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THE

Story of Jesus.

BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE

LIFE AND WORK, THE WALKS AND TALKS
OF CHRIST.
ADAPTED TO VOUNG AND OLD.

BV
REV. RICHARD B. COOK, D.D.

ILLUSTRATED.

BALTIMORE :
R. H. WOODWARD AND COMPANY.

COPYRIGHT, 1889.
BY REV. RICHARD B. COOK, D.D.
ATJ, RIGHTS RESERVED.

PHILADELPHIA:
THE JAS. a. RODQERS PRINTING CO.

TO
THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH
WHOM HE SERVES AS
PASTOR,
TO WHOM HE IS GREATLY INDEBTED
FOR INNUMERABLE FAVORS,
AND
TO WHOSE SYMPATHIES, CO-OPERATION AND PRAYERS
HE OWES, UNDER GOD,
WHATEVER MEASURE OF SUCCESS
HAS ATTENDED
HIS MINISTRY AMONG THEM,
THIS VOLUME IS
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
BY THE
AUTHOR.

"BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK."

PREFATORY NOTE.

"1" N offering this work to the public, it is not the thought
-*- of the author that he can contribute anything addi
tional to the already rich store of Biblical knowledge
concerning the life of Christ, but rather to collect from
various sources into one volume some of this wealth, and
to publish in popular form and in order of time the
events in the life of Jesus, so that there may be within
the reach of all an inexpensive volume, with numerous
and appropriate cuts, to supply the long felt need of
those who may not have the means to purchase, nor the
time to read, the larger and more costly illustrated lives of
our Saviour.
In pursuance of this purpose the author has followed
the excellent Harmony of Dr. G. W. Clark ; and also has
availed himself of the learning and research of Geikie,
Farrar, Edersheim and others who have written the life
of Christ, and also of the "Bible Work" of Dr. J. G.
Butler, and of the, unequaled Commentaries of Dr. Lyman
Abbott, and the popular Notes of Barnes ; and now pre
sents to Bible-readers generally, to Sunday-school teach
ers, to aged Christians, and to the young people especially,
The Story of Jesus. R. B. C.

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TABLE OE CONTENTS.

BOOKS.
BOOK PAGE
I. EVENTS PRECEDING THE BIRTH OF CHRIST  I
2. FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO HIS APPEARANCE IN THE
TEMPLE  25
A period of about thirteen years, from B.C. 5 to a.d. 8.
3. FROM THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST TO THE FIRST
PASSOVER IN THE PUBLIC LIFE OF OUR LORD  77
A period of about one year, from a.d. 26 to April a.d. 27.
4. FROM THE FIRST PASSOVER IN CHRIST'S PUBLIC MINISTRY
TO THE SECOND PASSOVER  1 1.7
A period of one year, from April a.d. 27 to April a.d. 28.
5. FROM THE SECOND PASSOVER IN THE PUBLIC LIFE OF
JESUS TO THE THIRD PASSOVER  197
A period of one year, from April a.d. 28 to April a.d. 29.
6. FROM THE THIRD PASSOVER IN THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF
JESUS TO THE ENSUING FEAST OF TABERNACLES .... 287
A period of six months, from April a.d. 29 to October a.d. 29.
7. FROM THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES TO THE ARRIYAL OF
JESUS AT BETHANY, SIX DAYS BEFORE THE FOURTH OR
LAST PASSOVER IN OUR LORD'S PUBLIC LIFE  321
A period of six months, less six days ; from October a.d. 29 to April a.d. 30.
8. THE LAST PASSOVER WEEK  407
From April 2d to April 8th a.d. 30.
9. THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD FROM HIS RESURRECTION TO
HIS ASCENSION  T"  511
A period of forty days, from April 9th a.d. 30 to May 18th a.d- 30.
vii

TABLE OE CONTENTS.

CHAPTERS BOOK I.
chapter pagk
I. The Land, the Man and the Book  i
II. The Family Record  5
III. The Angel in the Temple  10
IV. The Hand-maid of the Lord  17
V. The Birth of the Baptist  21
BOOK II.
VI. The Babe of Bethlehem  27
VII. The Child in the Temple  36
VIII. The Star in the East  42
IX. The Flight and the Massacre  49
X. The Boyhood of Jesus  55
XI. The Doctors and the Child  65
BOOK III.
XII. The Forerunner  79
XIII. The Baptism of Jesus  86
XIV. The Conflict with the Devil  91
XV. The Testimony of John  98
XVI. The First Disciples  101
XVII. An Israelite Indeed  r66
XVili. Water Turned to Wine  no
ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII. XXIV. xxv.
XXVI.
XXVII.
XXVIII. XXIX. XXX.
XXXI.
XXXII.
XXXIII. XXXIV.

XXXV.
XXXVI.
XXXVII.
XXXVIII. XXXIX. XL.
XLL
XLII.
XLHL XLIV. XLV.
XL VI.
XLVII.
XLVIII.

BOOK IV.
PAGE
Purification of the Temple  119
The Evening Visitor  124
The Baptist Imprisoned . . .  128
The Woman at the Well  133
Rejected at Nazareth  141
Removal to Capernaum  147
Miracles at Capernaum  153
Sermon on the Mount — A  159
Sermon on the Mount — B  164
Sermon on the Mount — C  169
Sermon on the Mount — D  173
A Leper healed  177
The Paralytic Cured  ^2
Matthew's Call and Feast  186
Jairus' Daughter  190
"Who Touched Me?" -  193
BOOK V.
The House of mercy  ig9>
"My Father Worketh Hitherto"  204
Eating and Healing on the Sabbath-Day . . 207
The Twelve Chosen  212
The Sermon on the Plain  2i8
The Centurion's Servant  221
The Widow's Son  224
The Message of John to Jesus  227
The Doomed Cities  232
The Precious Ointment  237
Jesus and Beelzebub  243
Parable of the Sower  250
The Tempest Stilled  257
The Demoniac of Gadara  26i

CHAPTER XLIX. L.
LL
LII.
LIIL

Lrv. LV.
LVI.
LVII.
LVIII. LIX.
LX.
LXI.

LXII.
LXIII. LXIV. LXV.
LXVT.
LXVII.
LXVIII. LXIX. LXX.
LXXI.
LXXII.
LXXTII. LXXIV. LXXV.
LXXVI.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi
PAGE
The Twelve Sent Forth  267
The Baptist Beheaded  273
The Loaves and the Fishes  277
Walking on the Water  280
The Bread of Life  284
BOOK VI.
Unwashed Hands  289
The Woman of Canaan  293
The Four Thousand Fed  295
"Art Thou the Christ?"'-  300
The Transfiguration  306
The Demoniac Boy  310
Who Shall Be Greatest?  313
The Journey Towards Death  317
BOOK VII.
The Feast of Tabernacles  323
Teaching in the Temple  328
The Seventy Sent Forth  334
The Good Samaritan  338
Hypocrisy Exposed  344
The Light of the World  352
Ministry in Perea  359
The Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, the Lost Son 364
The Rich Man and Lazarus  369
Lazarus Raised from the Dead  375
The Ten Lepers and the Coming of Christ . 381
Parables on Prayer  386
Jesus and the Young  390
Ambition of James and John  397
Zaccheus and Bartimeus  400

Xll

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

BOOK VIII.
CHAPTER PAGE
LXXVII. Christ's Public Entry into Jerusalem . . . 409
LXXVIII. The Traders Driven from the Temple . . 416
LXXIX. The Two Sons and the Wicked Husbandmen 419
LXXX. Marriage of the King's Son  423
LXXXI. Last Words to an Impenitent People . . . 426
LXXXII. Destruction "of Jerusalem Foretold .... 432
LXXXIII. The Ten Virgins and the Ten Talents . . 438
LXXXIV. The Supper at Bethany  444
LXXXV. The Lord's Supper Instituted  450
LXXXVL Valedictory Discourses  453
LXXXVII. The Agony in Gethsemane and the Arrest 460
LXXXVIII. Jesus Before Annas  466
LXXXIX. Examined by Caiaphas  470
xc. Peter's Denial  473
XCI. The Trial Before the Sanhedrin  476
XCII. Brought Before Pilate  481
XCHL Sent to Herod  487
XCIV. Before Pilate Again  489
XCV. The Scourging  493
XCVI. Journey to the Cross  496
XCVII. The Crucifixion  499
XCVIII. The Burial  505
BOOK IX.
XCIX. The Resurrection  513
C. The Lord Appears  516
CI. The Walk to Emmaus  519
Cli. Jesus in the midst  522
CIII. Jesus in Galilee  525
CIV. The Meeting on the Mountain  528
CV. The Ascension  '  530

LIST OE ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE
i. " Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock"  iv
2. Mountains round Jerusalem  vi
3. Map of Palestine  viii
4. Chapel on the Site of Calvary  xviii
5. Virgin and Child  xx
6. The Star in the East  1
7. Shrine of the Annunciation  9
8. Jewish Priest .  12
9. The Holy of Holies in the Temple  15
10. Hebron   16
n. Angels Appear to the Shepherds  24
12. She Laid Him in a Manger  26
13. An Eastern Khan  ,  30
14. Convent of the Nativity  33
15. Crypt under the Church of the Nativity, and Manger . 35
16. An Offering of Doves  -37
17. Presenting the First-Born in the Temple  40
18. Bethlehem  41
19. Shepherds Watching the Flocks by Night  44
20. Jerusalem  46
21. Eastern Khan at Night .  48
22. The Flight into Egypt  52,
23. Looking Down on Nazareth  56
24. Mount Carmel  59.
xiii

xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE
25. A Street in Nazareth  61
26. A Carpenter's Shop at Nazareth  63
27. Interior of a Greek Church  64
28. The Ark of the Synagogue  67
29. Eastern Asses and Driver  72
30. Map  76
31. Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand  78
32. On the Jordan  83
33. Wilderness of Judea  85
34. Plain of the Jordan  87
35. Then was Jesus led up  93
36. Wailing Place of the Jews at Jerusalem . ... 97
37. The Dead Sea  105
38. Shores of the Lake Gennesareth  107
39. Cana of Galilee  111
40. Fill the Waterpots  113
41. Washing Hands in the East  113
42. Street in Jerusalem  116
43. Hills Overlooking the Sea of Galilee  118
44. Money-Changers   121
45. Jesus and Nicodemus  125
46. The Plain of Jericho   • 127
47. Antioch in Syria  131'
48. Nablous, or Neapolis, the Ancient Shechem  132
49. Jacob's Well  134
50. " Whosoever Drinketh of the Water that I shall give
Him, shall never Thirst"  : . 139
51. An Ancient Well  . . 140
52. Sidon   144
53. Site of Capernaum  146

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV
page
54. Fish of the Sea of Galilee   ISI
SS. "We have Toiled all Night.''  152
56. Sea of Galilee  IS6
57. Jerusalem from the Road to Bethany. . . . ... 158
38. Ruins of Kerazeh or Chorazin. ...  168
59. Pharisee Praying ... ... . . . . 171
60. Ruins of Theatre at Ephesus  ... i72
61. Lepers Outside the Gate . . . . . . ... 178
62. An Oriental at Prayer   :r8i
63. Outside Staircase of an Eastern House  183
64. Court of an Eastern House  . 185
65. Storm on the Sea of Galilee  . 189
66. " Lord, Save Us, We Perish.'' ... . . 198
67. Pool of Bethesda . .  201
68. Walls of Damascus  203
69. Tarsus  211
70. Ruins of Tyre  212
71. Patmos  215
72. Ephesus  ... 217
73. Mach/erus, the Scene of John's Imprisonment  229
74. Site of Bethsaida  . . 234
75. Ruins of C/esarea  236
76. Reclining at Table  238
77. Christ and Mary Magdalene  . 240
78. Tares of the Gospel . .   242
79. Ruins of the Site of Nineveh  . . . . 247
80. Mustard Plant  . . 249
81. The Sower  251
82. Sir, Didst Thou not Sow Good Seed ?  254
83. Bind Them in Bundles  256

xvi LIST OF ILL US TRA TIONS.
page
84. Street called Straight  260
85. Quarentania  266
86. Wherefore Didst Thou Doubt?  281
87. Ruins of Ephesus  286
88. Disciples and Samaritans  288
89. The Four Thousand Fed  296
90. Ruins of C^esarea Philippi   303
91. Mount Hermon  305
92. The Unmerciful Servant  312
93. Underground Vaults of the Temple Enclosure and Nel
son's Arch  . 320
94. Robbers on the Road to Jericho  322
95. Pool of Siloam  330
96. Women Grinding . • • -»  337
97. " Mary hath Chosen the Good Part '¦'  342
98. The Fatted Calf   343
99. "They All Began to Make Excuse"  351
100. The Good Shepherd  356
101. An Eastern Sheep-fold  .... 358
102. " Go Out and Compel Them to .Come In "  362
103. The Prodigal Son   367
104. The Rich Glutton and Lazarus the Beggar ... . . 371
105. Bethany   374
106. Pharisee and Publican at Prayer  387
107. " Suffer Little Children to Come unto Me." ... . 391
108. The Lost Sheep Brought Home  3g6
109. He Began to Wash His Disciples' Feet  406
no. The Way of the Cross  408
in. Christ's Public Entry into Jerusalem  410
112. Monte Christo  4iS

LIST OF ILL USTRA TIONS. xvii
PAGE
113. Thou Wicked and Slothful' Servant  437
114. Behold the Bridegroom Cometh  438
113. The Wise Virgins  439
116. The Foolish Virgins  440
117. Lord, Open to us  ... 442
118. Garden of Gethsemane  449
119. The Arrest in the Garden ....  459
120. View in the Garden of Gethsemane . .  461
121. The Betrayal ...  . . . 464
122. Behold Your King  . . . 483
123. Jesus Sinks Beneath the Weight of his Cross . ... 497
124. The Crucifixion  500
125. The Vail of the Temple Rent ... . . s°3
126. The Body Taken Down from the Cross  507
127. They Went and Made the Sepulchre Sure  510
128. Church of the Holy Sepulchre  512
129. The Doubt of Thomas  524
130. The Ascension . .  532

CHAPEL ON SITE OF CALVARY.

BOOK KIRST.

EVENTS PRECEDING THE BIRTH OF
CHRIST.

VIRGIN AND CHILD.

THE STAR IN THE EAST.

THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER I.
THE LAND, THE MAN, AND THE BOOK.
Luke i : 1-4.
IN Asia, east of the Mediterranean Sea, lies a country
that has become, through one circumstance, the
most famous, as well as the most sacred, land
of all the earth. That country is the ancient Canaan,
which God gave to Abraham and his children ; the
Promised Land to the Israelites wandering in the
Arabian desert ; and the Holy L,and, to-day, to Jew and
Gentile, Mohammedan and Christian.
This country, though small and degraded, has been
lifted to a position exalted above all historic lands, be
cause within its narrow limits occurred the scenes and

2 THE STORY OF JESUS.
r
incidents which comprise the life and story of Jesus
the Christ.
The life of the Son of man was spent in this epitome
of all lands, for all peoples and for all time. Jesus was
ever, as he is now, the friend of the lowly and of the
young. It is not, however, only by these that he has
been esteemed and exalted, but by the greatest intel
lects among men, who have done him honor, and have
accorded to the Bible, which contains his life, its
rightful place of pre-eminence as the Book of books.
Such men as Shakspere, Milton, Bacon, Kepler, Gal
ileo and Newton exalt the name of Jesus above all
others. Of the beautiful testimonies to Jesus furnished by
friend and foe, we give the following : Jean Paul
Richter tells us that ' ' the life of Christ concerns him
who, being the holiest among the mighty, the mightiest
among the holy, lifted, with his pierced hand, empires
off their hinges, and turned the stream of centuries out
of its channel, and still governs the ages."
"Jesus Christ," says the "exquisite genius," Herder,
' ' is, in the noblest and most perfect sense, the realized
ideal of humanity."
And the intellectual and learned De Wette says :
" This only I know, that there is salvation in no name
save in the name of Jesus Christ, the Crucified, and that
nothing loftier offers itself to humanity than the God-
man had realized in him."
Rousseau bears this beautiful testimony to the worth
of Jesus : ' ' How petty are the books of the philoso
phers, with all their pomp, compared with the gospels !
Can it be that writings at once so sublime and so simple
are the work of men ? Men do not invent like this :

THE LAND, THE MAN, AND THE BOOK. 3
and the facts respecting Socrates, which no one doubts,
are not so well attested as those about Jesus Christ. . .
Yes, if the death of Socrates be that of a sage, the life
and death of Jesus are those of a God. ' '
Napoleon, called the Great, was no active friend of
Jesus, and yet, when in exile in St. Helena, this man
of gigantic intellect expressed freely his conviction of
the superiority of Christ. ' ' I think I understand some
thing of human nature," said he, "and I tell you, all
these [the heroes of antiquity] were men, and I am a
man ; but not one is like him. Jesus Christ was more
than man. Alexander, Charlemagne and myself founded
great empires ; but upon what did the creations of our
genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His
empire upon love, and to this very day millions would
die for him. . . . The gospel is no mere book, but a
living creature, with a vigor, a power, which conquer
all that oppose it. Here lies the Book of books upon
the table ; I do not tire of reading it, and do so daily
with equal pleasure. The soul, charmed with the beauty
of the gospel, is no longer its own ; God possesses it
entirely. He directs its thoughts and faculties ; it is His.
What a proof of the divinity of Jesus Christ ! Yet in this
absolute sovereignty He has but one aim, — the spiritual
perfection of the individual, the -purification of his con
science, his union with what is true, the salvation of his
rsoul. Men wonder at the conquests of Alexander; but
here is a Conqueror who draws men to himself for their
highest good, who unites to himself, incorporates into
himself not a nation, but the whole human race."
It is not, however, with profane writers, whether
modern or ancient, but rather with the testimony of
the sacred writers that we have to do at present.

4 THE STORY OF JESUS.
In the Old Testament we find that Jesus is the
burden of prophecy. Moses and the prophets, as well
as the Psalms, foretold His coming. He is the promised
Messiah of the lineage of Abraham and David, who
is to sit on David's throne and rule over Israel,
These- prophecies occupied the minds of the Jewish
people 1800 years ago, and they were looking for the
coming of the promised One. Some thought He was
to be a great earthly conqueror like Alexander, who
would free them from the Roman power that held
them in subjection ; but others, like the aged Simeon
and Anna in the temple, looked for a spiritual
Teacher, Redeemer and King. There was also an ex
pectation at the same time, all over the world, that
some great personage would arise in the East, to have
universal empire. This general expectation is men
tioned by the Roman historians, Suetonius and Taci
tus, and the Jewish writers, Josephus and Philo.
And now, while we follow the story of Jesus in the
New Testament, or rather in the four gospels of Mat
thew, Mark, L,uke and John, which were written, ' ' that
thou mightest know the certainty of those things," we
shall find proof after proof, from first to last, that Jesus
is the Christ, the Desire of all nations and the Saviour
of the world. The first evidence we have after the
genealogy of Christ, which is traced from Adam
through Abraham and David to Joseph and Mary, is
found in the circumstances connected with the birth
of John the Baptist. Beginning with this event, we
shall be able to find abundant evidence of the Messiah-
ship of Jesus from the manger to the cross, and from
his burial to his ascension.

THE FAMIL Y RECORD.

CHAPTER II.
THE FAMILY RECORD.
Matt, i : 1-17 ; Luke iii : 23-38 ; John i : 1-14.
JESUS, in Hebrew the Messiah, and in Greek the
Christ, which means the Anointed, though possess
ing a divine nature, was also of earthly parentage.
As by the anointing with oil, kings and priests were set
apart to their office, so Jesus is the anointed of God.
In his human nature Jesus, was a descendant of Adam,
the father of the human race, and of Abraham, the
father of the faithful, and "the beauteous model of
an eastern prince," and of David, the sweet singer of
Israel, and God's chosen as Israel's king. The most
illustrious persons, " the most eminent for piety and
the most renowned for their excellencies of all men
of antiquity, sacred or profane," were ancestors of
Jesus ; and ' ' though his birth and life were humble,
yet, they who regard an illustrious descent as of
value, may here find all that is to be admired in an
cestral piety, purity, patriotism, splendor, dignity and

The genealogy of Jesus is recorded by Matthew and
Luke. The design in giving it is to prove that Jesus
was descended from king David, but both evangelists
go farther back — Matthew to Abraham, Luke to
Adam. We may not be able to harmonize these tables
with the Old Testament. But the Jews doubtless
could ; for they had kept at Jerusalem family records
or genealogical tables, from which, no doubt, Matthew
and Luke copied. Such tables are mentioned by

6 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Josephus, the eminent Jewish historian, who lived
since Christ, and who declares that he could trace
his own descent in the tribe of Levi in the public
register. These tables, as given by the two evangel
ists, were not disputed by the Jews, who did not
deny the royal lineage of Jesus, nor point out any in
accuracies in them. The Jews of that day and also
the pagan writers opposed to Christianity could easily
have proved them incorrect, had they been so. But
this they failed to do. The fact that Jesus was the
son of David, according to the flesh, was often stated
during his life and never denied. The object of the
evangelists, as we have said, was to prove to the
Jews that Jesus was descended from David. Since
the Jews of that day accepted the table and were sat
isfied with the proof, we may safely conclude that
the record is correct.
There are some differences in the tables given by
the two evangelists. From Abraham to David they
are alike, but from David to Christ they are different.
The Jews must have understood this difference, and
if the gospel writers had contradicted "each other, or
stated anything but the truth, they would have been
exposed. The view generally taken for the reconcilia
tion of these difficulties is that the two evangelists
have given two separate lines of descent from David,
and two distinct tables ; that Luke furnishes us with
the family record of Mary, while Matthew gives that
of Joseph. Joseph not being the father of Jesus, it
was necessary to show that Mary also was descended
from David ; her name is not given because this was
not Jewish custom. By her marriage with Joseph,
however, Jesus, her child, became the legal heir of

THE FAMIL Y RECORD. <i
David, but he was really David's son, because David
was Mary's ancestor. Thus by both parents — Joseph
and Mary — was Jesus descended from David, and was
therefore David's heir. Matthew wrote for the Jews,
by whom the legal descent was always traced in the
male line ; but Luke wrote for the Gentiles, to prove
that Christ was of the seed of the woman, hence he
traces through his mother, back to Adam, his nat
ural descent.
Dr. J. B. Lightfoot says: "The genealogies coin
cide until David, when Matthew takes the reigning
line, whereas Luke takes the younger and inferior
line by David's son, Nathan. They concur, indeed,
in Salathiel and Zorobabel, at the time of the cap
tivity, but then diverge again, and even at the close
the difference is maintained ; for Matthew makes
Joseph the son of Jacob, whereas Luke represents
him as the son of Heli, or EH. He could not have
been naturally the son of both these persons ; and the
essential difference in the two lines of descent allows
no satisfactory solution in the idea that Jacob and
Heli are different names for the same person. They
are obviously two different genealogies from the com
mon ancestor, David. This being the case, there
can be little doubt that the genealogy of Matthew is
that of Joseph, and the one of Luke that of Mary,
the former being the legal and the latter the real
genealogy of Jesus. Indeed, Luke seems to have in
dicated his meaning as clearly as could be, consist
ently with the absence of a woman's name in a pedi
gree, by distinguishing the real from the legal gene
alogy in a parenthetical remark, 'Jesus being (as was
supposed) the son of Joseph (but in reality) the son

8 THE STORY OF JESUS.
of Heli,' or his grandson, by the mother's side ; for
so the ellipsis should be supplied. Furthermore,
Mary is always called by the Jews ' the daughter of
Heli.' The conclusion, then, is that Jesus was, in
the most perfect sense, a descendant of David, not
only by law in the royal line of kings through his
reputed father, but by direct personal descent through
his mother."
It is remarkable that while the family records were
kept amid all the vicissitudes of the Jewish nation,
until the Son of man came, they entirely disappeared
soon afterwards, having been probably lost when the
temple was destroyed and the nation scattered ; so
that since then the Jews are unable to trace the pedi
gree of any one Israelite who might claim to be their
promised and still expected Messiah. "Not only is
the proof according to these public tables of descent
incontestable, that Jesus is the Christ, but it is now
put beyond the power of man to prove that any other
person is the Jewish Messiah."
But Jesus the Christ was of a parentage still more
illustrious. He was divine as well as human. Not
only was he to inherit the throne of David, but his
reign is to be forever, and to his kingdom there will be
no end. The announcement made to Mary, the mother
of our Lord, by the angel was : ' ' The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest
shall overshadow thee : therefore the holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
Jesus himself, in commenting upon the Psalmist's
words : "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on
my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot
stool," says, "If David then call him Lord, how is

THE FAMIL Y RECORD. 9
he his son?" This heavenly and divine descent is
joined together with the earthly origin of the divine
man by John, in his introduction to his gospel : "In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
X^od, and the Word was God. All things were made
by him. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth." This glorious Being was to be the Light, not only
of Asia, but of the world, and the true Light which
lighteth every man. ' ' He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received him to them gave he powei
to become the sons of God, even to them that be
lieve on his name."

SHRINE OF THE ANNUNCIATION.

IO THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER III.
THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE.
Luke i : 5-25.— In the temple at Jerusalem, B.C. 6.
JERUSALEM was the Holy City, in the Holy Land.
At Jerusalem was the Holy Temple. When God
gave his law to Israel in the wilderness of Sinai, he
told Moses to build a tabernacle, or movable tent, of
costly cloths and fine woods and precious metals, to be
constructed according to the pattern which God showed
him in the Mount. This tabernacle was to be God's
dwelling and Israel's place of worship. It was carried
with them in their wanderings, and when David
made Jerusalem his capital instead of Hebron, a new
tabernacle was set up there. Solomon built a temple to
take its place. This temple was destroyed when the
Jews were taken into captivity to Babylon. At the
return from Babylon, after the seventy years' captivity,
the temple was rebuilt and called the second temple.
But the old men wept when they thought of the greater
glory of the first temple. King Herod the Great en
larged and beautified it so that it became one of the
wonders of the earth, and was called Herod's Temple.
There is a prophecy in Haggai (2 : 9) that the glory of
the second or latter house was to be greater than that of
the former. This prophecy was fulfilled when Christ
appeared, for he was greater than the temple and gave
to it by his presence its greatest glory.
The temple, like the tabernacle, was divided into two
parts — the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, sep-

THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE. 1 1
arated by a curtain, or vail. In the Holy Place were
the table of shew bread, the golden candlestick, or lamp-
stand, and the altar of incense, and behind the vail,
within the Holiest Place, was the ark, the mercy-seat,
the cherubim, the shekinah, or visible cloud, the sym
bol of God's presence. At the time of the coming of
Christ the Holy of Holies was dark and empty. Into
it, as usual, the high priest entered once a year only,
after making sacrifices, first for himself and then for the
people. The altar of incense was a wooden box, three
feet high and eighteen inches square, overlaid with gold.
It stood near the vail. The temple area was large, and
there were separate courts or spaces for the priests, the
women, the Israelites and the Gentiles. The people
did not enter the temple, which was a small structure,
but worshiped outside in the temple area, or court.
Before the door of the temple and in the area stood
the great altar of sacrifice and the brazen laver.
The services of the temple were very elaborate, and
the sacrifices were numerous. Besides those at special
seasons, as at the Passover and on the great Day of
Atonement, there were the daily morning and evening
sacrifices. These services required a great number of
priests, who were of the tribe of Levi and the family of
Aaron, and were divided into classes, that served in
their turn and courses. They came from their homes
throughout the land for the purpose of serving in the
temple at regular periods for weeks at a time. They
were provided with lodging-rooms in the temple. Over
these classes of priests were the chief priests, and over
all was the high priest.
Zachariah was a priest of the course of Abia, who
lived among the hills about Hebron ; his wife, Eliza-

12

THE STORY OF JESUS.

beth, was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest, the
brother of Moses. Aged and childless, they were both

JEWISH PRIEST.
righteous before God, and walked in the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
It was at the time either of the morning or the evening
sacrifice, when the people filled the courts about the

THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE.

J3

temple to worship. The sacrifice has been laid on the
great altar at the temple front. A priest took live
coals from off the altar, on which the fire was never ex
tinguished, and followed Zachariah, who, clothed in his
priestly robes of pure white, and with covered head and
bare feet, carried the sweet incense into the temple, and
having placed the coals upon the altar of incense that
stood by the vail, retired. It was customary for lots to
be cast for this much- coveted service which Zachariah
was now to perform, probably, for the first and last time,
and" which many priests were never so fortunate as to be
permitted to do. He places the incense on the living
coals on the altar ; the place is filled with sweet-
scented smoke, which rises heavenward, a symbol of the
prayers ascending from the multitude of worshipers in
the courts of the temple, and from all over the world,
wherever there is a Jew who prays with his face towards
Jerusalem. Zachariah leads the prayer of the worshipers,
and doubtless utters the desire of all the waiting ones
for the speedy coming of the long-promised Prince of Is
rael, who shall redeem his people. Just then the angel
Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God on high, ap
peared to Zachariah, who, at the apparition was filled
with fear and trembling.
It is a remarkable fact that during the fifty years in
which are included Christ's life on earth and the early
years of the apostles, more angels appeared and inter
ested themselves in the affairs of men than during the
whole period of the world's previous history. An angel
announced to Mary the birth of the coming Saviour.
A multitude of the heavenly host sang to the shepherds
on the hills of Judea when the Lord was born. Angels
came to comfort and sustain Jesus when tempted in the

t.4 THE STORY OF JESUS.
wilderness and when agonizing in the garden. Two of
the heavenly ones were seen in shining apparel by the
women at the sepulchre. An angel said to the disciples
at the Lord's ascension: "Why stand ye here gazing
up into heaven?" An angel delivered Peter from
prison, and the angels carried Lazarus to Abraham's
bosom. It is the salvation of souls by the suffering
Christ to which Peter refers when he says: "Which
things the angels desire to look into. " It is written :
' ' Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to min
ister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"
"Thy prayer is answered," said the angel to Zacha
riah, "and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear a son, and
thou shalt call his name John." What prayer? For a
son ? Not only that, but for the coming of the Messiah.
He himself was to have joy and gladness, and many-
were to rejoice at his birth. This promised son was to
go before the Messiah, in the spirit and power of Elijah,
to prepare the way of the Lord and to turn many of the
children of Israel to the Lord their God. It was hard
for the aged priest to believe that he and his aged wife,
contrary to the course of nature, should have a . son,
even though an angel said so ; and his doubt demanded ;
' ' Whereby shall I know this ?" " Thou shalt be dumb
and not able to speak until the day that these things
shall be performed, because thou believest not my
words. ' ' The very instrument with which he expressed
his doubt to the angel was stricken, and he was speech
less, and so remained until John the Baptist was born.
The people waiting without wondered why the priest
tarried so long in the temple, and came not out to pro
nounce with his lips, as was customary, the blessing of
God upon them ; and when he did appear, and motioned

THE ANGEL IN THE TEMPLE.

15

to them with his hand, and could not speak, they per
ceived that he had seen a vision.
Zacharias remained at Jerusalem until the period of
his service, in the temple had expired, and then went
home with a glad heart, but silent tongue, to find
Elizabeth, his wife, in their dwelling among the moun
tains near Hebron, and to tell her, by writing, the joy
ous news of the angel's vision.

THE HOLY OF HOLIES OF THE TEMPLB.

o a ca
W W

THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD. iy

CHAPTER- IV.
THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD.
luke i : 26-56.— At Nazareth and Hebron, B.C. 6.
PALESTINE was divided into three parts : Judea
on the south, Samaria in the middle and Galilee
on the north. In Galilee, the town of Nazareth
was situated. Its location was west of Capernaum and
not far from Cana. It was built on the side of a steep,
but not very high, hill and overlooked a beautiful, fer
tile valley, about a mile in length and shaped like a
hollow shell, around which fifteen mountains lifted
their barren peaks. It was at that time a place of pro
verbial wickedness ; but there were some good people
there, as we shall see, for it was the home of Mary and
Joseph, and the place where Jesus spent most of his life '
on earth. -
The true etymology of the name Nazareth seems to
be derived from the high hill overlooking the town, and
as it were guarding it. The importance of hills as out
looks, or defences, in ancient times, and the custom to
give towns their names from some leading feature of
their site sufficiently explain it.
The traveler of to-day finds Nazareth in the same
enchanted situation. Near by, at the foot of Mount
Tabor, Napoleon defeated the Turks in battle, and
after the conflict spent a few hours at Nazareth. The
place is now inhabited by Greeks, Turks and Catholics,
and there are several churches in the town, one called
' ' The Church of the Annunciation, ' ' because it was

T8 THE STORY OF JESUS.
here that the angel announced to the Virgin Mary that
she should have a son, who would be the long-expected
Messiah. The godly Joseph, the reputed father of Jesus, lived
in humble circumstances and was by trade a carpenter,
yet he was of the noblest ancestry, for he was the right
ful heir to the throne of David and Solomon, now occu
pied by the wicked usurper, Herod. It may seem
strange that one of such noble birth should occupy such
a lowly place in the land of his fathers ; but such things
have not been uncommon in history.
Geikie, in his ' ' Life of Christ, ' ' says : "In the Book
of Judges we find a grandson of Moses reduced to en
gage himself as a family priest, in Mount Ephraim, for
a yearly wage of ' ten shekels, a suit of apparel and his
victuals.' At the present day, the green turban, which
marks descent from Mahomet, is often worn in the East
by the very poor, and even by beggars. In our own
history [English], the glory of the once illustrious Plan-
tagenets so completely waned that the direct representa
tive of Margaret Plantagenet, daughter and heiress
of George, Duke of Clarence, followed the trade of a
cobbler in Newport, Shropshire, in 1637. Among the
lineal descendants of Edmund of Woodstock, sixth son
of Edward I., and entitled to quarter the royal arms,
were a village butcher and a keeper of a turnpike gate ;
and among the descendants of Thomas Plantagenet,
Duke of Gloucester, fifth son of Edward III., was
included the late sexton of a London church. The
vicissitudes of the Jewish nation for century after cen
tury . . . had left, to use the figure of Isaiah,
only a root in a dry ground, an humble citizen of Naza
reth, as the heir of its ancient royalty."

THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD. Tg
Joseph was espoused to Mary, an unassuming maiden
dwelling at Nazareth. It was the Jewish custom for a
woman to be betrothed to a man even months before
they were married and the final ceremony performed.
During this engagement the woman did not go to her
husband's home, but lived at her own home and took
time for preparation ; but in the eyes of the law they
were married and could only be separated by divorce,
which was never allowed, according to the better sense
of the nation, except for the one scriptural cause of
adultery. Mary was still in her own home with her relatives,
when the angel appeared to her. If Zachariah was
troubled when Gabriel stood before him, how much
more must the timid maiden have feared when she
was saluted by the heavenly messenger with the words,
" Hail, highly favored of the Lord ! The Lord is with
thee ; blessed art thou among women !" How filled
with wonder must she have been when told that she, a
maiden, should have a son whom she was to call Jesus !
that he was to be the Son of the Highest, who would
reign forever upon the throne of his father David,
and have universal dominion. She doubted, for she
saw not how this, could be. But the angel reminded
her that with God nothing is impossible, and told her
that her holy child should be the Son of God, and that
her cousin Elizabeth also was to have a son. All these
things the angel said in confirmation of the truth of his
message, and Mary believed and said: "Behold, the
handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me according to thy
word." And the angel departed from her.
It would have been remarkable had one of these
women become a mother in the circumstances named,

20 THE STORY OF JESUS.
but that a virgin and an aged woman should each have
a son emphasizes the miraculous nature of these events.
Six months before this the angel had appeared to
Zachariah in the Temple, and now Mary knows what
word of promise he had brought to the priest. She, too,
has now a secret, and she and her cousin Elizabeth can
rejoice together. So Mary arose and journeyed south
ward for one hundred miles, till she came to the hills
about Hebron, and entered the house of Zachariah and
Elizabeth. Here we meet with additional proof of the
Messiahship of Jesus. When Elizabeth saw Mary she
was filled with the Holy Spirit, and at once, by divine
revelation, recognized in the young woman Mary, "the
mother of her Lord." For ages the Hebrew women
had been looking for this honor to fall upon one of their
number, and now Mary is known as the favored one,
the "blessed among women." And Mary's sweet song
has come down to us through the ages. She said :
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden :
For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me
blessed.
For he is mighty and hath done great things ;
And holy is his name.
And his mercy is on him that fear him
From generation to generation.
He hath shewed strength with his arm : he hath scattered the
proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats,
And exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things ;
And the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy ;
As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.

I

THE BIRTH OF THE BAPTIST. 21

CHAPTER V.
THE BIRTH OF THE BAPTIST.
Luke i: 57-80. — In the Hill Country of Judea, B.C. 6.
T is still a question whether Juttah or Hebron was
the birthplace of John the Baptist. Both are in the
"hill country," and each is "a city of Juda." Some
have supposed that Jerusalem was the place ; but it was
probably Hebron, which is a city about twenty Roman
miles south of Jerusalem. It is situated three thousand
feet above the level of the sea. Hebron is one of the
most ancient cities of the world, the rival in age of
Damascus. Abraham visited the town at least thirty-
eight hundred years ago. Here the spies plucked the
grapes of Eschol ; here dwelt the dreaded giants, the
Anakim ; here, too, Caleb defeated the giants, took
their strong city from them and claimed it as his own
inheritance ; and here David reigned more than seven
years before he captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites.
Hebron still exists, situated in a narrow, beautiful
vale, surrounded by rocky hills. About a mile from
the town is one of the largest oak trees in Palestine,
under which, it is said, Abraham pitched his tent.
There is at Hebron a Mohammedan mosque, erected
over the Cave of Machpelah, which was purchased by
Abraham from Ephron the Hittite for a family tomb.
This mosque was probably at one time a church, but,
since the occupation of Palestine by the Moslems, has
been one of the most sacred of their sanctuaries. Chris
tians are never, and Jews seldom, admitted within its
walls. On rare occasions they are allowed to look in

22 THE STORY OF JESUS.
through a hole in the wall. "The sepulchres of Abra
ham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah,
are shown on the floor of the mosque, covered, in the
usual Mohammedan style, with rich carpets ; but the
real sepulchres are as they were in the twelfth and six
teenth centuries, in a cave below the floor. In this they
resemble the tomb of Aaron on Mount Hor." It may
be that one of these days some enterprising antiquarian
will bring to light the mummy of the patriarch Jacob,
who was buried here with so much pomp by Joseph
when governor of Egypt, after the body had been em
balmed by the Egyptians.
This shrine was visited and entered by the Prince of
Wales in 1862 ; but even the Sultan of Turkey and the
Turkish Governor of Jerusalem could not guarantee his
safety from the violence of Moslem fanaticism, that
would regard the visit as " a profanation of the sacred
place." However, the Prince was unmolested, and
Dean Stanley, one of the few allowed to accompany
him, has written an account of this remarkable inspec
tion of the ancient sepulchre at Hebron. These facts
give additional interest to this venerable town, where
John the Baptist was probably born.
The narrative does not inform us that the Virgin
Mary tarried with Elizabeth until after the birth of
John. Some have thought she did. However, about
the close of this visit of three months, the son of Eliza
beth was born. There was great rejoicing, for the
neighbors and cousins of the pious mother were filled
with gladness for the great mercy the Lord had shown
her. It was a Jewish custom to have every male child
circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, at which
time he also received his name. When the priests came

THE BIRTH OF THE BAPTIST. 23
to perform this Jewish ceremony, they named the child
Zachariah, after his father ; but the mother said: "Not:
so; but he shall be called John." Doubtless she knew
that this was the name given him by the angel. Her
friends wondered at this, because it was customary to
name the first-born male child after his father ; and, be
sides, there was no male relative named John. So they
made signs to Zachariah, who was still speechless, to
know how he would have him named. The father asked
for a writing tablet, and wrote : "His name is John."
A change, wonderful as it was instantaneous, came
upon Zachariah, his mouth was opened and his
tongue was loosed and his first words were of praise to
God. The effect upon all present was startling ; for fear
fell upon them, and upon all that dwelt around ; and
these things were told throughout all the hill country of
Judea, and people who heard the wonderful story asked,
"What manner of child shall this be?"
The father, Zachariah, was filled with the Holy
Spirit, and prophesied first concerning the Christ to
be born, and then about the new-born babe. He
blessed God for visiting and redeeming his people
Israel, for raising up a horn of salvation in the house
of David, according to his promises, by the mouth of
his holy prophets, from the foundation of the world,
to save his people from their enemies and to keep his
covenant with Abraham and to bring all, through
this deliverance, to holiness and righteousness of life.
Of John he said, by the Spirit of God : "Thou, child,
shalt be -called the prophet of the highest, for thou
shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his
ways : to give knowledge of salvation to his people,
by the remission of sins, through the tender mercy of

24

THE STORY OF JESUS.

our God; whereby the day-spring from on high hath
visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness
and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the
way of " peace. ' '
Respecting the childhood of John, we have only
one short verse descriptive of it. He grew in body
and dwelt in the wilderness of Judea, living a life of
self-denial and of communion with God, until the
time came for him to appear before Israel in public
to proclaim the coming of the Lord : ' ' And the child
grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the
deserts till the day of his showing to Israel."
Let us now follow the order of events, and mark' how
they all point to the hand of God in preparing the way
for the advent of the long-expected Messiah. It was
not only a period of. universal expectation that some
great event should happen and some illustrious person
age appear, but the Greek language, as a vehicle of
thought, had become universal, and the Roman Empire
embraced all lands, affording intercourse with all na
tions, and the Jewish synagogue was found everywhere
as a place of assembling the people for worship and
hearing the gospel.

ANGELS APPEAR TO THE SHEPHERDS.

BOOK SECOND.

FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO HIS
APPEARANCE IN THE TEMPLE.
A PERIOD OF THIRTEEN YEARS, FROM B.C. 5 TO A.D. 8.

fo)

(26)

SHE LAID HIM IN A MANGER.

THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM.

27

CHAPTER VI.
THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM.
Matt, i : 18-25 ; Luke ii : 1-20. — Nazareth, Bethlehem, B.C. 5.
"^np'HE birth of Christ was on this wise." After
¦*- the return of Mary from Hebron to Nazareth,
she was taken home by her husband, Joseph.
An angel had appeared to Joseph and announced that
his espoused wife, the Virgin Mary, would bring forth
a son to be called Jesus, who would be Emmanuel,
or God with us. She abode there about six months,
when a necessity arose for both of them to go to Beth
lehem. Palestine was a conquered province, and as such
was a part of the Roman Empire. The Roman em
peror, Caesar Augustus, commanded a census to be
taken that all of his subjects might be taxed. The
Roman way of taking the census would have been
to enroll every one in his place of residence. But
the Jewish method was to enroll by families, or tribes,
and in the place of one's nativity. Herod, the king,
was the ready tool of Caesar, but the emperor had no
objection to yield so far to Jewish custom ; so the
king collected the taxes for him, according to the
Jewish method, which brought the people to their
tribal cities. The enrollment and taxing of the whole
world was a great task, and took a long time to com
plete it. During such an enrollment Christ was born,
probably before the winter of the Roman year 749-750,
and B.C. 5.

28 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Dr, Robinson says that the present Christian era is
" from four to five years, at the least, after the actual
birth of Christ. This era was first used in historical
works by the Venerable Bede, early in the eighth cen
tury, and was not long after introduced in public trans
actions by the Frank kings Pepin and Charlemagne."
Joseph and Mary, compelled by royal command, went
at once to Bethlehem to be enrolled, because that was
the city of David, and they were both of the family
of David. Here we see how an imperial decree makes
Herod, the Jew, and Caesar, the Gentile, the uncon
scious instruments in the fulfillment of most impor
tant prophecies concerning Christ, and so furnishes
additional proof of the Messiahship of Jesus. Accord
ing to prophecy the Messiah was to be the seed of
David, and to be born in Bethlehem.
When some said of Jesus : "Is this the Christ ? ' '
others answered, supposing he had been born in
Nazareth : "Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath
not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed
of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem where
David was?" This going to Bethlehem for enroll
ment, in obedience to law, proves that Jesus was de
scended from David. There, too, was the roll itself,
and the family tables were open for inspection.
Bethlehem is about eighty miles south of Nazareth,
and the journey must have been undertaken by Joseph
and Mary with great reluctance. They probably per
formed the journey with Mary seated on an ass, led
by Joseph, who walked by its side. Doubtless this
was the manner in which they traveled for the four
days which they probably spent on the way, resting
each night.

THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM. 2q
Geikie gives a vivid picture of the journey as they
traveled south along the common roads which the
traveler can trace even now :
"Passing down the little valley of Nazareth, they would
find themselves crossing the rich plain of Esdraelon — the bat
tle-ground of nations — not then, as now, half tilled and well
nigh unpeopled, but covered with cities and villages, full of
teeming life and human activities. Galilee, according to Jo
sephus, contained, in those days, two hundred and four cities
and villages, the smallest of which numbered over fifteen
thousand inhabitants.
"Leaving, on the left, the rounded height of Tabor, and
the villages of Nain and Endor, up among the hills, the road
stretched directly south to Jezreel, once Ahab's capital, in the
gentle swell of the rich plain of Esdraelon. On their way
they would pass through a landscape of busy cities and towns,
varied by orchards, vineyards, gardens, fields— for every available
spot was cultivated, to the very top of the hills — the mountains of
Gilboa, where Saul perished, lay a little to the east of Jezreel.
Dothan, with its rich pastures, where Joseph had found his
brethren so many ages before, would soon be seen on their
right, and before long Samaria itself, then just rebuilt by
Herod, with magnificence. Shechem, with its lovely neighbor
hood, would be their resting-place on the second day ; midway
between Judea and Galilee they would pass the night in what
shelter they could find, at Jacob's springs or Jacob's well.
" Once in Judea, its bleak, bare hills were hallowed, at each
opening of the landscape, by the sight of the spots sacred
to every Jew. Shiloh, where Hannah came to pray before the
Lord; then Gilgal, where her son sat to judge Israel. Their
way would pass through the valley of Baca, through the town
of Gophna, past the venerable Bethel, past Ramah, Gideon
high on its hill, where Solomon worshiped, past Mizpah on
its lonely height, where Samuel raised his memorial stone,
and then, at last, after having passed from one holy place to
another, their feet would stand within the gates of Jeru
salem." But their journey was not at an end ; their destina-

3°

THE STORY OF JESUS.

tion was Bethlehem,
meaning House o f
Bread, the ancient
Ephratah, six miles
south of Jerusalem.
The town is situated
upon the top of a
hill, whose terraces,
like great steps, de
scend to the north
ward, covered with
trees and overhang.
ing vines. Here Ra
chel died and was
buried in the valley
below ; here Ruth,
the ancestress of Da
vid, gleaned in the
fields of Boaz ; and
here David, the an
cestor of Joseph and
Mary, and the king,
hero and poet of Is
rael, was born. On
their way up the steep
path to the town the
weary couple must
have passed the well
of David, outside the
city gate.
It may be that, ac
cording to the custom of the East, the travelers looked
for entertainment in the house of some friend or

THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM. ,T
relative, but having traveled slowly, others had come,
many of them also for the purpose of enrollment ;
they found the private houses all filled, and even the
public inn had no room for them.
Though heirs of royalty, they are so fallen in for
tune as to receive no recognition. The public inn or
khan was, and is still, a simple, one-story, rough-stone
structure designed for the safety of cattle. A recess at
one end, raised a foot or two above the level of the
court-yard, open in front and arched over, is called a
leewan. The cattle occupy the open space, while the
travelers betake themselves to the leewan, unless it is
full, in which case they must rest or sleep among the
cattle and lower servants in the yard below. No fur
niture, covering, bedding, food nor attendance are
provided. The traveler brings his own mat, upon
which he sits cross-legged or sleeps. He provides his
own food, while for himself and cattle he draws water
from a neighboring well. A lamp usually hung in
the gate-way at night, and there was generally, but
not always, a person in charge of the place ; some
times there is a cave attached to the khan for the
cattle. Mary and Joseph sought shelter in the village inn.
Finding it already crowded, they were forced to take
refuge among the cattle. The inn or khan at Bethle
hem occupied the top of the hill on which the city was
built, and was ' ' probably the very one which had been
known for centuries as the house of Chimham, and, if so,
covering perhaps the very ground on which, one thous
and years before, had stood the hereditary house of Boaz,
of Jesse, and of David ; ' ' yet ' ' there was no room for
them in the inn." "In the rude lime-stone grotto

32 THE STORY OF JESUS.
attached to it as a stable, among the hay and straw
spread for the food and rest of the cattle, weary with
their day's journey, far from home, in the midst of
strangers, in the chilly winter night, in circumstances
so devoid of all earthly comfort or splendor that it is
impossible to imagine a humbler nativity, — Christ was
born. ' '
His lowly condition at birth emphasizes the words
spoken to Pilate, just before his death, " My kingdom is
not of this world ;" and, in Christ's eyes, poverty and
riches, and all earthly distinctions, are unrecognized.
He was of lowly mind, the friend of all, and ' ' came to
reveal that the soul of the greatest monarch was no
dearer or greater in God's sight than the soul of his
meanest slave." Not far from Bethlehem, the royal
fortress and palace of king Herod the Great stood upon
a lofty hill ; but the Heavenly Father fixed the birth
place of the King of kings, not in the imperial building,
but in a stable, among the cattle of the stall.
The tradition, for it is a tradition, that Jesus was born
in a cave is very ancient, and the cave is still pointed
out. Justin Martyr, who was born at Shechem, and lived
about a century after Christ, was familiar with Palestine
and places the scenes of the Nativity in a cave at Beth
lehem. Jerome spent thirty years of his life in fasting,
prayer and study in a cave at Bethlehem, where he
translated the Bible into the Latin language. "Over
the cave of the Nativity are erected a church and con
vent, to mark the spot. The church is in the form of a
cross and is a venerable structure, having been first built
by the emperor Constantine. Greeks, Armenians, and
Latins have charge of these places now. There is an
altar in the choir to ' the three kings, ' or magi, showing

THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM.

33

in the centre a star of white marble. The cave, which
is reached from the choir by two flights of broad and
beautiful marble stairs," "is about thirty-eight feet
long and eleven broad and nine high, and is paved with
black and red-veined marble. The sides are partly
lined with marble slabs." Curtains of silk and linen
are suspended here and there, while from the roof hangs
a row of silver lamps along the whole length of the

M

^m

CONVENT OF THE NATIVITY.

cave. But none of these things were there when Jesus
was born. It was simply a stable, rude and unadorned.
The elegant adornments are of modern invention. The
site of the manger itself is shown on the east side, in a
grotto, four feet by eight, in which is a crib of colored
marble, which takes the place of the wooden manger,

34 THE STORY OF JESUS.
which was removed to Rome in i486. Over the door
of the grotto is the inscription :
"HIC DE VIRGINE MARIA JESUS CHRISTUS NATUS EST."
(Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.)
A painting of the adoration of the shepherds covers
the rock behind, and five silver lamps swing before it.
On the night when Jesus was born, a company of
shepherds were watching their flocks upon the adjoin
ing hills. Here, probably, David was tending his father's
sheep when Samuel came to anoint him king over
Israel, and where he saw and watched the stars and sang
of God's glory and might ; and here now the angel of
the Lord came upon the shepherds, and the glory of the
Lord shone round about them. "The angel said:
Fear not, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day, in
the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,
and this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of
the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth, peace and good will
toward men."
When the angels had disappeared and the darkness of
night had taken the place of the glory of heaven, the
shepherds hastened to Bethlehem and found Mary and
Joseph, and the child lying in a manger. Then they
returned and spread abroad the wonderful tidings they
had seen and heard, and all who heard them, won
dered, while Mary treasured these things in her heart
as additional proof that her child was indeed the long-
expected Messiah.

THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM.

35

" One mile from Bethlehem is a little plain in which,
under a grove of olives, stands the bare and neglected
chapel known by the name of 'the angel to the shep
herds. ' It is built over the traditional site of the fields
where the angel appeared to the shepherds. ' '

th'n i.nrh \\ \ , , /IK i . '/, . rrr-

— /^

CRYPT UNDER THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY, AND MANGER.

36 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER VII.
THE CHILD IN THE TEMPLE.
Matt, i : 25 ; LuKEii: 21-39. — Jerusalem, B.C. 5.
HEN the infant Jesus was eight days old,

w

according to Jewish custom and the law of
God, he was circumcised. This could be
done at home, in the synagogue at Bethlehem, or in the
temple at Jerusalem. At this time, as was usual, his
name was given to him. He is called Jesus, according
to the command of the angel. His parents were Jews,
and now, having submitted to the Jewish laws, the son
is also a Jew. In the observing of this rite, we see not
only reverence for law, but also the life of Christ's suf
ferings and obedience begun. The shadow of the cruel
cross already begins to fall on the Redeemer's infant
life. He was made under the law. He came to fulfil
the law, not to abolish it. By his obedience we escape
the burden of its penalty, and are also released from
keeping the ceremonial law. If Jesus had not kept the
law as a Jew, he could not have gone into synagogue
and temple proclaiming his own gospel as he did, nor
would he have fulfilled the requirements of prophecy.
For forty days after the birth of a son, a Jewish
mother was required to seclude herself, and then to take
her babe into the temple to offer the sacrifice necessary
for her ceremonial "purification," and to present her
son before the Lord and pay the price of his release
or "redemption." At the end of the period of her
purification, Mary, accompanied by Joseph and Jesus,
journeyed from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, the mother

THE CHILD IN THE TEMPLE.

37

probably riding on an ox, to prevent her defilement,
according to Jewish notions, by contact with unclean
things by the way. Arriving at the holy city, they go
to the temple, and as soon as the gates are open, enter
into the court of the women.

AN OFFERING OF DOVES.

Joseph, as the husband of Mary, is permitted to enter
this part of the temple with her, but she cannot enter
with him the court of the men. Here the priests or

38 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Levites come to meet her at the time of morning sacri
fice, and, receiving her gift, bear it inside to the sac
rificial altar, and then returning, sprinkle the woman
with some of the blood of her offering and she is clean.
The gift required on such occasions was a lamb, or, if
the parents were poor, a pair of turtle-doves or two
pigeons. Joseph and Mary were poor, and they, there
fore, offer the humbler gift, and thus emphasize the
truth, that poverty is no disgrace and that God looks
not upon the outward condition of man ; and yet he
requires of every one some gift or offering, but only
according to each one's ability.
The house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi had been
set aside to the priesthood, but the custom still prevailed
of presenting the first-born son to the Lord and offering
the gift of money, not more than five shekels, for his
redemption or release. Since no child who was in any
way maimed, or defective, or had any blemish, could be
presented to the Lord, we infer that Jesus was in all
respects without any physical blemish. After two
thousand years, this ceremony of the "redemption
of the first-born," is still observed among the -Jews,
probably without much change. It is not celebrated in
the temple, which was destroyed many centuries ago ;
but the " Hebrew father invites ten friends and a rabbi,
who must be a Cohen, that is, one reputed to belong to
the house of Aaron, to his house, on the thirty-first day
after the child's birth," when the ceremony is observed.
While Joseph and Mary were performing their sacred
parental duty in the temple, they were granted addi
tional proof of the greatness of their infant son. As be
fore, the angel's appearance to Zachariah, and then to
Mary, and afterward to the shepherds, so now the testi-

THE CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 30
mony of the aged Simeon and the prophetess Anna,
afford evidence that Jesus is the Christ.
Simeon, an aged man of Jerusalem, was one of those
few among the Jews who, with a spiritual mind, ob
served all the forms of Jewish ritual, and who saw the
spiritual meaning in all the prophecies concerning
Christ and his kingdom. Like Nathanael, Simeon was
"an Israelite indeed" in whom was no guile. He was
just toward man and devout toward God, looking for
the Christ, the "consolation of Israel." It had been
revealed to him that he should live to see the promised
Saviour, and now, coming into the temple, led by the
Spirit of God, during the ceremony of presentation he
recognizes Jesus as the Messiah. Filled with holy rap
ture, he takes the babe in his arms, and, blessing God,
says: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in
peace, according to thy word ; for mine eyes have seen
thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face
of all people, — a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the
glory of thy people Israel." Here, then, in the very
infancy of Jesus, it is declared that his work shall be
among both Jews and Gentiles. Again, Joseph and
Mary wonder at the remarkable sayings concerning the
child. Simeon, after blessing them all, prophesies how
he will be received on the one hand, and rejected on
the other, and, foreseeing his crucifixion, says to the
mother : "A sword shall pierce through thy own soul
also. ' '
But waiting there in the temple, and watching for
the appearance of the Redeemer of Israel, were others
besides Simeon. Among these was Anna, a widow and
prophetess, eighty-four years of age, the daughter of
Phanuel, ' - of the tribe of Asher, and therefore a Gali-

(4°)

PRESENTING THE FIRST BORN IN THE TEMPLE.

THE CHILD IN THE TEMPLE.

4T

lean." She had lived with her husband seven years
of her early life, but since then had passed her long
life in devotion, remaining in the house of God day
and night, fasting and praying and praising God. De
spite her age and consequent infirmities, she was still
found in the house of prayer engaged in public worship.
Coming in while Simeon was prophesying, she also
recognized the infant Messiah, and gave thanks to God,
and ' ' spake of him to all them that looked for redemp
tion in Jerusalem. "
When Joseph and Mary "had performed all things
according to the law of the Lord, they returned into
Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth." But before
their return, much time elapsed and many things were
done, of which we shall proceed to speak. The first of
these is the visit of the Magi, who found the babe in
Bethlehem, where his parents had gone after present
ing him in the temple.

BETHLEHEM.

42

THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE STAR IN THE EAST.
Matt. ii. i-i 2. —Jerusalem and Bethlehem, B.C. 4.
"V ~X J"E have already spoken of the wide-spread ex-
V V pectation of a Jewish king who should attain
to universal empire, like Caesar, the Roman
Emperor, or Alexander, the Grecian conqueror. The
patriotic Jew could see no meaning in the glorious
prophecies of the Old Testament, but that the Jews
should, under their Messiah, conquer the world. A few
only among them understood that the coming reign of
the Christ was to be spiritual, as it is now, extending
over the earth wherever the missionary of the cross has
gone with the Jewish scriptures in his hand. Scattered
all over the earth and dwelling in large numbers in all
lands, the Jews carried their Messianic expectation with
them and told to the wondering heathen the story of
their ancient prophecies concerning the glorious Prince,
who was to reign over Israel, and gather the Gentiles
into his kingdom. And when they assembled at Jeru
salem in the time of their sacred feasts, numbering often
from two to three millions of pilgrims, and when they
heard their teachers declaring the nearness of his com
ing, and saw the oppression of their enemies, they went
back to their distant abodes hopefully saying, ' ' The
time is at hand."
Proselytes among the heathen were made everywhere
by the Jewish zealots, and probably such were the wise
men who came to welcome the new-born king. Who

THE STAR IN THE EAST.

43

these wise men were, where they came from, their rank,
their names, their number, have ever been questions of
speculation. Some have contended for twelve answer
ing to the twelve tribes of Israel ; others have said there
were three, one for each kind of gift given to the babe.
They came from the east— east of Judea ; probably from
Persia or Arabia. They were doubtless Gentiles, who,
led of God, were the first of their race to seek and find
the Saviour of mankind ; and realizing their expecta
tions in the infant Jesus, they prostrate themselves
before him. Thus early the prophecy of Isaiah began to
be fulfilled : ' ' And the Gentiles shall come to thy light
and kings to the brightness of thy rising. ' '
The word translated ' ' wise men " is in the original,
Magi,, which meant a sect of Median or Persian
scholars ; it was subsequently applied — as in Acts xiii.
6 — to pretended astrologers or oriental soothsayers.
The Magi were priests, philosophers, astronomers, — the
learned men of the eastern nations, who devoted them
selves to religion, medicine and astronomy. Some of
them were doubtless good men. These Magi were evi
dently devout astronomers who came looking for the ex
pected Redeemer of the world in order to worship him.
To this class of men belonged the ancient alchemist,
who was the early chemist, ' ' black ' ' though his art was
in the estimation of the ignorant, and the ancient
astrologist, who, superstitious though he may have
been, was the early astronomer. In the course of their
reverent contemplation of the heavens, these wise men
saw a new star which they deemed was sent to announce
the birth of the Jewish king, so long expected. From
their home in the east this star directed them westward
to Judea.

£¥lfe

(44)

SHEPHERDS WATCHING THEIR "FLOCKS BY NIGHT.

THE STAR IN THE EAST. 45
That they so interpreted the appearance of the star
is not strange. The heavens were consulted by both
eastern and western wise men to ascertain the will of
God and the destinies of nations, and hence the magi
cians and soothsayers were the counselors of kings, as
the Chaldeans of Babylon in Daniel's day. They
' ' divined ' ' by the rising and setting of the stars, and
by the conjunction of the planets in the heavens. The
appearance of a star or comet was regarded among the
ancients as an omen of some remarkable event. The
Jews to some extent shared this superstition of the
heathen nations. At the death of Julius Caesar a comet
shone in the heavens for seven days. And now when a
new star appeared in the west, these wise men ex
claimed, "This is the star of the long-looked for
Prince ; for is it not written, ' There shall come a star
out of Jacob? ' " According to Geikie, " Belief in the
influence of stars over life and death, and in special
portents at the birth of a great man, survived indeed to
recent times."
There have been many conjectures as to what this
star was, — whether natural or supernatural. The effort
has been made to prove that there was a remarkable
phenomenon in the heavens about the time of the birth
of the Lord, similar to the one that occurred in 1603-04,
which is described as " a conjunction of the two largest
superior planets, Saturn and Jupiter in the zodiacal
sign of the Fishes, in the watery trigon. In the fol
lowing spring they were joined in the fiery trigon by
Mars, . . . and between Mars and Saturn, a new star
of the first magnitude appeared, which, after shining
for a whole year, waned . . . and finally disappeared.
. . . Such a conjunction should at once have been

46

THE STORY OF JESUS.

interpreted by Chaldean observers as indicating the ap
pearance of some memorable event ; and since it occurred
in the constellation Pisces, which was supposed by
astrologers to be immediately connected with the for
tunes of Judea, it would turn their thoughts in that
direction. ' '
But we are disposed to regard the " star " as a glorious

-*~sg

JERUSALEM.

light in the near heavens sent to guide the expectant
wise men to the holy babe in the manger at Bethlehem.
It was not natural, but supernatural, and, like the
angels that appeared to the shepherds of Judea, it was a
messenger direct from God.
There was a great commotion in Jerusalem when the
Magi arrived there and asked, ' ' Where is he that is

THE STAR IN THE EAST. 47
born king of the Jews ? For we have seen his star in
the east and have come to worship him. ' '
Herod, the king, called the Great, was not a Jew, and
held the throne by craft and cruelty, under the Roman
power. Jerusalem had fallen before the victorious arms
of Pompey, sixty-three years before, and Judea was now
a Roman province and the Jews the subjects of a foreign
prince. Herod was an Idumean, a descendant of the
hated Ishmael and Esau, and had occupied the throne
of David for thirty-four years, sustained by the armies
of Caesar. No wonder this aged monster trembled when
he heard of the birth of the king of the Jews — the pre
dicted Messiah, whose star was seen in the east. Long
had he reigned ; but he is now jealous and afraid, even
of an infant whom he regards as an aspirant for his
stolen throne. He knew of no new-born king. Both
he and his adherents were greatly troubled ; but there
were those who were concerned in a joyous sense, and
who looked for Israel's deliverance, and some who even
remembered the late scene in the temple- when Jesus
was presented.
With anxious mind Herod summoned the Great
Council, or Senate of the nation, called the Sanhedrin,
a body which was composed of seventy-two of the chief
priests and scribes, or learned men and elders, which
had charge of the civil and religious affairs of the Jews,
and was presided over by the high priest. When this
Council had assembled, Herod demanded of them where
"Christ" should be born, for Herod judged that he
whose star was seen by the wise men could be no other
than the promised king, the Messiah. The answer to
Herod's question is found, not by consulting the stars,
but by searching the scriptures. In the prophecy of

48

THE STORY OF JESUS.

Micah they found these words : " And thou, Bethlehem,
in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes
of Judah : for out of thee shall come a governor that
shall rule my people Israel." According to Micah, the
babe of Bethlehem is the ruler and king of Israel — the
Christ. Herod invites the wise men to a private inter
view, and sends them to Bethlehem to look diligently
for the new-born king, saying to them that when they
had found the young child they should return and tell
him, that he too might go and worship him.
When the Magi started on their way, to their great
joy, the star again appeared and went before them to
Bethlehem, " till it came and stood over where the
young child was." Having arrived there, they entered
the house, perhaps the same where the child was born,
although Joseph may have occupied his own house at
this time, and seeing the young child with Mary, his
mother, they fell down and did him reverence as a
king, offering him kingly presents — the best their coun
tries could afford — gold, frankincense and myrrh. Being
warned of God not to return to Herod, they went back
to their own country another way.

EASTERN KHAN AT NIGHT.

w

THE FLIGHT AND THE MASSACRE. 49

CHAPTER IX.
THE FLIGHT AND THE MASSACRE.
Matt. ii. 13-23. — Bethlehem, Egypt, B.C. 4.
HEN Herod, the king, told the wise men to
find out where the young king of the Jews
was and bring him word, that he might go
also and worship him, he was not sincere. Herod was
crafty as well as cruel, and his intention was to kill the
babe who appeared to be an aspirant for the throne. He
thought of the star, the wise men, the Sanhedrin and the
scriptures, and his jealousy was aroused. To slay every
one who seemed to stand in his way had been his policy
during the period of his more than thirty years' reign.
He had grown gray in years and hardened in crime,
until, like Nero or like Henry VIII. , he had become a
monster of cruelty. He had slain his wife's brother,
Aristobulus, who was eighteen years of age, because he
had won the affections of the people of Jerusalem. He
had put to death Hyrcanus, his wife's grandfather, a
man eighty years of age, who had once saved his life.
His beloved and beautiful wife, Mariamne, and her
mother were publicly executed, and his two sons, by
Mariamne, — Alexander and Aristobulus, — were stran
gled in prison, by his orders. After suffering the great
est agonies from a terrible disease, he died, in his splen
did palace at Jericho, hating all and being hated by all.
Just before his death he ordered three thousand of the
chief men of the nation to come to him on pain of
death, and shut them up in the circus at Jericho.
3

rjO THE STORY OF JESUS.
"When I am dead," he said to his faithful but infamous
sister, Salome, ' ' order that all of them be put to death
at once, that there may be mourning in the land on
their account, if not on mine. ' ' Fortunately his orders
were not executed, and the death of the detested tyrant
was, as Herod himself feared, a day of festive joy to
all. We may well suppose that such a monster would have
no hesitation in putting to death any one who was
deemed the king of the Jews, or was looked upon as the
expected Messiah who was to occupy the throne of
David. Such was his intention. When Herod saw that
the Magi did not return as he had expected, having
outwitted him, he was very angry and greatly disap
pointed. But he was resolved not to turn aside from his
wicked purpose. In order to accomplish his murderous
design, he ordered that all the male infants of two years
old and under, in Bethlehem and vicinity, should be
slain. To make sure that the infant Messiah should be
destroyed, he commanded the wholesale execution of
the innocent children. " Surely," he thought, " I shall
not be mocked nor deceived, for the infant king will
certainly be slain."
When Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that Herod
was cruel, his word is accepted, but when Matthew
records a characteristic instance of his cruelty, skeptics
shake their heads ; when Josephus records as a fact that
there was an expectation throughout the world that a
great ruler should arise among the Jews to overrun and
conquer the earth, he is believed, but when Matthew
relates how the wise men came to worship the new-born
king, he is discredited ; and yet Matthew, who gave up
all for Christ, is far more to be believed than the rene-

THE FLIGHT AND THE MASSACRE. 51
gade Jew Josephus, who sold his country and went over
to the enemy of his people to save himself.
When the children of Israel were carried captive to
Babylon, a number of them were collected at Ramah, a
town in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, near
Bethlehem. The prophet Jeremiah, who lived in those
days, beautifully pictures Rachel, the mother of Benja
min, whose grave was near Bethlehem, as rising from the
dead and weeping for her children driven off into
captivity. Matthew quoting the prophecy,' says : "In
Ramah was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weep
ing, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her chil
dren, and would not be comforted because they are not. ' '
Ramah was about six miles north-west of Jerusalem,
in the neighborhood of Bethel. The name means an
eminence and the spot commands a view of the plain of
Sharon and the Mediterranean Sea. It was the birth
place of Samuel, where he also lived and died. It is
supposed to be the same place as Arimathea, the home
of Joseph, who begged the body of Jesus for burial.
But God was watching over the infant Jesus as he
ever watches over his people. As he warned the wise
men so the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and
revealing the murderous intention of Herod, directed
him to flee with the mother and child into Egypt.
Joseph arose at once and fled with his little family, and
the child Jesus escaped the sad fate which fell upon the
babes who were left behind, the innocent victims of
Herod's cruel wrath.
The land in which the children of Israel were once
enslaved becomes the refuge of the Son of David, and
the only country except Palestine that he ever visited.
A few days' journey would bring the travelers to the

(52)

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.

THE FLIGHT AND THE MASSACRE. 53
stream that separates the dominion of Herod from the
land of the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies, and give them
security under another government.
There are many stories about this journey and con
cerning the sojourn of the infant Saviour in Egypt, but
they are unworthy of credence, and only to the scrip
tures can we look for the truth. Where they dwelt is
not known. Some claim that they were at Memphis.
Wherever they dwelt, they would find a synagogue and
many of their own countrymen, some of whom were
also exiles for fear of the tyrant's power. They
would also find still prevailing that ill-feeling between
the Egyptians and Hebrews which had existed from the
days of Moses.
At this time, however, the Jews of Egypt had power
and influence as well as numbers. At Alexandria were
collected many of their learned men ; and here, about
two hundred and fifty years before Jesus came to
Egypt, seventy-two Jewish scholars translated parts of
the Old Testament from the Hebrew into Greek. From
these seventy-two translators, or interpreters, the book
takes its name, the Septuagint. It had much to do
with the preparation of the world for the coming of
the Christ.
Before this, God's written revelation was locked up
from the world in the Hebrew, a language known
only to the Jewish nation but no longer spoken by
them. The Greek was the language of the world,
and the scriptures in Greek, understood by the world,
went everywhere and had much to do with creating
that universal expectation of the Christ whose coming
was foretold in them as the conqueror and Saviour of
the world. The Magi who saw his star in the east

54 THE STORY OF JESUS.
had probably read these sacred writings, and in the
spread of the gospel this Greek translation had also an
important influence. It was the "people's Bible."
From it the evangelists in the gospels and the apostles
quote, and Christ himself read from it in the synagogue
at Nazareth. Peter quoted it on the day of Pentecost,
and in it the Ethiopian eunuch read. It was probably
in the Aramaean, the vernacular language of the people,
that the apostles preached, and in the Greek that the
evangelists wrote the gospels. A curse was pronounced
against the Jew who kept swine, or taught his child
Greek; "but when advancement could be obtained
only by a knowledge of Greek and Grecian culture,
pride and scruples often gave way before interest."
How long the child Jesus remained in Egypt is
variously estimated from one to three years, but at the
death of Herod the angel of the Lord appeared to
Joseph and commanded him to return- to Judea, because
he that sought the life of the child was dead. Thus
was the prophecy fulfilled, ' ' Out of Egypt have I
called my son ; " once when Moses led Godjs children
out of the land of bondage, and now again when God
recalls Israel's seed from exile in the same land.
Again the tedious journey is taken, and soon "they
come into the land of Israel." The intention of Joseph
was to go to Bethlehem, for there evidently he had
taken up his abode ; but fear seized him when he heard
that Archelaus reigned in Judea in his father Herod's
place, and by the direction of God he turned away and
went into Galilee to the town of Nazareth, out of the
dominion of the cruel son of an infamous father, and
under the jurisdiction of Herod's son, Antipas, who,
if not a good ruler, was a very indifferent one and
not to be feared.

THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. 55

CHAPTER X.
THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS.
Luke ii. 40, 52. — At Nazareth, B.C. 4 to a.d. 8.
THE materials for the early life of Jesus are very
meagre. The gospels deal mostly with his
public life and ministry, which cover from three
to four years, while of his private life during a period
of about thirty years, they say but little. Tradition,
however, is not silent. There are books that profess
to give true and marvellous stories of the youthful
Jesus. They tell us how he made birds of clay, and,
clapping his hands, at once endowed them with life and
put them to flight ; how he in anger struck dead the
childish companion who crossed him ; how his play
mates enthroned him their king and bowing down to
him made other children passing do the same.
These stories are all foolish fictions, the inventions
of men. We must go to the scriptures alone, for out
side of them nothing is reliable. But little is made
known about the early life of Jesus ; for some good
reason God has concealed the rest from us. Two verses
in Luke, and one story of the child with the doctors
in the temple are all we have in scripture of this
period in the Saviour's life: "The child grew and
waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the
grace of God was upon him;" and, "Jesus increased
in wisdom, and in favor with God and man." These
verses refer to the physical, mental and moral de
velopment of Jesus, to the growth of his human

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tali's

Mm WES! im - M«^fflfflwy^RfflBw:, A'Ai

THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS. cy
soul, and the advancement of his mind and heart in
wisdom. Jesus grew as any other child by means
which are revealed to us in the land and its customs as
well as in the book. It will not be long before the East
must yield to the newer and better civilization of the
West. But the habits and customs and general features
of Palestine have been preserved much the same as in
our Saviour's day, in order to throw light upon the life
of Christ for the benefit of all coming ages. First of
all arid above all, Jesus was taught of God and dwelt
in daily communion with his heavenly Father.
Nazareth, the mountain village, in which was spent all
of our Saviour's life save three or four years, was most
beautifully situated among the everlasting hills. The
town is nearly twelve hundred feet above the level of
the sea, and some of the hills rise about five hundred
feet higher. Such a place could not fail to have an
elevating influence upon the. mind of the youthful
Jesus. Says Geikie :
" The traveler will be charmed by the brightness of the plains
and the beauty of the flowers. The distant view of the village
itself in spring is beautiful ; its streets rise in terraces in the
hill-slopes towards the northwest. The hills here and there
broken in perpendicular faces, rise above it, in an amphitheatre
round, to a height of about five hundred feet, and shut it in from
the bleak winds of winter. The flat-roofed houses, built, of
yellowish white limestone of the neighborhood, shine in the sun
with dazzling brightness from among gardens, fig trees, olives,
cypresses, and the white and scarlet blossoms of the pomegran
ate. . . . Small gardens rich in green clumps of olive trees and
stately palms, break the monotonous yellow of the rocks and
houses, while doves coo and birds of many kinds twitter in the
branches, or flit across the open fields. The bright colors of the
roller, the hoopoe, the sunbird, or the bulbul, catch the eye as
one or the other dart swiftly past . . . The song of the lark floods
3*

58 THE STORY OF JESUS.
a thousand acres of the sky with melody ; the restless tit-mouse,
the willow-wren, the blackcap, the hedge sparrow, the white-
throat, or the nightingale, flit or warble on the hillside, or in
the cactus hedges, while the rich notes of the song thrush or the
blackbird rise from the green clumps in the valley beneath. The
wagtail runs over the pebbles of the brook as here at home ; the
common sparrow haunts the streets and housetops ; swallows and
swifts skim the hillsides and grassy meadows ; and in winter the
robin red-breast abounds. Great butterflies flit over the hillsides
amongst the flowers, while flocks of sheep and goats dot the
slopes and the little plain below. Through this a brook ripples,
the only one in the valley, and thither the women and maidens
go to fetch water in tall jars for household use. It is the one
spring of the town, and hence must have been that which the
mothers and daughters of Christ's day frequented. . . . No won
der in spring Nazareth should have been thought a paradise, or
that it should be spoken of as perhaps the only spot in Palestine
where the mind feels relief from the unequaled desolation that
reigns nearly everywhere else."
The summit of the hill on which Nazareth is built
rises back of the town and high above it. Below is a
valley on the northwest side of which the city stands.
' ' Certainly, ' ' says Farrar, ' ' there is no child of ten years old
in Nazareth now, however dull and unimpressionable he may be,
who has not often wandered up to it. And certainly there could
have been no boy at Nazareth in olden days who had not followed
the common instinct of humanity by climbing up those thymy
hill-slopes to the lovely and easily accessible spot which gives a
view of the world beyond. . . . The view from this spot would
in any country be regarded as extraordinarily beautiful, rich and
lovely ; but it receives a yet more indescribable charm from our
belief that here with his feet among the mountain flowers, and
the soft breeze lifting the hair from his temples, Jesus must often
have watched the eagles poised in the cloudless blue ; and having
gazed upwards as he heard overhead the rushing plumes of the
long line of pelicans, as they winged their way from the stream
of Kishon to the Lake of Galilee. And what a vision would be
outspread before him as he sat at spring time on the green and

THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS.

59

thyme-besprinkled turf. ... To the north . . . the narrow and
fertile plain of Asochis, . . . the wood-crowned hills of Naph tali
and . . . beyond these on the far horizon, Hermon . . . white
with eternal snows. Eastward at a few- miles distance . . .
Tabor. To the west the purple ridge of Carmel, among whose
forests Elijah had found a home ; . . . and the dazzling line of
white sand ... of the Mediterranean. . . . Southward, broken
only by the graceful outlines of little Hermon and Gilboa, lay the
entire plain of Esdraelon, so memorable in the history of Pales
tine and of the world."

MOUNT CARMEL.

"The view from Nazareth itself is limited, as might
be expected from its nestling in an amphitheatre of hills
that shut in the little valley, except to the west where it
opens on Esdraelon. From the top of the hill at the
back of the village, to the north, however, it is very
different. Galilee lies spread out like a map at one's
feet."

60 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Let not him who pictures to himself this quiet moun
tain village think of it as a place of solitude, far from the
influence of the outer life, and this elevated spot only as
affording a distant view of the world beyond. Great
cities and villages were near at hand — Sepphoris, the rich
and populous capital of Galilee, but three hours distant ;
while five great highways of travel and commerce passed
through or near by, linking Syria, Egypt and Pales
tine, Damascus, Ptolemais, Jerusalem and Sepphoris
together. Nazareth seems to have been "the crossing-
place of the nations."
Perhaps this passing heathen traffic may have given
cause for the bad name that Nazareth had. However
that may have been, the child Jesus rose above all the
temptations of the place, which he knew and felt for
our sakes ; but his sinless nature yielded only to the
influence of the good about him. From the contempla
tion of nature he looked up in daily adoration to nature's
God, his heavenly Father.
Another influence at work in the development of the
child Jesus was the home. It was the duty of both pa
rents to train the child in the scriptures as the basis of a
moral and religious life, and we can imagine the mother
of Jesus not only teaching him to read the scriptures,
but hearing him recite those which he had committed to
memory. His was an humble home and a simple life ;
not like the gorgeous pictures of wealth and luxury pic
tured by the artists of the Middle Ages, who represent
the Virgin and her Child seated on stately thrones,
upon floors of splendid mosaic, under canopies of blue
and gold, robed in colors rich as the hues of summer, or
delicate as the flowers of spring, and the edges of their
robes fitted with golden embroidery and clasped with

THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS.

6l

priceless gems. Far different was the reality. "Their
life was spent not in the full light of notoriety and
wealth, but in secrecy, poverty and manual labor."

A STREET IN NAZARETH.
One may go to Nazareth to-day and see the homes
and the children that dwell in them, much the same as
they were in the days of Christ. Says Farrar :
"He lived as did other children of peasant parents in that quiet

62 THE STORY OF JESUS.
town, and in great measure as they live now. He who has seen
the children of Nazareth in their red caftans and bright tunics of
silk or cloth, girded with a many-colored sash, and sometimes
covered with a loose outer jacket of blue or white, — he who has
watched their noisy and merry games, and heard their ringing
laughter as they wandered about the hills of their little native
vale, or played in bands on the hillside beside their sweet and
abundant fountain, may perhaps form some conception of how
Jesus looked and played when he too was a child.
' ' And the traveler who has followed any of these children as I
have done to their simple homes, and seen the scanty furniture,
the plain but sweet and wholesome food, the uneventful, happy,
patriarchal life, may form a vivid conception of the manner in
which Jesus lived. Nothing can be plainer than these houses,
with the doves sunning themselves on the white roofs, and the
vines wreathing about them. The mats or carpets are laid loose
along the walls ; shoes and sandals are taken off at the threshold ;
from the centre hangs a lamp, which forms the only ornament of
the room ; in some recess in the wall is placed the wooden chest,
painted with bright colors, which contains the books or other
possessions of the family ; on the ledge that runs around the wall,
within easy reach, are neatly rolled up the gay-colored quilts,
which serve as beds, and on the same ledge are ranged the
earthen vessels for daily use ; near the door stand the large, com
mon water jars of red clay, with a few twigs and green leaves —
often of aromatic shrubs — thrust into their orifices to keep the
water cool. At meal-time a painted wooden stool is placed in the
middle of the apartment. A large tray is put upon it, and in the
middle of the tray stands a dish of rice, or meat, or libban, or
stewed fruits, from which all help themselves in common. But
before and after the meal, the servant or the youngest member of
the family pours water over the hands from a brazen ewer over a
brazen bowl. So quiet, so simple, so uneventful was the outward
life of the family at Nazareth.
" Yet this poverty was not pauperism ; there was nothing in it
either miserable or abject ; it was sweet, simple, contented, happy,
even joyous. Mary, like others of her rank, would spin, and
cook food, and go to buy fruit, and, evening by evening, visit the
fountain still called after her, 'The Virgin's Fountain,' with her
pitcher of earthenware, carried on her shoulder or her head.

THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS.

63

Jesus would play and learn, and help his parents in their daily
tasks, and visit the synagogues on the Sabbath days."
A beautiful dream-story from the pen of Luther is
told of the childhood of Jesus, that is worth relating :
"It is written that there was once a pious, godly
bishop, who had often earnestly prayed that God would
manifest to him what Jesus had done in his youth.
Once the bishop had a dream to this effect : He seemed
to see in his sleep a carpenter working at his trade,

SsgeP

A CARPENTER'S SHOP AT NAZARETH.
beside him a little boy who was gathering up chips,
then. came in a maiden clothed in green, who called
them both to come to the meal and Set porridge before
them. All this the bishop seemed to see in his dream,
himself standing behind the door that he might not be
perceived. Then the little boy began and said, ' Why
does that man stand there ? shall he not also eat with
us ? ' and this so frightened the bishop that he awoke.

64

THE STORY OF JESUS.

Let this be what it may," adds Luther, "a true story
or a fable, I none the less believe that Christ in his
childhood and youth looked and acted like other chil
dren, yet without sin in fashion like a man."
Some say other children, sons and daughters, were
born to Joseph and Mary, and that Jesus dwelt with them
all in peace and love. When he was eighteen years old,
tradition says, Joseph died, and the support of the
family rested mainly on Jesus, because the older, who
worked, it is said, at the humble occupation of his
father, the village worker in wood, to provide the neces
sities of life for all ; so that, with work and play, his
physical development kept pace with his mind and
heart.

INTERIOR OF A GREEK CHURCH.

THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD. 65

I

CHAPTER XI.
THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD.
Luke ii. 41-52. — Nazareth and Jerusalem, A.r>. 8.
T would be under Joseph's roof as a silken nest,
with the counsels of Joseph and the gentle and
lofty devoutness of Mary, that the young soul, destined
one day to be so great, would learn its richest lessons of
childhood. ' ' Yet in the growth and development of Jesus
in his moral and religious life, we must take into account
the common school of the Rabbis for the education of
boys, found in every village, in which the Scriptures
were the basis of instruction, as they were also in the
synagogue with its public services.
Synagogue is a name first given to a congregation of
Jews — of ten or more — assembled together for religious
worship ; but, like our word church, it is also used to
designate the house in which the people met. Centuries
before Christ, in the great city of Babylon, far away
from the holy city and its temple, the Jewish captives
still maintained the worship of Jehovah. Deprived of
their temple, they formed synagogues for prayer and
praise and the reading of God's word. After the return
from captivity the synagogue was kept up, and was
found finally in every part of the world wherever Jews
dwelt in sufficient numbers.
There were hundreds of synagogues at Jerusalem ;
there were many at Alexandria ; at least one at Naza
reth ; and ten at Damascus. They were scattered all
over Palestine, as their ruins testify at the present day.

66 THE STORY OF JESUS.
They were in form like the temple, but unlike that
sacred edifice in one thing : that while the people as
sembled out in the courts of the temple to worship, the
worshipers gathered inside the synagogue. The syna
gogue was more like our present houses of worship. It
was always rectangular in shape, its longest dimensions
extending nearly north and south, with its entrance
almost always facing the south. It was built of native
limestone finely dressed, and over the entrances, three
in number, and opening into the aisles, were sculptures
of the golden candlestick, or of the pot of manna, or of
the paschal lamb, or of the vine. The floors were of
stone, and four rows of columns with ornamental Ionic
and Corinthian capitals upheld the flat roof.
There were services morning, afternoon and night
in the synagogues, and it was the duty of the pious
Jew to attend each service. The special times of public
worship were feast days and market days (Monday,
Thursday), and the Sabbath. The rabbis and elders
sat on raised cushions, "the chief seats," in the rear
end of the house, facing the people, and with their
backs to a curtain representing the holy of holies
in the temple. Behind this curtain, in a recess, were
kept the sacred rolls, wrapped, in a cover of linen and
silk and adorned with silver and gold. Before the
shrine hung a lamp that never went out, in imitation of
the ' ' eternal fire ' ' in the temple, and beside it stood
a representation of the golden candlestick with its seven
branches. The officers of the synagogue consisted of the elders,
one of whom acted as head, or ' ' ruler. ' ' He was form
ally set apart by the laying on of hands. This council
of elders sentenced offenders, dispensed charities and

(6?)

THE ARK OF THE SYNAGOGUE.

68 THE STORY OF JESUS.
attended to strangers. The hazan, or "minister," was
an inferior officer who had charge of the building. His
was the work of the modern sexton, like cleaning the
lamps, opening and closing the house ; sometimes he
led the prayers and chants. He also handed the roll of
the law to the reader, to whom he pointed out the
lesson for the day. The reader blew the trumpet at the
new moon and strewed ashes on his head on fast days,
as the representative of the congregation.
' ' A curious feature of the organization was that in
each synagogue ten men, known as Batlamin, were paid
to attend every service from its opening to its close, that
there might never be fewer present than the rabbis re
quired to constitute lawful service. ' ' Perhaps it was in
reference to this law of the rabbis that Christ said,
' ' where two or three are gathered together in my name
there am I in the midst of them." The worship was
simple and impressive ; prayers and the reading of the
law and the prophets, chanted by the reader, to which
the people responded. The opening service was a silent
prayer, during which all stood, as they did during all
the prayers. When seated they sat on the floor — the
men, with covered heads, facing the vail, and the
women, with veiled faces, sitting on one side of the
building with their backs toward the men.
In going to the synagogue, which was a very sacred
place to the Jew, the men could walk through any
street, but the mothers and daughters went by back
streets and unfrequented ways, dressed in all the colors
of the rainbow, as they do in that country to-day.
Prayers were read and short addresses and exhorta
tions were made from the scripture for the day. Any
one, not a minor, could lead the worship, but a priest, if

THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD. 69
present, had the preference, then a Levite, and after
that any one who was capable.
Among the few relics of these synagogue prayers we
find some references to the expected Messiah, which
must have been of frequent occurrence, for example :
' ' The robes with which he will clothe the Messiah will
shine from one end of the world to the other. " " And
the sons of Israel will rejoice in his light and will say,
' Blessed be the hour when the Messiah was born ;
blessed be the eyes counted worthy to see him.' " " O
how blessed is Israel, for whom such a lot is reserved."
" Such a circle of synagogue services constantly re
peated, we must believe that the child Jesus frequented,
from his earliest years, day by day, and week by week.
The influence of an institution in which the law was
read through every year on the Sabbath, and, in
part, twice each week, with extra meetings on special
high-days, in which the prophets and Psalms were con
stantly brought before the congregation, . . . must
have been great. ' '
It was in the synagogue that Jesus grew up to man
hood's estate, and here he learned much of the law
and heard the various religious teachings — some true
and some erroneous — of the expositors of the word
of God. As he was taught pre-eminently of God; he
was then and there prepared for his life-work as a
teacher of Israel, and the influences of the synagogue
are traceable in his whole public life as given in the
gospels. The language of the people was Syrio-Chal-
daic, and he probably learned others. He would, no
doubt, learn to read and write Hebrew — at that time
a dead language — and would also acquire a knowledge
of the Greek.

70 THE STORY OF JESUS.
We enter now a wider field of educational influences.
Every Jew was required to go to the city of Jerusalem
several times a year to worship God in the temple, and
to keep the solemn feasts. There he met the great
leaders and teachers of the nation and people from every
portion of Palestine and of the known world. Pious
parents were accustomed to use every means for the
religious training of their children, and were required
to take them, when they had reached a certain age, to
Jerusalem with them three times a year to the feasts.
Joseph and Mary doubtless went to Jerusalem every
year to attend the Passover. It was a season of uni
versal joy, and wives and children also attended the
feast, although the paschal lamb was eaten by males
only. When he was twelve years of age, Jesus, accord
ing to the law, was taken to Jerusalem to the Passover
for the first time.
We can well imagine the interest this remarkable
child took in the journey. Probably, again and again,
when his parents were going to the holy city, he had
asked to go, and as often received the promise that when
he had reached the proper age he should accompany
them. He may have gone with them to the edge of
the hills and watched them descend into the valley of
Esdraelon. And now the anxiously-looked-for time is
at hand, and the preparations are all made, and parents
and child start out on their journey. It may be that he
had often been told how he was taken to the temple
when a child, and the words of Anna and Simeon had
been repeated to him. This journey was to open up a
new world— one of which he had heard so much and
which seemed to him so full of' wonders.
Passing through the defile of the mountains, they

THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD.

71

soon tread the path across the valley of Esdraelon,
and over the mountains that separate Galilee from Sa
maria. Journeying southward through the land of
Samaria, they approach Jerusalem on the north, and
look upon its walls and fortresses, its palaces and tem
ple. It is said that even the Gentile beholder was
struck with amazement when, for the first time, the
sight of the city broke upon his vision ; and who can tell
the feelings of the Jewish child Jesus when he saw the
City of David his father spread out before him in its
glory? Descending the intervening valley and then
ascending the opposite hills, he at length enters the
gates and walks through the streets along with the
crowd of pilgrims. How he must have rejoiced on first
seeing the holy city, though he afterwards wept over its
impending doom!
The Passover feast which brought this pious family to
Jerusalem was a national religious celebration in com
memoration of the time when the Lord passed over the
houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when the
first-born of the Egyptians were all destroyed and the
Hebrews were delivered from Egyptian bondage. It is
observed during the month Abib, or Nisan, — answering
to the latter part of March and the first of April. The
feast was held seven days — from the 15 th to the 21st of
the month. On the second day of the paschal week,
the law required that a sheaf of barley should be of
fered up, as the first fruits of the harvest. From this
day was reckoned seven weeks to the feast of Pentecost,
called also the feast of weeks and the feast of harvest.
At the call of the trumpet the people flocked into the
open gates of the temple, through the court-yard set
apart for the Gentiles or heathen, into the court of the

72

THE STORY OF JESUS.

women, where the families tarried, while men, unac
companied, passed on into the court of the Israelites.
The priests were still nearer the temple, in the court of
the priests.

EASTERN ASSES AND DRIVER.

During all this period the people ate unleavened
bread, and hence the festival was also called the feast
of unleavened bread. On the evening of the fourteenth
day all the leaven or yeast in the family was carefully

THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD.

73

removed — a custom observed by the Jews to the pre
sent time. On the tenth day of the month the master
of the family separated a lamb or a goat, of a year
old, from the flock, which a priest or a Levite killed
on the fourteenth day before the altar in the temple.
This animal was commonly slain about three o'clock
in the afternoon. The blood of the Paschal lamb was
at first sprinkled on the door-posts of the houses ; after
wards it was poured by the priests at the foot of the
altar. The lamb thus slain was taken by the family to their
temporary abode in the city, and its skin given to the
host who entertained them. The lamb itself was roasted
whole with two spits run through it, one lengthwise
and one transversely, crossing each other near the fore
legs ; so that the animal was in a manner crucified,
but not a bone of it might be broken — circumstances
strongly representing the sufferings of our Lord Jesus,
the Passover slain for us. The roasted lamb was then
eaten with wild and bitter herbs. Not fewer than ten
nor more than twenty persons composed each company
at these sacred feasts. The first Passover was eaten
with loins girt about, with sandals on their feet, and
with all the preparations for an immediate journey.
This is significant of the haste with which they were
about to depart from the land of bondage. This cus
tom was afterwards retained in observing the feast.
The ceremony began with a cup of wine mingled
with water, after having given thanks to God for it.
This was the first cup. Then followed the washing of
hands, with another short form of thanksgiving to God.
The table was then supplied with the provisions, which
consisted of bitter salad, unleavened bread, the lamb
4

74 THE STORY OF JESUS.
and a thick sauce composed of dates, figs, raisins and
vinegar. A small quantity of salad was then taken and
eaten with another thanksgiving, after which all the
dishes were removed from the table and a second cup of
wine set before each guest, as at first. The dishes were
removed, it is said, to excite the curiosity of the chil
dren and to lead them to make inquiry. into the cause of
this observance. The leading person at the feast then
began and rehearsed the history of the servitude of the
Jews in Egypt, the manner of their deliverance and the
reason of instituting the Passover. The dishes were
then returned to the table, and he said, ' ' This is the
Passover which we eat because that the Lord passed
over the homes of our fathers in Egypt ; ' ' and then,
holding up the salad and unleavened bread, he stated
their design, that is, that one represented the bitter
ness of the Egyptian bondage, and the other the sudden
ness of their deliverance,
This done, he repeated the 113th and 114th Psalms,
offered a short prayer, and all the company drank the
wine that had been standing some time before them.
This was the second cup. The hands were now again
washed, and the meal then eaten, with the usual forms
and solemnities, after which they washed the hands
again, and then drank another cup of wine, called the
cup of blessing, because the leader was accustomed in
a particular manner over that cup to offer thanks to
God for his goodness. There was still another cup,
which was drank when they were about to separate,
called the Hallel, because in .connection with it they
were accustomed to repeat the lesson Hallel, or the
115th, 116th, 117th and 118th Psalms.
It seems clear that the wine drank at the Passover,

THE DOCTORS AND THE CHILD. 75
like that now used in the Jewish feasts, was not intoxi
cating and contained no alcohol whatever.
The temple was kept open all that night, for the feast
began in the evening, and after the lamb was eaten and
all the remnants consumed by fire the people mostly
went back into the temple, for there was no sleep
to their eyes at that time. Jerusalem at such seasons
was crowded with the multitudes who came from all parts
of the world, sometimes numbering nearly three millions.
Private families opened their houses to the visitors,
and when they were full, tents were set up in every
available place in the city and without ; the Mount of
Olives was often covered with the vast encampment.
How strange to the expanding mind of the youth Jesus
must all. these things have appeared. Intensely inter
ested and absorbed, he allows his parents at the close of
the festivities to set out on their return without him,
while he again resorts to the temple to learn more about
these things, which he looks upon with growing inter
est. The temple, its priesthood, its altar, its sacrifices, its
furniture, its holy places, and, above all, the law, God's
written word, are to him subjects of earnest inquiry.
In the crowd of pilgrims on the homeward march the
child is not missed, because supposed to be with some of
the many relatives and friends journeying towards Naz
areth, until, at the close of the first day, the travelers
halt for repose. Failing to find him in the company,
the anxious parents retrace their steps and find him
at last in the saboul of the temple seated among the
learned men of the nation, reverently asking and an
swering questions, and surprising his hearers by the
wisdom of his questions and his answers.
To the gentle rebuke of his affectionate mother he

76

THE STORY OF JESUS.

replies : ' ' Know ye not that I must be about my
Father's business?" and yet with this consciousness
of a great work in the temple, he recognizes that God
has a work for him at home, and submitting to his
earthly parents, he returns at once with them and is sub
ject to them until the time should come for him to enter
upon his public ministry.

BOOK THIRD.

FROM THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAP
TIST TO THE FIRST PASSOVER IN
THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS.
A PERIOD OF ABOUT ONE YEAR, FROM THE SPRING OF A.D. 26
TO THAT OF A.D. 27.

(77)

REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.

(78)

THE FORERUNNER. 79

CHAPTER XII.
THE FORERUNNER.
Matt. iii. 1-12 ; Mark i. 1-8 : Luke iii. 1-18. — Wilderness of Jndea, west of the
Jordan and at the Jordan, a.d. 26.
JOHN, called the Baptist, passed his boyhood, and his
manhood until his showing to Israel, when he was
thirty years of age, in and about Hebron and in
about the wilderness of Judea.
"The wilderness to which John withdrew stretches far and
near over the whole eastern part of Judea, beginning almost at
Jerusalem, and reaching away, under different names, to the
Dead Sea and the southern desert, as its distant limits. It is a
dreary waste of rocky valleys, in some parts stern and terrible —
the rocks cleft and shattered by earthquakes and convulsions
into rifts and gorges sometimes a thousand feet in depth, though
only thirty or forty in width ; in others, stretching out in
chalk hills, full of caves, or in white, flint-bound ridges and
winding, muddy wadys, with an occasional reservoir hewn in
the. hard lime-stone, to supply water in a country destitute of
springs. One may travel all day and see no other life than the
desert partridge and a chance fox or vulture. Only the dry and
fleshy plants, which require no water, grow on the hills, and in
the valleys, the most luxuriant vegetation is the wild broom
bushes, which blossom in March and April. The Hebrews fitly
call it this desert, 'Jeshimon,' 'the appalling desolation,' or
' horror ' ; for it is not possible to conceive a more desolate region.
Parts of it are deserted even by the Arabs."
Portions of this waste are entirely impassable, and
there is but one natural site for a town — in the opening
at the foot of the pass Engedi, "the spring of the wild
goats." The spring is 500 feet above the shore of the

g0 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Dead Sea, and almost unapproachable from above, down
cliffs twelve hundred feet high. Here was the "Spring
of Engedi," and below it are the ruins of the ancient
town. The Essenes, a religious, ascetic or hermit sect
of the Jews, had their colony near by the spring in
John's day.
As a Nazarite from his birth, denying himself every
luxury of life, and living upon the plainest food, dress
ing in the simplest attire, and drinking nothing but
water, he retired from the presence of man to pre
pare himself for his great life-work. He mourned over
the sorrows and sins of God's people, and doubtless be
sieged God for their deliverance. He sought strict
isolation— deep solitude. "In the neighboring wilder
ness, where the venomous viper glided among the
stones, and the scorpion, the fox, the vulture, or the
raven, were almost the only signs of life ; where drought
reigned, and the waterless hills and stony valleys were
symbols of utter desolation, — in some cave, perhaps in
the depth of a deep and narrow gorge, that at least gave
shelter from the pitiless heat and glare of an eastern
sun, John took up his abode, to be alone with God and
his own soul, and the better be able to fulfill the life
long vow that separated him from men. ' '
When John began his ministry he appeared among
men as he had lived in his seclusion, — clothed in gar
ments made of the coarsest camel's hair, with a leather
girdle around his waist, and living upon locusts and wild
honey. In the desert where John lived locusts abound,
whose wings are ' ' of scarlet, crimson, blue, yellow,
white, green or brown, according to the species." To
this day they are caught by the Arabs and boiled, salted,
dried, and, when served with butter, are eaten with relish.

THE FORERUNNER. 8 1
As to honey, the rocks of the wilderness abounded with
it, as they do to-day. Upon this simple diet John lived,
and in this plain dress he appeared when he began his
work. But there was no prejudice existing in the Jew
ish mind against a claimant for prophetic honors on the
grounds of his mean dress or uncombed hair. Moses
had gone to the wilderness of Midian and Sinai to pre
pare to lead Israel, and the prophets had loved the soli
tude of the desert.
John came in a time of profound peace extending
almost over the entire Roman empire, which meant the
whole civilized or the then known world. Palestine was
not the wasted and poverty-stricken country it now is ;
but the land was in a high state of cultivation, crowded
with people and dotted all over with cities. "New cities
and towns, with all the elegancies and splendor of
Roman civilization, had risen all over the land."
But the times were corrupt. Roman arms had intro
duced western idolatry and wealth, and with these came
luxury and vice. The Jewish throne was occupied by
usurpers, depraved and vile. The high-priesthood, a
sacred office, was given or sold to hirelings too ready to
do the will of the tyrant. John did well to lift up his
voice. The nation needed to be saved from themselves,
for the people, as well as their leaders, were corrupt.
The scribes and Pharisees partook of the general corrup
tion of the times. The people hoped to be saved from
the bondage of Rome, but John, seeking to save them
from their sins, called upon them to repent and turn to
Jesus. In the fifteenth year of the Roman emperor Tiberius,
when that tyrant was seventy-two years of age, and
when Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea,
4*

82 THE STORY OF JESUS.
and Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee, and his
brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of
Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, or the
laud beyond the Jordan, Annas and Caiaphas being high-
priests, the word of God came to John in the wilderness,
and he came into the country about Jordan preaching
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
John knew his mission, from the instruction of his
parents, and from the call of God, to be the forerunner
of the Messiah, and hence he proclaimed himself a
Voice calling men to prepare. for the coming of the Lord.
Not one word escaped him even intimating that he
looked for an earthly kingdom or political power, but
on the contrary, John's conception of the kingdom of
the Messiah was spiritual, and hence his call to repen
tance. Multitudes of people from Jerusalem, and all
Judea, and the region round about Jordan, came to his
preaching and baptism.
Hearing the call of God to repent, many confessed
their sins and were baptized by John in the river Jordan.
When the Pharisees and Sadducees, religious sects of
the Jews, remarkable for pride and formalism, demanded
baptism, John refused them, denouncing them as a gen
eration of venomous vipers, as impenitent and trusting
to the merits of their father Abraham, while refusing to
confess and forsake their sins. God is able, of these
loose stones of the desert, to raise up children unto
Abraham, John said ; and he warned them that the axe
was laid at the root of the tree, and that every tree that
did not bring forth good fruit would be cut down and
cast into the fire. He doubtless meant that personally,
and as a nation, they must repent or otherwise perish ;
that now the day for judgment had come, and that as a

(83)

ON THE JORDAN.

84 THE STORY OF JESUS.
nation they would be rejected unless they received the
new kingdom. He also reveals the truth that their
Messiah would come to sift even Israel, and to burn up
the impenitent as worthless chaff.
"Why do you then baptize, if you are neither Elias
nor the prophet?" they ask. To this he replied: "I
indeed baptize with water, but one mightier than I
cometh the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to
unloose [or the fastening of whose sandal, which was the
little slave boy's duty] : he shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire ; whose fan [like the farmer
who separates the chaff from the wheat] is in his right
hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will
gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will
burn with fire unquenchable. ' '
These Pharisees and Sadducees were guilty leaders of
a guilty nation. Others who came to hear him and who,
confessing their sins, were baptized, were men of the
various classes, who asked John as to their duties under
the coming kingdom. To each class he gives advice
adapted to their circumstances. To the people generally
he said, ' ' He that hath two coats let him impart to him
that hath none ; and he that hath meat let him do like
wise." To the extortionate publicans, who as tax-
gatherers might well ask as to their duties under the
new reign, he said, ' ' Exact no more than that which is
appointed you," and to the inquiry of the soldiers he
replied, that their duty in the army of the coming king
was, ' ' Do violence to no man. Neither accuse any
falsely, and be content with your wages."
At this time Jesus had not yet appeared. As the Mes
siah he was unknown to John, but the Baptist knew well
that his own mission was as the forerunner of the Mes-

THE FORERUNNER.

85

siah ; hence he adds his testimony to the Christ in point
ing away from himself. I know not who he is, but his
kingdom is at hand ; he is greater than I, who am un
worthy to perform for him the most menial services ; and
when he comes he will have power to confer the highest
blessing of the divine Spirit on men, and to save or to
destroy.

WILDERNESS OF JUDEA.

86 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS-
Matt. iii. 13-17 ; Mark i. 9-11 ; Luke iii. 21-23.— River Jordan opposite Jericho,
a.d. 26.
THE Jordan, the river of Palestine, divides the land,
running north and south throughout its length.
It rises in the hills of Lebanon, and in the brooks
and springs about Caesarea Philippiinthe north, and flows
through the marshy lake of Merom and through the Sea
of Galilee, which, in a direct line, is sixty miles from the
Dead Sea, into which it pours, but two hundred miles to
follow the many windings of the river. It has double
banks, one of which it reaches at flood times in spring, and
within the other it recedes in autumn when the water is
low. The stream is rapid in its flow, and about ninety feet
wide near its mouth, where it empties into the Dead Sea.
The valley of the Jordan is a green spot in the midst of
desolation, — a basin surrounded by the distant hills,
whose ranges run along both sides of the river. The
plain of the Jordan is ' ' even as the garden of the Lord. ' '
The western bank is covered with dense vegetation, or
forests of reeds on the lower level, while numberless
trees, tamarisks, sycamores, oaks, acacias, willows and
oleanders, and swamps with reeds, cover the upper ter
race. Above this second terrace, and about sixty feet
higher, is a barren plain which stretches westward to the
foot of the Jewish hills.
The plain on the east, now named El Ghor, but

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS.

87

once known as the ' ' Circle of the Jordan, " is a vast
sandy expanse, hot and unhealthy, extending from the
narrow fringe of green on the margin of the Jordan to
the mountains of Perea, which lift their heads from two
to five thousand feet high. This place formed, in
John's day, a strong contrast to "the green paradise
on the western bank — 'the divine land,' immediately
around Jericho, the city of palms and roses — as it still

PLAIN OF THE JORDAN.
does to the rich fringe of vegetation skirting the waters
on the eastern side of the river, but vanishing like a
dream at only a few paces from them."
There are two or three spots along the Jordan spoken
of as the places where John baptized. At first he bap
tized on the west side of the river, near its entrance into
the Dead Sea, at the pass, or ford, opposite Jericho.
Then, again, higher up, above the river Jabbok, on the

88 THE STORY OF JESUS.
banks of which Jacob wrestled with the angel, was
Bethabara or Bethany, beyond or on the eastern side of
Jordan, where John bore testimony to Jesus ; and finally
at "^Enon, near to Salim, because there were many
waters there." It is probable, as Dr. Smith says in his
Dictionary of the Bible, that, as the summer season ad
vanced, the river became low, and John sought the
neighborhood of Salim, because there water for his pur
pose could be had. Dean Stanley says of the locality,
that iEnon means " the springs."
In going up the river northward, John seems to have
been influenced by two considerations — to seek the peo
ple and to find a convenient place for baptism. But in
all these removals he was drawing nearer to Galilee, in
the jurisdiction of Herod, by whom he was afterwards
beheaded. It was at the ford of the river opposite Jericho, where
John was preaching when Jesus came to him for bap
tism. When ' ' all the people were baptized, ' ' Jesus, who
was now about thirty years of age, submitted to the
sacred rite. Not one word is said about his leaving his
home at Nazareth, nor of the journey, but it was one of
the important steps of his life. He passed from private
to public life when he presented himself to John for
baptism, and at this time he probably entered into a
full consciousness of his life-work, and began the exer
cise of his divine powers, being now clothed with the
full power of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus asked baptism of John he was at first
refused. He who had boldly confronted the crafty
scribes and the hypocritical Pharisees and denounced
their sin, is now himself abashed before the Divine Man,
and, feeling his own sense of unworthiness, says, "I have

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 89
need to be baptized of thee ,and comest thou to me ? ' '
Was it a recognition of the diviue personality that caused
John to shrink from Jesus, as the soldiers did who came
to arrest him in the garden, or as Peter, who cried,
' ' Depart from me, for I am a sinful man ? ' ' Possibly,
though some prefer to believe that John knew his cousin
Jesus, not yet as the Messiah, but as a man of irreproach
able character and blameless life, and that he here
bears testimony to what he knows of his character as a
man. Afterwards John received the sign by which
Jesus was pointed out to him as the Christ.
The answer of •Jesus to John's objection is remarka
ble : " Suffer it now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness." That is, you should permit it because
it is becoming and right in me, as in all of us, to obey
all the commands of God and the ordinances of religion.
No one is exempt on the ground of his moral excel
lence from keeping this ordinance of baptism, which is
from heaven, and has God's sanction. Then John bap
tized him. And as Jesus, was "coming up out of the
water." praying as he came, the heavens were opened,
as they were to Stephen at his death, and John saw the
Spirit of God descending upon Jesus in the form of a
dove, the symbol of peace and purity and gentleness.
John also heard a voice from heaven, saying, in words
of approbation, ' ' This is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased." Again we have in the dove and the
voice the supernatural testimony to the Messiahship of
Jesus. These witnesses at his baptism, like those at his
birth, cannot be misunderstood.
"Everything about the work of Jesus was wonder
ful, ' ' says Barnes. ' ' No person had before come into
the world under such circumstances. God would not

90 THE STORY OF JESUS.
have attended the commencement of his life with such
wonderful events, if it had not been of the greatest mo
ment to our race, and if he had not possessed a dignity
above all prophets, kings and priests ! He was the Re
deemer of men, the mighty God, the Father of eternity,
the Prince of peace, and it was proper that a voice from
heaven should declare it, that angels should attend him,
and the Holy Spirit signalize his baptism by his per
sonal presence."
Hanna says :
" As Jesus stepped forth after the baptism on the banks of the
river, he stood severed from the past, connected with a new fu
ture ; Nazareth, its quiet home, its happy days, its peaceful occu
pations, lay behind ; trials and toils, suffering and death lay be
fore him. He would not have been the Son of man had he not
felt the significance and solemnity of the hour. He turns, in the
pure, true instinct of his sinless humanity, to throw himself and
all his future upon his Father in prayer. And then it is, as with
uplifted hands he gazes into the heavens, that he sees them
opened above his head, the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and lighting on him, and hears a voice from heaven saying to
him, ' Thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I am well pleased.'
This voice was twice heard again : On the Mount of Transfigu
ration and within the Temple. It was the voice of the Father.
The fall sealed the Father's lips in silence ; all divine communi
cations afterwards with man were made through the Son. It was
he who appeared and spake to the patriarchs ; it was he who
spake from the summit of Sinai, and was the giver of the law ;
but now, for the first time, the Father's lips are opened, the
long-kept silence is broken, that this testimony of the Father to
the Sonship of Jesus, this expression of his entire good pleasure
with him as he enters upon his ministry, may be given."

THE CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL. 9 1

CHAPTER XIV.
THE CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL.
Matt. iv. 1-11 ; Mark i. 12, 13 ; Luke iv. 1-13.— Wilderness of Judea, west of
Jordan and the Dead Sea, and at Jerusalem, a d. 27.
-c ~x THEN Jesus was baptized and the Spirit of God
V V descended upon him he was about thirty years
of age. Full of the divine power, he was led
into the solitude of the desert, to be tempted of the devil.
It was necessary that at the very beginning of his min
istry for the redemption of man from the power of Satan,
he should meet and conquer the arch enemy of the hu
man race. The wilderness, which was part of the scene,
was the same as that already described lying west of the
Jordan and the Dead Sea, and west and south of Jericho.
Here he was away from the habitation of man, and ' ' with
the wild beasts," but they harmed him not, homeless and
defenceless as he was. It was not to meet them in con
flict that he invaded their dominion, but him who
" goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may
devour. ' ' Here, in this solitude, Jesus ' ' fasted forty
days and forty nights." There are other instances of
such prolonged fasts of forty days, as that of Moses
in the mount, and that of Elijah in the desert. The
question whether Jesus went entirely without food dur
ing that time Luke seems to settle when he says, "he
ate nothing ! " Afterward he was hungry and craved
food. It was then in the hour of weakness that the
devil began his trial to corrupt Jesus. That it was a
real temptation who can doubt, when told that he ' ' was

g2 THE STORY OF JESUS.
tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin,"
for Jesus did not yield.
This account is no allegory, but an actual event.
The devil is no mythical being, but a real person. He
does not appear visibly to us now, but there is no valid
reason to doubt his visible appearance to Jesus, who was
himself God manifest in the flesh. He who appeared as
the old serpent and tempted so successfully and fatally
our first parents, might assume any other visible form.
Christ's temptation came as did that of Eve, from
without. The tempter first appealed to his bodily neces
sities, but not wholly so. Command that these loose
stones of the desert be made bread and satisfy your hun
ger and save your life, says Satan, " If thou be the Son
of God." The devil was evidently present at the bap
tism of Jesus and heard the voice from heaven declare,
" This is my beloved Son," and now he demands proof
and challenges the claim that Jesus is God's Son. But
the reply of our Saviour to this seemingly proper and
reasonable request is remarkable : ' ' Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God. ' ' In the wilderness and the wander
ings of Israel, God the Father had provided water and
bread for his children, and the Son of God, Jesus, would
not be left in want — he could trust the words of the
promise. As a man Jesus was dependent upon the lov
ing care of his heavenly Father.
" He who thinks we live by bread alone, will make
the securing of bread the chief object of his life — will
determine to have it at whatever cost — will be at once
miserable and rebellious. If even for a time he be
stinted or deprived of it, and because he seeks no
diviner food, will inevitably starve with hunger in the

THE CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL.

93

midst of it. But he who knows that man doth not live
by bread alone, will not thus for the sake of living lose
all that makes life so dear — will, when he has done his

THEN WAS JESUS LED UP.
duty, trust God to preserve, with all things needful,
the body he has made — will seek with more earnest
endeavor the bread from heaven, and that living water

Q. THE STORY OF JESUS. .
whereof he that drinketh shall thirst no more." The
Spirit had directed him and the Father would care for
him. The trust displayed by Jesus was something won
derful. In due time he would work his miracles for
the glory of the Father, but never to show his power,
nor to save himself.
The next temptatidn of Jesus brings us to a change of
scene, from the uninhabited wilderness to the crowded
city. ' In one, no less than in the other, temptations
assail man. The devil leads the Son of man into Jeru
salem and to the holy temple, and stands with him
upon the pinnacle or spreading, wing-shaped roof, of
one of the porches that surrounded the temple area or
court, in the midst of which was the temple itself. It
was hardly upon the roof of the temple itself, for Jose
phus tells us that its roof was covered with golden
spikes, to prevent even the birds from lighting on and
polluting it. The porch usually thought to be the one
was that called Solomon's, which overlooked the valley
on the south side. The wall and the porch together
rose several hundred feet from the valley below, and
Josephus says the head swam with dizziness to look
down from its giddy height. Here probably the Saviour
and the tempter stood looking into the valley beneath.
Again the devil said : "If thou be the Son of God, cast
thyself down ; for it is written, He shall give his angels
? charge concerning thee ; and in their hands they shall
bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against
a stone." These words of the Psalmist were appropriately refer
red to Christ, and here was the word of God upon which
man could live, even when in the ordering of God he
was in danger, but not when in peril rashly incurred.

THE CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL.

95

To expect that would be presumption, and not faith.
Some have thought that it was the time of some feast ;
that the temple was crowded with people, some of whom
at least were expecting the Lord to ' ' Come suddenly in
his temple." By casting himself down from the lofty
roof, Jesus, by a stupendous miracle, would prove him
self the long-expected Messiah, and be at once accepted
and received as the Son of God. But again our Saviour
sees in Satan's suggestion only a sinful temptation
appealing to spiritual pride, and he repels Satan with
the sword of the Spirit, the word of God : " It is written
again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God." The
Saviour was willing to wait, for the Father's time for his
appearing to Israel, placing himself wholly in his
heavenly Father's hands.
The scene changes again, but Satan still is with him,
showing zeal and perseverance worthy of a better cause.
They are again in the desert; it may be the Saviour has
gone apart into a mountain to pray, but fleeing from one
temptation he plunges directly into another. Where
this mountain was, and which one of the many hills of
Palestine it was, is all a conjecture. Some have placed
it near Jerusalem. From it Jesus saw the whole land
teeming with people, cities, cultivated fields, material
wealth. Beyond these the imagination could easily pic
ture the wealth and glory of surrounding nations. Satan
showed Jesus all the "kingdoms of the world and the
glory of them, and offered the dominion of these to him
for his acknowledgment by one act of worship.
We are reminded of the temptation of Moses. When
God selected him to deliver his people from bondage, to
tempt him from his heaven-appointed mission, the
riches, dominion and glory of Egypt were laid at his

p6 THE STORY OF JESUS.
feet. Christ was tempted with the offer of all the king
doms of the world. "There are some that will say,"
says Bishop Andrews, " that we are never tempted with
kingdoms. It may be well, for it needs not be when
less will serve. . . . We set our wares at a very easy
price ; he may buy us even dagger cheap. ... A mat
ter of half a crown or ten groats, a pair of shoes, or some
such trifle, will bring us on our knees to the devil."
But this temptation is not to be understood as appeal
ing only to the ambition of the Son of man, for here
again, as in other temptations, the appeal is to some
higher motive of the Messiah. As if the devil had said,
' ' You are born to be a king, and your kingdom is a
spiritual one. But my rule is spiritual, and the king
doms of the world are mine, for I am ' the prince of the
world.' Now it will only be by way of the cross that
you can conquer and make the kingdoms of the world
yours, and I shall contest every step of the way. But if
you will accept them from me, and do me reverence for
them, I will step right out and leave you in undisputed
sway. ' ' How grand and significant the ready reply of
Jesus as he repels his final temptation ! ' ' Get thee be
hind me, Satan ; thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve. " "I shall not ask you
for my kingdom, but shall take yours from you. I am
here to inherit it in the Father's own way and time, and
when I come to it, I shall receive it at his hands who
has promised it to me, and not from yours. ' '
We are told in the sacred narrative that the devil then
left him " for a season." Again and again he doubtless
came, but his last and fiercest assault was made upon
Jesus in the garden, on the eve of the cross, when our
Saviour cried out in agony, "If it be possible let this

THE CONFLICT WITH THE DEVIL.

97

cup pass from me. ' ' But first and last, Jesus triumphed,
and we triumph in him. ' ' In that he himself hath suf
fered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are
tempted." Jesus was not left without consolation on
this occasion. After the bitter ordeal of desert, temple
and mountain, holy angels, from the Father's home on
high, came and ministered unto him. They com
forted and strengthened and adored him, rejoicing in
his victory over the enemy of God, of man and of
angels.

WALLING PLACE OF THE JEWS AT JERUSALEM.

g8 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XV.
THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN.
John i. 15-34.— At Bethabara, or Bethany beyond Jordan, A d. 26, 27.
JOHN was preaching further up the river when Jesus,
returning in triumph from his conflict with Satan,
came to the fords of the Jordan, near Jericho.
"Now, when all the people were baptized," who came
to John, and "Jesus also being baptized," John re
moved to Bethabara, or Bethany beyond Jordan. Here
it was that Jesus found him upon his return from the
wilderness, and listened to his teaching and saw the
people who came to his baptism. The testimony of
John the Baptist to the Messiahship of Jesus and the
first call of the earliest disciples is told by John the
evangelist alone.
When John the Baptist came preaching, the people
mused in their hearts whether John was the Christ or
not. John answered them by saying, " I indeed baptize
with water, but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet
of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose. He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." And
John the Baptist bare witness of Jesus and said, "This
was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is
preferred before me." The people who thronged to his
preaching made this inquiry of John, but the Jews at
Jerusalem, those probably in authority, sent priests and
Levites, who were attendants upon the temple service,
to ask John who he was.
John was very plain and emphatic in his testimony :

THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN. 99
"lam not the Christ," he said. Then they asked him
whether he was Elias, or Elijah, whom the Jews ex
pected would come before the Messiah, but John an
swered, No. Jesus said afterwards that Elijah had
come ; and that John was he ; but Jesus did not mean
that Elijah had risen from the dead and appeared as
John, and it was this that John denied. Jesus meant
that John had the spirit and mission of Elijah, and in
this sense fulfilled prophecy. ' ' Art thou that prophet ?' '
they then asked. They referred probably to the proph
ecy of Moses, who declared, ' ' A prophet shall the Lord
your God raise up unto you like unto me. ' ' But again
John replied, No. ' ' Who art thou ?' ' they then asked,
" that we may bring an answer to them that sent us ? "
John answered, ' ' I am the voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord. ' '
The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him,
and said of him : ' ' Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin "of the world. ' ' John had already pro
claimed himself as the forerunner or herald of the
Christ, and now he points out Jesus as the sacrificial
lamb, long before he suffered on the cross, and reveals
him to the world in his true work as the suffering Mes
siah, making atonement for the sins of the whole world,
and as saving all who would behold him as such. By
true prophetic vision, by his knowledge of the prophets,
and by the aid of the Holy Spirit, John knew all this.
Not now with the purging fan and the purifying fire
does John picture the Christ, but as the sin-bearing
lamb, the antitype of those slain daily in the temple,
and at the great feast of the Passover.
And now the Baptist proceeds to tell the wondering
people how he knew Jesus to be the Christ, whose

IOO THE STORY OF JESUS.
coming he had proclaimed, before he appeared to him
at the Jordan. It was in his baptism, said John. It
was revealed to me, when I was sent of God to baptize,
that he upon whom I should see the Spirit of God de
scending, and remaining on him, was he who would
baptize with the Holy Ghost. I knew him not as the
Christ, but "I saw and bare record that this is the Son
of God." It was by this familiar title, " Son of God,"
that the expected Messiah was known in the literature
of the Jewish nation.
There is nothing that shows the truthfulness and hon
esty of the Baptist more than his refusal to be honored
by the Jews as the Christ, and his testimony that it was
another and not he who was entitled to that exalted
name. We could not look for stronger testimony from
man to the .Messiahship of Jesus than this. On the
third day after the return of Satan's conqueror from the
wilderness, John, "looking upon Jesus as he walked,"
again pointed to him, saying, " Behold the Lamb of
God." Two of John's disciples who were with him,
hearing his repeated declaration, left their master and
followed Jesus. They were too timid to approach and
speak, but Jesus turned and kindly asked them what
they wanted. For the first time Jesus is addressed as
Master or Rabbi, which was an acknowledgment of his
mission to instruct the people. " Rabbi, where dwellest
thou?" they asked. "Come and see," was the polite
invitation of the new Master.

THE FIRST DISCIPLES. ioi

I

• CHAPTER XVI.
THE FIRST DISCIPLES.
John i. 35-42. — At Bethabara, or Bethany beyond Jordan, a.d. 27.
T is clear from his own words that Jesus had no
permanent abode when these disciples of John,
' ' looking upon him as he walked, ' ' followed him.
He had given up forever his home at Nazareth for his
public work, and now he had nowhere to lay his head.
But he. was probably sharing at this time. the temporary
abode of some friend — a common booth made of green
branches, covered on the top with the stripped abba of
ordinary wearing apparel. Such was the shelter of
hundreds who came to hear John preach.
Who were those two young men who followed Jesus
at the suggestion of the Baptist ? One we are told was
Andrew, the brother of Peter ; the other was doubtless
John the evangelist, the writer of the account, who, as
usual, modestly refrains from mentioning his own name.
They came and saw where Jesus lived, and tarried with
him. The very hour of the day, four in the afternoon,
is mentioned by this eye-witness as the time of the visit.
Probably they tarried all night. How much of the night
was spent in conversation we are not told, but before
they lay down to sleep they knew and felt in their in
most hearts that the kingdom of heaven had come, that
the hopes of long centuries were now fulfilled, and that
they had been in the presence of him who was ' ' the Desire
of all nations, the Priest greater than Aaron, the

io2 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Prophet greater than Moses, the true Star of Jacob and
Sceptre of Israel."
It was customary for the rabbi or teacher among the
Jews to select from their followers some few who were
admitted to closer intimacy than others, and who were
specially taught. It was also the duty of this inner
circle to teach and defend the doctrines of their master.
The Baptist had such disciples, and now Jesus, the new
rabbi, also begins to gather about him a band of disciples.
The result of John's testimony was, as we have seen,
immediate. These disciples of the Baptist, "looking
upon Jesus as he walked,' ' followed the Lord. How did
Jesus look " as he walked ?" is often asked. We have
no word in the gospels from those who saw him in the
flesh while on earth, as to how he looked to them. We
were not probably to know. In literature we have no
authentic description of his person. The Jewish repug
nance to making any picture or image of any person is
probably one reason why we have no picture of Christ.
In art, we have attempts at such a picture, but these
were made years after those who saw him had died.
Some represent him in a disgusting form, suggested no
doubt by those who thought the appearance of our
Saviour was described in the words of the prophet :
" His visage was so marred," and there was " no come
liness" nor " beauty" in him. But there have been
some grand conceptions of Christ in art by some of the
world's greatest artists, in which Jesus is represented in
the divinest human form. We interpret such scriptures
as referring to Christ's character, as he appears to men,
to some, beautiful and attractive, and to others, repulsive
and not to be desired. It is doubtless true that Jesus
was the perfection of manly beauty, neat in dress,

THE FIRST DISCIPLES.

I03

cleanly in person, and refined in manners. The Jewish
rabbi was required to be all this, and how much more
Jesus !
' ' Images of Christ met at first with earnest opposi
tion, partly, because it seemed impossible adequately to
represent the glorified Saviour in human form, and
partly, because heretical sects were the first to introduce
them. Cyril of Alexandria is credited with having
brought them into the church." There are even now
those who object to all representations of Christ on the
ground that it is forbidden to make a likeness of the
Deity; but Christ appeared in human form, and was a
man as truly as he was the Son of God. ' ' Of his ap
pearance, ' ' says Augustine, ' ' we are wholly ignorant,
for the likenesses of him vary entirely according to the
fancy of the artist." However, there are two early
images of Christ still extant which have some claim to
authenticity. One is the profile head of Christ in stone,
young and beardless, with the name Christ, in Greek,
and the symbolical fish engraved beneath it. The other
is also the head of Christ on a medal, with his hair
parted over his forehead, and covering his ears, and
falling down on his shoulders. The name of Christ is
below in Hebrew.
In the fifteenth century the historian Nicephorus at
tempted a description of Christ, which has been gen
erally accepted by the Eastern or Greek Church as
a proper conception of his person. Nicephorus says :
' ' I shall describe the appearance of our Lord as handed down to
us from antiquity. He was very beautiful. His height was fully
seven spans ; his hair bright auburn, and not too thick, and was
inclined to wave in soft curls. His eyebrows were black and
arched, and his eyes seemed to shed from them a gentle golden

T.04 THE STORY OF JESUS.
light. They were very beautiful. His nose was prominent. His
beard lovely, but not very long. He wore his hair, on the con
trary, very long, for no scissors had ever touched it, nor any
human hand, except that of his mother, when she played with it
in childhood. He stooped a little, but his body was well formed.
His complexion was that of the ripe brown wheat, and his face,
like his mother's, rather oval than round, with only a little red
in it, but through it shone dignity, intelligence of soul, gentle
ness and a calmness of spirit never disturbed. Altogether he
was very like his divine and immaculate mother."
This is of course imaginary, and is on a par with the
' fictitious letter of Lentulus to the Roman senate, which
is accepted by the Latin or Western Church. Lentulus
writes :
"There has appeared, and still lives a man of great virtue,
called Jesus Christ, and by his disciples, the Son of God. He
raises the dead and heals the sick. He is a man tall in stature,
noble in appearance, with a reverential countenance, which at
once attracts and keeps at a distance those beholding it. His
hair is waving and curly, a little darker and of richer brightness
where it flows down from the shoulders. It is divided in the
middle after the custom of the Nazarenes, — or Nazarites. His brow
is smooth and wondrously serene, and his features have no wrin
kles, nor any blemish, while a red glow makes his cheeks beauti
ful. His nose and mouth are perfect. He has a full, ruddy
beard, the color of his hair, not long, but divided in two. His
eyes are bright and seem of different colors at different times.
He is terrible in his threatenings ; solemn in his admonitions ;
loving and loved ; cheerful, but with abiding gravity. No one
ever saw him smile, but he often weeps. His hands and limbs
are perfect. He is gravely retiring, eloquent and modest, the
fairest of the sons of men."
"Independent of all tradition," says Farrar, " we must believe
with reverent conviction that there could have been nothing
mean or repugnant— that there must, as Saint Jerome says, have
been ' something starry '—in the form which enshrined an eter
nal divinity and an infinite holiness. All beauty is but 'the
sacrament of goodness,' and a conscience so stainless and a

THE FIRST DISCIPLES.

105

spirit so full of harmony, a life so purely noble, could not but ex
press itself in the bearing, could not but be reflected in the face
of the Son of man. We do not, indeed, find any allusion to his
charm of aspect ; . . but neither on the other hand do we find
in the language of his enemies a single word or allusion which
might have been founded on an unworthy appearance. He of
whom John bore witness as the Christ . . . could not have
been without the personal majesty of a prophet or a priest. All
the facts of his life speak convincingly of that strength, endur
ance, dignity and electrical influence, which none could have
exercised without a large -share of human, no less than of spir
itual gifts."
Possibly his personal appearance, the charms of his
face and attractive bearing were eclipsed before the
majesty of bis soul and the purity of his life ; and hence
no allusion is made to his looks.

5*

THE DEAD SEA.

106 THE STORY OF JESUS.

I

CHAPTER XVII.
AN ISRAELITE INDEED.
John i. 43-51. — Galilee, a.d. 27.
MMEDIATELY these new disciples begin the work
of love and devotion. It is not said that John
went to find his brother James. It may be he
spent the following day in sweet communion with Jesus,
whose "beloved" disciple he was to become. But An
drew went at once and found Simon Peter, his brother,
probably on the banks of the Jordan, among the follow
ers of John, and saying, "We have found the Christ,"
brought him to Jesus. Thus the first disciple of Jesus
was also first to bring another to the Saviour. Now
there are millions who are doing this loving work daily.
Andrew did not himself become very distinguished, — his
work was a quiet one,— but he brought to Jesus one of
the greatest apostles and a most successful laborer and
teacher. And note the reception that the Master gives
to Peter, who is no stranger to him, although they had
probably never met before. When Jesus beheld him he
said, " Thou art Simon the son of Jona ; thou shalt be
called Cephas," which meant a stone. "Thou art
Simon, the son of a dove ; but hereafter thou shalt be as
the solid rock in which the dove hides."
"It was indeed a play upon a word, but one which
was memorably symbolic and profound. None but the
shallow and the ignorant will see in such a play upon
the name, anything derogatory to the Saviour's dig
nity. The essential meaning and augury of names had

AN ISRAELITE INDEED.

107

been in all ages a belief among the Jews, whose very
language was regarded by themselves as being no less
than the oracular gems on Aaron's breast."
Peter is also convinced and unites with these other
young men in recognizing the Nazarene, Jesus, as the
Messiah of prophecy, the Son of God and the Saviour
of the world. How long they tarried, conversing about
the things of the kingdom, we know not, but Farrar

SHORES OF THE LAKE GENNESARETH.
says, that the third day after the return from the tempt
ation Jesus spent with his new disciples, and that on
the fourth he started with them on his return to Gali
lee. On the way Jesus finds Philip, whom he evidently
sought out. Philip was a young fisherman like Peter
and Andrew, and lived in the same city — Bethsaida,
on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. He was
the- only one of the -apostles who had a Greek name.

108 THE STORY OF JESUS.
"Follow me," says Jesus, and Philip henceforth be
comes, in company with his young companions and
fellow-citizens, a disciple of Jesus.
The example of the first disciple is soon followed.
Philip, filled with wonder and joy, goes in search of
his friend Nathanael, who is the same as the Apostle
Bartholomew, or son of Tholmai. Nathanael was of
Cana in Galilee, and, from what we shall see, was one
of those saintly Jews who were looking for a spiritual
king to redeem Israel, but knew not Jesus of Nazareth.
"We have found him of whom Moses in the law and
the prophets did write." "Whom think you? A
young Herodian Prince ? — A young Asmonaeau priest ?
— Some burning light from the schools of Shammai or
Hillel ? — Some passionate young emir from the follow
ers of Judas of Gamala ? — No ; but Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph. ' '
Nathanael evidently felt the expressed contrast ' ' be
tween the grandeur of his office and the meanness of
his birth : ' ' The Christ come out of Nazareth ? Can
anything good come out of that town of ill repute ?
Philip's answer is, " Come and see."
" And," says a distinguished writer, "herein is the great test
of Christianity to-day for all who question it — 'come and see.'
Approach and behold what Christ has done for the world and
you will be compelled to believe and adore. ' Come and see ' a
dying world revivified, a decrepit world regenerated, an aged
world rejuvenescent ; come and see the darkness illuminated,
the despair dispelled ; come and see tenderness brought into the
cell of the imprisoned felon and liberty to the fettered slave ;
come and see the poor and the ignorant and the many eman
cipated forever from the intolerable thraldom of the rich, the
learned and the few ; come and see hospitals and orphanages
rising in their permanent mercy, beside the crumbling ruins of

AN ISRAELITE INDEED. 109
colossal amphitheatres, which once reeked with human blood ;
come and see the obscene symbols of universal degradation ob
literated indignantly from the purified abodes ; come and see the
dens of lust and tyranny transformed into sweet and happy
homes, defiant atheists into believing Christians, rebels into
children and pagans into saints. Ay, come and see the majestic
acts of one great drama continued through nineteen Christian
centuries, . . . and exclaim in calm and happy confidence, with
the pure and candid Nathanael, ' Rabbi, thou art the Son of God,
thou art the king of Israel. ' ' '
Nathanael accepted the invitation to come and see,
but before he reached the Saviour, Jesus accosted him.
Here comes an Israelite, indeed, — a true spiritual child
of Abraham, in whom is no deception ; he is what he
appears to be, worshiping his God in secret as well as
in public. Nathanael is surprised, and asks how Jesus
knew him. The Lord replies that he had seen him
when under the fig tree alone. It was the custom of
pious Jews to retire in the shade of some tree for private
daily prayer, and Jesus, though bodily absent, was pres
ent to see and hear and bless this spiritual worshiper.
What could be more convincing? Could any eye not
divine have seen him while under the fig tree before
Philip called him? No, and from that moment Jesus
is the Lord and king of this believing Israelite.

HO THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE WATER TURNED TO WINE.
John ii. i-n. — Cana in Galilee, a.d. 27.
THE next time we meet with Jesus, he is with his
new-made disciples at a marriage feast in Cana
of Galilee, where he performs his first miracle by
turning water into wine. By what route he went to
Cana we do not know and can hardly conjecture. He
was on the way there when he called Philip and met
Nathanael . . . which was on the third day, writes
John, who was himself there. . . . Why he went to
Cana instead of returning to Nazareth, " his own city,"
we cannot tell, unless it was to attend the wedding and
because his mother, and perhaps their family, were there
too, probably residing there. Some have supposed he
went by the ordinary route, through Shiloh and Shechem
and across the plain of Jezreel to Nazareth, and not find
ing his mother there, went on to Cana, which was only
an hour and a half's walk farther on. But we have not
a word about his going back to Nazareth after his bap
tism until the time when he appeared in the synagogue
and was rejected.
Cana of Galilee is so called to distinguish it from
another Cana in the tribe of Ephraim. This was the
native place of Nathanael. It was a small town, not
far from Capernaum, and between four and five miles
northeast of Nazareth. It is known now as Kefer
Kenna, and the natives still claim to show the place
where the water was made wine, on which spot the ruins

THE WATER TURNED TO WINE.

Ill

of a church are seen. They also point out the large
stone water-pots that were used by Christ, as well as the
fountain from which the water was brought. We be
lieve that tradition is just as reliable in Palestine as any
where else. " Large stone water-pots are said to be
found there whose use
seems to be unknown
to the present inhabi
tants." It is also
claimed that at the
time of the crusades,
the six stone jars were
brought to France,
where one of them is
said still to exist.
Jesus and his disciples
were " called " to the
cana of galilee. celebration of a mar
riage. The disciples of Jesus who were present with
him were those he had just chosen in Judea — Andrew,
Peter, Philip and Nathanael, — who were not yet made
apostles. Some have supposed that the people married
were relatives of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and that
she had charge of things. This supposition seems to be
confirmed by her interest in the feast and her effort to
supply the exhausted stock of wine. Thus did Jesus,
by his presence, sanction marriage.
A marriage feast among the Jews lasted about a week.
Our Saviour's parable of the ten virgins describes the
bringing home of the bride. This account relates to the
festivities within after the door was shut. As the feast
progressed the wine gave out, and Mary told Jesus about
it. Why she did so we cannot tell, unless she expected

U2 THE STOP Y OF JESUS.
him to supply it in some miraculous way. The answer
" Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is
not yet come," seems harsh to us, but it was perfectly-
respectful. When on the cross Jesus, in the tenderest
manner, commended his mother to the care of John, and
used the same word, "Woman, behold thy son." His
reply may have been a mild reproof of his mother's
interference with his prerogative. He had before re
fused to work a miracle in the desert, to supply himself
with bread. But Jesus did just what his mother wanted
and expected him to do.
And she evidently did not regard his reply as a re
buke, or a denial, for she turned to the servants and
said, "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." It was
customary for the Jews to wash very often, and the
hands must always be washed before and after each
meal. The vessels were also cleansed by dipping them
in water. The feet, too, partly exposed by the sandals
worn, became soiled, and required frequent ablutions.
All this made large quantities of water necessary.
Hence we are told that in the house there were six large
stone jars for holding water, and out of these the water
was drawn as it was needed for drinking, cooking and
washing. Generally a green branch was put in the
open mouth of the jar to keep the water fresh. Each
jar held about seven gallons, and hence the mira
cle was more noted. It is probable that much water
had been used during the course of the feast, and there
was but little left in the vessels. • But they were filled to
the brim by the servants at the command of Jesus.
Then he told the servants to dip out and carry to the
one who presided over the feast. They did so, and be
hold ! the water in the jars was wine.

THE WATER TURNED TO WINE.

iJ3

This was a genuine miracle, and the water was made
into real wine. The governor or ruler of the feast pro
nounced it the best wine. He knew nothing of the
miracle at the time, but thought the bridegroom had

FILL THE WATER POTS.
provided the wine. It is unusual, he says, to keep the
best till the last, for when people have had enough and
the keenness of their taste is impaired, then inferior
wine is used. There is no evidence here that any of the

ii4

THE STORY OF JESUS.

guests at this feast were intoxicated. The Revised Ver
sion reads, "When men have drunk freely," not are
drunk. It is plain that order and sobriety prevailed,
and that even the governor and leader knew at once
when he had tasted the wine that it was of the finest
quality. Pliny, Plutarch and Horace describe the best
wine as that which was harmless and innocent.
The author has heard a gentleman who lived in Pales
tine for several years publicly declare that he had at
tended many weddings in .that country, and that he
never saw a single case of intoxication at any one of
them ; moreover, that the wine commonly used was not
intoxicating, but was unfermented and free from alcohol.
He also stated that intoxication and intoxicating liq
uors were never allowed at feasts where ladies were
present, as on wedding occasions, and that it was an in
sult even to insinuate that such a thing had been toler
ated. Another gentleman says that he has been at
Jewish feasts, here in the United States, where wines
were freely used, and had been assured by the host that
none of the various kinds were fermented or intoxicat
ing. This testimony accords with that of many of our
ablest scholars, who assert that there was among the
Jews in Bible times an unfermented and unintoxicating
wine. Sometimes the simple juice obtained by pressing
the grapes in a cup was used.
With these facts before us we cannot but feel assured
that our Saviour is fully vindicated from the accusation
of his Jewish enemies, who said, " Behold a wine bibber
and a gluttonous man," as well as from all modern in
sinuations that he ever encouraged the free use of intox
icating wines.

THE WATER TURNED TO WINE.

"5

Dr. Lyman Abbott says :
" Neither Christ's precepts nor his example justifies the ordi
nary drinking usages of American society of to-day, with its
bars, its wine-shops, its beer-gardens, its fiery wines and strong
liquors, and all its attendant evils. The ordinary wine of to-day
is a very different article from that in Christ's day. The word is
the same, the thing is different. And the usages are equally
different."

WASHING HANDS IN THE EAST.

(116)

STREET IN JERUSALEM.

BOOK FOURTH.

FROM THE FIRST PASSOVER IN CHRIST'S
PUBLIC MINISTRY TO THE SECOND
PASSOVER.
A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR, FROM APRIL A.D. T] TO APRIL A.D. 28.
("7)

(n8

HILLS OVERLOOKING THE SEA OF GALILEE.

PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE.

119

A

CHAPTER XIX.
PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE.
John ii. 12-25— Capernaum, Jerusalem, A. D. 27.
FTER the ceremonies of the marriage feast were
over at Cana, Jesus, his mother, his brethren and
his disciples went to Capernaum and dwelt
there for a short time. We next hear of him at Jerusa
lem, attending the first Passover after he had begun his
public life. On this occasion, and thus early in his
ministry, some of the most important acts of his life
were performed. Nothing is said of the journey there,
but we find him at Jerusalem, in the temple. Doubt
less he met with and joined some one of the great
caravans that were moving towards the holy city at that
time. John alone relates the fact of Christ's presence at
this Passover ; the other gospels do not mention it. Dur
ing this visit Jesus drove the traders from the temple, an
act which he repeated near the close of his life, a few days
before his crucifixion. Let us go back to the scene —
multitudes of people are flocking to Jerusalem to partake
of the Passover, caravans from all directions slowly wend
their way towards the city, and crowds of people come
from every nation and clime, for the scattered Jews are
coining home to attend the great feast. Vast numbers of
oxen, sheep and doves are ready for sale to those who
have come to make their offerings in the temple at this
great festival, and the money-changers are here to re
ceive from the travelers their coin brought from distant
lands, which was not lawful to pay into the Lord's

120 THE STORY OF JESUS.
treasury, and to furnish in exchange the Jewish coin, for
which a charge was paid.
If these articles necessary to the Jewish worshipers
had been collected in the streets, little objection would
probably have been made, but here they were within
the temple gates and area, in the court of the Gentiles,
occupying the broad spaces and corridors. The lowing
of the cattle, the bleating of the sheep, the cooing of
the doves mingled with loud contentions between pil
grims and drovers in buying and selling, penetrated to
the presence of the worshipers in the inner courts and
disturbed the priests and Levites in the sacred duties of
their profession.
A distinguished author says :
"We have already seen that vast crowds flocked to the holy
city at the great annual feast. Then, as now, that immense mul
titude, composed of pilgrims from every land, and proselytes of
every nation, brought with them many needs. The traveler who
now visits Jerusalem at Easter time will make his way to the
gates of the Church of the Sepulchre through a crowd of venders
of relics, souvenirs, and all kinds of objects, who, squatting
upon the ground, fill all the vacant space before the church and
overflow into the adjoining street. Far more numerous and far
more noisome must have been the buyers and sellers who choked
the avenues leading to the Temple and the passover to which the
Jews now went among the other pilgrims, for what they had
to sell were not only trinkets and knick-knacks, such as are now
sold to Eastern pilgrims, but oxen, sheep and doves. On both
sides of the eastern gate — the gate of Shusan — as far as Solo
mon's porch, there had been established the shops of merchants
and the banks of money-changers. The latter were almost a ne
cessity ; for twenty days before the passover the priests began to
collect the old sacred tribute of half a shekel, paid yearly by
every Israelite, whether rich or poor, as atonement money for his
soul, and applied to the expenses of the Tabernacle services.
Now it would not be lawful to pay this in all kinds of coinage

PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE.

121

brought from different kinds of governments, sometimes repre
sented by wretched counters of brass and copper, and always de
filed with heathen symbols and heathen inscriptions. It was
lawful to send this money to the priests from a distance ; but
every Jew who presented himself in the Temple preferred to pay

MONEY-CHANGERS.

it in person. He was therefore obliged to procure the little silver
coin in return for his own currency, and the money-changers
charged him five per cent. There, in the actual court of the
Gentiles, steaming with the heat of the burning April day, and
filling the Temple with stench and filth, were penned whole
flocks of sheep and oxen, while the drovers and pilgrims stood
6

I22 THE STORY OF JESUS.
bartering and bargaining around them, There were the men
with their great wicker cages filled with doves, and under the
shadow of the arcades, formed by quadruple rows of Corinthian
columns, sat the money changers, with their tables covered with
piles of various small coins, while, as they reckoned and wran
gled in the most dishonest of trades, their greedy eyes twinkled
with the lust of gain. And this was the entrance court to the
Temple of the Most High."
Filled with holy indignation Jesus made a scourge of
small cords, or a whip of twisted rushes or reeds as
a symbol of authority, and drove all traders, sheep,
and oxen out of the temple ; and overthrowing
the tables of the money-changers, sent them scrambling
after their scattered coins over the marble floors of the
temple. To those that sold doves he said, ' ' Take
these things hence." His disciples remembered the
scripture, " The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."
The reason Jesus gives for this proceeding is, ' ' Make
not my Father's house a house of merchandise. " God's
house was to be a house of prayer, not a place for bar
gain and sale, but for pure and spiritual worship. It
was fitting for Jesus thus to begin his public ministry by
this purging of the temple.
Why, before his claims to Messiahship were recog
nized, these traders fled before the unknown Galilean we
know not, unless, because of the cowardice of sin, they
shrank before the courageous assertion of truth, and the
awful majesty of the presence of the Lord. In attempt
ing to reform this abuse, which had been permitted and
perhaps even sanctioned by king, Sanhedrin and high
priest, the opposition of the Jews was to be expected.
They demanded to know by what authority he did these
things. He had assumed the work and character of a
Prophet of God, and now they want him to give them

PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE. 123
some sign or miracle to prove his claim. Afterwards
while in the temple and during this same feast Jesus did
perform miracles which Nicodemus be-held, but now he
simply says to the Jews, ' ' Destroy this temple and in
three days I will raise it up." They thought that he
referred to the magnificent structure of costly stone and
precious woods and golden finish, and answered that the
temple, not yet completed, had been forty-six years in
building, and how could he rebuild it in three days?
This remarkable utterance of our Saviour was made
one of the accusations brought against him at his trial.
But Jesus spoke of the temple of his body, and his
words were a prophecy of his death and resurrection 011
the third day, which was to prove to his disciples and
the world that he was what he claimed to be, the Mes
siah, the Son of God. Only after his resurrection did
his own disciples understand it. But the Jews were not
ready to receive him. They had seen his baptism by
John, had heard the Baptist's testimony to the Christ,
and the fame of his miracle at Cana had reached them ;
but in their eyes the claims of the Nazarene seemed pre
sumptuous. Jesus remained during the feast, which
lasted eight days, and performed a number of miracles,
which caused many of the Jews to believe on him ; but
knowing the frailty of man's heart he trusted them not.

124

THE STORY OF JESUS.

I

CHAPTER XX.
THE EVENING VISITOR.
John iii. 1-21 — At Jerusalem, a.d. 27.
T is the season of the Passover, the first in the pub
lic life of our Lord. It is night and the temple
is deserted. The city is silent. The inhabitants
and the crowd of visitors are asleep. The disciples have
sought repose. Jesus is alone and awake in his chamber
in the house of his friend. A stranger enters. His
dress and deportment indicate wealth, rank and charac
ter. With respectful dignity he addresses Jesus in
terms that indicate at once the strong and favorable
impression the Saviour has made upon some of the
ruling classes. The caller is Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin or great
council of the nation. At this time there were many
who believed on Jesus, seeing the miracles that he did
and the authority he exercised in purifying the temple.
But Jesus did not receive them into his confidence as
he did the disciples he had made in Galilee ; for he
could read their hearts and knew them to be insincere.
They doubtless had carnal ideas of Christ and his work
that were beyond correction. There were also some of
the Pharisees and members of the Sanhedrin, who truly
believed as Nicodemus, who was the most conspicuous
among them, intimates. But none had openly attached
themselves to him. It was probably not cowardice that
led Nicodemus to come at night to Jesus, but a desire
for careful investigation, such as a man of his character

THE EVENING VISITOR.

125

and position would naturally desire to make before giv
ing his open adherence to a cause that would bring upon
him social, political and religious proscription.
There was one thing that Nicodemus knew, and
which he was not backward to acknowledge. This was

JESUS AND NICODEMUS.
that Jesus was a teacher come from God, and that his
mission and message were divine. He and others —
"We," he said— knew this because of the " miracles "
he performed. And this word "miracles" in the orig
inal is "signs," which means not only miracles, but

1 2 6 THE STOP Y OF JESUS.
also every evidence or proof that Jesus gave, that God
was with him, and that God sent him. As to Nicode
mus the miracles appealed to the evidence of his senses,
the truth convinced his mind, and the godlike man won
his heart. If the kingdom that Jesus came to found
had been of this world and political, then the reception
given to Nicodemus would have been far different. For
the gaining of disciples from among the nations, relig
ious rulers would be very helpful in a worldly point of
view, and especially to a cause that sprang from despised
Nazareth, and had as yet, for its advocates, only obscure
Galileans. The fidelity of our Lord to the truth is
marked. " Ye must be born again," he said, born from
above, of water and of the Spirit. Otherwise neither
you nor any other Jew, nor any Gentile can enter the
kingdom of heaven. At the very beginning of his min
istry, and to this dignified counsellor, the great Master
struck the highest note of his teaching, and in one grand
and true discourse declares his own divine and human
nature; man's sinful and lost condition and his need of a
radical change of heart; and that he had come as teacher
and Saviour, who would save men by being lifted up as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Jesus, at
this early day, thus foretells his death by the cross for
the salvation of a perishing world. " Ye must be born
again," so contrary to all Jewish teachings, must have
sounded strangely to Nicodemus.
The question asked by this, the third teacher in rank
in Israel, a highly learned man, is repeated by many
in our day : How can these things be ? And the answer
given to him is that which every learned skeptic of the
present time should receive : " You may not know how,
for the how of simple things in nature you cannot ex'

THE EVENING VISITOR.

127

plain, but the fact remains the same. ' ' How far Nico
demus went in receiving these teachings of Jesus we
may learn from various considerations. He conceded
all when he acknowledged Jesus as a teacher sent ot
God, for upon this truth rests the entire system of Chris
tian faith and practice to-day. Admit that the word
is divine and all else included in Christianity must fol
low. If Nicodemus believed this sincerely he had truly
what Lange here calls the germ of an evangelical faith.
We are told by tradition that Nicodemus openly became
a Christian and suffered the loss of all things for the
gospel's sake, but we are not left to tradition. Nicode
mus defended Jesus in the Sanhedrin, and afterward
came with Joseph of Arimathea, one of his own class
and took down from the cross the body of the Lord and
embalmed and buried it, at a time when the most
trusted apostles had all fled in terror. He may have
doubted at first, as others did, but he was led finally to
exclaim, with "doubting Thomas, " My Lord and my
God." His actions indicate devoted love and a settled
faith.

IN THE PLAIN OF JERICHO.

128 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XXI.
THE BAPTIST IMPRISONED.
Matt. iv. 12 ; Mark i. 14 ; Luke iii. 19, 20 ; iv. 14 ; John iii. 22-36 ; iv. 1-4. —
Judea, Perea, a.d. 27.
OUR Lord's conversation with Nicodemus is the
only incident mentioned during this visit to the
holy city. He did not tarty long, but began his
public work at once in the surrounding country, extend
ing from the Dead Sea and the Jordan to Philistia on the
Mediterranean Sea on the west, and from the boundary
between Samaria and Judea on the north, far south to
Beersheba on the edge of the wilderness ; or, as Peter,
who doubtless accompanied him on this journey, said,
"throughout all Judea." This tour through Judea has
been styled his Judean Ministry, or ' ' his first wide circuit
of preaching and teaching, ' ' in which he was accompa
nied by his disciples. How long he ' ' tarried ' ' at work
in this region we do not know, nor what cities and towns
he visited, but doubtless he visited Bethlehem, the place
of his nativity, and the hills where the shepherds watched
their flocks when the heavenly host appeared to announce
the birth of the Messiah, and Hebron, where, as is sup
posed, John the Baptist was born. He went also, it may
be, along the route of the flight into Egypt and back to
the scene of the baptism at the Jordan. Here he taught
and gained converts, and here he baptized.
We are told that Jesus himself never baptized, but his
disciples administered the rite of baptism under his direc
tion. So afterwards the apostle Paul said that Jesus
sent him not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and

THE BAPTIST IMPRISONED. 129
hence he, like his Master before him, committed the
work of baptizing to other hands. Nevertheless Paul
enjoined the duty of being baptized upon all his con
verts, and Jesus himself commanded that this ordinance
should be administered throughout the world for all
time, into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit; The ordinance is none the less binding upon us
because Jesus did not personally baptize, nor can a
minister now claim exemption from administering it be
cause an apostle turned it over to his assistants. The
disciples of the Baptist when they heard that Jesus was
making disciples and baptizing more than John himself,
went to John with the complaint : " Rabbi, he who was
with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou hast born wit
ness, Lo ! he is baptizing and all men are coming to
him." It is probable that Jesus was now baptizing at
the ford of the Jordan near Jericho, that John had re
moved to iEnon near Salim, farther up the river. Here
were two great teachers in the land, both baptizing
multitudes of people, and both rejected by the Jewish
rabbis. How strong is John's testimony to Jesus under
these circumstances, and how noble is his answer to his
fault-finding and jealous disciples !
John reminds them of what he has already told them,
that he is not the Christ, but his messenger. That he
is not the bridegroom, but only the friend of the bride
groom. That he must decrease, but Jesus must increase.
' ' I am not the Christ. ' ' John was no rival. His mis
sion was to exalt his Lord and Master. The people will
flock to Jesus, for he is the bridegroom, and hath the
bride. Hence he said : I rejoice to hear and obey his
voice. Jesus is the Lord from heaven ; I am of the earth.
God sent him and God has given proof that what he says
6*

i3°

THE STORY OF JESUS.

is true, for he speaketh the words of God. But some
men will not receive him. Nevertheless, he is the Son
of God, and whosoever believeth on him shall have ever
lasting life ; but he that believeth not, the wrath of God
abideth on him. John pointed to Jesus as the rising sun
and saw no occasion of rivalry between himself and Jesus,
nor between his baptism and that of Christ's.
This was the Baptist's final testimony to Jesus ; for al
most immediately thereafter John was imprisoned. It is
said that after Jesus heard that John was in prison he left
Judea and went into Galilee and began to preach and
teach, saying : ' ' Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand." Jesus, during his ministry in Judea, had also
preached ' ' repentance for the remission of sins. ' ' Ac
cording to Geikie, the Judean ministry extended over
nine months, or from the Passover in April to the winter,
which comes in that land in December or January. The
three synoptical gospels, those by Matthew, Mark and
Luke, dwell mainly upon the public ministry of Jesus in
Galilee, but John records the narrative of the events of
Christ's Judean ministry.
The arrest of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas is
mentioned as the reason that led to Christ's eoino- from
Judea to Galilee. Why it should thus influence Jesus we
do not know unless he wished to avoid too much atten
tion at that time. He desired to prevent arrest lest his
own work might also be stopped. He knew probably
that there was danger of this, and he always adopted
necessary precautions for his personal safety until the
time came to deliver himself up. Besides, he must first
instruct his disciples and establish his church. But Jesus
was not fleeing from the path of duty, frightened by its
dangers. He had in mind his work ahead. He knew

THE BAPTIST IMPRISONED.

I31

that there was work waiting him in Samaria, that he
would be scornfully rejected in ' ' his own city, ' ' and he
also knew that there were multitudes needing the gos
pel in Galilee, and especially in the populous cities about
the sea of Galilee.

aBL^^rt«

ANTIOCH IN SYRIA.

^M^I

lis^H

(132)

NABLOUS, OR NEAPOLIS, THE ANCIENT SHECHEM.

THE WOMAN A T THE WELL.

133

F

CHAPTER XXII.
THE WOMAN AT THE WELL.
John iv. 5-42. — Shechem in Samaria, a.d. 27.
ROM Judea Jesus went to Galilee, there to begin
his Galilean ministry. The route Jesus took in
to Galilee is made known to us, and his journey
was attended by some of the most interesting events of
his life. He did not go through Perea beyond Jordan,
which was the circuitous route usually taken by the
Jews to avoid going through Samaria, on account of the
mutual hatred existing between them and the Samari
tans. Jesus must go through Samaria ' ' to remove a
prejudice, to correct an error, to teach a truth, to save" a
sinner. ' ' On his way north from Jerusalem to Shechem
he probably passed several well-known towns — Rama,
where was the tomb of Rachel, Bethel where Jacob
dreamed, and Shiloh where the tabernacle was set up
before its removal to Jerusalem. From Shiloh the way
led across the plain of Mukhna, on either side of which
the hills extended until two gaps in the mountain ranges
were reached, one opening to the west and the other to
the east.
As Jesus stood on the site of Jacob's well and looked
westward he would see in the gap or valley Shechem,
or modern Nablous, while on the left Mount Gerizim,
one thousand feet above the valley, rose on his view, and
on the right Mount Ebal, twelve hundred feet in height.
Through this valley between these two mountains the
road turns first to the west and then to the north again

T34

THE STORY OF JESUS.

towards Galilee. This is historic ground lying midway
between the Mediterranean sea and the Jordan, Syria and
Arabia— the centre of the land. This is the spot of
ground bought by Jacob, the patriarch, where he pastured
his flocks and pitched
% his tent, and where
jf tradition says he dug
the well still known
I as Jacob's well. Here
the bones of Joseph
were brought and bur
ied when Israel came
from Egypt to the
land of promise. Here
Joshua collected the
tribes of Israel after the
W^^'vkPs'i^^Sr^'^ conquest of the land,
Jacob's well. . and delivered to them
again the law of Moses while they renewed their allegiance
to the Lord their God.
Jesus must have crossed the borders of Judea and Sama
ria early in the morning, for at noon he reaches this
place rendered famous by his interview with the woman
at the well. It is the spring of the year, and the beauties
of the surrounding land are thus described by Geikie :
"The country, as he approached Samaritan Territory, was
gradually more inviting than the hills of Southern Judea.
Even in our day Samaria is more pleasant than Judea. . . .
Rich, level stretches . . . form splendid pastures, which
alternate in the valleys, with fertile tracts of cornland, gardens
and orchards. Grape-vines and many kinds of fruit trees cover
the warm slopes of the limestone hills, and groves of olives and
walnuts crown their rounded tops. The meadows of Samaria
have always been famous. . . . The climate was so good and

THE WOMAN A T THE WELL.

x35

healthy that the Romans greatly preferred the military stations
in Samaria to those of Judea."
- " The town of Nablus — is about a mile and a half from the
mouth of this side valley, in which it stands. Luxuriant gar
dens, richly watered, girdle it round outside its old and dilapi
dated walls, whose gates hanging off their hinges, are an emblem
of all things else, at this day in Palestine. The valley at the
town is so narrow that a strong man might shoot an arrow from
one hill to the other. The houses of Nablus are stone — a number
of them of several stories — with small windows, and balconies,
and low doors, over which texts of the Koran are often painted
as a sign that the householder had made a pilgrimage to Mecca.
It is a very small place, stretching from east to west, with narrow
streets, running north and south from two principal ones. Their
sides are raised so as to leave a filthy, sunken path in the middle
for cattle ; but as a set-off to this, many copious fountains and
clear rivulets flow through those on the west of the town. . .
To this ancient town, then in its glory, and very different from
its present condition, along this path, Jesus was coming, no
doubt agreeably impressed by the beauties of a spot unequaled
in Palestine for its landscape."
Dr. Hanna says this particular place "is the only
locality that you can connect with the presence of the
Redeemer. You cannot in all Palestine draw another
circle of limited diameter within whose circumference
you can be absolutely certain that Jesus once stood,
except around Jacob's well."
This well is at the foot of Mount Gerizim. It is cir
cular, about nine feet in diameter. In 1697 it was one
hundred and five feet deep, with fifteen feet of water.
Originally it was much deeper. It is not so deep now,
and is dry, being filled up with rubbish. The walls are
built up with stone, which, with the digging of the well,
must have cost enormous labor. There are several springs
in the valley, supplying water to the inhabitants, but in
Jesus' day they must have belonged to private persons.

1^6 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Around the mouth of the well are the ruins of a church
that once stood over the sacred spot. At the time of
Jesus' visit there was probably a shelter provided for trav
elers. Weary with the journey, and faint with hunger
and thirst, our Saviour sat down on the stones about the
well, and his disciples, overcoming their prejudices, went
into the city to buy food for themselves and their Master.
While thus seated alone, resting, a Samaritan woman
came, at this unusual hour of noon, to draw water with
her pitcher and cord.
The evangelizing labors of the great Master began in
Samaria, not with a vast congregation, but with a single
individual, an unknown woman in the very lowest walks
of social life and of doubtful character. Not a regular
appointment but a merely casual meeting, brings together
here a lost soul and an all-sufficient Saviour. The dis
course at the well begins with a most natural question
and yet one adapted to bring out the needs of this un
saved one. Jesus asks for a drink of water. The woman
expresses surprise that he, evidently a Jew as she judges
from his dress and conversation, should ask even a drink
of water from one of the hated race. Jesus replied that
if she knew the gift of God and who it was that asked of
her a drink, she would ask of him and he would give her
the living water. In the East when water is scarce the
water carriers cry through the streets, "Behold the gift of
God, ' ' and the people come and buy. Living water is
flowing water, a spring of water, as distinguished from
cistern water. Taking his words in this literal sense,
even as Nicodemus had done before her, she misunder
stood the Lord's meaning, and wondered where he could
get this living water since the well was deep and he had
neither vessel nor cord to draw with. But Jesus was

THE WOMAN AT THE WELL.

*37

speaking spiritually concerning the real gift of God to
man, his grace and salvation, and hence he replied that
he who drank of the water which he would give, would
never thirst again but would have within him a well of
water springing up into everlasting life. Still unable to see
the spiritual import of his words, she says, ' ' Sir, give me
this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. ' '
The next words of Jesus are adapted to reveal himself to
the woman as well as to reveal the woman to herself,
' ' Go call thy husband and come hither. ' ' And now fol
lows a revelation of her sinful life. " I have no hus
band. " "I knew, ' ' replied Jesus. She perceives that
he is a prophet ; but Jesus was more than a prophet, and
soon declares it. ' ' Our fathers worshiped in this moun
tain," she said, pointing probably to Mount Gerizim,
"and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men
ought to worship." Mount Gerizim indeed was the
most sacred spot on earth to the Samaritans, who claimed
that there Paradise was located, there the ark rested,
there Abraham offered up Isaac, there Joshua built his
first altar, there Jacob saw the' heavenly ladder, there had
been buried the tabernacle and sacred vessels, there the
sacred temple of the Samaritans had stood and there they
believed the long promised Messiah was to appear.
Jesus must have been familiar with these traditions, and
it is remarkable that there and to this woman he first
fully and plainly declares himself to be the Christ.
' ' When Christ shall come he will tell us all things. ' '
' ' I that speak unto thee am he, ' ' Jesus replied. It is
worthy of note that our Saviour in this conversation at
Jacob's well, lays down the true principle of religious
worship. Neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, but
everywhere shall the true worshipers worship the true

I38 THE STORY OF JESUS.
God, who being a Spirit can be pleased only with a
worship that is spiritual. "Ye worship ye know not
what : we know what we worship, for salvation is of the
Jews." It is noteworthy that the holy scriptures come
to us through the Jews.
During this discourse the disciples returned from the
city with food. They wondered that he, a man and a Jewish
rabbi, should talk to a stranger and a Samaritan woman,
and such a woman ; but they said not a word. And when
they pressed him to eat, he replied that he had food to eat
that they knew not of. They misunderstood him, and
thought some one had given him something to eat ; but
Jesus was speaking of his work of soul-saving, which was
more to him than meat and drink. ' ' My meat is to do
the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. ' '
Then he points to the fields, all through the fertile valley,
now deserted by the farmer for his noon-day rest, where is
seen the fresh earth and broken sod, the plowed ground
and the scattered grain. ' ' Say not, there are yet four
months and then cometh harvest. ' ' True, in the natural
world the fanner must wait ; but turn your eyes away
from these fields, and look toward yonder city and see
those Samaritans flocking out of its gates and hastening
this way. I say unto you the fields are already white for
the spiritual harvest. The word sown has brought forth
immediately and abundantly. Sower and reaper may
rejoice together, and the reaper shall have wages, for he
gathers fruit unto eternal life. You have reaped the
reward of another's sowing, according to the saying,
' ' One soweth and another reapeth. ' '
There is sometimes under the gospel a sowing time and
then a waiting time before the harvest, but often imme
diate fruit springs up where the word is preached. Many

(13?) 'WHOSOEVER DRINKETH OF THE WATER THAT I SHALL GIVE HIM, SHALL NEVER THIRST. "

140

THE STORY OF JESUS.

of the Samaritans believed because of what the woman
had said, and their faith was confirmed by what they saw
and heard for themselves. They besought Jesus to stay
with them, and he remained there two days, gathering a
great spiritual harvest from among these half-heathen
people, before he went on his way. It seemed strange to
the Jews that Jesus should show, as he did on several
occasions, a regard for the hated Samaritans. They did
not comprehend the truth that Jesus came into the world
to seek and to save the lost of every nation, and that he is
the Saviour of the world.

AN ANCIENT WELL

REJECTED AT NAZARETH.

141

CHAPTER XXIII.
REJECTED AT NAZARETH.
Matt. iv. 13, 17; Mark i. 14, 15; Luke iv. 14-30; John iv. 43-54.— Cana and
Nazareth in Galilee, a.d. 27.
JESUS tarried but two days among the open-hearted
Samaritans and then continued his journey into
Galilee. "Jesus himself testified that a prophet
hath no honor in his own country;" and yet John relates
how kindly the Galileans received him, having seen ' ' all
things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast : for they also
went unto the feast. ' ' But Jesus evidently spoke pro
phetically of his rejection by the people of his own city —
Nazareth. Outside of Nazareth the people received him
gladly. But he could not be deceived, and his coming
rejection was not unknown to him. Jesus did not go
direct to Nazareth, but went from place to place, and
taught in their synagogues, "being glorified of all."
He had begun to preach the gospel of the kingdom of
God, calling men to ' ' repent and believe the gospel, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand ; " " and there went
put a fame of him through all the region round about. ' '
In the course of his journeys throughout Galilee he
came to Cana where he had wrought his first miracle of
turning water into wine. There he was met by "a cer
tain nobleman ' ' from Capernaum whose son was lying
sick at home. When he learned that Jesus, of whom he
had heard, had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to
meet him and besought him to come to Capernaum and
heal his son. Jesus said, ' ' Except you see signs and

z^2 THE STORY OF JESUS.
wonders you will not believe." The nobleman's answer
shows at once his faith and urgency, "Sir, come down
ere my child die." Jesus replied at once, "Go thy way,"
thy son liveth." And the man believed the word of
Jesus, and went his way towards home. The next day
while yet on the road to Capernaum, the nobleman was
met by his servants who told him that his son was alive
and well. He inquired of them when his child began to
mend, and found it was the day before at the seventh
hour that the fever left him, which he knew was the same
time when Jesus said to him, " Thy son liveth." When
he reached his home and told his family all about what
Jesus had done, he and they all believed in Jesus. " This
is the second miracle," says John, "that Jesus did when
he came out of Judea into Galilee."
From Cana Jesus appears to have gone to Nazareth.
Since he left there he had begun his public ministry, had
been baptized by John, had endured temptation, had
driven the traders out of the temple, and had discoursed
with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman. He had left
Nazareth unknown to fame, but now returns, famous as
a preacher and as a worker of miracles. At Nazareth
there was one synagogue or Jewish house of worship, like
all other synagogues in general, and yet of plain material
and less elaborate in finish than those in more wealthy
communities. From early childhood Jesus had been accustomed to
attend the worship of the synagogue. It may be that he
never had been deemed competent to take a leading part
in the synagogue at home. But now returning with rising
fame as a teacher and preacher, public curiosity is awak
ened, and when, ' ' as his custom was, ' ' he went into" the
place of worship, the sacred volume was handed him to

REJECTED A T NAZARE TH. 143
read from the prophets. He ascended the raised platform
and opened the manuscript, and while all the people stood
with him, he read from the 61st of Isaiah the well-known
words, ' ' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he
hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach de
liverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord. ' ' When he had finished read
ing, he handed the scroll back to the minister and sat
down, as was usual, to teach, and began by saying :
' ' This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. ' '
As he proceeded they all wondered at his gracious
words, to which they all at first assented. But unbelief
soon takes possession of them. What is this he claims ?
Is he indeed the Christ, as he says ? "Is not this Josephs
son ?' ' Jesus replies to their thoughts, ' ' Ye will surely
say unto me this proverb, ' Physician heal thyself; what
soever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in
this country.' Verily, I say unto you, no prophet is
accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth ;
many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when
the heavens were shut up three years and nine months,
when great famine was throughout the land ; but unto
none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, a city
of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many
lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet ;
and none of them were cleansed, saving Naaman, the
Syrian. ' '
Thus our Saviour set before them the proof of his
Messiahship. To the base and vulgar allusion to his
humble origin he paid no attention, but to the demand
for proof he replied that he offered the same proof that

REJECTED AT NAZARETH. 145
Elijah and Elisha gave, and that they themselves exhibited
the same sinful unbelief that kept back from, Israel in the
time of those prophets the blessing of God, and sent his
servants to the despised heathen with the divine favors
which they had rejected. For the people of Cana and
Capernaum had believed, and even the Gentile Samari
tans had gladly received him. His hearers saw plainly
before that he applied the text to himself and claimed
that he himself was the Christ of whom the prophet
spoke ; and now they clearly see that he applies to" them
these historical references. Are they too to be excluded
from the divine favor because of their unbelief?
It was usual in synagogue worship for people to express
their feelings without restraint, the service being con
ducted more as religious meetings are now by mission
aries in the east, where questions are asked and opinions
expressed by the audience. Jesus foresaw doubtless the
rising storm of indignation which was about to follow the
contemptuous thoughts and subdued utterances of the an
gry crowd. ' 'And all they were filled with wrath. ' ' The
wildest excitement prevailed. In their rage they rose to
their feet, followed him as he left the synagogue, and
thrust him indignantly out of the city, pushing him
before them, and finally, with murderous intent, seized
him and hurried him to the brow of the hill on which the
city was built, in order to cast him headlong down the
precipice and kill him. But he "passed through the
midst of them and went on his way. ' '
Perhaps his silence, perhaps the calm nobleness of his
bearing, perhaps the dauntless innocence of his gaze,
overawed them. Apart from anything supernatural, there
seems to have been in the presence of Jesus a spell of
mystery and majesty which even his most ruthless and
7

146 THE STORY OF JESUS.
hardened enemies acknowledged, and before which they
involuntarily bowed. It was to this he owed his escape
when the maddened Jews in the temple took up stones to
stone him ; it was this that made the bold and bigoted
officers of the Sanhedrin unable to arrest him as he
taught in public during the feast of tabernacles at Jeru
salem ; it was this that made the armed band of his
enemies, at his mere glance, fall before him to the ground
in the garden of Gethsemane.
"Suddenly but quietly he asserted his freedom, waved aside
his captors, and, over awing them by a single glance, passed
through their midst unharmed. Similar events have occurred in
history, and continue still to occur. There is something in
defenceless and yet dauntless dignity that will calm even the
fury of a mob. They stood — stopped — inquired — were ashamed
— fled — Separated. His time had not come. He left Nazareth, the
vale among the hills where he had lived, had played and worked,
his childhood home, his early companions, the synagogue with
its hallowed associations — all he left, never perhaps to return
again to speak there the words of truth and grace."

1 nimi"nrta!SS^"r:*::i_.J

- AE/ i fllte

SITE OF CAPERNAUM.

THE REMOVAL TO CAPERNAUM.

147

T

CHAPTER XXIV.
THE REMOVAL TO CAPERNAUM.
Matt. iv. 13-16 — Luke iv. 31. — Capernaum in Galilee, a.d. 28.
URNING his back upon the city of his childhood,
Jesus came and dwelt in Capernaum, making it
his future home. His mother and his brethren
probably went with him or soon followed him. They
could hardly have remained after the insult the Nazarenes
had offered Jesus, and must have suffered expulsion at
their hands or fled from their presence. Jesus and his
mother had been at Capernaum before, for a short time.
But henceforth our Saviour's family was to consist of his
followers and more particularly his apostles, with whom,
rather than with his relatives, he seems to have made his
home. Here he appears to have lived with Andrew and
Peter in their humble home on the shore of the lake.
Again the movements of our Lord seem to be in ac
cordance with ancient prophecy. The town is described
as " a city of Galilee, which is upon the sea-coast, in the
borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim ; ' ' and it is said that
his going there fulfilled this prophecy of Isaiah, ' ' The
land of Zabulon and the land bf Nephthalim by way of
the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles : the peo
ple which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them
which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is
sprung up." Zabulon and Nephthalim were names of
two of the sons of Jacob and of two of the tribes of Israel
which were located in the division of Canaan, bordering
on the sea of Galilee and the river Jordan. They adjoined

I48 THE STORY OF JESUS.
each other and hence their "borders" meant the bounda
ries between the two tribes. "Beyond Jordan" meant
west of that river. Upper Galilee was called Galilee of
the Gentiles because it was mostly inhabited by heathen
people. Matthew gives the sense of the prophecy but not
the exact words. The people of that region were in spir
itual darkness, ignorant as to God and his truth and de
graded in sin and wickedness. Christ brought to them
both light and life.
Capernaum was on the border between the districts
of Philip and Antipas, and on the northwest coast
of the sea of Galilee. It is not mentioned in the
Old Testament, and only once by Josephus, who was
taken there at the time when he fell from his horse at the
head of his soldiers. It was once a city of importance
and the metropolis of Galilee. The supposed site is now oc
cupied by ruins. The dwellings were mostly of black lava,
but the synagogue, which was a splendid affair, was of
white marble. The ruins of this Jewish house of worship
still remain, consisting of great blocks of beautifully
carved white marble and fine Corinthian columns. This
synagogue, of which Jairus was the chief ruler, was prob
ably built by the Roman centurion, whose son Jesus
cured, who thus showed his respect for the Jewish religion
and his reverence for Jehovah by this liberal deed. For
half a mile up the slope of the hill back of the synagogue
are the ruins of the town with its streets plainly marked
— the main one running north towards Chorazin. The
city was situated on a cape projecting into the sea at the
northern terminus of the plain of Gennesaret, command
ing a view of the whole line of coast in every direction.
At the extreme southern end of the plain was Magdala.
Still farther south was Tiberias, where Herod Antipas re
sided in his royal palace.

THE REMOVAL TO CAPERNAUM. 149
" Tiberias was quite a modern town when our Lord frequented
this region, having been built and named by Herod about the
time of his advent. Seventy years afterwards Josephus found it
an important city, and no other city in Galilee is so often men
tioned by him ; almost every other city was destroyed by Vespa
sian and Titus, but this was spared, and rewarded for its adher
ence to the Romans by being made the capital of the province.
John, writing many years after these events, would naturally
mention both the city and the lake, and call the latter by its
then most familiar name,- Tiberias. But the other apostles wrote

TIBERIAS.
before these events had taken place, and therefore do not speak
of Tiberias at all."
' ' It ultimately became the favorite resort of refuge of the scat
tered Jews not long after the destruction of Jerusalem. For cen
turies the Sanhedrin held its assemblies for the higher education
of Jewish youths ; and learned rabbis pursued their studies in it
comparatively free from molestation. The Rabbi Jonathan wrote
here the Jerusalem Talmud. It is to this day one of the holy
cities of the Jews, along with Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed, in
which prayers are offered up for the world twice every day, with-

I50 THE STORY OF JESUS.
out which, it is believed, it would return to its primeval chaos.
Jews gather to it especially from Spain and Barbary, from Poland
and Russia, in order to be buried within its hallowed precincts ;
for, next to the valley of Jehoshaphat and the sides of Olivet,
it is the highest privilege for a Jew to have a grave here. No
wonder, when it is one of their most cherished expectations, that
the Messiah, when he comes, shall emerge from the waters of
the Sea of Galilee, and first reveal himself in Tiberias ; after
which he shall establish his world-empire up in the mountain
city of Safed.''
Jesus now comes to Capernaum to remain, and here the
most of the time of his public ministry is to be spent.
Here many of his mighty works were done, and there
fore it is called ' ' his own city. ' ' Jesus selected Caper
naum as his dwelling-place no doubt for good reasons.
His new disciples dwelt there. He was not to be hid.
He did not seek obscurity, nor quiet. True, he had left
Judea because of danger, and he had been driven out of
Nazareth, but Jesus evidently chooses Capernaum because
it affords him the great opportunity he craves of meeting
many people, whom he wants to teach and save. Here
he is in the midst of a dense population, crowded into
towns all along the shores of the sea and back from the
coast. The country teemed with farms, orchards and
vineyards. Through Capernaum ran the great routes of
trade between Syria and the cities on the Mediterranean
Sea, and the routes of travel between Damascus and Tyre,
Jerusalem and Egypt. Here he could meet the people,
who, going leisurely to and fro, would bear to the remotest
parts of the earth the gospel seed. His works and words
seem to have made very little impression on the busy
people of the place, engaged in worldly cares ; but only
eternity will unfold the good he did to the passing multi
tudes who saw and heard him. Some of the inhabitants

THE REMOVAL TO CAPERNAUM. 151
were impressed, and doubtless not a few others were
found among the followers of the Lord.
" Capernaum ... is sunk a thousand feet below the elevated
plain which surrounds it. From the western hills adjacent the
traveler sees far below him a blue sheet of water, some thirteen
miles long and in the broadest part six or seven miles wide, its
deep depression in a volcanic basin giving it something of that
strange, unnatural character which belongs in a still greater de
gree to the Dead Sea. ... In the recess formed by these encir
cling hills lies the plain of Gennesaret. It is described by all who
have seen it as a natural paradise. ... It is even now famous for
its fruitfulness and beauty. In the time of Christ it was thickly
studded with flourishing villages, embowered in palm-groves,
vineyards and olive-orchards. . . . Not, however, for its beauty
only, but for its centrality and its populous activity, it was ad
mirably adapted for that ministry which fulfilled the old prophecy
of Isaiah, that the ' land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali be
yond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, should see a great light.'
Through this district passed the great caravans on their way from
Egypt to Damascus ; and the heathens who congregated at Beth-
saida Julius and Caesarea Philippi must have been constantly
seen in the streets of Capernaum. In the time of Christ it was, for
population and activity, ' the manufacturing district ' of Pales
tine, and the waters of its lake were ploughed by 4,000 vessels of
every description, from the war- vessel of the Romans to the
rough fisher-boats of Bethsaida and the gilded pinnaces from
Herod's palace. Iturea, Samaria, Syria, Phoenicia were accessible
by crossing the lake, the river or the hills."

FISH OF THE SEA OF GALILEE.

('53)

"WE HAVE TOILED ALL NIGHT."

MIR A CLES AT CAPERNA UM. 153

CHAPTER XXV.
MIRACLES AT CAPERNAUM.
Matt. iv. 18-22; viii. 14-17- Mark, i. 16-20; 21-34. Luke, iv. 31-41; v. 1-11.—
[Sea of Galilee at Capernaum, a.d. 28.
FROM Capernaum as a centre of operation, Jesus
went throughout the land. But he began the
work at his newly-chosen home by preaching the
gospel and by performing several miracles. The first of
these miracles was for the benefit of his disciples, four of
whom were fishermen who resided there and obtained
their living by fishing in the lake. Jesus had chosen
men without learning or rank as his apostles to establish
his kingdom, in order that his church might not seem
to stand in the wisdom and power of men, but rather in
the wisdom and power of God. The fame of the miracles
wrought at Cana had reached Capernaum.
Jesus was walking by the sea in the neighborhood of
the city, and the people crowded around him to hear the
word of God. There were two fishing boats standing by
the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and
were washing their nets. He entered into one of these
boats, which was Simon Peter's, and asked him to push
out a little from the land, because the people pressed
upon him, and seating himself in the boat he preached to
them. When he left off speaking, he told Peter to go
out into deep water with his boat to fish. But Peter
hesitated, saying, ' ' Master, we have toiled all night and
have taken nothing ; nevertheless, at thy word I will let
down the net. ' ' So Peter and his brother Andrew cast
7*

154

THE STORY OF JESUS.

the net into the water and caught in it "a great multi
tude of fishes, and their net brake. ' ' They then called
their partners, James and John, who, with their father
Zebedee, were in another boat near by, to come to their
assistance. They came, and both boats were filled with
the fish until they were about to sink. Peter, astonished
and overcome, as were all the others with him, at the
unexpected result, and conscious of his unworthiness of
such a master as he had found, fell down at Jesus' knees,
and exclaimed, " Depart from me, for I am a sinful man,
O Lord," by which he meant, "lam utterly unworthy
to be near thee, yet let me stay. ' '
Such a display of the divine wisdom and power of
Jesus took a strong and abiding hold upon his humble
disciple. The purpose of our Saviour in performing
this miracle of the draught of fishes is soon explained.
"Fear not," says he to Simon, "from henceforth thou
shalt catch men ;' ' and then and there he called them to
follow him and to become fishers of men. And imme
diately these four men forsook all to follow Jesus : their
boats, the fish lately caught, their livelihood, are given
up to hired servants and to Zebedee, while they followed
Jesus to preach the gospel. ' ' This draught of fishes was
not only a miracle, but it was a prophetic parable in
action. It foreshadowed the success that would attend
the labors of the apostolical fishers of men, in drawing
the net of the gospel through the sea of the world ; in
closing the heathen nations within it, so that they
might be caught — not for death, but for life eternal."
On the Sabbath day, Jesus and his followers, having
returned from the sea-shore to the city, now enter the
synagogue of the Jews. According to his custom, he
taught the people, and his teaching excited their aston-

MIRACLES AT CAPERNA UM.

155

ishment. The truth he taught was old, but new to
them, and his word was with power, because he taught
them as one having ' ' authority, ' ' and not as the scribes.
They taught simply as expounders of the Scriptures,
while Jesus spoke in his own name and as one who was
himself a lawgiver superior even to Moses, and able of
himself to annul or to make laws. But their wonder was
to be as great respecting his power over nature and his
authority over evil spirits.
There was a poor unfortunate man in the crowded
assemblv who was under the control of the spirit of
an unclean demon. This man seemed in his double
nature to recognize the Son of God, and broke in
upon the service of the hour by crying out with a loud
voice, ' ' Let us alone ; what have we to do with thee,
Jesus of Nazareth ? Art thou come to destroy us ? I
know thee who thou art : the holy one of God. ' ' Jesus
rebuked him and said : ' ' Hold thy peace, and come out
of him." The demon that possessed the man threw
him prostrate among the people, and, crying with a loud
voice, came out of him without doing him any further
injury. And when the people saw the man delivered
and well at the mere command of Jesus, they were
amazed. ' ' What new doctrine is this ? For with
authority and power he commandeth even the unclean
spirits, and they obey him and come out. ' ' We are told
that his fame immediately spread abroad throughout all
the "country round about Galilee.''
When Jesus had left the synagogue he went with his
disciples James and John to the house of Peter and An
drew, where another miracle was performed that day.
Peter was a married man, and "led about a wife,"
and Paul declares his right to the same privilege.

i56

THE STORY OF JESUS.

It seems that Peter's mother-in-law was sick-a-bed
"of a great fever." Jesus is told of her condition
soon after he enters the house, and is asked to help her.
Going to her bed, he stood over her and rebuked the

SEA OF GALILEE.

fever, and taking her by the hand lifted her up. Im
mediately the fever left her, and she was well, so that
she arose and waited upon them and attended to her
household duties.

MIRACLES AT CAPERNAUM.

J57

The beautiful scene of that evening, as described by the
sacred writer, was the fitting close of such a day. When
the sun was going down Jesus sat outside, at the door of
Peter's house, and all the people of the city gathered
around him. All who had friends who were sick, now
that the Sabbath day had closed with the setting sun,
brought them to Jesus, and he laid his hands on them
and healed them of their various diseases. Those pos
sessed with demons were also brought to him, and he
cast out the unclean spirits by his word. Some of
them cried out, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of God."
But he suffered them not to speak, because they knew
him to be the Christ. He needed not the testimony of
demons to prove his divine claims. Thus did Jesus,
early in his ministry, fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah con
cerning the Messiah : ' ' Himself took our infirmities and
bare our sicknesses. ' '
The next morning the Saviour rose early, ' ' a great
while before day, ' ' and went out of the city into a soli
tary place to pray. Peter and the people of the place
missed him when they had risen and followed him.
When Peter found Jesus he said to him, ' ' All men
seek for thee. ' ' And the people, soon after coming up,
besought him not to depart ; but Jesus replied, ' ' I must
preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for
therefore am I sent." And he said to Peter and the
other disciples, ' ' Let us go into the next towns that I
may preach there also. ' ' And Jesus, with his disciples,
went about all Galilee preaching in the synagogues, cast
ing out demons and healing diseases. " His fame went
throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all sick
people that were taken with divers diseases and torments,
and those that were possessed of demons, those that

i58

THE STORY OF JESUS.

were lunatic and those that had palsy ; and he healed
them. ' ' And ' ' great multitudes of people followed
him from Galilee, from Decapolis, east of the lake of
Galilee, from Judea and Jerusalem, and from all the
country beyond the river Jordan. ' '

JERUSALEM FROM THE ROAD TO BETHANY.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT. rco

CHAPTER XXVI.
SERMON ON THE MOUNT. — A.
Matt. iv. 23-25 ; v. 1-20 ; Mark i. 35-39 ; Luke iv. 42-44.
Galilee, probably near Capernaum
JESUS had awakened the wonder of the people by his
miracles, and multitudes had followed him.
" But," says Geikie, " it was not, however, by popular excite
ment and mere outward healing that the kingdom of God was to
be spread, but by the still and gentle influence of the truth, work
ing conviction in individual souls. The noisy crowd, the throng
ing numbers of diseased and suffering; the curiosity that ran
after excitement and the yearning for help, which looked only to
outward healing, troubled and almost alarmed him. He had
come to found a spiritual society, of men changed in heart to
wards God, and filled with faith in himself as its head, and the
merely external and mostly selfish notions of the multitude,
could not escape his keen eyes. His divine love and pity sighed
over the bodily and mental distress around. But, as a rule, the
sufferers thought only of their outward misery, in melancholy
ignorance of its secret source in their own sin and guilt before
God, and had all their felt wants relieved when their bodily trou
bles were removed. ' '
Hence the teachings of our Lord emphasize the spirit
ual wants of the people, — the Sermon on the Mount being
the most remarkable instance of this kind of teaching.
It is the longest of our Saviour's sermons that have been
preserved for us ; all the others being fragmentary.
' ' Curiosity was not progress and excitement was not con
version." The great need was instruction, and hence it
is said that Jesus, "seeing the multitudes," "went up
into a mountain ; ' ' and when he had seated himself ac
cording to the eastern custom, he taught his disciples,

l6o THE STORY OF JESUS.
not only Christian followers and apostles, but all those
who followed him to hear his instructions.
The mountain upon which our Saviour is supposed to
have delivered his mountain sermon is generally called
the Mount of Beatitudes, because of the blessings Christ
there pronounced upon men ; but it is known more prop
erly as the Horns of Hattin, two horn-like heights, rising
about sixty feet above the valley which lies between
them, and about seven miles west of Capernaum. The
gorge which opens between this mount and the sea of
Galilee is famous in history for the singular battles
waged between Herod and the Zealots. The latter took
refuge in caves in the sides of the steep cliffs, and the
soldiers of Herod were lowered from the top of the prec
ipices in iron cages to the mouth of the caves, where the
battles were fought in mid-air.
From Mount Hattin could be seen the towering snow-
crested Mount Hermon far away in the north, and below,
to the east, the blue waters of the sea of Galilee. Be
sides the plain on which the mountain stands, there is
another broad plain between it and the summit, exactly
suited for the gathering of a multitude. It is supposed
by some that Jesus went to this broad level, where the
people followed, and there, seated on a projecting rock,
with his immediate followers around him, addressed the
multitudes. The Jewish people were expecting a tem
poral king in their Messiah, and now Jesus presents him
self to them as a teacher, and proceeds to unfold the
nature of that kingdom and the principles upon which it
is to be governed, as well as the character of those who
shall constitute its subjects.
The discourse is remarkable for what it ignores as well
as for what it affirms. Not one word is said about a

SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 161
temporal Messiah or kingdom, nor commendatory of the
temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the ceremonies, the
rite of circumcision, the rabbis, the fasts or feasts, — in a
word of anything held sacred by the corrupt rulers of the
Jewish people of his day.
"Throughout the whole sermon, no political or theocratic ideas
find place, but only spiritual. For the first time in the history
of religion a communion is founded without a priesthood, or
offerings, or a temple, or ceremonial services : without symbolic
worship or a visible sanctuary."
" The new kingdom is to be founded on righteousness alone ;
and citizenship is offered to all those who sincerely believe in
Jesus as the Messiah, and honestly repent before God."
It was foretold of Christ that his mission would be
to preach to the poor, and in this sermon is the scripture
fulfilled. He speaks of those passive as well as active
virtues which are regarded among men as unmanly, and
elevates them to a noble rank. The truly happy are not
those who have worldly possessions and position, but
those whom God blesses : the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven ; they that mourn, for they shall
be comforted ; the meek, for they shall inherit the
earth ; those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled ; the merciful, for they shall
obtain mercy ; the pure in heart, for they shall see God ;
the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children
of God ; and they that are persecuted for righteousness'
sake — these, all these are the children of God and sub
jects of the kingdom of heaven, and hence have occasion
to rejoice and be glad, for great is their reward in heaven.
The true disciples of Christ, he continues, are to the
earth like the salt that seasons and savors ; and like the
light that illuminates, the world. The salt that has lost

t62 the STORY OF JESUS.
its savory qualities is good for nothing but for the foot
path. They are as a city set upon a hill, such as Beth-
saida by the sea, whose light cannot be hid. A candle
when lighted is not concealed under a peck measure, but
elevated on a stand where it can be seen and gives light
in the darkness, and so his disciples are sent to give
light in the world. The religion of Jesus is to be con
fessed for the benefit of others. He, the Master, himself,
was to be consumed in giving light to the world. They
are to let the light of their good deeds so shine before
men that they may see them and so be led to glorify
their Father who is in heaven.
" How far this little candle throws its beams,
So shines a good deed in a naughty world."
It was important for our Saviour in the beginning of
his ministry to state what he came to do ; and now he
defines his relation to the law. He did not come to set
aside or deny the divine authority of the Old Testament
scriptures — whether the writings of Moses or the prophets
— but to teach and enforce them, and to do all that they
predicted concerning him in his life, sufferings and death.
Till the heavens and the earth pass away, he said, not
one jot or tittle of the law shall in any case be abrogated,
but all must be fulfilled. By "jot and tittle" he referred
to two minute letters of the Hebrew alphabet no larger
than the English period and comma, but whose removal
would change very much the meaning of a word. And
Jesus meant to teach that not even the smallest part of
the law should be annulled or destroyed. And his refer
ence was doubtless to both the moral and ceremonial
law. The ceremonial law was fulfilled and ended in
Christ. The moral law was also fulfilled and established
in him. Men must ever obey God and keep his com-

SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 163
mandments. In the new birth the law is written in our
hearts, that we may love and obey it. Therefore, to dis
obey one of those laws of God deemed to be least by the
Jewish teachers, or to teach men to violate them, is a
sin, and those who do so are not entitled to be leaders or
teachers in the kingdom of Christ. The scribes and
Pharisees had divided the law into greater and lesser
precepts, and Jesus corrects this error. He mentions
them in the next verse, in which he passes from the law
to speak of righteousness. The Pharisees and scribes
were the religious professors and teachers of the day,
but they taught things contrary to scripture, and in their
lives they were corrupt. Their righteousness consisted
in the outward observance of the ceremonial law and
traditional rites. They offered sacrifices, fasted often,
prayed much, were very punctilious about ablutions and
tithes, and the ceremonies of religion, but they neglected
justice, truth, purity and holiness of heart. Jesus, who
knew their hearts, charges them with hypocrisy. The
righteousness that Jesus requires in his kingdom is
purity, chastity, honesty, temperance, the fear of God,
and the love of man. His kingdom is pure, eternal,
reaching the motives and making the life holy, and the
pure in heart only are fit to enter it.

164 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XXVII.
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. — B.
Matthew v. 21-48.
JESUS now proceeds to define more clearly the
righteousness which he requires. The Jewish
teachers held that the man-slayer only was in dan
ger of the judgment — a tribunal before which murder cases
were tried ; but Jesus taught that whoever is angry with
his fellow-man without a cause is liable to the judgment
of God ; that every one who shall contemptuously say to
his brother, You are a foolish and guilty fellow, shall be
liable to the Sanhedrin ; and that he who shall say to his
brother, Thou worthless one, shall be in danger of hell-
fire. He that hateth his brother is a murderer. With
the heart man sins. It is not the external act only that
is sin, but the feelings of the heart also. With feelings
of anger and hatred existing in the heart, there can be no
acceptable worship before God. ' ' If thy brother hath
aught against thee," seek reconciliation. If you have,
as Jews, brought your sacrifice to the very altar in the
temple, and then remember that you have given your
brother cause to be offended, leave your gift at the altar
and go and first be reconciled. No one can hope for ac
ceptance with God while unreconciled to a brother, a
neighbor or a friend. Then, too, going to law is often a
violation of this sixth commandment, for Jesus says,
Agree with thine adversary quickly, and thus escape
God's merited punishment. Jesus draws the same spir
itual meaning from the seventh commandment. Adul-

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 165
tery consists in the feelings of the heart, in the wanton
look as well as in the overt act. Better to destroy the
sight of the offending eye, or to cut off the right hand —
that is, to make any mortification of the flesh, than to
suffer the soul to be cast into hell-fire. " Such language,
from lips so gentle, bespeaks awful danger."
But the seventh commandment, which, with the other
laws of the decalogue, Christ came to enforce and not to
destroy, Was violated, both in its letter and spirit, by
these Jewish teachers, the scribes and Pharisees especially,
in relation to divorces. Moses, indeed, on account of the
hardness of the hearts of the Israelites, had sought to reg
ulate and mitigate the evil by permitting a certificate of
divorce to be given when the separation had taken place ;
but the Lord now says that the law must be obeyed as
God gave it ; that marriage was instituted with the inten
tion that each man should have one wife, and this union
was ordained for life. Many of the scribes and Pharisees
allowed a man to put away his wife — but not the wife her
husband — for any cause, however trivial. The laws were
shamefully loose. If a man chanced to see a woman who
pleased him he could dismiss his wife and marry her.
For a woman to appear in public without being shrouded
in a veil, (which the women in the East are still forced
by jealousy to wear), covering all the face but the eyes,
was a sufficient cause for separation. The historian Jo
sephus claims that a man had a right to send his wife
away, if he were not pleased with her behavior. Others
taught that a husband could divorce his wife for cooking
his food badly, by over-.salting or over-roasting it ; or if
she were stricken down with any bodily affliction. In
deed, the facility with which a Jew could get a divorce
was so great that it had become a scandal among their
heathen neighbors.

1 66 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Some of the Jewish teachers defended themselves by
claiming that it was a privilege especially granted the
Jews, but not to other people. Such teaching was
worthy of Mohammed, but never was sanctioned by
Moses or any of the inspired writers, and is here de
nounced by Jesus, who taught that there is only one
legal ground of divorce, and that is fornication on the
part of either husband or wife. In the sight of heaven
sin is sin, whether in man or woman. No wonder Jesus
stirred up the bitterest enmity of the scribes and Phari
sees against himself, when, by his teaching, he exposed
the iniquity of their lives and doctrines.
Another evil practice of the day was the use or abuse
of oaths. Here again the Jewish teachers lowered the
standard of their teaching to suit the times, and per
mitted what God had strictly prohibited. Moses had
absolutely forbidden perjury or false swearing, but these
Jewish teachers taught the people how to evade God's
law. Judicial oaths were worthless ; no one could be
believed on his oath. In common conversation ' ' men
swear by heaven, by the earth, by the sun, by the
prophets, by the temple, by Jerusalem, by the altar, by
the wood used for it, by the sacrifices, by the temple's
vessels, by their own heads;" but they kept none of
them, because the name of God was not expressly
used in them. Such were regarded as ' ' mock oaths,
harmless to themselves, and of no binding force."
"Any oath, any deception towards God or man, and
even perjury itself, was thus sanctioned, if it were only
consecrated and purified by an offering. ' '
Against all this our Saviour opposes his authority :
" Swear not at all " by these things. In your conver
sation say " Yes," or "No," which is as emphatic as an

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 167
oath, and as reliable, for more than this is sinful as
swearing. Jesus does not forbid judicial oaths, that is,
oaths solemnly taken before God in a court of justice.
It is the wicked habit of swearing in conversation and
the sin of perjury that he forbids.
From these matters Jesus turns to consider the sub
ject of retaliation. Revenge for injuries seemed to have
the sanction of Moses because of things allowed in the
state of society then existing, but Jesus lays down a
different law for his kingdom. The rule that he who
deprives another of a tooth or an eye must lose his tooth
or eye is no longer admissible. The Jews had construed
the laws given to regulate the decisions of judges, as
justifying private revenge. Jesus shows the better way :
turn to the smiter the other cheek ; give to him that
would take thy coat thy cloak also ;• if impressed to go
a mile in the service of the king, go two without com
pulsion ; give to the needy and lend to the undeserving.
The principle here inculcated is, "Resist not evil;"
suffer rather than do evil ; overcome evil with good.
Law is not to cease, nor is the evil doer to have every
thing at his mercy. ' ' The spirit of such injunctions is
evident ; all should be governed as far as possible by love ;
hasty retaliation, readiness to stand on one's rights on
all occasions, deliberate revenge rather than pity, are
unworthy a member of the new kingdom."
Jesus corrects the Jewish teachers on another point.
They taught that one should love his friend but hate
his enemy. How far removed from this is the beautiful
instruction of our Saviour : ' ' But I say unto you, love
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you and pray for them which despite-
fully use you and persecute you ; that ye may be the

i68

THE STORY OF JESUS.

children of your Father who is in heaven ; for he mak
eth his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and send-
eth rain on the just and on the unjust."
Even the publicans, the despised tax-gatherers of a
heathen government, love one another. What virtue
or reward is there in loving only those that love you ?
Strive for the perfection that you find in God.

¦^''C^'.r*-

SmSr

M3E&&

RUINS OF KERAZEH, OR CHORAZIN.
SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 169

CHAPTER XXVIII.
SERMON ON THE MOUNT. — C.
MATTHEW vi.
T_T AVING expounded the law according to its spir-
¦*- ¦*- itual nature, Jesus next teaches the right way of
performing religious duties. The Jewish people
were great givers. They contributed largely for the
needs of religion and for the relief of their fellow-Jews,
but they had some misconceptions of this duty that
needed correction. They did not have right motives in
giving. It is proper to give before men, but not in order
to be seen of them. God does not reward givers who
seek the praise of men. There were those who called
attention to their own alms-giving in the streets and syn
agogues by causing a trumpet to be blown when they
gave. They had their reward, — men praised them. We
must give in secret before God, who shall reward us
openly. The same principle Jesus extends to prayer. Hypoc
risy was practised in this. There were men who loved
to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street-
corners. Not that prayer in public was wrong, but they
were hypocrites who prayed to be seen and praised by
men ; this was their desired reward, and they received
it. Jesus commends closet-prayer, which none but God
can hear, and to which God's answer will be publicly
given. Some of the Jews used vain and foolish repeti
tions in their prayers, like the heathen or like those who
"called on Baal from morning until noon, saying, O
8

170 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Baal, hear us ! " The efficacy of prayer is not in its
length. Short prayers have been answered when they
expressed the feelings of a true and trustful heart, but
vain and foolish ones never reach the ear of God.
In this connection, Jesus says :
" After this manner pray ye : Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done
in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread :
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil : For thine is the
kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen."
This inimitable prayer, commonly called the Lord's
Prayer, is given us as a model or pattern. Jesus adds
that we must forgive if we hope to be forgiven. While
this is given as a model prayer, it is not designed or pre
scribed as a form to be always used, but rather to indicate
in substance what should be the character of our prayers.
The Jews fasted frequently. They observed the four
annual fasts, commemorating the capture of Jerusalem,
the burning of the temple, the death of Gedaliah and
the commencement of the attack on Jerusalem ; and in
addition to these they had a multitude of occasional
fasts. Besides, the Pharisees fasted twice a week. Dur
ing these fasts they abstained from food and drink,
wholly, or in part, and feigned great grief. They wore
sad countenances ; disfigured their faces ; neglected to
wash ; went with uncombed hair, filthy and squalid ;
threw ashes on their heads and faces ; and presented a
picture of woe. When you fast, says Jesus, conduct
yourself as usual, in a natural way. Fast when the
grief of your heart disposes you to do so, but let your
humiliation be before God, and not before men to be
seen of them.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

I7I

^.

Jesus next warns his disciples against the besetting sin
of every age — worldliness. The riches of an eastern
man consisted not only in precious gems and metals, but
also in costly garments, which were handed down from
father to son, and from mother to daughter, and were
bought and sold or kept
as treasures. Rust could
corrupt their silver and
gold, and the moth could
destroy their costliest
clothing, while thieves
could steal all. Hence,
Jesus admonishes his fol
lowers to lay up treasure
in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust could de
stroy and where thieves
could not break through
and steal ; because where
their treasure was there
would their hearts be also.
Besides, if their minds
were darkened by ava
rice, they could not expect to have uuobscured spiritual
vision or to gain the true and lasting riches. They
could not have treasure in heaven and on earth, nor
could they have light and darkness of mind, nor serve
both God and mammon, the god of earthly riches.
They cannot serve two masters, for the}* will soon hate
the one and love the other. For these reasons he urged
them to take no undue or anxious thought about the
future, but to trust God, who feeds the birds of the air
and makes the lily grow, and who much more would

¦jS&

PHARISEE PRAYING.

172

THE STORY OF JESUS.

clothe and feed them. How sublime are the words with
which Jesus closes this thought ! The heathen seek after
earthly treasures, but ' ' seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness : and all these things shall be
added unto you. ' '

RUINS OF THEATRE AT EPHESUS.

SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

173

CHAPTER XXIX.
SERMON ON THE MOUNT. — D.
Matthew vii.
JESUS now directs their thoughts to their duties to
their fellow-men. A sin most conspicuous in the
lives and teaching of both the rulers and people of
Israel was bigotry. Bigotry refers not so much to what
religious views one holds as to the spirit in which he
holds them. The Jew was known the world over for his
intolerance. Jesus strikes at the roots of a universal sin
when he says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged," for
God and your fellow-men will judge you as you judge
others. Remove the great beam out of your own eye
before you try to take the little mote out of your broth
er's eye ; that is, see and correct your own greater fail
ings first, and do not judge others too harshly, lest you
make yourself liable to the charge of hypocrisy. On
the other hand his disciples were to be on their guard
to protect divine things from improper persons. There
are men who have no more regard for holy things than
dogs, and others who can no more appreciate the precious
things of the gospel than wild hogs can value pearls cast
before them to appease their hunger.
Again Jesus directs his followers to go in prayer to the
divine source of all strength and guidance and comfort.
"Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you." An earthly
father will not give his son, who asks for bread, a stone,
nor for a fish, a serpent, but will give him what he asks ;

X 74 THE STOP Y OF JESUS.
much more will God, our heavenly Father, give us the
good things we need in answer to our prayers.
The Lord has set forth the nature and duties of his
kingdom, and now he sums up in one comprehensive
rule the whole duty of man to man : ' ' Therefore all
things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them : for this is the law and the
prophets." This is properly called the Saviour's Golden
Rule, because of its great value. It has been thus
interpreted :
"All that you expect or desire of others in similar circum
stances, do to them. Act not from selfishness or injustice, but
put yourself in the place of the other, and ask what you would
expect of him then. This would make you impartial, candid
and just. It would destroy avarice, treachery, unkindness,
slander, theft, adultery and murder. It has been well said that
this law is what the balance-wheel is to machinery. It would
prevent all irregularity of movement in the moral world, as it
does in a steam engine. It is easily applied, its justice is seen
by all men, and all must acknowledge its force and value."
He who looks out only for number one violates
Christ's golden rule. The Saviour adds some words of
exhortation and warning. He urges his hearers to enter
into the narrow gate found by few, that opens into the
narrow way, which leads to life eternal ; and not to
enter with the many the wide gate, nor to walk in the
broad way that leads to eternal destruction. He warns
them also against false teachers, who will come among
them as wolves disguised as sheep, but who are to be
recognized by their fruits. Good fruit grows only on
good trees. ' ' Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs
of thistles ? The tree is known by its fruit. ' '
' ' Not every one, ' ' continues the divine teacher,
"that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the king-

SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

175

dom of heaven ; but he that does the will of my
Father, who is in heaven. Many will say to me in the
day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name ? And in thy name cast out demons ? And
in thy name done many wonderful works ? And then
will I profess unto them I never knew you. Depart
from me ye that work iniquity. ' ' From these solemn
words we learn that obedience from the heart to the
commands of Christ is necessary to the eternal salvation
of the soul. Christ himself is the judge, and with him
it rests to say, ' ' Depart. ' ' Hearing is not enough, nor
the outward performance of wonderful works, but obe
dience in faith and love. ' ' Therefore ' ' the Lord con
cludes, ' ' whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and
doeth them,. I will liken him to a wise man, who built
his house upon a rock ; and the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house ; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock,
and every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who
built his house upon the sand ; and the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon
that house ; and it fell ; and great was the fall of it. ' '
It is no wonder that when Jesus had concluded this
remarkable sermon that the people were astonished at
his doctrine, and realized that he taught them as one
having authority, and not as the scribes. ' ' The teach
ing of their scribes was narrow, dogmatical, material ;
it was cold in manner, frivolous in matter, second-hand
and iterative in every sentence, with no fullness in it, no
force, no fire ; servile to all authority, opposed to all in
dependence ; at once erudite and foolish, at once con
temptuous and mean ; never passing a hair breadth be-

176 THE STORY OF JESUS.
yond the carefully watched boundary line of commen
tary and precedent — concerned only about priests and
Pharisees, in temple and synagogue, or school, or San
hedrin, and mostly occupied with things infinitely little.
... It was occupied a thousand-fold more with Leviti
cal minutiae about mint and anise, and cummin, and the
length of the fringes and the breadth of the phylacter
ies, and the washing of cups and platters, and the par
ticular quarter of a second when new moons and Sab
bath days began. ' '
' ' But this teaching of Jesus was wholly different in
its character, and as much grander as the temple of the
morning sky, under which it was uttered, was grander
than the stifling synagogues or crowded school. . . .
And it dealt not with scrupulous tithes and ceremonial
cleansings, but with the human soul, and' human des
tiny, and human life, with hope and charity, and faith.
Springing from the depths of holy emotions, it thrilled
the being of every listener as with electric flame. In a
word, its authority was the authority of the divine in
carnate ; it was the voice of God, speaking in the utter
ance of man ; its austere purity was yet pervaded with
tenderest sympathy, and its awful severity with an un
utterable love. . . . He knew all life, and had gazed on
it with a kindly glance as well as kingly. He could
sympathize with its joys no less than he could heal its
sorrows. And the eyes that were so often suffused with
tears as they saw the sufferings of earth's mourners be
side the bed of death, had shone also with a kindlier
glow as they watched the games of'earth's happy little
ones in the green fields and busy streets."

A LEPER HEALED.

177

CHAPTER XXX.
A LEPER HEALED.
Matt. viii. 1-4 ; Mark i. 40-45 ; Luke v. 12-16.— Some town in Galilee, A D. 28.
IT has only been lately that we have known anything
in this country of that dreadful disease which pre
vails to such a great extent in eastern lands, — the
leprosy. There is no disease that affects the human
family more dreadfully than this. It first exhibits itself
on the surface of the skin, generally resembling a spot
made by the puncture of a pin, or the pustules of a ring
worm ; but it appears also in other forms. The spots
appear very suddenly and commonly at first on the face,
about the eyes and nose, increasing in size until in the
course of years they become as large as a pea. The
spots are red, white and black, from which colors the
three kinds of leprosy take their name. The spots are
few at the beginning, but grow and spread all over the
body. The appearance of these spots is hastened by
sudden fear or anger. Though the disease appears
on the surface of the skin, yet it is deeply seated in the
bones, marrow and joints of the body, but it is often
concealed for years. If children are affected by it, the
disease shows itself at the age of puberty. "A leprous
person may live twenty, or thirty, or even fifty years, if
he received the disease at his birth, but they will be
years of indescribable misery. The malady advances
from one stage to another with slow and certain ruin,
' life still lingers amidst the desolation, ' the joints and
8*

(i?8)

LEPERS OUTSIDE THE GATE.

A LEPER HEALED.

179

the hands and the feet lose their power ; and the body
collapses or falls tog-ether, in a form hideous and awful."
"There is one form of the disease in which it com
mences at the extremities : the joints separate ; the fin
gers, toes and other members, one by one, fall off. The
wretched victim is thus doomed to see himself dvino-
piece-meal, assured that no human power can arrest for
a moment the silent and steady march of this foe to the
seat of life." The disease is contagions and hereditary.
It is sometimes transmitted to the third and fourth gen
eration. The leprosy is regarded as unclean by the cere
monial law of Moses. The ordinances concerning it in
the Jewish law have a greater significance than that
of a mere sanitary regulation. It was an impressive type
of the terrible reality of sin within the soul and of its
dreadful ravages in the spiritual nature. It was regarded
as a living death, and lepers were hence unclean, like a
dead body. It was pollution to touch a leper, and un
lawful for all such to associate with others. Driven from
the habitations of men, from temple, synagogue, home,
city, friends and relatives, the leper was alone in the
world, except as they themselves congregated together,
and the most stringent laws were made to enforce this
separation and isolation. A leper was not permitted to
drink of a stream of water, nor use a vessel meant for
others, and upon the approach of otliers was required to
get out of the way and to cry, unclean ! unclean ; as a
note of warning. The uncovered head and the cloth
worn over the lips and hanging down over the chin,
were signs by which leprous persons could always be
distinguished. Thompson speaks of leprosy as it now exists in the
East:

180 THE STORY OF JESUS.
" Wandering a little way outside the walls of the city, we came
upon the dwellings of the lepers. The place is separated from all
other human habitations, and consists of a rude court or inclosure
containing about twenty huts or kennels At the sound of voices
and footsteps the lepers came out into the sunlight, clamoring
with the most unearthly sounds for charity. Death was visibly
eating them away. Some were of a livid color, others white as
snow— all deformed. Handless arms were held out to us ; half-
consumed limbs were obtruded ; countenances wofully defaced
and eyeless were turned up to us, and cries came out from palateless
mouths that were wildly imploring and inhuman. The old law
which prohibited the leper from touching or drawing near to a
person was scrupulously regarded by them, so that even when
they begged they stretched out little iron cups into which we
might drop our alms. As we looked on these rotting wrecks of
humanity we saw with deepened impression with what instruc
tive fitness leprosy has been employed in scripture as the emblem
of sin — hereditary, contagious, ever tending to increase, and in
curable, except by the power of God."
When Jesus had finished the sermon and came down
from the mountain great multitudes followed him.
From the crowd he sought refuge in some city of Gali
lee. While there a leper came kneeling down and be
seeching him to heal him, saying: " Lord, if thou wilt
thou canst make me clean ; " not only clean in the eyes
of the law, but free from the disease. Jesus did what no
Jew was allowed to do, and from which all men seemed
to shrink, he put forth his hand and touched the leper,
saying, "I will ; be thou clean ;" and "as soon as he
had spoken immediately the leprosy departed from
him and he was cleansed." Jesus charged him to tell
no man that he was cured, because of the rising op
position to him, and because the priests might refuse
to pronounce him clean and give him a certificate to
return home to his family if it were known that Jesus
had healed him. ' ' See thou say nothing to any man ;

A LEPER HEALED.

181

but go thy way; show thyself to the priest, and offer
for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded,
for a testimony unto them." That is, he was told to
hasten and show himself to the priest and make the
customary offering in the temple, and get from the
priest his testimony that the cure was genuine. But
it was a journey of forty or fifty miles to Jerusalem,
and the man "went out" and published it abroad so
that Jesus could not openly enter the city for the
crowd, but retired to desert places ; but even here the
people found him and came from every quarter to
hear him and be healed by him of their infirmities.

AN ORIENTAL AT PRAYER.

1 8 2 THE STOP Y OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XXX I.
THE PARALYTIC HEALED.
Matt. ix. 2-8 ; mark ii. 1-12 ; i,tjkh v. 17-26. — Capernaum a.d. 28.
FTER some days Jesus returned to Capernaum

A

and went into "the house," probably Peter's,
with whom he resided. It was soon ' ' noised
abroad" that he was there, and people crowded to
see and hear him. A man's house in the East is not
his castle, as among the Anglo-Saxon races, but is free
of access to all, except the rooms set apart for females.
Hence the people on this occasion crowded into the
house, filling the entrance or passage-way and the in
terior room or court. To understand this scene it is
first necessary to understand something of the construc
tion of eastern houses. They were neatly built, square
in form and one story in height. The sides facing the
street were blank walls, except one side, in which was
a door in the centre, and directly over it a single lat
ticed window. The door opened into a room called the
porch, in which business was transacted and visitors re
ceived. The porch also served as a passage-way to the
large square room or court in the centre of the house.
This court is paved commonly with marble, and some
times has a fountain of water in the centre to give it
beauty and to diffuse a grateful coolness. This room is
surrounded by a gallery or covered walk, from which
doors open into the other apartments of the house.
"This centre room or court is commonly uncovered
or open above. In wet weather, however, and in time

THE PARALYTIC HEALED.

I83

of great heat of the sun, it is covered with an awning
or canvas, stretched on cords and capable of being easily
removed or rolled up. ' ' From the court to the roof the
ascent is by flights of stairs, either in the covered walk
or gallery, or in the porch. Sometimes the roof is
reached by stairs from the street outside. The roof is
nearly flat. It is made of earth ; or, in the houses of the
rich, is a firmly constructed flooring, made of coals,
chalk, gypsum and ashes, made hard by repeated blows.
On these roofs spears of grass, wheat or barley some
times spring up; but these are soon withered by the sun.
The roof is a favorite place for walking, for repose in the
cool of the day, for conversation and devotion. On such
a roof Rahab concealed the spies; Samuel talked with
Saul; David walked at eventide; and Peter went up to
pray. Railings usually rose on every side to prevent any
one from falling into the street.
Jesus was in such -s*~~ _
a house as this when
the multitude crowd
ed every space in the
court and the passage
leading to it and even
about the door out
side. There was
brought to him at
this time a poor af
flicted man bedrid
den, stricken with
paralysis. He could
not come himself, outside staircase of an eastern
but his friends car
ried him on his bed. When they reached the house they

184 THE STORY OF JESUS.
were confronted with difficulties, that would have delayed,
if not turned back, less determined men. The throng
pressed so close about the door that it was impossible
to enter the house. The house was equally thronged
inside. The first thing that these four persevering men did
was to gain the roof of the house, which they may have
done by ascending the stairs from the outside in the
street, or ascending to the top of one of the adjoining
houses and walking from house to house. In eastern
cities one may walk a considerable distance on the flat
roofs of the houses. Reaching the house-top, they re
moved the covering over the court, and lowered with
cords the sick man, until his bed or mattress rested at
the feet of Jesus.
It is not in every case that sin is the immediate cause
of sickness, and Jesus takes occasion to correct this
error. But he knew when sin was the cause of any
bodily disease, and so observing the faith of these men,
both the sick man and those that brought him, — who,
through all these obstacles had persevered, till the Sav
iour was reached, he said, "Son be of good cheer; thy
sins be forgiven thee." But there were certain of the
scribes present who said to themselves, this man speaks
blasphemies. Who can forgive sins but God only?
Jesus knowing their thoughts propounded to them
a question, which silenced them, and proved that he had
power to forgive sins. "Why reason ye these things in
your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick
of the pajsy, thy sins be forgiven thee ; or to say, arise,
take up thy bed and walk?" We can see, and so did
these murmuring Jews, that it was far easier to say,
"thy sins be forgiven thee," for who could tell whether

THE PARALYTIC HEALED.

I85

they were forgiven him or not; but if he said " take up
thy bed and walk," the power of Jesus could at once be
seen. " But," Jesus said to the scribes, " that ye may know
that the Son of man
hath power on earth ^''i ,
to forgive sins, (he
saith to the sick of
the palsy) I say unto
thee, arise, take up
thy bed and go thy
way unto thine own
house." And he who
had been carried
there a helpless in
valid immediately
arose, took up his
couch and departed,
glorifying God. The
effect upon the people was striking. They were amazed
and glorified God, being also filled with fear, saying,
"We have never seen it on this fashion, we have seen
strange things to-day. ' '

COURT OF AN EASTERN HOUSE.

T.86 THE STORY OF JESUS.

A

CHAPTER XXXII.
MATTHEW'S CALL AND FEAST.
MATT.ix. 9-17 ; Mark ii. 13-22 ; Luke v. 27-39.— Capernaum, a.d. 28.
MONG the many who lived at Capernaum, for

the time unmoved by the teachings and miracles
of the Lord, was a publican by the name of Mat
thew or Levi, the son of Alpheus. He had doubtless
heard his discourses, and had seen the crowd at Peter's
house bringing their sick to Jesus to be cured, but seem
ingly he was no nearer the kingdom of heaven than before.
He still pursued his calling as a publican. But Jesus
knew his heart. Jesus had so far chosen six persons to
be his immediate followers and apostles, and this man
was to be the seventh. As the writer of the first gospel,
he has transmitted to us a record of the works and
teachings of Jesus.
A publican was a tax gatherer. It was galling to the
Jews to be in subjection to a heathen government, and
hence they hated the men who collected taxes from them
for the heathen emperor at Rome. Such persons were
classed among the vilest of men, and consequently the
office was generally filled by outcasts, who further drew
on them the contempt of the people by their cruelty and
oppression. A Jew who became a publican was cast out
of the synagogue, and excluded from the temple, and
regarded as a renegade. Jesus was scornfully called
"the friend of publicans and sinners," because he
sought to save the lost. We are told that this Jewish
publican, Matthew, was "sitting at the receipt of

MATTHEW'S CALL AND FEAST. 187
custom," that is, was in a house or booth receiving
tribute or taxes from the people. These taxes were
levied upon goods brought across the sea, or by caravans
over land to Capernaum. When Jesus said "Follow
me," Matthew left all, arose and followed him. It was
much for him to do, and to do promptly, too, as he did,
to leave his all, — his occupation and his livelihood, to be
a disciple and apostle of Jesus, who had not where to
lay his head.
Matthew seems to have been a man of means, for
he gave a feast in honor of Jesus, in his own house.
Along with Jesus and his disciples, ' ' there was a great
company of publicans and others who sat down with
them." The "others" are called "sinners" by two
of the evangelists, which according to the Jewish public
opinion meant ' ' usurers, gamblers, thieves, publicans,
shepherds, and sellers of fruit grown in the Sabbath
years.' '
' ' It might seem doubtful whether Jesus would sit down with
such a company, for even with us it would be a bold step for any
public teacher to join a gathering of persons in bad repute. The
admission of Matthew to the discipleship must have seemed to
many a great mistake. Nothing could more certainly damage
the prospects of Jesus with the influential classes, or create a
wider and deeper prejudice and distrust. -But nothing weighed
for a moment with him against truth and right. His soul was
filled with a grand enthusiasm for humanity, and no false or
narrow exclusiveness of the day could be allowed to stand in its
way. He accepted the invitation with readiest cheerfulness, and
spent the evening in the pleasure of friendly intercourse with the
strange assembly."
This action of Jesus brought upon him unfriendly
criticism from two sources : from the disciples of John
and from the Pharisees. The Pharisees, who believed
in feasting found fault with him because he consorted

1.88 THE STORY OF JESUS.
with publicans and sinners, and the disciples of John,
who made so much of fasting, were offended because
Jesus attended a feast. The Lord replies to them both.
His reply to the Pharisees, who complained to his disci
ples, was that his purpose in coming was to save men,
and that as a physician he came to the sick and not to
the well, and as Saviour he came to sinners and not to
the righteous ; that is, those who, like the Pharisees,
thought themselves good enough. These fault-finders
did not comprehend the spirit of Jesus, who was willing
to stoop to the lowest in order to save them. "Go,"
said Jesus, "and learn what this meaneth, I will have
mercy and not sacrifice." What were all the burnt
offerings made in the temple to God, if love and mercy
to man were wanting ? God would receive no such
worship. But the disciples of the imprisoned John, who had
been directed to Jesus, were in honest doubt and greatly
troubled. ' ' Why do we and the Pharisees, ' ' they
asked, ' ' fast oft, but thy disciples fast not ? ' ' The
Pharisees fasted twice a week in addition to the great
national fast days. John had come fasting, but Jesus
fasted not, and seemed to be changing the established
custom of the nation. And besides, just then the disci
ples of John were filled with sorrow on account of their
master's imprisonment. Jesus answered them in a way
to show that he believed in fasting as a natural expres
sion of sorrow and that there were times when absti
nence from food is fitting and proper.
Three illustrations were used by -our Saviour in his
reply to them. The first was that the special friends of
the bridegroom do not fast while the bridegroom is with
them. The time would come when he the bride-

MATTHEW'S CALL AND FEAST.

189

groom would be removed, and then his disciples would
mourn and fast. The second was that no one in mend
ing an old garment would take a new or undressed piece
of cloth to mend the rent, lest by its contraction the
rent should be made worse. The new doctrines of the
gospel and the ancient practices of the Pharisees do not
suit each other ; the entire garment must be made of
new material. The third illustration was that if new
wine were put into old bottles, made of the skin of ani
mals, the fermentation of the wine would burst the dry
and unyielding skin, and the wine would be lost. By
this Jesus meant that his doctrines and teachings could
not be confined in the old and corrupt Jewish teachings
and customs. Christianity was not a part of Judaism,
and could not be patched on to it, nor confined with
in it.

££&x

STORM ON THE SEA OF GALILEE.

190 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XXXIII.
JAIRUS' DAUGHTER.
Matt ix. 18, 19, 25-26 ; Mark v. 22-24, 35-43 ; Luke viii. 41, 42, 49-56.— Capernaum,
a.d. 28.
^ I "^HE feast of Matthew is over, and Jesus is in the
-*- streets again. A man approaches him with deep
agitation and presents a case that at once ap
peals to his sympathies. The man is Jairus, the well-
known ruler, or chief elder of the synagogue at Caper
naum. This man's only daughter, a young girl twelve
years of age, is very ill, at the point of death, and even
now probably dead. Jairus entreats Jesus to go with
him and put his hands on her, for he feels sure she would
be restored if Jesus would only do this. Jairus, accord
ing to the custom of the East, fell upon his face on the
ground before the Lord. He thought Jesus, as other
prophets had done in conferring a blessing, would put his
hands upon the sick child. But this was not at all neces
sary. When Naaman, the Syrian leper, went to the
prophet to be cured, at the instance of the little Hebrew
captive maid, the prophet simply bade him go and bathe
in the Jordan.
Jesus, however, went as he was requested. While
they were going, a messenger arrived from the house of
Jairus, who confirmed his worst fears by announcing the
death of his child. "Thy daughter is dead," they said,
"why trouble the master any farther?" The faith of
the grief-stricken father, it may be, for a moment wav
ered at the dread message and the apparent hopelessness
of the case. But Jesus, turning to him, said : " Be not

JAIRUS' DAUGHTER. 191
afraid, only believe." What divine comfoit was in these
reassuring words !
When Jesus, accompanied by the multitude, reached
the house of Jairus he found, not only that the girl was
dead, but that preparations were making for the funeral.
It was customary, with eastern people, to make great
outcries upon the death of friends. They knew nothing
of that silent, self-control of more cultivated people,
which is just as consistent with true and genuine sorrow
as the more violent form of expression. The dead were
laid out for burial immediately. The bereaved relatives
and friends then crowded the chamber of death and
loudly bewailed the departed, recounting his deeds and
character in mournful songs, and shrieking without tak
ing breath until the voice died away in a low sob. In
doleful strains they ask why he left his pleasant home
and his loving family and his kind friends. In addition
to this, professional mourners were hired for such occa
sions, who not only lifted their own voices in extreme
and doleful expressions of sorrow, but who also played
upon musical instruments soft and solemn tunes. This
was often kept up for a week, and, in case of the death of
a king, for a month, and was not confined to the house,
but the mourners followed the body to the grave, where
the lamentation was continued for some time. The Jews
were forbidden to tear their hair and cut their flesh, as
the heathen did, but they expressed their grief in other
excessive ways : "by howling, by music, by concealing
their chin with their garments, by rending their outer
garments, by refusing to wash or anoint themselves, or
to converse with people, or by scattering ashes or dust in
the air, or by lying down in them. " " The expressions
the case mentioned were excessive and foolish, but strictly
in accordance with eastern customs."

192 THE STOP Y OF JESUS.
Jesus at length arrives at the house of mourning. He
saw the people and heard their tumult, and said, ' ' Give
place," make way for me; "for the maid is not dead
but sleepeth." This was what Jesus said of Lazarus,
but when he saw he was misunderstood, he said, "Laza
rus is dead. ' ' The evidences of the death of this young
woman were abundant. The Sadducees taught that the
dead ceased to be, and perhaps this ruler was a Sad
ducee. Jesus meant that she had not ceased to be, that
her spirit was alive, that she should wake, as all others
would, at the resurrection. But these professional
mourners and friends were not to be so easily driven
away. They did not understand him, and hence derided
and ridiculed him, for they were sure that the maid was
dead. Jesus then pressed in among them and drove them
all out of the house, and taking with him only the
young girl's parents and three of the disciples, — Peter,
John and James,— he went again into the now silent
chamber of the dead. These were enough to witness
the resurrection. Taking the child by the hand, he
said, in the language of the people, " Talitha cumi,"
which means, ' ' Damsel, arise. ' ' She arose and walked,
restored to life, and he gave her to her parents alive and
well. He told them to give her something to eat, for
she must have needed food after such an experience, and
in the excitement it might be forgotten ; she was alive,
but she was liable to die again. He charged the parents
to tell no one, for he was already in danger, and his
work was likely to be hindered. It is not to be won
dered at that the parents and others were astonished,
and that the fame of Jesus spread rapidly on account of
this great miracle.

"WHO TOUCHED ME?" 193

CHAPTER XXXIV.
"WHO TOUCHED ME?"
Matt. ix. 20-22, 27-34 ; Mark v. 25-34; Luke viii. 43-48. — Capernaum, a.d. 28.
A ~X THILE Jesus was on the way to the house of
^ V Jairus, surrounded by his disciples and the
multitude, and while all were doubtless think
ing of the sick girl and the distressed father, an incident
of great interest occurred. A woman drew near, pressing
through the crowd, and "touched the hem of his gar
ment," the fringe or border of loose threads hanging like
a tassel at each corner of his long square cloak, which,
worn over the shoulders, hung nearly to the ground. She
had suffered' from an incurable internal disease for twelve
years, and had spent all her money on the physicians,
and had endured much pain at their hands; but instead
of getting well, had grown worse.
The ignorant physicians from whom this woman suf
fered so many things are not to be compared with the
enlightened and humane physicians of to-day. Medical
practice was not based upon science as it is now. Geikie
says that, according to the Talmud, the Jewish medical
treatment of such a complaint was as follows:
" Take the gum of Alexandria, the weight of a zuzee, — a frac
tional silver coin, — of alum the same; of crocus the same. Let
them be bruised together and be given in wine, to the woman.
If this does not benefit, take of Persian onions three logs — pints;
— boil them in wine and, give her to drink, and say, ' Arise.' If
this does not cure her, set her in a place where two ways meet,
and let her hold a cup of wine in her right hand, and let some
9

J.94 THE STORY OF JESUS.
one come behind and frighten her, and say, ' Arise.' But if this
does no good, take a handful of cummin — a kind of fennel, — a
handful of crocus and a handful of fenegreek, — another kind of
fennel. Let these be boiled in wine, and give them her to drink,
and say, 'Arise.' If these do no good, other doses, over ten in
number, are prescribed; among them, this : let them dig seven
ditches, in which let them burn some cuttings of vines, not yet
four years old. Let her take in her hand a cup of wine, and let
them lead her away from this ditch, and make her sit down over
that and let them remove her from that, and make her sit down
over another, saying to her at each remove, ' Arise.' "
But these were only a few of the more harmless pre
scriptions in vogue. The condition of medical science
in the East may be judged from its character at the
centre of civilization and progress in the West. Pliny's
Natural History gives us some curious glimpses of this.
Ashes of burnt wolf's skull, stags' horns, the heads of
mice, the eyes of crabs, owls' brains, the livers of frogs,
vipers' fat, grasshoppers, cats, etc., supplied the alkalis
which were prescribed. Physicians were wont to order
doses of the gall of wild swine, of horses' foam, of
woman's milk ; the laying a piece of serpent's skin on
an affected part, the fat of bears, the juice of boiled
bucks' horns, and other similar abominations. Cold in
the head was cured by kissing a mule's nose. Sore
throat was removed by embrocations of snails' slime, and
the inhalation of the fumes of snails slowly burnt.
Quinsy was cured with the brain of a marsh owl ; dis
eases of the lungs, with mouse-flesh ; disorders of the
stomach with boiled snails, of which, however, only an
odd number must be taken ; frogs' eyes were useful for
contusions, if the eyes were taken out at the conjunc
tion of the moon and kept in an egg-shell. Frogs boiled
in vinegar were sovereign for toothache ; for cough, the

' WHO TOUCHED ME ?"

J95

slime of frogs which had been hung up by the feet ; for
rupture, sea hedge-hogs dissolved in asses' milk ; for
diseases of the glands, scorpions boiled in wine ; for
ague or intermittent fever, slime from the head of sea
eels, but it must be taken out at full moon.
The poor woman who now determined to seek help
from Jesus, had endured all the tortures of such medical
treatment for twelve years, and of course she was hurt
rather than healed. Is there any wonder that she came
with fear and trembling, dreading to ask or even to be
seen or known? But she had faith, weak as she was, to
believe that a simple touch, the contact of her finger
with the fringe of the Great Physician's cloak, would
be all sufficient. And, pressing forward, she touched him,
and withdrew a well woman.
But she was not unobserved. Jesus knew it all,
but wishing to open the way for a free confession
from her, asked aloud, ' ' Who touched me ? ' ' The
disciples reminded him that the people were press
ing him on all sides, and in the excitement even
jostling against him. Yet he felt and recognized
the touch of faith. The woman, seeing that she was
discovered, came forward tiembling, and fell down
before him, and declared before all the people why she
had touched him and how she had been immediately
healed. Jesus did this that God might be glorified, and
kindly said, ' ' Daughter, be of good comfort ; thy faith
hath made thee whole."
According to Eusebius, the father of ecclesiastical
history, who lived A. d. 300, a statue of this woman, and
of Jesus healing her, still existed in his day. This mon
ument has crumbled, but the lessons of the incident
remain. The same great soul-need exists among men

196 THE STORY OF JESUS.
to-day ; Jesus, able to cure and to save, still moves among
men, and is with us in our religious meetings, in our
homes, in our business, in our shops and in our streets ;
yet only one here and there of the multitude that presses
about him is saved. Jesus now also requires us, as he
did her, to confess publicly what he has done for us.
When Jesus left the house of Jairus, two blind men
followed him, crying, "Thou son of David, have mercy
on us." They had followed him into the house where
he went, probably Peter' s, and he said to them, ' ' Be
lieve ye that I am able to do this ? ' ' And when they
answered ' ' Yes, ' ' he touched their eyes and their sight
was restored. He told them to tell no man, but they
spread his fame abroad.
When he went out into the streets again they brought
unto him a dumb man possessed with a demon, and
when Jesus cast out the evil spirit, the dumb spake, and
the people marveled, saying, " It was never so seen in
Israel," but the Pharisees said, " He casteth out devils
by the prince of devils."

BOOK FIFTH.

FROM THE SECOND PASSOVER IN THE
PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS TO THE
THIRD PASSOVER.
A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR, FROM APRIL A.D. 2% TO APRIL A.D. 29.
('97)

(198) "LORD, SAVE US, WE PERISH."

THE HOUSE OF MERCY.

I99

T

CHAPTER XXXV.
THE HOUSE OF MERCY.
John v. 1-15.— Jerusalem, a.d. 28.
HE last scenes in the life of our Lord that we have
witnessed were at Capernaum. After this there
was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem. This is all we are told until we find him at
the Pool of Bethesda. Often we can take the map and
trace the very route Jesus took from one place to another
with his disciples, and note some incidents which oc
curred by the way. But on this occasion a marvelous
secrecy is preserved ; and what is more, Jesus seems to
be alone. He comes and goes this time without his dis
ciples. What this ' ' feast of the Jews ' ' was is unknown.
It was doubtless one of the feasts connected with the
Passover, or rather preceding it. There is no evidence
that Jesus remained for the Passover. What it was that
brought him to Jerusalem, and took him away as mys
teriously as he came, we can but conjecture. This visit
was the turning-point in the life of our Lord ; it was the
end of the first year of his ministry and the beginning of
the second.
Where the ' ' Pool of Bethesda, ' ' or the House of
Mercy, as it is interpreted, was situated, it is now diffi
cult to tell. Jerusalem was well watered. There were
natural springs and great reservoirs in which water was
collected, some for bathing and others for drinking pur
poses, for man and beast. All we know of the ' ' Pool
of Bethesda ' ' is that it was a pool enclosed within five

200 THE STORY OF JESUS.
porches, near the sheep market, and presumably close to
the ' ' sheep gate, ' ' or one of the entrances into the city.
This was the gate through which the sheep and cattle
for the temple sacrifices were taken. It was most likely
on the east of the northern side of the city. In the time
of the crusaders there was a pool in that locality known
by the name of Stephen's Pool, but it is now filled with
rubbish. At tlie time of the visit of Jesus there was a great
multitude of people afflicted with various diseases —
blind, halt, withered — on the porches hoping for a cure.
It was the tradition of the place that when the waters
were agitated, it was the work of an angel, and that he
who stepped in first was cured of his malady. Jesus, as
he walked unattended, found one man who had lain
there thirty-eight years helpless, it may be, from rheu
matism. "We can picture to ourselves the scene," says Edersheim.
" The popular superstition, which gave rise to what we would re
gard as a peculiarly painful exhibition of human misery of body
and soul, is strictly true to the time and the people. Even now
travelers describe a similar concourse of poor, crippled sufferers,
on their miserable pallets or on rugs, around the mineral springs
near Tiberias, filling, in true Oriental fashion, the air with their
lamentations. In the present instance there would be even more
occasion for this than around any ordinary thermal spring, for
the people's idea was that an angel descended into the water,
causing it to bubble up, and that only he who first stepped into
the pool would be cured. As only this one person could obtain
the benefit, we may imagine the lamentations of the ' many '
who would perhaps, day by day, be disappointed in their hopes.
This bubbling up of the water was, of course, due not to super
natural, but to physical causes. Such intermittent springs are
not uncommon, and to this day the so-called ' Fountain of the
Virgins' in Jerusalem exhibits the same phenomenon. It is
scarcely necessary to say that the Gospel narrative does not

THE HOUSE OF MERCY.

201

ascribe this troubling of the waters ' to angelic ' agency, nor
concur in the belief that only the first who afterwards entered
them could be healed. This was evidently the belief of the im
potent man, as of all the waiting multitude. But the words in
verse 4 of the Authorized Version, and perhaps also the last
clause of verse 3, are admittedly an interpolation. . .
But that such healing might actually occur in the circumstances
no one would be prepared to deny who has read the accounts of
pilgrimages to places of miraculous cure, or who considers the
influences of a firm expectancy on the imagination, especially
in diseases which have their origin in the nervous system."
As vain as perhaps were the hopes of the sufferers for
cure from the waters of Bethesda, there was now one
present who was able
to heal; the Great
Physician of body
and soul. Jesus had

compassion, as

he

ever has, and said to
the impotent man,
' ' Wilt thou be made
whole?" "Sir, I
have no man when
the water is troubled,
to put me into the
pool ; but while I am
coming another step-
peth down before
me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up thy bed and
walk." The cure was instantaneous. Immediately the
man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked,
and ' ' on the same day was the Sabbath. ' ' As the man
walked away with his bed the Jews said to him, "It is
not lawful for thee to carry thy bed, it is the Sabbath
day."

POOL OF BETHESDA.

202 THE STORY OF JESUS.
They afterward accused Jesus for curing the man on
the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was an ordinance of mercy,
intended to protect the poor and the oppressed from a life
of incessant toil; to save the laboring classes from the
unjust burdens which would have been laid upon them
in a nation whose besetting sin was greed. The setting
apart of one day in seven for sacred rest is of infinite
value to the spiritual life of men. That is the meaning
of the fourth commandment. In what respect was it
violated by the fact that a man who had been healed by
a miracle wishes to carry home the mere pallet, which
was probably the only thing he possessed ? It was un
lawful, not according to God's law, but according to
their own interpretation of it and to the traditions of
the elders. Deeds of necessity and of mercy were always
lawful, even on the Sabbath day. The man answered
them, " He who made me whole the same one said unto
me, Take up thy bed and walk. ' ' The Jews asked the
man, not, Who healed thee ? but, Who told thee to take
up thy bed and walk ? In their zeal to preserve their
forms and traditions they overlooked the great, confessed
and wonderful miracle of the Son of God.
Jesus had quietly gone away as he came, and had dis
appeared in the great multitude of people, and the man
could not point him out, nor did he know who he was.
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to
him, Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a
worst thing come unto thee." It seems from these
words that it was sin that brought this man's infirmity
upon him, and that Jesus not only cured him, but for
gave his sin. Taking offence, it may be at the words of
our Saviour, the man went and informed the Jews that
it was Jesus who had made him whole. From that hour

THE HOUSE OF MERCY.

203

the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to slay him,
because he had performed this miracle on the Sabbath
day. This was the first time that Jesus was called to account
for his teaching and his works by the Jewish authorities.
From this time they sought his life and pursued their
murderous intentions until they nailed him to the cross.
This was also a turning-point in his public work.
It was in answer to the charge of breaking the Sabbath
on this occasion, that the Lord's discourse in John the
fifth chapter was delivered before the Jewish rulers in
the temple or council chamber, when they summoned
him to appear before them. The great rabbis and chief
priests, who called him to appear before them to rebuke
him, found that they were in the presence of one who
was able to expose their ignorance and hypocrisy, and
before whom they were themselves arraigned, abashed
and awed.

WALLS. OF DAMASCUS.

204 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XXXVI.
"MY FATHER WORKETH HITHERTO."
John v. 16-47. — Jerusalem, a.d. 28.
N the following discourse we find a wonderful revela-

I

tion of Jesus, his nature and his work. My Father
in heaven, the maker and the preserver of the uni
verse, replied Jesus to the Jews who accused him of vio
lating the Sabbath, works on the Sabbath, and never
ceases to work, and so I unceasingly work for the salva
tion of men. The Sabbath is a rest from secular toil,
but not from hallowed or sacred labors. In this Jesus
claims that the works of almighty power, as well as of
benevolence, are his ; "so I work." The Jews plainly
understood the meaning of his words as claiming equality
with God the Father. So we are told that they ' ' sought
the more to kill him," because he not only had broken
the Sabbath, but said, also, that "God was his Father,
making himself equal with God. ' ' Instead of disowning
the inference, our Lord accepts it as his meaning. They
are now filled with indignation, and bring their charges
against him of blasphemy and of Sabbath-breaking.
Jesus proceeds still further to declare that he is the
Son of God, but that he could do nothing of himself, and
that whatever works the Father performs the Son does
likewise. He claims that the Father not only loves the
Son, but shows him all his works, and though they may
marvel, yet greater works than those they have seen
shall he do — even the divine work of raising the dead
and giving spiritual life to the soul. For as the Father

"MY FA THER WORKE TH HITHER TO. '

205

raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the
Son quickeneth whom he will. Divine judgment also is
given to the Son who shall judge all men at the last day.
The Father has thus honored the Son because he wants
all men to honor him, and therefore to dishonor the Son
is to dishonor the Father. To give life and to execute
judgment belongs to the Son.
Jesus next declares how he. gives spiritual life. Who
soever hears his words and believes on the Father who
sent him "hath everlasting life." "The hour is com
ing" and now is," he declares, "when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear shall
live. ' ' Moreover, those who are in their graves shall
come forth at his voice, they that have done good unto
the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation. As the Father has life in
himself, so has the Son life in himself, and because he is
the Son of man, the Father has given him authority
to execute judgment. My judgment, he says, is just, be
cause I seek not my own, but the Father's will.
' ' The fact of the incarnation is made the reason for com
mitting all judgment to Jesus, and especially the final judg
ment of the race. Having loved this fallen world so deeply,
so tenderly, that he could consent to assume our very
nature and suffer in it even unto death ; who, throughout
all the universe, will ever doubt his compassion, his pity,
his heart to save whosoever will meet his revealed condi
tions and put himself within the possible reach of mercy.
With infinite confidence will all the intelligent universe
trust him forever to administer the final judgment in the
truest sympathy for our race, and never with undue se
verity inflicting even one pang of suffering in excess of
what justice must demand."

2o6 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Jesus proceeds to give additional proofs of his divine
Sonship. If he were his own witness, merely, then they
might not accept his testimony concerning himself, but
there was another true witness to him— John the Baptist.
This he says that they may believe and be saved, not
that the testimony of man is needed by him. "John
was a burning and shining light, and ye were willing for
a season to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater
witness than John — even the works that God the Father
has given me to finish ; and, more than this, the Father
himself also bears witness that he sent me. " " You
have not seen nor heard him," Jesus says to the Jews ;
' ' you have not his word abiding in you, for you believe
not me whom he sent. ' ' Then he appeals to the scriptures
as proof : ' ' Search the scriptures, for in them ye think
ye have eternal life ; and they are they which testify of
me." Having added proof upon proof, he charges them
with the guilt of rejecting him : ' ' Ye will not come to
me that ye might have life. ' ' He tells them that he re
ceives not honor from men — that he knows that the love
of God is not in them. He has come in his Father's
name and they receive him not. If another shall come,
as did many false Christs, in his own name, they would
receive him. They believe not because they seek honor
one from another, and not from God. It is not necessary
for him to accuse them to God, for Moses, whom they
trust, will be their accuser. If they had truly believed
Moses they would have believed him, because Moses
wrote of him. But as they believed not his works, how
could they believe his words ? After uttering these plain
truths, which aroused the murderous hatred of the Jews,
it was not possible for Jesus to remain in Jerusalem or
Judea, so he returns to Galilee to resume his work there.

EATING AND HEALING ON THE SABBATH.

207

CHAPTER XXXVII.
EATING AND HEALING ON THE SABBATH DAY.
Matt. xii. 1-14 ; Mark ii. 23-28, iii. 1-6; Luke vi. i-ii.—Ou the way to Galilee,
and in Galilee, a.d. 28.
y\ S we have seen, it was the time of the Passover
-^- ¦*- and of barley harvest, in the month Nisan. The
first early sheaf was offered on the second day of
the Passover. Jesus soon after returned to Galilee. On
his way there it was again the Sabbath day. The hungry
disciples plucked the ripe barley heads and, rubbing
them in their hands, ate the grain thus separated from
the chaff. It was customary and lawful for the hungry
poor to pluck and eat grain and fruits growing in the
fields and vineyards, but they were forbidden to carry
any away.
The Pharisees who had before accused him of vio
lating the Sabbath in curing the impotent man at the
pool of Bethesda, were watching him and found fault
again, not at what the disciples did, but because they
did it on the Sabbath. We are told by Mark that it was
the second Sabbath after the first, or the Sabbath suc
ceeding that on which the impotent man was cured.
The question between the Jews and Jesus was not as to
the observance of the Sabbath, but as to its proper
observance. What God required on that day was quite
different from what the Jewish teachers commanded.
Jesus refused to submit to the foolish laws and doctrines
of men when contrary to right. He was himself the
law-giver, and claimed the right to enforce the proper

2o8 THE STORY OF JESUS.
observance of the day. The Pharisees who before
denied his right to cure a helpless man on the Sabbath,
now object to his disciples satisfying their hunger on
that day.
"No feature of the Jewish system was so marked as
the extraordinary strictness of the outward observance
of the Sabbath, as a day of entire rest. The scribes had
elaborated from the command of Moses a long array of
prohibitions and injunctions covering the whole range of
social, individual and public life, and carried it to the
extreme of ridiculous caricature. To kindle or to
extinguish a fire on the Sabbath was a great desecration
of the day, nor was even sickness allowed to violate
rabbinical rules. It was forbidden to give an emetic on
the Sabbath, to set a broken bone, or put back a dislo
cated joint ; though some rabbis, more liberal, held that
whatsoever endangered life made the Sabbath law void ;
for the commands are given to Israel only that they
might live by them.
"The holy day began with sunset on Friday and
closed with sunset on Saturday. But as the disappear
ance of the sun was the only mark of the time, its com
mencement was different oil a hill-top and in a valley.
If it were cloudy, the hens going to roost was the signal.
The beginning and the close of the Sabbath was an
nounced by a trumpet from the temple and in different
towns. . . . From the decline of the sun on Friday to
its setting was Sabbath eve, and no work which would
continue into the hours of Sabbath could be done in this
interval. All food must be prepared, all vessels washed,
and all lights kindled before sunset. The money girdle
must be taken offhand all tools laid aside. On Friday,
none mus t go out of the house with a needle or a pen,

EATING AND HEALING ON THE SABBATH. 209
lest he forget to lav them aside before the Sabbath
opens." The Sabbath was believed to prevail through
out the universe, in heaven and even in hell, where the
lost rested from their torments during its sacred hours.
Many were the refined distinctions made, and the
strictness was so excessive that Pharisees and Sadducees
alike sought to escape the requirements by evasions. A
Sabbath dav's journey was 2,000 cubits from a town or a
city. Food could be carried on Friday evening to a dis
tance beyond the walls, and it be assumed by fiction that
their homes were there, and they start from that spot in
the morning of the Sabbath. To make it lawful to eat
together on the Sabbath the rabbis put chains across the
two ends of a street in which members of a special fra
ternity lived, and called it a single dwelling ; they then
carried the materials for their feast to the common hall
on the Sabbath, but they each took some food there on
Friday evening to create the fiction of its being the
common dwelling.
These scribes and Pharisees were severe with others,
but heedless violators of the law themselves. The disci
ples of Jesus were accused by the Pharisees of violating
the law regarding the Sabbath. Was it not unlawful to
pluck and prepare food on that sacred day? Was it
not better to hunger for a few hours than to incur the
penalty of stoning? Thousands of Jews had died rather
than defend themselves on that da}-. But the Lord
asked them whether they had not read of how David and
his young men, when fleeing from the fierce anger of
King Saul, and being hungry, went into the tabernacle
and asked and obtained of Abimelech, the priest, the
show bread, which it was not lawful for any but the
priests to eat, and both ate it himself and gave to his fol-

2 t o 7^^ -S1 TOR Y OF JESUS.
lowers. Necessity justified what David did. Then he
reminds them that they have read in the law of Moses
how the priests in the temple were engaged, contrary to
the laws respecting the Sabbath, in sacrificing and per
forming all the labors connected with the temple service
on that day, and yet were excused for profaning the Sab
bath and held blameless.
Our Saviour claims to be Lord even of the Sab
bath day, and asserts his authority to make laws for its
observance. But I say unto you, that in this place is
one greater than the temple. What is lawful for the ser
vants of the temple, is lawful for my servants, for I am
greater than the temple. Besides, he reminds them that
it is written: "I will have mercy and not sacrifice; " the
meaning of which they did not seem to comprehend.
They were unmerciful in exacting obedience to Sabbath
laws, and thought more of the ceremonial observance
than of the spirit of the law. The Sabbath was made
for man and not man for the Sabbath; " that is for man's
benefit, his best and highest good; to promote his happi
ness and not his misery ; " it was a day of sacred rest, and
acts of worship and necessity and mercy were not only
permitted, but obligatory.
Jesus finally reaches Galilee, and there, "on another
Sabbath," entered into a synagogue. There was a
man in the synagogue who had a withered hand, and the
Pharisees watched Jesus to see whether he would heal
him on the Sabbath, that they might accuse him. Jesus
said to the man, " Rise up, and stand in the midst." It
must have been very difficult for this man to stand up
while others sat down, before all those scoffing Pharisees,
but he obeyed. While he stood, Jesus, who knew the
thoughts of these Pharisees, asked them, "Is it lawful to

EA TING AND HEALING ON THE SABBA TH. 2 1 1
do good, or to do evil on the Sabbath day ? to save life, or
to destroy ? " "If any one of you have one sheep, and
it falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lift it
out ? How much better then is a man than a sheep ?
Wherefore it is lawful for a man to do good on the Sab
bath day." They held their peace. All this time the
man had been standing up before all in the synagogue.
Now the Lord looked around about on the fault-finding
Pharisees with anger, being grieved at the hardness of
their hearts, and then said to the man, " Stretch forth
thy hand." The man might have said, " My hand is
withered and helpless, and I cannot stretch it forth," but
he simply obeyed and stretched forth his hand before
them all, and it was restored whole as the other. The
effect upon the Pharisees was to make them angry —
"they were filled with madness" — and went out and
took council with the Herodians, or followers of Herod,
against him, how they might destroy him. But Jesus
knew it and withdrew from the place.

" -SE

TARSUS.

212

THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE TWELVE CHOSEN.
Matt. xii. 15-21; Mark iii. 7-19; Luke vi. 12-16 —Sea of Galilee, Mountain near
Capernaum, a.d. 28.
TO escape the plots of the Pharisees, Jesus, accom
panied by his disciples, retired to the Sea of Gal
ilee. But he could not get away from the peo
ple, who, from one end of the land to the other, had
heard of his wonder
ful deeds. Great mul
titudes came and fol
lowed him, from Gal
ilee, from Judea, from
Jerusalem, from Idu-
mea, a country lying
east of the Dead Sea,
from beyond the river
Jordan, and from
Tyre and Sidon, cities
on the Mediterranean
coast. The multitude
pressed him, and as
many as had plagues
sought to touch him, and he healed them all. Unclean
spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and
cried out, saying, ' ' Thou art the Son of God. ' ' And he
charged them not to make him known that the scriptures
might be fulfilled as spoken by the prophet Isaiah :
" Behold my servant, whom I have chosen ;
" My beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased ;

RUINS OF TYRE.

THE TWELVE CHOSEN. 213
" I will put my spirit upon him,
" And he shall show judgment to the Gentiles.
" He shall not strive, nor cry ;
" Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
" A bruised reed shall he not break,
" And smoking flax shall he not quench,
" Till he send forth judgment unto victory.
" And in his name shall the Gentiles trust."
These words were quoted to show why he thus retired
from his enemies and sought concealment.
Sitting in a boat with some of his disciples, Jesus
asks them to push off from the shore. He proposes to
depart from the throng of people whom, having blessed,
he now wants to leave for other work. We do not know
where he landed from the boat, but we learn that he
went up into a mountain, as was his custom, and spent
the night in prayer. He was about to select from his
disciples twelve men to become his apostles, and he
prayed thus alone — before he made the choice. And
when the day came he called to him a few chosen ones,
— "whom he would," — and from these he selected and
"ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and
that he might send them forth to preach, and to have
power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out demons."
These twelve he also named "apostles." The word
apostle means ' ' one sent. ' ' The names of the twelve
apostles were Simon and Andrew, James and John,
Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James
son of Alpheus and Simon Zelotes, Judas, brother of
James, and Judas Iscariot.
Simon Peter, also called Cephas, which means rock,
was undoubtedly the foremost of the apostles. He de
nied his Lord when the latter was arrested, but repented
and ever afterward was a true and faithful defender of

214 THE STORY OF JESUS.
his cause. His great resoluteness and rocky firmness of
character fitted him to be a leader. ' ' Before the
Saviour's death he was rash, impetuous and unstable ;
afterwards, as all history affirms, he was firm, zealous,
steadfast and immovable. ' ' He was the author of the
epistles that bear his name, the first to testify to the
people of the resurrection, and the first to preach the
gospel with great power and success to Jew and Gentile.
According to tradition, he was crucified at Rome with
his head downwards, thinking himself unworthy to die
as his Master died.
Andrew was the brother of Peter, and had the honor
of bringing his distinguished brother to Christ. He is
little known, and the scriptures are silent regarding his
life and work as an apostle. But he is regarded as the
patron saint of the Russians because of a tradition that
says he preached and labored among the Scythians.
Another legend says that he labored in Greece and Asia
Minor and Thrace, and was put to death in Achaia on a
cross of the form, since known by his name.
James and John were the sons of Zebedee, or Zabdai.
Their energy and zeal obtained for them, from the Mas
ter, the name of "the sons of thunder." It was they
who wished to call down lightning upon an inhospitable
Samaritan village, and sought to silence an unknown
man who spoke and wrought miracles in the name of
Christ. James was slain with the sword by Herod in a
persecution of the early church. He is to be dis
tinguished from the other James, who was the son of
Alpheus or Cleophas, and was stationed at Jerusalem,
and who was the author of the epistle that bears his name.
A James is mentioned by Paul in his epistle to the Gala-
tians as the Lord's brother. Alpheus and Cleophas are

THE TWELVE CHOSEN.

215

the same name written in a different way. Mary, called
the mother of Zebedee' s children (James and John), is
also spoken of as the mother of James and Joses, or John.
John was the author of the gospel and epistles that bear
his name, and also of the Revelation. He was called the
beloved disciple. His brother, James, was, as we have
seen, called away early to his reward, but John survived

all the other apostles, living to the advanced age of about
one hundred years. " Hot zeal, based on intense devo
tion, was, however, only a passing characteristic ' ' of
these two brothers — "at least of John. He, of all the
apostles, drank deepest into his Master's spirit, and real
ized it most. Self-contained, meditative, tender, he
thought less of Christ's acts than of the words which
were the revelation of his inner being. His whole spirit
ual nature gave itself up to loving contemplation of the
wondrous life passing before him. We owe to him in
his gospel an image of the higher nature of our Lord,
such as only one to whom he was all in all could have

2 1 6 THE STOP I ' OF JESUS.
painted. If perfect love begets love in return, it was in
evitable that John should win the supreme place in
Christ's affection." "If this disciple leaned on the
Master's bosom, it was because he was shown the love
that at last brought him alone of the twelve to the foot
of the cross. ' '
The sacred writings give us little information about
Philip. Ecclesiastical legend says that he was a chariot-
driver. Bartholomew, whose name is associated with
that of Philip, is said to have been a shepherd or gard
ener. He is supposed to be the same as Nathanael, the
brother of Philip, by whom he was brought to the
Saviour. Matthew, called also Levi, was a publican, or
tax-gatherer by profession, and was the writer of the
gospel which bears his name. Thomas, whose name is
associated with doubt, but who, when convinced, boldly
confessed his faith in his divine Lord, is little known.
James, son of Alpheus, is mentioned, and Simon the
zealot. The latter was one of the fierce zealots or war
party of the day, who vowed perpetual war against the
Roman power. But when Jesus called him he became
an humble follower of the Prince of Peace. We know
but little of him. Judas, the brother of James, was also
known as Lebbeus or Thaddeus, and is to be distinguished
from Judas Iscariot who betrayed his Lord.
The choice of men of obscure and humble position for
such exalted work is remarkable. No mere human re
former who hoped to do much for the world, and who meant
that his teachings, disciples and society should cover the
whole earth, would have chosen such followers. All of
these disciples were obscure and unlettered men, and
most of them are but very little known now beyond their
mere names, and yet their work remains, and is indeed

THE TWELVE CHOSEN.

217

immortal in its results. As men chosen and qualified of
God, they went forth to their work and sealed their tes
timony with their blood. A small body of obscure men,
they became the illustrious heads of the twelve tribes of
the spiritual Israel and the representatives in earth and
heaven of the redeemed of every tribe and nation of the
earth.

EPHESUS.

IO

2i8 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE SERMON ON THE PLAIN.
Luke vi. 17-49. — Near Capernaum, a.d. 28.
HERE are some who regard the words spoken as

T

recorded here, the same as the Sermon on the
Mount, recorded by Matthew and Mark, because
of the similarity between them. But it is distinctly said
that what Matthew and Mark recorded was spoken some
time before and on the mountain, while what Luke relates
happened in the plain after the selection of the twelve, and
after the Lord with his disciples and his newly chosen
apostles had descended the mountain into the plain. ' 'And
he came down with them and stood in the plain." Be
sides, it is not improbable that the same words and simi
lar deeds were repeated by our Saviour at different times
and on separate occasions. There were two miraculous
draughts of fishes on two different occasions. Jesus twice
drove the traders from the temple. And it seems that
on two separate occasions he uttered substantially the
words known as the Sermon on the Mount.
In addition to the company of his disciples ' ' there
was a great multitude of people out of all Judea and
Jerusalem, and from the sea-coast of Tyre and Sidon,
who came to hear him, and to be healed of their dis
eases. They that were possessed with unclean spirits
were healed, and the whole company sought to touch
him: for there went virtue out of him and healed them
all, " " and he lifted up his eyes on his disciple* and
said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of

THE SERMON ON THE PLAIN.

219

God. ' ' Continuing his discourse he pronounced a bless
ing on the hungry, who shall be filled; on those that
weep, for they shall laugh; on those that are hated,
cast out, treated as evil, for Christ's sake, for their re
ward shall be great in heaven. In their sufferings they
would be the companions of the persecuted prophets of
old. Following the blessings, he pronounces the woes re
corded by Luke alone. A woe belongs to the rich, who
have their only consolation in this life; to those who are
full of earthly things, for they shall hunger; to those who
laugh with levity, for they shall have cause to weep and
mourn; to those who obtain the approbation of all men,
for so were the false prophets applauded. These woes
were followed by the commands: love your enemies, do
good to those who hate you, bless those that curse you,
pray for those that despitefuUy use you, turn the other
cheek to him that smites you, give up your cloak rather
than retaliate; give to every one that asketh of thee and
of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again,
and lend or give to the needy.
This is the general rule. It is better to give, some
times to an undeserving person, than to turn away one
really necessitous. Yet indiscriminate giving is a great
evil. It is good to cultivate the habit of giving. At
the same time the rule must be interpreted so as to be
consistent with our duty to our families, and with other
objects of justice and charity. It is seldom, perhaps
never, good to give to those who are able to work, but
will not. To give to such is to encourage laziness; to
support the idle at the expense of the industrious.
The golden rule is here repeated, and we are again
commanded to love our enemies, to assist others without

2 2 O THE STOP Y OF JESUS.
hope of reward, to be merciful, to condemn not unjustly,
to be forgiving, to give good measure, so that we may
be " the children of the highest."
In continuing his discourse he asks the question,
" Can the blind lead the blind ? Shall not both fall into
the ditch ? " He reminds them that ' ' the disciple is
not above his Master," that is, does not know more,
cannot lead and instruct him ; he who is perfect is able
to teach others. ' ' Why beholdest thou the mote that is
in thy brother's eye, and perceivest not the beam that
is in thine own eye ? ' ' You are not to attempt to teach
others while your faults are greater than theirs. ' ' Thou
hypocrite : cast out first the beam out of thine own eye,
and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that
is in thy brother's eye." "For," continued the Sav
iour, "a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit."
Every tree is known by its fruit. Figs do not grow on
thorns, and grapes are not gathered from a bramble
bush. A good man will bring forth good things out of
the good treasure of his heart, and an evil man with an
evil heart will produce evil things ; "for out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
Jesus concluded his sermon by asking the question, why
they called him Lord and did not obey him ? He then
proceeded to show the contrast between the safety of one
who came to him and obeyed his commands and the in
security of the man who heard his teachings and did not
obey: the disobedient man is like one who builds his
house on the sand to be swept away by flood and storm;
but he who hears and obeys is like a man who builds his
house upon the rock, where it stands unmoved by the
violence of the storm.

THE CENTVRIOITS SERVANT. 221

CHAPTER XL.
THE CENTURION'S SERVANT.
Matt. viii. 5-13 ; Luke vii. 1-10. — Capernaum, a.d. 28.
"\ ~X THEN Jesus had ended his sermon he entered
^ ^ Capernaum again. Here was a centurion,
connected probably with the Roman garrison
at Capernaum, and the captain of a company of one
hundred Roman soldiers. The Roman army was di
vided into legions, varying in size from three thousand to
six thousand men, and in each legion there were sixty
centuries, each under the command of a centurion.
This centurion's servant was sick with the palsy. It
must have been a sudden, painful and alarming attack,
judging from what was done to obtain relief for him.
The centurion, hearing that Jesus was in the city, sent
the elders of the Jews to beg him to cure his servant.
He sent the Jews because he was himself a Gentile, and
yet had made friends of the Jews at Capernaum by his
kindness and liberality towards them. So the elders be
sought Jesus to come to the man's house and heal his
servant, saying, ' ' He is worthy, for he loves our nation,
and has built us a synagogue. ' '
This Roman soldier's conduct and the regard the Jews
had for him who had military authority over them, shows
how even those naturally the greatest foes may be the
warmest friends. It is probable that this soldier's mild mili
tary rule had gained him the friendship of these bigoted
Jews, who became still more his friend when he erected,
at his own expense, a costly synagogue for their use in the

222 THE STORY OF JESUS.
city. He who builds a house of worship for others does a
good work. Jesus went with them, but while on the way,
not far from the house, the centurion sent him word,
saying that he, a Gentile and a sinner, did not feel
worthy to have such a noble and powerful person enter
his house, nor did he feel worthy to come to meet him,
but if he would only speak the word his servant would
be healed.
It is probable that while these friends were delivering
the message to Jesus that the centurion, anxious for the
recovery of his servant, came himself and said, "Lord,
I am not worthy that thou shouldst. come under my
roof ; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be
healed. For I am a man under authority, having sol
diers under me, and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth,
and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my ser
vant, Do this, and he doeth it." That is, I have sol
diers over me, whom I obey, and soldiers under me,
who obey me. One word of my command is enough.
You have none over you, but all under you, and you can
speak to the storm, or to the sea, or to the dead, and be
obeyed. You need but say the word, and my servant
shall be cured. Jesus at onc'e recognizes the marvelous
faith displayed in the words of this man ; and his confi
dence that Jesus has power over disease and death, and
love and sympathy to exercise that power for his sick
slave. When Jesus heard the centurion's words he said
to those that followed him, "Truly I have not found so
great faith ; no, not in Israel."
This centurion was probably the first Gentile convert
to Christianity, and his case is an early illustration of
what was more clearly understood afterwards, that the
heathen Gentiles were to be brought to the Saviour.

THE CENTURION'S SERVANT.

223

This is indicated in the words of Jesus uttered also on
this occasion : ' ' Many shall come from the east and the
west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven ; but the children of
the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness ; there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." By these
words he meant that the despised heathen Gentiles
would come from the whole earth to him and enter his
kingdom and enjoy the eternal rest of heaven, along
with the fathers of the Jewish nation, while they, the
children of the faith, to whom the promises were made,
would for their rejection of him be cast out forever into
the darkness and misery of the hopelessly lost. To the
centurion he says, ' ' Go thy way, and as thou hast be
lieved so be it done unto thee. " " And his servant was
healed in the self same hour. ' ' And when he returned to
his home his faith must have been greatly strengthened
when his beloved slave came to meet him sound and
well. Says Dr. W. Adams :
"There is here no analysis of faith, and no definition of it.
It seems to be assumed by Christ and his evangelists that all
would understand what faith is. The thing is enacted, not de
scribed. Men do in regard to Christ almost everything in the
range of possibility ; philosophize about him, study about him,
reason about him, everything save trusting him, — trusting, I
mean, after the simple method which impelled this centurion to
implore his help. Trust is at once the most active and most quiet
of all qualities. "What the centurion had not, we have : the pos
itive assurance and promise of the Redeemer. This has been
verified by ages of human experience. Every man who has died
in peace, looking unto Jesus, is an irrefutable argument for the
wisdom of faith. The simpler our trust in Christ for all things,
the surer is our peace."

224 THE ST0RY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XLI.
THE WIDOW'S SON.
Luke vii. 11-17— Nain, Galilee, a.d. 28.
NAIN is a town in Galilee. The name means "the
beautiful." It is hardly entitled to the name
now, though it is still called Nain. It is a miserable
village inhabited by Jews, Mohammedans and Christians.
It is still beautiful for its surroundings, situated twenty-
five miles southwest of Capernaum, on the northern
slope of "Little Hermon," a clump of hills at the eastern
end of the great plain of Esdraelon. The village of
Shunem, now Solani, where the Shunamite woman
lived, who entertained Elisha in her hospitable home,
and whose only son the prophet restored to life, is situa
ted on the other side of the same hill on which Nain
stands, overlooking the plain of Jezreel, the scene of
some of the greatest events in Elijah's life. In the
distant Sarepta, a Phoenician village, he had raised to
life the widow's son.
In climbing the rocky ascent which leads to the gate
of Nain, the traveler of to-day sees the ancient tombs
hewn in the hills by the roadside. It was doubtless
toward one of these sepulchres, outside the city walls,
where it is the wholesome custom of the East to bury
the dead, that the body of the widow's son was being
borne when met by the Prince of Life. Jesus had prob
ably left Capernaum soon after the healing of the centu
rion's servant, and bent his footsteps westward among
the hills. It was still early in his ministry, and he was

THE WIDOW'S SON.

225

yet popular with the people, and the rulers as yet only
plotted against him in secret, without a definite plan for
his destruction. He was consequently followed not only
by many of his disciples, but by a large company of people.
Jesus and his disciples were nearing Nain, and slowly
ascending the slope of the hill to the gate of the city,
when they met a funeral procession, with all the attend
ants of dismal sorrows and mournful lamentations,
descending the hill and bearing to its last resting-place
the dead body of a young man, a widow's only son.
The sympathetic heart of Jesus is touched, and drawing
nigh he says tenderly to the bereaved widow, ' ' Weep
not. ' ' Then he turned and touched the bier, ' ' or rather
the open coffin in which the dead youth lay." "It
must have been a moment of intense and breathless
expectation. Unbidden, but filled with undefinable awe,
the bearers of the bier stood still, and through the hearts
of the silent multitude there thrilled the calm utterance,
' Young man, arise ! ' Would that dread monosyllable
thrill also through the unknown, mysterious solitudes of
death ? Would it thrill through the impenetrable dark
ness of the more than midnight which has ever concealed
from human vision the world beyond the grave? It
did. The dead got up and began to speak, and he
delivered him to his mother ?' '
Thus, by the authority of Christ was the dead brought
back to life, and the grave robbed of its victim. Then there
came a fear upon them all — an awful solemnity at the pre
sence of one who was able to raise the dead, and they glo
rified God. And as they thought of the weeping mothers
of Sarepta and Shunem who had in times past received
their dead restored to life by the prophets of God, they
exclaimed, "A great prophet is risen up among us,"
10*

226 THE STORY OF JESUS.
It must have been observed by the people that this
prophet had not raised the dead to life by "agonies and
energies of supplication, wrestling in prayer and" lying
outstretched upon the dead, ' ' like the prophets of old ;
but "had wrought this miracle calmly, incidentally,
instantaneously, in his own name, by his own authority,
with a single word." Truly God has visited his people.
As the eloquent Massillon said : "Jesus raised the dead
as he performed the most common actions : he spake as
a master to those who were sleeping the eternal sleep.
One feels that he was the Lord of the dead as well as of
the living ; never more tranquil than when he wrought
the mightiest works."
Dr. H. Bushnell says : •
" These mighty works of Jesus, which have been done and duly
certified, are fit expressions to us of the fact that he can do for us
all that we want. Doubtless it is a great and difficult thing to
regenerate a fallen nature ; no person really awake to his mis
erable and dreadful bondage ever thought otherwise. But he
that touched the blind eyes and commanded the leprosy away, he
that trod the sea, and raised the dead, and burst the bars of death
himself, can tame the passions, sweeten the bitter afflictions, and
roll back all the storms of the mind. Assured in this manner by
his miracles, they become arguments of our sorrow, cast down as
we are by our guiltiness, ashamed, and weak, and ready to de
spair, we can yet venture a hope that our great soul-miracle may
be done ; that if we can but touch the hem of Christ's garment,
a virtue will go out of him to heal us. In all dark days and
darker struggles of the mind, in all outward disasters, and amid
all storms upon the sea of life, we can yet descry him treading
the billows, and hear him saying, 'It is I, be not afraid.' And
lest we should believe the miracle faintly, for there is a busy infi
del lurking in our hearts to cheat us of our faith when he cannot
reason it away, the character of Jesus is ever shining with and
through them, in clear self- evidence, leaving them never to stand
as raw wonders only of might, but covering them with glory, as
tokens of -a heavenly love, and acts that only suit the proportions
of his personal greatness and majesty."

THE MESSAGE OF JOHN TO JESUS. 227

CHAPTER XLII.
THE MESSAGE OF JOHN TO JESUS.
Matt. xi. 2-19 ; Luke vii. 18-35. — Galilee, near Nain, a.d. 28.
JOHN the Baptist, a prisoner in the dungeon of the
' ' Black Tower, ' ' or the fortress of Machaerus,
where he had now lain for about a year, heard of
"all these things" that Jesus did and taught, through
his disciples who had access to him. We can readily
understand how long confinement would work upon the
spirit even of a strong man like John. It would be
harder for him to bear confinement, because he had
always led a free and active life among the wild scenes
of nature, and was of an ardent and zealous tempera
ment. He must have also shared, to some extent, the
errors of the disciples as to the true character of Christ's
kingdom. Even the spiritually-minded John found it
difficult to separate the spiritual from the temporal.
While he preached preparation of heart as an essential
requirement, he must also have thought of the Messiah's
kingdom as temporal, and conceived of the Messiah as
uniting in one both the spiritual and the temporal.
Hearing of the mighty works of Jesus, he probably asked
himself, Why did he leave this region when he heard of
my imprisonment ? Why does he not come and release
his forerunner by a mighty exhibition of his power?
Why does he not visit upon his enemies the vengeance
of heaven ? Why this seeming neglect not only by the
God ot love, but by the Son of God ? John must have
been more than human if he did not have some such
doubts.

228 THE STORY OF JESUS.
' ' Josephus tells us that this prison was the fortress of Machaerus
or Makhor, a strong and gloomy castle, built by Alexander Jan-
na^us, and strengthened by Herod the Great. Its location was on
the borders of the desert, to the north of the Dead Sea, and on the
frontiers of Arabia. "We know enough of solitary castles and
eastern dungeons to realize what horrors must have been in
volved for any man in such an imprisonment, what possibilities
of agonizing torture, what daily risk of a violent and unknown
death. How often in the world's history have the most generous
and dauntless spirits been crushed and effeminated by such hope
less captivity.
" To John the Baptist imprisonment must have been a deadlier
thing than even to Luther ; for in the free, wild life of the hermit
he had lived in constant communion with the sights and sounds
of nature ; had breathed with delight and liberty the winds of
the wilderness, and gazed with a sense of companionship on the
large stars which beam from the clear vault of the eastern night.
To a child of freedom and passion, to a rugged, passionate,
untamed spirit, like that of John, a prison was worse than
death. We cannot wonder if the eye of the caged eagle began
to film." It was under these circumstances that John sent two
of his disciples who came to inquire about the wonders
of word and deed of the Nazarene. Coming to Jesus,
they asked him, ' ' Art thou he that should come ? Or
look we for another ? ' ' John had the evidences of the
Messiahship of Jesus at the time of his baptism, and
bore unqualified testimony then ; but now, either to sat
isfy himself or his doubting disciples, he desires some
additional testimony. At first the Saviour made no
reply to their question, but welcomed them and retained
them, while he went on with his work, that they might be
•able to see for themselves and report the work of Jesus
to their master. In their presence, "in that same hour, he
cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil
spirits, and unto many that were blind he gave sight. ' '

(22?)

230 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Then Jesus answered them, and said, "Go your way,
and tell John what things ye have seen and heard ; how
the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the
deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is
preached ; and blessed is he whosoever shall not be of
fended in me. ' ' These were strong proofs of his Mes
siahship, and must have relieved the doubts of these dis
ciples of John. To their master, John himself, they
must have been especially reassuring, since they are the
words of Isaiah, whom John was fond of quoting, re
garding the Christ. And these last words must have
been the Lord's special message of comfort to his af
flicted servant : " Happy is he who shall not make my
teaching and life a stumbling-stone over which to fall."
When the disciples of John had departed Jesus deliv
ered to the multitudes his well-known eulogy on the
Baptist, and rebuked the nation for rejecting him.
' ' What went ye out into the wilderness to see ? A reed
shaken with the wind ? But what went ye out for to
see ? A man clothed in soft raiment ? Behold they that
wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went
ye out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and
more than a prophet, for this is he of whom it is written,
' Behold I send my messenger before thy face, which
shall prepare thy way before- thee. ' Verily, I say unto
you, among them that are born of woman, there has not
arisen a greater than John the Baptist." Jesus goes on
to say, however, that the least under the new dispensa
tion, in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than this last
of the prophets of the old dispensation, — greater at
least in the spiritual privileges enjoyed and the opportu
nities for light and growth. ' ' From the days of John
the Baptist," he continues, "until now, the kingdom of

THE MESSAGE OF JOHN TO JESUS. 23 1
heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by
force." That is, from the time John began to preach,
people had pressed with holy violence into the kingdom,
and others had been equally determined to destroy it ;
but the persistent had been the victors. ' ' And if ye
will receive it, this is Elias which was to come. ' ' John
came in the power and the spirit of Elijah, one of the
greatest prophets.
There were present some publicans, who had been
baptized by John, and they gladly approved all that
Jesus said of him. But there were also Pharisees and
lawyers who stood by, who had been refused baptism by
John, having ' ' rejected the counsel of God against them*
selves." It is probable that Jesus included these in his
rebuke when he likened the generation in which he
lived to children playing in the market-place, or rather
to the peevish and fretful ones who stood aloof and re
fused to play whether their companions proposed to play
the mournful funeral or the joyous wedding. John had
come to them as an abstaining hermit, or stern ascetic,
and they said he had a devil. Jesus had come to them,
joining in their banquets and wedding feasts, and they
said, ' ' Behold an eater and a wine drinker. " " But
wisdom is justified of her children ; ' ' wisdom will pre*-
serve the wise, and folly will be the destruction of fools.
The folly of the age is about to display its true character
in the rejection of both John and Christ.

232 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XLIII.
THE DOOMED CITIES.
Matt. xi. 20-30. — Nain, Galilee, a.d. 28.
HE ill success of his mission to the cities on the

T

western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and their re
jection of him, led Jesus to reprove these cities
and to pronounce a heavy judgment upon them. ' ' Then
began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his
mighty works were done, because they repented not."
"Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee, Bethsaida !
for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had
been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented
long ago in sack-cloth and ashes. ' ' These towns were
not far from Capernaum, on the banks of the Sea of
Galilee, whose precise situation is unknown. Bethsaida,
meaning fish-house, is a name which was given to two
different towns, — one on the north coast near the entrance
of the Jordan into the sea, the other, which is referred
to here, was on the western shore of the sea, and was the
home of Philip and Andrew and Peter. ' ' Chorazin, not
otherwise mentioned in the gospels, Jerome places two
miles from Capernaum. " It is now supposed to be the
modern Kerazeh, at which place there is a " spring with
an insignificant ruin about it." The word is thought to
mean water jars. If those towns were near Capernaum
we may well imagine that many of the mighty words
and works of Jesus were performed there, as is here said
to be the case, though they are not elsewhere mentioned.
The principle upon which Jesus here pronounces judg-

THE DOOMED CITIES.

233

ment against these cities is that greater privileges despised
or neglected incur greater guilt.
Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities, situated on the
Mediterranean Sea. They were very ancient cities,
formerly of large population and great mercantile im
portance. Sidon was situated within the bounds of
the tribe of Asher, but this tribe could never take
possession of it. It was famous for its great trade and
navigation, and its inhabitants were the first and most
noted merchants in the world, and were celebrated for
their energy. At the time of our Saviour it was a city
of much splendor and extensive commerce. It is now
known as Saide, and has greatly declined from its former
greatness. In 1824 it had six Mohammedan mosques, a
Jewish synagogue, a Maronite, a Latin and a Greek
Church. The number of inhabitants was then estimated
at three thousand.
Tyre is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament.
It is the place where Hiram reigned, from whom
Solomon procured many of his materials for building
his temple. It is about twenty miles south of Sidon,
and is situated partly on an island a short distance
from the shore and partly on the main land. It was
often besieged, once by Shalmaneser, for five years. It
was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, after a siege of thirteen
years, when it was destroyed, but was afterwards rebuilt.
It was taken by Alexander the Great, after a most obsti
nate siege of five months. There are now no signs of
its former glory. It consists of a few miserable huts oc
cupied by fishermen. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of
Ezekiel: "Thou shalt be built no more, though thou
be sought for, thou shalt never be found again. ' ' Some
of the greatest cities of ancient times are now only a

234

THE STORY OF JESUS.

mass of ruins. What a rebuke to human power and
glory! What has been may be again, is the lesson that
conies to the great cities of modern times. Jesus reproves the
-^toiJ; ^ inhabitants of Chora-
3§ !£&£* » *_ zm an(i Bethsaida,
because they repented
not when they heard
his words and saw his
works and says, if the
mighty works, which
were done in your
cities had been done
in the heathen cities of
Tyre and Sidon, they
would have repented
long ago in sackcloth
and ashes ; that is, in
the true Oriental style, — they would have clothed them
selves in coarse cloth and thrown ashes upon their heads as
signs of mourning and in token of sorrow for sin. He
also tells them that in the day of the great judgment
their punishment shall be greater and less endurable than
that which was visited upon the heathen people of Tyre
and Sidon.
Then he pronounces the doom of Capernaum, which
had been exalted as high as heaven by its privileges,
when he dwelt there and taught; it shall be cast
down to hell, that is, in contrast with its exaltation;
to heaven, meant very highly favored; and brought down
to hell, meant that all its favors should be taken away
and it should sink very low in degradation. Jesus de
clares that as the city had flourished and prospered, so for

SITE OF BETHSAIDA.

THE DOOMED CITIES.

235

its sin it should become desolate and ruined. To-day it
is desolation itself. Its site is hardly known, so complete
has been its destruction. It is supposed to be the ruins
known as Tell Hum. Sidon still exists, but Caper
naum — Christ's " own city " — is a heap of ruins. Jesus
speaks also of the punishment of Capernaum in the
future life, for he says that it shall be more tolerable for
the guilty people of Sodom in the day of judgment than
for those of Capernaum; because, if Sodom had pos
sessed their privileges and seen the mighty works of God
such as they had witnessed, its wicked people would have
repented. It is plain from these words of Jesus that the
judgment of God shall overtake wicked men, cities and
nations, and that their punishment will be in proportion
to their privileges.
At this time Jesus uttered the prayer in which he
gives thanks to the Father, the Lord of heaven and
earth, that he had hid these things — the truths concern
ing the kingdom — from the wise and prudent — according
to the world's estimation of wisdom, the men of philoso
phy and learning and science, falsely so called ; and had
revealed them unto babes — to the poor, ignorant, obscure,
though teachable and humble, such as his disciples were.
Jesus submitted to the will of the heavenly Father, be
cause he knew it to be wise and good. ' ' Even so,
Father, for so it seems good to thee, " is an all sufficient
reason for every dispensation of his providence and grace.
After this prayer of resignation and thankfulness, our
Saviour declares that all power in the universe has been '
given to him as mediator for man's salvation; that the
Father alone fully knows the Son, and that no one can
know the Father except the Son and they to whom the
Son shall reveal him. With this declaration of power

236

THE STORY OF JESUS.

and authority he gives that most gracious invitation,
which has ever been a comfort to the weary toiler and the
sin-sick soul : ' ' Come unto me all ye that labor and are
heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of
heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my
yoke is easy and my burden is light. ' ' How many who
are toiling for this world and serving sin have found their
-burdens greater than they could bear! and how many
more have found Christ's burdens light and the rest he
gives to the soul both sweet and lasting !

RUINS OF OESAREA.

THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT.

237

CHAPTER XLIV.
THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT.
Luke vii. 36-50 ; viii. 1-3.— Probably in the vicinity of Nain, a.d. 28.
JESUS, as we have seen, dined with Matthew the publi
can, when invited, and now he receives and accepts
an invitation to dine with a Pharisee. From this
we conclude that the opposition to Jesus had not yet been
able to array all the Pharisees against him. Simon, for
this was his name, seems to have occupied a high
social position, and to have lived in one of the Gali
lean towns, probably not far from Nain. Jesus had not
hesitated to touch a leper or a dead body, and thus to
render himself unclean in the eyes of the Pharisee, so
that this invitation, in the circumstances, was surprising.
Probably it was curiosity that prompted Simon, for he
acted in a cold, patronizing manner, and knew not that
Jesus had condescended to honor him.
It had formerly been the custom of the Jews to sit at
meals on mats, with feet crossed, before a low table ; but
the custom of the Persians and Greeks and Romans of
reclining on couches, with the head towards the table
and the feet away from it, had been introduced into Pal
estine and was general in the time of Christ. Nicely
cushioned lounges were arranged on three sides of a
square, and the guests reclined on these, resting on the
left arm. The table on one side was open, to afford the
servants access to it. The place of honor was at the
upper end on the right side. The couches were so
arranged that each guest could easily lean on the bosom

238 THE STORY OF JESUS.
of the one behind him. It was the custom to leave the
sandals outside the door in entering a house, and to go
in with bare feet. The master of the house welcomed
his guest with a kiss on the cheek, saying, ' ' The Lord
be with you." When the guest took his place on the
couch, a servant brought water and washed and wiped

RECLINING AT TABLE.
his feet. The host, or a servant, then anointed the
head and beard of the guest with fragrant oil, the hair
being the pride of Orientals. Just before eating, water
was brought to wash the hands, the guest holding his
hands over a basin while the servant poured water upon
them. This was done to secure ceremonial purity, and
because the fingers were used to eat with, all the guests
dipping into a common dish. Either religious laws or
social customs required frequent washings, which were
regulated with scrupulous exactness by the rabbis.
While Jesus was eating in this Pharisee's house, a

THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT.

239

woman of the town came in. This was nothing strange,
for people went in and out of an eastern house at pleas
ure and conversed with those within. It was not usual,
however, for women to be present at such entertainments,
and this woman violated, at least, this rule of propriety,
and perhaps another, in that she came in unveiled. She
was well known. Simon watched her as she silently
stood behind Jesus weeping in distress and bathing his
feet with her tears, wiped them with the hairs of her
head, and then kissed his feet, and anointed them with
precious ointment from an alabaster box. For a rabbi or
a prophet to suffer a woman thus to approach him, was
contrary to all Jewish tradition. Now, when Simon
saw all this he said within himself, ' ' This man, if he
were a prophet, would have known who and what man
ner of woman this is that touched him: for she is a sin
ner. ' ' Simon did not dare to speak out, but Jesus an
swering his thoughts said, ' ' Simon, I have somewhat to
say to thee." Respectfully answering, Simon said,
'-' Master, say on. ' ' Then Jesus spoke to him this para
ble: "There was a certain creditor, who had two debtors:
the one owed him five hundred pence and the other fifty.
And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave
them both. Tell me, therefore, which will love him
most ? ' ' Simon promptly answered ; " I suppose that he
to whom he forgave the most. ' ' Jesus said unto him,
' ' Thou hast rightly judged. ' ' And turning to the
woman, but addressing Simon, said: " Seest thou this
woman ? I entered into thy house ; thou gavest me no
water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with tears
and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou
gavest me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I
came, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with

(240)

CHRIST AND MARY MAGDALENE.

THE PRECIOUS OINTMENT. 241
oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman has anointed
my feet with ointment. Wherefore, I say unto you, her
sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much :
but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little. ' '
And he said to the penitent woman, ' ' Thy sins are for
given, thy faith hath saved thee: go in peace."
Doubtless the rich and proud Pharisees understood and
felt what Jesus -said, but they were still impenitent and
unforgiving. Once before in the synagogue in Capernaum
Jesus had been accused of blasphemy because he claimed
the right to forgive sin: but now they only say con
temptuously and aside, ' ' Who is this that forgiveth sin
also ? ' ' Jesus might have again answered that he not
only forgives sins but cures diseases also, which is easier
of the two.
After this, Jesus with the twelve, made what is known
as the "second circuit" in Galilee. " He went through
out every city and village, preaching and proclaiming the
glad tidings of the kingdom of God." Besides the
twelve, there were ' ' certain women, ' ' who had been
healed of evil spirits and infirmities — Mary, called Mag
dalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils, and who
very unjustly has been taken to be the same woman as
the sinner who kissed Jesus' feet; and Joanna, the wife
of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna and many
others. These pure and noble women ' ' ministered unto
him of their substance." We are told the names of only
three of the devoted women who thus early espoused the
cause of Christ. They afterwards became so numerous
and zealous that Saul, the persecutor, found that the
only hope he had of suppressing Christianity was by
subduing the Christian women as well as the men.
Mary Magdalene received her name from the town of
11

242 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Magdala, near Tiberias, where she lived ; Joanna was the
wife of the steward of Herod Antipas, whose palace was
at Tiberias, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Of Susanna nothing is known, except the name. Be
sides these ' ' among the many ' ' were, doubtless, Mary,
the mother of our Lord ; Mary, the mother of James and
Joses, and wife of Cleophas; and Salome, the wife of
Zebedee and mother of James and John.

TARES OF THE GOSPEL.

JESUS AND BEELZEBUB. 243

CHAPTER XLV.
JESUS AND BEELZEBUB.
Matt. xii. 22-50 ; Mark iii. J9-35 ; Luke viii. 19-21. — Probably Capernaum, a.d. 28.
JESUS had probably returned to Capernaum. Again
the multitude came together, and, following him
into "the house," so closely pressed him that he
and his disciples could not even ' ' eat bread. ' ' Then
they brought to him one blind and dumb and ' ' possessed
with a demon." Jesus cured him, casting out the de
mon, and causing the blind to see and the dumb to
speak. The people were astonished, and said, ' ' Is not
this the Son of David ? ' ' The Messiah was to be a de
scendant of David, and Isaiah had foretold that he should
open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the
deaf. When the scribes and Pharisees who had come down
from Jerusalem heard this they feared that they would
lose their hold upon the people, and their jealousy and
hatred were aroused. They could not deny that the
great threefold miracle had been done by superhuman
power, and they thought to counteract its effect upon the
people and destroy the influence of Jesus by ascribing his
power to the devil ; so they said, ' ' This fellow does not
cast out demons but by Beelzebub, the prince of de
mons." Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, was a Phoenician
deity, the god of filth, and hence the vilest and worst of
all heathen idols, who was supposed to inflict diseases on
mankind, and thus by pre-eminence in abominations de
noting the prince of demons. They meant to say that he

244 THE STORY OF JESUS.
was in league with Satan, but had he not repelled Satan
when he said, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God ? The
reply of Jesus, who knew their thoughts, was well adapted
to silence his enemies and put them to shame.
Calling them to him he said, Every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation ; and every city
and house divided against itself shall not stand. And if,
by the power of Satan, I cast out Satan, then he is fight
ing against himself. How shall his kingdom stand ?
The absurdity of Satan fighting against himself is ap
parent, but Jesus was not satisfied with simply showing
the absurdity of their charge. He went on to show them
that their charge against him was to be applied to them
selves. These very rabbis and their disciples, the exor
cists, pretended to cast out demons. They used spells
and magical formulae like the heathen. They laid stress
on their knowledge of the secret names of God and the
angels, and uttered ciphers that stood for these, and thus
set in motion the powers of heaven.
They had invented the science of the black art, or
magic, or sorcery. They pretended to have ' ' the power
to draw the moon from heaven, or to open the abysses of
earth." By " them miracles could be wrought — the sick
healed and demons put to flight." How different the
calm manner of Jesus, when working his mightiest mira
cles, from these jugglers ! It was simply by his word of
command that it was done. There was no mysterious
sign or word. It was to these pretended miracle-workers
that Jesus asked the confusing question : If I by Beelze
bub cast out demons, by whom do your children — or dis
ciples — cast them out? Therefore they shall be your
judges. For a time they were silenced. " If I cast out
demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God

JESUS AND BEELZEBUB. 245
has come to you." These works must be done either by
the power of God or of Satan. The works that I do in
casting out Satan and overthrowing his dominion show
that the kingdom of God has triumphed.
Then, with a new illustration, he confutes these Phari
sees. You cannot enter a strong man's home and destroy
his goods unless you first bind the strong man — I have
bound Satan. There are two and only two parties in the
universe — he that is not with me is against- me, and he
that gathereth not with me in the harvest field scattereth
abroad. Satan is opposed to me and I to him. Jesus
brings a very serious charge against them. They falsely
accuse him and now he truthfully accuses them. He
tells them of the unpardonable sin, of which they have
probably just been guilty — that of ascribing to the power
of the devil what had been done by the Spirit of God
working through Jesus. They might sin against the Son
of man, and scornfully call him a Nazarene, or a car
penter, and be forgiven ; but a ' ' wanton and blasphemous
attack on the divine power and nature of the Holy Spirit
could not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in that
which is to come. ' ' He who commits it ' ' hath never
forgiveness," but is guilty of "eternal sin," which from
its very nature can never be forgiven.
' ' Be consistent, ' ' adds Jesus ; "a tree is known by its
fruits. ' ' An evil tree cannot bear good fruit. A man in
league with Satan will not do the works of God. And
then he cries out to them : " O, generation of vipers !"
Infusing the deadly poison of your concealed malignity
into every good thing ; ,ryour hearts are corrupt, and yet
you deceive with pleasant words. A good man will bring
good things out of the treasure of his heart, and so an
evil man will bring evil things, and every idle, vain and

246 THE STORY OF JESUS.
wicked word must be accounted for in the day of judg
ment, when a man will be condemned or justified for the
words he has uttered as well as for the deeds he has done.
The scribes and Pharisees were not easily defeated.
They remind us again of the temptation in the wilder
ness, for they now desire him to show them a miracle,
undoubtedly from heaven, to prove his claim to be the
Messiah, and that his power is of God. " The masses,
and even their teachers, expected a repetition of all the
great deeds of Moses and Joshua, to inaugurate the
coming Messiah. The other claimants did not venture
to resist the demand. Under the procurator Fabius, a
certain Theudas drew out the people to the Jordan to see
Israel walk through, once more on dry ground. Under
Felix, a prophet promised to throw down the walls of
Jerusalem, as Joshua did those of Jericho, and gathered
thirty thousand men on the Mount of Olives to see them
fall. ... It might have been a temptation to one pos
sessing supernatural power, to silence all cavil by a
miracle of irresistible grandeur. But outward acknowl
edgment of his claim was of no worth in a kingdom like
that of Christ's, resting on love and homage to holiness."
He answered them, "An evil and adulterous genera
tion" — a people who, as the bride of God, had violated
their marriage contract with him, would seek a sign, and
' ' There shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the
prophet Jonah, for as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly : so shall the Son of man be
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
Jesus here predicts plainly his death and burial, and his
resurrection on the third day ; and this shall be the one
stupendous proof or sign that he will give them. But
they will uot believe even then. When Jonah was thrown

t*,:-~i>i

"ruins on the site of nineveh.

(247)

248 THE STORY OF JESUS.
ashore by the great fish, he went to Nineveh, where he
had been sent, and the people of that great and wicked
capital of the Assyrian Empire, on the banks of the Ti
gris, repented at his preaching, and God spared their
city for two hundred years. The men of Nineveh will
rise up and condemn you in the day of judgment be
cause a greater than Jonah is here, and his preaching of
the truths of God has been his best credential and sign,
and you have refused to repent and believe ; hence a far
greater punishment awaits you. Likewise the queen of
Sheba, a city of Arabia, who came a great distance from
the south to see the glory and hear the wisdom of Solo
mon, will rise up in judgment and condemn you, be
cause a greater than Solomon is here, for you to behold
his glory and hear his wisdom, and yet you have not
seen nor heeded.
Signs enough they had, — there was no need of a miracle
to make them believe. Their hearts were corrupt and un
der the influence and power of the evil spirit, which they
had accused him of possessing. Jesus describes their state
when he says, " When the unclean spirit is gone out of a
man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and
findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house,
whence I came out, and when he is come, findeth it
empty, swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh
with himself seven other spirits more wicked than him
self, and they enter in and dwell there : and the last
state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall
it be also unto this wicked generation. ' '
The friends and relatives of Jesus had heard of all his
works and teachings, and influenced by the scribes and
Pharisees, elders and rabbis hostile to him, they had
come to seek him. They either feared for his safety or

JESUS AND BEELZEBUB.

249

his sanity, and went "to lay hold on him." They came
while he was speaking, and could not get near him, or
even into the house where he was, for the crowd. But
they sent word for him to come out. When Jesus was
told that his mother and brothers had come, and were
without desiring to see him, he asked them all, ' ' Who
is my mother or my brethren ?' ' and looking upon them
that sat about him and stretching out his hand towards
his disciples, he tenderly said, ' ' Behold my mother and
my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of God,
the same is my brother and my sister and my mother."
The ties of earth must be severed, and the relations of
earth broken up, but those who are bound to Christ by
faith and by obedience to the commands of God shall
constitute with him the family of God in heaven forever.

mustard plant.

25O THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XLVI.
PARABLE OF THE SOWER.
Matt, xiii 1-53 ; Mark, iv. 1-34 ; Luke viii. 4-18.— Sea of Galilee, probably near
Capernaum, a.d. 28.
THE Lord seems to have passed through the crowd
that filled and surrounded the house where he
was, and to have sought the seaside, where he
entered a boat and pushed out a little from the shore
that he might the more readily speak to the gathering
multitude who stood on the shore. When he had sat
down in the boat, he spoke to them many things in par
ables. A parable " is a narrative taken from some fictitious
or real event in order to illustrate more clearly some truth
that the speaker wishes to communicate." Our Saviour
used parables to illustrate spiritual truth, and he took
them from the most common things of life and nature,
and hence they were understood. There was a literal
side to them and also a spiritual sense. He explains
some of them himself. Christ's "parables are distin
guished above all others for clearness, purity, chasteness,
intelligibility, importance of instruction and simplicity."
By them he explains himself, his doctrines, life, design
in coming, and the claims and nature of his kingdom,
the sins and perils of the Jewish people, and the hopes
and destinies of the human race.
Upon this occasion Jesus delivered the parable of the
sower. Some have supposed that the parable was sug
gested by a busy husbandman on some neighboring hill,
within sight of the people, who was engaged in sowing

PARABLE OF THE SOWER.

25i

the prepared ground with seed, in hope of a coming
harvest. ' ' A sower went forth to sow ; some seeds fell
by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them ;
some fell upon stony places where they had not much
earth, and forthwith they sprung up, because they had
no deepness of earth ; and when the sun was up they
were scorched ; and because they had no root they with
ered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns
sprung up and choked them ; but others fell into good
ground, and brought forth fruit — some a hundred-fold,
some sixty-fold and some thirty-fold. Who hath ears to
hear let him hear." These last words were a proverbial
expression, indicating the duty of giving heed to in
struction. The disciples ask
ed him the reason
for speaking to the
people in parables.
Jesus answered that
he so spoke because
it was for the disci
ples only to under
stand some of the
truths concerning his
kingdom. Besides,
Jesus says : " I speak
to them in parables, ' '
because that pro
phecy of Isaiah finds fitting application to their case,
which says : By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand ; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not per
ceive ; for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their
ears- are dull of hearing, and their eyes they- have closed,

THE SOWER.

252 THE STORY OF JESUS.
lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear
with their ears and should understand with their heart,
and should be converted, and I should heal them."
They could have understood him but they would not, and
to the spiritual meaning of the parable they gave no
heed, and indeed this was the result expected by our
Saviour. To open their eyes at once would have been
to end his own career, and leave his work of instructing
his disciples unfinished. These disciples he called blessed,
because many prophets and righteous men had desired
to see and hear what it was their privilege to see and to
hear, but had died without it. They lived in a highly
favored age because they were permitted to see the Mes
siah and to hear his instructions.
The disciples wanted Jesus to explain to them the
parable of the sower, which he proceeded to do. The
seed is the word of God. The sower is the preacher of
the word. When one hears the word of God and under
stands it not then the, devil comes and takes away what
is sown in the human heart ; this is he that receives seed
by the wayside, or on a heart hard like the foot-beaten
bridle-path across the plowed field. They who receive
the seed into stony places, where the great underlying
rocks are near the surface, and the soil is unable to
sustain vegetation, are those who hear the word with
joy and for a while obey it ; but since the earth is not
deep they take little root, hindered by the hard rock,
and when tribulation and persecution arise on account
of the word, they have not strength and principle
enough to carry them through ; and so they are with
ered and destroyed by the scorching sun of adversity.
He that receives seed among thorns is he who hears
the word ; aad the cares of this life and the pursuit

PARABLE OF THE SOWER. 253
of deceitful riches, and the "lust of other things"
take the attention and time of the soul to the neglect
of the word which becomes unfruitful from neglect.
He that receiveth seed into good ground is he who,
like all others, hears the word, but unlike the rest,
he understands and keeps it and nourishes it faithfully
in a heart divinely prepared for its reception. The re
sult is that the word is fruitful, some seeds bring forth
a hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, and some thirty-fold.
In such a heart the gospel takes deep root, and, un
encumbered by cares and unchecked by worldly pursuits,
it grows to perfection, endures to the end, and yields
its blessed fruit for the sower and the reaper. All may
not have the power to bring forth the same quantity,
but all can bear the right kind of fruit.
Jesus, continuing his instruction, says: "Is a lamp
brought to be put under a bushel, or under a couch ?
and not to be set on a lamp stand?" Its design is to
give light, and so my preaching by parables is not meant
to obscure the truth, but to explain it. All secret things
shall yet be made manifest. If any man have ears to
hear, let him hear, and let him take heed to what he
hears. The measure of his blessing shall be in propor
tion to his faithfulness in the practice of the truth. He
that does not improve under the word shall be deprived
of future blessing.
The Lord on this same occasion relates to them the
parable of the tares,. The gospel resembles, he says, a
man who sowed good seed in his field, and at night while
men slept, a revengeful enemy came and scattered tares
or darnel seed — a valueless kind of weed — all over the
newly-plowed field, and then went his way, unseen as
he had come. But when the blade came up and the

254

THE STORY OF JESUS.

grain appeared then the tares were discovered. The
servants told the householder, who suspected the cause,
and asked whether they should pluck out the tares from
among the wheat. But he answered, No: for fear of
rooting up the wheat too, but to let them grow till ripe
for harvest, and then the tares could be separated by the
reapers from the wheat, and be burned and the wheat be
gathered into his barn. When the multitude had been
sent away and Jesus had returned home and was quietly
seated in the house, he explains this parable to his dis
ciples at their request. He that sowed the good seed of
the word is the Son of man ; the field is the world ; the
good seed are the children of the kingdom ; the tares are
the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed
them is the devil ; the harvest is the end of the world ;
the reapers are the
angels. ' 'As there
fore the tares are
gathered and burn
ed in the fire, so
shall it be in the
end of this world.
The Son of man
shall send forth his
angels, and shall
gather out of his
kingdom all things
-that offend, and
them which do ini
quity ; and shall
cast them into a
furnace of fire ;
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then--

SIR, DIDST THOU NOT SOW GOOD SEED ?

PARABLE OF THE SOWER.

255

shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom
of their Father."
Several other parables were spoken by Jesus as he sat
in the boat before he dismissed the people. He likened
the kingdom of God, or the gospel in the soul, to those
who, sowing the seed in the ground, would leave it there
to grow in its own time without knowing even how it
grew ; the earth itself bringeth forth fruit of itself ;
' ' First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn
in the ear," but when the fruit is brought forth, imme
diately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is
come. He also likened the hidden or secret nature of
the gospel in the heart to a grain of mustard seed ; least
of all seeds, but when sown in the earth produces in that
eastern climate a tree, affording a safe place of shelter
in its foliage, to the birds of the air. It was thus that
our Saviour illustrated the nature of faith in the progress
of the church in the earth. In another parable he likens
the growing or permeating nature of the gospel to the
small quantity of leaven which a woman puts into three
measures of meal, which spreads throughout and lightens
all the meal . ' ' And with many such parables spake he
the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But
without a parable spake he not unto them ; that it might
be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I
will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things
which have been kept secret from the foundation of the
world." ' ' When he was alone he expounded all things to his
disciples. ' ' To them when alone he likened the gospel
dispensation he came to inaugurate, to treasure hid in a
field, which, when a man has found, he sells all he has
and with the money buys the field ; to a merchantman

256

THE STORY OF JESUS.

seeking pearls, who, when he found one of great price,
went and sold all he had and bought it ; to a net cast into
the sea, which gathered into it every kind, and which
when full was drawn ashore and the good fish preserved
in vessels and the bad ones thrown away. ' ' So, ' ' says
he, ' ' shall it be in the end of the world ; the angels shall
come forth and sever the wicked from among the just,
and cast them into a furnace of fire ; there shall be wail
ing and gnashing of teeth. ' ' Then Jesus asked his dis
ciples if they understood these things, and they answered,
Yes. Finally, he said that every scribe or learner instructed
in the things pertaining to the kingdom of heaven is like
a householder who brings out of his treasure things new
and old. "And it came to pass that when Jesus had
finished these parables he departed thence. ' '

BIND THEM IN BUNDLES.

THE TEMPEST STILLED.

257

CHAPTER XLVII.
THE TEMPEST STILLED.
Matt. viii. 18-23 ; Mark iv. 35-41 ; Luke viii. 22-25. — Sea of Galilee, a.d. 28.
AFTER the events just recorded, Jesus, weary by
fasting and labor, owing to the exacting demands
of the great multitudes that crowded around and
followed him, and part of whom probably were in sym
pathy with the persecuting scribes and Pharisees, sought
rest with his disciples in retirement beyond the sea of
Galilee. In the evening of the same day he said to
them, ' ' Let us pass over to the other side of the lake. ' '
Finally the disciples succeeded in sending away the
multitude, and then took him, "even as he was," with
the boat into which they followed him. Yet he could
not wholly escape from the people, for some also took
to the little boats and followed him.
"Jesus," says Farrar, "yearned for the quiet and deserted
loneliness of the eastern shore. The western shore also is lonely
now, and the traveler will meet no human being but a few care
worn Fellahin, or a Jew from Tiberias, or some Arab fisherman,
or armed and mounted Sheykh of some tribe of Bedawin, but the
eastern shore is loneliness itself ; not a tree, or a village, not a
human being, not a single habitation is visible ; nothing but the
low range of hills, scarred with rocky fissures and sweeping down
to a narrow and barren strip which forms the margin of the lake.
In our Lord's time the contrast of this thinly-inhabited region
with the busy and populous towns that lay close together in the
plain of Gennesareth must have been very striking ; and though
the scattered population of Perea was partly Gentile, we shall
find him not unfrequently seeking to recover the tone and calm

258 THE STORY OF JESUS.
of his burdened soul by putting those six miles of water between
himself and the crowds that he taught."
While they were crossing the lake a great tempest
suddenly arose ; as Luke says, ' ' There came down a
great storm of wind upon the lake." The waves ran
hisrh and beat into the boat and covered it so that it was
now full of water and they were in jeopardy. "The ex
pressions used by the evangelists imply the extreme vio
lence of the storm. The heated tropical air of the sea
of Galilee, six hundred feet beneath the level of the
Mediterranean, is suddenly filled by the cold winds
sweeping down the snowy ranges of Lebanon and Her
mon through the ravines of the Perean hills."
A traveler thus describes the sea of Galilee in a
storm :
" The whole lake was lashed into fury ; the waves repeatedly
rolled on to our tent-door, tumbling over the ropes with such vio
lence as to carry away the tent-pins. And, moreover, these
winds are not only violent, but they come down suddenly, and
often when the sky is perfectly clear. Some such sudden wind it
was, I suppose, that filled the ship with waves ' so that it was
now full ? ' Small as the lake is, and placid, in general, as a
molten mirror, I have repeatedly seen it quiver and leap and boil
like a cauldron, when driven by the fierce winds from the eastern
mountains, and the waves ran high — high enough to fill or cover
the ships, as Matthew has it. In the midst of such a squall
calmly slept the Son of God, in the hinder part of the ship, until
awakened by the terrified disciples."
When Jesus entered the boat he doubtless lay down in
the stern with his head upon the leather pillow of the
steersman to gain some needed rest. The storm had
raged till the disciples, now fully aroused to a sense of
their danger, awakened the Master with the cry of dis
tress, " Carest thou not that we perish?" "Lord, save

THE TEMPEST STILLED. 259
us, we perish J " He carmly arose and rebuked the
winds and said to the sea, " Peace, be still ; " and there
was a great calm. "Jesus lying this moment under the
weakness of exhausted strength, and rising the next in
the might of manifested omnipotence : in close prox
imity, in quick succession, the humanity and the divin
ity that were in him exhibited themselves. . . . Sleep
ing or waking, let Christ be in the vessel, and it is safe."
Turning to the disciples, whose fear of the storm was
now turned into astonishment and confusion of face be
fore him, he said to them, ' ' Why are ye so fearful, how
is it that ye have no faith ? ' ' But speechless and over
awed they could but say to one another, ' ' What man
ner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey
him?" Canon Farrar says :.
' ' This is a stupendous miracle, one of those which test
whether we indeed believe in the credibility of the miraculous or
not ; one of those miracles of power which cannot, like many of
the miracles of healing, be explained away by existing laws.
If we believe that God rules ; if we believe that Christ
rose ; if we have reason to hold among the deepest convictions
of our being the certainty that God has not delegated his sover-
eighty or his providence to the final, unintelligent pitiless, inev
itable working of natural forces ; if we see on every page of the
evangelists the quiet simplicity of truthful and faithful wit
nesses ; if we see in every year of succeeding history, and in
every experience of individual life, a confirmation of that testi
mony which they delivered — then we shall neither clutch at
rationalistic interpretations, nor be much troubled if others
adopt them. He who believes, he who knows the efficacy of
prayer, in what other men may regard as the inevitable certain
ties or blindly directed accidents of life ; he who has felt how the
voice of the Saviour, heard across the long generations, can calm
wilder storms than ever buffeted into fury the bosom of the in
land lake ; he who sees in the person of his Redeemer a fact

26o

THE STORY OF JESUS.

more stupendous and more majestic than all those sequences
which men endow with imaginary omnipotence, and worship
under the name of law — to him, at least, there will be neither
difficulty nor hesitation in supposing that Christ on board that
half-wrecked fishing-boat did utter his mandate, and that the
wind and the sea obeyed ; and that his word was indeed more
potent among the cosmic forces than miles of agitated water or
leagues of rushing air."

STREET called straight.

THE DEMONIAC OF GADARA. 261

CHAPTER XLVIII.
THE DEMONIAC OF GADARA.
Matt. viii. '28— ix. 1 ; Mark v. -21 ; Luke viii. 26-40.— Probably at Gersa, east
coast of the Sea of Galilee, a.d. 28.
DRIVEN by the wind across the water the boat was
now in the southern part of the lake, opposite
Tiberias. Here they landed, in what Matthew
calls "the country of the Gergesenes," and Mark and
Luke "the country of the Gadarenes." Gadara and
Gergesa were cities on or near the southeastern shore of
the sea of Galilee, and Jesus comes into the vicinity of
both of them. Hence Matthew mentions the one and
Mark and Luke the other. The whole country was
called Perea.
Gadara was situated near the sea, and was one of the
ten cities that were called collectively Decapolis, which
was another name given to that country. Gergesa was
about twelve miles southeast of Gadara, and about twenty
miles east of the Jordan, where it flows from the sea of
Galilee. " Directly opposite Tiberias there is a large valley, through
which flows a copious stream of water. After leaving the hills
and before reaching the lake, it crosses a plain of considerable
breadth, on which, just south of the stream, and stretching from
the lake back for some distance towards the hills, are ruins called
Kersa, or Gersa. ... In this Gersa or Kersa we have a position,
which fulfills every requirement of the narratives, and with a
name so near that in Matthew as to make in itself a strong cor
roboration of the truth of this identification. It is within a few
rods of the shore, and an immense mountain rises directly above

262 THE STORY OF JESUS.
it, in which are ancient tombs, out of some of which the two
men possessed of devils may have issued to meet Jesus. The
lake is so near the base of the mountain that the swine, rushing
madly down, could not stop, but would be hurried on into the
water and drowned. ' '
' ' Gadara was a famous fortified city, on the east of the Jordan, on
the steep edge of the valley of Jarmuk. It was one of the cities
of the Decapolis, — league of ten cities, — and it was about eight
miles southeast from Tiberias, across the lake. It was reckoned
the capital of Perea, and had coins of its own. The great roads
from Tiberias to Scythopolis passed through it to the interior of
Perea and to Damascus."
Geikie says:
"The boat had been driven to the southern end of the lake,
and Christ consequently landed in the territory of the city of
Gadara, a half heathen town on the table land, 1200 feet above
the shore, and at some distance from it. It was then in its glory,
and lay round the top of the hill, looking far over the country.
Long avenues of marble pillars lined the street; fine buildings of
square stone abounded. Two great amphitheatres of black basalt
adorned the west and north sides, and there was a third theatre
near its splendid public baths. It was the proud home of a great
trading community, to whom life was bright and warm, when
Jesus landed that morning, on the shore beneath, and looked up
towards its walls."
In the hillsides in the vicinity are many caves used by
the people as burying-places, and "the roadside is strewn
with a number of sarcophagi of basalt, sculptured with
low relief of genii, garlands, wreaths of flowers and
human faces, in good preservation, though long emptied
of their dead."
The first object that met our Saviour as he landed
were two mad men coming out of the tombs in the'hills,
who were possessed with demons. There were two, but
the account mainly directs our attention to one of them.
Jesus "was met by anNexhibition of human fury, of

THE DEMONIAC OF GADARA. 263
madness and degradation, even more terrible and start
ling than the rage of the troubled sea;" and as he
had calmed the sea, he was soon to calm this troubled
soul. Here again is renewed the conflict between Christ
and Satan. ' ' Was it for the purpose of teaching us
more manifestly that Jesus came to destroy the works of
the devil, that in that age of his appearance, demons
were permitted to exercise such strange dominion over
men?" This maniac was very violent — "exceeding
fierce " — a terror to the whole neighborhood, "so that
no one dared to pass by that way. ' ' Efforts had been
made to check him, and he had been bound and fettered;
but with superhuman strength he had broken his fetters
and twisted off the chains that bound him. Fleeing
naked from home and city, he had taken up his habita
tion among the ghastly dead and dwelt in the polluted
tombs. In our day the power of Christ in his people has led
them to build homes and hospitals in which the insane
and afflicted may be well cared for, but in ancient times
it was not so. This poor man, and others like him,
were permitted to wander about, a menace to them
selves and others. Unbound and untamed, shrieking
and cutting himself with stones, day and night this
poor demoniac had no rest. When our Saviour and
his disciples landed, this man approached them run
ning, with fierce and terrifying cries, but, strange to
say, instead of attacking them, he prostrated himself
before the Lord and worshiped him, saying : ' ' What
have I to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of the most
high God ; I adjure thee by God torment me not."
"Art thou come hither to torment us before our time?"
For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come

264 THE STORY OF JESUS.
out of the man. It is remarkable that persons pos
sessed with demons recognized Jesus as the ^Son of
God and the Messiah. All such seem to agree that
Jesus is the Christ. They must have known him by
preternatural power.
Jesus was recognized at first sight by Anna the proph
etess and the aged Simeon, but both were guided by
preternatural agency. "What is thy name?" Jesus
asked the demoniac. He answered, "My name is
legion, for we are many." That is because he was
possessed with many demons.
These demons besought Jesus not to send them away
out of the country nor ' ' cast them out into the deep ' '
— that is, into the dark abyss of woe prepared for de
mons. There was on the mountain-side, a good way off,
a great herd of two thousand swine feeding, and the de
mons asked to be permitted to go into the herd of swine,
if he cast them out. Jesus gave them leave, and they
went out of the man and entered into the swine, and
' ' behold, the whole herd ran violently down a steep
place into the sea, and perished in the waters. ' ' There
is one other instance in our Lord's life when he destroyed
property — when he blighted the barren fig-tree. But it
is to be remembered that he is the creator and owner
and law-giver, and that it was against his law that swine
were kept in that land. There were, no doubt, many
heathen in Perea who used the swine for sacrifice and for
food, but we may rely upon it that Jesus did only what
was right. Has not many a man been cured of some"
less malady at greater cost ? But it was the demons that
did all the injury to man and beast. Swine were a type
of uncleanness, and they were the fitting place for the
unclean spirits debarred from men. Bent on destruction,

THE DEMONIAC OF GADARA.

265

these demons could drive the frenzied swine into the sea,
and so prejudice the people against Jesus and hinder his
work. The swine-herds, who kept and fed the swine, fled in
terror, and told in the city and in the country what had
befallen the possessed of the demons, and what had be
come of the swine. And the ' ' whole city ' ' came out to
meet Jesus and see for themselves what had been done.
And when they came and found the man, out of whom
had been cast a legion of demons, sitting at the feet of
Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind, they were afraid.
They that saw it told the people how it was all brought
about, and also concerning the swine. Here we meet
with a most remarkable incident. When they heard
what had been done to the swine they prayed him to de
part out of their country. In this request the whole
multitude of people were unanimous. "They were
taken with great fear. " If this great prophet remains he
might cure more and bless them all, but they fear his
presence may cause them too great expense and loss.
Jesus had come across the lake to find rest. He had
but touched — and touched to bless and save — the oppo
site shore from Capernaum, when he is requested to
leave and begin his weary travels again. Without one
word of reproach, or one sign of anger, he "went up
into the ship and returned." But before the boat
could leave the shore the man out of whom he had
cast the demons begged that he might go with him,
and be with him. Reasonable as this request seems,
Jesus did not grant it. Others he had commanded to
leave all and follow him, but this man he sent away,
saying, "Return to thine own house and show how
great things God hath done unto thee." Driven from
12

266

THE STORY OF JESUS.

this needy people, the Lord remembered them in
mercy and sent this messenger, the living monument
of his power and love, to go among the people who
had rejected his Master and tell them what God had
done for him. And he departed and published in the
whole city, and in Decapolis, how great things Jesus
had done for him. When Jesus returned to the other
side, at Capernaum, he found great numbers gathered
who received him gladly.

-

O.UARENTANIA.

THE TWELVE SENT FORTH.

267

CHAPTER XLIX.
THE TWELVE SENT FORTH.
Matt. ix. 35-38, x. 1-42, xi. 1, xiii. 54-58 ; Mark vi. 1-13 ; Luke ix. 1-6. — From
Nazareth through Galilee, a.d. 28 and 29.
^V FTER the events recorded in the last chapter,
¦*¦ -*- Jesus, accompanied by his disciples, went on his
third general circuit of Galilee. First he came
to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He went
into the synagogue and taught on the Sabbath day ; and
again was rejected by the people of that city. His
former townsmen were astonished when they heard him,
and said, Where did this man get his wisdom and his
power to do his mighty work ? Is not this the carpenter,
the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses, Simon and
Juda, and are not his sisters with us ? But his towns
men were offended with him. He was not such a Mes
siah as they looked for; they thought only of some great
warrior who would establish a temporal kingdom. But
Jesus taught humility, self-denial and contempt for
earthly glory. ' ' What ! Shall we receive as Messiah
one fitted to wield a saw or hatchet rather than a sceptre?
Can such a one be the fit person to step into the throne
of David, to redeem Israel and to cope with the Roman
power?" "They were offended in him." But Jesus
replied, ' ' A prophet is not without honor save in his
own country, and in his own house."
"And he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and
healed them, but he did no mighty work there because
of their unbelief, at which he greatly marveled." From
this we are to learn that miracles are not to convince the

268 THE STORY OF JESUS.
wilful sceptic of his divine authority. If this were so
he would have done more and not less. They are a seal
of his divine authority to those who are morally and
spiritually ready to receive the truth, but need for it some
external sanction.
' ' Leaving Nazareth he went about all Galilee. ' ' As
Home says, ' ' He either teaches, or comforts, or raises
the dead, or heals, or feeds, or delivers, or departs into a
mountain to pray, and all for us." He went round
about among the villages, and taught in the synagogues,
and preached the gospel of the kingdom, healing every
sickness and every disease among the people. His sym
pathy is evinced in these feeling words, "But when he
saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on
them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as
sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he to his dis
ciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are
few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he
may send forth more laborers into his harvest. ' ' Jesus
was a great missionary, and hence all his followers
must be missionaries, and his church a missionary
church. It was at this time that Jesus instructed his disciples
and sent them forth, two by two, as laborers in his har
vest-field. He also endowed them with miraculous
power that they might preach the gospel and confirm the
word with signs. They went forth under his guidance,
and to him they are to return and report. He who ex-
' ercised these powers himself now gave them power over
unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all manner
of sickness and all manner of diseases, and even to raise
the dead. They were commanded not to go to the Gen
tiles, nor into the city of the Samaritans, but to those

THE TWEL VE SENT FORTH.

269

who are the lost sheep of the house of Israel, that is, the
Jews ; for the reason that the time had not yet come
for them to go to alf nations. "As ye go, preach, say
ing, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ' ' That is, the
time has come for the establishment of the heavenly
kingdom throughout the earth.
They were to bestow the blessings of Christ upon
others as freely as he had given these blessings to them.
They were to make no provision for their journey, but
to live by the gospel, because they were laborers in
God's vineyard, and the laborer is worthy of his hire.
Therefore they were to take no money in their purses,
neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, — money being made
from all these metals. They were not to carry even a
scrip, which was a kind of knapsack to carry provisions
in. They were not to take two coats nor shoes nor
staves, but to go expecting to be cared for by the people
for whom they preached. They were to inquire who
was worthy, reputable and likely to treat them well in
every town to which they came, and constantly to make
their home with such while in that town. In entering
a house they were to accord to the family all the cus
tomary civilities, and not to demand as a right what was
accorded by favor and courtesy. If you find that family
worthy, then let your blessing of peace be pronounced
upon it. But if the family be unworthy, despising your
message and rejecting you, then withhold the blessing
intended for the hospitable. If a city or a house shall
refuse to receive them or to hear their words, they were,
when they departed, "to shake off the dust of their
feet." The Jewish teaching was that the dust of the
Gentiles was impure and was to be shaken off; therefore
this act was equivalent to treating those who rejected

270 THE STORY OP JESUS.
them as impure and therefore Gentiles. Truly I say
unto you, said Jesus, ' ' It shall be more tolerable for the
people of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment,
than for that city. ' '
He tells them that he sends them forth as sheep among
wolves, in an unfriendly world ; that they must be on
their guard against evil disposed men who would deliver
them to councils and scourge them in their synagogues ;
that they would be brought like criminals before gover
nors and kings, for his sake whose they were, to bear
testimony to the great facts of the gospel before them
and the Gentiles, and that they should be witnesses
against them in the day of judgment. They need not
be anxious about what they shall say, because it will be
revealed to them by the Spirit of God what to speak.
Brother shall deliver up brother to death, so bitter will
be Jew and Gentile opposition to those who embrace the
gospel. His disciples will be hated by all worldly men
for his sake, but he that is faithful and endures to the
end shall be saved. When persecuted in one city they
shall flee to another ; and before they shall have gone
over all the cities of Israel, preaching the gospel, the Son
of man will come in the destruction of Jerusalem and the
end of the Jewish economy. They, as servants and dis
ciples, could expect no better treatment than he their
Master, whom they had called Beelzebub. They need
not fear them, however. What is secret shall be
revealed, and what he had taught them privately they
were to proclaim publicly. They were not to fear even
those who would kill the body, for they could not kill
the soul, but rather to fear him and obey him who was
able to punish both soul and body eternally in hell.
They were of more value than the sparrows that were

THE TWELVE SENT FORTH.

271

killed and sold, not one of which fell to the ground
without God's permission.
He assures us that the very hairs of our head are all
numbered and cared for by God ; that whosoever shall
acknowledge the Lord Jesus before men shall be ac
knowledged by him before his heavenly Father, but who
soever will not confess, but deny Jesus before men, will
be rejected and disowned before God ; that he came not
to send ' ' peace on earth ' ' between the wicked and the
just, between Satan and God, between sin and righteous
ness, but a sword of persecution in the hands of the
wicked to smite the righteous ; and that the foes of the
peaceful Christian will be found sometimes in the un
godly members of his own household. He who will love
father, mother, son or daughter, more than Christ is
not worthy of him, and he that will not take up his
cross and follow him can not be his disciple. The dis
ciple who will lose his life for him shall find eternal life.
He who receives them as his disciples receives him, for
to receive his prophets as such is to receive a prophet's
reward, and to receive a righteous man because he is
righteous is to receive a righteous man's reward. He
who gives even a cup of cold water to one of the least of
his disciples for Christ's sake shall receive the blessing
of heaven.
The history of the planting of the Christian Church
by the apostles shows clearly that the Master in these
instructions has in view, not only the tour upon which
he is here and now sending his disciples, but also the
larger work on which they are to enter after his ascen
sion. It will be seen that a part of his address refers es
pecially to the greater work of their lives, of which this
was but preparatory. These humble and illiterate fisher-

272 THE STORY OF JESUS.
men were destined to fulfil these words of prophecy and
to stand before kings and speak the truth — God speaking
in them. All these things were finally fulfilled after
Jesus left them. ' ' Peter is said to have been brought
before Nero, John before Domitian, Roman Emperors;
and others before Parthian, Scythian and Indian Kings. ' '
It seems almost beyond belief that Christianity should so
stir up the evil nature in human beings as to make men
persecute to death their nearest relatives, simply because
they had forsaken heathenism or Judaism to become
Christians, and yet this was too true, as the many un
doubted examples of history prove.
' ' Nothing else but this dreadful opposition to God and his
gospel ever has induced, or ever can induce men to violate the
most tender relations, and consign their best friends to torture,
racks and flames. It adds to the horrors of this that those
who were put to death in persecution were tormented in the most
awful modes that human ingenuity could devise. They were
crucified; were thrown into boiling oil; were burnt at the stake;
were roasted slowly over coals; were compelled to drink melted
lead; were torn in pieces by beasts of prey; were covered with
pitch and set on fire to give light in the gardens of Nero. Yet
dreadful as this prediction was, it was fulfilled; and incredible
as it seems, parents and children and husbands and wives were
found wicked enough to deliver up each other to these cruel
modes of death on account of their attachment to the gospel.
Such is the opposition of the heart of man to the gospel."
' ' And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of
commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to
preach and to teach in their cities."

THE BAPTIST BEHEADED. 273

CHAPTER L.
THE BAPTIST BEHEADED.
Matt. xiv. 1-12; Mark vi. 14-29; Luke ix. 7-9. — Probably Galilee, and Machaerus
in Perea, a.d. 29.
T T had been some time since Herod the tetrarch had
-¦- imprisoned the Baptist. Jesus had taken up the
work and proclaimed the word and was now proba
bly in Galilee. Herod heard of the miracles of Jesus —
the healing of the lepers, the restoring of sight to the
blind, the raising from the dead of the son of the widow
of Nain and the curing of the demoniacs at Gadara ;
and, filled with all the dread of a guilty conscience, he
thought it must be John the Baptist, whom he had be
headed, who had risen from the dead.
Herod Antipas, to whom had fallen the tetrarchy of
Galilee upon the death of his father, Herod the Great,
was cruel, crafty, weak and selfish, and a slave to
passion. The- place of John's imprisonment was
Machaerus, the fortress-palace of Herod, situated among
the wild and rocky fastnesses of Perea beyond the Jordan,
at the southern extremity of the king's dominion. This
prison-palace stood high on one of the hills of Mount
Nebo and overlooked the Dead Sea and the Jordan
valley. It was inaccessible except on the one side where
it was approached by a narrow path. On all other sides
were steep precipices to the valley far below. It looked
down on a picture of wild desolation that reigned
around ; and except in the town at the foot of the hill,
no life or activity was to be found. The ruins of
12*

274 THE STORY OF JESUS.
the fortress still remain. In one of the dark dungeons
of its four-cornered towers John was doubtless im
prisoned. It was customary for the Herodian kings and princes
to visit Rome often, to pay court on some gala day to
the Roman emperor, to whom they were indebted for
their power and dominion. Herod Antipas on one of
these occasions was the guest of his brother, Herod
Philip. This was not the tetrarch of that name. Here
he fell under the seductive power of his brother Philip's
wife, Herodias, who was ambitious to have for a hus
band a king. She was of the Herod family herself.
The Herods never stopped for any sin or crime when
they had an object to accomplish ; and hence unlawful
marriages among themselves were common. Antipas
was married to the daughter of Aretas, Emir of Arabia,
but he promised to give up his wife and marry Herodias,
who left her husband for ' him. His lawful wife was
sent first to Machaerus and then to her father, who
made war upon Herod and punished him by defeat for
his treachery. Herod was cowardly as well as wicked.
It seems that when the wicked pair had come to the
luxurious palace of Machaerus to hold their court, the
rigors of John's imprisonment were relaxed, and he was
permitted to have his disciples and friends visit him.
Herod also called for him and heard him preach, and
did many things that John commanded him to do. On
some such occasion no doubt it was that John said to
Herod, concerning his adulterous marriage with Hero
dias, " It is unlawful for thee to have her. ' ' But Herod
had no thought of obeying John in this, and the fidelity
of the preacher only incensed Herodias, who thirsted for
his blood. She would have killed him, but could not.

THE BAPTIST BEHEADED.

275

Herod would have put him to death, but feared the peo
ple, because they counted John a prophet. However, a
day convenient for carrying out the deadly purpose of
Herodias came at last.
The occasion was the birthday of Herod, who ' ' made
a supper to his lords, high captains and the chief estates
of Galilee. ' ' It was customary, on such occasions, to
have girls to dance before the company — the sexes did
not dance together. Dancing was done by masked
women. The dance-ballet was combined with a kind of
pantomime show by which some story was told by ges
tures, without the utterance of a word. " But Herodias
had craftily provided for the king an unexpected and ex
citing pleasure — a spectacle which would be sure to en
rapture such guests as his. Dancers and dancing-women
were at that time in great request. The passion for wit
nessing these, too often indecent and degrading represen
tations, had naturally made its way into the Sadducean
and semi-pagan court of these usurping Edomites, and
Herod the Great had built in his palace a theatre for the
Thymelici. A luxurious feast of the period was not re
garded as complete unless it closed with some gross pan
tomimic representation ; and doubtless Herod had
adopted the evil fashion of the day, but he had not anti
cipated for his guests the^rare luxury of seeing a princess
— his own niece, a grand-daughter of Herod the Great
and of Mariamme ; a descendant, therefore, of Simon
the high priest, and the great line of Machabean prin
cesses, a princess who afterward became the wife of a
tetrarch and the mother of a king — honoring them by
degrading herself as a scenic dancer." The dancing of
Salome, daughter of Herodias, pleased Herod and the
half-intoxicated revellers. In his excitement Herod

276 THE STORY OF JESUS.
promised her anything she should ask, even to the half
of his kingdom, which was not his to give.
' ' The girl flew to her mother and said, ' What shall I
ask ? ' It was exactly what Herodias expected, and she
might have asked for robes or jewels, or palaces, or what
ever such a woman loves ; but to a mind like hers, re
venge was sweeter than wealth or pride, and we may im
agine with what fierce malice she hisses the unhesitating
answer, 'The head of John the Baptizer,' and, coming
out before the king immediately with haste (what a touch
of nature is that ! and how apt a pupil did the wicked
mother find in her wicked daughter !), Salome exclaimed,
' My wish is that you give me here, immediately, on a
dish, the head of John the Baptist' "
Herod now saw how rash had been his vow, for in
this he had before resisted Herodias, but instead of re
penting of his wicked promise, he wickedly keeps it, for
he fears the scorn of his guests more than the displeasure
of God. At once the executioner is dispatched on his
cruel errand, and there, in his dark dungeon, without
warning of any kind, the great prophet is slain, and his
bleeding head, severed from his body, is brought upon a
golden dish and placed in the hands of the dancer, who
hastens with it to her guilty mother.
Tradition says that the head was cast over the walls and
down into the valley below to become the food of vul
tures, but the body was borne sorrowfully away by John's
disciples, who buried his remains and then ' ' went and
told Jesus." All the principals in this bloody work met
with punishment, even in this life. Herod and Herodias
died in exile and disgrace, while it is said that Salome
died a horrible and early death,

THE LOAVES AND THE FISHES. 2Jj

CHAPTER LI.
THE LOAVES AND THE FISHES.
Matt. xiv. 13-21 ; Mark vi. 30-44 ; Luke ix. 10-17 ; John vi. 1-14 ; — Northeastern
Coast of the Lake, near Bethsaida, a.d. 29.
THE disciples, after the missionary tour of Galilee, met
their Lord again at Capernaum, and told him all
they had done and said. It was while the twelve
disciples were absent on their preaching tour that Herod
Antipas beheaded John the Baptist in the castle of
Machaerus. The intelligence of the cruel death of John
was brought to Jesus by the returning twelve as well as
by the grief-stricken disciples of the Baptist.
' ' Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest
awhile, ' ' Jesus said to the twelve. They were then pro
bably near Capernaum, and the people out of the populous
cities on the western shore of the sea of Galilee, and the
many pilgrims on their way to the Passover, were crowd
ing around him. Feeling the need of rest from labor, and
desiring solitude on account of his grief for John, he and
his disciples embarked in a little boat and crossed the lake
to the neighborhood of Bethsaida, on the northeastern
shore, called also Julias, to distinguish it from Bethsaida,
on the western shore of the lake. To the narrow, grassy
plain, Butaiha, sloping from the surrounding hills to the
water's edge, the little company went, but the people,
having marked his destination, and greatly excited by
his wonderful works, follow him by land around the
head of the lake.
Running afoot, many of them reached there before

278 THE STORY OF JESUS.
he did, and when the boat came to land, the people,
filling the plain, were waiting his arrival. Jesus had
gone away to rest, but when he beheld the multitude he
had compassion on them, for they were as sheep having
no shepherd. He healed their sick, and probably from
the hillside preached to them the gospel of the kingdom.
Thus nearly the whole day was spent ; the time of the
noonday meal was far passed, and the sun was on its
way down behind the hills, and they were in a desert
place. The disciples besought Jesus to send the multi
tude away, that they might find food and shelter in the
neighboring village. While the Master was supplying
the needs of the soul, they were thinking of the wants of
the body. The reply of Jesus must have awakened the
astonishment of his followers : ' ' They need not depart ;
give ye them to eat." Thus he tries their faith.
' ' Whence can we buy bread that these may eat ? ' '
Philip declares that two hundred penny-worth would
not be enough ; in other words, it would take about two
hundred dollars' worth in our time to give them all even
a little. Andrew says that all they have at hand are five
barley loaves, the food of the poor, and two small fishes
in possession of a lad.
At once the command is given, to make all the people
sit down in companies, by fifties and hundreds. It was
this great array of people, divided off into ranks or ' ' gar-
den"plats," dressed in the gay clothing of the East, and
scattered over the green grass, that is said to have sug
gested to the apostle Peter the thought of the scene as like
a flower garden spread out before his view. Jesus took
the bread and the fish and gave thanks as was usual befoie
.eating, and then, blessing the food, he gave it to his
disciples to give to the people.

THE LOAVES AND THE FISHES. 279
The bread and the fish were multiplied in the hands
of the Saviour, and then distributed among them all,
and the hungry people were all filled. There was more
than enough for all that vast multitude of five thousand
men, besides women and children. The Lord shows
his economy even in the exercise of almighty power, by
commanding that the fragments be gathered up, so that
nothing should be lost. The disciples gathered twelve
small baskets full of these fragments, more than they
had at first, and enough to fill the traveling pouch or
food basket of each of the twelve with provision for
future need. We are reminded of the children of Israel,
who were fed upon manna in the wilderness ; of the
prophet sustained by ravens ; of the widow's oil and
meal that failed not ; and of what God is doing for us
constantly in providing our daily bread. But yet this
was a stupendous miracle, and was evidently so re
garded, for all of the evangelists record it. And mark
its effect upon the people, who were looking for the
Messiah, and expecting deliverance from the Roman
yoke, and who when they saw this sign said : ' ' This is
in truth that prophet that should come into the world ;' '
and they sought to take him by force and proclaim him
king, but Jesus sent his disciples to go by boat to the
other side of the lake, and after sending away the multi
tude he himself went into the mountain alone to pray.

28o THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LII.
WALKING ON THE WATER.
Matt. xiv. 22-36; Mark vi. 45-56 ; John vi. 15-21. — Sea .of Galilee, Gennesareth,
a.d. 29.
JESUS having dismissed the multitude, sought the
retirement of the mountain, and is engaged in
prayer. The disciples in the little boat are now
toiling in the midst of the sea. It is already dark, and
yet Jesus has not come to them. A sudden storm had
come upon them, and the sea rose by reason of a great
wind that swept down from the hills. The waters,
lashed into foam, are tossing about the little vessel in
which the disciples are. Jesus in the mountain sees
them toiling and rowing and striving against a contrary
wind. They had rowed about four miles, and were not quite
half-way across the sea. In the last of the four Roman
watches — the fourth watch, or between three and six
o' clock in the morning — Jesus came to them walking on
the sea as though it were dry land. They saw him as
he drew near, and were greatly afraid, supposing, in their
superstition, that he was a spirit. But when they cried
out with fear he said to them, above the storm, "Be of
good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. ' ' Then Peter, with his
usual impetuosity, asks, "Lord, if it be thou, let me
come to thee on the water ? ' ' Jesus gives him permis
sion, and Peter getting down over the side of the vessel
stands upon the water, and with his eye on the Master,
walks upon the waves toward the beloved form of

WALKING ON THE WATER. 28l
Jesus, dimly seen in the darkness. But looking away
from Jesus and seeing the angry waves about him and
hearing the boisterous winds, he is afraid and beginning
to sink he cries out, "Lord, save me." Jesus stretches

WHEREFORE DIDST THOU DOUBT?
forth his hand and lifting Peter up says, ' ' O thou of
little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Jesus and
Peter then entered the vessel, and immediately the sea
became calm and the winds ceased to blow.
In speaking of this imploring cry of Peter, Mr. Spur-
geon says :

282 THE STOP Y OF JESUS.
" Short prayers are long enough. There were but three words
in the petition which Peter gasped out, but they were enough for
his purpose. Not length, but strength, is desirable. A sense of
need is a mighty teacher of brevity. Precious things lie in small
compass, and all that is real prayer in many a long address might
have been uttered in a petition as short as that of Peter."
Forgetting the miracle of the loaves, which they had
witnessed but a few hours before, these simple-minded
followers of the Lord are filled with wonder at this later
miracle, of his walking upon the stormy sea. And all
in the vessel, including the crew and the disciples, came
and worshiped him, saying, " Of a truth thou art the
Son of God ? ' ' words which had been applied to him
once before by Nathanael. And immediately we are
told, as if in a miraculous way, the boat that was in the
middle of the sea when Jesus entered it, was at the place
of destination, the land of Gennesaret.
Says Farrar :
" Let us pause a moment longer over this wonderful narrative,
perhaps of all others the most difficult for our feeble faith to be
lieve or understand. Some have tried in various methods to ex
plain away its miraculous character. . . But let them not at
tempt to foist such disbelief into the plain narrative of the
evangelists. That they intended to describe an amazing miracle
is indisputable to any one who carefully reads their words. . . .
So then if, like Peter, we fix our eyes on Jesus, we too may walk
triumphantly over the swelling waves of disbelief, and unterrified
amid the rising winds of doubt. ' '
Gennesaret was a fertile crescent-shaped plain, on the
western shore of the sea of Galilee, extending from
Magdala to Capernaum, north and south about three
miles and west about one mile. It was the richest spot
in Palestine, and a region of marvelous productions and
of great beauty. Its climate was so mild that both the

WALKING ON THE WATER. 283
northern and the southern palm flourished there side by
side. Grapes and figs were found there ten. months of
the year. Gennesareth melons were exported to Damas
cus and Acre, where they were in great demand. This
plain was watered by a most excellent spring, which was
thought by some to be a vein of the Nile, because fish
was found there closely resembling the Coracinus, of the
lake of Alexandria. Birds of brilliant colors and various
forms abounded in the thick jungle of thorn and
oleander that lined the shore. Here in this land of
beauty were Bethsaida and Capernaum.
When the people of this region heard that Jesus had
returned they sent out into all the country round about
and brought all the sick on beds and laid them in the
street where he was, and the diseased begged him to let
them but touch the hem of his garment. We have read
of the afflicted woman who touched the hem of his gar
ment and was made whole, but here we are told of many
such — "as many as touched him were made perfectly
whole. ' '

284 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LIU.
THE BREAD OF LIFE.
John vi. 22-71.— Synagogue at Capernaum, a.d. 29.
A ~X 7"E left some of the people where Jesus fed them.
^ ^ They remained all night. When morning
came they looked for him to return from the
mountain where he had gone the day before. When
neither Jesus nor his disciples returned, they became
tired of waiting, and, seeing some boats on the shore
which had been driven there by the wind that had im
peded the progress of the disciples across the lake, they
took to these boats and went across to Capernaum.
There they found Jesus in the synagogue teaching the
people, and when they had found him they said, " Rabbi,
when camest thou hither ? ' ' Jesus knew their selfish
nature, and so he turned to them and answered, Ye seek
me not because ye want to hear me, nor to profit by my
words, but because ye were fed and filled with the loaves
and fishes. Then he admonished them not to labor for
bread for the perishing body, but for the bread of eter
nal life, the food for the soul, which he could give
them. And when they asked him what they should do
in order to perform the works of God, he replied, Believe
on him whom God has sent.
But they showed the hardness of their hearts by desir
ing some sign that God had sent him, forgetting that he
had just fed them miraculously in the desert. They say
to him, Our fathers in the wilderness did eat manna
from heaven. Jesus replies, Moses did not give you that
bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true
bread from heaven. And when they said, ' ' Lord, ever-

THE BREAD OF LIFE.

285

more give us this bread," he replied, "lam the bread of
life : he that cometh to me shall never hunger ; and he
that believeth on me shall never thirst." He then
charges them with unbelief ; declares that he has come
to do the Father's will, and that God's will is that they
shall have everlasting life who believe in his Son, who
will raise them up at the last day.
The Jews murmured because he said, "I am the bread
of life. " " Is not this the carpenter's son? How then
does he say I came down from heaven ?' ' Jesus replies
that all they who are taught of God shall come to him,
and reiterates the statement, ' ' I am the bread of life.' '
"The bread that I give is my flesh." " Except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have
no life in you." " He that eateth me shall live by me."
At this the Jews were offended, and said, ' ' How can
this man give us his flesh to eat ? " And many even of
his disciples said, ' ' This is a hard saying ; who can hear
it? " Jesus said, " What if ye should see the Son of man
ascend up where he was before ? It is the spirit that
quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing ; the words that
I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."
From that time many of his disciples went back and
walked with him no more, for they took these words in
a literal sense, and did not apprehend their spiritual
meaning. Then Jesus asked the twelve, Will you leave
me ? Peter, replying for the others, said, " Lord, to
whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life,
and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. ' ' This was a noble confession,
but Jesus, who knew all hearts, their deceitfulness and
their unbelief, said : "I have chosen you twelve, and
one of you is a devil," for he knew that one of his disci
ples — Judas Iscariot — would betray him.

(286)

RUINS OF EPHESUS.

BOOK SIXTH.

FROM THE THIRD PASSOVER IN THE
PUBLIC MINISTRY OF JESUS TO
THE ENSUING FEAST OF
TABERNACLES.
A PERIOD OF SIX MONTHS, FROM APRIL A.D. 2g TO OCTOBER
A.D. 29. (287)

(288)

DISCIPLES AND SAMARITANS.

UNWASHED HANDS. 389

CHAPTER LIV.
UNWASHED HANDS.
Matt. xv. 1-20; Mark vii. 1-23; John vii. 1. — Galilee, Capernaum, a.d. 29.
JESUS does not attend the third Passover of his pub
lic ministry, but remains in Galilee. The reason
given is that it was unsafe for him to be in Judea
because the Jews sought to kill him. The scribes and
Pharisees who had come from Jerusalem, after attending
the Passover, saw some of the disciples of Jesus eating
bread with unwashed hands, and they came together to
Jesus and found fault with them. It was not charged
that the disciples were unclean, but that they had vio
lated a religious custom which required the washing of
hands even if clean. This custom arose not from a de
sire for cleanliness, but from a love of superstitious cere
mony. If this custom were neglected, then they were
regarded as defiled.
The washing of the hands both before and after eating
was strictly required ; and, on coming from the market
with the food to eat, they must take a bath, and this
custom was extended, as Mark says, to the cups, pots
and brazen vessels and tables. External purity was
more important with them than inward purity. They
had rules regulating how much water to use, and in
what way it was to be used ; how often it was to be
changed ; how many might wash at a time ; all of
which foolish rules the Saviour refused to recognize.
Therefore they came to him and said, ' ' Why do thy dis
ciples transgress the tradition of the elders ? For they
13

290

THE STORY OF JESUS.

wash not their hands when they eat bread." By elders
they meant the former or ancient teachers of the Jews ;
by tradition, some precept or custom not commanded in
the written law, but handed down by memory from one
to another.
Barnes says :
" The Jews supposed that when Moses was on Mount Sinai,
two sets of laws were delivered him : one, they said, was re
corded, and is that contained in the Old Testament ; the other
was handed down from father to son, and kept uncorrupted to
their day. They believed that Moses, before he died, delivered
this law to Joshua ; he to the judges ; they to the prophets, so
that it was kept pure, until it was recorded in the Talmuds. In
these books these pretended laws are now contained. They are ex
ceedingly numerous and very trifling. They are, however, re
garded by the Jews as more important than either Moses or the
prophets. One point in which the Pharisees differed from the
Sadducees was in holding to these traditions. It seems, how
ever, that in the particular tradition here mentioned all the Jews
combined." With these facts before us, we can understand the force
of our Saviour's answer: "You hypocrites," playing
your part as if religious ; truly does what Isaiah wrote
concerning the Jewish race apply to you this day ;
"This people draw nigh to me with their mouth, and
honor me with their lips : but their hearts are far from
me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doc
trines the commandments of men. ' ' They did not truly
worship God when they worshiped him only in form
or outwardly, and when they taught, instead of the doc
trines of God, — or for what God commanded to be be
lieved and practiced in religion, — the commandments of
men. They were making vain attempts to serve God,
and Jesus gives examples by way of proof and illustra
tion of what he says.

UNWASHED HANDS. 291
"Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God
by your tradition ? ' ' You accuse us of violating your
human tradition, but I charge you with disobeying the
law of God. ' ' For God commanded, saying, honor thy
father and mother, and he that curseth father or mother
let him die the death. But ye say, whosoever shall say
to his father or mother, it is a gift, by whatsoever thou
mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or
mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the
commandment of God of none effect by your tradi
tions. ' ' It seems that the gift or corban here means ' ' a
thing dedicated to the service of God, and therefore not
to be appropriated to any other use." These Jews
taught that it was right for a child to say that he would
devote such of his property to God as might be required
by his aged parents for their support, and then refuse to
help them in their time of need. Whether prompted by
superstition, or hatred, or covetousness, he might thus
get rid of his sacred duty to his parents on the plea that
he had devoted his property to religious use. This Jesus
condemns as a violation of the fifth commandment. A
man cannot refuse to help his relatives on the plea of
giving to God, without exciting God's displeasure. Our
Saviour did not mean to condemn the habit of giving to
God or to the service of religion, which he always com
mends, but he does condemn giving to him to get rid of
giving to our brother.
Then calling their special attention he continues,
' ' Hear me, every one of you, and understand : not that
which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that
which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."
By this our Saviour meant that it was not eating bread
with unwashed hands that rendered them sinners; for

292 THE STORY OF JESUS.
the soul could not be polluted by anything eaten ; but
the words and actions that proceed from a corrupt heart
are the things which defile a man. At this the Pharisees
were offended, and it was told to Jesus, but he answered,
"Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not
planted shall be rooted up ;" that is, God plants truth in
the heart, and it is seen in good conduct and shall abide;
but the errors of man shall be rooted up; and continuing,
he said, ' ' Let them alone, ' ' trouble not about these
fault-finding Pharisees, who set themselves up as
teachers, but only teach error ; " they be blind leaders
of the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Peter then
asked him to explain to them the parable he had spoken,
and he replied ; ' ' Are ye also without understanding ?
Do ye not understand how the food that is taken does
not enter the soul, and cannot render the heart sinful;
but the words of the mouth that come from a heart
already corrupt, they defile the man; "for out of the
heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornica
tions, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies: These are the
things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashed
hands defileth not a man."

THE WOMAN OF CANAAN.

293

CHAPTER LV.
THE WOMAN OF CANAAN.
Matt. xv. 21-28 ; Makk vii. 24-30.— Country about Tyre and Sidon, a d. 29. ,
HESE are significant words : " Then Jesus went

T

thence and departed into the coasts of Tyre and
Sidon ; " for they indicate that Jesus, in order
to escape the rising opposition of the Jews, retires for
awhile from the scene of conflict to find among the
heathen the rest and sympathy he failed to find among
his own people. Hereafter among these very people the
gospel is to bring forth much fruit.
When the children of Israel were given the promised
land and led into it they were yet required to conquer
every inch of it, and to drive out the heathen inhab
itants, whom God meant thus to punish for their sin.
But there was a narrow strip of land along the Mediter
ranean Sea coast that they seemed to be unable to take.
It was called Phoenicia. In the times even of Solomon
these people preserved their independence, and Hiram,
king of Tyre, aided Solomon in furnishing material and
men for the building of the temple at Jerusalem, show
ing that friendly relations existed between these two
kings. It is to this country and to the neighborhood of
these two important cities, Tyre and Sidon, on the Med
iterranean Sea, that Jesus now goes.
A woman of Canaan, a descendant of the original in
habitants of the land, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and
"in culture and language a Greek," here follows him
and seeks his blessing. Seeking privacy and rest, Jesus

294

THE STORY OF JESUS.

enters into a house. His fame had preceded him, and
we are told that " he could not be hid." This woman
had heard of him, and having a daughter who was
" grievously vexed with a demon," or unclean spirit,
she came, beseeching him to cure her daughter. Her
address showed that she, though a Gentile and not a
Jew, had some conception of the Messiah's work and
character, for she addressed him as Lord and as the son
of David. The reception that Jesus gives her seems
cold, for he pays no attention to her request, but keeps
on his way. At length his disciples ask him to send her
away, that her crying after them might cease. They
had yet to learn that he came to save the Gentile sinner
as well as the Jew. They fail to see that he seeks to
exhibit to them and to the world this woman's marvel
ous faith. Jesus now answers the woman that he was
sent only to God's own people, the Jews, the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. But, falling at his feet, she
cried, "Lord, help me." He replied, It is not proper
to give the bread provided for the children to the dogs.
Too humble to be offended at this, and moved by her
urgent need, her faith, with admirable skill, makes an
swer, ' ' Yes, Lord : yet the dogs under the table eat of
the children's crumbs." No wonder that these remark
able words have excited the astonishment of succeeding
ages. She must have known how these very children
despised the rich repast served them by the Lord, and
shows her humility by being satisfied with the crumbs
wasted and rejected by the ungrateful children.
" Woman, great is thy faith ; be it done unto thee even
as thou wilt." Her daughter was made whole from that
hour, and believingly she returned home to find her
child completely healed.

THE FOUR THOUSAND FED. 295

CHAPTER LVI. .
.THE FOUR THOUSAND FED.
Matt. xv. 29 — xvi. 1-12 ; Mark vii. 31-37 ; viii. 1-26. — Decapolis, Magdala, A D. 29.
THE route that Jesus took with his disciples from
the borders of Tyre and Sidon to the region be
yond the sea of Galilee, we do not know, but we
find him next in Decapolis, bordering on its southern
coast. Here on a mountain he is engaged in teaching
and healing the multitudes that flock about him. The
lame were made to walk, the blind to see, the dumb to
speak and to the maimed he restored the missing hand
or foot. One case is particularly mentioned — that of the
deaf man who had also an impediment in his speech.
' ' He took him aside from the multitude, and put his
fingers into his ears, and spit and touched his tongue :
and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him,
Ephphatha : that is, Be opened ; and straightway his ears
were opened and the string of his tongue was loosed, and
he spake plainly." He charged them to tell no man,
but straightway they spread it abroad.
The multitude that had gathered was very great, and
they had nothing to eat. Touched with compassion,
our Saviour called his disciples and reminded them that
for three days the people had been without food, and
that he could not send them away fasting, for they would
faint on the way home, and some had far to go. The
disciples wondered where in that wilderness they could
get enough to feed such a multitude. Jesus asked them

[296]

THE FOUR THOUSAND FED.

THE FOUR THOUSAND FED.

297

how much food they had, and they replied, "Seven
loaves and a few small fishes." He commanded the
people to sit down on the ground, and, taking the
loaves and fishes, he blessed them, and breaking them
into fragments he gave them to the disciples and they
gave them to the people. Besides women and children,
there were four thousand men. All ate and were filled ;
and they took up of the fragments seven baskets full,
the baskets being such as were used by the disciples
to carry their food.
Having fed the people, he sent them away, while
he and his disciples crossed the lake in a vessel and
came into the neighborhood of Magdala, "into the
parts of Dalmanutha." Magdala and Dalmanutha
were towns on the western shore of the lake. Mag
dala was probably situated on the southern edge of
the plain of Gennesareth. A modern traveler says
that just before reaching Mejdel, the ancient Magdala,
"we crossed a little open valley, with a few cornfields
and gardens struggling among the ruins of a village,
and some large and more ancient foundations of several
copious fountains, probably identified with Dalman
utha." While in the vicinity of these two cities the Phari
sees and Sadducees, having become friendly toward
each other in their opposition to Jesus, came and de
manded a sign from heaven, or some miraculous ap
pearance in the sky. This they did tempting him,
pretending to be seriously seeking proof of his Messiah-
ship. Jesus was deeply grieved at their wicked unbelief,
and "sighed deeply in spirit," and then replied, "When
it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the sky
is red, and in the morning it will be foul weather to-day,
13*

298 THE STORY OF JESUS.
for the sky is red and lowering ; O ye hypocrites ; ye
can discern the face of the sky ; but can ye not discern
the signs of the times ? ' '
In Judea they thus profess to judge of the weather by
the appearances of the sky ; but they were blind and ig
norant when they came to interpret the prophetic tokens
of the time appointed for the coming of the Messiah, and
the evidences that Jesus was the Christ. , They had re
jected John the Baptist, who gave every evidence of his
divine appointment, and now they were about to re
ject him. "A wicked and adulterous generation"- — a
people thoroughly immoral and impious — ask for proof,
when abundance of proof is given ; but, Jesus continues,
" there shall no sign be given unto them but the sign
of the prophet Jonah." Three times did Jesus thus re
fer to the great sign of his resurrection. Did they then
believe when he actually rose from the dead ? No, they
rejected even that proof, and persecuted the disciples
because they proclaimed his resurrection.
Hindered by their unbelief, Jesus could do nothing
further, so "he left them and departed." He did
not press his mercies on those who rejected him,
and so he took boat again and crossed the lake,
this time sailing north, and landed on the north
eastern coast of the sea of Galilee. In the haste of de
parture the disciples had forgotten to take sufficient
bread with them, and had but one loaf ! This was an
opportunity for Jesus to caution them about the teaching
of the Jewish leaders whom they had just left. The
Pharisees were the formalists and the Sadducees the
rationalists of that day. "Take heed, and beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." And
they reasoned, saying, it is because we have taken no

THE FOUR THOUSAND FED

299

bread, which, when Jesus perceived, he said unto them,
O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, be
cause ye have brought no bread ? Have ye your hearts
yet hardened ? Do ye not understand, neither remember
the five loaves and the five thousand fed, and how many
baskets ye took up ? And they answered twelve. Neither
the seven loaves and the four thousand, and how many
baskets ye took up ? And they said seven. How is it
that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you con
cerning bread? Then understood they that he bade
them beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the
Sadducees. In the plain of Butaiha was situated the town of
Bethsaida Julias, so called after the daughter of the em
peror. When he came to the city, which was two miles
from the mouth of the Jordan, there was brought to him
a blind man, and he was asked to cure him. He took
the blind man by the hand, and led him out to the city ;
and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands
upon him he asked him if he saw aught? And he looked
up and said, I see men as trees walking. After that he
put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up;
and he was restored and saw every man clearly. Then
Jesus sent him home with the injunction not to go
into the town, nor to tell it to any one. By a word
he raised the dead, but Jesus confines himself to no
one method, and here he seems to conform to human
custom in using means, but the means are such as to
make it evident that the cure is wrought by miraculous
divine power.

300 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LVII.
"THOU ART THE CHRIST."
Matt. xvi. 13-28 ; Mark viii. 27-38, ix. 1 ; Luke ix. 18-27. — Region of Cassarea
Philippi, a.d. 29.
" \ BOVE Perea the Tetrarchy of Philip reached to the
^~ \_ slopes of Hermon on the north, and away to the desert
on the east. It included the provinces of Gaulonitis,
Iturea, Trachonitis, Auranitis and Batanea. . . In the life
time of Christ a large Jewish population lived in all these dis
tricts, in the midst of much larger numbers of Syrians, Arabs,
Greeks and Phoenicians, under the rule of Philip, the son of
Herod and of Cleopatra of Jerusalem, the best of Herod's sons.
He retained not only the goodwill of his family, but was held in
high esteem by the Romans, and the Jews especially honored him
as springing from a daughter of Zion , During a reign of thirty-
seven years he was no less gentle to his subjects than peaceful to
his neighbors. His reign continued through the whole life of
our Lord, but he is not mentioned in the gospels, though it is a
noble tribute to him that Jesus once and again took refuge in his
territories. " From the eastern side of the lake of Tiberias, Jesus went with
his disciples up the course of the Jordan, staying at Bethsaida,
where he healed a blind man, to Cesarea Philippi, near the sources
of the Jordan. This city, at the very extremity of the Holy Land,
marking the northernmost limits of our Saviour's travels, was
the scene of some most memorable events— events designed to
prepare the disciples for the consummation now rapidly ap
proaching. Now the time was come for a full and intelligent
profession of their faith."
Speaking of Cesarea Philippi, Geikie says :
"A town, Baal-Gad — named from the Canaanite God of Fortune
— had occupied the site from immemorial antiquity, but Philip
had rebuilt it splendidly three years before Christ's birth, and, in

"THOU ART THE CHRIST." 301
•
accordance with the prevailing flattery of the emperor, had called
it Cesarea in honor of Augustus. The worship of the Shepherd
God, Pan, to whom a cave out of which burst the waters of the
Jordan was sacred, had given its second name, Pan-las — now
Banias — to the place. It was one of the loveliest spots in the
Holy Land, built on a terrace of rock, part of the range of Her
mon ; the view ranged over all northern Palestine, from the
plains of Phoenicia to the hills of Samaria. In the northwest
rose the dark, gigantic mountain forms of Lebanon ; to the south
stretched out the rich table-land of the- Hauran. From Hermon,
not from Zion or the Mount of Olives, one beholds ' the goodly
land — the land of brooks, of waters, of fountains, of depths that
spring out of the valleys and hills.' "
Says Dr. Porter :
" We wandered for hours among the ruins of Cesarea Philippi,
where hewn stones, massive foundations and fragments of granite
columns testify alike to former strength and grandeur. The site,
unlike most others in Palestine, is not less remarkable for natural
beauty than for classic and sacred associations. Here are rugged
mountains and wooded vale, battlemented height and gushing
stream, crumbling ruin and wide-spreading plain, all combined
in one glorious picture. Behind the ruin rises a cliff of ruddy
limestone ; at its base is a dark cave, now nearly filled with the
ruins of the Temple ; from the cave, from the ruins, from every
chink and cranny in the soil and rocks around, waters rush forth,
which soon collect in a torrent, dash in a sheet of foam down a
rocky bed, and at length plunge over a precipice into a deep,
dark ravine. This is one of the great fountains of the Jordan.
. . . But a deeper and holier interest is attached to the spot.
Beneath the shadow of that battlemented height, along the banks
of that stream, our Lord and his disciples wandered ; and on one
of these peaks above, Peter, James and John obtained a glimpse
of heaven's glory in the Transfiguration."
It was when he was on his way to the borders of
Cesarea Philippi that Jesus asked his disciples, ' ' Who do
men say that I, the Son of man, am?" Jesus knew,
but he desired to draw out their thoughts. They answer,

302 THE STORY OF JESUS.
' ' Some say John, the Baptist ; some, Elias ; and others,
Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But who say ye
that I am ?' ' Simon Peter, ever quick to reply, answers
for himself and the other disciples, "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. ' ' This was a won
derful confession to be made by Peter, despite the out
ward circumstances of poverty and humility in which
our Lord then was placed.
In confessing Jesus as the Messiah, Peter rose above
the worldly expectations of the Jews. His conception
is at once lofty and spiritual. Jesus accepts the title of
honor bestowed by his disciples, and approvingly says,
"Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jona, for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father,
who is in heaven. ' ' Not only for the utterance of this
fundamental gospel truth was Peter blessed; but having
this truth revealed in his heart, he had both the doctrine
and the grace, and both were revealed to him by the
Holy Spirit. "And," continues Jesus, "Thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church : and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven."
Dr. J. G. Butler says, that "The word Petra, here
translated rock, has a generic sense, a mass of rock, and
is never used in the signification of Petros (Peter), a
single stone. It is employed here, not only to distin
guish the word from Petros, the proper name of Peter,
but as more consentaneous with the idea of foundation,
which, in case of edifices designed to be durable, was
composed, possibly, of the living rock." It is not on

I .

304 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Peter, but on Christ, whom Peter had just confessed as
God and man, that the church was to be built. He who
builds on the words of Christ, builds on a rock. In a
secondary sense the church is spoken of as being built
on the apostles and prophets, with "Jesus Christ the
chief corner-stone, ' ' and all believers are ' ' living
stones, ' ' of which Peter is one of the first.
" Peter's position in the Church is illustrated by another figure
(verse 19) which has been equally perverted ; as if the servant
who had charge of the keys of the house were almost on a level
with the master himself. The event furnished the simple and
natural interpretation, when, on the day of Pentecost, Peter was
the first to admit a multitude of the believing Jews ; and after
wards, in the house of Cornelius, a number of Gentile proselytes
into the Christian Church. He did both as the organ of the other
apostles, who shared his action in the first case, and confirmed it
in the second ; for to them Christ afterwards gave the same privi
lege that he now gives Peter. The only distinction between him
and the other apostles is a priority in time, corresponding to the
priority of his confession of Christ. ' '
»
Jesus charged them to tell no man that he was the
Christ, for the time had not yet come for the revelation
of this great truth to the nation, but he has more to say
to these chosen few about himself and his work. ' ' From
that time forth he began to shew ' ' them how he must go
to Jerusalem and suffer many things; be rejected by the
elders, scribes and priests, and be killed and raised again
the third day. Peter could not endure this; so he re
monstrates with him, saying, " This shall not be." But
Jesus turning to Peter says, "Get thee behind m'e, Satan;
thou art an offence unto me: for thou savoiest not the
things that be of God, but the things that be of men."
Peter was unconsciously urging him to leave the path of
duty, which led to suffering and death, and to do what

"THOU ART THE CHRIST." 305
men, seeking their own, would do, and thus was tempt
ing the Son of man by putting a stumbling block mi his
way. Jesus declares that every disciple must deny himself
and take up his cross and follow him ; that he who will
lose his life for him shall gain eternal life ; that it will not
profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose
his own soul, for nothing could be given to redeem the
soul once lost. He announces the fact that he will
come in glory with the angels, to judge the world, and
that if we are ashamed of him here he will be ashamed
of us before his Father ; and he assures his hearers that
some of them will not die before the kingdom of God
shall come with power on the earth.

MOUNT HERMON.

306 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LVIH.
THE TRANSFIGURATION.
Matt. xvii. 1-13 ; Mark ix. 2-13 ; Luke ix. 28-36. — A mountain in the region of
Cesarea Philippi, probably Hermon, a.d. 29.
T T will always remain a mystery how the Lord and
¦*- his disciples spent that period of time called about
eight days by Luke, and six by Matthew and
Mark, after which occur the events here recorded. The
wonderful confirmation of the Messiahship of Jesus af
forded by the transfiguration was not given to the nation,
but to those three disciples before chosen by the Master,
to be near him at the raising of Jairus' daughter, and
afterwards in Gethsemane — Peter and the two sons of
thunder, James and John. John, the beloved disciple,
afterward refers to this event, saying, " We beheld his
glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,
full of truth and grace ; ' ' and Peter says, ' ' We were
eye-witnesses of his glory on the mountain."
For centuries, ever since the days of Jerome, there
has been a tradition existing among Christians that it
was upon Mount Tabor that Jesus went with his three
disciples and was transfigured before them. A monas
tery erected here in the fifth century attests this belief.
But in more recent times there have been reasons to
doubt this view. On the summit of Mount Tabor was
a fortress, according to Josephus, and therefore not a
place for. solitude. But Mount Tabor is in Galilee, and
"Jesus did not return to Galilee at this time, but was in
the neighborhood of Cesarea Philippi, north of the sea
of Galilee and near the mouth of the Jordan. It is

THE TRANSFIGURATION.

307

probable that he went yet farther north to the slopes of
Mount Hermon, whose snow-capped top can be seen from
the Dead Sea. It best answers the description given of
a high mountain," and "the mountain," the latter
being the very designation by which it is known.
Doubtless upon this cool, quiet mountain, in the even
ing of the day, Jesus led the three disciples to prepare
himself *for the coming conflict of the cross and for their
separation so near at hand. But here, as in Gethsemane,
the three disciples sleep while the Master prays. Kneel
ing upon the grass on the mountain side, they had
doubtless finished thei-r evening devotion and had lain
down to sleep till they were called. "Jesus continued
in prayer, and his soul rose above all earthly sorrows,
drawn forth by the nearness of his heavenly Father, the
divinity within shone through the veiling flesh. ' ' They
could not sleep for such brightness. They saw the fash
ion of his countenance change, his face shone as the sun,
and his raiment became bright as the light, and whiter
than the snow. Just as the dark opaque carbon becomes
white with glowing heat when the current of electricity
passes through it, so the heavenly glory that filled the
soul of Jesus gave radiance to his face and brightness to
his garments. There appeared also in radiant glory two
persons, who stood by and talked with him. The sub
ject of their conversation was his approaching sufferings
and death on the cross at Jerusalem, about which the
Master has just been discoursing with his disciples. The
three wondering disciples saw the glorified forms, and
knew them to be Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
These visitors from the other world appeared to Jesus
doubtless for his encouragement. They spoke not only
of his death but of his coming conquest and glory. It

308 THE STORY OF JESUS.
seems strange that these disciples should become heavy
with sleep and, losing their consciousness, lose also part
of the conversation of the three glorified ones. But
when they awake again "the splendid vision " is still
before them. Peter, amazed and transported, and not
knowing what he said, and wishing to delay the depart
ing visitants, exclaims, "Jesus, Master, it is good for
us to be here ; let us make three tabernacles ;' one for
thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. ' ' Impetuous
Peter has forgotten the rebuke, ' ' Get thee behind me,
Satan," and the more recent conversation among the
three shining ones about the coining sacrifice by the Son
of God. He would make three booths of the green
branches on the mount, and have the three disciples and
the three glorified ones dwell together there in prolonged
ecstasy and joy. But his answer came from heaven.
While he yet spake, a bright cloud, the glorious She-
chinah, the visible presence of God that once filled the
temple but now had departed from it, overshadowed
them, and out of the cloud there came a voice, saying,
' ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ;
hear ye him," whom both the law and the prophets
exalt. The flood of glorious light and the awful voice
were too much for them. The three disciples were sore
afraid, and fell prostrate on their faces to the earth. Not
till Jesus came to them and touched them, saying,
"Arise, and be not .afraid," did they recover sufficiently
from their fright to raise themselves up and look around.
When they looked up they saw no man save Jesus
only. "Jesus, on this occasion, as often before, knelt in
prayer." When, in the desert, he was girding himself
for the work of life, angels came and ministered to him,
so now, in the fair world, when he is girding himself for

THE TRANSFIGURATION.

3°9

the work of death, the ministrants come to him from the
spiritual world, the one from his secret tomb under
Abrim, which God's own hand had sealed long ago ; the
other from the rest to which he had been carried in the
fiery chariot without seeing corruption. Moses and
Elias having departed, the prayer is ended, the task is
accepted, and Jesus is now ready for the ordeal. In this
scene on the mount, the full glory falls upon him from
heaven, and the testimony is borne to his divine sonship
and supreme authority. " Hear ye him."
Jesus charged the three, when they were descending
the mount, not to tell any man what things they had
heard and seen till after he had risen from the dead ;
probably because the purpose of the transfiguration could
best be carried out in that way. It would neither glorify
God, nor add any weight to the proof already given of
his sonship if made known, and they kept it to them
selves. The morning found them descending the slope
of Hermon. Although Jesus had told them plainly of
his resurrection, yet the disciples question among them
selves what the ' ' rising from the dead should mean. ' '
And they asked him, ' ' Why say the scribes that Elias
must first come?" This opinion of the scribes was
no doubt derived from Malachi, who prophesied of his
coming before the Christ. They had seen Elijah, and
had received additional proof that Jesus was the Christ.
But Elijah had gone as suddenly as he had come. Jesus
replied that Elijah must indeed come and restore all
things ; ' ' But I say unto you that Elijah has come
already, and they knew him not, but have done unto
him whatsoever they listed ; likewise must the Son of
man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that
he spake unto them of John the Baptist."

310 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LIX.
THE DEMONIAC BOY.
Matt. xvii. 14-23 ; Mark ix. 14-32 ; Luke ix. 37-45.— Region of Caesarea Philippi,
a.d. 29.
"\ ~\ THEN Jesus and his three companions reached
* ^ the foot of the mountain, they came upon the
multitude of people who had followed him into
the desert. They were crowding around the nine disci
ples, and some of the scribes were disputing with them.
When the people saw Jesus they were amazed at his un
expected appearance from that quarter, and running to
meet him they saluted him respectfully. Jesus at once
asked the scribes what they were disputing about with
his disciples. One of the multitude came to him kneel
ing, and said, that he had brought his only son, who had
an evil-dumb spirit, that caused him to tear himself, foam
and gnash his teeth ; and he was sore vexed by it, for it
often made him fall into the fire and into the water; and
he was wasting away. The father told Jesus that he had
brought the child to the disciples to be healed, but that
they could not cure him. Even while he was speaking,
beseeching Jesus to have mercy on his son and cure him,
the demon took the child, causing him to cry out, to
tear himself and also to foam and bruise himself.
Jesus first turned to his disciples and said to them, ' ' O
faithless and perverse generation ! how long shall I suffer
you ? bring him hither to me. ' ' And when they brought
him to Jesus, even while they were yet coming, ' ' the
demon threw him down and tare him. ' ' Jesus asked the

THE DEMONIA C BOY. 311
father how long since this trouble came upon him ? He
answered, "of a child," and that the demon had often
tried to destroy him ; ' ' but if thou canst do anything,
have compassion on us and help us." Our Saviour's
answer has its lesson for us also — "If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth. ' ' The ex
citement must have been intense, for the people came
running and crowding together. Then Jesus rebuked
the ' ' foul spirit, ' ' saying, ' ' Dumb and deaf spirit, I
charge thee come out of him, and enter no more into
him." And the spirit cried, and " rent him sore " and
came out, leaving him ' as one dead, but Jesus took him
by the hand, and raising him up, delivered him to his
father cured.
Afterwards the disciples came to Jesus and asked him,
why they could not cast out the demon. They had suc
cessfully cast out demons before in his name. Jesus re
plied, ' ' because of your unbelief. ' ' He told them that
if they had faith as small as a grain of mustard seed they
could say to the mountain towering above them, "remove
hence to yonder place ; ' ' and it would remove, and noth
ing should be impossible to them. But this kind he said
"goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."
Leaving the, region of Cesarea Philippi, Jesus and his
disciples journey southward, probably in a quiet way and
in secluded paths through Galilee towards Capernaum.
As they walked they wondered at the things he had done.
He had faithfully sought the people, but stirred up
against him by the scribes and Pharisees, he could not
trust himself safely with them. Some believed and
favored him and, what was more, sought his favors ; but
he has another work to do — to continue to instruct his
disciples. And as they journeyed he said to them, ' ' Let

312

THE STORY OF JESUS.

these things sink deep into your ears." And again he
told them that he was to be betrayed, and to be put to
death, and that he would rise again on the third day.
He had told them this before, but they could not under
stand. " It was hid from them, and they feared to ask
him. They did understand enough, however, to be sor
rowful at the thought of his coming death. And yet
they could not understand how that he, whom they were
doubly sure was the Messiah, could meet with such a fate
and disappoint all their hopes, for they expected him to
restore the temporal kingdom of David."

SHi '" if I
W\

S

mmm

THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT.

WHO SHALL BE GREATEST? 313

CHAPTER LX.
WHO SHALL BE GREATEST?
Matt. xvii. 24-27; xviii. 1-35 ; Mark ix. 33-50 ; Luke ix. 45-50.— Galilee, Caper
naum, a.d. 29.
~\ ~\ THEN they reached Capernaum the tax collectors
» ^ came to Peter and asked him whether Jesus
did not pay tribute. Peter answered, Yes. We
do not know why, unless it was the awe his presence in
spired, they did not go to Jesus himself. We have no
account of Jesus ever paying tribute before. They came
now doubtless to entangle him. This was not the Roman
tribute which he had before approved of sending to
Caesar, but a tax of half a shekel levied by the Jews for
the temple sacrifice, which, from time immemorial, had
been collected from every Jew, rich and poor alike,
throughout the world, at home and abroad, like the
Peter's pence. Priests and rabbis were exempt, and
Jesus, as a rabbi, was not under obligation to pay it.
So when Peter came to him in the house Jesus asked
him whether kings took taxes of their own sons or of
those that were not. There was but one answer, ' ' Of
strangers," Peter replied. Then are the sons free, and
I, as the Son of God, whose temple and service this
is, am free, Jesus replied. But to prevent offense and
trouble, go to the sea and cast in the hook and open
the mouth of the first fish you catch and you will find
a silver coin in its mouth. Take it and pay your tax
and mine.
As they had journeyed toward Capernaum the dis
14

3J4

THE STORY OF JESUS.

ciples disputed among themselves as to which one
should be greatest in the coming kingdom of the
Messiah. They had just seen some preference shown
for three of their number, and the others had been un
able to cure the dumb child. Jesus, who knew their
thoughts, said nothing till seated in the house with
the twelve around him, Peter having paid their tax
and returned. Then he asked them the cause of their
dispute on the way. They were reluctantly forced to
confess the truth, and Jesus, calling a little child into
the midst of them, folded him in his arms, and said,
If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of
all, and servant of all. Except ye be converted and
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Whosoever shall receive one of
such children in my name receiveth me. Whosoever
shall humble himself as this little child, the same is
greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
The expression, "in my name," reminds John of an
incident which he now relates. They had met a man
who was casting out demons in Jesus' name, and they
had forbidden him to do it because he refused to follow
them. Jesus tells them that they should not have for
bidden him, because he that is not against them is for
them, and no man could do a miracle in his name who
would speak lightly of him ; moreover, that whosoever
should give even a cup of cold water to them because
they belonged to him, should not lose his reward. Jesus
continues his discourse about the little ones "who be
lieve in him." It were better for a man to be cast into
the sea with a mill-stone tied to his neck than to offend
or cause to sin one of the feeblest of his followers.
There will always be causes of stumbling and falling,

WHO SHALL BE GREATEST? 315
but woe to him who tempts another to sin, thus doing
the devil's work for him. Rather than be the cause of
the downfall of others, it were better to lose the offend
ing member, even if it be an arm to cut it off, or an eye
to pluck it out. It is far better to live without arm or
eye than to be cast into hell to feed the worm that never
dies, and add fuel to the fire that shall never be
quenched. ' ' For as salt is sprinkled over every sacrifice
for its purification, so must every soul be purged by fire ;
if need be of the severest and most terrible sacrifice. ' '
' ' Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one
another, ' ' were fitting words to those who were to be the
salt of the earth, but who had just been contending
among themselves.
Jesus gives two reasons why the little ones, the young
est and weakest of God's children, are not to be despised
or neglected. The first is, because the angels of heaven,
who are ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation, at
tend them and delight to honor them. And second, be
cause Christ came to save them. Just as the shepherd
who has a hundred sheep, if he loses one, leaves the
ninety and nine and goes to find the one that has gone
astray, so the Son of man came to seek and to save the
lost. It is not God's will that one of these little ones
should perish. As his disciples they must not only not
lead others into sin, but they must seek and save the
lost. Moreover, one of the duties which they owe to one
another is the duty of forgiveness of injuries. If your
brother has done you an injury, go to him and tell him
his fault privately and kindly, and endeavor to win him.
But if he refuse to listen to you, then take one or two
more for witnesses, and if he will not hear them, then

316 THE STORY OF JESUS.
let the church decide the matter, and if he refuse to hear
the church, then you may cease your efforts and regard
him no longer as a brother. If two of you agree in
prayer they shall be heard in heaven, and " wherever
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst of them." Peter desires to know how
many times he must forgive an injury. Jesus replies,
not seven times, but ' ' seventy times seven. ' ' He re
lates a beautiful parable to teach forgiveness. A man
who owed his king ten thousand talents, or twelve mil
lion dollars, not being able to pay, the king orders, ac
cording to eastern usage, that he, his wife and child
and all that he had shall be sold to pay the debt. The
debtor falls down at the king's feet and begs for mercy.
The king, moved with compassion, forgives him his
debt. But soon after meeting a fellow-servant who owed
him the paltry sum of a hundred pence (seventeen dol
lars), he took him by the throat, saying, " Pay me that
thou owest. ' ' The poor man entreated for a little time,
and promised to pay it all. But he refused to wait and
cast him into prison till the debt should be paid. When
the king heard it he was angry, and said, ' ' I had com
passion on thee ; ' ' and he delivered him to the torment
ors till he should pay all. " So likewise shall my heav
enly Father do also unto you, if ye forgive not from
your hearts every one his trespasses. ' '

THE JOURNE Y TO WARDS DEA TH. 317

CHAPTER LXI.
THE JOURNEY TOWARDS DEATH.
Matt. viii. 19-22 ; Luke ix. 51-62 ; John vii. 2-10. — Samaria, on the way from
Capernaum to Jerusalem, a.d. 29.
THE feast of the tabernacles, or tents, — one of the
great national feasts of the Jews — was at hand.
This feast was celebrated in commemoration of
the journey through the wilderness when the nation
dwelt in tabernacles or tents — when God fed them and
led them from Egypt to the promised land. It was ob
served with many pleasing ceremonies. The streets of
Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives and every available
space was occupied with booths made of the boughs of
trees. Some of the people were already on their way
and caravans were forming and moving towards the holy
city. Therefore, Jesus' brethren, his mother's children,
came to him and asked him to go with them into Judea,
assigning as the reason that the disciples — those proba
bly of Judea — might also see such works as he had done
in Galilee. Before this they had sought to take him
home. ' ' Show thyself to the world, ' ' said they. Jesus
replied, " My time is not yet come. Go ye up to this
feast. I go not up yet. ' ' And he tarried there in Galilee.
But presently, when the "time was come that he
should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go
up to Jerusalem, ' ' and when his brethren had gone, then
he also privately went to the feast, passing through
Samaria on the way. He would not go with those who
would have defeated his purpose and done violence to

318 THE STORY OF JESUS.
his feelings by making a public exhibition of his powers
in order to feed their vanity or ambition. But now he pro
poses to go quietly to the feast, and sends some of his fol
lowers before to secure entertainment for him in one of the
villages of Samaria. But the Samaritans would not re
ceive him.
They knew him, and had heard of his work in Gali
lee, and also in other parts of Samaria, but when
they knew that the Messiah was going toward Jerusalem
to celebrate the Passover, and was about to pass by them
and their temple at Mount Gerizim, they refused to re
ceive him. This rejection by the Samaritans only anti
cipated by a short time the final rejection of the Son of
man by the Jews, to whom he came as his own people.
The disciples were indignant that their master should be
refused entertainment and hospitality. In their wrath,
James and John propose that they shall call down fire
from heaven for the destruction of the Samaritans. They
had been eye-witnesses of his glory. They had heard of
the destruction by fire from heaven of the two companies
of soldiers sent to arrest the prophet Elijah, and they de
sire to see their divine Master vindicate his insulted honor
by a similar act of vengeance upon these insolent Samari
tans. The reply of Jesus fully proves his claim that he
came to save, not to destroy, and shows the peacefulness
of his character. He rebukes the revengeful spirit of
the disciples : "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye
are of. The Son of man is not come to destroy men's
lives, but to save them." They then went to another
village, where they were doubtless kindly received.
While on his way through Samaria a well-known
scribe, whose ideas of the Messiah's kingdom were very
crude, came to Jesus and declared his intention of follow-

THE JO URNE Y TO WARDS DEA TH. 319
ing him. To him Jesus replies, ' ' The foxes have holes
and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man
hath not where to lay his head." The man was proba
bly discouraged and went back. Another, however,
whom Jesus called to follow him, wanted first to go and
bury his father — that is, to wait for his father's death and
then to follow him, but Jesus replied, ' ' Follow me, and
let the dead bury their dead." That is, let those dead
in trespasses and sins, bury him. ' ' Go thou and preach
the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow
thee, but let me first go to bid them at home farewell."
But Jesus said, ' ' No man, having put his hand to the plow
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. ' ' The
first and immediate duty is to follow Christ. The all-
important concerns are those which are spiritual and
eternal ; and the work of Christ and the promotion of
his kingdom must receive our first attention, our un
divided love, our earnest devotion. These men were
unlike the apostle Paul, when converted, who says,
" Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood."

(32°)

UNDERGROUND VAULTS OF THE TEMPLE ENCLOSURE, AND WILSON'S ARCH.

BOOK SEVENTH.

FROM THE -FEAST OF TABERNACLES TO
THE ARRIVAL OF JESUS AT BETHANY,
SIX DAYS BEFORE THE FOURTH OR
LAST PASSOVER IN OUR LORD'S
PUBLIC LIFE.
A PERIOD OF SIX MONTHS, LESS SIX DAYS ; FROM OCTOBER A.D.
29 TO APRIL A.D. 30.

(3")

ROBBERS ON THE ROAD TO JERICHO,

(322)

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 333

CHAPTER LXII.
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
John vii 1 1-36.— Jerusalem, a.d. 29.
" TT was Cholhamoed, as the nqn-sacred part of the festive
J_ week, the half- holy days were called," says Edersheim.
"Jerusalem, the city of solemnities, the city of palaces,
the city of beauty and glory, wore quite another than its
usual aspect ; other, even, than when the streets were thronged by
festive pilgrims, during the Passover week, or at Pentecost, for
this was pre-eminently the feast for foreign pilgrims coming
from the farthest distance, whose temple contributions were then
received and counted despite the strange customs of Media, Ara
bia, Persia, or India, and even farther ; or the Western speech
and bearing of the pilgrims from Italy, Spain — the modern
Crimea and the banks of the Danube, if not from yet more strange
and barbarous lands. It would not be difficult to recognize the
lineaments of the Jew, nor to perceive that to change one's clime
was not to change one's mind. As the Jerusalemite would look
with proud self-consciousness, not unmingled with kindly pa
tronage, on the swarms of strangers, yet fellow countrymen, or,
with eager-eyed Galilean, stare after them, the pilgrims would, in
turn, gaze with mingled awe and wonderment on the novel
scenes. Here was the realization of their fondest dreams, ever
since childhood the home and spring of their holiest thoughts
and best hopes, that which gave inward victory to the vanquished
and converted persecution into anticipated triumph.
" They could, at this season of the year — not during the win
ter, for the Passover, nor yet quite so readily in summer's heat
for Pentecost. But now in the delicious cool of early autumn,
when all harvest operations, the gathering in of luscious fruit
and the vintage were past, and the first streaks of gold were
tinting the foliage, strangers from afar off and countrymen from
Judea, Perea and Galilee would mingle in the streets of Jerusa
lem, under the ever-present shadow of that glorious sanctuary of

324 THE STORY OF JESUS.
marble, cedar- wood and gold up there on high Moriah, symbol of
the infinitely more glorious overshadowing presence of him who
was the holy one in the midst of Israel. How all day long, even
till the stars lit up the blue canopy overhead, the smoke of the
burning sacrifices rose in slowly widening column and hung be
tween the Mount of Olives and Zion ; how the chants of Levites
and the solemn responses of the Hallel were borne on the breeze,
while the clear blast of the priest's silver trumpet ascends to
waken the echoes far away, and then at night how all these vast
temple buildings stood out, illuminated by the great candelabras
that burned in the Court of the Women, and by the glare of
torches ; when strange sounds of mystic hymns and dances
came floating over the intervening darkness, truly well might Is
rael designate the feast of tabernacles as 'the feast,' and, indeed,
the Jewish historian describes it as the ' holiest and greatest. '
"Early on the 14th of Tishri (corresponding to our September
or early October) all the festive pilgrims had arrived. Then it
was, indeed, a scene of bustle and activity. Hospitality had
to be sought and found ; guests to be welcomed and entertained ;
all things required for the feast to be got ready. Above all,
booths must be erected everywhere — in courts and on house
tops, in streets and squares, for the lodgment and entertainment
of that vast multitude— leafy dwellings everywhere to remind oi
the wilderness journey, and now of the goodly land. But that
fierce castle, Antonia, which frowned above the temple, was un
decked by the festive spring into which the whole land had burst.
To the Jew it must have been a hateful sight. That castle which
guarded and dominated his own city and temple, — hateful sight
and sounds that, that Roman garrison with its foreign, heathen,
ribald speech and manners. Yet, for all this, Israel could not
read on the lowering skies the signs of the times, nor yet know
the day of their merciful visitation ; and this, though of all fes
tivals, that of tabernacles should have most clearly pointed them
to the future.
" Indeed, the whole symbolism of the feast, beginning with the
completed harvest, for which it was a thanksgiving, pointed to
the future. The Rabbis themselves admitted this. The strange
number of sacrificial bullocks — seventy in all — they regarded as
referring to the seventy nations of heathendom. The ceremony

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.

325

of the outpouring of water, which was considered of such vital
importance as to give to the whole festival the name of 'the
house of outpouring,' was symbolical of the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit. As the brief night of the great temple illumination
closed, there was solemn testimony made before Jehovah against
heathenism. It must have been a stirring scene when, from out
the mass of Levites, with their musical instruments, who crowded
the fifteen steps that led from the Court of Israel to that of the
women, stepped two priests with their silver trumpets. As the
first cock-crowing indicated the dawn of morn, they blew a three
fold blast, another on the tenth step, and yet another three-fold
blast as they entered the Court of the Women. And still sound
ing their trumpets, they marched through the Court of the Women
to the beautiful gate. Here, turning round and facing westward
to the Holy Place, they repeated : ' Our fathers, who were in this
place, they turned their backs on the sanctuary of Jehovah, and
their faces eastward, for they worshipped eastward toward the
sun ; but we, our eyes, are toward Jehovah.' ' We are Jehovah's
— our eyes are toward Jehovah.' Nay, the whole of this night
and morning scene was symbolical ; the temple illumination of
the light which was to shine from out the temple into the dark
night of heathendom ; then at the first dawn of morn the blast of
the priest's silver trumpets of the army of God as it advanced
with festival trumpet- sound and call, to awaken the sleepers,
marching on to quite the utmost bounds of the sanctuary, to the
beautiful gate, which opened upon the Court of the Gentiles, and
then again facing round to utter solemn protest against heathen
ism and make solemn confession of Jehovah."
Jesus had tarried in Galilee until all had departed, and
then had followed them and suddenly appeared in the
temple, at the feast. There had already been inquiry for
him. From the healing of the impotent man at the pool
of Bethesda until this time he had not appeared in the
city of David, but had taught and worked in Galilee.
"Where is he?" the Jews asked, as they sought him.
And there was much murmuring among the people con
cerning him; some saying, " He is a good man;" others,

326 THE STORY OF JESUS.
"Nay, but he deceiveth the people." But none spoke
openly, for fear of the Jews. " In the midst of the feast
Jesus went up into the temple and taught." What he
said is not recorded, but the effect of his words upon the
Jews is seen from the words, ' ' How knoweth this man
letters, having never learned?" The reply of Jesus was
that his doctrine was not his own, but his who sent
him ; that if any man would do his will he too would
understand his teaching; that such would know whether
it was of God, or whether he spoke of himself; that he
who speaks for himself seeks his own glory, but that he
who seeks the glory of him who sent him, is true, and
there is no unrighteousness in him.
At this very time when he was claiming that there was
no unrighteousness in him, there were hanging over his
head two accusations: the charge of open defiance of the
laws of Moses, and the breach of the law regarding the
Sabbath. But from this self-defence Jesus advances to
an open attack upon the accusing Jews. He charges
them with having rejected Moses, whom they claimed to
honor, for they do not keep his law. As a proof of this,
he exposes their secret intention to kill him, and boldly
demands a reason for their murderous design. Their re
ply is evasive and insulting. "Thou hast a devil, who
goeth about to kill thee ? " But Jesus calmly proceeds, —
You condemn me because I did a work of healing on the
Sabbath. Moses gave you the law of circumcision, and you
circumcise a child on the Sabbath day without deeming
it a violation of the law, but when I make a man whole
on the Sabbath day you condemn me. "Every argu
ment which had been urged in favor of the postponement
of Christ's healing to the week-day would apply equally
well to that of circumcision; while every reason that

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.

327

could be urged in favor of Sabbath circumcision would
tell a hundred-fold in favor of the act of Christ."
Jesus added, "Judge not according to the appearance,
but judge righteous judgment."
Some of the Jews at Jerusalem expressed their aston
ishment that Jesus, whom the rulers sought to kill,
should be permitted, unmolested, to speak boldly, in the
temple; and they asked, " Do the rulers know that this
is the very Christ ? ' ' But the skeptical answer came,
"We know this man whence he is; but when Christ
cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. ' ' Here again
they had fallen into an erroneous impression, created by
their false teachers. And Jesus, lifting up his voice so
that the people throughout the temple could hear, cried :
"Ye both know me and whence I am: and I am not
come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye
know not." Then they sought to arrest him, but no
man laid hands on him, ' ' because his hour was not yet
come. ' ' Many of the people believed and said, ' ' When
Christ cometh will he do more miracles? " When the
Pharisees and the chief priests heard that the people said
these things, they sent officers to arrest him.
Jesus proceeds to tell the Jews that he would be but a
little while with them, and then would go away where
they could not come. They said among themselves,
Where will he go that we shall not find him ? Will he
go among the Jews dispersed over the earth, or to the
Gentiles ? What does he mean when he says we shall
seek but not find him ? And where he is we cannot
come ? But the words of Christ were prophetic con
cerning his death and departure to the Father. From
our view point we understand his words in the light of
the events that followed.

328 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXIII.
TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE.
John vii. 37 — viii. 1-59. — Jerusalem, a.d. 29.
IT was "the last, the great day of the feast," and
Jesus was again in the temple. The day was
marked by special observances. The people left
their booths at daybreak to take part in the services. The
pilgrims were all in festive array and carried each in his
right hand the Lulabh, which ' ' consisted of a myrtle
and a willow branch, tied together, with a palm branch
between them." The Ethrog, or Paradise apple, a
species of citron, was carried in the left hand. The
multitude thus arrayed were divided into two bands.
One company started in procession from the temple, to
the sound of music, led by a priest who bore a golden
pitcher, bound for the pool of Siloam. This pool was at
the merging of the Tyropcean into the Kedron valley, in
the southeastern angle of Jerusalem, and within the city
walls. It was fed by a living spring farther up in the
narrower part of the Kedron valley, which bears the
name of "the Virgin's Fountain," but represents the
ancient En-rogel and Gihon. Its overflow feeds a lower
pool. The pool of Siloam was the same as the King's
pool, ' ' made by King Hezekiah in order to divert from
the besieging army the spring of Gihon, which could
not be brought within the city wall, and yet to bring its
waters within the city. This explains the origin of the
name Siloam, 'sent' — a conduit."
At the pool of Siloam the priest filled his pitcher, and

TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE.

329

the procession then returned to the temple, where they
arrived just as the pieces of the sacrifice were being laid
on the altar of burnt offering : A three-fold blast of the
priest' s trumpet welcomed the arrival of the priest as he
entered through the water gate which derived its name
from this ceremony, and passed into the court of the
priests. "Here he was joined by another priest, who carried the wine
for the drink-offering. The two priests ascended the rise of the
altar, and turned to the left. There were two silver funnels here,
with narrow openings leading down to the base of the altar. In
to that at the east, which was somewhat wider, the wine was
poured, and at the same time the water into the western and
narrower opening, the people shouting to the priest to raise his
hand, so as to make sure that he poured the water into the fun
nel. Immediately after ' the pouring of the water ' the great
hallel, consisting of Psalms cxii. to cxviii. inclusive, was
chanted with responses to the accompaniment of the flute. As
the Levites intoned the first line of each Psalm, the people re
peated it, while to each of the other lines they responded. As
they repeated the words they shook towards the altar the ' Lu
labh ' which they held in their hands, as if with this token of
the past to express the reality and cause of their praise and to
remind God of his promises. It is this moment which should be
kept chiefly in view."
Edersheim, continuing, says :
" We can have little difficulty in determining at what part of
the services of the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood
and cried : ' If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.'
It must have been with special reference to the ceremony of the
outpouring of the water, which, as we have seen, was considered
the central part of the service. Moreover, all would understand
that his words must refer to the Holy Spirit, since the rite was
universally regarded as symbolical of this outpouring. The out
pouring of the water was immediately followed by the chanting
of the hallel. But after that there must have been a short pause,

33°

THE STORY OF JESUS.

to prepare for the festive sacrifices. It was then, immediately
after the symbolical rite of water-pouring, immediately after the
people had responded by repeating those lines from Psalm cxviii,
given thanks and prayed that Jehovah would send salvation and

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prosperity, and had shaken the lulabh towards the altar, thus
praising with heart and mouth and hands, and when silence had
fallen upon them — that there arose, so loud as to be heard through
the temple, the voice of Jesus. He interrupted not the services,

TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE.

331

for they had for the moment ceased. He interpreted and he ful
filled them."
There was a division among the people about him.
Many of the people said, when they heard his words,
"This is the prophet." Others said, "This is the
Christ." But some ignorantly queried, "Shall Christ
come out of Galilee ? Hath not the scriptures said that
Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town
of Bethlehem ? ' ' Thus unknowingly they testified in
his favor. Some would have arrested him, but no one
did it. The officers who had been sent to arrest him,
returned without him to the Pharisees and chief priests,
saying, ' ' Never man spake as this man. ' ' Are you, too,
deceived by him ? they asked. Have any of the rulers
or the Pharisees believed on him ? The people are cursed
by their ignorance. Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by
night, was one of the council, and timidly pleaded
' ' Doth our law judge any man before it hear him ? ' '
But he was quickly silenced by the sneering question,
" Art thou also of Galilee ? Search and look ; for out
of Galilee ariseth no prophet. " " And every man went
to his own house ; and Jesus went to the Mount of
Olives." Early next morning Jesus was in the temple where he
sat down and taught the people who came to him. The
scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in
adultery. Tempting him, they said, ' ' Master, Moses,
in the law, commands us that such should be stoned ;
but what sayest thou? " Jesus stooped down, and with
his finger silently wrote in the loose sand on the floor.
When they persisted in their questioning he rose and
answered, ' ' He that is without sin among you let him
first cast a stone at her. ' ' And again he stooped down

332 THE STORY OF JESUS.
and silently wrote on the ground. Abashed and con
victed by their own conscience, the accusers went out
one by one, leaving Jesus and the woman standing in
the midst of the people. Again looking up, Jesus said,
"Woman, where are thine accusers? Hath no man
condemned thee ? ' ' She said, ' ' No man, Lord. ' '
" Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more."
Jesus did not mean to teach us that such sin ever goes
uncondemned by him, but he came as the Saviour of
sinners, and he can forgive and cleanse even the vilest.
Jesus then proceeded to proclaim himself the light of
the world, and when evidence was demanded, he an
swered that his own testimony was sufficient, but to this
was added his Father's testimony. When asked where
his Father was, he replied that, had they known him
they would have known his Father also. These words
were uttered in the treasury of the temple, and no man
arrested him, because his hour was not yet come. Again,
he declares that he is from above, and tells them that
they shall die in their sins, unless they believe on him,
and plainly proclaims to them that he is the Son of God
and the Judge of the world, as he had told them from
the beginning. Announcing his death by the cross, he
says that they will know him, who he is, and where he
is from, when he is lifted up. Many of the Jews be
lieve, and he exhorts them to continue in his word, that
they may be his disciples indeed. The truth would
make them free. Some were offended at this, and de
clared that they were Abraham's children, and hence
never were in bondage. But he tells them that to com
mit sin is to be the slave of sin, and declares that the
true children of Abraham are not his natural descend
ants, but whose who have the same faith. Not the ser-

TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE.

333

vant, but the Son has permanent authority in the house ;
" If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be
free indeed."
Again he tells them that they seek to kill him, be
cause he had told them the truth. If they were Abra
ham's children, they would do the works of Abra
ham, but they do the works of their father, the devil,
who was a murderer and a liar from the beginning. If
they were of God they would hear God's words. They
answered, " Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan
and hast a devil?" Jesus calmly answers, " If a man
keep my sayings, he shall never see death." m They re
plied, ' ' Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham
is dead, and the prophets ; and thou sayest that if a man
keep my sayings he shall never taste death. Art thou
greater than our father Abraham, who is dead ? Whom
makest thou thyself?" Jesus said, "Your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was
glad." Abraham had rejoiced in the coming day of
Christ, but the Jews took it as if Jesus had said that he
had seen Abraham, and asked him ; " Thou art not yet
fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" With
this Jesus declares his divine existence from eternity ;
"I say unto you before Abraham was, I am." These
profound words, " I am," were understood as an avowal
of deity, for this was the name of the one true God, and
hence they took up stones to stone him to death. But
Jesus "hid himself and went out of the temple," going
through the midst of them, and so escaped their fury.

334 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXIV.
THE SEVENTY SENT FORTH.
Luke x. 1-24. — Jerusalem, Judea, a.d. 29,
OME months had elapsed since Jesus appointed

s

the twelve and sent them forth to preach and
work miracles in his name. Jesus now selects
from among his disciples attending the feast at Jerusalem
seventy persons, whom he ' ' sent out two and two before
his face, into every city, and place, whither he himself
would come." Why he should have selected this num
ber there have been various conjectures. Some have
thought that it was to correspond to the number of the
Sanhedrin, or to the seventy elders of Israel on whom
the Spirit descended in the wilderness. But the most
probable view is that as the twelve persons sent forth rep
resented the twelve tribes of Israel to whom alone they
were sent, so the seventy represented the supposed
seventy Gentile nations of the world, and this sending
forth of the seventy missionaries signified that the gos
pel was universal, to be carried to all men and nations,
and that the time had now come to begin the work of
gathering the nations to Christ. The reason that he
gives for sending this large number is that the harvest
is great and the laborers few. They were not only re
quired to go, but must pray the Lord of the harvest for
more laborers.
The work of Jesus was not done, though but little time
remained in which it was to be accomplished. Hence
he sent them into the countries and cities that he meant

THE SE VENTY SENT FORTH.

335

himself to visit. The ministry of our Lord had been
chiefly in Galilee, and hence it is more than probable
that these disciples confined their labors to regions where
Christ had not spent much, if any, of his time. It was
for trie briefest period that he meant to be in Samaria
and Galilee, but the most of his remaining work, outside
of Jerusalem, was confined to Judea and Perea. It is
quite likely that the missionary operations of the seventy
were in some parts of Judea, and mainly in populous
Perea. In traversing the valley of the Jordan they would
meet many travelers, both Jews and Gentiles.
The power bestowed on the seventy was not so great as
that bestowed on the twelve, nor were they to meet with
persecutions such as were encountered by the twelve.
Their instructions were mainly different from those
given to the twelve. They were to go forth as lambs
among wolves ; they were to provide no support for
themselves, but to live by the gospel ; they were to salute
no man by the way ; they were to command the peace of
God upon the household that received them ; were to
abide with the worthy, and were to eat in contentment
such things as were set before them ; they were to heal
the sick ; to preach that the kingdom of heaven had
come nigh ; and to shake off the dust against any city or
house rejecting them. Dr. W. M. Thomson says :
' ' There is such an amount of insincerity, flattery and falsehood
in the terms of salutation, prescribed by etiquette, that our Lord,
who is truth itself, desired his representatives to dispense with
them as far as possible ; perhaps, tacitly to rebuke them. These
instructions were also intended to reprove another propensity
which an Oriental can scarcely resist. No matter how urgent
his business, if he meets an acquaintance he must stop and make
an endless number of inquiries and answer as many. The com
mand of our Saviour strictly forbade all such loiterings."

336 THE STORY OF JESUS.
As to the city that rejected them, or refused to receive
their word, Jesus says that it shall be more tolerable in
the day of judgment for Sodom than for that city. Those
who would not hear them, despised and rejected him.
Then he again upbraided those cities in which his
mighty works were done, because they did not repent
and believe ; and again pronounced the woe of doom
against Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum.
"It appears from the Lord's sending of the seventy that all
personal efforts and public movements for extending the truth
and increasing righteousness in the world are really parts of his
work, and are dependent on his spiritual power. Christendom,
everywhere, is full of beneficent activities. They are philan
thropic, educational, sanitary, reformatory, missionary. Some
times they scarcely recognize, and oftener they fail to praise with
conscious and explicit gratitude the Great Fountain from which
they spring, the ever-present Leader who inspires and sends
them ; but none the less are they the merciful emanations of the
one great central, mighty and missionary Heart, which has
brought the love of heaven into the dwellings of man."
While Jesus was in Jerusalem, or its vicinity, the
seventy whom he had sent out returned to him, and, like
the twelve, filled with joy because the demons were sub
ject to them through his name. Jesus then declares to
them that he in prophetic vision beheld Satan fall like a
lightning flash from his lofty throne, and that the entire
kindom of evil was shaken. However, they were not to
rejoice that evil spirits were subject to them, but rather
that their names were written in heaven. Jesus then
gave thanks to his Father, the Lord of heaven and earth,
that he had hid the things of salvation from the wise and
prudent, according to this world's estimate, and in their
own eyes, and had revealed them, according to his own
good pleasure, unto babes — that is, those who are hum
ble and teachable.

THE SEVENTY SENT FORTH.

337

He then declares that all things are delivered to
him by the Father. No man knows the Son but
the Father, and no one knows the Father but the
Son, and "he to whom the Son will reveal him. ' '
Then he says to them privately : ' ' Blessed are the eyes
that see the things that ye see ; for I tell you that many
prophets and kings have desired to see the things that
ye see and have not seen them ; and to hear the things
that ye hear, and have not heard them. ' ' By this he
means that the days of the Messiah on earth were the
glorious days in the eyes of all pious Jews who lived in
former times, but who, through faith, longed for and
hoped to see — as did Simeon and Anna in the temple —
the day of God's promised salvation. This coveted priv
ilege had fallen to the lot of these disciples who now saw
his wonderful works and heard his equally wonderful
words.

WOMEN GRINDING.

15

338 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXV.
THE GOOD SAMARITAN.
Luke x. 25-42 ; xi. 1-13. — Judea, Bethany, a.d. 29.
A CERTAIN lawyer presented at this time this im
portant inquiry; "What shall I do to inherit
eternal life ? ' ' Jesus asked him what was writ
ten in the law which he had made a study; and he re
plied; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and
with all thy mind ; and thy neighbor as thyself. ' ' Jesus
said to him, ' ' Thou hast answered right. This do and
thou shalt live. ' ' This man we are told, tempted Jesus
with this question, and yet he answered wisely in bring
ing together two widely separated texts — the first in
Deuteronomy and the second in Leviticus — which con
tain in substance all the moral law, and are the same that
Jesus afterwards used, and declared that they contain all
the law and the prophets. There seems to have been
some degree of sincerity about this man, and Jesus an
swered him kindly. But the lawyer thought to show
how much he knew and how good he was; so he asked
another question; "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus an
swered by relating the parable of the Good Samaritan.
His design in relating this parable was first to prove to
this lawyer that true charity required more than he
supposed, and then to teach all men the nature and ex
tent of brotherly love.

THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

339

"The road from Jerusalem to Jericho passes through the heart
of the eastern division of the wilderness of Judea, and runs for a
considerable distance along the abrupt and winding sides of a
deep and rocky ravine, offering the greatest facilities for con
cealment and attack. From the number of robberies committed
in it the Jews of old called it ' The Bloody Road, ' and it retained its
character well. We traveled it, guarded by a dozen Arabs, who
told of an English party that, the year before, had been attacked,
and plundered and stripped ; and we were kept in constant alarm
by the scouts sent out beforehand announcing the distant sight
of dangerous-looking Bedouins. All the way from Bethany to
the Plain of the Jordan is utter solitude."
"Jericho was a city of priests, as well as of publicans. The
Talmudists tell us that there were almost as many priests there
as at Jerusalem itself ; so that it is a stroke from life to introduce
in the parable of the Samaritan the priest and the Levite as
passing exactly along that road which led from one of the cities
where they dwelt to the other, where their duties called them."
" A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho
and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his rai
ment and wounded him, departed, and leaving him half
dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that
way; and when he saw him he passed by on the other
side, and likewise a Levite, when he was at the place,
came and looked on him, and passed by on the other
side." Doubtless this wounded man was a Jew, and
here are Jewish servants of the temple, the teachers and
leaders of their religion, and the interpreters for the peo
ple of that law which required them to help a brother to
raise an ox or an ass that fell by the way, and not to hide
from one needing help; these men, without any mercy
or compassion, leave the unfortunate man to perish.
"But a certain Samaritan," — a man of that half-
heathen race, so despised and hated of the Jews, — "as he
journeyed came where the wounded man was; and when

340 THE JSTOR Y OF JESUS.
he saw him he had compassion on him, and bound up
his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his
own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of
him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took
out two pence, ' ' the purchasing value of which would be
about two dollars of our money, and gave them to the
host and said to him: "Take care of him, and whatsoever
thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay
thee." "Which now of these three," asked Jesus,
"thinkest thou is neighbor to him that fell among
thieves ? ' ' And the lawyer answered : " He that showed
mercy on him." Then said Jesus, "Go and do thou
likewise." Jesus reverses the question of the lawyer. He
asked, who is the neighbor to whom I am to show
the services of love ? But the Lord tells him that he
who shows love is a neighbor. The truth Christ teaches
is that a fellow-mortal — friend or foe — in need is our
neighbor and our brother. "That is true human charity
that shows itself in prompt, efficient, self-forgetful, self-
sacrificing help. It is not those who will weep the
readiest over the sorrow who will do the most to relieve
it." This law of love is violated, and the example
of the priest and the Levite is followed, when men on
the land, or on the sea, will pass unheeding a human cry
of distress or a call for help.
Jesus is himself the Good Samaritan, who came to save
the needy. ' ' Beautiful as this parable is, when taken
simply according to the letter, and full of incentives to
active mercy and love, bidding us to be kind and tender
hearted, yet how much lovelier still when we trace in it
a deeper meaning, and see the work of the merciful Son
of man himself portrayed to us here. ' '

THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

341

The first visit to Bethany and to the home of Martha
and Mary occurred at this time. ' ' He entered into a
certain village, and a certain woman named Martha re
ceived him into her house." Dr. Butler says:
"The three months from the feast of the tabernacles to that of
dedication — September to December — were spent in Jerusalem.
During this period we are first introduced to the family of Beth
any, where Jesus found the most restful and homelike tarrying-
place that he seems to have enjoyed. Situated on the eastern
slope of the Mount of Olives, in distance scarcely three-quarters
of an hour's walk from Jerusalem, it offered a convenient and
agreeable place of occasional quiet retreat from all other human
companionship, even that of his disciples. This Bethany cottage
on the eastern -slope of Olivet, and the more familiar garden of
Gethsemane on the western, were his two chief resting-places
near Jerusalem."
Of these two sisters, Martha seems to have been at the
head of the house, and probably the older. The family
. consisted of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, their brother,
and must have been in easy circumstances and of some
note. Martha, busy preparing the entertainment for her
Lord, seems somewhat vexed that Mary sits at the feet of
Jesus communing with him, while she is doing the ser
vice of the household. She even reflects upon Jesus for
allowing it. But Jesus gently rebukes Martha and com
mends Mary. ' ' Martha, Martha, thou art careful and
troubled about many things; but one thing is heedful;
and Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be
taken away from her. " It is well for us if we can learn
that there is one thing needful, and combine the thrift of
Martha with the devotion of Mary.
It was near Bethany, or Jerusalem, in one of his usual
places of prayer, and after he had spent a time in devo
tion, that his disciples said to him, ' ' Lord, teach us to

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THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

343

pray, as John also taught his disciples." He then re
peated for them, again, substantially what is called the
Lord's Prayer. He also encourages them to prayer, by
the parable of the man who went at midnight to his
friend, to borrow three loaves of bread, to feed a
friend who had come on a long journey to visit him.
His request was at first refused, because his friend within
Was in bed and the door was shut; but finally he obtained
all he wanted, because he was so urgent in his appeal.
Much more will prayer avail with your Father in heaven.
Besides, an earthly father would not give his son a stone
for bread, or a serpent for a fish, or a scorpion for an egg.
" If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? "

V K

THE FATTED CALF.

344 THE STORY OF JESUS.

I

CHAPTER LXVI.
HYPOCRISY EXPOSED.
LukexL 14 — xiii. 1-9. — Judea, a.d. 29.
N the following record, according to Luke, we shall
find many truths and illustrations which our Sa
viour used on other occasions.
Says Dr. G. W. Clark :
' ' It will be seen what havoc the principle that Jesus never re
peated his doctrine would make if strictly carried out. It is
much better and wiser to regard this chapter as a fine illustra
tion of the manner in which Jesus used the same truths on dif
ferent occasions and in different trains of thought."
Jesus cured a demoniac who was both blind and dumb,
so that when the demon had gone out, the dumb spake
and the blind saw. The people wondered, but some re
peated the old charge against him: "He casteth out
devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils."
And others, tempting him, demanded a sign from heaven
to prove his claims to the Messiahship. But Jesus an
swered them as he had done before, that a kingdom
divided against itself could not stand, thus showing the
absurdity of their accusation. A woman who was pres
ent was evidently so much struck with the admirable an
swer that Jesus made, that she broke forth into praise of
the woman who had been privileged to be his mother —
the mother of the Messiah. But Jesus, with no want of
loving regard for his mother, said, " Yea, rather blessed
are they that hear the word of God and keep it. ' '
When the people were gathered together he answered

HYPOCRISY EXPOSED.

345.

them who sought a sign from him, saying, ' ' An evil
generation seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given them
save the sign of the prophet Jonah ;" by which he again
refers to his death and resurrection. The men of Nine
veh who repented at the preaching of Jonah, and the
queen of Sheba, who came to hear the wisdom of Solo
mon, would condemn this people in the judgment, be
cause they had rejected one greater than Solomon.
' ' Christ tells them that they will not see the significance
of his teaching and miracles because they shut the eyes
of their understanding which should be the light of the
soul ; this is set before them in a parable concerning the
light of the body, which is the outward eye." Jesus
tells of the case of the evil spirit cast out, who returns
to take possession again of the soul, with greater power
for evil.
While he was thus teaching, a Pharisee invited him to
dine with him — perhaps we would call it breakfast, for
the Jews, like the Romans and Greeks, had two meals a
day, — one about ten o'clock, consisting mostly of fruits,
and the other and principal meal at about three o'clock
in the afternoon. This invitation was to the first meal.
Jesus accepted and reclined at table. But the Pharisee
wonders that his guest has omitted a traditional cere
mony. Jesus had been among a crowd of people and
certainly had been touched by them, and this would ren
der him unclean, unless he washed his hands before dip ¦
ping his fingers in the common dish and eating with
them as was customary.
But. Jesus, knowing his thoughts, seizes this op
portunity to expose the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.
He tells them that God made the soul as well as
the body ; and that' while they were very particu-
15*

346 THE STORY OF JESUS.
lar about outward things— to have the cup and plate
clean— their inner part was full of ravening and wicked
ness. He tells them to use their unjust gains to make
restitution and to supply the necessities of the poor. He
pronounces a woe upon them because they are so partic
ular about paying tithes as their religion demanded, in
small things such as giving a tenth ' ' of mint and rue,
and all manner of herbs ;" but pass over judgment and
the love of God, forgetting to be just to men and rever
ential to God. Jesus emphasizes the spiritual nature of
religion. It was well to give tithes of all things, but
not to neglect weightier matters. He also rebukes them
for loving the ' ' uppermost seats in the synagogues and
greetings in the markets," and declares that they are
like the graves that appear not, over which men walk,
unconscious of the corruption that lies buried under
neath. One of the lawyers present remonstrated ; ' ' Master,
thou reproachest us also. ' ' Jesus at once pronounces
a woe upon his class ; for putting grievous relig
ious burdens upon others that they were unwilling
to bear themselves ; for building the sepulchres of the
prophets whom their fathers had killed, and whose deeds
they repeated. ' ' Therefore also saith the wisdom of
God, ' ' by which Jesus means the Scriptures, ' ' I will
send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they
shall persecute and slay ; that the blood of all the
prophets which was shed from the foundation of the
world, may be required of this generation ; from the
blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah, who perished
between the altar and the temple ; verily I say unto you,
it shall be required of this generation." And God did
require it from the people of Jesus' day, because they

HYPOCRISY EXPOSED.

347

rejected his Son and put him to death. It' was custom
ary among the Jews to give a key to scribes or lawyers,
as a symbol that they had authority to interpret and
teach the law and the prophets ; and Jesus accuses the
lawyers of taking away the key of knowledge, the true
knowledge of the Scriptures, and refusing to enter them
selves or to let others enter.
His teaching stirred up the scribes and Pharisees
against him. They questioned him "vehemently," and
lying in wait for him, tried to provoke him to speak in
such a way as to enable them to accuse him. In the
meantime the crowd grew greater about him, so that the
people trod one upon another, and he began to say to his
disciples first of all : " Beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." It would yet be ex
posed. What they had spoken secretly would be known
abroad. My friends, continued Jesus, be not afraid of
them that kill the body. Fear him who has power to
cast into hell. Five sparrows are sold for two farthings,
and yet these almost valueless birds are not forgotten of
God. Ye are of more value than many of these, and the
very hairs of your head are all numbered. It is neces
sary to confess me before men, he says, if you wish not
to be denied before my Father in heaven. He that speaks
against the Son of man shall be forgiven ; but he that
blasphemeth against the Holy Spirit shall never be par
doned. When they bring you into synagogues and be
fore magistrates and powers, take no thought as to what
ye shall say, for the Holy Spirit shall give you words of
utterance. While he was addressing his disciples thus, he was in
terrupted by one of the people, who said: "Master,
speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with

348 THE STORY OF JESUS.
me." But Jesus refused to interfere in such matters,
disclaiming the thought that he was a judge in temporal
things. He rebuked the man, saying, ' ' Beware of
covetousness, for a man's life consists not in the abun
dance of the things which he possesses." He enforced
this thought with the parable of the rich fool, whose
land brought forth so plentifully that he had no place to
stow the harvest ; so, instead of distributing it to the
poor and needy, he determined to pull down his barns
and build greater, and then say to his soul, " Soul, thou
hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease,
eat, drink and be merry. " But God said, "Thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee ; then whose
shall those things be which thou hast provided?" So
is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich
toward God.
Again addressing his disciples, he continued, " There
fore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what
ye shall eat, neither for the body, what ye shall put
on." Take no anxious thought, life is more than food,
and the body than the clothes it wears. The
ravens neither sow nor reap, have neither store-house
nor barn ; yet the Lord feedeth them. How much bet
ter you are than the fowls ! You cannot, by taking
thought, prolong your life one moment, and if you are
not able to do that which is least, why take thought for
the rest ?
Then Jesus uttered those beautiful words, ' ' Con
sider the lilies of the field how they grow : they
toil not, neither do they spin, yet I say unto you that
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day
in the field and to-morrow is cast into the. oven, how

HYPOCRISY EXPOSED.

349

much more will he clothe you, O, ye of little faith !
And seek not ye what ye shall eat or what ye shall
drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind, for all these
things do the nations of the world seek after ; and your
Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But
rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things
shall be added unto you." He further admonished
them to "fear not," though but a "little flock;" to
sell all and give alms ; to provide unfailing treasure in
heaven ; to have their loins girded about, and their
lamps trimmed and burning like men watching for their
Lord's return. Blessed are the servants found watching.
"Be ye ready also ; for the Son of man cometh at an
hour when ye think not. ' '
Jesus had spoken first to his disciples, and then to the
multitude, so now Peter asks him whether this parable
was meant for the apostles or for all. Jesus answers him
indirectly and by a question. It is, of course, to them
first as his servants, to stewards of the household, but to
all generally in his house. It becomes all to be faithful
and wise. The servant that knew his Lord's will and
did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. The faith
ful and obedient servant who watches for his Lord will
be rewarded. But the servant who lords it over God's
heritage — who lives an outrageous life regardless of
God's benefits — will be cut off with the unbelievers.
He told them that he had come to send fire on earth, to
destroy and purify ; that he had a baptism to be bap
tized with ; that he came to cause divisions on the earth
and to divide households ; that as they discerned the
signs of the weather, so they should ' ' discern this
time ; " that as they could wisely agree with an adver
sary, when in the wrong, before reaching the magistrate

350 THE STORY OF JESUS.
and being hopelessly committed to prison, so they
should exercise repentance before God and accept his
Son before it was forever too late.
There were present at this time some who told Jesus
of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with
their sacrifices. We know nothing of this occurrence
save what is here said ; but we can readily see how, by
the order of Pilate, the Roman garrison, who occupied
the tower of Antonia, overlooking the temple court,
could rush down the connecting flight of steps and sup
press any disturbance that threatened the peace of Jeru
salem, and falling upon the Galilean worshipers with.
the sword, the blood of the victims would flow with that
of the sacrifices that had been offered. But Jesus cor
rected the impression of the Jews that because these
men were slain they were necessarily greater sinners
than all other Galileans ; and that those eighteen on
whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them were sin
ners above all the dwellers in Jerusalem. It is true that
suffering comes of sin. God is not to be blamed for it.
But often the innocent suffer with the guilty, and we are
not to judge of personal character by providential dis
pensations. Sin is the cause of all suffering, but ' ' Whom
the Lord loveth he chasteneth." Calamities are
often blessings. Hence these men were not to be
judged sinners above others because they suffered ; "I
tell you," said Jesus, "except ye repent ye shall all
likewise perish." Ye who hear me must repent or
you will suffer for your sin. These instances are loud
calls to repentance. And destruction did overtake these
impenitent Jews. As the tower of Siloam fell and
crushed some, so multitudes of the dwellers of Jerusa-

HYPOCRISY EXPOSED.

351

lem were crushed and killed beneath the ruins of their
own city and temple, and during the last siege of the
city, great numbers were pierced through with Roman
darts in the courts of the temple while in the act of sac
rificing, so that their blood was actually mingled with
the blood of their sacrifices.
' ' The previous discourse of Jesus, severe and full of
rebuke, is here closed by a parable in which the merciful
Son of man again brings the side of grace prominently
forward. ' ' He spoke the parable of a fig tree planted in
a vineyard, from which the owner sought fruit in its
season, and found none. Then he said to the dresser of
the vineyard, " Behold, these three years I come seeking
fruit on this fig tree and find none ; cut it down ; why
cumbereth it the ground ? But he, answering, said
unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also till I shall dig
about it and dung it : and if it bear fruit, well ; and if
not, then after that thou shalt cut it down." Would
they heed this warning ?

"THEY ALL BEGAN TO MAKE EXCUSE."

352 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXVII.
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
John ix. i — x. 1-42. — Jerusalem, A d. 29.
S Jesus ' ' passed by " he saw a man who had been

A

blind from his birth. His disciples asked whether
this man's blindness came from his own or his
parents' sin. Jesus answered, "Neither, but that the
works of God should be made manifest in him. ' ' He
said that the time would come when none could work,
and that he must do God's work while it was day. "As
long as I am in the world I am the light of the world."
Jesus spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle and
anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay and told
him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. He went
and washed, and came seeing. And it was the Sabbath
day. His neighbors said, ' ' Is not this he that sat and
begged?" Some replied "It is he," and others said,
"It is like him." But he said, " I am he." They ask
him how he was cured, and he told them how and by
whom, "A man called Jesus." But he could not tell
them where Jesus then was. They brought him to the
Pharisees. To them he again stated his cure. Some of
them said of Jesus, " This man is not of God, because he
keepeth not the Sabbath day." Others said, " How can
a man that is a sinner do such miracles ? " When they
asked the blind man what he had to say, he replied, ' ' He
is a prophet."
But the Jews refused to believe that he had been blind
and had received his sight until they called his parents,

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

$53

who said that he was their son, and was born blind,
but that the3^ knew nothing about how his sight was
restored. " He is of age, ask him," they said, for they
feared the Jews, who had agreed alread}- to put out of
the synagogue any one who confessed Jesus as the
Christ Then they examined the son. ' ' Give God the
glory ; we know that this man is a sinner." But he
answered, ' ' Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not :
one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I
see." They asked, " How opened he thine eyes ? " He
replied : "I have told you already, and ye did not
hear, wherefore would ye hear it again ? Will ye also
be his disciples ? ' ' Then they reviled him and said,
"Thou art his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We
know that God spake unto Moses, but as for this fellow,
we know not from whence he is." The man answered,
' ' Why, herein is a marvelous thing ; that ye know not
from whence he is ; yet he hath opened mine eyes ! Now
we know that God heareth not sinners ; but if any man
be a worshiper of God and doeth his will, him he hear
eth. Since the world began was it not heard that any
man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this
man "were not of God he could do nothing." These
words were true. Jesus had given the most unmistaka
ble proofs of his divine mission ; but the Jews had deter
mined beforehand not to receive him, so they answered,
' ' Thou wast altogether born in sins ; and dost thou teach
us ? " And cast him out of the synagogue.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and sought him
and said to him, ' ' Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? ' '
He replied, "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on
him ?' ' Jesus said, ' ' Thou hast both seen him and he it is
that talketh to thee. ' ' And the man exclaimed, ' ' Lord,

354 ™E STORY OF JESUS.
I believe," and worshiped Jesus. There are those blind
who can see, and that see who are blind. Eyes may be
opened to the things of this world that never discern the
things of the world to come. How highly favored are
those who, like this man, have eyes to see the beauties of
nature, and faith to see the glories of the unseen arid
eternal world ! Jesus said that he came into the world
for judgment that they who see not might see, and that
they who see might be made blind. The Pharisees asked
him, ' ' Are we blind also ? ' ' Jesus answered, "If ye
were blind ye should have no sin ; but now ye say, ' we
see,' therefore your sin remain eth." Ignorance would
have excused them, but their boast of knowledge was a
witness against themselves.
It was probably on this same occasion that Jesus,
changing the illustration, proceeded to speak by a para
ble of true and false teachers and leaders. He is the
door of the sheep-fold and there is no other way of en
trance into the church save by him. Thieves and rob
bers climb over the wall and get in some other way.
The shepherd enters by the door. He owns the sheep
and calls them by name. His sheep know his voice and
he leads them out, going before them, as an eastern
shepherd always does, and they follow him, but they will
not follow a stranger. The Jewish teachers seemed not
to understand what Jesus meant by this parable, but he
referred to them. They were thieves and robbers, and
meant to kill and steal, because they refused to enter by
the door. "By me if any man enter in, he shall be
saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. I am
come that they might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly." Jesus likens himself to
the shepherd and also to the door : "I am the good

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

355

shepherd." As such he was to lay down his life
voluntarily for the sheep and to take it up again, not
fleeing as the hireling, but defending the flock from the
wolf. He knows each one of his sheep and is known by
them ; he gathers together all his sheep from every coun
try into one flock. This he declares is the will of his
heavenly Father, who knows him and loves him and
approves his work. These sayings cause a division
among the Jews respecting him. Some said, ' ' He hath
a demon and is mad. Why hear ye him ?" Others said,
These are not the words of him that hath a demon. ' ' Can
a demon open the eyes of the blind ?"
It seems that these events occurred in the temple at
the feast of the dedication, or of the renovation. "This
festival was instituted by Jttdaeus Maccabeus in the year
164 B.C. The city and temple were taken by Antiochus
Epiphanes, in the year 1 67 b. c. He slew forty thousand
inhabitants and sold forty thousand more as slaves. In
addition to this he sacrificed a sow on the altar of burnt
offerings, and a broth made of this he sprinkled all over
the temple. The temple and city were recovered three
years afterward by Judseus Maccabeus, and the temple
purified with great pomp and solemnity. The ceremony
continued through eight days, during which Judasus
presented magnificent victims and celebrated the praise
of God with hymns and psalms." This festival was cel
ebrated not only in the temple, but all over the land, in
the homes of the people, which were illuminated at
night, and hence it was called also the feast of lights.
The celebration of this feast was in winter, beginning on
the 25th of the month Khislev, which began with the
new moon, in December.
Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. It

(356)

THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

357

may be that he sought this shelter owing to the inclem
ency of the weather. This porch was a colonnade or
covered way on the eastern side of the temple area, which
derived its name from the fact that it was built of the
materials which had formed part of the ancient temple of
Solomon ; it looked out over the Mount of Olives and
stood over the vast wall which Solomon had built from
the valley far below. It was while walking upon the
variously colored marble floor, and among the great white
marble columns supporting the cedar roof, that Jesus was
accosted by the Jews with the accusing question, ' ' How
long dost thou make us to doubt ? If thou be the Christ
tell us plainly. " As if he were the cause of their doubt.
Jesus answered, ' ' I told you and ye believed not. ' ' He
then referred to the works he had done in his Father's
name, which proved that he was the Messiah. Jesus
had also plainly told them that he was the Son of God.
They had so understood him and had charged him with
blasphemy for making the claim. He now tells them
again, but they did not believe. They believed not be
cause they were not his sheep. ' ' My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them and they follow me, and I give
unto them eternal life ; they shall never perish, neither
shall any one pluck them out of my hand. My Father
who gave them me is greater than all, and no man is
able to pluck them out of my Father's hand ; I and my
Father are one. ' '
At this plain and distinct claim of equality with God
they took up stones to stone him. But he calmly asked
them, for which of his many works were they about to
stone him. But they replied, that it was for none of
these, but "because thou, being a man, makest thyself
God." Jesus answered, " Is it not written in your law,

358

THE STORY OF JESUS.

I said ye are gods ? If he called them gods, unto whom
the word of God came,, say ye of him whom the Father
hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemest,
because I said, I am the Son of God ? If I do not the
works of my Father, believe me not, but if I do, though
ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know
and believe that the Father is in me and I in him."
These words had no pacifying effect on them, for they
again sought to arrest him, but he quietly escaped out of
their hands and went away again beyond Jordan in
Perea, where John at first baptized, and there remained
and taught. Many came to hear him and said, "John
did no miracle, but all these things that John spake of
this man were true," and many believed on him. " It
seems from this that John's preaching was not forgotten
after his death; though it seemed to produce little effect
during his life. Herod could cut off his head, but he
could not prevent his words from being remembered. ' '

AN EASTERN SHEEPFOI,D.

JESUS' MINISTRY IN PEREA. 359

CHAPTER L XVIII.
JESUS' MINISTRY IN PEREA.
John xi. 1-16 ; Luke xiii.-xiv. — Perea, a.d. 30.
JUDEA and Galilee were now closed against Jesus,
and he goes to the half-heathen people beyond Jor
dan in Perea. Here he is safe and here there is a
work to be done. He had sent the seventy to prepare
the way for him, and here he now journeyed and taught.
Many believed on him.
He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sab
bath. A woman was present who had a spirit of infirm
ity eighteen years and was bowed down together and
could not lift herself up. Jesus laid his hand on her and
said, ' ' Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity, ' '
and immediately she was made straight and praised God.
But the ruler of the synagogue, because the woman was
healed on the Sabbath day, was filled with indignation,
and said that there were six days in which the people
could come and be healed. "Thou hypocrite," ex
claimed Jesus, you loose an ox or an ass from the stall
and lead it out to water on the Sabbath ; ought not this
daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound these
eighteen years, to be loosed on the Sabbath ? His ad
versaries were all ashamed, and the people rejoiced and
glorified God.
He then in his teaching likened the kingdom to the
growth of the mustard seed, which, from a small seed,
became a great tree ; and to leaven, which a woman hid
in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened.

360 THE STORY1 OF JESUS.
And as he " went through the cities and villages teach
ing, and journeying toward Jerusalem, ' ' one asked him,
"Lord, are there few that be saved?" He answered,
' ' Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for many will
seek to enter in and shall not be able." He impressed
upon them the necessity of immediate efforts to over
come the obstacles to salvation. Many seek too late,
when the door is shut. They will say, "Lord, open
unto us, we have eaten in thy presence and thou hast
taught in our streets. ' ' But the Lord will say, ' ' I know
you not ; depart ye workers of iniquity." Then there
will be mourning when they see Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob in the kingdom, and when many shall come from
the east and the west, the north and the south, and
enter the kingdom, and they themselves shall be shut
out; some of them who enjoyed the best opportunities
now would find themselves lost in the end, and some
who had few privileges would be first.
The same day some of the Pharisees warned him to
depart because Herod Antipas, who ruled in Galilee and
Perea, and who killed John the Baptist, sought to slay
him. But Jesus replied, "Go ye and tell that fox,"
with all his low cunning and wicked artfulness, that I
fear him not, and shall continue my work casting out
demons and curing diseases, until my work is finished,
the third day from to-day, and then I shall depart. ' ' It
cannot be," he adds, " that a prophet perish out of Jeru
salem." Then he uttered that most touching lamenta
tion, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the proph
ets and stonest them that are sent unto thee ; how often
would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth
gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not.
Behold your house is left unto you desolate ; and verily

JESUS' MINISTRY IN PEREA. 361
I say unto you, Ye shall not see me until the time come
when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name
of the Lord."
Afterwards he went, by invitation, into the house of
one of the chief Pharisees, a member of the Sanhedrin,
probably to eat bread on the Sabbath day. And there
was present a man who had the dropsy. Jesus asked the
lawyers and the Pharisees whether it was lawful to heal
on the Sabbath. But they held their peace ; so he
healed the man and let him go. Then he asked,
"Which of you, having an ass or an ox fall into a
pit, will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath
day?" Again they answered nothing. When Jesus
saw how those who were invited to dinner chose the
chief places at the table, he put forth this parable,
"When thou art bidden to a wedding, sit not down in
the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou
be bidden, and he that bade thee come and say to thee,
Give this man place, and thou begin with shame to take
the lowest room. But go and sit in the lowest room,
that, when he that bade thee cometh, he may say to
thee, Friend, go up higher ; then shalt thou have wor
ship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee,
for whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased and he
that humbleth himself shall be exalted: ' '
And he said to the Pharisee who had invited him that
when he made a supper he should not call his friends or
relatives or brethren or his rich neighbors, lest they
recompense him by inviting him in return ; but to in
vite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind ; for they
could not recompense him ; but he would be rewarded
in the resurrection of the just. One of the guests at the
table, when he heard these things, said, " Blessed is he
16

3^2

THE STORY OF JESUS.

that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." Then
Jesus related to them the parable of the Great Supper.
The Jews expected that the new kingdom was to be
ushered in by a great festival. He tells them that a man
once made a great supper and invited many, in time for
them to be ready to come when it was prepared. When
the time had come he sent his servants to them all, to
say, ' ' Come, for all things are now ready. ' ' But they
all began with one consent to make excuse. One had
bought a piece of ground, and must go and see it. An-

" GO OUT AND COMPEL THEM TO COME IN.

other had bought a fine yoke of oxen, and he must go
and try them. Still another had married a wife, and he
could not come. So all begged to be excused. Then
the master of the house was angry, and said to his ser
vants, "Go quickly into the streets and lanes of the
city, and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the
halt- and the blind." The servants returned, and said,
"Lord, it is done, and still there is room." Then the

JESUS' MINISTRY IN PEREA. 363
lord commanded them to go out into the highways and
hedges and bring in the poor laborer and the lone trav
eler, and compel them all, regardless of condition, to
come in, that the house may be filled, ' ' for none of
those that were first bidden shall taste of my supper. ' '
By this parable Jesus meant to teach howT dangerous it
is to reject the gospel as the Jews were doing, for God
would turn with his gracious offers to the heathen.
Great multitudes of people were now following him as
they had done in Galilee -and Judea, and he turned and
said to them, that no one could be his disciple who did
not love him more than father, mother, wife and chil
dren, brothers and sisters, and his own life also, and that
he must give up all for him. Men must count the cost
of being his disciples. If a man proposes to build a
tower, he will first count the cost, and see if he has the
means to finish it. He would not la}- the foundation
and then have to stop, unable to finish it, and be mocked
for his failure. A king, going' to war against another,
would first consider whether he was able with his ten
thousand men to meet and defeat his adversary with
twentv thousand ; and if he could not he would send
messengers to make peace while his adversary was a
great wav off. Jesus means to teach by these examples,
that in following him, men must be willing to give up
all. This is the cost, and no one need hope to succeed
in the Christian life unless he counts upon this : The
loss of all things for Christ. The disciple who has lost
his savor of piety is good for nothing — like the tasteless
salt. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

364 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXIX.
THE LOST SHEEP ; THE LOST COIN ; THE LOST SON.
Luke xv. 1-32. — Perea, a.d. 30.
TV /TARK says of Jesus that "the common people
-A-V-I- heard him gladly." This is easily explained,
when we understand the relation between the
upper and the lower classes, or the rulers and the people ;
and then observe how friendly Jesus was to the masses,
the poor and the outcast. This drew them near him
and made them willing to hear him.
"The aristocracy of religion looked with hatred and disdain
on the masses of their own nation, and with bitterness still
deeper on all men of foreign birth. The ruin of long, disastrous
years of civil war and foreign domination had covered the land
with misery. In a land thus doubly afflicted by social proscrip
tion, and by ever-increasing social distress, a land of mutual ha
treds and wrongs, the suffering multitudes hailed with instinc
tive enthusiasm one who, like Jesus, ignored baleful prejudices ;
taught the sunken and hopeless to respect themselves still, by
showing them that he, at least, still spoke kindty and hopefully
to them in all their sinfulness and misery ; and by his looks and
words, no less than by his acts, seemed to beckon the unfortunate
together around him as their friend. It must have spread far and
wide from his first entrance on his ministry that he had chosen a
publican as one of his inmost circle of disciples, and that he had
not disdained to mingle with the most forlorn and sunken of the
nation, even in the friendliness of the table or the cottage.
From many a windowless hovel where the smoke of the house
hold fire made its way out only by the door, and the one earth-
floored apartment was shared by the wretched family, with the
fowls, or even the beasts they chanced to own — a hovel in which

THE LOST SHEEP-LOST COIN LOST SON.

365

the priest or Rabbi would have died rather thart defile himself by
entering, the story spread how the great Galileean teacher had
not only entered, but had done so to raise the dying and bless the
living. All over the land it ran from mouth to mouth that for
the first time a great Rabbi had appeared, who was no respecter
of persons, but let himself be anointed by a poor penitent sinner,
and sat in the booth with a hated publican, and mingled freely
in the market-place with the crowds whose very neighborhood
others counted pollution.
"Hence the multitude who, on his last journey, especially,
gather around Jesus with friendly sympathy and readiness to re
ceive his instructions, were largely composed of the degraded
and the despised — the ' publicans and the sinners ' from far and
near. The Rabbis enjoined that a teacher should keep aloof
from such people, even if one had the worthy design of exhort
ing them to read the law, that is, even with the view of reclaim
ing them."
We see now the bearing of the three parables, all
illustrating the one truth — that Jesus came upon the
heaven-born mission of seeking and saving the lost.
When the " publicans and sinners " drew near to hear
him, and the scribes and Pharisees murmured, saying,
This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them, Jesus
spoke this parable unto them : What man of you having
a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them does not leave
the ninetv and nine grazing in the fields and go after the
lost one until he find it ; and when he finds it, will he
not gladly carry it home on his shoulder, and then call
his neighbors and friends to rejoice with him, because the
lost sheep was found ? Likewise there shall be joy in
heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over
ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance.
You, scribes and Pharisees, elders and rabbis, call your- „
selves righteous and in no need of repentance, and more
over you would not stoop to save one of these sinners ;

366 THE STORY OF JESUS.
but heaven rejoices over the repentance of the lowliest
and most sinful of men.
And again, what woman, having ten pieces of silver,
if she lose one piece does not light a lamp and sweep over
the ground floor of her windowless hovel, diligently
searching until she find it, and then call in her neighbors
to rejoice with her ? Even so there is joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one penitent sinner, and if
heaven rejoices, how much more should we, when sin
ners are saved ?
Then Jesus relates that chief of parables entitled the
Prodieal Son. A certain man had two sons. The
younger of them asked his father for the portion of
his estate that would come to him — one-half as much
as the elder son would receive ; and he divided between
them his living. Not long after the younger son,
wanting to get away from the wholesome restraints of
home, gathered together all that belonged to him and
went into a far country, where he wasted his substance
in riotous living. When he had spent all, a mighty
famine arose in the land, and being in want he hired
himself to a citizen of the country, who sent him into
his field to tend swine, a most loathsome work to a Jew.
Here he was neglected and left without food, so that
he was tempted to eat "the pods of the carob-tree,"
which were the food of the swine, and which were
eaten by none save, sometimes, by the very poor ; and
no man gave unto him even any of these to eat.
When he came to himself he said, How many hired
servants in my father's house have enough and to spare,
and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my
father, and will say, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy

THE PARAiLC

368 THE STORY OF JESUS.
son ; make me as one of thy hired servants. And he
arose and came to his father. But when he was a great
way off his father saw and recognized him, even in his
wretched condition, and had compassion on him, and ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said,
Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight
and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the
father says to his servants, Bring the best robe and put
it on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on
his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and
let us eat and make merry, for this my son was dead and
is alive again ; he was lost and is found.
But the elder son, who had been in the field, returned
home while the rejoicing was at its height. Inquiring
of the servants the meaning of all this, he was told.
And he was angry and would not go in. His father
came out and entreated him. He said to his father,
' ' Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither trans
gressed I any time thy commandment, and yet thou
never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my
friends ; but as soon as this thy son was come, who hath
devoured thy substance with harlots, thou hast killed for
him the fatted calf." And his father replied, "Son,
thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It
was meet that we should make merry and be glad ; for
this thy brother was dead and is alive again ; was lost
and is found."
' ' Henceforth it was proclaimed for all ages, beyond the
possibility of misconception, that in the teaching of
Jesus, God looks with unspeakably greater favor on the
penitent humility of the sinner, with his earnest of grati
tude and love, than on cold correctness in which the
heart has no place."

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 369

CHAPTER LXX.
THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.
Luke xvi. i — xvii 1-10. — Perea, a.d. 30.
JESUS delivered the parable of the unjust steward to
his disciples, yet he seems to have in mind that part
of the multitude following him that were above the
poverty-stricken masses in worldly circumstances, and
who, having had a taste of riches, were striving for more.
A steward was accused to his master of having wasted,
by neglect and extravagance, his goods, of which he
had entire control. He was called to render an account
of his stewardship, with a view of being discharged.
The steward said, What shall I do, for my lord takes
from me the stewardship? I cannot dig, to beg I am
ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that when I am
put out of the stewardship they may receive me into
their houses. So he called to him his lord's tenants,
who owed him rent, and asked each one how much he
had agreed to pay. One said, a hundred bottles of oil.
So the steward said, Take thy bill and sit down, and
write quickly fifty, instead of one hundred. And he
said to another, How much do you owe? and he an
swered, A hundred homers of wheat, and he told him to
alter his writing and make it fifty. Thus the tenants
became parties to the fraud and would feel indebted to
the steward. When the lord heard of this he com
mended, not his dishonesty, for this he was discharged,
but his prudence in caring for the future — for his worldly
wisdom, 16*

370 THE STORY OF JESUS.
The application which our Saviour makes of this
is, ' ' Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you
into the everlasting habitations. ' ' Jesus holds up to his
disciples the foresight of this unfaithful steward, and
teaches them to be as wise in spiritual matters, and to
provide for the soul in spiritual things by using even
the unrighteous mammon or worldly things for spiritual
ends, and thus laying up treasure in heaven. He who is
unfaithful in the least will be unfaithful in much, and he
who is unjust in the least will be unjust in much, and if
they are unfaithful in the earthly stewardship, how can
they hope to have trusted to them the true riches ? If
one is unfaithful in another's, how can he be faithful in
his own ? It is impossible to serve two masters. Service
of heart and hand can be rendered to but one. ' ' Ye
cannot serve God and mammon."
The Pharisees who heard these parables derided him,
for they were covetous. The love of money absorbed
their hearts, and they perceived that Jesus was reproving
them. So Jesus addressed them directly. You Pharisees
try to appear before men as righteous, but God knows
your hearts, that they are evil. Remember that things
which are highly esteemed among men are an abomina
tion to God. The Scriptures written by Moses and the
prophets were preached until John came, and since then
the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and many are
pressing into it. You accuse me of breaking the law;
but " it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than
one tittle of the law to fail. " It is you who violate the
law and teach men so to do. In reference to the law of
divorce for instance, the law, despite your practice and
teaching, is still in force : That whosoever putteth away

(370

372 THE STORY OF JESUS.
his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery, and
whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her hus
band committeth adultery.
To illustrate still further the wisdom of seeking an
eternal heavenlv inheritance rather than the uncertain
and perishing riches of this world, he relates the story of
the Rich Man and Lazarus. There was a rich man who
was clothed in costly purple robes, such as were worn by
princes, and iii fine Egyptian linen, and who lived luxu
riously every da)', feasting habitually. And there was a
poor, despised beggar named Lazarus, whose friends laid
him at the gate of the rich man's house. He was sick and
hungry, and would have been satisfied with the crumbs
that fell from the rich man's table. But no notice was
taken of him, except by the dogs, which, more compas
sionate than their owner, came to relieve his misery by
licking his sores.
Finally the beggar died, and his soul was carried
by the angels and placed on a couch beside the pa
triarch Abraham, in the banqueting hall in heaven.
The rich man also died, and was buried with pomp and
ceremony, and being in torment in hell, he saw and re
cognized afar off Abraham, and Lazarus in his bosom,
enjoying the repose and plenty of the Father's house
above, and he cried, " Father Abraham, have mercy on
me, and send Lazarus to cool my tongue with water, for
I am tormented in this flame. " But Abraham answered,
Son, remember that in your lifetime you selfishly sought
the good things of the world only, and you obtained
them in abundance. Lazarus on the other hand suf
fered from sickness and want, but made sure of the
heavenly inheritance. Now your conditions are reversed;
he is comforted and is enjoying his reward, while you,

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.

373

having lived in selfish pleasure and not seeking to be
rich toward God, are now enduring the pains of the lost
and the penalty of sin. But more than this, between the
abode of misery, where you now are, and this happy
place, there is a great and impassable gulf fixed; so that
there can be no passing backward and forward between
the two places.
Then the rich man said. If my relief is impossible,
at least let Lazarus go to my father's house and
warn my five brethren, who are living as I lived, in
worldliness and sin, lest they come here too. Abraham
replied, They have the law written by Moses and the
books of the prophets, by which they can learn their
duty and destiny and be admonished. "Nay, Father
Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead they
would repent. ' ' And Abraham answered, ' ' If they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded, even though one rose from the dead."
" This impressive parable, one of the most awful sayings of the
Lord, was but a momentary unveiling of the spiritual world and
the state of the departed ; yet it has left for all after ages the im
press of these momentous truths, Directly consequent upon
death is a state of consciousness in which the soul remembers the
past and knows its own conditions and its prospects. These two
opposite states — the one of happiness and the other of misery —
to which men are allotted according to their character and con
duct in this life ; these two conditions are' immensely and irrev
ocably separated ; the blessed can do nothing for the alleviation
of the miserable, nor can the lost ever reach the abode of the
saved. The parable does not propose to remedy in the hereafter
any inequalities of condition in the present state, but to compen
sate for losses here in the body by the superlative gain of the soul
that lives unto God. How mean, how wretched the lot of one
who revels in sensual abundance, but has nothing for the soul."
This is the obvious teaching of the parable. Of the

374

THE STORY OF JESUS.

condition of the lost Jesus would say, as of the abode of
the saved. "If it were not so, I would have told you. ' '
The whole discourse of Jesus may have given occasion
for his words upon forbearance, faith and humility,
which seem so closely connected with the preceding
events. Offences must come, but woe upon those who
commit them ! Forgive a brother who repents. Being
asked by the disciples to increase their faith, he tells
them to use the little faith they have and use would
make it greater. The servant returned from plowing
would first serve the master before serving himself ; so,
when they, his disciples, had done all he commanded
them to do, they need to say, "We are unprofitable
servants ; we have done that which it was our duty
to do."

BETHANY.

LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD.

375

W

CHAPTER LXXI.
LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD.
John xi. 1-54. — Bethany, a.d. 30.
HILE Jesus was engaged in his labors beyond
Jordan in Perea, word was brought him of the
sickness of his friend Lazarus, of the village
of Bethany, the brother of Mary and Martha. It was
the same Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment
and wiped his feet with her hair. Sorrow had invaded
the household where Martha had entertained her Lord,
and where Mary ' ' sat at his feet and heard his word. ' '
These sisters, so confident of the love and sympathy and
so sure of the timely aid of the Saviour, sent him word,
' ' Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. ' ' They
seem to take it for granted that Jesus would hasten to
them if but informed. Jesus loved Mary and Martha
as well as their brother, and so Jesus loved Peter, James
and John.
' ' Christ has objects of special affection ; they are such
as love him and serve him with no ordinary love, and
whose characters are such as the highest judge of char
acter can approve. They are none of them perfect, but
he loves to help them in their endeavors to be so. He
loves certain families, — families of prayer ; families
whose members love one another ; families where he is
exalted, and his cause and his friends are cherished and
his name is most precious, and where the whole life of the
household is one hymn of praise to Christ ; a fragrant
sacrifice of devoted service to his honor and glory."

376 THE STORY OF JESUS.
When Jesus received the message he said to his disci
ples, that the sickness of Lazarus was not unto death,
and yet, ' ' perplexing riddle, ' ' he did die ; but for the
glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified
thereby. ' ' The raising of Lazarus was manifestly intended to supply
the Jews with one more incontrovertible proof that Jesus was the
Christ of God, the Messiah. It was also meant to prepare the
minds of the Jews for the Lord's own resurrection. No one
could say, when the grave of Jesus was found empty and his body
gone, that his resurrection was an impossibility. The mere fact
that in that very year a man dead four days had been restored to
life within two miles from Jerusalem, would silence such remarks.
Of all our Lord's miracles this one is the most thoroughly cred
ible, and supported by most incontestable proof.''
After Jesus had heard that Lazarus was sick he re
mained two days where he was in Perea. But he was
not indifferent, for he had an object in this. Then Jesus
said unto his disciples, Let us go unto Judea again.
But they reminded him that the Jews there had sought to
stone him the very last time he was in the temple, and
they remonstrated against his going. But Jesus said to
them, "Are there not twelve hours in the day, from
sunrise to sunset ?" If a man walk in the day he stum
bles not ; but if he walk in the night he stumbles.
Jesus had a work to do while it was day, and his day was
nearly at its close and the night was at hand. He was
in the path of duty and walking in the light of day.
Lazarus was now dead— dead probably before the mes
senger arrived — and Jesus knew it and made this simple
announcement to his disciples, "Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth ; but I go that I may awake him out of his
sleep." The answer of the disciples, who misunder
stood him, was that the sick man would do well if he

LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD.

377

was sleeping. The error in their interpretation of
Christ's word is apparent. John explains that he spoke
of Lazarus' death, but that they thought that he had
spoken of his taking rest in sleep. How beautiful is
heavenly speech ! To compare death to sleep, from
which there is to be an awakening in the resurrection.
Lazarus "was dead in the eyes of men, but asleep in
the eyes of Christ, who can raise us from the grave with
the same ease as from our beds. ' '
Jesus then said plainly that Lazarus was dead; and
that he was going to raise him from the dead. He had
already raised from the dead two persons, both before
burial, in remote Galilee ; but now in the very neigh
borhood of Jerusalem, and in the presence of friends and
foes, he will raise from the dead one who had lain four
days in the grave, and thus perform the last great mira
cle of his life. He expresses himself glad for their
sakes that he was not at Bethany before Lazarus died,
because now they will have their confidence in him
strengthened. This declaration of his purpose to go to
Bethany again arouses the fears of his disciples. Thomas,
called Didymus, or the twin, ever looking upon the
gloomy side of things and always expecting disaster,
says to his fellow-disciples, in mournful tones, "Let us
also go, that we may die with him. ' ' A noble resolu
tion, to live or die with Christ.
When Jesus reached Bethany, which was about fifteen
furlongs or two miles east from Jerusalem, he found that
Lazarus had lain in the grave four days already. Many
Jews were there who had come from Jerusalem to com
fort Martha and Mary. As soon as Martha was informed
that Jesus was coming she went out to meet him, proba
bly outside the town, leaving Mary in the house. Then

378 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Martha exclaimed, "Lord, if thou hadst been here my
brother had not died." But these reproachful words
were soon followed by evidences of her unshaken faith
in Jesus, for she told hiin that God would give him
whatever he asked. Jesus assures her that her brother
will rise again. But Martha, believing with the Jews in
the resurrection of the dead at the judgment, replies,
"I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at
the last day." It was then that Jesus gave the great
testimony concerning himself and his work, "I am the
resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me,
though- he were dead yet shall he live, and whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest
thou this?" The reply of Martha is the confession of
every renewed heart : "I believe that thou art the
Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the
world." Upon this Martha went after her sister Mary, secretly
saying, The Master has come and is calling for thee.
Mary arose at once and quietly came to Jesus, where
Martha had left him. The Jews that were with Mary in
the house comforting her, when they saw her rise up has
tily and go out, thought that she had gone to the grave
to weep, and followed her. When Mary came to the
place where Jesus was, she fell weeping at his feet, say
ing, what her sister had said before her, that her brother
would not have died if Jesus had been there. The Jews
who followed her wept also at her grief, and Jesus
groaned in spirit and was troubled, touched with ten
derest sympathy and love. He asked with agitated
voice and sorrowful face, where they had laid him, and
they said, "Lord, come and see." "Jesus wept." Here
are exhibitions of the humanity of Jesus that are soon

LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. ;-q
to be followed by the strongest evidences of his divinity.
The Jews said, "Behold how he loved him.''' But
Jesus wept with the weeping sisters of his dead friend.
Jesus "allowed Lazarus to die. He allowed his sis
ters fo suffer all this woe, not that he loved them less,
but because he knew that for him, for them and for us
all, higher ends were in this way gained than could have
been accomplished by his cutting the illness short and
going from Bethabara to cure. Little did the weeping
sisters know what a place in the annals of redemption
the death and resurrection of their brother was to oc-
cupv." Some of the Jews said. "Could not this man,
which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that
even this man should not have died?'* Testis again
groaning within himself came to the grave. It was. as
is usual in the east, a cave or excavation in the solid rock
of the hillside beyond the town, and a stone served as a
door to cover up the entrance, and stood between the liv
ing Saviour and the dead man. Jesus commanded them
to take awav the stone: to test their faith and obedience.
It was theirs to roll away the stone and his to raise the dead.
Martha remonstrated, for he had been dead four days,
and the bodv must now be offensive, from decomposi
tion. He was dead, and up to this moment she was not
thinking that her brother was about to be raised to life.
Tesus replied. '* Did I not tell you that you would see
the power and glory of God if you would only believe ? ' '
Then thev that stood by obeyed and took away the stone,
and Jesus praved with uplifted eyes. " Father, I thank
thee that thou hast heard me. and I know that thou
hearest me alwavs: but because of the people who stand
bv I said it. that they may believe that thou hast sent
me." His power was from above, and Jesus always

380 THE STORY OF JESUS.
acknowledged his union with the Father and his depend
ence upon him as mediator. He was thankful that the
people were now to receive such a proof of his divine
mission. When Jesus had prayed he then cried with a
loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." And that Voice
penetrated the world beyond, and the dead heard and
came forth alive, bound hand and foot with the grave-
clothes in which he had been buried and with a napkin
bound about his face. The winding sheet around hand
and foot had no more impeded his escape from the grave,
than had the icy hand of death itself. Human hands
have something also to do, and Jesus commands : ' ' Loose
him and let him go. ' '
Then many of the Jews which came to Mary believed
when they had seen this miracle which Jesus did, but
some of them went back to Jerusalem and told the
Pharisees and chief priests, who, instead of rejoicing and
accepting Jesus, at once held a council to consider what
to do with him. "All men will believe on him," and
the ' ' Romans will come and take both our place and our
nation." One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that
year, said, " It is expedient that one man should die for
the people and the whole nation perish not." This he
said not of himself, but he "prophesied that Jesus should
die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but
that he should gather together in one the children of
God that were scattered abroad. ' '
From that day they took counsel to put him to death.
Therefore Jesus went about no more openly among the
Jews in Judea, but went to a city called Ephraim, ' ' near
to the wilderness."

TEN LEPERS AND THE COMING CHRIST. 38 1

CHAPTER LXXII.
THE TEN LEPERS AND THE COMING CHRIST.
Luke xvii. 11-37. — Samaria and Galilee, a.d. 30.
T^PHRAIM, says Dr. G. W. Clark, was probably
-* — ¦"» the modern Taiyibeh, situated on a conical hill,
commanding a view of the . whole slope of the
valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and about sixteen
miles northeast of Jerusalem. This also corresponds
very well with the twenty miles which Jerome specifies
as the distance from Jerusalem to Ephron. The retire
ment of Jesus to this town on the borders of Samaria
strikingly harmonizes with the journey ' ' through
the midst of Samaria and Galilee," and with the view
taken that Jesus went from Ephraim northward in his
last journey which terminated at Jerusalem. Luke
says : " And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem,
that he passed through the midst of Samaria' and Gali
lee. ' ' His journey, then, was from Ephraim to Samaria
and Galilee.
As he was about to enter one of the villages in his
journey, probably through Samaria, there met him ten
lepers. They could not come near him, but they stood
afar off, and with loud voice cried unto him : ' ' Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us." Lepers in the east congre
gated together, for they were driven from home and all
the places frequented by persons not afflicted with this
terrible malady. These wretched men — for they were
all men — had probably heard how Jesus had cured those
who had the leprosy, and hoped that he would heal

382 THE STORY OF JESUS.
them, and cried for mercy. Attracted by their cries, he
looked upon them and said, "Go, show yourselves to the
priest." It was the law that one cleansed of leprosy
must first be pronounced cured before he was allowed to
go home or to mingle with men again. " Go show your
selves to the priest " meant, that these men were to go to
the priest and ask him for a certificate that they were no
longer lepers. But they had not yet been cured. Still,
they went as if they had been made well. Such obedi
ence of faith was not passed by without a reward from
Jesus, for as they were on their way to the priest they
were cleansed and at once knew it. One of them, when
he saw himself healed, turned back, and with a loud
voice glorified God and came and fell at the feet of Jesus
and thanked him. He was a Samaritan, and Jesus
asked, ' ' Were there not ten cleansed ? Where are the
nine ? There is not found that returned to give glory to
God save this stranger." Jesus then said to this grateful
alien to the commonwealth of Israel : "Arise, thy faith
hath made thee whole." When this man joined the
others on their way to the priest it was with a richer
blessing than that of the healing of his body — a blessing
"which reaches, not merely to the springs of bodily
health, but to the very fountains of his spiritual being."
Jesus was probably in Galilee when the Pharisees de
manded of him, when the kingdom of God should come.
It was doubtless in contempt that they asked this ques
tion, and in order to expose him to ridicule. They were
expecting the kingdom to come with outward pomp and
parade as a temporal kingdom, and the Messiah to be an
earthly prince, with retinues and armies. But here was
one who claimed to be the Christ who was merely a
teacher and preacher of peace, and who attracted to him-

TEN LEPERS AND THE COMING CHRIST. 383
self publicans and sinners, and whose chosen disciples were
ignorant fishermen.
Where were the indications of the reign of David's
Son ? Where the gatherings of Israel under his
standard ? Where the overthrow of the hated Roman
power ? Where the restored power of Jerusalem ?
When shall it appear ? But Jesus' answer indicates how
wholly mistaken they were as to the nature of that king
dom : "It cometh not with observation," he replied. It
is not of such a character as to attract observation, for it
is the invisible reign of God in the souls of men. Its
dissemination is by the truth, and not by the sword ; by
the power of the Holy Spirit, and not by the wisdom and
might of men. Above all, it is not to be discerned by
worldly men who look only upon the things that are
seen, and who seek only that which is agreeable to their
natural feelings.
Neither shall they say, continues Jesus, Lo here,
or lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within
you. False Christs and rabbis may proclaim the
coming of the kingdom and exclaim : " Come, be
hold it," in this place or in that mountain ; but the
kingdom has been set up here in the midst of you, and
in the hearts of men. John ushered it in, the Messiah
is here, the foundations of the kingdom have been laid
and the reign of God among the nations of the earth has
begun. Turning to his disciples, Jesus told them that the
days would come in their history as a nation when, to
escape impending destruction, men would gladly wel
come the day of mercy such as the Son of man was now
offering, but it would then be too late. It may be that
Jesus referred to the dreadful calamities that would come

384 THE STORY OF JESUS.
upon them in the destruction of Jerusalem, and when
false prophets would appear, professing to be sent by God
to deliver the nation. But when they shall say, See
here, or see there, his disciples are not to be deceived ;
" Go not after them nor follow them." And this warn
ing was necessary, for Josephus tells us that many ap
peared, claiming to be the Messiah and seeking to lead
away the people. The Son of man, when he comes, will
plainly appear, like the lightning from heaven, not here
nor there, but unmistakably everywhere. But first Jesus
must suffer many things and be rejected of this genera
tion. When he comes again it will be with the world
as it was in Noah's time, when the people were eating
and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, and
pursuing all their worldly affairs up to the day when
Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and drowned
them all.
It was so too in the days of Lot ; they ate, drank,
bought, sold, planted, builded^and were engaged in all
the occupations and pleasures of life ; but the same day
that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone
from heaven and destroyed "them all. Sudden destruc
tion came upon Sodom by fire, as upon the world by
flood, on account of the wickedness and worldliness of
men, and found them unprepared. These are facts ac
cording to the testimony of Christ, and who will deny
them? " Even so shall it be in the day when the Son
of man shall be revealed. ' ' The reference here is to the
destruction of the Jewish state, city, temple, nation and
people. The history of the past was to be repeated in
Christ's day. The Jews, careless of danger, would re
fuse to repent, would reject him whom God sent them,
and ruin would come upon them. He warned his disci-

TEN LEPERS AND THE COMING CHRIST. 385
pies not to stop in their flight. He who is on the house
top must not wait to save his goods in the house. He
who is in the field must not return home. Remember
Lot's wife, who lost all by looking back ; and do
not seek to save your life at the risk of your soul. In
that night two men shall be in one bed ; the one shall
be taken and the other left ; two women shall be grind
ing grain at the mill, the one shall be taken and the
other left ; two men shall be in the field, and the one
shall be taken and the other left. "Where, Lord?"
they asked. Where from and where to ? Wheresoever
the carcase is, — the Jewish nation, morally and spirit
ually dead, — there will the eagles — the Romans, whose
ensign was an eagle — be gathered together. ' ' Josephus
asserts that there was no part of Judea which did not
partake of the calamities of the capital city. The Ro
mans pursued and took and slew the Jews everywhere. ' '
It is said, however, that few, if any, Christians perished,
because they obeyed these words of warning given them
by Christ. But these words of Jesus are susceptible of
a wider application than merely to the destruction of Jeru
salem. ' ' Is not all history one long, vast commentary
on the prophecies ? In the destinies of nations and of
races, has not Christ returned again and again to deliver
or to judge ? ' '
17

386 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXXIII.
PARABLES ON PRAYER — DISCOURSE ON DIVORCE.
Matt. xix. 13-15 ; Mark x. 13-16 ; Luke xviii. 1-17. — Galilee, Perea, a.d. 30.
ESUS related some parables to his disciples on prayer.

J

The first was to teach the duty and value of impor
tunate prayer. He told of a certain judge who
feared neither man nor God, to whom a widow of the
city appealed for protection against one who, contrary to
law and justice, had wronged her, taking advantage of
her defenceless condition. For a while he paid no heed
to her, but finally he said to himself, ' ' Though I fear not
God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth
me, I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she
weary me. " In a like manner God will hear his people
who come to him for relief. He may not at once an
swer, but those who cry to him day and night shall be
heard. If the unjust judge heard the widow, how much
more shall the just and righteous judge of all the earth
be prevailed on by the prayers of those whom he loves,
to deliver them speedily from affliction, from oppression
and from all evil ? ' ' Nevertheless, ' ' Jesus asks, ' ' when
the Son of man comes shall he find faith on the earth?"
Then Jesus spoke a parable to those who trusted in
themselves, that they were righteous and despised others.
The characters in this parable were well chosen, for the
Pharisees regarded themselves righteous and trusted in
their good works for salvation, and despised the publi
cans as sinners beyond all people. Two men — a Phari
see and a publican — went into the temple at Jerusalem

PARABLES— DISCOURSE ON DIVORCE.

3§7

to pray. The Pharisee, as was customary, "stood and
prayed, ' ' although if he had felt the power of the adver
sary then ruling in his heart, he would have knelt or
prostrated himself upon his face on the floor before God.
He prayed "with himself," or apart from others, to
avoid pollution. He boastingly thanked God that he
was not a sinner as other men were : that he was not an
adulterer, nor unjust, nor an extortioner, nor even as the
publican who was there
praying in the temple at
the same time. Then he
enumerates what he does
that bears such a sem
blance to religion. He
tells God that he fasts
twice in the week, and
gives a tenth part of all
he possesses or gains for
the service of religion and
the support of the Levites.
Thus he tries to make
God out as his debtor.
But the poor publican,
standing afar off from the
temple itself, in the court
surrounding it, would not lift up his eyes toward heaven,
but kept them down upon the ground, so great was his
consciousness of unworthiness before God. With con
scious guilt he cries, ' ' God be merciful to me a sinner. ' '
God looks upon these two men in a very different light
from that in which they regard themselves. The prayer
of the Pharisee was unheard. The penitent publican
was answered because of his broken-hearted confession,

PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN AT
PRAYER.

388 THE STORY OF JESUS.
and he returned home conscious of the divine pardon
and acceptance. And Jesus adds this lesson for all, ' ' For
every one that exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he
that abaseth himself shall be exalted. ' '
It seems that after uttering these discourses on prayer,
Jesus departed from Galilee and returned to Perea. He
was now for the last time on his way to Jerusalem, to at
tend the last Passover of his life, and hence this is his
final adieu to Galilee. He did not again pass through
Samaria in returning, but he crossed the Jordan to the
east side and passed down the valley of that river, south
ward through Perea, and at the same time his journey
was along the borders of Judea. Perea was east of the
Jordan River, and included Bashan and Gilead. "In
the time of Christ it was fertile and populous, and in
habited by a mixed population, partly Roman, partly
Jewish. It is said that the Jordan valley alone contains
the ruins of one hundred and twenty -seven villages. ' '
Again great multitudes of people resort to him, and
he heals them. The Pharisees also came to him, not to
be healed or pardoned, but tempting him. " Is it law
ful for a man to put away his wife for every cause ? ' '
they asked. Having probably heard what he had before
said on this subject, they desired him to entrap himself.
Jesus answered their question by asking another, ' ' What
did Moses command ? ' ' And they replied that Moses
permitted them to put a wife away if they gave her a
writing of divorce. Jesus tells them that Moses had al
lowed this simply because of the hardness of their
hearts, but that from the beginning it was not so, and
that God had ordained otherwise. Jesus here again
lays down the law of God upon the marriage rela
tion for Jew and Gentile. ' ' At the beginning God

PARABLES— DISCOURSE ON DIVORCE. 389
made them male and female, and said, for this cause
shall a man leave father and mother and cleave to his
wife, and they shall be one flesh. What, therefore, God
hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Whoso
ever shall put away his wife and marry another, commit
teth adultery, and if a woman shall put away her hus
band and be married to another, she committeth adul
tery." These plain and simple words of our Lord
should be enough for us to-day, and they are the law to
govern all men, in and out of the church, and no human
law can annul them or make the contrary right.
Some of the disciples, however, after hearing these
words of Jesus went to the other extreme in their infer
ences, and said that if such was the case it was not good
for a man to marry. But Jesus replied that not all men
were prepared to receive the view they had taken. It
would do for some and under some circumstances, as an
exception to the rule; but marriage was the rule. There
were those who were unfit for marriage ; some born so,
others made so by the cruelty of men, and still others
by a blind and mistaken zeal, like some of the Essenes,
for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. This statement
of our Saviour "swept away forever the conception of
woman as the mere toy or slave of man and based the
true relations of the sexes on the eternal foundations of
truth, right, honor and love. To ennoble the home and
family by raising woman to her true position was essen
tial to the future stability of the kingdom as one of purity
and spiritual worth. By making marriage indissoluble
he proclaimed the equal rights of woman and man within
the limits of the family, and in this gave a charter of
nobility to the mothers of the world. For her noblest
position in the Christian era, compared with that granted
her in antiquity, woman is indebted to Jesus Christ."

390 THE STORY OF JESUS. ,

CHAPTER LXXIV.
JESUS AND THE YOUNG — LITTLE CHILDREN — THE
YOUNG RULER.
Matt. xix. 13 -xx. 1-16 ; Mark x. 13-31 ; Luke xviii. 15-30. — Perea, a.d. 30.
T T was during his journeyings in Perea that mothers
-*- brought to Jesus their infant children that" he
might put his hands on them and pray. These
mothers, at least, had a right conception of the work of
Jesus and the value of his blessing. And when his dis
ciples rebuked those that brought them, Jesus was much
displeased with his disciples, and, calling them to him,
said, ' ' Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid
them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Dr.
Albert Barnes says, ' ' The kingdom of heaven evidently
means here the church, of such as these — that is, of per
sons of such tempers as these — is the church to be com
posed. He does not say of these infants, but of such
persons as resembled them or were like them in temper,
was the kingdom of heaven made up. It is probably —
it is greatly to be hoped — that all infants will he saved.
No contrary doctrine is taught in the sacred scriptures.
But it does not appear to be the design of this passage to
teach that all infants shall be saved. It means simply
that they should be brought to him as amiable, lovely,
and uncorrupted by the world, and having traits of mind
resembling those among real Christians."
' ' Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive
the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter
therein." "This single sentence expressed the whole

JESUS AND THE YOUNG.

391

nature of the gospel proclaimed by Christ. It implied
that he viewed the kingdom of God as an invisible and
spiritual one, to enter which a certain disposition of

SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME.
heart was essential, viz. : A child-like spirit, free from
pride and self-will, receiving divine impressions in hum
ble submission and conscious dependence. In a word,

392 THE STORY OF JESUS.
all the qualities of the child suffering itself to be guided
by the developed reason of the adult, are to be illustrated
in the relations between man and God. Without this
child-like spirit there can be no religious faith; no relig
ious life."
Jesus himself ' ' had the ideal child-like spirit and de
lighted to see in little ones his own image. Purity, truth
fulness, simplicity, docility and loving dependence made
them the fitting types of his followers. ' ' He took the
little ones up in his arms, put his hands on them, blessed
them and departed.
When Jesus went from the place where he was bless
ing the children, into the public road, there came run
ning to him a young ruler, probably a member of the
Sanhedrin, who, kneeling before him, said: "Good Mas
ter, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eter
nal life ? ' ' Jesus first asked him why he called him
good, remarking that there was none good but God.
This Jesus did, checking him, for this young man had
very little conception of goodness in God's sight. He
thought himself good. Jesus does not reject the word
good as applied to himself, but continues, " If thou wilt
enter into life, keep the commandments." Which?
asked the youth; and Jesus answered, " Thou shalt do
no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt
not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; honor thy
father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself." Jesus here gives the laws of the second
table, or man's duties to his fellow-man, because this
young man had asked what good thing he could do.
And he now answered, "All these things have I kept
from my youth up: what lack I yet? " It is said that
Jesus beholding him loved him, so great was the excel-

JESUS AND THE YOUNG. 393
lence of his character; and he replied, " One thing thou
lackest; if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell whatsoever
thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come, take up thy cross and
follow me."
"Beneath the pleasing show of outward moralities,
Christ detected in the young ruler's heart a want of any
true regard to God or any recognition of his paramount
claims. His heart, his trust, his treasure were in
earthly, not in heavenly things." He lacked the one
thing needful, without which none can enter into eter
nal life. Nothing but the absolute surrender of all his
wealth could save him. He talked of what he had;
Christ showed him what he lacked. He sought eternal
life on the ground of his own merits. The effect upon
the young man of Jesus' final answer was sad indeed.
He was sorrowful, and went away grieved, for he had
great possessions. Unwilling to make the sacrifice re
quired of him, he departs, turning his back on Jesus and
heaven, and, weeping, goes down to eternal ruin. When
Jesus saw him go away sorrowful, and knowing the
cause, he said that it was hardly possible for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were aston
ished at his words, but Jesus said again more plainly,
' ' 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 the eye of a needle, than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God. '-' The disciples
were then more astonished, saying among themselves,
' ' Who then can be saved ? ' '
'"The camel being the largest animal with which the
Jews were acquainted, its name became proverbial for
describing anything remarkably large, and a camel's
17*

394 THE STORY OF JESUS.
passing through a needle's eye came by consequence, as
appears from some rabbinical writings, to express a thing
utterly impossible. ' ' However Jesus adds, in answer to
their question as to who can be saved, that with men it
is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possi
ble with him. Peter then says, "We have left all to
follow thee; what shall we have therefore?" Jesus
seems to answer this question in the parable of
the laborers; but now he says, You disciples shall be
with me in glory, and in the better state sit upon twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. By this is
meant the great honor to which they would be exalted.
But Jesus says of all his disciples or followers, that
' ' Every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or
sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for
my name's sake, shall receive a hundred-fold and shall
inherit everlasting life." But, to warn his disciples as
well as others, he adds, ' ' Many that are first shall be
last , and the last shall be first. ' '
To illustrate this truth Jesus relates a parable. A
master of a family and owner of a vineyard went out
early in the morning to hire laborers to work in his vine
yard, and agreed to pay them a penny or denarius a day.
The denarius was a Roman silver coin worth about
fourteen cents, but with the purchasing value of our dol
lar. About the third hour of the day, which corresponds
to our nine o'clock in the morning, he went out and saw
others standing idle in the market-place, and he sent
them also into his vineyard to work, saying that he
would pay them what was right. Again at the eighth and
the ninth hours he did the same thing. And about the
eleventh hour or about five o'clock in the afternoon,
when there was but one working hour of the day left,

JESUS AND THE YOUNG. 395
he went out and found more idlers in the market-place,
and asked them why they stood idle all the day. They
answered that no man had hired them, and he sent them
likewise to work in his vineyard, promising to give them
whatever was right. At the close of the day the owner
of the vineyard told his steward to call the laborers and
to pay them, beginning at the last employed and ending
with the first. Those who came to work at the eleventh
hour received every man a penny, and likewise all the
others. But those who went first to work and had
labored all day and agreed to one penny, when they were
paid the same as the others, complained that they had
borne the burden and heat of the day, and were entitled
to more pay than those who had wrought but one hour.
But the householder replied, "Friend, I do thee no harm.
Didst thou not agree with me for a penny ? Take that
is thine and go thy way. I will give unto this last even
as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will
with mine own ? Is thine eye evil because I am good ?
So the last shall be first and the first last, for many are
called, but few chosen."
Dr. J. G. Butler says:
' ' The parable is directed against a wrong temper and spirit of
mind, which all men in possession of spiritual privileges have
need to be warned against. The warning was primarily ad
dressed to the apostles as the chiefest and foremost in the Chris
tian Church, the earliest to labor in the Lord's vineyard. They
had seen the rich young man go sorrowfully away, unable to
abide the proof by which the Lord had revealed how strongly he
was holding to the things of the world. They would fain know
what their reward should be who had done this very thing from
which he had shrunk, who had forsaken all for the gospel's sake.
The Lord answers them first and fully, that they, and as many
as should do the same for his sake, should reap an abundant re-

396

THE STORY OF JESUS.

ward. At the same time the question itself, what shall we have ?
was not a righteous one."
Dr. Barnes says :
" The parable is simply designed to teach that in the church,
among the multitudes that shall be saved, Christ makes a differ
ence. He makes some men more useful than others, without re
gard to the time which they serve ; and he will reward them ac
cordingly ; to all justice shall be done ; to all to whom the re
wards of heaven were promised they shall be given. If among
this number who are called into his kingdom he chooses to raise
some to stations of distinguished usefulness, and to confer on
them peculiar talents and higher rewards, he wrongs no one."

THE LOST SHEEP BROUGHT HOME.

THE AMBITION OF ZEBEDEE S CHILDREN. 397

CHAPTER LXXV.
THE AMBITION OF ZEBEDEE' S CHILDREN.
Matt xx. 17-28 ; Mark x. 32-45 ; Luke xviii. 31-34.— Perea, a'.d. 30.
JESUS was now on his way to Jerusalem for the
last time. But while still in Perea he took the
disciples aside, who were amazed and afraid at
the thought of his going to Jerusalem, and foretold to
them for the third time his death and resurrection. He
told them all things written by the prophets concerning
himself, and that he was going to Jerusalem, where all
these prophecies would be fulfilled. He would be be
trayed and delivered up to the scribes, the chief priests
and the Gentiles ; and would be mocked and scourged,
spit upon and crucified, and after death would rise again
the third day. ' ' And they understood none of these
things; and this saying was hid from them; neither
knew they the things that were spoken. ' ' Still holding
their carnal notions as to the kingdom, they thought
that Jesus was now about to go to Jerusalem to estab
lish it ; though he had sought to open their eyes to the
true state of affairs.
It was at this time that Salome, the wife of Zebedee,
came with her two sons, James and John, and, reverently
kneeling before him, asked, "Grant that these my two
sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on
thy left, in the kingdom." The disciples here had no
reference to the church, but to occupy the two seats of
honor on each side of the throne when Jesus would set
up an earthly kingdom as they expected he was now to

398 THE STORY OF JESUS.
do at Jerusalem. Jesus replied that they knew not what
they asked. Such position in the kingdom he was to es
tablish was more than they could occupy. ' ' Are ye
able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ? "
and they said, " We are able."
" ' By the baptism that I am' to be be baptized with '
Jesus evidently means his trials and sufferings." Dr.
Barnes says : ' ' Are you able to suffer with me, to en
dure the trials and pains which shall come upon me, in
endeavoring to build up the kingdom ? Are you able
to plunge deep in afflictions, to have sorrows cover you
like water, and to be sunk beneath calamities as floods,
in the work of religion ? Afflictions are often expressed
by being sunk in the floods, and plunged in the deep
waters. ' '
' ' You shall indeed, ' ' replied Jesus, ' ' drink of my
cup and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized
with ; but to sit on my right hand and on my left is
not mine to give, except to those for whom it shall
be prepared of my Father." Jesus meant that they
would follow him through all his sufferings, and par
take of his afflictions ; and this was fulfilled. James
was slain with the sword by Herod at an early day, and
John, though he lived many years, suffered many trials
and was banished to Patmos, a solitary island, for the
testimony of Jesus. And as to rewards, in his eternal
kingdom, Jesus would give them to his followers accord
ing to the word and purpose of his Father. It was no
more proper for them to know this, than it was for
them to know the times and seasons of his coming
again. The other disciples, when they heard of this, were

THE AMBITION OF ZEBEDEE' S CHILDREN. 399
indignant at the ambitious request of the two brothers.
But Jesus quelled the rising storm by making the inci
dent the occasion for instruction upon the subject thus
brought up. He called all the apostles to him, and said
to them that the princes among the heathen Gentiles ex
ercise authority over their subjects, and raise favorites to
posts of honor, but it shall not be so among the disci
ples and subjects of his kingdom. His kingdom would
be established in a different way and upon different prin
ciples. There were to be no ranks ; no places of domin
ion. ' ' All are to be on a level. The rich and the poor,
the learned, the unlearned, the bond, the free, are to be
equal, and he will be the most distinguished who shows
the most humility, the deepest sense of his unworthiness
and the most earnest desire to promote the welfare of his
brethren." "Whosoever will be chief among you, let
him be your servant, even as the Son of man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his
life a ransom for all." Jesus here points to his own ex
ample. He was the God of heaven, and yet he came to
serve men, taking upon him the form of a servant. He
came, moreover, to offer himself as a substitute for sin
ners, and to pay the price on the cross for their redemp
tion from the guilt, the power and the consequences of
sin. Here, then, to his disciples Jesus declares his aton
ing sacrifice for sin.

4Q0 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXXVI.
ZACCHEUS AND BARTIMEUS.
Matt. xx. 29-34 ; Mark x. 46-59 ; Luke xviii. 35— xix. 1-28 ; John xi. 55— xii. 1-11.—
Jericho, a.d. 30.
a /-tAHE city of Jericho was about eight miles west of the river
I Jordan and about nineteen miles northeast of Jerusalem.
Near this city the Israelites crossed the Jordan when
they entered the land of Cannaan. It was the first city taken by
Joshua, who destroyed it to its foundation, and pronounced a
curse on him who should rebuild it. This curse was literally
fulfilled in the days of Ahab, nearly five hundred years after. It
afterwards became the place for the school of the prophets. In
this place Elisha worked a signal miracle, greatly to the advant
age of the inhabitants, by rendering the waters near it, that
were before bitter, sweet and wholesome. In point of size it was
second only to Jerusalem. It was sometimes called the city of
palm trees, from the fact that there were many palms in the
vicinity. A few of them still remain. At this place died Herod
the Great, of a most wretched and loathsome disease.' '
Says Edersheim :
" The ancient city occupied not the site of the present wretched
hamlet, but lay about half an hour to the northwest of it, by the
so called Elisha Springs. A second spring rose an hour farther
to the north-northwest. The water of these springs, distributed
by aqueducts, gave unsurpassed fertility to the rich soil along the
plain of Jericho, which is about twelve or fourteen miles wide.
We can picture to ourselves the scene, as our Lord, on that after
noon in early spring, beheld it. Here it was, indeed, already
summer, for, as Josephus tells us, even in winter the inhabitants
could bear only the lightest clothing of linen. We are approach
ing it from the Jordan ; it is protected by walls flanked by four
forts. These walls, the theatre and the amphitheatre have been
built by Herod ; the new palace and its splendid gardens are the
work of Archelaus. All around wave groves of feathery palms,

ZACCHEUS AND BARTIMEUS.

401

rising in stately beauty, stretch gardens of roses, and especially
sweet-scented balsam plantations — the largest behind the royal
gardens— of which the perfume is carried by the wind almost out
to sea, and which may have given to the city its name, Jericho
1 the perfumed.' It is the Eden of Palestine, the very fairy land of
the Old World, and how strangely is this gem set ! Deep down in
that hollowed valley through which tortuous Jordan winds to
lose his waters in the shining mass of the sea of judgment. The
river and the Dead Sea are equidistant from the town — about six
miles. Far across the river rise the mountains of Moab, on
which lies the purple and violet coloring. Towards Jerusalem
and northward stretched those bare limestone hills, the hiding-
place of robbers along the desolate road toward the city. There
and in the neighboring wilderness of Judea are the lonely dwell
ings of the Anchorites, while over all this strangely-colored
scene has been flung the many-colored mantle of a perpetual
summer*. " It was directly on the road from the Lower Jordan to Je
rusalem ; and the Galileans on their way south to the annual
festivals were accustomed, in order to avoid Samaria, to cross the
Jordan near the Sea of Galilee, descend by the river on its east
ern side and recross it to the west on reaching Judea, passing
up to Jerusalem through Jericho. Jesus then was following the
regular route taken from Perea to Jerusalem through Jericho.
"Jericho was a Levitical city, and hence the residence of a
great many priests. Its position as the centre of an exception
ally productive district, and also the import and export trade be
tween the two sides of the Jordan, made it also a city of publi
cans. It had much the same place in Southern Palestine as Ca
pernaum—the centre of trade between the sea-coast and the
northern interior as far as Damascus— held in Galilee. The
transit to and fro of so much wealth brought with it proportion
ate work and harvest for the farmers of the revenue. Hence a
strong force of customs and excise collectors was stationed in it,
under a local head named Zaccheus."
Jesus entered Jericho, and while he was passing
through the street, attended by a vast concourse of peo
ple, a rich man named Zaccheus, ' ' the chief among the

402 THE STORY OF JESUS.
publicans," wanted to see who it was that was creating
such an excitement, but he could not for the press of the
people, for he was small of stature. So he ran before, in
the way Jesus was going, and to see him climbed a tree
— " the sycamore, or Egyptian fig, not to be confounded
with the sycamine tree or mulberry, or with the syca
more, is exceedingly easy to climb," — and when Jesus
came to the place where he was, he called to him by
name to hasten and come down, because he meant to
abide with him in his house that day. Zaccheus at once
obeyed and received him joyfully. But the Jews found
fault, saying that he had gone to be a guest with a man
who was a sinner. But Zaccheus stood before Jesus and
said : ' ' Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the •
poor ; and if I have taken away anything from any man
by false accusation, I restore him four-fold. ' ' Jesus re
plied, ' ' To-day is salvation come to this house, foras
much as he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of man
is come to seek and to save that which was lost." "The
Roman law required this — that is, four-fold restitution ;
the Jewish law required the principal and a fifth more.
Here was no demand made for either, but to testify the
change he had experienced, besides rendering the half of
his fair gains to the poor, he voluntarily determines to
give up all that was ill gotten, quadrupled. ' ' This offer
ing of his goods Christ accepts, for he knows that these
things are from the heart, and that with them Zaccheus
dedicates himself to God. He was a Jew and also a great
sinner, needing to be saved. Now he was a true son of
Abraham through repentance towards God and faith in
Christ. To these words that Jesus had spoken concerning
Zaccheus in the presence of the people he added a para-

ZACCHEUS AND BARTIMEUS.

403

ble, — that of the ten pounds, — because the Jews thought
that the reign of the Messiah would immediately com
mence and because he was near Jerusalem, the capital of
the country, where it was expected that it would be es
tablished. Jesus wished to correct that notion, which he
does in the parable of the ten pounds, which differs
somewhat from that of the ten talents. A nobleman,
who went into a far country to receive for himself a
kingdom, delivered to his ten servants ten pounds or
Hebrew minas, — worth about twenty-five dollars each —
and told them to occupy till he returned. But they
hated him, and sent a message after him that they
would not have him reign over them. So when he had
received the kingdom and returned, he commanded the
servants to be brought before him to ascertain how much
each had gained by trading. One had gained ten pounds,
another five. To both of these he said, ' ' Well done, ' '
and appointed the first over ten cities, and the second
over five cities. Another came with the pound wrapped
in a napkin, where it had lain unemployed since it was
given him, because he believed his Master to be an
austere and grasping man. But the Lord took away his
pound from him and gave it to him who had ten, ' ' for
unto every one that hath shall be given. ' ' And as to his
enemies, who sent word that they did not want him to
rule over them, he had them brought and put to death.
Jesus was the nobleman who was to go away to receive
a kingdom. Before setting up his kingdom he will leave
his servants to employ, during his absence, the talents he
has given them. But he will be neglected by his own
people; and he will come again to call his servants to
account. ' ' By the punishment of those who would not
that he should reign over them, is denoted the doom of

&

404 THE STORY OF JESUS.
the Jewish nation, for rejecting the Messiah, and also the
punishment of all sinners, for not receiving him as
king. ' '
It was probably when leaving Jericho in the morning,
after a quiet night at the house of Zaccheus, that Jesus
met the two blind men outside of the city gates. Luke
speaks as if he were going into the city, but refers only
to nearness to it. Mark and Luke mention but one, and
Mark gives his name — Bartimeus, that is son of Timeus.
There is no contradiction here. One evangelist men
tions the two, and the others dwell upon the one, because
he is more prominent and his case more interesting.
This shows their honesty and truthfulness, — that they
had not conspired together to deceive, — -they related
facts. Bartimeus has heard of Jesus and his mighty
works, but probably has not been near him before. He
hears the great commotion made by the multitude fol
lowing Jesus, and asks what it is all about. He was
told that it was Jesus. He could not see where Jesus
was, but he could reach him with his voice. So he cries
out aloud to him, not only as Jesus the Nazarene, but
"Jesus, thou Son of David," the Christ of God, "have
mercy on me." Some of the people told the blind man
to hold his peace. But he cried the more, "Thou Sou of
David, have mercy on me." Jesus stood still, and com
manded him to be called, and Bartimeus, casting aside in
his haste and excitement the mantle that covered his
shoulders, came near, led by some friendly hand. ' ' What
wilt thou that I shall do unto you ? ' ' asked Jesus.
" Lord, that I may receive my sight." And Jesus had
compassion and touched his eyes and said, ' ' Receive thy
sight. Go thy way, thy faith hath saved thee." And

ZACCHEUS AND BARTIMEUS.

405

immediately he received his sight and followed him, and
he and all who saw it glorified and praised God.
After these events at Jericho, Jesus went before, fol
lowed by his disciples and the people, ' ' ascending up to
Jerusalem." Leaving the plain in which Jericho was
situated, he climbed the heights toward the city of David,
in the hill country of Judea. It was nearly time for the
Jewish Passover, and people from all parts of the land
were already congregating at Jerusalem to perform the
rites necessary to ceremonial purification before the feast.
The people sought in vain for Jesus; so they spoke
among themselves in whispers as they stood in the tem
ple — "What think ye that he will not come to the
feast ? ' ' This they did because the Pharisees and chief
priests had given orders that if any man knew where
Jesus was he should show it, that they might arrest him.
While these things were occurring Jesus was nearing
the city. It was six days before the Passover, on Friday
afternoon, when he reached Bethany, on the road between
Jericho and Jerusalem, on the eastern slope of the Mount
of Olives and near to Jerusalem. It was here that
Martha and Mary and Lazarus lived, with whom he spent
the Sabbath — Saturday. It was not long before the peo
ple learned of his arrival there, and came in large num
bers, not only to see Jesus, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests,
bent on their deadly purpose, agreed together to put not
only Jesus, but Lazarus also to death, on account of his
wonderful resurrection. Many of the Jews "went away
and believed on Jesus. ' '

BOOK EIGHTH.

THE LAST PASSOVER WEEK.
FROM APRIL 2D TO APRIL 8TH A.D. 30. (4°7)

(4°8)

THE WAY OF THE CROSS.

CHRIST'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 409

CHAPTER LXXVII.
CHRIST'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM.
Matt. xxi. 1-17 ; Mark xi. i-xi ; Luke xix. 29-44 ; John xii. 12-26.— Jerusalem-
Sunday — one day — April, a.d. 30.
' I "^HE Jewish Sabbath began on Friday at sundown
-¦- and closed at sundown on Saturday. It was the
next morning — our Sunday — when Jesus re
sumed his journey toward Jerusalem and the temple.
Thousands of people from every section of the land and
from all parts of the world were present to attend the
feast, and the city was thronged. Bethphage was near
Bethany, but while the latter remains, not a trace of the
former can be discovered. The people in the city were in
expectation, and when they heard that Jesus was ap
proaching, and was even then just over on the other side
of the Mount of Olives, shut out from their view, they
went in vast numbers out of the city to meet him. From
Bethphage, where he probably lodged, Jesus sent two of
his disciples, the evening before, to Bethany, where they
would find an ass tied outside the door, and a colt with
her. They were to loose and bring them to him, and if
any one objected they were to say that the Master had
need of them, and he would send them at once. Mark
and Luke mention only the colt, on which no one had
ever ridden, because it was on this that Jesus rode. It
happened just as Jesus told them ; and when they
brought them to Jesus they put their outer garments on
the colt and then helped Jesus to mount its back.
Thus Jesus prepared to ascend the eastern slope of the

4.IO

THE STORY OF JESUS.

Mount of Olives and descending on the other side to en
ter Jerusalem. This mount is about a mile in length
and about seven hundred feet high, and overlooks Jeru
salem, every part of which can be seen from its summit.
There are two roads from Bethany to Jerusalem — one
around the southern end, the other across the summit.

CHRIST'S PUBLIC ENTRY LNTO JERUSALEM.
It has three peaks, or summits, and our Saviour is sup
posed to have ascended the middle one, over which runs
the road to the city. This mountain took its name from
the olive-tree, which blooms in June, bearing white
flowers, and, in due season, its well-known olive fruit.
"All this was done," says Matthew, " that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, ' Tell

CHRIST'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 411
ye the daughter of Zion, Behold thy king cometh unio
thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal
of an ass.' "
" Five hundred years before the prophet Zechariah had
foretold that the king of Zion would one day appear
' riding on an ass.' At the time of the prophecy there
were no kings in Zion or Jerusalem. The kingdom had
ceased at the captivity. ' ' This prophecy is here applied
directly to Jesus as Judah' s king. The whole proceed
ing seems strange to us, but most Oriental customs seem
strange to western nations.
" In Judea there were few horses, and those were used chiefly
in war. Men seldom employed them in common life, and in or
dinary journeys the ass, the mule and the camel are still most
used in eastern countries. To ride on a horse was sometimes an
emblem of war ; on a mule and an ass the emblem of peace.
Kings and princes commonly rode on them in times of peace ;
and it is mentioned as a mark of rank and dignity to ride in that
manner. So Solomon, when he was inaugurated as king, rode
on a mule. Riding in this manner then denoted neither poverty
nor degradation, but was the appropriate way in which a king
should ride, and in which, therefore, the King of Zion should
enter into his capital — the city of Jerusalem."
The very great multitude that had come out of Jerusa
lem, waving palm branches, met him as he drew nigh
the city, at the descent of the Mount of Olives. Some
spread their outer garments or cloaks on the ground, and
others cut branches off the palm-trees and strewed them
in the way for him to ride over, as on a royal road.
And the multitude was very great ; some went before
and some followed after him. When he began his de
scent toward the city ' ' the whole multitude of his disci
ples ' ' began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice

412 THE STORY OF JESUS.
for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying,
"Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the
Lord ! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest ! "
The multitude of the people joined with the disciples in
the loud acclaim, saying, " Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ;
hosanna in the highest. ' '
John tells us that the disciples did not fully understand
these things in the light of prophecy until after the
Lord's resurrection and ascension. This demonstration
of popular favor on the part of the Jewish people was be
cause of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, which had
taken place near the city, and was now known to all.
But the effect of Christ's transient popularity upon the
Pharisees was depressing. They said among themselves :
" Perceive ye how we prevail nothing? Behold the world
is gone after him." Some of them said to Jesus:
' ' Master, rebuke thy disciples ;' ' and he answered them :
' ' I tell you that if these should hold their peace the stones
would immediately cry out." When Jesus, approach
ing, looked down upon the city from the Mount of Olives,
he wept over it and uttered that sad lamentation : "If
thou hadst known, even thou, at least, in this, thy day,
the things which belong to thy peace, but now they are
hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee,
that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and
compass thee round and keep thee in on every side, and
shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children
within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone
upon another ; because thou knewest not the day of thy
visitation." When he had come into the city and tem
ple the whole city was moved with excitement, and the
people who had not gone forth to meet him, asked,

CHRIST'S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 413
"Who is this?" The multitude answered, "This is
Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. ' '
This prediction of Jesus in regard to Jerusalem was
verified. ' ' Sternly, literally, within fifty years was this prophecy ful
filled," says Farrar. " Josephus tells us how, to the very letter,
all this was fulfilled — how, at an early stage of the four months'
siege Titus, the Roman general in command, summoned a coun
cil of war, at which three plans were discussed — to storm the city,
or to repair and rebuild the engines that had been destroyed, or to
blockade the city and starve it into surrender. The third was
the method adopted, and by incredible labor, the whole army en
gaging in the work, a wall was raised, which compassed the city
round and round, and hemmed it on every side. During the war
the people flocked into Jerusalem, and when famine drove any to
escape, they were crucified. The Romans burnt the most ex
treme parts of the city and dug up the foundations of the walls,
reserving only three towers and a part of the wall as a memorial
of their own valor and for the better encampment of the sol
diers. " Titus did not wish to sacrifice the temple — nay, he made every
possible effort to save it — but he was forced to leave it in ashes.
He did not intend to be cruel to the inhabitants, but the deadly
fanaticism of their opposition so extinguished all desire to spare
them that he undertook the task of well-nigh exterminating the
race, of crucifying them by hundreds, of exposing them in am
phitheatres by thousands, of selling them into slavery by myri
ads. Josephus tells us that even immediately after the siege of
Titus, no one in the desert waste around him would have recog
nized the beauty of Judea.
"When we conceive Jesus surveying, on the one hand, the
multitudes of giddy, thoughtless, infatuated beings around him,
engrossed with the affairs of the passing hour, trifling with the
grandest concerns in the universe ; gay, sportive, careless, hurry
ing on to the verge of life ; and then, on the other hand, turning
to behold the dread futurity, the awful gulf of ruin flaming
forth the wrath of the Almighty God against the impenitent— is
there not in this an explanation that may well appall the sinner,

414 THE STORY OF JESUS.
of the compassion, the grief, the yearning expostulation of Je
sus ? Surely it is impossible for imagination to conceive a more
awful measure of the guilt and danger of sin than the grief of
Jesus." It was the same day of his entrance into the city that
"certain Greeks" — probably they were Gentiles who
had come to worship in the court of the Gentiles, as the
heathen often did— who said to Philip, " We would see
Jesus." Philip and Andrew most likely sought Jesus in
that part of the temple where the Gentiles were not
allowed. Jesus said to them that the hour of his glorifi
cation had come ; that a grain of wheat had to fall into
the ground and die, to produce fruit ; that he that loveth
this life shall lose the life to come, and that if any man
would serve him he must follow him ; that such would
be with him, and be honored by the Father.
At this time Jesus' soul was troubled, in view of the
coming cross. " Father, save me from this hour, but
for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy
name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying: "I
have both glorified it and will glorify it again." Some
of the people standing by heard the voice, and thought
that it thundered ; others said, ' ' an angel spake unto
him." But Jesus told them that the voice came for
their sakes ; that the time had come for the world to be
judged ; for the prince of this world, even Satan, to be
cast out, and signifying by what death he should die, he
said : " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me. ' ' Upon this the people began to ques
tion him. He had claimed to be the Son of man ; had
spoken of his death ; they wanted to know, then, why
the law said that Christ should abide forever. ' ' Who is
this Son of man?" ¦> Jesus replies : "Yet a little while

CHRIST'S PUBLIC ENTR } ' INTOJER USALEM. 415
is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light,
lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in dark
ness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the
light, believe in the light, that ye ma}' be the children of
light. ' ' When Jesus had said these things he departed
from the temple and hid himself from them, and leaving
the city, he returned to Bethany — to his disciples — proba
bly to the house of Lazarus, where he spent the night.

MONTE CHRISTO.

41 6 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.
TRADERS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE.
Matt. xxi. 12-16, 18-19 ; Mark xi. 12-19 ; Luke xix 45-48 ; xxi. 37-38.— Jerusalem,
Monday, the second day of the week, April, a.d. 30.
MONDAY morning Jesus and his disciples re
turned from Bethany to Jerusalem. On the
way he was hungry, and, seeing a fig tree afar
off by the common roadside, he came to it for figs, and
found on it nothing but leaves. ' ' The time of figs was
not yet," that is, the time for gathering them. It was
the season for figs, which were ripe during the Passover.
Jesus pronounced a curse upon it, that is, devoted it to
destruction, but the words he used were : ' ' Let no fruit
grow on thee henceforth forever. " " No man eat fruit
of thee hereafter forever."
" There is a kind of tree which bears a large, green-colored fig
that ripens very early," says Dr. William Thomson. "I have
plucked them in May from trees on Lebanon, a hundred and
fifty miles north of Jerusalem, and where trees are nearly a
month later than in the south of Palestine ; it does not, there
fore, seem impossible that the same kind might have had ripe
figs at Easter, in the warm, sheltered regions of Olivet. The rea
son why he might seek fruit from this particular tree at that
early day was the ostentatious show of leaves the fig often
comes with, or even before the leaves, and especially on the
early kind. If there was no fruit on this leafy tree it might
justly be condemned as barren."
The fig tree was a type of the Jewish people. They
had the law, the temple, all its rites of worship, the ex
ternals of righteousness, but none of its fruits. ' ' Jesus is

TRADERS DPI VE\ FROM THE TEMPLE.

417

teaching by symbols. The tree is Israel. He — the
same who planted it in days of old — goes to it expecting
fruit, which its fair appearance warrants ; but finding
none, he pronounces judicialh' upon it the sentence of
destruction." It is the same with the Jew or Gentile, the
individual or the nation — Jesus expects fruit when there
has been nurture, and the curse of God rests on the bar
ren and unfruitful. The disciples heard what he said to
the tree.
When Jesus came to the city and went into the tem
ple, he began to cast out those that sold and bought in
the courts of the sacred edifice, and overthrew the tables
of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold
doves ; " And he would not suffer that any man should
carry any vessel through the temple," and he taught the
people who gathered to hear him, and said: "Did not
Isaiah write, My house shall be called of all nations
the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of
thieves?" Neander says :
" For the convenience of those from a distance who wished to
offer sacrifices, booths h.ul been erected in the temple court, in
which everything necessary for the purpose was kept for sale,
and money-changers were also allowed to take their stand there,
but, as might have been expected from the existing corruption of
the Jewish people, many foul abuses had grownup. Merchants
and brokers made everything subservient to their avarice, and
their noisy huckstering was a great disturbance to the worship
of the temple."
In the beginning of his public ministry Jesus had
purified the temple, and now again, towards its close, he
performs the same act of cleansing.
" The second cleansing of the Courts of the Temple seems to
have taken the custodians of the place as much by surprise as
IS*

4 1 8 THE STOP Y OF JESUS.
did the first. They made no attempt to interrupt it, nor did
they interfere with Jesus in the use to which he put the courts
that he had cleansed. He remained to keep guard over the place,
not suffering any man to carry even a common vessel across the
court which the Jews had turned into a common thoroughfare.
He remained for hours to occupy it, unchallenged ; the people
flocked into it, and he taught them there. All this while the
priests and the Levites, the rulers and the temple-guard are look
ing on bewildered, their earlier antipathy kindled into a ten
fold fervor of hate."
And he did many gracious deeds. The blind and the
lame came to him, and he healed the lame and restored
sight to the blind. The children also praised him aloud
in the temple, saying, ' ' Hosanna to the Son of David. ' '
And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonder
ful things that he did, and heard the children ascribing
praise to him as the Son of David, they were greatly
displeased, and said to him, ' ' Hearest thou what these
say ? ' ' and he answered them, ' ' Yes. Have ye never
read what is written in the Psalms, — out of the mouth
of babes and sucklings, thou hast perfected praise?"
The rulers and teachers of the people could not see how
children could know the Saviour, and were offended that
they should join in his praise. The answer of Jesus an
gered them the more, and they sought to destroy him ;
but they could not for fear of the people, who were at
tentive to him and astonished at his teaching. At the
close of the day he withdrew and went out to the Mount
of Olives, probably to Bethany, and spent the night. In
the morning the people came early to the temple hoping
to hear him.

THE TWO SONS— WICKED HUSBANDMEN.

419

CHAPTER LXXIX.
THE TWO SONS — THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN.
Matt. xxi. 20-32 ; Mark xi. 20-33 ; Lcke xx. 1-8.— Jerusalem— Tuesday, the third
day of the week, a.d. 30.
y\ S Jesus and his disciples again on the following
¦*- ¦*" morning, Tuesday, wended their way to the
city from Bethany, they saw as they passed by
-that the fig tree that Jesus cursed the day before was
dried up from the roots. Peter at once called the atten
tion of the Lord to it, saying, "Master, the fig tree is
withered away. ' ' Jesus answering, said, ' ' Have faith in
God," and told them that if they exercised faith and had
no doubt in their heart, they could not only do what he
had done, but could by a word remove this mountain
and cast it into the sea. He also told them that all
things whatsoever they would ask in prayer, believing,
they should receive, and that if they hope to be forgiven
when they pray for forgiveness, they must forgive those
against whom they had ought. From this we are to
learn that no power in the performance of miracles need
ful would be withheld from the apostles at that time.
"Prayer," it has been said, "moves the arm that
moves the universe ; but it is faith that gives to prayer
the faculty of linking itself with omnipotence and call
ing it to human aid."
They came to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the
temple and teaching the people and preaching the gos
pel, the chief priests and the elders and scribes came to
him and demanded by what authority he "did these

420 THE STORY OF JESUS.
things," — to act as rabbi and prophet, to teach the peo
ple, to ride into the city amidst the shouting multitude
and to drive the traders from the temple. These men,
who were members of the Sanhedrin or Jewish Senate,
constituted the sole authority in ' ' these things, ' ' and
felt called on to wait upon Jesus thus publicly, and to
ask him who gave him the authority to regulate the re
ligious affairs of the Jews, which had been committed to
them. The answer of Jesus put them to ignominious de
feat before the very people whom they had hoped to
prejudice against him. Turning to them he replied, "I
will also ask you one question, which, if you answer, I
will likewise tell you by what authority I do these
things; The baptism of John, was it from heaven or .of
men?" Pausing for a reply, and receiving none, he
said, "Answer me." But they had no answer, they
were in a dilemma and they reasoned among themselves
aside and out of hearing, regarding what Jesus would
say to their answer. " If we shall say from heaven, he
will say, 'Why then did ye not believe him?'" and
they knew that from the first they had rejected John and
would not accept what he said respecting Jesus as the
Christ. They continued, " But if we shall say, of men ;
we fear the people, for all men hold John as a prophet."
They would not only have lost their influence with the
people, but would have been in danger of violence from
them, for they believed that John was a prophet indeed.
Finally they were forced to the humiliating and untruth
ful answer, ' ' We cannot tell whence it is. ' ' Jesus re
plied, " Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these
things." They could, if they would, have easily dis
covered by what authority Jesus worked and taught.

THE TWO SONS— WICKED HUSBANDMEN.

421

The Lord now relates to them a parable which con
tains his lesson for them. "But what think ye," he
begins, and tells them of a man who had two sons. The
father came to the first and said, ' ' Son, go work to-day
in my vineyard," and he answered, "I will not," but
afterwards repented and went. He came to the second
likewise, who said, "I will go," and went not. Which
of these did the will of his father ? asked Jesus, and they
answered, ' ' The first. ' ' Then he said to them, that the
publicans and harlots, who were the greatest sinners,
were repenting and entering the kingdom of heaven
before them, for when John came "in the way of right
eousness ' ' they believed not, but the ' ' publicans and
harlots believed him," and these Jewish rulers had seen
it and neither repented nor believed. Thus he explained
to them the solemn meaning of their own answer.
In another parable Jesus spoke unto them of the vine
yard let out to wicked husbandmen, by which he meant
to teach them their unfaithfulness to God and to their
trust. The parable was at once history and prophecy,
for, says Geikie,
"The vineyard of God separated from the wilderness of
heathenism was clearly Israel. The husbandmen were the
priests, rabbis and Pharisees, to whom he had left his vinej'ard,
with the charge to tend it and to render him duly its fruits. The
servants sent were the prophets. From their first appearance in
the distant past to John the Baptist the\- had been despised,
beaten, martyred — only one could follow them — the last and
highest representative of God, who should command respect
even from murderers. His only well-beloved Son, the Messiah,
who had come, not as the nation had fancied, to bring them po
litical glory and earthly prosperit}-, but to receive the fruits
which kept back for hundreds of years, could no longer be left
unrendered. But Jesus, the Messiah, had long foreseen his fate.
He had had it before his eyes every hour since his public entry

422 THE STORY OF JESUS.
into Jerusalem. He, the rightful heir of the vineyard, had been
received by the husbandmen with jealous eyes and deadly pur
poses. The revolt he had come to end had grown rampant. It
had risen from a refusal to render the fruits, to a rejection of
their dependence and a daring resolution to take the vineyard
into their own hands ; to cast out God in casting out him whom
he had sent. The fierce anger of God could not long delay. The
rebels, smitten by his wrath, must perish ; the vineyard must
pass into other hands. But the others could only be the heathen,
whom Israel despised. Loyal to the Son whom Israel had re
jected and slain, disciples and followers gathered from other na
tions, would be entrusted with the inheritance. Changing the
figure, these would willingly accept, as the foundation and chief
corner-stone of the new kingdom of God, him whom the first
builders — of whom those now before him were the representa
tives — had rejected. Was there any doubt that God would trans
fer that kingdom to those thus loyal to his Son ? "
He told them that those to whom this chief stone
would become a stone of stumbling would be broken,
and that those on whom it fell would be crushed to
pieces. When the Pharisees and the chief priests per
ceived that he referred to them,' they sought again to
arrest him, but they feared the people, who believed that
Jesus was a prophet, and who even then were thought
to so favor him as to be ready to defend him against
them. Those were terrible words: "The kingdom of
God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bring
ing forth the fruits thereof. ' '

MARRIAGE OP THE KING'S SON. 423

CHAPTER LXXX.
MARRIAGE OF THE KING'S SON.
Matt. xxii. 1-22 ; Mark xii. 13-17 ; Luke xx. 20-26. — Jerusalem, ad. 30 ; Tuesday,
the third day.
FT seemed to be "a day of parables."
"The parable of the marriage of the king's son in its basis and
frame-work closely resembles the parable of the Great Supper,
uttered during his last journey at a Pharisee's house. But in its
details, and in its entire conclusion, it is different," says Farrar.
"Here the ungrateful subjects who receive the invitation not
only make light of it, and pursue undisturbed their worldly avo
cations, but some of them actually insult and murder the mes
senger who invited them, and a point at which history merges
into prophecy — are destroyed and their city burned. And the
rest of the story points to still further scenes, pregnant with
still deeper meanings. Others are invited, the wedding is fur
nished with guests, both bad and good ; the king comes in and
notices one who had thrust himself into the company in his own
rags, without providing or accepting the wedding garment,
which the commonest courtesy required. This rude, intruding,
presumptuous guest is cast out by attendant angels into outer
darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth ; and
then follows for the last time the warning, urged in varying
similitudes, with a frequency commensurate with its importance,
that many are called, but few chosen."
"He was speechless." "What this man lacked," says a dis
tinguished writer, ' ' was righteousness. He had not, according to
the image of Paul, ' put on Christ, ' in which putting on of Christ
both faith and holiness are included. By faith we recognize a
righteousness out of and above us, and wherewith our spirits
can be clothed, which righteousness is in Christ, who is the
Lord, our righteousness. A time arrives when every man will
discover that he needs this covering, this array for his soul. It

424 THE STORY OF JESUS.
is woe unto him' who like this guest, only discovers it when it
is too late to provide himself with such, and then suddenly
stands confessed to himself in all his moral nakedness and de
filement." The meaning of our Lord in these parables, so far as
they referred to the Jewish nation, was apparent to the
people and their leaders. So that some of the Pharisees
and the Herodians — two parties bitterly opposed to each
other — came together to consult as to how they might
entangle him in his talk, and accuse him before Pilate,
and deliver him up to him for trial and punishment.
They themselves watched him and employed and sent
forth spies to feign themselves just men, to question him.
The Herodians were the adherents of King Herod, who
owed his power tq the Roman emperor, and consequently
they would be jealous for both Herod and Csesar. The
Pharisees, on the other hand, were of the Jewish national
party, and hated the usurper Herod and the heathen Ro
man conquerors.
These two parties were enemies of each other, but
they are now united by mutual hatred to Christ,
and they watch him, while their minions, in the guise
of men seeking instruction, put to him their artfully-
framed question : ' ' Master, we know that thou art
true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest
thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of
man, but teachest the way of God in truth ; tell us,
therefore, what thinkest thou ; Is it lawful to give
tribute to Caesar, or not ? Shall we give or shall we
not give?" " Now, they thought, we will have him on
one horn or the other of the dilemma ; for if he says,
No, then he will place himself in antagonism with
Rome, and incur arrest by Pilate ; and if he says, Yes,

MARRIAGE OF THE KING'S SON.

425

then he will oppoSe the Jewish nation, and have the
people as well as the Pharisees against him. But they
were themselves impaled by him. ' ' Perceiving at once
their crafty wickedness and hypocrisy, he said : ' ' Why
tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me a penny."
They showed him a Roman denarius, with which they
paid their custom duty, or tribute, to the Roman gov
ernment. The coin showed their bondage to Rome.
Pointing out to them the likeness and name of the
Roman emperor upon the coin, he asked them :
' ' Whose is this image and superscription ? ' ' They
answered: "Caesar's." They could do no less. Then
came his unexpected reply: " Render therefore to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things
that are God's." The effect of this reply was to
utterly silence them ; and, marveling at his answer, they
left him and went -their way. But for all time our
Lord has taught the duty of obeying the powers that
be, ordained, as they are of God, to govern men ; but
he has, none the less, emphatically here taught that God
has a prior claim, and that men in their devotion to
government are not to forget that God has a prior
right to the tribute of their life and strength.

426 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXXXI.
LAST WORDS TO AN IMPENITENT PEOPLE.
Matt. xxii. 33-46, xxiii. 1-39; Mark xii. 18-40; Luke xx. 27-47. — Jerusalem,
Tuesday, the third day, a.d. 30.
^ I "^HE enemies of Jesus were very determined and
-*- active, as the workers of iniquity ever are, and
returned after each defeat to renew the conflict
with him. The Pharisees and the Herodians had been
silenced by him, and now, in the same day, there came
to him the Sadducees, who, contrary to the teaching of
the scriptures and of Christ, did not believe in the res
urrection of the body, nor in the future state of rewards
and punishments, nor in the existence of angels, nor the
separate existence of the soul after death. In order, by
their reasoning, to throw discredit upon the doctrine of
the resurrection, they tell him of seven brothers who,
according to the law of Moses, had each, in succession,
married the same woman and died childless ; and that,
last of all, the woman died also. And they asked him
which one of these brothers would have her as his wife
in the resurrection. Jesus told them that they were in
error from their want of knowledge ' of the scriptures
and of the power of God. That the children of this
world marry, but that they which shall be accounted
worthy to attain that world, and the resurrection, when
they shall arise from the dead, they neither marry nor
are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in
heaven, and are the children of God, being the children
of the resurrection. Jesus went on in defense of the

LAST WORDS TO AN IMPENITENT PEOPLE. 427
doctrine, to adduce, as proof of the resurrection and the
immortality of the patriarchs, what God had said to
Moses when he appeared to him in the burning bush.
"Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at
the bush. " " 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;
for all live unto him. ' '
These patriarchs had long been dead and buried, and
yet God speaks of them as living. That their souls
were alive was so plain, and Jesus argued so well the
resurrection of the body from the immortality of the
soul, that these sceptical disputers — the Sadducees —
"after that durst not ask him any question at all."
Certain scribes said to him, "Master, thou hast said
well." When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had put to si
lence the Sadducees, to the astonishment of the people,
they gathered themselves around him, for they were
pleased with the defeat of their opponents ; and one of
them, a lawyer or scribe, asked him, which was the first
and greatest commandment of all ? Jesus answered
somewhat as a scribe formerly had answered him.
' ' Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord ; 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. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two command
ments hang all the law and the prophets. ' ' Thus, all of
man's duty was summed up in one word — love. And
the scribe, commending, added that, "To love God and
man is more than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. ' '
Jesus, when he saw that the lawyer had answered dis-

428 THE STORY OF JESUS.
creetly, said unto him ; ' ' Thou art not far from the
kingdom of God." Again his enemies were afraid to
question him.
While the Pharisees were gathered about him in the
temple Jesus asked them a question, " What think ye of
Christ ; whose Son is he ? " They were the teachers of
the people, and professed to know the scriptures, and
had denied that he was the Christ. Since they knew so
much, he proceeded to ask them some plain questions
respecting their own Messiah and the scriptures concern
ing him. It was an embarrassing question, for the man
ner in which he had silenced them all when they ques
tioned him must have made them hesitate ; but they
answered, ' ' The Son of David. ' ' To this Jesus replies,
' ' How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
' The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right
hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool ? ' " It
may be that Jesus here paused for their reply, and, get
ting none, went on, " If David then call him Lord, how
is he his son?" They did not answer, because they
could not ; and they were afraid from that day to ask
him any more questions. ' ' But the common people
heard him gladly."
" Could Abraham have called Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, or
any of his own descendants, near or remote, his Lord ? If not,
how came David to do so ? There could be but one answer, be
cause that Son would be divine, not human — David's Son by
human birth — but David's Lord by divine subsistence. The
true key to that announcement, in the one hundred and tenth
Psalm, and to many similar prophecies, was wanting to the Jews
so long as the true and proper divinity, as well as the true and
proper humanity of their Messiah remained unperceived and un
acknowledged. ' '
Then Jesus addressed his disciples in the presence of

LAST WORDS TO AN IMPENITENT PEOPLE.

429

all the people, and told them that the scribes and Phari
sees were the teachers, as Moses had been, and in his
place, and that therefore they should observe what was
taught by them, but not to follow their example; " for
they say and do not;" they bind heavy burdens on others
which they will not bear themselves; what they do is to
be seen of men; they make broad their phylacteries — that
is, the slips of parchment worn on the forehead as a
charm, on which were written passages from the Hebrew
scriptures: they enlarge the fringe on their garments,
worn to distinguish them from the heathen nations; they
love the most honorable positions on couches at feaits,
and the chief seats in the synagogues and respectful
salutations in the market-places; they love to be called
rabbi or master. Jesus told them to call no man master
in religions things but himself; because his disciples are
all brethren: to call no man father or ruler in church
matters, for God is their Father; the greatest shall be
the servant of all; he who will exalt himself shall be
humbled, and the humble shall be exalted.
He then denounces the scribes and Pharisees as hypo
crites, and pronounces a woe upon them, because they
shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, neither
going in themselves when invited by him, nor allowing
others to go in; because they defraud widows of their
possessions; and for the purpose of leaving the impres
sion that they are pious, continue long at their devo
tions; for all which their condemnation will be greater.
He likewise denounces them for compassing sea and land
to make one proselvte to their views, and then making
him "more the child of hell" than themselves; for
being blind guides, because they taught that to swear
by the temple was notiing, but to swear by the gold of

43O THE STORY OF JESUS.
the temple was binding; that to swear by the altar was
nothing, but that he who swears by the gift on the altar
is guilty. He declares that to swear by heaven or by
God's throne is to swear by God himself. Jesus also pro
nounces a woe upon them, because they pay the tithes of
mint, anise and cummin and omit the weightier matters
of the law, — judgment, mercy and faith — in which they
strain out a gnat and swallow a camel ; because they are
so particular to be clean in outward things while they
are full of extortion and excess; because they are like
whited sepulchres, which appear beautiful outwardly, but
are within full of uncleanness; because they tenderly
care for the tombs of the prophets, whom their fathers
killed , and fill up the measure of their fathers' guilt by
doing likewise. Then follow those awful words of min
gled prophecy, warning and woe : "Ye serpents ! ye
vipers ! how can ye escape the damnation of hell ?
Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets and wise
men and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and
crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your
synagogues and persecute them from city to city; that
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon
the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood
of Zachariah, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between
the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you all
these things shall come upon this generation. O, Jeru
salem, Jerusalem ! thou that stonest the prophets and
killest those that are sent unto thee, how often would I
have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, but ye would not. Behold
your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto
you, Ye shall not see me henceforth until ye shall
say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

LAST WORDS TO AN IMPENITENT PEOPLE. 431
Jesus sat in the temple over against the coffers with
trumpet-shaped mouths, for the reception of the offerings
of the people for the temple service. And there came a
poor widow and threw in two mites, or the smallest
pieces of brass coin in use among the Jews and in value
about two mills and a half, or one-fourth of a cent.
Jesus said to his disciples that this woman had cast in
more, in proportion to her means, than all the others,
who gave of their abundance or store, for she had given
her all.
John, in speaking of the effect of the final work and
teaching of Jesus, says, "Yet they believed not," as
Isaiah hath said, "Who hath believed our. report?"
He also quotes from Isaiah, who saw Christ's glory, as
to the condition in which they were left because they
would not. Therefore they could not be healed
and were left unsaved. Nevertheless John continues,
' ' Many of the chief rulers believed on him, but for
fear of the Pharisees they did not confess him for
fear of being put out of the synagogue ; for they loved
the praise of men more than the praise of God." The
final words of Jesus before he left the temple were sad and
plaintive. He told them that he that believed on him
believed on him that sent him ; that he that had seen
him had seen the Father ; that whosoever believed on
him as the light of the world should not abide in dark
ness ; that God would judge him who believed not ; that
he came into the world not to judge the world but that all
might be saved ; that he had spoken and taught what
he did by the command of God ; "and I know that his
commandment is everlasting life. ' '

43 2 THE STOP Y OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXXXII.
DESTRUCTION OP JERUSALEM FORETOLD.
Matt. xxiv. 1-51 ; Mark xiii. 1-37 ; Luke xxi. 5-35.— Mount of Olives, Tuesday,
third day of the week, a.d. 30.
HAVING delivered the preceding solemn words,
Jesus, accompanied by his disciples, departed
from the temple and went upon the Mount of
Olives, from which they looked upon the temple in all
its glory ;.with its goodly stones and splendid offerings
and its nine golden gates and columns of Corinthian
brass glittering in the sunlight. As he sat looking at
the temple, his disciples spoke to him about the won
derful buildings covering the temple area and the temple
itself, the very emblem of solidity, strength and stabil
ity. Jesus said, ' ' Seest thou these great buildings ?
There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall
not be thrown down. "...
While thus wondering and talking together, Peter,
James, John and Andrew came to him privately and
asked him, When shall these things be? and, What
shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the
world ? ' ' The double question of the disciples — first,
respecting the destruction of Jerusalem, and especially
the time when it was to happen ; and second, respecting
the signs of his advent, and of the end of the world —
required a double answer ; the two parts referring each
to one of two events. " " Much that our Lord said
might be applied to both these events, both these
' comings ' being, in fact, comings to judgment ; but

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM FORETOLD. 433
towards the close his language grew more distinctly ap
plicable to his final coming to judge the world. ' '
Jesus told them that many would come in his name,
claiming to be the Christ, but they must not be de
ceived ; they must not be troubled when they hear of
wars and rumors of wars, for kingdom will rise against
kingdom and nation against nation, and famine, pesti
lences and earthquakes will take place in various places
before the end shall come. ' ' All these are the begin
ning of sorrows. ' ' Then his disciples will be delivered
up to councils, beaten in synagogues, brought before
rulers and kings, be imprisoned and killed — all for his
name's sake and as witnesses against their oppressors.
But they were not to trouble themselves as to what they
shall speak, for the Holy Spirit will direct them and
will give them a mouth and wisdom that their adver
saries cannot resist. He warns them also that many
will fall away and that his disciples will be hated, perse
cuted, betrayed and even put to death by their nearest
relatives simply because they are Christians. ' ' And be
cause iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax
cold;" but adds the comforting assurances, "He that
endureth to the end the same shall be saved," and
" There shall not a hair of your head perish." This is
taken to mean primarily that Christians should escape
the terrible sufferings of the siege of Jerusalem. . . .
More remotely to the final salvation of those who prove
faithful despite all their afflictions and trials to the end
of life.
Said Jesus also, ' ' This gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations ; and then shall the end come." If by "the
end" is meant the destruction of Jerusalem and the
19

434 THE STORY OF JESUS.
temple, then there is evidence that this prophecy was
fulfilled. "It appears, from credible evidence, that the gospel was
preached in Idumea, Syria and Mesopotamia by Jude ; in Egypt,
Marmoria, Mauritania and other parts of Africa by Mark, Simon
and Jude ; in Ethiopia by Candace's eunuch and Matthias ; in
Pontus, Galatia and the neighboring parts of Asia by Peter ; in
the territories of the seven Asiatic churches by John ; in Parthia
by Matthew ; in Scythia by Andrew and Philip ; in the northern
and western part of Asia by Bartholomew ; in Persia by Simon
and Jude ; in Media, Carmania and several eastern parts by
Thomas ; through the vast tract from Jerusalem round about
unto Illyricum by Paul ; in most of which places Christian
churches were planted in less than thirty years after the death of
Christ, which was before the destruction of Jerusalem."
Paul tells the Romans that ' ' The sound of the gospel
had gone forth into all the world, and their word to the
end of the earth ;" and to the Colossians he says that
the truth of the gospel had come ' ' To all the world,
being preached to every creature." Christ's words, if
applied to " the end " of the world, mean that the gos
pel is to be preached in all the world to all nations and
to every creature in the same sense.
Some of the signs of the end of the Jewish economy
he mentions. Jerusalem shall be surrounded by armies,
and the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel
the prophet, shall be seen standing in the holy place.
Then all his disciples in Judea were to flee unto the
mountains for refuge. It will not be safe for those on
the house-top to save their goods, nor for those in the
fields to return home even for a garment, but they must
flee at once out of the city and home for safety, to the
hills, to escape the day .of vengeance. Daniel had pre
dicted the destruction of the second temple before it was

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM FORETOLD. 435
built, and here Christ tells by what signs they shall know
that the destruction is at hand. The ' ' abomination of
desolation in the holy place ' ' denotes the Roman army
at the gates of' the holy city, come to make it desolate,
with those abominations, the images of their emperor
and gods on their standards. Jesus predicts the sorrows
of those times. ' ' They shall fall by the edge of the
sword and shall be led away captive into all nations,
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The
trials would be beyond endurance, "but for the
elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, those days shall be
shortened. ' '
These admonitions saved many Christians the horrors
of the siege. Cestus first came with his army and
besieged Jerusalem, but for some unaccountable reason
withdrew, which enabled the Christians to take refuge in
flight, before Titus came to capture and demolish the
city. ' ' Taking advantage of the space before the siege
was formed by Titus, they departed in a body to Pella, a
village beyond Jordan, which became the seat of the
church of Jerusalem till Hadrian permitted their re
turn. ' '
Jesus warned his disciples not to be deceived by the
signs and wonders promised by false Christs and
prophets. When he himself comes, it will be like the
lightning, sudden, but unmistakable and all pervading.
"Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be
gathered together," is a reference to the Roman eagles
pursuing the fugitives. The signs that in those days
'shall follow the tribulation of those days, are: "The sun
shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of

436 THE STORY OF JESUS.
heaven shall be shaken; " and upon the earth, distress of
nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after
those things that are coming on the earth. "Then
shall they see" the Son of man coming in the clouds
with great power and glory, and then shall he send
his angels and shall gather together his elect from
the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of
the heaven. ' '
The fig-tree is given as an illustration. They could tell
from its leaves when summer is near, and so can this
generation tell when his coming is at hand, although the
precise day and hour was known only to God. ' ' The
images here used are not to be taken literally. They are
often used by the sacred writers to denote any great
calamities." Reference is here made both to the fall of
Jerusalem and to the final coming of Christ. ' ' At the
destruction of Jerusalem the evidence of his coming was
found in the fulfillment of these predictions. At the
end of the world the sign of his coming will be his per
sonal approach with the glory of his Father and the holy
angels. ' ' His people shall rejoice, but others shall trem
ble with fear. To be ready is their duty.
He likened the kingdom of heaven to a man who left
home for a long journey and before going gave authority
to his servants and to every man his work. In view of
the certainty and suddenness of his com'ng in judgment,
and of the impending titter destruction which shall come
upon the Jewish nation and upon the whole world, as
the flood came in Noah's day, he urges upon his own
disciples watchfulness, as faithful and wise servants who
are waiting hourly for their Lord's coming. He warns
them against becoming weary, because their Lord may

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM FORETOLD. 437
delay his coming beyond their expectation. ' ' Take
heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is,
lest coming suddenly he may find you sleeping, or en
tangled with the affairs of this life." Finally, Jesus
says: "And what I say unto you, I say unto all,
watch."

438

THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXXXIII.
THE TEN VIRGINS AND THE TEN TALENTS.
Matt. xxv. 1-46. — Mount of Olives— Tuesday— third day, a.d. 30.
JESUS, in order to impress on his disciples the duty
and necessity of constant watchfulness, related to
them the parable of the ten virgins. When Jesus
comes it shall be as it was when the ten virgins went out
at midnight with their lamps to meet the bridegroom,
who was about to bring home his bride. Five of them
were wise, for they provided themselves with vessels of
oil with which to supply their lamps, and five were fool
ish, for they took no oil with them. While they waited
for the bridegroom,
whose arrival was de
layed, they all slept.
At midnight the cry
was heard : " Behold
the bridegroom com
eth. Go ye out to
meet him." Those
virgins who were un
provided with oil
found their lamps had
gone out, and, failing
to get a supply from
BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH. j. t, ^ ; _
their companions,
who had only enough for themselves, they went to buy.
But while they were gone the bridegroom arrived and
went into his house, and the door was shut. The

THE TEN VIRGINS AND THE TEN TALENTS. 439
damsels that were ready went in with him, but those that
were unprepared arrived too late to go in, and the door
being shut they are refused admittance. Barnes says :
' ' In the celebration of
marriages in the east, at
the present day, many of
the peculiar customs of an
cient times are observed.
' At a Hindoo marriage,'
says a modern missionary,
' the procession of which I
saw, some years ago, the
bridegroom came from a
distance and the bride lived
at Serampore, to which
place the bridegroom was
to come by water. After
waiting two or three hours,
at length near midnight it
was announced in the very
words of scripture : ' Behold
the bridegroom cometh. Go
ye out to meet him.' All
the persons employed now
lighted their lamps and
ran with them to fill up their stations in the procession ; some of
them had lost their lights and were unprepared, -but it was then
too late to seek them, and the cavalcade moved forward to the
house of the bride, at which place the company entered a large
and splendidly illuminated area before the house, covered with an
awning, where a great company of friends, dressed in their best
apparel, were seated upon mats. The bridegroom was carried in
the arms of a friend and placed in a superb seat in the midst of
the company, where he sat a short time, and then went into the
house, the door of which was immediately shut and guarded by
Sepoys. I and others expostulated with the door-keeper, but in
vain. Never was I so struck with our Lord's beautiful parable as
at this moment, ' and the door was shut.' "

THE WISE VIRGINS.

44°

THE STORY OF JESUS.

These ten virgins represent the whole church waiting
for the coming of the bridegroom— Christ. The burning
lamps "denote outward profession, while the oil represents
abundant supplies of inward grace. The five wise vir
gins stand for those who are prepared for the coming
Lord. Even after an unexpected delay, when he comes
at length, they enter with him into the marriage supper
of the Lamb. The foolish virgins denote those who idle
away their time that
should be used in get
ting ready for the com
ing of their Lord, and
are at length shut out
from his presence and
glory. In the parable
of the ten virgins the
friends of the bride
groom are waiting for
him, and in the follow
ing parable of the ten
talents, the servants of
the householder are
working for him, but
in the main these two
parables teach the one
THE FOOLISH VIRGINS. ksson. «Be ye alsQ
ready, for in such an hour that ye think not, your Lord
doth come."
A man meditating a journey into a far country put into
the hands of his own servants his goods, in talents of sil
ver. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to
another one — "to every man according to his several
ability" — and then took his departure. After a long

THE. TEX I'/RGI.VS.IXD THE TEX T.ILEXTS. 441
time the lord returned and asked from each sen-ant an ac
count. The servant who had five talents had traded with
and doubled them, and he returned to his lord ten talents.
His lord said: "Well done, thou good and faithful ser
vant. Thou hast been faithful in a few things, I will
make thee ruler over many thing's. Enter thou into
the joy of thy lord." Likewise he said to the servant
who had doubled his two talents, and returned to his lord
four. Both were commended not for success, but for
their faithfulness, and both were promoted. But the
servant who received the one talent said : " Lord, I knew
thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast
not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed ;
and I was afraid, and wont and hid thy talent in the
earth ; lo ! there thou hast that is thine." In answer the
lord calls him wicked, as well as slothful, and censures
him for not, at least, putting his money out at interest.
Taking the talent from him, he gave it to him who had
the ten talents, and ordered the unprofitable servant to
be cast into outer darkness, whore there shall be weep
ing and gnashing of teeth, for unto every one that hath
shall be given, and lie shall have abundance.
"All receive their native capacities, their opportuni
ties, their characters and their circumstances from God.
He bestows them not as a gift, but as a trust, and for
their use thereof they will be called to account. Our
Lord assures us that no use is a sin as well as misuse,
neglect as well as flagrant disobedience. The whole
parable pivots on the words, unprofitable servant, and it
is so living as neither to grow in grace himself nor to
edify others."
The description of the general judgment that follows
these parables is both impressive and appalling, and was
I9*

442

THE STORY OF JESUS.

given in answer to the disciples' question respecting the
end of the world. Jesus tells them that when the Son
of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory ;
and before him, as the king and judge of the world, shall
be gathered all nations and he shall separate them ac
cording to character, one from another, just as an eastern
shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. The judge
shall place the sheep of his fold — the righteous — on his
right hand, the place
of honor; but the
goats — the unright
eous — on his left
hand, the place of
dishonor. "Then
shall the King say to
them on his right
hand, 'Come, ye
blessed of my Father:
inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from
the foundation o f
lord, open to us. t^e worid . J was an
hungered and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty and ye
gave me drink ; I was a stranger and ye took me in ;
naked and ye clothed me ; I was sick and ye visited me ;
I was in prison and ye came unto me." And when the
righteous, with unaffected surprise and humility, ask
him, when they did this, the King answers, ' ' Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my
brethren, ye have done it unto me." Then shall he say
to those on his left hand : ' ' Depart from me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his

THE TEN VIRGINS AND THE TEN TALENTS 443
angels ; for I was an hungered and ye gave me no meat ;
I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink ; I was a stranger
and ye took me not in ; naked and ye clothed me not ;
sick and in prison and ye visited me not.' ' And when
these express their surprise and ask, when they had
treated him so, he replies, "Inasmuch as ye did it not
unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me;"
' ' And these shall go away into everlasting punishment,
but the righteous into life eternal. ' '
Says Dr. Brown:
"What claims does the Son of man here put forth for himself !
He is to come in his own glory ; all the holy angels are to come
with him ; he is to take his seat on his throne ; it is the throne of
his own glory ; all nations are to be gathered before him ; the awful
separation of the two great classes is to be his doing ; the word
of decision in both, 'ye blessed,' 'ye cursed,' is the word of
command, to the one, ' come,' to the other, ' depart,' to the king
dom, to the flames ; all this is to be his doing. But most aston
ishing of all, the blissful or the blighted eternity of each one, of
both classes, is suspended upon his treatment of him — is made
to turn upon those mysterious ministrations from age to age
to the Lord of glory disguised in the persons of those who love
his name : ' Ye did" thus and thus unto me. Come, ye blessed !'
'Ye did it not to me. Depart, ye cursed !' In that ' me ' lies an
emphasis, the strength of which only the scene itself and its
everlasting issues will disclose. Verily, 'God is judge himself'
but it is God in flesh, — God in one who is ' not ashamed to call
us brethren."

444 THE STORY OFfESUS.

CHAPTER LXXXIV.
THE SUPPER AT BETHANY AND THE PASCHAL MEAL.
Matt. xxvi. 1-25 ; Mark xiv. 1-21 ; Luke xxii. 1-1S, 24-30 ; John xii. 2-8, xiii. 1-30.—
Motmt of Olives, Bethany, Jerusalem ; fourth, fifth and sixth days of the
week, beginning at sunset, a.d. 30.
"\ ~X THEN Jesus had finished these solemn instruc-
* ^ tions he turned to his disciples, and after say
ing that the feast of the Passover, or of
unleavened bread, would be observed after two days, he
announced, ' ' The Son of man is betrayed into the hands
of sinners." The disciples did not know at the time,
but afterward they knew, that while Jesus was foretell
ing his death, the chief priests and scribes were then
assembled in the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest,
consulting together how they might take him by craft
and put him to death, for they were afraid to arrest him
openly because of the people, who were„still disposed to
favor and defend him. ' ' Not on the feast day, ' ' they
said, "lest there be an uproar among the people." But
the people were more fickle than the rulers thought and
were soon to be persuaded to join in the cry, "Crucify
him!" From the Mount of Olives, where these words were
probably uttered, Jesus went to Bethany, and on the same
day — Wednesday — Simon made him a supper. Simon
had been a leper and had probably been cured by the
Lord. The feast seems to have been given at the house
of Lazarus, for he, Mary and Martha were all present.
Simon may have been some relation of the family.

SUPPER AT BETHANY AND PASCHAL MEAL.

445

Martha, as usual, sen ed, but Man.- brought an alabaster
box of a pound of costly and fragrant oil of spikenard,
and broke it and anointed the head and feet oi our Sa-
viour as he reclined at table, and wiped his feet with her
hair. The sweet perfume filled the house. The disci
ples found fault with her, and Judas, who betrayed him,
complained of the waste. This should have been sold,
said he, and the three hundred pence — or forty dollars —
it would have brought should have been given to the
poor. This he said, because he carried the purse for
Jesus and for all the disciples and was a thief. But
Jesus defended the woman and rebuked his disciples.
' ' Let her alone, why trouble ye her ?' ' He told them that
she had come beforehand to anoint his body for the burial.
She did not thus intend it, but in this way Jesus received
it In answer to Judas he said, " The poor ve have
always with you, and whenever ye will ye may do them
good ; but me ye have not always. She hath done me
a good work." "Verily I say unto you, that wherever
this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there
shall also this that this woman hath done, be told for a
memorial of her."
We are informed by the record that this was the occa
sion when Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, one of the
twelve, and tempted him to betrav his Lord. It may be
that his disappointment and the Lords rebuke led him
to this sin. for he went at once to the chief priests and
captains and arranged how he might betray Jesus to
them. " What will ve give me and I will deliver him
unto vou ?' ' And thev were glad and agreed to give him
thirrv pieces of silver. From that time he sought oppor-
tunitv to betrav Jesus in the absence oi the multitude.
The next day, the fifth day of the week, or Thursday,

446 THE STORY OFfESUS.
the fourteenth of Abib or Nisan, answering to parts of
our March and April, before the Passover, found Jesus
still at Bethany. ' ' The first day of unleavened bread,
called so because no food with yeast was used, closed on
the evening of this day at sunset. It was between three
o'clock and dark, on this day, or between the two even
ings, that the preparations for the Passover were made,
and the paschal lamb was slain, which was to be eaten
after sunset, which was the beginning of Friday. The
disciples asked Jesus where they were to observe the
Passover that they might go and make read}-. Jesus
sent Peter and John, saying, ' ' Go prepare us the Pass
over that we may eat," meaning thereby the paschal
lamb and supper. He told them to go to Jerusalem, and
that there they would meet a man bearing a pitcher of
water, whom they were to follow home, and when they
had entered his house they were to say to him, "The
Master saith, ' My time is at hand ; I will keep the Pass
over at thy house with my disciples ; where is the guest-
chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disci
ples?' " And, continued Jesus, "He will show you a
large upper room, furnished ; there make ready. ' ' The
two disciples went and did as Jesus told them. They
met and followed the man, were shown into the upper
room and there made ready the Passover against the
coming of Jesus and the rest of the disciples. That
night, in that room, Jesus observed the Passover for the
last time in his life, and instituted the Christian ordi
nance of the Lord' s Supper.
Says Dr. G. W. Clark : " In the evening, after sunset,
the beginning of the fifteenth Nisan, the paschal lamb
was eaten. ' ' When the hour of the evening, the begin
ning of Friday, or the sixth day of the week, came, Jesus

SUPPER A T BETHANY AND PASCHAL MEAL.

447

sat down with his disciples to eat the Passover. He said
to them, "With desire have I desired to eat this Pass
over with you before I suffer ; for I say unto you that I
will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the
kingdom of God. " He took the cup, and after giving
thanks, gave it to them to divide among themselves,
saying, " I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until
the kingdom of God is come." This was a cup belong
ing to the Passover, and not to the supper.
These references to the speedy coming of the kingdom
seem again to awaken the worldly ambition of his disci
ples, and there was a strife among them as to who should
be accounted the greatest. Jesus gently rebukes them,
and tells them that they are not to exercise authoritv
over one another, as the kings of the Gentiles do, but
that he who would be chief shall be senant of all. " I
am among you as one that serveth." Jesus then said to
them that he had appointed them a kingdom for their
sendee to him, as his Father had appointed him, and
that they shall eat and drink at his Father's table in his
kingdom, and shall sit on thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel.
It was during this Passover meal that Jesus set the ex
ample of humility before his disciples by washing their
feet. He did this in full view of the fact, which he
knew before, that his time had come to go to the Father,
being fully aware that Judas was about to betray him ;
knowing also that the Father had given all things into
his hands, that he had come from God and was to return
to God ; knowing all this, and in order to testify his un
dying love to his disciples, and to teach them the great
lesson of humility, he arose from supper, laid aside his
outer garments, girded himself with a towel and washed

448 THE STORY OFfESUS.
his disciples' feet and wiped them with the towel. Peter
protested. He wanted to wash his Master's feet, but
Jesus said to him that he could not know now what was
meant by it, but should know hereafter, and that he
could have no part with him if he refused to be washed
by him. Then Peter yielded, saying, ' ' Lord, not my
feet only, but also my hands and my head. ' ' Jesus said,
He that is washed needs only to wash his feet. Ye are
clean, — that is, regenerated, — but not all, for Judas the
traitor was not regenerated. Hence he said, "Ye are not
all clean. ' ' After he had finished, he resumed his place at
the table and explained the meaning of what he had
done: " If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed
your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet."
Jesus evidently had no intention here of instituting a
religious rite, like the ordinance of baptism or the
supper, but simply by performing an act of hospitality
— usually left to servants — to teach them the great
lesson, that humbly serving was the characteristic of
the greatest in his kingdom : "If ye know these things,
happy are ye if ye do them." He adds, however, re
ferring to Judas, who would betray him, "I speak not
of you all ; I know whom I have chosen. But that
the scriptures may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with
me, hath lifted up his heel against me."
The Passover meal was then resumed. While they
were eating, Jesus, with troubled spirit, told them that
one of them should betray him. And they were sor
rowful, and first looked on one another, doubting of
whom he spoke, and then one by one they asked,
"Lord, is it I?" "The Son of man indeed goeth as
it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom
the Son of man is betrayed. It had been good for

SUPPER AT BETHANY AND PASCHAL MEAL.

449

that man if he had never been born." John, the be
loved disciple, was reclining next to Jesus at the table,
leaning upon Jesus' bosom, and so Peter motioned to
him to ask Jesus privately oi whom he spoke. Jesus
replied that i: was one of the twelve, the one to whom
he would give a morsel of bread after he had dipped it
in the dish of sauce, and he gave the sop to Judas
Iscariot, son of Simon, thus indicating who it was that
would betray him. Judas, last of all, asked. "Is it I?"
and Jesus replied. "Thou hast said." After the sop
Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, * • That
thou doest do quickly." The disciples thought that
Jesus sent him to buy something for the feast, or to
give to the poor. Judas went out immediately, and it
was night ; " " but there was far blacker night in the
soul of Jndas than in the sky- over his head."

GARDEN OF GETHSE1LANB-

450 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXXXV.
THE LORD'S SUPPER INSTITUTED.
Matt, xxvi 26-29 ; Mark xiv. 22-25 ; Luke xxii. 19-20, 31-38 ; John xiii. 31-35 ;
1 Cor. xi. 23-26. — Jerusalem, Friday, a.d. 30.
AFTER Judas had gone out Jesus said, "Now is
the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in
him." Then he addressed his disciples as little
children, and told them that he would be with them
only a little while. They would seek him, but he would
say to them, as he had said to the Jews, that they could
not find him — they must for the present be separated.
' ' A new commandment give I unto you, ' ' he said,
' ' that ye love one another, as I have loved you. By
this shall all men know that ye are my disciples."
Peter, seeming not to understand, inquired as to where
he was going, and Jesus answered that he could not fol
low at that time, but should afterward. Peter wanted
to know why not, but Jesus replied, " Simon, Satan
hath desired to sift thee as wheat, but I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not. When thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren." Peter replied confidently,
" Lord, I am ready to go with thee both to prison and to
death." Our Saviour answers, " I tell thee, Peter, that
the cock shall not crow this day, before thou shalt thrice
deny that thou knowest me. ' ' Jesus then asked them
whether they lacked support when he sent them forth to
preach, and, replying that they had not, he said, that
now they must go provided with scrip, purse and sword;
and that he who had none had better sell his mantle and

THE L ORD'S SUPPER INSTITUTED. 45 z
buy one, because all things must be accomplished that
were written of him. They answered that they had two
swords among them, and he said, "It is enough."
They had misunderstood him. He meant simply to in
timate that he would now send them forth alone into an
unfriendly world, where they were to be wise as serpents
and harmless as doves. Yet it is still true that the
laborer is worthy of his hire, and his kingdom is not to
be extended by the sword.
It was while thus engaged, at the table in the guest
chamber, on the night in which he was betrayed, and
when the Passover meal was finished, that Jesus insti
tuted the supper as an ordinance to be observed by his
church till the end of time. He took bread and blessed
it, and brake it and gave to his disciples, saying, Take,
eat, this is, or represents, my body which is given and
broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
Then likewise after supper he took the cup in which
was the fruit of the vine, and, after giving thanks, gave
it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is, or rep
resents, my blood of the New Testament which is shed
for you and for many for the remission of sins ; this do,
as often as ye do it, in remembrance of me. For as
often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show
the Lord's death till he come. But I say unto you that
I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until
that day when I drink it new with you, in my Father's
kingdom. Although John does not give us any account of the
supper, yet the omission is more than supplied by Paul.
Says Geikie :
"The apostles could have had no simpler or more unmistak
able intimation that, as of old, the blood of the Passover Lamb

452 THE STORY OF JESUS.
redeemed the people of God from the sword of the angel of
wrath, so his blood would be a ransom for man from far deadlier
peril. A covenant to them implied a sacrifice ; and his blood as
the new covenant was therefore sacrificial ; the blood of a cove
nant which pledged his followers to faith and duty ; the blood of
a new Paschal Lamb with which his disciples must, in a figure,
be sprinkled that the destroying angel might pass over them in
the day of judgment. They saw in this new institution an abid
ing memorial of their Lord ; a vivid enforcement of their depend
ence on his death, as a sacrifice for their salvation ; the need of
intimate spiritual communion with him as the bread of life ; and
the bond of the new brotherhood he had established."
Dr. Adams says :
' ' This table was provided by a sacrifice which exhausted the
treasury of heaven. God, manifest in the flesh, spread it in per
son, with his own hands. These two symbols only, simple,
plain, dependent on no forms for their efficacy, nor on the vessels
which held them, whether of gold or silver or of wood or earth,
are the Lord's Supper. Their single signification is the Lord's
death ; an object remaining the same from the beginning until
he come ; thus beautifully holding us in communion with all the
people of God in times past and at present, amid changes of all
other customs, and also setting our faces toward that great event,
his final coming. ' Ye do show the Lord's death until he come,'
judge of the living and of the dead, in the glory of his Father
and of his holy angels ; and such is he who spread, who fur
nished this table and calls to every human being, ' This do in re
membrance of me.' "

VALEDICTORY DISCOURSES.

453

CHAPTER LXXXVI.
VALEDICTORY DISCOURSES.
John xiv xv. xvi. xvii. — Jerusalem, Guest-Chamber, Friday ; A d. 30.
"/"T~VHE 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th chapters of John," says Dr.
JL Lyman Abbott, ' ' are the Holy of Holies of the Bible.
Christ is about to depart from his disciples; the cloud of
the comingtrouble casts its shadow on theirhearts; he sees clearly,
they feel vaguely the impending tragedy. They are to behold their
Master spit upon, abused, execrated; they are to see him suffering
the tortures of a lingering death upon the cross; they are to be
utterly unable to interfere for his succor or even for his relief ;
they are to see all the hopes which they had built on him extin
guished in his death. It is that he may prepare them for this ex
perience, that he may prepare his disciples throughout all time
for similar experiences of world-sorrow, and that he may point
out to them and to the church universal the source of their hope,
their peace, their joy and their life — moral and spiritual — that he
speaks to the twelve, and through them to his discipleship in all
ages, in these chapters, and finally offers for them and for us that
prayer, which we may well accept as the disclosure of his eternal
intercession for his followers."
While reclining at the table, in the guest-cham
ber, after the supper had been instituted, the Lord,
thinking not of himself, but of his disciples, uttered
those memorable words of consolation which have
been so precious to all Christians. "Let not your
hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it
were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a
place for you. ' ' He promised to come again and take
them to dwell with him there. Thomas declared that

454 THE STORY OF JESUS.
they did not know where he was going and hence could
not know the way. He replied, "I am the way, the
truth and the life;" or the true and living way: and "no
man cometh to the Father but by me." Philip says,
" Show us the Father." Jesus replied, "Have I been
so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip?" "He that hath seen me, hath seen the
Father." Jesus then appealed to the disciples to believe him for
the work's sake; and promised that those who believe in
him shall do greater works than he himself, because he
was going to his Father; that whatsoever they should
ask in his name would be done. He urged them, if they
loved him, to keep his commandments; and he would
pray the Father to give them another Comforter — the
Spirit of truth ; whom the world could not receive. He
promised not to leave them orphans, but to come again;
though he would disappear from the world, yet he would
still for a while reveal himself to them. Judas — not
Iscariot — asked how it was he meant to manifest himself
to them and not to the world. Jesus replied, that if a
man loved him he would keep his commandments, and
his Father would love and abide with him. The Holy
Spirit, the Comforter, would teach them all things and
bring to their remembrance whatsoever he had said to
them. He promised also to give them his peace. He
admonished them not to be troubled; he would come
again. If they loved him they would rejoice, because he
was going to his Father. He had told them before it
came to pass that they might believe. The prince of
this world was coining, but would find nothing in him.
Jesus then said, ' ' Arise, let us go hence ; ' ' but we are
not informed that he then carried out his intention of

VALEDICTORY DISCOURSES.

455

leaving that upper room. It may have been that they
rose from their reclining position at table, and that
while they were thus standing, prepared to leave the
room, that Jesus concluded his valedicton and offered
his intercessory prayer. In substance he repeats what he
has said both in the final discourse and in the prayer.
Speaking of this discourse Dr. Abbott says:
" It is sympathetic, not philosophical or critical; it is addressed
to sympathetic friends, not to a cold or critical audience; and it
is to be interpreted rather by the sympathies and spiritual expe
rience than by a philosophical analysis. It sets forth the source
of all comfort, strength, guidance and spiritual well-being in the
truth of the direct personal presence of a seemingly absent but
really present, a seemingly slain but really living, a seemingly
defeated but really victorious Lord and Master. This truth ap
pears and reappears in various forms in these chapters, like the
theme in a sublime symphony. . . . Thus these chapters of John
contain a disclosure of the very heart of Christianity, the per
sonal knowledge of a living God by direct communion with him,
as a teacher, a comforter, an inspirer, the one and the only true
source of faith, hope and love."
Jesus had been dwelling upon his impending depar
ture, but he now proceeds to speak of the relation which
is to subsist between him and his church. He said that
he was the true vine, they the branches, and his Father
the husbandman; that the branch that bore no fruit was
cut off, and the branch that bore fruit was pruned to
make it bear more, and that as branches they could bear
no fruit, apart or separate from him, the living vine.
Abiding in him they would bring forth much fruit, but
those who did not abide in him would be cast forth as a
branch to wither and be burned. If the)- were in him
and his words in them, they could ask what they would
and it would be done to them. He exhorted them to
continue in his love and to keep his commandments as

456 THE STORY OF JESUS.
he had kept his Father's commandments. He told them
that he had spoken these things to them that his joy
might remain in them and their joy be full. The great
est love one could show another was to die for him, yet
they were his friends if they did whatsoever he com
manded them. They were not his servants, but his
friends. They had not chosen him, but he had chosen
them to do his will and to bring forth fruit. He re
minded them that the servant was not greater than his
Lord; that the world had rejected his word and' perse
cuted him because they knew not God, and that for his
sake they too would be hated. His example, teaching
and works, such as no man ever did among men, left the
world without cloak or excuse for sin. The words of the
prophet were fulfilled, ' ' They hated me without a cause. ' '
Again he promised to send the Comforter to testify of
him, and they also would be his witnesses because they
had been with him from the beginning.
Jesus then told his disciples that his reason for reveal
ing these things to them was that they might not fall
because of him, when they would be put out of the
synagogues and when men would put them to death,
thinking that they were doing God service. Because he
was going to the Father, sorrow had filled their hearts;
but it was necessary for him to go, for otherwise the
Comforter would not come. If he departed he would
send them the Comforter, whose work would be to re
prove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment —
of sin, because they believed not on him; of righteous
ness, because he was going to the Father ; and of judg
ment, because the prince of this world was judged. The
Spirit of truth would guide and reveal God's things
which were his, also things to come, which they were to

VALEDICTORY DISCOURSES.

457

speak. They were puzzled to know what he meant by
a little while they should not see him and again a little
while they should see him, because he was going to the
Father. He said that they would weep and lament, but
the world would rejoice ; and that the sorrow of his dis
ciples would be turned into joy, like the mother who
rejoices over her new-born son. They would rejoice
when they saw him again and no one could deprive them
of their joy. He urged them to begin to pray in his
name, that their joy might be full. He had spoken in
proverbs, but would now speak plainly. The Father
loved them as he loved the Son. He had come from the
Father into the world and was going back now to the
Father. ' ' Now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no
proverb," they said. " Now we are sure that thou know-
est all things, and needest not that any man should ask
thee : by this we believe that thou camest forth from
God." But Jesus asked, "Do ye now believe?" And
said, The hour is at hand when you will be scattered
and leave me alone, but the Father will not forsake me.
In the world they would have tribulation, but they should
be of good cheer because he had overcome the world.
From this discourse we pass to the ' ' innermost sanc
tuary" of the Saviour's final communion with his
beloved disciples. ' ' For the first time we are allowed to
listen to what was really the Lord's prayer."
Then Jesus, still standing with them in this upper
room, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father,
the hour is come," and prayed that the Father might
glorify the Son and the Son glorify the Father. He de
clared that the Father had given him power over all men
to give eternal life to as many as the Father had given
him ; and that eternal life was to know God and Jesus
20

458 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Christ whom he had sent ; that he had glorified the
Father oil earth and finished the work given him to do ;
and now he asks to be glorified with the Father with
the glory he had with the Father before the world was.
He declared in his prayer, how he had made known the
Father to his disciples. How they had known and be
lieved that the Father had sent him. Continuing, he
said, ' ' I pray for them, ' ' and ' ' not for the world. ' ' He
had kept all of them save ' ' the son of perdition. ' ' He
prayed not that they might be taken out of the world,
but be kept from the evil ; that they whom he was about
to send forth into the world might be sanctified through
his truth. Jesus before had prayed for them alone, but
now he prays for all who shall be brought to believe on
him through their spoken or written word, that they may
be one, as the Father is in him and he in the Father,
that they may be one in Father and Son, that the world
by such unity may believe that the Father had sent him.
' ' O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee ;
but I have known thee, and these have known that thou
hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name,
and will declare it ; that the love wherewith thou hast
loved me may be in them and I in them. ' '
"With this lofty thought the Redeemer closes his
prayer for his disciples, and in them for his church
through all ages. He has compressed into the last mo
ments given him for conversation with his own the most
sublime and glorious sentiments ever uttered by mortal
lips. But hardly has the sound of the last word died
away when he passes with the disciples over the brook
Cedron to Gethsemane, and the bitter conflict draws on.
The seed of the new world must be sown in death, that
thence life may spring up. ' '

460 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXXXVII.
THE AGONY IN GETHSEMANE AND THE ARREST.
Matt. xxvi. 30-56 ; Mark xiv. 26-52 ; Luke xxii. 29 ; 40-52 ; John xviii. 1-11.— Jeru
salem and the Mount of Olives, Friday, a.d. 30.
TT was, perhaps, after this prayer when Jesus and
-*- his disciples sang a hymn, and then went out
into the darkness through the streets out of the
city and across the brook Cedron, to the Mount of
Olives. As they went Jesus said to his disciples, ' ' All
ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is
written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the
flock shall be scattered abroad." "But after I am
risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." Peter
declared that though all should be offended because of
him, yet he would not be, but Jesus said again, This
night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me
thrice. Peter still more vehemently said, ' ' Though I
should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.". Like
wise said all the disciples.
Then they came to a garden, where they were ac
customed to resort, on the western slope of the Mount of
Olives, called Gethsemane, into which they entered, and
Jesus said to them all, "Take heed that ye enter not
into temptation." He told them to be seated on the
ground while he went a little beyond to pray. Taking
Peter, James and John, he went with them apart from
the others and began to be very sorrowful and over
whelmed with great anguish. Then he said to them,
" My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry
ye here" and watch with me." And he went a little fur-

THE AGONY AND THE ARREST.

461

ther into the garden, and kneeling with his face to the
ground, prayed alone : "O my Father, if it be possible
let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, not as I will
but as thou wilt." " And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him." His agony was
so great that his sweat was, as it were, great drops of
blood falling to the ground. When he arose and came

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VIEW IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE.
to the three disciples he found them sleeping for sorrow,
and he said to Peter, ' ' What ! could ye not watch with
me one hour ? Watch and pray that ye enter not into
temptation. . The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is
weak. ' ' And he went away the second time and prayed :
' ' O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from
me except I drink it, thy will be done. ' ' He came and
found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy, and
they knew not what to say to him. He left them and

462 THE STORY OF JESUS.
prayed the third time the same words. Then he came to
them and said, " Sleep on, now, and take your rest. Be
hold the hour is at hand and the Son of man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Be
hold, he is at hand that doth betray me."
Says Hanna :
"Passing with Jesus from the upper chamber into the gar
den, one of the first impressions made upon us is that of the
suddenness and greatness of the transition described within
the compass of the same hour. What a contrast between the
prayers of the one place and of the other ! the one so calm, so
serene, so elevated, the other so dark and troubled. Look first
at him, as, with eyes uplifted to heaven, he offers the one ;
look at him again, as, prostrate on the earth, with his gar
ments moist with sweat and blood, he offers up the other.
What a mighty mysterious descent from that height above to
these depths beneath and how rapidly described."
Farrar says :
" It could have been no mere dread of pain — no mere shrink
ing from death which thus agitated, to its inmost centre, the
pure and innocent soul of the Son of man. How inconsistent
such an hypothesis with that heroic fortitude which, fifteen
hours of subsequent sleepless agony could not disturb ; with
that majestic silence before priest and procurator and king ;
with the endurance from which the extreme of torture could
not wring one cry ; with the calm and infinite ascendency
which overawed the hardened and worldly Roman into invol
untary respect ; with the undisturbed supremacy of soul which
opened the gates of paradise to the repentant malefactor. It
was something far deadlier than death. It was the burden and
mystery of the world's sin which lay heavy on his heart — it
was the tasting, in the divine humanity of a sinless life, the
bitter cup which sin had poisoned. It was the sense, too, of
how virulent, how frightful must have been the force of evil in
the universe of God which could render necessary so infinite a
sacrifice."

THE AGONY AND THE ARREST. 463
Says Hanna :
•' We feel ourselves shut up to the conclusion that the agony
in the garden was inward, mysterious, impossible to fathom ;
the same in source, in ingredients, in design, in effect with our
Lord's spiritual suffering on the cross ; a part of the endurance
to which, as our spiritual head and representative, he submitted,
and which sprang from our iniquities being laid on him. In
agony and manner this is not open to us to comprehend. He
bare our sins in his own body on the tree, offering there not
merely or mainly his body to the Roman executioner, but his
soul in sacrifice to God. Consummated on the cross, this soul-
offering was made also in the garden. Jesus spake of an hour
and a cup which became so identified in the minds of the evan
gelists that they are used interchangeably in their narrative of
the passion. The hour and the cup were one, embracing the
entire suffering unto death. The hour was on him, he passed
through it ; the cup was in his hand, he put it to his lips and
drank it equally in the garden and on the cross. In passing
through that hour and drinking that bitter cup, he made the
great atonement for our transgressions. To that endurance we
are to look for the ground of our forgiveness and acceptance.
Spread over all of our Lord's suffering life, it was condensed
in the agony of the garden and the anguish of the cross. Why ?
But that in the sight of such a sorrow descending upon the
Saviour's spirit, in that absence of all afflictions from without,
we might learn to separate in our thoughts the mental and
spiritual from the bodily sufferings of Christ ; to recognize the
truth of the saying that the sufferings of his soul formed the
soul of his sufferings.''
Judas Iscariot knew that Jesus was accustomed to re
sort to the garden of Gethsemane, and having received
a band of men and officers from the chief priests and
Pharisees, the scribes and the elders, he brought them
there bearing lanterns and torches, and the Roman guard
armed with swords and staves. Jesus had announced to
the now awaking disciples the approach of the traitor,
who came at once upon them with a great multitude, to

464

THE STORY OF JESUS.

arrest the Lord, whom he had agreed to designate by a
kiss. Jesus knew all this, so he asked, "Whom seek
ye?" They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth." He re
plied, "I am he." The effect on them was startling.
"They went backward and fell to the ground." Again
he asked them whom they sought, and received the same
answer. "If ye seek me, let these go their way;" re-

THE BETRAYAL.
ferring to his disciples and thus fulfilling scripture, ' ' Of
them that thou gavest me I have lost none. ' ' Judas had
said, ' ' Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he. Take
him and lead him away safely. ' ' So Judas now puts it
beyond all doubt as to which one was Jesus by going
forward and saying, ' ' Hail, Master, ' ' and kissing him.
' ' Friend, ' ' said Jesus, ' ' wherefore art thou come ?' '
The guard then laid hands on him and took him. Then
said the disciples to Jesus, ' ' Shall we smite with the
sword ?' ' And without waiting for a reply, Peter drew
a sword and cut off the right ear of a servant of the high
priest, named Malchus. Then Jesus said to Peter, Suffer
ye thus far. Put up thy sword. The cup which my

THE AGONY AND THE ARREST. 465
Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ? For all
they that take the sword shall perish by the sword.
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father,
and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions
of angels ? But how then shall the scriptures be ful
filled that thus it must be ? Turning to the captain of ¦
the temple, chief priests and elders who had come to
arrest him, Jesus said, "Are ye come out as against a
thief, with swords and staves for to take me ? I sat daily
with you in the temple and ye laid no hold on me. But
this is your hour and the power of darkness. The
scriptures must be fulfilled." Then all the disciples
forsook him and fled. However there was one, a young
man, who followed Jesus as they were leading him away.
He had a linen cloth cast, in his haste, around his body.
The Roman soldiers tried to arrest him, supposing him
to be one of the disciples, but leaving his linen cloth in
their hands, he fled.
Says Dr. W. R. Williams :
" If ever it appeared that there might be just revolt against the
will of providence, it seemed to be at the time when the meek
Saviour, lowly and loving, was sold by the traitor, deserted by
his disciples, assailed by the false accuser and condemned by the
unjust judge, while a race of malefactors and' ingrates crowded
around their deliverer, howling for his blood— the blood of the
holy one. But though the cup was bitter it was meekly drunk,
for it had been the Father's will to mingle it and his was the hand
that held to the lips of the Son the deadly draught. Lawlessness
is hushed at the sight of Gethsemane. In the garden and at the
cross you see illustrated the sanctity of law as nowhere else,"
20*

466 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXXXVIII.
JESUS BEFORE ANNAS.
John xviii. 12-14, I9-23- — Jerusalem.
JESUS, when arrested in the garden, was bound and
led away by the band of Roman soldiers, headed
by their captain and the officers of the Jews, into
the city and to the palace of the Jewish high priest,
where he was tried, or rather went through the forms of
trial. His condemnation and death were predetermined
by his enemies, who, having planned his arrest, were
awaiting his arrival. It was their determination to rush
through with the mock trial and secure at once the ap
proval of Pilate to his death before Jerusalem was aware
of their designs. They feared to arrest him in the tem
ple before the people, who were his friends, for the most
part. Hence the secret midnight arrest and hasty trial.
To be public or tardy would be to spoil their plot. The
Roman soldiers halted at the door, for their presence
would be defilement to the Jewish palace.
Jesus was taken first before Annas, who was not then
the high priest, but had for seven years occupied that
office twenty years before, and who was the father-in-
law of the high priest in office at that time — Joseph
Caiaphas, who occupied the same house with him. Why
Jesus was taken before Annas first we do not know, un
less it was because he had been high priest, and because
of his age, his influence with Herod and Pilate, and, more
likely still, because he was the prime mover in bringing
Jesus to death. He was probably the chief conspirator.

JESUS BEFORE ANNAS. 467
For half a century either he or one of his family had oc
cupied this high office. There was a time when this ex
alted religious office was held only by the descendants of
Aaron, but when a foreign heathen power had conquered
the Jews, and placed upon the throne of David the
Herods, the sacred office became a political gift, to be
bestowed, not upon the worthiest and fittest for the posi
tion, but upon him who would serve best the foreign des
pot or his deputy in Judea.
Hence, as we might expect, "this Hanan, son of Seth,
the Ananus of Josephus, and the Annas of the evange
lists," was a bad man. "In spite of his prosperity he
seems to have left behind him an evil name, and we
know enough of his character, even from the most
unsuspected sources, to recognize in him nothing better
than an astute, tyrannous, worldly Sadducee, unvener-
able for all his seventy years, full of a serpentine malice
and meanness, which utterly belied the meaning of his
name, and engaged at this very moment in a dark,
disorderly conspiracy, for which even a worse man
would have cause to blush. It was before this alien and .
intriguing hierarch that there began, at midnight, the
first of that long and terrible trial. ' '
The motives that led to the persecution and final ar
rest of Jesus furnish us with some explanation of the
course of the trial. As Herod was alarmed when he
heard of the birth of the king of the Jews, so the scribes
and elders felt that they were losing their hold upon the
people through the teaching of Jesus. He rebuked their
hypocrisy, and the sin of their lives, and their false doc
trines and formalisms, exposing them in the light of his
own pure spiritual teaching. Besides, he had purged the
temple publicly, and driven out those whose trade was a

468 THE STORY OF JESUS.
source of great revenue to the mercenary high priest
himself, and thus he had touched his pecuniary inter
ests and profits, and hence he sought to get rid of him.
Especially to the Sadducees did Jesus render himself ob
noxious, for to them his character, habits and teaching
seemed to be diametrically opposed.
Farrar says :
"It is most remarkable, and, so far as I know, has scarcely
ever been noticed, that, although the Pharisees undoubtedly
were actuated by a hatred against Jesus, were even so eager for
his death as to be willing to co-operate with the aristocratic and
priestly Sadducees — from whom they were ordinarily separated
by every kind of difference, political, social and religious — yet,
from the moment that the plot for his arrest and condemnation
had been matured, the Pharisees took so little part in it that their
name is not once directly mentioned in any event connected with
the arrest, the trial, the decisions or the crucifixion. The Phari
sees, as such, disappear — the chief priests and elders take their
place." Their total want of sympathy with the Sadducees,
their natural mildness of disposition, their secondary
. place in the administration of affairs, and the influence of
some very distinguished men of their sect, who were
avowed friends of the Saviour, led the Pharisees to with
draw, apparently, from the trial, condemnation and death
of Jesus.
This infamous ex-high priest, fearing to lose his rev
enue from the temple traffic, and his power with the
people through Jesus, had only feelings of bitter con
tempt and hatred towards the meek prisoner before
him, and began the investigation by asking Jesus
about his disciples and doctrines. The calm answer of
the Lord conveyed a sharp reproof. The trial was
irregular and illegal. It was secret and by night, con-

JESUS BEFORE ANNAS. 469
trary to the Jewish law, and there were no witnesses to
sustain the accusation, nor counsel, as was required,
to defend the prisoner. The crafty priest seeks to make
Jesus criminate himself. To his questions, asked in hope
of his revealing who his secret friends or teachings were,
Jesus replied, ' ' I spake openly to the world ; I ever taught
in the synagogues and in the temple', whither the Jews
always resort ; and in secret have I said nothing. Why
askest thou me ? Ask them who heard me, what I have
said unto them ; behold, they know what I said." The
truth was that Annas was but too well informed, and the
Jews crowding his chamber were also familiar with the
teachings of Jesus.
But it was only one step from hatred of heart to open
violence, and for the first time the face of Jesus is smit
ten, and that, too, by a slave, before the professed dis
penser of justice. As soon as Jesus made his reply,
an officer who stood by struck him with the palm of
the hand, saying, " Answerest thou the high priest so ? "
Again the quiet rebuke came from the lips of the inno
cent sufferer, " If I have spoken evil bear witness of the
evil ; but if well, why smitest thou me?" We recall
the time when Paul was smitten before the council, and
when, in righteous indignation, he said to the high
priest, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. " But
the Master shows greater patience and endurance than
his illustrious servant. His reply was temperate and
yet not without the due severity of the same righteous
indignation that was displayed by Paul.

470 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER LXXXIX.
EXAMINED BY CAIAPHAS.
Matt. xxvi. 57, 59-68 ; Mark xiv. 53, 55-65 ; Luke xxii. 54, 63-65 ; John xviii. 24.—
Jerusalem.
IT was yet night when Annas sent Jesus, bound,
across the court-yard of the palace to the apart
ments of Caiaphas, the high priest, who, with some
of the chief priests and elders, were awaiting the com
ing of their distinguished prisoner. Joseph Caiaphas, the
same who said that it was needful for one to die for the
nation, and his co-conspirators formed a commission or
part of the Sanhedrin, and had met together to carry
out their prearranged plan to destroy Jesus. But they
wanted to give the whole examination at least the form
of trial. Hence they conducted the trial in a different
way. Caiaphas meant to show no mercy to Jesus. In
stead of asking questions to entrap him, as Annas did,
they now ' ' sought false witness against Jesus to put
him to death." They found many willing to testify
falsely, but their testimony was contradictory. How
ever, two false witnesses were found who testified — one
that Jesus said, "We have heard him say, I will destroy
this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I
will build another made without hands ; " the other, ' ' This
fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and
to build it in three days. " " But neither did the wit
nesses agree together, ' ' for Jesus did not say, ' ' I am
able," nor yet, " I will," but he did say, " Destroy this
temple, and I will raise it again in three days. ' '

EXAMINED BY CAIAPHAS.

471

The high priest arose from the cushion on which he
sat and said, "Answerest thou nothing? What is it
that these witness against thee ? " It seems strange to
us that such a foolish charge, even if true, should be for
a moment entertained against any one by an august
court. Jesus seemed to regard them as beneath his
notice, and did not even see fit to correct the falsehood.
He ' ' answered nothing. ' '
But this silence only excited his questioner the more.
Perhaps the high priest had for a moment a grave sus
picion that, after all, this silent and dignified person be
fore him might be the long-expected Messiah. Hence
he asked Jesus the most important of all questions, and
yet without any intention of receiving the answer, or of
accepting him, or of hesitating in his murderous course.
It was an awful moment when the high priest, standing
with outstretched hands towards heaven, asked him, in
the name of God, whether he was the Christ or not: " I
adjure thee in the name of the living God, that thou tell
us whether thou be the Son of God." Jesus replies: "I
am; hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the
right hand of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven."
' ' Then they all exclaimed , Art thou then the Son of
God ? " "Ye say that I am," was the affirmative reply.
At this the high priest in pretended horror rent or tore
his costly garment, saying, " He hath spoken blasphemy;
what need we further witnesses? Behold, you have
heard his blasphemy. " " He is guilty of death. ' ' And
they all with one accord condemned him to death.
He was now regarded as a heretic worthy to be stoned
to death. But this was not the Sanhedrin— only in the
morning could the whole body be assembled, and only
in the hall of judgment. There were some probably

472 THE STOP Y OF JESUS.
who had no sympathy with these midnight proceedings.
The sanction of the entire council in full session was
necessary to give even the form of legality to the sentence.
This was the second illegal stage of the trial. There
was another awaiting him, before the Jewish Sanhedrin,
composed of the chief priests, scribes and elders of the
people, with the high priest as president of the body.
Meantime, while awaiting the dawn, Jesus is given over
to the custody of the servants and hurried through the
court-yard to the guard-room, with blows and curses, in
which not only the attendant menials, but even the cold,
but now infuriated soldiers, take part. The men who
guarded him mocked and buffeted him, and even were
so vile and insulting as to spit in his face. Others blind
folded him, and then smote him with the palms of their
hands on the face, saying, " Prophesy unto us, thou
Christ, who was it that smote thee ? And many other
things blasphemously spake they against him. ' '

PETER'S DENIAL.

473

CHAPTER XC.
PETER'S DENIAL.
Matt. xxvi. 58, 69-75 ; Mark xiv. 54, 66-72 ; Luke xxii. 54-62 ; John xviii. 15-18,
25-27. — Jerusalem.
T TPON the arrest of Jesus, his disciples all forsook
^— ^ him and fled, but afterward three of them re
turned and followed, to see what might be done
with him— the young man, probably Mark, whom they
seized and who fled, leaving his outer garment in their
hands; Peter, who followed "afar off" until they reached
the high priest's residence; and John, who was known to
the high priest and went in with Jesus into the place or
court-yard in the centre of the house. Afterwards John
came to Peter, who was still standing without, probably
having been refused admission because he was not
known, and interceding with the porter, brought him in.
Far better if the impetuous Peter had remained away
from the scene and hour of temptation.
The night was cold and a fire of coals was kindled on
the stone floor, or in a brazier in the hall or court, which
probably opened to the sky ; and the officers and servants
gathered around it and sat down together. Peter first
stood with them and then sat down among them, to
warm himself and to see the end. He hoped for the
best, but feared the worst. At one end of the court, on
a raised platform, sat the high priest with Jesus and his
accusers before him. While Peter thus sat by the glow
ing fire, one of the servants of the high priest, the young
girl who had kept the door, looked earnestly into his

474 THE STORY OF JESUS.
face, now lighted up by the fire, and said to him, " Art
thou not one of this man's disciples?" Peter an
swered, ' ' I am not. ' ' The question was unexpected
and the denial prompt and quick. "Thou also wast
with Jesus of Nazareth," persisted the maid; and
Peter replied, ' ' Woman, I know him not. ' ' Moreover
before them all he declared that he knew not what she
meant. Peter, confused, went out into the porch or passage
way to the outside, where another maid said to those
that were there, ' ' This is one of them ; ' ' and a man
who stood by accused him directly, ' ' Thou art
also of them ; ' ' but again he denied with an oath,
"I do not know the man. ' ' About one . hour after
wards another said, ' ' Surely thou art one of them,
for thy speech betrayeth thee." One of the servants
of the high priest, who stood near Peter by the
fire, a kinsman of the man whose ear Peter had cut off,
recognized him and asked, "Did not I see thee in the
garden with him ? ' ' Others also joined in the accusa
tion, and then "Peter began to curse and to swear," and
denied Jesus again, saying, "I know not the man."
Immediately the cock crew the second time, and Jesus
hearing his boldest apostle denying him with oaths,
turned about and cast upon Peter a look so full of sor
row, love, compassion and tenderness that his heart was
broken. Remembering the words that Jesus had said to
him, ' ' Before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me
thrice," he went out of the palace, and as he thought of
what had happened, of the Saviour's warning and his own
professions and sinful denial of his Lord, he wept bit
terly, shedding tears of true repentance and godly sorrow
for his sin. Peter was a genuine believer, for he re-

PETER'S DENIAL.

475

turned. Jesus had told him that Satan desired to sift
him like wheat, and now he has done so. But Jesus also
said, I have prayed that thy faith fail not. That prayer
was answered, and Peter was saved to proclaim boldly
the gospel of Christ.
' ' As his fault was sudden and surprising, so was his
recovery speedy and effectual. From henceforward he
became again the same faithful, affectionate, undaunted
Peter he had been before. The book of the Acts informs
us at large what noble reparations he afterwards made for
this breach of faith ; how forward and even joyful in
suffering for the gospel of his once denied Lord. All
which are testimonies of greater value, because these were
the long and constant practice of a settled faith, — the
course of many years, the habit and sense of the man : —
whereas his crime, though exceeding great, was of short
continuance ; the effect of fear and infirmity, in great
measure, and not so much the act of the man, as the
effect of violent passions and temptations, which had
then almost unmanned him." " Christ saw that he had
in him the noble material of a vital and victorious
apostleship."

476 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XCI.
THE TRIAL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN.
Matt, xxvii. i-io ; Mark xv. i ; Luke xxii. 66-71 ; Acts i. 18, 19. — Jerusalem.
? I "^HE Jewish Sanhedrin was a tribunal or supreme
-*- court having the power to try certain cases.
Before it false prophets were tried. It was com
posed of seventy, or seventy-two persons, including the
chief priests, or those at the head of the twenty-four
classes of the priesthood ; the elders, or the men of age
and experience in the several tribes ; and the scribes, or
lawyers who were learned in the Jewish law. The pres
ident was generally the high priest. The members of
the council sat in a half-circle on divans, while the high
priest, with the oldest of the members to his right, sat
on an elevated cushion or carpet between the two ends
of the semi-circle. The place of meeting was in the
southeast corner of the temple building, in the hall
called Gazzith. The accused and the witnesses stood
before the president, and the recorders of the trial sat on
both sides.
" Like most other matters in the Judaism of the times, nothing
could be fairer or more attractive on paper — but on paper alone
— than the rules for the trial of prisoners. The accused was in
all cases to be held innocent till proved guilty. It was an axiom
that ' the Sanhedrin was to save, not to destroy life.' But," con
tinues Geikie, "rules so precise and so humane condemn the
whole trial of Jesus before Caiaphas as an outrage. So keenly,
indeed, has the judicial murder of Jesus been felt by the Jewish
nation in later times, that the doctrine was afterwards invented
in the Talmud, that any one who gave himself out as a false

THE TRIAL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN.

477

Messiah, or who led the people astray from the doctrines of their
fathers, could be tried and condemned the same day, or in the
night. Yet, in contradiction to this, the monstrous fable was
also coined, that a crier called aloud, for forty days before
Christ's condemnation, for witnesses in his favor to come
forward.' '
The morning dawns, and while it was yet early Jesus
is removed by the Jews who had him in charge from
the dwelling of the high priest to the temple, where the
other members of the council already await his coming
in the paved hall. When these scheming Sadducees en
tered the court-room they doubtless found there the chief
Pharisees. Here was conducted the third trial of our
Lord, but the first legal and formal one before the Jews.
" Well-nigh all — for there were the noble exceptions of Nico
demus and of Joseph of Arimathea, and, we may hope, also of
Gamaliel, the grandson of Hillel — were inexorably bent upon his
death, The priests were there, whose greed and selfishness he
had reproved ; the elders, whose hypocrisy he had branded ; the
scribes, whose ignorance he had exposed ; and, worse than all,
the worldly, skeptical, would-be philosophical Sadducees, always
the most cruel and dangerous of opponents, whose empty sapi
ence he had so grievously confused. All these were bent upon
his death ; all filled with repulsion at that infinite goodness ; all
burning with hatred against a nobler nature than any which
they could even conceive in their loftiest dreams. And yet their
task in trying to achieve his destruction was easy."
They needed the vote of the entire Sanhedrin in full
session assembled to sanction the decision of the mid
night trial before the high priest. Besides, they must
have a charge upon which to bring him before the
Romans. The whole council must hear what was said
in the house of Caiaphas before the few, and they must
formally condemn him, and as a body present him to
Pilate for execution. They hoped, too, to obtain, upon

478 THE STORY OF JESUS.
another trial, some accusation against him of a political
nature, such as Pilate would be forced to notice.
Here again was the silence of the patient sufferer
maintained. "Asa sheep before his shearers is dumb,
so he opened not his mouth." The question of the
former trial is repeated that all may hear, ' ' Art thou the
Christ? Tell us." He said unto them, "If I tell you,
ye will not believe. And if I also ask you, ye will not
answer me, nor let me go." Well did Jesus know the
unfairness, unbelief and hatred that filled their hearts.
He knew that they would never accept him as the
Jewish Messiah whom they professed to look for, nor
even allow him to go free as innocent. They had
already determined upon his death. Nevertheless he
answered substantially as before, ' ' Hereafter shall the
Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. ' '
Then they all said, " Art thou then the Son of God?"
He answered them, "Ye say that lam." Understand
ing this as an affirmative answer, they all exclaimed in
harmony, ' ' What need we any further witness ? For
we ourselves have heard of his own mouth." Thus
seemingly the whole court, or council, reaffirmed the
sentence pronounced at the former trial held in private.
That he was worthy of death for blasphemy in claiming
to be the Son of God the most of them believed, and so
declared, but even the great Jewish Sanhedrin had no
power to put him to death. They hoped to see him ex
ecuted by the Romans on the shameful and cruel cross ;
hence they took him to Pilate.
Judas, who betrayed his Lord, must have witnessed
the first stages of the trial. We are told that ' ' he saw
that he was condemned." We cannot imagine him
openly standing in the presence of Caiaphas among the

THE TRIAL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN. 479
witnesses or spectators, or even where he could be seen
as Peter was, but skulking and hiding from the presence
of the Master whom he had betrayed. Judas never
meant to deliver Jesus to death. He did not anticipate
the result of his treacherous act. But it is ever so with
sin, and those who open the gates for it can never stop it
at pleasure, nor can they ever tell where it will end.
Judas was a lover of money from the beginning, and a
thief in practice.
Judas never seemed to realize what he had done in be
traying his Lord, until the action of the Sanhedrin to
take him before Pilate convinced him that the Jews
were bent upon his crucifixion. Xow_he is filled with
horror, and when too late, he bitterly repents of his awful
sin. But his repentance was not like that of Peter.
Judas destroyed himself, but Peter returned to his Lord,
whom he thereafter sen-ed faithfully to the end. His
first act is to seek out the chief priests and elders, who
had not yet left the temple, and to confess to them his
great sin. What strong testimony he bears to his Mas
ter when he says, ' ' I have sinned in that I have be
trayed innocent blood. ' ' He brought again to them the
thirty- pieces of silver which they- had paid him for his
treachery-. Perhaps he had hoped to save Jesus: at least
he expected to find some sympathy in his remorse, from
the ministers of religion ; but their heartless reply to him
was: "What is that to us? See thou to it." They
had tempted him to crime, but it was not their business
to rescue their miserable ^uctim. Such ever is the
heartlessness of the wicked.
Judas could endure it no longer. If they would not
let him restore the money, neither would he keep it, for
it had lost all the charm it once had for him, so casting

480 THE STORY OF JESUS.
the thirty silver coins upon the temple floor at their feet,
he hastens from their sight, and plunges into the despair
of the lost. " He went out and hanged himself." His
awful end is thus described by Luke in the Acts of the
apostles; "Falling headlong, he bursts asunder in the
midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was
known to all the dwellers in Jerusalem." Hanging
himself probably to the limb of a tree, near the edge of
some precipice, the limb broke or the rope gave way, and
he fell and met the awful fate described. These Jews,
who would not hesitate at the murder of the innocent
Son of God, "were too scrupulous to take back money
that had been paid to procure the death of a person, or
blood-money," as they deemed it; so they purchased
"the potters' field, in which to bury strangers," and
Matthew informs us that when he wrote his gospel it was
still called "the field of blood," the same which Luke
calls ' ' Aceldama. ' ' It was, of course, never the inten
tion of Judas to so spend the money he received, but this
was the miserable end of all his schemes.
In this, as in all other things relating to the sufferings,
death and resurrection of Jesus, the scriptures were ful
filled. Jeremiah had written this striking language,
never thought of at the time by the traitor or by his
seducers; "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the
price of him that was valued, whom they of the children
of Israel did value ; and gave them for a potters' field,
as the Lord appointed me." It may have been that
these Jewish rulers thought thus to provide a fitting
burial-place for the Christ whose death they felt so sure
of accomplishing, but in the way of their designs stood
the word of God: " He made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. ' '

BROUGHT BEFORE PILA TE. 48 1

CHAPTER XCII.
BROUGHT BEFORE PILATE.
Matt, xxvii. 2, 11-14; Mark xv. 1-15 ; Luke xviii. 1-5 ; John xviii. 28-38.—
Jerusalem.
"UDONTIUS PILATE was the Roman governor of
-*- Judea. Roman provinces were either senatorial
or imperial. ' ' The latter were governed by mil
itary officers, who held their office and power at the
pleasure of the emperor. They looked after the taxes,
paid the troops, preserved order and administered a rude
sort of justice. From their decision there was ordinarily
no appeal, except in the case of a Roman citizen.
Judea was an imperial province ; Pontius Pilate was its
governor or procurator, and was directly amenable to the
emperor, Tiberius Caesar, for his administration. ' ' Un
like the other judges of Jesus, Pilate was not influenced
by malice, but, convinced of his innocence, was anxious
to save his life. Yet Pilate's name has been handed
down in history as worthy of eternal execration for what
he had to do with the crucifixion of his innocent victim.
He was the sixth Roman governor, and owed his ap
pointment to the influence of Sejanus.
Pilate, whose seat of government was at Csesarea, was
at Jerusalem usually during the Jewish festival of the
Passover, when great numbers of Jews collected in that
city from all parts of the land and the world, in order,
by his presence, to guard against the danger of tumult
and insurrection incident to large gatherings. At Jeru
salem he occupied sometimes the castle of Antonia and
21

482 THE STORY OF JESUS.
at others the new palace of Herod the Great. At this
time he doubtless occupied the magnificent palace of
Herod, "surpassing all description," rather than the
soldiers' barracks in the castle, because his wife was
with him.
It was in this abode that Jesus was arraigned before
Pilate. After the Sanhedrin had settled by vote upon
their verdict of death, the ' ' whole multitude of them
arose, and when they had bound Jesus, they led him
away from Caiaphas into the hall of judgment, and de
livered him to Pontius Pilate. " "It was probably
about seven in the morning that, thinking to overcome
the procurator by their numbers and their dignity, the
imposing procession of the Sanhedrists and priests,
headed, no doubt, by Caiaphas himself, conducted Jesus,
with a cord round his neck, from their hall of meeting,
over the lofty bridge which spanned the valley of the
Tyropceon, in presence of all the city, with the bound
hands of a sentenced criminal, a spectacle to angels and
to men."
The hall of judgment or pretorium ' ' was the head
quarters of the Roman military governor, wherever he
happened to be." "One of the ground apartments of
Herod's palace on Mount Zion appears to have been the
procurator's pretorium mentioned here, as Josephus in
forms us that the Roman governors took up their quar
ters in the palace, and set up their tribunal in front, that
is, at the eastern entrance of it, namely, on the 'pave
ment' " It was into this hall that some of the at
tendants led Jesus and into which the chief men of the
Jews refused to enter, "that they might not be defiled,
but might eat the Passover. ' '
The Jews held that going into the house of a Gentile

484 THE STORY OF JESUS.
made a Jew unclean for one day. Jesus had tried to cor
rect these false notions of outward defilement. But
' ' notice how sanctimoniousness and crime consort to
gether in the same bosoms — the spirit of murder firing
their hearts, yet afraid to defile their hallowed garments
or soil their holy feet by going into Pilate' s judgment
hall." Pilate condescends to their false scruples and goes out,
after viewing the accused, to his accusers. There are
many contrasts in this trial. Their proceedings had been
private, but Roman law required publicity : they had
sought to convict him upon his own extorted confessions,
but the procurator must have definite accusations ; they
were deadly foes, seeking the destruction of Jesus, but
Pilate hated them and took a friendly interest in the case.
Pilate was not unacquainted with the life and work of
Jesus. His spies had kept him informed about all his
movements, and he knew that he had nothing to fear
from him. " He knew that for envy they had delivered
him. ' ' However, the first question Pilate put to the Jews
when he went out to them seemed to startle them :
" What accusation bring ye against this man?" An
gered at Pilate's refusal to proceed upon such a vague
charge, they answered, " If he were not a malefactor, we
would not have delivered him up to thee." Pilate re
plied to them, " Take him, and judge him according to
your law. "
But they had determined upon his death, and they
had no authority to put any one to death. Besides,,
they wanted him to be crucified, which was not the
Jewish mode of execution ; hence they answered Pilate :
" It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." They
wanted Pilate, without a judicial investigation, to put

BROUGHT BEFORE PILATE. 485
Jesus to deatli ; this they eventually obtained. It was
written, and Jesus had declared by what death he should
die, and now these blinded Jews, with wicked hearts and
bauds, are unintentionally fulfilling the divine decrees,
and proving by this very act that Jesus is the Messiah.
Knowing well that Pilate would not listen to any charge
relating to their religious matters, they bring an accusa
tion of a political character: "We found this fellow per
verting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to
Ceesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a King." This
was false, for Jesus had expressl)' said, when they sought
to entrap him, ' ' Render unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar's," and, though he did claim to be "Christ, a
King," yet never in opposition to Caesar. These are
charges that Pilate must hear, so he re-enters the judg
ment hall and questions Jesus : ' ' Art thou the king of
the Jews?" Jesus asked him whether he asked the
question of his own account, or whether the Jews told
him to ask it. Pilate indignantly replied: "Am I a
Jew ? ' ' What should he know about these Jewish
questions — of course they told him.
To Jesus Pilate says : " Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou
done?" What a strange question: "What hast thou
done ? ' ' Nothing but deeds of divine power and mercy we
may answer ; but Pilate meant, What have you done to
incur the hatred of your people ? What have you done
against the laws, or against the Roman emperor ? Jesus
replied : " Mv kingdom is not of this world," — it is not a
worldly and temporal government. "If my kingdom
were of this world, then would my sen-ants fight that I
might not be delivered to the Jews ; " but now, since
the)- do not appeal to arms, " Is my kingdom not from

486 THE STORY OF JESUS.
hence"— it comes from above. "Pilate asked, i,( Art
thou a king then ? " Jesus replied, "Thou sayest that I
am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my
voice." Pilate asked, " What is truth ? " And without
waiting for an answer went to the Jews and said, ' ' I find
no fault in him. ' '
"In Judea Pilate had acted with all the haughty vio
lence and insolent cruelty of a typical Roman governor."
He had given the Jews just reason for popular indigna
tion, and his imperial master, Caesar, real cause for dis
pleasure and apprehension. He allowed his soldiers to
carry by night the silver eagles and other Roman in
signia into the holy city, which the Jews regarded as an
idolatrous profanation ; and when they supplicated him
at Caesarea he had sullenly yielded to their wishes. He
built an aqueduct by which water could be brought to
Jerusalem from the pools of Solomon, so arousing again
the Jews to insurrection because he paid for it out of the
sacred treasury of the temple ; and when the Jews came
to remonstrate with him he sent soldiers among them
disguised as citizens, armed with daggers, who, when the
people refused to disperse, stabbed man}- of the leading
Jews — innocent and guilty — to death, while many were
trodden to death by the panic-stricken multitude. Then
again the Jews complained to the emperor that Pilate
had erected in his Herodian palace gilded shields offen
sive to their religious sentiments. Tiberius, whose policy
it was to keep on good terms with the people of his vari
ous provinces, reprimanded Pilate, and ordered him to
remove the shields. All these things only created the
greatest mutual disgust and hate between the Roman
governor and the Jews, over whom he was placed as ruler.
Yet these Jews now cringe before him to destroy Jesus.

SENT TO HEROD. 487

CHAPTER XCIII.
SENT TO HEROD.
Luke xxiii. 6-12. — Jerusalem.
"\^7HEN Pilate thus expressed his opinion respect-
^ ^ ing Jesus in the emphatic statement, ' ' I find
in him no fault at all," and thus indicated
his desire to pronounce his acquittal ; the chief priests
and elders, fearing that their victim might escape, vehe
mently reiterated their accusations. Jesus must have
been led to the entrance of the hall of justice, where he
could hear his accusers, for we are told that "he an
swered nothing," and Pilate said, " Hearest thou not
how many things they witness against thee ? answerest
thou not ?' ' But Jesus yet answered him nothing, ' ' so
that Pilate marveled. ' ' Again Pilate said to the chief
priests and to the people, ' ' I find no fault in this man. ' '
But the Jews "were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth
up the people, teaching throughout all the land of the
Jews, beginning from Galilee to this place." When
Pilate's ear caught the word Galilee he thought at once
how he might avoid all further responsibility and trouble
and let another decide for him. So he asked whether
"the man" was a Galilean, and when he was told that
he belonged to the jurisdiction of Herod, he determined
that by Herod he should be tried. Therefore he sent
him to Herod, who was at that time at Jerusalem attend
ing the feast. So through the thronged and narrow
streets, amid the multitudes, the weary sufferer was
dragged once more. This was Herod Antipas, who had

488 THE STORY OF JESUS.
beheaded John the Baptist, and who would not scruple
to slay Jesus.
' ' We have caught glimpses of this Herod Antipas before, ' '
says Farrar, "and I do not know that all history, in its gallery
of portraits, contains a much more despicable figure than this
wretched, dissolute Idumean Sadducee — this petty princeling
drowned in debauchery and blood. To him was addressed the
sole purely contemptuous expression that Jesus is ever recorded
to have used (Luke xiii. 32). Superstition and incredulity usu
ally go together ; avowed atheists have yet believed in augury,
and men who do not believe in God will believe in ghosts. An
tipas was rejoiced beyond all things to see Jesus. He had long
been wanting to see him because of the rumors he had heard ;
and this murderer of the prophet hoped that Jesus would, in
compliment to royalty, amuse by some miracle his gaping curi
osity. He harangued and questioned him in many words, but
gained not so much as one syllable in reply. Our Lord con
fronted all his ribald questions with the majesty of silence.
Then all the savage vulgarity of the man came out through his
veneer of a superficial cultivation."
Herod's gladness at seeing Jesus soon gave way to
anger and revenge for his seeming contemptuous silence.
Here, too, before Herod were the accusing Jews. The
chief priests and the scribes vehemently accused him.
They would have the tyrant put to death his Galilean
subject, but Herod contents himself with insulting inno
cence and weakness. Herod and his soldiers arrayed
him in a gorgeous robe and mocked him and set him at
naught. Herod then sent him back to Pilate, implying
by so doing, ' ' Neither do I find any fault with him. ' '
Herod and Pilate had been at enmity, but owing to this
seeming act of friendly recognition of Herod, they were
reconciled, and became friends, clasping hands over the
rejection of the Son of God, which has covered their
names with infamy.

BEFORE PILA TE A GAIN. 489

CHAPTER XCIV.
BEFORE PILATE AGAIN.
Matt, xxvii. 15-26 ; Mark xv. 6-15 ; Luke xxiii. 13-25 ; John xviii. 39-40.—
Jerusalem.
^ I ^HE trial is renewed in the presence of Pilate. The
-*- Jewish rulers are persistent in their murderous
design. This time "the people" are with the
rulers, such at least of the multitude as the hierarchy
could influence to join them in seeking the death of
Jesus. The disciples of the Lord, timid and fearful,
have fled and concealed themselves, in this dreadful
moment of their Master s sufferings.
Calling the prosecuting Jews together before him and
seating himself upon the judgment seat, Pilate again
endeavors to secure his release. He tells them that they
had brought Jesus to him as one who pen-erted the peo
ple from their allegiance, and as one guilt}- of some great
crime. That he had examined him and found no fault
in him touching the things they accused him of ; that he
had sent him to Herod, who also found him guiltless ;
and that Jesus evidently had done nothing worthy of
death. Pilate, with the evident intention of pacifying
the accusing Jews and yet saving Jesus, now proposed
first to chastise and then to release him. But the Jews
were not content with this; nothing but his blood would
satisfy- them.
It was customary, during the Passover, for the Ro
mans to punish Jewish criminals, because the example
would have its effect upon the people then assembled at
21*

490 THE STORY OF JESUS.
Jerusalem. But it was usual also to grant to the Jews
the life of one of the condemned to be named by them.
Pilate now bethought himself of this custom, as it
seemed to offer him another opportunity of saving Jesus.
There was a notable prisoner named Barabbas, who was
guilty of sedition and murder, and who was in prison
along with others guilty of the same crimes. Pilate
knew that the chief priests had delivered Jesus to him
on account of envy, and hence when they demanded the
release of Barabbas he offered to release Jesus. ' ' Whom
will you that I release unto you ? Barabbas or Jesus, who
is called the Christ ? Will ye that I release unto you
the King of the Jews ?' ' At this stage of the proceed
ings Pilate was interrupted by a messenger from his wife
who sent to him, saying, ' ' Have thou nothing to do
with that just man ; for I have suffered many things,
this day in a dream, because of him. ' ' Her name was
Claudia Procula ; and her message and dream must have
troubled Pilate and made him more anxious to save
Jesus. While Pilate is hearing and pondering the mes
sage from his cautious wife, the crafty chief priests and
the elders circulate among the people and persuade them
to demand the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of
Jesus. So when Pilate, willing to release Jesus, said
unto them again, "Whether of the twain will ye that I
release unto you?" they said, Barabbas. When he
asked, What'then shall I do with Jesus, whom ye call the
King of the Jews ? they cried out with wild excitement,
saying, "Crucify him! crucify him!" Pilate said to
them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done ? I
have found no cause of death in him ; I will therefore
chastise him and let him go." But they cried out the
more, with loud voices and incessantly, "Let him be
crucified."

BEFORE PILATE AGAIN. 491
1 ' It was fitting that they who had preferred an abject
Sadducee to their true priest, and an incestuous Idu-
mean to their Lord and Kingj should deliberately prefer
a murderer to their Messiah." As to Pilate, it was his
duty, inasmuch as he pronounced Jesus absolutely inno
cent, to set him absolutely free. "But Pilate is a
type of the politician of all ages, who forgets that only
the right is the strong or wise. ' ' So he, in his weak
ness, yields, and allows the clamor of the mob and the
murderous demands of the priests and rulers to prevail
with him to condemn to death one whom he knows to
be innocent, and whose quiet dignity and patience had
already prepossessed him in his favor. He is convinced
of the injustice of the whole proceedings, but he fears to
displease the Jewish leaders. However, his conscience is
aroused within him, and if he can only quiet that by
shifting the responsibility from himself to the Jews he
will do so. He calls for a basin and water, and, before
all the people, washes his hands, saying, "lam inno
cent of the blood of this just person ; see ye to it."
Then all the people answered Pilate, and said, " His
blood be on us and on our children. ' ' It was vain for
Pilate, with a little water, to try to wash away the guilt
or to free himself from the responsibility of condemning
to death the innocent Saviour. It shocks us to hear
these Jews madly taking upon themselves and their
children the fearful guilt of causing the death of their
own Messiah, the Lord of glory. Pilate, in order to
pacify the people, released Barabbas.
" And now mark, for a moment, the revenges of history. Has
not his blood been on them, and on their children ? Has it not
fallen, most of all, upon those most nearly concerned in that
dark tragedy ? Before the dread sacrifice was consumed, Judas

492 THE STORY OF JESUS.
died in the horrors of a loathsome suicide. Caiaphas was de
posed the year following. Herod died in infamy and exile.
Stripped of his procuratorship very shortly afterwards, on the
very charges he had tried, by a wicked concession, to avoid, Pi
late, wearied out with misfortunes, died a suicide in banishment,
leaving behind him an execrated name. The house of Annas
was destroyed a generation later by an infuriated mob, and his
son was dragged through the streets, and scourged and beaten,
to his place of murder. Some of those who shared in and wit
nessed the scenes of that day, and thousands of their children,
also witnessed and shared in the horrors of that siege of Jerusa
lem, which stands unparalleled in history for its unutterable
fearfulness. They had shouted, We have no king but Caesar !
Caesar after Caesar outraged and tyrannized and pillaged and
oppressed them ; till at last they rose in wild revolt against the
Caesar whom they had claimed, and slacked in the blood of its
best defenders the red ashes of their burned and desecrated tem
ple. They had forced the Romans to crucify their Christ, and they
regarded this punishment with especial horror, and they and their
children were themselves crucified in myriads by the Romans
outside their city walls, till room was wanting and wood failed,
and the soldiers had to ransack a fertile inventiveness of cruelty
for fresh methods of inflicting this insulting form of death.
They had given thirty pieces of silver for their Saviour's blood,
and they were themselves sold by thousands for yet smaller
sums. They had chosen Barabbas in preference to their Messiah,
and for them there has been no other Messiah, while a murderer's
dagger swayed the last counsels of their dying nationality.
They had accepted the guilt of blood, and the last pages of their
history were glued together with the rivers of their blood, and
that blood has continued to be shed in wanton cruelties from age
to age. They who will, may see in incidents like these the mere
unmeaning chances of history ; but there is in history nothing
unmeaning to one who regards it as the voice of God speaking
among, the destinies of men ; whether a man sees any signifi
cance or not in events like these, he must be blind who does not
see that the axe was laid at the root of the tree of Jewish
nationality."

THE SCOURGING. 493

CHAPTER XCV.
THE SCOURGING.
Matt, xxvii. 26-30 ; Mark xv. 15-19 ; Luke xxiii. 25 ; John xix. 1-16.— Jerusalem.
''"T^HE language of the scripture descriptive of the
-*- inhuman treatment to which Jesus was next
subjected by order of Pilate in the praetorium,
awakens our deepest feelings of abhorrence. "Then
the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common
hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers ;
and they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe ;
and when they platted a crown of thorns, they put it
upon his head and a reed in his hand ; and they bowed
the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail,
king of the Jews ! and they spit upon him, and took the
reed and smote him on the head. ' '
When this cruel mockery was over, Pilate went out to
the people again and said, " Behold, I bring him forth to
you that ye may know that I find no fault in him ; " and
when Jesus was led forth wearing the crown of thorns
and the purple robe, Pilate exclaimed, ' ' Behold the
man ! " " But when they saw him the chief priests and
officers cried out, Crucify him ! crucify him ! ' ' Pilate
replied, "Take ye him, and crucify him ; for I find no
fault in him." Then the Jews, knowing that they could
not crucify him, and determined to force Pilate to do it,
answered, ' ' We have a law, and by our law he ought to
die, because he made himself the Son of God. ' '
When Pilate heard that he was the Son of God, he was
more afraid than ever to execute Jesus, so he went again

494 ™E STORY OF JESUS.
into the judgment hall and said to him, in a troubled
way, ' ' Whence art thou ? ' ' But Jesus gave him no an
swer. Then, wondering at his silence, Pilate said,
' ' Speakest thou not unto me ? Kuowest thou not that
I have power to crucify thee or power to release thee ? ' '
Jesus answers : ' ' Thou couldst have no power at all
against me, except it be given thee from above ; there
fore he that delivered me to thee has the greater sin. ' '
Again Pilate is favorably impressed, and seeks to release
him. He had already released Barabbas, but he is willing
to set Jesus also at liberty, so he tries to obtain the con
sent of the Jews. But they cried out in language that
more than all else intimidated Pilate and filled him with
fears, not only of Jewish wrath, but of Caesar's imperial
displeasure. " If thou let this man go, thou art not
Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king,
speaketh against Caesar." When Pilate heard this he
brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat, in
a palace called the pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
Pilate then said to the Jews, " Behold your king." But
they cried out, ' ' Away with him ! away with him ! cru
cify him ! " "What," replied Pilate, " shall I crucify
your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have
no king but Caesar. ' ' Then, after all his fruitless efforts
to induce the people to do what he could have com
manded them to do, Pilate at last cowardly yielded to
them, and delivered Jesus to his soldiers, first to be
scourged, and then crucified.
' ' In civilized nations all is done that can be done to spare
every needless suffering to a man condemned to death, but
among the Romans insult and derision were the customary pre
liminaries to the last agony. Such a custom furnished a speci
men of that worst and lowest form of human wickedness which
delights to inflict pain — which feels an inhuman pleasure in

THE SCOURGING.

495

gloating over the agonies of another— even when he has done no
wrong. The mere spectacle of agony is agreeable to the degraded
soul. The low, vile soldiery of the prsetorium— not Romans, who
might have had more sense of the inborn dignity of the silent
sufferer, but mostly the mercenary scum and dregs of the prov
inces — led him into their barrack-room and there mocked, in their
savage hatred, the king whom they had tortured. It added keen
ness to their enjoyment to have in their power one who was of
Jewish birth, of innocent life, of noblest bearing."
Geikie thus describes the cruel scene :
"Jesus was now seized by some of the soldiers standing near,
and, after being stripped to the waist, was bound in a stooping
pcsture, his hands behind his back, to a post, or low pillar near
the tribunal. He was then beaten, till the soldiers chose to stop,
with knots of rope, or plaited leather thongs, armed at the ends
with acorn-shaped drops of lead or small, sharp-pointed bones.
In many cases not only was the back of the person scourged, cut
open in all directions ; but even the eyes, the face and the breast
were torn and cut, and the teeth not seldom knocked out. Under
the fury of the countless stripes, the victims sometimes sank,
amidst screams, convulsive leaps and distortions, into a senseless
heap— sometimes were taken away an unrecognizable mass of
bleeding flesh, to find deliverance in death from inflammation
and fever, sickness and shame.
" This long passage of insult and mockery was one of the sorest
trials of these last sad hours. Yet through the whole no com
plaint escaped his lips. He was being insulted, maltreated and
mocked as a Jew, while already agonized by the scourging. But
if his tormentors had known it, it was because the Jews hated
him that he stood where he did. They ridiculed his claim to the
monarchy of the world ; but had these soldiers known the truth,
it was because he had opposed the Jewish dream of such a mon
archy that he was being put to death. ... No murmur rose from
him. He might have spoken, or sighed, or implored the pity of
the soldiers— he might have appealed to their honor and compas
sion. A heart beats even in the roughest bosom. But he was
silent — silent, not because the waves of his sorrow had over
whelmed him, but in triumphant superiority to them. He had
been bowed and crushed in Gethsemane, but now he showed the
serene joy of the conqueror."

496 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER XCVI.
JOURNEY TO THE CROSS.
Matt, xxvii. 31-34 ; Mark xv. 20-23 > Luke xxiii. 26-33 • John xix. 16, 17. —
Jerusalem.
IT was by the command of Pilate that Jesus was
scourged, and so it was by his order that he was
crucified. Several incidents occurred on the way
from Pilate's judgment hall to the place of crucifix
ion. Those related by the evangelists we may dwell
upon. But the course the procession took to Calvary
or the Via Dolorosa, has not been revealed, and hence
is only conjectured.
It seems that the needless fear of rescue occupied the
minds of both Jews and Romans, either by his peaceful
followers or by the people who at least thought him a
prophet; hence the procession of soldiers that escorted
him to the cross and stood by until the end. It was
probably about nine in the morning when the march to
the place of execution, outside of the city, began. Be
sides the Roman soldiers and their captains or centurions,
a vast multitude of people, and among them many women,
followed him. Before him went the herald, proclaiming
the crimes with which he was charged, and by the sol
diers was borne the superscription containing his title, to
be placed on his cross. Along with the innocent suf
ferer went the two condemned malefactors, — each bear
ing his own cross. But, exhausted by fatigue and suf
fering from loss of sleep, the prolonged examination and
shameful scourging, Jesus sank beneath the weight of
the cross he was bearing, too weak to carry it. This,

JOURNEY TO THE CROSS.

497

however, caused but little delay, for they seized upon a
man from North Africa, known to the early Christians
as "Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and
Rufus," who was approaching the city from the country,
and upon him they put the cross, which he was com
pelled to carry to the place of execution.

JESUS SINKS BENEATH THE WEIGHT OF HIS CROSS.
The women who followed the procession to the place
of crucifixion could not conceal their grief and sym
pathy, but beat their breasts and filled the air with their
loud lamentations. They alone dared to express that
sympathy which doubtless many of the vast multitude
felt for the patient sufferer. Forgetting his own sorrows
Jesus turned to them and breaking his long silence, ten-

498 THE STORY OF JESUS.
derly said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me,
but weep for yourselves and for your children. For be
hold the days are coming, in the which they shall say,
blessed are the barren. . . . Then shall they begin to
sdy to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover
us; for if they do these things' in a green tree, what shall
be done in the dry ? ' ' Even in the last agonizing hours the
Saviour has not only a word of comfort, but one of warn
ing — " his last sermon on earth." He speaks in parable.
"The fig tree of their national life was still green; if such
deeds of darkness were possible now, what should be done when
that tree was withered and blasted and ready for burning ? If in
the days of hope and decency they could execute their blameless
deliverer, what would happen on the day of blasphemy and mad
ness and despair ? If under the full light of day, priest and
scribe could crucify the innocent, what would be done in the mid
night orgies and blood-stained bacchanalia of zealots and mur
derers ? . . . These words warn every child of man that the day
of careless pleasure and blasphemous disbelief will be followed
by the crack of doom."
Where this place of a " skull, ' ' called in the Hebrew,
Golgotha, and in the Latin, Calvary, was, except that it
was outside of the walls of the city, we know not. It
has been thought that its name came from its shape — re
sembling that of a skull, and it is probably from this
that we get the idea that Jesus was crucified on a
"mount" or hill. There is nothing said to indicate
that Calvary was a mount, and yet how likely it is that
the usual place of execution would be an elevation of
sufficient prominence to command an extensive view,
and where could be seen from the walls and the tops of
the houses of the city the tragedy of the cross. Cal
vary, we know too, was in or near by the garden of Joseph
of Arimathea, where the tomb was in which the body of
Jesus reposed over the Sabbath.

THE CRUCIFIXION.

499

CHAPTER XCVII.
THE CRUCIFIXION.
Matt, xxvii. 35-56 ; Mark xv. 24-41 ; Luke xxii. 33-49 ; John xix. 18 30. — Calvary,
outside of the gates of Jerusalem.
/CRUCIFIXION, or the fastening of one to the cross
^— till released by death, was not a Roman mode of
punishment, but had its origin in the east, and ex
ceeded in cruelty and suffering many other methods of ex
ecution. It was adopted by the Romans, who crucified
many thousands. The cross was composed of two pieces
of wood, one of which was upright and the other at
tached to it near the top horizontally. The cross was
laid upon the ground and the victim stretched upon
and fastened to it, with nails driven through his out
stretched hands, and through his feet placed one upon
the other. A projection about midway served as a kind
of seat to prevent the weight of the body tearing the
hands. But this only added to the pain. When the
victim was secured to the cross, it was then raised to an
upright position and rudely dropped into a hole in the
ground and there secured. Thus it was planted like a
tree. The feet of the victim were usually about two
feet from the ground. In this position the poor sufferer
was allowed to remain sometimes for days, in intense
suffering till death came to his release.
Death by the cross was deemed a most ignominious
and disgraceful punishment, suitable only for the worst
criminals. It was thus that Jesus was crucified. It was
on this instrument of cruelty and death that the Saviour

5°°

THE STORY OF JESUS.

made atonement for the sins of the world. They offered
him drink of wine or vinegar with an infusion of some
bitter substance, like myrrh or gall, in order probably to
stupefy the senses and relieve the pain, but he refused
to be thus made insensible to the pains of the cross.
He had come to endure, and preferred to drink to its
dregs the cup that the Father gave him. Afterward,
towards the end of his sufferings on the cross, when he
thirsted and they gave him
vinegar without myrrh, he
drank it.
Jesus did not suffer cruci
fixion alone. Two robbers
were crucified with him, —
one on either side. It is
probable that he occupied
the highest as well as the
central cross, which would
have held the chief robber,
Barabbas, had he not been
released at the demand of
the people. Thus the
prophecy of Isaiah, that he should be numbered with
the trangressors, was fulfilled. The four Roman sol
diers who came to execute the command of Pilate to
crucify Jesus, sat down, indifferent to his suffering,
at the foot of the cross, where they watched him
and divided his garments among them, a piece to
each soldier. His cloak or under-garment was without
seam, woven from top to bottom. For this they cast
lots. Thus again did they unconsciously fulfill the scrip
ture, the words of the Psalmist, ' ' They parted my rai
ment among them and for my vesture they cast lots. ' '

THE CRUCIFIXION.

THE CRUCIFIXION. 501
It was customary to fasten to the top of the cross or
above the head of the victim a board, on -which was
plainly written his name and the cause of his execution.
So Pilate wrote this title and accusation, "This is
Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." This
was written with slight variations in the three languages
known to the people — Hebrew, Greek and Latin— so
that all could read it.
Then the chief priests, seeing that Pilate's inscription
put the Jews in an unenviable light and reflected upon
them, went to him in haste and said, "Write not, The
King of the Jews, but that, He said, I am the King of
the Jews." But Pilate was now firm, and probably
smarting under a sense of humiliation in having allowed
himself to condemn an innocent man, he rudely dis
missed them with the contemptuous reply, "What I
have written I have written." Thus Pilate uninten
tionally emphasized and confirmed the truth of history
and of prophecy.
It is probable that many of the people were filled with
awe and horror, and stood, sad and silent, beholding
the cruel suffering of one who had endeared himself to
them by many acts of love and mercy. But those who
conspired to put him to death were noisy and insulting,
mockingly exclaiming, ' ' Ah ! thou that destroyest the
temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself; " and
' ' If thou be the Son of God, come down from the
cross." The chief priests, scribes and elders, the lead
ers and teachers of the Jews, joined in the insults and
jeers of the people, saying, ' ' He saved others, himself
he cannot save. Let God, whose Son he claimed to be,
deliver him." The soldiers also mocked him, giving
him vinegar to drink, and saying, ' ' If thou be the King

502 THE STORY OF JESUS.
of the Jews, save thyself." Even the malefactors cru
cified with him also joined in the- general insult and
derision and railed on him. One of the thieves said,
' ' If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us. ' ' But he
could not save himself, or rather he would not, for he
came to die to save man from death eternal.
In the midst of all this false accusation and bitter de
nunciation there was but one voice lifted in the suffering
Saviour's behalf. One of the malefactors, conscience-
stricken, rebuked his fellow-robber, confessed their com
panionship in guilt, and then uttered the prayer, ' ' Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."
Jesus, who had remained silent during the storm of
abuse, now opened his mouth with words of precious
promise to the penitent thief, "To-day shalt thou be
with me in paradise. ' ' That is, before the going down
of the sun, both saved and Saviour would be at home in
the paradise of God.
There were standing by the cross some of the noble
women who had befriended Jesus— Maty, the wife of
Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene, and with them Mary,
the mother of Jesus. John, the beloved disciple, also
stood near. Remembering his mother while in agony
he hung upon the cross, bearing our sins, Jesus gave her
to John to care for her, as a son for his own mother.
He who had left all, even the heavenly riches, and be
came poor for us, had nothing of earthly wealth to leave
to her who bore him in the flesh.
But now God strikes terror into the hearts of the ac
tors and spectators of this terrible tragedy by sending an
earthquake and withdrawing the light of the sun. For
three hours, from the sixth to the ninth, or from noon
till three o'clock, darkness came over the whole land,

THE VAIL OF THE TEMPLE RENT.

(5°3)

504 THE STORY OF JESUS.
shrouding the dreadful scene in solemn awe. Towards
the close of this period of night at noonday the Sav
iour's lips, after a silence of three hours, were unsealed
again. During all this time he suffered without one
word of complaint. But now he cried with a loud voice,
' ' Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani ? ' ' which means, being
interpreted, " My God, rhy God> why hast thou forsaken
me?" None can know the soul-anguish of that hour,
when, forsaken of God, Jesus bore alone the penalty of
man's sins, that man might not be forsaken of God and
eternally lost. When those at the cross heard this
cry some of them thought that he was calling Elias.
The end was now near, and Jesus uttered the only
word indicative of physical suffering that escaped his
lips, "I thirst." One of those who stood near ran and
took a sponge and, dipping it into a vessel of vinegar
and putting it on a reed, that he might reach up to the
sufferer, touched it to his lips. But some would have de
nied him even this poor relief, and said, Let him alone ;
let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.
None but a Jew would have said this, for it was accord
ing to their prophets that Elijah was to come when the
Messiah appeared.
But death was at hand, and Jesus, when he had re
ceived the vinegar, being conscious that the time was
near, said, "It is finished. ' ' His life, his work, his
atonement, man's redemption, all was completed. When
he had cried again with a loud voice, he said, " Father,
into thy hand I commend my spirit, ' ' and, bowing his
head, he gave up the spirit, or surrendered his life into
the keeping of the heavenly Father.

THE BURIAL. cqc

CHAPTER XCVIII.
THE BURIAL.
Matt, xxvii. 57-66 ; Mark xv. 42-47 ; Luke xxiii 50-56 ; John xix. 31-42.— A garden
near Calvary, outside of the walls of Jerusalem.
T ~K THEN Christ expired, the vail of the temple, a
^ ^ richly ornamented curtain that separated the
holy from the most holy place, dividing the
temple in two parts, was rent in twain, or torn from the
top to the bottom. It was the time of the evening
prayer, when the priest stood by the altar near the cur
tain in the holy place burning incense. Only the high
priest was allowed to go behind that vail and enter the
holy of holies, and he only once a year after offering
sacrifice for the sins of the people. But now the sacred
vail is mysteriously divided into two parts and the holy
of holies is exposed to view. This rending of the vail
indicated that when Christ had offered up himself on the
cross, he entered into heaven, of which the holy of
holies was a type, and as our great high priest is now
interceding before God for us, and we are permitted to
follow him to the mercy-seat through the rent vail of his
humanity. The earthquake and the darkness may doubtless be
regarded as an expression of God's displeasure toward
sin. The darkness, which extended to other lands, was
an impressive symbol of the soul-darkness which the
Saviour felt when forsaken by the Father. The rocks
were also rent, and the rocky coverings or doors of the
tombs were torn away, and the graves were opened and
23

506 THE STORY OF JESUS.
many bodies of holy people that slept in them arose,
after the resurrection of Christ, and came forth and ap
peared to many of their friends in Jerusalem.
The death of Christ, the darkness and earthquake and
all the wonderful circumstances attending the crucifixion,
made a profound impression upon the intelligent centu
rion or Roman captain, and also upon the soldiers who
were with him. The centurion feared greatly and glori
fied God, exclaiming, ' ' Certainly this was a righteous
man, this was the Son of God."
The people also who came to witness the cruel specta
cle, ' ' smote their breasts and returned ' ' to their homes
deeply impressed by what they had seen and heard.
In his last hours Jesus was not left utterly alone by
his followers, for ' ' all his acquaintance and the women
that followed him from Galilee stood afar off, beholding
these things. Among them was Mary Magdalene and
Mary, the mother of James the Less and Joses, and
Salome. ' '
The day of the crucifixion was the preparation for the
Sabbath-day, which was observed by the Jews during the
Passover as a high day, and began at sundown on Fri
day. "They who had not thought it pollution to
inaugurate their feast by the murder of their Messiah,
were seriously alarmed lest the sanctity of the following
day should be compromised by the hanging of the corpse
on the cross." These merciless Jews, therefore, begged
Pilate that their limbs might be broken to hasten their
death. Their wish was complied with this far, that the
legs of the two malefactors were broken by a blow from
a mallet in the hands of a soldier. When they came to
Jesus they saw that he was already dead, and hence they
did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers pierced his

(507)

THE BODY TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS.

508 THE STORY OF JESUS.
side with a spear, and water and blood flowed from the
wound. • Thus again was fulfilled the scriptures which,
speaking of the paschal lamb as a type of Christ, said,
"A bone of him shall not be broken," and Zechariah's
prophecy, "They shall look on him whom they pierced. "
The bodies of the two malefactors were hurried away
to their unknown graves, but the body of Jesus still
remained, for influential friends were claiming it of Pilate.
Joseph of Arimathea, "an honorable counsellor" and
' ' a good man and just, ' ' who had not consented to the
death of Jesus and who for fear of the Jews was secretly
a disciple of the Lord, now went boldly to the Roman
governor and begged the body of Jesus. Pilate mar
veled that Jesus was so soon dead, and sending for
the centurion, who had been present at the crucifixion,
he satisfied himself that Jesus was dead, and then com
manded that the body should be delivered to Joseph, who
brought fine clean linen cloth in which to wrap the body.
There was another prominent but secret disciple
who came with Joseph to pay this last tribute to the be
loved dead. This was Nicodemus, who in the beginning
of Christ's ministry came to him by night. He now put
aside fear and brought with him a hundred pounds of " a
mixture of myrrh and aloes ' ' with which to embalm the
body. These two noble men took down the body of Jesus
and wrapped it in linen clothes with spices, according to
Jewish custom. " Nov/ in or near the place where he
was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was
a sepulchre, wherein never man yet laid. ' ' This was
Joseph' s own new tomb, which he had caused to be hewn
out of the rock for himself. In this they reverently laid
the sacred body, closed up the entrance by rolling before
it a great stone and departed.

THE BURIAL. c0g
But these two were not the only ones who were wit
nesses of the burial of the Lord. The women also who
came with him from Galilee followed after and saw
where he was laid in the sepulcher. They' then returned
home and prepared spices and ointment with which to
properly embalm the body; and rested according to the
command of God on the Sabbath day.
On the evening of the next day after the burial, the
chief priests and Pharisees came to Pilate and told him
that they remembered how ' ' that deceiver said, while he
was yet alive, that after three days he would rise again.
They therefore asked him to command that the sepulchre
be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples
might come by night and steal him away, and then say
to the people, "He is risen- from the dead," and so the
last error be worse than the first. Pilate said to them,
' ' You have a watch : go your way, make it as sure as
you can. So they went and made the sepulchre sure,
sealing the stone and setting a watch."
The death of Jesus was made sure by this testimony
of both Jew and Gentile. Thus were the enemies of
Jesus led unwittingly to furnish most unquestionable
proof of the reality, both of his death and resurrection.

(-TO)

THEY WENT AND MADE THE SEPULCHRE SURE.

BOOK NINTH.

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD FROM
HIS RESURRECTION TO HIS
ASCENSION.
a period of forty days, from april 9th, a.d. 30, to
May i8th, a.d. 30.
(511)

^MJ^ IP ' 'AM

MS

(512)

CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

THE RESURRECTION.

5J3

D

CHAPTER XCIX.
THE RESURRECTION.
Matt, xxviii. 1-8 ; Mark xvi. 1-9 ; Luke xxiv. 1-8, 12 ; John xx. i-io.
The first day of the week — Early morning.
URING the two nights that Jesus laid in the tomb

' ' the Roman sentries paced to and fro on their beat
before the sepulchre ; their fire lighted, for the
spring night was chilly, and besides, the light prevented
any one approaching. ' ' It was now the third day since
the burial. Early in the morning, after the close of the
Jewish Sabbath, the soldiers on guard at the tomb of
Jesus were startled by an earthquake ; and they beheld a
shining angel descend from heaven, "his countenance
like lightning and his raiment white as snow." He
rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre and
seated himself upon it. The soldiers keeping watch fell
down as dead men from fear, and revived only to flee in
terror into the city.
It was early on Sunday, or the first day of the week, at
the rising of the sun, when the women — the two Marys,
and Salome and Joanna — came to the sepulchre laden
with the spices they had prepared for the Lord's body.
They had probably slept outside of the walls of the city,
as the gates would not be open before sunrise. On their
journey to the tomb they were troubled as to how to get
into the sepulchre to perform their work of love, and said
among themselves, ' ' Who shall roll us away the stone from
the door of the sepulchre ? ' ' But when they reached
the place they were surprised to find that the stone, which
was "very great," had been removed. Mary Magdalene
22*

514 THE STOP Y OF JESUS.
had entered the garden first, and seeing the empty tomb,
had run back to the others, and then hastened into the
city to tell Peter and John. The other women hastened
to enter the tomb. The body of Jesus was not there.
But they were startled to find two angels clothed in long
white shining garments, before whom they fell to the
earth. The angels said to the women, ' ' Be not af
frighted ; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified.
Why seek ye the living among the dead ? He is not
here ; he is risen. Come, see the place where the Lord
'lay." "Remember how he spake unto you when he
was yet in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified,
and the third day rise again. ' ' And they remembered
his words. "Go quickly and tell his disciples and Peter
that he goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall ye see
him, as he said unto you. ' '
Mary Magdalene had hurried back to Jerusalem and
told Peter and John what she had seen. It was doubt
less in the house of the latter, dwelling together
with the mother of Jesus. The two apostles at once
ran to the tomb ; but John outran Peter and got there
first. Stooping down and looking into the open sepul
chre, John saw that the body was gone, and, the linen
clothes were lying there, not in disorder, but neatly
folded. Peter, coming up, passed John and entered the
tomb first, "heedless of ceremonial pollution." And
also saw the linen clothes lying on the floor of the vault,
and the napkin that had been bound around his head, by
itself. John at last followed Peter into the sepulchre
and "saw and believed." Filled with wonder, they de
parted and returned to their own home.

THE LORD APPEARS.

5J5

CHAPTER C.
THE LORD APPEARS.
Matt, xxviii. 9-15 ; Mark xvi. 9-11 ; Luke xxiv. 9-11 ; John xx. n-18 ; 1 Cor.
xv. 5. — In the Garden, near the Sepulchre.
UP to this time none had seen the Lord. It is ex
pressly stated that ' ' he appeared first to Mary
Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven
devils. ' ' She had gone and told Peter and John about
the open and empty sepulchre and then -returned follow
ing them back to the garden of burial. The empty
sepulchre simply revealed the fact that he was not there.
Mary now stood near the empty tomb weeping, and as
she wept she stooped down -and looked into the sepulchre
and saw two angels, one sitting at the head and the other
at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. They
asked her, " Woman, why weepest thou ? " She plain
tively replied, " Because they have taken away my Lord,
and I know not where they have laid him. ' ' Upon this
she turned sorrowfully away, when she met Jesus, but
knew him not. He asked her, ' ' Woman, why weepest
thou ? Whom seekest thou ? ' ' Supposing him to be
the gardener or keeper of Joseph's garden, wherein was
the sepulchre, and suspecting that he had something
to do with the removal of the body, she beseechingly
said, ' ' Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where
thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus
simply said, " Mary," and she knew him, and turning to
him exclaimed, " Rabboni," which means "Master."
In her joy at seeing him alive, she would have clasped

516 THE STORY OF JESUS.
him around the feet with her arms, but he said, ' ' Touch
me not : for I am not yet ascended to my Father. ' ' And
now the Master himself gives her the same commission
that the angels gave to the other women at the tomb:
' ' But go to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto
my Father and your Father, and to my God and your
God." Ready to serve or to adore, she left at once her
Lord and hastened again to the city. Coming to the dis
ciples "as they mourned and wept," she told them that
she had seen the Lord. But her message seemed to
them like an incredulous story and they "believed it
not." The other women who had gone with Mary Magdalene
to the sepulchre, returned trembling and amazed. While
on the way bearing to the disciples the angels' message,
Jesus also appeared to them and said : ' ' All hail ! ' ' And
they came near and held him Jay the feet and worshiped
him. "Be not afraid," he said to them assuringly;
"Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and
(here shall they see me." They sought out >the eleven
snd " all the rest of the company of believers, and told
them all that they had seen and heard." Thus the
statement of Mary Magdalene, "I have seen the Lord,"
was confirmed. These women, last at the cross and first
at the tomb, were honored by the Lord above all others
in that he appeared first to them, and sent them to bear
the first news of his resurrection to the apostles and to
convey the first message of the risen Lord to his waiting
church. But " their words seemed to them as idle tales,
and they believed them not."
Let us leave the apostles, for the moment, in perplex
ity and doubt, while we follow other messengers from
the tomb of Jesus into the city. When the guard fled in

THE LORD APPEARS-

517

terror from the sepulchre in the early morning they came
and truthfully told the chief priests all that had hap
pened: about the dreadful earthquake, the descent of the
flaming angel, the rolling away of the great stone and
the opening of the tomb. Then the chief priests called
the elders, and they counseled together, and they gave
large sums of money to the soldiers to say that his disci
ples came by night and stole him away, while they slept.
Would the guard admit this even if true? If it had
been the fact, death would have been the penalty paid by
every soldier on duty. They were promised protection,
if their false report should come to Pilate's ears. So
they took the money and did as they were taught.
Matthew says that when he wrote, this saying was
commonly reported among the Jews, and for twelve cen
turies this falsehood was kept alive and circulated among
the Jews.
' ' It was only gradually and later and to the initiated
that the base calumny was spread. Within six weeks of
the resurrection that great event was the unshaken faith
of every Christian ; within a few years of the event the
palpable historic proofs of it and the numerous testimo
nies of its realities — strengthened by a memorable vision
vouchsafed to himself — had won assent from the acute
and noble intellect of a young Pharisaic zealot and per
secutor, whose name was Saul."
More, when Peter and the other apostles proclaimed
publicly the resurrection of Jesus, on the day of Pente
cost, there were thousands there at Jerusalem who be
lieved and put their trust in the risen Lord, while there
were none to deny the fact that Christ had risen indeed.
There is no fact in history that is more incontestable
than the resurrection of Jesus. ' ' Nothing, ' ' says Ewald,

518 THE STORY OF JESUS.
' ' stands more historically certain than that Jesus rose
from the dead and appeared again to his followers or
than that their seeing him thus again was the begin
ning of a higher faith, and of all their Christian work in
the world. It is equally certain that they thus saw him,
not as a common man or as a shade or ghost risen from
the grave ; but as the only Son of God, — already more
than man at once in nature and power, — and that all
who thus beheld him recognized at once and instinct
ively his unique divine dignity, and firmly believed in
it henceforth." When such an historical critic as Ewald
emphatically asserts the fact of the resurrection of Christ,
it is time for all negative criticism to cease.
When the women received the message from the an
gels to be borne to the disciples, the name of one of
them was specially mentioned, ' ' Go tell his disciples
and Peter. " How grateful must have been the fallen,
but now deeply penitent, apostle to receive such a mes
sage! Who could have sent it but the compassionate
and forgiving Lord himself? But this was not all. The
Lord still further honors and comforts his weak, yet lov
ing follower, by appearing next to Peter, as Paul tells us
iu Corinthians ; not while he was with John at the sep
ulchre, but when he was alone. This was his third ap
pearance, but we have been furnished with none of the
details. Peter doubtless kept the particulars of this in
terview to himself. The answer of Peter to Jesus after
wards at the sea of Galilee, " Lord, thou knowest that I
love thee," may give us a hint of Peter's words of con
fession and love when for the first time after his denial
he met his risen Lord.

THE WALK TO EMMAUS.

510-

CHAPTER CI.
THE WALK TO EMMAUS.
Makk xvi. 12-13 ; Luke xxiv. 13-35 ; 1 Cor. xv. 5.— Jerusalem, Emmaus, first day
of the week.
F T was now toward the evening of this first day of the
-*- week, that on which the Lord arose, when Jesus
showed himself to two of the disciples as they
walked in the country going home to Emmaus, or the
' ' warm baths, ' ' a village about three-score furlongs,
between seven and eight miles, northwest from Jerusa
lem, " in the high slope of the hills." "The way to it
was over the hills, and through valleys, more and more
barren as Jerusalem was left behind. But Emmaus
itself looked down into a hollow, through which a rivu
let spread greenness and beauty. Vines and olive trees
planted in terraces up the hillside, and the white and
red flowers of the almond tree, now bursting into blossom
in the valley, made the end of the journey a pleasant
contrast to its beginning."
We may stop to inquire who these disciples were.
One was Cleopas, not Clopas, the husband of one of the
Marys. Who the other was is mere conjecture, but it
may have been Luke, who relates the incident, but
withholds his name, as John does his. While they jour-
nev thev naturally talk of the thoughts which occupy
their minds. Recent events were of supreme moment
to them. Their Lord, who they had hoped was the
Messiah, had been crucified. Now all hope had fled and

520 THE STORY OF JESUS.
they, dejected and sorrowful, were on their way home.
They had heard how the women and Peter and John had
found the sepulchre empty, and had seen angels who
said that he had risen, but no one, to their knowledge,
had seen the Lord. Hence they doubted and placed no
reliance upon the rumors they had heard.
While they thus reasoned about these things and won
dered whether Jesus was the Messiah or not, Jesus him
self drew near and went with them, but they did not
know him. He inquired what the sad subject of their
conversation was. Cleopas frankly answering said,
' ' Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not
known the things which are come to pass there in these
days?" Jesus asked them, "What things?" desiring
still to be unknown and to learn from their own lips
their thoughts. Then they told him that Jesus of Naz
areth, ' ' a prophet mighty in deed and word before God
and all the people,", had been delivered by the chief
priests and rulers to be condemned to death and had
been crucified ; that they had trusted he was to be the
deliverer of Israel ; but that it was now the third day
since his crucifixion, and that "certain women " of their
company who went early to the sepulchre, had aston
ished them by declaring that the sepulchre was opened,
the body gone, and angels in attendance had said that
he was alive ; that certain of the disciples also had gone
to the sepulchre and found it so, as the women had
reported ; but that none of them had seen the Lord.
It seems from this account that these two had left the
other disciples before the women reported that they had
seen the Lord himself. Then Jesus said to them, ' ' O
fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken ! Ought not Christ to have suffered these

THE WALK TO EMMAUS.

521

things and to enter into his glory ?' ' And he began at
Moses and went through the prophets, expounding the
scriptures and showing in them the things concerning
himself. They now drew near to the end of their journey and
to the village where they were going. Jesus was about
to go on further, but they constrained him to go home
with them, saying, ' ' Abide with us : for it is toward
evening, and the day is far spent." He accepted their
invitation and went with them. As they were at the
evening meal together, ' ' he took bread and blessed and
brake and gave to them." Then their eyes were
opened. Up to this time they knew him not. Now
they recognized in the stranger their risen Lord. ' ' But
he vanished out of their sight," leaving them beholding
one another with blank astonishment. Recovering some
what from their surprise, they said joyfully, ' ' Did not
our hearts burn within us while he opened to us the
scriptures ?' '
In the language of the eloquent Dr. Richard Fuller :
" They who had dissuaded the stranger from proceeding that
night, now heed neither darkness nor danger. Their first pal
pitating rapture over, they leave the house and with eager
haste retrace their steps, impatient to tell the good tidings
to the apostles. What a contrast now between this journey
and that of the afternoon! They leave the repast untouched,
for they have bread to eat which others know not of. Hill
and valley are shrouded in darkness, but within all is ra
diant with glory. Entering the city they inquire for the apos
tles : and being informed that they are assembled, they press to
the place, and rushing in, find the eleven gathered together
and them that were with them, saying, ' The Lord is risen in
deed, and hath appeared to Simon.' "

£22 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER CII.
JESUS IN THE MIDST.
Mark xvi. 14 ; Luke xxiv. 36-49 ; John xx. 19-29 ; 1 Cor. xv. 5— Jerusalem, evening
following the first day of the week, and evening following the first day
of the next week.
T T was on the evening of the day of the resurrection
¦*- that the Lord first appeared to the twelve, now re
duced to ' ' eleven ' ' by the apostasy of Judas.
This was the fifth appearance of the risen Saviour on
that day. The disciples sat at meat with the doors shut,
and probably guarded, for fear of the Jews. They were
' ' terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had
seen a spirit," although the women and the two disciples
from Emmaus all had testified that they had seen him.
Jesus upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of
heart, because they refused to believe those who had seen
him after he had risen. To remove their fears and
doubts, he said, " Behold my hands and my feet, that it is
I myself ; handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh
and bones, as ye see me have." And he showed them
his hands and his side. Then they were glad. Still
further to reassure them, he asked for meat and ate
before them a piece of broiled fish and of hone^-comb,
which were given him. Thus, strange to relate, -he that
had suddenly appeared and as suddenly vanished now
eats as a man, convincing us that while he had powers
not given to mortals, yet he was flesh and blood, and had
returned to this life from the grave, like Lazarus, to live
again, but not like him to return to the grave.
He then reminded them of what he had taught them

JESUS IN THE MIDST. 523
while living — that all things written concerning him in
the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and the psalms must
be fulfilled as they had been in his death and resurrection.
He opened their understanding that they might, know
the scriptures, and said, ' ' Thus it is written and thus it
behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the
third day ; that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem." Ye are witnesses of these things, he said —
that is, of his life, death and resurrection, and then he
commissioned them : "Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not
shall be damned." He also gave them the promise :
' ' These signs shall follow them that believe ; in my
name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak with
tongues ; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink
any deadly thing it shall not hurt them. They shall lay
hands on the sick and they shall recover. ' ' These won
derful miraculous powers were given to the apostles, and
were exercised in the apostolic age. Before entering on
their work of preaching to the nations they must tarry at
Jerusalem till they were endued with power from on
high. Again he said, " Peace be unto you ; as my
Father hath sent me so send I you." And he breathed
on them and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whoseso
ever sins ye remit they are remitted, and whosesoever
sins ye retain they are retained.
Thus closed theday on which the Lord arose. Thomas,
called Didymus, or the twin, was not present when Jesus
appeared to the "eleven." He was the absent one of
that circle, and when they told him, ' ' We have seen the
Lord," he refused to believe saying, " Except I shall see

524

THE STORY OF JESUS.

in his hands the print of the nails, and put my fingers
into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his
side, I will not believe. ' '
At least one week after this the Lord appeared again
to the disciples, and again on the Lord's day and at Jeru
salem, and probably in the same upper room, the accus
tomed place of meeting. This time Thomas was present.
Jesus stood in the midst and said, "Peace be unto you."
Then he said to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger and
behold my hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust
it into my side ; " and be not faithless, but believing.
The doubting disciple, rebuked and convinced, an
swered, " My Lord and my God." Jesus then said,
' ' Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed ;
blessed are they that have not seen and yet have be
lieved. ' '

THE DOUBT OF THOMAS.

JESUS IN GALILEE.

CHAPTER CIII.
JESUS IX GALILEE.
Matt. xxviiL 16 ; johx -i-ri 1-23. — At the Sea of Galilee.
l^ROM Jerusalem the scene is transferred to Galilee
-*- and on the shores of the sea. In obedience
to the command of Jesus, spoken to them before
his death and repeated by the angel and the women, the
disciples, seeing that the Lord appeared no more to them
in the city, left Jerusalem for the place of appointment
in Galilee. We can trace their probable journey, first
to the Jordan, and when they had reached its valley,
following the river northward till they reach the sea
through which it flows. We are told that the "eleven"
went. Where the other four were when the seven of
them were fishing in the sea we know not, unless, with
other members of the early church, they were hastening
on to the appointed place of meeting, while these re
mained to fish and eat
Simon Peter said, "I go a fishing." The other dis
ciples — Thomas, called Didymus, Nathanael, the sons of
Zebedee and two others — responded, ' ' We also go with
thee." Some have detected here indications of despond
ency and doubt, driving these fishers of men back to
their former occupation. But we rather think that the
fascination of their calling or the necessities of life led
them upon the sea to fish. However, Jesus meets them
here and recalls them, by a second lesson, to the great
work of their lives.
They toiled all night without catching amidiing.

526 THE STORY OF JESUS.
In the dim light of the early dawn they saw some one
on the shore whom they failed to recognize. It was
Jesus who called to them, ' ' Children, have ye any
meat ? " " No, ' ' they answered. He then told them to
cast the net on the " right side" of the ship, and they
would find fish. They did so, and were not able to draw
in the net for the multitude of fishes enclosed. John
said to Peter, "It is the Lord." Peter at once fastened
his fisher's coat about him and, casting himself into the
sea, hastened to prostrate himself at the feet of Jesus.
The other disciples came in the little boat, dragging
the net to shore full of fishes. When they reached the
land they saw a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon and
bread beside it. Jesus told them to bring some fish to
increase the store, and Peter helped to bring in the net,
which contained one hundred and fifty-three fishes, and
yet the net was unbroken. Jesus then invited them to
come and breakfast. ' ' None dared to ask, ' Who art
thou ? ' knowing that it was the Lord. ' ' Jesus gave
them of the bread and fish.
After the meal Jesus addressed Peter, "Simon, son
of Jona, lovest thou me more than these?" Peter
had boasted of his fidelity to Jesus, saying, "Although
all shall be offended, yet will not I." He had denied
his Lord; yet now, appealing to Jesus' divine know
ledge, he could answer, "Yea, Lord, thou knowest
that I love thee." Jesus said to him, "Feed my
lambs." Again Jesus asked, "Simon, son of Jona,
lovest thou me? " And the second time Peter replied,
"Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." Then,
" Tend my sheep," said Jesus. The third time he says
to Peter, " Simon, son of Jona, lovest thou me? " Now
Peter was grieved, because Jesus had asked him three

JESUS IN GALILEE. 527
times this same question. But three times had Peter
denied his Lord, and three times must he confess him.
Peter answers, ' ' Lord, thou knowest all things : thou
knowest that I love thee." Then Jesus said, " Feed my
sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast
young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou
wouldest ; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch
forth thy hands and another shall gird thee, and carry
thee whither thou wouldest not. ' ' John tells us that
Jesus said this, signifying by what manner of death he
should glorify God.
When he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."
John, the beloved disciple who leaned on Jesus' breast
at supper, and asked who should betray him, seeing
Peter following Jesus, followed also. Peter turned and
saw John, and said to Jesus, ' ' Lord, and what shall
this man do? " Jesus replied, " If I will that he tarry
till I come, what is that to thee ? Follow thou me. ' '
This vague answer gave rise to the- error that John
should live till his Lord shall come again. But this
error John himself corrects. "Jesus said not unto him,
he shall not die ; but, if I will that he tarn* till I come,
what is that to thee ? ' ' John did, however, outlive all
the other apostles, and continued his work till the close
of the first century of the Christian era. He ' ' survived
that terrible overthrow of his nation, which was, in a
sense, more truly than an}- other event in human history,
a second coming of the Lord. '-'

528 THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER CIV.
THE MEETING ON THE MOUNTAIN.
Matt, xxviii. 16-20 ; Mark xvi. 15-18 ; Acts i. 3-8 ; i Cor. xv. 6, 7.— A mountain in
Galilee ; Jerusalem, a.d. 30.
-'"T'^HE next meeting of Jesus and his disciples was
-*- that which took place by his appointment in
Galilee. The Lord himself had said that he
would meet the disciples in Galilee, where he would go
before them. Probably at the last meeting on the shore
of the sea Jesus designated the place of meeting in a cer
tain mountain. Whether this mountain was Tabor or the
mount of Beatitudes we are not informed. This meet
ing was not restricted to the eleven, but all who desired
to meet their risen Lord were probably invited. Paul,
writing twenty or twenty-five years afterward, sa57s that
about five hundred brethren availed themselves of the
invitation and met the Lord, of whom he says, the
greater part were living when he wrote, though some of
them had fallen asleep.
Jesus came as he had appointed, and when they saw
him some doubted even then, but the most of them wor
shiped him. We can imagine this mountain scene where
were assembled all the apostles, the women of Galilee
who stood by the cross, and Martha, Mary and Lazarus of
Bethany, the counselors Joseph of Arimathea and Nicode
mus, who so tenderly buried him, and a multitude whose
names are unknown. It was here and now that the
Lord gave the great commission to the assembled church,
as before in Jerusalem he had given it to the apostles.

THE MEETING ON THE MOUNTAIN. 529
First setting forth his claim to universal dominion and
authority, " All power is given to me in heaven and in
earth, ' ' he commands them : ' ' Go ye therefore and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teach
ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have com
manded you, and lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world."
These disciples — all of them, the five hundred as well
as the eleven — were to go with the gospel to all the
nations, to every creature, to make disciples of them and
baptize them. Then they were to teach the new con
verts to obseive and do all that Jesus commanded them.
This is the double duty that the Lord has put upon his
church — to labor to bring souls to him, and then to train
them in every religious duty. One of the first duties of
the new convert is to save souls by speaking or witness
ing for Christ. Not only is this commission given to
the church as a body, but to each individual member,
and upon obedience to this command rests the positive
promise of the presence of the Lord, clothed with all his
almighty power, to the end of time. Geikie says, "As
at the first, so now at the last, the word was the only
weapon by which his kingdom was to be spread. Rest
ing on persuasion and conviction from the beginning, it
was left on the same basis now he was about to ascend to
heaven. ' '
Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians that, after
this mountain meeting, Jesus appeared to James, the
Lord's brother, who was the first bishop of Jerusalem.
23

53°

THE STORY OF JESUS.

CHAPTER CV.
THE ASCENSION.
Mark xvi. 19-20 ; Luke xxiv. 50-53 ; John xx. 30-31, xxi. 24-25 ; Acts i. 9-12.—
Bethany, May, a.d. 30.
THE disciples are again at Jerusalem. During forty
days after the resurrection, Jesus at intervals
showed himself to his apostles. He did not
dwell nor journey with them, because they must get
used to his absence, and understand that he did not come
forth from the grave to found a temporal kingdom.
They needed his occasional presence, however, for there
were some things yet for them to learn. Hence he not
only showed himself alive after his passion, but he spoke
of "the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."
Now the time for his final departure from them is at
hand. He tells them not to depart at once from Jerusa
lem to carry into the world his gospel, but to ! ' wait for
the promise of the Father which," saith he, "ye have
heard of me, for John baptized with water : but ye shall
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence,"
for the day of Pentecost was then near at hand. Ten
more days of united prayer and they would be endued
with power for their work by the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon them. When they were assembled they
asked him, among other things, whether at that time he
would restore the kingdom to Israel ; showing that still
they thought of a temporal kingdom to be established
by force. But he replied for the last time, "It is not
for you to know the times or the seasons which the

THE ASCENSION.

531

Father hath put in his own power." Again he pro
ceeds to tell them their duty and to give them their
"work. They were to take his gospel, the preaching of the cross,
into all the earth and in that sign were to conquer the
nations and extend his kingdom among men. Yours
is not temporal power. But the weapons of your war
fare are spiritual, for ' ' ye shall receive power after that
the Holy Ghost is come upon you : ye shall be witnesses
unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
Leading them, the Lord takes up his journey from the
city across the valley and by the garden of Gethsemane
and over the Mount of Olives as far as Bethany. There,
after he had conversed with the disciples and while he
blessed them, he was parted from them, and as they
looked upon him he was taken up and a cloud received
hirn out of their sight. He was received up into heaven
and sat on the right hand of God. ' Luke, in the Acts of
the Apostles, says, " While they looked steadfastly toward
heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in
white apparel ; who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus who is
taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." ' Then
they returned to Jerusalem, from the mount called Olivet,
which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey."
Luke, at the close of his gospel, says, " They wor
shiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy :
and were continually in the temple, praising and bless
ing God." Mark adds relative to their work afterwards,
after the Spirit was given at Pentecost, that they went
forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with

53-

THE STORY OF JESUS.

them, and confirming the word with signs following.
Amen. John, in the conclusion of his gospel, testifies, "And
many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book. But these
are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye might
have life through his name. And there are also many
other things which Jesus did, the which if they should
be written every one, I suppose that even the world
itself could not contain the books that should be written.
Amen. ' '

THE ASCENSION.

IN DKX

\ AEON, house of, 38.
Abib or Ni3an, 71.
Abraham, ancestor of Christ, 5 ; Christ be
fore, 333.
Accusations against Jesns, 123, 470-492.
Advent of Christ, second, 381, 432-437, 447.
^non, 88, 129.
Alchemist, the, 43.
Andrew, 101.
Angels appear to Zacharias in the tem
ple, 10-15; to many at various times,
13; to Virgin Mary, 19; to Joseph, 27;
to -hspherds, 34; to Jesns in garden,
460.
Anna, the prophetess, 39.
Annas, high priest, 82; Jesns before, 4G6.
Antipas, Herod, 54, 82 ; arrests John, 130 ;
beheads John, 273 ; thinks Jesus is John
risen, 273 ; Jesns warned of arrest by, 369 ;
tries Jesns, 4S7.
Apostles, the, chosen, 212-217 : before
kings, 272 ; second circuit with Christ of
Galilee, 241 ; sent to preach, 267, 268 ; to
stand before kings, 271 ; all forsake Jesus,
465.
Archelans reigns in Herod's place, 54.
Astrology, Eastern and Western, 43-45.
Atonement, Day of, 11.
Angnstine npon likenesses of Christ, 103.
TDAEES, truths revealed unto, 235.
Baptism, by John, 82: of Jesns, 86; of
the Spirit, S4, 9S ; of sufferings, 398.
Barabbas released, 490.
Bartholomew, the apostle, 108.
Bartimeus, 404.
Beatitudes, Mount of, or Horns of Hittin,
160.

Beatitudes, the, 161.
Beelzebub, prince of devils, Jesua accused
of being in league with, 196, 326, 344.
Bethabara, or Bethany, 88, 98.
Bethany, 405, 444.
Bethphage, 409
Bethlehem, Christ born at, 27 ; prophecy re
specting, 47 ; surroundings of, 30.
Bethsaida, Galilee, 107, 232, 336.
Bethsaida, Julias, 277, 299.
Bigotry of the Jews, 173.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, 245,
347.
Blessed, the, 344.
Bread of life, Jesus the, 284.
Butaiha, 299.
pJESAB Augustus, emperor, 27.
Csesar, tribute to, 425.
Caiaphas, 82; prophecy of, 380; priests and
Bcribes conspire against Christ with, 444 ;
Jesus before, 470.
Camel's hair garment, SO.
Cana, of Galilee, home of Nathanael, 108,
110; marriage at, 110-116; second mira
cle of Christ at, 141.
Capernaum, described, 148, 150, 151 ;
doomed, 232, 336.
Cave of Machpelah, at Hebron, 21-22.
Centurion, Bervant of, cured, 221.
Cesarea Philippi, 86, 300, 30fl.
Chief priests, elders and scribes ask Christ
to Bbow his authority, 420; conspire,
444.
Children received of Jesns, 390.
Children, parental control of, 76.
Chorazin, 232, 336.
Christ, opinions of men concerning, 2, 3 '>
533

534

INDEX.

foretold, 4 ; Jewish conception of, 4 .
lineage, 4; the anointed, 5; Messiah,
5 ; David's Son, 5-8 ; the word, 9 ;
the light of the world, 9 ; to be born at
Bethlehem, and of seed of David, 28;
general expectation regarding, 4, 42; John
the forerunner of, 82 ; how known to the
Baptist, 84 ; desire of all nations, lul ;
Jesus confessed as, 300 ; Jesus, the Son of
David, 404; Jesus the, 4, 304, 327, 331;
demons recognize Jesus as the, 157; the
judge, 175; evidences that Jesus was the,
228 ; JeBus confesses himself to be the
Christ, 471 ; a King, 485.
Christian Era, the beginning of, 27, 28.
Christianity, blessings of, 263; spiritual,
not external, 393.
Christianity, test of, 108.
Christians, sons of God, 9; few perished
when Jerusalem fell, 385, 433, 435.
Christs, false, 206, 246, 383, 433, 435.
Church, the, fur the whole world, 271.
Circumcision, 36.
Commandments of God, 291, 392 ; two great,
427.
Common people, and Jewish rulers, 364 ; and
Jesus, 365.
Council, the, Jesus before, the first time,
202 ; discourse of Jesus before the, 204.
CovetouBness condemned, 348 ; of Pharisees,
370.
Cross foretold, the, 126, 414.
Crucifixion, the, Jews demand, of Jesus,
491, 493; of Jesus, 499.
Cyril, of Alexandria, brought images of
Christ into churches, 103.
Church of the Annunciation, 17.
Cleopas, 242, 519.
Comforter promised, 454.
Commission, the great, 523, 529,

TJALMANUTHA, 297.
Dancing, 275.
David, ancestor of Christ,5, 6, 243, 401 ; calls
Christ Lord, 8, 428.
David tending sheep, 34.
Dead Sea, 86.
DeWette, Testimony to Jesua of, 2.
Decapolis, 261.
Dedication, Feast of, 355.

Demons recognize Jesus as Son of God, 155,
157, 212, 263.
Disciples, the first, 100-105 ; called to be
fishers of men, 154 ; salt and light, 161 ;
given power to perform miracles, 269 ;
unbelief of, 282 ; what became of them,
315 ; three favored ones, 306 ; carnal
ideas of Christ held by the, 312, 447 ; con
tend who shall be greatest, 313 ; worldly
ambition of, 397 ; where they preached,
434 ; last words to, 453 ; Jesus appears to,
516, 522.
Disease the result of sin, 202.
Divorce, Christ on, 165 ; Jewish views of,
166 ; law of, 370 ; discourse on, 386 ;
Moses and. 388 ; to watch, 436.
TT/AST, the, still as it was, 57.
Egypt, the refuge of Jesus, 51.
Elijah, 143.
Elisha, 143.
Elizabeth, mother of the Baptist, 11 ; pro
phecy concerning, 14; Mary's viait to, 20.
Emmanuel, Jesus called, 27.
Emmaus, walk to, 519.
Engedi, spring of the wild goats, 79,
Ephraim, 381.
Esdraelon, plain of, 29.
EsBenes, the, 80.
Eternal death, 373, 443.
Eternal life, through Christ, 126, 431 ; the gift
of Christ, 285 ; entered upon at death, 427 ;
reward of the righteous, 443.
Eye of a needle and camel, 393.
XpAITH, necessary to salvation, 126 ; Dr.
E. "W. Adams on, 22.
Fasting, Jesus and, 170 ; Pharisees and, 188.
First-born presented in temple and re
deemed, 36.
Followers of Christ must give up all for
him, 319, 363, 393.
Funerals, in the east, 191, 224.
Future state of the dead, 369, 426.
GADARA and Gersa, 261.
Galilee, 17, 59 ; Jesus appears in, to
disciples, 525.
Galiloe, Sea of, 257, 258, 280.
Genealogies of JesuB, 5-9 ; by Matthew and
Luke harmonized, 67-8.

INDEX.

535

Gennesareth, sea of, 280 ; plain of, 282, 297.
Gentiles to come to Christ, 43; in temple,
71.
Gerizim and Ebal, mountains, 133, 135.
Gethsemane, garden of, 460.
Giving, law of, 107.
God, testifies to Jesus, 89, 92, 308 ; a spirit,
137.
Golden Rule, 174, 219.
Gospel, revealed to babes, 336 ; to be preached
in all the world, 433, 531 ; for Jew and
Gentile, 294.
Gospels, testimony of the four, to Christ, 4.
Greek language, the, Roman Empire and
Jewish synagogue all pervading, 24.
Greek language Bpoken and written, 53.
Greeks want to see Jesus, 414.
JJALLEL, the, 74.
Hebrew language, 53.
Hebron, the residence of Zachariah, 11, 15-
17 ; birth-place of the Baptist, 21.
Herder's opinion of Christ, 2.
Hermon, Mt., place of transfiguration, 307.
Herod the great, usurper, 18 ; troubled by
visit of Magi, 47 ; his cruel character, 49 ;
slays the babes of Bethlehem, 50.
Herodias and Salome, 273.
Herodians and Pharisees unite to accuse Je
sus before Pilate, 424 ; silenced, 426.
High-priest, uffice of, 467.
Holy Spirit, the, inspires Elizabeth and
Mary, 20 ; descends upon JesuB, 88-90
leads Jesus, 91 ; baptism of, 98, 100
work of, 126; blasphemy against, 347
dessemination of the gospel by, 383 ; to
guide disciples, 433 ; promised, 343, 454,
456, 530, 531.
Home life at Nazareth, 60-69.
Honey, wild, in the rocks, 80.
Houses in the east, 182.
Humility to characterize followers of Christ,
399.
TNN, or Khan, 30, 31.
Isaiah, prophecy of, concerning Christi
143, 157, 212 ; quoted, 431.
JACOB'S well, 134, 135.
James, Jesus appears to, 529.
Jairus, 190.

Jars, water, 112.
Jeremiah, the prophet, quoted, 51.
Jericho, ford near, 87, 88, 98, 129 ; city of,
road to and plain of, 400.
Jerusalem, 10 ; conquered by Romans, 47 ;
during Passover, 70, 119, 120 ; lamenta
tion of Jesus over, 360 ; destruction of,
foretold, 382 ; Christ enters, 409 ; Jesus
laments over, and predicts ruin of, 412,
430 ; prediction realized, 413 ; destruction
of, foretold, 432-437.
Jesus, opinions of great men concerning,
2-4 ; the Christ, 4 ; the Saviour, 4 ; gene
alogy of, 4-9 ; Son of God and Son of
Man, 8 ; Light of world, 9; born, 27-35 ;
presented in the temple, 36-41 ; wise men
visit, 42-48 ; taken into Egypt, 49-53 ; re
turn to Nazareth, 54 ; boyhood of, 55-64 ;
in the temple with the doctors, 65-76 ; un
known to John, 84 ; baptism of, 86-90 ;
the temptation of, 91-97 ; testimony of
John concerning, 98-100 ; first disciples of,
100, 101, 106-109 ; personal appearance of,
102-105 ; Son of God and Saviour of world,
107; attends marriage at Cana, 110-115;
purifies the temple, 119-123 ; foretells his
resurrection, 123 ; and Nicodemus, 124-
127 ; Judean ministry of, 128 ; did not bap
tize, 128, 129 ; ministry of, in Galilee, 130 ;
and Samaritan woman, 133-140 ; rejected at
Nazareth, 141-146 ; second of, miracle at
Cana, 141 ; makeB Capernaum his abode,
147-151 ; miracles and teaching of, at Caper
naum, 153-158 ; delivers the Sermon on
the Mount, 159-176 ; heals a leper, 177-
181 ; paralytic healed by, 182-185 ; calla
Matthew and attends his feast, 186-189 ;
Jairus' daughter raised by, 190-192 ; cures
woman with issue of blood, 193-196 ; cures
impotent man, 199-203 ; defence of, when
before the council for violating the Sab
bath, 204-206 ; healing and plucking
grain on the Sabbath, 207-211 ; chooses
the twelve, 212-217 ; sermon of, on plain,
218-220; cures centurion's servant, 221-
223 ; raises widow's son, 224-226 ; mes
sage of, to the Baptist, 227-231 ; upbraids
the unrepentant cities, 232-236; anointed
in the house of Simon, 237-242 ; accused
of being in league with Beelzebub, 243-
249 ; speaks in parable of sower, &c, 250-

536

INDEX.

256 ; stills the storm, 257-260 ; demoniac
of Gadara cured by, 261-266 ; sends the
twelve forth, 267-272 ; feeds the multitude,
277-279 ; walks on the water, 280-283 ; the
bread of life, 284-285 ; denounces form
and tradition, 289-292 ; feeds four thou
sand people, 295-298 ; transfiguration of,
306-309 ; cures demoniac boy, 310-312 ;
instructs his disciples and pays tribute,
313 ; leaves Galilee for Jerusalem, 317, 318 ;
has not where to lay his head, 319 ; at
tends feast of tabernacles, 323-327 ; charg
es against, 326 ; foretells his death, 327 ;
teaches in temple, 328-333 ; forgives
woman taken in sin, 331 ; light of world,
332, 352 ; before Abraham, 333 ; sends forth
the seventy, 334-337 ; first viBit to Beth
any, 341 ; exposes hypocrisy, 344 ; often
repeats himself, 344 ; restores sight to a
blind mau and calls himself the Good
Shepherd, 352-358 ; ministry in Perea,
359-363 ; raises Lazarus. 375-380 ; coining
of, 381-385; little children, and the
young ruler, 390 ; baptism of suffering
of, 398 ; calls Zaccheus and restores to
Bight Bartimeus, 400-405 ; at Bethany,
405 ; Jews agree to put to death, 405 ;
public entry into Jerusalem, 409-415 ;
again purifies the temple, 416 ; last words
of, to Jews, 426 ; foretells destruction of
Jerusalem, 432 ; on the judgment-seat,
443 ; at house of Simon, the leper, 444 ;
eats the last Passover, 444-449 ; anointed
again, 445 ; washes feet of disciples, 447 ;
foretells his betrayal, 448 ; institutes the
Supper, 450-452 ; parting words to and
prayer for his disciples, 453-458 ; in Geth-
Bemane, 460-465 ; tried by Annas, 466-469 ;
before Caiaphas., 470-472 ; denied by Pe
ter, 473-475 ; before the Sanhedrin, 476-
480 ; before Pilate, 481-486 ; sent to Her
od, 487, 488 ; before Pilate again, 489-492 ;
scourged, 493-495 ; on the way to Calvary,
490-498 ; crucified, 499-504 ; buried, 505-
509 ; resurrection of, 513-515 ; appears to
several, 515-518 ; to two disciples, 519 ; to
the eleven, 522-524 ; in Galilee, 525-527 ;
meets the church on a mountain, 528, 529 ;
ascension of, 530.
Jews, the expecting universal empire, 4, 42,
160 ; in Egypt, 53 ; corrupt, 81 ; object to I

pictures and images, 102 ; bigotry of, 173 ;
many believe, 379 ; impenitent as a nation
421 ; kingdom of God to be taken from,
422 ; unbelief of, 431.
Joanna, 242.
John the Baptist, birth and mission of, fore
told, 14; birth and childhood of, 21-21;
beginning of the ministry of, 79-85 ; testi
fied concerning Christ, 84, 98, 100 ; im
prisoned, 128 ; disciples complain of Jesus
to, 129 ; testifies again for Jesus, 129-130 ;
disciples of, come to Jesus about fasting,
188 ; a witness for Christ, 206 ; place of
imprisonment of, 227 ; eulogy of Jesus on,
230 ; beheaded] 273 ; rejected, 298 ; Elijah,
309 ; baptism of, from heaven, 420.
John, the Evangelist, 101, 473, 514, 527.
Jordan, the river, John baptizing at, 82 ;
valley of, 86; places at, where John
was baptizing, 87, 98 ; Jesus baptizes at,
129.
Joseph of Arimathea, 477, 508.
Joseph, husband of Mary, angel appears to,
27 ; death of, 64.
Joseph and Mary, ancestry of, 5-9 ; poverty
of, 18 ; espousal and marriage, 19, 27 ; go
to Bethlehem, 27-35 ; journey to Bethle
hem described by Geikie, 29; take the
babe to Jerusalem, 36; return to Nazareth,
41 ; flight unto Egypt, 49 ; return, 54 ; go
to Nazareth, 54 ; attend Passover, 70.
Josephus, genealogy of, 6 ; speaks of gener
al expectation concerning the coming of
Christ, 4, 50 ; speaks of Jewish genealogy,
6 ; reliability, 50.
Judas Iscariot, 445, 463, 478.
Judasus Maccabeus, 355.
Judea, wilderness of, where John dwelt, 79 ;
scene of the temptation, 91.
Judge, Jesus the, 204, 205, 332, 412, 443.
Judgment day, the description of, 441.
Judgments of God, 276, 385, 491.
Justin Martyr, 32.
TZ"ING, Jesus a, 485, 490, 501.
Kingdom of Heaven or of God, or of
Christ, spiritual, 42 ; repentance in view
of its approach, preached by John, 82 ; its
spiritual nature, 82 ; must be born again to
enter it, 126 ; at hand, 130 ; to be estab
lished by instruction, 159; its spiritual

INDEX.

537

nature, 160-163 ; to be sought first, 172 ;
those who shall enter, 174 ; temporal,
looked for, 267 ; its coming, 305 ; likened
to a child, 313 ; to be sought first of all,
349 ; when it should come, 382 ; to be re
ceived as a child, 390 ; who greater, 397 ;
to be taken from the Jews, 422 ; speedy
coming, 447 ; not of this world, 485.

Lamp, Christian, a, 253.
Law, the, Christ came to fulfill, 162 ; greater
and lessor commands of, 163 ; to be kept
inwardly as well as outwardly, 164 ; love
the fulfilling of, 338, 427.
Lawyers denounced by Christ, 346.
Lazarus of Bethany, 341 ; raised from dead,
375 ; JewB conspire to put him to death,
405.
Lebanon, 86.
Lentulus' letter describing Christ, 104.
Leprosy, the disease of, 177-180.
Levi, tribe of, the priests, 38.
Locusts for food, 80.
Love of enemies, 167.
Luther's dream story of the child-life of
Christ, 63.
Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene, 82.
"jV/TACHiERUS, prison of the Baptist, 227,
273.
Magdala, 297.
Magi, the, 42-48.
Marriage, feast, 110 ; right and good, 389 ;
our future state, 426 ; ceremony in the
cast, 439.
Martha and Mary, 341 ; at grave of Lazarus,
378 ; at supper, 444.
Mary Magdalene, 241, 514; the Lord ap
pears to, 515.
Mary, the "Virgin— her ancestry, 6-8 ; es
poused to Joseph, 19 ; annunciation of the
birth of Christ to, 17-20 ; visit of to Eliza
beth and song of, 20 ; representations of,
60 ; trains Jesus, 65.
Matthew called, 186.
Meals in the east, 345.
Merom, 86.
Messiah, the, 3 ; of the lineage of Abraham
and David, 4 ; spiritual conception of the,

4 ; meaning of word, 5 ; Jesus, the, 4-9,
28 ; Elijah to come before, 99 ; carnal
views of the, 160 ; confessed by the Sa
maritan woman, 157 ; people believe that
Jesus is the, 228, 279 ; John forerunner of,
82 ; Jesus recognized by Anna and Simeon,
391 ; days of, glorious, 337 ; Jesus' works
prove him to be the, 356 ; doom of Jews
for rejecting, 404 ; Jesus the, 304, 327, 331,
428, 471, 485.
Micah, the prophet, quoted, 480.
Ministry to be supported, 269, 335.
Miracles, the first, ot Christ at Cana, 110 ;
many, by Christ at Jerusalem, 123 ; the
proof of Christ's claims, 125 ; second, at
Cana, 141 ; of the draught of fishes, 153 ;
demon cast out, 155 ; Peter's mother-in law
cured, 156 ; many performed, 157 ; place
of, in establishing the church, 159 ; leper
healed, 177 ; paralytic healed, 182 ; raising
of Jairus1 daughter, 190 ; woman with
issue of blood, 193 ; two blind men cured,
196 ; impotent man, 199 ; servant of cen
turion cured, 221 ; raising of the widow's
son, 224 ; tempest stilled, 257 ; the cure of
the demoniac at Gadara, 261 ; not to con
vince skeptics, 267 ; the feeding of the
five thousand, 279 ; many healed, 280 ;
walking on the water, 280 ; stilling the
storm, 280 ; cure of daughter of woman of
Canaan, 293 ; four thousand fed, 295 ;
discussed by Jews, 327 ; cure deaf and
dumb demoniac, 344 ; blind man restored
to sight, 352 ; infirm woman cured 359 ;
man with dropsy cured, 361 ; cure of ten
lepers, 381; Bartimeus' sight restored,
404 ; the fig-tree withered, 416, 419 ; Dr.
Bushnell on, 226 ; Farrar on, 259, 282, 532.
Mite, the widow's, 431.
Moses in desert, 81 ; burning bush, 427.

TSJAAMAN, the Syrian, 143.
Nablous, 133-135.
Nain, 224.
Napoleon, testimony of Jesus, 3.
Nathanael confesses Christ, 108, 109, 525.
Nativity, the cave of, 32-35.
Nazarene, Jesus called a, 245.
Nazareth, location and beauty of, 17 ; home
of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, 17, 54 ;

23"

538

INDEX.

described by Geikie, 57 ; by Farrar, 58 ;
traffic and bad name of, 60 ; influence of,
in training of Jesus, 57, 60 ; home-life at,
61 ; Jesus rejected at, 141 ; Jesus again
visits, 267 ; ** Jobus of," 464.
Nazarite, the Baptist a, 80.
New birth, necessity of, 126.
Nicephorus' description of Jesus, 103.
Nicodemus, comes to Christ by night, 124,
477, 508.
Nineveh, 345, in the day of judgment, 248.
/~)ATHS, views of Jesus and Jews regard
ing, 166 ; Scribes and Pharisees and
false, 429.
Obedience, necessity of, to God, 174.
Olives, Mount of, 410.
PALESTINE, situation of, 1 ; divisions of,
17 ; a conquered province of Roman
Empire, 14, 27 ; now occupied by Moslems,
21 ; prosperous, 81.
Parable of the wise and foolish builders,
175 ; defined, 250 ; of sower, tares, lamp,
mustard seed, leaven, seed in ground,
250-256 ; of the unmerciful servant, 216 ;
of good Samaritan, 338 ; on prayer, 342 ;
of barren fig-tree, 351 ; of the sheepfold,
354 ; of mustard seed and leaven, 359 ; of
the great supper, 362 ; of lost sheep, lost
coin, lost son, 364 ; rich man and Laza
rus, 369 ; of the unjust steward, 369 ; on
prayer, 386 ; of the laborers in the vine
yard, 394 ; of the ten pounds, 402 ; of the
two sons and the wicked husbandmen, 419;
of the marriage of the king's son, 423 ;
fig-tree and householder, 436 ; ten virgins
and ten talents, 438 ; of the vines, 455.
Passover, the, 11 ; manner of observing,
71-75 ; first, in public life of Jesus, 119 ;
second, in ministry of Jesus, 199 ; third,
in the public life of the Lord, 289 ; week
of last, 408 ; last Passover, &c, 446.
Pella, Christians flee to, 435.
Perea, ministry of Jesus in, 359, 388.
Persecution foretold, 270 ; endured, 272.
Personal appearance of Jesus, 102-105.
Peter brought to Christ, 106 ; walks on the
water, 281 ; his confession of Christ, 285,
300 ; meaning of name, 302 ; fall of, fore
told, 450 ; tempts Christ, 304 ; in the gar

den, 464 ; denies the Lord, 473 ; repents,
479, 514 ; Jesus sends him a message, 518 ;
the Lord appears to, 518 ; goes fishing, 519.
Peter, John and James especially honored
by Christ, 192, 306, 460.
Pharisee, Jesus dines with a, 345, 361.
Pharisees and Sadducees refused baptism,
82, 231 ; corrupt leaders, 84 ; oppose
Christ, 279 ; unite, 297.
Pharisees, some believe in Jesus, 124 ; ob
ject to Jesus consorting with sinners, 187 ;
accuse Jesus of desecrating the Sabbath,
207 ; and outward cleanness, 346 ; en
raged against Christ, 347 ; tempt JeBus,
387 ; and the law, 427 ; take little part in
the death of Christ, 468.
Philip, the Apostle, 107,454.
Philip, tetrarch of Iturea, 82 ; tetrarchy of,
300.
Physicians and medical practice in the East,
193.
Pilate, 81; the Galileans and, 350; Jesus be
fore, 481, 489.
Pompey captures Jerusalem, 47.
Pool of Bethesda, 199.
Pool, St. Stephen's, 200.
Pool of Siloam, 328 ; blind man washes in,
352.
Poor, Christ's mission to the, 161 ; oppressed
by the Je'vish teachers and rulers, 364.
Poverty of Joseph and Mary, 18, 31, 32.
Prayer, Jesus prays in private, 157 ; Jesus
teaching regarding, 109, 171, 173, 343;
Lord's, 170, 343 ; for more laborers, 268 ;
short, 282 ; Jesus at, 307 ; parables on,
343, 386 ; Lord's prayer for his disciples,
457.
Priests, Jewish, 11.
Providence of God, 347-351.
Publican and Pharisee at prayer, 386.
Publicans and sinners, 186 ; Christ dines
with, 187 ; draw near to hear Jesus, 365.
Purification, laws and customs regarding,
36.
"DABBI, Jesus called, 100.
Rabbis, disciples of, 102.
Rachel weeping for her children, 51.
Ramah, 51.
Relatives of Jesus seek him, 248 ; named,
267.

INDEX.

539

Religion, true, spiritual, 291.
Repentance preached, 82; duty of, 350.
Restitution, law of, 402.
Resurrection of body, Jews believed in, 378,
426.
Resurrection, the of Christ, foretold by him
self, 123, 204, 205; prefigured by Jonah,
246, 298 ; a fact, 513 ; report of soldiers
concerning, 517 ; regarded as beyond doubt
by Ewald, 517.
Resurrection and life, Jesus the, 205.
Revenge forbidden, 167.
Revenges of history, 491.
Reward, of those who leave all for Christ,
394, 398.
Rich, the, hard for, to be saved, 393.
Richter, Jean Paul, his opinion of Christ, 2.
Roman Empire, its universality aids in ex
tending the gospel, 24; its extent, 81.
Rousseau's opiuion of Jesus, 2.
OABBATH, the Jews evaded observance of,
209 ; Jesus accused of violating the,
202 ; its proper observance, 202, 207, 210 ;
Jewish strictness regarding, 208 ; suffered
to be kept in heaven and hell, 209 ; David
and the, 209 ; Sabbath day's journey, 203 ;
Jesus, Lord of, 210 ; for man, 210 ; JeBus
defines laws of, 326; Jesus restores blind
on the, 352 ; Jesus hea'ed infirm woman
on, 359 ; ruler of synagogue indignant
thereat, 359.
Sadducees, doctrine of, 192; tempt Jesus,
426 ; are foremost in trial and death of
Jesus, 468.
Salome, 242; brings her sons to Jesus, 397.
Salutations in the east, 335.
Samaria, 17 ; described by Geikie, 134 ; Christ
in, 136.
Samaritan, the Good, 338.
Samaritans reject Christ, 317.
Samaritans and Jews, hatred between, 133.
Sanhedrin, 47 ; Jesus before, 203, 471, 476.
Satan, tempts Christ, 91 ; fall of, 336.
Saviour, Jesus the, 34, 90, 126, 318, 501.
Scribes and Pharisees, corrupt teachers, 81 ;
outwardly righteous, 163 ;. teaching of,
175 ; denounced for formalism and tradi
tions, 289-292 ; complain that Jesus re
ceives sinners, 365 ; in Moses' seat, 429 ;
hypocrites, 429.

Scriptures, testify of Christ, 47, 206 ; lan
guage, in which written, 53.
Septuagint, 53.
Sepphoris, 60.
Sermon on the Mount, 159, 176.
Sermon on the plain, 218-220.
Seventy sent forth, 334.
Sheba, Queen of, and Solomon, 248, 345.
Sheep, Jesus promises to keep his, 357.
Sidon and Tyre, 233, 293.
Siloam, tower of, 350.
Simeon, the aged, 39.
Simon of Cyrene, 497.
Simon, the Pharisee, feast of, 237.
Sin cause of Buffering, 350.
Sodom and Gomorrah, 235, 270.
Solomon, 233.
Solomon's porch, 94, 355.
Son of God, the, Jesus, 8, 89, 92, 205, 308,
385, 532 ; Jesus claims to be, 353, 357, 471,
478 ; confessed by Martha to be, 378 ; com
ing of, sudden, 384.
Son of man, the, Jesus, 185.
Sorcery among the Jews, 244.
Star, the, in the east, 45, 46.
Sufferings of Christ accounted for, 462, 463,
Supper, Lord's, instituted, 450 ; Paul
speaks of, 451 ; meaning of, 452.
Susanna, 242.
Swine, destruction of the herd of, 264.
Synagogue, the, influence of upon Bpread of
Christianity, 24; service of, 65-69; influ
ence of, in training of Christ, 69,142 ; wor
ship of the, 145 ; JeBus preaches in, 137.
Synoptical gospels, 130.
Syria, fame of Jesus goes through, 157.
rpABERNACLES, the, divisions of, 10.
Tabernacles, Feast of, 317, 323, 328.
Table, reclining at, 237.
Tabor, Mt. not mt. of transfiguration, 306.
Talmuds, 290.
Tares, 253.
Teacher, Jesus a, 125, 159.
Teaching of Jesus, character of, 159, 175.
Temple at Jerusalem, angel in the, 10 :
Solomon's, 10 ; Herod's, 10 ; service and
furniture of, 11-13 ; scene in, 15 ; influence
of the service of, 70 ; purified by Christ,
119 ; service in, 328 ; traders driven'from,
again, 416 ; destruction foretold, 432.

54o

INDEX.

Thief, the peniteut, 502.
Thomas, 454 ; the apostle, doubt of, 523.
Tiberias, city of, described, 149.
Tiberius, Emperor, 181,
Titus takes Jerusalem, 435.
Tradition, 55, 290.
Traveling in the east, 28.
Treasure in heavon, 171.
Tree known by its fruits, 174.
Truth, church extended by dissemination of
the, 159, 383.
Tyre and Sidon, 233; Jesus near, 293.

TJNBELIEF at Nazareth, 143,
Jews, 297, 431.
Unity of believers, 458.
Unleavened bread, feast of, 72.

VTAIL, the, of the temple, 10,
5U5.

WASHING of hands, 289.
Wine, iise of, among the Jews, 114,
115.
Woes, 219.
Woman, her position under the gospel, 389.
Women, the, who attended Jesus, 241 ; at
the cross, 502; at sepulchre, 513; Christ
appears to, 516 ; sent to bear the news of
the resurrection to disciples, 515, 520.
Word of God, gives life, 92.
World, preparation of, for the gospel, 24.
VOUNG, the, and Jesus, 390.
VACCHEUS, the publican, 400.
Zachariah, father of the Baptist, 11 ;
angel appears to, 13-15 ; prophecy of, at
birth of John, 23.
Zealots, the, 160.
Zebedee's children, ambition of, 397.
Zebulon and Nephthalim, 147.
Zechariah, the prophet, speaks of ChriBt as
king, 411,

TABLES SHOWING WHERE TO FIND ANY
PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE NECES
SARY TO THE HARMONY
OF THE GOSPELS.

THE CHAPTERS ARE ARRANGED IN THE ORDER OF TIME IN WHICH
THE EVENTS OCCURRED, AND THE RELATED SCRIPTURE IS FOUND
AT THE HEAD OF EACH CHAPTER.

MATTHEW.

MATTHEW.

MATTHEW.

MAKK.

MARK.

a.

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CD
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ft

1

1-17

5

15-21

212

15-26

489

45-56

280

12-13

519

1

18-26

27

12

22-60

243

27

26-30

493

7

1-23

289

16

14

622

1

25

36

13

1-53

250

27

31-34

496

7

24-30

293

16

15-18

528

2

1-12

42

13

54-58

267

27

35-56

499

7

31-37

295

16

19,20

530

2

13-23 1-12
13-17

49 7986

1414

1-12
13-21

273277280

2728

57-66 1-8

509513

8
8

1-26
27-38 1

295
300300

3
3
14
22-36
28
9-15
515
9
LUKE.
4
1-11 12
91
128
15
15
1-20
21-28
289 293
2828
16
16-20
525528
99
2-13
14-32
306
310
4
4
13,1713-16
141147
1516
29
1-12
295295
9
10
33-50 1-12
13-31
313386390
1
11
1-45-25
26-56
1
4
10 17
4
18-22
153
16
13-28
300
MARK
10
4
23-25 1-20
159159
17
17
1-13
14-23
306310
1010
32-4846-59
397
400
12
67-80 1-20
21
5
1
1-8
79
27
5
21-48
165
17
24-27
313
1
9-11
86
11
1-11
409
2
21-39
36
6
1-34
169
18
1-35
313
1
12, 13
91
11
12-19
416
2
40,52
55
7
1-29
173
19
1-12
386
1
14
128
11
20-33
419
2
41-52
65
8
1-4
177
19
13-30
390
1
14,15
141
12
1-12
419
3
1-18
79
8
6-13
221
20
1-16
390
1
16-34
153
12
13-17
423
3
19,20
128
8
14-17
153
20
17-28
397
1
35-39
159
12
18^0
426
3
21-23
86
8
19-22
317
20
29-34
400
1
40-45
177
12
41-44
426
3
23-38
5
8
18, 28-27
257
21
1-11, 17
409
2
1-12
182
13
1-37
432
4
1-13
91
8
28-34
261
21
12-19
416
2
13-22
186
14
1-21
444
4
14
128
9
1
261
21
20-46
419
2
23-28
207
14
22-25
450
4
14-30
141
9
2-8
182
22
1-22
423
3
1-6
207
14
26-52
460
4
31
147
9
9-17
186
22
23-46
426
3
7-19
212
14
53,55-65
470
4
31-41
153
9
18,19
19(1
23
1-39
426
3
19-S5
243
14
54, 66-72
473
4
42-44
159
9
20-24
193
24
1-51
432
4
1-34
250
15
1
476
6
1-11
153
9
25,26
190
25
1-46
438
4
36-tl
257
15
1-5
481
5
12-16
177
9
27-34
193
26
1-25
444
5
1-21
261
15
6-16
489
5
17-26
182
9
35-38
267
26
26-29
450
5
22-24
190
15
15-19
493
5
27-39
1S6
10
1-42
267
26
30-56
460
5
25-34
193
15
20-23
496
6
1-11
207
11
1
267
26
57, 59-68
470
5
35-43
190
15
24-41
499
6
12-16
212
11
2-19
227
26
58, 69-75
473
6
1-13
267
15
42-47
509
6
17-49
218
11
20-30
232
27
1-10
476
6
14-29
273
16
1-9
513
7
1-10
221-
12
1-14
207
27
2, 11-14
481
6
30-44
277
16
9-11
515
7
11-17
224
54i
542

THE HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS.

LUKE.

LUKE.

LUKE.

JOHN.

JOHN.

ft

s

CO

ft

a

6

§

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d

&

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ft
o
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ft
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ft
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ft
7
18-35
227
17
1-10
369
23
25
493
6
1-14
277
18
28-38
481 .
7
36-50
237
17
11-37
381
23
26-33
496
6
15-21
280
18
39,40
489
8
1-3
337
18
1-14
386
23
33-49
499
6
22-71
284
19
1-16
493
8
4-18
250
IS
16-30
390
23
50-56
506
7
1
289
19
16,17
496
8
19-21
?43
IK
31-34
397
24
1-8,12
613
7
3
328
19
18-30
499
8
22-25
W7
18
35
400
24
9-11
516
7
2-10
317
19
31-42
505
8
26-40
261
19
1-28
400
24
13-35
519
7
11-36
320
20
1-10
513
8
41,42
190
19
29-44
409
24
86^19
522
S
1-59
358
20
11-18
515
R
43-48
193
10
45-48
416
24
50-53
530
a
1-41
352
20
19-29
522
8
49-56 1-6
7-9
193267273
21)
2020
1-19
20-2637-38
419
423 416
10
1-42 1-6
7-54
352359375
2(12121
30,31 1-23
24,25
S30
99
525
530
JOHN
n
• 9
10-17
277
2(1
27-47
426
li
55-57
400
9
18-2728-36
37-45
300
306 310
212122
1-45-361-18
426432444
12
12
12
1-112-8
12-36
400444
409
¦'
1
1-14
5
9
9
45-50
313
22
19-20
450
1
15-34
9R
12
37-50
432
1
3-8
528
9
51-62
317
22
21-23
444
1
35^2
im
13
1-30
444
1
9-12
530
10m
1-24
334
2222
22
24-30
31-38 39
444450460
122
43-51 1-11
12-25
106110119
13 14
15
31-38 1-311-27
450 453
453
1
18,19
476
1-13
338
n
|
1 COR.
n
14
1-59
344 344
2222
40-53
54, 63-65
460
470
33
1-21
22-36
124
128
16
17
1-331-26
453
453
12
11
15151515
23-261 450
5 415
5l 519
6; 522
6,7| 528
13
1-9
344
22
54-62
473
4
1-4
128
IS
1-11
460
13
10-35
359
22
66-71
476
4
5-42
133
18
12-23
466
14
1-35
359
23
1-5
481
4
43-54
141
IS
24
470
15
1-32
364
23
6-12
487
6
1-25
199
IS
15-18
473
16
1-31
369
23
13-25
489
5
26-47
204
18
25-27
473