist. And she came in straightway with haste + unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou forthwith give + me in a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the king was + exceeding sorry; but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that + sat at meat, he would not reject her. And straightway the king + sent forth a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring his + head: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his + head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel; and the damsel gave + it to her mother. And when his disciples heard _thereof_, they + came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb."--MARK vi. + 14-29 (R.V.). + + +The growing influence of Jesus demanded the mission of the Twelve, and +this in its turn increased His fame until it alarmed the tetrarch Herod. +An Idumaean ruler of Israel was forced to dread every religious movement, +for all the waves of Hebrew fanaticism beat against the foreign throne. +And Herod Antipas was especially the creature of circumstances, a weak and +plastic man. He is the Ahab of the New Testament, and it is a curious +coincidence that he should have to do with its Elijah. As Ahab fasted when +he heard his doom, and postponed the evil by his submission, so Herod was +impressed and agitated by the teaching of the Baptist. But Ahab +surrendered his soul to the imperious Jezebel, and Herod was ruined by +Herodias. Each is the sport of strong influences from without, and warns +us that a man, no more than a ship, can hope by drifting to come safe to +haven. + +No contrast could be imagined more dramatic than between the sleek seducer +of his brother's wife and the imperious reformer, rude in garment and +frugal of fare, thundering against the generation of vipers who were the +chiefs of his religion. + +How were these two brought together? Did the Baptist stride unsummoned +into the court? Did his crafty foemen contrive his ruin by inciting the +Tetrarch to consult him? Or did that restless religious curiosity, which +afterwards desired to see Jesus, lead Herod to consult his forerunner? The +abrupt words of John are not unlike an answer to some feeble question of +casuistry, some plea of extenuating circumstances such as all can urge in +mitigation of their worst deeds. He simply and boldly states the +inflexible ordinance of God: It is not lawful for thee to have her. + +What follows may teach us much. + +1. It warns us that good inclinations, veneration for holiness in others, +and ineffectual struggles against our own vices, do not guarantee +salvation. He who feels them is not God-forsaken, since every such emotion +is a grace. But he must not infer that he never may be forsaken, or that +because he is not wholly indifferent or disobedient, God will some day +make him all that his better moods desire. Such a man should be warned by +Herod Antipas. Ruggedly and abruptly rebuked, his soul recognised and did +homage to the truthfulness of his teacher. Admiration replaced the anger +in which he cast him into prison. As he stood between him and the +relentless Herodias, and "kept him safely," he perhaps believed that the +gloomy dungeon, and the utter interruption of a great career, were only +for the Baptist's preservation. Alas, there was another cause. He was +"much perplexed": he dared not provoke his temptress by releasing the man +of God. And thus temporizing, and daily weakening the voice of conscience +by disobedience, he was lost. + +2. It is distinctly a bad omen that he "heard him gladly," since he had no +claim to well-founded religious happiness. Our Lord had already observed +the shallowness of men who immediately with joy receive the word, yet have +no root. But this guilty man, disquieted by the reproaches of memory and +the demands of conscience, found it a relief to hear stern truth, and to +see from far the beauteous light of righteousness. He would not reform his +life, but he would fain keep his sensibilities alive. It was so that +Italian brigands used to maintain a priest. And it is so that fraudulent +British tradesmen too frequently pass for religious men. People cry shame +on their hypocrisy. Yet perhaps they less often wear a mask to deceive +others than a cloke to keep their own hearts warm, and should not be +quoted to prove that religion is a deceit, but as witnesses that even the +most worldly soul craves as much of it as he can assimilate. So it was +with Herod Antipas. + +3. But no man can serve two masters. He who refuses the command of God to +choose whom he will serve, in calmness and meditation, when the means of +grace and the guidance of the Spirit are with him, shall hear some day the +voice of the Tempter, derisive and triumphant, amid evil companions, when +flushed with guilty excitements and with sensual desires, and deeply +committed by rash words and "honour rooted in dishonour," bidding him +choose now, and choose finally. Salome will tolerate neither weak +hesitation nor half measures; she must herself possess "forthwith" the +head of her mother's foe, which is worth more than half the kingdom, since +his influence might rob them of it all. And the king was exceeding sorry, +but chose to be a murderer rather than be taken for a perjurer by the bad +companions who sat with him. What a picture of a craven soul, enslaved +even in the purple. And of the meshes for his own feet which that man +weaves, who gathers around him such friends that their influence will +surely mislead his lonely soul in its future struggles to be virtuous. +What a lurid light does this passage throw upon another and a worse scene, +when we meet Herod again, not without the tyrannous influence of his men +of war. + +4. We learn the mysterious interconnection of sin with sin. Vicious luxury +and self-indulgence, the plastic feebleness of character which half yields +to John, yet cannot break with Herodias altogether, these do not seem +likely to end in murder. They have scarcely strength enough, we feel, for +a great crime. Alas, they have feebleness enough for it, for he who joins +in the dance of the graces may give his hand to the furies unawares. +Nothing formidable is to be seen in Herod, up to the fatal moment when +revelry, and the influence of his associates, and the graceful dancing of +a woman whose beauty was pitiless, urged him irresistibly forward to bathe +his shrinking hands in blood. And from this time forward he is a lost man. +When a greater than John is reported to be working miracles, he has a wild +explanation for the new portent, and his agitation is betrayed in his +broken words, "John, whom I beheaded, he is risen." "For" St. Mark adds +with quiet but grave significance, "Herod himself had sent forth and laid +hold upon John, and bound him." Others might speak of a mere teacher, but +the conscience of Herod will not suffer it to be so; it is his victim; he +has learnt the secret of eternity; "and therefore do these powers work in +him." Yet Herod was a Sadducee. + +5. These words are dramatic enough to prove themselves; it would have +tasked Shakespere to invent them. But they involve the ascription from the +first of unearthly powers to Jesus, and they disprove, what sceptics would +fain persuade us, that miracles were inevitably ascribed, by the credulity +of the age, to all great teachers, since John wrought none, and the +astonishing theory that he had graduated in another world, was invented by +Herod to account for those of Jesus. How inevitable it was that such a man +should set at nought our Lord. Dread, and moral repulsion, and the +suspicion that he himself was the mark against which all the powers of the +avenger would be directed, these would not produce a mood in which to +comprehend One who did not strive nor cry. To them it was a supreme relief +to be able to despise Christ. + +Elsewhere we can trace the gradual cessation of the alarm of Herod. At +first he dreads the presence of the new Teacher, and yet dares not assail +Him openly. And so, when Jesus was advised to go thence or Herod would +kill Him, He at once knew who had instigated the crafty monition, and sent +back his defiance to that fox. But even fear quickly dies in a callous +heart, and only curiosity survives. Herod is soon glad to see Jesus, and +hopes that He may work a miracle. For religious curiosity and the love of +spiritual excitement often survive grace, just as the love of stimulants +survives the healthy appetite for bread. But our Lord, Who explained so +much for Pilate, spoke not a word to him. And the wretch, whom once the +forerunner had all but won, now set the Christ Himself at nought, and +mocked Him, So yet does the God of this world blind the eyes of the +unbelieving. So great are still the dangers of hesitation, since not to be +for Christ is to be against Him. + +6. But the blood of the martyr was not shed before his work was done. As +the falling blossom admits the sunshine to the fruit, so the herald died +when his influence might have clashed with the growing influence of his +Lord, Whom the Twelve were at last trained to proclaim far and wide. At a +stroke, his best followers were naturally transferred to Jesus, Whose way +he had prepared. Rightly, therefore, has St. Mark placed the narrative at +this juncture, and very significantly does St. Matthew relate that his +disciples, when they had buried him, "came and told Jesus." + +Upon the path of our Lord Himself this violent death fell as a heavy +shadow. Nor was He unconscious of its menace, for after the +transfiguration He distinctly connected with a prediction of His own +death, the fact that they had done to Elias also whatsoever they listed. +Such connections of thought help us to realise the truth, that not once +only, but throughout His ministry, He Who bids us bear our cross while we +follow Him, was consciously bearing His own. We must not limit to "three +days" the sorrows which redeemed the world. + + + + +Bread In The Desert. + + + "And the apostles gather themselves together unto Jesus; and they + told Him all things, whatsoever they had done, and whatsoever they + had taught. And He saith unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into + a desert place, and rest awhile. For there were many coming and + going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they went + away in the boat to a desert place apart. And _the people_ saw + them going, and many knew _them_, and they ran there together on + foot from all the cities, and outwent them. And He came forth and + saw a great multitude, and He had compassion on them, because they + were as sheep not having a shepherd: and He began to teach them + many things. And when the day was now far spent, His disciples + came onto Him, and said, The place is desert, and the day is now + far spent: send them away, that they may go into the country and + villages round about, and buy themselves somewhat to eat. But He + answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say + unto Him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and + give them to eat? And He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? + go _and_ see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. + And He commanded them that all should sit down by companies upon + the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by + fifties. And He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and + looking up to heaven, He blessed, and brake the loaves; and He + gave to the disciples to set before them; and the two fishes + divided He among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. + And they took up broken pieces, twelve basketfuls, and also of the + fishes. And they that ate the loaves were five thousand men. And + straightway He constrained His disciples to enter into the boat, + and to go before _Him_ unto the other side to Bethsaida, while He + Himself sendeth the multitude away. And after He had taken leave + of them He departed into the mountain to pray."--MARK vi. 30-46 + (R.V.). + + +The Apostles, now first called by that name, because now first these +"Messengers" had carried the message of their Lord, returned and told Him +all, the miracles they had performed, and whatever they had taught. From +the latter clause it is plain that to preach "that men should repent," +involved arguments, motives, promises, and perhaps threatenings which +rendered it no meagre announcement. It is in truth a demand which involves +free will and responsibility as its basis, and has hell or heaven for the +result of disobedience or compliance. Into what controversies may it have +led these first preachers of Jesus! All was now submitted to the judgment +of their Master. And happy are they still who do not shrink from the +healing pain of bringing all their actions and words to Him, and +hearkening what the Lord will speak. + +Upon the whole, they brought a record of success, and around Him also were +so many coming and going that they had no leisure so much as to eat. +Whereupon Jesus draws them aside to rest awhile. For the balance must +never be forgotten between the outer and the inner life. The Lord Himself +spent the following night in prayer, until He saw the distress of His +disciples, and came to them upon the waves. And the time was at hand when +they, who now rejoiced that the devils were subject unto them, should +learn by sore humiliation and defeat that this kind goeth not forth except +by prayer. We may be certain that it was not bodily repose alone that +Jesus desired for his flushed and excited ambassadors, in the hour of +their success. And yet bodily repose also at such a time is healing, and +in the very pause, the silence, the cessation of the rush, pressure, and +excitement of every conspicuous career, there is an opportunity and even a +suggestion of calm and humble recollection of the soul. Accordingly they +crossed in the boat to some quiet spot, open and unreclaimed, but very far +from such dreariness as the mention of a desert suggests to us. But the +people saw Him, and watched His course, while outrunning him along the +coast, and their numbers were augmented from every town as they poured +through it, until He came forth and saw a great multitude, and knew that +His quest of solitude was baffled. Few things are more trying than the +world's remorseless intrusion upon one's privacy, and subversions of plans +which one has laid, not for himself alone. But Jesus was as thoughtful for +the multitude as He had just shown Himself to be for His disciples. Not to +petulance but to compassion did their urgency excite Him; for as they +streamed across the wilderness, far from believing upon Him, but yet +conscious of sore need, unsatisfied with the doctrine of their +professional teachers, and just bereaved of the Baptist, they seemed in +the desert like sheep that had no shepherd. And He patiently taught them +many things. + +Nor was He careful only for their souls. We have now reached that +remarkable miracle which alone is related by all the four Evangelists. And +the narratives, while each has its individual and peculiar points, +corroborate each other very strikingly. All four mention the same kind of +basket, quite different from what appears in the feeding of the four +thousand. St. John alone tells us that it was the season of the Passover, +the middle of the Galilean spring-time; but yet this agrees exactly with +St. Mark's allusion to the "green grass" which summer has not yet dried +up. All four have recorded that Jesus "blessed" or "gave thanks," and +three of them that He looked up to heaven while doing so. What was there +so remarkable, so intense or pathetic in His expression, that it should +have won this three-fold celebration? If we remember the symbolical +meaning of what He did, and that as His hands were laid upon the bread +which He would break, so His own body should soon be broken for the relief +of the hunger of the world, how can we doubt that absolute self-devotion, +infinite love, and pathetic resignation were in that wonderful look, which +never could be forgotten? + +There could have been but few women and children among the multitudes who +"outran Jesus," and these few would certainly have been trodden down if a +rush of strong and hungry men for bread had taken place. Therefore St. +John mentions that while Jesus bade "the people" to be seated, it was the +men who were actually arranged (vi. 10 R.V.). Groups of fifty were easy to +keep in order, and a hundred of these were easily counted. And thus it +comes to pass that we know that there were five thousand men, while the +women and children remained unreckoned, as St. Matthew asserts, and St. +Mark implies. This is a kind of harmony which we do not find in two +versions of any legend. Nor could any legendary impulse have imagined the +remarkable injunction, which impressed all four Evangelists, to be frugal +when it would seem that the utmost lavishness was pardonable. They were +not indeed bidden to gather up fragments left behind upon the ground, for +thrift is not meanness; but the "broken pieces" which our Lord had +provided over and above should not be lost. "This union of economy with +creative power," said Olshausen, "could never have been invented, and yet +Nature, that mirror of the Divine perfections, exhibits the same +combination of boundless munificence with truest frugality." And Godet +adds the excellent remark, that "a gift so obtained was not to be +squandered." + +There is one apparent discord to set against these remarkable harmonies, +and it will at least serve to show that they are not calculated and +artificial. + +St. John represents Jesus as the first to ask Philip, Whence are we to buy +bread? whereas the others represent the Twelve as urging upon Him the need +to dismiss the multitude, at so late an hour, from a place so ill +provided. The inconsistency is only an apparent one. It was early in the +day, and upon "seeing a great company come unto Him," that Jesus +questioned Philip, who might have remembered an Old Testament precedent, +when Elisha said "Give unto the people that they may eat. And his servitor +said, What? shall I set this before an hundred men? He said, again, they +shall both eat and shall also leave thereof." But the faith of Philip did +not respond, and if any hope of a miracle were excited, it faded as time +passed over. Hours later, when the day was far spent, the Twelve, now +perhaps excited by Philip's misgiving, and repeating his calculation about +the two hundred pence, urge Jesus to dismiss the multitude. They took no +action until "the time was already past," but Jesus saw the end from the +beginning. And surely the issue taught them not to distrust their Master's +power. Now the same power is for ever with the Church; and our heavenly +Father knoweth that we have need of food and raiment. + +Even in the working of a miracle, the scantiest means vouchsafed by +Providence are not despised. Jesus takes the barley-loaves and the fishes, +and so teaches all men that true faith is remote indeed from the +fanaticism which neglects any resources brought within the reach of our +study and our toil. And to show how really these materials were employed, +the broken pieces which they gathered are expressly said to have been +composed of the barley-loaves and of the fish. + +Indeed it must be remarked that in no miracle of the Gospel did Jesus +actually create. He makes no new members of the body, but restores old +useless ones. "And so, without a substratum to work upon He creates +neither bread nor wine." To do this would not have been a whit more +difficult, but it would have expressed less aptly His mission, which was +not to create a new system of things, but to renew the old, to recover the +lost sheep, and to heal the sick at heart. + +Every circumstance of this miracle is precious. That vigilant care for the +weak which made the people sit down in groups, and await their turn to be +supplied, is a fine example of the practical eye for details which was +never, before or since, so perfectly united with profound thought, insight +into the mind of God and the wants of the human race. + +The words, Give ye them to eat, may serve as an eternal rebuke to the +helplessness of the Church, face to face with a starving world, and +regarding her own scanty resources with dismay. In the presence of +heathenism, of dissolute cities, and of semi-pagan peasantries, she is +ever looking wistfully to some costly far-off supply. And her Master is +ever bidding her believe that the few loaves and fishes in her hand, if +blessed and distributed by Him, will satisfy the famine of mankind. + +For in truth He is Himself this bread. All that the Gospel of St. John +explains, underlies the narratives of the four. And shame on us, with +Christ given to us to feed and strengthen us, if we think our resources +scanty, if we grudge to share them with mankind, if we let our thoughts +wander away to the various palliatives for human misery and salves for +human anguish, which from time to time gain the credence of an hour; if we +send the hungry to the country and villages round about, when Christ the +dispenser of the Bread of souls, for ever present in His Church, is +saying, They need not depart, give ye them to eat. + +The sceptical explanations of this narrative are exquisitely ludicrous. +One tells us how, finding themselves in a desert, "thanks to their extreme +frugality they were able to exist, and this was naturally" (what, +naturally?) "regarded as a miracle." This is called the legendary +explanation, and every one can judge for himself how much it succeeds in +explaining to him. + +Another tells us that Jesus being greater than Moses, it was felt that He +must have outstripped him in miraculous power. And so the belief grew up +that as Moses fed a nation during forty years, with angels' food, He, to +exceed this, must have bestowed upon five thousand men one meal of barley +bread. + +This is called the mythical explanation, and the credulity which accepts +it must not despise Christians, who only believe their Bibles. + +Jesus had called away His followers to rest. The multitude which beheld +this miracle was full of passionate hate against the tyrant, upon whose +hands the blood of the Baptist was still warm. All they wanted was a +leader. And now they would fain have taken Jesus by force to thrust this +perilous honour upon Him. Therefore He sent away His disciples first, that +ambition and hope might not agitate and secularise their minds; and when +He had dismissed the multitude He Himself ascended the neighbouring +mountain, to cool His frame with the pure breezes, and to refresh His Holy +Spirit by communion with His Father. Prayer was natural to Jesus; but +think how much more needful is it to us. And yet perhaps we have never +taken one hour from sleep for God. + + + + +Jesus Walking On The Water. + + +MARK vi. 47-52 (R.V.). + +(See iv. 36, pp. 133-140.) + + + + +Unwashen Hands. + + + "And when they had crossed over, they came to the land unto + Gennesaret, and moored to the shore.... Making void the word of + God by your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like + things ye do."--MARK vi. 53-vii. 13 (R.V.). + + +There is a condition of mind which readily accepts the temporal blessings +of religion, and yet neglects, and perhaps despises, the spiritual truths +which they ratify and seal. When Jesus landed on Gennesaret, He was +straightway known, and as He passed through the district, there was hasty +bearing of all the sick to meet Him, laying them in public places, and +beseeching Him that they might touch, if no more, the border of His +garment. By the faith which believed in so easy a cure, a timid woman had +recently won signal commendation. But the very fact that her cure had +become public, while it accounts for the action of these crowds, deprives +it of any special merit. We only read that as many as touched Him were +made whole. And we know that just now He was forsaken by many even of His +disciples, and had to ask His very apostles, Will ye also go away? + +Thus we find these two conflicting movements: among the sick and their +friends a profound persuasion that He can heal them; and among those whom +He would fain teach, resentment and revolt against His doctrine. The +combination is strange, but we dare not call it unfamiliar. We see the +opposing tendencies even in the same man, for sorrow and pain drive to His +knees many a one who will not take upon His neck the easy yoke. Yet how +absurd it is to believe in Christ's goodness and His power, and still to +dare to sin against Him, still to reject the inevitable inference that His +teaching must bring bliss. Men ought to ask themselves what is involved +when they pray to Christ and yet refuse to serve Him. + +As Jesus moved thus around the district, and responded so amply to their +supplication that His very raiment was charged with health as if with +electricity, which leaps out at a touch, what an effect He must have +produced, even upon the ceremonial purity of the district. Sickness meant +defilement, not for the sufferer alone, but for his friends, his nurse, +and the bearers of his little pallet. By the recovery of one sick man, a +fountain of Levitical pollution was dried up. And the harsh and rigid +legalist ought to have perceived that from his own point of view the +pilgrimage of Jesus was like the breath of spring upon a garden, to +restore its freshness and bloom. + +It was therefore an act of portentous waywardness when, at this juncture, +a complaint was made of His indifference to ceremonial cleanness. For of +course a charge against His disciples was really a complaint against the +influence which guided them so ill. + +It was not a disinterested complaint. Jerusalem was alarmed at the new +movement resulting from the mission of the Twelve, their miracles, and the +mighty works which He Himself had lately wrought. And a deputation of +Pharisees and scribes came from this centre of ecclesiastical prejudice, +to bring Him to account. They do not assail His doctrine, nor charge Him +with violating the law itself, for He had put to shame their querulous +complaints about the sabbath day. But tradition was altogether upon their +side: it was a weapon ready sharpened for their use against one so free, +unconventional and fearless. + +The law had imposed certain restrictions upon the chosen race, +restrictions which were admirably sanitary in their nature, while aiming +also at preserving the isolation of Israel from the corrupt and foul +nations which lay around. All such restrictions were now about to pass +away, because religion was to become aggressive, it was henceforth to +invade the nations from whose inroads it had heretofore sought a convert. +But the Pharisees had not been content even with the severe restrictions +of the law. They had not regarded these as a fence for themselves against +spiritual impurity, but as an elaborate and artificial substitute for love +and trust. And therefore, as love and spiritual religion faded out of +their hearts, they were the more jealous and sensitive about the letter of +the law. They "fenced" it with elaborate rules, and precautions against +accidental transgressions, superstitiously dreading an involuntary +infraction of its minutest details. Certain substances were unclean food. +But who could tell whether some atom of such substance, blown about in the +dust of summer, might adhere to the hand with which he ate, or to the cups +and pots whence his food was drawn? Moreover, the Gentile nations were +unclean, and it was not possible to avoid all contact with them in the +market-places, returning whence, therefore, every devout Jew was careful +to wash himself, which washing, though certainly not an immersion, is here +plainly called a baptism. Thus an elaborate system of ceremonial washing, +not for cleansing, but as a religious precaution, had grown up among the +Jews. + +But the disciples of Jesus had begun to learn their emancipation. Deeper +and more spiritual conceptions of God and man and duty had grown up in +them. And the Pharisees saw that they ate their bread with unwashen hands. +It availed nothing that half a population owed purity and health to their +Divine benevolence, if in the process the letter of a tradition were +infringed. It was necessary to expostulate with Jesus, because they walked +not according to the tradition of the elders, that dried skin of an old +orthodoxy in which prescription and routine would ever fain shut up the +seething enthusiasms and insights of the present time. + +With such attempts to restrict and cramp the free life of the soul, Jesus +could have no sympathy. He knew well that an exaggerated trust in any +form, any routine or ritual whatever, was due to the need of some stay and +support for hearts which have ceased to trust in a Father of souls. But He +chose to leave them without excuse by showing their transgression of +actual precepts which real reverence for God would have respected. Like +books of etiquette for people who have not the instincts of gentlemen; so +do ceremonial religions spring up where the instinct of respect for the +will of God is dull or dead. Accordingly Jesus quotes against these +Pharisees a distinct precept, a word not of their fathers, but of God, +which their tradition had caused them to trample upon. If any genuine +reverence for His commandment had survived, it would have been outraged by +such a collision between the text and the gloss, the precept and the +precautionary supplement. But they had never felt the incongruity, never +been jealous enough for the commandment of God to revolt against the +encroaching tradition which insulted it. The case which Jesus gave, only +as one of "many such like things," was an abuse of the system of vows, and +of dedicated property. It would seem that from the custom of "devoting" a +man's property, and thus putting it beyond his further control, had grown +up the abuse of consecrating it with such limitations, that it should +still be available for the owner, but out of his power to give to others. +And thus, by a spell as abject as the taboo of the South Sea islanders, a +man glorified God by refusing help to his father and mother, without being +at all the poorer for the so-called consecration of his means. And even if +he awoke up to the shameful nature of his deed, it was too late, for "ye +no longer suffer him to do ought for his father of his mother." And yet +Moses had made it a capital offence to "speak evil of father or mother." +Did they then allow such slanders? Not at all, and so they would have +refused to confess any aptness in the quotation. But Jesus was not +thinking of the letter of a precept, but of the spirit and tendency of a +religion, to which they were blind. With what scorn He regarded their +miserable subterfuges, is seen by His vigorous word, "full well do ye make +void the commandment of God that ye may keep your traditions." + +Now the root of all this evil was unreality. It was not merely because +their heart was far from God that they invented hollow formalisms; +indifference leads to neglect, not to a perverted and fastidious +earnestness. But while their hearts were earthly, they had learned to +honour God with their lips. The judgments which had sent their fathers +into exile, the pride of their unique position among the nations, and the +self-interest of privileged classes, all forbade them to neglect the +worship in which they had no joy, and which, therefore, they were unable +to follow as it reached out into infinity, panting after God, a living +God. There was no principle of life, growth, aspiration, in their dull +obedience. And what could it turn into but a routine, a ritual, a verbal +homage, and the honour of the lips only? And how could such a worship fail +to shelter itself in evasions from the heart-searching earnestness of a +law which was spiritual, while the worshipper was carnal and sold under +sin? + +It was inevitable that collisions should arise. And the same results will +always follow the same causes. Wherever men bow the knee for the sake of +respectability, or because they dare not absent themselves from the +outward haunts of piety, yet fail to love God and their neighbour, there +will the form outrage the spirit, and in vain will they worship, teaching +as their doctrines the traditions of men. + +Very completely indeed was the relative position of Jesus and His critics +reversed, since they had expressed pain at the fruitless effort of His +mother to speak with Him, and He had seemed to set the meanest disciple +upon a level with her. But He never really denied the voice of nature, and +they never really heard it. An affectation of respect would have satisfied +their heartless formality: He thought it the highest reward of +discipleship to share the warmth of His love. And therefore, in due time, +it was seen that His critics were all unconscious of the wickedness of +filial neglect which set His heart on fire. + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + + + +Things Which Defile. + + + "And He called to Him the multitude again, and said unto them, + Hear Me all of you, and understand: there is nothing from without + the man, that going into him can defile him: but the things which + proceed out of the man are those that defile the man. And when He + was entered into the house from the multitude, His disciples asked + of Him the parable. And He saith unto them, Are ye so without + understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without + goeth into the man, _it_ cannot defile him; because it goeth not + into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the + draught? _This He said_, making all meats clean. And He said, That + which proceeded out of the man, that defileth the man. For from + within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, + fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings, + wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, + foolishness: all these evil things proceed from within, and defile + the man."--MARK vii. 14-23 (R.V.). + + +When Jesus had exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, He took a bold and +significant step. Calling the multitude to Him, He publicly announced that +no diet can really pollute the soul; only its own actions and desires can +do that: not that which entereth into the man can defile him, but the +things which proceed out of the man. + +He does not as yet proclaim the abolition of the law, but He surely +declares that it is only temporary, because it is conventional, not rooted +in the eternal distinctions between right and wrong, but artificial. And +He shows that its time is short indeed, by charging the multitude to +understand how limited is its reach, how poor are its effects. + +Such teaching, addressed with marked emphasis to the public, the masses, +whom the Pharisees despised as ignorant of the law, and cursed, was a +defiance indeed. And the natural consequence was an opposition so fierce +that He was driven to betake Himself, for the only time, and like Elijah +in his extremity, to a Gentile land. And yet there was abundant evidence +in the Old Testament itself that the precepts of the law were not the life +of souls. David ate the shewbread. The priests profaned the sabbath. +Isaiah spiritualized fasting. Zechariah foretold the consecration of the +Philistines. Whenever the spiritual energies of the ancient saints +received a fresh access, they were seen to strive against and shake off +some of the trammels of a literal and servile legalism. The doctrine of +Jesus explained and justified what already was felt by the foremost +spirits in Israel. + +When they were alone, "the disciples asked of Him the parable," that is, +in other words, the saying which they felt to be deeper than they +understood, and full of far-reaching issues. But Jesus rebuked them for +not understanding what uncleanness really meant. For Him, defilement was +badness, a condition of the soul. And therefore meats could not defile a +man, because they did not reach the heart, but only the bodily organs. In +so doing, as St. Mark plainly adds, He made all meats clean, and thus +pronounced the doom of Judaism, and the new dispensation of the Spirit. In +truth, St. Paul did little more than expand this memorable saying. +"Nothing that goeth into a man can defile him," here is the germ of all +the decision about idol meats--"neither if 'one' eat is he the better, +neither if he eat not is he the worse." "The things which proceed out of +the man are those which defile the man," here is the germ of all the +demonstration that love fulfils the law; and that our true need is to be +renewed inwardly, so that we may bring forth fruit unto God. + +But the true pollution of the man comes from within; and the life is +stained because the heart is impure. For from within, out of the heart of +men, evil thoughts proceed, like the uncharitable and bitter judgments of +His accusers--and thence come also the sensual indulgences which men +ascribe to the flesh, but which depraved imaginations excite, and love of +God and their neighbour would restrain--and thence are the sins of violence +which men excuse by pleading sudden provocation, whereas the spark led to +a conflagration only because the heart was a dry fuel--and thence, plainly +enough, come deceit and railing, pride and folly. + +It is a hard saying, but our conscience acknowledges the truth of it. We +are not the toy of circumstances, but such as we have made ourselves; and +our lives would have been pure if the stream had flowed from a pure +fountain. However modern sentiment may rejoice in highly coloured pictures +of the noble profligate and his pure minded and elegant victim; of the +brigand or the border ruffian full of kindness, with a heart as gentle as +his hands are red; and however true we may feel it to be that the worst +heart may never have betrayed itself by the worst actions, but many that +are first shall be last, it still continues to be the fact, and undeniable +when we do not sophisticate our judgment, that "all these evil things +proceed from within." + +It is also true that they "further defile the man." The corruption which +already existed in the heart is made worse by passing into action; shame +and fear are weakened; the will is confirmed in evil; a gap is opened or +widened between the man who commits a new sin, and the virtue on which he +has turned his back. Few, alas! are ignorant of the defiling power of a +bad action, or even of a sinful thought deliberately harboured, and the +harbouring of which is really an action, a decision of the will. + +This word which makes all meats clean, ought for ever to decide the +question whether certain drinks are in the abstract unlawful for a +Christian. + +We must remember that it leaves untouched the question, what restrictions +may be necessary for men who have depraved and debased their own +appetites, until innocent indulgence _does_ reach the heart and pervert +it. Hand and foot are innocent, but men there are who cannot enter into +life otherwise than halt or maimed. Also it leaves untouched the question, +as long as such men exist, how far may I be privileged to share and so to +lighten the burden imposed on them by past transgressions? It is surely a +noble sign of religious life in our day, that many thousands can say, as +the Apostle said, of innocent joys, "Have we not a right? ... Nevertheless +we did not use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no +hindrance to the gospel of Christ." + +Nevertheless the rule is absolute: "Whatsoever from without goeth into the +man, it cannot defile him." And the Church of Christ is bound to maintain, +uncompromised and absolute, the liberty of Christian souls. + +Let us not fail to contrast such teaching as this of Jesus with that of +our modern materialism. + +"The value of meat and drink is perfectly transcendental," says one. "Man +is what he eats," says another. But it is enough to make us tremble, to +ask what will issue from such teaching if it ever grasps firmly the mind +of a single generation. What will become of honesty, when the value of +what may be had by theft is transcendental? How shall armies be persuaded +to suffer hardness, and populations to famish within beleaguered walls, +when they learn that "man is what he eats," so that his very essence is +visibly enfeebled, his personality starved out, as he grows pale and +wasted underneath his country's flag? In vain shall such a generation +strive to keep alive the flame of generous self-devotion. Self-devotion +seemed to their fathers to be the noblest attainment; to them it can be +only a worn-out form of speech to say that the soul can overcome the +flesh. For to them the man is the flesh; he is the resultant of his +nourishment; what enters into the mouth makes his character, for it makes +him all. + +There is that within us all which knows better; which sets against the +aphorism, "Man is what he eats;" the text "As a man thinketh in his heart +so is he;" which will always spurn the doctrine of the brute, when it is +boldly confronted with the doctrine of the Crucified. + + + + +The Children And The Dogs. + + + "And from thence He arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre + and Sidon. And He entered into a house, and would have no man know + it: and He could not be hid. But straightway a woman, whose little + daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of Him, came and fell + down at His feet. Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by + race. And she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out + of her daughter. And He said unto her, Let the children first be + filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast + it to the dogs. But she answered and saith unto Him, Yea, Lord: + even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. And He + said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out + of thy daughter. And she went away unto her house, and found the + child laid upon the bed, and the devil gone out."--MARK vii. 24-30 + (R.V.). + + +The ingratitude and perverseness of His countrymen have now driven Jesus +into retirement "on the borders" of heathenism. It it is not clear that He +has yet crossed the frontier, and some presumption to the contrary is +found in the statement that a woman, drawn by a fame which had long since +gone throughout all Syria, "came out of those borders" to reach Him. She +was not only "a Greek" (by language or by creed as conjecture may decide, +though very probably the word means little more than a Gentile), but even +of the especially accursed race of Canaan, the reprobate of reprobates. +And yet the prophet Zechariah had foreseen a time when the Philistine also +should be a remnant for our God, and as a chieftain in Judah, and when the +most stubborn race of all the Canaanites should be absorbed in Israel as +thoroughly as that which gave Araunah to the kindliest intercourse with +David, for Ekron should be as a Jebusite (ix. 7). But the hour for +breaking down the middle wall of partition was not yet fully come. Nor did +any friend plead for this unhappy woman, that she loved the nation and had +built a synagogue; nothing as yet lifted her above the dead level of that +paganism to which Christ, in the days of His flesh and upon earth, had no +commission. Even the great champion and apostle of the Gentiles confessed +that his Lord was a minister of the circumcision by the grace of God, and +it was by His ministry to the Jews that the Gentiles were ultimately to be +won. We need not be surprised therefore at His silence when she pleaded, +for this might well be calculated to elicit some expression of faith, +something to separate her from her fellows, and so enable Him to bless her +without breaking down prematurely all distinctions. Also it must be +considered that nothing could more offend His countrymen than to grant her +prayer, while as yet it was impossible to hope for any compensating +harvest among her fellows, such as had been reaped in Samaria. What is +surprising is the apparent harshness of expression which follows that +silence, when even His disciples are induced to intercede for her. But +theirs was only the softness which yields to clamour, as many people give +alms, not to silent worth but to loud and pertinacious importunity. And +they even presumed to throw their own discomfort into the scale, and urge +as a reason for this intercession, that she crieth after _us_. But Jesus +was occupied with His mission, and unwilling to go farther than He was +sent. + +In her agony she pressed nearer still to Him when He refused, and +worshipped Him, no longer as the Son of David, since what was Hebrew in +His commission made against her; but simply appealed to His compassion, +calling Him Lord. The absence of these details from St. Mark's narrative +is interesting, and shows the mistake of thinking that his Gospel is +simply the most graphic and the fullest. It is such when our Lord Himself +is in action; its information is derived from one who pondered and told +all things, not as they were pictorial in themselves, but as they +illustrated the one great figure of the Son of man. And so the answer of +Jesus is fully given, although it does not appear as if grace were poured +into His lips. "Let the children first be filled, for it is not meet to +take the children's bread, and to cast it to the dogs." It might seem that +sterner words could scarcely have been spoken, and that His kindness was +only for the Jews, who even in their ingratitude were to the best of the +Gentiles as children compared with dogs. Yet she does not contradict Him. +Neither does she argue back,--for the words "Truth, Lord, but ..." have +rightly disappeared from the Revised Version, and with them a certain +contentious aspect which they give to her reply. On the contrary she +assents, she accepts all the seeming severity of His view, because her +penetrating faith has detected its kindly undertone, and the triple +opportunity which it offers to a quick and confiding intelligence. It is +indeed touching to reflect how impregnable was Jesus in controversy with +the keenest intellects of Judaism, with how sharp a weapon He rent their +snares, and retorted their arguments to their confusion, and then to +observe Him inviting, tempting, preparing the way for an argument which +would lead Him, gladly won, captive to a heathen's and a woman's +importunate and trustful sagacity. It is the same Divine condescension +which gave to Jacob his new name of Israel because he had striven with God +and prevailed. + +And let us reverently ponder the fact that this pagan mother of a +demoniacal child, this woman whose name has perished, is the only person +who won a dialectical victory in striving with the Wisdom of God; such a +victory as a father allows to his eager child, when he raises gentle +obstacles, and even assumes a transparent mask of harshness, but never +passes the limit of the trust and love which he is probing. + +The first and most obvious opportunity which He gives to her is +nevertheless hard to show in English. He might have used an epithet +suitable for those fierce creatures which prowl through Eastern streets at +night without any master, living upon refuse, a peril even to men who are +unarmed. But Jesus used a diminutive word, not found elsewhere in the New +Testament, and quite unsuitable to those fierce beasts, a word "in which +the idea of uncleanness gives place to that of dependence, of belonging to +man and to the family." No one applies our colloquial epithet "doggie" to +a fierce or rabid brute. Thus Jesus really domesticated the Gentile world. +And nobly, eagerly, yet very modestly she used this tacit concession, when +she repeated His carefully selected word, and inferred from it that her +place was not among those vile "dogs" which are "without," but with the +domestic dogs, the little dogs underneath the table. + +Again, she observed the promise which lurked under seeming refusal, when +He said, "Let the children first be filled," and so implied that her turn +should come, that it was only a question of time. And so she answers that +such dogs as He would make of her and hers do not fast utterly until their +mealtime after the children have been satisfied; they wait under the +table, and some ungrudged fragments reach them there, some "crumbs." + +Moreover, and perhaps chiefly, the bread she craves need not be torn from +hungry children. Their Benefactor has had to wander off into concealment, +they have let fall, unheeding, not only crumbs, although her noble tact +expresses it thus lightly to their countryman, but far more than she +divined, even the very Bread of Life. Surely His own illustration has +admitted her right to profit by the heedlessness of "the children." And He +_had_ admitted all this: He had meant to be thus overcome. One loves to +think of the first flush of hope in that trembling mother's heavy heart, +as she discerned His intention and said within herself, "Oh, surely I am +not mistaken; He does not really refuse at all; He wills that I should +answer Him and prevail." One supposes that she looked up, half afraid to +utter the great rejoinder, and took courage when she met His questioning +inviting gaze. + +And then comes the glad response, no longer spoken coldly and without an +epithet: "O woman, great is thy faith." He praises not her adroitness nor +her humility, but the faith which would not doubt, in that dark hour, that +light was behind the cloud; and so He sets no other limit to His reward +than the limit of her desires: "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." + +Let us learn that no case is too desperate for prayer, and perseverance +will surely find at last that our Lord delighteth to be gracious. Let us +be certain that the brightest and most confiding view of all His dealings +is the truest, and man, if only he trusts aright, shall live by every word +that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. + +Thus did Jesus declare, in action as in word, the fading out of all +distinction between the ceremonially clean and unclean. He crossed the +limits of the Holy Land: He found great faith in a daughter of the +accursed race; and He ratified and acted upon her claim that the bread +which fell neglected from the table of the Jew was not forbidden to the +hunger of the Gentile. The history of the Acts of the Apostles is already +here in spirit. + + + + +The Deaf And Dumb Man. + + + "And again He went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through + Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of + Decapolis. And they bring unto Him one that was deaf, and had an + impediment in his speech; and they beseech Him to lay His hand + upon him. And He took him aside from the multitude privately, and + put His fingers into his ears, and He spat, and touched His + tongue; and looking up to heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him, + Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And his ears were opened, and the + bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And He charged + them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them, + so much the more a great deal they published it. And they were + beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: + He maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak."--MARK vii. + 31-37 (R.V.). + + +There are curious and significant varieties in the methods by which our +Saviour healed. We have seen Him, when watched on the sabbath by eager and +expectant foes, baffling all their malice by a miracle without a deed, by +refusing to cross the line of the most rigid and ceremonial orthodoxy, by +only commanding an innocent gesture, Stretch forth thine hand. In sharp +contrast with such a miracle is the one which we have now reached. There +is brought to Him a man who is deaf, and whose speech therefore could not +have been more than a babble, since it is by hearing that we learn to +articulate; but of whom we are plainly told that he suffered from organic +inability to utter as well as to hear, for he had an impediment in his +speech, the string of his tongue needed to be loosed, and Jesus touched +his tongue as well as his ears, to heal him. + +It should be observed that no unbelieving theory can explain the change in +our Lord's method. Some pretend that all the stories of His miracles grew +up afterward, from the sense of awe with which He was regarded. How does +that agree with effort, sighing, and even gradation in the stages of +recovery, following after the most easy, astonishing and instantaneous +cures? Others believe that the enthusiasm of His teaching and the charm of +His presence conveyed healing efficacy to the impressible and the nervous. +How does this account for the fact that His earliest miracles were the +prompt and effortless ones, and as time passes on, He secludes the patient +and uses agencies, as if the resistance to His power were more +appreciable? Enthusiasm would gather force with every new success. + +All becomes clear when we accept the Christian doctrine. Jesus came in the +fulness of the love of God, with both hands filled with gifts. On His part +there is no hesitation and no limit. But on the part of man there is +doubt, misconception, and at last open hostility. A real chasm is opened +between man and the grace He gives, so that, although not straitened in +Him, they are straitened in their own affections. Even while they believe +in Him as a healer, they no longer accept Him as their Lord. + +And Jesus makes it plain to them that the gift is no longer so easy, +spontaneous and of public right as formerly. In His own country He could +not do many mighty works. And now, returning by indirect routes, and +privately, from the heathen shores whither Jewish enmity had driven Him, +He will make the multitude feel a kind of exclusion, taking the patient +from among them, as He does again presently in Bethsaida (chap. viii. 23). +There is also, in the deliberate act of seclusion and in the means +employed, a stimulus for the faith of the sufferer, which would scarcely +have been needed a little while before. + +The people were unconscious of any reason why this cure should differ from +former ones. And so they besought Jesus to lay His hand on him, the usual +and natural expression for a conveyance of invisible power. But even if no +other objection had existed, this action would have meant little to the +deaf and dumb man, living in a silent world, and needing to have his faith +aroused by some yet plainer sign. Jesus therefore removes him from the +crowd whose curiosity would distract his attention--even as by affliction +and pain He still isolates each of us at times from the world, shutting us +up with God. + +He speaks the only language intelligible to such a man, the language of +signs, putting His fingers into his ears as if to break a seal, conveying +the moisture of His own lip to the silent tongue, as if to impart its +faculty, and then, at what should have been the exultant moment of +conscious and triumphant power, He sighed deeply. + +What an unexpected revelation of the man rather than the wonder worker. +How unlike anything that theological myth or heroic legend would have +invented. Perhaps, as Keble sings, He thought of those moral defects for +which, in a responsible universe, no miracle may be wrought, of "the deaf +heart, the dumb by choice." Perhaps, according to Stier's ingenious guess, +He sighed because, in our sinful world, the gift of hearing is so doubtful +a blessing, and the faculty of speech so apt to be perverted. One can +almost imagine that no human endowment is ever given by Him Who knows all, +without a touch of sadness. But it is more natural to suppose that He Who +is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and Who bare our sickness, +thought upon the countless miseries of which this was but a specimen, and +sighed for the perverseness by which the fulness of His compassion was +being restrained. We are reminded by that sigh, however we explain it, +that the only triumphs which made Him rejoice in Spirit were very +different from displays of His physical ascendancy. + +It is interesting to observe that St. Mark, informed by the most ardent +and impressible of the apostles, by him who reverted, long afterwards, to +the voice which he heard in the holy mount, has recorded several of the +Aramaic words which Jesus uttered at memorable junctures. "Ephphatha, Be +opened," He said, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and his speech, +hitherto incoherent, became plain. But the Gospel which tells us the first +word he heard is silent about what he said. Only we read, and this is +suggestive enough, that the command was at once given to him, as well as +to the bystanders, to keep silent. Not copious speech, but wise restraint, +is what the tongue needs most to learn. To him, as to so many whom Christ +had healed, the injunction came, not to preach without a commission, not +to suppose that great blessings require loud announcement, or unfit men +for lowly and quiet places. Legend would surely have endowed with special +eloquence the lips which Jesus unsealed. He charged them that they should +tell no man. + +It was a double miracle, and the latent unbelief became clear of the very +men who had hoped for some measure of blessing. For they were beyond +measure astonished, saying He doeth all things well, celebrating the power +which restored the hearing and the speech together. Do we blame their +previous incredulity? Perhaps we also expect some blessing from our Lord, +yet fail to bring Him all we have and all we are for blessing. Perhaps we +should be astonished beyond measure if we received at the hands of Jesus a +sanctification that extended to all our powers. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + + + +The Four Thousand. + + + "In those days, when there was again a great multitude, and they + had nothing to eat, He called unto Him His disciples, and saith + unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they + continue with Me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I + send them away fasting to their home, they will faint in the way; + and some of them are come from far. And His disciples answered + Him, Whence shall one be able to fill these men with bread here in + a desert place? And He asked them, How many loaves have ye? And + they said, Seven. And He commandeth the multitude to sit down on + the ground: and He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, + He brake, and gave to His disciples, to set before them; and they + set them before the multitude. And they had a few small fishes: + and having blessed them, He commanded to set these also before + them. And they did eat, and were filled: and they took up, of + broken pieces that remained over, seven baskets. And they were + about four thousand: and He sent them away. And straightway He + entered into the boat with His disciples, and came into the parts + of Dalmanutha."--MARK viii. 1-10 (R.V.). + + +We now come upon a miracle strangely similar to that of the Feeding of the +Five Thousand. And it is worth while to ask what would have been the +result, if the Gospels which contain this narrative had omitted the former +one. Scepticism would have scrutinized every difference between the two, +regarding them as variations of the same story, to discover traces of the +growth of the myth or legend, and entirely to discredit it. Now however it +is plain that the events are quite distinct; and we cannot doubt but that +information as full would clear away as completely many a perplexity which +still entangles us. Archbishop Trench has well shown that the later +narrative cannot have grown out of the earlier, because it has not grown +at all, but fallen away. A new legend always "outstrips the old, but here +... the numbers fed are smaller, the supply of food is greater, and the +fragments that remain are fewer." The latter point is however doubtful. It +is likely that the baskets, though fewer, were larger, for in such a one +St. Paul was lowered down over the wall of Damascus (Acts ix. 25). In all +the Gospels the Greek word for baskets in the former miracle is different +from the latter. And hence arises an interesting coincidence; for when the +disciples had gone into a desert place, and there gathered the fragments +into wallets, each of them naturally carried one of these, and accordingly +twelve were filled. But here they had recourse apparently to the large +baskets of persons who sold bread, and the number seven remains +unaccounted for. Scepticism indeed persuades itself that the whole story +is to be spiritualized, the twelve baskets answering to the twelve +apostles who distributed the Bread of Life, and the seven to the seven +deacons. How came it then that the sorts of baskets are so well +discriminated, that the inferior ministers are represented by the larger +ones, and that the bread is not dealt out from these baskets but gathered +into them? + +The second repetition of such a work is a fine proof of that genuine +kindness of heart, to which a miracle is not merely an evidence, nor +rendered useless as soon as the power to work it is confessed. Jesus did +not shrink from thus repeating Himself, even upon a lower level, because +His object was not spectacular but beneficent. He sought not to astonish +but to bless. + +It is plain that Jesus strove to lead His disciples, aware of the former +miracle, up to the notion of its repetition. With this object He +marshalled all the reasons why the people should be relieved. "I have +compassion on the multitude, because they continue with Me now three days, +and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their home, +they will faint in the way; and some of them are come from far." It is the +grand argument from human necessity to the Divine compassion. It is an +argument which ought to weigh equally with the Church. For if it is +promised that "nothing shall be impossible" to faith and prayer, then the +deadly wants of debauched cities, of ignorant and brutal peasantries, and +of heathenisms festering in their corruptions--all these, by their very +urgency, are vehement appeals instead of the discouragements we take them +for. And whenever man is baffled and in need, there he is entitled to fall +back upon the resources of the Omnipotent. + +It may be that the disciples had some glimmering hope, but they did not +venture to suggest anything; they only asked, Whence shall one be able to +fill these men with bread here in a desert place? It is the cry of +unbelief--_our_ cry, when we look at our resources, and declare our +helplessness, and conclude that possibly God may interpose, but otherwise +nothing can be done. We ought to be the priests of a famishing world (so +ignorant of any relief, so miserable), its interpreters and intercessors, +full of hope and energy. But we are content to look at our empty +treasuries, and ineffective organizations, and to ask, Whence shall a man +be able to fill these men with bread? + +They have ascertained however what resources are forthcoming, and these He +proceeds to use, first demanding the faith which He will afterwards +honour, by bidding the multitudes to sit down. And then His loving heart +is gratified by relieving the hunger which it pitied, and He promptly +sends the multitude away, refreshed and competent for their journey. + + + + +The Leaven Of The Pharisees. + + + "And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with Him, + seeking of Him a sign from heaven, tempting Him. And He sighed + deeply in His spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek a + sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto + this generation. And He left them, and again entering into _the + boat_ departed to the other side. And they forgot to take bread; + and they had not in the boat with them more than one loaf. And He + charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the + Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned one with + another, saying, We have no bread. And Jesus perceiving it saith + unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? do ye not yet + perceive, neither understand? have ye your heart hardened? Having + eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not + remember? When I brake the five loaves among the five thousand, + how many baskets full of broken pieces took ye up? They said unto + Him, Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, how many + basketfuls of broken pieces took ye up? And they said unto Him, + Seven. And He said unto them, Do ye not yet understand?"--MARK + viii. 11-21 (R.V.). + + +Whenever a miracle produced a deep and special impression, the Pharisees +strove to spoil its effect by some counter-demonstration. By so doing, and +at least appearing to hold the field, since Jesus always yielded this to +them, they encouraged their own faction, and shook the confidence of the +feeble and hesitating multitude. At almost every crisis they might have +been crushed by an appeal to the stormy passions of those whom the Lord +had blessed. Once He might have been made a king. Again and again His +enemies were conscious that an imprudent word would suffice to make the +people stone them. But that would have spoiled the real work of Jesus more +than to retreat before them, now across the lake, or, just before, into +the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. Doubtless it was this constant avoidance of +physical conflict, this habitual repression of the carnal zeal of His +supporters, this refusal to form a party instead of founding a Church, +which renewed incessantly the courage of His often-baffled foes, and led +Him, by the path of steady ceaseless self-depression, to the cross which +He foresaw, even while maintaining His unearthly calm, amid the +contradiction of sinners against Himself. + +Upon the feeding of the four thousand, they demand of Him a sign from +heaven. He had wrought for the public no miracle of this peculiar kind. +And yet Moses had gone up, in the sight of all Israel, to commune with God +in the mount that burned; Samuel had been answered by thunder and rain in +the wheat harvest; and Elijah had called down fire both upon his sacrifice +and also upon two captains and their bands of fifty. Such a miracle was +now declared to be the regular authentication of a messenger from God, and +the only sign which evil spirits could not counterfeit. + +Moreover the demand would specially embarrass Jesus, because He alone was +not accustomed to invoke heaven: His miracles were wrought by the exertion +of His own will. And perhaps the challenge implied some understanding of +what this peculiarity involved, such as Jesus charged them with, when +putting into their mouth the words, This is the heir, come, let us kill +Him. Certainly the demand ignored much. Conceding the fact of certain +miracles, and yet imposing new conditions of belief, they shut their eyes +to the unique nature of the works already wrought, the glory as of the +Only-begotten of the Father which they displayed. They held that thunder +and lightning revealed God more certainly than supernatural victories of +compassion, tenderness and love. What could be done for moral blindness +such as this? How could any sign be devised which unwilling hearts would +not evade? No wonder that hearing this demand, Jesus sighed deeply in His +spirit. It revealed their utter hardness; it was a snare by which others +would be entangled; and for Himself it foretold the cross. + +St. Mark simply tells us that He refused to give them any sign. In St. +Matthew He justifies this decision by rebuking the moral blindness which +demanded it. They had material enough for judgment. The face of the sky +foretold storm and fair weather, and the process of nature could be +anticipated without miracles to coerce belief. And thus they should have +discerned the import of the prophecies, the course of history, the signs +of the times in which they lived, so plainly radiant with Messianic +promise, so menacing with storm-clouds of vengeance upon sin. The sign was +refused moreover to an evil and adulterous generation, as God, in the Old +Testament, would not be inquired of at all by such a people as this. This +indignant rejoinder St. Mark has compressed into the words, "There shall +no sign be given unto this generation"--this which has proof enough, and +which deserves none. Men there were to whom a sign from heaven was not +refused. At His baptism, on the Mount of Transfiguration, and when the +Voice answered His appeal, "Father, glorify Thy name," while the multitude +said only that it thundered--at these times His chosen ones received a sign +from heaven. But from those who had not was taken away even that which +they seemed to have; and the sign of Jonah availed them not. + +Once more Jesus "left them" and crossed the lake. The disciples found +themselves with but one loaf, approaching a wilder district, where the +ceremonial purity of food could not easily be ascertained. But they had +already acted on the principle which Jesus had formally proclaimed, that +all meats were clean. And therefore it was not too much to expect them to +penetrate below the letter of the words, "Take heed, beware of the leaven +of the Pharisees, and the leaven of Herod." In giving them this enigma to +discover, He acted according to His usage, wrapping the spiritual truth in +earthly phrases, picturesque and impressive; and He treated them as life +treats every one of us, which keeps our responsibility still upon the +strain, by presenting new moral problems, fresh questions and trials of +insight, for every added attainment which lays our old tasks aside. But +they understood Him not. Some new ceremonial appeared to them to be +designed, in which everything would be reversed, and the unclean should be +those hypocrites, the strictest observers of the old code. Such a mistake, +however blameworthy, reveals the profound sense of an ever-widening chasm, +and an expectation of a final and hopeless rupture with the chiefs of +their religion. It prepares us for what is soon to come, the contrast +between the popular belief and theirs, and the selection of a rock on +which a new Church is to be built. In the meantime the dire practical +inconvenience of this announcement led to hot discussion, because they had +no bread. And Jesus, perceiving this, remonstrated in a series of +indignant questions. Personal want should not have disturbed their +judgment, remembering that twice over He had fed hungry multitudes, and +loaded them with the surplus of His gift. Their eyes and ears should have +taught them that He was indifferent to such distinctions, and His doctrine +could never result in a new Judaism. How was it that they did not +understand? + +Thereupon they perceived that His warning was figurative. He had spoken to +them, after feeding the five thousand, of spiritual bread which He would +give, even His flesh to be their food. What then could He have meant by +the leaven of the Pharisees but the imparting of _their_ religious +tendencies, their teaching, and their insincerity? + +Was there any real danger that these, His chosen ones, should be shaken by +the demand for a sign from heaven? Did not Philip presently, when Christ +spoke of seeing the Father, eagerly cry out that this, if it were granted, +would suffice them? In these words he confessed the misgiving which +haunted their minds, and the longing for a heavenly sign. And yet the +essence of the vision of God was in the life and the love which they had +failed to know. If they could not see Him in these, He must for ever +remain invisible to them. + +We too require the same caution. When we long for miracles, neglecting +those standing miracles of our faith, the gospel and the Church: when our +reason is satisfied of a doctrine or a duty, and yet we remain irresolute, +sighing for the impulse of some rare spiritual enlightenment or +excitement, for a revival, or a mission, or an oration to lift us above +ourselves, we are virtually asking to be shown what we already confess, to +behold a sign, while we possess the evidence. + +And the only wisdom of the languid, irresolute will, which postpones +action in hope that feeling may be deepened, is to pray. It is by the +effort of communion with the unfelt, but confessed Reality above us, that +healthy feeling is to be recovered. + + + + +Men As Trees. + + + "And they come unto Bethsaida. And they bring to Him a blind man, + and beseech Him to touch him. And He took hold of the blind man by + the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when He had spit + on his eyes, and laid His hands upon him, He asked him, Seest thou + aught? And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold _them_ + as trees, walking. Then again He laid His hands upon his eyes; and + he looked stedfastly, and was restored, and saw all things + clearly. And He sent him away to his home, saying, Do not even + enter into the village."--MARK viii. 22-26 (R.V.). + + +When the disciples arrived at Bethsaida, they were met by the friends of a +blind man, who besought Him to touch him. And this gave occasion to the +most remarkable by far of all the progressive and tentative miracles, in +which means were employed, and the result was gradually reached. The +reasons for advancing to this cure by progressive stages have been much +discussed. St. Chrysostom and many others have conjectured that the blind +man had but little faith, since he neither found his own way to Jesus, nor +pleaded his own cause, like Bartimaeus. Others brought him, and interceded +for him. This may be so, but since he was clearly a consenting party, we +can infer little from details which constitutional timidity would explain, +or helplessness (for the resources of the blind are very various), or the +zeal of friends or of paid servants, or the mere eagerness of a crowd, +pushing him forward in desire to see a marvel. + +We cannot expect always to penetrate the motives which varied our +Saviour's mode of action; it is enough that we can pretty clearly discern +some principles which led to their variety. Many of them, including all +the greatest, were wrought without instrumentality and without delay, +showing His unrestricted and underived power. Others were gradual, and +wrought by means. These connected His "signs" with nature and the God of +nature; and they could be so watched as to silence many a cavil; and they +exhibited, by the very disproportion of the means, the grandeur of the +Worker. In this respect the successive stages of a miracle were like the +subdivisions by which a skilful architect increases the effect of a +_facade_ or an interior. In every case the means employed were such as to +connect the result most intimately with the person as well as the will of +Christ. + +It must be repeated also, that the need of secondary agents shows itself, +only as the increasing wilfulness of Israel separates between Christ and +the people. It is as if the first rush of generous and spontaneous power +had been frozen by the chill of their ingratitude. + +Jesus again, as when healing the deaf and dumb, withdraws from idle +curiosity. And we read, what is very impressive when we remember that any +of the disciples could have been bidden to lead the blind man, that Jesus +Himself drew Him by the hand out of the village. What would have been +affectation in other cases was a graceful courtesy to the blind. And it +reveals to us the hearty human benignity and condescension of Him Whom to +see was to see the Father, that He should have clasped in His helpful hand +the hand of a blind suppliant for His grace. Moistening his eyes from His +own lips, and laying His hands upon him, so as to convey the utmost +assurance of power actually exerted, He asked, Seest thou aught? + +The answer is very striking: it is such as the knowledge of that day could +scarcely have imagined; and yet it is in the closest accord with later +scientific discovery. What we call the act of vision is really a two-fold +process; there is in it the report of the nerves to the brain, and also an +inference, drawn by the mind, which previous experience has educated to +understand what that report implies. For want of such experience, an +infant thinks the moon as near him as the lamp, and reaches out for it. +And when Christian science does its Master's work by opening the eyes of +men who have been born blind, they do not know at first what appearances +belong to globes and what to flat and square objects. It is certain that +every image conveyed to the brain reaches it upside down, and is corrected +there. When Jesus then restored a blind man to the perfect enjoyment of +effective intelligent vision, He wrought a double miracle; one which +instructed the intelligence of the blind man as well as opened his eyes. +This was utterly unknown to that age. But the scepticism of our century +would complain that to open the eyes was not enough, and that such a +miracle would have left the man perplexed; and it would refuse to accept +narratives which took no account of this difficulty, but that the cavil is +anticipated. The miracle now before us refutes it in advance, for it +recognises, what no spectator and no early reader of the marvel could have +understood, the middle stage, when sight is gained but is still +uncomprehended and ineffective. The process is shown as well as the +completed work. Only by their motion could he at first distinguish living +creatures from lifeless things of far greater bulk. "He looked up," (mark +this picturesque detail,) "and said, I see men; for I behold them as +trees, walking." + +But Jesus leaves no unfinished work: "Then again laid He His hands upon +his eyes, and he looked stedfastly, and was restored, and saw all things +clearly." + +In this narrative there is a deep significance. That vision, forfeited +until grace restores it, by which we look at the things which are not +seen, is not always quite restored at once. We are conscious of great +perplexity, obscurity and confusion. But a real work of Christ may have +begun amid much that is imperfect, much that is even erroneous. And the +path of the just is often a haze and twilight at the first, yet is its +light real, and one that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. + + + + +The Confession And The Warning. + + + "And Jesus went forth, and His disciples, into the villages of + Caesarea Philippi: and in the way He asked His disciples, saying + unto them, Who do men say that I am? And they told Him, saying, + John the Baptist: and others, Elijah; but others, One of the + prophets. And He asked them, But Who say ye that I am? Peter + answereth and saith unto Him, Thou art the Christ. And He charged + them that they should tell no man of Him. And He began to teach + them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected + by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be + killed, and after three days rise again. And He spake the saying + openly."--MARK viii. 27-32 (R.V.). + + +We have now reached an important stage in the Gospel narrative, the +comparative withdrawal from evangelistic effort, and the preparation of +the disciples for an approaching tragedy. We find them in the wild country +to the north of the Lake of Galilee, and even as far withdrawn as to the +neighbourhood of the sources of the Jordan. Not without a deliberate +intention has Jesus led them thither. He wishes them to realise their +separation. He will fix upon their consciousness the failure of the world +to comprehend Him, and give them the opportunity either to acknowledge +Him, or sink back to the lower level of the crowd. + +This is what interests St. Mark; and it is worthy of notice that he, the +friend of Peter, mentions not the special honour bestowed upon him by +Christ, nor the first utterance of the memorable words "My Church." + +"Who do men say that I am?" Jesus asked. The answer would tell of +acceptance or rejection, the success or failure of His ministry, regarded +in itself, and apart from ultimate issues unknown to mortals. From this +point of view it had very plainly failed. At the beginning there was a +clear hope that this was He that should come, the Son of David, the Holy +One of God. But now the pitch of men's expectation was lowered. Some said, +John the Baptist, risen from the dead, as Herod feared; others spoke of +Elijah, who was to come before the great and notable day of the Lord; in +the sadness of His later days some had begun to see a resemblance to +Jeremiah, lamenting the ruin of his nation; and others fancied a +resemblance to various of the prophets. Beyond this the apostles confessed +that men were not known to go. Their enthusiasm had cooled, almost as +rapidly as in the triumphal procession, where they who blessed both Him, +and "the kingdom that cometh," no sooner felt the chill of contact with +the priestly faction, than their confession dwindled into "This is Jesus, +the prophet of Nazareth." "But Who say ye that I am?" He added; and it +depended on the answer whether or not there should prove to be any solid +foundation, any rock, on which to build His Church. Much difference, much +error may be tolerated there, but on one subject there must be no +hesitation. To make Him only a prophet among others, to honour Him even as +the first among the teachers of mankind, is to empty His life of its +meaning, His death of its efficacy, and His Church of its authority. And +yet the danger was real, as we may see by the fervent blessing (unrecorded +in our Gospel) which the right answer won. For it was no longer the bright +morning of His career, when all bare Him witness and wondered; the noon +was over now, and the evening shadows were heavy and lowering. To confess +Him then was to have learned what flesh and blood could not reveal. + +But Peter did not hesitate. In answer to the question, "Who say _ye_? Is +your judgment like the the world's?" He does not reply, "We believe, we +say," but with all the vigour of a mind at rest, "Thou art the Christ;" +that is not even a subject of discussion: the fact is so. + +Here one pauses to admire the spirit of the disciples, so unjustly treated +in popular exposition because they were but human, because there were +dangers which could appal them, and because the course of providence was +designed to teach them how weak is the loftiest human virtue. +Nevertheless, they could part company with all they had been taught to +reverence and with the unanimous opinion of their native land, they could +watch the slow fading out of public enthusiasm, and continue faithful, +because they knew and revered the Divine life, and the glory which was +hidden from the wise and prudent. + +The confession of Peter is variously stated in the Gospels. St. Matthew +wrote for Jews, familiar with the notion of a merely human Christ, and St. +Luke for mixed Churches. Therefore the first Gospel gives the explicit +avowal not only of Messiahship, but of divinity; and the third Gospel +implies this. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"--"the Christ +of God." But St. Mark wrote for Gentiles, whose first and only notion of +the Messiah was derived from Christian sources, and steeped in Christian +attributes, so that, for their intelligence, all the great avowal was +implied in the title itself, Thou art the Christ. Yet it is instructive to +see men insisting on the difference, and even exaggerating it, who know +that this Gospel opens with an assertion of the Divine sonship of Jesus, +and whose theory is that its author worked with the Gospel of St. Matthew +before his eyes. How then, or why, do they suppose the confession to have +been weakened? + +This foundation of His Church being secured, His Divine Messiahship being +confessed in the face of an unbelieving world, Jesus lost no time in +leading His apostles forward. They were forbidden to tell any man of Him: +the vain hope was to be absolutely suppressed of winning the people to +confess their king. The effort would only make it harder for themselves to +accept that stern truth which they were now to learn, that His matchless +royalty was to be won by matchless suffering. Never hitherto had Jesus +proclaimed this truth, as He now did, in so many words. It had been, +indeed, the secret spring of many of His sayings; and we ought to mark +what loving ingenuity was lavished upon the task of gradually preparing +them for the dread shock of this announcement. The Bridegroom was to be +taken away from them, and then they should fast. The temple of His body +should be destroyed, and in three days reared again. The blood of all the +slaughtered prophets was to come upon this generation. It should suffice +them when persecuted unto death, that the disciple was as His Master. It +was still a plainer intimation when He said, that to follow Him was to +take up a cross. His flesh was promised to them for meat and His blood for +drink. (Chap. ii. 20; John ii. 19; Luke xi. 50; Matt. x. 21, 25; 38; John +vi. 54.) Such intimations Jesus had already given them, and doubtless many +a cold shadow, many a dire misgiving had crept over their sunny hopes. But +these it had been possible to explain away, and the effort, the attitude +of mental antagonism thus forced upon them, would make the grief more +bitter, the gloom more deadly, when Jesus spoke openly the saying, +thenceforth so frequently repeated, that He must suffer keenly, be +rejected formally by the chiefs of His creed and nation, and be killed. +When He recurs to the subject (ix. 31), He adds the horror of being +"delivered into the hands of men." In the tenth chapter we find Him +setting His face toward the city outside which a prophet could not perish, +with such fixed purpose and awful consecration in His bearing that His +followers were amazed and afraid. And then He reveals the complicity of +the Gentiles, who shall mock and spit upon and scourge and kill Him. + +But in every case, without exception, He announced that on the third day +He should arise again. For neither was He Himself sustained by a sullen +and stoical submission to the worst, nor did He seek so to instruct His +followers. It was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the +cross. And all the faithful who suffer with Him shall also reign together +with Him, and are instructed to press toward the mark for the prize of +their high calling. For we are saved by hope. + +But now, contrast with the utmost courage of the martyrs, who braved the +worst, when it emerged at the last suddenly from the veil which mercifully +hides our future, and which hope can always gild with starry pictures, +this courage that looked steadily forward, disguising nothing, hoping for +no escape, living through all the agony so long before it came, seeing His +wounds in the breaking of bread, and His blood when wine was poured. +Consider how marvellous was the love, which met with no real sympathy, nor +even comprehension, as He spoke such dreadful words, and forced Himself to +repeat what must have shaken the barb He carried in His heart, that +by-and-by His followers might be somewhat helped by remembering that He +had told them. + +And yet again, consider how immediately the doctrine of His suffering +follows upon the confession of His Christhood, and judge whether the +crucifixion was merely a painful incident, the sad close of a noble life +and a pure ministry, or in itself a necessary and cardinal event, fraught +with transcendent issues. + + + + +The Rebuke Of Peter. + + + "And He spake the saying openly. And Peter took Him, and began to + rebuke Him." ... "And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, + There be some here of them that stand by, which shall in no wise + taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come with + power."--MARK viii. 32-ix. 1 (R.V.). + + +The doctrine of a suffering Messiah was strange in the time of Jesus. And +to the warm-hearted apostle the announcement that his beloved Master +should endure a shameful death was keenly painful. Moreover, what had just +passed made it specially unwelcome then. Jesus had accepted and applauded +a confession which implied all honour. He had promised to build a new +Church upon a rock; and claimed, as His to give away, the keys of the +kingdom of heaven. Hopes were thus excited which could not brook His stern +repression; and the career which the apostle promised himself was very +unlike that defence of a lost cause, and a persecuted and martyred leader, +which now threatened him. The rebuke of Jesus clearly warns Peter, that he +had miscalculated his own prospect as well as that of his Lord, and that +he must prepare for the burden of a cross. Above all, it is plain that +Peter was intoxicated by the great position just assigned to him, and +allowed himself an utterly strange freedom of interference with his +Master's plans. He "took Him and began to rebuke Him," evidently drawing +Him aside for the purpose, since Jesus "turned about" in order to see the +disciples whom He had just addressed. Thus our narrative implies that +commission of the keys to him which it omits to mention, and we learn how +absurd is the infidel contention that each evangelist was ignorant of all +that he did not record. Did the appeal against those gloomy forebodings of +Jesus, the protest that such evil must not be, the refusal to recognise a +prophecy in His fears, awaken any answer in the sinless heart? Sympathy +was not there, nor approval, nor any shade of readiness to yield. But +innocent human desire for escape, the love of life, horror of His fate, +more intense as it vibrated in the apostle's shaken voice, these He +assuredly felt. For He tells us in so many words that Peter was a +stumbling-block to Him, although He, walking in the clear day, stumbled +not. Jesus, let us repeat it again and again, endured not like a Stoic, +deadening the natural impulses of humanity. Whatever outraged His tender +and perfect nature was not less dreadful to Him than to us; it was much +more so, because His sensibilities were unblunted and exquisitely strung. +At every thought of what lay before Him, his soul shuddered like a rudely +touched instrument of most delicate structure. And it was necessary that +He should throw back the temptation with indignation and even vehemence, +with the rebuke of heaven set against the presumptuous rebuke of flesh, +"Get thee behind Me ... for thou art mindful not of the things of God, but +the things of men." + +But what shall we say to the hard word, "Satan"? Assuredly Peter, who +remained faithful to Him, did not take it for an outbreak of bitterness, +an exaggerated epithet of unbridled and undisciplined resentment. The very +time occupied in looking around, the "circumspection" which was shown, +while it gave emphasis, removed passion from the saying. + +Peter would therefore understand that Jesus heard, in his voice, the +prompting of the great tempter, to whom He had once already spoken the +same words. He would be warned that soft and indulgent sentiment, while +seeming kind, may become the very snare of the destroyer. + +And the strong word which sobered him will continue to be a warning to the +end of time. + +When love of ease or worldly prospects would lead us to discourage the +self-devotion, and repress the zeal of any convert; when toil or +liberality beyond the recognised level seems a thing to discountenance, +not because it is perhaps misguided, but only because it is exceptional; +when, for a brother or a son, we are tempted to prefer an easy and +prosperous life rather than a fruitful but stern and even perilous course, +then we are in the same danger as Peter of becoming the mouthpiece of the +Evil One. + +Danger and hardness are not to be chosen for their own sake; but to reject +a noble vocation, because these are in the way, is to mind not the things +of God but the things of men. And yet the temptation is one from which men +are never free, and which intrudes into what seems most holy. It dared to +assail Jesus; and it is most perilous still, because it often speaks to +us, as then to Him, through compassionate and loving lips. + +But now the Lord calls to Himself all the multitude, and lays down the +rule by which discipleship must to the end be regulated. + +The inflexible law is, that every follower of Jesus must deny himself and +take up his cross. It is not said, Let him devise some harsh and ingenious +instrument of self-torture: wanton self-torture is cruelty, and is often +due to the soul's readiness rather to endure any other suffering than that +which God assigns. Nor is it said, Let him take up My cross, for the +burden Christ bore devolves upon no other: the fight He fought is over. + +But it speaks of some cross allotted, known, but not yet accepted, some +lowly form of suffering, passive or active, against which nature pleads, +as Jesus heard His own nature pleading when Peter spoke. In taking up this +cross we must deny self, for it will refuse the dreadful burden. What it +is, no man can tell his neighbour, for often what seems a fatal besetment +is but a symptom and not the true disease; and the angry man's +irritability, and the drunkard's resort to stimulants, are due to remorse +and self-reproach for a deeper-hidden evil gnawing the spiritual life +away. But the man himself knows it. Our exhortations miss the mark when we +bid him reform in this direction or in that, but conscience does not err; +and he well discerns the effort or the renouncement, hateful to him as the +very cross itself, by which alone he can enter into life. + +To him, that life seems death, the death of all for which he cares to +live, being indeed the death of selfishness. But from the beginning, when +God in Eden set a barrier against lawless appetite, it was announced that +the seeming life of self-indulgence and of disobedience was really death. +In the day when Adam ate of the forbidden fruit he surely died. And thus +our Lord declared that whosoever is resolved to save his life--the life of +wayward, isolated selfishness--he shall lose all its reality, the sap, the +sweetness, and the glow of it. And whosoever is content to lose all this +for the sake of the Great Cause, the cause of Jesus and His gospel, he +shall save it. + +It was thus that the great apostle was crucified with Christ, yet lived, +and yet no longer he, for Christ Himself inspired in his breast a nobler +and deeper life than that which he had lost, for Jesus and the gospel. The +world knows, as the Church does, how much superior is self-devotion to +self-indulgence, and that one crowded hour of glorious life is worth an +age without a name. Its imagination is not inflamed by the picture of +indolence and luxury, but by resolute and victorious effort. But it knows +not how to master the rebellious senses, nor how to insure victory in the +struggle, nor how to bestow upon the masses, plunged in their monotonous +toils, the rapture of triumphant strife. That can only be done by +revealing to them the spiritual responsibilities of life, and the beauty +of His love Who calls the humblest to walk in His own sacred footsteps. + +Very striking is the moderation of Jesus, Who does not refuse discipleship +to self-seeking wishes but only to the self-seeking will, in which wishes +have ripened into choice, nor does He demand that we should welcome the +loss of the inferior life, but only that we should accept it. He can be +touched with the feeling of our infirmities. + +And striking also is this, that He condemns not the vicious life only: not +alone the man whose desires are sensual and depraved; but all who live for +self. No matter how refined and artistic the personal ambitions be, to +devote ourselves to them is to lose the reality of life, it is to become +querulous or jealous or vain or forgetful of the claims of other men, or +scornful of the crowd. Not self-culture but self-sacrifice is the vocation +of the child of God. + +Many people speak as if this text bade us sacrifice the present life in +hope of gaining another life beyond the grave. That is apparently the +common notion of saving our "souls." But Jesus used one word for the +"life" renounced and gained. He spoke indeed of saving it unto life +eternal, but His hearers were men who trusted that they had eternal life, +not that it was a far-off aspiration (John vi. 47, 54). + +And it is doubtless in the same sense, thinking of the freshness and joy +which we sacrifice for worldliness, and how sadly and soon we are +disillusionised, that He went on to ask, What shall it profit a man to +gain the whole world and forfeit His life? Or with what price shall he buy +it back when he discovers his error? But that discovery is too often +postponed beyond the horizon of mortality. As one desire proves futile, +another catches the eye, and somewhat excites again the often baffled +hope. But the day shall come when the last self-deception shall be at an +end. The cross of the Son of man, that type of all noble sacrifice, shall +then be replaced by the glory of His Father with the holy angels; and +ignoble compromise, aware of Jesus and His words, yet ashamed of them in a +vicious and self-indulgent age, shall in turn endure His averted face. +What price shall they offer then, to buy back what they have forfeited? + +Men who were standing there should see the beginning of the end, the +approach of the kingdom of God with power, in the fall of Jerusalem, and +the removal of the Hebrew candlestick out of its place. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + + + +The Transfiguration. + + + "And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and + John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by + themselves: and He was transfigured before them: and His garments + became glistering, exceeding white: so as no fuller on earth can + whiten them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and + they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and saith to + Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three + tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. + For He wist not what to answer; for they became sore afraid. And + there came a cloud overshadowing them: and there came a voice out + of the cloud, This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him. And suddenly + looking round about, they saw no one any more, save Jesus only + with themselves."--MARK ix. 2-8 (R.V.). + + +The Transfiguration is an event without a parallel in all the story of our +Lord. This breaking forth of unearthly splendour in a life of +self-negation, this miracle wrought without suffering to be relieved or +want supplied, and in which He seems to be not the Giver of Help but the +Receiver of Glory, arrests our attention less by the greatness of the +marvel than by its loneliness. + +But if myth or legend had to do with the making of our Gospels, we should +have had wonders enough which bless no suppliant, but only crown the +sacred head with laurels. They are as plentiful in the false Gospels as in +the later stories of Mahomed or Gautama. Can we find a sufficient +difference between these romantic tales and this memorable event--causes +enough to lead up to it, and ends enough for it to serve? + +An answer is hinted by the stress laid in all three narratives upon the +date of the Transfiguration. It was "after six days" according to the +first two. St. Luke reckons the broken portions of the first day and the +last, and makes it "about eight days after these sayings." A week has +passed since the solemn announcement that their Lord was journeying to a +cruel death, that self pity was discordant with the things of God, that +all His followers must in spirit endure the cross, that life was to be won +by losing it. Of that week no action is recorded, and we may well believe +that it was spent in profound searchings of heart. The thief Iscariot +would more than ever be estranged. The rest would aspire and struggle and +recoil, and explain away His words in such strange ways, as when they +presently failed to understand what the rising again from the dead should +mean (ver. 10). But in the deep heart of Jesus there was peace, the same +which He bequeathed to all His followers, the perfect calm of an +absolutely surrendered will. He had made the dread announcement and +rejected the insidious appeal; the sacrifice was already accomplished in +his inner self, and the word spoken, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. We +must steadily resist the notion that the Transfiguration was required to +confirm His consecration; or, after six days had passed since He bade +Satan get behind Him, to complete and perfect His decision. Yet doubtless +it had its meaning for Him also. Such times of more than heroic +self-devotion make large demands upon the vital energies. And He whom the +angels more than once sustained, now sought refreshment in the pure air +and solemn silence of the hills, and above all in communion with His +Father, since we read in St. Luke that He went up to pray. Who shall say +how far-reaching, how all-embracing such a prayer would be? What age, what +race may not hope to have shared its intercessions, remembering how He +once expressly prayed not for His immediate followers alone. But we need +not doubt that now, as in the Garden, He prayed also for Himself, and for +support in the approaching death-struggle. And the Twelve, so keenly +tried, would be especially remembered in this season. And even among these +there would be distinctions; for we know His manner, we remember that when +Satan claimed to have them all, Jesus prayed especially for Peter, because +his conversion would strengthen his brethren. Now this principle of +benefit to all through the selection of the fittest, explains why three +were chosen to be the eye-witnesses of His glory. If the others had been +there, perhaps they would have been led away into millennarian day-dreams. +Perhaps the worldly aspirations of Judas, thus inflamed, would have spread +far. Perhaps they would have murmured against that return to common life, +which St. Peter was so anxious to postpone. Perhaps even the chosen three +were only saved from intoxicating and delusive hopes by the sobering +knowledge that what they had seen was to remain a secret until some +intervening and mysterious event. The unripeness of the others for special +revelations was abundantly shown, on the morrow, by their failure to cast +out a devil. It was enough that their leaders should have this grand +confirmation of their faith. There was among them, henceforth, a secret +fountain of encouragement and trust, amid the darkest circumstances. The +panic in which all forsook Him might have been final, but for this vision +of His glory. For it is noteworthy that these three are the foremost +afterwards in sincere though frail devotion: one offering to die with Him, +and the others desiring to drink of His cup and to be baptized with His +baptism. + +While Jesus prays for them, He is Himself made the source of their +revival. He had lately promised that they who willed to lose their life +should find it unto life eternal. And now, in Him who had perfectly so +willed, they beheld the eternal glory beaming forth, until His very +garments were steeped in light. There is no need of proof that the spirit +has power over the body; the question is only of degree. Vile passions can +permanently degrade human comeliness. And there is a beauty beyond that of +line or colour, seen in vivid hours of emotion, on the features of a +mother beside her sleeping babe, of an orator when his soul burns within +him, of a martyr when his face is as the face of an angel, and often +making fairer than youthful bloom the old age that has suffered long and +been kind. These help us, however faintly, to believe that there is a +spiritual body, and that we may yet bear the image of the heavenly. And so +once, if only once, it is given to sinful men to see how a perfect spirit +can illuminate its fleshly tabernacle, as a flame illuminates a lamp, and +what the life is like in which self-crucifixion issues. In this hour of +rapt devotion His body was steeped in the splendour which was natural to +holiness, and which would never have grown dim but that the great +sacrifice had still to be carried out in action. We shall best think of +the glories of transfiguration not as poured over Jesus, but as a +revelation from within. Moreover, while they gaze, the conquering chiefs +of the Old Testament approach the Man of Sorrows. Because the spirit of +the hour is that of self-devotion, they see not Abraham, the prosperous +friend of God, nor Isaiah whose burning words befit the lips that were +touched by fire from an unearthly altar, but the heroic law-giver and the +lion-hearted prophet, the typical champions of the ancient dispensation. +Elijah had not seen death; a majestic obscurity veiled the ashes of Moses +from excess of honour; yet these were not offended by the cross which +tried so cruelly the faith of the apostles. They spoke of His decease, and +their word seems to have lingered in the narrative as strangely +appropriate to one of the speakers; it is Christ's "exodus."(11) + +But St. Mark does not linger over this detail, nor mention the drowsiness +with which they struggled; he leans all the weight of his vivid narrative +upon one great fact, the evidence now given of our Lord's absolute +supremacy. + +For, at this juncture Peter interposed. He "answered," a phrase which +points to his consciousness that he was no unconcerned bystander, that the +vision was in some degree addressed to him and his companions. But he +answers at random, and like a man distraught. "Lord, it is good for us to +be here," as if it were not always good to be where Jesus led, even though +men should bear a cross to follow Him. Intoxicated by the joy of seeing +the King in His beauty, and doubtless by the revulsion of new hope in the +stead of his dolorous forebodings, he proposes to linger there. He will +have more than is granted, just as, when Jesus washed his feet, he said +"not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." And if this might be, +it was fitting that these superhuman personages should have tabernacles +made for them. No doubt the assertion that he wist not what to say, bears +specially upon this strange offer to shelter glorified bodies from the +night air, and to provide for each a place of separate repose. The words +are incoherent, but they are quite natural from one who has so impulsively +begun to speak that now he must talk on, because he knows not how to stop. +They are the words of the very Peter whose actions we know so well. As he +formerly walked upon the sea, before considering how boisterous were the +waves, and would soon afterwards smite with the sword, and risk himself in +the High Priest's palace, without seeing his way through either adventure, +exactly so in this bewildering presence he ventures into a sentence +without knowing how to close it. + +Now this perfect accuracy of character, so dramatic and yet so unaffected, +is evidence of the truth of this great miracle. To a frank student who +knows human nature, it is a very admirable evidence. To one who knows how +clumsily such effects are produced by all but the greatest masters of +creative literature, it is almost decisive. + +In speaking thus, he has lowered his Master to the level of the others, +unconscious that Moses and Elijah were only attendants upon Jesus, who +have come from heaven because He is upon earth, and who speak not of their +achievements but of His sufferings. If Peter knew it, the hour had struck +when their work, the law of Moses and the utterances of the prophets whom +Elijah represented, should cease to be the chief impulse in religion, and +without being destroyed, should be "fulfilled," and absorbed in a new +system. He was there to whom Moses in the law, and the prophets bore +witness, and in His presence they had no glory by reason of the glory that +excelleth. Yet Peter would fain build equal tabernacles for all alike. + +Now St. Luke tells us that he interposed just when they were departing, +and apparently in the hope of staying them. But all the narratives convey +a strong impression that his words hastened their disappearance, and +decided the manner of it. For while he yet spake, as if all the vision +were eclipsed on being thus misunderstood, a cloud swept over the +three--bright, yet overshadowing them--and the voice of God proclaimed their +Lord to be His beloved Son (not faithful only, like Moses, as a steward +over the house), and bade them, instead of desiring to arrest the flight +of rival teachers, hear Him. + +Too often Christian souls err after the same fashion. We cling to +authoritative teachers, familiar ordinances, and traditional views, good +it may be, and even divinely given, as if they were not intended wholly to +lead us up to Christ. And in many a spiritual eclipse, from many a cloud +which the heart fears to enter, the great lesson resounds through the +conscience of the believer, Hear Him! + +Did the words remind Peter how he had lately begun to rebuke his Lord? Did +the visible glory, the ministration of blessed spirits and the voice of +God, teach him henceforth to hear and to submit? Alas, he could again +contradict Jesus, and say Thou shalt never wash my feet. I never will deny +Thee. And we, who wonder and blame him, as easily forget what we are +taught. + +Let it be observed that the miraculous and Divine Voice reveals nothing +new to them. For the words, This is My beloved Son, and also their drift +in raising Him above all rivalry, were involved in the recent confession +of this very Peter that He was neither Elijah nor one of the prophets, but +the Son of the Living God. So true is it that we may receive a truth into +our creed, and even apprehend it with such vital faith as makes us +"blessed," long before it grasps and subdues our nature, and saturates the +obscure regions where impulse and excitement are controlled. What we all +need most is not clearer and sounder views, but the bringing of our +thoughts into subjection to the mind of Jesus. + + + + +The Descent From The Mount. + + + "And as they were coming down from the mountain, He charged them + that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when + the Son of man should have risen again from the dead. And they + kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising + again from the dead should mean. And they asked Him, saying, The + scribes say that Elijah must first come. And He said unto them, + Elijah indeed cometh first, and restoreth all things: and how is + it written of the Son of man, that He should suffer many things + and be set at nought? But I say unto you, that Elijah is come, and + they have also done unto him whatsoever they listed, even as it is + written of Him."--MARK ix. 9-13 (R.V.). + + +In what state of mind did the apostles return from beholding the glory of +the Lord, and His ministers from another world? They seem to have been +excited, demonstrative, ready to blaze abroad the wonderful event which +ought to put an end to all men's doubts. + +They would have been bitterly disappointed, if they had prematurely +exposed their experience to ridicule, cross-examination, conjectural +theories, and all the controversy which reduces facts to logical form, but +strips them of their freshness and vitality. In the first age as in the +nineteenth, it was possible to be witnesses for the Lord without exposing +to coarse and irreverent handling all the delicate and secret experiences +of the soul with Christ. + +Therefore Jesus charged them that they should tell no man. Silence would +force back the impression upon the depths of their own spirits, and spread +its roots under the surface there. + +Nor was it right to make such a startling demand upon the faith of others +before public evidence had been given, enough to make scepticism +blameworthy. His resurrection from the dead would suffice to unseal their +lips. And the experience of all the Church has justified that decision. +The resurrection is, in fact, the centre of all the miraculous narratives, +the sun which keeps them in their orbit. Some of them, as isolated events, +might have failed to challenge credence. But authority and sanction are +given to all the rest by this great and publicly attested marvel, which +has modified history, and the denial of which makes history at once +untrustworthy and incoherent. When Jesus rose from the dead, the whole +significance of His life and its events was deepened. + +This mention of the resurrection called them away from pleasant +day-dreams, by reminding them that their Master was to die. For Him there +was no illusion. Coming back from the light and voices of heaven, the +cross before Him was as visible as ever to His undazzled eyes, and He was +still the sober and vigilant friend to warn them against false hopes. They +however found means of explaining the unwelcome truth away. Various +theories were discussed among them, what the rising from the dead should +mean, what should be in fact the limit to their silence. This very +perplexity, and the chill upon their hopes, aided them to keep the matter +close. + +One hope was too strong not to be at least hinted to Jesus. They had just +seen Elias. Surely they were right in expecting his interference, as the +scribes had taught. Instead of a lonely road pursued by the Messiah to a +painful death, should not that great prophet come as a forerunner and +restore all things? How then was murderous opposition possible? + +And Jesus answered that one day this should come to pass. The herald +should indeed reconcile all hearts, before the great and notable day of +the Lord come. But for the present time there was another question. That +promise to which they clung, was it their only light upon futurity? Was +not the assertion quite as plain that the Son of Man should suffer many +things and be set at nought? So far was Jesus from that state of mind in +which men buoy themselves up with false hope. No apparent prophecy, no +splendid vision, deceived His unerring insight. And yet no despair +arrested His energies for one hour. + +But, He added, Elias had already been offered to this generation in vain; +they had done to him as they listed. They had re-enacted what history +recorded of his life on earth. + +Then a veil dropped from the disciples' eyes. They recognised the dweller +in lonely places, the man of hairy garment and ascetic life, persecuted by +a feeble tyrant who cowered before his rebuke, and by the deadlier hatred +of an adulterous queen. They saw how the very name of Elias raised a +probability that the second prophet should be treated "as it is written +of" the first. + +If then they had so strangely misjudged the preparation of His way, what +might they not apprehend of the issue? So should also the Son of man +suffer of them. + +Do we wonder that they had not hitherto recognised the prophet? Perhaps, +when all is made clear at last, we shall wonder more at our own refusals +of reverence, our blindness to the meaning of noble lives, our moderate +and qualified respect for men of whom the world is not worthy. + +How much solid greatness would some of us overlook, if it went with an +unpolished and unattractive exterior? Now the Baptist was a rude and +abrupt person, of little culture, unwelcome in kings' houses. Yet no +greater had been born of woman. + + + + +The Demoniac Boy. + + + "And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great multitude + about them, and scribes questioning with them. And straightway all + the multitude, when they saw Him, were greatly amazed, and running + to Him saluted Him. And He asked them, What question ye with them? + And one of the multitude answered Him, Master, I brought unto Thee + my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever it taketh him, + it dasheth him down: and he foameth, and grindeth his teeth, and + pineth away: and I spake to Thy disciples that they should cast it + out; and they were not able. And He answered them and saith, O + faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall + I bear with you? bring him unto Me. And they brought him unto Him: + and when He saw him, straightway the spirit tare him grievously; + and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And He asked his + father, How long time is it since this hath come unto him? And he + said, From a child. And oft-times it hath cast him both into the + fire and into the waters, to destroy him: but if Thou canst do + anything, have compassion on us, and help us. And Jesus said unto + him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth. + Straightway the father of the child cried out, and said, I + believe; help Thou mine unbelief. And when Jesus saw that a + multitude came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, + saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come + out of him, and enter no more into him. And having cried out, and + torn him much, he came out: and _the child_ became as one dead; + insomuch that the more part said, He is dead. But Jesus took Him + by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose! And when He was come + into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, _saying_, We + could not cast it out. And He said unto them, This kind can come + out by nothing, save by prayer."--MARK ix. 14-29 (R.V.). + + +Peter soon had striking evidence that it would not have been "good" for +them to linger too long upon the mountain. And our Lord was recalled with +painful abruptness from the glories of transfiguration to the scepticism +of scribes, the failure and shame of disciples, and the triumph of the +powers of evil. + +To the Twelve He had explicitly given authority over devils, and even the +Seventy, venturing by faith to cast them out, had told Him of their +success with joy. But now, in the sorrow and fear of these latter days, +deprived of their Master and of their own foremost three, oppressed with +gloomy forebodings, and infected with the worldliness which fails to pray, +the nine had striven in vain. It is the only distinct repulse recorded, +and the scribes attacked them keenly. Where was their Master at this +crisis? Did not they profess equally to have the necessary power? Here was +a test, and some failed, and the others did not present themselves. We can +imagine the miserable scene, contrasting piteously with what passed on the +summit of the hill. And in the centre was an agonized father and a +tortured lad. + +At this moment the crowds, profoundly moved, rushed to meet the Lord, and +on seeing Him, became aware that failure was at an end. Perhaps the +exceeding brightness lingered still upon His face; perhaps it was but the +unearthly and victorious calm of His consecration, visible in His mien; +what is certain is that they were greatly amazed, and ran to Him and did +homage. + +Jesus at once challenged a renewal of the attack which had been too much +for His apostles. "What question ye with them?" But awe has fallen upon +the scribes also, and misery is left to tell its own tale. Their attack by +preference upon the disciples is very natural, and it by no means stands +alone. They did not ask Him, but His followers, why He ate and drank with +sinners, nor whether He paid the half-shekel (Mark ii. 16; Matt. xvii. +24). When they did complain to the Master Himself, it was commonly of some +fault in His disciples: Why do Thy disciples fast not? Why they do on the +Sabbath day that which is not lawful? Why do they eat with defiled hands? +(Mark ii. 18, 24; vii. 5). Their censures of Himself were usually muttered +or silent murmurings, which He discerned, as when He forgave the sins of +the palsied man; when the Pharisee marvelled that He had not washed His +hands; when He accepted the homage of the sinful woman, and again when He +spoke her pardon (Mark ii. 8; Luke xi. 38; vii. 39-49). When He healed the +woman whom a spirit of infirmity had bent down for eighteen years, the +ruler of the synagogue spoke to the people, without venturing to address +Jesus. (Luke xiii. 14). + +It is important to observe such indications, unobtrusive, and related by +various evangelists, of the majesty and impressiveness which surrounded +our Lord, and awed even His bitter foes. + +The silence is broken by an unhappy father, who had been the centre of the +group, but whom the abrupt movement to meet Jesus has merged in the crowd +again. The case of his son is among those which prove that demoniacal +possession did not imply the exceptional guilt of its victims, for though +still young, he has suffered long. The demon which afflicts him is dumb; +it works in the guise of epilepsy, and as a disease it is affected by the +changes of the moon; a malicious design is visible in frequent falls into +fire and water, to destroy him. The father had sought Jesus with him, and +since He was absent had appealed to His followers, but in vain. Some +consequent injury to his own faith, clearly implied in what follows, may +possibly be detected already, in the absence of any further petition, and +in the cold epithet, "Teacher," which he employs. + +Even as an evidence the answer of Jesus is remarkable, being such as human +ingenuity would not have invented, nor the legendary spirit have +conceived. It would have seemed natural that He should hasten to vindicate +His claims and expose the folly of the scribes, or else have reproached +His followers for the failure which had compromised Him. + +But the scribes were entirely set aside from the moment when the Good +Physician was invoked by a bleeding heart. Yet the physical trouble is +dealt with deliberately, not in haste, as by one whose mastery is assured. +The passing shadow which has fallen on His cause only concerns Him as a +part of the heavy spiritual burden which oppresses Him, which this +terrible scene so vividly exhibits. + +For the true importance of His words is this, that they reveal sufferings +which are too often forgotten, and which few are pure enough even to +comprehend. The prevalent evil weighed upon Him. And here the visible +power of Satan, the hostility of the scribes, the failure of His own, the +suspense and agitation of the crowd, all breathed the spirit of that evil +age, alien and harsh to Him as an infected atmosphere. He blames none more +than others; it is the "generation," so faithless and perverse, which +forces Him to exclaim: "How long shall I be with you? how long shall I +bear with you?" It is the cry of the pain of Jesus. It bids us to consider +Him Who endured such contradiction of sinners, who were even sinners +against Himself. So that the distress of Jesus was not that of a mere +eye-witness of evil or sufferer by it. His priesthood established a closer +and more agonizing connection between our Lord and the sins which tortured +Him. + +Do the words startle us, with the suggestion of a limit to the forbearance +of Jesus, well-nigh reached? There _was_ such a limit. The work of His +messenger had been required, lest His coming should be to smite the world. +His mind was the mind of God, and it is written, Kiss the Son, lest He be +angry. + +Now if Jesus looked forward to shame and anguish with natural shrinking, +we here perceive another aspect in which His coming Baptism of Blood was +viewed, and we discover why He was straitened until it was accomplished. +There is an intimate connection between this verse and His saying in St. +John, "If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I go unto My Father." + +But swiftly the mind of Jesus recurs to the misery which awaits help; and +He bids them bring the child to Him. Now the sweet influence of His +presence would have soothed and mitigated any mere disease. It is to such +influence that sceptical writers are wont to turn for an explanation, such +as it is, of the works He wrought. But it was the reverse in cases of +possession. There a wild sense of antagonism and revolt was wont to show +itself. And we might learn that this was something more than epilepsy, +even were it left doubtful otherwise, by the outburst of Satanic rage. +When he saw Him, straightway the spirit convulsed him grievously, and he +fell wallowing and foaming. + +Yet Jesus is neither hurried nor agitated. In not one of His miracles does +precipitation, or mere impulse, mingle with His grave and self-contained +compassion. He will question the scribes while the man with a withered +hand awaits His help. He will rebuke the disciples before quelling the +storm. At Nain He will touch the bier and arrest the bearers. When He +feeds the multitude, He will first command a search for loaves. He will +stand still and call Bartimaeus to Him. He will evoke, even by seeming +harshness, the faith of the woman of Canaan. He will have the stone rolled +away from the sepulchre of Lazarus. When He Himself rises, the +grave-clothes are found folded up, and the napkin which bound His head +laid in a place by itself, the last tribute of mortals to His mortality +not being flung contemptuously aside. All His miracles are authenticated +by the stamp of the same character--serene, not in haste nor tardy, since +He saw the end from the beginning. In this case delay is necessary, to +arouse the father, if only by interrogation, from his dull disappointment +and hopelessness. He asks therefore "How long time is it since this came +upon him?" and the answer shows that he was now at least a stripling, for +he had suffered ever since he was a child. Then the unhappy man is swept +away by his emotions: as he tells their sorrows, and thinks what a +wretched life or miserable death lies before his son, he bursts into a +passionate appeal. If Thou canst do anything, do this. Let pity for such +misery, for the misery of father as well as child, evoke all Thy power to +save. The form is more disrespectful than the substance of his cry; its +very vehemence is evidence that some hope is working in his breast; and +there is more real trust in its wild urgency than in many a reverential +and carefully weighed prayer. + +Yet how much rashness, self-assertion, and wilfulness (which is really +unbelief) were mingled with his germinant faith and needed rebuke. +Therefore Christ responded with his own word: "If _thou_ canst: thou +sayest it to Me, but I retort the condition upon thyself: with thee are +indeed the issues of thine own application, for all things are possible to +him that believeth." + +This answer is in two respects important. There was a time when popular +religion dealt too much with internal experience and attainment. But +perhaps there are schools among us now which verge upon the opposite +extreme. Faith and love are generally strongest when they forget +themselves, and do not say "I am faithful and loving," but "Christ is +trustworthy, Christ is adorable." This is true, and these virtues are +becoming artificial, and so false, as soon as they grow self-complacent. +Yet we should give at least enough attention to our own attainments to +warn us of our deficiencies. And wherever we find a want of blessedness, +we may seek for the reason within ourselves. Many a one is led to doubt +whether Christ "can do anything" practical for him, since private prayer +and public ordinances help him little, and his temptations continue to +prevail, whose true need is to be roused up sharply to the consciousness +that it is not Christ who has failed; it is he himself: his faith is dim, +his grasp on his Lord is half hearted, he is straitened in his own +affections. Our personal experiences should never teach us confidence, but +they may often serve to humble and warn us. + +This answer also impresses upon us the dignity of Him who speaks. Failure +had already come through the spiritual defects of His disciples, but for +Him, though "meek and lowly of heart," no such danger is even +contemplated. No appeal to Him can be frustrated except through fault of +the suppliant, since all things are possible to him that believeth. + +Now faith is in itself nothing, and may even be pernicious; all its effect +depends upon the object. Trust reposed in a friend avails or misleads +according to his love and his resources; trust in a traitor is ruinous, +and ruinous in proportion to its energy. And since trust in Jesus is +omnipotent, Who and what is He? + +The word pierces like a two-edged sword, and reveals to the agitated +father the conflict, the impurity of his heart. Unbelief is there, and of +himself he cannot conquer it. Yet is he not entirely unbelieving, else +what drew him thither? What impulse led to that passionate recital of his +griefs, that over-daring cry of anguish? And what is now this burning +sense within him of a great and inspiring Presence, which urges him to a +bolder appeal for a miracle yet more spiritual and Divine, a cry well +directed to the Author and Finisher of our faith? Never was medicine +better justified by its operation upon disease, than the treatment which +converted a too-importunate clamour for bodily relief into a contrite +prayer for grace. "I believe, help Thou mine unbelief." The same sense of +mixed imperfect and yet real trust should exist in every one of us, or +else our belief being perfect should be irresistible in the moral sphere, +and in the physical world so resigned, so confident in the Love which +governs, as never to be conscious of any gnawing importunate desire. And +from the same sense of need, the same cry for help should spring. + +Miraculous legends have gathered around the lives of many good and +gracious men within Christendom and outside it. But they cannot claim to +weigh against the history of Jesus, until at least one example can be +produced of such direct spiritual action, so profound, penetrating and +effectual, inextricably interwoven in the tissue of any fable. + +All this time the agitation of the people had increased. A multitude was +rushing forward, whose excitement would do more to distract the father's +mind than further delay to help him. And Jesus, even in the midst of His +treatment of souls, was not blind to such practical considerations, or to +the influence of circumstances. Unlike modern dealers in sensation, He can +never be shown to have aimed at religious excitement, while it was His +custom to discourage it. Therefore He now rebuked the unclean spirit in +the lad, addressing it directly speaking as a superior. "Thou deaf and +dumb spirit, I command thee, come out of him," and adding, with +explicitness which was due perhaps to the obstinate ferocity of "this +kind," or perhaps was intended to help the father's lingering unbelief, +"enter no more into him." The evil being obeys, yet proves his reluctance +by screaming and convulsing his victim for the last time, so that he, +though healed, lies utterly prostrate, and "the more part said, He is +dead." It was a fearful exhibition of the disappointed malice of the pit. +But it only calls forth another display of the power and love of Jesus, +Who will not leave the sufferer to a gradual recovery, nor speak, as to +the fiend, in words of mere authority, but reaches forth His benign hand, +and raises him, restored. Here we discover the same heart which provided +that the daughter of Jairus should have food, and delivered her son to the +widow of Nain, and was first to remind others that Lazarus was encumbered +by his grave-clothes. The good works of Jesus were not melodramatic +marvels for stage effect: they were the natural acts of supernatural power +and love. + + + + +Jesus And The Disciples. + + + "And when He was come into the house, His disciples asked Him + privately, _saying_, We could not cast it out. And He said unto + them, This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer. And they + went forth from thence, and passed through Galilee; and He would + not that any man should know it. For He taught His disciples, and + said unto them, The Son of man is delivered up into the hands of + men, and they shall kill Him; and when He is killed, after three + days He shall rise again. But they understood not the saying, and + were afraid to ask Him. And they came to Capernaum: and when He + was in the house He asked them, What were ye reasoning in the way? + But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another + in the way, who was the greatest. And He sat down, and called the + twelve; and He saith unto them, If any man would be first, he + shall be last of all, and minister of all. And He took a little + child, and set him in the midst of them: and taking him in His + arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such + little children in My name, receiveth Me; and whosoever receiveth + Me, receiveth not Me but Him that sent Me."--MARK ix. 28-37 (R.V.). + + +When the apostles had failed to expel the demon from the child, they gave +a very natural expression to their disappointment. Waiting until Jesus was +in private and in the house, they said, "We for our parts were unable to +cast it out." They take no blame to themselves. The tone is rather of +perplexity and complaint because the commission formerly received had not +held good. And it implies the question which is plainly expressed by St. +Matthew, Why could we not cast it out? Their very unconsciousness of +personal blame is ominous, and Jesus replies that the fault is entirely +their own. They ought to have stimulated, as He did afterwards, what was +flagging but not absent in the father, what their failure must have +daunted further in him. Want of faith had overcome them, says the fuller +account: the brief statement in St. Mark is, "This kind (of demon) can +come out by nothing but by prayer"; to which fasting was added as a second +condition by ancient copyists, but without authority. What is important is +to observe the connection between faith and prayer; so that while the +devil would only have gone out if they had prayed, or even perhaps only if +they had been men of prayer, yet their failure was through unbelief. It +plainly follows that prayer is the nurse of faith, and would have +strengthened it so that it should prevail. Only in habitual communion with +God can we learn to trust Him aright. There, as we feel His nearness, as +we are reminded that He bends to hear our cry, as the sense of eternal and +perfect power blends with that of immeasurable love, and His sympathy +becomes a realized abiding fact, as our vainglory is rebuked by +confessions of sin, and of dependence, it is made possible for man to +wield the forces of the spiritual world and yet not to be intoxicated with +pride. The nearness of God is inconsistent with boastfulness of man. For +want of this, it was better that the apostles should fail and be humbled, +than succeed and be puffed up. + +There are promises still unenjoyed, dormant and unexercised powers at the +disposal of the Church to-day. If in many Christian families the children +are not practically holy, if purity and consecration are not leavening our +Christian land, where after so many centuries license is but little +abashed and the faith of Jesus is still disputed, if the heathen are not +yet given for our Lord's inheritance nor the uttermost parts of the earth +for His possession--why are we unable to cast out the devils that afflict +our race? It is because our efforts are so faithless. And this again is +because they are not inspired and elevated by sufficient communion with +our God in prayer. + +Further evidences continued to be given of the dangerous state of the mind +of His followers, weighed down by earthly hopes and fears, wanting in +faith and prayer, and therefore open to the sinister influences of the +thief who was soon to become the traitor. They were now moving for the +last time through Galilee. It was a different procession from those glad +circuits, not long before, when enthusiasm everywhere rose high, and +sometimes the people would have crowned Him. Now He would not that any man +should know it. The word which tells of His journey seems to imply that He +avoided the main thoroughfares, and went by less frequented by-ways. +Partly no doubt His motives were prudential, resulting from the treachery +which He discerned. Partly it was because His own spirit was heavily +weighed upon, and retirement was what He needed most. And certainly most +of all because crowds and tumult would have utterly unfitted the apostles +to learn the hard lesson, how vain their daydreams were, and what a trial +lay before their Master. + +We read that "He taught them" this, which implies more than a single +utterance, as also perhaps does the remarkable phrase in St. Luke, "Let +these sayings sink into your ears." When the warning is examined, we find +it almost a repetition of what they had heard after Peter's great +confession. Then they had apparently supposed the cross of their Lord to +be such a figurative one as all His followers have to bear. Even after the +Transfiguration, the chosen three had searched for a meaning for the +resurrection from the dead. But now, when the words were repeated with a +naked, crude, resolute distinctness, marvellous from the lips of Him Who +should endure the reality, and evidently chosen in order to beat down +their lingering evasive hopes, when He says "They shall kill Him, and when +He is killed, after three days He shall rise again," surely they ought to +have understood. + +In fact they comprehended enough to shrink from hearing more. They did not +dare to lift the veil which covered a mystery so dreadful; they feared to +ask Him. It is a natural impulse, not to know the worst. Insolvent +tradesmen leave their books unbalanced. The course of history would have +run in another channel, if the great Napoleon had looked in the face the +need to fortify his own capital while plundering others. No wonder that +these Galileans recoiled from searching what was the calamity which +weighed so heavily upon the mighty spirit of their Master. Do not men +stifle the voice of conscience, and refuse to examine themselves whether +they are in the faith, in the same abject dread of knowing the facts, and +looking the inevitable in the face? How few there are, who bear to think, +calmly and well, of the certainties of death and judgment? + +But at the appointed time, the inevitable arrived for the disciples. The +only effect of their moral cowardice was that it found them unready, +surprised and therefore fearful, and still worse, prepared to forsake +Jesus by having already in heart drawn away from Him, by having refused to +comprehend and share His sorrows. It is easy to blame them, to assume that +in their place we should not have been partakers in their evil deeds, to +make little of the chosen foundation stones upon which Christ would build +His New Jerusalem. But in so doing we forfeit the sobering lessons of +their weakness, who failed, not because they were less than we, but +because they were not more than mortal. And we who censure them are +perhaps indolently refusing day by day to reflect, to comprehend the +meaning of our own lives and of their tendencies, to realize a thousand +warnings, less terrible only because they continue to be conditional, but +claiming more attention for that very reason. + +Contrast with their hesitation the noble fortitude with which Christ faced +His agony. It was His, and their concern in it was secondary. Yet for +their sakes He bore to speak of what they could not bear to hear. +Therefore to Him there came no surprise, no sudden shock; His arrest found +Him calm and reassured after the conflict in the Garden, and after all the +preparation which had already gone forward through all these latter days. + +One only ingredient in His cup of bitterness is now added to those which +had been already mentioned: "The Son of man is delivered up into the hands +of men." And this is the same which He mentioned in the Garden: "The Son +of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." + +It was that from which David recoiled when he said, "Let me fall into the +hands of God, but let me not fall into the hands of men." Suffering has +not reached its height until conscious malice designs the pang, and says, +"So would we have it." Especially true was this of the most tender of all +hearts. Yet this also Jesus foreknew, while He steadfastly set His face to +go toward Jerusalem. + +Faithless inability to grapple with the powers of darkness, faithless +unreadiness to share the cross of Jesus, what was to be expected next? +Estrangement, jealousy and ambition, the passions of the world heaving in +the bosom of the Church. But while they fail to discern the spirit of +Judas, the Lord discerned theirs, and asked them in the house, What were +ye reasoning in the way? It was a sweet and gentle prudence, which had not +corrected them publicly nor while their tempers were still ruffled, nor in +the language of severe rebuke, for by the way they had not only reasoned +but disputed one with another, who was the greatest. + +Language of especial honour had been addressed to Peter. Three had become +possessed of a remarkable secret on the Holy Mount, concerning which hints +on one side, and surmises on the other, may easily have excited jealousy. +The failure of the nine to cast out the devil would also, as they were not +humbled, render them irritable and self-asserting. + +But they held their peace. No one asserted his right to answer on behalf +of all. Peter, who was so willingly their spokesman at other times, did +not vindicate his boasted pre-eminence now. The claim which seemed so +reasonable while they forgot Jesus, was a thing to blush for in His +presence. And they, who feared to ask Him of His own sufferings, knew +enough to feel the contrast between their temper, their thoughts and His. +Would that we too by prayer and self-examination, more often brought our +desires and ambitions into the searching light of the presence of the +lowly King of kings. + +The calmness of their Lord was in strange contrast with their confusion. +He pressed no further His inquiry, but left them to weigh His silence in +this respect against their own. But importing by His action something +deliberate and grave, He sat down and called the Twelve, and pronounced +the great law of Christian rank, which is lowliness and the lowliest +service. "If any man would be the first, he shall be the least of all, and +the servant of all." When Kaisers and Popes ostentatiously wash the feet +of paupers, they do not really serve, and therefore they exhibit no +genuine lowliness. Christ does not speak of the luxurious nursing of a +sentiment, but of that genuine humility which effaces itself that it may +really become a servant of the rest. Nor does He prescribe this as a +penance, but as the appointed way to eminence. Something similar He had +already spoken, bidding men sit down in the lowest room, that the Master +of the house might call them higher. But it is in the next chapter, when +despite this lesson the sons of Zebedee persisted in claiming the highest +places, and the indignation of the rest betrayed the very passion it +resented, that Jesus fully explains how lowly service, that wholesome +medicine for ambition, is the essence of the very greatness in pursuit of +which men spurn it. + +To the precept, which will then be more conveniently examined, Jesus now +added a practical lesson of amazing beauty. In the midst of twelve rugged +and unsympathetic men, the same who, despite this action, presently +rebuked parents for seeking the blessing of Christ upon their babes, Jesus +sets a little child. What but the grace and love which shone upon the +sacred face could have prevented this little one from being utterly +disconcerted? But children have a strange sensibility for love. Presently +this happy child was caught up in His arms, and pressed to His bosom, and +there He seems to have lain while John, possibly conscience-stricken, +asked a question and received an unexpected answer. And the silent +pathetic trust of this His lamb found its way to the heart of Jesus, who +presently spoke of "these little ones who believe in Me" (v. 42). + +Meanwhile the child illustrated in a double sense the rule of greatness +which He had laid down. So great is lowliness that Christ Himself may be +found in the person of a little child. And again, so great is service, +that in receiving one, even one, of the multitude of children who claim +our sympathies, we receive the very Master; and in that lowly Man, who was +among them as He that serveth, is manifested the very God: whoso receiveth +Me receiveth not Me but Him that sent me. + + + + +Offences. + + + "John said unto Him, Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy + Name: and we forbade him, because he followed not us. But Jesus + said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a mighty + work in My name, and be able quickly to speak evil of Me. For he + that is not against us is for us. For whosoever shall give you a + cup of water to drink, because ye are Christ's, verily I say unto + you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. And whosoever shall + cause one of these little ones that believe on Me to stumble, it + were better for him if a great millstone were hanged about his + neck, and he were cast into the sea. And if thy hand cause thee to + stumble, cut it off: it is good for thee to enter into life + maimed, rather than having thy two hands to go into hell, into the + unquenchable fire. And if thy foot cause thee to stumble, cut it + off: it is good for thee to enter into life halt, rather than + having thy two feet to be cast into hell. And if thine eye cause + thee to stumble, cast it out: it is good for thee to enter into + the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be + cast into hell; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not + quenched. For every one shall be salted with fire. Salt is good: + but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season + it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with + another."--MARK ix. 38-50 (R.V.). + + +When Jesus spoke of the blessedness of receiving in His name even a little +child, the conscience of St. John became uneasy. They had seen one casting +out devils in that name, and had forbidden him, "because he followeth not +us." The spirit of partizanship which these words betray is somewhat +softer in St. Luke, but it exists. He reports "because he followeth not +(Jesus) with us." + +The behaviour of the disciples all through this period is unsatisfactory. +From the time when Peter contradicted and rebuked Jesus, down to their +final desertion, there is weakness at every turn. And this is a curious +example of it, that immediately after having failed themselves,(12) they +should rebuke another for doing what their Master had once declared could +not possibly be an evil work. If Satan cast out Satan his house was +divided against itself: if the finger of God was there no doubt the +kingdom of God was come unto them. + +It is interesting and natural that St. John should have introduced the +question. Others were usually more forward, but that was because he was +more thoughtful. Peter went first into the sepulchre; but he first, seeing +what was there, believed. And it was he who said "It is the Lord," +although Peter thereupon plunged into the lake to reach Him. Discerning +and grave: such is the character from which his Gospel would naturally +come, and it belongs to him who first discerned the rebuke to their +conduct implied in the words of Jesus. He was right. The Lord answered, +"Forbid him not, for there is no man which shall do a mighty work in My +name, and be able quickly to speak evil of Me:" his own action would seal +his lips; he would have committed himself. Now this points out a very +serious view of human life, too often overlooked. The deed of to-day rules +to-morrow; one is half enslaved by the consequences of his own free will. +Let no man, hesitating between two lines of action, ask, What harm in +this? what use in that? without adding, And what future actions, good or +evil, may they carry in their train? + +The man whom they had rebuked was at least certain to be for a time +detached from the opponents of truth, silent if not remonstrant when it +was assailed, diluting and enfeebling the enmity of its opponents. And so +Christ laid down the principle, "He that is not against us is for us." In +St. Luke the words are more plainly pointed against this party spirit, "He +that is not against you is for you." + +How shall we reconcile this principle with Christ's declaration elsewhere, +"He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me +scattereth"? + +It is possible to argue that there is no contradiction whatever, for both +deny the existence of a neutral class, and from this it equally follows +that he who is not with is against, and he who is not against is with us. +But this answer only evades the difficulty, which is, that one passage +reckons seeming neutrality as friendship, while the other denounces it as +enmity. + +A closer examination reveals a more profound reconciliation. In St. +Matthew, Christ announced His own personal claim; in St. Mark He declares +that His people must not share it. Towards Christ Himself, indifference is +practical rejection. The manifestation of God was not made to be +criticised or set aside: He loves them who love Him; He demands the hearts +He died for; and to give Him less is to refuse Him the travail of His +soul. Therefore He that is not with Christ is against Him. The man who +boasts that he does no harm but makes no pretence of religion, is +proclaiming that one may innocently refuse Christ. And it is very +noteworthy that St. Matthew's aphorism was evoked, like this, by a +question about the casting out of devils. There the Pharisees had said +that He cast out devils by Beelzebub. And Jesus had warned all who heard, +that in such a controversy, to be indifferent was to deny him. Here, the +man had himself appealed to the power of Jesus. He had passed, long ago, +the stage of cool semi-contemptuous indifference. Whether he was a +disciple of the Baptist, not yet entirely won, or a later convert who +shrank from the loss of all things, what is plain is that he had come far +on the way towards Jesus. It does not follow that he enjoyed a saving +faith, for Christ will at last profess to many who cast out devils in His +name, that He never knew them. But intellectual persuasion and some active +reliance were there. Let them beware of crushing the germs, because they +were not yet developed. Nor should the disciples suppose that loyalty to +their organization, although Christ was with them, was the same as loyalty +to Him. "He that is not against _you_ is for you," according to St. Luke. +Nay more, "He that is not against us is for us," according to St. Mark. +But already He had spoken the stronger word, "He that is not for _Me_ is +against Me." + +No verse has been more employed than this in sectarian controversy. And +sometimes it has been pressed too far. The man whom St. John would have +silenced was not spreading a rival organization; and we know how the same +Apostle wrote, long afterwards, of those who did so: "If they had been of +us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might +be made manifest how all they are not of us" (1 John ii. 19). This was +simply a doer of good without ecclesiastical sanction, and the warning of +the text is against all who would use the name of discipline or of order +to bridle the zeal, to curb the energies, of any Christian soul. But it is +at least as often the new movement as the old organization that would +silence all who follow not with it. + +But the energies of Christ and His gospel can never be monopolized by any +organization whatsoever. Every good gift and every perfect gift, wherever +we behold it, is from Him. + +All help, then, is to be welcomed; not to hinder is to speed the cause. +And therefore Jesus, repeating a former saying, adds that whosoever, moved +by the name of Christ, shall give His followers one cup of water, shall be +rewarded. He may be and continue outside the Church; his after life may be +sadly inconsistent with this one action: that is not the question; the +sole condition is the genuine motive--one impulse of true respect, one +flicker of loyalty, only decided enough to speed the weary ambassador with +the simplest possible refreshment, should "in no wise lose its reward." +Does this imply that the giver should assuredly enter heaven? Alas, no. +But this it says, that every spark of fire in the smoking flax is tended, +every gracious movement is answered by a gift of further grace, to employ +or to abuse. Not more surely is the thirsty disciple refreshed, than the +feverish worldliness of him who just attains to render this service is +fanned and cooled by breezes from heaven, he becomes aware of a deeper and +nobler life, he is melted and drawn towards better things. Very blessed, +or very miserable is he who cannot remember the holy shame, the yearning, +the sigh because he is not always thus, which followed naturally upon some +deed, small in itself perhaps, but good enough to be inconsistent with his +baser self. The deepening of spiritual capacity is one exceeding great +reward of every act of loyalty to Christ. + +This was graciously said of a deed done to the apostles, despite their +failures, rivalries, and rebukes of those who would fain speed the common +cause. Not, however, because they were apostles, but "because ye are +Christ's." And so was the least, so was the child who clung to Him. But if +the slightest sympathy with these is thus laden with blessing, then to +hinder, to cause to stumble one such little one, how terrible was that. +Better to die a violent and shameful death, and never sleep in a peaceful +grave. + +There is a worse peril than from others. We ourselves may cause ourselves +to stumble. We may pervert beyond recall things innocent, natural, all but +necessary, things near and dear and useful to our daily life as are our +very limbs. The loss of them may be so lasting a deprivation that we shall +enter heaven maimed. But if the moral evil is irrevocably identified with +the worldly good, we must renounce it. + +The hand with its subtle and marvellous power may well stand for harmless +accomplishments now fraught with evil suggestiveness; for innocent modes +of livelihood which to relinquish means crippled helplessness, yet which +have become hopelessly entangled with unjust or at least questionable +ways; for the great possessions, honestly come by, which the ruler would +not sell; for all endowments which we can no longer hope to consecrate, +and which make one resemble the old Chaldeans, whose might was their god, +who sacrificed to their net and burned incense to their drag. + +And the foot, with its swiftness in boyhood, its plodding walk along the +pavement in maturer age, may well represent the caprices of youth so hard +to curb, and also the half-mechanical habits which succeed to these, and +by which manhood is ruled, often to its destruction. If the hand be +capacity, resource, and possession, the foot is swift perilous impulse, +and also fixed habitude, monotonous recurrence, the settled ways of the +world. + +Cut off hand and foot, and what is left to the mutilated trunk, the +ravaged and desolated life? Desire is left; the desire of the eyes. The +eyes may not touch the external world; all may now be correct in our +actions and intercourse with men. But yet greed, passion, inflamed +imagination may desecrate the temple of the soul. The eyes misled Eve when +she saw that the fruit was good, and David on his palace roof. Before the +eyes of Jesus, Satan spread his third and worst temptation. And our Lord +seems to imply that this last sacrifice of the worst because the deepest +evil must be made with indignant vehemence; hand and foot must be cut off, +but the eye must be cast out, though life be half darkened in the process. + +These latter days have invented a softer gospel, which proclaims that even +the fallen err if they utterly renounce any good creature of God, which +ought to be received with thanksgiving; that the duty of moderation and +self-control can never be replaced by renunciation, and that distrust of +any lawful enjoyment revives the Manichean heresy. Is the eye a good +creature of God? May the foot be received with thanksgiving? Is the hand a +source of lawful enjoyment? Yet Jesus made these the types of what must, +if it has become an occasion of stumbling, be entirely cast away. + +He added that in such cases the choice is between mutilation and the loss +of all. It is no longer a question of the full improvement of every +faculty, the doubling of all the talents, but a choice between living a +life impoverished and half spoiled, and going complete to Gehenna, to the +charnel valley where the refuse of Jerusalem was burned in a continual +fire, and the worm of corruption never died. The expression is too +metaphorical to decide such questions as that of the eternal duration of +punishment, or of the nature of the suffering of the lost. The metaphors +of Jesus, however, are not employed to exaggerate His meaning, but only to +express it. And what He said is this: The man who cherishes one dear and +excusable occasion of offence, who spares himself the keenest spiritual +surgery, shall be cast forth with everything that defileth, shall be +ejected with the offal of the New Jerusalem, shall suffer corruption like +the transgressors of whom Isaiah first used the tremendous phrase, "their +worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched," shall endure at +once internal and external misery, as of decomposition and of burning. + +Such is the most terrible menace that ever crossed the lips into which +grace was poured. And it was not addressed to the outcast or the Pharisee, +but to His own. They were called to the highest life; on them the +influences of the world was to be as constant and as disintegrating as +that of the weather upon a mountain top. Therefore they needed solemn +warning, and the counter-pressure of those awful issues known to be +dependent on their stern self-discipline. They could not, He said in an +obscure passage which has been greatly tampered with, they could not +escape fiery suffering in some form. But the fire which tried would +preserve and bless them if they endured it; every one shall be salted with +fire. But if they who ought to be the salt of the world received the grace +of God in vain, if the salt have lost its saltness, the case is desperate +indeed. + +And since the need of this solemn warning sprang from their rivalry and +partizanship, Jesus concludes with an emphatic charge to discipline and +correct themselves and to beware of impeding others: to be searching in +the closet, and charitable in the church: to have salt in yourselves, and +be at peace with one another. + + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + + + +Divorce. + + + "And He arose from thence, and cometh into the borders of Judaea + and beyond Jordan: and multitudes come together unto Him again; + and, as He was wont, He taught them again. And there came unto Him + Pharisees, and asked Him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his + wife? tempting Him. And He answered and said unto them, What did + Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill + of divorcement, and to put her away. But Jesus said unto them, For + your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the + beginning of the creation, Male and female made He them. For this + cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to + his wife; and the twain shall become one flesh: so that they are + no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined + together, let no man put asunder. And in the house the disciples + asked Him again of this matter. And He saith unto them, Whosoever + shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery + against her: and if she herself shall put away her husband, and + marry another, she committeth adultery."--MARK x. 1-12 (R.V.). + + +It is easy to read without emotion that Jesus arose from the scene of His +last discourse, and came into the borders of Judaea beyond Jordan. But not +without emotion did Jesus bid farewell to Galilee, to the home of His +childhood and sequestered youth, the cradle of His Church, the centre of +nearly all the love and faith He had awakened. When closer still to death, +His heart reverted to Galilee, and He promised that when He was risen He +would go thither before His disciples. Now He had to leave it. And we must +not forget that every step He took towards Jerusalem was a deliberate +approach to His assured and anticipated cross. He was not like other brave +men, who endure death when it arrives, but are sustained until the crisis +by a thousand flattering hopes and undefined possibilities. Jesus knew +precisely where and how He should suffer. And now, as He arose from +Galilee, every step said, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. + +As soon as He entered Perea beyond Jordan, multitudes came to Him again. +Nor did His burdened heart repress His zeal: rather He found relief in +their importunity and in His Father's business, and so, "as He was wont, +He taught them again." These simple words express the rule He lived by, +the patient continuance in well-doing which neither hostilities nor +anxieties could chill. + +Not long was He left undisturbed. The Pharisees come to Him with a +question dangerous in itself, because there is no conceivable answer which +will not estrange many, and especially dangerous for Jesus, because +already, on the Mount, He has spoken upon this subject words at seeming +variance with His free views concerning sabbath observance, fasting, and +ceremonial purity. Most perilous of all was the decision they expected +when given by a teacher already under suspicion, and now within reach of +that Herod who had, during the lifetime of his first wife, married the +wife of a living man. "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for +every cause?" It was a decision upon this very subject which had proved +fatal to the forerunner. + +But Jesus spoke out plainly. In a question and answer which are variously +reported, what is clear is that He carefully distinguished between a +command and a permission of Moses. Divorce had been allowed; yes, but some +reason had been exacted, whatever disputes might exist about its needful +gravity, and deliberation had been enforced by demanding a legal document, +a writing of divorcement. Thus conscience was bidden to examine its +motives, and time was gained for natural relentings. But after all, Jesus +declared that divorce was only a concession to their hardness of heart. +Thus we learn that Old Testament institutions were not all and of +necessity an expression of the Divine ideal. They were sometimes a +temporary concession, meant to lead to better things; an expedient rather +than a revelation. + +These words contain the germ of St. Paul's doctrine that the law itself +was a schoolmaster, and its function temporary. + +To whatever concessions Moses had been driven, the original and unshaken +design of God was that man and woman should find the permanent completion +of their lives each in the other. And this is shown by three separate +considerations. The first is the plan of the creation, making them male +and female, and such that body and soul alike are only perfect when to +each its complement is added, when the masculine element and the feminine +"each fulfils defect in each ... the two-celled heart beating with one +full stroke life." Thus by anticipation Jesus condemned the tame-spirited +verdict of His disciples, that since a man cannot relieve himself from a +union when it proves galling, "it is not good" to marry at all. To this he +distinctly answered that such an inference could not prove even tolerable, +except when nature itself, or else some social wrong, or else absorbing +devotion to the cause of God, virtually cancelled the original design. But +already he had here shown that such prudential calculation degrades man, +leaves him incomplete, traverses the design of God Who from the beginning +of the creation made them male and female. In our own days, the relation +between the sexes is undergoing a social and legislative revolution. Now +Christ says not a word against the equal rights of the sexes, and in more +than one passage St. Paul goes near to assert it. But equality is not +identity, either of vocation or capacity. This text asserts the separate +and reciprocal vocation of each, and it is worthy of consideration, how +far the special vocation of womanhood is consistent with loud assertion of +her "separate rights." + +Christ's second proof that marriage cannot be dissolved without sin is +that glow of heart, that noble abandonment, in which a man leaves even +father and mother for the joy of his youth and the love of his espousals. +In that sacred hour, how hideous and base a wanton divorce would be felt +to be. Now man is not free to live by the mean, calculating, selfish +afterthought, which breathes like a frost on the bloom of his noblest +impulses and aspirations. He should guide himself by the light of his +highest and most generous intuitions. + +And the third reason is that no man, by any possibility, can undo what +marriage does. They two are one flesh; each has become part of the very +existence of the other; and it is simply incredible that a union so +profound, so interwoven with the very tissue of their being, should lie at +the mercy of the caprice or the calculations of one or other, or of both. +Such a union arises from the profoundest depths of the nature God created, +not from mean cravings of that nature in its degradation; and like waters +springing up from the granite underneath the soil, it may suffer stain, +but it is in itself free from the contamination of the fall. Despite of +monkish and of Manichean slanders, impure dreams pretending to especial +purity, God is He Who joins together man and woman in a bond which "no +man," king or prelate, may without guilt dissolve. + +Of what followed, St. Mark is content to tell us that in the house, the +disciples pressed the question further. How far did the relaxation which +Moses granted over-rule the original design? To what extent was every +individual bound in actual life? And the answer, given by Jesus to guide +His own people through all time, is clear and unmistakeable. The tie +cannot be torn asunder without sin. The first marriage holds, until actual +adultery poisons the pure life in it, and man or woman who breaks through +its barriers commits adultery. The Baptist's judgment of Herod was +confirmed. + +So Jesus taught. Ponder well that honest unshrinking grasp of solid +detail, which did not overlook the physical union whereof is one flesh, +that sympathy with high and chivalrous devotion forsaking all else for its +beloved one, that still more spiritual penetration which discerned a +Divine purpose and a destiny in the correlation of masculine and feminine +gifts, of strength and grace, of energy and gentleness, of courage and +long-suffering--observe with how easy and yet firm a grasp He combines all +these into one overmastering argument--remember that when He spoke, the +marriage tie was being relaxed all over the ancient world, even as godless +legislation is to-day relaxing it--reflect that with such relaxation came +inevitably a blight upon the family, resulting in degeneracy and ruin for +the nation, while every race which learned the lesson of Jesus grew strong +and pure and happy--and then say whether this was only a Judaean peasant, or +the Light of the World indeed. + + + + +Christ And Little Children. + + + "And they brought unto Him little children, that He should touch + them: and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, He + was moved with indignation, and said unto them, Suffer the little + children to come unto Me; forbid them not: for of such is the + kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive + the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter + therein. And He took them in His arms, and blessed them, laying + His hands upon them."--MARK x. 13-16 (R.V.). + + +This beautiful story gains new loveliness from its context. The disciples +had weighed the advantages and disadvantages of marriage, and decided in +their calculating selfishness, that the prohibition of divorce made it +"not good for a man to marry." But Jesus had regarded the matter from +quite a different position; and their saying could only be received by +those to whom special reasons forbade the marriage tie. It was then that +the fair blossom and opening flower of domestic life, the tenderness and +winning grace of childhood, appealed to them for a softer judgment. Little +children (St. Luke says "babes") were brought to Him to bless, to touch +them. It was a remarkable sight. He was just departing from Perea on His +last journey to Jerusalem. The nation was about to abjure its King and +perish, after having invoked His blood to be not on them only, but on +their children. But here were some at least of the next generation led by +parents who revered Jesus, to receive His blessing. And who shall dare to +limit the influence exerted by that benediction on their future lives? Is +it forgotten that this very Perea was the haven of refuge for Jewish +believers when the wrath fell upon their nation? Meanwhile the fresh smile +of their unconscious, unstained, unforeboding infancy met the grave smile +of the all-conscious, death-boding Man of Sorrows, as much purer as it was +more profound. + +But the disciples were not melted. They were occupied with grave +questions. Babes could understand nothing, and therefore could receive no +conscious intelligent enlightenment. What then could Jesus do for them? +Many wise persons are still of quite the same opinion. No spiritual +influences, they tell us, can reach the soul until the brain is capable of +drawing logical distinctions. A gentle mother may breathe softness and +love into a child's nature, or a harsh nurse may jar and disturb its +temper, until the effects are as visible on the plastic face as is the +sunshine or storm upon the bosom of a lake; but for the grace of God there +is no opening yet. As if soft and loving influences are not themselves a +grace of God. As if the world were given certain odds in the race, and the +powers of heaven were handicapped. As if the young heart of every child +were a place where sin abounds (since he is a fallen creature, with an +original tendency towards evil), but where grace doth not at all abound. +Such is the unlovely theory. And as long as it prevails in the Church we +need not wonder at the compensating error of rationalism, denying evil +where so many of us deny grace. It is the more amiable error of the two. +Since then the disciples could not believe that edification was for babes, +they naturally rebuked those that brought them. Alas, how often still does +the beauty and innocence of childhood appeal to men in vain. And this is +so, because we see not the Divine grace, "the kingdom of heaven," in +these. Their weakness chafes our impatience, their simplicity irritates +our worldliness, and their touching helplessness and trustfulness do not +find in us heart enough for any glad response. + +In ancient times they had to pass through the fire to Moloch, and since +then through other fires: to fashion when mothers leave them to the hired +kindness of a nurse, to selfishness when their want appeals to our +charities in vain, and to cold dogmatism, which would banish them from the +baptismal font, as the disciples repelled them from the embrace of Jesus. +But He was moved with indignation, and reiterated, as men do when they +feel deeply, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me; forbid them +not." And He added this conclusive reason, "for of such," of children and +childlike men, "is the kingdom of God." + +What is the meaning of this remarkable assertion? To answer aright, let us +return in fancy to the morning of our days; let our flesh, and all our +primitive being, come back to us as those of a little child. + +We were not faultless then. The theological dogma of original sin, however +unwelcome to many, is in harmony with all experience. Impatience is there, +and many a childish fault; and graver evils develop as surely as life +unfolds, just as weeds show themselves in summer, the germs of which were +already mingled with the better seed in spring. It is plain to all +observers that the weeds of human nature are latent in the early soil, +that this is not pure at the beginning of each individual life. Does not +our new-fangled science explain this fact by telling us that we have still +in our blood the transmitted influences of our ancestors the brutes? + +But Christ never meant to say that the kingdom of heaven was only for the +immaculate and stainless. If converted men receive it, in spite of many a +haunting appetite and recurring lust, then the frailties of our babes +shall not forbid us to believe the blessed assurance that the kingdom is +also theirs. + +How many hindrances to the Divine life fall away from us, as our fancy +recalls our childhood. What weary and shameful memories, base hopes, +tawdry splendours, envenomed pleasures, entangling associations vanish, +what sins need to be confessed no longer, how much evil knowledge fades +out that we never now shall quite unlearn, which haunts the memory even +though the conscience be absolved from it. The days of our youth are not +those evil days, when anything within us saith, My soul hath no pleasure +in the ways of God. + +When we ask to what especial qualities of childhood did Jesus attach so +great value, two kindred attributes are distinctly indicated in Scripture. + +One is humility. The previous chapter showed us a little child set in the +midst of the emulous disciples, whom Christ instructed that the way to be +greatest was to become like this little child, the least. + +A child is not humble through affectation, it never professes nor thinks +about humility. But it understands, however imperfectly, that it is beset +by mysterious and perilous forces, which it neither comprehends nor can +grapple with. And so are we. Therefore all its instincts and experiences +teach it to submit, to seek guidance, not to put its own judgment in +competition with those of its appointed guides. To them, therefore, it +clings and is obedient. + +Why is it not so with us? Sadly we also know the peril of self-will, the +misleading power of appetite and passion, the humiliating failures which +track the steps of self-assertion, the distortion of our judgments, the +feebleness of our wills, the mysteries of life and death amid which we +grope in vain. Milton anticipated Sir Isaac Newton in describing the +wisest + + + "As children gathering pebbles on the shore." + + _Par. Reg._, iv. 330. + + +And if this be so true in the natural world that its sages become as +little children, how much more in those spiritual realms for which our +faculties are still so infantile, and of which our experience is so +rudimentary. We should all be nearer to the kingdom, or greater in it, if +we felt our dependence, and like the child were content to obey our Guide +and cling to Him. + +The second childlike quality to which Christ attached value was readiness +to receive simply. Dependence naturally results from humility. Man is +proud of his independence only because he relies on his own powers; when +these are paralysed, as in the sickroom or before the judge, he is willing +again to become a child in the hands of a nurse or of an advocate. In the +realm of the spirit these natural powers are paralysed. Learning cannot +resist temptation, nor wealth expiate a sin. And therefore, in the +spiritual world, we are meant to be dependent and receptive. + +Christ taught, in the Sermon on the Mount, that to those who asked Him, +God would give His Spirit as earthly parents give good things to their +children. Here also we are taught to accept, to receive the kingdom as +little children, not flattering ourselves that our own exertions can +dispense with the free gift, not unwilling to become pensioners of heaven, +not distrustful of the heart which grants, not finding the bounties +irksome which are prompted by a Fathers' love. What can be more charming +in its gracefulness than the reception of a favour by an affectionate +child. His glad and confident enjoyment are a picture of what ours might +be. + +Since children receive the kingdom, and are a pattern for us in doing so, +it is clear that they do not possess the kingdom as a natural right, but +as a gift. But since they do receive it, they must surely be capable of +receiving also that sacrament which is the sign and seal of it. It is a +startling position indeed which denies admission into the visible Church +to those of whom is the kingdom of God. It is a position taken up only +because many, who would shrink from any such avowal, half-unconsciously +believe that God becomes gracious to us only when His grace is attracted +by skilful movements upon our part, by conscious and well-instructed +efforts, by penitence, faith and orthodoxy. But whatever soul is capable +of any taint of sin must be capable of compensating influences of the +Spirit, by Whom Jeremiah was sanctified, and the Baptist was filled, even +before their birth into this world (Jer. i. 5; Luke i. 15). Christ +Himself, in Whom dwelt bodily all the fulness of the Godhead, was not +therefore incapable of the simplicity and dependence of infancy. + +Having taught His disciples this great lesson, Jesus let His affections +loose. He folded the children in His tender and pure embrace, and blessed +them much, laying His hands on them, instead of merely touching them. He +blessed them not because they were baptized. But we baptize our children, +because all such have received the blessing, and are clasped in the arms +of the Founder of the Church. + + + + +The Rich Inquirer. + + + "And as He was going forth into the way, there ran one to Him, and + kneeled to Him, and asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I + may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest + thou Me good? none is good save one, even God. Thou knowest the + commandments, Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, + Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour thy father and + mother. And He said unto him, Master, all these things have I + observed from my youth. And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and + said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go, sell whatsoever thou + hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in + heaven: and come, follow Me. But his countenance fell at the + saying, and he went away sorrowful: for he was one that had great + possessions."--MARK x. 17-22 (R.V.). + + +The excitement stirred by our Lord's teaching must often have shown itself +in a scene of eagerness like this which St. Mark describes so well. The +Saviour is just "going forth" when one rushes to overtake Him, and kneels +down to Him, full of the hope of a great discovery. He is so frank, so +innocent and earnest, as to win the love of Jesus. And yet he presently +goes away, not as he came, but with a gloomy forehead and a heavy heart, +and doubtless with slow reluctance. + +The authorities were now in such avowed opposition that to be Christ's +disciple was disgraceful if not dangerous to a man of mark. Yet no fear +withheld this young ruler who had so much to lose; he would not come by +night, like Nicodemus before the storm had gathered which was now so dark; +he openly avowed his belief in the goodness of the Master, and his own +ignorance of some great secret which Jesus could reveal. + +There is indeed a charming frankness in his bearing, so that we admire +even his childlike assertion of his own virtues, while the heights of a +nobility yet unattained are clearly possible for one so dissatisfied, so +anxious for a higher life, so urgent in his questioning, What shall I do? +What lack I yet? That is what makes the difference between the Pharisee +who thanks God that he is not as other men, and this youth who has kept +all the commandments, yet would fain be other than he is, and readily +confesses that all is not enough, that some unknown act still awaits +achievement. The goodness which thinks itself upon the summit will never +toil much farther. The conscience that is really awake cannot be +satisfied, but is perplexed rather and baffled by the virtues of a dutiful +and well-ordered life. For a chasm ever yawns between the actual and the +ideal, what we have done and what we fain would do. And a spiritual glory, +undefined and perhaps undefinable, floats ever before the eyes of all men +whom the god of this world has not blinded. This inquirer honestly thinks +himself not far from the great attainment; he expects to reach it by some +transcendant act, some great deed done, and for this he has no doubt of +his own prowess, if only he were well directed. What shall I do that I may +have eternal life, not of grace, but as a debt--that I may inherit it? Thus +he awaits direction upon the road where heathenism and semi-heathen +Christianity are still toiling, and all who would purchase the gift of God +with money or toil or merit or bitterness of remorseful tears. + +One easily foresees that the reply of Jesus will disappoint and humble +him, but it startles us to see him pointed back to works and to the law of +Moses. + +Again, we observe that what this inquirer seeks he very earnestly believes +Jesus to have attained. And it is no mean tribute to the spiritual +elevation of our Lord, no doubtful indication that amid perils and +contradictions and on His road to the cross the peace of God sat visibly +upon His brow, that one so pure and yet so keenly aware that his own +virtue sufficed not, and that the kingdom of God was yet unattained, +should kneel in the dust before the Nazarene, and beseech this good Master +to reveal to him all his questioning. It was a strange request, and it was +granted in an unlooked for way. The demand of the Chaldean tyrant that his +forgotten dream should be interpreted was not so extravagant as this, that +the defect in an unknown career should be discovered. It was upon a lofty +pedestal indeed that this ruler placed our Lord. + +And yet his question supplies the clue to that answer of Christ which has +perplexed so many. The youth is seeking for himself a purely human merit, +indigenous and underived. And the same, of course, is what he ascribes to +Jesus, to Him who is so far from claiming independent human attainment, or +professing to be what this youth would fain become, that He said, "The Son +can do nothing of Himself ... I can of Mine own self do nothing." The +secret of His human perfection is the absolute dependence of His humanity +upon God, with Whom He is one. No wonder then that He repudiates any such +goodness as the ruler had in view. + +The Socinian finds quite another meaning in His reply, and urges that by +these words Jesus denied His Deity. There is none good but one, That is +God, was a reason why He should not be called so. Jesus however does not +remonstrate absolutely against being called good, but against being thus +addressed from this ruler's point of view, by one who regards Him as a +mere teacher and expects to earn the same title for himself. And indeed +the Socinian who appeals to this text grasps a sword by the blade. For if +it denied Christ's divinity it must exactly to the same extent deny also +Christ's goodness, which he admits. Now it is beyond question that Jesus +differed from all the saints in the serene confidence with which He +regarded the moral law, from the time when He received the baptism of +repentance only that He might fulfil all righteousness, to the hour when +He cried, "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and although deserted, claimed God +as still His God. The saints of to-day were the penitents of yesterday. +But He has finished the work that was given Him to do. He knows that God +hears Him always, and in Him the Prince of this world hath nothing. And +yet there is none good but God. Who then is He? If this saying does not +confess what is intolerable to a reverential Socinian, what Strauss and +Renan shrank from insinuating, what is alien to the whole spirit of the +Gospels, and assuredly far from the mind of the evangelists, then it +claims all that His Church rejoices to ascribe to Christ. + +Moreover Jesus does not deny even to ordinary men the possibility of being +"good." + +A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good +things. Some shall hear at last the words, Well done, good and faithful +servant. The children of the kingdom are good seed among the tares. +Clearly His repugnance is not to the epithet, but to the spirit in which +it is bestowed, to the notion that goodness can spring spontaneously from +the soil of our humanity. But there is nothing here to discourage the +highest aspirations of the trustful and dependent soul, who looks for more +grace. + +The doctrinal importance of this remarkable utterance is what most affects +us, who look back through the dust of a hundred controversies. But it was +very secondary at the time, and what the ruler doubtless felt most was a +chill sense of repression and perhaps despair. It was indeed the +death-knell of his false hopes. For if only God is good, how can any +mortal inherit eternal life by a good deed? And Jesus goes on to deepen +this conviction by words which find a wonderful commentary in St. Paul's +doctrine of the function of the law. It was to prepare men for the gospel +by a challenge, by revealing the standard of true righteousness, by saying +to all who seek to earn heaven, "The man that doeth these things shall +live by them." The attempt was sure to end in failure, for, "by the law is +the knowledge of sin." It was exactly upon this principle that Jesus said +"Keep the commandments," spiritualizing them, as St. Matthew tells us, by +adding to the injunctions of the second table, "Thou shalt love thy +neighbour as thyself," which saying, we know, briefly comprehends them +all. + +But the ruler knew not how much he loved himself: his easy life had met no +searching and stern demand until now, and his answer has a tone of relief, +after the ominous words he had first heard. "Master," and he now drops the +questionable adjective, "all these have I kept from my youth;" these never +were so burdensome that he should despair; not these, he thinks, inspired +that unsatisfied longing for some good thing yet undone. We pity and +perhaps blame the shallow answer, and the dull perception which it +betrayed. But Jesus looked on him and loved him. And well it is for us +that no eyes fully discern our weakness but those which were so often +filled with sympathetic tears. He sees error more keenly than the sharpest +critic, but he sees earnestness too. And the love which desired all souls +was attracted especially by one who had felt from his youth up the +obligation of the moral law, and had not consciously transgressed it. + +This is not the teaching of those vile proverbs which declare that wild +oats must be sown if one would reap good corn, and that the greater the +sinner the greater will be the saint. + +Nay, even religionists of the sensational school delight in the past +iniquities of those they honour, not only to glorify God for their +recovery, nor with the joy which is in the presence of the angels over one +sinner that repenteth, but as if these possess through their former +wickedness some passport to special service now. Yet neither in Scripture +nor in the history of the Church will it appear that men of licentious +revolt against known laws have attained to usefulness of the highest +order. The Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. +The Apostle of the Gentiles was blameless as touching the righteousness of +the law. And each Testament has a special promise for those who seek the +Lord early, who seek His kingdom and righteousness first. The undefiled +are nearest to the throne. + +Now mark how endearing, how unlike the stern zeal of a propagandist, was +Christ's tender and loving gaze; and hear the encouraging promise of +heavenly treasure, and offer of His own companionship, which presently +softened the severity of His demand; and again, when all failed, when His +followers doubtless scorned the deserter, ponder the truthful and +compassionate words, How hard it is! + +Yet will Christ teach him how far the spirit of the law pierces, since the +letter has not wrought the knowledge of sin. If he loves his neighbour as +himself, let his needier neighbour receive what he most values. If he +loves God supremely, let him be content with treasure in the hands of God, +and with a discipleship which shall ever reveal to him, more and more +profoundly, the will of God, the true nobility of man, and the way to that +eternal life he seeks. + +The socialist would justify by this verse a universal confiscation. But he +forgets that the spirit which seizes all is widely different from that +which gives all freely: that Zacchaeus retained half his goods; that Joseph +of Arimathea was rich; that the property of Ananias was his own, and when +he sold it the price was in his own power; that St. James warned the rich +in this world only against trusting in riches instead of trusting God, who +gave them all richly, for enjoyment, although not to be confided in. Soon +after this Jesus accepted a feast from his friends in Bethany, and rebuked +Judas who complained that a costly luxury had not been sold for the +benefit of the poor. Why then is his demand now so absolute? It is simply +an application of his bold universal rule, that every cause of stumbling +must be sacrificed, be it innocent as hand or foot or eye. And affluent +indeed would be all the charities and missions of the Church in these +latter days, if the demand were obeyed in cases where it really applies, +if every luxury which enervates and all pomp which intoxicates were +sacrificed, if all who know that wealth is a snare to them corrected their +weakness by rigorous discipline, their unfruitfulness by a sharp pruning +of superfluous frondage. + +The rich man neither remonstrated nor defended himself. His +self-confidence gave way. He felt that what he could not persuade himself +to do was a "good thing." And he who came running went away sorrowful, and +with a face "lowering" like the sky which forebodes "foul weather." That +is too often the issue of such vaunting offers. Yet feeling his weakness, +and neither resisting nor upbraiding the faithfulness which exposes him, +doubtless he was long disquieted by new desires, a strange sense of +failure and unworthiness, a clearer vision of that higher life which had +already haunted his reveries. Henceforward he had no choice but to sink to +a baser contentment, or else rise to a higher self-devotion. Who shall +say, because he failed to decide then, that he persisted for ever in the +great refusal? Yet was it a perilous and hardening experience, and it was +easier henceforward to live below his ideal, when once he had turned away +from Christ. Nor is there any reason to doubt that the inner circle of our +Lord's immediate followers was then for ever closed against him. + + + + +Who Then Can Be Saved? + + + "And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto His disciples, How + hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! + And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answereth + again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that + trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for + a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter + into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished exceedingly, + saying unto Him, Then who can be saved? Jesus looking upon them + saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for all things + are possible with God. Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have + left all, and have followed thee. Jesus said, Verily I say unto + you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or + sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for my sake, + and for the gospel's sake, but he shall receive a hundredfold now + in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and + children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come + eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last + first."--MARK x. 23-31 (R.V.). + + +As the rich man turned away with the arrow in his breast, Jesus looked +round about on His disciples. The Gospels, and especially St. Mark, often +mention the gaze of Jesus, and all who know the power of an intense and +pure nature silently searching others, the piercing intuition, the calm +judgment which sometimes looks out of holy eyes, can well understand the +reason. Disappointed love was in His look, and that compassionate protest +against harsh judgments which presently went on to admit that the +necessary demand was hard. Some, perhaps, who had begun to scorn the ruler +in his defeat, were reminded of frailties of their own, and had to ask, +Shall I next be judged? And one was among them, pilfering from the bag +what was intended for the poor, to whom that look of Christ must have been +very terrible. Unless we remember Judas, we shall not comprehend all the +fitness of the repeated and earnest warnings of Jesus against +covetousness. Never was secret sin dealt with so faithfully as his. + +And now Jesus, as He looks around, says, "How hardly shall they that have +riches enter into the kingdom of God." But the disciples were amazed. To +the ancient Jew, from Abraham to Solomon, riches appeared to be a sign of +the Divine favour, and if the pathetic figure of Job reminded him how much +sorrow might befall the just, yet the story showed even him at the end +more prosperous than at the beginning. In the time of Jesus, the chiefs of +their religion were greedily using their position as a means of amassing +enormous fortunes. To be told that wealth was a positive hindrance on the +way to God was wonderful indeed. + +When Jesus modified His utterance, it was not to correct Himself, like one +who had heedlessly gone beyond His meaning. His third speech reiterated +the first, declaring that a manifest and proverbial physical impossibility +was not so hard as for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, here or +hereafter. But He interposed a saying which both explained the first one +and enlarged its scope. "Children" He begins, like one who pitied their +inexperience and dealt gently with their perplexities, "Children, how hard +is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God." And +therefore is it hard for all the rich, since they must wrestle against +this temptation to trust in their possessions. It is exactly in this +spirit that St. James, who quoted Jesus more than any of the later writers +of Scripture, charges the rich that they be not high-minded, nor trust in +uncertain riches, but in the living God. Immediately before, Jesus had +told them how alone the kingdom might be entered, even by becoming as +little children; lowly, dependent, willing to receive all at the hands of +a superior. Would riches help them to do this? Is it easier to pray for +daily bread when one has much goods laid up for many years? Is it easier +to feel that God alone can make us drink of true pleasures as of a river, +when a hundred luxuries and indulgences lull us in sloth or allure us into +excess? Hereupon the disciples perceived what was more alarming still, +that not alone do rich men trust in riches, but all who confound +possessions with satisfaction, all who dream that to have much is to be +blessed, as if property were character. They were right. We may follow the +guidance of Mammon beckoning from afar, with a trust as idolatrous as if +we held his hand. But who could abide a principle so exacting? It was the +revelation of a new danger, and they were astonished exceedingly, saying, +Then who can be saved? Again Jesus looked upon them, with solemn but +reassuring gaze. They had learned the secret of the new life, the natural +impossibility throwing us back in helpless appeal to the powers of the +world to come. "With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all +things are possible with God." + +Peter, not easily nor long to be discouraged, now saw ground for hope. If +the same danger existed for rich and poor, then either might be encouraged +by having surmounted it, and the apostles had done what the rich man +failed to do--they had left all and followed Jesus. The claim has provoked +undue censure, as if too much were made out of a very trifling sacrifice, +a couple of boats and a paltry trade. But the objectors have missed the +point; the apostles really broke away from the service of the world when +they left their nets and followed Jesus. Their world was perhaps a narrow +one, but He Who reckoned two mites a greater offering than the total of +the gifts of many rich casting in much, was unlikely to despise a +fisherman or a publican who laid all his living upon the altar. The fault, +if fault there were, lay rather in the satisfaction with which Peter +contemplates their decision as now irrevocable and secure, so that nothing +remained except to claim the reward, which St. Matthew tells us he very +distinctly did. The young man should have had treasure in heaven: what +then should they have? + +But in truth, their hardest battles with worldliness lay still before +them, and he who thought he stood might well take heed lest he fell. They +would presently unite in censuring a woman's costly gift to Him, for Whom +they professed to have surrendered all. Peter himself would shrink from +his Master's side. And what a satire upon this confident claim would it +have been, could the heart of Judas then and there have been revealed to +them. + +The answer of our Lord is sufficiently remarkable. St. Matthew tells how +frankly and fully He acknowledged their collective services, and what a +large reward He promised, when they should sit with Him on thrones, +judging their nation. So far was that generous heart from weighing their +losses in a worldly scale, or criticizing the form of a demand which was +not all unreasonable. + +But St. Mark lays exclusive stress upon other and sobering considerations, +which also St. Matthew has recorded. + +There is a certain tone of egoism in the words, "Lo, we ... what shall we +have?" And Jesus corrects this in the gentlest way, by laying down such a +general rule as implies that many others will do the same, "there is no +man" whose self sacrifice shall go without its reward. + +Secondary and lower motives begin to mingle with the generous ardour of +self-sacrifice as soon as it is careful to record its losses, and inquire +about its wages. Such motives are not absolutely forbidden, but they must +never push into the foremost place. The crown of glory animated and +sustained St. Paul, but it was for Christ, and not for this that he +suffered the loss of all things. + +Jesus accordingly demands purity of motive. The sacrifice must not be for +ambition, even with aspirations prolonged across the frontiers of +eternity: it must be altogether "for My sake and for the gospel's sake." +And here we observe once more the portentous demand of Christ's person +upon His followers. They are servants of no ethical or theological system, +however lofty. Christ does not regard Himself and them, as alike devoted +to some cause above and external to them all. To Him they are to be +consecrated, and to the gospel, which, as we have seen, is the story of +His Life, Death and Resurrection. For Him they are to break the dearest +and strongest of earthly ties. He had just proclaimed how indissoluble was +the marriage bond. No man should sever those whom God had joined. But St. +Luke informs us that to forsake even a wife for Christ's sake, was a deed +worthy of being rewarded an hundredfold. Nor does He mention any higher +being in whose name the sacrifice is demanded. Now this is at least +implicitly the view of His own personality, which some profess to find +only in St. John. + +Again, there was perhaps an undertone of complaint in Peter's question, as +if no compensation for all their sacrifices were hitherto bestowed. What +should their compensation be? But Christ declares that losses endured for +Him are abundantly repaid on earth, in this present time, and even amid +the fires of persecution. Houses and lands are replaced by the +consciousness of inviolable shelter and inexhaustible provision. "Whither +wilt thou betake thyself to find covert?" asks the menacing cardinal; but +Luther answers, "Under the heaven of God." And if dearest friends be +estranged, or of necessity abandoned, then, in such times of high +attainment and strong spiritual insight, membership in the Divine family +is felt to be no unreal tie, and earthly relationships are well recovered +in the vast fraternity of souls. Brethren, and sisters, and mothers, are +thus restored an hundredfold; but although a father is also lost, we do +not hear that a hundred fathers shall be given back, for in the spiritual +family that place is reserved for One. + +Lastly, Jesus reminded them that the race was not yet over; that many +first shall be last and the last first. We know how Judas by transgression +fell, and how the persecuting Saul became not a whit behind the very +chiefest apostle. But this word remains for the warning and incitement of +all Christians, even unto the end of the world. There are "many" such. + +Next after this warning, comes yet another prediction of His own +suffering, with added circumstances of horror. Would they who were now +first remain faithful? or should another take their bishopric? + +With a darkening heart Judas heard, and made his choice. + + + + +[MARK x. 32-34. See MARK viii. 31, p. 219.] + + + + +Christ's Cup And Baptism. + + + "And there came near unto him James and John, the sons of Zebedee, + saying unto him, Master, we would that Thou shouldst do for us + whatsoever we shall ask of Thee. And He said unto them, What would + ye I should do for you? And they said unto Him, Grant unto us that + we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and one on _Thy_ left hand, in + Thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. Are + ye able to drink the cup that I drink? or to be baptized with the + baptism that I am baptized with? And they said unto Him, We are + able. And Jesus said unto them, The cup that I drink ye shall + drink; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be + baptized: but to sit on My right hand or on My left hand is not + Mine to give: but _it is for them_ for whom it hath been + prepared."--MARK x. 35-40 (R.V.). + + +We learn from St. Matthew that Salome was associated with her sons, and +was indeed the chief speaker in the earlier part of this incident. + +And her request has commonly been regarded as the mean and shortsighted +intrigue of an ambitious woman, recklessly snatching at an advantage for +her family, and unconscious of the stern and steep road to honour in the +kingdom of Jesus. + +Nor can we deny that her prayer was somewhat presumptuous, or that it was +especially unbecoming to aim at entangling her Lord in a blindfold +promise, desiring Him to do something undefined, "whatsoever we shall ask +of Thee." Jesus was too discreet to answer otherwise than, "What would ye +that I should do for you?" And when they asked for the chief seats in the +glory that was yet to be their Master's, no wonder that the Ten hearing of +it, had indignation. But Christ's answer, and the gentle manner in which +He explains His refusal, when a sharp rebuke is what we would expect to +read, alike suggest that there may have been some softening, +half-justifying circumstance. And this we find in the period at which the +daring request was made. + +It was on the road, during the last journey, when a panic had seized the +company; and our Lord, apparently out of the strong craving for sympathy +which possesses the noblest souls, had once more told the Twelve what +insults and cruel sufferings lay before Him. It was a time for deep +searching of hearts, for the craven to go back and walk no more with Him, +and for the traitor to think of making His own peace, at any price, with +His Master's foes. + +But this dauntless woman could see the clear sky beyond the storm. Her +sons shall be loyal, and win the prize, whatever be the hazard, and +however long the struggle. + +Ignorant and rash she may have been, but it was no base ambition which +chose such a moment to declare its unshaken ardour, and claim distinction +in the kingdom for which so much must be endured. + +And when the stern price was plainly stated, she and her children were not +startled, they conceived themselves able for the baptism and the cup; and +little as they dreamed of the coldness of the waters, and the bitterness +of the draught, yet Jesus did not declare them to be deceived. He said, Ye +shall indeed share these. + +Nor can we doubt that their faith and loyalty refreshed His soul amid so +much that was sad and selfish. He knew indeed on what a dreadful seat He +was soon to claim His kingdom, and who should sit upon His right hand and +His left. These could not follow Him now, but they should follow Him +hereafter--one by the brief pang of the earliest apostolic martyrdom, and +the other by the longest and sorest experience of that faithless and +perverse generation. + +1. Very significant is the test of worth which Jesus propounds to them: +not successful service but endurance; not the active but the passive +graces. It is not our test, except in a few brilliant and conspicuous +martyrdoms. The Church, like the world, has crowns for learning, +eloquence, energy; it applauds the force by which great things are done. +The reformer who abolishes an abuse, the scholar who defends a doctrine, +the orator who sways a multitude, and the missionary who adds a new tribe +to Christendom,--all these are sure of honour. Our loudest plaudits are not +for simple men and women, but for high station, genius, and success. But +the Lord looketh upon the heart, not the brain or the hand; He values the +worker, not the work; the love, not the achievement. And, therefore, one +of the tests He constantly applied was this, the capability for noble +endurance. We ourselves, in our saner moments, can judge whether it +demands more grace to refute a heretic, or to sustain the long inglorious +agonies of some disease which slowly gnaws away the heart of life. And +doubtless among the heroes for whom Christ is twining immortal garlands, +there is many a pale and shattered creature, nerveless and unstrung, +tossing on a mean bed, breathing in imperfect English loftier praises than +many an anthem which resounds through cathedral arches, and laying on the +altar of burnt sacrifice all he has, even his poor frame itself, to be +racked and tortured without a murmur. Culture has never heightened his +forehead nor refined his face: we look at him, but little dream what the +angels see, or how perhaps because of such an one the great places which +Salome sought were not Christ's to give away except only to them for whom +it was prepared. For these, at last, the reward shall be His to give, as +He said, "To him that overcometh will I give to sit down with Me upon My +throne." + +2. Significant also are the phrases by which Christ expressed the +sufferings of His people. Some, which it is possible to escape, are +voluntarily accepted for Christ's sake, as when the Virgin mother bowed +her head to slander and scorn, and said, "Behold the servant of the Lord, +be it unto me according to Thy word." Such sufferings are a cup +deliberately raised by one's own hand to the reluctant lips. Into other +sufferings we are plunged: they are inevitable. Malice, ill-health, or +bereavement plies the scourge; they come on us like the rush of billows in +a storm; they are a deep and dreadful baptism. Or we may say that some +woes are external, visible, we are seen to be submerged in them; but +others are like the secret ingredients of a bitter draught, which the lips +know, but the eye of the bystander cannot analyze. But there is One Who +knows and rewards; even the Man of Sorrows Who said, The cup which My +heavenly Father giveth, shall I not drink it? + +Now it is this standard of excellence, announced by Jesus, which shall +give high place to many of the poor and ignorant and weak, when rank shall +perish, when tongues shall cease, and when our knowledge, in the blaze of +new revelations, shall utterly vanish away, not quenched, but absorbed +like the starlight at noon. + +3. We observe again that men are not said to drink of another cup as +bitter, or to be baptized in other waters as chill, as tried their Master; +but to share His very baptism and His cup. Not that we can add anything to +His all-sufficient sacrifice. Our goodness extendeth not to God. But +Christ's work availed not only to reconcile us to the Father, but also to +elevate and consecrate sufferings which would otherwise have been penal +and degrading. Accepting our sorrows in the grace of Christ, and receiving +Him into our hearts, then our sufferings fill up that which is lacking of +the afflictions of Christ (Col. i. 24), and at the last He will say, when +the glories of heaven are as a robe around Him, "I was hungry, naked, +sick, and in prison in the person of the least of these." + +Hence it is that a special nearness to God has ever been felt in holy +sorrow, and in the pain of hearts which, amid all clamours and tumults of +the world, are hushed and calmed by the example of Him Who was led as a +lamb to the slaughter. + +And thus they are not wrong who speak of the Sacrament of Sorrow, for +Jesus, in this passage, applies to it the language of both sacraments. + +It is a harmless superstition even at the worst which brings to the +baptism of many noble houses water from the stream where Jesus was +baptized by John. But here we read of another and a dread baptism, +consecrated by the fellowship of Christ, in depths which plummet never +sounded, and into which the neophyte goes down sustained by no mortal +hand. + +Here is also the communion of an awful cup. No human minister sets it in +our trembling hand; no human voice asks, "Are ye able to drink the cup +that I drink?" Our lips grow pale, and our blood is chill; but faith +responds, "We are able." And the tender and pitying voice of our Master, +too loving to spare one necessary pang, responds with the word of doom: +"The cup that I drink ye shall drink; and with the baptism that I am +baptized withal shall ye be baptized." Even so: it is enough for the +servant that he be as his Master. + + + + +The Law Of Greatness. + + + "And when the ten heard it, they began to be moved with + indignation concerning James and John. And Jesus called them to + Him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to + rule over the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great ones + exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you; but + whosoever would become great among you, shall be your minister: + and whosoever would be first among you, shall be servant of all. + For verily the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to + minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."--MARK x. 41-45 + (R.V.). + + +When the Ten heard that James and John had asked for the chief places in +the kingdom, they proved, by their indignation, that they also nourished +the same ambitious desires which they condemned. But Jesus called them to +Him, for it was not there that angry passions had broken out. And happy +are they who hear and obey His summons to approach, when, removed from His +purifying gaze by carelessness or wilfulness, ambition and anger begin to +excite their hearts. + +Now Jesus addressed them as being aware of their hidden emulation. And His +treatment of it is remarkable. He neither condemns, nor praises it, but +simply teaches them what Christian greatness means, and the conditions on +which it may be won. + +The greatness of the world is measured by authority and lordliness. Even +there it is an uncertain test; for the most real power is often wielded by +some anonymous thinker, or by some crafty intriguer, content with the +substance of authority while his puppet enjoys the trappings. Something of +this may perhaps be detected in the words, "They which are accounted to +rule over the Gentiles lord it over them." And it is certain that "their +great ones exercise authority over them." But the Divine greatness is a +meek and gentle influence. To minister to the Church is better than to +command it, and whoever desires to be the chief must become the servant of +all. Thus shall whatever is vainglorious and egoistic in our ambition +defeat itself; the more one struggles to be great the more he is +disqualified: even benefits rendered to others with this object will not +really be service done for them but for self; nor will any calculated +assumption of humility help one to become indeed the least, being but a +subtle assertion that he is great, and like the last place in an +ecclesiastical procession, when occupied in a self-conscious spirit. And +thus it comes to pass that the Church knows very indistinctly who are its +greatest sons. As the gift of two mites by the widow was greater than that +of large sums by the rich, so a small service done in the spirit of +perfect self-effacement,--a service which thought neither of its merit nor +of its reward, but only of a brother's need, shall be more in the day of +reckoning than sacrifices which are celebrated by the historians and sung +by the poets of the Church. For it may avail nothing to give all my goods +to feed the poor, and my body to be burned; while a cup of cold water, +rendered by a loyal hand, shall in no wise lose its reward. + +Thus Jesus throws open to all men a competition which has no charms for +flesh and blood. And as He spoke of the entry upon His service, bearing a +cross, as being the following of Himself, so He teaches us, that the +greatness of lowliness, to which we are called, is His own greatness. "For +verily the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister." Not +here, not in this tarnished and faded world, would He Who was from +everlasting with the Father have sought His own ease or honour. But the +physician came to them that were sick, and the good Shepherd followed His +lost sheep until He found it. Now this comparison proves that we also are +to carry forward the same restoring work, or else we might infer that, +because He came to minister to us, we may accept ministration with a good +heart. It is not so. We are the light and the salt of the earth, and must +suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together. + +But He added another memorable phrase. He came "to give His life a ransom +in exchange for many." It is not a question, therefore, of the inspiring +example of His life. Something has been forfeited which must be redeemed, +and Christ has paid the price. Nor is this done only on behalf of many, +but in exchange for them. + +So then the crucifixion is not a sad incident in a great career; it is the +mark towards which Jesus moved, the power by which He redeemed the world. + +Surely, we recognise here the echo of the prophet's words, "Thou shalt +make His soul an offering for sin ... by His knowledge shall My righteous +servant justify many, and He shall bear their iniquities" (Isa. liii. 10, +11). + +The elaborated doctrine of the atonement may not perhaps be here, much +less the subtleties of theologians who have, to their own satisfaction, +known the mind of the Almighty to perfection. But it is beyond reasonable +controversy that in this verse Jesus declared that His sufferings were +vicarious, and endured in the sinners' stead. + + + + +Bartimaeus. + + + "And they come to Jericho: and as He went out from Jericho, with + His disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, + a blind beggar, was sitting by the way side. And when he heard + that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, + Jesus, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him, + that he should hold his peace: but he cried out the more a great + deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, + and said, Call ye him. And they called the blind man, saying unto + him, Be of good cheer; rise, He calleth thee. And he, casting away + his garment, sprang up, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered him, + and said, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind + man said unto Him, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus + said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And + straightway he received his sight, and followed Him in the + way."--MARK x. 46-52 (R.V.). + + +There is no miracle in the Gospels of which the accounts are so hard to +reconcile as those of the healing of the blind at Jericho. + +It is a small thing that St. Matthew mentions two blind men, while St. +Mark and St. Luke are only aware of one. The same is true of the demoniacs +at Gadara, and it is easily understood that only an eyewitness should +remember the obscure comrade of a remarkable and energetic man, who would +have spread far and wide the particulars of his own cure. The fierce and +dangerous demoniac of Gadara was just such a man, and there is ample +evidence of energy and vehemence in the brief account of Bartimaeus. What +is really perplexing is that St. Luke places the miracle at the entrance +to Jericho, but St. Matthew and St. Mark, as Jesus came out of it. It is +too forced and violent a theory which speaks of an old and a new town, so +close together that one was entered and the other left at the same time. + +It is possible that there were two events, and the success of one sufferer +at the entrance to the town led others to use the same importunities at +the exit. And this would not be much more remarkable than the two miracles +of the loaves, or the two miraculous draughts of fish. It is also +possible, though unlikely, that the same supplicant who began his appeals +without success when Jesus entered, resumed His entreaties, with a +comrade, at the gate by which He left. + +Such difficulties exist in all the best authenticated histories: +discrepancies of the kind arise continually between the evidence of the +most trustworthy witnesses in courts of justice. And the student who is +humble as well as devout will not shut his eyes against facts, merely +because they are perplexing, but will remember that they do nothing to +shake the solid narrative itself. + +As we read St. Mark's account, we are struck by the vividness of the whole +picture, and especially by the robust personality of the blind man. The +scene is neither Jerusalem, the city of the Pharisees nor Galilee, where +they have persistently sapped the popularity of Jesus. Eastward of the +Jordan, He has spent the last peaceful and successful weeks of His brief +and stormy career, and Jericho lies upon the borders of that friendly +district. Accordingly something is here of the old enthusiasm: a great +multitude moves along with His disciples to the gates, and the rushing +concourse excites the curiosity of the blind son of Timaeus. So does many a +religious movement lead to inquiry and explanation far and wide. But when +he, sitting by the way, and unable to follow, knows that the great Healer +is at hand, but only in passing, and for a moment, his interest suddenly +becomes personal and ardent, and "he began to cry out" (the expression +implies that his supplication, beginning as the crowd drew near, was not +one utterance but a prolonged appeal), "and to say, Jesus, Thou Son of +David, have mercy on me." To the crowd his outcry seemed to be only an +intrusion upon One Who was too rapt, too heavenly, to be disturbed by the +sorrows of a blind beggar. But that was not the view of Bartimaeus, whose +personal affliction gave him the keenest interest in those verses of the +Old Testament which spoke of opening the blind eyes. If he did not +understand their exact force as prophecies, at least they satisfied him +that his petition could not be an insult to the great Prophet of Whom just +such actions were told, for Whose visit he had often sighed, and Who was +now fast going by, perhaps for ever. The picture is one of great +eagerness, bearing up against great discouragement. We catch the spirit of +the man as he inquires what the multitude means, as the epithet of his +informants, Jesus of Nazareth, changes on his lips into Jesus, Thou Son of +David, as he persists, without any vision of Christ to encourage him, and +amid the rebukes of many, in crying out the more a great deal, although +pain is deepening every moment in his accents, and he will presently need +cheering. The ear of Jesus is quick for such a call, and He stops. He does +not raise His own voice to summon him, but teaches a lesson of humanity to +those who would fain have silenced the appeal of anguish, and says, Call +ye him. And they obey with a courtier-like change of tone, saying, Be of +good cheer, rise, He calleth thee. And Bartimaeus cannot endure even the +slight hindrance of his loose garment, but flings it aside, and rises and +comes to Jesus, a pattern of the importunity which prays and never faints, +which perseveres amid all discouragement, which adverse public opinion +cannot hinder. And the Lord asks of him almost exactly the same question +as recently of James and John, What wilt thou that I should do for thee? +But in his reply there is no aspiring pride: misery knows how precious are +the common gifts, the every-day blessings which we hardly pause to think +about; and he replies, Rabboni, that I may receive my sight. It is a glad +and eager answer. Many a petition he had urged in vain; and many a small +favour had been discourteously bestowed; but Jesus, Whose tenderness loves +to commend while He blesses, shares with him, so to speak, the glory of +his healing, as He answers, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. By +thus fixing his attention upon his own part in the miracle, so utterly +worthless as a contribution, but so indispensable as a condition, Jesus +taught him to exercise hereafter the same gift of faith. + +"Go thy way," He said. And Bartimaeus "followed Him on the road." Happy is +that man whose eyes are open to discern, and his heart prompt to follow, +the print of those holy feet. + + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + + + +The Triumphant Entry. + + + "And when they draw nigh unto Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and + Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sendeth two of His disciples, + and saith unto them, Go your way into the village that is over + against you: and straightway as ye enter into it, ye shall find a + colt tied, whereon no man ever yet sat; loose him, and bring him. + And if any one say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye, The Lord hath + need of him; and straightway He will send him back hither. And + they went away, and found a colt tied at the door without in the + open street; and they loose him. And certain of them that stood + there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? And they said + unto them even as Jesus had said: and they let them go. And they + bring the colt unto Jesus, and cast on him their garments; and He + sat upon him. And many spread their garments upon the way; and + others branches, which they had cut from the fields. And they that + went before, and they that followed, cried, Hosanna: Blessed _is_ + He that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed is the kingdom + that cometh, _the kingdom_ of our father David: Hosanna in the + highest. And He entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and when + He had looked round about upon all things, it being now eventide, + He went out unto Bethany with the twelve."--MARK xi. 1-11 (R.V.). + + +Jesus had now come near to Jerusalem, into what was possibly the sacred +district of Bethphage, of which, in that case, Bethany was the border +village. Not without pausing here (as we learn from the fourth Gospel), +yet as the next step forward, He sent two of His disciples to untie and +bring back an ass, which was fastened with her colt at a spot which He +minutely described. Unless they were challenged they should simply bring +the animals away; but if any one remonstrated, they should answer, "The +Lord hath need of them," and thereupon the owner would not only acquiesce, +but send them. In fact they are to make a requisition, such as the State +often institutes for horses and cattle during a campaign, when private +rights must give way to a national exigency. And this masterful demand, +this abrupt and decisive rejoinder to a natural objection, not arguing nor +requesting, but demanding, this title which they are bidden to give to +Jesus, by which, standing thus alone, He is rarely described in Scripture +(chiefly in the later Epistles, when the remembrance of His earthly style +gave place to the influence of habitual adoration), all this preliminary +arrangement makes us conscious of a change of tone, of royalty issuing its +mandates, and claiming its rights. But what a claim, what a requisition, +when He takes the title of Jehovah, and yet announces His need of the colt +of an ass. It is indeed the lowliest of all memorable processions which He +plans, and yet, in its very humility, it appeals to ancient prophecy, and +says unto Zion that her King cometh unto her. The monarchs of the East and +the captains of the West might ride upon horses as for war, but the King +of Sion should come unto her meek, and sitting upon an ass, upon a colt, +the foal of an ass. Yet there is fitness and dignity in the use of "a colt +whereon never man sat," and it reminds us of other facts, such as that He +was the firstborn of a virgin mother, and rested in a tomb which +corruption had never soiled. + +Thus He comes forth, the gentlest of the mighty, with no swords gleaming +around to guard Him, or to smite the foreigner who tramples Israel, or the +worse foes of her own household. Men who will follow such a King must lay +aside their vain and earthly ambitions, and awake to the truth that +spiritual powers are grander than any which violence ever grasped. But men +who will not follow Him shall some day learn the same lesson, perhaps in +the crash of their reeling commonwealth, perhaps not until the armies of +heaven follow Him, as He goes forth, riding now upon a white horse, +crowned with many diadems, smiting the nations with a sharp sword, and +ruling them with an iron rod. + +Lowly though His procession was, yet it was palpably a royal one. When +Jehu was proclaimed king at Ramoth-Gilead, the captains hastened to make +him sit upon the garments of every one of them, expressing by this +national symbol their subjection. Somewhat the same feeling is in the +famous anecdote of Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth. And thus the +disciples who brought the ass cast on him their garments, and Jesus sat +thereon, and many spread their garments in the way. Others strewed the +road with branches; and as they went they cried aloud certain verses of +that great song of triumph, which told how the nations, swarming like +bees, were quenched like the light fire of thorns, how the right hand of +the Lord did valiantly, how the gates of righteousness should be thrown +open for the righteous, and, more significant still, how the stone which +the builders rejected should become the headstone of the corner. Often had +Jesus quoted this saying when reproached by the unbelief of the rulers, +and now the people rejoiced and were glad in it, as they sang of His +salvation, saying, "Hosanna, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the +Lord, Blessed is the kingdom that cometh, the Kingdom of our father David, +Hosanna in the highest." + +Such is the narrative as it impressed St. Mark. For his purpose it +mattered nothing that Jerusalem took no part in the rejoicings, but was +perplexed, and said, Who is this? or that, when confronted by this +somewhat scornful and affected ignorance of the capital, the voice of +Galilee grew weak, and proclaimed no longer the advent of the kingdom of +David, but only Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth; or that the Pharisees in +the temple avowed their disapproval, while contemptuously ignoring the +Galilean multitude, by inviting Him to reprove some children. What +concerned St. Mark was that now, at last, Jesus openly and practically +assumed rank as a monarch, allowed men to proclaim the advent of His +kingdom, and proceeded to exercise its rights by calling for the surrender +of property, and by cleansing the temple with a scourge. The same avowal +of kingship is almost all that he has cared to record of the remarkable +scene before His Roman judge. + +After this heroic fashion did Jesus present Himself to die. Without a +misleading hope, conscious of the hollowness of His seeming popularity, +weeping for the impending ruin of the glorious city whose walls were +ringing with His praise, and predicting the murderous triumph of the +crafty faction which appears so helpless, He not only refuses to recede or +compromise, but does not hesitate to advance His claims in a manner +entirely new, and to defy the utmost animosity of those who still rejected +Him. + +After such a scene there could be no middle course between crushing Him, +and bowing to Him. He was no longer a Teacher of doctrines, however +revolutionary, but an Aspirant to practical authority, Who must be dealt +with practically. + +There was evidence also of His intention to proceed upon this new line, +when He entered into the temple, investigated its glaring abuses, and only +left it for the moment because it was now eventide. To-morrow would show +more of His designs. + +Jesus is still, and in this world, King. And it will hereafter avail us +nothing to have received His doctrine, unless we have taken His yoke. + + + + +The Barren Fig-Tree. + + + "And on the morrow, when they were come out from Bethany, He + hungered. And seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, He came, + if haply He might find anything thereon: and when He came to it, + He found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season of figs. + And He answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit from thee + henceforward for ever. And His disciples heard it." + + "And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig-tree + withered away from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance + saith unto Him, Rabbi, behold, the fig-tree which Thou cursedst is + withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in + God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this + mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not + doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to + pass; he shall have it. Therefore I say unto you, All things + whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received + them, and ye shall have them. And whensoever ye stand praying, + forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also + which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."--MARK xi. + 12-14, 20-25 (R.V.). + + +No sooner has Jesus claimed His kingdom, than He performs His first and +only miracle of judgment. And it is certain that no mortal, informed that +such a miracle was impending, could have guessed where the blow would +fall. In this miracle an element is predominant which exists in all, since +it is wrought as an acted dramatized parable, not for any physical +advantage, but wholly for the instruction which it conveys. Jesus hungered +at the very outset of a day of toil, as He came out from Bethany. And this +was not due to poverty, since the disciples there had recently made Him a +great feast, but to His own absorbing ardour. The zeal of God's house, +which He had seen polluted and was about to cleanse, had either left Him +indifferent to food until the keen air of morning aroused the sense of +need, or else it had detained Him, all night long, in prayer and +meditation out of doors. As He walks, He sees afar off a lonely fig-tree +covered with leaves, and comes if haply He might find anything thereon. It +is true that figs would not be in season for two months, but yet they +ought to present themselves before the leaves did; and since the tree was +precocious in the show and profusion of luxuriance, it ought to bear early +figs. If it failed, it would at least point a powerful moral; and, +therefore, when only leaves appeared upon it, Jesus cursed it with +perpetual barrenness, and passed on. Not in the dusk of that evening as +they returned, but when they passed by again in the morning the blight was +manifest, the tree was withered from its very roots. + +It is complained that by this act Jesus deprived some one of his property. +But the same retributive justice of which this was an expression was +preparing to blight, presently, all the possessions of all the nation. Was +this unjust? And of the numberless trees that are blasted year by year, +why should the loss of this one only be resented? Every physical injury +must be intended to further some spiritual end; but it is not often that +the purpose is so clear, and the lesson so distinctly learned. + +Others blame our Lord's word of sentence, because a tree, not being a +moral agent, ought not to be punished. It is an obvious rejoinder that +neither could it suffer pain; that the whole action is symbolic; and that +we ourselves justify the Saviour's method of expression as often as we +call one tree "good" and another "bad," and say that a third "ought" to +bear fruit, while not much could be "expected of" a fourth. It should +rather be observed that in this word of sentence Jesus revealed His +tenderness. It would have been a false and cruel kindness never to work +any miracle except of compassion, and thus to suggest the inference that +He could never strike, whereas indeed, before that generation passed away, +He would break His enemies in pieces like a potter's vessel. + +Yet He came not to destroy men's lives but to save them. And, therefore, +while showing Himself neither indifferent nor powerless against barren and +false pretensions, He did this only once, and then only by a sign wrought +upon an unsentient tree. + +Retribution fell upon it not for its lack of fruit, since at that season +it shared this with all its tribe, but for ostentatious, much-professing +fruitlessness. And thus it pointed with dread significance to the +condition of God's own people, differing from Greece and Rome and Syria, +not in the want of fruit, but in the show of luxuriant frondage, in the +expectation it excited and mocked. When the season of the world's +fruitfulness was yet remote, only Israel put forth leaves, and made +professions which were not fulfilled. And the permanent warning of the +miracle is not for heathen men and races, but for Christians who have a +name to live, and who are called to bear fruit unto God. + +While the disciples marvelled at the sudden fulfilment of its sentence, +they could not have forgotten the parable of a fig-tree in the vineyard, +on which care and labour were lavished, but which must be destroyed after +one year of respite if it continued to be a cumberer of the ground. + +And Jesus drove the lesson home. He pointed to "this mountain" full in +front, with the gold and marble of the temple sparkling like a diadem upon +its brow, and declared that faith is not only able to smite barrenness +with death, but to remove into the midst of the sea, to plant among the +wild and stormswept races of the immeasurable pagan world, the glory and +privilege of the realized presence of the Lord. To do this was the purpose +of God, hinted by many a prophet, and clearly announced by Christ Himself. +But its accomplishment was left to His followers, who should succeed in +exact proportion to the union of their will and that of God, so that the +condition of that moral miracle, transcending all others in marvel and in +efficacy, was simple faith. + +And the same rule covers all the exigencies of life. One who truly relies +on God, whose mind and will are attuned to those of the Eternal, cannot be +selfish, or vindictive, or presumptuous. As far as we rise to the grandeur +of this condition we enter into the Omnipotence of God, and no limit need +be imposed upon the prevalence of really and utterly believing prayer. The +wishes that ought to be refused will vanish as we attain that eminence, +like the hoar frost of morning as the sun grows strong. + +To this promise Jesus added a precept, the admirable suitability of which +is not at first apparent. Most sins are made evident to the conscience in +the act of prayer. Drawing nigh to God, we feel our unfitness to be there, +we are made conscious of what He frowns upon, and if we have such faith as +Jesus spoke of, we at once resign what would grieve the Spirit of +adoption. No saint is ignorant of the convicting power of prayer. But it +is not of necessity so with resentment for real grievances. We may think +we do well to be angry. We may confound our selfish fire with the pure +flame of holy zeal, and begin, with confidence enough, yet not with the +mind of Christ, to remove mountains, not because they impede a holy cause, +but because they throw a shadow upon our own field. And, therefore, Jesus +reminds us that not only wonder-working faith, but even the forgiveness of +our sins requires from us the forgiveness of our brother. This saying is +the clearest proof of how much is implied in a truly undoubting heart. And +this promise is the sternest rebuke of the Church, endorsed with such +ample powers, and yet after nineteen centuries confronted by an +unconverted world. + + + + +The Second Cleansing Of The Temple. + + + "And they come to Jerusalem: and He entered into the temple, and + began to cast out them that sold and them that bought in the + temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the + seats of them that sold the doves; and He would not suffer that + any man should carry a vessel through the temple. And He taught, + and said unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a + house of prayer for all the nations? but ye have made it a den of + robbers. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and + sought how they might destroy Him: for they feared Him, for all + the multitude was astonished at His teaching. And every evening He + went forth out of the city."--MARK xi. 15-19. (R.V.). + + +With the authority of yesterday's triumph still about Him, Jesus returned +to the temple, which He had then inspected. There at least the priesthood +were not thwarted by popular indifference or ignorance: they had power to +carry out fully their own views; they were solely responsible for whatever +abuses could be discovered. In fact, the iniquities which moved the +indignation of Jesus were of their own contrivance, and they enriched +themselves by a vile trade which robbed the worshippers and profaned the +holy house. + +Pilgrims from a distance needed the sacred money, the half-shekel of the +sanctuary, still coined for this one purpose, to offer for a ransom of +their souls (Exod. xxx. 13). And the priests had sanctioned a trade in the +exchange of money under the temple roof, so fraudulent that the dealers' +evidence was refused in the courts of justice. + +Doves were necessary for the purification of the poor, who could not +afford more costly sacrifices, and sheep and oxen were also in great +demand. And since the unblemished quality of the sacrifices should be +attested by the priests, they had been able to put a fictitious value upon +these animals, by which the family of Annas in particular had accumulated +enormous wealth. + +To facilitate this trade, they had dared to bring the defilement of the +cattle market within the precincts of the House of God. Not indeed into +the place where the Pharisee stood in his pride and "prayed with himself," +for that was holy; but the court of the Gentiles was profane; the din +which distracted and the foulness which revolted Gentile worship was of no +account to the average Jew. But Jesus regarded the scene with different +eyes. How could the sanctity of that holy place not extend to the court of +the stranger and the proselyte, when it was written, Thy house shall be +called a house of prayer for all the nations? Therefore Jesus had already, +at the outset of His ministry, cleansed His Father's house. Now, in the +fulness of His newly asserted royalty, He calls it My House: He denounces +the iniquity of their traffic by branding it as a den of robbers; He casts +out the traders themselves, as well as the implements of their traffic; +and in so doing He fanned to a mortal heat the hatred of the chief priests +and the scribes, who saw at once their revenues threatened and their +reputation tarnished, and yet dared not strike, because all the multitude +was astonished at His teaching. + +But the wisdom of Jesus did not leave Him within their reach at night; +every evening He went forth out of the city. + +From this narrative we learn the blinding force of self-interest, for +doubtless they were no more sensible of their iniquity than many a modern +slavedealer. And we must never rest content because our own conscience +acquits us, unless we have by thought and prayer supplied it with light +and guiding. + +We learn reverence for sacred places, since the one exercise of His royal +authority which Jesus publicly displayed was to cleanse the temple, even +though upon the morrow He would relinquish it for ever, to be "your +house"--and desolate. + +We learn also how much apparent sanctity, what dignity of worship, +splendour of offerings, and pomp of architecture may go along with +corruption and unreality. + +And yet again, by their overawed and abject helplessness we learn the +might of holy indignation, and the awakening power of a bold appeal to +conscience. "The people hung upon Him, listening," and if all seemed vain +and wasted effort on the following Friday, what fruit of the teaching of +Jesus did not His followers gather in, as soon as He poured down on them +the gifts of Pentecost. + +Did they now recall their own reflections after the earlier cleansing of +the temple? and their Master's ominous words? They had then remembered how +it was written, The zeal of thine house shall eat Me up. And He had said, +Destroy this temple, and in three days I shall raise it up, speaking of +the temple of His Body, which was now about to be thrown down. + + + + +The Baptism Of John, Whence Was It? + + + "And they come again to Jerusalem: and as He was walking in the + temple, there come to Him the chief priests, and the scribes, and + the elders; and they said unto Him, By what authority doest Thou + these things? or who gave Thee this authority to do these things? + And Jesus said unto them, I will ask of you one question, and + answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these + things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? + answer Me. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall + say, From heaven: He will say, Why then did ye not believe him? + But should we say, From men--they feared the people: for all verily + held John to be a prophet. And they answered Jesus and say, We + know not. And Jesus saith unto them, Neither tell I you by what + authority I do these things."--MARK xi. 27-33 (R.V.). + + +The question put to Jesus by the hierarchy of Jerusalem is recorded in all +the synoptic Gospels. But in some respects the story is most pointed in +the narrative of St. Mark. And it is natural that he, the historian +especially of the energies of Christ, should lay stress upon a challenge +addressed to Him, by reason of His masterful words and deeds. At the +outset, he had recorded the astonishment of the people because Jesus +taught with authority, because "Verily I say" replaced the childish and +servile methods by which the scribe and the Pharisee sustained their most +wilful innovations. + +When first he relates a miracle, he tells how their wonder increased, +because with authority Jesus commanded the unclean spirits and they +obeyed, respecting His self-reliant word "I command thee to come out," +more than the most elaborate incantations and exorcisms. St. Mark's first +record of collision with the priests was when Jesus carried His claim +still farther, and said "The Son of man hath authority" (it is the same +word) "on earth to forgive sins." Thus we find the Gospel quite conscious +of what so forcibly strikes a careful modern reader, the assured and +independent tone of Jesus; His bearing, so unlike that of a disciple or a +commentator; His consciousness that the Scriptures themselves are they +which testify of Him, and that only He can give the life which men think +they possess in these. In the very teaching of lowliness Jesus exempts +Himself, and forbids others to be Master and Lord, because these titles +belong to Him. + +Impressive as such claims appear when we awake to them, it is even more +suggestive to reflect that we can easily read the Gospels and not be +struck by them. We do not start when He bids all the weary to come to Him, +and offers them rest, and yet declares Himself to be meek and lowly. He is +meek and lowly while He makes such claims. His bearing is that of the +highest rank, joined with the most perfect graciousness; His great claims +never irritate us, because they are palpably His due, and we readily +concede the astonishing elevation whence He so graciously bends down so +low. And this is one evidence of the truth and power of the character +which the Apostles drew. + +How natural is this also, that immediately after Palm Sunday, when the +people have hailed their Messiah, royal and a Saviour, and when He has +accepted their homage, we find new indications of authority in His bearing +and His actions. He promptly took them at their word. It was now that He +wrought His only miracle of judgment, and although it was but the +withering of a tree (since He came not to destroy men's lives but to save +them), yet was there a dread symbolical sentence involved upon all barren +and unfruitful men and Churches. In the very act of triumphal entry, He +solemnly pronounced judgment upon the guilty city which would not accept +her King. + +Arrived at the temple, He surveyed its abuses and defilements, and +returned on the morrow (and so not spurred by sudden impulse, but of +deliberate purpose), to drive out them that sold and bought. Two years ago +He had needed to scourge the intruders forth, but now they are overawed by +His majesty, and obey His word. Then, too, they were rebuked for making +His Father's house a house of merchandise, but now it is His own--"My +House," but degraded yet farther into a den of thieves. + +But while traffic and pollution shrank away, misery and privation were +attracted to Him; the blind and the lame came and were healed in the very +temple; and the centre and rallying-place of the priests and scribes +beheld His power to save. This drove them to extremities. He was carrying +the war into the heart of their territories, establishing Himself in their +stronghold, and making it very plain that since the people had hailed Him +King, and He had responded to their acclaims, He would not shrink from +whatever His view of that great office might involve. + +While they watched, full of bitterness and envy, they were again +impressed, as at the beginning, by the strange, autocratic, spontaneous +manner in which He worked, making Himself the source of His blessings, as +no prophet had ever done since Moses expiated so dearly the offence of +saying, Must we fetch you water out of the rock? Jesus acted after the +fashion of Him Who openeth His hands and satisfieth the desire of every +living thing. Why did He not give the glory to One above? Why did He not +supplicate, nor invoke, but simply bestow? Where were the accustomed words +of supplication, "Hear me, O Lord God, hear me," or, "Where is the Lord +God of Israel?" + +Here they discerned a flaw, a heresy; and they would force Him either to +make a fatal claim, or else to moderate His pretensions at their bidding, +which would promptly restore their lost influence and leadership. + +Nor need we shrink from confessing that our Lord was justly open to such +reproach, unless He was indeed Divine, unless He was deliberately +preparing His followers for that astonishing revelation, soon to come, +which threw the Church upon her knees in adoration of her God manifest in +flesh. It is hard to understand how the Socinian can defend his Master +against the charge of encroaching on the rights and honours of Deity, and +(to borrow a phrase from a different connection) sitting down at the right +hand of the Majesty of God, whereas every priest standeth ministering. If +He were a creature, He culpably failed to tell us the conditions upon +which He received a delegated authority, and the omission has made His +Church ever since idolatrous. It is one great and remarkable lesson +suggested by this verse: if Jesus were not Divine, what was He? + +Thus it came to pass, in direct consequence upon the events which opened +the great week of the triumph and the cross of Jesus, that the whole rank +and authority of the temple system confronted Him with a stern question. +They sat in Moses' seat. They were entitled to examine the pretensions of +a new and aspiring teacher. They had a perfect right to demand "Tell us by +what authority thou doest these things." The works are not denied, but the +source whence they flow is questioned. + +After so many centuries, the question is fresh to-day. For still the +spirit of Christ is working in His world, openly, palpably, spreading +blessings far and wide. It is exalting multitudes of ignoble lives by +hopes that are profound, far-reaching, and sublime. When savage realms are +explored, it is Christ Who hastens thither with His gospel, before the +trader in rum and gunpowder can exhibit the charms of a civilization +without a creed. In the gloomiest haunts of disease and misery, madness, +idiotcy, orphanage, and vice, there is Christ at work, the good Samaritan, +pouring oil and wine into the gaping wounds of human nature, acting quite +upon His own authority, careless who looks askance, not asking political +economy whether genuine charity is pauperisation, nor questioning the +doctrine of development, whether the progress of the race demands the +pitiless rejection of the unfit, and selection only of the strongest +specimens for survival. That iron creed may be natural; but if so, ours is +supernatural, it is a law of spirit and life, setting us free from that +base and selfish law of sin and death. The existence and energy of +Christian forces in our modern world is indisputable: never was Jesus a +more popular and formidable claimant of its crown; never did more Hosannas +follow Him into the temple. But now as formerly His credentials are +demanded: what is His authority and how has He come by it? + +Now we say of modern as of ancient inquiries, that they are right; +investigation is inevitable and a duty. + +But see how Jesus dealt with those men of old. + +Let us not misunderstand Him. He did not merely set one difficulty against +another, as if we should start some scientific problem, and absolve +ourselves from the duty of answering any inquiry until science had +disposed of this. Doubtless it is logical enough to point out that all +creeds, scientific and religious alike, have their unsolved problems. But +the reply of Jesus was not a dexterous evasion, it went to the root of +things, and, therefore, it stands good for time and for eternity. He +refused to surrender the advantage of a witness to whom He was entitled: +He demanded that all the facts and not some alone should be investigated. +In truth their position bound His interrogators to examine His +credentials; to do so was not only their privilege but their duty. But +then they must begin at the beginning. Had they performed this duty for +the Baptist? Who or what was that mysterious, lonely, stern preacher of +righteousness who had stirred the national heart so profoundly, and whom +all men still revered? They themselves had sent to question him, and his +answer was notorious: he had said that he was sent before the Christ; he +was only a voice, but a voice which demanded the preparation of a way +before the Lord Himself, Who was approaching, and a highway for our God. +What was the verdict of these investigators upon that great movement? What +would they make of the decisive testimony of the Baptist? + +As the perilous significance of this consummate rejoinder bursts on their +crafty intelligence, as they recoil confounded from the exposure they have +brought upon themselves, St. Mark tells how the question was pressed home, +"Answer Me!" But they dared not call John an impostor, and yet to confess +him was to authenticate the seal upon our Lord's credentials. And Jesus is +palpably within His rights in refusing to be questioned of such +authorities as these. Yet immediately afterwards, with equal skill and +boldness, He declared Himself, and yet defied their malice, in the story +of the lord of a vineyard, who had vainly sent many servants to claim its +fruit, and at the last sent his beloved son. + +Now apply the same process to the modern opponents of the faith, and it +will be found that multitudes of their assaults on Christianity imply the +negation of what they will not and dare not deny. Some will not believe in +miracles because the laws of nature work uniformly. But their uniformity +is undisturbed by human operations; the will of man wields, without +cancelling, these mighty forces which surround us. And why may not the +will of God do the same, if there be a God? Ask them whether they deny His +existence, and they will probably declare themselves Agnostics, which is +exactly the ancient answer, "We cannot tell." Now as long as men avow +their ignorance of the existence or non-existence of a Deity, they cannot +assert the impossibility of miracles, for miracles are simply actions +which reveal God, as men's actions reveal their presence. + +Again, a demand is made for such evidence, to establish the faith, as +cannot be had for any fact beyond the range of the exact sciences. We are +asked, Why should we stake eternity upon anything short of demonstration? +Yet it will be found that the objector is absolutely persuaded, and acts +on his persuasion of many "truths which never can be proved"--of the +fidelity of his wife and children, and above all, of the difference +between right and wrong. That is a fundamental principle: deny it, and +society becomes impossible. And yet sceptical theories are widely diffused +which really, though unconsciously, sap the very foundations of morality, +or assert that it is not from heaven but of men, a mere expediency, a +prudential arrangement of society. + +Such arguments may well "fear the people," for the instincts of mankind +know well that all such explanations of conscience do really explain it +away. + +And it is quite necessary in our days, when religion is impugned, to see +whether the assumptions of its assailants would not compromise time as +well as eternity, and to ask, What think ye of all those fundamental +principles which sustain the family, society, and the state, while they +bear testimony to the Church of Christ. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + + + +The Husbandmen. + + + "And He began to speak unto them in parables. A man planted a + vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a pit for the + wine-press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and + went into another country. And at the season he sent to the + husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of + the fruits of the vineyard. And they took him, and beat him, and + sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant: + and him they wounded in the head, and handled shamefully. And he + sent another; and him they killed: and many others; beating some, + and killing some. He had yet one, a beloved son: he sent him last + unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those + husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us + kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, + and killed him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard. What, + therefore, will the Lord of the vineyard do? He will come and + destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. + Have ye not read even this Scripture: + + The stone which the builders rejected, + The same was made the head of the corner: + This was from the Lord, + And it is marvellous in our eyes? + + And they sought to lay hold on Him; and they feared the multitude; + for they perceived that He spake the parable against them: and + they left Him, and went away."--MARK xii. 1-12 (R.V.). + + +The rulers of His people have failed to make Jesus responsible to their +inquisition. He has exposed the hollowness of their claim to investigate +His commission, and formally refused to tell them by what authority He did +these things. But what He would not say for an unjust cross-examination, +He proclaimed to all docile hearts; and the skill which disarmed His +enemies is not more wonderful than that which in their hearing answered +their question, yet left them no room for accusation. This was achieved by +speaking to them in parables. The indifferent might hear and not perceive: +the keenness of malice would surely understand but could not easily +impeach a simple story; but to His own followers it would be given to know +the mysteries of the kingdom of God. + +His first words would be enough to arouse attention. The psalmist had told +how God brought a vine out of Egypt, and cast out the heathen and planted +it. Isaiah had carried the image farther, and sung of a vineyard in a very +fruitful hill. The Well-beloved, Whose it was, cleared the ground for it, +and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower, and hewed out a +wine-press, and looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it had +brought forth wild grapes. Therefore He would lay it waste. This +well-known and recognized type the Lord now adopted, but modified it to +suit His purpose. As in a former parable the sower slept and rose, and +left the earth to bring forth fruit of itself, so in this, the Lord of the +vineyard let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country. This is our +Lord's own explanation of that silent time in which no special +interpositions asserted that God was nigh, no prophecies were heard, no +miracles startled the careless. It was the time when grace already granted +should have been peacefully ripening. Now we live in such a period. +Unbelievers desire a sign. Impatient believers argue that if our Master is +as near us as ever, the same portents must attest His presence; and, +therefore, they recognise the gift of tongues in hysterical clamour, and +stake the honour of religion upon faith-healing, and those various obscure +phenomena which the annals of every fanaticism can rival. But the sober +Christian understands that, even as the Lord of the vineyard went into +another country, so Christ His Son (Who in spiritual communion is ever +with His people) in another sense has gone into a far country to receive a +kingdom and to return. In the interval, marvels would be simply an +anachronism. The best present evidence of the faith lies in the superior +fruitfulness of the vineyard He has planted, in the steady advance to rich +maturity of the vine He has imported from another clime. + +At this point Jesus begins to add a new significance to the ancient +metaphor. The husbandmen are mentioned. Men there were in the ancient +Church, who were specially responsible for the culture of the vineyard. As +He spoke, the symbol explained itself. The imposing array of chief priests +and scribes and elders stood by, who had just claimed as their prerogative +that He should make good His commission to their scrutiny; and none would +be less likely to mistake His meaning than these self-conscious lovers of +chief seats in the synagogues. The structure of the parable, therefore, +admits their official rank, as frankly as when Jesus bade His disciples +submit to their ordinances because they sit in Moses' seat. But He passes +on, easily and as if unconsciously, to record that special messengers from +heaven had, at times, interrupted the self-indulgent quietude of the +husbandmen. Because the fruit of the vineyard had not been freely +rendered, a bondservant was sent to demand it. The epithet implies that +the messenger was lower in rank, although his direct mission gave him +authority even over the keepers of the vineyard. It expresses exactly the +position of the prophets, few of them of priestly rank, some of them very +humble in extraction, and very rustic in expression, but all sent in evil +days to faithless husbandmen, to remind them that the vineyard was not +their own, and to receive the fruits of righteousness. Again and again the +demand is heard, for He sent "many others;" and always it is rejected with +violence, which sometimes rises to murder. As they listened, they must +have felt that all this was true, that while prophet after prophet had +come to a violent end, not one had seen the official hierarchy making +common cause with him. And they must also have felt how ruinous was this +rejoinder to their own demand that the people should forsake a teacher +when they rejected him. Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees +believed on Him? was their scornful question. But the answer was plain, As +long as they built the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnished the tombs +of the righteous, and said, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we +would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets, they +confessed that men could not blindly follow a hierarchy merely as such, +since they were not the official successors of the prophets but of those +who slew them. The worst charge brought against them was only that they +acted according to analogy, and filled up the deeds of their fathers. It +had always been the same. + +The last argument of Stephen, which filled his judges with madness, was +but the echo of this great impeachment. Which of the prophets did not your +fathers persecute? and they killed them which showed before of the coming +of the Righteous One, of Whom ye have now become the betrayers and +murderers. + +That last defiance of heaven, which Stephen thus denounced, his Master +distinctly foretold. And He added the appalling circumstance, that however +they might deceive themselves and sophisticate their conscience, they +really knew Him Who He was. They felt, at the very least, that into His +hands should pass all the authority and power they had so long +monopolized: "This is the Heir; come let us kill Him and the inheritance +shall be ours." If there were no more, the utterance of these words put +forth an extraordinary claim. + +All that should have been rendered up to heaven and was withheld, all that +previous messengers had demanded on behalf of God without avail, all "the +inheritance" which these wicked husbandmen were intercepting, all this +Jesus announces to be His own, while reprehending the dishonesty of any +other claim upon it. And as a matter of fact, if Jesus be not Divine, He +has intercepted more of the worship due to the Eternal, has attracted to +Himself more of the homage of the loftiest and profoundest minds, than any +false teacher within the pale of monotheism has ever done. It is the +bounden duty of all who revere Jesus even as a teacher, of all who have +eyes to see that His coming was the greatest upward step in the progress +of humanity, to consider well what was implied, when, in the act of +blaming the usurpers of the heritage of God, Jesus declared that +inheritance to be His own. But this is not all, though it is what He +declares that the husbandmen were conscious of. The parable states, not +only that He is heir, but heir by virtue of His special relationship to +the Supreme. Others are bondservants or husbandmen, but He is the Son. He +does not inherit as the worthiest and most obedient, but by right of +birth; and His Father, in the act of sending Him, expects even these +bloodstained outlaws to reverence His Son. In such a phrase, applied to +such criminals, we are made to feel the lofty rank alike of the Father and +His Son, which ought to have overawed even them. And when we read that "He +had yet one, a beloved Son," it seems as if the veil of eternity were +uplifted, to reveal a secret and awful intimacy, of which, nevertheless, +some glimmering consciousness should have controlled the most desperate +heart. + +But they only reckoned that if they killed the Heir, the inheritance would +become their own. It seems the wildest madness, that men should know and +feel Who He was, and yet expect to profit by desecrating His rights. And +yet so it was from the beginning. If Herod were not fearful that the +predicted King of the Jews was indeed born, the massacre of the Innocents +was idle. If the rulers were not fearful that this counsel and work was of +God, they would not, at Gamaliel's bidding, have refrained from the +Apostles. And it comes still closer to the point to observe that, if they +had attached no importance, even in their moment of triumph, to the +prediction of His rising from the dead, they would not have required a +guard, nor betrayed the secret recognition which Jesus here exposes. The +same blind miscalculation is in every attempt to obtain profit or pleasure +by means which are known to transgress the laws of the all-beholding Judge +of all. It is committed every day, under the pressure of strong +temptation, by men who know clearly that nothing but misery can result. So +true is it that action is decided, not by a course of logic in the brain, +but by the temperament and bias of our nature as a whole. We need not +suppose that the rulers roundly spoke such words as these, even to +themselves. The infamous motive lurked in ambush, too far in the back +ground of the mind perhaps even for consciousness. But it was there, and +it affected their decision, as lurking passions and self-interests always +will, as surely as iron deflects the compass. "They caught Him and killed +Him," said the unfaltering lips of their victim. And He added a +circumstance of pain which we often overlook, but to which the great +minister of the circumcision was keenly sensitive, and often reverted, the +giving Him up to the Gentiles, to a death accursed among the Jews; "they +cast Him forth out of the vineyard." + +All evil acts are based upon an overestimate of the tolerance of God. He +had seemed to remain passive while messenger after messenger was beaten, +stoned, or slain. But now that they had filled up the iniquity of their +fathers, the Lord of the vineyard would come in person to destroy them, +and give the vineyard to others. This last phrase is strangely at variance +with the notion that the days of a commissioned ministry are over, as, on +the other hand, the whole parable is at variance with the notion that a +priesthood can be trusted to sit in exclusive judgment upon doctrine for +the Church. + +At this point St. Mark omits an incident so striking, although small, that +its absence is significant. The by-standers said, "God forbid!" and when +the horrified exclamation betrayed their consciousness of the position, +Jesus was content, without a word, to mark their self-conviction by His +searching gaze. "He looked upon them." The omission would be unaccountable +if St. Mark were simply a powerful narrator of graphic incidents; but it +is explained when we think that for him the manifestation of a mighty +Personage was all in all, and the most characteristic and damaging +admissions of the hierarchy were as nothing compared with a word of his +Lord. Thereupon he goes straight on to record that, besides refuting their +claim by the history of the past, and asserting His own supremacy in a +phrase at once guarded in form and decisive in import, Jesus also appealed +to Scripture. It was written that by special and marvellous interposition +of the Lord a stone which the recognized builders had rejected should +crown the building. And the quotation was not only decisive as showing +that their rejection could not close the controversy; it also compensated, +with a promise of final victory, the ominous words in which their malice +had seemed to do its worst. Jesus often predicted His death, but He never +despaired of His kingdom. + +No wonder that the rulers sought to arrest Him, and perceived that He +penetrated and despised their schemes. And their next device is a natural +outcome from the fact that they feared the people, but did not discontinue +their intrigues; for this was a crafty and dangerous attempt to estrange +from Him the admiring multitude. + + + + +The Tribute Money. + + + "And they send unto Him certain of the Pharisees and of the + Herodians, that they might catch Him in talk. And when they were + come, they say unto Him, Master, we know that Thou art true, and + carest not for any one: for Thou regardest not the person of men, + but of a truth teachest the way of God: Is it lawful to give + tribute unto Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give? + But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye Me? + bring Me a penny, that I may see it. And they brought it. And He + saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they + said unto Him, Caesar's. And Jesus said unto them, Render unto + Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that + are God's. And they marvelled greatly at Him."--MARK xii. 13-17 + (R.V.). + + +The contrast is very striking between this incident and the last. Instead +of a challenge, Jesus is respectfully consulted; and instead of a formal +concourse of the authorities of His religion, He is Himself the authority +to Whom a few perplexed people profess to submit their difficulty. +Nevertheless, it is a new and subtle effort of the enmity of His defeated +foes. They have sent to Him certain Pharisees who will excite the popular +indignation if He yields anything to the foreigner, and Herodians who +will, if He refuses, bring upon Him the colder and deadlier vengeance of +Rome. They flatter, in order to stimulate, that fearless utterance which +must often have seemed to them so rash: "We know that Thou art true, and +carest not for any one, for Thou regardest not the person of men, but of a +truth teachest the way of God." And they appeal to a higher motive by +representing the case to be one of practical and personal urgency, "Shall +we give, or shall we not give?" + +Never was it more necessary to join the wisdom of the serpent to the +innocence of the dove, for it would seem that He must needs answer +directly, and that no direct answer can fail to have the gravest +consequences. But in their eagerness to secure this menacing position, +they have left one weak point in the attack. They have made the question +altogether a practical one. The abstract doctrine of the right to drive +out a foreign power, of the limits of authority and freedom, they have not +raised. It is simply a question of the hour, Shall we give or shall we not +give? + +And Jesus baffled them by treating it as such. There was no longer a +national coinage, except only of the half shekel for the temple tax. When +He asked them for a smaller coin, they produced a Roman penny stamped with +the effigy of Caesar. Thus they confessed the use of the Roman currency. +Now since they accepted the advantages of subjugation, they ought also to +endure its burdens: since they traded as Roman subjects, they ought to pay +the Roman tribute. Not He had preached submission, but they had avowed it; +and any consequent unpopularity would fall not upon Him but them. They had +answered their own question. And Jesus laid down the broad and simple +rule, "Render (pay back) unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto +God the things that are God's. And they marvelled greatly at Him." No +wonder they marvelled, for it would be hard to find in all the records of +philosophy so ready and practical a device to baffle such cunning +intriguers, such keenness in One Whose life was so far removed from the +schools of worldly wisdom, joined with so firm a grasp on principle, in an +utterance so brief, yet going down so far to the roots of action. + +Now the words of Jesus are words for all time; even when He deals with a +question of the hour, He treats it from the point of view of eternal +fitness and duty; and this command to render unto Caesar the things which +are Caesar's has become the charter of the state against all usurpations of +tyrannous ecclesiastics. A sphere is recognized in which obedience to the +law is a duty to God. But it is absurd to pretend that Christ taught blind +and servile obedience to all tyrants in all circumstances, for this would +often make it impossible to obey the second injunction, and to render unto +God the things which are God's,--a clause which asserts in turn the right +of conscience and the Church against all secular encroachments. The point +to observe is, that the decision of Jesus is simply an inference, a +deduction. St. Matthew has inserted the word "therefore," and it is +certainly implied: render unto Caesar the things which you confess to be +his own, which bear his image upon their face. + +Can we suppose that no such inference gives point to the second clause? It +would then become, like too many of our pious sayings, a mere supplement, +inappropriate, however excellent, a make weight, and a platitude. No +example of such irrelevance can be found in the story of our Lord. When, +finding the likeness of Caesar on the coin, He said, Render, therefore, +unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are +God's, He at least suggested that the reason for both precepts ran +parallel, and the image of the higher and heavenlier Monarch could be +found on what He claims of us. And it is so. He claims all we have and all +we are. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:" and "I have +made thee, thou art Mine." And for us and ours alike the argument holds +good. All the visible universe bears deeply stamped into its substance His +image and superscription. The grandeur of mountains and stars, the +fairness of violet and harebell, are alike revelations of the Creator. The +heavens declare His glory: the firmament showeth His handiwork: the earth +is full of His riches: all the discoveries which expand our mastery over +nature and disease, over time and space, are proofs of His wisdom and +goodness, Who laid the amazing plan which we grow wise by tracing out. +Find a corner on which contrivance and benevolence have not stamped the +royal image, and we may doubt whether that bleak spot owes Him tribute. +But no desert is so blighted, no solitude so forlorn. + +And we should render unto God the things which are God's, seeing His +likeness in His world. "For the invisible things of Him since the creation +of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things which +are made, even His everlasting power and divinity." + +And if most of all He demands the love, the heart of man, here also He can +ask, "Whose image and superscription is this?" For in the image of God +made He man. It is sometimes urged that this image was quite effaced when +Adam fell. But it was not to protect the unfallen that the edict was +spoken "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in +the image of God made He man." He was not an unfallen man of whom St. Paul +said that he "ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the +image and glory of God;" neither were they unfallen, of whom St. James +said, "We curse men which are made after the likeness of God" (Gen. ix. 6; +1 Cor. xi. 7; James iii. 9). Common men, for whom the assassin lurks, who +need instruction how to behave in church, and whom others scorn and curse, +these bear upon them an awful likeness; and even when they refuse tribute +to their king, He can ask them, Whose is this image? + +We see it in the intellect, ever demanding new worlds to conquer, +overwhelming us with its victories over time and space. "In apprehension +how like a God." Alas for us! if we forget that the Spirit of knowledge +and wisdom is no other than the Spirit of the Lord God. + +We see this likeness far more in our moral nature. It is true that sin has +spoiled and wasted this, yet there survives in man's heart, as nowhere +else in our world, a strange sympathy with the holiness and love of God. +No other of His attributes has the same power to thrill us. Tell me that +He lit the stars and can quench them with a word, and I reverence, perhaps +I fear Him; yet such power is outside and beyond my sphere; it fails to +touch me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Even the rarer human gifts, +the power of a Czar, the wisdom of Bacon, are thus beyond me, I am +unkindled, they do not find me out. But speak of holiness, even the +stainless holiness of God, undefiled through all eternity, and you shake +the foundations of my being. And why does the reflection that God is pure +humble me more than the knowledge that God is omnipotent? Because it is my +spiritual nature which is most conscious of the Divine image, blurred and +defaced indeed, but not obliterated yet. Because while I listen I am dimly +conscious of my birthright, my destiny, that I was born to resemble this, +and all is lost if I come short of it. Because every child and every +sinner feels that it is more possible for him to be like his God than like +Newton, or Shakespere, or Napoleon. Because the work of grace is to call +in the worn and degraded coinage of humanity, and, as the mint restamps +and reissues the pieces which have grown thin and worn, so to renew us +after the image of Him that created us. + + + + +Christ And The Sadducees. + + + "And there come unto Him Sadducees, which say that there is no + resurrection: and they asked Him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto + us, If a man's brother die, and leave a wife behind him, and leave + no child, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed + unto his brother. There were seven brethren: and the first took a + wife, and dying left no seed; and the second took her, and died, + leaving no seed behind him; and the third likewise: and the seven + left no seed. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection + whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. + Jesus said unto them, Is it not for this cause that ye err, that + ye know not the Scriptures, nor the power of God? For when they + shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in + marriage; but are as angels in heaven. But as touching the dead, + that they are raised; have ye not read in the book of Moses, in + _the place concerning_ the Bush, how God spake unto him, saying, I + _am_ the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of + Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: ye do + greatly err."--MARK xii. 18-27 (R.V.). + + +Christ came that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed. And so it +was, that when He had silenced the examination of the hierarchy, and +baffled their craft, the Sadducees were tempted to assail Him. Like the +rationalists of every age, they stood coldly aloof from popular movements, +and we seldom find them interfering with Christ or His followers, until +their energies were roused by the preaching of His Resurrection, so +directly opposed to their fundamental doctrines. + +Their appearance now is extremely natural. The repulse of every other +party left them the only champions of orthodoxy against the new movement, +with everything to win by success, and little to lose by failure. There is +a tone of quiet and confident irony in their interrogation, well befitting +an upper-class group, a secluded party of refined critics, rather than +practical teachers with a mission to their fellow-men. They break utterly +new ground by raising an abstract and subtle question, a purely +intellectual problem, but one which reduced the doctrine of a resurrection +to an absurdity, if only their premises can be made good. And this +peculiarity is often overlooked in criticism upon our Lord's answer. Its +intellectual subtlety was only the adoption by Christ of the weapons of +his adversaries. But at the same time, He lays great and special stress +upon the authority of Scripture, in this encounter with the party which +least acknowledged it. + +Their objection, stated in its simplest form, is the complication which +would result if the successive ties for which death makes room must all +revive together when death is abolished. If a woman has married a second +time, whose wife shall she be? But their statement of the case is +ingenious, not only because they push the difficulty to an absurd and +ludicrous extent, but much more so because they base it upon a Divine +ordinance. If there be a Resurrection, Moses must answer for all the +confusion that will ensue, for Moses gave the commandment, by virtue of +which a woman married seven times. No offspring of any union gave it a +special claim upon her future life. "In the Resurrection, whose wife shall +she be of them?" they ask, conceding with a quiet sarcasm that this absurd +event must needs occur. + +For these controversialists the question was solely of the physical tie, +which had made of twain one flesh. They had no conception that the body +can be raised otherwise than as it perished, and they rightly enough felt +certain that on such a resurrection woeful complications must ensue. + +Now Jesus does not rebuke their question with such stern words as He had +just employed to others, "Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" They were +doubtless sincere in their conviction, and at least they had not come in +the disguise of perplexed inquirers and almost disciples. He blames them, +but more gently: "Is it not for this cause that ye err, because ye know +not the Scriptures, nor the power of God?" They could not know one and not +the other, but the boastful wisdom of this world, so ready to point a jibe +by quoting Moses, had never truly grasped the meaning of the writer it +appealed to. + +Jesus, it is plain, does not quote Scripture only as having authority with +His opponents: He accepts it heartily: He declares that human error is due +to ignorance of its depth and range of teaching; and He recognizes the +full roll of the sacred books "the Scriptures." + +It has rightly been said, that none of the explicit statements, commonly +relied upon, do more to vindicate for Holy Writ the authority of our Lord, +than this simple incidental question. + +Jesus proceeded to restate the doctrine of the Resurrection and then to +prove it; and the more His brief words are pondered, the more they will +expand and deepen. + +St. Paul has taught us that the dead in Christ shall rise first (1 Thess. +iv. 16). Of such attainment it is written, Blessed and holy is he that +hath part in the first Resurrection (Rev. xx. 6). + +Now since among the lost there could be no question of family ties, and +consequent embarrassments, Jesus confines His statement to these happy +ones, of whom the Sadducee could think no better than that their new life +should be a reproduction of their existence here,--a theory which they did +wisely in rejecting. He uses the very language taken up afterwards by His +apostle, and says, "When they shall rise from the dead." And He asserts +that marriage is at an end, and they are as the angels in heaven. Here is +no question of the duration of pure and tender human affection, nor do +these words compromise in any degree the hopes of faithful hearts, which +cling to one another. Surely we may believe that in a life which is the +outcome and resultant of this life, as truly as the grain is of the seed, +in a life also where nothing shall be forgotten, but on the contrary we +shall know what we know not now, there, tracing back the flood of their +immortal energies to obscure fountains upon earth, and seeing all that +each has owed half unconsciously to the fidelity and wisdom of the other, +the true partners and genuine helpmeets of this world shall for ever drink +some peculiar gladness, each from the other's joy. There is no reason why +the close of formal unions which include the highest and most perfect +friendships, should forbid such friendships to survive and flourish in the +more kindly atmosphere of heaven. + +What Christ asserts is simply the dissolution of the tie, as an inevitable +consequence of such a change in the very nature of the blessed ones as +makes the tie incongruous and impossible. In point of fact, marriage as +the Sadducee thought of it, is but the counterpoise of death, renewing the +face which otherwise would disappear, and when death is swallowed up, it +vanishes as an anachronism. In heaven "they are as the angels," the body +itself being made "a spiritual body," set free from the appetites of the +flesh, and in harmony with the glowing aspirations of the Spirit, which +now it weighs upon and retards. If any would object that to be as the +angels is to be without a body, rather than to possess a spiritual body, +it is answer enough that the context implies the existence of a body, +since no person ever spoke of a resurrection of the soul. Moreover it is +an utterly unwarrantable assumption that angels are wholly without +substance. Many verses appear to imply the opposite, and the cubits of +measurement of the New Jerusalem were "according to the measure of a man, +that is of an angel" (Rev. xxi. 17), which seems to assert a very curious +similarity indeed. + +The objection of the Sadducees was entirely obviated, therefore by the +broader, bolder, and more spiritual view of a resurrection which Jesus +taught. And by far the greater part of the cavils against this same +doctrine which delight the infidel lecturer and popular essayist of to-day +would also die a natural death, if the free and spiritual teaching of +Jesus, and its expansion by St. Paul, were understood. But we breathe a +wholly different air when we read the speculations even of so great a +thinker as St. Augustine, who supposed that we should rise with bodies +somewhat greater than our present ones, because all the hair and nails we +ever trimmed away must be diffused throughout the mass, lest they should +produce deformity by their excessive proportions (_De Civitate Dei_, xxii. +19). To all such speculation, he who said, To every seed his own body, +says, Thou fool, thou sowest not that body that shall be. But though Jesus +had met these questions, it did not follow that His doctrine was true, +merely because a certain difficulty did not apply. And, therefore, He +proceeded to prove it by the same Moses to whom they had appealed, and +whom Jesus distinctly asserts to be the author of the book of Exodus. God +said, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of +Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: ye do greatly +err." + +The argument is not based upon the present tense of the verb _to be_ in +this assertion, for in the Greek the verb is not expressed. In fact the +argument is not a verbal one at all; or else it would be satisfied by the +doctrine of the immortality of the spirit, and would not establish any +resurrection of the body. It is based upon the immutability of God, and, +therefore, the imperishability of all that ever entered into vital and +real relationship with Him. To cancel such a relationship would introduce +a change into the Eternal. And Moses, to whom they appealed, had heard God +expressly proclaim Himself the God of those who had long since passed out +of time. It was, therefore, clear that His relationship with them lived +on, and this guaranteed that no portion, even the humblest, of their true +personality should perish. Now the body is as real a part of humanity, as +the soul and spirit are, although a much lowlier part. And, therefore, it +must not really die. + +It is solemn to observe how Jesus, in this second part of His argument, +passes from the consideration of the future of the blessed to that of all +mankind; "as touching the dead that they are raised." With others than the +blessed, therefore, God has a real though a dread relationship. And it +will prove hard to reconcile this argument of Christ with the existence of +any time when any soul shall be extinguished. + +"The body is for the Lord," said St. Paul, arguing against the vices of +the flesh, "and the Lord for the body." From these words of Christ he may +well have learned that profound and far-reaching doctrine, which will +never have done its work in the Church and in the world, until whatever +defiles, degrades, or weakens that which the Lord has consecrated is felt +to blaspheme by implication the God of our manhood, unto Whom all our life +ought to be lived; until men are no longer dwarfed in mines, nor poisoned +in foul air, nor massacred in battle, men whose intimate relationship with +God the Eternal is of such a kind as to guarantee the resurrection of the +poor frames which we destroy. + +How much more does this great proclamation frown upon the sins by which +men dishonour their own flesh. "Know ye not," asked the apostle, carrying +the same doctrine to its utmost limit, "that your bodies are the temples +of the Holy Ghost?" So truly is God our God. + + + + +The Discerning Scribe. + + + "And one of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, + and knowing that He had answered them well, asked Him, What + commandment is the first of all? Jesus answered, The first is, + Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one: and thou shalt + love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, + and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. The second is + this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none + other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto + Him, Of a truth, Master, Thou hast well said that He is one; and + there is none other but He: and to love Him with all the heart, + and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to + love his neighbour as himself, is much more than all whole burnt + offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered + discreetly, He said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of + God. And no man after that durst ask Him any question."--MARK xii. + 28-34 (R.V.). + + +The praise which Jesus bestowed upon this lawyer is best understood when +we take into account the circumstances, the pressure of assailants with +ensnaring questions, the sullen disappointment or palpable exasperation of +the party to which the scribe belonged. He had probably sympathized in +their hostility; and had come expecting and desiring the discomfiture of +Jesus. But if so, he was a candid enemy; and as each new attempt revealed +more clearly the spiritual insight, the self-possession and balanced +wisdom of Him Who had been represented as a dangerous fanatic, his +unfriendly opinion began to waver. For he too was at issue with popular +views: he had learned in the Scriptures that God desireth not sacrifice, +that incense might be an abomination to Him, and new moons and sabbaths +things to do away with. And so, perceiving that He had answered them well, +the scribe asked, upon his own account, a very different question, not +rarely debated in their schools, and often answered with grotesque +frivolity, but which he felt to go down to the very root of things. +Instead of challenging Christ's authority, he tries His wisdom. Instead of +striving to entangle Him in dangerous politics, or to assail with shallow +ridicule the problems of the life to come, he asks, What commandment is +the first of all? And if we may accept as complete this abrupt statement +of his interrogation, it would seem to have been drawn from him by a +sudden impulse, or wrenched by an over-mastering desire, despite of +reluctance and false shame. + +The Lord answered him with great solemnity and emphasis. He might have +quoted the commandment only. But He at once supported the precept itself +and also His own view of its importance by including the majestic +prologue, "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and thou +shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and +with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." + +The unity of God, what a massive and reassuring thought! Amid the +debasements of idolatry, with its deification of every impulse and every +force, amid the distractions of chance and change, seemingly so capricious +and even discordant, amid the complexities of the universe and its +phenomena, there is wonderful strength and wisdom in the reflection that +God is one. All changes obey His hand which holds the rein; by Him the +worlds were made. The exiled patriarch was overwhelmed by the majesty of +the revelation that his fathers' God was God in Bethel even as in +Beer-sheba: it charmed away the bitter sense of isolation, it unsealed in +him the fountains of worship and trust, and sent him forward with a new +hope of protection and prosperity. The unity of God, really apprehended, +is a basis for the human will to repose upon, and to become +self-consistent and at peace. It was the parent of the fruitful doctrine +of the unity of nature which underlies all the scientific victories of the +modern world. In religion, St. Paul felt that it implies the equal +treatment of all the human race, when he asked, "Is He the God of Jews +only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also, if so be +that God is one" (Rom iii. 29 R.V.). To be one, he seems to say, implies +being universal also. And if it thus excludes the reprobation of races, it +disproves equally that of individual souls, and all thought of such +unequal and partial treatment as should inspire one with hope of +indulgence in guilt, or with fear that his way is hid from the Lord. + +But if this be true, if there be one fountain of all life and loveliness +and joy, of all human tenderness and all moral glory, how are we bound to +love Him. Every other affection should only deepen our adoring loyalty to +Him Who gives it. No cold or formal service can meet His claim, Who gives +us the power to serve. No, we must love Him. And as all our nature comes +from Him, so must all be consecrated: that love must embrace all the +affections of "heart and soul" panting after Him, as the hart after the +waterbrooks; and all the deep and steady convictions of the "mind," musing +on the work of His hand, able to give a reason for its faith; and all the +practical homage of the "strength," living and dying to the Lord. How +easy, then, would be the fulfilment of His commandments in detail, and how +surely it would follow. All the precepts of the first table are clearly +implied in this. + +In such another commandment were summed up also the precepts which +concerned our neighbour. When we love him as ourselves (neither +exaggerating his claims beyond our own, nor allowing our own to trample +upon his), then we shall work no ill to our neighbour, and so love shall +fulfil the law. There is none other commandment greater than these. + +The questioner saw all the nobility of this reply; and the disdain, the +anger, and perhaps the persecution of his associates could not prevent him +from an admiring and reverent repetition of the Saviour's words, and an +avowal that all the ceremonial observances of Judaism were as nothing +compared with this. + +While he was thus judging, he was being judged. As he knew that Jesus had +answered well, so Jesus saw that he answered discreetly; and in view of +his unprejudiced judgment, his spiritual insight, and his frank approval +of One Who was then despised and rejected, He said, Thou art not far from +the kingdom of God. But he was not yet within it, and no man knows his +fate. + +Sad yet instructive it is to think that he may have won the approval of +Christ, and heard His words, so full of discernment and of desire for his +adherence, and yet never crossed the invisible and mysterious boundary +which he then approached so nearly. But we also may know, and admire, and +confess the greatness and goodness of Jesus, without forsaking all to +follow Him. + +His enemies had been defeated and put to shame, their murderous hate had +been denounced, and the nets of their cunning had been rent like cobwebs; +they had seen the heart of one of their own order kindled into open +admiration, and they henceforth renounced as hopeless the attempt to +conquer Jesus in debate. No man after that durst ask Him any questions. + +He will now carry the war into their own country. It will be for them to +answer Jesus. + + + + +David's Lord. + + + "And Jesus answered and said, as He taught in the temple, How say + the scribes that the Christ is the Son of David? David himself + said in the Holy Spirit,-- + + The Lord said unto my Lord, + Sit Thou on my right hand, + Till I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet. + + David himself calleth Him Lord; and whence is He His son? And the + common people heard Him gladly. And in His teaching He said, + Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and _to + have_ salutations in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the + synagogues, and chief places at feasts: they which devour widows' + houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; these shall receive + greater condemnation."--MARK xii. 35-40 (R.V.). + + +Jesus, having silenced in turn His official interrogators and the +Sadducees, and won the heart of His honest questioner, proceeded to submit +a searching problem to His assailants. Whose son was the Messiah? And when +they gave Him an obvious and shallow answer, He covered them with +confusion publicly. The event is full of that dramatic interest which St. +Mark is so well able to discern and reproduce. How is it then that he +passes over all this aspect of it, leaves us ignorant of the defeat and +even of the presence of the scribes, and free to suppose that Jesus stated +the whole problem in one long question, possibly without an opponent at +hand to feel its force? + +This is a remarkable proof that his concern was not really for the +pictorial element in the story, but for the manifestation of the power of +his Master, the "authority" which resounds through his opening chapters, +the royalty which he exhibits at the close. To him the vital point is that +Jesus, upon openly claiming to be the Christ, and repelling the vehement +attacks which were made upon Him as such, proceeded to unfold the +astonishing greatness which this implied; and that after asserting the +unity of God and His claim upon all hearts, He demonstrated that the +Christ was sharer of His throne. + +The Christ, they said, was the Son of David, and this was not false: Jesus +had wrought many miracles for suppliants who addressed Him by that title. +But was it all the truth? How then did David call Him Lord? A greater than +David might spring from among his descendants, and hold rule by an +original and not merely an ancestral claim: He might not reign as a son of +David. Yet this would not explain the fact that David, who died ages +before His coming, was inspired to call Him _My_ Lord. Still less would it +satisfy the assertion that God had bidden Him sit beside Him on His +throne. For the scribes there was a serious warning in the promise that +His enemies should be made His footstool, and for all the people a +startling revelation in the words which follow, and which the Epistle to +the Hebrews has unfolded, making this Son of David a priest for ever, +after another order than that of Aaron. + +No wonder that the multitude heard with gladness teaching at once so +original, so profound, and so clearly justified by Scripture. + +But it must be observed how remarkably this question of Jesus follows up +His conversation with the scribe. Then He had based the supreme duty of +love to God upon the supreme doctrine of the Divine Unity. He now proceeds +to show that the throne of Deity is not a lonely throne, and to demand, +Whose Son is He Who shares it, and Whom David in Spirit accosts by the +same title as his God? + +St. Mark is now content to give the merest indication of the final +denunciation with which the Lord turned His back upon the scribes of +Jerusalem, as He previously broke with those of Galilee. But it is enough +to show how utterly beyond compromise was the rupture. The people were to +beware of them: their selfish objects were betrayed in their very dress, +and their desire for respectful salutations and seats of honour. Their +prayers were a pretence, and they devoured widows' houses, acquiring under +the cloke of religion what should have maintained the friendless. But +their affected piety would only bring upon them a darker doom. + +It is a tremendous impeachment. None is entitled to speak as Jesus did, +who is unable to read hearts as He did. And yet we may learn from it that +mere softness is not the meekness He demands, and that, when sinister +motives are beyond doubt, the spirit of Jesus is the spirit of burning. + +There is an indulgence for the wrongdoer which is mere feebleness and half +compliance, and which shares in the guilt of Eli. And there is a dreadful +anger which sins not, the wrath of the Lamb. + + + + +The Widow's Mite. + + + "And He sat down over against the treasury, and beheld how the + multitude cast money into the treasury: and how many that were + rich cast in much. And there came a poor widow, and she cast in + two mites, which make a farthing. And He called unto Him His + disciples, and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, This poor + widow cast in more than all they which are casting into the + treasury; for they all did cast in of their superfluity; but she + of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her + living."--MARK xii. 41-44 (R.V.). + + +With words of stern denunciation Jesus for ever left the temple. Yet He +lingered, as if reluctant, in the outer court; and while the storm of His +wrath was still resounding in all hearts, observed and pointed out an +action of the lowliest beauty, a modest flower of Hebrew piety in the vast +desert of formality. It was not too modest, however, to catch, even in +that agitating hour, the eye of Jesus; and while the scribes were +devouring widows' houses, a poor widow could still, with two mites which +make a farthing, win honourable mention from the Son of God. Thus He ever +observes realities among pretences, the pure flame of love amid the sour +smoke which wreathes around it. What He saw was the last pittance, cast to +a service which in reality was no longer God's, yet given with a noble +earnestness, a sacrifice pure from the heart. + +1. His praise suggests to us the unknown observation, the unsuspected +influences which surround us. She little guessed herself to be the one +figure, amid a glittering group and where many were rich, who really +interested the all-seeing Eye. She went away again, quite unconscious that +the Lord had converted her two mites into a perennial wealth of +contentment for lowly hearts, and instruction for the Church, quite +ignorant that she was approved of Messiah, and that her little gift was +the greatest event of all her story. So are we watched and judged in our +least conscious and our most secluded hours. + +2. We learn St. Paul's lesson, that, "if the readiness is there, it is +acceptable according as a man hath, and not according as he hath not." + +In war, in commerce, in the senate, how often does an accident at the +outset blight a career for ever. One is taken in the net of circumstances, +and his dipped wings can never soar again. But there is no such disabling +accident in religion. God seeth the heart. The world was redeemed by the +blighted and thwarted career of One Who would fain have gathered His own +city under His wing, but was refused and frustrated. And whether we cast +in much, or only possess two mites, an offering for the rich to mock, He +marks, understands, and estimates aright. + +And while the world only sees the quantity, He weighs the motive of our +actions. This is the true reason why we can judge nothing before the time, +why the great benefactor is not really pointed out by the splendid +benefaction, and why many that are last shall yet be first, and the first +last. + +3. The poor widow gave not a greater proportion of her goods, she gave +all; and it has been often remarked that she had still, in her poverty, +the opportunity of keeping back one half. But her heart went with her two +mites. And, therefore, she was blessed. We may picture her return to her +sordid drudgery, unaware of the meaning of the new light and peace which +followed her, and why her heart sang for joy. We may think of the Spirit +of Christ which was in her, leading her afterwards into the Church of +Christ, an obscure and perhaps illiterate convert, undistinguished by any +special gift, and only loved as the first Christians all loved each other. +And we may think of her now, where the secrets of all hearts are made +known, followed by myriads of the obscure and undistinguished whom her +story has sustained and cheered, and by some who knew her upon earth, and +were astonished to learn that this was she. Then let us ask ourselves, Is +there any such secret of unobtrusive lowly service, born of love, which +the future will associate with me? + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + + + +Things Perishing And Things Stable. + + + "And as He went forth out of the temple, one of His disciples + saith unto Him, Master, behold, what manner of stones and what + manner of buildings! And Jesus said unto him, Seest thou these + great buildings? there shall not be left here one stone upon + another, which shall not be thrown down. And as He sat on the + Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John + and Andrew asked Him privately, Tell us, when shall these things + be? and what _shall be_ the sign when these things are all about + to be accomplished? And Jesus began to say unto them, Take heed + that no man lead you astray. Many shall come in My name, saying, I + am _He;_ and shall lead many astray. And when ye shall hear of + wars and rumours of wars, be not troubled: _these things_ must + needs come to pass: but the end is not yet."--MARK xiii. 1-7 + (R.V.). + + +Nothing is more impressive than to stand before one of the great buildings +of the world, and mark how the toil of man has rivalled the stability of +nature, and his thought its grandeur. It stands up like a crag, and the +wind whistles through its pinnacles as in a grove, and the rooks float and +soar about its towers as they do among the granite peaks. Face to face +with one of these mighty structures, man feels his own pettiness, +shivering in the wind, or seeking a shadow from the sun, and thinking how +even this breeze may blight or this heat fever him, and how at the longest +he shall have crumbled into dust for ages, and his name, and possibly his +race, have perished, while this same pile shall stretch the same long +shadow across the plain. + +No wonder that the great masters of nations have all delighted in +building, for thus they saw their power, and the immortality for which +they hoped, made solid, embodied and substantial, and it almost seemed as +if they had blended their memory with the enduring fabric of the world. + +Such a building, solid, and vast, and splendid, white with marble, and +blazing with gold, was the temple which Jesus now forsook. A little +afterwards, we read that its Roman conqueror, whose race were the great +builders of the world, in spite of the rules of war, and the certainty +that the Jews would never remain quietly in subjection while it stood, +"was reluctant to burn down so vast a work as this, since this would be a +mischief to the Romans themselves, as it would be an ornament to their +government while it lasted." + +No wonder, then, that one of the disciples, who had seen Jesus weep for +its approaching ruin, and who now followed His steps as He left it +desolate, lingered, and spoke as if in longing and appeal, "Master, see +what manner of stones, and what manner of buildings." + +But to the eyes of Jesus all was evanescent as a bubble, doomed and about +to perish: "Seest thou these great buildings, there shall not be left here +one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." + +The words were appropriate to His solemn mood, for He had just denounced +its guilt and flung its splendour from Him, calling it no longer "My +house," nor "My Father's house," but saying, "Your house is left unto you +desolate." Little could all the solid strength of the very foundations of +the world itself avail against the thunderbolt of God. Moreover, it was a +time when He felt most keenly the consecration, the approaching surrender +of His own life. In such an hour no splendours distract the penetrating +vision; all the world is brief and frail and hollow to the man who has +consciously given himself to God. It was the fitting moment at which to +utter such a prophecy. + +But, as He sat on the opposite slope, and gazed back upon the towers that +were to fall, His three favoured disciples and Andrew came to ask Him +privately when should these things be, and what would be the sign of their +approach. + +It is the common assertion of all unbelievers that the prophecy which +followed has been composed since what passes for its fulfilment. When +Jesus was murdered, and a terrible fate befel the guilty city, what more +natural than to connect the two events? And how easily would a legend +spring up that the sufferer foretold the penalty? But there is an obvious +and complete reply. The prediction is too mysterious, its outlines are too +obscure; and the ruin of Jerusalem is too inexplicably complicated with +the final visitation of the whole earth, to be the issue of any vindictive +imagination working with the history in view. + +We are sometimes tempted to complain of this obscurity. But in truth it is +wholesome and designed. We need not ask whether the original discourse was +thus ambiguous, or they are right who suppose that a veil has since been +drawn between us and a portion of the answer given by Jesus to His +disciples. We know as much as it is meant that we should know. And this at +least is plain, that any process of conscious or unconscious invention, +working backwards after Jerusalem fell, would have given us far more +explicit predictions than we possess. And, moreover, that what we lose in +gratification of our curiosity, we gain in personal warning to walk warily +and vigilantly. + +Jesus did not answer the question, When shall these things be? But He +declared, to men who wondered at the overthrow of their splendid temple, +that all earthly splendours must perish. And He revealed to them where +true permanence may be discovered. These are two of the central thoughts +of the discourse, and they are worthy of much more attention from its +students than they commonly receive, being overlooked in the universal +eagerness "to know the times and the seasons." They come to the surface in +the distinct words, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall +not pass away." + +Now, if we are to think of this great prophecy as a lurid reflection +thrown back by later superstition on the storm-clouds of the nation's +fall, how shall we account for its solemn and pensive mood, utterly free +from vindictiveness, entirely suited to Jesus as we think of Him, when +leaving for ever the dishonoured shrine, and moving forward, as His +meditations would surely do, beyond the occasion which evoked them? Not +such is the manner of resentful controversialists, eagerly tracing +imaginary judgments. They are narrow, and sharp, and sour. + +1. The fall of Jerusalem blended itself, in the thought of Jesus, with the +catastrophe which awaits all that appears to be great and stable. Nation +shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, so that, although +armies set their bodies in the gap for these, and heroes shed their blood +like water, yet they are divided among themselves and cannot stand. This +prediction, we must remember, was made when the iron yoke of Rome imposed +quiet upon as much of the world as a Galilean was likely to take into +account, and, therefore, was by no means so easy as it may now appear to +us. + +Nature itself should be convulsed. Earthquakes should rend the earth, +blight and famine should disturb the regular course of seed-time and +harvest. And these perturbations should be the working out of a stern law, +and the sure token of sorer woes to come, the beginning of pangs which +should usher in another dispensation, the birth-agony of a new time. A +little later, and the sun should be darkened, and the moon should withdraw +her light, and the stars should "be falling" from heaven, and the powers +that are in the heavens should be darkened. Lastly, the course of history +should close, and the affairs of earth should come to an end, when the +elect should be gathered together to the glorified Son of Man. + +2. It was in sight of the ruin of all these things that He dared to add, +My word shall not pass away. + +Heresy should assail it, for many should come in the name of Christ, +saying, I am He, and should lead many astray. Fierce persecutions should +try His followers, and they should be led to judgment and delivered up. +The worse afflictions of the heart would wring them, for brother should +deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children should +rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. But all should +be too little to quench the immortality bestowed upon His elect. In their +sore need, the Holy Ghost should speak in them: when they were caused to +be put to death, he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. + +Now these words were treasured up as the utterances of One Who had just +foretold His own approaching murder, and Who died accordingly amid +circumstances full of horror and shame. Yet His followers rejoiced to +think that when the sun grew dark, and the stars were falling, He should +be seen in the clouds coming with great glory. + +It is the reversal of human judgment: the announcement that all is stable +which appears unsubstantial, and all which appears solid is about to melt +like snow. + +And yet the world itself has since grown old enough to know that +convictions are stronger than empires, and truths than armed hosts. And +this is the King of Truth. He was born and came into the world to bear +witness to the truth, and every one that is of the truth heareth His +voice. He is the Truth become vital, the Word which was with God in the +beginning. + + + + +The Impending Judgment. + + + "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against + kingdom; there shall be earthquakes in divers places; there shall + be famines: these things are the beginning of travail. But take ye + heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and + in synagogues shall ye be beaten; and before governors and kings + shall ye stand for My sake, for a testimony unto them. And the + gospel must first be preached unto all the nations. And when they + lead you _to judgment_, and deliver you up, be not anxious + beforehand what ye shall speak: but whatsoever shall be given you + in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the + Holy Ghost. And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the + father his child; and children shall rise up against parents, and + cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men + for My name's sake; but he that endureth to the end, the same + shall be saved. But when ye see the abomination of desolation + standing where he ought not (let him that readeth understand), + then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains: and let + him that is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take + anything out of his house: and let him that is in the field not + return back to take his cloke."--MARK xiii. 8-16 (R.V.). + + +When we perceive that one central thought in our Lord's discourse about +the last things is the contrast between material things which are +fleeting, and spiritual realities which abide, a question naturally +arises, which ought not to be overlooked. Was the prediction itself +anything more than a result of profound spiritual insight? Are we certain +that prophecy in general was more than keenness of vision? There are +flourishing empires now which perhaps a keen politician, and certainly a +firm believer in retributive justice governing the world, must consider to +be doomed. And one who felt the transitory nature of earthly resources +might expect a time when the docks of London will resemble the lagoons of +Venice, and the State which now predominates in Europe shall become +partaker of the decrepitude Spain. But no such presage is a prophecy in +the Christian sense. Even when suggested by religion, it does not claim +any greater certainty than that of sagacious inference. + +The general question is best met by pointing to such specific and detailed +prophecies, especially concerning the Messiah, as the twenty-second Psalm, +the fifty-third of Isaiah, and the ninth of Daniel. + +But the prediction of the fall of Jerusalem, while we have seen that it +has none of the minuteness and sharpness of an after-thought, is also too +definite for a presentiment. The abomination which defiled the Holy Place, +and yet left one last brief opportunity for hasty flight, the persecutions +by which that catastrophe would be heralded, and the precipitating of the +crisis for the elect's sake, were details not to be conjectured. So was +the coming of the great retribution, the beginning of His kingdom within +that generation, a limit which was foretold at least twice besides (Mark +ix. 1 and xiv. 62), with which the "henceforth" in Matthew xxvi. 64 must +be compared. And so was another circumstance which is not enough +considered: the fact that between the fall of Jerusalem and the Second +Coming, however long or short the interval, no second event of a similar +character, so universal in its effect upon Christianity, so epoch-making, +should intervene. The coming of the Son of man should be "in those days +after that tribulation." + +The intervening centuries lay out like a plain country between two +mountain tops, and did not break the vista, as the eye passed from the +judgment of the ancient Church, straight on to the judgment of the world. +Shall we say then that Jesus foretold that His coming would follow +speedily? and that He erred? Men have been very willing to bring this +charge, even in the face of His explicit assertions. "After a long time +the Lord of that servant cometh.... While the bridegroom tarried they all +slumbered and slept.... If that wicked servant shall say in his heart, My +Lord delayeth His coming." + +It is true that these expressions are not found in St Mark. But instead of +them stands a sentence so startling, so unique, that it has caused to +ill-instructed orthodoxy great searchings of heart. At least, however, the +flippant pretence that Jesus fixed an early date for His return, ought to +be silenced when we read, "Of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not +even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father." + +These words are not more surprising than that He increased in wisdom; and +marvelled at the faith of some, and the unbelief of others (Luke ii. 52; +Matt. viii. 10; Mark vi. 6). They are involved in the great assertion, +that He not only took the form of a servant, but emptied Himself (Phil. +ii. 7). But they decide the question of the genuineness of the discourse; +for when could they have been invented? And they are to be taken in +connection with others, which speak of Him not in His low estate, but as +by nature and inherently, the Word and the Wisdom of God; aware of all +that the Father doeth; and Him in Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the +Godhead bodily (John i. 1; Luke xi. 49; John v. 20; Col. ii. 9). + +But these were "the days of His flesh;" and that expression is not meant +to convey that He has since laid aside His body, for He says, "A spirit +hath not flesh ... as ye see Me have" (Heb. v. 7; Luke xxiv. 39). It must +therefore express the limitations, now removed, by which He once +condescended to be trammelled. What forbids us, then, to believe that His +knowledge, like His power, was limited by a lowliness not enforced, but +for our sakes chosen; and that as He could have asked for twelve legions +of angels, yet chose to be bound and buffeted, so He could have known that +day and hour, yet submitted to ignorance, that He might be made like in +all points to His brethren? Souls there are for whom this wonderful +saying, "the Son knoweth not," is even more affecting than the words, "The +Son of man hath not where to lay His head." + +But now the climax must be observed which made His ignorance more +astonishing than that of the angels in heaven. The recent discourse must +be remembered, which had asked His enemies to explain the fact that David +called Him Lord, and spoke of God as occupying no lonely throne. And we +must observe His emphatic expression, that His return shall be that of the +Lord of the House (ver. 35), so unlike the temper which He impressed on +every servant, and clearly teaching the Epistle to the Hebrews to speak of +His fidelity as that of a Son over His house, and to contrast it sharply +with that of the most honourable servant (iii. 6). + +It is plain, however, that Jesus did not fix, and renounced the power to +fix, a speedy date for His second coming. He checked the impatience of the +early Church by insisting that none knew the time. + +But He drew the closest analogy between that event and the destruction of +Jerusalem, and required a like spirit in those who looked for each. + +Persecution should go before them. Signs would indicate their approach as +surely as the budding of the fig tree told of summer. And in each case the +disciples of Jesus must be ready. When the siege came, they should not +turn back from the field into the city, nor escape from the housetop by +the inner staircase. When the Son of man comes, their loins should be +girt, and their lights already burning. But if the end has been so long +delayed, and if there were signs by which its approach might be known, how +could it be the practical duty of all men, in all the ages, to expect it? +What is the meaning of bidding us to learn from the fig tree her parable, +which is the approach of summer when her branch becomes tender, and yet +asserting that we know not when the time is, that it shall come upon us as +a snare, that the Master will surely surprise us, but need not find us +unprepared, because all the Church ought to be always ready? + +What does it mean, especially when we observe, beneath the surface, that +our Lord was conscious of addressing more than that generation, since He +declared to the first hearers, "What I say unto you I say unto all, +Watch?" It is a strange paradox. But yet the history of the Church +supplies abundant proof that in no age has the expectation of the Second +Advent disappeared, and the faithful have always been mocked by the +illusion, or else keen to discern the fact, that He is near, even at the +doors. It is not enough to reflect that, for each soul, dissolution has +been the preliminary advent of Him who has promised to come again and +receive us unto Himself, and the Angel of Death is indeed the Angel of the +Covenant. It must be asserted that for the universal Church, the feet of +the Lord have been always upon the threshold, and the time has been +prolonged only because the Judge _standeth_ at the door. The "birth pangs" +of which Jesus spoke have never been entirely stilled. And the march of +time has not been towards a far-off eternity, but along the margin of that +mysterious ocean, by which it must be engulfed at last, and into which, +fragment by fragment, the beach it treads is crumbling. + +Now this necessity, almost avowed, for giving signs which should only make +the Church aware of her Lord's continual nearness, without ever enabling +her to assign the date of His actual arrival, is the probable explanation +of what has been already remarked, the manner in which the judgment of +Jerusalem is made to symbolize the final judgment. But this symbolism +makes the warning spoken to that age for ever fruitful. As they were not +to linger in the guilty city, so we are to let no earthly interests arrest +our flight,--not to turn back, but promptly and resolutely to flee unto the +everlasting hills. As they should pray that their flight through the +mountains should not be in the winter, so should we beware of needing to +seek salvation in the winter of the soul, when the storms of passion and +appetite are wildest, when evil habits have made the road slippery under +foot, and sophistry and selfwill have hidden the gulfs in a treacherous +wreath of snow. + +Heedfulness, a sense of surrounding peril and of the danger of the times, +is meant to inspire us while we read. The discourse opens with a caution +against heresy: "Take heed that no man deceive you." It goes on to caution +them against the weakness of their own flesh: "Take heed to yourselves, +for they shall deliver you up." It bids them watch, because they know not +when the time is. And the way to watchfulness is prayerfulness; so that +presently, in the Garden, when they could not watch with Him one hour, +they were bidden to watch and pray, that they enter not into temptation. + +So is the expectant Church to watch and pray. Nor must her mood be one of +passive idle expectation, dreamful desire of the promised change, neglect +of duties in the interval. The progress of all art and science, and even +the culture of the ground, is said to have been arrested by the universal +persuasion that the year One Thousand should see the return of Christ. The +luxury of millennarian expectation seems even now to relieve some +consciences from the active duties of religion. But Jesus taught His +followers that on leaving His house, to sojourn in a far country, He +regarded them as His servants still, and gave them every one his work. And +it is the companion of that disciple to whom Jesus gave the keys, and to +whom especially He said, "What, couldest thou not watch with Me one hour?" +St. Mark it is who specifies the command to the porter that he should +watch. To watch is not to gaze from the roof across the distant roads. It +is to have girded loins and a kindled lamp; it is not measured by excited +expectation, but by readiness. Does it seem to us that the world is no +longer hostile, because persecution and torture are at an end? That the +need is over for a clear distinction between her and us? This very belief +may prove that we are falling asleep. Never was there an age to which +Jesus did not say Watch. Never one in which His return would be other than +a snare to all whose life is on the level of the world. + +Now looking back over the whole discourse, we come to ask ourselves, What +is the spirit which it sought to breathe into His Church? Clearly it is +that of loyal expectation of the Absent One. There is in it no hint, that +because we cannot fail to be deceived without Him, therefore His +infallibility and His Vicar shall for ever be left on earth. His place is +empty until He returns. Whoever says, Lo, here is Christ, is a deceiver, +and it proves nothing that he shall deceive many. When Christ is +manifested again, it shall be as the blaze of lightning across the sky. +There is perhaps no text in this discourse which directly assails the +Papacy; but the atmosphere which pervades it is deadly alike to her +claims, and to the instincts and desires on which those claims rely. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + + + +The Cruse Of Ointment. + + + "Now after two days was _the feast of_ the passover and the + unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how + they might take Him with subtilty, and kill Him: for they said, + Not during the feast, lest haply there shall be a tumult of the + people. And while He was in Bethany in the house of Simon the + leper, as He sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster + cruse of ointment of spikenard very costly; _and_ she brake the + cruse, and poured it over His head. But there were some that had + indignation among themselves, _saying_, To what purpose hath this + waste of the ointment been made? For this ointment might have been + sold for above three hundred pence, and given to the poor. And + they murmured against her. But Jesus said, Let her alone; why + trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on Me. For ye have + the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye can do them + good: but Me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she + hath anointed My body aforehand for the burying. And verily I say + unto you, Wheresoever the gospel shall be preached throughout the + whole world, that also which this woman hath done shall be spoken + of for a memorial of her."--MARK xiv. 1-9 (R.V.). + + +Perfection implies not only the absence of blemishes, but the presence, in +equal proportions, of every virtue and every grace. And so the perfect +life is full of the most striking, and yet the easiest transitions. We +have just read predictions of trial more startling and intense than any in +the ancient Scripture. If we knew of Jesus only by the various reports of +that discourse, we should think of a recluse like Elijah or the Baptist, +and imagine that His disciples, with girded loins, should be more ascetic +than St. Anthony. We are next shown Jesus at a supper gracefully accepting +the graceful homage of a woman. + +From St. John we learn that this feast was given six days before the +passover. The other accounts postponed the mention of it, plainly because +of an incident which occurred then, but is vitally connected with a +decision arrived at somewhat later by the priests. Two days before the +passover, the council finally determined that Jesus must be destroyed. +They recognised all the dangers of that course. It must be done with +subtlety; the people must not be aroused; and therefore they said, Not on +the feast-day. It is remarkable, however, that at the very time when they +so determined, Jesus clearly and calmly made to His disciples exactly the +opposite announcement. "After two days the passover cometh, and the Son of +man is delivered up to be crucified" (Matt. xxvi. 2). Thus we find at +every turn of the narrative that their plans are over-ruled, and they are +unconscious agents of a mysterious design, which their Victim comprehends +and accepts. On one side, perplexity snatches at all base expedients; the +traitor is welcomed, false witnesses are sought after, and the guards of +the sepulchre bribed. On the other side is clear foresight, the deliberate +unmasking of Judas, and at the trial a circumspect composure, a lofty +silence, and speech more majestic still. + +Meanwhile there is a heart no longer light (for He foresees His burial), +yet not so burdened that He should decline the entertainment offered Him +at Bethany. + +This was in the house of Simon the leper, but St. John tells us that +Martha served, Lazarus sat at meat, and the woman who anointed Jesus was +Mary. We naturally infer some relationship between Simon and this favoured +family; but the nature of the tie we know not, and no purpose can be +served by guessing. Better far to let the mind rest upon the sweet picture +of Jesus, at home among those who loved Him; upon the eager service of +Martha; upon the man who had known death, somewhat silent, one fancies, a +remarkable sight for Jesus, as He sat at meat, and perhaps suggestive of +the thought which found utterance a few days afterwards, that a banquet +was yet to come, when He also, risen from the grave, should drink new wine +among His friends in the kingdom of God. And there the adoring face of her +who had chosen the better part was turned to her Lord with a love which +comprehended His sorrow and His danger, while even the Twelve were +blind--an insight which knew the awful presence of One upon his way to the +sepulchre, as well as one who had returned thence. Therefore she produced +a cruse of very precious ointment, which had been "kept" for Him, perhaps +since her brother was embalmed. And as such alabaster flasks were commonly +sealed in making, and only to be opened by breaking off the neck, she +crushed the cruse between her hands and poured it on His head. On His feet +also, according to St. John, who is chiefly thinking of the embalming of +the body, as the others of the anointing of the head. The discovery of +contradiction here is worthy of the abject "criticism" which detects in +this account a variation upon the story of her who was a sinner. As if two +women who loved much might not both express their loyalty, which could not +speak, by so fair and feminine a device; or as if it were inconceivable +that the blameless Mary should consciously imitate the gentle penitent. + +But even as this unworthy controversy breaks in upon the tender story, so +did indignation and murmuring spoil that peaceful scene. "Why was not this +ointment sold for much, and given to the poor?" It was not common that +others should be more thoughtful of the poor than Jesus. + +He fed the multitudes they would have sent away; He gave sight to +Bartimaeus whom they rebuked. But it is still true, that whenever generous +impulses express themselves with lavish hands, some heartless calculator +reckons up the value of what is spent, and especially its value to "the +poor;" the poor, who would be worse off if the instincts of love were +arrested and the human heart frozen. Almshouses are not usually built by +those who declaim against church architecture; nor is utilitarianism +famous for its charities. And so we are not surprised when St. John tells +us how the quarrel was fomented. Iscariot, the dishonest pursebearer, was +exasperated at the loss of a chance of theft, perhaps of absconding +without being so great a loser at the end of his three unrequited years. +True that the chance was gone, and speech would only betray his +estrangement from Jesus, upon Whom so much good property was wasted. But +evil tempers must express themselves at times, and Judas had craft enough +to involve the rest in his misconduct. It is the only indication in the +Gospels of intrigue among the Twelve which even indirectly struck at their +Master's honour. + +Thus, while the fragrance of the ointment filled the house, their +parsimony grudged the homage which soothed His heart, and condemned the +spontaneous impulse of Mary's love. + +It was for her that Jesus interfered, and His words went home. + +The poor were always with them: opportunities would never fail those who +were so zealous; and whensoever they would they could do them +good,--whensoever Judas, for example, would. As for her, she had wrought a +good work (a high-minded and lofty work is implied rather than a useful +one) upon Him, Whom they should not always have. Soon His body would be in +the hands of sinners, desecrated, outraged. And she only had comprehended, +however dimly, the silent sorrow of her Master; she only had laid to heart +His warnings; and, unable to save Him, or even to watch with Him one hour, +she (and through all that week none other) had done what she could. She +had anointed His body beforehand for the burial, and indeed with clear +intention "to prepare Him for burial" (Matt. xxvi. 12). + +It was for this that His followers had chidden her. Alas, how often do our +shrewd calculations and harsh judgments miss the very essence of some +problem which only the heart can solve, the silent intention of some deed +which is too fine, too sensitive, to explain itself except only to that +sympathy which understands us all. Men thought of Jesus as lacking +nothing, and would fain divert His honour to the poor; but this woman +comprehended the lonely heart, and saw the last inexorable need before +Him. Love read the secret in the eyes of love, and this which Mary did +shall be told while the world stands, as being among the few human actions +which refreshed the lonely One, the purest, the most graceful, and perhaps +the last. + + + + +The Traitor. + + + "And Judas Iscariot, he that was one of the twelve, went away unto + the chief priests, that he might deliver Him _unto them_. And + they, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him + money. And he sought how he might conveniently deliver Him unto + them. And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they + sacrificed the passover, His disciples say unto Him, Where wilt + Thou that we go and make ready that Thou mayest eat the passover? + And He sendeth two of His disciples, and saith unto them, Go into + the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of + water: follow him; and wheresoever he shall enter in, say to the + goodman of the house, the Master saith, Where is My guest-chamber, + where I shall eat the passover with My disciples? And he will + himself shew you a large upper room furnished and ready: and there + make ready for us. And the disciples went forth, and came into the + city, and found as He had said unto them: and they made ready the + passover."--MARK xiv. 10-16 (R.V.). + + +It was when Jesus rebuked the Twelve for censuring Mary, that the patience +of Judas, chafing in a service which had grown hateful, finally gave way. +He offered a treacherous and odious help to the chiefs of his religion, +and these pious men, too scrupulous to cast blood-money into the treasury +or to defile themselves by entering a pagan judgment hall, shuddered not +at the contact of such infamy, warned him not that perfidy will pollute +the holiest cause, cared as little then for his ruin as when they asked +what to them was his remorseful agony; but were glad, and promised to give +him money. By so doing, they became accomplices in the only crime by which +it is quite certain that a soul was lost. The supreme "offence" was +planned and perpetrated by no desperate criminal. It was the work of an +apostle, and his accomplices were the heads of a divinely given religion. +What an awful example of the deadening power, palsying the conscience, +petrifying the heart, of religious observances devoid of real trust and +love. + +The narrative, as we saw, somewhat displaced the story of Simon's feast, +to connect this incident more closely with the betrayal. And it now +proceeds at once to the passover, and the final crisis. In so doing, it +pauses at a curious example of circumspection, intimately linked also with +the treason of Judas. The disciples, unconscious of treachery, asked where +they should prepare the paschal supper. And Jesus gave them a sign by +which to recognise one who had a large upper room prepared for that +purpose, to which he would make them welcome. It is not quite impossible +that the pitcher of water was a signal preconcerted with some disciple in +Jerusalem, although secret understandings are not found elsewhere in the +life of Jesus. What concerns us to observe is that the owner of the house +which the bearer entered was a believer. To him Jesus is "the Master," and +can say "Where is My guest-chamber?" + +So obscure a disciple was he, that Peter and John required a sign to guide +them to his house. Yet his upper room would now receive such a +consecration as the Temple never knew. With strange feelings would he +henceforth enter the scene of the last supper of his Lord. But now, what +if he had only admitted Jesus with hesitation and after long delay? We +should wonder; yet there are lowlier doors at which the same Jesus stands +and knocks, and would fain come in and sup. And cold is His welcome to +many a chamber which is neither furnished nor made ready. + +The mysterious and reticent indication of the place is easily understood. +Jesus would not enable His enemies to lay hands upon Him before the time. +His nights had hitherto been spent at Bethany; now first it was possible +to arrest Him in the darkness, and hurry on the trial before the Galileans +at the feast, strangers and comparatively isolated, could learn the danger +of their "prophet of Galilee." It was only too certain that when the blow +was struck, the light and fickle adhesion of the populace would transfer +itself to the successful party. Meanwhile, the prudence of Jesus gave Him +time for the Last Supper, and the wonderful discourse recorded by St. +John, and the conflict and victory in the Garden. When the priests +learned, at a late hour, that Jesus might yet be arrested before morning, +but that Judas could never watch Him any more, the necessity for prompt +action came with such surprise upon them, that the arrest was accomplished +while they still had to seek false witnesses, and to consult how a +sentence might best be extorted from the Governor. It is right to observe +at every point, the mastery of Jesus, the perplexity and confusion of His +foes. + +And it is also right that we should learn to include, among the woes +endured for us by the Man of Sorrows, this haunting consciousness that a +base vigilance was to be watched against, that He breathed the air of +treachery and vileness. + +Here then, in view of the precautions thus forced upon our Lord, we pause +to reflect upon the awful fall of Judas, the degradation of an apostle +into a hireling, a traitor, and a spy. Men have failed to believe that one +whom Jesus called to His side should sink so low. + +They have not observed how inevitably great goodness rejected brings out +special turpitude, and dark shadows go with powerful lights; how, in this +supreme tragedy, all the motives, passions, moral and immoral impulses are +on the tragic scale; what gigantic forms of baseness, hypocrisy, cruelty, +and injustice stalk across the awful platform, and how the forces of hell +strip themselves, and string their muscles for a last desperate wrestle +against the powers of heaven, so that here is the very place to expect the +extreme apostasy. And so they have conjectured that Iscariot was only half +a traitor. Some project misled him of forcing his Master to turn to bay. +Then the powers which wasted themselves in scattering unthanked and +unprofitable blessings would exert themselves to crush the foe. Then he +could claim for himself the credit deserved by much astuteness, the +consideration due to the only man of political resource among the Twelve. +But this well-intending Judas is equally unknown to the narratives and the +prophecies, and this theory does not harmonise with any of the facts. +Profound reprobation and even contempt are audible in all the narratives; +they are quite as audible in the reiterated phrase, "which was one of the +Twelve," and in almost every mention of his name, as in the round +assertion of St. John, that he was a thief and stole from the common +purse. Only the lowest motive is discernible in the fact that his project +ripened just when the waste of the ointment spoiled his last hope from +apostleship,--the hope of unjust gain, and in his bargaining for the +miserable price which he still carried with him when the veil dropped from +his inner eyes, when he awoke to the sorrow of the world which worketh +death, to the remorse which was not penitence. + +One who desired that Jesus should be driven to counter-measures and yet +free to take them, would probably have favoured His escape when once the +attempt to arrest Him inflicted the necessary spur and certainly he would +have anxiously avoided any appearance of insult. But it will be seen that +Judas carefully closed every door against his Lord's escape, and seized +Him with something very like a jibe on his recreant lips. + +No, his infamy cannot be palliated, but it can be understood. For it is a +solemn and awful truth, that in every defeat of grace the reaction is +equal to the action; they who have been exalted unto heaven are brought +down far below the level of the world; and the principle is universal that +Israel cannot, by willing it, be as the nations that are round about, to +serve other gods. God Himself gives him statutes that are not good. He +makes fat the heart and blinds the eyes of the apostate. Therefore it +comes that religion without devotion is the mockery of honest worldlings; +that hypocrisy goes so constantly with the meanest and most sordid lust of +gain, and selfish cruelty; that publicans and harlots enter heaven before +scribes and pharisees; that salt which has lost its savour is fit neither +for the land nor for the dung-hill. Oh, then, to what place of shame shall +a recreant apostle be thrust down? + +Moreover it must be observed that the guilt of Judas, however awful, is +but a shade more dark than that of his sanctimonious employers, who sought +false witnesses against Christ, extorted by menace and intrigue a sentence +which Pilate openly pronounced to be unjust, mocked His despairing agony, +and on the resurrection morning bribed a pagan soldiery to lie for the +Hebrew faith. It is plain enough that Jesus could not and did not choose +the apostles through foreknowledge of what they would hereafter prove, but +by His perception of what they then were, and what they were capable of +becoming, if faithful to the light they should receive. + +Not one, when chosen first, was ready to welcome the purely spiritual +kingdom, the despised Messiah, the life of poverty and scorn. They had to +learn, and it was open to them to refuse the discipline. Once at least +they were asked, Will ye also go away? How severe was the trial may be +seen by the rebuke of Peter, and the petition of "Zebedee's children" and +their mother. They conquered the same reluctance of the flesh which +overcame the better part in Judas. But he clung desperately to secular +hope, until the last vestige of such hope was over. Listening to the +warnings of Christ against the cares of this world, the lust of other +things, love of high places and contempt of lowly service, and watching +bright offers rejected and influential classes estranged, it was +inevitable that a sense of personal wrong, and a vindictive resentment, +should spring up in his gloomy heart. The thorns choked the good seed. +Then came a deeper fall. As he rejected the pure light of self-sacrifice, +and the false light of his romantic daydreams faded, no curb was left on +the baser instincts which are latent in the human heart. Self-respect +being already lost, and conscience beaten down, he was allured by low +compensations, and the apostle became a thief. What better than gain, +however sordid, was left to a life so plainly frustrated and spoiled? That +is the temptation of disillusion, as fatal to middle life as the passions +are to early manhood. And this fall reacted again upon his attitude +towards Jesus. Like all who will not walk in the light, he hated the +light; like all hirelings of two masters, he hated the one he left. Men +ask how Judas could have consented to accept for Jesus the bloodmoney of a +slave. The truth is that his treason itself yielded him a dreadful +satisfaction, and the insulting kiss, and the sneering "Rabbi," expressed +the malice of his heart. Well for him if he had never been born. For when +his conscience awoke with a start and told him what thing he had become, +only self-loathing remained to him. Peter denying Jesus was nevertheless +at heart His own; a look sufficed to melt him. For Judas, Christ was +become infinitely remote and strange, an abstraction, "the innocent +blood," no more than that. And so, when Jesus was passing into the holiest +through the rent veil which was His flesh, this first Antichrist had +already torn with his own hands the tissue of the curtain which hides +eternity. + +Now let us observe that all this ruin was the result of forces continually +at work upon human hearts. Aspiration, vocation, failure, degradation--it +is the summary of a thousand lives. Only it is here exhibited on a vast +and dreadful scale (magnified by the light which was behind, as images +thrown by a lantern upon a screen) for the instruction and warning of the +world. + + + + +The Sop. + + + "And when it was evening He cometh with the twelve. And as they + sat and were eating, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you + shall betray Me, _even_ he that eateth with Me. They began to be + sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, Is it I? And He said + unto them, _It is_ one of the twelve, he that dippeth with Me in + the dish. For the Son of man goeth, even as it is written of Him: + but woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! + good were it for that man if he had not been born."--MARK xiv. + 17-21 (R.V.). + + +In the deadly wine which our Lord was made to drink, every ingredient of +mortal bitterness was mingled. And it shows how far is even His Church +from comprehending Him, that we think so much more of the physical than +the mental and spiritual horrors which gather around the closing scene. + +But the tone of all the narratives, and perhaps especially of St. Mark's, +is that of the exquisite Collect which reminds us that our Lord Jesus +Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked +men, as well as to suffer death on the cross. Treason and outrage, the +traitor's kiss and the weakness of those who loved Him, the hypocrisy of +the priest and the ingratitude of the mob, perjury and a mock trial, the +injustice of His judges, the brutal outrages of the soldiers, the worse +and more malignant mockery of scribe and Pharisee, and last and direst, +the averting of the face of God, these were more dreadful to Jesus than +the scourging and the nails. + +And so there is great stress laid upon His anticipation of the misconduct +of His own. + +As the dreadful evening closes in, having come to the guest chamber "with +the Twelve"--eleven whose hearts should fail them and one whose heart was +dead, it was "as they sat and were eating" that the oppression of the +traitor's hypocrisy became intolerable, and the outraged One spoke out. +"Verily I say unto you, One of you shall betray Me, even he that eateth +with Me." The words are interpreted as well as predicted in the plaintive +Psalm which says, "Mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did +also eat of My bread, hath lifted up his heel against Me." And perhaps +they are less a disclosure than a cry. + +Every attempt to mitigate the treason of Judas, every suggestion that he +may only have striven too wilfully to serve our Lord by forcing Him to +take decided measures, must fail to account for the sense of utter wrong +which breathes in the simple and piercing complaint "one of you ... even +he that eateth with Me." There is a tone in all the narratives which is at +variance with any palliation of the crime. + +No theology is worth much if it fails to confess, at the centre of all the +words and deeds of Jesus, a great and tender human heart. He might have +spoken of teaching and warnings lavished on the traitor, and miracles +which he had beheld in vain. What weighs heaviest on His burdened spirit +is none of these; it is that one should betray Him who had eaten His +bread. + +When Brutus was dying he is made to say-- + + + "My heart doth joy, that yet, in all my life, + I found no man, but he was true to me." + + +But no form of innocent sorrow was to pass Jesus by. + +The vagueness in the words "one of you shall betray Me," was doubtless +intended to suggest in all a great searching of heart. Coming just before +the institution of the Eucharistic feast, this incident anticipates the +command which it perhaps suggested: "Let a man examine himself, and so let +him eat." It is good to be distrustful of one's self. And if, as was +natural, the Eleven looked one upon another doubting of whom He spake, +they also began to say to Him, one by one (first the most timid, and then +others as the circle narrowed), Is it I? For the prince of this world had +something in each of them,--some frailty there was, some reluctance to bear +the yoke, some longing for the forbidden ways of worldliness, which +alarmed each at this solemn warning, and made him ask, Is it, can it be +possible, that it is I? Religious self-sufficiency was not then the +apostolic mood. Their questioning is also remarkable as a proof how little +they suspected Judas, how firmly he bore himself even as those +all-revealing words were spoken, how strong and wary was the temperament +which Christ would fain have sanctified. For between the Master and him +there could have been no more concealment. + +The apostles were right to distrust themselves, and not to distrust +another. They were right, because they were so feeble, so unlike their +Lord. But for Him there is no misgiving: His composure is serene in the +hour of the power of darkness. And His perfect spiritual sensibility +discerned the treachery, unknown to others, as instinctively as the eye +resents the presence of a mote imperceptible to the hand. + +The traitor's iron nerve is somewhat strained as he feels himself +discovered, and when Jesus is about to hand a sop to him, he stretches +over, and their hands meet in the dish. That is the appointed sign: "It is +one of the Twelve, he that dippeth with Me in the dish," and as he rushes +out into the darkness, to seek his accomplices and his revenge, Jesus +feels the awful contrast between the betrayer and the Betrayed. For +Himself, He goeth as it is written of Him. This phrase admirably expresses +the co-operation of Divine purpose and free human will, and by the woe +that follows He refutes all who would make of God's fore-knowledge an +excuse for human sin. He then is not walking in the dark and stumbling, +though men shall think Him falling. But the life of the false one is worse +than utterly cast away: of him is spoken the dark and ominous word, never +indisputably certain of any other soul, "Good were it for him if that man +had not been born." + +"That man!" The order and emphasis are very strange. The Lord, who felt +and said that one of His chosen was a devil, seems here to lay stress upon +the warning thought, that he who fell so low was human, and his frightful +ruin was evolved from none but human capabilities for good and evil. In +"the Son of man" and "that man," the same humanity was to be found. + +For Himself, He is the same to-day as yesterday. All that we eat is His. +And in the most especial and far-reaching sense, it is His bread which is +broken for us at His table. Has He never seen traitor except one who +violated so close a bond? Alas, the night when the Supper of the Lord was +given was the same night when He was betrayed. + + + + +Bread And Wine. + + + "And as they were eating, He took bread, and when He had blessed + He brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take ye: this is My body. + And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave to them, + and they all drank of it. And He said unto them, This is My blood + of the covenant, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I + will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I + drink it new in the kingdom of God."--MARK xiv. 22-25 (R.V.). + + +How much does the Gospel of St. Mark tell us about the Supper of the Lord? +He is writing to Gentiles. He is writing probably before the sixth chapter +of St. John was penned, certainly before it reached his readers. Now we +must not undervalue the reflected light thrown by one Scripture upon +another. Still less may we suppose that each account conveys all the +doctrine of the Eucharist. But it is obvious that St. Mark intended his +narrative to be complete in itself, even if not exhaustive. No serious +expositor will ignore the fulness of any word or action in which later +experience can discern meanings, truly involved, although not apparent at +the first. That would be to deny the inspiring guidance of Him who sees +the end from the beginning. But it is reasonable to omit from the +interpretation of St. Mark whatever is not either explicitly there, or +else there in germ, waiting underneath the surface for other influences to +develope it. For instance, the "remembrance" of Christ in St. Paul's +narrative may (or it may not) mean a sacrificial memorial to God of His +Body and His Blood. If it be, this notion was to be conveyed to the +readers of this Gospel hereafter, as a quite new fact, resting upon other +authority. It has no place whatever here, and need only be mentioned to +point out that St. Mark did not feel bound to convey the slightest hint of +it. A communion, therefore, could be profitably celebrated by persons who +had no glimmering of any such conception. Nor does he rely, for an +understanding of his narrative, upon such familiarity with Jewish ritual +as would enable his readers to draw subtle analogies as they went along. +They were so ignorant of these observances that he had just explained to +them on what day the passover was sacrificed (ver. 12). + +But this narrative conveys enough to make the Lord's Supper, for every +believing heart, the supreme help to faith, both intellectual and +spiritual, and the mightiest of promises, and the richest gift of grace. + +It is hard to imagine that any reader would conceive that the bread in +Christ's hands had become His body, which still lived and breathed; or +that His blood, still flowing in His veins, was also in the cup He gave to +His disciples. No resort could be made to the glorification of the risen +Body as an escape from the perplexities of such a notion, for in whatever +sense the words are true, they were spoken of the body of His humiliation, +before which still lay the agony and the tomb. + +Instinct would revolt yet more against such a gross explanation, because +the friends of Jesus are bidden to eat and drink. And all the analogy of +Christ's language would prove that His vivid style refuses to be tied down +to so lifeless and mechanical a treatment. Even in this Gospel they could +discover that seed was teaching, and fowls were Satan, and that they were +themselves His mother and His brethren. Further knowledge of Scripture +would not impair this natural freedom of interpretation. For they would +discover that if animated language were to be frozen to such literalism, +the partakers of the Supper were themselves, though many, one body and one +loaf, that Onesimus was St. Paul's very heart, that leaven is hypocrisy, +that Hagar is Mount Sinai, and that the veil of the temple is the flesh of +Christ (1 Cor. x. 17; Philem. ver. 12; Luke xii. 1; Gal. iv. 25; Heb. x. +20). And they would also find, in the analogous institution of the paschal +feast, a similar use of language (Exod. xii. 11). + +But when they had failed to discern the doctrine of a transubstantiation, +how much was left to them. The great words remained, in all their spirit +and life, "Take ye, this is My Body ... this is My Blood of the Covenant, +which is shed for many." + +(1) So then, Christ did not look forward to His death as to ruin or +overthrow. The Supper is an institution which could never have been +devised at any later period. It comes to us by an unbroken line from the +Founder's hand, and attested by the earliest witnesses. None could have +interpolated a new ordinance into the simple worship of the early Church, +and the last to suggest such a possibility should be those sceptics who +are deeply interested in exaggerating the estrangements which existed from +the first, and which made the Jewish Church a keen critic of Gentile +innovation, and the Gentiles of a Jewish novelty. + +Nor could any genius have devised its vivid and pictorial earnestness, its +copious meaning, and its pathetic power over the heart, except His, Who +spoke of the Good Shepherd and of the Prodigal Son. And so it tells us +plainly what Christ thought about His own death. Death is to most of us +simply the close of life. To Him it was itself an achievement, and a +supreme one. Now it is possible to remember with exultation a victory +which cost the conqueror's life. But on the Friday which we call Good, +nothing happened except the crucifixion. The effect on the Church, which +is amazing and beyond dispute, is produced by the death of her Founder, +and by nothing else. The Supper has no reference to Christ's resurrection. +It is as if the nation exulted in Trafalgar, not in spite of the death of +our great Admiral, but solely because he died; as if the shot which slew +Nelson had itself been the overthrow of hostile navies. Now the history of +religions offers no parallel to this. The admirers of the Buddha love to +celebrate the long spiritual struggle, the final illumination, and the +career of gentle helpfulness. They do not derive life and energy from the +somewhat vulgar manner of his death. But the followers of Jesus find an +inspiration (very displeasing to some recent apostles of good taste) in +singing of their Redeemer's blood. Remove from the Creed (which does not +even mention His three years of teaching) the proclamation of His death, +and there may be left, dimly visible to man, the outline of a sage among +the sages, but there will be no longer a Messiah, nor a Church. It is +because He was lifted up that He draws all men unto Him. The perpetual +nourishment of the Church, her bread and wine, are beyond question the +slain body of her Master and His blood poured out for man. + +What are we to make of this admitted fact, that from the first she thought +less of His miracles, His teaching, and even of His revelation of the +Divine character in a perfect life, than of the doctrine that He who thus +lived, died for the men who slew Him? And what of this, that Jesus +Himself, in the presence of imminent death, when men review their lives +and set a value on their achievements, embodied in a solemn ordinance the +conviction that all He had taught and done was less to man than what He +was about to suffer? The Atonement is here proclaimed as a cardinal fact +in our religion, not worked out into doctrinal subtleties, but placed with +marvellous simplicity and force, in the forefront of the consciousness of +the simplest. What the Incarnation does for our bewildering thoughts of +God, the absolute and unconditioned, that does the Eucharist for our +subtle reasonings upon the Atonement. + +(2) The death of Christ is thus precious, because He Who is sacrificed for +us can give Himself away. "Take ye" is a distinct offer. And so the +communion feast is not a mere commemoration, such as nations hold for +great deliverances. It is this, but it is much more, else the language of +Christ would apply worse to that first supper whence all our Eucharistic +language is derived, than to any later celebration. When He was absent, +the bread would very aptly remind them of His wounded body, and the wine +of His blood poured out. It might naturally be said, Henceforward, to your +loving remembrance this shall be my Body, as indeed, the words, As oft as +ye drink it, are actually linked with the injunction to do this in +remembrance. But scarcely could it have been said by Jesus, looking His +disciples in the face, that the elements were then His body and blood, if +nothing more than commemoration were in His mind. And so long as popular +Protestantism fails to look beyond this, so long will it be hard pressed +and harassed by the evident weight of the words of institution. These are +given in Scripture solely as having been spoken then, and no +interpretation is valid which attends chiefly to subsequent celebrations, +and only in the second place to the Supper of Jesus and the Eleven. + +Now the most strenuous opponent of the doctrine that any change has passed +over the material substance of the bread and wine, need not resist the +palpable evidence that Christ appointed these to represent Himself. And +how? Not only as sacrificed for His people, but as verily bestowed upon +them. Unless Christ mocks us, "Take ye" is a word of absolute assurance. +Christ's Body is not only slain, and His Blood shed on our behalf; He +gives Himself _to_ us as well as _for_ us; He is ours. And therefore +whoever is convinced that he may take part in "the sacrament of so great a +mystery" should realize that he there receives, conveyed to him by the +Author of that wondrous feast, all that is expressed by the bread and +wine. + +(3) And yet this very word "Take ye," demands our co-operation in the +sacrament. It requires that we should receive Christ, as it declares that +He is ready to impart Himself, utterly, like food which is taken into the +system, absorbed, assimilated, wrought into bone, into tissue and into +blood. And if any doubt lingered in our minds of the significance of this +word, it is removed when we remember how belief is identified with +feeding, in St. John's Gospel. "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to +Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.... He +that believeth hath eternal life. I am the bread of life." (John vi. 35, +47, 48.) If it follows that to feed upon Christ is to believe, it also +follows quite as plainly that belief is not genuine unless it really feeds +upon Christ. + +It is indeed impossible to imagine a more direct and vigorous appeal to +man to have faith in Christ than this, that He formally conveys, by the +agency of His Church, to the hands and lips of His disciples, the +appointed emblem of Himself, and of Himself in the act of blessing them. +For the emblem is food in its most nourishing and in its most stimulating +form, in a form the best fitted to speak of utter self-sacrifice, by the +bruised corn of broken bread, and by the solemn resemblance to His sacred +blood. We are taught to see, in the absolute absorption of our food into +our bodily system, a type of the completeness wherewith Christ gives +Himself to us. + +That gift is not to the Church in the gross, it is "divided among" us; it +individualizes each believer; and yet the common food expresses the unity +of the whole Church in Christ. Being many we are one bread. + +Moreover, the institution of a meal reminds us that faith and emotion do +not always exist together. Times there are when the hunger and thirst of +the soul are like the craving of a sharp appetite for food. But the wise +man will not postpone his meal until such a keen desire returns, and the +Christian will seek for the Bread of life, however his emotions may flag, +and his soul cleave unto the dust. Silently and often unaware, as the +substance of the body is renovated and restored by food, shall the inner +man be strengthened and built up by that living Bread. + +(4) We have yet to ask the great question, what is the specific blessing +expressed by the elements, and therefore surely given to the faithful by +the sacrament. Too many are content to think vaguely of Divine help, given +us for the merit of the death of Christ. But bread and wine do not express +an indefinite Divine help, they express the body and blood of Christ, they +have to do with His Humanity. We must beware, indeed, of limiting the +notion overmuch. At the Supper He said not "My flesh," but "My body," +which is plainly a more comprehensive term. And in the discourse when He +said "My Flesh is meat indeed," He also said "I am the bread of life.... +He that eateth Me, the same shall live by Me." And we may not so carnalize +the Body as to exclude the Person, who bestows Himself. Yet is all the +language so constructed as to force the conviction upon us that His body +and blood, His Humanity, is the special gift of the Lord's Supper. As man +He redeemed us, and as man He imparts Himself to man. + +Thus we are led up to the sublime conception of a new human force working +in humanity. As truly as the life of our parents is in our veins, and the +corruption which they inherited from Adam is passed on to us, so truly +there is abroad in the world another influence, stronger to elevate than +the infection of the fall is to degrade; and the heart of the Church is +propelling to its utmost extremities the pure life of the Second Adam, the +Second Man, the new Father of the race. As in Adam all die, even so in +Christ shall all be made alive; and we who bear now the image of our +earthy progenitor shall hereafter bear the image of the heavenly. +Meanwhile, even as the waste and dead tissues of our bodily frame are +replaced by new material from every meal, so does He, the living Bread, +impart not only aid from heaven, but nourishment, strength to our poor +human nature, so weary and exhausted, and renovation to what is sinful and +decayed. How well does such a doctrine of the sacrament harmonize with the +declarations of St. Paul: "I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth +in me." "The Head, from whom all the body being supplied and knit together +through the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God" (Gal. +ii. 20; Col. ii. 19). + +(5) In the brief narrative of St. Mark, there are a few minor points of +interest. + +Fasting communions may possibly be an expression of reverence only. The +moment they are pressed further, or urged as a duty, they are strangely +confronted by the words, "While they were eating, Jesus took bread." + +The assertion that "they all drank," follows from the express commandment +recorded elsewhere. And while we remember that the first communicants were +not laymen, yet the emphatic insistence upon this detail, and with +reference only to the cup, is entirely at variance with the Roman notion +of the completeness of a communion in one kind. + +It is most instructive also to observe how the far-reaching expectation of +our Lord looks beyond the Eleven, and beyond His infant Church, forward to +the great multitude which no man can number, and speaks of the shedding of +His blood "for many." He, who is to see of the travail of His soul and to +be satisfied, has already spoken of a great supper when the house of God +shall be filled. And now He will no more drink of the fruit of the vine +until that great day when the marriage of the Lamb having come, and His +Bride having made herself ready, He shall drink it new in the consummated +kingdom of God. + +With the announcement of that kingdom He began His gospel: how could the +mention of it be omitted from the great gospel of the Eucharist? or how +could the Giver of the earthly feast be silent concerning the banquet yet +to come? + + + + +The Warning. + + + "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of + Olives. And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended: for + it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be + scattered abroad. Howbeit, after I am raised up, I will go before + you into Galilee. But Peter said unto Him, Although all shall be + offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say + unto thee, that thou to-day, _even_ this night, before the cock + crow twice, shalt deny me thrice. But he spake exceeding + vehemently, If I must die with Thee, I will not deny Thee. And in + like manner also said they all."--MARK xiv. 26-31 (R.V.). + + +Some uncertainty attaches to the position of Christ's warning to the +Eleven in the narrative of the last evening. Was it given at the supper, +or on Mount Olivet; or were there perhaps premonitory admonitions on His +part, met by vows of faithfulness on theirs, which at last led Him to +speak out so plainly, and elicited such vainglorious protestations, when +they sat together in the night air? + +What concerns us more is the revelation of a calm and beautiful nature, at +every point in the narrative. Jesus knows and has declared that His life +is now closing, and His blood already "being shed for many." But that does +not prevent Him from joining with them in singing a hymn. It is the only +time when we are told that our Saviour sang, evidently because no other +occasion needed mention; a warning to those who draw confident inferences +from such facts as that "none ever said He smiled," or that there is no +record of His having been sick. It would surprise such theorists to +observe the number of biographies much longer than any of the Gospels, +which also mention nothing of the kind. The Psalms usually sung at the +close of the feast are cxv. and the three following. The first tells how +the dead praise not the Lord, but we will praise Him from this time forth +for ever. The second proclaims that the Lord hath delivered my soul from +death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. The third bids all +the nations praise the Lord, for His merciful kindness is great and His +truth endureth for ever. And the fourth rejoices because, although all +nations compassed me about, yet I shall not die, but live and declare the +works of the Lord; and because the stone which the builders rejected is +become the head stone of the corner. Memories of infinite sadness were +awakened by the words which had so lately rung around His path: "Blessed +is He that cometh in the name of the Lord;" but His voice was strong to +sing, "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar;" and +it rose to the exultant close, "Thou art my God, and I will praise Thee: +Thou art my God, I will exalt Thee. O give thanks unto the Lord for He is +good, for His mercy endureth for ever." + +This hymn, from the lips of the Perfect One, could be no "dying +swan-song." It uplifted that more than heroic heart to the wonderful +tranquillity which presently said, "When I am risen, I will go before you +into Galilee." It is full of victory. And now they go unto the Mount of +Olives. + +Is it enough considered how much of the life of Jesus was passed in the +open air? He preached on the hill side; He desired that a boat should be +at His command upon the lake; He prayed upon the mountain; He was +transfigured beside the snows of Hermon; He oft-times resorted to a garden +which had not yet grown awful; He met His disciples on a Galilean +mountain; and He finally ascended from the Mount of Olives. His +unartificial normal life, a pattern to us, not as students but as men--was +spent by preference neither in the study nor the street. + +In this crisis, most solemn and yet most calm, He leaves the crowded city +into which all the tribes had gathered, and chooses for His last +intercourse with His disciples, the slopes of the opposite hill side, +while overhead is glowing, in all the still splendour of an Eastern sky, +the full moon of Passover. Here then is the place for one more emphatic +warning. Think how He loved them. As His mind reverts to the impending +blow, and apprehends it in its most awful form, the very buffet of God Who +Himself will smite the Shepherd, He remembers to warn His disciples of +their weakness. We feel it to be gracious that He should think of them at +such a time. But if we drew a little nearer, we should almost hear the +beating of the most loving heart that ever broke. They were all He had. In +them He had confided utterly. Even as the Father had loved Him, He also +had loved them, the firstfruits of the travail of His soul. He had ceased +to call them servants and had called them friends. To them He had spoken +those affecting words, "Ye are they which have continued with me in My +temptations." How intensely He clung to their sympathy, imperfect though +it was, is best seen by His repeated appeals to it in the Agony. And He +knew that they loved Him, that the spirit was willing, that they would +weep and lament for Him, sorrowing with a sorrow which He hastened to add +that He would turn into joy. + +It is the preciousness of their fellowship which reminds Him how this, +like all else, must fail Him. If there is blame in the words, "Ye shall be +offended," this passes at once into exquisite sadness when He adds that +He, Who so lately said, "Them that Thou gavest Me, I have guarded," should +Himself be the cause of their offence, "All ye shall be caused to stumble +because of Me." And there is an unfathomable tenderness, a marvellous +allowance for their frailty in what follows. They were His sheep, and +therefore as helpless, as little to be relied upon, as sheep when the +shepherd is stricken. How natural it was for sheep to be scattered. + +The world has no parallel for such a warning to comrades who are about to +leave their leader, so faithful and yet so tender, so far from +estrangement or reproach. + +If it stood alone it would prove the Founder of the Church to be not only +a great teacher, but a genuine Son of man. + +For Himself, He does not share their weakness, nor apply to Himself the +lesson of distrustfulness which He teaches them; He is of another nature +from these trembling sheep, the Shepherd of Zechariah, "Who is My fellow, +saith the Lord of Hosts." He does not shrink from applying to Himself this +text, which awakens against Him the sword of God (Zechariah xiii. 7). + +Looking now beyond the grave to the resurrection, and unestranged by their +desertion, He resumes at once the old relation; for as the shepherd goeth +before his sheep, and they follow him, so He will go before them into +Galilee, to the familiar places, far from the city where men hate Him. + +This last touch of quiet human feeling completes an utterance too +beautiful, too characteristic to be spurious, yet a prophecy, and one +which attests the ancient predictions, and which involves an amazing +claim. + +At first sight it is surprising that the Eleven who were lately so +conscious of weakness that each asked was he the traitor, should since +have become too self-confident to profit by a solemn admonition. But a +little examination shows the two statements to be quite consistent. They +had wronged themselves by that suspicion, and never is self-reliance more +boastful than when it is reassured after being shaken. The institution of +the Sacrament had invested them with new privileges, and drawn them nearer +than ever to their Master. Add to this the infinite tenderness of the last +discourse in St. John, and the prayer which was for them and not for the +world. How did their hearts burn within them as He said, "Holy Father, +keep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given Me." How incredible must it +then have seemed to them, thrilling with real sympathy and loyal +gratitude, that they should forsake such a Master. + +Nor must we read in their words merely a loud and indignant +self-assertion, all unworthy of the time and scene. They were meant to be +a solemn vow. The love they professed was genuine and warm. Only they +forgot their weakness; they did not observe the words which declared them +to be helpless sheep entirely dependent on the Shepherd, whose support +would speedily seem to fail. + +Instead of harsh and unbecoming criticism, which repeats almost exactly +their fault by implying that we should not yield to the same pressure, let +us learn the lesson, that religious exaltation, a sense of special +privilege, and the glow of generous emotions, have their own danger. +Unless we continue to be as little children, receiving the Bread of Life, +without any pretence to have deserved it, and conscious still that our +only protection is the staff of our Shepherd, then the very notion that we +are something, when we are nothing, will betray us to defeat and shame. + +Peter is the loudest in his protestations; and there is a painful egoism +in his boast, that even if the others fail, he will never deny Him. So in +the storm, it is he who should be called across the waters. And so an +early reading makes him propose that he alone should build the tabernacles +for the wondrous Three. + +Naturally enough, this egoism stimulates the rest. For them, Peter is +among those who may fail, while each is confident that he himself cannot. +Thus the pride of one excites the pride of many. + +But Christ has a special humiliation to reveal for his special +self-assertion. That day, and even before that brief night was over, +before the second cock-crowing ("the cock-crow" of the rest, being that +which announced the dawn) he shall deny his Master twice. Peter does not +observe that his eager contradictions are already denying the Master's +profoundest claims. The others join in his renewed protestations, and +their Lord answers them no more. Since they refuse to learn from Him, they +must be left to the stern schooling of experience. Even before the +betrayal, they had an opportunity to judge how little their good +intentions might avail. For Jesus now enters Gethsemane. + + + + +In The Garden. + + + "And they come unto a place which was named Gethsemane: and He + saith unto His disciples, Sit ye here, while I pray. And He taketh + with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly amazed, + and sore troubled. And He saith unto them, My soul is exceeding + sorrowful even unto death: abide ye here, and watch. And He went + forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it + were possible, the hour might pass away from Him. And He said, + Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee: remove this cup + from Me: howbeit not what I will, but what Thou wilt. And He + cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, + sleepest thou? couldest thou not watch one hour? Watch and pray, + that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, + but the flesh is weak. And again He went away, and prayed, saying + the same words. And again He came, and found them sleeping, for + their eyes were very heavy; and they wist not what to answer Him. + And He cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, + and take your rest: it is enough; the hour is come; behold, the + Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us be + going: behold, he that betrayeth Me is at hand."--MARK xiv. 32-42 + (R.V.). + + +All Scripture, given by inspiration of God, is profitable; yet must we +approach with reverence and solemn shrinking, the story of our Saviour's +anguish. It is a subject for caution and for reticence, putting away all +over-curious surmise, all too-subtle theorizing, and choosing to say too +little rather than too much. + +It is possible so to argue about the metaphysics of the Agony as to forget +that a suffering human heart was there, and that each of us owes his soul +to the victory which was decided if not completed in that fearful place. +The Evangelists simply tell us how He suffered. + +Let us begin with the accessories of the scene, and gradually approach the +centre. + +In the warning of Jesus to His disciples there was an undertone of deep +sorrow. God will smite Him, and they will all be scattered like sheep. +However dauntless be the purport of such words, it is impossible to lose +sight of their melancholy. And when the Eleven rejected His prophetic +warning, and persisted in trusting the hearts He knew to be so fearful, +their professions of loyalty could only deepen His distress, and intensify +His isolation. + +In silence He turns to the deep gloom of the olive grove, aware now of the +approach of the darkest and deadliest assault. + +There was a striking contrast between the scene of His first temptation +and His last; and His experience was exactly the reverse of that of the +first Adam, who began in a garden, and was driven thence into the desert, +because he failed to refuse himself one pleasure more beside ten thousand. +Jesus began where the transgression of men had driven them, in the desert +among the wild beasts, and resisted not a luxury, but the passion of +hunger craving for bread. Now He is in a garden, but how different from +theirs. Close by is a city filled with foemen, whose messengers are +already on His track. Instead of the attraction of a fruit good for food, +and pleasant, and to be desired to make one wise, there is the grim +repulsion of death, and its anguish, and its shame and mockery. He is now +to be assailed by the utmost terrors of the flesh and of the spirit. And +like the temptation in the wilderness, the assault is three times renewed. + +As the dark "hour" approached, Jesus confessed the two conflicting +instincts of our human nature in its extremity--the desire of sympathy, and +the desire of solitude. Leaving eight of the disciples at some distance, +He led still nearer to the appointed place His elect of His election, on +whom He had so often bestowed special privilege, and whose faith would be +less shaken by the sight of His human weakness, because they had beheld +His Divine glory on the holy mount. To these He opened His heart. "My soul +is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; abide ye here and watch." And He +went from them a little. Their neighbourhood was a support in His dreadful +conflict, and He could at times return to them for sympathy; but they +might not enter with Him into the cloud, darker and deadlier than that +which they feared on Hermon. He would fain not be desolate, and yet He +must be alone. + +But when He returned, they were asleep. As Jesus spoke of watching for one +hour, some time had doubtless elapsed. And sorrow is exhausting. If the +spirit do not seek for support from God, it will be dragged down by the +flesh into heavy sleep, and the brief and dangerous respite of oblivion. + +It was the failure of Peter which most keenly affected Jesus, not only +because his professions had been so loud, but because much depended on his +force of character. Thus, when Satan had desired to have them, that he +might sift them all like wheat, the prayers of Jesus were especially for +Simon, and it was he when he was converted who should strengthen the rest. +Surely then he at least might have watched one hour. And what of John, His +nearest human friend, whose head had reposed upon His bosom? However keen +the pang, the lips of the Perfect Friend were silent; only He warned them +all alike to watch and pray, because they were themselves in danger of +temptation. + +That is a lesson for all time. No affection and no zeal are a substitute +for the presence of God realised, and the protection of God invoked. +Loyalty and love are not enough without watchfulness and prayer, for even +when the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, and needs to be upheld. + +Thus, in His severest trial and heaviest oppression, there is neither +querulousness nor invective, but a most ample recognition of their good +will, a most generous allowance for their weakness, a most sedulous +desire, not that He should be comforted, but that they should escape +temptation. + +With His yearning heart unsoothed, with another anxiety added to His heavy +burden, Jesus returned to His vigil. Three times He felt the wound of +unrequited affection, for their eyes were very heavy, and they wist not +what to answer Him when He spoke. + +Nor should we omit to contrast their bewildered stupefaction, with the +keen vigilance and self-possession of their more heavily burdened Lord. + +If we reflect that Jesus must needs experience all the sorrows that human +weakness and human wickedness could inflict, we may conceive of these +varied wrongs as circles with a common centre, on which the cross was +planted. And our Lord has now entered the first of these; He has looked +for pity but there was no man; His own, although it was grief which +pressed them down, slept in the hour of His anguish, and when He bade them +watch. + +It is right to observe that our Saviour had not bidden them to pray with +Him. They should watch and pray. They should even watch with Him. But to +pray for Him, or even to pray with Him, they were not bidden. And this is +always so. Never do we read that Jesus and any mortal joined together in +any prayer to God. On the contrary, when two or three of them asked +anything in His name, He took for Himself the position of the Giver of +their petition. And we know certainly that He did not invite them to join +His prayers, for it was as He was praying in a certain place that when He +ceased, one of His disciples desired that they also might be taught to +pray (Luke xi. 1). Clearly then they were not wont to approach the mercy +seat hand in hand with Jesus. And the reason is plain. He came directly to +His Father; no man else came unto the Father but by Him; there was an +essential difference between His attitude towards God and ours. + +Has the Socinian ever asked himself why, in this hour of His utmost +weakness, Jesus sought no help from the intercession of even the chiefs of +the apostles? + +It is in strict harmony with this position, that St. Matthew tells us, He +now said not Our Father, but My Father. No disciple is taught, in any +circumstances to claim for himself a monopolized or special sonship. He +may be in his closet and the door shut, yet must he remember his brethren +and say, Our Father. That is a phrase which Jesus never addressed to God. +None is partaker of His Sonship; none joined with Him in supplication to +His Father. + + + + +The Agony. + + + "And He saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto + death: abide ye here, and watch. And He went forward a little, and + fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour + might pass away from Him. And He said, Abba, Father, all things + are possible unto Thee; remove this cup from Me: howbeit not what + I will, but what Thou wilt. And He cometh, and findeth them + sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest + thou not watch one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into + temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. + And again He went away, and prayed, saying the same words. And + again He came, and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very + heavy; and they wist not what to answer Him. And He cometh the + third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: + it is enough; the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed + into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us be going: behold, he that + betrayeth Me is at hand."--MARK xiv. 34-42 (R.V.). + + +Sceptics and believers have both remarked that St. John, the only +Evangelist who was said to have been present, gives no account of the +Agony. + +It is urged by the former, that the serene composure of the discourse in +his Gospel leaves no room for subsequent mental conflict and recoil from +suffering, which are inconsistent besides with his conception of a Divine +man, too exalted to be the subject of such emotions. + +But do not the others know of composure which bore to speak of His Body as +broken bread, and seeing in the cup the likeness of His Blood shed, gave +it to be the food of His Church for ever? + +Was the resignation less serene which spoke of the smiting of the +Shepherd, and yet of His leading back the flock to Galilee? If the +narrative was rejected as inconsistent with the calmness of Jesus in the +fourth Gospel, it should equally have repelled the authors of the other +three. + +We may grant that emotion, agitation, is inconsistent with unbelieving +conceptions of the Christ of the fourth Gospel. But this only proves how +false those conceptions are. For the emotion, the agitation, is already +there. At the grave of Lazarus the word which tells that when He groaned +in spirit He was troubled, describes one's distress in the presence of +some palpable opposing force (John xi. 34). There was, however, a much +closer approach to His emotion in the garden, when the Greek world first +approached Him. Then He contrasted its pursuit of self-culture with His +own doctrine of self-sacrifice, declaring that even a grain of wheat must +either die or abide by itself alone. To Jesus that doctrine was no smooth, +easily announced theory, and so He adds, "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" (John xii. 27). + +Such is the Jesus of the fourth Gospel, by no means that of its modern +analysts. Nor is enough said, when we remind them that the Speaker of +these words was capable of suffering; we must add that profound agitation +at the last was inevitable, for One so resolute in coming to this hour, +yet so keenly sensitive of its dread. + +The truth is that the silence of St. John is quite in his manner. It is so +that he passes by the Sacraments, as being familiar to his readers, +already instructed in the gospel story. But he gives previous discourses +in which the same doctrine is expressed which was embodied in each +Sacrament,--the declaration that Nicodemus must be born of water, and that +the Jews must eat His flesh and drink His blood. It is thus that instead +of the agony, he records that earlier agitation. And this threefold +recurrence of the same expedient is almost incredible except by design. +St. John was therefore not forgetful of Gethsemane. + +A coarser infidelity has much to say about the shrinking of our Lord from +death. Such weakness is pronounced unworthy, and the bearing of multitudes +of brave men and even of Christian martyrs, unmoved in the flames, is +contrasted with the strong crying and tears of Jesus. + +It would suffice to answer that Jesus also failed not when the trial came, +but before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, and won upon the +cross the adoration of a fellow-sufferer and the confession of a Roman +soldier. It is more than enough to answer that His story, so far from +relaxing the nerve of human fortitude, has made those who love Him +stronger to endure tortures than were emperors and inquisitors to invent +them. What men call His weakness has inspired ages with fortitude. +Moreover, the censure which such critics, much at ease, pronounce on Jesus +expecting crucifixion, arises entirely from the magnificent and unique +standard by which they try Him; for who is so hard-hearted as to think +less of the valour of the martyrs because it was bought by many a lonely +and intense conflict with the flesh? + +For us, we accept the standard; we deny that Jesus in the garden came +short of absolute perfection; but we call attention to the fact that much +is conceded to us, when a criticism is ruthlessly applied to our Lord +which would excite indignation and contempt if brought to bear on the +silent sufferings of any hero or martyr but Himself. + +Perfection is exactly what complicates the problem here. + +Conscious of our own weakness, we not only justify but enjoin upon +ourselves every means of attaining as much nobility as we may. We "steel +ourselves to bear," and therefore we are led to expect the same of Jesus. +We aim at some measure of what, in its lowest stage, is callous +insensibility. Now that word is negative; it asserts the absence or +paralysis of a faculty, not its fulness and activity. Thus we attain +victory by a double process; in part by resolutely turning our mind away, +and only in part by its ascendancy over appreciated distress. We +administer anodynes to the soul. But Jesus, when he had tasted thereof, +would not drink. The horrors which were closing around Him were perfectly +apprehended, that they might perfectly be overcome. + +Thus suffering, He became an example for gentle womanhood, and tender +childhood, as well as man boastful of his stoicism. Moreover, He +introduced into the world a new type of virtue, much softer and more +emotional than that of the sages. The stoic, to whom pain is no evil, and +the Indian laughing and singing at the stake, are partly actors and partly +perversions of humanity. But the good Shepherd is also, for His +gentleness, a lamb. And it is His influence which has opened our eyes to +see a charm unknown before, in the sensibility of our sister and wife and +child. Therefore, since the perfection of manhood means neither the +ignoring of pain nor the denying of it, but the union of absolute +recognition with absolute mastery of its fearfulness, Jesus, on the +approach of agony and shame, and who shall say what besides, yields +Himself beforehand to the full contemplation of His lot. He does so, while +neither excited by the trial, nor driven to bay by the scoffs of His +murderers, but in solitude, in the dark, with stealthy footsteps +approaching through the gloom. + +And ever since, all who went farthest down into the dread Valley, and on +whom the shadow of death lay heaviest, found there the footsteps of its +conqueror. It must be added that we cannot measure the keenness of the +sensibility thus exposed to torture. A physical organization and a +spiritual nature fresh from the creative hand, undegraded by the +transmitted heritage of ages of artificial, diseased and sinful habit, +unblunted by one deviation from natural ways, undrugged by one excess, was +surely capable of a range of feeling as vast in anguish as in delight. + +The sceptic supposes that a torrent of emotion swept our Saviour off His +feet. The only narratives he can go upon give quite the opposite +impression. He is seen to fathom all that depth of misery, He allows the +voice of nature to utter all the bitter earnestness of its reluctance, yet +He never loses self-control, nor wavers in loyalty to His Father, nor +renounces His submission to the Father's will. Nothing in the scene is +more astonishing than its combination of emotion with self-government. +Time after time He pauses, gently and lovingly admonishes others, and +calmly returns to His intense and anxious vigil. + +Thus He has won the only perfect victory. With a nature so responsive to +emotion, He has not refused to feel, nor abstracted His soul from +suffering, nor silenced the flesh by such an effort as when we shut our +ears against a discord. Jesus sees all, confesses that He would fain +escape, but resigns Himself to God. + +In the face of all asceticisms, as of all stoicisms, Gethsemane is the +eternal protest that every part of human nature is entitled to be heard, +provided that the spirit retains the arbitration over all. + +Hitherto nothing has been assumed which a reasonable sceptic can deny. Nor +should such a reader fail to observe the astonishing revelation of +character in the narrative, its gentle pathos, its intensity beyond what +commonly belongs to gentleness, its affection, its mastery over the +disciples, its filial submission. Even the rich imaginative way of +thinking, which invented the parables and sacraments, is in the word "this +cup." + +But if the story of Gethsemane can be vindicated from such a point of +view, what shall be said when it is viewed as the Church regards it? Both +Testaments declare that the sufferings of the Messiah were supernatural. +In the Old Testament it was pleasing to the Father to bruise Him. The +terrible cry of Jesus to a God who had forsaken Him is conclusive evidence +from the New Testament. And if we ask what such a cry may mean, we find +that He is a curse for us, and made to be sin for us, Who knew no sin. + +If the older theology drew incredible conclusions from such words, that is +no reason why we should ignore them. It is incredible that God was angry +with His Son, or that in any sense the Omniscient One confused the Saviour +with the sinful world. It is incredible that Jesus ever endured +estrangement as of lost souls from the One Whom in Gethsemane He called +Abba Father, and in the hour of utter darkness, My God, and into whose +Fatherly hands He committed His Spirit. Yet it is clear that He is being +treated otherwise than a sinless Being, as such, ought to expect. His +natural standing-place is exchanged for ours. And as our exceeding misery, +and the bitter curse of all our sin fell on Him, Who bore it away by +bearing it, our pollution surely affected His purity as keenly as our +stripes tried His sensibility. He shuddered as well as agonized. The deep +waters in which He sank were defiled as well as cold. Only this can +explain the agony and bloody sweat. And as we, for whom He endured it, +think of this, we can only be silent and adore. + +Once more, Jesus returns to His disciples, but no longer to look for +sympathy, or to bid them watch and pray. The time for such warnings is now +past: the crisis, "the hour" is come, and His speech is sad and solemn. +"Sleep on now and take your rest, it is enough." Had the sentence stopped +there, none would ever have proposed to treat it as a question, "Do ye now +sleep on and take your rest?" It would plainly have meant, "Since ye +refuse My counsel and will none of my reproof, I strive no further to +arouse the torpid will, the inert conscience, the inadequate affection. +Your resistance prevails against My warning." + +But critics fail to reconcile this with what follows, "Arise, let us be +going." They fail through supposing that words of intense emotion must be +interpreted like a syllogism or a lawyer's parchment. + +"For My part, sleep on; but your sleep is now to be rudely broken: take +your rest so far as respect for your Master should have kept you watchful; +but the traitor is at hand to break such repose, let him not find you +ignobly slumbering. 'Arise, he is at hand that doth betray Me.' " + +This is not sarcasm, which taunts and wounds. But there is a lofty and +profound irony in the contrast between their attitude and their +circumstances, their sleep and the eagerness of the traitor. + +And so they lost the most noble opportunity ever given to mortals, not +through blank indifference nor unbelief, but by allowing the flesh to +overcome the spirit. And thus do multitudes lose heaven, sleeping until +the golden hours are gone, and He who said, "Sleep on now," says, "He that +is unrighteous, let him be unrighteous still." + +Remembering that defilement was far more urgent than pain in our Saviour's +agony, how sad is the meaning of the words, "the Son of man is betrayed +into the hands of sinners," and even of "the sinners," the representatives +of all the evil from which He had kept Himself unspotted. + +The one perfect flower of humanity is thrown by treachery into the +polluted and polluting grasp of wickedness in its many forms; the traitor +delivers Him to hirelings; the hirelings to hypocrites; the hypocrites to +an unjust and sceptical pagan judge; the judge to his brutal soldiery; who +expose Him to all that malice can wreak upon the most sensitive +organization, or ingratitude upon the most tender heart. + +At every stage an outrage. Every outrage an appeal to the indignation of +Him who held them in the hollow of His hand. Surely it may well be said, +Consider Him who endured such contradiction; and endured it from sinners +against Himself. + + + + +The Arrest. + + + "And straightway, while He yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the + twelve, and with him a multitude with swords and staves, from the + chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now he that betrayed + Him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that + is He; take Him, and lead Him away safely. And when he was come, + straightway he came to Him, and saith, Rabbi; and kissed Him. And + they laid hands on Him, and took Him. But a certain one of them + that stood by drew his sword, and smote the servant of the high + priest, and struck off his ear. And Jesus answered and said unto + them, Are ye come out, as against a robber, with swords and staves + to seize Me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye + took Me not; but _this is done_ that the scriptures might be + fulfilled. And they all left Him and fled. And a certain young man + followed with Him, having a linen cloth cast about him, over _his_ + naked body: and they lay hold on him; but he left the linen cloth, + and fled naked."--MARK xiv. 43-52 (R.V.). + + +St. Mark has told this tragical story in the most pointed and the fewest +words. The healing of the ear of Malchus concerns him not, that is but one +miracle among many; and Judas passes from sight unfollowed: the thought +insisted on is of foul treason, pitiable weakness, brute force +predominant, majestic remonstrance and panic flight. From the central +events no accessories can distract him. + +There cometh, he tells us, "Judas, one of the Twelve." Who Judas was, we +knew already, but we are to consider how Jesus felt it now. Before His +eyes is the catastrophe which His death is confronted to avert--the death +of a soul, a chosen and richly dowered soul for ever lost--in spite of so +many warnings--in spite of that incessant denunciation of covetousness +which rings through so much of His teaching, which only the presence of +Judas quite explains, and which His terrible and searching gaze must have +made like fire, to sear since it could not melt--in spite of the outspoken +utterances of these last days, and doubtless in spite of many prayers, he +is lost: one of the Twelve. + +And the dark thought would fall cold upon Christ's heart, of the +multitudes more who should receive the grace of God, His own dying love, +in vain. And with that, the recollection of many an hour of +loving-kindness wasted on this familiar friend in whom He trusted, and who +now gave Him over, as he had been expressly warned, to so cruel a fate. +Even toward Judas, no unworthy bitterness could pollute that sacred heart, +the fountain of unfathomable compassions, but what speechless grief must +have been there, what inconceivable horror. For the outrage was dark in +form as in essence. Judas apparently conceived that the Eleven might, as +they had promised, rally around their Lord; and he could have no +perception how impossible it was that Messiah should stoop to escape under +cover of their devotion, how frankly the good Shepherd would give His life +for the sheep. In the night, he thought, evasion might yet be attempted, +and the town be raised. But he knew how to make the matter sure. No other +would as surely as himself recognise Jesus in the uncertain light. If he +were to lay hold on Him rudely, the Eleven would close in, and in the +struggle, the prize might yet be lost. But approaching a little in +advance, and peaceably, he would ostentatiously kiss his Master, and so +clearly point Him out that the arrest would be accomplished before the +disciples realized what was being done. + +But at every step the intrigue is overmastered by the clear insight of +Jesus. As He foretold the time of His arrest, while yet the rulers said, +Not on the feast day, so He announced the approach of the traitor, who was +then contriving the last momentary deception of his polluting kiss. + +We have already seen how impossible it is to think of Judas otherwise than +as the Church has always regarded him, an apostate and a traitor in the +darkest sense. The milder theory is at this stage shattered by one small +yet significant detail. At the supper, when conscious of being suspected, +and forced to speak, he said not, like the others, "Lord," but "Rabbi, is +it I?" Now they meet again, and the same word is on his lips, whether by +design and in Satanic insolence, or in hysterical agitation and +uncertainty, who can say? + +But no loyalty, however misled, inspired that halting and inadequate +epithet, no wild hope of a sudden blazing out of glories too long +concealed is breathed in the traitor's Rabbi! + +With that word, and his envenomed kiss, the "much kissing," which took +care that Jesus should not shake him off, he passes from this great +Gospel. Not a word is here of his remorse, or of the dreadful path down +which he stumbled to his own place. Even the lofty remonstrance of the +Lord is not recorded: it suffices to have told how he betrayed the Son of +man with a kiss, and so infused a peculiar and subtle poison into Christ's +draught of deadly wine. That, and not the punishment of that, is what St. +Mark recorded for the Church, the awful fall of an apostle, chosen of +Christ; the solemn warning to all privileged persons, richly endowed and +highly placed; the door to hell, as Bunyan has it, from the very gate of +Heaven. + +A great multitude with swords and staves had come from the rulers. +Possibly some attempt at rescue was apprehended from the Galileans who had +so lately triumphed around Jesus. More probably the demonstration was +planned to suggest to Pilate that a dangerous political agitation had to +be confronted. + +At all events, the multitude did not terrify the disciples: cries arose +from their little band, "Lord shall we smite with the sword?" and if Jesus +had consented, it seems that with two swords the Eleven whom declaimers +make to be so craven, would have assailed the multitude in arms. + +Now this is what points the moral of their failure. Few of us would +confess personal cowardice by accepting a warning from the fears of the +fearful. But the fears of the brave must needs alarm us. It is one thing +to defy death, sword in hand, in some wild hour of chivalrous +effort--although the honours we shower upon the valiant prove that even +such fortitude is less common than we would fain believe. But there is a +deep which opens beyond this. It is a harder thing to endure the silent +passive anguish to which the Lamb, dumb before the shearers, calls His +followers. The victories of the spirit are beyond animal strength of +nerve. In their highest forms they are beyond the noble reach of +intellectual resolution. How far beyond it we may learn by contrasting the +excitement and then the panic of the Eleven with the sublime composure of +their Lord. + +One of them, whom we know to have been the impulsive Simon, showed his +loss of self-control by what would have been a breach of discipline, even +had resistance been intended. While others asked should they smite with +the sword, he took the decision upon himself, and struck a feeble and +abortive blow, enough to exasperate but not to disable. In so doing he +added, to the sorrows of Jesus, disobedience, and the inflaming of angry +passion among His captors. + +Strange it is, and instructive, that the first act of violence in the +annals of Christianity came not from her assailants but from her son. And +strange to think with what emotions Jesus must have beheld that blow. + +St. Mark records neither the healing of Malchus nor the rebuke of Peter. +Throughout the events which now crowd fast upon us, we shall not find him +careful about fulness of detail. This is never his manner, though he loves +any detail which is graphic, characteristic, or intensifying. But his +concern is with the spirit of the Lord and of His enemies: he is blind to +no form of injustice or insult which heightened the sufferings of Jesus, +to no manifestation of dignity and self-control overmastering the rage of +hell. If He is unjustly tried by Caiaphas, it matters nothing that Annas +also wronged Him. If the soldiers of Pilate insulted Him, it matters +nothing that the soldiers of Herod also set Him at nought. Yet the flight +of a nameless youth is recorded, since it adds a touch to the picture of +His abandonment. + +And therefore he records the indignant remonstrance of Jesus upon the +manner of His arrest. He was no man of violence and blood, to be arrested +with a display of overwhelming force. He needed not to be sought in +concealment and at midnight. + +He had spoken daily in the temple, but then their malice was defeated, +their snares rent asunder, and the people witnessed their exposure. But +all this was part of His predicted suffering, for Whom not only pain but +injustice was foretold, Who should be taken from prison and from judgment. + +It was a lofty remonstrance. It showed how little could danger and +betrayal disturb His consciousness, and how clearly He discerned the +calculation of His foes. + +At this moment of unmistakable surrender, His disciples forsook Him and +fled. One young man did indeed follow Him, springing hastily from slumber +in some adjacent cottage, and wrapped only in a linen cloth. But he too, +when seized, fled away, leaving his only covering in the hands of the +soldiers. + +This youth may perhaps have been the Evangelist himself, of whom we know +that, a few years later, he joined Paul and Barnabas at the outset, but +forsook them when their journey became perilous. + +It is at least as probable that the incident is recorded as a picturesque +climax to that utter panic which left Jesus to tread the winepress alone, +deserted by all, though He never forsook any. + + + + +Before Caiaphas. + + + "And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and there come + together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the + scribes. And Peter had followed Him afar off, even within, into + the court of the high priest; and he was sitting with the + officers, and warming himself in the light _of the fire_. Now the + chief priests and the whole council sought witness against Jesus + to put Him to death; and found it not. For many bare false witness + against Him, and their witness agreed not together. And there + stood up certain, and bare false witness against Him, saying, We + heard Him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, + and in three days I will build another made without hands. And not + even so did their witness agree together. And the high priest + stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest Thou + nothing? what is it which these witness against Thee? But He held + His peace and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, + and saith unto Him, Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? + And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting at + the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. And + the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What further need + have we of witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? + And they all condemned Him to be worthy of death. And some began + to spit on Him, and to cover His face, and to buffet Him, and to + say unto Him, Prophesy: and the officers received Him with blows + of their hands"--MARK xiv. 53-65 (R.V.). + + +We have now to see the Judge of quick and dead taken from prison and +judgment, the Preacher of liberty to the captives bound, and the Prince of +Life killed. It is the most solemn page in earthly story; and as we read +St. Mark's account, it will concern us less to reconcile his statements +with those of the other three, than to see what is taught us by his +especial manner of regarding it. Reconciliation, indeed, is quite +unnecessary, if we bear in mind that to omit a fact is not to contradict +it. For St. Mark is not writing a history but a Gospel, and his readers +are Gentiles, for whom the details of Hebrew intrigue matter nothing, and +the trial before a Galilean Tetrarch would be only half intelligible. + +St. John, who had been an eye-witness, knew that the private inquiry +before Annas was vital, for there the decision was taken which subsequent +and more formal assemblies did but ratify. He therefore, writing last, +threw this ray of explanatory light over all that the others had related. +St. Luke recorded in the Acts (iv. 27) that the apostles recognised, in +the consent of Romans and Jews, and of Herod and Pilate, what the Psalmist +had long foretold, the rage of the heathen and the vain imagination of the +peoples, and the conjunction of kings and rulers. His Gospel therefore +lays stress upon the part played by all of these. And St. Matthew's +readers could appreciate every fulfilment of prophecy, and every touch of +local colour. St. Mark offers to us the essential points: rejection and +cruelty by His countrymen, rejection and cruelty over again by Rome, and +the dignity, the elevation, the lofty silence and the dauntless testimony +of his Lord. As we read, we are conscious of the weakness of His crafty +foes, who are helpless and baffled, and have no resort except to abandon +their charges and appeal to His own truthfulness to destroy Him. + +He shows us first the informal assembly before Caiaphas, whither Annas +sent Him with that sufficient sign of his own judgment, the binding of His +hands, and the first buffet, inflicted by an officer, upon His holy face. +It was not yet daylight, and a formal assembly of the Sanhedrim was +impossible. But what passed now was so complete a rehearsal of the +tragedy, that the regular meeting could be disposed of in a single verse. + +There was confusion and distress among the conspirators. It was not their +intention to have arrested Jesus on the feast day, at the risk of an +uproar among the people. But He had driven them to do so by the expulsion +of their spy, who, if they delayed longer, would be unable to guide their +officers. And so they found themselves without evidence, and had to play +the part of prosecutors when they ought to be impartial judges. There is +something frightful in the spectacle of these chiefs of the religion of +Jehovah suborning perjury as the way to murder; and it reminds us of the +solemn truth, that no wickedness is so perfect and heartless as that upon +which sacred influences have long been vainly operating, no corruption so +hateful as that of a dead religion. Presently they would cause the name of +God to be blasphemed among the heathen, by bribing the Roman guards to lie +about the corpse. And the heart of Jesus was tried by the disgraceful +spectacle of many false witnesses, found in turn and paraded against Him, +but unable to agree upon any consistent charge, while yet the shameless +proceedings were not discontinued. At the last stood up witnesses to +pervert what He had spoken at the first cleansing of the temple, which the +second cleansing had so lately recalled to mind. They represented Him as +saying, "I am able to destroy this temple made with hands,"--or perhaps, "I +will destroy" it, for their testimony varied on this grave point--"and in +three days I will build another made without hands." It was for +blaspheming the Holy Place that Stephen died, and the charge was a grave +one; but His words were impudently manipulated to justify it. There had +been no proposal to substitute a different temple, and no mention of the +temple made with hands. Nor had Jesus ever proposed to destroy anything. +He had spoken of their destroying the Temple of His Body, and in the use +they made of the prediction they fulfilled it. + +As we read of these repeated failures before a tribunal so unjust, we are +led to suppose that opposition must have sprung up to disconcert them; we +remember the councillor of honourable estate, who had not consented to +their counsel and deed, and we think, What if, even in that hour of evil, +one voice was uplifted for righteousness? What if Joseph confessed Him in +the conclave, like the penitent thief upon the cross? + +And now the high priest, enraged and alarmed by imminent failure, rises in +the midst, and in the face of all law cross-questions the prisoner, +Answerest Thou nothing? What is it which these witness against Thee? But +Jesus will not become their accomplice; He maintains the silence which +contrasts so nobly with their excitement, which at once sees through their +schemes and leaves them to fall asunder. And the urgency of the occasion, +since hesitation now will give the city time to rise, drives them to a +desperate expedient. Without discussion of His claims, without considering +that some day there _must_ be some Messiah, (else what is their faith and +who are they?) they will treat it as blasphemous and a capital offence +simply to claim that title. Caiaphas adjures Him by their common God to +answer, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? So then they were not +utterly ignorant of the higher nature of the Son of David: they remembered +the words, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. But the only +use they ever made of their knowledge was to heighten to the uttermost the +Messianic dignity which they would make it death to claim. And the +prisoner knew well the consequences of replying. But He had come into the +world to bear witness to the truth, and this was the central truth of all. +"And Jesus said, I am." Now Renan tells us that He was the greatest +religious genius who ever lived, or probably ever shall live. Mill tells +us that religion cannot be said to have made a bad choice in pitching on +this Man as the ideal representative and guide of humanity. And Strauss +thinks that we know enough of Him to assert that His consciousness was +unclouded by the memory of any sin. Well then, if anything in the life of +Jesus is beyond controversy, it is this, that the sinless Man, our ideal +representative and guide, the greatest religious genius of the race, died +for asserting upon oath that He was the Son of God. A good deal has been +said lately, both wise and foolish, about Comparative Religion: is there +anything to compare with this? Lunatics, with this example before their +eyes, have conceived wild and dreadful infatuations. But these are the +words of Him whose character has dominated nineteen centuries, and changed +the history of the world. And they stand alone in the records of mankind. + +As Jesus spoke the fatal words, as malice and hatred lighted the faces of +His wicked judges with a base and ignoble joy, what was His own thought? +We know it by the warning that He added. They supposed themselves judges +and irresponsible, but there should yet be another tribunal, with justice +of a far different kind, and there they should occupy another place. For +all that was passing before His eyes, so false, hypocritical and +murderous, there was no lasting victory, no impunity, no escape: "Ye shall +see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the +clouds of heaven." Therefore His apostle Peter tells us that in this hour, +when He was reviled and reviled not again, "He committed Himself to Him +that judgeth righteously" (1 Peter ii. 23). + +He had now quoted that great vision in which the prophet Daniel saw Him +brought near unto the Ancient of Days, and invested with an everlasting +dominion (Dan. vii. 13, 14.). But St. Matthew adds one memorable word. He +did not warn them, and He was not Himself sustained, only by the mention +of a far-off judgment: He said they should behold Him thus "henceforth." +And that very day they saw the veil of their temple rent, felt the world +convulsed, and remembered in their terror that He had foretold His own +death and His resurrection, against which they had still to guard. And in +the open sepulchre, and the supernatural vision told them by its keepers, +in great and notable miracles wrought by the name of Jesus, in the +desertion of a great multitude even of priests, and their own fear to be +found fighting against God, in all this the rise of that new power was +thenceforth plainly visible, which was presently to bury them and their +children under the ruins of their temple and their palaces. But for the +moment the high-priest was only relieved; and he proceeded, rending his +clothes, to announce his judgment, before consulting the court, who had no +further need of witnesses, and were quite content to become formally the +accusers before themselves. The sentence of this irregular and informal +court was now pronounced, to fit them for bearing part, at sunrise, in +what should be an unbiassed trial; and while they awaited the dawn Jesus +was abandoned to the brutality of their servants, one of whom He had +healed that very night. They spat on the Lord of Glory. They covered His +face, an act which was the symbol of a death sentence (Esther vii. 8), and +then they buffeted Him, and invited Him to prophesy who smote Him. And the +officers "received Him" with blows. + +What was the meaning of this outburst of savage cruelty of men whom Jesus +had never wronged, and some of whose friends must have shared His +superhuman gifts of love? Partly it was the instinct of low natures to +trample on the fallen, and partly the result of partizanship. For these +servants of the priests must have seen many evidences of the hate and +dread with which their masters regarded Jesus. But there was doubtless +another motive. Not without fear, we may be certain, had they gone forth +to arrest at midnight the Personage of whom so many miraculous tales were +universally believed. They must have remembered the captains of fifty whom +Elijah consumed with fire. And in fact there was a moment when they all +fell prostrate before His majestic presence. But now their terror was at +an end: He was helpless in their hands; and they revenged their fears upon +the Author of them. + +Thus Jesus suffered shame to make us partakers of His glory; and the veil +of death covered His head, that He might destroy the face of the covering +cast over all peoples, and the veil that was spread over all nations. And +even in this moment of bitterest outrage He remembered and rescued a soul +in the extreme of jeopardy, for it was now that the Lord turned and looked +upon Peter. + + + + +The Fall Of Peter. + + + "And as Peter was beneath in the court, there cometh one of the + maids of the high priest; and seeing Peter warming himself, she + looked upon him, and saith, Thou also wast with the Nazarene, + _even_ Jesus. But he denied, saying, I neither know, nor + understand what thou sayest: and he went out into the porch; and + the cock crew. And the maid saw him, and began again to say to + them that stood by, This is _one_ of them. But he again denied it. + And after a little while again they that stood by said to Peter, + Of a truth thou art _one_ of them; for thou art a Galilaean. But he + began to curse, and to swear, I know not this man of whom ye + speak. And straightway the second time the cock crew. And Peter + called to mind the word, how that Jesus said unto him, Before the + cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And when he thought + thereon, he wept"--MARK xiv. 66-72 (R.V.). + + +The fall of Peter has called forth the easy scorn of multitudes who never +ran any risk for Christ. But if he had been a coward, and his denial a +dastardly weakness, it would not be a warning for the whole Church, but +only for feeble natures. Whereas the lesson which it proclaims is this +deep and solemn one, that no natural endowments can bear the strain of the +spiritual life. Peter had dared to smite when only two swords were +forthcoming against the band of Roman soldiers and the multitude from the +chief priests. After the panic in which all forsook Jesus, and so +fulfilled the prediction "ye shall leave Me alone," none ventured so far +as Peter. John indeed accompanied him; but John ran little risk, he had +influence and was therefore left unassailed, whereas Peter was friendless +and a mark for all men, and had made himself conspicuous in the garden. Of +those who declaim about his want of courage few indeed would have dared so +much. And whoever misunderstands him, Jesus did not. He said to him, +"Satan hath desired to have you (all) that he may sift you like wheat, but +I have prayed for thee (especially) that thy strength fail not." Around +him the fiercest of the struggle was to rage, as around some point of +vantage on a battlefield; and it was he, when once he had turned again, +who should stablish his brethren (Luke xxii. 31, 32). + +God forbid that we should speak one light or scornful word of this great +apostle! God grant us, if our footsteps slip, the heart to weep such tears +as his. + +Peter was a loving, brave and loyal man. But the circumstances were not +such as human bravery could deal with. Resistance, which would have +kindled his spirit, had been forbidden to him, and was now impossible. The +public was shut out, and he was practically alone among his enemies. He +had come "to see the end," and it was a miserable sight that he beheld. +Jesus was passive, silent, insulted: His foes fierce, unscrupulous and +confident. And Peter was more and more conscious of being alone, in peril, +and utterly without resource. Moreover sleeplessness and misery lead to +physical languor and cold,(13) and as the officers had kindled a fire, he +was drawn thither, like a moth, by the double wish to avoid isolation and +to warm himself. In thus seeking to pass for one of the crowd, he showed +himself ashamed of Jesus, and incurred the menaced penalty, "of him shall +the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh." And the method of +self-concealment which he adopted only showed his face, strongly +illuminated, as St. Mark tells us, by the flame. + +If now we ask for the secret of his failing resolution, we can trace the +disease far back. It was self-confidence. He reckoned himself the one to +walk upon the waters. He could not be silent on the holy mount, when Jesus +held high communion with the inhabitants of heaven. He rebuked the Lord +for dark forebodings. When Jesus would wash his feet, although expressly +told that he should understand the act hereafter, he rejoined, Thou shalt +never wash my feet, and was only sobered by the peremptory announcement +that further rebellion would involve rejection. He was sure that if all +the rest were to deny Jesus, he never should deny Him. In the garden he +slept, because he failed to pray and watch. And then he did not wait to be +directed, but strove to fight the battle of Jesus with the weapons of the +flesh. Therefore he forsook Him and fled. And the consequences of that +hasty blow were heavy upon him now. It marked him for the attention of the +servants: it drove him to merge himself in the crowd. But his bearing was +too suspicious to enable him to escape unquestioned. The first assault +came very naturally, from the maid who kept the door, and had therefore +seen him with John. He denied indeed, but with hesitation, not so much +affirming that the charge was false as that he could not understand it. +And thereupon he changed his place, either to escape notice or through +mental disquietude; but as he went into the porch the cock crew. The girl +however was not to be shaken off: she pointed him out to others, and since +he had forsaken the only solid ground, he now denied the charge angrily +and roundly. An hour passed, such an hour of shame, perplexity and guilt, +as he had never known, and then there came a still more dangerous attack. +They had detected his Galilean accent, while he strove to pass for one of +them. And a kinsman of Malchus used words as threatening as were possible +without enabling a miracle to be proved, since the wound had vanished: +"Did I myself not see thee in the garden with Him?" Whereupon, to prove +that his speech had nothing to do with Jesus, he began to curse and swear, +saying, I know not the man. And the cock crew a second time, and Peter +remembered the warning of his Lord, which then sounded so harsh, but now +proved to be the means of his salvation. And the eyes of his Master, full +of sorrow and resolution, fell on him. And he knew that he had added a +bitter pang to the sufferings of the Blessed One. And the crowd and his +own danger were forgotten, and he went out and wept. + +It was for Judas to strive desperately to put himself right with man: the +sorrow of Peter was for himself and God to know. + +What lessons are we taught by this most natural and humbling story? That +he who thinketh he standeth must take heed lest he fall. That we are in +most danger when self-confident, and only strong when we are weak. That +the beginning of sin is like the letting out of water. That Jesus does not +give us up when we cast ourselves away, but as long as a pulse of love +survives, or a spark of loyalty, He will appeal to that by many a subtle +suggestion of memory and of providence, to recall His wanderer to Himself. + +And surely we learn by the fall of this great and good apostle to restore +the fallen in the spirit of meekness, considering ourselves lest we also +be tempted, remembering also that to Peter, Jesus sent the first tidings +of His resurrection, and that the message found him in company with John, +and therefore in the house with Mary. What might have been the issue of +his anguish if these holy ones had cast Him off? + + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + + + +Pilate. + + + "And straightway in the morning the chief priests with the elders + and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, and bound + Jesus, and carried Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate." + + "... And they lead Him out to crucify Him."--MARK xv. 1-20 (R.V.). + + +With morning came the formal assembly, which St. Mark dismisses in a +single verse. It was indeed a disgraceful mockery. Before the trial began +its members had prejudged the case, passed sentence by anticipation, and +abandoned Jesus, as one condemned, to the brutality of their servants. And +now the spectacle of a prisoner outraged and maltreated moves no +indignation in their hearts. + +Let us, for whom His sufferings were endured, reflect upon the strain and +anguish of all these repeated examinations, these foregone conclusions +gravely adopted in the name of justice, these exhibitions of greed for +blood. Among the "unknown sufferings" by which the Eastern Church invokes +her Lord, surely not the least was His outraged moral sense. + +As the issue of it all, they led Him away to Pilate, meaning, by the +weight of such an accusing array, to overpower any possible scruples of +the governor, but in fact fulfilling His words, "they shall deliver Him +unto the Gentiles." And the first question recorded by St. Mark expresses +the intense surprise of Pilate. "Thou," so meek, so unlike the numberless +conspirators that I have tried,--or perhaps, "Thou," Whom no sympathising +multitude sustains, and for Whose death the disloyal priesthood thirsts, +"Art _Thou_ the King of the Jews?" We know how carefully Jesus +disentangled His claim from the political associations which the high +priests intended that it should suggest, how the King of Truth would not +exaggerate any more than understate the case, and explained that His +kingdom was not of this world, that His servants did not fight, that His +royal function was to uphold the truth, not to expel conquerors. The eyes +of a practised Roman governor saw through the accusation very clearly. +Before him, Jesus was accused of sedition, but that was a transparent +pretext; Jews did not hate Him for enmity to Rome: He was a rival teacher +and a successful one, and for envy they had delivered Him. So far all was +well. Pilate investigated the charge, arrived at the correct judgment, and +it only remained that he should release the innocent man. In reaching this +conclusion Jesus had given him the most prudent and skilful help, but as +soon as the facts became clear, He resumed His impressive and mysterious +silence. Thus, before each of his judges in turn, Jesus avowed Himself the +Messiah and then held His peace. It was an awful silence, which would not +give that which was holy to the dogs, nor profane the truth by unavailing +protests or controversies. It was, however, a silence only possible to an +exalted nature full of self-control, since the words actually spoken +redeem it from any suspicion or stain of sullenness. It is the conscience +of Pilate which must henceforth speak. The Romans were the lawgivers of +the ancient world, and a few years earlier their greatest poet had boasted +that their mission was to spare the helpless and to crush the proud. In no +man was an act of deliberate injustice, of complaisance to the powerful at +the cost of the good, more unpardonable than in a leader of that splendid +race, whose laws are still the favourite study of those who frame and +administer our own. And the conscience of Pilate struggled hard, aided by +superstitious fear. The very silence of Jesus amid many charges, by none +of which His accusers would stand or fall, excited the wonder of His +judge. His wife's dream aided the effect. And he was still more afraid +when he heard that this strange and elevated Personage, so unlike any +other prisoner whom he had ever tried, laid claim to be Divine. Thus even +in his desire to save Jesus, his motive was not pure, it was rather an +instinct of self-preservation than a sense of justice. But there was +danger on the other side as well; since he had already incurred the +imperial censure, he could not without grave apprehensions contemplate a +fresh complaint, and would certainly be ruined if he were accused of +releasing a conspirator against Caesar. And accordingly he stooped to mean +and crooked ways, he lost hold of the only clue in the perplexing +labyrinth of expediencies, which is principle, and his name in the creed +of Christendom is spoken with a shudder--"crucified under Pontius Pilate!" + +It was the time for him to release a prisoner to them, according to an +obscure custom, which some suppose to have sprung from the release of one +of the two sacrificial goats, and others from the fact that they now +celebrated their own deliverance from Egypt. At this moment the people +began to demand their usual indulgence, and an evil hope arose in the +heart of Pilate. They would surely welcome One who was in danger as a +patriot: he would himself make the offer, and he would put it in this +tempting form, "Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?" +Thus would the enmity of the priests be gratified, since Jesus would +henceforth be a condemned culprit, and owe His life to their intercession +with the foreigner. But the proposal was a surrender. The life of Jesus +had not been forfeited; and when it was placed at their discretion, it was +already lawlessly taken away. Moreover, when the offer was rejected, Jesus +was in the place of a culprit who should not be released. To the priests, +nevertheless, it was a dangerous proposal, and they needed to stir up the +people, or perhaps Barabbas would not have been preferred. + +Instigated by their natural guides, their religious teachers, the Jews +made the tremendous choice, which has ever since been heavy on their heads +and on their children's. Yet if ever an error could be excused by the plea +of authority, and the duty of submission to constituted leaders, it was +this error. They followed men who sat in Moses' seat, and who were thus +entitled, according to Jesus Himself, to be obeyed. Yet that authority has +not relieved the Hebrew nation from the wrath which came upon them to the +uttermost. The salvation they desired was not moral elevation or spiritual +life, and so Jesus had nothing to bestow upon them; they refused the Holy +One and the Just. What they wanted was the world, the place which Rome +held, and which they fondly hoped was yet to be their own. Even to have +failed in the pursuit of this was better than to have the words of +everlasting life, and so the name of Barabbas was enough to secure the +rejection of Christ. It would almost seem that Pilate was ready to release +both, if that would satisfy them, for he asks, in hesitation and +perplexity, "What shall I do then with Him Whom ye call the King of the +Jews?" Surely in their excitement for an insurgent, that title, given by +themselves, will awake their pity. But again and again, like the howl of +wolves, resounds their ferocious cry, Crucify Him, crucify Him. + +The irony of Providence is known to every student of history, but it never +was so manifest as here. Under the pressure of circumstances upon men whom +principle has not made firm, we find a Roman governor striving to kindle +every disloyal passion of his subjects, on behalf of the King of the +Jews,--appealing to men whom he hated and despised, and whose charges have +proved empty as chaff, to say, What evil has He done? and even to tell +him, on his judgment throne, what he shall do with their King; we find the +men who accused Jesus of stirring up the people to sedition, now +shamelessly agitating for the release of a red-handed insurgent; forced +moreover to accept the responsibility which they would fain have devolved +on Pilate, and themselves to pronounce the hateful sentence of +crucifixion, unknown to their law, but for which they had secretly +intrigued; and we find the multitude fiercely clamouring for a defeated +champion of brute force, whose weapon has snapped in his hands, who has +led his followers to the cross, and from whom there is no more to hope. +What satire upon their hope of a temporal Messiah could be more bitter +than their own cry, "We have no king but Caesar"? And what satire upon this +profession more destructive than their choice of Barabbas and refusal of +Christ? And all the while, Jesus looks on in silence, carrying out His +mournful but effectual plan, the true Master of the movements which design +to crush Him, and which He has foretold. As He ever receives gifts for the +rebellious, and is the Saviour of all men, though especially of them that +believe, so now His passion, which retrieved the erring soul of Peter, and +won the penitent thief, rescues Barabbas from the cross. His suffering was +made visibly vicarious. + +One is tempted to pity the feeble judge, the only person who is known to +have attempted to rescue Jesus, beset by his old faults, which will make +an impeachment fatal, wishing better than he dares to act, hesitating, +sinking inch by inch, and like a bird with broken wing. No accomplice in +this frightful crime is so suggestive of warning to hearts not entirely +hardened. + +But pity is lost in sterner emotion as we remember that this wicked +governor, having borne witness to the perfect innocence of Jesus, was +content, in order to save himself from danger, to watch the Blessed One +enduring all the horrors of a Roman scourging, and then to yield Him up to +die. + +It is now the unmitigated cruelty of ancient paganism which has closed its +hand upon our Lord. When the soldiers led Him away within the court, He +was lost to His nation, which had renounced Him. It is upon this utter +alienation, even more than the locality where the cross was fixed, that +the Epistle to the Hebrews turns our attention, when it reminds us that +"the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the holy place by +the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned without the camp. +Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own +blood, suffered without the gate." The physical exclusion, the material +parallel points to something deeper, for the inference is that of +estrangement. Those who serve the tabernacle cannot eat of our altar. Let +us go forth unto Him, bearing His reproach. (Heb. xii. 10-13). + +Renounced by Israel, and about to become a curse under the law, He has now +to suffer the cruelty of wantonness, as He has already endured the cruelty +of hatred and fear. Now, more than ever perhaps, He looks for pity and +there is no man. None responded to the deep appeal of the eyes which had +never seen misery without relieving it. The contempt of the strong for the +weak and suffering, of coarse natures for sensitive ones, of Romans for +Jews, all these were blended with bitter scorn of the Jewish expectation +that some day Rome shall bow before a Hebrew conqueror, in the mockery +which Jesus now underwent, when they clad Him in such cast-off purple as +the Palace yielded, thrust a reed into His pinioned hand, crowned Him with +thorns, beat these into His holy head with the sceptre they had offered +Him, and then proceeded to render the homage of their nation to the +Messiah of Jewish hopes. It may have been this mockery which suggested to +Pilate the inscription for the cross. But where is the mockery now? In +crowning Him King of sufferings, and Royal among those who weep, they +secured to Him the adherence of all hearts. Christ was made perfect by the +things which He suffered; and it was not only in spite of insult and +anguish but by means of them that He drew all men unto Him. + + + + +Christ Crucified. + + + "And they compel one passing by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the + country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to _go with them_, + that he might bear His cross. And they bring Him unto the place + Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. And + they offered Him wine mingled with myrrh: but He received it not. + And they crucify Him, and part His garments among them, casting + lots upon them, what each should take. And it was the third hour, + and they crucified Him. And the superscription of His accusation + was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with Him they crucify + two robbers; one on His right hand, and one on His left. And they + that passed by railed on Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ha! + Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, + save Thyself, and come down from the cross. In like manner also + the chief priests mocking _Him_ among themselves with the scribes + said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the + King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and + believe. And they that were crucified with Him reproached + Him."--MARK xv. 21-32 (R.V.). + + +At last the preparations were complete and the interval of mental agony +was over. They led Him away to crucify Him. And upon the road an event of +mournful interest took place. It was the custom to lay the two arms of the +cross upon the doomed man, fastening them together at such an angle as to +pass behind His neck, while his hands were bound to the ends in front. And +thus it was that Jesus went forth bearing His cross. Did He think of this +when He bade us take His yoke upon us? Did He wait for events to explain +the words, by making it visibly one and the same to take His yoke and to +take up our cross and follow Him? + +On the road, however, they forced a reluctant stranger to go with them +that he might bear the cross. The traditional reason is that our +Redeemer's strength gave way, and it became physically impossible for Him +to proceed; but this is challenged upon the ground that to fail would have +been unworthy of our Lord, and would mar the perfection of His example. +How so, when the failure was a real one? Is there no fitness in the belief +that He who was tempted in all points like as we are, endured this +hardness also, of struggling with the impossible demands of human cruelty, +the spirit indeed willing but the flesh weak? It is not easy to believe +that any other reason than manifest inability, would have induced his +persecutors to spare Him one drop of bitterness, one throb of pain. The +noblest and most delicately balanced frame, like all other exquisite +machines, is not capable of the rudest strain; and we know that Jesus had +once sat wearied by the well, while the hardy fishers went into the town, +and returned with bread. And this night our gentle Master had endured what +no common victim knew. Long before the scourging, or even the buffeting +began, His spiritual exhaustion had needed that an angel from heaven +should strengthen Him. And the utmost possibility of exertion was now +reached: the spot where they met Simon of Cyrene marks this melancholy +limit; and suffering henceforth must be purely passive. + +We cannot assert with confidence that Simon and his family were saved by +this event. The coercion put upon him, the fact that he was seized and +"impressed" into the service, already seems to indicate sympathy with +Jesus. And we are fain to believe that he who received the honour, so +strange and sad and sacred, the unique privilege of lifting some little of +the crushing burden of the Saviour, was not utterly ignorant of what he +did. We know at least that the names of his children, Alexander and Rufus, +were familiar in the Church for which St. Mark was writing, and that in +Rome a Rufus was chosen in the Lord, and his mother was like a mother to +St. Paul (Rom. xvi. 13). With what feelings may they have recalled the +story, "him they compelled to bear His cross." + +They led Him to a place where the rounded summit of a knoll had its grim +name from some resemblance to a human skull, and prepared the crosses +there. + +It was the custom of the daughters of Jerusalem, who lamented Him as He +went, to provide a stupefying draught for the sufferers of this atrocious +cruelty. "And they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He received it +not," although that dreadful thirst, which was part of the suffering of +crucifixion, had already begun, for He only refused when He had tasted it. + +In so doing He rebuked all who seek to drown sorrows or benumb the soul in +wine, all who degrade and dull their sensibilities by physical excess or +indulgence, all who would rather blind their intelligence than pay the +sharp cost of its exercise. He did not condemn the use of anodynes, but +the abuse of them. It is one thing to suspend the senses during an +operation, and quite another thing by one's own choice to pass into +eternity without consciousness enough to commit the soul into its Father's +hands. + +"And they crucify Him." Let the words remain as the Evangelist left them, +to tell their own story of human sin, and of Divine love which many waters +could not quench, neither could the depths drown it. + +Only let us think in silence of all that those words convey. + +In the first sharpness of mortal anguish, Jesus saw His executioners sit +down at ease, all unconscious of the dread meaning of what was passing by +their side, to part His garments among them, and cast lots for the raiment +which they had stripped from His sacred form. The Gospels are content thus +to abandon those relics about which so many legends have been woven. But +indeed all through these four wonderful narratives the self-restraint is +perfect. When the Epistles touch upon the subject of the crucifixion they +kindle into flame. When St. Peter soon afterwards referred to it, his +indignation is beyond question, and Stephen called the rulers betrayers +and murderers (Acts ii. 23, 24; iii. 13, 14; vii. 51-53) but not one +single syllable of complaint or comment mingles with the clear flow of +narrative in the four Gospels. The truth is that the subject was too +great, too fresh and vivid in their minds, to be adorned or enlarged upon. +What comment of St. Mark, what mortal comment, could add to the weight of +the words "they crucify Him"? Men use no figures of speech when telling +how their own beloved one died. But it was differently that the next age +wrote about the crucifixion; and perhaps the lofty self-restraint of the +Evangelists has never been attained again. + +St. Mark tells us that He was crucified at the third hour, whereas we read +in St. John that it was "about the sixth hour" when Pilate ascended the +seat of judgment (xix. 14). It seems likely that St. John used the Roman +reckoning, and his computation does not pretend to be exact; while we must +remember that mental agitation conspired with the darkening of the sky, to +render such an estimate as he offers even more than usually vague. + +It has been supposed that St. Mark's "third hour" goes back to the +scourging, which, as being a regular part of Roman crucifixion, he +includes, although inflicted in this case before the sentence. But it will +prove quite as hard to reconcile this distribution of time with "the sixth +hour" in St. John, while it is at variance with the context in which St. +Mark asserts it. + +The small and bitter heart of Pilate keenly resented his defeat and the +victory of the priests. Perhaps it was when his soldiers offered the +scornful homage of Rome to Israel and her monarch, that he saw the way to +a petty revenge. And all Jerusalem was scandalized by reading the +inscription over a crucified malefactor's head, The King of the Jews. + +It needs some reflection to perceive how sharp the taunt was. A few years +ago they had a king, but the sceptre had departed from Judah; Rome had +abolished him. It was their hope that soon a native king would for ever +sweep away the foreigner from their fields. But here the Roman exhibited +the fate of such a claim, and professed to inflict its horrors not upon +one whom they disavowed, but upon their king indeed. We know how angrily +and vainly they protested; and again we seem to recognise the solemn irony +of Providence. For this was their true King, and they, who resented the +superscription, had fixed their Anointed there. + +All the more they would disconnect themselves from Him, and wreak their +passion upon the helpless One whom they hated. The populace mocked Him +openly: the chief priests, too cultivated to insult avowedly a dying man, +mocked Him "among themselves," speaking bitter words for Him to hear. The +multitude repeated the false charge which had probably done much to +inspire their sudden preference for Barabbas, "Thou that destroyest the +temple and buildest it again in three days, save Thyself and come down +from the cross." + +They little suspected that they were recalling words of consolation to His +memory, reminding Him that all this suffering was foreseen, and how it was +all to end. The chief priests spoke also a truth full of consolation, "He +saved others, Himself He cannot save," although it was no physical bar +which forbade Him to accept their challenge. And when they flung at Him +His favourite demand for faith, saying "Let the Christ, the King of +Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe" surely +they reminded Him of the great multitude who should not see, and yet +should believe, when He came back through the gates of death. + +Thus the words they spoke could not afflict Him. But what horror to the +pure soul to behold these yawning abysses of malignity, these gulfs of +pitiless hate. The affronts hurled at suffering and defeat by prosperous +and exultant malice are especially Satanic. Many diseases inflict more +physical pain than torturers ever invented, but they do not excite the +same horror, because gentle ministries are there to charm away the despair +which human hate and execration conjure up. + +To add to the insult of His disgraceful death, the Romans had crucified +two robbers, doubtless from the band of Barabbas, one upon each side of +Jesus. We know how this outrage led to the salvation of one of them, and +refreshed the heavy laden soul of Jesus, oppressed by so much guilt and +vileness, with the visible firstfruit of His passion, giving Him to see of +the travail of His soul, by which He shall yet be satisfied. + +But in their first agony and despair, when all voices were unanimous +against the Blessed One, and they too must needs find some outlet for +their frenzy, they both reproached Him. Thus the circle of human wrong was +rounded. + +The traitor, the deserters, the forsworn apostle, the perjured witnesses, +the hypocritical pontiff professing horror at blasphemy while himself +abjuring his national hope, the accomplices in a sham trial, the murderer +of the Baptist and his men of war, the abject ruler who declared Him +innocent yet gave Him up to die, the servile throng who waited on the +priests, the soldiers of Herod and of Pilate, the pitiless crowd which +clamoured for His blood, and they who mocked Him in His agony,--not one of +them whom Jesus did not compassionate, whose cruelty had not power to +wring His heart. Disciple and foeman, Roman and Jew, priest and soldier +and judge, all had lifted up their voice against Him. And when the +comrades of His passion joined the cry, the last ingredient of human +cruelty was infused into the cup which James and John had once proposed to +drink with Him. + + + + +The Death Of Jesus. + + + "And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the + whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried + with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being + interpreted, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And some + of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, He + calleth Elijah. And one ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, + put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let be; let us + see whether Elijah cometh to take Him down. And Jesus uttered a + loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was + rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, + which stood by over against Him, saw that He so gave up the ghost, + he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. And there were also + women beholding from afar: among whom _were_ both Mary Magdalene, + and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; + who, when He was in Galilee, followed Him, and ministered unto + Him; and many other women which came up with Him unto + Jerusalem."--MARK xv. 33-41 (R.V.). + + +Three hours of raging human passion, endured with Godlike patience, were +succeeded by three hours of darkness, hushing mortal hatred into silence, +and perhaps contributing to the penitence of the reviler at His side. It +was a supernatural gloom, since an eclipse of the sun was impossible +during the full moon of Passover. Shall we say that, as it shall be in the +last days, nature sympathized with humanity, and the angel of the sun hid +his face from his suffering Lord? + +Or was it the shadow of a still more dreadful eclipse, for now the eternal +Father veiled His countenance from the Son in whom He was well pleased? + +In some true sense God forsook Him. And we have to seek for a meaning of +this awful statement--inadequate no doubt, for all our thoughts must come +short of such a reality, but free from prevarication and evasion. + +It is wholly unsatisfactory to regard the verse as merely the heading of a +psalm, cheerful for the most part, which Jesus inaudibly recited. Why was +only this verse uttered aloud? How false an impression must have been +produced upon the multitude, upon St. John, upon the penitent thief, if +Jesus were suffering less than the extreme of spiritual anguish. Nay, we +feel that never before can the verse have attained its fullest meaning, a +meaning which no experience of David could more than dimly shadow forth, +since we ask in our sorrows, Why have we forsaken God? but Jesus said, Why +hast Thou forsaken Me? + +And this unconsciousness of any reason for desertion disproves the old +notion that He felt Himself a sinner, and "suffered infinite remorse, as +being the chief sinner in the universe, all the sins of mankind being +His." One who felt thus could neither have addressed God as "My God," nor +asked why He was forsaken. + +Still less does it allow us to believe that the Father perfectly +identified Jesus with sin, so as to be "wroth" with Him, and even "to hate +Him to the uttermost." Such notions, the offspring of theories carried to +a wild and irreverent extreme, when carefully examined impute to the Deity +confusion of thought, a mistaking of the Holy One for a sinner or rather +for the aggregate of sinners. But it is very different when we pass from +the Divine consciousness to the bearing of God toward Christ our +representative, to the outshining or eclipse of His favour. That this was +overcast is manifest from the fact that Jesus everywhere else addresses +Him as My Father, here only as My God. Even in the garden it was Abba +Father, and the change indicates not indeed estrangement of heart, but +certainly remoteness. Thus we have the sense of desertion, combined with +the assurance which once breathed in the words, O God, Thou art my God. + +Thus also it came to pass that He who never forfeited the most intimate +communion and sunny smile of heaven, should yet give us an example at the +last of that utmost struggle and sternest effort of the soul, which trusts +without experience, without emotion, in the dark, because God is God, not +because I am happy. + +But they who would empty the death of Jesus of its sacrificial import, and +leave only the attraction and inspiration of a sublime life and death, +must answer the hard questions, How came God to forsake the Perfect One? +Or, how came He to charge God with such desertion? His follower, twice +using this very word, could boast that he was cast down yet not forsaken, +and that at his first trial all men forsook him, yet the Lord stood by him +(2 Cor. iv. 9; 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17). How came the disciple to be above his +Master? + +The only explanation is in His own word, that His life is a ransom in +exchange for many (Mark x. 45). The chastisement of our peace, not the +remorse of our guiltiness, was upon Him. No wonder that St. Mark, who +turns aside from his narrative for no comment, no exposition, was yet +careful to preserve this alone among the dying words of Christ. + +And the Father heard His Son. At that cry the mysterious darkness passed +away; and the soul of Jesus was relieved from its burden, so that He +became conscious of physical suffering; and the mockery of the multitude +was converted into awe. It seemed to them that His Eloi might indeed bring +Elias, and the great and notable day, and they were willing to relieve the +thirst which no stoical hardness forbade that gentlest of all sufferers to +confess. Thereupon the anguish that redeemed the world was over; a loud +voice told that exhaustion was not complete; and yet Jesus "gave up the +ghost."(14) + +Through the veil, that is to say His flesh, we have boldness to enter into +the holy place; and now that He had opened the way, the veil of the temple +was rent asunder by no mortal hand, but downward from the top. The way +into the holiest was visibly thrown open, when sin was expiated, which had +forfeited our right of access. + +And the centurion, seeing that His death itself was abnormal and +miraculous, and accompanied with miraculous signs, said, Truly this was a +righteous man. But such a confession could not rest there: if He was this, +He was all He claimed to be; and the mockery of His enemies had betrayed +the secret of their hate; He was the Son of God. + +"When the centurion saw" ... "There were also many women beholding." Who +can overlook the connection? Their gentle hearts were not to be utterly +overwhelmed: as the centurion saw and drew his inference, so they beheld, +and felt, however dimly, amid sorrows that benumb the mind, that still, +even in such wreck and misery, God was not far from Jesus. + +When the Lord said, It is finished, there was not only an end of conscious +anguish, but also of contempt and insult. His body was not to see +corruption, nor was a bone to be broken, nor should it remain in hostile +hands. + +Respect for Jewish prejudice prevented the Romans from leaving it to +moulder on the cross, and the approaching Sabbath was not one to be +polluted. And knowing this, Joseph of Arimathaea boldly went in to Pilate +and asked for the body of Jesus. It was only secretly and in fear that he +had been a disciple, but the deadly crisis had developed what was hidden, +he had opposed the crime of his nation in their council, and in the hour +of seeming overthrow he chose the good part. Boldly the timid one "went +in," braving the scowls of the priesthood, defiling himself moreover, and +forfeiting his share in the sacred feast, in hope to win the further +defilement of contact with the dead. + +Pilate was careful to verify so rapid a death; but when he was certain of +the fact, "he granted the corpse to Joseph," as a worthless thing. His +frivolity is expressed alike in the unusual verb(15) and substantive: he +"freely-bestowed," he "gave away" not "the body" as when Joseph spoke of +it, but "the corpse," the fallen thing, like a prostrated and uprooted +tree that shall revive no more. Wonderful it is to reflect that God had +entered into eternal union with what was thus given away to the only man +of rank who cared to ask for it. Wonderful to think what opportunities of +eternal gain men are content to lose; what priceless treasures are given +away, or thrown away as worthless. Wonderful to imagine the feelings of +Joseph in heaven to-day, as he gazes with gratitude and love upon the +glorious Body which once, for a little, was consigned to his reverent +care. + +St. John tells us that Nicodemus brought a hundred pound weight of myrrh +and aloes, and they together wrapped Him in these, in the linen which had +been provided; and Joseph laid Him in his own new tomb, undesecrated by +mortality. + +And there Jesus rested. His friends had no such hope as would prevent them +from closing the door with a great stone. His enemies set a watch, and +sealed the stone. The broad moon of Passover made the night as clear as +the day, and the multitude of strangers, who thronged the city and its +suburbs, rendered any attempt at robbery even more hopeless than at +another season. + +What indeed could the trembling disciples of an executed pretender do with +such an object as a dead body? What could they hope from the possession of +it? But if they did not steal it, if the moral glories of Christianity are +not sprung from deliberate mendacity, why was the body not produced, to +abash the wild dreams of their fanaticism? It was fearfully easy to +identify. The scourging, the cross, and the spear, left no slight evidence +behind, and the broken bones of the malefactors completed the absolute +isolation of the sacred body of the Lord. + +The providence of God left no precaution unsupplied to satisfy honest and +candid inquiry. It remained to be seen, would He leave Christ's soul in +Hades, or suffer His Holy One (such is the epithet applied to the body of +Jesus) to see corruption? + +Meantime, through what is called three days and nights--a space which +touched, but only touched, the confines of a first and third day, as well +as the Saturday which intervened, Jesus shared the humiliation of common +men, the divorce of soul and body. He slept as sleep the dead, but His +soul was where He promised that the penitent should come, refreshed in +Paradise. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + + + +Christ Risen. + + + "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the + _mother_ of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come + and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they + come to the tomb when the sun was risen. And they were saying + among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door + of the tomb? and looking up, they see that the stone is rolled + back: for it was exceeding great. And entering into the tomb, they + saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white + robe, and they were amazed. And he saith unto them, Be not amazed; + ye seek Jesus, the Nazarene, Which hath been crucified: He is + risen; He is not here: behold, the place where they laid Him! But + go, tell His disciples and Peter, He goeth before you into + Galilee: there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you. And they + went out, and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment + had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one; for they + were afraid. Now when He was risen early on the first day of the + week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast + out seven devils. She went and told them that had been with Him, + as they mourned and wept. And they, when they heard that He was + alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved. And after these + things He was manifested in another form unto two of them, as they + walked, on their way into the country. And they went away and told + it unto the rest: neither believed they them. And afterward He was + manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and He + upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because + they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen. And + He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel + to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be + saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. And these + signs shall follow them that believe: in My name shall they cast + out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up + serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise + hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall + recover."--MARK xvi. 1-18 (R.V.). + + +The Gospels were not written for the curious but for the devout. They are +most silent therefore where myth and legend would be most garrulous, and +it is instructive to seek, in the story of Jesus, for anything similar to +the account of the Buddha's enlightenment under the Bo tree. We read +nothing of the interval in Hades; nothing of the entry of His crowned and +immortal body into the presence chamber of God; nothing of the +resurrection. Did He awake alone? Was He waited upon by the hierarchy of +heaven, who robed Him in raiment unknown to men? We are only told what +concerns mankind, the sufficient manifestation of Jesus to His disciples. + +And to harmonise the accounts a certain effort is necessary, because they +tell of interviews with men and women who had to pass through all the +vicissitudes of despair, suspense, rapturous incredulity,(16) and faith. +Each of them contributes a portion of the tale. + +From St. John we learn that Mary Magdalene came early to the sepulchre, +from St. Matthew that others were with her, from St. Mark that these +women, dissatisfied with the unskilful ministrations of men (and men whose +rank knew nothing of such functions), had brought sweet spices to anoint +Him Who was about to claim their adoration; St. John tells how Mary, +seeing the empty sepulchre, ran to tell Peter and John of its desecration; +the others, that in her absence an angel told the glad tidings to the +women; St. Mark, that Mary was the first to whom Jesus Himself appeared. +And thenceforth the narrative more easily falls into its place. + +This confusion, however perplexing to thoughtless readers, is inevitable +in the independent histories of such events, derived from the various +parties who delighted to remember, each what had befallen himself. + +But even a genuine contradiction would avail nothing to refute the +substantial fact. When the generals of Henry the Fourth strove to tell him +what passed after he was wounded at Aumale, no two of them agreed in the +course of events which gave them victory. Two armies beheld the battle of +Waterloo, but who can tell when it began? At ten o'clock, said the Duke of +Wellington. At half past eleven, said General Alava, who rode beside him. +At twelve according to Napoleon and Drouet; and at one according to Ney. + +People who doubt the reality of the resurrection, because the harmony of +the narratives is underneath the surface, do not deny these facts. They +are part of history. Yet it is certain that the resurrection of Jesus +colours the history of the world more powerfully to-day, than the events +which are so much more recent. + +If Christ were not risen, how came these despairing men and women by their +new hope, their energy, their success among the very men who slew Him? If +Christ be not risen, how has the morality of mankind been raised? Was it +ever known that a falsehood exercised for ages a quickening and purifying +power which no truth can rival? + +From the ninth verse to the end of St. Mark's account it is curiously +difficult to decide on the true reading. And it must be said that the note +in the Revised Version, however accurate, does not succeed in giving any +notion of the strength of the case in favour of the remainder of the +Gospel. It tells us that the two oldest manuscripts omit them, but we do +not read that in one of these a space is left for the insertion of +something, known by the scribe to be wanting there. Nor does it mention +the twelve manuscripts of almost equal antiquity in which they are +contained, nor the early date at which they were quoted. + +The evidence appears to lean towards the belief that they were added in a +later edition, or else torn off in an early copy from which some +transcribers worked. But unbelief cannot gain anything by converting them +into a separate testimony, of the very earliest antiquity, to events +related in each of the other Gospels. + +And the uncertainty itself will be wholesome if it reminds us that saving +faith is not to be reposed in niceties of criticism, but in a living +Christ, the power and wisdom of God. Jesus blamed men for thinking that +they had eternal life in their inspired Scriptures, and so refusing to +come for life to Him, of Whom those Scriptures testified. Has sober +criticism ever shaken for one hour that sacred function of Holy Writ? + +What then is especially shown us in the closing words of St. Mark? + +Readiness to requite even a spark of grace, and to bless with the first +tidings of a risen Redeemer the love which sought only to embalm His +corpse. Tender care for the fallen and disheartened, in the message sent +especially to Peter. Immeasurable condescension, such as rested formerly, +a Babe, in a peasant woman's arms, and announced its Advent to shepherds, +now appearing first of all to a woman "out of whom He had cast seven +devils." + +A state of mind among the disciples, far indeed from that rapt and +hysterical enthusiasm which men have fancied, ready to be whirled away in +a vortex of religious propagandism (and to whirl the whole world after +it), upon the impulse of dreams, hallucinations, voices mistaken on a +misty shore, longings which begot convictions. Jesus Himself, and no +second, no messenger from Jesus, inspired the zeal which kindled mankind. +The disciples, mourning and weeping, found the glad tidings incredible, +while Mary who had seen Him, believed. When two, as they walked, beheld +Him in another shape, the rest remained incredulous, announcing indeed +that He had actually risen and appeared unto Peter, yet so far from a true +conviction that when He actually came to them, they supposed that they +beheld a spirit (Luke xxiv. 34, 37). Yet He looked in the face those pale +discouraged Galileans, and bade them go into all the world, bearing to the +whole creation the issues of eternal life and death. And they went forth, +and the power and intellect of the world are won. Whatever unbelievers +think about individual souls, it is plain that the words of the Nazarene +have proved true for communities and nations, He that believeth and is +baptised has been saved, He that believeth not has been condemned. The +nation and kingdom that has not served Christ has perished. + +Nor does any one pretend that the agents in this marvellous movement were +insincere. If all this was a dream, it was a strange one surely, and +demands to be explained. If it was otherwise, no doubt the finger of God +has come unto us. + + + + +The Ascension. + + + "So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken unto them, was + received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. + And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working + with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. + Amen."--MARK xvi. 19-20 (R.V.) + + +We have reached the close of the great Gospel of the energies of Jesus, +His toils, His manner, His searching gaze, His noble indignation, His love +of children, the consuming zeal by virtue of which He was not more truly +the Lamb of God than the Lion of the tribe of Judah. St. Mark has just +recorded how He bade His followers carry on His work, defying the serpents +of the world, and renewing the plague-stricken race of Adam. In what +strength did they fulfil this commission? How did they fare without the +Master? And what is St. Mark's view of the Ascension? + +Here, as all through the Gospel, minor points are neglected. Details are +only valued when they carry some aid for the special design of the +Evangelist, who presses to the core of his subject at once and boldly. As +he omitted the bribes with which Satan tempted Jesus, and cared not for +the testimony of the Baptist when the voice of God was about to peal from +heaven over the Jordan, as on the holy mount he told not the subject of +which Moses and Elijah spoke, but how Jesus Himself predicted His death to +His disciples, so now He is silent about the mountain slope, the final +benediction, the cloud which withdrew Him from their sight and the angels +who sent back the dazed apostles to their homes and their duties. It is +not caprice nor haste that omits so much interesting information. His mind +is fixed on a few central thoughts; what concerns him is to link the +mighty story of the life and death of Jesus with these great facts, that +He was received up into Heaven, that He there sat down upon the right hand +of God, and that His disciples were never forsaken of Him at all, but +proved, by the miraculous spread of the early Church, that His power was +among them still. St. Mark does not record the promise, but he asserts the +fact that Christ was with them all the days. There is indeed a connection +between his two closing verses, subtle and hard to render into English, +and yet real, which suggests the notion of balance, of relation between +the two movements, the ascent of Jesus, and the evangelisation of the +world, such as exists, for example, between detachments of an army +co-operating for a common end, so that our Lord, for His part, ascended, +while the disciples, for their part, went forth and found Him with them +still. + +But the link is plainer which binds the Ascension to His previous story of +suffering and conflict. It was "then," and "after He had spoken unto +them," that "the Lord Jesus was received up." In truth His ascension was +but the carrying forward to completion of His resurrection, which was not +a return to the poor conditions of our mortal life, but an entrance into +glory, only arrested in its progress until He should have quite convinced +His followers that "it is I indeed," and made them understand that "thus +it is written that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead +the third day," and filled them with holy shame for their unbelief, and +with courage for their future course, so strange, so weary, so sublime. + +There is something remarkable in the words, "He was received up into +heaven." We habitually speak of Him as ascending, but Scripture more +frequently declares that He was the subject of the action of another, and +was taken up. St. Luke tells us that, "while they worshipped, He was +carried up into heaven," and again "He was received up.... He was taken +up" (Luke xxiv. 51; Acts i. 2, 9). Physical interference is not implied: +no angels bore Him aloft; and the narratives make it clear that His +glorious Body, obedient to its new mysterious nature, arose unaided. But +the decision to depart, and the choice of a time, came not from Him: He +did not go, but was taken. Never hitherto had He glorified Himself. He had +taught His disciples to be contented in the lowest room until the Master +of the house should bid them come up higher. And so, when His own supreme +victory is won, and heaven held its breath expectant and astonished, the +conquering Lord was content to walk with peasants by the Lake of Galilee +and on the slopes of Olivet until the appointed time. What a rebuke to us +who chafe and fret if the recognition of our petty merits be postponed. + +"He was received up into heaven!" What sublime mysteries are covered by +that simple phrase. It was He who taught us to make, even of the mammon of +unrighteousness, friends who shall welcome us, when mammon fails and all +things mortal have deserted us, into everlasting habitations. With what +different greetings, then, do men enter the City of God. Some converts of +the death bed perhaps there are, who scarcely make their way to heaven, +alone, unhailed by one whom they saved or comforted, and like a vessel +which struggles into port, with rent cordage and tattered sails, only not +a wreck. Others, who aided some few, sparing a little of their means and +energies, are greeted and blessed by a scanty group. But even our +chieftains and leaders, the martyrs, sages and philanthropists whose names +brighten the annals of the Church, what is their influence, and how few +have they reached, compared with that great multitude whom none can +number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, who cry with a +loud voice, Salvation unto our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto +the Lamb. Through Him it pleased the Father to reconcile all things unto +Himself, through Him, whether things upon the earth or things in the +heavens. And surely the supreme hour in the history of the universe was +when, in flesh, the sore stricken but now the all-conquering Christ +re-entered His native heaven. + +And He sat down at the right hand of God. The expression is, beyond all +controversy, borrowed from that great Psalm which begins by saying, "The +Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at My right hand," and which presently +makes the announcement never revealed until then, "Thou art a Priest for +ever after the order of Melchizedec" (Ps. cx. 1, 4). It is therefore an +anticipation of the argument for the royal Priesthood of Jesus which is +developed in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Now priesthood is a human +function: every high priest is chosen from among men. And the Ascension +proclaims to us, not the Divinity of the Eternal Word but the +glorification of "the Lord Jesus;" not the omnipotence of God the Son, but +that all power is committed unto Him Who is not ashamed to call us +brethren, that His human hands wield the sceptre as once they held the +reed, and the brows then insulted and torn with thorns are now crowned +with many crowns. In the overthrow of Satan He won all, and infinitely +more than all, of that vast bribe which Satan once offered for His homage, +and the angels for ever worship Him who would not for a moment bend His +knee to evil. + +Now since He conquered not for Himself but as Captain of our Salvation, +the Ascension also proclaims the issue of all the holy suffering, all the +baffled efforts, all the cross-bearing of all who follow Christ. + +His High Priesthood is with authority. "Every high priest standeth," but +He has for ever sat down on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in +the heavens, a Priest sitting upon His throne (Heb. viii. 1; Zech. vi. +13). And therefore it is His office, Who pleads for us and represents us, +Himself to govern our destinies. No wonder that His early followers, with +minds which He had opened to understand the Scriptures, were mighty to +cast down strongholds. Against tribulation and anguish and persecution and +famine and nakedness and peril and sword they were more than conquerors +through Him. For He worked with them and confirmed His word with signs. +And we have seen that He works with His people still, and still confirms +His gospel, only withdrawing signs of one order as those of another kind +are multiplied. Wherever they wage a faithful battle, He gives them +victory. Whenever they cry to Him in anguish, the form of the Son of God +is with them in the furnace, and the smell of fire does not pass upon +them. Where they come, the desert blossoms as a rose; and where they are +received, the serpents of life no longer sting, its fevers grow cool, and +the demons which rend it are cast out. + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 Cf. the admirable note in Archdeacon Watkins' "Commentary on John." + + 2 By the absence of the article in the Greek. + + 3 The opposite is asserted by the fact that one demon may ally himself + with seven others worse. + + 4 The connection would be almost certain if the word "devil" were + alike in both. But in all these narratives it is "demon," there + being in Scripture but one devil. + + 5 The exceptions in the Revelation are only apparent. St. John does + not call Jesus the Son of man (i. 13), nor see Him, but only the + type of Him, standing (v. 6). + + 6 And this proves beyond question that He did not merely follow + Ezekiel in applying to himself the epithet as if it meant a son + among many sons of men, but took the description in Daniel for His + own. Ezekiel himself indeed never employs the phrase: he only + records it. + + 7 Lange. _Life of Christ_, li. p. 179. + + 8 It is also very natural that, in telling the story, he should + remember how, while hesitating to enter, he "stooped down" to gaze, + in the wild dawn of his new hope. + + 9 "Theology would have been spared much trouble concerning this + passage, and anxious timid souls unspeakable anguish, if men had + adhered strictly to Christ's own expression. For it is not a _sin_ + against the Holy Ghost which is here spoken of, but _blasphemy_ + against the Holy Ghost."--Lange "_Life of Christ_," vol. ii. p. 269. + + 10 Unless indeed the meaning be rather, "_ever_ hearing the word," + which is not its force in the New Testament (Matt. xviii. 17, + twice). + + 11 Once besides in the New Testament this phrase was applied to death. + That was by St. Peter speaking of his own, when the thought of the + transfiguration was floating in his mind, and its voices lingered + unconsciously in his memory (2 Pet. i. 15, cf. ver. 17). The phrase, + though not unclassical, is not common. + + 12 That the event was recent is implied in the present tense: "he + followeth not": "forbid him not"; the matter is still fresh. + + 13 "By the fire the children sit + Cold in that atmosphere of death."--_In Memoriam_, xx. + + 14 The ingenious and plausible attempt to show that His death was + caused by a physical rupture of the heart has one fatal weakness. + Death came too late for this; the severest pressure was already + relieved. + +_ 15 I.e._ in the New Testament, where it occurs but once besides. + + 16 Can anything surpass that masterstroke of insight and descriptive + power, "they still disbelieved for joy" (Luke xxiv. 41). + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK*** + + + +CREDITS + + +August 18, 2011 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Marcia Brooks, Colin Bell, David King, and the + Online Distributed Proofreading Team at + <http://www.pgdp.net/>. 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