Part VI. From the Feast of Tabernacles to the Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem

Chapter I. The Feast of Tabernacles—Hostility of the Sanhedrin. A.D. 29.

MEANWHILE the excitement at Jerusalem respecting the Saviour was very great. The Festivals of Passover and Pentecost had alike passed away, and He had not assumed publicly the title or functions of the Messiah. The question whether He would present Himself at the Feast of Tabernacles was eagerly discussed (Jn. vii. 11), and many were the opinions advanced concerning Him; some affirming Him to be a good man; others, a deceiver of the people; while fear of the ruling powers in the city prevented any open declaration in His favour (Jn. vii. 12).

When, however, the Feast had reached its midst, He suddenly appeared in the Temple, and began to teach openly in its crowded courts. Such a step at a time when the Sanhedrin had pronounced Him guilty of a capital offence, when they were even seeking to kill Him (Jn. vii. 25), excited the greatest astonishment. That One, who had been brought up at the feet of none of the recognised and celebrated teachers (Jn. vii. 15), should venture thus openly to instruct the people, should claim for His doctrines a mysterious and exalted origin (Jn. vii. 16, 17), should justify His violation of the Sabbath by His works of mercy (Jn. vii. 21),—this, added to the hesitation and inactivity of the ruling powers, caused much perplexity. While, therefore, some could not recognise His claims to be regarded as the Messiah with His well-known Galilæan origin, and the uncertainty which was popularly ascribed to the quarter whence the Messiah was to come (Jn. vii. 27), many could not resist the impression His wondrous works made upon their minds, and refused to believe that the long-expected Deliverer would perform any greater miracles than those they now witnessed (Jn. vii. 31).

These murmurs of the multitude at length reached the ears of the Sanhedrin, and they resolved to take steps for securing His person (Jn. vii. 32). For this purpose they sent their officers to seize Him on the first favourable opportunity. But their hostility, though now clearly avowed, did not stay the Lord from continuing His teaching; He knew He was to be but a little while longer with the multitude, who listened to Him gladly, before He returned to Him that had sent Him, and now for the first time publicly, though darkly, hinted at His speedy removal (Jn. vii. 33–36), and on the last, the great day of the Feast (Jn. vii. 37), taking up His parable from the water brought in a golden vessel from the Pool of Siloam and poured before the Brazen Altar, preached with peculiar appropriateness on the living waters of the Spirit, which should flow forth when He was glorified (Jn. vii. 39).

This boldness, added to the solemnity of His words, exerted a still greater influence on the multitudes. Some declared He must be the Prophet (Jn. vii. 40); others that He was the Messiah (Jn. vii. 41); others would have thought so too had He not risen out of Galilee instead of Bethlehem of Judæa, as Prophecy had indicated (Jn. vii. 42; Mic. v. 2), while a fourth, but clearly a smaller party, wished to apprehend Him, but dared not from fear of the people.

Accordingly the Sanhedrin met a second time, and the officers they had deputed to effect His apprehension appeared before them (Jn. vii. 45), and in reply to the enquiry why they had not brought Him, declared it was impossible—never man spake like Him—and they felt powerless to carry out their instructions. Such an avowal was received with undisguised contempt (Jn. vii. 47, 48), but the Sanhedrin found that the influence of the mysterious Teacher had penetrated within their own council. While they were, apparently, proceeding to discuss some plan for His condemnation, Nicodemus interposed with the enquiry whether the Law did not demand an open examination of a man’s claims before they pronounced judgment? This candid and generous suggestion drew down upon the speaker the uttermost derision. He was asked whether he too was from Galilee, and bidden to search and see whether any prophet had risen out of that despised and half-heathen region? (Jn. vii. 52).

On the following day the Pharisees, finding open hostility ineffectual, made a crafty and insidious effort to undermine the growing popularity of the Saviour. When He returned from the Mount of Olives (Jn. viii. 1), and reappeared in the Temple surrounded by the multitude, they brought to Him a woman who had been taken in the act of adultery, and placing her in the midst requested His decision respecting her. The Law of Moses certainly denounced death as the penalty of her crime (Lev. xx. 10), but, owing to the corrupt morals of the times, such a sin seldom incurred any other penalty than divorce. If, then, He decided for the punishment of death, He would, they expected, lose ground with the people by rigidly adhering to an enactment which they themselves were wont to mitigate; if, on the other hand, He pronounced her acquittal, they could denounce Him as One who set at nought the Law of Moses, and lowered its time-honoured authority (Jn. viii. 6).

While, however, they were eagerly claiming His decision, the Holy One, as if indifferent to their request, continued seated (Jn. viii. 2), and stooping down appeared to be tracing characters with His fingers in the dust. At length He looked up (Jn. viii. 7), and said, He that is without sin amongst you, let him first cast a stone at her, and then again bending downwards resumed the writing on the floor. Such was the solemnity of His words, and such the authority with which they appealed to the consciences of all present, that they dared not persist in advancing their charge, and stole out one by one. When, therefore, He looked up again, He found Himself alone with the woman, and enquired whether none was present to convict her. To this she replied, No man, Lord, and He, declining to assume the functions of the judge, or to pronounce her condemnation, bade her go and sin no more (Jn. viii. 11).

Chapter II. The Opening of the Eyes of One Born Blind. A.D. 29.

AFTER this signal discomfiture of His enemies, the Redeemer would seem to have been permitted to resume His discourses to the people in one of the temple corridors, known as the Treasury, where stood the numerous treasure-chests to receive the contributions of the worshippers (Jn. viii. 20). Resuming, then, His teaching on the first Sabbath, probably, after the late festival, He reiterated with increasing boldness and authority His claims to be the Messiah, and drew attention to the testimonies whereby they had been confirmed (Jn. viii. 12, 20). Again, too, He hinted at His approaching removal, and declared with unruffled composure that, when He should have been lifted up upon the Cross, then men would truly know who He was, and recognise the authority with which He spake (Jn. viii. 28, 29).

The effect of these solemn declarations was again apparent, and many believed on Him (Jn. viii. 30). But His advice to those, who thus professed their belief in Him, to abide in His word, and His assurance that thus they would know the truth, and the truth would make them free (Jn. viii. 32, 33), excited much discussion amongst the Jews. How could they, the descendants of Abraham, who had never been slaves to any one, be made free? Though, as the Roman garrison in the tower of Antonia all too plainly attested, they were nationally in a condition of vassalage to a foreign power, they protested against the idea of their being in a state of bondage, and urged their descent from the great patriarch Abraham. The children of Abraham, the Holy One replied, they were not, for they were seeking to kill Him, Whose day Abraham had desired to see, and had rejoiced to behold. This assertion roused the utmost fury of their wrath; they heaped upon Him the most bitter taunts, declared Him a Samaritan, and possessed with a demon, and taking up some of the stones lying about ready for some repair of the temple, were on the point of inflicting upon Him the punishment of a blasphemer, when He passed through the midst of them, and withdrew beyond the present reach of their malice (Jn. viii. 33–59).

The Sabbath, however, was not to close without another manifestation of His divine and merciful power even in the midst of those who sought His life. As He passed by, accompanied by His disciples, he encountered a man, who, it was well known, had been blind from his birth (Jn. ix. 1). His sad affliction suggested to the Apostles the enquiry whether it was to be ascribed to sins of his own or to those of His parents; to which the Lord replied that it was due to neither of the causes they suggested; that his privations were intended to subserve higher objects of God’s love; and making clay with the moisture from His mouth, He anointed the sufferer’s eyes, and sent him to the Pool of Siloam, with the injunction to wash therein. The man went, and returned perfectly restored to sight (Jn. ix. 7).

Such a recovery of such a man, in such a manner, excited no small stir amongst his kinsfolk and acquaintance, and some actually doubted whether he could be the same as the man they had so long remembered sitting in pitiable plight at the corner of the street and begging alms of every passer by. He, however, persisted that he was really the same, and related in simple and artless language the particulars of his cure.

A miracle like this could not fail to arouse much attention, and the Sanhedrin determined, if possible, to invalidate its effect on the public mind, and summoning the man before them, began to investigate the circumstances of the cure. Their questions he answered with the same simplicity as those of his kinsfolk—whereas he was blind, now through the power of One, who had put clay upon his eyes, he saw. But it was a Sabbath-day when the cure had been effected, and some of the council wished to decide at once that one, who had flagrantly violated the law, could not be acting under the sanction of God (Jn. ix. 16). Others, however, were too much impressed by the evidence of the miracle, to acquiesce in such an off-hand decision, and there was a division in the council (Jn. ix. 16).

The man himself, therefore, was again examined, but he could add nothing to the information he had already given, and expressed his conviction that his Healer must be a Prophet (Jn. ix. 17). Hoping next in some way to throw discredit on the reality of his malady and its cure, they sent for his parents, who allowed that he was their son, and that he had been born blind, but, fearful of the terrible sentence of excommunication, with which the Council had threatened all the followers of Jesus, referred the judges to their son for any further information they might require.

Turning therefore, once more, to the healed man, they bade him give praise for the blessing he had received to God alone (Jn. ix. 24), and take no thought about Jesus of Nazareth, whom they authoritatively pronounced to be a sinner. But their dicta had no effect upon his resolute and honest temper; whether his Healer was a sinner or not he would not discuss before such an assembly; of the reality of his cure he was certain, and that was enough for him; it was useless to question him further, unless, perchance, they desired to become the disciples of Jesus.

This opened a door for the more violent party in the council. They began to revile the man, and to declare their conviction that he was a secret adherent of Jesus, while they were the followers of Moses. God had spoken to that great Lawgiver, but of the origin of Jesus they avowed themselves utterly ignorant. With increasing boldness the man commented on the extraordinary fact that One, of whose origin such a learned body was in such complete ignorance, could perform so great a miracle, utterly unheard of before, and inexplicable save on the supposition of Divine power (Jn. ix. 33). This outspoken language excited the utmost indignation, and after taunting the poor man with his blindness in which he had been born, and which marked him out as accursed of God, the Council proceeded to pass upon him the terrible sentence of excommunication (Jn. ix. 34).

Informed of the step they had taken, the Lord sought out the late recipient of His bounty, and enquired whether he believed on the Son of God? To this question the other replied, Who is He, Lord, that I may believe on Him? (Jn. ix. 35, 36); I that speak unto thee, rejoined the Holy One, am He, and accepted his act of instant adoration and avowal of belief (Jn. ix. 37).

But the present visit to Jerusalem was to be marked by yet another protest against the assumptions and errors of the ruling party in the city. The Holy One affirmed that they were guilty of misleading the people; that, whereas they pretended to see, they saw not; that they were hireling shepherds, caring not for the lives and souls of the people; that He, and He alone, was the true, the genuine Shepherd, the purport of whose coming into the world was to lay down His life for the sheep (Jn. x. 1–17). With this sublime discourse respecting the Good Shepherd, the occurrences of this visit to Jerusalem appear to have come to a close. On no occasion does such an effect appear to have been made on the minds of the people. We are told indeed of few works of mercy and redeeming power; but the gracious words that fell from His lips appear to have sufficed to produce a great influence on many and divers classes. “The mixed multitude, the dwellers at Jerusalem (Jn. vii. 25), the officials of the Temple (Jn. vii. 46), and to some extent even the hostile Jewish party (Jn. viii. 30), bore witness to the more than mortal power of the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.”

Chapter III. Mission of the Seventy—Discourses and Miracles. A.D. 29.

FROM this point the exact movements of our blessed Lord are enwrapped in some obscurity, and the region whither he now retired is a matter of conjecture. It seems probable, however, that He did not leave Judæa, but continued His ministrations within its frontier, and about this period sent forth the Seventy Disciples (Lk. x. 1–6), two and two before His face, to preach the word, and to visit various towns whither He Himself also intended to come (Lk. x. 1). After receiving specific instructions respecting their mission, the Seventy set out probably in the direction of Peræa, and after some short time returned to recount with much joy (Lk. x. 17) the success of their ministrations, and their discovery that even the evil spirits were subject to their Master’s Name.

One of the places visited by the Saviour during the present sojourn in Judæa, was the village of Bethany (Lk. x. 38), situated about 15 stadia from Jerusalem (Jn. xi. 18). Here the abode of two sisters, Martha and Mary, and their brother Lazarus, was gladly thrown open to welcome Him, and each member of the little family enjoyed a share of His peculiar affection (Jn. xi. 5), and from time to time the sunshine of His presence.

Scanty as are the indications of the places the Holy One now visited, it seems clear that the effect of His ministry was not inconsiderable: multitudes gathered about Him to hear the Word of Life (Lk. xi. 16), and behold His works of power. But the enmity of the Pharisees and the ruling body of the nation increased rather than lessened in intensity (Lk. xi. 53, 54). They still persisted in ascribing His power over unclean spirits to a secret collusion with the Evil One (Lk. xi. 14, 15; Mtt. ix. 32–34); reiterated their demand for a sign from heaven (Lk. xi. 29–36); carped at His refusal to conform to their superstitious observances in respect to divers washings (Lk. xi. 37–42); and stung to the quick by His denunciations of their hypocritical and bloodthirsty spirit, bent all their efforts to entangle Him in His talk, and find some matter for accusation against Him (Lk. xi. 54).

Undeterred, however, by their ceaseless hostility, He persevered in His ministrations, warned His disciples in the presence of the multitudes, who crowded around Him in such numbers as to tread upon one another (Lk. xii. 1), against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Lk. xii. 1–4); reiterated His solemn words respecting blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Lk. xii. 10); and, refusing to accede to a request to divide an inheritance amongst two brothers, took occasion to warn His hearers against covetousness, and delivered the striking parable of the Rich Fool (Lk. xii. 13–21). Not merely, however, would He warn them against this common sin, but “knowing how often it springs from a distrust in God’s providential care,” He proceeded to teach them where they might find a preservative against over-anxiety about the future, in the assurance of the loving care of a Father in heaven, who feeds the fowls of the heaven, though they neither sow nor reap, and have neither storehouse nor barn (Lk. xii. 22–24), and clothes the lilies of the field with a beauty, such as Solomon in all his glory never approached (Lk. xii. 27).

It was probably about this time that certain persons informed the Lord of a fresh outrage amongst the many that Pilate had committed. On the occasion of the visit of a body of Galilæans, whose turbulent character has been already noted, to Jerusalem, the governor for some unrecorded reason had slain them, and mingled their blood with the blood of the slain beasts they were offering on the Altar at the Temple. If men “might have been supposed to be safe anywhere, or at any time, it would have been at the altar of God, and while in the act of offering sacrifices unto Him;” their terrible death, therefore, appears to have been urged by the narrators of this outrage as a peculiar evidence of God’s anger against them, and of some unknown awful guilt on their part (Lk. xiii. 1, 2). But such hasty and cruel judgments the Lord instantly rebuked, and declared that the terrible ends of these sufferers no more marked them out as sinners above all other of their fellow-countrymen than certain eighteen persons on whom a tower of Siloam had recently fallen and crushed them beneath its ruins (Lk. xiii. 4). In such swift calamities they were not to trace the evidence of a pre-eminence of guilt on the part of the sufferers, but a call to remember their own uncertain tenure of life, and to repentance while as yet the day of grace lasted, which solemn considerations He still further enforced by the appropriate parable of the Barren Fig-Tree (Lk. xiii. 6–9).

On a subsequent occasion the Lord entered a synagogue on the Sabbath-day (Lk. xiii. 10), where there was a woman inwardly afflicted in her spirit (Lk. xiii. 16), and outwardly with a permanent and unnatural contraction of her body (Lk. xiii. 11). Without waiting till His aid was sought, He forthwith called her to Him, and laying His hands upon her, said, Woman, thou art loosed from thy infirmity, whereupon the affliction of eighteen long years (Lk. xiii. 11) instantly left her, she was made straight, and glorified God. Such a cure, which excited the wonder of all present, was more than the ruler of the synagogue could bear, and he openly expressed his indignation at this violation of the Sabbath, remarking that there were six days in the week when such servile working as healing might be done, and bidding those who needed help come then, and not degrade the sanctity of the Sabbath-day (Lk. xiii. 14). Such hypocritical strictness on the part of one who sat in Moses’ seat and was regarded as a teacher of the Law, moved the Saviour’s righteous indignation. In words, the force of which was irresistible (Lk. xiii. 17), He justified that He had done by the “very relaxations of the Sabbath strictness,” which the ruler of the synagogue himself allowed. Would he not loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to water on the Sabbath-day, and should he be blamed for merely speaking a word and releasing a daughter of Abraham from a bond with which Satan had enthralled her for so many years? The question admitted of no reply; even His adversaries were ashamed, while the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that had been done by Him (Lk. xiii. 17).

Chapter IV. The Feast of Dedication—Tour in Peræa. A.D. 29.

BY the time the incident recorded in the last Chapter took place, the season of winter had returned (Jn. x. 22), and the snow lay upon the mountains. With the return of winter came also the celebration of the Feast of Dedication, on the 25th of the month Chisleu, which lasted eight days. On this occasion the Lord once more visited Jerusalem, and presented Himself in the Temple, and probably on account of the wintry state of the weather sought shelter in “Solomon’s Porch,” where He was speedily encircled by the Jews (Jn. x. 24), who began with eager impetuosity to enquire how long He intended to keep them in suspense, and to ask that if He was the Messiah He would tell them so plainly and distinctly (Jn. x. 24).

The question appears to have been put neither in a hostile nor unfriendly tone, and indicates a wish on the part of the ruling powers to discover whether He might not be induced to set Himself forth as the Messiah they expected, and, like a second Judas Maccabæus, whose exploits they were commemorating, deliver them from the hated yoke of the foreigner.

In reply, however, to their question, the Holy One contented Himself with pointing to the wonderful works He had already wrought in their midst. This testimony they had refused to receive, for neither in their aims nor desires were they of His sheep (Jn. x. 26). His sheep heard His voice, and He knew them, and He would give them eternal life, nor should any ever snatch them out of His hand (Jn. x. 27, 28); for the Eternal Father in heaven had given them to Him, and He and the Father were one (Jn. x. 29).

This solemn and mysterious language, this claim to essential unity with the eternal Father, again provoked the anger of His hearers. Their earthly and carnal hopes centered on some great earthly conqueror. The words of the Holy One sounded in their ears like blasphemy, and taking up some of the stones lying around for the repairs of the Temple which were almost always going on, they were on the point of stoning Him as He stood.

But He calmed their fury by enquiring for which of His many works, that proved by their moral goodness no less than the power they displayed, His union with the Father, they wished to stone Him. In reply the Jews declared that it was His blasphemous words which made them act as they now did, for though a man, He claimed a union with God (Jn. x. 32, 33). This charge the Holy One repelled by reference to their own sacred books. Was not the title of God sometimes applied there to the judges and rulers of the nation (Ps. lxxxii. 6), and was it with less justice applicable to One, whose wondrous works proved His intercommunion with the Father and His Divine mission to the world? (Jn. x. 34–38). This reply only excited a fresh burst of fury, and though the Jews gave up their design of stoning Him, they tried to apprehend Him and bring Him before their courts (Jn. x. 29).

But His “hour” was not yet come, and retiring from the capital, He crossed the Jordan, and sought the fords of Bethabara or Bethany, where His forerunner at first baptized (Jn. x. 40). In this region, where that eminent servant of God had closed his course, it was proved that “though dead he yet spake.” Many remembered his burning words and faithful testimony to the Messiah, whom the Jews at Jerusalem had rejected, and acknowledging the truth of His words, gathered round the Saviour (Jn. x. 41), and avowed their belief in Him.

Still even here He had to encounter hostile opposition. His indefatigable enemies, the Pharisees, penetrated His seclusion and represented that Herod Antipas, within whose dominions He now was, sought opportunity to kill Him (Lk. xiii. 31). But He saw through their cunning and hypocrisy, no less than the fox-like (Lk. xiii. 32) craft of the Tetrarch, by whom they had been probably suborned. He, doubtless, would be glad to get out of his territory One, whose fame caused him so much perplexity, and they would be no less anxious to drive Him from a quarter, where He was comparatively safe, to the hostile neighbourhood of Jerusalem. But though it was impossible that a prophet could perish elsewhere than in a capital, which had slain so many who had been sent to it, yet there was still time for the performance of works of mercy (Lk. xiii. 32, 33), for the healing of the sick, and the expulsion of demons, before He went up to Jerusalem, whose children He would so often have gathered together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing, but they would not, and whose house was now left unto them desolate (Lk. xiii. 34, 35).

Of the works of mercy here mentioned, apparently but one is actually recorded by the Evangelist. At the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, to which He had been invited (Lk. xiv. 1) on the Sabbath-day, for a hostile purpose, the Holy One healed a man afflicted with dropsy (Lk. xiv. 2–6), and taking occasion from the associations of the time and place, not only rebuked the haughty selfishness with which the Pharisees claimed the chief seats at feasts (Lk. xiv. 7–14), but also uttered the appropriate parable of the Great Supper (Lk. xiv. 15–24).

In the same neighbourhood also, finding Himself surrounded by great crowds, amongst which some indicated a wish to follow Him, He addressed them solemnly on the self-denial required of all who would be His real disciples (Lk. xiv. 25–35), and the necessity for first counting the cost, and taking up the cross if they would truly follow Him. On another occasion a great number of tax-gatherers, who were very numerous near Jericho and the Jordan fords, gathered round Him, together with many regarded as profligate sinners. Their eagerness to listen to His teaching, and His willingness to receive and eat with them (Lk. xv. 1), roused again the hostility of the Pharisees and Scribes, and provoked them to open murmuring. But, undeterred by their opposition, the Good Shepherd, with striking appropriateness now, gave utterance to the parables of the Lost Sheep (Lk. xv. 1), the Lost Coin (Lk. xv. 8–10), and the Prodigal Son (Lk. xv. 11–32), and afterwards addressed to His disciples, though in the hearing of the Pharisees, those of the Unjust Steward (Lk. xvi. 1–13), and of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Lk. xvi. 19–31).

Chapter V. The Raising of Lazarus. A.D. 30.

WHILE the Lord was in Peræa, and apparently in the neighbourhood of Bethabara, a messenger reached Him from the sisters Martha and Mary, announcing that their brother Lazarus was sick (Jn. xi. 13). On receiving this intelligence, He replied in the hearing of His Apostles, but chiefly to the messenger, and for him to bring back to those that had sent him, This sickness is not unto death (Jn. xi. 4), but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Whatever amount of hope this announcement may have raised in the minds of the sisters was for the present at least dashed to the ground. For He, to whom they had sent their simple message, and who had so often healed others at a distance by simply uttering a word, now neither spoke the word of power, nor came to them, but remained still two days in the same place where He was (Jn. xi. 6), and in the meantime Lazarus died, and was laid in a rock-hewn sepulchre.

At the close, however, of the two days, the Holy One proposed to His disciples that they should go into Judæa again. But the trembling Apostles, recollecting the extreme danger He had so lately incurred at Jerusalem, ventured to expostulate: a short time back the Jews were seeking to stone Him (Jn. xi. 8), and for the sake of safety He had been constrained to seek the seclusion of the region where He now was, would He venture then, so soon to incur afresh the malice of His foes?

Thereupon He calmed their apprehensions, and announced that their friend Lazarus was asleep, but He intended to wake him out of sleep (Jn. xi. 12). This announcement perplexed the Apostles still more. If Lazarus slept, it indicated a favourable crisis of his illness, and the perilous journey was unnecessary. Perceiving that they understood His words literally, He now told them plainly that Lazarus was dead, but still declared His intention of going to Bethany (Jn. xi. 15), on which the Apostle Thomas, betraying the tendency to misgiving and despondency which distinguished him, and convinced that his Master would fall into the hands of His deadly enemies, proposed to the rest that at least they should accompany Him, and share His end (Jn. xi. 16).

With these sad forebodings the Apostles accompanied their Lord, and on reaching Bethany found that Lazarus had been already dead four days, and as the village lay only three quarters of an hour’s journey from Jerusalem, many Jews (Jn. xi. 19) had come thither over the Mount of Olives, to pay the customary visit of condolence to the two sisters.

Tarrying Himself outside the village (Jn. xi. 30), the Lord suffered the tidings of His arrival to go before Him, and no sooner did Martha become aware of it, than she hurried forth to meet Him, while Mary remained in the house. In few and touching words Martha revealed the anguish of her heart. Lord, said she, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died, but added, shewing that even now she had not abandoned every hope, I know that even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee (Jn. xi. 22). In reply the Holy One assured her that her brother would rise again, and when she answered that she knew he would rise again at the last day (Jn. xi. 24), proceeded to declare Himself to be the Resurrection and the life, in whom whosoever believed should live though he died, and whosoever lived and believed should never die (Jn. xi. 25, 26).

Having spoken of Himself in these solemn and momentous words, He enquired whether Martha herself believed He was what He thus claimed to be. Yea, Lord, was her reply: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world (Jn. xi. 27), and with this assurance hastened away, and secretly called her sister. Informed of her Lord’s arrival Mary also hurried to meet Him, and was quickly followed by a large number of the Jews, who took for granted that, according to the usual custom, she was proceeding to the grave to weep there. Arrived at the spot where Jesus was, Mary could only fall down before His feet (Jn. xi. 32), and falter out the words her sister had already uttered, and then gave way to passionate grief. The spectacle of her deep sorrow deeply affected many of the Jews also, and they mingled their tears with hers, while the Lord Himself groaned in spirit and was troubled, and enquired where they had laid the dead (Jn. xi. 33).

With the words come and see, they conducted Him to the sepulchre, and on the road He Himself, borne away by the “great tide of sorrow” around, joined His tears with theirs (Jn. xi. 35).

On reaching the sepulchre, which, like the family vaults of the Jews, was a cave, with recesses in the sides, in which the bodies were laid, He commanded the stone, which closed the entrance, to be removed. On this Martha, shrinking from the exposure to the eyes of strangers of the body of one so dear, and already partially decomposed (Jn. xi. 39), ventured to expostulate; but Jesus reminded her of His promise that, if she believed, she should see the glory of God, and calmed her feelings. Accordingly the stone was removed, and then the Holy One, after a brief pause, during which He thanked the Eternal Father for having heard Him (Jn. xi. 41, 42), cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Instantly the word of Power was obeyed. There was a stir in the sepulchre. The dead man rose, and came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face covered with a napkin, while the Lord, who was never calmer than when during His greatest works, simply bade the bystanders loose him and let him go (Jn. xi. 44).

Chapter VI. Resolve of the Sanhedrin—Jesus Retires to Ephraim. A.D. 30.

THE remarkable miracle recorded at length in the preceding Chapter marks an important epoch in the life of our Lord.

The effect it exerted upon those who witnessed it was twofold. Many of those, who had come to mourn with the sisters of Bethany, avowed their belief in the Saviour’s claims (Jn. xi. 45), but others, with no friendly intentions, hurried to the Pharisees and recounted to them all that had taken place. Their report led to instant measures.

The ruling powers, hitherto comparatively calm, became very uneasy. A meeting of the Sanhedrin was convened, at which Caiaphas presided, and the course to be followed was keenly debated. It was clear that the sentence of excommunication (Jn. ix. 22), lately passed upon the followers of the Saviour, had not counteracted the impression made by His ministry on the minds of the people. The notable miracle He had just wrought could not be gainsaid, and its effect upon the multitude was profound. If he was suffered to continue His ministry, all, it was argued, would believe on Him, and in all probability proclaim Him as their King. Such a proclamation would inevitably lead to a riot, a riot to a visit from Pilate, the ruthlessness of whose character had been again and again experienced, and this would be followed by a massacre, and the total deprivation of what remained of their national existence.

Many measures were, probably, advocated by various members of the Council, but found no general acceptance. At length Caiaphas arose, and with unconcealed contempt declared that his weak and vacillating colleagues knew nothing at all (Jn. xi. 49). The life and teaching of One Man threatened to imperil the whole nation, and to bring them into collision with their Roman masters. One effectual remedy alone existed. It was expedient that He should be put to death rather than the whole nation should be swept away. As a Sadducee (Acts v. 17) Caiaphas believed in the might of the Roman legions, though he denied the doctrine of the resurrection and the existence of spiritual powers, and rather than embroil the nation in fresh troubles with their unscrupulous masters, he advocated the death of the Holy One, all unconscious of the momentous results of the step he advised.

Though there were some dissentients (Lk. xxiii. 50, 51), his words expressed the feelings of the majority of the Council. The more decided and violent party triumphed. It was deliberately determined that Jesus should be put to death, and from that day forward continual councils were held to decide how this should be brought about (Jn. xi. 53).

But the Holy One, knowing that His “hour” was not yet come, retired with His disciples to Ephraim, a town situated in the wide desert country north-east of Jerusalem, not far from Bethel, and on the confines of Samaria.

Here in quiet and seclusion He remained till the approach of the Passover, and then commenced a farewell-journey along the border-line of Samaria and Galilee, in the direction of the Jordan (Lk. xvii. 11; Mtt. xix. 1), and so to Peræa (Mk. x. 1).

It was probably while yet on the confines of Samaria, that at the entrance of a village, the name and position of which are not recorded, He encountered Ten Lepers, one of whom was a Samaritan (Lk. xvii. 16). Standing afar off (Lk. xvii. 12), they all lifted up their voices, and implored His aid, on which, filled with compassion for their miserable condition, He bade them go and shew themselves to the priests at Jerusalem. Though they must have been aware that they could not expect healing from the priest, whose only office it was either to pronounce the sufferer affected with this fearful malady, or to restore him with ceremonial washings to the society of his fellow-men, the Lepers nevertheless set out, and lo! as they went (Lk. xvii. 14), their flesh came back to them like unto the flesh of a little child (2 K. v. 14), and they were cleansed. But though they all experienced His unlooked-for blessing, one only, and he a Samaritan, returned to give thanks to His Healer, who, accustomed as he was to man’s ingratitude, yet marvelled at this striking proof of it (Lk. xvii. 17, 18), and dismissed the grateful man with a higher and a peculiar blessing, saying, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole (Lk. xvii. 19).

Continuing His journey towards the Jordan, the Saviour at some place, the name of which is not mentioned, encountered certain Pharisees, who professed, probably in treachery or mockery, a question respecting the coming of the kingdom of God, to which He replied, that it would be with no such visible establishment as they expected (Lk. xvii. 20, 21), and proceeded to found upon the question a warning to His own disciples on the same subject (Lk. xvii. 22–37). It was now also, in all probability, either before or just after He crossed into Peræa, that He delivered the parables of the Unjust Judge and the Pharisee and Publican (Lk. xvii. 1–14), and replied to a question respecting the lawfulness of divorce (Mtt. xix. 3–12; Mk. x. 2–12), on which the rival schools of Hillel and Shammai held opposite opinions.

In striking contrast to the malice which prompted these questionings, certain parents, who probably honoured Him, and valued His benediction, brought their children to Him, and begged that He would lay His hands upon them and offer up a prayer in their behalf (Mtt. xix. 13). To the disciples such an act appeared unfitting, and they would have kept back those that brought them (Mk. x. 13; Lk. xviii. 15), but with touching condescension He not only rebuked their interference (Mk. x. 14), and said, Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven, but called them to Him (Lk. xviii. 16), took them up in His arms, laid His hands upon them, and blessed them (Mk. x. 16; Mtt. xix. 15).

It was in this region also that a rich young ruler approached Him, desiring to know what he should do to inherit eternal life (Mtt. xix. 16; Mk. x. 17). The Holy One referred him to the commandments. These the other declared he had kept from his youth (Mk. x. 20), on which the Lord looked upon him with a glance of deep affection, informed him that he lacked yet one thing (Lk. xviii. 22), and bade him go and sell all that he had, and give to the poor, and take up his cross (Mk. x. 21) and follow Him. Such a demand, so totally opposed to the popular notions of the kingdom of the Messiah, in which the Jews expected every form of temporal blessing, was too severe a test for the ruler’s sincerity; he had great possessions (Mtt. xix. 22; Mk. x. 22), which he could not part with, and in sorrow he left the Saviour and went his way.

But the same ideas of temporal blessings were still held by the Apostles themselves. They had left everything to follow their Master, might they not look for some great reward? To Peter, who put the question (Mk. x. 28; Mtt. xix. 23) the Holy One replied, by assuring him and the rest that a reward they should have, though very different from what they expected, and taking them apart (Mtt. xx. 17; Mk. x. 32) began for the third time, and with greater particularity than before, to speak of the future that awaited Himself; how at Jerusalem He should be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, and be mocked, and scourged, and crucified (Mtt. xx. 18–24; Mk. x. 33–40; Lk. xviii. 32–34). But though awed by the unusual solemnity of His manner (Mk. x. 32), and the dauntless resolution with which He pressed on towards Jerusalem (Mk. x. 33), they could not enter into the meaning of His words. His predictions of suffering and death clashed with all their deeply-rooted ideas of the nature of the Messianic kingdom, and it was now that two of their number, James and John, encouraged by their mother, preferred the request that in His kingdom they might sit the one on His right hand, and the other on His left. Even His reply that they should indeed drink of His cup, and be baptized with His baptism, sounded to the rest like the concession of some mysterious dignity, and provoked a jealousy on their part, which the Holy One strove to check by reminding them once more of the true nature of His kingdom, that therein He is truly first who is the servant of all; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.

With this final proof of the utter inability even of His own chosen Twelve to lighten by their sympathy a particle of what lay before Himself, the Holy One, having recrossed the Jordan, continued His way amidst the crowd of pilgrims setting forth towards Jerusalem. Approaching Jericho He healed two blind men, who sat by the wayside begging and implored His aid; He accepted in the City of Palm Trees itself the hospitality of Zacchæus, a superintendent of customs or tribute there (Lk. xix. 1–10); corrected, by delivering the Parable of the Pounds, the idea that the Kingdom of Heaven was about immediately to appear, and at length, six days before the Passover, reached the safe seclusion of the mountain hamlet of Bethany (Mtt. xxvi. 6–13; Mk. xiv. 3–9; Jn. xii. 1–11).

JERUSALEM in the time of OUR LORD

London and New York: Macmillan & Co.
For Maclear’s New Test.t History Stanford’s Geog.l Estab.t