Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
JESUS CHRIST
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: JEE-JUN
del.icio.us it!
|
JESUS See also:CHRIST . To write a See also:summary See also:account of the See also:life of See also:Christ, though always involving a See also:grave responsibility, was until See also:recent years a comparatively straightforward task; for it was assumed that all that was needed, or could be offered, was a See also:chronological outline based on a See also:harmony of the four canonical Gospels . But to-See also:day See also:history is not satisfied by this See also:simple See also:procedure . See also:Literary See also:criticism has analysed the documents, and has already established some important results; and many questions are still in debate, the answers to which must affect our See also:judgment of the See also:historical value of the existing narratives . It seems therefore consonant alike with prudence and reverence to refrain from attempting to combine afresh into a single picture the materials derivable from the various documents, and to endeavour instead to describe the See also:main contents of the See also:sources from which our knowledge of the See also:Lord Jesus Christ as an historical personage is ultimately See also:drawn, and to observe the picture of Him which each writer in turn has offered to us . The See also:chief elements of the See also:evidence with which we shall See also:deal are the following: 1 . First, because earliest in point of See also:time, the references to the Lord Jesus Christ in the earliest Epistles of St See also:Paul . 2 . The See also:Gospel according to St See also:Mark . 3 . A document, no longer extant, which was partially incorporated into the Gospels of St See also:Matthew and St See also:Luke . 4 .
Further See also:information added by St Matthew's Gospel
.
5
.
Further information added by St Luke's Gospel
.
6
.
The Gospel according to St See also:
St Paul is not an historian; he is not attempting to describe what Jesus Christ said or did
.
He is See also:writing a See also:letter to encourage a little Christian society which he, a See also:Jew, had founded in a distant See also:Greek See also:city; and he reminds his readers of many things which he had told them when he was with them
.
The evidence. to be collected from his epistles generally must not detain us here, but we may glance for a moment at this one letter, because it contains what appears to be the first mention of Jesus Christ in the literature of the See also:world
.
Those who would get a true history cannot afford to neglect their earliest documents
.
Now the opening See also:sentence of this letter is as follows: " Paul and See also:Silvanus and See also:Timothy to the See also: The writers speak of themselves as " apostles," or messengers, of Christ; they refer to similar See also:societies " in Christ Jesus," which they call " churches of God," in See also:Judaea, and they say that these also suffer from the Jews there, who had " killed the Lord Jesus " some time before . But they further speak of Jesus as " raised from the dead," and they refer to the belief which they had led the society to entertain, that He would come again " from See also:heaven to deliver them from the coming wrath." Moreover, they urge them not to grieve for certain members of the society who have al-ready died, saying that, " if we believe that Jesus died and See also:rose again," we may also be assured that " the dead in Christ will rise " and will live for ever with Him . Thus the letter assumes that its readers already have considerable knowledge as to " the Lord Jesus Christ," and as to His relation to " God the Father," a knowledge derived from teaching given in See also:person on a former visit . The purpose of the letter is not to give in-formation as to the past, but to stimulate its readers to perseverance by giving fresh teaching as to the future . Historically it is of great value as showing how widely within twenty or twenty-five years of the Crucifixion a See also:religion which proclaimed See also:developed theological teaching as to " the Lord Jesus Christ " had spread in the See also:Roman See also:Empire . We may draw a further conclusion from this and other letters of St Paul before we go on . St Paul's missionary See also:work must have created a demand . Those who had heard him and read his letters would want to know more than he had told them of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus . They would wish to be able to picture Him to their minds; and especially to understand what could have led to His being put to See also:death by the See also:Romans at the requisition of the Jews . St Paul had not been one of his See also:personal disciples in See also:Galilee or See also:Jerusalem; he had no memories to relate of His miracles and teaching . Some written account of these was an obvious need . And we may be sure that any such narrative concerning One who was so deeply reverenced would be most carefully scrutinized at a time when many were still living whose memories went back to the period of Our Lord's public See also:ministry . One such narrative we now proceed to describe . 2 . St Mark's Gospel.—The Gospel according to St Mark was written within fifteen years of the first letter of St Paul to the Thessalonians—i.e. about 65 . It seems designed to meet the requirements of Christians living far away from Palestine . The author was not an See also:eye-See also:witness of what he relates, but he writes with the See also:firm See also:security of a See also:man who has the best authority behind him . The characteristics of his work confirm the See also:early belief that St Mark wrote this Gospel for the Christians of See also:Rome under the guidance of St See also:Peter . It is of the first importance that we should endeavour to see this See also:book as a whole; to gain the See also:total impression which it makes on the mind; to look at the picture of Jesus Christ which it offers . That picture must inevitably be an incomplete See also:representation of Him; it will need to be supplemented by other pictures which other writers have drawn . But it is important to consider it by itself, as showing us what impress the See also:Master had made on the memory of one See also:disciple who had been almost constantly by His side . The book opens thus: " The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." This " beginning " is shown to be itself rooted Beginning in the past . Hebrew prophets had foretold that of Christ's God would send a " messenger "; that a See also:voice See also:Mission. would be heard saying, " Prepare the way of the Lord." And so, in fact, John came, baptizing in the See also:wilderness and turning the See also:heart of the nation back to God . But John was only a forerunner . He was himself a See also:prophet, and his prophecy was this, " He that is stronger than I am is coming after me." Then, we read, " Jesus came." St Mark introduces Him quite abruptly, just as he had introduced John; for he is writing for those who already know the outlines of the See also:story . " Jesus came from See also:Nazareth of Galilee." He was baptized by John, and as He came out of the See also:water He had a See also:vision of the opened heavens and the See also:Holy Spirit, like a See also:dove, descending upon Him; and He heard a Voice saying, " See also:Thou See also:art My Son, the Beloved: in Thee I am well pleased." He then passed away into the wilderness, where He was tempted by Satan and fed by angels . Then He begins His work; and from the very first we feel that He fulfils John's sign: He is strong . His first words are words of strength; " the time is fulfilled "—that is to say, all the past has been leading up to this great moment; " the See also:kingdom of God is at See also:hand "—that is to say, all your best hopes are on the point of being fulfilled; " repent, and believe the Gospel "—that is to say, turn from your sins and accept the tidings which I bring you . It is but a brief summary of what He must have said; but we feel its strength . He does not hesitate to fix all eyes upon Himself . Then we see Him call two See also:brothers who are fishermen . " Come after Me," He says, " and I will make you fishers of men." They dropped their nets and went after Him, and so did two other brothers, their partners; for they all See also:felt the See also:power of this Master of men: He was strong . He began to See also:teach in the See also:synagogue; they were astonished at His teaching, for he spoke with authority . He was interrupted by a demoniac, but He quelled the evil spirit by a word; He was stronger than the power of evil . When the See also:sun set the See also:Sabbath was at an end, and the See also:people could carry out their sick into the See also:street where He was; and He came forth and healed them all . The demoniacs showed a See also:strange See also:faculty of recognition, and cried that He was " the holy one of God," and " the Christ," but He silenced them at once . The next See also:morning He was gone . He had sought a quiet spot for See also:prayer . Peter, one of those fishermen whom He had called, whose wife's See also:mother had been healed the day before, found Him and tried to bring Him back . " All men are seeking Thee," he pleaded . " Let us go elsewhere " was the quiet reply of one who could not be moved by popular See also:enthusiasm . Once again, we observe, He fulfils John's sign: He is strong . This is our first sight of Jesus Christ . The next shows us that this great strength is See also:united to a most See also:tender sympathy . To See also:touch a leper was forbidden, and the offence involved ceremonial defilement . Yet when a leper declared that Jesus could heal him, if only He would, " He put forth His hand and touched him." The See also:act perfected the leper's faith, and he was healed immediately . But he disobeyed the command to be silent about the See also:matter, and the result was that Jesus could not openly enter into the See also:town, but remained outside in the See also:country . It is the first See also:shadow that falls across His path; His power finds a check in human wilfulness . Presently He is in See also:Capernaum again . He heals a paralysed man, but not until He has come into touch, as we say, with him also, by reaching his deepest need and declaring the forgiveness of his sins . This See also:declaration disturbs the rabbis, who regard it as a blasphemous usurpation of Divine authority . But He claims that " the Son of Man hath authority on See also:earth toforgive sins." The title which He thus adopts must be considered later . We may See also:note, as we pass on, that He has again, in the exercise of His power and His sympathy, come into conflict with the established religious tradition . This See also:free- Attitude dom from the trammels of See also:convention appears yet towards again when he claims as a new disciple a publican, a Religious man whose calling as a tax-gatherer for the Roman Tradition. See also:government made him odious to every patriotic Jew . Publicans were classed with open sinners; and when Jesus went to this man's See also:house and met a See also:company of his See also:fellows the rabbis were scandalized: " Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners ? " The See also:gentle See also:answer of Jesus showed His sympathy even with those who opposed Him: " The See also:doctor," He said, " must go to the sick." And again, when they challenged His disciples for not observing the See also:regular fasts, He gently reminded them that they themselves relaxed the discipline of See also:fasting for a See also:bride-See also:groom's See also:friends . And He added, in picturesque and pregnant sayings, that an old garment could not See also:bear a new patch, and that old See also:wine-skins could not take new wine . Such See also:language was at once gentle and strong; without condemning the old, it claimed See also:liberty for the new . To what lengths would this liberty go ? The sacred badge of the Jews' religion, which marked them off from other men all the world over, was their observance of the Sabbath . It was a See also:national-See also:emblem, the test of religion and patriotism . The rabbis had fenced the Sabbath See also:round with See also:minute commands, lest any Jews should even seem to work on the Sabbath day . Thus, plucking and rubbing the ears of See also:corn was counted a form of See also:reaping and threshing . The hungry disciples had so transgressed as they walked through the See also:fields of ripe corn . Jesus defended them by the example of See also:David, who had eaten the shewbread, which only priests might eat, and had given it to his hungry men . See also:Necessity absolves from See also:ritual restrictions . And he went farther, and proclaimed a principle: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, so that the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath." For a second time, in justifying His position, He used the expression " the Son of Man." The words might See also:sound to Jewish ears merely as a synonym for " man." For Himself, and possibly for some others, they involved a reference, as appears later, to the " one like to a son of man " in See also:Daniel's prophecy of the coming kingdom . They emphasized His relation to humanity as a whole, in contrast to such narrower titles as " Son of See also:Abraham " or " Son of David." They were fitted to See also:express a wider mission than that of a merely Jewish Messiah: He stood and spoke for mankind . The controversy was renewed when a man with a withered hand appeared in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and the rabbis watched to see whether Jesus would heal him . For the first time, we read that Jesus was angry . They were wilfully See also:blind, and they would rather not see See also:good done than see it done in a way that contradicted their teachings and undermined their influence . After a See also:sharp remonstrance, He healed the man by a See also:mere word .
And they went out to make a compact with the followers of the worldly See also:Herod to kill Him, and so to stave off a religious revolution which might easily have been followed by See also:political trouble
.
Up to this point what have we seen
?
On the See also:stage of Palestine, an outlying See also:district of the Roman Empire, the See also:home of the Jewish nation, now subject but still fired with the Recapituhope of freedom and even of universal domination catim
under the leadership of a divinely anointed King, a new figure has appeared
.
His See also:appearance has been announced by a reforming prophet, who has summoned the nation to return to its God, and promised that a stronger than himself is to follow
.
In fulfilment of this promise, who is it that has come
?
Not a rough prophet in the See also:desert like John, not a See also:leader striking for political freedom, not a pretender aiming at the See also:petty See also:throne of the Herods, not even a great See also:rabbi, See also:building on the patriotic foundation of the See also:Pharisees who had secured the national life by a new devotion to the ancient See also:law
.
None of these, but, on the contrary, an unknown figure from the remote hills of Galilee, See also:standing on the populous shores of its See also:lake, proclaiming as
a See also:message from God that the highest hopes were about to be fulfilled, fastening See also:attention on Himself by speaking with authority and attaching a few followers to His person, exhibiting wonderful See also:powers of healing as a sign that He has come to fulfil all needs, manifesting at the same time an unparalleled sympathy, and setting quietly aside every religious convention which limited the outflow of this sympathy; and as the result of all this arousing the enthusiasm of astonished multitudes and evoking the opposition and even the murderous resentment of the religious guides of the nation
.
Of His teaching we have heard nothing, except in the occasional sentences by which He justified some of His unexpected actions
.
No party is formed, no See also:programme is announced, no See also:doctrine is formulated; without assuming the title of Messiah, He offers Himself as the centre of expectation, and seems to invite an unlimited confidence in His person
.
This, then, in brief summary, is what we have seen: the natural development of an historical situation, a See also: The wonder of it all is not in the writing, but in the subject itself . We feel that we have here no skilful See also:composition, but a See also:bare transcript of what occurred . And we feel be-sides that such a narrative as this is the worthy commencement of an answer to the question with which its readers would have come to it: What was the beginning of the Gospel ? How did the Lord Jesus speak and act? and why did He arouse such See also:malignant enmity amongst His own people ? We have followed St Mark's narrative up to the point at which it became clear that conciliatory See also:argument could have no effect upon the Jewish religious leaders . The controversy about the Sabbath had brought their dissatisfaction to a climax . Henceforth Jesus was to them a revolutionary, who must, by any means, be suppressed . After this decisive See also:breach a new period opens . Jesus leaves Capernaum, never again, it would seem, to appear in its synagogue . Henceforward He was to be found, with His disciples, on the See also:shore of the lake, where vast multitudes gathered round Him, drawn not only from Galilee and Judaea, but also from the farther districts See also:north and See also:east of these . He would take See also:refuge from the crowds in a See also:boat, which carried Him from shore to shore; and His healing activity was now at its height . Yet in the midst of this popular enthusiasm He knew that the time had come to prepare for a very different future, and accordingly a fresh departure was made when He selected twelve of His disciples for a more intimate See also:companion-See also:ship,- with a view to a See also:special mission: " He appointed twelve that they might be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach and to have power to See also:cast out the devils." The excitement and pressure of the crowds was at this time almost overwhelming, and the relatives of Jesus endeavoured to restrain Him; " for they said, He is mad." The See also:scribes from Jerusalem offered a more sinister explanation, saying that He was possessed by the See also:prince of the devils, and that this was why He was able to See also:control all the evil See also:spirits . He answered them first in figurative language, speaking of the certain downfall of a kingdom or a See also:family divided against itself, and of the strong man's house which could not be looted unless the strong man were first See also:bound . Then followed the tremendous warning, that to assign His work to Satan, and so to call good evil, was to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit—the one See also:sin which admitted of no forgiveness . Presently, when He was told that His mother and brethren were calling for Him, He disclaimed their interference by pointing to a new circle of family relationship, consisting of all those who " do the will of God." Again we find Him teaching by the lake, and the pressure of the multitude is still so great that He sits in a boat while they See also:line the shore . For the first time we are allowed to hear how He taught them . He gives them a See also:parable from nature—the sower's three kinds of failure, compensated by the See also:rich produce of the good See also:soil . At the close He utters the preg- Christ's nant saying: " He that hath ears to hear let him Teaching. hear." When His disciples afterwards asked for an explanation, He prefaced it by saying that the inner circle only were intended to understand . The disciples might learn that the message would often prove fruitless, but that nevertheless an abundant See also:harvest would result . For the See also:light was intended to shine, and the hidden was meant to be revealed . Another parable compared the kingdom of God to See also:seed which, when once planted, must inevitably germinate; the See also:process was See also:secret and slow, but the harvest was certain . Again, it was like the tiny See also:mustard-seed which See also:grew out of all proportion to its See also:original See also:size, till the birds could shelter in its great branches . These enigmatic speeches were all that the multitudes got, but the disciples in private were taught their See also:lesson of See also:hope . As we See also:review this teaching it is very remarkable . The world of See also:common things is seen to be a lesson-book of the kingdom of God to those who have eyes to read it . What that kingdom is to be we are not told; we are only taught that its coming is secret, slow and certain . If nature in its See also:ordinary processes was thus seen to be full of significance, the disciples were also to learn that it was under His control . As the boat from which He had been teaching passed to the other side, the tired Teacher slept . A sudden See also:storm terrified the disciples, and they roused Him in alarm . He stilled the storm with a word and rebuked their want of faith . " Who then is this," they whispered with See also:awe, " that even the See also:wind and the See also:sea obey Him ? " On the opposite hills a solitary spectator had watched the rise and the See also:lull of the See also:tempest, a fierce demoniac who dwelt among the tombs on the See also:mountain-side . He believed himself to be possessed by a See also:regiment of demons . When Jesus bade them go forth, he begged that they might be allowed to enter into a See also:herd of See also:swine which was hard by . His See also:request was granted, and the swine rushed over a steep place into the lake . It is See also:worth while to note that while most of the See also:cures which Jesus had performed appear to have belonged to this class, this particular See also:case is described as an exceptionally severe one, and the visible effect of the removal of his tormentors may have greatly helped to restore the man's shattered See also:personality . We must not See also:attempt to trace in detail the whole of St Mark's story . We have followed it See also:long enough to see its directness and simplicity, to observe the naturalness with which one incident succeeds another, and to See also:watch the See also:gradual manifestation of a personality at once strong and sympathetic, wielding extra-ordinary powers, which are placed wholly at the service of others, and refusing to be hindered from helping men by the ordinary restrictions of social or religious See also:custom . And we have seen as the consequence of all this the development of an historical situation in which the leaders of current orthodoxy ally them-selves with the indifferentism which accepts existing political conditions in order to put down a disturber of the peace . We must now be content with a broader survey of the course of events . Two notable cures were wrought on the western side of the lake—the healing of the woman with the issue and the raising of Jairus's daughter . In each of these cures prominence Healing is given to the requirement and the See also:reward of faith— powers. that is to say, of personal confidence in the Healer: " Thy faith hath made thee whole." " Fear not, only believe." After this Jesus passed away from the enthusiastic crowds by the lake to visit His own Nazareth, and to find there a strange incredulity in regard to one whom the villagers knew as the See also:carpenter . Once more we come across a mysterious See also:limitation of His powers: " He could not do there any See also:miracle," See also:save the cure of a few sick folk; and He marvelled because of their want of faith . The moment had now come when the twelve disciples were to be entrusted with a See also:share of His healing power and with the See also:proclamation of repentance . While they are journeying two and two in various directions St Mark takes occasion to tell us the current conjectures as to who Jesus really was . Some thought him See also:Elijah or one of the ancient prophets returned to earth—a See also:suggestion based on popular tradition; others said He was John the Baptist risen from the dead—the superstition of Herod who had put him to death . When the disciples returned, Jesus took them apart for See also:rest; but the crowds re-assembled when they found Him again near the lake, and His yearning compassion for these shepherdless See also:sheep led Him to give them an impressive sign that He had indeed come to See also:supply all human needs . Hitherto His power had gone forth to individuals, but now He fed five thousand men from the scanty stock of five loaves and two fishes . That See also:night He came to His disciples walking upon the See also:waters, and in the period which immediately followed there was once more a great manifestation of healing power . We have heard nothing for some time of any opposition; but now a fresh conflict arose with certain scribes who had come down opposteton from Jerusalem, and who complained that the dis- oI the ciples neglected the ceremonial washing of their scribes. hands before meals . Jesus replied with a stern rebuke, addressing the questioners as hypocrites, and exposing the falsity of a See also:system which allowed the breach of fundamental commandments in order that traditional regulations might be observed . He then turned from them to the multitude, and uttered a saying which in effect annulled the Jewish distinction between clean and unclean meats . This was a direct attack on the whole Pharisaic position . The controversy was plainly irreconcilable, and Jesus withdrew to the north, actually passing outside the limits of the Holy See also:Land . He desired to remain unknown, and not to extend His mission to the heathen See also:population, but the extraordinary faith and the modest importunity of a Syrophenician woman induced Him to heal her daughter . Then He returned by a circuitous route to the Sea of Galilee . His return was marked by another miraculous feeding of the multitude, and also by two healing miracles which See also:present unusual features . In both the patient was withdrawn from the multitude and the cure was wrought with the See also:accompaniment of symbolic actions . Moreover, in one case Jesus is described as groaning before He spoke; in the other the cure was at first in-See also:complete; and both of the men were strictly charged to observe silence afterwards . It cannot be a mere coincidence that these are the last cures which St Mark records as performed in Galilee . In fact the Galilean ministry is now closed . Jesus retires northwards to Caesarea See also:Philippi, and appears henceforth to Messianic devote Himself entirely to the instruction of his dis-Teaching. ciples, who needed to be prepared for the fatal issue which could not long be delayed . He begins by asking them the popular See also:opinion as to His Person . The suggestions are still the same—John the Baptist, or Elijah, or some other of the prophets . But when He asked their own belief, Peter replied, " Thou art the Christ." He warned them not to make this known; and He proceeded to give them the wholly new teaching that the Son of Man must suffer and be killed, adding that after three days He must rise again . Peter took Him aside and urged Him not to speak so . But He turned to the other disciples and openly rebuked Peter . And then, addressing a yet wider circle, He demanded of those who should follow Him a self-See also:sacrifice like His own . He even used the See also:metaphor of the See also:cross which was carried by the sufferer to the place of See also:execution . Life, he declared, could only be saved by voluntary death . He went on to demand an unswerving See also:loyalty to Himself and His teaching in the See also: |