tihvaty of Che Cheolo^ical ^tminaxy PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY The Estate of the Rev. John B. Wledinger .S74 JOHN'S GOSPEL By ROBERT E. SPEER Men Who Were Found Faithful i2mo, cloth, net li.oo Some Great Leaders in the World Movement The Cole Lectures for igii. i2mo, cloth, net I1.25 The Foreign Doctor: "The Hakim Sahib" A Biography of Joseph Plumb Cochran, M.D., of Persia. Illustrated, i2rao, cloth, net I1.50 Christianity and the Nations The Duff Lectures for iqio. 8vo, cloth, net *2.oo Missions and Modern History 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, net J4. 00 Missionary Principles and Practice 8vo, cloth, net I1.50 A Memorial of Alice Jackson i2mo, cloth, net 7Sc. A Memorial of Horace Tracy Piktin i2mo, cloth, net li.oo A Memorial of a True Life A Biography of Hugh McAllister Beaver With Portrait. i2mo, cloth, $1.00 Young Men Who Onjercame i2mo, cloth, net li.oo Paul, the All-Round Man i6rao, cloth, net 50c. The Master of the Heart lamo, cloth, net li.oo The Marks of a Man i2mo, cloth, net %isx> A Young Man's Questions i2mo, cloth, net 8oc. The Principles of Jesus In Some Applications to Present Life i6mo, net 50c. Christ and Life The Practice of the Christian Life i2mo, cloth, net 8oc. Studies of the Man Paul i6mo, cloth, 750. Studies of "-The Man Christ Jesus" i6mo, cloth, 75c. Remember Jesus Christ And Other Talks About Christ and the Christian Life i6mo, cloth, 75c. The Deity ofChrisi i8mo, boards, net 25c JOHN'S GOSPEL The Greatest Book in the World Suggestions for the Study of the Gospel by Individuals and in Gro^^g^^ OF r H /^^^ BY , FEB 10 1948 , ROBERT E. SPEER ^filC*L 8t>^^ New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company London and £dinbi/rgh Copyright, 191 5, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY The Bible text used in this volume is taken from the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright, 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and is used by permission. New York : 1 58 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 125 North Wabash Ave. Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. London : 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh : 100 Princess Street PREFACE Tms little book aims to be a help to the study of the Gospel of John. It endeavors to combine two things, a study of the Gospel as a drama of unfolding faith and unbelief and a personal meditation on its spiritual lessons for life. After two or three introductory questions and an outline of the argument of the Gospel, the text is taken up section by section. These sections are numbered. There are one hundred in all. If a class desires to cover the book in ten lessons, each lesson should cover approx- imately ten sections; if in twenty lessons, each should cover five; li in fifty lessons, each lesson should cover two. In each section the text of the American Standard Revised version is given first, then some suggestive com- ment which should be enlarged and] supplemented, and then follow some questions for personal reflection and for discussion in the class. These questions are not at all meant to be exhaustive. They are merely suggestive, i. The student should master the content of each paragraph of the Gospel so that at the end he can review in his memory the whole story of the Gospel. To this end each lesson should include a quick review of the sub- stance of the Gospel from the beginning. 2. Each section should be viewed and grasped in its relation to the whole scheme and argument of the Gospel. The student should refer constantly to the analysis of the Gospel on pages 19-22, and to the fuller analysis of each section on the half-title pages preceding it. 3. The lessons of each section should be taken home into our hearts. The two best books on the Gospel from which help has been constantly drawn and freely used are Westcott's Commentary on the Gospel of John and Dods* volumes on John in the Expositor's Bible. All references, except where otherwise indicated, are to the Gospel of John. In the Bible text the exact typog- 5 6 PREFACE raphy of the American Standard Revised is preserved. Elsewhere the divine pronouns are capitalized and chapter numbers are given in the Arabic form. In the two preliminary chapters on authorship and the author the statement is made in as bold and abbreviated form as possible. This is done intentionally in the hope of stimulating the investigation and discussion of the class. These chapters are in the main simply condensations from Westcott's Commentary. It is not pretended that these questions do not involve difficulties. It is believed that the difficulties are least in the way of accepting the tra- ditional conviction of the Church. It need only be added that this httle book springs from the unreserved and joyful acceptance of John's belief " that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," and that its humble hope is the same as John's, that others also may beheve. (John xx, 31.) CONTENTS PAGE Authorship — Who Wrote the Fourth Gospel? 9 The Author — Who was John? 14 The Author's Purpose and Plan 17 The Plot of the Argument 19 The Prologue. Ch. i, 1-18 23 The Proclamation. Chaps, i, 19-iv 27 The Conflict. Chaps, v-xii 55 The Prelude. Chaps, v, vi 57 The Great Controversy. Chaps, vii-xii 81 The Consimimation of Faith and Unbelief . Chaps, xiii-xx, 129 The Enthronement of Faith. Chaps, xiii-xvii 131 The Victory and the Defeat of Unbelief. Chaps, xviii-xx . 163 Epilogue, xxi 197 7 JOHN'S GOSPEL AUTHORSHIP— WHO WROTE THE FOURTH GOSPEL? Why do we believe that the fourth Gospel was written by the Apostle John? Because the reasons for this belief are satisfactory. It is in accordance with the universal tradition of the early Church and it is supported by the internal evidence of the Gospel itself. We can examine this internal evidence for ourselves. It shows I. That the writer was a Jew. a. His familiarity with (i) Prevalent Messianic conceptions, i, 21 ; iv, 25; vi, 14 f; vii, 40 f; xii, 34. (2) Jewish notions. iv, 9, 27; vii, 15, 35, 49; ix, 2. (3) Details of Jewish observance, vii, 22, 37, 38; xviii, 28. Domestic life, ii, i-io , v, 6. Burial of Lazarus, xi, 17-44. b. Form of narrative. Style. Vocabulary. Imagery. Symbolism. C. The Old Testament the source of the writer's religious life, (i) Jewish opinions and faith. Judea the home of the Word and the people His people, i, II. The law the Jews' property, viii, 17; x, 34. Reverence for it, x, 35; vi, 45; v, 46. ^Old Testament types. iii, 14; vi, 32; vii, 37; viii, 12. Even xiii, 18 and xv, 25 only fulfillings of the Old Testament. ^^2) In speaking for himself he shows the same faith in the Old Testament, ii, 17; xii, 14, 37. So special incidents of the Passion. xix, 23, 28, 36, 37. All these grounds of iaith, xix, 35. .9 10 JOHN'S GOSPEL d. The writer's vivid portraiture of the people. The Jews. Pharisees and Sadducees. The chief priests. Plotted the murder of Lazarus, xii, lo. xviii, 35, xix, 6, 15, 21. 2. That he was a native of Palestine. 0. Local knowledge. Palestine. Cana of Galilee, ii, r, 11; iv, 46; xxi, 2. Bethany beyond Jordan, i, 28; a place already forgotten in the time of Origen. Bethany near Jerusalem, 15 furlongs, xi, 18. Ephraim, xi, 54. Aenon near Salem, iii, 23. Size of Tiberias, vi, 19 f.; Mark vi, 47. "Went down" from Cana to Capernaum, ii, 12. Jerusalem — all peculiar to this Gospel. Pool of Bethesda, v, 2. Pool of Siloam, ix, 7. Brook Kidron, xviii, i. Pavement, xix, 13. Golgotha nigh the city, xix, 1 7. Garden, xix, 20, 41. The Temple. Forty and six years in building, ii, 20. Feast of Tabernacles, vii, viii. Water. Night lamps. In the Treasury, viii, 20. Great candelabra. Solomon's Porch, x, 22. The great vine, xv, i. b. Quotations from the Old Testament suggest that the writer was independent of the Septuagint and ac- quainted with the Hebrew. 3. That he was an eye witness. a. Persons portrayed. Momentous questions connected with individuals. Philip — Whence shall we buy bread? vi, 5, 7; cf. Matt, xiv, 14. Greeks and Philip, xii, 21. Thomas, "Lord, we know not," xiv, 8. Philip, "Show us the Father," xiv, 8. Judas, not Iscariot, *' How is it?" xiv, 22. The disciple whom Jesus loved, xiii, 25; xxi, 20. ^ Only here Nicodemus, iii, i; vii, 50; xix, 39. Lazarus, xi, i; xii, i. Simon, father of Judas Iscariot, vi, 71; xii, 4; xiii, 2, 26. Malchus, xviii, 10. His kinsman, xviii, 26. Annas — Caiaphas' father-in-law, xviii, 13. WHO WROTE THE FOURTH GOSPEL? 11 b. Details of time. Greater seasons not in synoptics. First Passover, ii, 13, 23. Feast of New Year, v, i. Second Passover, vi, 4. Feast of Tabernacles, vii, 2. Feast of Dedication, x, 22. Minuter times. Two marked weeks at beginning and end of ministry, i, 29, 35, 43; ii, i. xii, i, 12 (xiii, i), xix, 31; XX, I. Week of the Resurrection, xx, 26. Enumeration of the days before raising Lazarus, xi, 6, 17, 39. Duration of his stay in Samaria, iv, 40, 43 f ; vi, 22; vii, 14, 37. Even time in the day. i, 40; iv, 6; xix, 14; iv, 52; xiii, 30; xviii, 28; xxi, 4; XX, I ; vi, 16; xx, 19; iii, 2. c. Details of number. Two disciples of John, i, 35. Five and twenty furlongs, vi, 19. Two hundred cubits, xxi, 8. One hundred and fifty-three fishes, xxi, 11. Thirty-eight years of sickness, v, 5. One hundred pounds, xix, 39. Six pots, ii, 6. Four soldiers, xix, 23; cf. Acts xii, 4. Five husbands, iv, 18. Three hundred pence, xii, 5. Cf. Mark xiv, 5, d. Details of place — minuteness. i, 28; iii, 23; iv, 46; V, 2; x, 40; xi, 30, 54, 56. So He spoke, vi, 59; viii, 20; x, 23; xviii. e. Details of manner. Calling of the first apostles, i, 35, 51. Boats from Tiberias. Foot washing, xiii, 1-20. Scene at the High Priest's court, jcviii, 15-27. Draught of fishes, xxi, 1-14. Andrew finding Simon, first, i, 41. Or particularly, xiii, 24; xviii, 6; xix, 5; xxi, 20. Barley loaves, vi, 9. Mary fell at His feet, xi, 32. Night when Judas went out, xiii, 30. 12 JOHN'S GOSPEL Roman soldiers with Judas, xviii, 3. Peter grieved, xxi, 17. Ointment odor filled house, xii, 3. Palm trees by the roadside, xii, 13. Seamless tunic of Christ, xix, 23. Napkin in the tomb, xx, 7. 4. That he was an apostle. a. In general. Call of the first disciples, i, 19-34. Journey through Samaria, iv. Successive visits to Jerusalem, vii, ix, xi, b. Knows feeling of the disciples. Believed on Him at Cana, ii, 11. Remembered Psa. Ixix, 9; ii, 17. The Resurrection strengthened their faith, ii, 22. Note iv, 27; vi, 19, 40; xii, 16; xiii, 22, 28; xxi, 12; cf. Luke xxiv, 8; Matt, xxvi, 75. c. Recalls words spoken among themselves. After Sychar incident, iv, 33. xvi, 17; xx, 25; xxi, 3, 5. d. Recalls words spoken to the Lord. "Master, eat," iv, 31; ix, 2; xi, 8, 12; xvi, 29. e. Familiar with the disciples' place of resort. At Ephraim, xi, 54. Garden, xviii, 2; xx, 19. /. Knows of erroneous impressions received by them and afterwards corrected. Temple of His body, ii, 21, 22. xi, 13; xii, 16; XX, 9; xiii, 28; xxi, 4. g. Stood very near the Lord. He was aware of His emotions, xi, 33] xiii, 21. Knew the grounds of His action. "When He knew that the Pharisees," iv, i. ii, 24; vi, 15; V, 6; vii, i; xvi, 19. h. The mind of the Lord laid open to him. Trying Philip, vi, 6. Knew murmurings of disciples, vi, 61. vi, 64; xiii, I, 3, 11; xviii, 4; xix, 28. ; $. That he was the Apostle John. \ a. One who entered most deeply into the Lord's life. The epilogue assigns the book to the disciple whom Jesus loved, xxi, 24. xiii, 23; xix, 26; XX, 2; xxi, 7, 20; In xx, 2. WHO WROTE THE FOURTH GOSPEL? 13 b. Known to the High Priest, xviii, 15. c. Closely related to Peter. xiii, 24; XX, 2; xxi, 7; xviii, 15. d. In xxi, 2 he must have been one of the sons of Zebedee or of the two undefined ones. e. In Synoptists. ,4^ Peter and James and John closest. Not Peter, not James (Acts, xii, 2), therefore John. The only place in the history for John. /. i, 41. "And findeth his brother." The other disciple presumably found his, too. xxi, 2 shows that this other pair were Zebedee's sons. So John was the unnamed one. g. Confirmed by the Evangelist's particularity in defining names. Simon after his call is always Peter or Simon Peter. Thomas, three out of four times, is Did3anus, xi, 16; XX, 24; xxi, 2. Judas Iscariot is the son of Simon, vi, 71; xii, 4; xiii, 2, 26. Other Judas, xiv, 22. Nicodemus, xix, 39. And yet he never says John the Baptist, but simply "John," and by his modesty Does not give Salome, wife'"of Zebedee, xix, 25; cf. Matt, xxvii, 56, nor the name of James, xxi, 2, nor of the mother of Jesus. Gives Peter the first place. i, 42; vi, 68; xiii, 6; xviii, 10, 16; xx, 2, 6; xxi, 3, 7, II, 15- /And all this indirect evidence is supported by the direct evi- dence of these passages: 1. John i, 14; cf. I John i, i. 2. John xix, 35 f. 3. John xxi, 24. The evidence of primitive Christian tradition is heavy and unbroken, beginning with Theophilus, 181 a.d., who wrote, "The Holy Scriptures teach us and all the inspired men, one of whom, John saith, *In the beginning, etc.'" This is the first quotation of the Gospel by name, but not the first reference to it. There is a mass of such references. The voice of the Church confirms the clear testimony of the Gospel to its own authority. It is easier to believe that John wrote the book than to account for the book as any other man's production. ( 14 JOHN'S GOSPEL THE AUTHOR— WHO WAS JOHN? 1. The son of Zebedee and Salome. Matt, xxvii, 56; Mk. xv, 40; xvi, i; Jno. xix, 25. The younger son, Matt, iv, 21; Mark i, 19; Luke v, 10. James the Martyr his brother, Mk. iii, 17; Acts rii, i, 2. 2. His mother was Mary's sister, xix, 25. 3. His father was a fisherman of Bethsaida, i, 37, 40; probably of considerable means. a. The hired servants, Mk. i, 20. b. His mother's substance, Mk. xv, 40; Luke viii, 3. c. John's own house, xix, 27. d. He knew the High Priest — or John did. John too was a fisherman until his call. 4. He was a Galilean. Like all the Apostles save Judas. The Galileans free, simple, open, strong, vii, 52; vi, 14; Acts V, 37. He did not lack the ardor of the Galilean temper, iv, 45. a. Surname, Boanerges, Mk. iii, 17. "Sons of thunder" — in Hebrew idiom thunder is the "voice of God." 6. This character shown in his sayings. Luke ix, 49; Mk. ix, 38; cf. Num. xi, 28; Luke ix, 54. c. Never lost this strength and forcefulness. Breathes through Apocalypse, "How long?" Rev. vi, 10. Nowhere is error as to Christ's person more strongly denounced than in his Epistles, II John 10; I John iv, I ff. d. Ambitious in spirit. His mother's request. Matt. xx. 20 f . Mk. x, 35. Why did Salome ask it? Granted really, xix, 25 fif. 5. He was the lad among the Apostles. a. John xxi declares that he was to outlive Peter. b. James and John. Then Peter and John. Peter was the spokesman before the Sanhedrin. WHO WAS JOHN? 15 c. No jealousy of him at the supper table. There was jealousy of James and John together when Salome made her request. d. Passed unchallenged in the High Priest's house. «. Outran Peter to the sepulchre, but halted at the door, like a boy, till Peter went in. /. In John xxi, Peter asks not "What is this man to do?'« but "What is this one," the boy following Peter and Jesus. 6. "The one whom Jesus loved." xix, 26, 27; xiii, 23; xxi, 20. He dwelt in the closer relationship. Luke viii, 51; ix, 28; Mk. xiv, 33. He followed Christ to judgment and to death, xviii, 15; xix, 26. And to him was entrusted Jesus* mother, xix, 27. 7. He stood next to Peter in the early Church. Acts iii, 1-8, 25; i, 13; viii, 14. Absent from Jerusalem at Paul's first visit. Gal. i, 18. Later, Paul describes him, as Gal. ii, 9 sets forth, — "One of the pillars." This was fifteen years later. At the council of Jerusalem, a.d. 50. Acts, xv 4, 22. 8. In Rev. i, 9 speaks of himself as banished to Patmos. 9. All else is tradition. It shows him in the same character. a. It is related that he refused to remain under the same roof with Cerinthus, who denied the Incarnation. "Let us fly," he said, "lest the bath fall upon us. Since within is Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth." j b. He is described as wearing the plate prescribed by law for the High Priest. Ex. xxxix, 30 f. c. Jerome. "When he tarried at Ephesus to extreme old age and could only with difl&culty be carried to the church in the arms of his disciples and was unable to give utterance to many words, he used to say no more at their several meetings, than this, 'Little children, love one suaother.' At length the disciples and fathers who were there, wearied with hearing always the same words, said, 'Master, why dost thou always say this?' 'It is the Lord's command,' was the reply, 'and if this alone be done, it is enough!' " Id • JOHN'S GOSPEL 10. All this is legendary, but his stay at Ephesus after the final' departure of Paul till the end of the century, was attested. His death stories all traditional. So also the story of the waving grass on the grave. 11. He was well qualified by his life and by his association with Mary in his home to write the Gospel. He had the advantage of all he knew, of all she knew and of the flood of light the destruction of Jerusalem threw on the life and teaching of Jesus. "The central characteristic of his nature is intensity of thought, word, insight, life. He regards everything on its divine side. For him the eternal is already. All is complete from the beginning, though wrought out step by step upon the stage of human action. All is absolute in itself, though marred by the weakness of believers. He sees the past and the present gathered up in the manifestation of the Son of God. This was the one fact in which the hope of the world lay, of this he had himself been assured by evidence of sense and thought. This he was constrained to proclaim, 'we have seen and do testify.' He had no labored process to go through. He saw. He had no constructive process to develop; he bore witness. His source of knowledge was direct and his mode of bringing con- viction was to afl5rm." — Westcott. He had seen and pondered long over it all, and "Much that at first, in deed and word Was simply and sufficiently expressed. Had grown (or else my soul was grown to match, Fed through such years, familiar with such light. Guarded and guided still to see and speak) Of new significance and fresh result: What first were guessed as points I now knew stars And named them in the Gospel I have writ." — Browning. THE AUTHOR'S PURPOSE AND PLAN 17 THE AUTHOR'S PURPOSE AND PLAN John wrote his Gospel, we may believe, toward the close of the first century, and for a definite avowed purpose. This explains much of the difference between it and the first three Gospels, e.g., the omission of prophecies and judgments which had been in part fulfilled in the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, the development of the aspects and meanings of Christ's teachings which had only emerged as the Church developed and new spiritual and intellectual problems had dawned, the necessity of setting in rela- tion to all life truths before seen in their local apphcation, and of interpreting the historic development of Jewish antagonism and apostolic trust in terms of the eternal struggle between faith and unbelief. John distinctly states what his object was, xx, 30 f, and the object determines his plan. "This is," says Westcott, " to express it as briefly as possible, the parallel development of faith and unbelief through the historical presence of Christ. The EvangeHst is guided in the selection, and in the arrangement, and in the treatment of his materials by his desire to fulfill this purpose. He takes a few out of the vast mass of facts at his disposal (xxi, 25; XX, 30), which are in his judgment suited to produce a particular effect. Every part of his narrative is referred to one final truth made clear by experience, that 'Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.' He makes no promise to compose a life of Christ, or to give a general view of His teaching, or to preserve a lively picture of the general effect which He produced on average observers, or to compose a chapter on the general history of his own times, or to add his personal recollections to memoirs of the Lord already current; nor have we any right to judge his narrative by the standard which would be appli- cable to any one of such writings. He works out his own design." The chronological unfolding of the story can be traced by keeping the following events in mind: 18 JOHN'S GOSPEL Early spring: the calling of the first disciples, i, 19-ii, 11. First Passover (April), ii, 13-iii, 21; iii, 22-iv, 54. The Feast of the New Year (September), v. Second Passover (April), vi. The Feast of Tabernacles (October), vii, viii. j The Feast of Dedication (December), ix, x, xi, xU. Third Passover (April), xiii-xx. "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." John xx, 30, 31. THE TLOT OF THE ARGUMENT 19 THE PLOT OF THE ARGUMENT ANALYSIS OF THE GOSPEL (Mainly according to Westcott) PAGB Prologue, i, 1-18 23 I. The Proclamation, i, 19-iv 27 A. The introductory testimony to Christ, i, 19-ii, 12 29 1. Of the Baptist, i, 19-36 29 2. Of the disciples, i, 37-51 32 3. Of signs. The water made wine, ii, i-ii 35 B. The introductory work of Christ, ii, 13-iv, 54 38 1. In Judea. Nicodemus, ii, 13-iii, 36 38 2. In Samaria. The woman by Jacob's well, iv, 1-42. 47 3. In GaUlee, iv, 43-54 51 II. The Conflict, v-xii 53 A. The Prelude, v, vi 55 1. In Jerusalem, v 55 a. The sign. The healing at Bethesda, v, 1-9. 55 6. The sequel of the sign, v, 10-16 56 c. The discourse on the Son as the source of life. The Son and the Father, v, 17-47. 58 2. In Galilee, vi 61 o. The signs. The feeding of the five thousand, and walking on the sea. vi, 1-21 61 h. The sequel of the two signs, vi, 22-25 65 c. The discourse on the Son as the source and guide of life. The Son and man. vi, 26-59. 66 d. The issue, vi, 60-71 72 B. The Great Controversy, vii-xii 75 I. The full unveiling of faith and unbelief at Jeru- salem, vii-x 79 20 JOHN'S GOSPEL PAGE a. The Feast of Tabernacles, vii, viii 79 1. The circumstances of the visit, vii, 1-13 79 2. The discussions in the midst of the feast, vii, 14-36 81 3. The discussions on the last day of the feast, vii, 37-52 85 4. The story of the woman taken in adultery, viii, i-ii 88 5. Jesus further reveals Himself, viii, 12-20 90 6. The spiritual crisis in the preaching to Israel, viii, 21-50 92 1. The clear statement of the object of faith and the results of im- belief. viii, 21-30 92 2. Analysis of the character and issues of selfish belief and false Judaism, viii, 31-59 93 b. The Feast of Dedication. The separation accomplished, ix, x 99 1. The sign. The healing of the blind man. ix, i-i 2 99 2. The judgments on the sign, ix, 13-34. loi 3. The beginning of the new society. ix, 35-41 104 4. The character of the new society. X, 1-21 105 5. Christ's final public testimony to Him- self before the Passion, x, 22-38.. . 108 6. The diverse results, x, 39-42 no 2. The decisive judgment, xi, xii 112 a. The final sign and its result. Lazarus, xi. 112 b. The close of Christ's public ministry in judgment, xii 119 1. The feast at Bethany, xii, i-ii 119 2. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem. xii, 12-19 121 3. The request of the Gr'^eis, the voice from heaven, and the final warning, xii, 20-36 1 23 4. The judgment of John, xii, 37-43 125 5. The judgment of Christ, xii, 44-50.. . 127 THE PLOT OF THE ARGUMENT 21 PAGE III. The Consummation OF Faith AND Unbelief, xiii-xx. 129 A. The enthronement of faith through the last ministry of love and the self-revelations of Light and Life, xiii-xvii 131 1. The last ministry of love and judgment among His own. xiii, 1-30 131 a. The unselfish humility of love, xiii, 1-20. . 131 b. The separation of the selfish apostle in a last judgment, xiii, 21-30 134 2. The last discourses, xiii, 31-xvii 135 a. In the upper room, xiii, 31-xiv, 31 136 1. The separation and its necessity and its results, xiii, 31-38. Peter 136 2. Christ and the Father, xiv, i-ii. Thomas and Philip 138 3. Christ and the disciples, xiv, 12-21.. 141 4. The law and the progress of further revelation, xiv, 22-31. Judas 142 b. On the way. xv, xvi 144 1. The living union, xv, i-io 144 2. The issues of union: the disciples and Christ. XV, 11-16 146 3. The issues of union: the disciples and the world, xv, 17-27 148 4. The world and the Advocate, xvi, i-ii 150 5. The Advocate and the disciples, xvi, 12-15 152 6. Sorrow turned to joy. xvi, 16-24 i54 7. Defeat and victory, xvi, 25-33 155 C, The High Priest's prayer, xvii 157 1. The Son and the Father, xvii, 1-5. . . 157 2. The Son and the disciples, xvii, 6-19. 159 3. The Son and the Church, xvii, 20-26. 161 B, The victory and the defeat of unbelief, xviii-xx 163 I. Its victory in Christ's death, xviii, xix 165 a. The betrayal, xviii, i-ii 165 b. The double trial, xviii, 12-xix, 16 167 22 JOHN'S GOSPEL PACB 1. The ecclesiastical trial, xviii, 12-27. • 167 2. The civil trial, xviii, 27-xix, 16 170 c. The end. xix, 17-42 179 2. Its defeat in Christ's resurrection. The new life. XX 185 a. The facts, satisfying Peter and John. XX, i-io 185 b. The revelation to personal love, xx, 11-18. 189 c. The revelation to the fear-filled disciples. XX, 19-23 190 d. The revelation to Thomas, xx, 24-29 192 The close of the story and John's explanation of his purpose, xx, 30-31 194 Epilogue, xxi 197 THE PROLOGUE. I. 1-18 "This little book is a still deeper sea, in which the sun and stars are mirrored, and if there are eternal truths (and such there are) for the human race, they are found in the Gospel of John." — Herder. "This Gospel is the consummation of the Gospels, as the Gospels are of all the Scriptures." — Origen. Ch. I. 1-18 PROLOGUE 26 PROLOGUE, i, 1-18 (7) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word ^-^ -^ was with God and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in the dark- ness; and the darkness apprehended it not. 6 There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. 9 There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not. 12 But as many as re- ceived him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 who were bom, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth. 15 John beareth witness of him, and crieSi, saying. This was he of whom I said. He that cometh after me is become before me: for he was before me. 16 For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses ; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. The prologue forecasts the plot and purpose of the Gospel. 1. The revelation of the Word, 1-4. 2. The rejection by unbelief, 5-1 1, as the light, 5-9, as the world's creator and preserver, 10, as Lord of His own, 11. 3. The acceptance by faith, 12-18. This is the best that can be done to crowd infinite mys- teries into finite speech. Our language is strained here 26 PROLOGUE Ch. I. 1-18 to its utmost compass, but it has the limitations of the human life by which it was created and within which it grew, and it cannot contain what is above and beyond it. It can only feel after and suggest it. There was in God a necessity for expressing Himself, for loving and being loved, so God put Himself forth. That forthputting was the Word. From the beginning this Word was. God made all things through Him. He was the giver of all life and Hght. Wherever in all the world and in all ages there has been truth and discernment, those were His working. But men did not recognize Him. So He came in flesh and blood. His character, full of grace and truth, attested Him, and those who perceive who He is have a new knowledge and enter into a new relationship with God. This is the way John begins his Gospel. It is the simplest and most satisfactory view we have of one of the three deepest and most solemn problems of life. Whence came we? The Word was God's Son. He shows us that God is our Father, also. Schilling said that the greatness of a system of thought is better tested sometimes by its power to create questions than by its power to answer them. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What was the origin of language and what are its limitations, especially in the sphere of religion? Read Bushnell's sermon, "Our Gospel a Gift to the Imagination" in "Building Eras in Religion." 2. Can you think of any more effective, or suggestive, introduction than this to a book whose author had such a purpose as John avows in John xx, 31. Could you infer that purpose from this introduction if John had not so explicitly avowed it? 3. If God is what Christians believe Him to be, must not all our discoveries of God be simply God's self-rev- elation? And if God is thus always revealing Himself, and if all our knowledge of Him is simply discovery of what is always there for whoever will find it, are we not responsible if we miss it? If with the revelation of Christ within our reach we are unacquainted with God in Him, whose fault is it? I. THE PROCLAMATION, i, 19-iv A. The Introductory Testimony to Christ, i, 19-ii, 12. 1. Of John the Baptist, i, 19-36. a. In answer to the embassy from the Jews, i, 19-28. b. In answer to the approach of Jesus and to his own disciples, i, 29-36. 2. Of the Disciples, i, 37-51. a. The first group, i, 37-42. h. The second group._i, 43-51. 3. Of signs, ii, i-ii. B. The Introductory Work of Christ, ii, 13-iv, 54. 1. In Judea. ii, 13-iii, 36. a. At Jerusalem in the Temple, ii, 13-22. b. At Jerusalem with Jews, ii, 23-iii, 21. (i) Generally, ii, 23-25. _ (2) Specially. The interview with Nicodemus. iii, 1-21. (3) Generally again, iii, 22-36. 2. In Samaria. The woman by Jacob's well, iv, 1-42. 3. In Galilee, iv, 43-54- "The first three evangelists give us diverse aspects of one glorious landscape. St. John pours over that landscape a flood of heavenly sunshine, which seems to transfigure its very character, though every feature of the landscape remains the same." — Farrar. "The Gospel of John is the most original, the most important, the most influential book in all literature. ... It is simple as a child and sublime as a seraph, gentle as a lamb and bold as as an eagle, deep as the sea, and high as ^e heavens." — Schaff, Ch. I. 19-28 INTRODUCTORY TESTIMONY 29 I. THE PROCLAMATION, i, 19-iv A. The Introductory Testimony to Christ, i, 19-ii, 12 I. The Testimony of John the Baptist, i, 19-38 a. In answer to the embassy from the Jews, i, 19-28 ^ 19 And this is the witness of John, when the Jews ^-^^ sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered No. 22 They said therefore unto him. Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. 24 And they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elijah, neither the prophet? 26 John answered them, saying, I baptize in water: in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not, 27 even he that cometh after me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose. 28 These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. "I am a voice," thou sayest, thou holy John, If voice thou art, why was thy father dumb? silence strange! which while I muse upon 1 see thy voice from God, not man did come. — Crashaw. The man who came before Jesus comes after Him. First John, then Jesus. But John says, "No, first Jesus, then John." He had come first only in order to make first place for Jesus. He had come before Jesus' face. He at once sought to be behind Jesus' back. Whoever will act on this principle of self-effacement will find what John found, that Jesus will exalt him who humbles himself. John answered curtly men's questions about himself. He had come to speak for Jesus. If men were willing to 30 PROCLAMATION Ch. I. 29-36 hear of Him, John was ready to speak. Today would be a different day from any we have ever known if we should enter upon it in the Spirit of God which was in John the Baptist. But we must do it really. Putting ourselves forward, claiming Christ's favor or authority because we are Christ's, forming our own plans and calling them God's — is not the right way. The right way is to give Jesus the pre-eminence in spirit and in truth, that is, in thought and act. "Anything more un- Jewish than what John preached or more unlike his times could not be imagined. Assuredly it must have come to him as a new fact and a new mes- sage directly from heaven." — Edersheim. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Can the force of such testimony as this be escaped except by the attitude of mind which has decided in ad- vance of the testimony that it will not accept it unless it is pleased with it? And is such an attitude of mind toward testimony scientific? 2. If there are other ways in which to escape the ob- vious force of this testimony, what are they and can they justify themselves? 3. But just how far toward the writer's purpose does the testimony of this paragraph alone carry us? Remember that it is only introductory. 4. What is your conception of the personaHty and mission of John the Baptist? h. In answer to the approach of Jesus and to his own disciples, i, 29-36 ®29 On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said. After me Cometh a man who is become before me: for he was before me. 31 And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water. 32 And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld de Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode Ch. I. 29-36 INTRODUCTORY TESTIMONY 31 upon him. 33 And I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit. 34 And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. 35 And again on the morrow John was standing, and two of his disciples; 36 And he looked upon Jesus as he wdked, and saith. Behold, the Lamb of God ! The mothers of John and of Jesus were kinswomen, so the sons must have known of one another, and perhaps have played together as boys. And John proclaims now in Jesus what both their families had long known, and must often have talked about, or the scenes recorded in Luke I and II could never have been so well remembered. If Jesus was the Messiah, John had had opportunity to know it. If He was not, John would long before this have been undeceived. Yet he had never known Him in those days as he now knew Him. Since that baptism he had a new knowledge of Jesus. In obeying and bap- tizing Jesus he was given a new understanding of Jesus. No questionings of others could shake him now. "I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." Whoever will obey Jesus will see this, also, and having once seen it will become a witness to it. Jesus is called not the Warrior of God, but the Lamb of God. What does that mean for us? The lines "For a child" tell us. "Lamb of God, I look to Thee; Thou shalt my example be; Thou art gentle, meek, and mild; Thou wast once a little child. "Thou didst live to God alone; Thou didst never seek Thine own; Thou Thyself didst never please; God was all Thy happiness. "Loving Jesu, gentle Lamb, In Thy gracious hands I am; Make me. Saviour, what Thou arti Live Thyself within my heart I 32 PROCLAMATION Ch. I. 37-42 "I shall then show forth Thy praise; Serve Thee all my happy days; Then the world shall always see Christ, the Holy Child, in me." There is to be war also, but it is not spoken of here. Questio7is for Reflection and Discussion 1. "Behold, the Lamb of God." Reflect again upon the uses of language. "Why to say: 'Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world' signifies in the heart's uses, more than whole volumes of palaver in any possible words of natural language. No living disciple having once gotten the sense of these types of the altar, will ever try to get his gospel out of them and preach it in the common terms of language." — Bushnell. 2. What conception of the character and influence of Jesus is involved in the thought of Him as Lamb of God? Does this conception support the militaristic idea? 3. What new conception of the character of God and His relation to the world is involved in the fact that the Lamb of God is also God's own Son? 2. The Testimony of Disciples, i, 37-51 a. The first group, i, 37-42 r^ 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they ^^ followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them. What seek ye? And they said unto him. Rabbi (which is to say, being inter- preted, Teacher), where abidest thou? 39 He saith unto them. Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day: it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two that heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He findeth first his own brotiher Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ). 42 He brought him imto Jesus. Jesus looked upon him, and said. Thou art Simon the son of John: thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter). Ch. 1. 37-42 INTRODUCTORY TESTIMONY 33 Compare the first words of Jesus in the four Gospels. Matt, iii, 15; Mark i, 15; Luke ii, 49; John i, 38, 39. "What seek ye?" asked Jesus. "No thing,'' replied the two men, "where dwellest Thou?" They were not seeking any thing. He was what they wanted. Is it so with us? And the Lord was seeking. He had nothing to hide. He had all heaven and God to show, and only wanted open hearts. He found them that day. And John never forgot the very hour. As to Andrew, his first thought was of his brother. This was the first winning of a man to Christ. Were there ever two brothers more unlike than shrewd, careful Andrew, and impulsive and unstable Simon? Doubtless Simon knew only too well the differ- ence, and the assurance of Jesus that He knew the inner self-dissatisfaction of his heart and had a new name and a new character for him was the only evidence of the new Messiah that Simon needed. The man who finds the Messiah in Christ finds a new man in himself. Christ brought men as straight as possible to Himself. We have here " a warning to all who put themselves off with learning more about salvation before they accept it." "An eagerness in acquiring knowledge about Christ may as effectually as any other pursuit retard us in making acquaintance with Him. It is mere trifling to be always enquiring about One who is Himself with us." — Marcus Dods. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Is it not a strong presumption in favor of the Gospel that it offers itself so boldly for experiment? Christianity is not obscurantist. The Christian may be out-argued in debate, but he can always do what his opponent cannot, namely, appeal to facts. Is this true? Can he? 2. Are not the facts presented here powerful testimony in support of the entire case? How would you analyze their value as such testimony? 3. What was the significance to Simon of his promised change of name? Was he actually called Peter afterwards? How soon? How often? 34 PROCLAMATION Ch. I. 43-51 b. The second group, i, 43-51 /^N 43 On the morrow he was minded to go forth into Gal- ^^ ilee, and he findeth Philip ; and Jesus saith unto him, Follow me. 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 And Nathanael said unto him. Can any good thmg come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him. Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48 Nathanael saith unto him. Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49 Nathanael answered him. Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art King of Israel. 50 Jesus answered and said unto him. Because I said unto thee, I saw thee underneath the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. 51 And he saith tmto him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. The mind of Christ led Him toward men (v. 43). The same mind in us will lead us in the same direction. When Christ finds a man, that makes the man a finder of his fellows. What convinced Philip of the Messiahship of Jesus? He followed Him and saw. The best way to become a follower of Jesus is to follow Him. The man who will really follow Him for one day will not want to for- sake Him. Why not test Christ in this scientific and entirely rational way? And what convinced Nathanael? The Saviour showed him that He understood him better than he understood himself. He interpreted his soul's longings for him and offered to satisfy them. The first disciples came to Christ because of what He was in Himself as they saw Him and because of His understanding of them and because of their confidence from these first interviews, a confidence which the later years made the dominant conviction of their souls, that He had the words of eternal life. Do we not want them to-day? A man is found by Christ when the man is revealed to himself and has opened to him the way to attain his truest longings. Ch. II. i-ii INTRODUCTORY TESTIMONY 36 "And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we should know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ." — I. John v, 20. "Son of Man" was the one title which Jesus gave Him- self. All others were given Him by others. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What was it that so quickly convinced Nathanael? Was it Jesus' supernatural understanding of his longings as under the fig tree he had thought of Jacob's night visions, Gen. xxviii, xxxii, and craved such experience for himself? Bethel and the ford Jabbok were not very far away. 2. Much is made of Peter's great confession at Caesarea Philippi, Matt, xvi, 16. Was that any more wonderful than this sudden confession of Nathanael's, "Rabbi, Son of God, King of Israel"? 3. Can this conversation with Nathanael, with what was said on each side, be interpreted on the basis of a merely human valuation of Christ? 3. The Testimony of Signs, ii, i-ii (e) O And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of ^-^ ^ Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 and Jesus also was bidden, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3 And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him. They have no wine. 4 And Jesus saith unto her, "Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. 5 His mother saith imto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. 6 Now there were six waterpots of stone set there after the Jews' manner of purifying, con- taining two or three firkins apiece. 7 Jesus saith tmto them. Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he saith unto them. Draw out now, and bear unto the ruler of the feast. And they bare it. 9 And when the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and knew not whence it was (but the ser- vants that had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast calleth the bridegroom, 10 and saith unto him, Every man setteth on first the good wine; and when mcH have dnmk freely, then that which is worse: thou hast kept the 36 PROCLAMATION Ch. n. 1-12 good wine tintil now. 11 This beginning of his signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him. John the Baptist and the first disciples have borne testimony to Jesus. Now after the testimony of the first men we have presented the testimony of the first miracle. Only John calls it not a miracle but a sign {v. 2). Jesus and His disciples already constitute a little band. It is only three days since He had won them. One became intimate with Jesus very fast. Together they went to a festival of joy and added to its joy. The Saviour never threw gloom over anything that was innocent. It is sin that wiU not hate itself that is darkened and made wretched by His presence {w. 7, 8). A word from Him wrought the miracle. Those who obeyed found that acting under His orders wrought a wonder. He turned that which had no value into that which was precious. These things signified who He was (v. 11). The same signs can be seen any day now. Jesus is doing still just what He did at Cana, and now, as then, it confirms the faith of His disciples. p\ 12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he and ^-^ his mother, and kis brethren, and his disciples; and there they abode not many days. There was a brief pause now between the introductory testimony and the introductory work. Jesus' family is still united, although Joseph, never mentioned as living, is probably dead. Note 1. Jesus and His disciples having returned from Cana to Nazareth went together to Capernaum. 2. His brothers are with Him, but no sisters. Did He have any sisters? Were His brothers sons of Mary, or were they only half-brothers, sons of a former wife of Joseph? 3. The disciples cling to Jesus and follow Him. x, 4. 4. They abode now for only a few days at Capernaum, but soon, after the imprisonment of John the Baptist, they came there to reside. Matt, iv, 12, 13. Ch. II. I-I2 INTRODUCTORY TESTIMONY 37 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. If no amount of testimony is sufficient to accredit a miracle, of course we cannot be convinced that there ever was one. But is it "scientific" to lay down this dogma? Suppose some one from our day could step back a hundred years and tell of the achievements of to-day with electricity or with wireless transmission, or suppose he should go to central China, with his story; he would not be believed by those who held that no testimony could prove a miracle. And yet the only difficulty in the matter is that some men have met with a higher level of energy than other men have known. Why is it unreasonable to expect mir- acles from such a Miracle as Christ, to whom levels of life and energy were open of which we know but which we have not learned to master? 2. What is the significance of John's constant description of miracles as signs? He nowhere uses the word miracle. These deeds were looked upon by John not from the side of nature as marvels, but from the side of super-nature as insights, unveilings, intimations. 3. Think upon the feelings of Jesus and Mary as our Lord passed out of the home relationship and the earlier conceptions into the work of His public ministry and His prophetic authority. When did they both fully understand and become not Mother and Son only but also disciple and Lord? This thought will interpret v. 4. 5. After the sign, a time of quiet. The Saviour was not always teaching publicly or working miracles. If we will look at the Gospels we will see that a small part of His time is accounted for by His public works. Most of it was spent in quietness, — in prayer alone to God, in lonely journeys with His little band, or in the simple life of the homes of the people. We need not be always on the strain of public activity. It is in the quiet of social life and of our common relationships and of the home, that we are to live our life. There the real tests come. There the great opportunities are to be found. It was what Jesus was in these privacies of His life that accounts for what He showed Himself to be in His great activities. So with us, the question is as to the foundations of life. Are they solid and strong? 38 PROCLAMATION Ch. H. 13-2^ ' " Beneath the edifice that men call Me, Whose minarets attract the setting sun, Whose portals to the passer-by are free, Abides another one. " The heartbeat of the organ throbs not there, To jar the heavy silence of the soul; Nor low amen of acolytes at prayer, Nor bells that ring or toll. *' Unsought, undreamed, save by the solemn few, Who with a lantern lit of love descend, To find the buried arches grim and true. On which the walls depend! " — Martha Gilbert Dickinson. B. The Introductory Work of Christ, ii, 13-iv, 54 I. In Judea. ii, 13-iii, 36 a. At Jerusalem in the Temple, ii, 13-22 (^ 13 And the passover of the Jews was at hand, and ^-^ Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And he foimd in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers' money, and overthrew their tables; 16 and to them that sold the doves he said. Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise. 17 His disciples remem- bered that it was written. Zeal for thy house shall eat me up. 18 The Jews therefore answered and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19 Jesus answered and said tmto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 The Jews therefore said, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he spake this; and they believed the scrip- ture, and the word which Jesus had said. The few days at Capernaum among friends. Then the long journey south and up to Jerusalem. How much these unrecorded days must have contained ! And then one great deed and one great conversation are all that are picked Ch. II. 13-22 INTRODUCTORY WORK 39 out from the busy days in the great city. The great deed was a foreshadowing of all His work, and it gave Him opportunity to drop the first hint of His greatest miracle, His own resurrection. He cleansed the temple of the hucksters. So He cleanses Hfe of all meanness. So He purifies all worship. So He gives the temple to all God's children and wipes out all class privilege. So He shows His authority over all worship and over all life. He who can restore the temple to its right uses, who can put life where death was, can do that same thing in all the hfe of the world. To do it He is the everliving One. The sign of His right to rule life is found in His own life's inde- structibility. He lives in us with His purity by the power of the endless Hfe. But it was not until long afterwards that the disciples understood. Do we understand even now? How different this religious professionalism in the temple from the simple, open, familiar fellowship with God in the fields of Galilee! "The temple of His body." ''Do you know what's the finest line in Scripture, Doc? But He spoke of the temple of His body . . . keep your temple strong and clean. If I was a parson, I tell you, I'd go right to Seventh and Centre next Saturday and give a talk to them blaggards on that. But He spoke of — " Klinker^s remark to Doctor Queed. "The Scripture." John vii, 38, 42; x, 35; xiii, 18; xvii, 12; xix, 24, 28; 36,37; XX, 9. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. When is indignation justifiable? "I have seen him," wrote a friend of F. W. Robertson, "grind his teeth and clench his fists when passing a man who he knew was bent on dishonoring an innocent girl." May not moral neutrality sometimes degenerate into neutral morality? 2. What modern uses of the church or of religion corre- spond to the abuses of the temple which Jesus denounced? 3. Would a later writer than John, manufacturing a Gospel, think of these touches of verisimilitude in which John so naturally explains remarks of Jesus which were not understood at the time? w. 21, 22; vii, 39; xii, ss; xxi, 19. 40 PROCLAMATION Ch. H. 23-25 b. At Jerusalem with Jews, ii, 23-iii, 21 (i) Generally, ii, 23-25 (7) 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, ^^ during the feast, many believed on his name, beholding his signs, which he did. 24 But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he knew all men, 25 and because he needed not that any one should bear witness concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man. John does not need to describe these signs. The Spirit of God taught him silence as well as speech. The people who beheld believed on Jesus as the Messiah, their kind of Messiah, which was the kind Jesus was not. They believed Jesus to be what He knew He was not. He knew them to be what they believed they were not. To the Revealer all is revealed. The Gospels are full of the evidence of Jesus' complete understanding of men. He knew human nature for He had deliberately taken up that nature to redeem it, and He thoroughly understood the task He had assumed. But also He knew each man whom He met individually. Motives and character were all bare to His eyes. He saw just what there was in each man to build upon, to draw forth and develop. This was terrible to the evil- minded, but it was blessed to the humble of heart. It is so still. Jesus knows all our weakness, all our sorrows, all our motives, every impulse and purpose. Happy are they who, realizing this, can go on to sing, "There's not ,a friend like the ^owly Jesus. No, not one, no, not one." Po lye welcome or dread the present omniscience of •Jesus? -Q'^^iionsfor Reflection and Discussion I. What courses of action on the part of Christ are illuminated by the explanation that He understood men's motives? 2. What kind of belief is that to which Jesus is unwilling to entrust Himself? Can there be such belief to-day? Ch. III. 1-2 1 INTRODUCTORY WORK 41 (2) Specially. The interview with Nicodemus. iii, 1-2 1 ^ Q Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named ^-^ y Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 the same came unto him by night, and said to him. Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God ; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus an- swered and said unto him. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him. How can a man be bom when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered. Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. 8 The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him. How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him. Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I teU ye heavenly things? 13 And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be Ufted up; 15 that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. ^ 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only ^-^ begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world ; but that the world shotild be saved through him. 18 He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the judg- ment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be re- proved. 21 But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have .tieen wrought in God- 42 PROCLAMATION Ch. III. 1-21 iii, i-i 5. A man's motives for coming to Jesus in any par- ticular way are of less consequence than his motives for com- ing to Jesus at all. Nicodemus came by night. Why he came by night rather than by day is less important than why he came by night or day. We need to get to Jesus by day or night, by land or sea, in summer or winter. And when we come He will know what we need. And what- ever else we may need we shall all find that we need, whether we are wise men or simple men, great men or lowly, the same thing; that is, to be born again, to have a new principle of life in us. As Professor Drummond says: "It is this great law which finally distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. It places the religion of Christ upon a footing altogether unique. There is no analogy between the Christian religion, and, say, Buddhism or the Mohammedan religion. There is no true sense in which a man can say: He that hath Buddha hath life. Buddha has nothing to do with life. He may have some to do with morality. He may stimulate, impress, teach, guide, but there is no distinct new thing added to the souls of those who profess Buddhism. These religions may be developments of the natural and moral man. But Chris- tianity professes to be more. It is the mental or moral man plus something else or Some One else." iii, 16-21. This new life the love of God gives in Christ. If we will have it, we have it. Through our willingness to let God's loving will be done in us God makes us alive. It is not our work or our working. It is His gracious good- ness. We accept it or we reject it. And we do one or the other according as the fundamental purpose and desire of our life is toward evil or truth, {w. 20, 21.) Christ is looking for right-minded men. The right-minded men will come to Him. But the glory of the Gospel is that by it God in Christ can make wrong-minded men right- minded. For Christ came not so much to expose the fundamental purposes and desires of our lives as to make these purposes and desires right, to save us. Thank God for that. "The great mystery of religion is not the punishment, but the forgiveness of sin, not the natural permanence of character, but regeneration." — Westcott. In the heathen religions this permanence of character Ch. III. I-2I INTRODUCTORY WORK 43 is universally recognized. Men do not doubt the reality of future rewards and punishments. Christianity alone opens a way to forgiveness of sin and transformation of character. This is the gift of God's love. What is the result? Multitudes who will not follow the way or meet the conditions of forgiveness and transformation act as though they imagined that the love that provided them had apart from them abrogated the law of per- manence of character. Not so. Not apart from them. Only through them. "In accumulating property for ourselves or our pos- terity, in founding a family or a state, or acquiring fame even we are mortal, but in dealing with truth we are immortal, and need fear no change or accident." — Thoreau. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What were the most notable conversations of Jesus with individuals? And what do they teach us as to the method and uses of conversation? 2. Is not the reality of spiritual regeneration indisputably proven to thousands of men by their own experience of a superhuman renewal? And cannot many men testify to a life-long series of renewals and expansions following the first miracle of the soul's new birth? " Pausing a moment ere the day was done While yet the earth was scintillant with light, I backward glanced. From valley, plain, and height, At intervals, where my life-path had run Rose cross on cross: and nailed upon each one Was my dead self. And yet that gruesome sight Lent sudden splendor to the falling night, Showing the conquests that my soul had won. Up to the rising stars I looked and cried There is no death! For year on year, reborn, I wake to larger life, to joy more great. So many times have I been crucified, So often seen the resurrection mom, I go triumphant, though new Calvaries wait." — Wilcox. 3. Is not every man's life an automatic formulation of a creed with regard to Jesus Christ, a creed inflexibly codified in deeds of acceptance or rejection and the states of mind which these deeds imply? 44 PROCLAMATION Ch. III. 22-30 (3) Generally again, iii, 22-36 ^ 22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples ^^ into the land of Judsea ; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23 And John also was baptizing in ^non near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 25 There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purifying. 26 And they came unto John, and said to him. Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven. 28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him. 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is made full. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. "Jesus and the disciples." It is always the group now. John's friends found it hard, as friends always find it hard, to distinguish between loyalty to their leader and loyalty to his cause. He had taught them plainly that One was to come after him who was to surpass him. But the disciples of John could not comprehend that his mission was really a mission of self-effacement and they were disturbed to see him overshadowed. But John was glad. If he had surpassed Christ it would have proved to him and to all that he was mistaken and his own mission a failure. His joy was made full in his eclipse by the Saviour. Happy are all they of like hearts, the men and women, the boys and girls, who are seeking things for others and not for themselves, and who find their joy in seeing others obtain the things which they sought for them. We can have much more happiness in making the success of others our object than in seeking our own. Then when the world thinks that others have succeeded and we have failed, we can smile and say to ourselves, "This my joy is made full." "Where is the lore the Baptist taught The soul unswerving and the fearless tongue? The much-enduring wisdom, sought Ch. III. 31-36 INTRODUCTORY WORK 45 By lonely prayer, the haunted rocks among? Who counts it gain His light should wane So the whole world to Jesus throng?" — Keble. " The Baptist stands alone in his life, and in his death absolutely self-forgetful." — Edersheim. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What efifect did the preceding conversation have upon Nicodemus? 2. What disciples now constituted the group about Jesus? 3. How did John the Baptist conceive that his work was to melt into Christ's? 4. Was there any difference between John's baptizing and the baptizing of Jesus and His disciples? Is it probable that the new birth was now suggested in con- nection with the latter? 5. Would not the principle laid down by John save us a great deal of friction and heart burning? To what experiences of our life may it be applied? ^1^ 31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is ^-^ of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all. 32 What he hath seen and heard, of that he beareth witness; and no man receiveth his witness. 33 He that hath received his witness hath set his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for he giveth not the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36 He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. These verses are probably words of John the Evan- gelist, not of John the Baptist. In the revised versions they are set off in a paragraph by themselves. In them John sets forth some of his deep beholdings, Jesus was a witness to heavenly things which He had seen and heard. Men were slow to accept His testimony. Those who did receive entered into a new experience of God and perceived, as the world did not perceive, the character and significance of Christ. And those who did not believe ^vere not untrustful only, but disobedient. In v. 36 the 46 PROCLAMATION Ch. III. 31-36 American Standard Revised translates the words "be- lieved not," ''obeyed not." In the deepest sense faith and belief are moral terms. To believe is to obey. To disbelieve is to disobey. Hearts of childlike obedience will be hearts of childlike trust. The wrath of God is not anger. It is the shadow of the absence of God. It is the emptiness of Hfe without Him. "He that believeth hath." "He that believeth not shall." Faith has its reward now. Unbelief cannot have all its judgment now. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Is there not an evident difference of bias and temper in men? One type is "of the earth." Another type is "of God." vii, 17; viii, 47; I John iii, 10; iv, 1-7; V, 19; III John II. There is an "of the world," xv, 19; xvii, 14, 16; xviii, 36; I John ii, 16; iv, 5; "of the devil," I John iii, 8; John viii, 44; "of the evil one," I John iii, 12. And there is an "of the truth," xviii, 37; I John ii, 21; iii, 19; "of the Father," I John ii, 16. Is our natural element "of the earth," or "of God " ? 2. Is the difference between "of the earth" and "of God" always the same as the difference between what society calls "bad men" and "good men"? Does this question throw any light on the problem of our Lord's denunciation of men who must have been the upright and public-spirited men of His day and on His unfavorable comparison of these with people whom they looked down upon? Luke xviii, 9-14; Matt. xx,3i. 3. What is eternal hfe? v. 36; xvii, 3. Read von Hugel, "Eternal Life, a Study." 4. What is the bearing of such a word as v. 34 upon the common conversation of Christian men? 2. In Samaria. The woman by Jacob's well, iv, 1-42 ©A When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees "* had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), 3 he left Judaea, and departed again in Galilee. 4 And he must needs pass through Samaria. 5 So he Cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph: Ch. IV. 1-42 INTRODUCTORY WORK 47 6 and Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hoiu:. 8 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith imto her. Give me to drink. 8 For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy food. 9 The Samaritan woman therefore saith unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee. Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 1 1 The woman saith imto him. Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her. Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 but who- soever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be- come in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water,' that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her. Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said tmto him, I have no husband. Jesus saith imto her. Thou saidst well, I have no husband: 18 for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said truly. 19 The woman saith unto him. Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometii, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. 22 Ye worship that which ye know not: we wor- ship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor- shippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare imto us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am ht. ^ 27 And upon this came his disciples; and they ^-^ marvelled that he was speaking with a woman; yet 48 PROCLAMATION Ch. IV. 1-42 no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her? 28 So the woman left her water-pot, and went away into the city, and saith to the people, 29 Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did: can this be the Christ? 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him. 31 In the meanwhile the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not. 33 The disciples therefore said one to another. Hath any man brought him aught to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work. 35 Say not ye. There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say imto you. Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. 36 He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gath- ereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 For herein is the saying true. One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are entered into their labor. ^ 39 And from that city many of the Samaritans be- ^-^ lieved on him because of the word of the woman, who testified. He told me all things that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them: and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word; 42 and they said to the woman. Now we believe, not because of thy speak- ing: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world. iv, 1-26. One immediate and personal lesson from the story of our Lord's interview with the woman by Jacob's well is the privilege and duty of using the every-day oppor- tunities of life as Jesus did His. He did not confine His conversation about God and the great spiritual truths which He had on His heart, to the Synagogue or Sabbath Day. He used meal times and social visits and the occa- sions when He met people at work or at leisure in the fields or by the wayside, as the opportunity for spiritual conversation.. The one subject about which in one form or anotherfSe was always talking, was God as the Father of men and men as the children of God and brothers one of another. And in this wonderful interview with the woman Jesus did not simply open the subject as though Ch. IV. 1-42 INTRODUCTORY WORK 49 to discharge His responsibility. He was seeking for souls and He guided this woman until He brought her to the truth. There was nothing obtrusive in His manner or in His words. The Saviour saved people tactfully, but the saving was the vital thing, and to be tactful at the price of human souls is rather expensive. We would do well to learn this. iv, 27-38. Jesus was always surprising people. Perfect truth and love are full of surprises to error and selfishness. He surprised His disciples by treating a Samaritan woman as a human soul. He surprised the woman by revealing to her her past and her evil life. He surprised His friends by preferring spiritual service to material food, and by the nobleness and peace of His life in God. He is full of surprises still to all who associate with Him intimately enough to discern them, and in this self-seeking world the . law of His life is a perpetual surprise: "My meat is to'"^ do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work."; The service of God was the satisfaction of His life. He; did not need theatres and luxuries, yachts and palaces,j new sensations and constant travel. Doing God's willi satisfied Him. And that gave Him always all that He could do. The harvest was always at hand. Every day brought its own whitened fields of opportunity. It is so now to those who live their lives under the law of the eternal. iv, 39-42. Some of the Samaritans accepted the testi- mony of the woman and beheved on Jesus before they had seen Him. Others declined to be convinced by her testi- mony, but were open-minded enough to invite Jesus to visit them. This gave them opportunity to investigate for them- selves, and as a result they, too, believed on Him, not because of what they had heard from her that she had heard from Jesus, but because of what they had heard themselves directly from Jesus. The faith of both of these groups of Samaritans was justified. We are warranted in believing in Jesus on the testimony of others as to what they have found in Him, and if we bring this faith to Jesus for per- sonal testing we shall find that He will confirm it. If we cannot accept the testimony of others to the fact that they have found Jesus to be the Son of God, we ought 60 PROCLAMATION Ch. IV. 1-42 at least to be candid and earnest enough to come to Him or to invite Him to abide "two days" with us and give all the time to Him with an open heart to discover the real truth about Him. We shall discover it and shall find Him to be indeed the Saviour of the world. Say ye, "There are yet four months and then — "? Be- hold, I say unto you, "Now." ** Lose this day loitering — 'twill be the same story Tomorrow — and the next more dilatory; When indecision brings its own delays, And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days. Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute — What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Courage has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the mind grows heated — Begin it, and the work will be completed." Questions for Reflection and Discussion I. Can you restate in your own language the course and development of thought by which Jesus led the woman on to her recognition and confession? 2. What touches are there in the story which show John's full recognition of the humanity of Jesus? 3. What light do Jesus' conduct and teaching in this incident cast upon the problem of race feeling? 4. Does not a story like this rebuke the tendency of mind which will allow for none but slow processes of intellectual and spiritual change? Do we not know many instances of radical alteration of opinion and of character in a short time? Are not the modes of mental and spiritual action much richer and more various than any single theory allows? And if so are we not missing many opportunities for influence? 3. In Galilee, iv, 43-54 (Jt) 43 And after the two days he went forth from thence ^^ into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. 45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things he did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast. Ch. IV. 43-54 INTRODUCTORY WORK 61 ^ 46 He came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, ^-^ where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capemaimi. 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went imto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Jesus therefore said imto him. Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him. Sir, come down ere my child die. 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son hveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake imto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, saying, that his son lived. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said therefore unto him. Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said imto him. Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. 54 This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judaea into Galilee. iv, 43-45. Days spent with Jesus are always " the days." To the Samaritans "the two days" must ever have stood out by themselves. "The two days when Jesus was with us." Such special days with Jesus bring Jesus into all common days. The common proverb about prophets and their own countries Jesus had heard and now quoted and proceeded at once to disprove, so far as Galilee was His own country. It was His home country and there, instead of having no honor, the Galileans received Him. ^Eleven of His twelve apostles were Galileans. But "His own country" meant-noL-tlie country where He had grown up and was well known. That is just where every true prophet will be received with greatest honor. The phrase refers to Judea, which was His own country in the sense that it ougjjt^to have recognized and accepted Him; it was the couhrry which He came to rule and guide. The country which ought to accept the prophet as its own, the new age or sphere or community or tide of sentiment, often disowns and disdains him as it did Jesus. But the prophet will be loved and trusted most by those who have known him best. iv, 46-54. Many children died in Judea and Galilee while Jesus taught on earth and He did not heal them. It was 62 PROCLAMATION Ch. IV. 43-54 not all of His mission to deal with the sorrows and griefs of the world by themselves. He came to remove their cause. He dealt only with illustrative cases. What He did in such cases He did as a sign of what He would do in all cases. He showed how when His principle and His life were in control death in all its forms and all evils of whatsoever sort and all their power were overthrown. So He began a work which has grown and grown and is still growing. If instead, He had spent all His time and strength not as a teacher, but as a healer. His influence would have long, long ago vanished. He lives as the Risen Lord of men's souls and Master of men's hearts. As the mere curer of their bodies He would not have been remembered after His death. The nobleman understood the sign which Jesus wrought and he and his whole house believed. To believe because of a great benefit is blessed. It is even more blessed to believe through and over and in spite of a great sorrow. Ezekiel's wife died. He beheved the more in God. Her death was to him and his people a sign as truly as the restoration of his boy was a sign to the nobleman. All things, both life and death, signify God. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What was the psychology back of the nobleman's reply to Jesus in v. 49 and Jesus' reply to the nobleman in :;. 50? 2. What was the difference between the nobleman s belief in v. 50 and his belief mv. 53? 3. Is our faith to-day like the faith characterized in V. 48? Is it physical evidence, evidence of the senses, that men really need? Would they be convinced any more if one rose from the dead than they are convinced now? Would not such a phenomenon leave men abso- lutely unconvinced? Would they not either deny it, or find naturalistic explanation for it, or say that it was an inexplicable phenomenon which had nothing whatever to do with religion? II. THE CONFLICT, v-xii A. The Prelude, v, vi^ 1. In Jerusalem. First outbreak of hatred in Judea. v a. The sign. The healing at Bethesda. v, 1-9 b. The sequel of the sign, v, 10-18 c. The discourse on the source of life. The Son and the Father, v, 19-47 (i) The prerogatives and powers of the Son. V, 19-29. (2) The witness to the Son and the ground of unbelief, v, 30-47. 2. In Galilee. The great Messianic testimony and the crisis of faith in Gahlee. vi. a. The signs, v, 1-2 1 (i) On the land. Feeding the five thousand, vi, 1-15 (2) On the sea. Walking upon the waters. vi, i6-2i b. The sequel of the two signs, vi, 22-25 c. The discourse on the Son as source and guide of life. The Son and man. vi, 26-59 (i) The search after life, vi, 26-40 (2) The relation of Christ to God and man. vi, 41-51 (3) The appropriation by the individual of the Son's life, vi, 52-59 d. The issue, vi, 60-71 B. The Great Controversy, vii-xii "This is the unique, tender, genuine, chief Gospel. . . . Should a tyrant succeed in destroying the Holy Scriptures and only a single copy of the Epistle to the Romans and the Gospel according to John escape him, Christianity would be saved." —Luther, Ch. V. 1-9 THE PRELUDE 65 II. THE CONFLICT, v-xii A. The Prelude, v, vi I. In Jerusalem. First outbreak of hatred in Judea. v a. The sign, v, 1-9 ^ fC After these things there was a feast of the Jews; ^^ ^ and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered. 5 And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. 6 When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case^ he saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made whole? 7 The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 8 Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked. Helpless men may seek the Saviour as the nobleman of Capernaum sought Him. But the Saviour is also seeking helpless men. He is seeking them more lovingly and longingly than they are seeking Him. To the man who says in his need "I have no man," Jesus comes and says, "Yes, you have Me, or you may have Me if you will take Me." This man took Him and went away whole. Jesus does not promise to heal every lame man of his physical lameness. He does promise to heal every broken heart of its sorrow and every defeated soul of its sin. As the Father is seeking men who will worship Him in spirit and truth, so He is seeking men who will let Him make their spirits pure and free and who will let Him give them His truth. It is to the man who can't, who sees no hope for himself, that Jesus comes with the word of help and hope. No man can be so low, so de- spairing, so destitute that Jesus cannot find the pool by which he is lying and do for him all that he needs. 66 THE CONFLICT Ch. V. 10-18 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Can there be a more appealing conception of God than that which represents Him as incarnate in order to give a brother's help to a man who cannot find a brother among men? What thought of God could be higher than this? 2. And must not God be better than our best thought of Him? 3. Is it not easy to see the difference between the attitude of Jesus, who recognized that the man was not whole and made him whole and the attitude of a certain modern school of thought which tells him that he only thinks he was not whole, but that he really is? Jesus changed facts. This modern opinion denies them. This contrast exists in spiritual things as well as physical, 4. Who probably knows best what claims Jesus made for Himself, the people who heard Him and believed that He claimed a unique relationship to God, or modern people who wish to readjust His words to their opinion, not their opinion to His words? What did the Jews understand Jesus to claim? b. The sequel of the sign, v, 10-18 ^ Now it was the Sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews ^-^ said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed. n But he answered them. He that made me whole, the same said unto me. Take up thy bed, and walk. 12 They asked him. Who is the man that said unto thee. Take up thy bed^ and walk? 13 But he that was healed knew not who it was; for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in ti^e place. 14 Afterwards Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee. 15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole. 16 And for this cause the Jews perse- cuted Jesus, because he did these things on the sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work. 18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only brake the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making him- self equal with God. Ch. V. 10-18 THE PRELUDE 57 It was not proper for a man to carry his bed about on the Sabbath. The Jews objected when the healed man went off with his. He defended himself. Surely a Man whom disease obeyed was to be obeyed by him. What- ever Jesus told him to do must be right. It always is. Whatever Jesus tells us to do we may do, whatever the conventionalities may be. Only we must be sure that He tells us to do it. We may be pretty sure that we are doing now something that He did not tell us to do, and that some other things which He has told us to do we are not doing. The Jews soon learned from the man himself who had healed him, and Jesus was given an opportunity to declare that God was His Father and to defend His doing good on the Sabbath by an appeal to the character of God. Why should we doubt that Jesus claimed a unique relation to God when it was for that that the Jews put Him to death? Where can we in our turn find a better law and rule of life than God's char- acter? What is in accord with that we can do. Nothing else. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Have we any prohibitions or constraints to-day which are as unreasonable as we now see this prohibition of the Jews to have been? Are we in danger of going to the opposite extreme and allowing anything whatsoever and denouncing as unreasonable all small scruples and fixed re- straints? And was this old prohibition of the Jews so unreasonable? Jeremiah xvii, 21 ff. Was it not reasonable enough when reasonably interpreted? 2. Is there any way in which men more effectually reveal themselves than that in which Jesus revealed Himself to the man whom He had healed, namely by his attitude toward sin? 3. Have we grown too lax in Sabbath-observance? Will our present laxity breed a strong, fine-principled, morally rigid race?"; 68 THE CONFLICT Ch. V. 19-29 c. The discourse on the Son as the source of life. The Son and the Father, v, 19-47. (i) The prerogatives and powers of the Son. v, 19-29 (2^ 19 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, ^-^ Verily, verily, I say unto you. The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner. 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and greater works than these will he show him, that ye may marvel. 21 For as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth Ufe to whom he will. 22 For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judg- ment tmto the Son ; 23 that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him. 24 Verily, verily, I say imto you. He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life. 25 Verily, verily, I say unto you. The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. 26 For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself: 27 and he gave him authority to execute judg- ment, because he is a son of man. 28 Marvel not at this: for l£e hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, 29 and shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. No one can believe that Jesus spoke these words and not believe also that Jesus is no mere man. Every one of the score of distinct statements in this paragraph lifts Jesus above the class of mere men. The objection of the Jews to Him was that He had called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. It was straight to that objection that He now spoke. God was His own Father. The Father was the law of His life. The Father loved Him and guided Him. He and His Father were a source of life to men. The Father had given the judg- ment of life over to Him, that men might honor Him as they honored God. Whoever denied honor to Christ was denying it to God. Each of these great truths He Ch. V. 30-47 THE PRELUDE 59 deliberately stated and restated for the Jews. Instead of denying the truth of their grounds of opposition, He affirmed it. He was the Son of God in a sense in which no other man has been or can be the Son of God. Let us not be timid and uncertain when Jesus was bold and explicit even though His declaration cost Him His life. Let us hold and affirm unwaveringly the supreme deity of our Lord. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What did being "sent" cover in Jesus' thought? iv, 34; V, 24, 30; vi, 38, 39; vii, 16, 28, 33; viii, 26, 29; ix, 4; xii, 44, 45 ; xiii, 20; xv, 21; xvi, 5. Cf. v, 37; vi, 44; viii, 16, 18; xii, 49; xiv, 24. 2. What were Jesus' prerogatives and powers in relation to the Father? w. 19-23. 3. What were they in relation to men? w. 24-29. 4. As a matter of fact has or has not Christ shown Himself to be possessed of these powers? (2) The witness to the Son and the ground of unbelief, v, 30-47 (22) 30 I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: ^^ and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 31 K I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. 32 It is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. 33 Ye have sent imto John, and he hath borne witness unto the truth. 34 But the witness which I receive is not from man: how- beit I say these things, that ye may be saved. 35 He was the lamp that bumeth and shineth; and ye were willing to rejoice for a season in his light. 36 But the vritness which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. 37 And the Father that sent me, he hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. 38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he sent, him ye believe not. 39 Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which 60 THE CONFLICT Ch. V. 30-47 bear witness of me; 40 and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life. 41 I receive not glory from men. 42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in your- selves. 43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye re- ceive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 44 How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from ttte only God ye seek not? 45 Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope. 46 For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? But, says Jesus, you may say that all this is only my assertion, (i) You sent to John the Baptist. He said the same thing of Me. I do not need such human testi- mony, but you need it. (2) The works that I do bear their witness. Are they human? Do they not speak of God? (3) And the Father testifies. You do not know His voice, for it speaks within the soul and your souls are dead. (4) The Scriptures testify. You think the life is in them. Not so, it is in Me, and they point you to Me, but you will not look. It is just because I am divine, said Jesus, that you will not receive Me as divine. An impostor you would receive, but the reality you will not. An impostor would play to your false ideas of God. But God will only show Himself to you in truth, and that truth your falsehood will not accept as evidence. It is still so. All denial of Jesus witnesses to false ideas of God the Father. Whoever truly knows God the Father will recognize God the Sen. When may one be sure that his judgment is right? V, 30; viii, 14, 16. If we are seeking for life's central principle it is here — "Not mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." "Dare to look up to God and say, Deal with me for the future as Thou wilt. I am of the same mind as Thou art; I am Thine; I refuse nothing that pleases Thee; lead me where Thou wilt; clothe me in any dress Thou choosest. Is it Thy will that I should hold the ofiice of a magistrate, that I should be in the condition of a private man, stay here or be in exile, be poor, be rich? I will make Thy Ch. VI. i-is THE PRELUDE 61 defence to men in behalf of all these conditions." — Marcus Aurelius. "I am but an arrow in the quiver of Islam and thou the archer. It is for thee to pick out the fittest shaft and whithersoever thou wilt discharge it." — Amru to Abu Bekr when the latter was Caliph and had given Amru his choice of going on the Syrian campaign or staying at home. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Can a man who has known of Christ and has re- jected God in Christ still believe in God? If he can, is not the God in whom he believes nevertheless the very God whom he could not know if He had not come in Christ? 2. Can men believe who receive glory one of another and the glory v^hich cometh from the only God, they seek not? 3. Is there any other God than the God Whom Christ revealed? If not, what follows? 4. How do the Old Testament Scriptures bear witness of Christ? 5. Is belief a matter of the will? v. 40. Read James, ''The Will to Believe." And remember Professor James' words: "I, for one, cannot see my way to accepting the agnostic rules for truth-seeking, or wilfully agree to keep my willing nature out of the game. I cannot do so for this plain reason, that a rule of thinking which would absolutely prevent me from acknowledging certain kinds of truth if those kinds of truth were really there, would he an irrational rule:' 2. In Galilee. The great Messianic testimony and the crisis of faith in Galilee, vi a. The signs, vi, 1-2 1 (i) On the land. Feeding the five thousand, vi, 1-15 ^ OL After these things Jesus went away to the other ^-^ ^ side of the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they beheld the signs which he did on them that were sick. 3 And 62 THE CONFLICT Ch. VI. 1-15 Jesus went up into the mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4 Now the passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude cometh unto him, saith unto Philip, Whence are we to buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, Two hxmdred shillings' worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, 9 There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves, and two fishes: but what are these among so many? 10 Jesus said. Make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. II Jesus therefore took the loaves; and having given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down; like- wise also of the fishes as much as they would. 12 And when they were filled, he saith unto his disciples. Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, that nothing be lost. 13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which remained over imto them that had eaten. 14 iWhen therefore tiie people saw the sign which he did, they said. This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the world. IS Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again into the mountain^himself alone. vi, 1-14. It is not in the least difficult to believe that if what Jesus said of Himself in the fifth chapter is true, what John says of Him in the sixth chapter is also true. If all that God did was open to Jesus, and Jesus had with God the power of giving life, the feeding of the 5,000 is readily intelligible to us. It was easily in His power, and how else could He reveal Himself and teach this truth than by putting it in object lesson, in symbol, in sign? That was the significance of the miracle. It was not merely to feed hungry people. It was to signify to them that God was near, the life giver, the satisfier of the soul. And thanks to the efifectiveness of the sign we now need no such signs. We see God near always, in our daily bread, in all common experiences. We see God everywhere because He once came in the flesh some- where, vi, 15. Some friendliness is the worst enmity. The Ch. VI. i-is THE PRELUDE 63 friend of the struggling drunkard who insists on treating him once more is his worst foe. The friend of the artist who kills the artist's dreams by luxury, the friend of the artisan who palsies the artisan's hand by ease, are friends only in name and intention, not in fact. Those who materialize, and having materialized, accept the prophet's spiritual message, are the disciples from whom the prophet flees. The sign of Jesus was no sign to many. It was a fact, not a symbol. And they came to make Him not a king of the soul, such as He was, but a king of gilt and purple which He was not and would not be. Jesus did not come to save the world on the world's plan of sal- vation. The world says, "Let us do it by money or by legislation." Jesus said, "It cannot be done so. It is a matter of motive, of spiritual attitude and aim. I will be a king of hearts or no king." The absolute isolation of the mountains was better than such a throne as the people planned. That issue had been settled once for all in the Temptation. The Light did not propose to be dim or extinguish itself. When God provides there is no lack. "Thank God," said an old woman at her first sight of the sea, "Thank God there's one thing of which there's enough." "Beyschlag has set forth the way in which the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves by provoking the sud- den explosion of the political hopes which were smouldering under the ashes among the Gahlean people, brought to light the complete incompatibihty which existed between the common Messianic idea and that of Jesus and made evident the moral necessity of the rupture." — Godet. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What can our imagination construct in the way of character portraits of Philip and Andrew? Philip: i, 43-48; vi, 5-7; xii, 21, 22; xiv, 8, 9. Andrew: i, 40, 44; Mark i, 16, 29; John vi, 8; xii, 22; Mark xiii, 3. Read Thompson, "The Apostles as E very-day Men." 2. What significant omission is there in John vi, 15 compared with Matt, xiv, 23? 3. Can you not see the beauty and the pain of the effort of Jesus to lead the people by sign, by hints, by 64 THE CONFLICT Ch. VI. 16-21 plain words, by deeds, by the most delicate educational processes, from crass, material, political conceptions of His character and mission to a true spiritual faith? 4. What associations had Jesus with mountains? Ex- amine the passages in Matthew's Gospel: iv, 8; v, i; viii, i; xiv, 23; xv, 29; xvii, i, 9, 20; xviii, 12; xxi, i, 21; xxiv, 3, 16; xxvi, 30; xxviii, 16. (2) On the sea. Walking upon the waters, vi, 16-21 (24) 16 And when evening came, his disciples went ^-^^ down unto the sea; 17 And they entered into a boat, and were going over the sea unto Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 And the sea was rising by reason of a great wind that blew, 19 When therefore they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they beheld Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh imto the boat: and they were afraid. 20 But he said unto them, It is I; be not afraid. 21 They were wilHng therefore to receive him into the boat: and straightway the boat was at the land whither they were going. Now and then, some simple statement of fact in the Bible sets forth for us the deepest of great spiritual truths. "And it was now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them." These words record, without meaning to do so, the great and solemn principle that Jesus elsewhere delib- erately puts in the declaration, "I am the light of the world." Until Jesus comes it is dark. He brings the light. On some questions He brings the full light of noonday, on some the softer light of evening when the sun is unseen but the glory is still shining, or of morning when the sun is unrisen, but the streamers of the dawn are pouring upward. On the existence and character of God Jesus pours the full light of day. On the problems of inequality, of sorrow and pain, He withholds such blaze. And we do not ask it if we have Him. Let it be dark, let the storms roar about, it is well, if He is in the boat with us. In spite of dark and storm He will bring us to the shore, "to the land whither we are going." Read "B. M.'s " "The Meeting Place" in "Ezekiel and Other Poems." "It is I." He ever declared Himself, iv, 26; viii, 24, 28, 58; xiii, 19; xviii, 5, 6, 8. Ch. VI. 22-25 THE PRELUDE 65 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. How does faith in Jesus Christ and in His presence in life actually help men to deal with life and meet its difficulties? 2. Is such help as men get from Christ subjectively given or is Christ really at work objectively in the world? How could Christ work for me more objectively in the world than by working subjectively in other men's lives? 3. So much is said nowadays about prayer as only subjectively valid, that the question may well be raised, How much reality is there in the distinction made between "subjective" and "objective"? Is the change effected when a blind man sees or a deaf man hears subjective or objective? And when an unbelieving man believes? b. The sequel of the two signs, vi. 22-25. (2^ 22 On the morrow the multitude that stood on the ^-^ other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, save one, and that Jesus entered not with his dis- ciples into the boat, but that his disciples went away alone. 23 (howbeit there came boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks): 24 when the multitude therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they them- selves got into the boats, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when earnest thou hither? The multitude sought Jesus. They found Him. Did any who truly sought Him ever fail to find Him? "The Lord." When did men begin thus to speak of Him? iv, i; xi, 2; xxi, 7. The political impulse of the crowd which He fed was not long lived. Jesus knew it would not be. He was working in depths below those which poUtics and money reach. When the people found Him the next day, their curiosity was greater than their purpose to crown Him {v. 25). 66 THE CONFLICT Ch. VI. 26-40 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. When men seek for Jesus how much importance should be attached to their motive? 2. Is it religious to want rehgion in the national life because of its moral and social and economic value? 3. Was the question of the people in z;. 25 merely the fatuous and inconsequential question which a crowd is likely to ask, just as an embarrassed man will often begin with a trivial or even impertinent remark, or did it indi- cate that the people were curious to know how Jesus had crossed the lake? If the latter, was it not like many of our modern inquiries? A preacher preaches truly the word of God. "What was the name of that usher who showed us a seat?" we ask as we come out. c. The discourse on the Son as source and guide of life. The Son and man. vi, 26-59 (i) The search after life, vi, 26-40 ^ 26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I ^-^ say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled. 27 Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even God, hath sealed. 28 They said therefore unto him. What must we do, that we may work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them. This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 30 They said therefore unto him, What then doest thou for a sign, that we may see, and believe thee? what workest thou? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written. He gave them bread out of heaven to eat. 32 Jesus therefore said unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you. It was not Moses that gave you the bread out of heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 They said therefore unto him. Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 Jesus said unto tiiem, I am the bread of life : he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said tmto you, that ye have seen Ch. VI. 26-40 THE PRELUDE 67 me, and yet believe not. 37 All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me ; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. Jesus cuts at once through their materialism in the hope of finding spiritual apprehension in some at least to whom He spoke. Loaves and work for loaves, and manna and Moses, — all these were on the outside of things. Could they not see that the reality was the life of the soul and that that life was a relationship, a nour- ishment of the soul on God revealed in Christ? So again Jesus opens Himself to them. Was there no one among them who could perceive and respond? Did they not recognize Him? If they did not, then surely there was no faculty of recognition in them, they had no capacity for God. So Jesus put it to them. So He puts it now. God is in Christ. If we do not see Him, then it is because we do not know God when we do see Him. Read the passage again as a dialogue and take in the alternations of thought and note His struggle to lodge spiritual conceptions behind the earthliness of the people. "If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet- scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal, that is your success. All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself. The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appre- ciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening." — Thoreau. *' The life of Christ in history cannot cease. His influence waxes more and more; the dead nations are waiting till it reach them, and it is the hope of the earnest spirits that are bringing in the new earth. All discoveries of the modern world, every development of juster ideas, of 68 THE CONFLICT Ch. VI. 41-S1 higher powers, of more exquisite feelings in mankind, are only new helps to interpret Him; and the lifting up of life to the level of His ideas and character is the pro- gram of the human race." — Stalker. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What is the difference between philanthropy and religion? If people tell us that service should be dis- tinct from and uncompHcated with creed, that loaves are loaves and ought not to be used as signs, i.e., as the instrument of propaganda, does this dialogue throw any light on the matter? 2. What does this passage have to say to the mate- rialistic view of Hfe? 3. Does any other verse state as well as v. 38 the govern- ing principle of Christ's life? Cf. iv, 34; v, 30; Mark iii, 35; Luke xxii, 42. Is there any other principle as comprehensive and effective for our own lives? Matt, vi, 10; vii, 21; xviii, 14; xxi, 31. What place did "the will of God" fill in Paul's life? Col. i, i, 9; iv, 12; Rom. i, 10; xii, 2; XV, 32; Eph. v, 17; vi, 6; II Cor. viii, 5. This is the New Testament ideal. Acts xiii, 22, 36; Col. iv, 12; Eph. V, 17; Heb. xiii, 21. (2) The relation of Christ to God and man. vi, 41-51 Q 41 The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, ^^ because he said, I am the bread which came down out of heaven. 42. And they said. Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how doth he now say, I am come down out of heaven? 43 Jesus answered and said unto them, Murmtir not among your- selves. 44 No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets. And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh imto me. 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he that is from God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you He that believeth hath eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. Ch. VI. 41-51 THE PRELUDE 69 51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. Naturally, those who thought they knew God and who did not recognize Him in Christ were affronted at Jesus' claim. They knew His origin. How absurd that a man whose parents they knew should be the revelation of God to men! Well, they knew neither His origin nor His character, both of which supported His claim. But Jesus referred to neither. He made no appeal to the facts of His birth or the works of His ministry or the qualities of His character. He simply offered Himself once more. His own personality, the spirit in Him, His life, went forth from Him beseechingly, searchingly after any man who had a longing for the true and living God. He sought response. He called to the souls about Him. Would they answer? If not, what could He do? More miracles would be not signs, but confusion. He was doing His utmost. But they would not see, they would not hear. Loaves, manna, Moses — things — these were intelligible to them, but life — no. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Here is the old and ever present confusion. How can that which is believed to be natural in its origin be supernatural in its character? Is this after all any problem at all? 2. These people evidently knew nothing of the virgin birth. And yet they felt that Christ's claims were inad- missible. How then do people nowadays make the problem of Christ any easier by denying the virgin birth? Do they not, on the other hand, make it even harder? The problem is there to be solved in either case. 3. If "He that believeth hath eternal life" and "This is hfe eternal that they should know Thee, the only true God and Him Whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ," then it follows, does it not, that belief is the knowledge of God and Christ. Faith and knowledge are not two dif- ferent things. Faith is a certain kind of knowledge. Try and see whether knowledge and faith are not in large 70 THE CONFLICT Ch. VI. 52-59 areas of our thought indistinguishable. How do we know that Napoleon ever lived? How do we know that there is a city of Rio de Janeiro? How do we know that water can be separated into hydrogen and oxygen gases? Is not most of what we call knowledge really faith? 4. Even when knowledge is just hard, first-hand knowl- edge, which it almost never is, and when faith transcends it, that does not make the faith suspicious or unreliable. What right has hard, first-hand knowledge to say, "You must stop here"? None. It can only demand that as faith leaves it, faith should be headed right. What is faith but "going on in the same way with knowledge and keeping on when knowledge leaves off"? (3) The appropriation by the individual of the Son's life, vi, 52-59 (Q) 52 The Jews therefore strove with one another, say- ^^ ing, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves. 54 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he that eateth this bread shall live for ever. 59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. What was metaphor to Jesus was gross materialism to the Jews. He was bending human language to the limit. Any true soul listening to Him must have felt the strain and terrific tension of the human words which Jesus was expanding a'^nd filli-ng, and through which He was trying to pour life into human spirits. The language could stand no more than Jesus piled upon it. Again and again He turned it about and strained it to the utmost but to the blind terms of color are meaningless, to the deaf terms of sound. The words said nothing more to the Jews than they said. "The flesh of Jesus." What Ch. VI. 52-59 THE PRELUDE 71 could that mean but the tissues and muscles of His body. "The blood of Jesus." What could that mean but the liquid that flowed through His veins. To be sure. What is the little shoe of a lost child but a piece of animal skin? What is a lover's flower but a botanical plant? What is an oration but atmospheric vibration, and a great painting but a cloth with daubs on it? What is a nation's flag but a colored rag for which imbeciles sometimes die, supposing that it can be anything more than a rag? ''The words that I speak are spirit and life," said Jesus. If we do not see that they are, the proof cannot be found in chemistry or biology or physics. "What, moreover, is it to eat His flesh and drink His blood but to share His sufferings and to imitate that walk which he showed in the flesh." — St. Bernard. "We dwell in Him since we are His members. He, moreover, dwells in us since we are His temple." — Augustine. "He that eateth this bread shall live forever." This is the last word. Again as often before He makes the personal, individual appeal. Is there no honest, simple heart in the crowd who will understand? vv. 35, 37, 40, 45, 47, 50, SI, 54, 56, 58. "Thou Christ, my soul is hurt and bruised, With words the scholars wear me out. Brain of me weary and confused, Thee and myself and all I doubt. "And must I back to darkness go Because I cannot say their creed? I know not what I think. I know Only that Thou art all I n^ed." "I am the bread of life." What is He not? iv, 26; vi, 35; viii, 12, 23, 58; X, 7, 9, II, 14; xi, 25; xiv, 6; xv, i, 5. Questions for Reflection and Discussion I. Is there any way of breaking through such materialism of thought as Jesus met in the Jews except by doing as Jesus did, namely by piling up on it a greater weight of dij65cult truth? Do we not sometimes make the mistake of trying to make belief so easy that there comes to b6 72 THE CONFLICT Ch. VI. 60-71 next to nothing to it? Is it not after all far easier to believe God boldly? A fearless leap onward may carry us safe and deep into the joy of God, while a timid little step will leave us with feeble and pitiful uncertainty just by the spot we started from. Believe bravely with big be- lief. "The Gospel of Power and Confidence," exclaimed an earnest Christian man in one of the belligerent Euro- pean nations, "in our long period of peace here and there became weak and sentimental, but now through the war, the old and heroic forces of Christian faith have once more broken through the outward forms of conventional piety and become part of the conscious life of the Church and the individual believer. The great facts that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is not only the Prince of Peace but also the Mighty God, who faithfully sacrifices Himself in behalf of the brethren and victoriously con- quers death: these certainties of our faith are now sources of strength for the fighting nation. The war has not only awakened religious life, but strengthened it; it has made stalwart men and done away with all sanctimoniousness and self-complacency, and thus the present time reminds the historian of those heroic ages when our and your forefathers expressed their faith in God without conven- tionality, but in the freshness of true inward life firmly planted their feet upon the Rock of Ages." 2. "Eating flesh and drinking blood." The Mass and the doctrine of Transubstantiation is one way of under- standing these words. The Quakers, with no sacrament, and sitting in silence while the invisible Saviour nourishes their souls within, understand them differently. Once again let us ask, what is language and what is it for? Is it the source or the product of reality? 3. What do you conceive life to be? Are there not degrees and kinds of life? What is it to live "because of the Father"? d. The issue, vi, 60-71 ^ 60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard ^^ thisy said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? 61 But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples mxirmured at this, said unto them, Doth this cause you to stumble? Ch. VI. 60-71 THE PRELUDE 73 62 What then if ye should behold the Son of man ascend- ing where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life. 64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray him. 65 And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father. (2q\ 66 Upon this many of his disciples went back, and ^^ walked no more with him. 67 Jesus said therefore unto the twelve. Would ye also go away? 68 Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we have believed and know that thou art the Holy One of God. 70 Jesus answered them. Did not I choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71 Now he spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. There are here (i) a restatement of the conditions of discipleship, vi, 60-65 and (2) the result in open separation and secret unfaithfulness, vi, 66-71. vi, 60-65. Even the disciples were not far enough ad- vanced in their spiritual discernment to understand. They spoke of their perplexity among themselves and Jesus felt in His spirit their want of faith. "You are per- plexed," he said, "to see the spiritual back of the material. Even you had been hoping that the material and external Kingdom had come. What if I go away? Then you will be perplexed, will you not? But, oh, my friends, it is the spiritual, the unseen, the eternal alone that is of consequence. It is that that I am trying to bring to you." Jesus realized that with many of them He would fail. But He was undisturbed. He would fulfil His mission and those who wanted to hear would hear, that is, as He put it, those would come to whom it had been given by the Father. That explained things to Jesus. Why God would give it to some rather than others He did not say. Indeed, we may question whether the way in which He put it raised the inquiry which troubles us as to the seeming partiality of God. Was not His form of speech simply a way of stating the obvious fact that some hear and some do not, without 74 THE CONFLICT Ch. VI. 60-71 raising the question as to why some do and some do not? That mystery, He says, is with God. Is not that the only possible way to leave it? Can anyone say more than that? vi, 66-71. Peter says, "Lord, to whom else can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." Learned professors write on the problem of life, striving to throw light upon it and to find its clue, and their books scarcely recognize the fact that Jesus ever existed. As for the idea that He has the words of eternal life, many modern philosophers scout the suggestion, and others who per- haps cherish it in their hearts do the work of philosophical speculation utterly apart from any contribution of Jesus to the solution of the problem of life. Nevertheless, what Peter said is true. And the uneducated and little children, and all the great mass of men and women, who have to live and have no time or faculty for speculation on the philosophy of living, find in Jesus the way and the truth and the life, and are given guidance and strength and power as they seek, under Jesus' teaching and empower- ing, to love God with all their mind and heart and their neighbor as themselves. "Saving faith," says Luther, "is not an intellectual assent to a system of doctrine superior to reason, but a personal trust on God in Christ, the appropriation of God's personal word and promise of redeeming love." — Robertson Smith. "If one wishes to understand this crisis it is enough for him to cast a glance at the Christianity of to-day. It declares and thinks itself Christian, but material instincts have more and more the preponderance over religious and moral needs. Soon the Gospel will not answer any longer to the aspirations of the masses. The words, 'You have seen me and believe not' will have their application to them on a still vaster scale; and the time will come when the great defection of Christendom will, for a time, repro- duce the Galilean catastrophe. Our epoch is the true commentary on the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. John.''— Godet. But there is a better word than this from this chapter, offering to hungry men the living bread from heaven. Ch. VT. 60-7I THE PRELUDE 76 Christopher Harvey's verses give expression to it — though written centuries ago: "Love made me welcome; yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack, From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lacked anything. " *A guest,' I answered, 'worthy to be here.* Love said, 'You shall be he!' *I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear, I cannot look on Thee.' Love took my hand and smiling, did reply, * Who made the eyes but I? " 'Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame Go where it doth deserve? ' 'And know you not,' says Love, 'who bore the blame?' ' My dear, then I will serve? ' 'You must sit down,' says Love, 'and taste my meat/ So I did sit and eat." Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Are the souls that believe most in God and who best represent His beauty and love troubled most or least by the diflSculty of reconciling the facts of human freedom and unbelief with the fact of His sovereignty and love? v. 6$. 2. When men praise the human in the personality and teaching of Jesus and reject the divine, would it not be well for them to reflect that the contemporaries of Jesus who saw only the human in His personality and teaching abandoned Him? We should have no record of the human in Jesus but for the faith of men who saw in Him also the divine. Humanity would have lost long before this all trace of a merely human Christ. Do you believe this? If you do, must you not believe more than this? 3. All that we know of Simon is that he was the father of Judas. And all that we know of the village of Kerioth is that it was the village of Judas. (Iscariot = Ish Kerioth, a man of Kerioth.) Was it fair of Judas to give his father and his town this kind of an immortality? 76 THE CONFLICT Ch. VI. 60-71 "To discover the wickedest of men, to see the utmost of human guilt, we must look, not among the heathen, but among those who know God; not among the profligate, dissolute, abandoned classes of society, but among the Apostles. The good that was in Judas led him to 'join Christ, and kept him associated with Christ for some years; but the devil of covetousness that was cast out for a while returned and brought with him seven devils worse than himself. There was everything in his position to win him to unworldliness; the men he Hved with cared not one whit for comforts or anything that money could buy; but instead of catching their spirit he took advan- tage of their carelessness. He was in a pubUc position, liable to detection; but this, instead of making him honest perforce, made him only the more crafty and studiedly hypocritical. The solemn warnings of Christ, so far from intimidating him, only made him more skilful in evading all good influence, and made the road to hell easier. The position he enjoyed, and by which he might have been for ever enroUed among the foremost of mankind, one of the twelve foundations of the eternal city, he so skilfully misused that the greatest sinner feels glad that he has yet not been left to commit the sin of Judas. Had Judas not followed Christ he could never have attained the pin- nacle of infamy on which he now for ever stands. In all probabihty he would have passed his days as a small trader with false weights in the little town of Kerioth, or, at the worst, might have developed into an extor- tionous publican, and have passed into oblivion with the thousands of unjust men who have died and been at last forced to let go the money that should long ago have belonged to others. Or had Judas followed Christ truly, then there lay before him the noblest of all lives, the most blessed of destinies. But he followed Christ and yet took his sin with him; and thence his lum,"— Marcus Dods. 11. THE CONFLICT, v-xii A. The Prelude, v-vi B. The Great Controversy, vii-xii I. The full unveiling of faith and unbelief, at Jerusalem. vii-x a. The Feast of Tabernacles, vii, viii (i) The circumstances of His visit, vii, 1-13 (2) The discussions in the midst of the feast. vii, 14-36 (a) First scene in the Temple, vii, 14-24 (6) Second scene in the Temple, vii, 25-31 (c) Third scene. In the Temple? vii, 32-36 (3) The discussions on the last day of the feast, vii, 37-52 (a) The great promise of Jesus, vii, 37-39 (6) The effect of Jesus' cry upon the multitude, vii, 40-44 (c) The effectof Jesus' teach'ng and con- duct on the Sanhedrin. vii, 45-52 (4) The story of the woman taken in adultery, mil, i-ii (5) Jesus further reveals Himself, viii, 1 2-20 (6) The spiritual crisis in the preaching to Israel, viii, 21-59 (a) The clear restatement of the object of faith and the results of unbelief, viii, 21-30 {b) Analysis of the character and issues of selfish belief and false Juda- ism, viii. 31-59 h. The Feast of Dedication. The separation accomplished, ix, x (i) The sign. The healing of the blind man. ix, 1-12 (2) The judgments on the sign, ix, 13-24 (3) The beginning of the new society, ix, 35-41 77 78 THE CONFLICT (4) The character of the new society, x, 1-2 1 (5) Christ's final public testimony to Himself before the Passion, x, 22-38 (6) The diverse results, x, 39-42 2. The decisive judgment, xi. xiii a. The final sign and its result. Lazarus, xi, 1-57 b. The close of Christ's public ministry in judgment. xii (i) The feast at Bethany, xii, i-ii (2) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem, xii, 12-19 (3) The request of the Greeks. The voice from heaven and the final warning, xii, 20-36 (4) The judgment of John, xii, 37-43 (5) The judgment of Christ, xii, 44-50 Ch. VII. 1-13 GREAT CONTROVERSY 79 B. The Great Controversy, vii-xii I . The full unveiling of faith and unbelief at Jerusalem, vii-x a. The Feast of Tabernacles, vii, viii (i) The circumstances of His visit, vii, 1-13 ^ n And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee: ^^ • for he would not walk in Judaea, because the Jews sought to kill him. 2 Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. 3 His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. 4 For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. 5 For even his brethren did not be- lieve on him. 6 Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come ; but your time is always ready. 7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. 8 Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up unto this feast; because my time is not yet fulfilled. 9 And having said these things unto them, he abode still in Galilee. 10 But when his brethren were gone up unto the feast, then went he also up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. II The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? 12 And there was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him: some said. He is a good man; others said. Not so, but he leadeth the multitude astray. 13 Yet no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews. vii, 1-9. Six months have passed since the events recorded in the sixth chapter. Jesus was not idle. He walked in Galilee. What happened during these months we read in part in Matt, xii-xvii, xxi. The significance of two sentences here {vv. 5, 8) is brought out more clearly if we insert "yet" before "believe" in v. 5 and before "unto" in v. 8. His brethren came in time to believe on Him and to die for Him. And He went up to the feast. The central verse is ?;. 7. The want of faith of His brethren in Him was a want of sympathy with Him. 80 THE CONFLICT Ch. VII. 1-13 It was the conflict of two antagonistic orders. "You and the world are in sympathy," He told them. "I and the world are at enmity. I point out its evil, the evil of the dead order of life apart from God. Therefore, it hates me instead of correcting its evil and gaining life from God." So far as we enter into Christ's spirit and the world remains unchanged, the same opposition exists between us and the world with its passing and unsatis- fying interests. I John iii, 1-3. vii, 10-13. Jesus went up to the feast. Compare the four visits, ii, 13, In power, v, i. As a pilgrim, vii, 10, As a solitary stranger, xii, 12, In triumph to His death. His name was the common subject of conversation. The Jews, i.e., the leaders of the national party, whom John calls by this title, were still weighing the case. His visit was to fix their attitude toward Him. The multitudes of strangers were divided. The humbler folk said, "He is a good man." The more pretentious, separating them- selves from the "multitude," said, "He is a deceiver." The whole world now says, "He was a good man." The hearts of the simple people discerned what was hid from the great and wise. And yet the great and wise may have simple hearts if they will. "He is a good man." If He is. He is more than a man, for He made claims that a good man could make only if they were true. "For fear of the Jews." Fear is the dominating human motive. Lies, cowardice, deceptions, evil customs, live only upon fear. If unafraid, what neglected duties would we do to-day? Questions for Reflection and/Discussion 1. Was the unbelief of Christ's own brethren in Him, in all probabiHty, a difficulty to the disciples in their belief? If His own brethren disbeheved, why should others believe? Would not brothers be able to judge best upon His claims? 2. Does the world hate Christ? Could there be war if it did not? 3. If Jesus was not more than a good waw, was he a good man? Ch. VII. 14-24 GREAT CONTROVERSY 81 (2) The discussions in the midst of the feast, vii, 14-36 (a) First scene in the Temple, vii, 14-24 (o^ 14 But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus ^-^ went up into the temple, and taught. 15 The Jews there- fore marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? 16 Jesus therefore answered them, and said, My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me. 17 If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself. 18 He that speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you doeth the law? Why seek ye to kill me? 20 The multi- tude answered, Thou hast a demon: who seeketh to kill thee? 21 Jesus answered and said imto them, I did one work, and ye all marvel because thereof. 22 Moses hath given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers); and on the sabbath ye circtmicise a man. 23. If a man receiveth circumcision on the sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are ye wroth with me, because I made a man every whit whole on the sab- bath? 24 Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. This was Jesus' first appearance as a public teacher in Jerusalem, and the Jews, that is, the leaders of the nation, were amazed at what they heard. They were conven- tionally educated men. The superiority of Jesus to their conventions astonished them. He answered the mar- veling by a statement (v. 16), by an invitation (:;. 17), by an argument {v. 18), by a condemnation (v. 19). The country people answered Him in v. 20, but He ignored their ignorant query and turned to the Jerusalem leaders and pointed out to them that their objection to the miracle He had wrought on His previous visit (ch. v) was based on principles that condemned Moses also and the Old Testament law. The law of circumcision which required the rite on the eighth day was not allowed to conflict with the law of the Sabbath. If the latter could be set aside for the former, how absurd that He could not legit- imately make a man every whit whole. "If partial heal- 82 THE CONFLICT Ch. VII. 25-31 ing, of which circumcision is the sjonbol, why not com- plete?" But men in all ages have strained at gnats and swallowed camels. They have bound themselves with chains and been afraid of freedom. "You are great for the law," He said. "Well, obey it. It bids you to judge righteously." Deut. i, 16. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What can be argued from Jesus' style of preaching with regard to preaching to-day? T)id he adapt language and doctrine to His audience? 2. Is pure unselfishness a guarantee of ability to discern the truth and of fidelity in presenting it? 3. Did the multitude not know that some people were actually seeking to kill Jesus? {b) Second scene in the Temple, vii, 25-31 (^ 25 Some therefore of them of Jerusalem said, Is not ^-^ this he whom they seek to kill? 26 And lo, he speaketh openly, and they say nothing unto him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ? 27 Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when the Christ cometh, no one knoweth whence he is. 28 Jesus therefore cried in the temple, teaching and saying, Ye both know me, and know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. 29 I know him; because I am from him, and he sent me. 30 They sought therefore to take him: and no man laid his hand on him because his hour was not yet come. 31 But of the multi- tude many believed on him; and they said. When the Christ shall come, will he do more signs than those which this man hath done? This is the second discussion of the feast. It was also in the temple. The Jerusalemites who knew how bitter the priests felt toward Jesus were surprised at His boldness. Could it be, they asked, that the priests had looked into the case and discovered that this was the Messiah? No, they replied to their own question, it could not be, for they knew His origin, and the true Messiah would appear suddenly and no man would know His origin. Jesus felt all this debate and answered it openly, as ever, vii, Ch. VII. 32-36 GREAT CONTROVERSY 83 37; xii, 44; xviii, 20. "Superficially you speak the truth, but really you don't know my origin, for God you know not and it was He Who sent me." This claim aroused their anger, and they sought to take Him, but there were some on whom it had the opposite effect. They began to believe, and this belief was not due to signs, though it recalled the signs which had been done. It was due to the steady offer and pressure of the Messiah's life, of the Person of Christ upon their personalities. Some at last began to understand and trust Jesus, — not His signs, not His doctrine, but Jesus Himself. That is all we need. His deeds and His words are good, but the soul cries still, "Thou, Christ, art all I want." Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Was it right for Jesus to expose Himself to the cer- tainty of arrest which He knew would result in His death? Does a man not have the right deliberately to sacrifice Himself for a cause? x, 18. Does not this right some- times become a duty? Was it not so with Jesus? 2. If Jesus had told these people of His miraculous birth would they have been any more likely to accept His divine character? 3. Is the principle that "a man is immortal until his work is done" a legitimate principle to act upon? Does it justify, a man in going into danger? May a man in the course of duty feel the confidence that he is perfectly safe? (c) Third scene. In the Temple? vii, 32-36 ^ 32 The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring ^^ these things concerning him; and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to take him. 33 Jesus there- fore said, Yet a little while am I with you, and I go unto him that sent me. 34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, ye cannot come. 35 The Jews therefore said among themselves. Whither will this man go that we shall not find him? will he go unto the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What is this word that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, ye cannot come? 84 THE CONFLICT Ch. VII. 32-36 This is the third scene of the discussion. Jesus announces the chasm which His enemies are creating between Him and them for eternity, and they give the first active expres- sion to the hostility which issued in His death. It was the beginning of a popular faith in Jesus which brought matters to a head. When the ofiicers came to take Him, He said, not to them, but to the people, "Don't trouble, I am going away of myself in a little while. You shall seek Me without avail then, not for arrest but for succor. It will be in vain. Where I am now you will not come. Of course, you can't then. " The Jews said among them- selves, leaving the multitudes out in their consciousness of a monopoly of reUgious privilege : ' * How absurd ! Where will He go? To the Jews out among the Gentiles? No Messiah would do that." But the words haunt them, and they go away asking, "What was that? What did He mean?" How eagerly He would have told them! How plainly He already told them! They could not see because they would not. That is the cause of our blind- ness, too. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What is your estimate of the real character of the Pharisees? Would it be a slander upon trustees, deacons, elders, or vestrymen of our churches to-day to liken them to the Pharisees? If Christ were to come again to-day, in some manner analogous to His first coming, how would He be received by the different classes in our churches? 2. The obscurest and most unlikely hiding place of Christ the Jews thought would be among the Jews scat- tered in foreign lands. Is our attitude toward foreign missions such that Christ at work among the foreign missions would be outside of our world? 3. Are not words that people do not understand or accept at the time they were spoken, often the very words that haunt their memories and give them unrest and ultimately convince them? Ch. VII. 37-39 GREAT CONTROVERSY 85 (3) The discussions on the last day of the feast, vii, 37-52 (a) The great promise of Jesus, vii, 37-39 Q\ 37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, ^-^ Jesus stood and cried, saying. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. 39 But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given ; because Jesus was not yet glorified. The Feast of Tabernacles lasted eight days. The eighth was the great day. On the other seven days at the time of the morning sacrifice water was brought in the Golden Pitcher from the Pool of Siloam for a liba- tion while Isa. xii, 3 was sung. The whole feast was a commemoration of the wilderness life, and this libation typified the water from the rock, but also looked forward to the fuller blessing that was expected. That water had always been so regarded. Ezek. xlvii, 1-12; Joel iii, 18; I Cor. x, 4. On the eighth day the procession moved out to the pool as on other days, only that day the Golden Pitcher was brought back empty, signifying the imfulfilled expectation, the longing of the nation for the true and living water. It was on that day that Jesus stood in the temple or by the way and watched the pro- cession pass, and as it passed and He noticed the unful- filled expectation, the longings still unsatisfied, He cried aloud, "Oh, come to Me. Here it is, the living water. No one need be unsatisfied more." He offers to satisfy the individual desire, to give a personal blessing which will be an energy of usefulness and which will use the whole man in the service of God. It was a wonderful word. It strikes home to John's deepest soul. He tells in V. 39 what in after years he came to see that it meant. "We cannot expect our Faith to become a power in the intellectual life of the nation unless we are enabled to show that the profoundest results attained in human life and in history coalesce in the Faith and from it receive energy and consecration." — Harnack, THE CONFLICT Ch. MI, 40-44 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Would not this scene make a wonderful subject for a painting? Imagine the different types in the procession, their thoughts and longings, and the effect of Christ's words. 2. Why should the stream of living water be repre- sented as flowing from within the beheving man? Does faith make a man a boundless giver and doer? Is the gift of life also the gift of giving life? 3. What does the New Testament teach of the relation of the Holy Spirit to Jesus? vii, 37; xiv, 16, 26; xv, 26; xvi, 7; XX, 22; Gal. iv, 6; Rom. viii, 9; Phil, i, 19; I Peter i, 11; Rom. xv, 16. 4. Can it be that still the Spirit is not given in individual lives because Jesus is not yet glorified in them? (b) The effect of Jesus' cry upon the multitude, vii, 40~44 (30) 40 Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard ^^ these words, said, This is of a truth the prophet. 41 Others said. This is the Christ. But some said. What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? 43 So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. 44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. The effects of Jesus' cry upon the multitudes were various. Many said, "Of a truth the Prophet" (i, 21; Deut. xviii, 15); others, "The Messiah." Others, "But He came from Galilee." So there was an excited dispute, and the fanatic party would have arrested Him at once. It is interesting to observe that Jesus never removed the popular misapprehension as to His birthplace. He attached no value to a faith that rested on mechanical considerations. He had fulfilled all the details of pre- diction as to the Messiah, but He made nothing of it. If people had any gleam of spiritual desire Jesus went any length to help them, but when they merely conjured with externalistic arguments or wanted to measure spiritual things with a foot-rule. He had no word to say. Life in Ch. VIT. 45-52 GREAT CONTROVERSY - 87 God and with God which He was offering men was above birthplaces and provinces. It was for the soul that stretched Godwards. To save a soul the Saviour offered all. For such a soul He would cross the universe. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Once again let us ask, If a man does not recognize Jesus just by looking at Him and hearing Him, what evidence can convince him? 2. The same facts do not mean the same thing to dif- ferent people. Yet people talk as though facts were the truth or the sure evidence of truth. But facts are the truth only when truly related and interpreted. How can we be sure of getting the truth out of facts? 3. If any of the people, honestly desiring to find the truth, had asked Jesus where he was born and whether He "fulfilled" the scripture, Micah v, 2, which they had in mind, what would He have said to them? (c) The effect of Jesus' teaching and conduct on the Sanhedrin. vii, 45-52 (p\ 45 The officers therefore came to the chief priests and ^^ Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why did ye not bring him? 46 The officers answered, Never man so spake. 47 The Pharisees therefore answered them, Are ye also led astray? 48 Hath any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees? 49 But this multitude that knoweth not the law are accursed. 50 Nicodemus saith imto them (he that came to him before, being one of them), 51 Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from him- self and know what he doeth? 52 They answered and said unto him. Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. The police returned without Jesus. A volume could be written on the explanation which they offered for their failure. It was to the Sanhedrin that they made their report. This day was a Sabbath, too. The rulers had complained of Jesus' healing men on the Sabbath. Was this a nobler use of the day which they were making? Are we as self-deceived as they were as to right and wrong? The Pharisee element burst forth in anger at the failure 88 THE CONFLICT Ch. VIII. i-ii of the scheme to arrest Jesus. "The multitude," they exclaimed in scorn, "this multitude is accursed." What was the difference between their view and Jesus'? "He had compassion on the multitudes." One man spoke up in the Council. He knew something of Jesus and in his heart he believed in Him, but he had not imperiled his place by joining Him, and perhaps he was not yet clear in his own mind, but he spoke up. Would the Pharisees, in their zeal for the law, violate it? Deut. i, i6; Ex. xxiii, I. But prejudice gave no heed and sneered him down. And the feast ended and the people scattered. But Jesus was not yet done with them. He went out into the country to come back. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Ought not the officers to have arrested Jesus unless they were prepared to go much further in the opposite direction than merely to marvel at His abihty as a speaker? Do not many men to-day make the moral blunder of evading the substance by talking about the form of God's message as they have heard it delivered? "That was a great sermon," you say. Man, God is not asking you your opinion of His messenger. He is calling you to give your soul to your Saviour. 2. Are not the common people better qualified and more likely to discover the truth in some matters than the professional teachers and leaders? In what matters is this true, if it is true? 3. Is it to the discredit of Nicodemus that he was still "one of them"? 4. Can you think of modern instances of sectional prejudice and contempt like that of v. 52? Read some of the contemporary comments on Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech. (4) The story of the woman taken in adultery, viii, i-ii ®0 53 [And they went every man unto his own house: ^ I but Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught Ch. VIII. i-ii GREAT CONTROVERSY 89 them. 3 And the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken in adultery; and having set her in the midst, 4 they say unto him, Teacher, this woman hath been taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now in the law Moses com- manded us to stone such: what then sayest thou of her? 6 And this they said, trying him, that they might have whereof to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them. He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. 9 And they, when they heard it, went out one by one, beginning from the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the midst. 10 And Jesus lifted up himself, and said imto her, Woman, where are they? did no man condemn thee? 11 And she said. No man, Lord. And Jesus said. Neither do I condemn thee: go thy way; from henceforth sin no more.] Some manuscripts of the Gospels put this passage in Luke, at the end of chapter xxi. Some omit it altogether. But the story was certainly part of the Apostolic tradition, and it teaches many great lessons. One is that character reveals itself by the agencies that it uses. Men who would do what these men did for the purpose of con- fusing Jesus deserved the denunciation which Jesus else- where poured upon them. They had no desire for a God of love and truth and purity. Another lesson is that our moral judgments often depend upon the atmosphere in which they are formed. Away from Jesus the course of action which these men proposed looked very fine. They were behaving most morally and were also pro- posing a great problem to Jesus. When they stood in Jesus' presence, however, everything looked different. Their conduct stood forth in real contemptibleness, and they slunk out, beginning with the oldest. Let us form all our judgments in Christ's company. Then we shall always deem mean and despicable what He deems so. Questions jor Rejleciion and Discussion 1. Why did they not bring the man, too? 2. Why did the oldest go out first? Was his con- 90 THE CONFLICT Ch. VIII. 12-20 science tenderest or its burden heaviest? Why did the youngest stay longest before he, too, went? 3. What do you imagine Jesus wrote? 4. Did Jesus acquit the woman, or did He convict and pardon, or did He withhold judgment and admonish? (s) Jesus further reveals Himself, viii, 12-20 (7^ 12 Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I ^-^ am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life. 13 The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest witness of thyself; thy witness is not true. 14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye know not whence I come, or whither I go. 15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. 16 Yea and if I judge, my judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. 17 Yea and in your law it is written, that the witness of two men is true. 18 I am he that beareth witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. 19 They said there- fore unto him. Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father: if ye knew me, ye would know my Father also. 20 These words spake he in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man took him ; because his hour was not yet come. The storm of the day before, when the Sanhedrin sought to arrest Jesus, has died down for the time, and He continues to teach publicly. He has already applied to Himself, in hope of reaching the spiritual sense of the people, the suggestiveness of the miracles of the manna (vi, 47-51) and of the smitten rock (vii, 37). Now he appropriates that of the fiery pillar. The conversation occurred in the court of the women in the temple, where were the great candelabra, lighted on the first night of (the Feast of Tabernacles, images of the pillar of fire, as the libations were of the smitten rock. Jesus was one by one taking the types and filling them, claiming them as foreshadowings of Himself. "I am the hght." Light is self-evidencing. If a man does not see it you cannot prove it to him. Christ is witness to Himself jto jthe 5oul that is capable of receiving Him. Pride or Ch. VIII. I2-20 GREAT CONTROVERSY 91 sin blinds the eyes so that they do not see. What can be done for them until they see? But if the heart is childlike toward God, then it will discover Him, and discover Him in Christ. " And when We dwell in darkness of the mind 'tis we That turn our faces from thy radiancy." — — Fraser-Tytler. "Light of the world," i, 9, 29; iii, 16, 17; iv, 42; vi, 33, 51; xvii, 18, 21, 23. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Is it not true that for whatever light there is in the world to-day, we have to look to Christ? 2. Why should knowledge of a man's origin and destiny quahfy him as a true witness about himself? v. 14. 3. Why should fellowship with God as Father ensure the justice of Jesus' judgments? 4. Men are always asking questions in terms of space and time. "Where is Thy Father?" "Where is Jesus now?" asked a group of school-boys. But can terms of space and time have any meaning in relation to the spaceless and timeless life of God? "It is not a matter of 'where,' " is the implication of Jesus' reply. "It is a matter of personality, of the knowledge of being." 5. Does every life have its hour? 6. How different this day that had now come from the night when the little child lay in the manger! " Light of the world, the world is dark about Thee; Far out on Judah's hills, the night is deep. Not yet the day is come when men shall doubt Thee, Not yet the hour when Thou must wake and weep; O little one, O Lord of Glory, sleep! " Love of all heaven, love's arms are folded round Thee, Love's heart shall be the pillow for Thy cheek. Not yet the hour is come when hate shall wound Thee, Not yet for shelter vainly must Thou seek. Rest, little one, so mighty and so weak. 92 THE CONFLICT Ch. VIII. 21-30 "Lie still and rest, Thou Rest of earth and heaven; Rest, little hands — our Hope of bliss ye keep; Rest, little heart — one day shalt Thou be riven; O new-born life, O Life eternal, sleep! Far out on Judah's hills the night is deep." (6) The spiritual crisis in the preaching to Israel, viii, 2 1-59 (a) The clear restatement of the object of faith and the results of unbelief, viii, 21-30 (4^ 21 He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ^^ ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin; whither I go, ye caimot come. 22 The Jews therefore said, "Will he kill himself, that he saith. Whither I go, ye cannot come? 23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath ; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am he^ ye shall die in your sins. 25 They said therefore unto him. Who art thou? Jesus said imto them. Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you: howbeit he that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these speak I unto the world. 27 They perceived not that he spake to them of the Father. 28 Jesus therefore said. When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. 29 And he that sent me is with me; he hath not left me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to him. 30 As he spake these tilings, many believed on him. Here Jesus clearly restates the object of faith and the results of unbelief. It is a development of what He had said in vii, 33-34. The gulf between Him and those who will not believe. He points out, comes from a difference in nature. They belong to different worlds. They were from beneath, sensual. He was from above, spiritual. They were of this world, the passing order. He was not of this world, but the bringer in of the life eternal in the spirit. The only hope of life, of permanence, was in His Being, His offer of the union of God and man, His enduring and saving Person. "I am," not "I am He," but just "I am," is the Messiah's assertion of Himself. Ch. VIII. 31-59 GREAT CONTROVERSY 93 That is all we need. That was His great work. He was. "But who?" asked the Jews, "who are you?" "I am what I have been trying to show you. But what is the use? You do not understand." Then a pause, "And I have more to say that will only widen the breach be- tween us. But when it is all over you may see." As He spake some saw and believed. Would we have believed if we had been Pharisees then listening to Him? One great evidence of our Lord's deity was the fact that He was misunderstood. He was manifestly a mes- senger out of a different world. Any messenger whom we can wholly understand and take in will be of our own order and sphere and not from another and higher. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Can we not feel the struggle of Jesus to show in words that He was more than words either of declaration or of explanation could ever show? 2. Again "Where" and "Whither" with the Jews and "What" and "This" with Jesus. Can we see the dif- ference between "Where I am" and "What I am"? 3. To be true to Himself and the divine in Him and yet to use His humanity and its opportunity to spiritualize and elevate man's thought of God as above all, was this not Jesus' problem? How better than He did could God incarnate teach men the nature of the transcendent God? 4. How did the crucifixion of Jesus as man reveal Him as God? 5. Is John accomplishing his purpose? xx, 31. Is^ not the case as he is presenting it convincing? (6) Analysis of the character and issues of selfish belief and false Judaism, viii, 31-59 (^ 31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed ^^ him, if ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disci' pies; 32 and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33 They answered unto him, We are Abraham's seed, and have never yet been in bondage to any man: how sayest thou. Ye shall be made free? 34 Jesus answered them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every 94 THE CONFLICT Ch. VIH. 31-59 one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin. 35 And the bondservant abideth not in the house for ever: the son abideth forever. 36 If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; yet ye seek to kill me, because my word hath not free course in you. 38 I speak the things which I have seen with my Father: and ye also do the things which ye heard from your father. 39 They answered and said unto him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from God: this did not Abraham. 41 Ye do the works of your father. They said unto him, We were not bom of fornica- tion; we have one Father, even God. 42 Jesus said unto them. If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I came forth and am come from God; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not tmder- stand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof. 45 But because I say the truth, ye believe me not. 46 Which of you convicteth me of sin? If I say truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth the words of God: for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of God. 48 The Jews answered and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a demon? 49 Jesus answered, I have not a demon; but I honor my Father, and ye dishonor me. 50 But I seek not mine own glory; there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 51 Verily, verily, I say unto you. If a man keep my word, he shall never see death. 52 The Jews said imto him, Now we know that thou hast a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my word, he shall never taste of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who died? and the prophets died: whom makest thou thyself? 54 Jesus answered. If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: it is my Father that glorifieth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God; 55 and ye have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be like unto you, a liar: but I know him, and keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. 57 The Jews thereforeisaid unto him. Thou art not yet fifty years old Ch. VIII. 31-59 GREAT CONTROVERSY 95 and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was bom, I am. 59 They took up stones therefore to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple. viii, 31-32. The rest of the chapter is a dialogue be- tween Jesus and the Jews. Here Abraham, and not Moses, as in chapter vi, is the representative of Judaism. The whole conversation is a contrast of the literal and spiritual, the external and moral, the temporal and eter- nal. It is a conversation with Jews who believed Christ but not in Him, who acknowledged His claims to Messiah- ship, but interpreted them by their own prepossessions. These Jews did not believe on Him as those in v. 30 did. Jesus recognizes this kind of faith, imperfect though it is, and combined with old prejudice, and says, ''If ye, even ye, abide in my word, ye are truly my disciples." Their faith was crude, but it was a beginning, and Jesus welcomes any trust. If they went on they would come to the fulness of freedom. Notice it is ^Hhe truth." What truth? The truth of mathematics? Yes, so far as that frees men from error. But ^^the truth" is the truth which Christ brought and which Christ is, and which frees men from all sin. i, 17; xiv, 6. viii, 33-47. But these believing Jews show at once how shallow their faith was. They had no sense of want or need of spiritual deliverance. "We are free," they said. Jesus answered " (i) Not spiritually. Every sinner is a slave. A slave abideth not in the Father's house. Only the Son. The only freedom is through that Son. (2) Physical descent from Abraham does not make you spiritually like him. He was a freeman. Why, you are trying to kill me. That shows your spirit. We have not the same father." The Jews replied, ''What difference of fathers is there? Our father is Abraham." "Not so," said Jesus. "You don't act it. Abraham honored those who spake God's word. You kill them." "We are Abraham's children both historically and spiritually," declared the Jews. "We are God's children, as he was." Jesus answered, "There is a test for that. God's children always recognize God. If God is your Father you will recognize Me." (I John v, i; John xiv, i.) We press 96 THE CONFLICT Ch. VIII. 31-59 this point. A true theism necessitates faith in Jesus. "You don't meet this test. You are the devil's children, He, too, was a murderer, incapable of accepting and serving truth. And you have no true love of truth, and it is your own fault. You are no kin of God." Jesus lays the responsibility of our alienation on our caprice, not on God's partiaHty. viii, 48-59. Jesus having uncovered the unreality of the faith of those Jews who were Abraham's progeny but not his children, these Jews now retort on Him the very charges He had just made against them. They called Him an illegitimate child of Abraham, a Samaritan, and said He had a devil. Jesus ignores this slur on the Samaritan, offers His unselfishness as proof of the divinity of His mission, and presses on to vaster claims — claims that set Him far above Abraham and lift Him up into God. They begin at last to understand Him (?;. 53). And yet they will not (v. 57). So He hurls out at them His closing word. "Abraham died. I am the giver of life. Abraham was the father of the Jews. I am the center of Abraham's hope." Then stones. This was the end of their faith when really sifted. If it had been only a claim to the Messiahship, they would not have taken up stones (x, 24). But they could not endure His definition of His Messiahship and His identification of it with God. Therefore stones (cf. x, 30, 31), the answer of those who loved darkness rather than light. And there are stones to-day. They are thrown in college and city, on land and sea. "So He claimed to be God," men and women say. "God! Away with Him!" But that does not do away with Him. He is still here and will remain. "Before Abraham was I am." "Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of dust Our feelings come and go. Our best estate is tossed about In ceaseless ebb and flow. "No mood of feeling, form of thought Is constant for a day; But, Thou, O Lord! Thou changest not The same Thou art alway." — /. C. Shairp. Ch. VIII. 31-59 GREAT CONTROVERSY 97 Stones, — one answer, the answer of those who loved darkness no matter what they said they loved. It was darkness answering light. But the Light had come. "Even here where darkness gathers round, All is not dark. There is, midst all, one spot of holy ground Which bears heaven's mark — The place which God has chosen for His own That He may come and make His oresence known." — John Sharp. Questions for Reflection and Discussion I. What is the difference between believing Christ and believing on Christ? And what is the difference between these and the belief of Christ? Do you see any possi- bility whatever of bringing into accord with the Gospel of John or with the Epistle to the Romans such a view as the one set forth in the following extract from a pub- lic letter of Prof. Adolf Deissmann of the University of Berlin on religious life in Germany during the war? ''The letter of a young Lancer (Uhlan), one of our theo- logical student-volunteers, who for several semesters was a member of my pro-seminar and seminar here at the university, gave me an especial joy. During the entire time of his military training and for the first weeks in the field his mind was continually occupied by a passage in Romans; now he believes himself to have found the solu- tion and is happy and satisfied about it. From Ardoye in West-Flanders he writes the following: " * During last summer's semester I heard your exe- gesis of Romans. . . . Many passages disquieted me and again made me happy. However, there was one which bothered me very much. I knew it involved an essential element in our conception of Christ. All other expositions did not satisfy me. What I refer to are the remarkable words of Paul in Rom. iii, 21-26; especially v. 25. Well, as I said, the statement here troubled me throughout the semester without my finding a satisfactory conclusion. War broke out and as a volunteer I entered the 3rd reg- iment of Lancers in Furstenwalde. " 'My studies naturally came to a close, but not the 98 THE CONFLICT Ch. VIII. 31-59 burning question in regard to the passage mentioned above. If I give you, my dear professor, in brief my thoughts and considerations about these words of the Apostle, I do it with the happy consciousness of having become content and quiet. I would Hke to ask you to examine my exegesis. Of course now, while I am writing, the original is not at my disposal, for I am already out in the field; but during the long hours in our quarters I at least have the time to give you the translation which I finished in the garrison and took along with me. " 'These are the words: " '21. But now apart from the law, God's righteousness has been manifested, having been witnessed by the law and the prophets, 22 even God's righteousness through (in consequence of) the faith of Jesus Christ unto (i.e., with reference to) all them that believe (i.e., who have the faith of Jesus Christ). For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of (cannot obtain) the glory of God: 24 being (now) accounted righteous freely by His grace as a result of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God set forth pubHcly as a sign of propitiation, in consequence of the faith (which He even preserved) in His blood, to show His righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime in the for- bearance of God; 26 for the showing of His righteousness at this present season; that He Himself be truly just; and (in truth) accounts righteous him that is of the faith of Jesus (i.e., who shares the same faith with Jesus). . . . " 'What bothered me most was v. 25. It was not clear to me where the phrase "in His blood" belonged. My understanding of the whole passage hinges on these words. "In His blood" must necessarily belong to "in consequence of His faith!" and this faith is not the faith of men in Christ but the faith of Christ Himself. Only he-, who is of this faith can recognize the righteousness of God. It is not the faith in Christ's blood, neither is it the faith in the fellowship of Christ's blood, but it is the faith of Jesus Christ Himself, which approved itself to the last and utmost. As a result of this faith He is a sign of propitiation set forth by God before the whole world. I, therefore, take the expression " in Christ Jesus " in a local sense without necessarily thinking of the pneumatic Christ. Ch.IX. I-I2 GREAT CONTROVERSY 99 In this suffering and much enduring Christ lies our re- demption, since the just God accounts him truly righteous who has such faith as Jesus had. Throughout the whole passage I think of the historic Christ rather than of the pneumatic. The present tense "being justified" may be used in a general way, and need not be taken as referring to the present being laid hold on by the pneumatic Christ. But this is of little consequence here. All that interests me is to know that the faith in z^. 25 is Christ's faith and not the faith in Christ. " *I am so glad to still be able to pen you these lines, hoping that you will receive them right soon, for who knows how long we may yet remain undisturbed in our quarters.' "The explanation, which practically almost agrees with that held by Johannes Haussleiter, takes our redemption as conditioned by the fidehty of the faith of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which He proved to the utmost even to His death on the cross." Is this the New Testament view? 2. Is it true that if men love God as their Father, they will love Christ? Must a true and devout theist be also a Christian? 3. Does Jesus' statement imply that the devil is the father of all lies? Are there any lies that can claim sanc- tion from God? Or is every lie wrong? Read Trumbull, "A Lie Never Justifiable." 4. Is it possible to make a Christian die? Did not Jesus say, "If a man keep My word, he shall never see death?" b. The Feast of Dedication. The separation accomplished, ix, X (i) The sign, ix, 1-12 (42) G And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from ^^ ^ his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when 100 THE CONFLICT Ch. IX. 1-12 no man can work. 5 When I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, 7 and said unto him. Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went away therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 8 The neighbors therefore, and they that saw him aforetime, that he was a beggar, said. Is not this he that sat and begged? 9 Others said. It is he: others said. No, but he is like him. He said, I am he. 10 They said therefore unto him. How tiien were thine eyes opened? 11 He answered, The man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to Siloam, and wash: so I went away and washed, and I received sight. 12 And they said imto him. Where is he? He saith, I know not. The ninth and tenth chapters relate events and con- versations which took place at the Feast of Dedication in the winter time (x, 22, 23). The Feast of Tabernacles had been in the fall. Jesus had fed the hungry and healed the impotent. He now gives sight to the blind. In doing so He reveals to men the one practical lesson to be learned from human suffering. The disciples are anxious to find out the relation of suffering to sin. Jesus' reply passes over the inquiry. He has referred to it elsewhere [v. 14, Matt, ix, 2). Here He declares that the origin of evil is less important than its removal. Its existence is only an opportunity for the manifestation of God's works which overthrow evil. The one lesson from suffering is the need of diligence on our part. "We must work." He includes His disciples as in iii, 11. ''While it is day" (Psa. ciii, 23). "The night cometh." This lesson comes home to us. We have no time to waste on speculation as to the origin of evil. We shall have all we can do to war against it and to overthrow it. "The day is short," said R. Tarphon, one of the Jewish fathers, "and the task is great and the workmen are sluggish and the reward is much and the Master of the house is urgent." " Time worketh, let me work too, Time undoeth, let me do. Busy as time my work I ply Till I rest in the rest of eternity. Ch. IX. 13-34 GREAT CONTROVERSY 101 " Sin worketh, let me work too Sin undoeth, let me do. Busy as sin my work I ply Till I rest in the rest of eternity. ** Death worketh, let me work too, Death undoeth, let me do. (Busy as death my work I ply Till I rest in the rest of eternity."— 5onar. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. If we had been Jews what would we have said about this case? Would we have said, "This man never was blind," or "What secret remedy has Jesus discovered?" or "It is evident that there is more in the universe than we had realized?" Or would we have said something else? 2. Is personal testimony as to one's own experience always dependable? Is it always valid in the case of disease and its healing? Would it be in a case of blindness cured? 3. What is the connection of suffering with sin? What light do vv. 2 f throw on the problem of suffering? Cf. Luke xiii, 1-5. 4. Does this story support the view held by some that Jesus wrought His miracles purely as philanthropies and not as signs, and that He had no prophetic or propagandist purpose in what He did? (2) The judgments on the sign, ix, 13-34 (43) 13 They bring to the Pharisees him that aforetime ^-^ was blind. 14 Now it was the sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. And he said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and I see. 16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, because he keepeth not the sabbath. But others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them. 17 They say therefore tmto the blind man again. What sayest thou of him, in that he opened thine eyes? And he said. He is a prophet. 18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been 102 THE CONFLICT Ch. IX. 13-34 blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight, 19 and asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? 20 His parents answered and said. We know that this is our son, and that he was bom blind: 21 but how he now seeth, we know not; or who opened his eyes, we know not; ask him; he is of age; he shall speak for himself. 22 These things said his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man should confess him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore said his parents. He is of age; ask him. 24 So they called a second time the man that was blind, and said unto him. Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He therefore answered. Whether he is a sinner, I know not; one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. 26 They said therefore unto him. What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27 He an- swered them, I told you even now, and ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear it again? would ye also become his disciples? 28 And they reviled him, and said. Thou art his disciple; but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God hath spoken unto Moses: but as for this man, we know not whence he is. 30 The man answered and said unto them. Why, herein is the marvel, that ye know not whence he is, and yet he opened mine eyes. 31 We know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and do his will, him he heareth. 32 Since the world began it was never heard that any one opened the eyes of a man bom blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. 34 They an- awered and said unto him. Thou wast altogether bora in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. We see here again the development of faith and un- belief. The Pharisees fall from haughty satisfaction with preconceptions {v. 14), to debate and discussion {v. 16), to judgment {v. 24), to expulsion of the blind man in disgrace {v. 34). On the other hand, the man's faith grows as he beholds the growing hatred of the Pharisees for his benefactor (v. 17), his opinions clarify and wax bolder (vv. 27, 30), and he comes at last to the acceptance of discipleship, and open confession {v. 38). So the roads of men diverge. The wise and great deceive themselves and go astray, and the poor bUnd man follows the hght Ch. IX. 13-34 GREAT CONTROVERSY 103 trustfully onward to the fullness of the day. In the midst of all the discussion and controversy which rained questions too hard for the once bhnd man, he clung un- moved to the one great fact of his experience. "I was bhnd — now I see. Jesus did it." The questions and anger of the Pharisees only drove him to see more clearly what was involved in this great experience of his. He began to realize that his benefactor was far more than a mere bodily benefactor, and his blind soul awoke also to vision. Opposition to our faith is often one of our best blessings. It brings out more clearly what the grounds of our faith are and reveals glories in the object of our faith which we had not seen before. ''The heart has reasons which the reason does not know. It is the heart that feels God, not the reason. There are truths that are felt and there are truths that are proved, for we know truth not only by the reason but by that intuitive conviction which may be called the heart. The primaiy truths are not demonstrable and yet our knowledge of them is none the less certain. Principles are felt: propositions are proved. Truths may be above reason and yet not be contrary to reason." — Pascal. " If e'er when faith had fallen asleep I heard a voice, * Believe no more!' And heard an ever breaking shore That tumbled on the Godless deep, " A warmth within the heart would melt The freezing reason's colder part And like a man in wrath the heart Stood up and answered, * I have felt.' " — Tennyson. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Are not prejudices always angered by facts? Why is this? Is it so with us? Are we guilty of any partisan- ships which blind us to facts? 2. Was it right for the parents to testify only to what they themselves knew and to throw the whole burden of the hostihty of the Pharisees upon the bhnd son who only now saw and who had to make a completely new adjustment to life? 104 THE CONFLICT Ch. IX. 35-41 3. The Pharisees could cast out the man but they could not answer his testimony. Have we any testimony that we can bear to Christ and His power which makes us as unanswerable as this man? 4. Note how shrewd the blind man had become. Is there any sharpener and strengthener of the mind equal to the living experience, to vital contact with reahty, especially with supreme moral personality? (3) The beginning of the new society, ix, 35-41 ^ 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and find- ^^ ing him, he said, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, And who is he. Lord, that I may believe on him? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that speaketh with thee. 38 And he said. Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. 39 And Jesus said. For judgment came I into this world, that they that see not may see; and that they that see may become blind. 40 Those of the Pharisees who were witifi him heard these things, and said unto him. Are we also blind? 41 Jesus said unto them. If ye were blind, ye would have no sin: but now ye say. We see: your sin ramaineth. The once blind man was the first member of a new society. Jesus and His other disciples had not yet been cast out of Judaism. But now for the first time a believer for his faith was cast out of the theocratic community. It was "the first act of the rupture between the Church and the Synagogue." The new society distinct from Judaism was now begun. A test of membership was provided, the confession of a new truth, faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. As such Jesus revealed Him- self to the man and as such the man accepted Him. Per- haps as soliloquy, perhaps as to the company standing about, Jesus interpreted the incident. Judgment was revealing itself. This was not the object of His coming (iii, 17), but it was the inevitable result (iii, 18). His coming revealed faith and unbelief. Those who saw not, like the blind man, were seeing. The untrained and ignorant were by faith in the Son of Man entering into fullness of light. Those who saw, the Pharisees who Ch. X. I-2I GREAT CONTROVERSY 105 knew the law, were holding to their externals and literal- isms and losing sight. "But are we blind?" asked the friendly Pharisees who followed but did not yield to His Messianic ideals. "It were better that you were and knew it," was Jesus' reply. "If you felt your ignorance I could heal you, but you boast presumptuously of your knowl- edge: for this reason your malady is incurable." — Godet. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Might not this healed blind man be truly called the first Christian? All the other disciples were still Jews, mem- bers of the Synagogue, but this man had been cast out by Judaism and was only a Christian. Note that it was Judaism which made the separation. 2. What was the doctrinal basis of the new community of those who, cast out elsewhere, followed Jesus Christ alone? Remember that Jesus Himself asked this question. 3. Would it be better to leave men in ignorance in order to diminish their responsibility? If so would you be willing to be left or to leave your children? (4) The character of the new society, x, 1-2 1 ©10 Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that entereth ^-^ -"-^ not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a rob- ber. 2. But he that entereth in by the door is the shep- herd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4 When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know noi the voice of strangers. 6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. Q\ 7 Jesus therefore said unto them again. Verily, verily, ^^ I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that came before me>re thieves and robbers : but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasttire. 10 The thief cometh not, but that he may 106 THE CONFLICT Ch. X. 1-2 1 steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shep- herd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. 12 He that is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, beholdeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf snatcheth them, and scattereth them: 13 he fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know mine own, and mine own know me, 15 even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd. 17 Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 18 No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of my- self. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from my Father. ©iQ There arose a division again among the Jews be- cause of these words. 20 And many of them said. He hath a demon, and is mad; why hear ye |him? 21 Others said. These are not the sayings of one possessed with a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? X, 1-6. The expulsion of the man whom Jesus received forms the opportunity for a statement of the nature of the society which is now opened distinct from Judaism. The parable of the Shepherd, his relation to the fold and to the sheep, suggests Christ's relation to the Church and His power to claim His own followers. Perhaps the parable was suggested by the sight of the shepherds and their flocks on the hills about Jerusalem. The image was a favorite one in the Old Testament (Ezek. xxxiv, 2; Jer. xxxiii, i; Zech. xi, 3; Ps. xxiii). The parable refers, first, to the shepherd's relation to the fold, and, secondly, to the shepherd's relation to his sheep. " His own sheep He calls by name." Each of us has a name (Isa. xliii, i, xlv, 3, xlix, i; Rev. iii, 5), and God's name for us is our true name, the name of our true selves, what by God's grace we are to be. Simon's name was Peter (Rev. ii, 17). Some have said that the Oriental shepherd calls his sheep by the name of their defects. But that can- not be God's way. He calls us by the name of our noblest Ch. X. I-2I GREAT CONTROVERSY 107 possibilities. " Simon, thou shalt be called Rock." The early Christians were called to be saints and were called saints, a name far nobler and more uplifting than any name drawn from their imperfectness. X, 7-18. In these verses Jesus interprets the parable of the shepherd. Christ is the door. He is the one en- trance to the Church at all times for all men. There is no other entrance. All who pretend to be doors to God are impostors. Salvation, liberty, sustenance, come of Christ alone. Abundant life is with Him alone. Christ is also the good Shepherd, who is perfectly self-sacrificing (vv. 1 1 -1 3) and who has perfect knowledge of His flock (w. 14, 15). The thought of His death suggests the world- wide effect of it. The cross and the world go together (xii, 32; Eph. ii, 13). And His work of sacrifice, as well as His work of revelation, of which He had previously spoken, rested on perfect fellowship with the Father. He willed for Himself what God willed for Him. He was free and He used His freedom to obey. This is perfect freedom. This is the obedience that pleases God. " Our wills are ours. We know not how, Our wills are ours to make them Thine." X, 19-21. Another division. As among the multi- tude (vii, 43), as among the Pharisees (ix, 16), so ever, Christ divided men. Many said, " He hath a demon," (vii, 20; viii, 48), " He is mad; come away, don't listen." These were afraid of His influence. Others said, " The teaching and the acts refute such a charge." So they differed. We think often that if only Jesus would come back and move among men once more, they would surely be convinced. The doubter would trust, and the evil man hate his sin. But it would not be so. Jesus' pres- ence would reveal to-day, as it did then, the essential char- acter of faith or unbelief in each man. Some would welcome Him; others would say, "The man is mad." What we are doing with Jesus now is what we would do with Him if He were bodily present once more. He is present now in the most real way. What are we doing with Him? 108 THE CONFLICT Ch. X. 22-38 Questions for Reflection a^td Discussion 1. To whom or what does Jesus refer when He speaks of the thieves and robbers who came before Him? 2. What is involved in Jesus' words in z). 16 when appUed to the race problem and the questions of racial prejudice and nationalism? 3. Is there any significance in the substitution in the American Standard Revised version in z;. 16 of the word " flock " for the word " fold " found in the King James' Version? Read John Ruskin's " Notes on the Construc- tion of Sheep Folds." 4. Is a hireling a hireling because he flees, or does he flee because he is a hireling? Is a man a Har because he lies or does he lie because he is a liar? (s) Christ's final public testimony to Himself before the Passion, x, 22-38 (48) 22 And it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem : ^^ 23 it was winter; and Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch. 24 The Jews therefore came round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou hold us in suspense? If thou art the Christ, tell us plainly. 25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, these bear wit- ness of me. 26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one. 31 The Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from the Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? 33 The Jews answered him. For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? 35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken), 36 say ye of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? Ch. X. 22-38 GREAT CONTROVERSY 109 37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38 But if I do them, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. This was Christ's final public testimony to Himself before His passion. It was the climax of His public mani- festation. It was in the eastern cloister of the temple, in December {vv. 22, 23; Acts iii, 11, v, 12). The Jews surrounded Him in this public place, determined to have a final and unequivocal answer from Him as to who He was. What was His idea of the Messiahship? But Jesus will not speak save to and as a test of faith. He does not want any national, political acceptance. He is seek- ing the loving spiritual confidence of the individual heart. He throws His questioners back on their own spiritual discernment. If that can't answer their query, no external answer can avail. Answer, stones. " For which deed from God are you stoning me? " was His calm inquiry. Note their reply. They were going to stone Him because He assumed the prerogatives of God. Some people will not believe in Jesus to-day because they say He did not make these very claims which the Jews killed Him for making. And note Jesus' answer. He was but fulfilling what the Old Testament had promised, — a real unity be- tween God and men. They were rejecting the very end of all their education at God's hand. Then He closes, as nearly on their level as He can come, with an appeal to His works once more as signs {vv. 37, 38). " There are two elements which are still alive through- out the domain of Protestanism. One of them is the con- viction that in the end religion is only a steadfast temper of the soul, rooted in childlike trust in God; that firm, cheerful confidence which Paul Gerhardt has so well expressed: Is God for me, then let all else oppose me. The other is that this childlike trust is inseparably bound up with the plain, simple rule that the moral life, in all its solemnity and earnestness, is the correlative of religion, and that without it religion becomes idolatry and a decep- tion of the soul. These convictions — they are summed up in the Beatitudes — are the strength of Protestantism and its hidden treasure. Just as they unquestionably form 110 THE CONFLICT Ch. X. 39-42 its foundation within the boundaries of our common Chris- tianity, so they are at the same time the essential content of the Gospel itself." — Harnack. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Was not Jesus right in saying that He had told them clearly what He claimed to be? If He had told them more or less would they not have misunderstood Him even worse? And to-day would not any more or different Christian evidence make true Christian faith more diflS- cult? 2. Which view does our theology hold, that men do not believe because they are not of Christ's sheep or that they are not of Christ's sheep because they do not believe? 3. Do you catch the full significance of Christ's two points in w, 34-36 and vv. 37, 38? (6) The diverse results, x, 39-42 (49) 39 They sought again to take him: and he went forth ^^ out of their hand. 40 And he went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was at the first baptizing; and there he abode. 41 And many came unto him; and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true. 42 And many believed on him there. Again, as ever, the opposite results, and Jesus passed out, rejected in Judea after a full offer of Himself to the leaders of the nation. In the Perea, whither He with- drew, He found friends who were simple enough of heart to beHeve, and who found in Him the Shepherd True. Have we found Him? He is calling still to men. Some have had trust in Him. " I was wandering sad and weary When the Saviour came unto me, For the paths of sin were dreary And the world had ceased to woo me. And I thought I heard Him say, As He came along His way, Ch.X. 39-42 GREAT CONTROVERSY 111 Wand'ring souls, O do come near me, My sheep should never fear me, I am the Shepherd true, I am the Shepherd true. " At first I would not hearken But put off till the morrow, Till life began to darken, And I grew sick with sorrow, Then I thought I heard Him say. As He came along His way, Wand'ring souls, O do come near me. My sheep should never fear me, I am the Shepherd true, I am the Shepherd true, ** At last I stopped to listen, His voice could ne'er deceive me, I saw His kind eye glisten So anxious to relieve me. Then 1 knew I heard Him say, As He came along His way, Wand'ring souls, O do come near me. My sheep should never fear me, I am the Shepherd true, I am the Shepherd tru3. ** I thought His love would weaken. As more and more He knew me. But it burneth like a beacon. And its light and heat go thro' me, And I ever hear Him say, As He goes along His way, Wand'ring souls, O do come near me, My sheep should never fear me, I am the Shepherd true, I am the Shepherd true." — Faher. ' Questions ^or Reflection and Discussion 1. Review in thought the development of unbelief and opposition among the Jews up to this point. 2. How long was Jesus in the Perea in this ministry and what took place in it? Matt, xix, xx; Mark x; Luke xiii, lo-xviii, 43. 3. Is John the Evangelist faithfully and adequately de- veloping his case? 112 THE CONFLICT Ch. XI. 1-16 2. The Decisive Judgment, xi, xii a. The final sign and its result. Lazarus, xi, 1-57 @11 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Beth- any, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 And it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with oint- ment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 The sisters therefore sent unto him, saying. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said. This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two days in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he saith to the disciples. Let us go into Judaea again. 8 The disciples say unto him. Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? 9 Jesus answered. Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. 10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him. 11 These things spake he: and after this he saith unto them. Our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 12 The dis- ciples therefore said unto him. Lord, if he is fallen asleep, he will recover. 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death: but they thought that he spake of taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus ttierefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. 16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didjnnus, said unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. The story bears every mark of having been written by an eye-witness, w. 5, 6, 18, 19, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 37, 38, 44. It is the last of the seven signs which John selected with the twofold purpose (xx, 30 f) of showing how faith and unbelief developed and of inciting the reader to faith. Each sign was a sign, ii, i ff; iv, 46 fif; v, i fif; vi, 5 fif, 15 ff; ix, I ff; xi. "The village of Mary and Martha." Two good women can give a character to a community so that the Saviour loves to come to it, and in such a community what sickness there is is not due to vice or bad sanitation. Ch. XI. 17-44 GREAT CONTROVERSY 113 If there is sickness there, there will be a divine meaning and glory in it. "Does God Send Trouble?" The be- loved author of that little book answered no, but apart from all question of words note the fact as Jesus declared it {v. 4). And to reveal this glory hid in Lazarus' death into danger they must go. Would they? Surely Thomas. He was of the same heart with Ricasoli, Itahan patriot and scorner of soft men, who "at the news of Villafranca, made his will, and in his own rough expression, 'spat upon his life.' " Lazarus has been identified with the Rich Young Ruler of Mark x, who came to Jesus and went away sorrowful. It may be that the identification is purely fanciful, but it is pleasant to think upon. A great sorrow was to Jesus a great opportunity. He was glad that He had not been present before Lazarus' death, for now He had yet a greater opportunity to render service and to inspire faith. The darker our night, the more radiant His coming. When our sorrow seems greater than it need have been, and to be without meaning to us, let us wait until we see what He means by it and what He means to do for us through it. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Have not rehef and victory often come to us, as to these sisters, in our darkest hours? Have you read and taken home the lessons of Chesterton's "The Ballad of the White Horse"? 2. How much do we know about Mary and Martha, and can you form a conception of their personalities which seems to you just? 3. What do you make out to be the meaning of w. 9 and 10? 4. What can those who say that Christ's works were not meant to have an evidential significance make out of z'. 15? What but repudiate the record? But the record of the works and of the interpretation of them is all one. (^ 17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been ^^ in the tomb four days already. 18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen fiu-longs off; 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to con- 114 THE CONFLICT Ch. XI. 17-44 sole them concerning their brother. 20 Martha there- fore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary still sat in the house. 21 Martha therefore said unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22 And even now I know that, whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give thee. 23 Jesus saith unto her. Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; 26 and whosoever liveth and beUeveth on me shall never die. Believest thou this? 27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, even he that com- eth into the world. 28 And when she had said this, she went away, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying. The Teacher is here, and calleth thee. 29 And she, when she heard it, arose quickly, and went unto him. 30 (Now Jesus was not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met him.) 31 The Jews tiien who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going unto the tomb to weep there. 32 Mary therefore, when she came where Jesus was, and saw him, fell down at his feet, saying unto him. Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 and said. Where have ye laid him? They say unto him. Lord, come and see. 35 Jesus wept. 36 The Jews therefore said. Behold how he loved him? 37 But some of them said. Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him that was blind, have caused that this man also should not die? 38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to tiie tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus saith. Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him. Lord, by this time the body decay- eth; for he hath been dead four days. 40 Jesus saith unto her. Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believest, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me. 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the multitude that standeth aroimd I said it, that they may believe that thou didst send me. 43 And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 He that was Ch. XL 17-44 GREAT CONTROVERSY 115 dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. And Jesus came and raised the dead. We are not of those of little faith. We do not explain away the miracle. Jesus Christ, the Lord of Life, raised the dead man who was His friend to hfe again. This is what He did. He made alive a man who was dead. And He wept as He did it. We may say He wept to see in death the ravages of sin, or because of the unbelief of those about, or out of pure love. Enough for us that He who came to show us God showed us the tenderheartedness of God. This which Jesus did He called the glory of God. The mani- festation of a power over death was a revealing of the character of God. He is all life and the foe of all death. When His ends are at last attained, death will not be any more, and all those who have fallen asleep in Jesus wiU live again. Meanwhile in the shadow of every great sorrow we know now that the tenderhearted God is with us, and though He does not give us back our loved ones, we hear Him weeping with us and we rest in His love and are content to wait until the daybreak and the shadows flee away. Questions for Reflection and Disctcssion 1. What light does this paragraph throw on Jesus' life of prayer and fellowship with God? vv. 22, 41, 42. 2. Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. Note is, not ''shall be." And note that it is "is," not "teaches," ''reveals," "gives." Here is a picture of Christianity ab- solutely unique. Jesus Christ is His religion and His religion is resurrection and life. Whoever heard of any- thing in any non-Christian rehgion in any way resembling this? 3. What was Jesus' view of death? What did He say of it? How did He bear Himself toward it when He met it? Mr. Moody used to say in his pungent speech, "Jesus broke up every funeral He attended." 4. What is death? And what is hfe? 116 THE CONFLICT Ch. XI. 45-46 (7^ 45 Many therefore of the Jews, who came to Mary ^-^ and beheld that which he did, believed on him. 46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done. Here we have an exact fulfillment of that which Jesus put into the mouth of Abraham in the parable of Dives and Lazarus. "Neither will they be convinced though one rose from the dead." Even of those who actually saw this miracle, some did not believe but went away to report to the Pharisees. Perhaps they said "Lazarus was not dead at all. It was all a trick." Or perhaps, "He was just in a trance," or some, perhaps, "The man is a magician of some kind. It looks like a miracle, but we will not believe it. That is the most unlikely explana- tion of what we have seen." Or some doubtless said, "We can't trust ourselves to account for this. We must find out what the great men think about it." But there were others who saw and believed. They believed not only what they saw, but what was far more, they believed on Jesus. They laid their wearied hearts on His breast. They came at last after all their wanderings and their dissatisfaction to Him, and they found peace to their souls. This is a picture of what would happen to-day. If Jesus were here and raised a man, some would deny. When He does raise men from moral death, there are many who deny the miracle. "He wasn't dead," they say, or "He raised himself." Ask Lazarus. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Is it not true that any evidence can be resisted? Do we not see constantly in our own law-courts instances where true testimony is utterly rejected? 2. Is our theory of nature so fixed that if the Second Coming of Christ should occur we would be incapable of recognizing it? Would the miracle of the Incarnation have been as unimaginable to us if we had Hved in Christ's time as any miracle would be to some of us to-day? 3. And yet are we not seeing constantly things that are supernatural, e.g., the divine will in human wills over- ruHng nature, and physical events which are supernatural Ch. XI. 47-53 GREAT CONTROVERSY 117 and inexplicable, e.g., the appearance in a house of a new soul when a child is born, making three souls where there had been but two, — would not this be a miracle if it were not common. But does the fact that a thing happens often make it naturalistic? ^ 47 The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees ^^ gathered a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many signs. 48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him; and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. 49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, 50 nor do ye take account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 51 Now this he said not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation; 52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God that are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day forth they took counsel that they might put him to death. The Pharisees do not now deny that Jesus was doing great wonders. They even recognize that His wonders are signs. But instead of humbly studying them or seeking to know the truth, they make the very greatness and won- derfulness of Jesus a reason for hate and flattery. "If we let Him alone," they said, "all men will believe, and the Romans will come and destroy us." So they did not let Him alone. What was the issue? The Romans came and destroyed them. If they had let Jesus alone, it might well have been that the Romans would have let them alone. The reasoning by which we defend wrong- doing always has a flaw in it. We may not be able to detect it, but it is there. The logic of wrong-doing may look impregnable, but in the end the tiniest little child with truth on his side will prevail against it. It was indeed expedient that one man should die for the nation, but woe to the nation that slew Him and that would not accept the gift of life which He offered through death. 118 THE CONFLICT Ch. XI. 54-57 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. In what sense did Jesus die for the nation? 2. Who were "the children of God that are scattered abroad"? 3. Jesus is let alone to-day. Why do not all men beheve on Him? The Pharisees might have known from their own hearts that Jesus is not irresistible and that even when He is let alone to exercise His spell men can and do deny Him. Why? ^ 54 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 tar- ried with the disciples. 55 Now the passover of the Jews was at hand; and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the passover, to purify themselves. 56 They sought therefore for Jesus, and spake one with another, as they stood in the temple. What think ye? That he will not come to the feast? 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given commandment, that, if any man knew where he was, he should show it, that they might take him. These were Jesus' last quiet days with the disciples before the final great week. He knew what was coming. Doubtless they must have reaUzed, also, that the end was near. In their common sorrow they spent these peaceful days in the calm of the coimtry. We may be sure that He used the time to good advantage in training the twelve. But what He said and did we do not know. After all, it is of but a few of Jesus' years that we know anything and of but a few days in these years. The unrecorded days were not empty. John tells us else- where that if all that Jesus had said and done had been written down, the world itself would not contain the books that would be written. That was a vivid and picturesque way of suggesting how busy and rich the life of Jesus had been, and it shows us how full such days as these at Ephraim were of teaching and incident. They were included in ''that best part of any good man's life, his little unrecorded acts of kindness and of love." What are our days in secluded places filled with? Did we spend our last vacation as Jesus spent His days at Ephraim? Ch. XII. i-ii GREAT CONTROVERSY 119 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Of how many of the days of Jesus' public life have we any record? One-third? One-tenth? 2. Is it possible for men to maintain an attitude of mere neutrahty toward Jesus? The Pharisees could not do so because there was Jesus before them all the time. If men to-day are able to be calmly neutral because not daily confronted with Jesus and compelled to decide with regard to Him, whose fault is it? b. The close of Christ's pubHc ministry in judgment, xii John omits the account of the last great controversy (Matt, xxii, 15-46; Mark -xii, 13-34; Luke xx). He has no need for it. His picture of the development is complete. He only records now the judgments passed on Jesus by|(i) devoted Mary, vv. 1-8; (2) hostile priests, vv. 9-1 1 ; (3) enthusiastic people, vv. 12-18; (4) discomfited Pharisees, v. 19; (5) desiring Gentiles, vv. 20-33; (6) the perplexed multitude, vv. 34-36; (7) the evangelist, ^- 37~43; and (8) Christ Himself, vv. 44-50. "This chapter is at once a closing and a preparation." — Luthardt, (i) The feast at Bethany, xii, i -11 (5?) 1 2 J®sus therefore six days before the passover ^-^ -*■ ^ came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead. 2 So they made him a supper there : and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at meat with him. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was fiUed with the odor of the ointment. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, that should betray him, saith, 5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred shil- lings, and given to the poor? 6 Now this he said, not be- cause he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the bag took away what was put therein. 7 Jesus therefore said, Suffer her to keep it against the day of my burying. 8 For the poor ye have always with you; but me ye have not always. 9 The common people therefore of the Jews learned 120 THE CONFLICT Ch. XII. i-ii that he was there: and they came, not for Jesus* sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. lo But the chief priests took coun- sel that they might put Lazarus also to death; ii because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus. xii, 1-7. We have here Jesus' approval of gifts of love. The gift of the ointment was neither necessary nor useful to Jesus, but nevertheless He approved it. It expressed love and it rejoiced His heart. We may plead Jesus' sanction of our loving gifts to our loved ones. The poor are with us always, and we are under permanent obliga- tions to them, but those obligations we can meet by cutting ofE our selfish indulgences. We are not reduced to the necessity of cutting off our gifts of love. The little children and all who are dear to us are entitled to such practical utterances of our love as Jesus received from His friend Mary. But Judas had a word of criticism. No one but a man of bad heart could have entertained the thought which Judas entertained or have spoken his word. And John candidly utters his mind about him. His professed interest in the poor was false. He wanted Mary's love expressed in cash which he could steal. There is something bad in the character of any man who does not love to see love show itself as love. Love is of God, and whoever is cynical toward it has an alien heart toward God, while all those who rejoice in it are in a mood for God. xii, 8-1 1. The common people had heard Him gladly at the beginning, and now at the end they come out to see Him. The common people are always the easily led, but their better instincts against which they are often led are usually right. God must have loved the common people, Lincoln remarked, because He made so many of them, and from among them, most of those have come who have returned His love. It was the friend of Jesus who drew them as well as Jesus. In Browning's "Epistle of Karshish, an Arab Physician," there is a wonderful study of this after life of Lazarus. It is not strange that people flocked to see him. The wonder of his physical resurrection could not be greater than the marvel of his Ch. XII. 12-19 GREAT CONTROVERSY 121 new intellectual and spiritual outlook. He drew people by virtue of what Jesus had done for him and he drew them to Jesus. But by the same law he shared the bitterness of Jesus' foes. Whoever would tread one way with Jesus must tread two. If we share the love of those who love Jesus, we must be prepared for the hate of those who hate Jesus, or, if that is rare to-day, for the lukewarmness or indifference of those who do not care for Him. If only we knew what Lazarus told: "Where wert thou, brother, those four days? There lives no record of reply Which telling what it is to die Had surely added praise to praise. " From every house the neighbors met The streets were filled with joyful sound A solemn gladness even crowned The purple brows of Olivet. "Behold a man raised up by Christ! The rest remaineth unrevealed. He told it not, or something sealed The lips of that Evangelist." — Tennyson, Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Ought a man to feel that he is not free to use any money in gifts of friendship or charity until he has first paid all his debts? 2. Is not the principle of giving Christmas gifts in our homes, in spite of the fact that the money spent might be devoted to charity, sanctioned by these words of Jesus? 3. Can you conceive what the Hfe of Lazarus must have been after such an experience? 4. Why is it that evidence that convinces some people does not convince others, that Faraday should believe on Christ and Huxley not? (2) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem, xii, 12-19 Q\ 12 On the morrow a great multitude that had come ^^ to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to 7srusalem, 13 took the branches of the palm trees, and went 122 THE CONFLICT Ch. XII. 12-19 forth to meet him, and cried out, Hosanna: Blessed is he that cometii in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. 14 And Jesus, having found a young ass, sat thereon ; as it is written, 15 Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. 16 These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. 17 The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from tlie dead, bare witness. 18 For this cause also the multitude went and met him, for that they heard that he had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves. Behold how ye prevail nothing; lo, the world is gone after him. These were crowded, exciting days. Jesus alone was entirely calm through them all. He knew fully what was coming. He watched events as they came and passed, understanding exactly what they meant and where they tended. But the multitudes were like led children, and their leaders were like infatuated men. Even the disciples were confused in the hurrying maze and only afterwards looking back were able to understand and interpret that in which they had had an active part. This day especially was a great clamorous day. For once the people broke from restraint and poured their enthusiasm around Him. It was not deep, and it was not the faith for which He sought, but he allowed it, knowing well how little it meant, and yet how much. The comment of the Pharisees was one of those words like the word of Caiaphas (xi, 50) which say a great deal more than the original speaker meant. "Behold how you prevail nothing; lo, the world is gone after Him." So still. His foes prevail nothing. He abides. It is with the living Word as it is with the written Word. The hammers wear out. The anvil remains. Questions for Reflection and Discussion I. What must have been the different meanings of this entry to Jesus, to His disciples, to the Pharisees, to the multitudes? Ch. XII. 20-36 GREAT CONTROVERSY 123 2. In what sense and by what principles did Jesus fulfill the Old Testament sacrifice? Read Edersheim, "Prophecy and History in Relation to the Messiah." 3. "They understood not at the time, but afterwards when He was gone, they remembered." How much of life's tragedy these words describe ! If only, understanding now, we could recall the dead and make amends! (3) The request of the Greeks, the voice from heaven, and the final warning, xii, 20-36 . (p\ 20 Now there were certain Greeks among those that ^-^ went up to worship at the feast: 21 these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. 22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: Andrew cometh, and Philip, and they tell Jesus. 23 And Jesus answereth them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit. 25 He that loveth his life losetii it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will the Father honor. 27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. 28 Father, glorify thy name. There came there- fore a voice out of heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. 29 The multitude therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it had thundered: others said. An angel hath spoken to him. 30 Jesus an- swered and said. This voice hath not come for my sake, but for your sakes. 31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto my- self. 33 But this he said, signifying by what manner of death he should die. 34 The multitude therefore an- swered him. We have heard out of the law that the Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? 35 Jesus therefore said unto them. Yet a little while is the light among you. Walk while ye have the light, that darkness overtake you not: and he that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. 36 While ye have the 124 THE CONFLICT Ch. XII. 20-36 light, believe on the light, that ye may become sons of light. There is thought in these verses for meditation forever: The soul's supreme need and desire; "We would see Jesus." The law of reproduced hfe and abiding influence; "Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it beareth much fruit." The law of life's lastingness; give up the love of Hfe for the sake of the Hfe of love. The law of the eternal fel- lowship; "If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall my servant be." The secret of Christ's resistlessness; "I, if I be Ufted up, will draw." We do not know whether the Greeks saw Him. He was sifting out the multitudes again, and to their literalistic questioning answered again in His old metaphor of the hght: "While ye have the light believe on the light that ye may become sons of light." Nothing could be more exasperating to those who must have mechanical proof, dry-as-death arguments. Nothing could be simpler to those who, hearkening to His call, should simply open their eyes and see. To the man of shut eyes, "BHnd man, here is a treatise on optics. Be convinced." The blind man is still blind. "Blind man, open your eyes and look." He looks and lo! a world aglow and heaven's fair country, too, with its eternal glory. " All very well— but the good Lord Jesus has had His day! " *' Had? Has it come? It has only dawned. It wiU come by and by." — Tennyson. "While ye have the light, beHeve." Cf. Luke xvi, 8; IThess. V, 5; Eph. v, 8. This was Christ's last recorded utterance to the world. His final warning and invitation. After this the Light withdrew and they saw His face no more till they looked upon it in hate and fear and sought to extinguish it upon the cross. "It is the last appeal to man! — Voice crying since the world began: The cry of the Ideal — cry To aspiration that would die. The last appeal ! in it is heard The pathos of the final word." — Markham. Ch. XII. 20-36 GREAT CONTROVERSY 125 Qw if ions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Would we really like to see Jesus and take the con- sequences? Can we imagine what the consequences would be? If so, have we not as good as seen Him and ought we not to take those consequences now? 2. What is the law of gain by loss, of power by renun- ciation, of victory by surrender, of life by death? Can we think of illustrations of it? In nature, in history, in life? 3. How does it come that the same phenomenon can have three so widely varying intrepretations? vv. 28-30. 4. Once again, suppose Jesus to have been what Ht claimed to be, a spiritual Messiah, the Son of Man and the Son of God in a meaning absolutely new, involving conceptions of man and God which He Himself had to create, and suppose Him to have been met with a literalism and materiaUsm of mind which could not take in His new conceptions and which would have misconstrued into worse misunderstanding any language of His except such as might be incapable of Hteralization, and suppose Jesus to have understood all this and to have chosen His language on purpose to escape this danger and to introduce men's minds to the new world of ideas and hfe which He was inaugurating — does this not make the record clear to us, and show us the masterly fidelity of John's account, and witness by its inherent originality and accuracy to the validity of John's argument in behalf of Christ's deity? Who could have invented the psychology of this development and culmination of unbelief, this effort to create a new order of life and ideas? It is harder to believe that all this is fiction than to recognize it as history, and yet it is not mere history, i.e., hfe that has been. It is Hfe, eternal life, offering itself in present experience and authenticating itself there. (4) The judgment of John, xii, 37-43 (Ss) These things spake Jesus, and he departed and hid ^^ himself from them. 37 But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on him: 126 THE CONFLICT Ch. XII. 37-43 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 39 For this cause they could not believe, for that Isaiah said again, 40 He hath blinded their eyes, and he hardened their heart; Lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart. And should tiim. And I should heal them. 41 These things said Isaiah, because he saw his glory; and he spake of him. 42 Nevertheless even of the rul- ers many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess «7, lest they should be put out of the synagogue : 43 for they loved the glory that is of men more than the glory that is of God. John has meditated earnestly on the question which troubles us. Why is it that some believe and some do not believe? The fact is obvious. He could not find any explanation. Some would see and some would not see. So he fell back on the old Hebrew mode of statement . used by Isaiah. Whenever the Jew came face to face with mystery he leaned back on the will of God. He did not mean to make God responsible for evil or loss. It was just his way of saying that the mystery was too great for him and must be classed with the one supreme mystery of God's order and our liberty. We shall have to wait, he felt, for the solution of that central problem, and then all the problems which grow out of it can be understood. Meanwhile, says John, in spite of Isaiah's strong word, there were even Pharisees who used their freedom of will to believe, but though no decree of God's hampered them, they hampered themselves and hid their faith from fear. It is not God's fault if any man disbe- lieves, or if believing, he is a coward and a compromiser. And yet the mystery remains: " Not through Thy fault, O Holy One, We lose Thee. Nay, but our own. Yet Thou hast made us so." Ch.XIL44-So GREAT CONTROVERSY 127 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. The Semitic mind felt the need which the modern mind feels of unifying the world under one principle of thought. The sovereignty of God seemed to it the most rational principle. Is there any other that can unify the world to our thought? 2. Have we really advanced one step in solving the prob- lem of the relation of human freedom, and of the respon- sibility of the individual which cannot exist without human freedom, to the principle of the sovereignty of God? 3. How much Christian belief to-day is concealed as this beUef among the members of the Sanhedrin was? Is such belief Christian? If it is, can it continue so? These are very real problems to-day in India. How shall missionaries deal with them? (5) The judgment of Christ, xii, 44-50 (pg\ 44 And Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on ^-^ me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. 4.5 And he that beholdeth me beholdeth him that sent me 46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever be- lieveth on me may not abide in the darkness. 47 And if any man hear my sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49 For I spake not from myself; but the Father that sent me, he hath given me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is life eternal; the things therefore which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto me, so I speak. This section seems to be a summary by John of what Jesus had said in these critical discussions with the people. Perhaps before He withdrew Jesus had uttered this last summary of His challenging message. Perhaps he had spoken it to His disciples alone. At any rate, here we have in seven verses the spiritual essence of all that He had been saying. He was the representative and revela- tion of God. The attitude of men toward Him was their 128 THE CONFLICT Ch.XII. 44-50 attitude toward God. His witness was inward and spiritual. Those who had light in them discerned Him as the light and entered upon a life of Hght. Whoever rejected Him bore his judgment in his own character, and at the last day would simply continue the destiny he had already de- termined. Jesus' word had been no arbitrary word, but simply the afifirmation of the eternal principle of life. What He had shown men was the character of God, the essential truth of the Universe. He had created no new rights and wrongs. His commandments were not statutes. He had laid bare the springs of Hfe. He had shown men God. How they received Him and His message laid bare their own essential nature and revealed their kinship or their strangeness to God, their capacity or their in- capacity for life. And yet there was no exclusion. The call was to all, and whosoever would, could. But alas, they would not now. "Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill!" "No light, so late! and dark and chiU the night!" Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Is it not a fact that our belief in God is behef in God through Jesus Christ, no matter how much we seek to ignore Him? If Christ had not been God would men have Christ's God to believe in? 2. Is it not a fact that the darkness-areas in our lives begin only where the Christ-areas end, and that the extension of the Christ-areas invariably carries Hght with it? Try it and see. 3. Is Christ's conception of God and the fact that Christ had such a conception reconcilable with the idea that Christ misconceived His relation to God, or is it con- ceivable that the men who associated with Him and who were possessed with loyalty to Him and His conception and to whom we owe all our knowledge of Him and of His thought of God, were guilty of misrepresentation? Could the new idea of God which Christianity brought to the world have been created except by truth? Could the idea of Christ as divine have been produced except by the fact of His deity? III. THE CONSUMMATION OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF, xiii-xx A, The Enthronement of Faith through the Last Min- istry OF Love, and the Self-revelation of Light AND Life, xiii-xvii. 1. The last ministry of love and jtidgment among His own. xiii, 1-30. a. The unselfish humihty of love, xiii, 1-20. (i) The act. xiii, i-ii. (2) Christ's explanation of the act. xiii, 12-20. 6. The separation of the selfish apostle in a last judgment, xiii, 21-20. 2. The last discourses, xiii, 31-xvii. o. The discourses in the Upper Room. xiii,3i-xiv, (i) The separation and its necessity and its results. Peter, xiii, 31-38. (2) Christ and the Father. Thomas and Philip, xiv, I -II. (3) Christ and the disciples, xiv, 12-21. (4) The law and the progress of further revela- tion. Judas, xiv, 22-31. b. The discourses on the way. xv, xvi. (i) The living union, xv, i-io. (2) The issues of union. The disciples and Christ. XV, 11-16. (3) The issues of union. The disciples and the world, xv, 17-27. (4) The world and the Advocate, xvi, i-ii. (s) The Advocate and the disciples, xvi, 12-15. (6) Sorrow turned to joy. xvi, 16-24. (7) Defeat and victory, xvi, 25-33. c. The high priestly prayer, xvii. (i) The Son and the Father, xvii 1-5. (2) The Son and the disciples, xvii, 6-19. (3) The Son and the Church, xvii, 20-26. B, The Victory and Defeat of Unbelief, xviii-xx. 129 "The Fourth Gospel is the heart of Christ."— Ernesii. "The most wonderful of all religious books." — Biedermann. "If the heart studies the Christ as portrayed in this writing, it will need no other proof of His divinity." — Ellicott. "This Gospel speaks a language to which no parallel whatever is to be found in the whole compass of literature; such child- like simplicity, with such contemplative profundity; such life and such deep rest; such sadness and such severity; and above all, such a breath of love." — Tholuck. "John's Gospel shows us how deep a sense Jesus had of being a stranger on the earth." — Beyschlag. Ch.XIII. i-ii ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 131 III. THE CONSUMMATION OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF, xiii-xx A. The Enthronement of Faith through the Last Ministry of Love and the Self-revelation of Light and Life, xiii-xvii. I. The last Ministry of Love and Judgment among His own. xiii, 1-30 a. The unselfish humiUty of love, xiii, 1-20 (i) The act. xiii, i-ii (^ 1 Q Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus ^-^ -*•" knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 2 And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came forth from God, and goeth unto God, 4 riseth from supper, and layeth aside his gar- ments; and he took a towel, and girded himself. 5 Then he poureth water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel where- with he was girded. 6 So he cometh to Simon Peter. He saith unto him. Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered and said unto him. What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt understand hereafter. 8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus an- swered him. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10 Jesus saith to him. He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. 11 For he knew him that should betray him: therefore said he. Ye are not all clean. We see here in w. 3-4 the relation of belief to conduct. The spring of Jesus' actions was in His knowledge of His origin and destiny and His relations to God. What any man believes on these three points is the most significant and determining thing about him. It is the foundation and fountain of life, or at any rate, it shows how con- scious he is of the only foundation and fountain of his 132 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XIII. 1 2-20 life in God. In the whole scene we see power conscious of itself but used in service, and we learn how truly un- selfishness is a sign of confidence in our position. The noble dare be loving. And on the oth*er hand, there is a| self -revelation in haughtiness and pride. They, too, betray our origin and nature. Jesus' deed revealed the nobleness of Jesus. Such deeds, he tells us, will help to make us noble. "Would'st thou the holy hill ascend And see the Father's face? To all His children lowly bend And seek the humblest place. "Thus humbly doing on the earth What things the lofty scorn, Thou shalt assert the noble birth Of all the lowly born." On the other hand, conduct may be a source of de- terioration of character. The best sentiment of the South feared slavery not for the slave's sake but for the master's. It was not good for a man to be another man's master. Only service is good for men. Jesus stooped to it to reveal its nobleness. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Is it, as we are often told to-day, of no consequence what men think or believe, that it only matters how they act? Can their acts be long separated from their prin- ciples? Jesus knowing — rose and stooped and served. What He thought shaped what He did. 2. Is there any other explanation more reasonable than John's as to Judas' conduct? v. 2. 3. What is the difference between a principle and a a method? If this foot-washing is regarded as a prin- ciple then it is inapplicable where there is no water. If it is regarded as a method embodying the principle of service, then it is of universal significance. Wherever there are two men anywhere in the world it is of authori- tative consequence. (2) Christ's explanation of the act. xiii, 12-20 ®i2 So when he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and sat down again, he said unto them, Ch.XIII. I2-20 ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 133 Know ye what I have done to you? 13 Ye call me, Teacher, and, Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you. 16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord; neither one that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17 If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them. 18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be ful- filled. He that eateth my bread lifted up his heel against me. 19 From henceforth I tell you before it come to pass that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am kg. 20 Verily, verily, I say imto you. He that receiveth whom- soever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. The possession of power by us creates a presumption not for its wilful exercise, but for its restraint. Jesus rose and stooped. He had power over His life and He laid it down. Our power is all a trust — a responsibility to be used, not a possession to be asserted: "Naught that I have my own I call, I hold it for the Giver, My heart, my strength, my life, my all Are His and His forever." The principle by which the Giver used His life is the principle by which we, to whom He has given whatever we have, life and all, must use our lives. He gave us an example. That is, what He did embodied the principle on which we are to act. This is the glory of life. We can thus reflect the very life of Christ. Indeed, it is His own life in us, repeating itself. We do not seek to dupli- cate a deed. We share a spirit; we live by a common principle with Him. He is the spirit in us. His own life embodies the principle in our lives and utters it in our actions. This is the wonder of the new life, the union of the disciple and his Master through the uni- versalization of that Master's life by death. Four different Greek words are used for "example" in the New Testament: (i) xiii, 15; Heb. iv, 11; viii, 5; ix, 23; II Peter ii, 6; James v, 10; (2) I Peter ii, 22; (3) I Cor. X, 6, 11; (4) Jude, 7. 134 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XIII. 21-30 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What is the Christian ideal of service? Was it original? What has it produced? Read Brace, "Gesta Christi." 2. Why did Jesus wash His disciples' feet? Why did they not wash His? Read Chapter vi in Marcus Dods' second volume on the Gospel of John in the Expositor's Bible. 3. "From henceforth I tell you before it come to pass." How many more such things did He tell them this night? . b. The separation of the selfish apostle in a last judgment, xiii, 21-30 ^ 21 When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in ^-^ the spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you. that one of you shall betray me. 22 The disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. 23 There was at the table reclining in Jesus* bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24 Simon Peter therefore beckoneth to him, and saith unto him, Tell us who it is of whom he speaketh. 25 He leaning back, as he was, on Jesus* breast saith unto him. Lord, who is it? 26 Jesus therefore answereth, He it is, for whom I shall dip the sop, and give it him. So when he had dipped the sop, he taketh and giveth it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 And after the sop then entered Satan into him. Jesus therefore saith unto him. What thou doest, do quickly. 28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this imto him. 29 For some thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus said unto him. Buy what things we have need of for the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 He then having received the sop went out straightway; and it was night. The disciples looked one at another doubting of whom Jesus spoke when He told them again that one of them would betray Him. They had grown into far better and wiser men than they had been in earlier years when each of them would have proclaimed ''It is not I." No, they were afraid of themselves now. Their self-confidence had broken down. There were re-assertions of it this same night, but nevertheless, the real under-character of the men had matured. When a man distrusts himself Ch.XIII.2i-30 ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 135 he begins to be worthy of trust. After the new revelation of what a man should be which Jesus had given them they were not so sure that they were men. They were beginning to stoop. That was the first step to exalta- tion. When a man goes down to Jesus in self-abasement and surrender, and acknowledges that all his good must come from Jesus and makes no prideful boasts but leans on Christ's mercy and asks, then he is where God in Christ can uplift and remould him. But with Judas character had already set in self-will and self-assertion. Jesus could do nothing with him. His place was out in the night, and thither into the dark he took his dark soul which had rejected the light. "It was night and he who went out was also night." — Augustine. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What is "your theory of the character of Judas and of the motive of his betrayal of Jesus? Read Chapter vii in Dods' volume referred to above. Matt, xxvi, 14, 25, 47; Luke xxii, 3, 47, 48; John vi, 70, 71; xii, 4-6. 2. What is your explanation of the fact that Jesus made Judas one of His apostles when He knew from the beginning that he would betray Him? 3. How do you account for the fact that the apostles were at a complete loss as to whom Jesus meant and had no suspicion of Judas? And how do you account for the question which shows an almost inexplicable un- sureness about themselves? 4. How does the inability of Jesus to save a man who had lived with Him for three years warn us? 2. The Last Discourses, xiii, 31-xvii There are two sets of discourses, those in the Upper Room, xiii, 31-xiv, 31, and those on the way, xv-xvii. The first group consists largely in answers to questions of Peter, Thomas, Philip, Jude. In the second, all are silent (Mark x, 32), no longer daring to ask what they wish to know, xvi, 17. They speak only "as a body and then with an imperfect confession of grateful faith, xvi, 29 ff. In the first group the thought of separation and of union in 136 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XIII. 31-38 separation predominates. In the second, the main thought is of the results of reahzed union and of conflict carried on to victory." — Westcott. Note how this difference in- fluences the treatment of the same subject : The New Commandment, xiii, 34; xiv, 15, 21, 23 f; and XV, 9 ff, 17. The World, xiv, 22 ff; and xv, 18 ff; xvi, i ff. The Comforter, xiv, 16 ff, 25 f, and xv, 26; xvi, 8 ff. Christ's Coming, xiv, 3, 18, 28, and xvi, 16, 22. a. The; discourses in the Upper Room, xiii, 31-xiv, 31 (i) The separation and its necessity and its results. Peter. xiii, 31-38 ^ 31 When therefore he was gone out,*Jesus saith, Now ^-^ is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him; 32 and God shall glorify him in himself, and straightway shall he glorify him. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: as and I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come ; so now I say unto you. 34 A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 36 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow afterwards. 37 Peter saith unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee even now? I will lay down my life for thee. 38 Jesus answereth, Wilt thou lay down thy life for me? Verily, verily, I say unto thee. The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. xiii> 3i~3S- A new commandment! Two wonders. First it was a commandment! He had not spoken in commandments before. Second, something new. Only three times had He used that word: Luke v, 36-38; Matt, xiii, 52; xxvi, 28, 29. A new commandment! To love. That was not new. It had been in the old law: Lev. xix, 18; Mark xii, 30, 31. Jesus Himself had declared that the old law was resolvable into the duty of love. To love was nothing new. But this was a new love, such a love as had no adequate basis in what men had known and thought before — a love not "as one's self" but "better than one's self." "That ye love even Ch. XIII. 31-38 ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 137 as I have loved you." Oh, that was new. There had never been love like that before. "Scarcely for a righteous man would one die, yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die, but God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." This love was unselfish, it was ever de- scending, it was independent of response, it was all of grace, it was eternal. And such love Jesus said was to prevail among His disciples. It was to be the essence, the test, and the power of Christianity. It has been. As far as Christianity has prevailed, it has prevailed by love. By love it will subdue the world after it has subdued us. Do we thus love? xiii, 36-38. Simon Peter is like all of us. He would rather talk about future destiny than about present duty. His question is not, "What shall I now do?" but "Where art Thou going?" Jesus, with His absolute candor, drove the necessary truth home into Peter's soul. Future des- tiny was a great thing, but what Peter needed to face was present denial. And sure enough, that very night the man who was so interested in the future, fell like a coward and a traitor. The Lord was very gentle about it. He told Peter he should follow Him sometime at the same time that He told him that he was going to cease following Him now. The Saviour's ways with souls are as wonderful and tender now as they were then, but we too would be saved great sorrows if we were more intent on present fidelity than upon future felicity. "Mother," said a small boy, to whom his mother was speaking recently of duty, "let us talk about something more interesting." That is the way with all of us. But what interests Christ most is to see us now and here acting in the spirit of the heavenly kingdom. Questions for Reflection and Discussion I. What do the words "glory" and "glorify" mean? Substitute for them the words "character" for "glory" and "reveal character" or "perfect character" or "re- store character" for ''glorify" in various passages and see what a new and true meaning is found. II Cor. iii, 18; John xvii, i, 5; Eph. i, 6. 138 THE CONSUMMATION Ch.XIV. i-ii 2. Are we ready to put first what Christ put first and to trust that love is a better guardian of sound doctrine than sound doctrine would be of love? Note it is not a question between truth and love. Christ Himself was both of these to His disciples. It is just a question as to where the first, not the only, obligation is to be laid — on brotherly love or on common worship, organization and relationship, or doctrinal statement. The alternatives are not exclusive. Far from it. But the first emphasis must be somewhere, and Christ laid it on love. 3. Do we really know ourselves, or does any man, a whit better than Simon Peter knew himself? (2) Christ and the Father. Thomas and PhiHp. xiv, i-i i ®1 /i Let not your heart be troubled: believe in ^^ God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions; it if were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will re- ceive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go, ye know the way. 5 Thomas saith unto him. Lord, we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him. Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him. Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou. Show us the Father? 10 Be- lievest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works. II Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. xiv, 1-3. Jesus' words to Peter seem to have created consternation among the disciples. Already many things had occurred to excite and disturb them. One of their number had gone out after some mysterious words of Christ's which foreboded trouble. And now the leading spirit among them was warned that he was about to do what he had vehemently declared he could not do. Above Ch.XIV. i-ii ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 139 all, Jesus was about to leave them. The very founda- tions seemed to be crumbling. "Be still," said Jesus. "You can't trust one another. You can't trust yourselves, but you trust God. Trust me." With some men it works the other way. They come to a faith in God through Christ, but it is legitimate also, and for many it is natural, to come to Christ through God. "It is true that we are parting, but I am going to my Father's house and will prepare a place for you and come back again for you, that we may be together." This promise is too great to be comprehended in any of our small interpre- tations of it. The fall of Jerusalem, the death of the apostles, the establishment of Christ's spiritual kingdom among men do not exhaust it. It has meanings on which we have a right to pillow our hearts, and it promises a glory yet to be revealed for which we do right to work and pray. xiv, 4-7. He was proceeding to tell them more. If only He had not been interrupted but had been allowed to go on and speak about that home of many mansions of His Father! "Whither I go ye know the way," He said when Thomas broke in. "No, we do not," he replied. It was Uke him, " He would die for a faith which he had, John xi, 16, but he would not profess a faith which he had not." He did not know where Jesus was going. How could he know the way? That is our human difficulty. We don't see the end of the way, therefore we don't know the way. But God's plan is to lead us step by step, not to flash light ahead clear to the end of the way. Jesus' answer leads His disciples back to the abiding personal realities. The way which Jesus goes is Jesus. The Christian way is not a method. It is a Person. Chris- tianity is all a personal life. Where was Jesus going? He was going to God. What was the way there? Jesus was. He went to God by manifesting Himself, by being Himself, God's own son, the one perfectly filial one. Jesus went back to God and opened the living way to God for all men who could come to a perfectly filial will in Him. He was this way and the goal to which it led. Whoever knew Him, knew all, for all was in Him. xiv, 8-1 1. This request of Philip's is the third inter- ruption of the evening. Jesus' words on His new com- mandment, regarding which we wish He might have 140 THE CONSUMMATION Ch.XIV. i-ii said so much more, were broken in upon by Peter. Then Thomas interrupted, and now Philip. And where had PhiHp's wits been? The Father had been revealed in Christ. This was what Jesus had just said. "Shew us the Father," said Phihp. Jesus was no more impatient than at other interruptions. "Mrs. Wesley," asked a visitor once when the boy John Wesley had come in and asked his mother a question for the seventh time, "Why did you answer that boy the same question seven times?" "Because," said Mrs. Wesley, "six times were not enough." It was so with Jesus. Again He repeats that He was the revelation of the Father. And indeed He has been. What we know about the character of God we owe to Jesus. Whoso rejecteth Christ rejecteth God, and whoso loveth Christ God will love. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Are not many processes of approach legitimate and inevitable, that men should find God through Christ, that men should find Christ through God, or truth through duty, or duty through truth? 2. What better could language do than Jesus has done in describing heaven? All our language is metaphor and all of our metaphors are of the earth. How can they define heaven? If they can even suggest it, it can be only through some transcending leap of the spiritual imagination. 3. What in thought and in historic fact is the relation of Jesus to the Fatherhood of God? 4. With the development of unbelief which has gone before, contrast now the unfolding of faith in the atmos- phere of sympathy and love. And yet note the struggle of men's minds even here to grasp what belonged to a new order which must find a home in the old without being fatally absorbed by it,* which must mingle with the earthly order to save it, but which could only save it by not becoming it. It is the whole mystery and para- dox of the Incarnation. God must become man to save man, but God, become man, could only save man by still being not man but God. But to put all this in words, how can it be done except to faith? Ch. XIV. 12-21 ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 141 (3) Christ and the disciples, xiv, 12-21 (1b6) 12 Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that believeth on ^^ me, the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than these shall he do ; because I go unto the Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask anything in my name, that will I do. 15 If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Com- forter, that he may be with you for ever, 17 even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him: ye know him; for he abid- eth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20 In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me : and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest my- self unto him. 1. Christ's departure will enable the disciples through His power and intercession and for the glorifying of the Father to do greater works than His own. About no word of Christ's has the Church shown itself more skep- tical. If it believed this it would upheave the world in ten years. But the work and the prayer are to be in the name of Christ. Here for the first time Jesus says, "in My Name." He had spoken or would speak of the Name of the Father, v, 43; x, 25; xvii, 6, 11, 12, 26. John had spoken of Christ's Name, i, 12; ii, 23; iii, 18. To pray in Christ's name is to pray as being one with Christ as He was revealed to men. Such prayer in Christ's name to the Father will avail. Power from the Father through Christ will be given for mighty works. 2. The Son will send forth from the Father the^abid- ing Spirit and to the man who will enter into all this Jesus will ever manifest Himself. How could a mere man say these things? How can anyone believe that Jesus spoke these words and was only a man? 3. Christ promises to come Himself and to make Him- self yet clearer to His disciples, w. 18-21. What do 142 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XIV. 22-31 we need that is not here promised? What are the unsat- isfied world and its teachers groping for that is not here already provided? Questio7is for Reflection and Discussion 1. Do we believe these assurances of Christ? If so, how can we justify our failure to make use of them? Are our dilutions of their plain meaning honest? Have we ever fairly analyzed our own thought and conduct toward these assurances? 2. Is it right to pray to Christ? 3. What is the relationship of character to prayer? What a flood of searching Hght Christ's words about the power of prayer in His name, i.e., in identity with His character, throw on this question! (4) The law and the progress of further revelation. Judas. xiv, 22-31 ®22 Judas (not Iscariot) saith unto him, Lord, what is come to pass that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23 Jesus answered and said imto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my words: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father*s who sent me. 25 These things have I spoken imto you, while yet abiding with you. 26 But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. 28 Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe. 30 I will no more speak much witii you, for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me; 31 but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me com- mandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. Another interruption, the fourth. Judas's difficulty has perplexed us all. It is the same problem which John Ch. XIV. 22-31 ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 143 considered in xii, 37-43. Jesus' answer is the same as John's. It is a matter of the willingness of men to love the highest. The love of God is freely offered. Some men respond to it. It becomes a reality and a power to them. A way is opened for God into their Hves, into their conscious experience. Do we love Christ? Is He dear to us? Can we truthfully sing, "My Jesus, I love Thee"? Love is the will to serve. It is the joy in the presence of the loved one. It is the eager acknowledgment of the full character of the loved one. It is intensely personal. We make as much, not as little as we can, of those we love. Love forbids our going beyond the truth, but love sees truth which is denied by lack of love. If any man love Christ he will keep Christ's word, that is, he will discover Christ's secret, he will sympathize with His spirit, he will enter into the love of His life, he will come to God in Him. "Not as the world giveth." How does the world give? "I have had my will. Tasted every pleasure, I have drunk my fill Of the purple measure. Life has lost its zest, Sorrow is my guest, O the lees are bitter, bitter, Give me rest. "Love once filled the bowl, Running o'er with blisses, Made my very soul Drunk with crimson kisses. But I drank it dry, Love has passed me by, O the lees are bitter, bitter. Let me die." —George Arnold.^ This is the world's way. "Not as the world giveth," says Christ. But peace like a river growing ever fuller, light like the sun, brightening to the fulness of day, joy that adds no sorrow, Christ Himself, His own best gift, absent in body to be ever present in spirit, the fulness of life — all these He brought and left from His Father, and all these are ours, if we will have them. 144 THE CONSUMMATION Ch.XV. i-io Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What does it mean to keep Christ's word? And what is the difference between His "words" and His "word"? Observe that they are different terms in Greek. 2. Are we using the Holy Spirit sufficiently as the reminder and recollector of the words of Christ? 3. Who is "the Prince of the world"? Why should he have anything in Christ? 4. What do the terms "Advocate" and "Comforter" mean as applied to the Holy Spirit? 5. Review in memory the entire conversation of this last evening with the disciples. Did they immediately after this chapter leave the room? b. The discourses on the way. xv-xvi (i) The living union, xv, i-io /g^ 1 K I am the true vine, and my Father is the hus- ^-^ -"-^ bandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away: and every branch that bear- eth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye a^ide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shaU ye be my disciples. 9 Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you: abide ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. Note (i) the figure, w. 1, 2; (2) the apphcation of the figure to the disciples, w.j 3, 4; (3) the consequences of union and separation, w. 5, 6; (4) the blessings of union, m;. 7, 8; in prayer and in faithfulness; (5) the great example of union, the Son and the Father, w. 9, 10. Ch.XV.i-io ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 145 Life, fruitfulness, and success in prayer all depend upon our relationship to Christ. If we abide in Him we shall not wither or die; we shall bear fruit and we shall be able to pray. These are the evidences, also, as well as the results of abiding. If we pray, bear fruit, and live, we show that we are abiding. The consciousness of abiding is less important than the evidences of it. For there are those who say, as Jesus indicated, that they are abiding who offer none of the necessary evidence. But there are some who carry this distinction too far, who say that the consciousness of our relationship to Christ is unnecessary, that men may even deny the his- torical Christ, and the possibility of present union with Him in a mystical life, and yet have the essential Christ. They may be branches of a vine which they deny. Can that be possible? Well, we cannot prescribe exhaust- ively the nature of the divine life in the world and of the divine purpose for man, but we ourselves certainly cannot trifle with the words of Jesus. He is the vine. Are we branches in Him? Are we branches in the Per- son Who spoke those words? That is our question. It is not enough to repudiate this Person, but express our sympathy with goodness. Such expression and such repudiation do not carry the soul deep enough into reality. "My love" — so also "My joy," xv, ii; xvi. 20; xvii, 13; "My judgment," v, 30; viii, 16; "My command- ments," xiv, 15; "My peace," xiv, 27. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What suggested the imagery of the vine? Was it the sight of a vine in the garden as they left the house, or was it the sight and smell in the night of the fires of the vine dressers in which they were burning just at this season the prunings of the branches, or was it the glowing lustre of the great golden vine over the gate of the temple in the light of the Paschal moon? 2. Is it true that there is absolutely no life in the world apart from Christ? If that is true then is it true also that wherever in the world there is any truth or life at all, no matter what it calls itself, that truth or life is really Christ? 146 THE CONSUMMATION Ch.XV. 11-16 3. Here is -a second test of discipleship, v. 8 — fruitfulness. Fniitfulness and love. How is it that men are so eager to substitute other tests for these? Are these too exacting? (2) The issues of union. The disciples and Christ, xv, 1 1-16 (68) II These things have I spoken unto you, that my ^-^ joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. 12 This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all tilings that I heard from my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that youi fruit should abide: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. Abiding in Christ is abiding in the love of Christ. Abiding in the love of Christ is abiding in the obedience of Christ. Duty, in other words, is the equivalent of discipleship. Duty conceived as the will of God and the command of Christ and faithfully fulfilled, evidences the inner union of the soul with Christ, as of the branch with the vine. This is a great comfort to many hearts. They torture themselves as to whether they love Christ as they should and are acting from pure love. It is a joy to know that Jesus resolved all the mystery into duty doing, and desired nothing more of us than that we should ''trust and obey." And the great duty which He pressed on His disciples was itself the duty of unselfish brotherly- love, the recognition of the trust of life. We fall into the error of regarding our hves as our own, as gifts of God to us, as possessions to be asserted. But life is not an ethical end. It is a means, a sphere, an agency, an opportunity. It is to be kept or laid down, to be used this way or that, as may be best for our brothers. This is the love the Lord desires. Such lovers are his branches. Others are not obeying. Therefore they are not loving. Therefore they are not abiding. The simplest and freest things are the most difficult. Naaman, the Syrian leper, found it so, and he nearly Ch.XV. ii-i6 ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 147 missed the cleansing which the man of God offered to him through a simple immersion in the Jordan, because he had expected some elaborate and complicated pre- scription. Men always find it so. It is because life in Christ is free, costing nothing save the willingness to accept it, that men pass it by. If it were a thing to be worked for, they would work for it, and indeed men are always turning it into a thing to be worked for. They set up performances and institutions about it and pro- vide channels and guardians for it. But all the while it will come on its own terms alone. It is the spirit of a filial life. Jesus does not want anything mechanical or external to cover it over. His disciples are not His ser- vants; they are His friends. And for the reason that they are one with Him, He has given them the nature of His Father. They, too, are His sons, and all that they have to do is to act as His sons. The Church is not to be like a factory or mine where there are over- seers and superintendents taking orders and giving orders. It is a family where all do the right things because all act from love and in the spirit of a true family union. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What is the meaning of the word "joy"? Is Christ's "joy" more or less than this? 2. What are the relations of love and duty? Does either one come before the other? Is either one worthier than the other? Is it not true that wherever one is there, whether we know it or not, the other is also? " ' Law is the religion of the Old Testament, Love is the religion of the New.' That is a popular idea, among Christians, as to the Bible and its teachings. The idea is proclaimed in this form of statement in pulpit and in press so frequently, if not so generally, that very many accept it as not to be questioned or qualified- Yet it might, with equal fairness and propriety, be asserted that "Love is the religion of the Old Testament, and Law is the religion of the New.' Both statements are true in a sense: neither statement is complete by itself, or as ordinarily understood. In God's government, and in God's revelation of Himself, love is in all His law, and 148 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XV. 17-27 all His law is love. Whoever fails to recognize this truth, fails to understand the Bible as a revelation of God, in both the Old Testament and the New." — H. Clay Trumbull. 3. Is not such a doctrine of election as Jesus set forth in V. 16, not only obviously true, but also the greatest comfort to the soul and the greatest guarantee of personal liberty? (3) The issues of union. The disciples and the world. XV, 17-27 . gg) 17 These things I command you, that ye may love ^^ one another. 18 If the world hateth you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yoiu-s also. 21 But all these things will they do imto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this Cometh to pass^ that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law. They hated me without a cause. 26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me: 27 and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. XV, 17-25. The true notes of the Church are love and union. The notes of the world are selfishness and discord. Christ's friends love one another and Him and the good of each is the care of all, and the good of all is the care of each. But the world has no faith in unsel- fishness. It knows its own heart so well that it does not believe in the reality of that of which it is itself in- capable. This kind of a world we do not often see because in. the world about us the Spirit of Christ has wrought a great transformation, so that many things are found where Christ would fain find more but where He finds as much because of His own potent and Hving influence. Ch. XV. 17-27 ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 149 But in the world then and now the defects that the Saviour found and finds were and are, just as much as the virtues, the revelation of the Saviour's presence. It is He who exposes them; without Him they are unnoticed. They only begin to appear when He appears and uncovers them. It is He in society to-day who is showing forth injustice, impurity, unholiness, who is laying men naked to themselves. Therefore the sons of God rejoice in Him and come to Him to be enlightened and perfected, and the children of the world hate Him without any cause save their unwillingness to hate the hate that hates Him. XV, 26, 27. The great work of the Holy Spirit is to bear witness to Christ. He did not come to speak of Himself; He came to speak of Jesus. A good deal of our confusion as to the character and work of the Holy Spirit would be avoided if we would remember this. And the business of the disciples was to be the same as the business of the Holy Spirit. They were to bear witness to Christ. Through them men were to learn of Him. How else can He be shown? And they were qualified because they had been with Him. The more intimate our acquaintance with men the clearer our perception of their imperfections and shortcomings. But associa- tion with Jesus had revealed nothing but beauty and glory. There was nothing that they had seen that they could not report. That which was the work of the Holy Spirit and the Apostles is the work of each Christian, to bear witness to the Saviour. Each of us is to reveal Him to our brother. Each of us is to learn of Him from our brother. " Not in mine own but in my neighbor's face, Must I Thine image trace; Not he in his but in the light of mine, Behold Thy Face Divine." Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What were the things that Jesus had commanded in order that the disciples might love one another? 2. Was this contradiction of the world to be an experi- ence only of the first generation of Christians? Are we ex- periencing any such contradiction? If not, is it the world or Christian discipleship which has changed its character? HiO THE CONSUMMATION Ch.XVI.i-ii 3. It is really true that because of Christ there is sin which otherwise would not have been? v. 24. Indeed it is. And every man who preaches and practices Christ produces the same situation in his measure. Paul did it, II Cor. ii, 15, 16. There is sin in New York City to-day which would not have been if Jacob Riis had not followed Christ there. Have you ever made any sin of this kind? (4) The world and the Advocate, xvi, i-ii ^ 1 ^ These things have I spoken unto you, that ^^ -"- ^ ye should not be caused to stiunble. 2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service imto God. 3 And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But these things have I spoken unto you, that when their hour is come, ye may remember them, how that I told you. And these things I said not unto you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I go unto him that sent me; and none of you asketh me. Whither goest thou? 6 But because I have spoken these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come imto you; but I if go, I will send him unto you. 8 And he, when he is come, will con- vict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more; 11 of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged. xvi, 1-3. This is a wonderful warning. The disciples were to understand that earnest and conscientious men were to kill them for God's sake. That would seem to indicate that it was not enough to believe in God and to desire to please God. If one may believe in God and seek to please Him and yet be a murderer, it is evident that a faith in God is not enough. The Moslems are earnest theists and their religion has no prayers for women and provides for polygamy. A belief in God does not save them from such immorality. All depends on what kind of a God men believe in. And Jesus taught plainly that the only adequate religious faith is a faith that accepte the revelation of the Father character of God Ch.XVI. i-ii ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 151 in Christ. It was because they rejected this that the ardent servants of an un-Christhke God could be mur- derers. What Jesus declared is the everlasting truth. There is no moral or spiritual adequacy in any religious faith to-day that empties the Person of Christ of its full significance. Unless men accept the revelation of God in Christ we have reason to fear both their religion and their ethics. And let us take the personal warning. Do we know the Father and Christ? To the extent that we do not, we are in moral and spiritual danger too. We may be self-deceived and misled as to moral qualities, xvi, 4-7. The going of the Saviour was as blessed as His coming. It was necessary that He should come. Only God in the flesh could do for us what needed to be done. But it was necessary that He should go away. Suppose He had not gone away! That which had come to humanity could not have found its way into humanity. It would not have been for all ages and all lands. The cross and the opened grave gave God in Christ to the whole world forever. And even for those special men it was well that Christ went away. It gave them their Gospel. It gave them their manhood. It gave them their power. It gave them their Christ. They had Him in His reahty a thousand times more fully and truly after He had gone than they had ever had Him before. And the principle of gain by loss is the everlasting principle of God's dealing with men. That which we would fain keep is taken away and lo! God gives us instead more than we had known how to conceive. xvi, 8-1 1. The divine Spirit who is to bear witness of Christ is to convict the world in respect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Those are the deepest things in life. It is with them that the Spirit of Life is to deal. He is to convict the world of the sin of not believing in Christ. But we are told that it is unreason- able to believe in Christ, that He was only a man like other men. That was not Jesus' view. Not to believe on Him He teaches here is sin. This is hard teaching for our day, but it is the truth. The deepest sin is the sin of unbelief. Unbelief is not merely an intellectual disagreement; it is moral disobedience. And the Spirit is to convince also of righteousness. He is to give men 152 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XVI. 12-15 a new life of righteous principle, of free, spontaneous action in right doing. The departure of Jesus would make this possible. Obedience would be then not conformance to a verbal rule or an external constraint, but the joyful utterance of an inner law, the conformity of life to unseen and eternal principles. And the Spirit was to convince men of judgment, because He would enable men to realize that the fundamental issues had been settled, that the triumph of right was not uncertain and problematical but already determined. And these things the Spirit is doing. Whoever opens his life to Him is convinced of these things. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Is my kind of belief in God and is the kind of God in whom I really believe morally safe? 2. Wherein is the world better off because Christ left it than it would have been if He had stayed in it? 3. Has the Holy Spirit convicted the world as Jesus promised? If He has not yet, but is to do it, how can the time be hastened? Have we any part in it? (5) The Advocate and the disciples, xvi, 12-15 /f5) 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can- ^-^ not bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, thgse shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you. 15 All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he taketh of mine, and shall declare it unto you. Christians should have no fear of the doctrine of devel- opment. Their own physical life should teach them that this is the method of God, and the world about them reveals God's process of first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. And if there is an indis- putable fact about the inner spiritual life, it is that it is a life of growth. Why then should Christians fear to Ch.XVI. I2-IS ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 153 recognize God's use of the same method in the education of the Church? Jesus plainly said that He had much to say to His disciples that He could not say. He could only begin. The Spirit would lead them on. And yet He would in reality bring nothing new. What is in the ear was already in the blade. The Spirit was to give them full understanding of that which they had only partially understood. They had known Christ and all that the Father had given Him He had given to them. But in another sense they had not known Him and much of what the Father had given Him they were incapable of receiving. The Spirit was to remind them of Him and His teaching and to show them deeper meanings than they had perceived. He was to develop, that is, to unfold, the Person and the doctrine of the Saviour for them. But only that can be unfolded which is infolded. What is not within cannot be taken out. Let us thank God that in the Church and in all life and in the history of the world the unfolding is done by the same divine hand that did the infolding. Thus understood the doc- trine of evolution has no dangers, and is not untrue. Questions for' Reflection and Discussion 1. What were the things to which Jesus referred in v. 12? Did He say them to the disciples in the long talks of which so little is recorded, but the effects of which were so re-creative, after the resurrection? Or were they the things which the Holy Spirit revealed and which are preserved in the Epistles and the Apocalypse? Or were they the lessons which the early Church learned, as in the Acts, and the later Church in her education under her ever-living Lord? 2. What lesson may all who would guide and teach men learn from the character of that Spirit Who "shall not speak from Himself"? In these days, when we are so often told that everything depends on the personality of the speaker, do we not need to learn the deeper lesson that the strongest human personaHty is the personality which is gone out of sight and beyond all observance into another and is become hid with Christ in God? 3. Try here the new definition of "glorify." If the 154 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XVI. 16-24 Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ in this way, might not this be the best way for us to do so? (6) Sorrow turned to joy. xvi, 16-24 @i6 A little while, and ye behold me no more; and again a little while, and ye shall see me. 17 Some of his disciples therefore said one to another, What is this that he saith imto us, A little while, and ye behold me not; and again a little while, and ye shall see me: and. Because I go to the Father? 18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? We know not what he saith. 19 Jesus perceived that they were desirous to ask him, and he said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, A little while, and ye behold me not, and again a little while, and ye shall see me? 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she is delivered of the child, she remember eth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And ye therefore now have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you. 23 And in that day ye shall ask me no questions. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full. The problem before Jesus in dealing with His disciples this last evening was how to tell them of His death and resurrection and reappearance to them in a way to foster faith and spiritual trust. That was the problem ever before Him in the training of the Twelve, to tell them just enough and in just the right way to lead them on to the truth and yet preserve their own spiritual inde- pendence and integrity. How beautifully, as the dis- ciples looked back afterwards and recalled His words, did the Lord's anticipation of His death and return cover the exact circumstances! They were designed to prepare the hearts of His friends for just what happened. They were not designed to coerce their minds. His way of putting it must have quickened every spiritual facultj Ch. XVI. 25-33 ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 155 in them and challenged them to enter in the deepest way into the great experience through which He was passing, instead of making it all something external and mechanical to them regarding which they merely accepted His description. And how beautifully He presses on them the great spiritual principle represented in His death and reappearing, the lesson of the price of pain which must be paid for what is most precious! That which we do not have to suffer for cannot be among Hfe's highest treasures. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Can you reconstruct the discussion among the dis- ciples over this strange word, "A Httle while and ye shall not. And again a little while and ye shall"? 2. Wherein was Christ's answer to their confusion, in which He tenfold multiplied their perplexity, better than any plain materialistic explanation would have been? 3. Is not sorrow which man makes and Christ takes av/ay worth enduring if after it comes the joy which Christ makes and man cannot take away? (7) Defeat and victory, xvi, 25-33 ^ 25 These things have I spoken unto you in dark ^^ sayings: the hour cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in dark sayings, but shall tell you plainly of the Father. 26 In that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father. 28 I came out from the Father, and am come into the world : again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father. 29 His disciples say, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speak- est no dark saying. 30 Now know we that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou earnest forth from God. 31 Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? 32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33 These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. 156 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XVI. 25-33 In the East a man's name is himself. It indicates his personality and influence. A request made authoritatively in a man's name is made as in and for the man. Hence- forth the disciples were to know Christ as they had never known Him and were to pray as in His very presence and life. So praying it would be as though He prayed. Their life in Him and their love for Him gave them His standing before the Father. They did not do this in themselves but as the answer to His hfe in them and His love for them. These were the great reaUties, of which their Hfe and love were the acceptance, to which their life and love were the response. All this Jesus had told them in the only way in which it could be taught them, by figures of speech and parables. Some day He could speak to them as Spirit to Spirit, but meanwhile He had done all that He could to bring them to peace in Him. If they wandered outside of Him into the world, they would have trouble. Indeed as being in the world and sent to fulfil a mission there they must expect trial and testing, the tribulation which the husbandman gives the grain when he separates it from the chaff. But their real home, the abiding place of their true life, their spirits, was in Him and there, whatever storms might blow without, there would be peace. Read the "Keswick Hymn" and claim it all for yourself. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. When did the hour come to which Jesus referred in V. 25? 2. Is not that hour now? Is not to-day "that day" of which Jesus spoke in ?;. 26? 3. Why should Christ's simple statement in v. 28 have called forth such a grateful and sweeping confession of faith from the disciples in vv. 29. 30? 4. Note the contrast. Not "in the future world, peace," "in the present world, tribulation." But "in Me, peace," "in the world, tribulation." The two spheres are not suc- cessive. They overlap, and one annuls the other. It is not peace after tribulation. It is peace over and through and in tribulation. Ch. XVII. i-s ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 157 c. The High-priestly prayer, xvii This is the Holy of Holies of the Gospels. We can enter and understand only in the deep and holy times of our own lives. We have heard Jesus talking to the people, to His enemies, to His closest friends. Now we hear Him talking to the Father, (i) This is the true Lord's Prayer. The prayer which we usually call by that name might be called the Disciples' Prayer. This was His own prayer. He was ever a man of prayer. Matt, xiv, 23; xix, 13; Mark i, 35; Luke iii, 21; v, 16; ix, 18, 28; xi, I, etc. It is only here, however, that we have the full text of one of His prayers. There is a short prayer given in Matt, xi, 25, and there are other brief ejaculatory prayers, but here alone do we see what full prayer to the Father meant. John does not, however, say here or elsewhere that Jesus "prayed." John xvii, I and Luke xxii, 41. Still John gives us two other prayers not recorded elsewhere, xi, 41; xii, 27. (2) The prayer was spoken aloud, for the sake of the disciples, v. 13. Here, indeed, was a school of prayer. (3) The prayer was offered probably on the way from the upper room to Gethsemane, at the temple as He and His disciples passed by. It was the custom of the priests to open the gates of the temple at midnight at the Passover. Jn front of His own house from which He had been cast out and hearing the midnight prayer of those who should have been His priests but were His murderers He prayed. (4) The calm prayer just preceded the bitter agony. Those who have great trials ahead of them would do well to make ready for them as Jesus did. (i) The Son and the Father, xvii, 1-5 (J4) 1 7 These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his ^-^ -*- • eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the houf is come; glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify thee: 2 even as tiiou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. 3 And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ. 4 I glorified thee on the earth, having accomplished 158 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XVII. 1-5 the work which thou hast given me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. This prayer is made up of three parts. The first has to do with the Son and the Father, w. 1-5. He has but one request to make for Himself. It is a request for fresh glory in order to glorify the Father. "Father," he says, in the simplest form, not "My Father," but "Father." w. 5, 11, 24, 25; John xi, 41; xii, 27; Matt, xi, 25; Luke xxii, 42; xxiii, 34, 46. "Father," he asks, "the hour is come. Show now the character of Thy Son that He may show Thy character." This would complete the Son's mission — the gift of eternal life to men. And what is eternal life? It is not the possession of a completed, but the struggle after a growing, knowledge. The whole knowledge was in God and Christ, but it could not be given in one lump to men. It can only come as the gradual apprehension of that which has already ap- prehended us in Christ. The full revelation had been given, however, in Him. His b'fe of love and obedience had revealed and glorified God. That work He had finished. This was the utterance of the one perfectly pure conscience which the world has seen. This was His word about Himself. No man could pray such a prayer. Our prayer at the end must be: "When I look back upon my life nigh spent, Nigh spent although the stream as yet flows on, With self, O Father, leave me not alone, Leave not with the beguiler the beguiled. Besmirched and ragged. Lord, take back Thine own, A fool I bring Thee to be made a child." — George Macdonald. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. How much do we know from all four Gospels about Jesus' habit of prayer? 2. What is "life"? What is "eternal"? What is "eternal hfe"? What is it to know anything? What is it to know God? Ch. XVII. 6-19 ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 159 3. What was the work which God had given Jesus to do? Was it accomplished when He made this prayer? 4. Did our Lord ever call God anything but "Father"? (2) The Son and the disciples, xvii, 6-19 (t^ 6 1 manifested thy name unto the men whom thou ^-^ gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they know that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee: 8 for the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they believed that thou didst send me. 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine: 10 and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we mr*. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the scrip- ture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they them- selves also may be sanctified in truth. The second section of the prayer relates to Christ's immediate disciples. First Jesus describes them; they were men given to Christ by God out of the world; they had kept God's word; the words which God had given Christ they had received; they knew that Christ had come forth from God, and they believed that God had sent Him. For them now, and not for the world, which had been so "ften the burden of His prayers, He would pray. 160 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XVII. 6-19 How tenderly He relates them to God! He was leaving them in the world. While with them He had kept them. Now He was going. God must keep them — God, His Father. And He calls Him now His Holy Father. It was as the Holy Father and in His holiness that He must keep these disciples of His son. This was His great longing for them — that they might be kept in the name of God as Holy Father and from the evil. Nothing more is needed. Those whom God as Holy Father keeps in Himself and keeps from all evil are kept indeed. "Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand, Never foe can follow, never traitor stand, Not a blast of worry, not a touch of care. Not a surge of hurry, reach the spirit there." And His prayer for His disciples closes with another word of description and appeal and petition: "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Suppose Christ were to come back to-day, would He be of the world or would He not? Would those who make gain of human lust, those who, knowing God, prefer fleshly pleasure to His love, those who are wise in their own judgment and satisfied in their own will, the sinner and the Pharisee give Him a welcome that would make Him one with them? Or is the world still the world? If it is, are we of it? If we are, we are not open to that sancti- fication in the truth for which Christ so asked, and which will come to those who are kept in a Holy God, Who is the fountain of truth. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. How fully could we quahfy as Christ's disciples under this description? 2. What was the name of God which He gave to Christ? What is it to be kept in that name? 3. What is it to be sanctified? Can it be done other- wise than by truth? 4. What did Christ mean when He said, "My joy"? And how can it be "made full"? Ch. XVII. 20-26 ENTHRONEMENT OF FAITH 161 (3) The Son and the Church, xvii, 20-26 (to) 20 Neither for these only do I pray, but for them ^-^ also that believe on me through their word; 21 that they^may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me. 22 And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one ; 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovest them, even as thou lovedst me. 24 Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee; and these knew that thou didst send me ; 26 and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known ; that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I in them. The third section of the prayer relates to a far wider company — to those who should believe in Christ through the disciples' word. And it is a prayer for unity. He sees all the multitudes who were to believe on Him, and He asks again and again: (i) That they may all be one. (2) Even as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee (I and the Father are one) that they also may be in us. (3) That they may be one even as we are one. (4) That they may be perfected into one. This prayer cannot be fulfilled in sectarianism. It cannot be fulfilled in what is sometimes offered as sufficient, "fraternal relations." That was not the kind of unity for which the Saviour prayed. It was not co-operation, or toleration, or fraternity. It was oneness. And while He asked for this for the believers* sake that they might know a love which otherwise they never could know, and see a glory which would otherwise be hidden from them. He asked for it much more for the world's sake. Only a unity of disciples like the unity of the Father and the Son and grounded in it could give to the gospel convincing power. When men see Christians really united one with another, as God and Christ are one, and loving one another 162 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XVII. 20-26 with the love that reigns in God, they will be convinced of the mission and character of the Saviour. Wonderfully rich and tender is our Lord's thought about us — for it was for us that He prayed as He closed His prayer. He who had no will for Himself willed earnestly, as He told the Father, to have us with Him. "That will be glory for me," as the Glory Song declares. And His prayer ends in the love that was all His Ufe, "that the love wherewith Thou lovedst me may be in them and I in them." That leaves nothing more to be said. That will be fulness of Ufe and peace for us. Are we willing to have this prayer answered? "It is indeed the only Son who here speaks to the Father. Everything in these beautiful words is super- natural because He who speaks is the only Son who has come from heaven; but at the same time everything in them is natural, for He speaks as a Son speaks to His FsiiheT."—Gess. "Yea through life, death, through sorrow and through sinning He shall suffice me, for He hath sufficed. Christ is the end as Christ was the beginning. Christ the beginning for the end is Christ." — Myers. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. For what kind of unity did our Lord pray? Was it for fraternity? Was it for co-operation? Do not such terms mock His words? Is not "organic unity" even a tame phrase in comparison with His mighty thought? 2. Have we any right to say that what our Lord prayed for is impossible? Have we any more right to set our consciences in the way of this than we have to set them against the character of God? If men need to be warned against the latter, xvi, 2, 3, do they not need to be warned also against the former? 3. Is not this the only "desire" that Jesus ever ex- pressed? V. 24. Think upon this and upon what it was that He desired. Can you do this with an immoved heart? Was not this the Son of God? III. THE CONSUMMATION OF FAITH AND UNBELIEF, xiii-xx A. The Enthronement of Faith through the Last Min- istry OF Love and the Self-revelations of Light AND Life, xiii-xvii. B. The Victory and Defeat of Unbelief, xviii-xx. 1. Its Victory in Christ's death, xviii, xix. a. The betrayal, xviii, i-ii. h. The double trial, xviii, 12-xix, 16. (i) The ecclesiastical trial, xviii. 12-27. (2) The civil trial, xviii. 27-xix, 16. c. The end. xix, 17-42. (i) The crucifixion, xix, 17-22. (2) The bystanders, xix, 23-27. (3) The death, xix, 28-30. (4) The two requests, xix, 31-42. (a) The Jews, xix, 31-37. (&) Joseph, xix, 38-42. 2. Its defeat in Christ's resurrection. The new life. xx. a. The facts satisfying Peter and John, xx, i-io. b. The revelation to personal love. Mary, xx, 11-18. c. The revelation to the fear-filled disciples, xxi, 19-23. d. The revelation to Thomas, xx, 24-29. The close of the story and ^ohn's explanation of his purpose. XX, 30, 31. "In the Four Gospels, or rather in the four books of the one Gospel, the Apostle St. John has lifted higher and far more sublimely than the other three his proclamation, and in lifting it up he has wished our hearts also to be lifted." — Augustine. "St. John expresses the Divine voice with absolute authority of spiritual life and death in the present and the future. . . . Through the study of the Apocalypse, we are able in a vague and dim way to understand how that long drawn out living death in Patmos was the necessary training through which he must pass who should write the Fourth Gospel. In no other way could man rise to that superhuman level in which the Fourth Gospel is pitched and be able to gaze with steady, un- wavering eyes on the eternal and the Divine, and to remain so unconscious of the ephemeral world." — Professor W. M. Ramsay. Ch.XVIII.i-ii VICTORY OF UNBELIEF 165 III. THE CONSUMMATION OF FAITH AND UN- BELIEF, xiii-xx B. The Victory and the Defeat of Unbelief, xv-xx I. Its Victory in Christ's Death, xviii, xix a. The betrayal, xviii, i-ii ^10 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went ^^ -*-" forth with his disciples over the brook Eidron, where was a garden, into which he entered, himself and his disciples. 2 Now Judas also, who betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. 3 Judas then, having received the band of soldiers, and officers from the chief priests and the Phar- isees, Cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weap- ons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon him, went forth, and saith unto tiiem, Whom seek ye? 5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When therefore he said unto them, I am ke, they went backward, and fell to the grotmd. 7 Again therefore he asked them. Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8 Jesus an- swered, I told you that I am he \ if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: 9 that the word might be fulfilled which he spake. Of those whom thou hast given me I lost not one. 10 Simon Peter therefore having a sword drew it, and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. Now the servant's name v/as Malchus. 11 Jesus therefore said unto Peter, Put up the sword into the sheath: the cup which the Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Chapters xviii and xix set forth the victory of unbelief in Christ's death. These first eleven verses tell the story of the betrayal. The place was over the brook Kidron, I Kings ii, 37. John does not call the place Gethsemane. It was the ravine of the cedars mentioned in the Old Testament in I Kings xv, 13, II Kings xxiii, 4 ff, II Chron. xxix, 16, Jer. xxxi, 40. It was a garden. Man fell and rose in a garden. Here was the agony of which J6hn says 166 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XVIII. i-ii nothing. Thither came Judas with torches, though it was full moon and Jesus met him calm and fearless. Those who came to meet Jesus were the terrified ones. The disciples who were His protectors were protected by Him. Even in this hour His thought was of them. "If ye seek Me," said He, "let these go their way." And without resistance, though He might have slain them, the Prince of Peace went quietly to His trial. "Into the woods my Master went, Clean forspent, forspent; Into the woods my Master came, Forspent with love and shame. But the oHves they were not blind to Him, The little gray leaves were kind to Him, The thorn-tree had a mind to Him, When into the woods He came. "Out of the woods my Master went, And He was well content; Out of the woods my Master came, Content with death and shame. When death and shame would woo Him last, From under the trees they drew Him last, 'Twas on a tree they slew Him last, When out of the woods He came." Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. How different this seeking from the first! Compare xviii, 4-8 with i, 38-42, the end of unbelief with the be- ginning of faith. 2. Was not Jesus here and always a heroic figure? Read Hughes, "The Manliness of Christ," and Seeley, "Ecce Homo," and then turn for one minute only, not more, to poor Nietzsche and his doctrine and all that flows from it. 3. Was not this the one time in history when it might have been right to fight? If it was wrong then, under what circumstances could the example or teaching of Christ ever sanction it? Ch. XVIII. 12-27 VICTORY OF UNBELIEF 167 b. The double trial, xviii, 12-xix, 16 (i) The ecclesiastical trial, xviii,, 12-27 ^ 12 So the band and the chief captain, and the offl- ^-^ cers of the Jews, seized Jesus and bound him. 13 and led him to Annas first; for he was father inlaw to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 Now Caiaphas was he that gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. ^ 15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did ^-^ another disciple. Now that disciple was known unto the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest: 16 but Peter was standing at the door without. So the other disciple, who was known unto tiie high priest, went out and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. 17 The maid therefore that kept the door saith unto Peter, Art thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. 18 Now the ser- vants and the ofiicers were standing theref having made a fire of coals ; for it was cold ; and they were v/arming them- selves: and Peter also was with them, standing and warm- ing himself. ^ 19 The high priest therefore asked Jesus of his dis- ^^ ciples, and of his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to the world; I ever taught in syn- agogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come to- gether: and in secret spake I nothing. 21 Why askest Siou me? ask them that have heard me, what I spake imto them: behold these know the things which I said. 22 And when he had said this, one of the ofiicers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? 23 Jesus answered him. If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me? 24 Annas therefore sent him bound imto Caiaphas the high priest. O) 25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming ^^ himself. They said therefore unto him. Art thou also one of his disciples? He denied, and said, I am not. 26 One of the servants of the high priest, being a kinsman of him whose ear Peter cut ofll;, saith. Did not I see thee in the garden with him? 27 Peter therefore denied again: and straightway the cock crew. 168 THE CONSUMMATION Gh. XVIII. 12-27 xviii, 12-14, 19-24. After the betrayal and arrest comes the account of the double trial; first, xviii, 12-27, the ecclesiastical trial, and then in xviii, 28 to xix, 16, the civil trial. The ecclesiastical trial began before Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest, at the headquarters of Annas' party. This was illegal — as though the trial of some reformer in New York City should be begun in Tammany Hall. Caiaphas himself took the lead in this examination, the object of which was to extort material for the fuller and formal accusa- tion afterwards. Jesus was asked about His teaching and about His disciples. He ignored the question about His disciples, and as to His teaching reminded them that He had always spoken openly. Why did they ask Him? The accusers must establish their charge independently. Standing around were those who had heard Him; let them testify. His position was perfectly proper. The answer was a blow. Jesus at once challenged His smiter to testify as one who had heard Him. Evidence, not violence, was wanted. Here was a true comment on Matt. V, 39. This examination of Jesus, as Westcott points out, was wholly irregular and unjust according to the Jewish tradition for the trial of cases. According to law: (i) A false prophet could be tried only by the great Sanhedrin, or Assembly of 71. (2) The witnesses were strictly and sep- arately examined, in all cases, and the agreement of two held to be valid. (3) In capital cases witnesses must be especially charged as to consequences of their testimony, and cautioned as to peril of destroying life, and were warned not to say any- thing from conjecture or hearsay. (4) In capital cases, all was arranged to give the accused the benefit of the doubt, and so the votes for acquittal were taken first. (5) In capital cases the trial could only take place by day, and while an acquittal might be pronounced on the day of trial, a sentence of con- demnation could not be given till the next day. Hence, such cases could not be tried on the eve of a Sabbath or a Feast. (6) Even on the way to execution, opportunity was given to the condemned four or five times if need be, to bring forward fresh pleas, and at last he was urged to confession that he might not be lost hereafter. A crier preceded the condemned, saying, "A. B., the son of A. B., goes forth to be stoned for such and such an offence; the witnesses are C. and D. If any one can Ch. XVIII. 12-27 VICTORY OF UNBELI2? 169 prove his innocence, let him come forward and give his reasons." (7) In cases of blasphemy the witnesses were rigorously exam- ined as to the exact language used by the accused. If their evidence was definite, the judges stood and rent their garments. (8) The blasphemer was to be stoned. After stoning he was to be hung from a gibbet and taken down before night and buried in a common grave prepared for the purpose. After this iniquitous examination by Annas at night, Jesus was bound and sent off to Caiaphas as high priest. xviii, 15-18, 25-27. After first running away, some of the disciples had come back. Matt, xxvi, 56, 58. Peter, and doubtless John, went in with Jesus to Annas' apart- ments in the court of the high priest. After they had entered John pressed on back to Jesus, while Peter remained in the indifferent crowd. If men want to be near Jesus, let them go as near as possible. That is the only safe place. In the crowd Peter's trial comes. Jesus was not the only one tried that night, {v. 17.) ''Art thou like thy friend John, one of this man's disciples?" It was easy to answer "No." Fall one {v. 25). Before the fire his features became revealed. Perhaps they showed his love for Jesus. It would be good to think that it was his love for Jesus which identified him. "Can it be," someone asked, "that thou art one of His disciples?" "I am not." Fall two (v. 26). "But I saw you, did I not?" asked a kinsman of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. "No," said Peter. Fall three. John and Luke do not insert the aggravation of the denials. Matt, xxvi, 70, 72, 74. Mark xiv, 71. Jesus, who had now passed by, turned back and looked at Peter. Luke xxii, 61. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Have you ever contrasted our Lord's bearing at His trial with Paul's when he appeared before the high priest? Acts xxiii, i-io. 2. On what other occasions did Jesus involve His enemies in difficulty by the statement of a dilemma? 3. Why did Peter deny Jesus? 4. What do you think of the idea that has been advanced that the last chapter was added to the Gospel, 170 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XVIH. 28-32 in part at least, to atone for the unfavorable impression left on the mind here with regard to Peter? Do you deem this wholly fanciful? (2) The civil trial, xviii, 28-xix, 16 (^ 28 They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the ^^ PrsBtorium: and it was early; and they themselves entered not into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover. 29 Pilate therefore went out unto them, and saith. What accusation bring ye against this man? 30 They answered and said unto him. If this man were not an evil-doer, we should not have delivered him up unto thee. 31 Pilate therefore said unto them. Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law. The Jews said unto him. It is not lawful for us to put any^man to death: 32 that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should die. John probably saw all of the trial before Pilate. His Gospel tells us most about it. There was probably no reason for one's not entering and witnessing it, save the reason given in v. 28, and that would not deter John. After the midnight examination came the trial early in the morning before Caiaphas. John assumes that we know about this, and he records the ensuing trial before Pilate. The scene moved to and fro, from the court without where the Jews stayed so as not to be defiled by entering a house from which all leaven had not been removed, to the palace within, where Jesus had been taken. These are the scenes: Scene i. Without the Pretorium. xviii, 28-31. Scene 2. Within the Pretorium. xviii, 33-37. Scene 3. Without the Pretorium. xviii, 38-40. Scene 4. Within the Pretorium. xix, 1-3. Scene 5. Without the Pretorium. xix, 4-7. Scene 6. Within the Pretorium. xix, 8-1 1. Scene 7. Without the Pretorium. xix, 12-16. In Scene I Pilate demanded the charge. The Jews were unprepared for this and did not dare to give the ground on which their sentence of death rested. Pilate told them to go ahead then. If they wanted to act on their own Ch. XVIII. 33-38 VICTORY OF UNBELIEF 171 judgment, let them act on their own responsibility. The Jews said that they could not. The Roman laws forbade. Perhaps it was now that they made the false charge of treason. Luke xxiii, 2. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What accusation did the Jews bring against Jesus? Why really did they want Him crucified? 2. Were not the Pharisees and the priests actually the best and most earnest men in the nation? How did they bring themselves to such a course of action with regard to Jesus? 3. Were the enemies of Jesus sincere? Is sincerity a sufficient justification of wrong action? If it is, how can war be condemned? Could a whole nation be dragged into the sacrifices of an insincere war? (g^ 33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, ^^ and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? 34 Jesus answered, Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it thee concerning me? 35 Pilate answered. Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? 36 Jesus answered. My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of tiiis world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews? but now is my kingdom not from hence. 37 Pilate therefore said unto him. Art thou a king then? Jesus answered. Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been bom, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. 38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? Scene II. Pilate went in and asked Jesus, "Art Thou, poor, bound, weary, the King of the Jews?" Jesus an- swered with words designed to open Pilate's conscience (v. 34), but Pilate contemptuously expressed his indifference to the affairs of the Jews, but expressed, also, his interest in Jesus: "Naturally," his words imply, "your people would have followed you. They follow everyone who asserts their national liberties. What have you done to turn them into your enemies?" Jesus indicates in reply the real ground of their enmity to Him and also the kind 172 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XVIII. 33-38 of King that He is. "So then," answers Pilate with a touch of irony, "Thou, poor prisoner, art a King ! " "Yes," said Jesus, leaving the matter where Pilate did; but He proceeds to declare His right to sovereignty and the char- acter of the sovereignty He claims {v. 37). "What's truth?" answers Pilate. "An unnattainable thing." But he saw that Jesus was no political intriguer and, breaking off, he went back to the crowd. Perhaps it was now that Jesus was sent off to Herod. Luke xxiii, 6. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Did Jesus claim to be a King? If so, what was His idea of a King? 2. Where is His Kingdom? What is it? 3. How would you answer Pilate's question? "What is truth?" 4. Is it not a miracle that Jesus had not by this time given up His mission in despair? How could such a world as this into which He had come and such men as these were be saved? How could He still believe that they were worth saving? "I have often wondered if Jesus Christ ever felt for a moment that his task was hopeless. It must have been a great shock to Him and a great sorrow to meet and uncover the sin, hypocrisy, greed, and littleness of man. If ever there was reason for loss of faith in one's mission He had it. The complacent snobbery of the self-encircled Pharisees, the greed of the buyers and sellers in the very courts of the temple of God, the ambitions of the disciples, the cowardice of Pilate, the jealous envy of the priests — these might easily have made Him lose all hope that the thing He had come to do could ever be done. Any one of them might have made Him ask, 'What can I hope to accomplish with men and motives like these? ' "But there is no hint of such a spirit in any one of the words that He spoke, the lessons He taught, the stories He told. Looking into hard, shrewd, faces He said, 'Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you.' In the presence of evil and sin He said, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' Walking with disciples quarreling over precedence in the hoped-for Ch. XVIII. 38-40 VICTORY OF UNBELIEF 173 kingdom, He commanded, 'Love one another,' and hurled into their consciousness, 'the last shall be first, the first shall be last.' Facing the rich young ruler, wrapped in his great possessions, He pleaded, 'Go and sell and come and follow.' Looking over a group of self-seekers He declared, 'He that saveth his life shall lose it.' "Alone in a world that could not understand, was too busy to hsten, and too selfish to obey. He stated cour- ageously, 'The Kingdom of God is Hke a mustard seed, smallest of all seeds, yet when it is grown it covereth the earth and the birds lodge in its branches;' and again, 'The Kingdom of God is like unto leaven which a woman hid in three measures of meal and the whole was leavened.' Triumphantly from the crushing agony of the cross He told the world that the end for which He came was accom- plished and after His great victory, surrounded by a group of provincial Jews who had failed Him in the hour of His need. He commanded with confidence, 'Go ye into all the world and preach this Gospel.' "No wonder men worship Him! In the presence of words like these one dares tell his own heart and his neighbors that, confident of final victory, he may look at the problems vexing the souls and wearing the bodies of men, and to the fullest extent of the power of One, may in His name take them all upon himself. In His name and under the inspiration of His power, remembering what men have done and are doing, one dares call upon the Church — not the cold marble, the brick and wood, the tall towers and spires; not the creeds of words which men have put together as best they may; not the eccle- siastical governments by which affairs are managed, but upon the warm, living, flesh-and-blood individuals that make up the whole. One dares call upon them to plunge down where greed and sin run riot and to reach out where heroic souls struggle with circumstance, taking it all, without fear, upon themselves." — Margaret Slattery, " He Took it upon Himself." (s^ 38 And when he had said this, he went out again ^^^ unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find no crime in him. 39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? 40 They cried out there- 174 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XIX. 1-3 fore again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Scene III. Pilate saw that Jesus was the victim of a small party. Matt, xxvii; 18. So he went out and appealed to the crowd, not setting aside the Sanhedrin sentence, but trying to set Jesus free by the custom of release at this time. Mark xv, 8, shows that this demand for release came from the people, some of whom — or His Sanhedrin friends — may have hoped to get Jesus released in this way. Barabbas, a noted felon, was offered as the other choice, Matt, xxvii, 17, and there was a division for a moment, Mark xv, 11. The high priests prevailed, and Pilate released a man guilty of the crime' of which Christ was accused and innocent. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Is it not significant that the traitor who betrayed Jesus, Matt, xxvii, 3-5, the judge who sentenced Him, John, xviii, 38, and the soldiers who executed Him, Luke xxiii, 47. all declared Him innocent? 2. What is to be thought of a Judge who acquits a pris- oner, and then instead of discharging him, deliberately sacrifices him to a mob? 3. What was Pilate's motive in v. 39? Matt, xxvii, 18, Luke xxiii, 20. Does a good motive palliate a bad deed? ®1 Q Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged ^*^ him. 2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple garment; 3 and they came unto him, and said. Hail, King of the Jews? and they struck him with their hands. Scene IV. Having humored the people by the release of Barabbas, Luke xxiii, 22, Pilate hoped by the scourging to satisfy the Jews. This was the only scourging, but Jesus was mocked by the soldiers both before and after His condemnation. Pilate had no right to scourge Jesus. He had not yet been condemned, and scourging was part of a capital sentence. In the scourging the condemned person was stripped naked, fastened to a low pillar or stake, and then scourged on all sides, either with Uctor's Ch. XIX. 4-7 VICTORY OF UNBELIEF 175 rods or with scourges called scorpions. Then the soldiers made a thorn crown as a sneering sign of royalty and victory and a purple robe, the dress of a kingly conqueror, and came up to Him in lines of subjects oflfering sub- mission, and smote Him on the face with their hands. How pitiful human nature must have seemed to Jesus! This was the nature He had taken upon Himself and come to save. What a shameful thing it was! And what a Saviour He was that He should endure its disgrace! Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Is the doctrine of passive submission which was illustrated in the life of Christ valid for us? Was or was not Jesus an example for all men in this? 2. What is the explanation of cruelty? 3. Was all this vividly conscious to Jesus as a physical experience, or was He lifted above all these horrors and shames and held in peace and rapture in God? What might have been His thoughts, if it is not irreverent for us to ask His Spirit in our hearts? (s4S 4 And Pilate went out again, and saith unto them, ^-^ Behold I bring him out to you, that ye may know that I find no crime in him. 5 Jesus therefore came out, wear- ing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold, the man! 6 When there- fore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying. Crucify him, crucify hitnl Pilate saith unto them. Take him yourselves, and crucify him: for I find no crime in him. 7 The Jews answered him. We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. Scene V. Pilate came out and announced Jesus' inno- cence. What right had he then to scourge Him? Then Jesus came out wearing the crown and robe, and Pilate pointed to Him. "Behold the man! What harm can there be in Him? Let Him go, the humiliated, meek- spirited, harmless creature." The priests had not demanded crucifixion before, but now to forestall any pity on the part of the crowd, they start the cry, "Crucify Him." The picture of Jesus' humiliation only intensified their 176 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XIX. 8-11 wrath at the idea of His messiahship. Pilate began to argue. The crowd saw that they were prevaiHng over him. When a man in authority stoops to argue with suppHants, he confesses weakness, and the suppHants will grow bold. "Crucify!" said the cowardly Pilate, "Come, take Him and crucify Him, and shoulder the responsibility. I find Him innocent." The Jews, waxing bold, took up the challenge. "You throw the responsi- bility on us, you weakling, polytheist. Well, we are not afraid. We have a law, and by it He ought to die, be- cause He made Himself Son of God." Those who think Jesus claimed to be no more than a man forget that it was for His claim to be Son of God that the Jews sought His crucifixion. Questions for Reflection and Disctission 1. What was Pilate's motive in this move? 2. How can men say that Jesus never made for Himself the claim the making of which, as the record shows, was the ground on which Jews demanded His death? 3. Was it true that the Jews had a law that would condemn a Messiah claiming to be the Son of God? Is there such a law in the Old Testament? (g^ 8 When Pilate therefore heard this saying, he was ^-^ the more afraid; 9 and he entered into the Praeto- rium again, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore saith unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to release thee, and have power to crucify thee? 11 Jesus answered him, Thou wouldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath greater sin. Scene VI. Pilate was frightened. The priests doubtless knew that their declaration in v. 7 would work on Pilate's superstition. He had been afraid before. He was yet more afraid now. The mystery of Jesus frightened him. So he took Jesus in again and asked him, "Who art Thou?" Jesus made no reply. His silence was reply enough. That suggested that Pilate should think of what He had already Ch. XIX. 12-16 VICTORY OF UNBELIEF 177 told him. Jesus gave no information to those who were unwilling to use what He had already given, viii, 25; x, 24, 25. He had already spoken to Pilate the words inxviii, 36. Nothing more will He say. Moreover, this was not a matter of His origin. It was a question of simple justice. Pilate was amazed and demanded, "Speakest Thou not to me when I am so evidently favorable to you? I have final authority here to release or crucify." Jesus again — the calmer, the more royal far of the two — ^points out the difference between spiritual and temporal, theocratic and civil. Pilate did have the authority he claimed, but only as derived from God, Rom. xiii, i. He was acting within his rights and duty if he now judged justly. Pilate was guilty only as he used his power wrongfully. The High Priest was more guilty — using a higher spiritual power, and in transgressing his legitimate sphere of action. He had not recognized the Messiah, and he had appealed to a heathen power to execute an unjust sentence on Him. Pilate was the more convinced that Jesus was harmless. He was a mysterious character, too. No wonder his wife had had such a dream. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Why did it frighten Pilate to know that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God? 2. The power to do wrong is also the power to do right. It is God's gift to men. The will to do wrong is man's affair. God gives men their opportunity and their ability. Man is responsible for his use of these. How much more than this did Jesus mean in z>. 11? 3. What a similarity and what a difference between Pilate's words in v. 10 and Jesus' words in x, 18! ^ 12 Upon this Pilate sought to release him: but the ^^ Jews cried out, saying, If thou release this man, thou art not Caesar's friend: every one that maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. 13 When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment-seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation of the passover: it was about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews, Behold, your King? 15 They therefore cried 178 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XiX 12-16 out, Away with him, away with Aim, crucify him I Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered. We have no king but Caesar. 16 Then therefore he delivered him unto them to be crucified. Scene VII. Pilate again went out and sought to release Him, but he had let the people go too far. The Jews cried, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend." What a cry for Jews! And notice that they now abandon the ground of condemnation urged in v. 7. This present charge was not the cause of the trial or condemnation before Caiaphas. Note the changes in their successive charges: (i) Evil doing, xviii, 30. Pilate sneers at this. (2) The sedition of the title "Kings of the Jews," xviii, 33. Pilate refuses this, xviii, 39. ^ ^ (3) Religious and capital offence against their own law. Pilate becomes more reluctant to act. xix, 12. (4) So lastly they drop all else and appeal to Pilate's fears. Acts xiii, 28. Luke xxiii, 24. This settles Pilate. He had a record that would not bear scrutiny. He wanted no attention attracted at Rome. So he abandons Jesus, and acts in doing so like the coward and weakling that he was. And the Jews have also descended to the depth, "No King but Caesar." It had once been, "No King but God." This was the end, and Pilate delivered over an uncondemned man to be crucified. Who was really tried? Not Jesus. No, it was Pilate and the Jews. We see now that it was their trial, and it was their condemnation. Questiotis for Reflection and Discussion 1. How do you analyze Pilate's conduct and motives and character? 2. What can equal wrong-doing and injustice as a disintegrator of principles and character? What would the chief priests have said a few hours before if anyone had told them that that day they would publicly renounce the theocracy? 3. Whoever set out to injure the innocent who was lot himself injured? Read Stalker, "The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ." Ch. XIX. 17-22 VICTORY OF UNBELIEF 179 c.The end. xix, 17-42 (i) The crucifixion, xix, 17-22 gyS 17 They took Jesus therefore: and he went out, ^^ bearing the cross for himself, unto the place called The place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha: 18 where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. 19 And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jew?. 20 This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, and in Latin, and in Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but, that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. The seventeenth to forty-second verses of the chapter tell us of the end; (i) the crucifixion, 17-22; (2) the bystanders, 23-27; (3) the death, 28-30; (4) the two requests, 31-42, the request of the Jews, 31-37, and the request of Joseph of Arimathea, 38-42. Pilate had de- livered up Jesus, and the Jews, who would not receive Him for life, received Him for death. The deed of death was theirs, Acts ii, 23, though the Roman soldiers did the actual work. The Saviour held the place of prominence between the two thieves, who were given Him as companions in death. To the inscription over the cross the chief priests objected, but now at last, like the weak bully he was, Pilate was firm. When there was no personal danger he was very courageous. In protecting an inno- cent man he had been a coward. In taunting those to whom he had surrendered he was ostentatiously firm. Many men are just as Pilate was — cowards before their fellows, tyrants in their homes, babies before their equals and bullies before their inferiors, heroes when there is no danger, and hirelings at the least tremor of fear. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What was the full inscription over the cross? 2. Why was it written in these three languages? 3. What details about our Lord's companions in death 180 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XIX. 23-27 and what sayings of His upon the cross are given by the other evangelists? 4. What were Christ's sayings on the cross and what is the significance of those recorded by John? (2) The bystanders, xix, 23-27 (gg) 23 The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified ^-^ Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat: now the coat was with- out seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be ful- filled, which saith, They parted my garments among them, And upon my vesture did they cast lots. 25~These things therefore the soldiers did. But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, h^ saith unto his mother. Woman, behold, thy son I 27 Then saith he to the dis- ciple. Behold, thy mother I And from that hour the dis- ciple took her tmto his own home. Among the bystanders were (i) the soldiers, 23, 24. They cast lots for His tunic and His larger outer dress or "coat," fulfilling the words of Psa. xxii, 18, and treating Him as already dead; (2) His friends {w. 25, 27), a little group, braver than the rest who looked on from afar, stand about the cross, Matt, xxvii, 55. Who were they? Four women, Mary the Mother of Jesus, Salome the mother of John, Mary the wife of Cleopas or Alphaeus, Matt. X, 3; and Mary Magdalene. From the cross the Saviour stiU revealed life's relationships. To Mary He said, ''Behold thy son," and to John, "Behold thy Mother!" There were four such "Beholds" {w. 5, 14, 26, 27). Is it not an evidence of the fact that Jesus had no full brothers and sisters, that Mary was committed to none of them but to John, the brothers of Jesus being His half-brothers, children of Joseph, but not children of Mary? There are various traditions of Mary's later life, (i) That she lived in Jerusalem with John for eleven years, dying Ch. XIX. 28-30 VICTORY OF UNBELIEF 181 at the age of 59. (2) That she went to Ephesus with John and was buried there. What conversations there must have been between her and John about Jesus! What recollections! What hopes! Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. How much did Jesus leave for His executioners to divide? When the trunk containing the property left at his death by William C. Burns, one of the great saints among the missionaries to China, was opened in England, there were found a few sheets of Chinese printed matter, a Chinese and an EngUsh Bible, an old writing case, one or two small books, a Chinese lantern, a single Chinese dress and the blue flag of the "Gospel boat." "Surely," whispered one little one amid the awestruck silence, "Uncle William must have been very poor." 2. What do we know authentically and apart from the gloss of tradition with regard to Mary Magdalene? 3. How do you explain the fact that Joseph does not appear in the story of Jesus' ministry? Is John vi, 42 consistent with the idea that he had died? (3) The death, xix, 28-30 (so) 28 After this Jesus, knowing that all things are now ^-^ finished, that the scripture might be accomplished, saith, I thirst. 29 There was set there a vessel full of vinegar: so they put a sponge full of the vinegar upon hyssop, and brought it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said. It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit. John says nothing of the three hours of darkness which preceded His death, Matt, xxvii, 45. He does comment on the significance of the word of Jesus at the end of the darkness, "I thirst." John points out the correspondence between this and the divine foreshadowing in Psa. Ixix, 21. "So the Scripture was fulfilled." The ideal of prophecy was made perfect, wholly completed and realized in Him. His work was (Completed. This work was the burden of Scripture, and so having per- feci^ed His work, the Scripture was perfected. "That 182 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XIX. 31-37 it might be fulfilled," the phrase so often occurring of Old Testament sayings in the life of Christ does not mean that Jesus did such and such things simply to fulfil the Old Testament word. The fulfilling was the effect, not the aim of what He did. He was the Messiah. There- fore, what He was and did answered to the Old Testament foreshadowings and perfected them. Now He drank what was offered. Earlier in the day the soldiers had offered Him a stupefying potion to ease His pain, Matt, xxvii, 34. This He tasted and refused. But now some- one, perhaps a soldier, out of compassion, took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and held it up to Him on the long stem of the caper plant, and Jesus took it and went home. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. What is the meaning of the death of Christ? Read Denney, "The Death of Christ." 2. What was finished when Jesus died? 3. What is it to die? What is the meaning of the phrase "gave up His spirit"? Who gave it? What did He give? Did the Spirit give itself? To Whom? (4) The two requests, xix, 31-42 (a) The Jews, xix, 31-37 (g^ 31 The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, ^-^ that the bodies should not remain on the cross upon the sabbath (for the day of that sabbath was a high day), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 The soldiers therefore came, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him: 33 but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 howbeit one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and straightway there came out blood and water. 35 And he that hath seen hath borne witness, and his witness is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye also may believe. 36 For these things came to pass, that the scrip- ture might be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37 And again another scripture saith. They shall look on him whom they pierced. Ch. XIX. 38-42 VICTORY OF UNBELIEF 183 The Jews were anxious to get the bodies out of the way before night, the next day being the first day of unleavened bread, so they besought Pilate to have the legs broken to hasten death. What a noble piety this was! So scrupulous as to wish to have the bodies out of the way before the day of unleavened bread! So unscrupulous as to be willing to effect the end by cruelty and murder! Pilate acceded to this request, but Jesus was already dead. The soldiers made, however, a deep gash in his side and out gushed "the water and the blood." John saw this and regarded it as convincing evidence of the Messiahship. For in all these things the symbolism of the law (Ex. xii, 46; Num. ix, 12; Psa. xxxiv, 20) was fulfilled in Jesus, including the great marks of all great prophetic messengers, the sacrifice of the innocent, the judgment of those who see too late. Many of the old commentators find deep meaning in the water and the blood. Origen sees in it evidence of the fact that in death itself Christ had the marks of the living. "The blood," said Theophylact, "is a mark that the crucified was man, but the water that He was more than man, that He was God." We argue now in the reverse direction. Because He was God, there were wonders. In old days men reasoned, Because these were wonders. He was God. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Can you think of any instances of straining at gnats and swallowing camels in the moral life of our own day? 2. Does ecclesiastical or sacerdotal propriety ever blind us to ethical defect or self-deception? 3. What was the cause of Jesus' death? 4. Can it be gainsaid that the author of this Gospel claims to have been an eyewitness of the Crucifixion? 5. Where are these Scriptures to which John refers? Would you have seen in them what John saw? (b) Joseph, xix, 38-42 ^ 38 And after these things Joseph of Arimathaea, being ^-^ a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked of PUate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took 184 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XIX. 38-42 away his body. 39 And there came also Nicodemtis, he who at the first came to him by night, bringing a mix- ture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. 40 So they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb wherein was never man yet laid. 42 There then because of the Jews' Preparation (for the tomb was nigh at hand) they laid Jesus. The Jews hated and sought to mutilate Jesus. Joseph loved and sought to preserve Him. Now that He was gone secret love begins to emerge. Why had it not emerged before? At a gathering in memory of a man who had died a number of eulogies were pronounced and men spoke out of their love for the one who had gone. When it was over the widow said gently, knowing how lonely and unappreciated he had felt, "Oh, gentlemen, why did you not tell him while he lived?" This Joseph was a rich man, Matt, xxvii, 57, an honorable councillor, Mark XV, 43, a good and just man, Luke xxiii, 50. He had not consented to Jesus' death. Now he came boldly to Pilate. The Jews were not there and Pilate gave him the body. Emboldened, perhaps, by Joseph's courage, now came Nicodemus also. Not now by night, not now with timidity easily silenced, John iii, 3; vii, 50. He brought a great and costly quantity of myrrh and aloes; enough to cover the whole body; and the two men who had given Jesus no service while He lived buiied Him with tenderest love in a temporary grave belonging to Joseph, near at hand, intending to remove Him later after the Passover. Qjiestions for Reflection and Diseussion 1. Why is secret discipleship not enough? 2. Where were the apostles? Why did Joseph and Nicodemus and not the apostles have to provide for Jesus? Was it because the Apostles, in addition to being poor men, were from a distance and would not have any place in Jerusalem wherein they could bury their Master's body? 3. Was it safe for Joseph and Nicodemus to do for the dead what they could not do safely for the living? Or were the men made brave and true by Jesus' death? Ch. XX. i-io DEFEAT OF UNBELIEF 185 2. Its defeat in Christ's resurrection. The new life, xx a. The facts satisfying Peter and John, xx, i-io (52) 90 Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary O* ^v Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. 2 She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them. They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him. 3 Peter tiierefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. 4 And they ran both together: and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb; 5 and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen cloths lying; yet entered he not in. 6 Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into the tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, 7 and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then entered in there- fore the other disciple also, who came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10 So the disciples went away again unto their own home. And now unbelief had done its worst and triumphed, — but not for long. The little band of disciples, themselves shaken to the foundations by what had happened, were now to see the utter defeat of hate and unbelief in the Resurrec- tion. John does not attempt to tell the whole story. He selects only those aspects of it most likely to produce faith and to convey the spiritual truths which it was His desire to teach. He reveals the passage from sight to faith in four typical cases, John, Mary, the disciples, and Thomas. I. In John himself, who believed without the sight of the risen Lord. On Mary's report he and Peter ran to the sepulchre. As the younger man he distanced Peter, but as the less aggressive man he did not press into the tomb, but merely looked in from without. Peter pressed in and John followed. To their amazement the clothes which had been about the body of Jesus lay just as though they contained the body, but there was no body in them and the empty napkin retained the shape of the head. Plainly, there had been a miracle, for the 186 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XX. i-io wrappings were undisturbed, but the body had vanished from them. And John saw this and beHeved. Why, he wondered now, had he never understood before? "It is said such a fact would overthrow the laws of nature. But what if it were on the contrary, the law of nature, when thoroughly understood which required this fact? Death is the wages of sin. If Jesus Uved here below as innocent and pure, if He lived in God and of God as He Himself says in John vi, 57, Ufe must be the crown of this unique conqueror. No doubt He may have given Himself up voluntarily to death to fulfil the law which condemns sinful humanity, but might not this state of death, affecting a nature perfectly sound morally and physically, meet in it exceptional forces capable of reacting victoriously against all the powers of dissolution? As necessarily as a life of sin ends in death, so necessarily does perfect holiness end in life, and consequently, if there has been death, in the resurrection. Natural law far from being contrary to this fact is the thing which requires it." — Godet. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Had not Jesus given the disciples sufficient intimation of the resurrection to prepare them for it? If they failed in this as in so much else to understand His teaching, if, as history shows, they only understood the Gospel in the light of the resurrection and by the aid of the Holy Spirit in a supernatural spiritual experience, what becomes of the idea that Jesus was only a teacher and that what He said was the Gospel? Would what He said ever have been remembered unless He had done what He did, and especially unless He had risen from the dead? 2. Why did not John go in before Peter? Read Bush- nell's sermon on "Unconscious Influence" in "Sermons for the New Life." 3. "So the disciples went away again unto their own home." Where better? 4. What was it that so completely convinced John? And what was the resurrection? "Now as to the resurrection of Jesus on the third day- Did he simply rise from the dead, as did Lazarus at His Ch.XX. i-io DEFEAT OF UNBELIEF 187 call? Was His revivification merely like that of Lazarus and of the son of the widow of Nain? Or was He really in His rising the first-fruits of the resurrection, in His passing through that change from the natural to the spiritual body, which all the redeemed shall pass through, *in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump'? What are the Bible indications as to this? No human eye saw the rising of Jesus from the dead. No hand, not even an angel's hand, rolled away the en- trance stone, before Jesus passed out from the tomb. When, indeed, an angel of the Lord rolled away the stone and sat upon it, it was said that Jesus had already risen. What, then, was His rising from the dead? Note the inspired record. "Matthew says that the angel said to the women at the tomb, 'Come, see the place where the Lord lay' (Matt, xxviii, 6), as if that sight itself would be proof of His resurrection. Mark repeats this fact, that the young man angel said to the women at the empty tomb, 'Behold, the place where they laid him!' (Mark xvi, 6.) Luke, in telling the story, says that Peter, looking into the empty tomb, saw 'the linen cloths by themselves,' and went away wondering (Luke xxiv, 12). John further adds that Peter saw 'the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place (in its place) by itself.' And John also, who was with Peter, 'saw (this), and believed' (John xx, 6-8). It is evident from this fourfold specific record that there was something in the sight itself that was a testimony to the Resurrection. This sight was not merely a blank, an absence of the body. What was it? "Jesus' natural body had been changed to a spiritual body; His mortal body had put on immortality; that which was sown in humiliation had been raised in glory. Therefore the changed body had come from the linen enwrappings of the body taken down from the cross, leaving those cerements as the transfigured butterfly leaves the chrysalis. Thus those linen enwrappings were of them- selves irresistible evidence and proof of the resurrection of Jesus. As no human power could arrange them, there they lay, no fold disturbed, those of the body in their 188 THE CONSUMMATION Ch.XX.i-io place, that of the face and head, the napkin by itself. What wonder that the angel called attention to this great proof of the resurrection! What wonder that Peter and others saw and beheved! And, as from the Scriptures we understand, Jesus did not merely rise up from the dead, as others before had risen up from the dead, but was 'the first-fruits of the resurrection' harvest, and, 'in a moment, in the twinkhng of an eye,' he was changed, so His loved ones are to be changed in the resurrection. "Had Jesus risen up in His natural body, He could at once have been recognized by His loved ones who had known Him in the years gone by. But from Mary Mag- dalene, who thought He was a gardener, to the disciples with whom He walked on the way to Emmaus, those who so well knew His natural form and face seemed to have doubts as to His identity. His spiritual body was no longer subject to the conditions of His natural body. He passed out from the stone-enlocked tomb. He entered the room where His disciples were behind closed doors. His every move gave added proof of His changed body in His resurrection. "Of course, when Jesus would prove His identity to His disciples who doubted, He would be ready to show His nail-pierced hands and feet, or His spear-pierced side, as evidence to their human senses, but this was a purposeful departure from His now normal state. He thus adapted Himself to the limitations and questionings of those still in the flesh. He thus convinced them that He was not a mere apparition, a 'ghost.' If one of our dear ones in the spirit hfe were permitted to-day to come again to us here on earth, that spirit would have to be known to us by some sign or appearance familiar to our human senses; but we should not suppose from that that therefore the loved one's normal or ordinary spiritual presence was the same as the former physical presence. "When Jesus, on the third day after His crucifixion, rose from the dead, His was not a mere awakening to, and an uprising in, His former natural body. If it were so, the resurrection of Jesus could not be to us the assur- ance, the Hfe, and the hope, that it now is. But Jesus came out of His linen cloth enwrappings, and out of His sealed stone tomb, in His changed resurrection body. Ch. XX. 11-18 DEFEAT OF UNBELIEF 189 Of that the disciples had evidence in the very chrysalis cloths themselves, and the whole narrative is in keeping with this assurance. How many have erred in the reading of the Bible record as to this! Let us not come short of our hope and faith, as we are entitled to have them con- firmed by this record." — H. Clay Trumbull^ "Our Mis- understood Bible." h. The revelation to personal love. Mary, xx, 11-18 ^ " But Mary v/as standing without at the tomb weep- ^^ ing: so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12 and she beholdeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 And they say unto her. Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them. Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 14 When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and beholdeth Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her. Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to^be the gardener, saith unto him. Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16 Jesus saith imto her, Mary. She tumeth herself, and saith unto him in Hebrew, Rab- boni; which is to say. Teacher. 17 Jesus saith to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God. 18 Mary Magdalene cometh and telleth the disciples, I have seen the Lord; and that he had said these things unto her. II. The revelation to personal love to Mary. This was the risen Lord's first appearance. John, we are sure, was at home telling Jesus' mother what he had seen. Peter, doubtless, had gone to his home, and then off to find Joseph and Nicodemus, but Mary, who had returned to the tomb after their departure, waited. "A stronger affection," says Augustine, "riveted to the spot a weaker nature." But like John she did not go in, and she had not observed the facts that carried conviction to John's heart. But her love saw what John and Peter failed to see, — the angels at the head and feet of the place where Jesus had lain. "Why weepest thou?" they asked. "For 190 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XX. 19-23 my Lord," was Mary's reply. "I know not where they have laid Him." Then, as she turned, she saw a man and thought it was a gardener. We see what we can see. Mary needed to come into spiritual harmony with Jesus in order to recognize Him. Would we know Him from a carpenter if He came back now? But this gardener knew her sorrow. He asks not about "What," but "Whom seekest thou?" So they talked, but when He spoke her name "Mary," then she knew. But she knew only that she had the old Jesus back again and that was not enough, and Jesus gently lifts her thought from the conception of His earthly presence to that of His heavenly relationship. And His relationship was the hope of hers. His Lord and Father were now hers. He came, then, to give us His own inheritance. Is it ours? Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Who actually saw Jesus first after His resurrection? Who was the first believer in the resurrection? 2. What convinced Mary? How did she recognize Jesus? 3. Was something more than physical sight necessary to the identification of the risen Christ? How many who knew Him well failed to recognize Him when they saw Him and in some cases even talked with Him after His resurrection? 4. In what sense may God be our God and Father as He was Christ's? c. The revelation to the fear-filled disciples, xx, 19-23 ^ 19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the ^-^ first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace bt imto you. 20 And when he had said this, he showed un- to tiiem his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus therefore said to them again. Peace be unto you: as tiie Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith imto them, Receive ye ttie Holy Spirit: 23 whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. Ch. XX. 19-23 DEFEAT OF UNBELIEF 191 III. The revelation to the fear-filled disciples. On that memorable first Lord's day, in the evening about eight o'clock, perhaps in the upper room of the supper, perhaps in Mark's mother's house, where the disciples, except Thomas, were gathered in distress and uncertainty and fear, Jesus appeared. Perhaps the news of the dis- appearance of the body from the tomb had spread over Jerusalem, and the disciples may have been fearing a fierce attack from the Jews aroused by the charge that the disciples had carried off the body. Jesus came sud- denly and at once answered and pacified their thoughts of distress. Luke xxiv, 37. Then he showed them hands and side, and Luke adds, His feet. The increduHty of hope burst soon into conviction and joy, and to their assured hearts He gave His commission, *'As my Father hath sent Me, so send I you." Have we gone? "The Son of God goes forth to war." How does He go? Who follows in His train? Then He breathed on them, Gen. ii, 7; John iii, 8; and said, "Take ye the Holy Ghost." Now. Before Pentecost this was. Take. Man has an active part. He takes hfe, John x, 17; xii, 48. And Christ gave them this charge specifically to free men from sin, and they accepted it in the strength of the resurrection. The Church and her mission of deliver- ance and redemption was born now. Without the resur- rection it would not have been. Strauss declares this: "Without the faith of the apostles in the resurrection of Jesus, the Church would never have been born." Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. This was the first Christian Sabbath. How different that evening with its fear and suspense from our Sunday evenings. Read some of our evening hymns and realize how Christ's resurrection has transformed the world. 2. "That day." What other memorable days are so designated by John? i, 39; v, 9; xi, 53; xix, 27, 31; xxi, 3. 3. May we really believe i;. 21? Cf. xvii, 18. But note in V. 21, that in Greek the words translated "sent" and "send" are two different words. The first word implies an embassy, the second an errand assigned to attaches 192 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XX. 24-29 of the embassy; Heb. iii, 1-5. That is the mission. We are agents of that mission. d. The revelation to Thomas, xx, 24-29 (o^ 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, ^^ was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him. We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them. Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not beHeve. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with tiiem, Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and see my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into my side: and be not faithless, but beUeving. 28 Thomas answered and said unto him. My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. IV. The revelation to Thomas. Thomas had been absent on the evening of the Lord's day. Had he been waiting somewhere in solitude for some light on the mystery of Jesus? The other disciples eagerly reported to him what they had seen. But Thomas was sure they had been deceived. He is amazed that they had not put the vision to a real test. He will never believe until he has done so. He will not trust his eyes. He must feel Him. He was allowed to wait for eight days. Jesus had told the disciples to go to Galilee to meet Him. They had not yet gone. *'Are we not allowed to suppose," says Godet, "that what detained them was the fear of abandoning Thomas and of losing him if they left him behind in the condition of mind in which he was?" On this eighth day after the resurrection the disciples were altogether. No *'fear of the Jews" is mentioned now. They had a new courage now. Thomas was with them. They counted him one of them and he counted himself still a disciple. Again Jesus came, soothed their unrest and then turned to Thomas and used his very words, "Make your test, Thomas," He said, "and be not faith- less." But Thomas was satisfied. The Lord was there Ch. XX. 24-29 DEFEAT OF UNBELIEF 193 over against his Spirit. The mere physical evidence proving that the body of Jesus had risen was passed by in Thomas' glad acknowledgment that the Saviour Him- self, the Divine One, was there. "Thou shalt know Him when He comes, Not by any din of drums, Nor the vantage of His airs. Nor by anything He wears, Neither by His crown. Nor His gown. But His presence known shall be By the holy harmony Which His coming makes in thee." And Thomas knew and confessed. The typical doubter rose to the highest faith recorded in the Gospels. And Jesus accepted the confession and added a new beatitude upon all those who without sight or material evidence had vision to discern that He was God. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Why is such a miracle as the resurrection more wonderful than the miracles which preceded it? "There are three miracles in the development of nature, i. The appearance of matter. 2. The appearance of life in matter. 3. The appearance of the conscious and free will in the domain of life. There are three decisive miracles in the history of our Lord. i. His coming in the flesh or His entrance into material existence. 2. The realization of life, of holy communion with God in this corporeal exist- ence. 3. The elevation of this life to the liberty of the divine life by the resurrection and ascension." — Godet. 2. Is it not easy to imagine Thomas' shame as his coarse words were repeated? 3. Does Jesus mean to imply that belief is a matter not of opinion, but of character, of personal attitude and being? He does not say "believe." He says, "Be believing." "By this expression Jesus makes him feel in what a critical position he actually is, at this point where the two routes separate, that of decided unbelief and that of perfect faith. A single point of truth, a single fact of the history of salvation which one obstinately 194 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XX. 30, 31 refuses to accept may become the starting point for com- plete unbelief, as also the victory gained over unbelief with regard to this single point may lead to perfect faith." — Godet. This is true, because faith is a matter not so much of the argumentative mind as of the believing heart. But it is to be rational and reasoned faith, too. The close of the story and John's explanation of his purpose. XX, 30, 31 ®30 Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the pres- ence of the disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name. This is the close of the story and gives John's clear explanation of his purpose. Many other signs, he says, as one would expect, Jesus wrought in the presence of His disciples. John had been a witness of these. But he had made no attempt to write them all down. He had simply picked out typical signs which proved his thesis that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and which in his judgment should suffice to produce that faith in men, and not faith, only, but life by faith. For life is the end. The Tiame of Christ, i.e., the perfect revelation which Jesus had given of Himself by manifesting Himself as Christ and as Son of God, was the one spring of life. It is in that name, in the offered Christ, in the great God Himself come near in Christ, not in words or thoughts about Him, that men have life. To a world of doubt and unbeUef God came, and whoso received Him had life. That is the cry of our hearts still. "Oh, let me live in Thy realities. Nor substitute my notions for Thy facts, Notion with notion making leagues and pacts. They are to truth as dream deeds are to acts, And questioned make me doubt of everything. *0 Lord, my God,' my soul gets up and cries, 'Come Thy own self, and with Thee my faith bring.' " — George Macdonald. "The demand of an undogmatic Christianity is a mis- take; and so is the assertion that the independence of Ch.XX. 30,3i DEFEAT OF UNBELIEF 195 religion is best to be effected by leaving other spheres of intellectual effort to themselves. The old Greeks were, then, wholly right in giving expression to the essence and kernel of the Christian religion; belief in God and in Jesus Christ, the Son of God." — Harnack. "In appealing to faith we are not appealing to any- thing that takes the place of reason, and still less to any- thing hostile to it, but to that which perfects it and per- fects it by making it practically efficacious. It is that we must emphasize again at the close, the conviction with which we started; viz., that philosophy is practical. It is a mistake to suppose that when all has been said, all has been done; on the contrary the difficult task of translating thought into feelings, of giving effect to the conclusions of reason, and of really incorporating them with our being, still remains. And it is this incompleteness of men's thoughts which theology recognizes when it leaves us with an alternative (i.e., of pessimism as vs. faith). This guards us against the delusion that intellectual assent is sufficient for life. Because philosophy is practical, mere demonstration does not suffice; to understand a proof is not to believe it. And in order to live rightly, we must not only assent that such and such principles are con- clusively proved, but must also believe them. But belief is not solely, nor perhaps even predominantly, a matter of reason. It is a complicated state of mind into which there enters a large element of will and a considerable element of time and training. We cannot believe unless we will and we cannot believe new truth until the mind has been long habituated to it. And it is to effect this transformation into belief that speculative philosophy in the end requires the stimulus of fear and the help of faith. For it is keenly conscious that without faith knowledge edifies not, and that the Temple of Truth is up-reared in vain if worshippers cannot be found to enter it." — Schiller. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Has John succeeded in his purpose? Has he helped us to believe or to believe more surely that Jesus is the Son of God? 2. That mea might have life was John's supreme desire. 196 THE CONSUMMATION Ch. XX. 30, 31 I John V. It was to be found, in his belief, only in the name of Christ, i.e., in "the perfect revelation which Jesus has given of Himself by manifesting Himself as Christ and as Son of God." Life lies in the knowledge of a history and belief in a historic person. Is this not the fact? Do we not see it to be a fact in history and in life to-day? Is not I John, v, 12 true? 3. If God truly is, does not John's record prove itself? If John's record is true, then is not God truly all and more than all that we have hoped? THE EPILOGUE, xxi The revelation to the fishennen. xxi, 1-14. The work of Peter, xxi, 15-19. The work of John, xxi, 20-23. The conclusion, xxi, 24, 25. "If I live yet, it is for good, more love Through me to men: be nought but ashes here That keep awhile my semblance, who was John, — Still, when they scatter, there is left on earth No one alive who knew (consider this!) — Saw with his eyes and handled with his hands That which was from the first, the Word of Life. How will it be when none more saith, *I saw'? "To me, that story — ay, that Life and Death Of which I wrote 'it was' — to me, it is; — Is, here and now: I apprehend nought else. "What do I hear say, or conceive men say, 'Was John at all, and did he say he saw? Assure us, ere we ask what he might see!' " Such is the burden of the latest time. I have survived to hear it with my ears. Answer it with my lips: does this sufl&ce? For if there be a further woe than such. Wherein my brothers struggling need a hand. So long as any pulse is left in mine. May I be absent even longer yet. Plucking the blind ones back from the abyss, Though I should tarry a new hundred years!" Browning, "A Death in the Desert. Ch. XXI. 1-14 THE EPILOGUE 199 THE EPILOGUE, xxi /qt) 91 After these things Jesus manifested himself ^^ ^^ again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and he manifested himself on this wise. 2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say imto him, We also come with thee. They went forth, and entered into the boat; and that night they took nothing. 4 But when day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples know not that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus therefore saith unto them. Children, have ye aught to eat? They answered him, No. 6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. 7 That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved saith imto Peter, It is the Lord. So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his coat about him (for he was naked), and cast himself into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from the land, but about two himdred cubits off), dragging the net full of fishes. 9 So when they got out upon the land, they see a fire of coals there, and fish laid tiiereon, and bread. 10 Jesus saith unto them. Bring of the fish which ye have now taken. 11 Simon Peter therefore went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three; and for all there were so many, the net was not rent. 12 Jesus saith unto them. Come and break your fast. And none of the disciples durst inquire of him. Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. 13 Jesus Com- eth, and taketh the bread, and giveth them, and the fish likewise. 14 This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. This chapter was evidently added after the Gospel had been completed, and it was added for a purpose. The Gospel was written to produce or strengthen faith, but this chapter was added to correct a mistake. A perver- sion of Christ's words about John's future had gone abroad and John writes this chapter to give the true account. There are three sections in the chapter. The first re- 200 THE EPILOGUE Ch. XXI. 1-14 lates to the Lord and seven of the disciples. They were back in Galilee in the old haunts. Five of the disciples were there who came all from the same neighborhood. Who were the two others? Were they Andrew and Philip, or two disciples not of the apostles' company? Under Simon Peter's blunt leadership they had gone fishing. When in the morning Jesus appeared to them, only one recognized Him, and he did not at first. How many of us would recognize Him if He should come back now? We can easily test ourselves by recalling Matt, xxv, 31-46. But if Peter was not first to recognize Him, he*. was first to reach Him. John had distanced him on the way to the sepulchre, but not on the way to the shore this morning. Whether our minds are quick or slow, our hearts can be prompt to find Jesus, wheresoever He may be. It is worth while pausing to observe the fanciful ways in which old writers speculated as to the meaning of the number of fishes. Jerome says that there were 153 kinds of fish, and that one of each kind was taken to show the universaHty of the apostoHc work. Cyril of Alexandria says that 100 represents the fulness of the Gentiles and 50, which is one-half of 100, and an imperfect number, the remnant of Israel, and three the Trinity. Augustine says 10 is the number of the Law and seven the number of the Spirit, or seventeen in all, and that the sum of the numbers from one to seventeen is 153, which repre- sents all the saved. Also, 3 is the symbol of the Trinity; 50 is 7 X 7+ 1 = unity of the Spirit; 3 X 50+3 = all the saved. Rupert of Deutz says 100 represents the married people, 50 the widowed or continent, and 3 the virgins. Bruno Astersig says 3 has the same significance as 150, = 3X50. The parts of the world are 3, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Therefore 150+3 = all the faithful in the world. Will not our descendants find as great absurdities in some of our cherished views, and ought not this thought to make us modest? Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. How many different people saw Jesus after His resurrection? 2. Who were the "two other of His disciples"? Ch. XXI. 1-14 THE EPILOGUE 201 3. Do you know the interpretation of this scene in the verses called "Simon Stone"? Simon Stone, he spied a boat, "Oh, here is a boat!" cried Simon Stone, "I've a mind to try if this boat will float, I'll fish a spell, if I go alone." "Oh no," said the rest, "we are going too;" "Then jump aboard," said Simon Stone; They sprang to the boat, a happy crew. Wouldn't you like to have counted one? They rowed and they rowed, they sailed and sailed; "Small luck, small luck," said Simon Stone. They tried and tried, and they failed and failed, Till they ached in every muscle and bone. They dipped and dipped, and they hauled and hauled; "Not a fin for our pains," said Simon Stone: "Hark!" cried one, for somebody called, "Who can be out on the shore alone?" "Never mind who, pull away, pull away;" "Let's give it up," said Simon Stone: "We have fished all night, we may fish all day. Let's quit: I'm going ashore for one." Then the strange voice called from the shore again, "Listen! Listen!" said Simon Stone; And now in the dawn they see Him plain. Walking along the shore alone. "Boys, have ye anything there to eat?*- "Not a fin nor a scale," said Simon Stone; "Not a crumb of bread, not a morsel of meat, "Not a thing to offer to a hungry one." "Throw the net to starboard, and then you'll find," Cried the voice; "Let's do it," said Simon Stone; So they dropped the net with a willing mind; "Heave, ho! There's a haul," cried every one. They tugged and they hauled, but they hauled in vain; "Let's drag it ashore," said Simon Stone; So they dragged and dragged with might and main; "It's the Lord," spoke softly cousin John. 202 THE EPILOGUE Ch. XXI. 15-19 "What ! What ! What ! ' ' cried the rest in the boat, "What's that you are saying?" quoth Simon Stone, "The Lord? Why, here then, give me my coat;" In a trice he had it, and had it on. "Why, what in the worid are you going to do?" "I'm going ashore," said Simon Stone, As he sprang without any more ado. Overboard into the sea alone. Then the rest, they looked and said with a smile, "What a man to be sure, is Simon Stone! He's up to some queer thing all the while;" "How he loves the Lord!" said cousin John. Oh, he swam for life and he swam for love. Till he stood on the shore with the Lord alone. Who knows, but he and the Lord above, How the Lord spake sweet to Simon Stone? Now, tell me, boys, both old and young, Did you ever hear of Simon Stone? And have you guessed the riddle I've sung, And is it a story you've always known? Then tell me, if ever you loved like him? If ever you felt like Simon Stone, "Whether I run or fly or swim, I must have a word with the Lord alone." The work of Peter, xxi, 15-19 (J^ 15 So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith ^^ to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto Mm, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him. Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith unto him. Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Tend my sheep. 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, soil of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord thou knowest all things ; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou gird- edst thyself, and walkedst whither thou woiildest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, Ch. XXI. 1S-19 THE EPILOGUE 203 and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 19 Now this he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him. Follow me. After breakfast Jesus and Peter walked off together along the beach or up to the hills. Peter had opened his heart before breakfast and could linger endlessly now with loving peace in Jesus' company. And Jesus said, "Simon, Son of John." So Jesus ever called him; never Peter save in Mark xvi, 7.. Why then? Now came the three questions corresponding to the three denials, (i) "Lovest thou me more than these other disciples love me?" That had been his boast, that he would be the last to leave Him, Others might fail Him, but not he. Peter answers that Jesus knows that he loves Him. But notice he is done with comparisons and prideful boasts. He even uses, in the Greek, a humbler word for love than Jesus used. (2) After a pause, again "Lovest thou me?" Jesus drops the remainder of the boastful comparison, but asks, "Do you love me?" Peter answers simply as before. (3) Then once more; Jesus takes up even Simon's weaker word for love, "Do you love me even with that love?" Peter was grieved at the third questioning. How, then, must his denials have grieved Jesus? But he appeals to Jesus. "Oh, Lord," he seems to say, "do not hurt me any more. Thou canst not be deceived. Thou knowest I do love thee." And Jesus was content and drew aside for Peter the veil from the tragic years to be. But it was following Christ. That would be enough to uphold him. And his death would glorify God. So all death can. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Where is all the bravado of Matt, xxvi, 33-35? 2. Is not love sometimes most loving when it dares to inflict pain? v. 17, "Peter was hurt." 3. Is there any nobler and more generous assurance of forgiveness than is shown in bestowing responsibility? 4. Whose work was it that was to be done, whose sheep fed? Simon's or Christ's? "Si me diligis, non te parcere cogita, sed oves meas sicut meas pasce, non sicut tuas; 204 THE EPILOGUE Ch. XXI. 20-23 gloriam meam in eis quaere, non tuam, dominium meum non tuum." — Augustine. 5. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee." Study all the sayings thus introduced: i, 51; iii, 3, 5, 11; v, 19, 24, 25; vi, 26, 32, 47, 53; viii, 34, SI, 58; X, i, 7; xii, 24; xiii, 16, 20, 21, 38; xiv, 12; xvi, 20, 23; XXI, 18. The work of John, xxi, 20-23 (99) 20 Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom ^^ Jesus loved following; who also leaned back on his breast at the supper, and said, Lord, who is he that betray- cth thee? 21 Peter therefore seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? 22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. 23 This saying therefore went forth among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, that he should not die; but, It I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? John had not been invited to follow, but he knew Peter well enough to rise and go after him and Jesus. "Follow me," Jesus had just said to Peter. Perhaps He would have gone on to tell Peter what that meant in the way of present work and duty, but Peter had ever been more interested in future destiny than in present duty, and he was anxious to know of John's future. So he asked Jesus, "Lord, and this one, the boy, my friend, what of him?" "Each man," was the substance of Jesus' reply "has his own mission and must be content with it. Each man and I have the matter between ourselves. If I will this or that for John, what is that to thee? Follow thou me." That is peace for us; our own work as God's will and our eye to God as King alone. As a matter of fact, Jesus said something more than this. He threw out a word about John which gave rise to the idea that John was never to die, but was to live until the second coming of Christ. John corrects this misconception. It is clear from the possibility of the misconception that the early Christians did not identify the second coming of Christ with death, but exactly the opposite. Our lesson is that God has a place and a mission for each one of us, that this is the thing we arc to do, without worry or envy. Ch. XXI. 20-23 THE EPILOGUE 205 Our place is Christ's place for us — Christ's place for others is His place for them. Yet we are to have no heedless- ness as to others. "Follow me," is an appeal for sympathy with all need, and for simplest and most unselfish service. In this there is peace and rest, for the way we take is not of our seeking, but of His assigning. Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. Is there any rebuke of Peter's interest in John's future implied? Surely not. Only Peter was in danger of diffuseness, of too much spreading out into the ad- ministration of other people's lives. Jesus recalls him to his own love and duty and makes them plain. He had shown himself poorly fitted to look after himself; let him not miss his own duty in managing others. 2. Does not this passage prove conclusively that the early Church understood that Christ's second coming does not mean death? The legend grew up that John did not die, but that he slept in his grave awaiting Christ's coming. It was said that the dust moved over his grave at Ephesus with his steady breathing as he slept. 3. Are not these the gracious lessons for us? (i) God has a place and a mission for each of us. (2) This is the thing for us to find and attend to. I Thess. iv, 11; II Thess. iii, 11, 12; I Peter iv, 15. (3) Without worrying and without criticising. "Let the thick curtain fall, I better know than all How little I have gained, How vast the unattained. "Others shall sing the song, Others shall right the wrong, Finish what I begin And all I fail of win. "What matter I or they? Mine or another's day, So the right word be said And life the sweeter made? 206 THE EPILOGUE Ch. XXI. 24, 15 "Ring bells, in unreared steeples, The joy of unborn peoples. Sound trumpets, far off blown, Your triumph is my own." —WhUtier. (^ 24 This is the disciple that beareth witness of these ^-^ things, and wrote these things: and we know that his witness is time. 25 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 would not contain the books that should be written. These last two verses are the Church's testimony to the writer of the Gospel and the many works of Jesus. Perhaps the Ephesian elders added the 24th verse. They testify to their belief in John's testimony and the authen- ticity of the production. John wrote it and in John they had perfect confidence. The last verse John may have added or he may have spoken it, or somebody else may have added it, perhaps the Ephesian elders. To make a complete record of the deeds of Jesus, not to speak His words, would be impossible. The world would not hold the books. A divine life would not be put into a human record. How vain the attempt to exhaust it in our defini- tions! We cannot crowd the divine Christ into the iron mould of our notions. We cannot set limits to Him or give a full account of God. The Gospel ends then with a vivid illustration of John's great truth. The divine is the true life and the true goal of life. Christ came to break open the world, to show its inadequacy and insufficiency, to reveal its real end, to open heaven to earth and God to men. Has He come for us in vain? Have the words of John not wrought faith in us and brought us to the Fountain of Life? Questions for Reflection and Discussion I. Is John's report of all that Jesus said verbally literate, or did he record our Lord's sayings in the forms into which the Spirit had moulded them through John's long experience and testimony? Read Browning's "A Death in the Desert." Ch. XXI. 24, 25 THE EPILOGUE 207 2. Review the witness which the Gospel records beside John's own. (i) Of the Father, v, 32, 34, 37; viii, 18. (2) Of the Son, iii, 32; viii, 14; xviii, 37, (x, 4; I John v, 10). (3) Of His works, v, 36; x, 25; (4) Of the Scrip- ture, v, 39~46. (5) Of John, the last and great prophet, i, 7; V, 33, 35. John's was a sevenfold testimony. That Jesus is Lord, i, 23. That Jesus is the Lamb of God, i, 29, 36. That Jesus is the Son of God, i, 34. That Jesus is the Bridegroom, iii, 29. That Jesus is above all, iii, 31. That all things are given into Jesus' hands, iii, 35. That faith in Jesus is essential to salvation, iii, 36. Or did John the evangehst say these last three things? (6) Of the disciples, xv, 27; xix, 35; xxi, 24. (7) Of the Spirit, the interpreter, xv, 26; xvi, 14; I John v, 6. 3. Do you believe that the witness of the Gospel is true? "There is a remarkable legend that when the Lord gave the Law from Sinai He wrought great marvels with His voice, Job xxxvii, 5. * The voice sounded from the South and as the people hasted to the South, lo! it sounded from the North. They turned to the North and it came from the East. They turned to the East and it came from the West. They turned thither and it came from heaven. They lifted up their eyes to heaven and it came from the depths of the earth. And they said one to another, where shall wisdom be found? Job xxviii, 12. And the >oice went out throughout the world and was divided into seventy voices, according to the seventy tongues of men, and each nation heard the voice in its own tongue and their souls failed them, but Israel heard and suffered not. And each one in Israel heard it according to his capacity, and men and youths and boys and sucklings and women; His voice was to each one as each one had the power to receive it.' The student of St. John will find the parable fulfilled as he ponders the Apostle's words with growing experience and unchanged patience. He himself limits the meaning which he finds in them." — WestcoU. 208 THE EPILOGUE Ch. XXI. 24, 25 Did the Gospel John thus sets forth stand him in good stead until the end? Tradition tells us of the years of holy blessing he spent in Ephesus and of the glory which fell on them as his sun sank slowly to its rest. True and tender to him as he waited were all the words we have been reading and they stayed him home. "Lay me down Once more upon my couch, and open wide ^ The eastern window. See! there comes a light Like that which broke upon my soul at even, When in the dreary Isle of Patmos, Gabriel came And touched me on the shoulder. See! it grows As when we mount toward the pearly gates. I know the way, I trod it once before. And hark! it is the song the ransomed sung, Of glory to the Lamb! How loud it sounds! And that unwritten one! Methinks my soul Can join it now. But who are they that crowd The shining way? Say, joy! 'tis the Eleven! With Peter first; how eagerly he looks! How bright the smiles are beaming on James' face! To gather round the Pascal feast. "My place Is next my Master— Oh! My Lord! My Lord! How bright Thou art, and yet the very same I loved in Galilee! 'Tis worth the hundred years To feel this bliss! So lift me up, dear Lord, Unto Thy bosom. There shall I abide." And there, in the place next our Lord, in the secret of His presence shall we, too, abide? Printed in the United States of A merica Date Due _. ^*^ "liSB ^ t-'itf I'flpiiitfii) rr_i T " Tf ;, ■ SEir5!2 ■' i&"b4 MR? 5. JA ' • '56 t. • -'-^ ^ er-'j /._■, ' "J-i *■■ PWtl. ■'■:■.■ ^^ :s £L f)l