The History of Christianity - John S. C. Abbott (bookstand for reading .txt) 📗
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Jesus replied in words which the Jews understood to be reaffirming his statement, “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not; but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.”
This renewed assertion of his equality with God induced the Jews again to take up stones to stone him; “but he escaped out of their hands.” Leaving Jerusalem, he crossed the River Jordan, and entered that wilderness region which had been rendered memorable by the preaching and the baptism of John. There, at a distance of about a hundred miles from his implacable foes, beneath the shadows of Mount Gilead, he resumed preaching the gospel to the multitudes of the common people who resorted to hear him. It is written that “many believed on him there.”
A few miles east from Jerusalem there was the little village of Bethany, where a man by the name of Lazarus resided with his two sisters, Martha and Mary. They were the warm friends of Jesus, and their dwelling had been one of his favorite resorts. Lazarus was taken sick. His sisters immediately sent word to Jesus, who, in the wilderness, was one or two days’ journey from Bethany. Jesus, instead of hurrying to his afflicted friends, said calmly to the messenger, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” Two days passed by; and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go into Judæa again.” They endeavored to dissuade him, saying, “Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?” He, however, informed his disciples that Lazarus was dead, and intimated to them that he must go to raise him from the grave.
Accompanied by his disciples, he reached Bethany. Martha hastened to meet him before he entered the town, and gently reproached him, yet in terms expressive of her unbounded confidence. “Lord, if thou hadst been here,” she said, “my brother had not died; but I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.”
“Thy brother,” said Jesus, “shall rise again.”
“I know,” Martha rejoined, “that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus replied, “I am the resurrection and the life.29 He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
“Yea, Lord,” Martha replied: “I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”
Mary soon joined her sister, and, falling at the feet of Jesus, exclaimed, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him?”
Together they went to the tomb, where the body was already mouldering to corruption. When they reached the tomb, Jesus wept. He directed the stone which was the door of the tomb to be moved. Then, lifting his eyes to heaven, he said,—
“Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.”
Then in a loud voice, addressing the dead, he exclaimed, “Lazarus, come forth!” Immediately Lazarus, embarrassed by the wrappings of the grave-clothes, rose, and came out from the tomb, and returned to his home with his friends.
This miracle led many of the Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah. But it only exasperated the Pharisees, and they met together to devise some plan by which they could secure his destruction. We are informed, that, consequently, “Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews, but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim.”
This was probably a small town several miles north-east from Jerusalem. We know not how long Jesus remained here with his disciples, and we have no record either of his sayings or doings while in this place. The inspired penman informs us, “When the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.”30
LAST LABORS, AND FAREWELL TO HIS DISCIPLES.
Journey to Jerusalem.—Mission of the Seventy.—Jesus teaches his Disciples to pray.—Lament over Jerusalem.—Return to Galilee.—The Second Coming of Christ.—Dangers of the Rich.—Promise to his Disciples.—Foretells his Death.—Zacchæus.—Mary anoints Jesus.—Enters Jerusalem.—Drives the Traffickers from the Temple.—The Pharisees try to entrap him.—The Destruction of Jerusalem, and the Second Coming.—Judas agrees to betray Jesus.—The Last Supper.—The Prayer of Jesus.
AS Jesus was journeying back from Ephraim to Jerusalem with his disciples, he entered a town of the Samaritans, where the inhabitants, learning that he was on his way to Jerusalem, did not give him a hospitable reception. Two of his disciples, James and John, were so indignant at their conduct, that they asked for authority to command fire from heaven to consume them. Jesus mildly rebuked them, saying, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; for the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And he passed on to another village.
As they were toiling along over the shadowless plains, an enthusiastic convert came to him, saying, “Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”31
Though he thus gently repelled this man,—who, perhaps, expected to derive some considerable worldly advantage from following him,—to another whom he met he said, “Follow me.” But this man made an excuse,—apparently a very sufficient one,—saying, “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Jesus replied, “Let the dead bury their dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”
There were doubtless circumstances in this case, with which we are not familiar, which justified this seemingly harsh reply. The meaning was quite obvious,—“Let those who are dead in sin take care of the dead;” and Jesus doubtless meant to teach by this that nothing whatever is to be allowed to divert the mind from religion. When another said, “Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house,” he replied, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
“After these things,” it is written, “the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself would come.” He gave them the same directions, and almost in the same words, which he had previously given to the twelve apostles. As these disciples returned from their short but important mission to preach the gospel, they said joyfully, “Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.” Jesus made the memorable reply,—
“I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
A lawyer, one whose profession was to study the Jewish law, feigning a desire to be instructed, and yet probably seeking to entrap him, asked, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “What is written in the law? How readest thou?”
The lawyer replied, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbor as thyself.”
Jesus responded, “Thou hast answered right. This do, and thou shalt live.”
But the lawyer was by no means satisfied by this simple announcement of duty, and in a cavilling spirit inquired, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied in the beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan.32
On his way to Jerusalem, he visited Bethany, the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. As he drew near to Jerusalem, which was to be the scene of his fearful sufferings, he was much engaged in prayer. It is recorded, “And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say,—
“Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”33
This prayer is precisely the same in spirit, and almost the same in words, with that which Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount, and was followed with very similar instructions, urging importunity in prayer. In this discourse he introduced the parables of the rich man, the wise steward, the unfaithful servant, and the barren fig-tree.
While engaged in these various works of instruction and healing, he, on his tour of mercy, again visited Galilee. Some of the Jews came to him, and urged him to leave the dominions of Herod, as Herod was seeking to kill him. Jesus replied,—
“Go ye and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.” It is supposed that Herod had cunningly sent these men, hoping thus to frighten Jesus out of his realms. The reply, which was somewhat proverbial, was simply, “Tell Herod not to be troubled. I am not violating the laws: I am engaged in works of mercy. For two or three days more I shall remain in his domains, and shall then go to Jerusalem: there my course will be ended.” Jesus added,—
“Nevertheless, I must walk to-day and to-morrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee! how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
Unremittingly Jesus continued in his walks of usefulness, preaching the gospel, healing the sick, comforting the afflicted, and silencing the cavils of his foes. The record we have of these tireless labors is very brief, and apparently without regard to chronology. It was probably at this time that he uttered the parables of the wedding and of the great supper.34
Multitudes continually thronged around him. To them he said, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” In Scripture phrase, “to hate” often signifies to love less. This was a declaration that Christ was to
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