The History of Christianity - John S. C. Abbott (bookstand for reading .txt) 📗

Jesus answered, “O woman! great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that hour.”

This is all the record we have of this long journey. It is the general assumption that Jesus retreated to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, not to extend his ministry there, but to obtain transient rest from its exhausting toils. Returning, he crossed the Jordan several miles above its entrance into the lake, and approached Gennesaret on its eastern shore. But his footsteps could not be concealed.

“Great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them, insomuch that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see; and they glorified the God of Israel.”

One man was brought to him here who was deaf, blind, and nearly dumb. His friends implored Jesus to interpose in his behalf. Jesus moistened his own finger with spittle, and then touched his ears and his tongue. Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said, “Be opened! and straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.”19

It is worthy of notice, that Jesus, in performing these wonderful miracles, manifested no spirit of exultation. In this case, looking up to heaven, “he sighed.” This same pensive mood of mind seemed to accompany all his teachings and all his actions.

Jesus was here again in the comparatively desolate region on the east side of the lake. Four thousand men, besides women and children, had gathered around him. “I have compassion on the multitude,” said Jesus, “because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat; and, if I send them away to their own houses fasting, they will faint by the way.”

There were but seven loaves and a few little fishes at hand. Jesus, as before, directed all the multitude to sit down upon the ground. He then took the seven loaves and the fishes, gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples to distribute to the multitude. When all had been abundantly satisfied, seven baskets of the fragments were gathered up.

Dismissing the well-fed multitude, all whose sick he had also healed, Jesus took ship and crossed the lake to Dalmanutha, a small town on the western shore of the lake, about twenty miles south of Capernaum. Some scribes and Pharisees came to him in a cavilling spirit, demanding that he should perform some miracle for their special entertainment or satisfaction. Saddened by the unbelieving, captious disposition they manifested, “he sighed deeply in spirit;” and, refusing to minister to their entertainment, he left them, and returned to the other side of the lake, warning his disciples to beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The ship landed them again at Bethsaida, on the north-eastern shore of the lake, near the spot where he had performed the miracle of feeding the multitude with the loaves and the fishes. A blind man was brought to him, whom he healed by applying spittle to his sightless eyes. He then, we cannot tell why, sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.”20

About fifteen miles north of Bethsaida, near the source of the Jordan, was the somewhat important town of Cæsarea Philippi. There were a few scattered villages in the sparsely-settled region between. Sauntering along on foot in one of the lonely roads of this secluded and romantic region, ascending the eastern banks of the Jordan, he withdrew for a little time from his disciples to a solitary place for prayer. Then, returning to them, he inquired,—

“Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

“And they said, Some say, John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

“But whom say ye that I am?” he added.

Simon Peter replied, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

It seems from this conversation that the people generally did not recognize Jesus as the long-expected Messiah. They supposed that he was to appear in great pomp and power, drive the Roman invaders out of Palestine, and restore the kingdom again to Israel. But, when Peter announced so emphatically his conviction that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, Jesus replied,—

“Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonas; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Upon this remarkable declaration has been reared the stupendous fabric of the Papal Church, with the assumption that Peter was here appointed the vicegerent of Christ, with power to forgive sin, and condemn to eternal death; and this supremacy was to be extended to his successors. For the following reasons, Protestants reject this interpretation:—

1. “Upon this rock” means, Upon this declaration that Jesus is the Christ; in accordance with the reiterated assertion, that “other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 2. Whatever may be meant by the expression, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” cannot be intended to confer any special supremacy upon Peter, since the same authority was immediately (Matt. xviii. 18) extended to all the apostles.

It is very evident that Jesus did not regard Peter as infallible; since he soon administered to him the terrible rebuke, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” It is equally plain that the other apostles did not so regard him; since it is recorded (Gal. ii. 11) that Paul withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed. To bind and to loose, in Jewish phrase, was to prohibit and to permit. By this phrase, Jesus announced that his apostles were to be divinely guided in the organization of the Church. Such rites and ceremonies as they should establish were to have the force of divine authority.

It was but gradually that Jesus revealed the great mystery of his kingdom to his disciples. He now, for the first time, began to unfold to them the truth,—that he was to go to Jerusalem, there to suffer and to be killed, and to rise again from the dead on the third day. The impetuous Peter, perhaps unduly elated by the commendation he had just received, with the grossest impropriety took it upon himself to rebuke his Lord and Master, whom he had just confessed to be the Messiah. Jesus turned upon him, and, with terrible severity, said,—

“Get thee behind me, Satan! thou art an offence unto me; for thou savorest not [dost not understand] the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”

Peter needed this rebuke; and it certainly must have satisfied him that he could set up no claim to infallibility. Jesus, continuing his address to his apostles, said, in words which will ever vibrate throughout the whole Christian world,—

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s shall find it. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here which shall not taste of death till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.”21

This conversation took place far away amidst the wild and mountainous solitudes of the north, in the vicinity of Cæsarea Philippi. Just north of them swept the magnificent mountain-range of Great Hermon. Rugged peaks were rising from the plain all around. Jesus, who ever loved the stillness of the night and the solitude of the mountain, took with him three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, and ascended one of these eminences “to pray.”

“And, as he prayed, he was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him; and they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

“But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep; and, when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles,—one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias,—not knowing what he said. While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And there came a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him.

“And, when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid; and, when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only.”

Thus there were three witnesses to the divine attestation that Jesus was the Messiah. Still, when they were descending the mountain, Jesus requested them to “tell the vision to no man until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.”

It was difficult for the disciples to accept the doctrine of a Messiah who should be put to death: it caused an utter bewilderment of all their preconceived conceptions of a Messiah triumphant over all his foes. As they walked along, “they questioned one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.” It seems that they were thrown into a state of great perplexity, and began again to doubt whether Jesus were really the Messiah; for the next day they cautiously inquired of him how it was that “the scribes say that Elias must first come.” Jesus informed them that Elias had already come, in the person of John the Baptist; and that, as the scribes had done to him whatever they chose, “so likewise shall the Son of man suffer of them.”

As soon as Jesus appeared, descending from the mountain, a multitude rapidly gathered around him. A father, who had heard of the fame of Jesus, had brought his son to be healed who was suffering terribly from a foul spirit. He had arrived while Jesus was upon the mountain, and had applied to his disciples for aid. As soon as Jesus appeared, the father hastened to him, and, falling upon his knees before him, said,—

“Lord, have mercy on my son; for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they