The Real Jesus of the Four Gospels Part 13

Later He went secretly into Judaea on the occasion of the feast of the tabernacles (John VII:2, 10), and the people took "up stones to cast at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them and so pa.s.sed by" (John VIII:59). Again, when He had restored sight to a blind man, they reviled this man and "cast him out"

(John IX:7, 34).

Again, when Jesus was at Jerusalem at the feast of the dedication (John X:22), "the Jews took up stones again to stone Him." "Therefore they sought again to take Him; but He escaped out of their hands" (John X:31, 39).

As regards the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the Jews, instead of being favorably affected by that stupendous miracle, were apparently incensed by it. They plotted to put both Lazarus and Jesus to death (John XII:10), and "Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim" (John XI:54).

Finally, Jesus Himself bears witness both to His belief that miracles were proof of His messianic claims, and that His miracles had failed to give the support to His cause which He had expected. In one of His most bitter utterances, He denounces the cities of Galilee, because they would not believe in Him notwithstanding the many "mighty works" which He had performed in their midst.

"Woe unto thee, Chorazin. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida."

"But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you."

"And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to h.e.l.l."

"But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you" (Matt. XI:20-24; Luke X:13-15).

In more temperate language He bewails the coldness and hostility of Jerusalem.

"How often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not?" (Matt.

XXIII:37; Luke XIII:34. See also Luke XIX:41, 42; Luke XI:31, 32).

The reason why Jesus' miracles produced no lasting effect on the Jews has already been indicated. They expected their Messiah to show them miracles as proof of his claims. But this Messiah must be one of their own creation preaching the doctrines which they wished him to preach.

All the miracles in the world would not have convinced them that Jesus was the true Messiah, so long as He offered them only a heavenly kingdom. On the other hand, if He had promised them an earthly kingdom, they would have acclaimed these same miracles which He did, as indubitable proofs of His Messiahship. In this respect they differ not at all from many modern professed followers of Jesus. They follow such parts of His teaching as happen to suit their own ideas or prejudices, and calmly ignore other parts, equally explicit and binding, which do not fit in with their scheme of life. (See Hypocrisy or Truth, _infra_.)

The miracles and, even more, the apparent faith of Jesus in their evidentiary value, form serious stumbling blocks in the way of those who revere Jesus as the greatest "Son of Man"--unequaled in the simplicity and unselfishness of His character and in the sublimity of His teaching--but free from the tawdry tinsel of supernaturalism, which is the usual stock-in-trade of leaders of religious sects. Mohammedanism seems to be the only great religion which has resisted the temptation to ascribe to its founder, either divine parentage or the power to perform supernatural acts.

The attribution to Jesus of the Holy Ghost as His father need cause no difficulty, by reason of the facts set out under sub-head "Conception,"

_supra_.

But as regards the miracles, it is true that few of them have much scientific value as evidence of the intervention of supernatural powers in their occurrence. For instance, Matthew records nineteen specific miracles, of which only one is attested to by all the three other evangelists, five are attested to by one beside himself, twelve by two, and one by himself alone. Of the nineteen, five are events--stilling the tempest--walking on the waters, two feeding the mult.i.tude, and one the blasting of the unfortunate fig tree, which did not bear fruit out of season. Of the remaining fourteen, one is a lunatic, one has a withered hand, one is dumb, one is a leper, two have palsy, three are blind, one has fever, one an issue of blood, two are possessed of devils, and the ailment of Jairus' daughter is not specified. Without examining each in detail, it may be said generally that these accounts are very indefinite as to exact times and places, names of persons cured, or by friends or relatives, and other details, by which the story might be verified. From the insufficient data furnished, it would, for instance, have been almost impossible for a person, starting to investigate these miracles immediately after Jesus' death to have a.s.serted that any particular miracle did not occur, although he could not find a single witness to any of them. Even the names of the disciples present are given only in a few instances. It is also to be regretted that practically all of the personal cures, as is the case with more modern miracle workers, fall within that cla.s.s of afflictions where ignorance, suggestion, simulation, conscious or unconscious, etc., can so easily confuse the result. If some of these latter-day healers would only go to an old soldiers' home and supply some missing arms and legs, the "doubting Thomases" would be more ready to concede their possession of supernatural powers.

But, notwithstanding all this, the four Gospels are so permeated with these miraculous doings that it would be almost denying them any credibility at all, to claim that Jesus and His apostles did not believe that He performed miracles, and that these miracles were proof of His claim to the Messiahship. It can only be said that Jesus, great as He was, could not entirely escape the influence of the times in which He lived.

[28] Here again Jesus makes clear His antipathy to churchly ceremonies and pharisaical formalism. No ceremony marks the joining of His disciples. He says to them, "Follow me," and they leave everything and follow Him. No more is necessary to make them members of His band. So, no rite, no ceremony marks the choosing or appointing of the twelve apostles, or bishops, as they would now be called. There is no laying on of hands, no formal induction or installation into office, no clothing them in peculiar vestments, or sacerdotal robes, or other visible insignia of their office or rank. Nor are they given any authority or pre-eminence over their fellow disciples. Nothing could have been more foreign to Jesus' ideas than the establishment of a priestly hierarchy.

The instructions as to their preaching are of the simplest--"the kingdom of heaven is at hand." No creeds, no theological dogmas are to be impressed on their hearers. But the necessity of their doing good works--healing the sick, etc.--is emphasized. With Jesus works always were of more value than words. The admonition to travel simply, without money or extra raiment, and to depend on the hospitality of the people among whom they came, reminds us of the practice of the itinerant missionaries of frontier days in our own country.

Matthew's account is the only one containing the verse: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I come not to send peace but a sword"

(Matt. X:34). This has often been cited, warped from its context, as meaning that Jesus sanctioned war as a means of spreading His religion.

But nothing is more contrary to the whole spirit of His teaching and many express utterances. When His disciples would have Him call down fire from heaven to consume those who would not receive Him, He "rebuked them" and said: "For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them" (Luke IX:56). In this chapter from Matthew, Jesus is predicting that the spread of His Gospel will set individual against individual (even in the same family), and finally nation against nation, and that, owing to the weakness of human nature, this would lead to individual contests and to national contests. Results well justified His prophecy. So long as the Christians were in the minority, they preached, and, to some extent, practiced the doctrines of the Sermon on the Mount.

But when they became the majority, the sword and torch and the fires of the Inquisition were their favorite arguments in converting recalcitrant heathen.

[29] Moderation was the keynote of Jesus' character. Excess in any direction was contrary to His principles. He had no sympathy with either the zealot or the ascetic. He condemned as well the faster and the prohibitionist as the glutton and the wine-bibber. He was most democratic in His daily intercourse with others. He dined one day with publicans and sinners, and the next with a Pharisee, notwithstanding His bitter antagonism to the Pharisees as a sect (Luke XI:37; XIV:1). This moderation shows itself in the charity of His judgments of others, as in the case of the woman taken in adultery (John VIII:3-11), the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke XV:11). "Judge not that ye be not judged" (Matt.

VII:1) and elsewhere. When He is asked to name the first great commandment, He does not choose any of the ten stringent provisions of the Old Testament, but expresses His ideas in the milder forms: To love G.o.d, and to love thy neighbor as thyself (Matt. XXII:36-40; Mark XII:28-31).

[30] The prophets of the Old Testament had long before the birth of Jesus inveighed against the disposition among the Jews to magnify _acts of worship_--religious rites and ceremonies--as pleasing to G.o.d and indicative of holiness in the partic.i.p.ant.

"To what purpose is the mult.i.tude of your sacrifices unto me?--saith the Lord. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats."

"Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and _Sabbaths_, the calling of a.s.semblies; I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even _the solemn meeting_. Your new moons and your _appointed feasts_ my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them."

"Learn to _do well_; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow" (Isaiah I:11-17).

"Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, _the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul_? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy G.o.d" (Micah VI:7, 8).

"For I desired mercy and not _sacrifice_; and the knowledge of G.o.d more than burnt offerings" (Hosea VI:6).

But the Jews had not heeded the admonitions of their prophets, and, in the time of Jesus, their religion, under the dominating influence of those zealous laymen--the scribes and Pharisees--had become permeated with the dry-rot of formalism. Prayers, fastings, rites and ceremonies had become all important, like the "burnt offerings of bullocks," "the blood of bullocks," the "incense" and "vain oblations" of earlier days.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay t.i.the of mint and anise and c.u.mmin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith" (Matt. XXIII:23). Their conception of the Lord was that of the Mosaic times--a jealous Deity to be placated by sacrifices, and whose favor was to be won by external worship, and not by inward purity of heart. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also" (Matt. XXIII:25, 26).

The simple, unceremonial religion which Jesus taught, a living force animating each act of one's daily life, nourished by secret prayers in one's chamber, manifesting itself by un.o.btrusive acts of mercy, not by public prayers, fastings and religious services, was the direct antipodes of the ceremonial formalism then dominant among the Jews.

Jesus early recognized this antagonism, and lost no opportunity to combat this, the greatest obstacle to the spreading of His ideas. He can use no words too bitter in denouncing those whom He considers the corrupters of the true worship of G.o.d (Matt. XXIII; Mark XII:38-40; Luke XX:46, 47; XI:42-44). To persons deeply imbued with religious feeling, hypocrisy is the cardinal sin. "Ye hypocrites" is His constant term of reproach for the scribes and Pharisees.

Now, the observance of the Sabbath was the keystone in the arch of formalism which the Pharisees had erected. They had filled the day with religious ceremonies. They had surrounded it with minute restrictions and prohibitions, so that even the healing of the sick on that day was considered by them unlawful. Probably their objection to the disciples picking and eating corn was not based so much on that fact, as on the iniquity of Jesus and His disciples taking a pleasant walk through the fields and country on the Sabbath. As Macaulay said of the Puritans, they hated bear baiting, not so much because it gave pain to the bear, as because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

This Sabbath was to Jesus a travesty on the true worship of His Father, and met His instant and repeated condemnation. He intentionally and openly violated its laws, and challenged the Pharisees to defend their position. As in the case of prayer, He again defined His Father's att.i.tude as caring nothing for these outward observances. "I will have mercy and not sacrifice" (Matt. XII:7). The weighty matters of the law are "judgment, mercy and faith" (Matt. XXIII:23). In the expressive language of the Old Testament His "soul hateth" their Sabbaths and appointed feasts and solemn a.s.semblies. They were a "trouble" to Him and He was "weary to bear them." "When ye make many prayers, I will not hear" (Isaiah I:13, 14, 15). Jesus sums up His conception of the Sabbath in one of His pregnant sentences, "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark II:27; Luke VI:5).

If Jesus were on earth today, He would make our Sunday a day of cheerful rest. Children would rejoice in it, learn to love it, instead of its being to them (more formerly than now) a day of penance and gloom, with their forced attendance on a distasteful Sunday school, to study creeds and catechisms, not suited to their immature years. Attendance at "church" would be a matter of minor importance, to be determined by each one for himself. The desire to worship could be satisfied without these public a.s.semblies, for "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. XVIII:20).

But the significant deliberation of the day, the only one important before G.o.d, would be the marking it out as the day especially for the doing of deeds of mercy. Much more righteous in the sight of the Lord would be the man who had spent the day in hunting, fishing or other innocent recreation, but yet had one good deed to his credit, than he who had spent the whole day in religious exercises, and given his "t.i.the of mint and anise and c.u.mmin," but had not helped, or comforted, or made happier a single fellow human being. Jesus would say with the poet:

"_Count that day lost, whose low descending sun Views from thy hand, no worthy action done._"

[31] Jesus had already told the disciples of His approaching death and resurrection (Matt. XVI:21, 22; Mark VIII:31; Luke IX:22).

[32] Jesus probably spoke to His disciples in the veiled language so often used by Him, since it is clear that His disciples, down to the last days in Jerusalem, had not accepted the idea of His immediate bodily death.

"But they understood not that saying and were afraid to ask Him" (Mark IX:32).

"And they understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things that were spoken" (Luke XVIII:34; see Matt. XXIV:3).

It is probable that up to the hour of the Crucifixion many of the disciples still clung to the hope that Jesus would exert His miraculous powers to confound His enemies and establish an earthly kingdom.

"They thought that the kingdom of G.o.d should immediately appear" (Luke XIX:11).

They quarreled among themselves as to who should have precedence in this kingdom.

"And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest" (Luke XXII:24).

[33] None of these mult.i.tudes seem to have been on hand a few days later to ask Jesus' release from Pilate (Matt. XXVII:15, 17, 22, 23).

[34] This cleansing of the temple is related by John as one of Jesus'

first acts, immediately after the marriage in Cana (John II:14-17).

[35] There is a marked difference between these latest utterances of Jesus and His first preaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Then He was enthusiastic, filled with the hope of converting the Jews, and establishing His Father's spiritual kingdom on earth. Now He is disappointed, realizing that His death is near, that His religious teachings have been rejected by practically all of His people, and that He will leave behind Him a mere handful of followers, few, if any, of whom yet understand the true meaning of His religion. The spirit of the Sermon on the Mount is love for one another, kindness active in every-day life, charity for others' shortcomings, leniency in judging and punishing offenders. But His later sayings abound in bitter censure of the Pharisees and others who have thwarted His work, of denunciation of all evil-doers, of promises of reward to His followers, and of predictions of severe punishment for those who reject His teachings.

Thus in the Sermon on the Mount He says:

"Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy" (Matt. V:7).