Pastor Pastorum Part 29

"And many came unto him; and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true." John x. 41.

The people contrast Him with John. This agrees with what is said of the place, viz. that John had baptized there; the people recollected him. The teaching of our Lord in Peraea, of which we have an account only in Luke, chaps, xv., xvi., was probably given about this time.

A.D. 30. _February._

Early in this month our Lord leaves Peraea, where He had been travelling about, being warned by the Pharisees-

"And he went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and journeying on unto Jerusalem." Luke xiii. 22.

"In that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying to him, Get thee out, and go hence: for Herod would fain kill thee." St Luke xiii. 31.

A.D. 30. _March._

While on this progress the news of the sickness of Lazarus reaches our Lord. He seems then to have been little more than a day's journey from Jerusalem, but outside the limits of Judaea:

"The sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. But when Jesus heard it, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of G.o.d, that the Son of G.o.d may be glorified thereby."(350) John xi. 3, 4.

"When therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two days in the place where he was. Then after this he saith to the disciples, Let us go into Judaea again." John xi. 6, 7.

After the raising of Lazarus, the chief priests and Pharisees "from that day forth took counsel that they might put him (Jesus) to death: Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed thence into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there he tarried with the disciples." John xi. 53, 54.

From Ephraim, the position of which is uncertain, (Dr Edersheim, as I understand him, thinks it may have been near the north end of the sea of Galilee, in Decapolis,) our Lord pa.s.ses through "the midst of Samaria and Galilee"-St Luke xvii. 11.

This would seem, from the order in which the places are named, to refer to the journey on the way north to Ephraim, but no certain conclusion can be drawn. Towards the end of the month, our Lord joins the company of people on their way from Galilee to Jerusalem, pa.s.sing by Jericho. The incidents of the journey and the important discourses on the way are related in Mark, chap, x., and in the parallel pa.s.sages of Matthew and Luke.

The question arises, Where did our Lord join this company? I incline to think that after a short stay at Capernaum, He went with the Galilean company up to the Pa.s.sover. During the stay at Ephraim, the disciples would have had leisure to turn over in their minds what they had seen and heard; especially the raising of Lazarus, and the words to Martha on eternal life, the plainest our Lord ever spoke; John xi. 25. It is our Lord's way, as I have often pointed out, to leave intervals for reflection. On the way south (supposing that Ephraim was to the north), with His small company of disciples, He may have made a short stop at Capernaum, where, according to my view (see p. 372), St Peter may have partly resided since the feast of Tabernacles, joining from time to time the disciples in attendance on our Lord. Jesus would, on this supposition, be in St Peter's house in the month of March when the officers, in due course, called for the Temple contribution, and in this way we avoid the hypothesis of a payment overdue (see under Sept A.D. 29). It may be noted that the officers make no question about _Peter's_ paying the half-shekel; he was a regular resident and their claim was undoubted, but our Lord had been long absent and was only pa.s.sing through the place, so that in His case the payment was less obligatory. This is one view of the matter, but I am inclined to think from the form of the collector's question, "Your Master, does not He pay?" (Matth. xvii. 24) that they half expected an objection on higher grounds. The internal evidence, that is to say the tone of doctrine, which appears in the words, "Then are the children free," favours the adopting the later period, inasmuch as it reminds us of the later discourses in chaps, xv., xvi., xvii. of John.

A.D. 30. _April._

Our Lord may have made His entry into Jerusalem on Sunday, April 2. He returned that night to Bethany after looking "round about upon all things." Mark xi. 11.

Monday, April 3. Cursing of fig tree on the way to Jerusalem (see March, A.D. 28), Matth. xxi. 19; Mark xi. 13. Cleansing of Temple, Matth. xxi.

12; Mark xi. 15; Luke xix. 45. Return to Bethany, Mark xi. 19. Either on this day or the next, the Greeks seek Jesus, John xii. 20.

Tuesday, April 4. Tree is found withered. Parables delivered in Temple.

Controversies with Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees. Our Lord takes leave of the Temple; Mark xi. 20 and chaps, xii., xiii. and parallel pa.s.sages in Matthew and Luke.

Wednesday, April 5. Treason of Judas.

Thursday, April 6. Last Supper. Our Lord's apprehension.

Friday, April 7. The Crucifixion.

Sunday, April 9. The Resurrection.

I should place the journey of the Apostles to Galilee in the subsequent week. This change would do the Apostles good in many ways. It would relieve the strain on their minds, and was medicine for the shock they had received. For our Lord's care for the physical and mental health of His followers, see text, p. 302, on the words, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while."

During this stay in Galilee, there took place the appearance of our Lord on the mountain, which I take to be that named, 1 Cor. xv. 6 (see text, last chapter), and at this time I also place the important interview of our Lord with James, our Lord's brother, 1 Cor. xv. 17, and probably with the rest of His brethren, see below.

A.D. 30. _May._

The appearance at the sea of Tiberias (but see Mr Sanday on the "Authorship of the Fourth Gospel," chap. xvii.) may have taken place in this month, as also the return of the Apostles from Galilee to Jerusalem with the women and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and the brethren of our Lord.

The latter, possibly, had not been in Jerusalem at the Crucifixion, but had at last learned, perhaps through James, the fulness of their brother's greatness. The Apostles as well as the relations of our Lord must have been enjoined to return to Jerusalem, or they would not without exception have gone thither. The Feast of Pentecost was not a sufficiently imperative call to account for their presence. This injunction must have been given in Galilee. If we had only St Luke's account, we should suppose that the Apostles never left Jerusalem; but this would in itself be unlikely and is contradicted by the other Evangelists. The day given for the Ascension by Wieseler, "Chronologie des Apostolischen Zeitalters,"

1848, is May 18.

The Ascension was followed by the choice of Matthias.

The day of Pentecost, as fixed by Wieseler, was May 27, A.D. 30.