And I give them eternal life, And they will not be lost-no, never! And no one will snatch them out of my hand. (1) I am the Good Shepherd: The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He that is a hired man and not the shepherd, Who does not own the sheep, Sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away (And the wolf makes them his prey and scatters them) Because he is a hired man and cares nothing for the sheep. (2) Not only agriculture but "business" furnishes its fair share of illustrative instances: the merchantman seeking goodly pearls, (3) bankers and interest, (*), as well as the coins in which all transactions took place "talent," "pound" (mina), "penny" or "shilling" (denary), “farthing" or "mite” (lepta).(5) Nothing seems too insignificant to merit the attention of Jesus, or too homely or too familiar to serve his purpose. He shows us the housewife mending the family clothes, or spinning flax or wool to make new garments; sweeping the house with lighted lamp to find her lost coin; or putting yeast in her meal to make bread, as well as the small, flat loaves into which she bakes it, the oven in which it is baked and the rude stone hand-mill in which she grinds her meal. He shows us the store-room or "treasury" out of which the householder brings things new and old; and the "treasure" or hoard of every family in the East, generally a sum of money buried in the dirt floor or under the pavement: (1) John 10:27, 28. (4) Luke 19:13. (*) Matt. 18:24; Luke 19:13; Mark 12:42, etc. Treasure not for yourselves treasures on earth, And where thieves dig through and steal; And where thieves do not dig through and steal. There will be your heart also. (1) Clothing, that for every day and that for special occasions, often figures in the discourses of Jesus; the cloak and tunic, (2) girdle, sandals, staff, purse, scrip(3) (or, as we say, "grip"), and for more formal occasions the robe, "long robes," "wedding garment."(*). In short, from the parables and sayings of Jesus a whole volume on Jewish archaeology might easily be compiled. Popular customs not infrequently furnish an apt simile or other illustration, especially the religious: the habits of prayer, the interior of the synagogue and its form of service. The chief events of life-birth, marriage, death— which have not only an individual but a social significance, are very prominent in the teachings. The marriagefeast, in particular, everywhere in the East one of the chief social functions, is a favorite subject, the main theme of several parables and an object of frequent allusion. The music and dancing by hired entertainers that are usual accompaniments of Oriental social occasions, are by no means forgotten. (5) Even the street games of the village urchins are levied upon for illustration. (*) On everything included in the broad term "politics," public events and policies, Jesus is significantly silent. Things military, war and weapons, so prominent in ancient times and especially under Roman rule, he mentions spar(1) Matt. 6:19-21. (2) Matt. 5:40. (*) Matt. 10:10. (*) Luke 15:22; Matt. 22:11. (5) Luke 15:25. (*) Matt. 11:16-19; Luke 7:31-34. ingly, and more because they are things generally familiar to his hearers than because they filled any large place in his own thinking. "Or what king sets out to encounter another king in battle, without first sitting down and considering whether he is able to meet with ten thousand the one advancing against him with twenty thousand. And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends envoys and asks terms of peace." (') If we did not positively know that Jesus was countrybred, we could with absolute certainty infer it from his words; for everywhere it is the processes of nature and the life of country-folk that suggest to him spiritual analogies, not the life of camp or city. (1) Luke 14:31, 32. CHAPTER II JESUS THE PROPHET AND TEACHER I OUR Gospels warrant us in concluding that his prophetic function bulked largest in the consciousness of Jesus. His mission, as he conceived it, was to make God known to men, that he might bring men back to God-made especially clear in the Fourth Gospel, but by no means obscure in the others. But to realize this purpose, to make God known effectively, Jesus must be teacher, no less than prophet. Among the greatest teachers he was, if we consider his method merely; while he was the great Teacher of the ages, if we consider also his message. In this chapter we are to consider the method chiefly, while the two chapters to follow will be concerned mainly with the message. It may not prove possible in all cases to preserve this distinction with exactitude, but as a general description it should pass muster. To his own generation, the chief pedagogic trait of Jesus seemed to be his tone of authority. Frequent in the Gospels are passages like this: "The multitudes were astonished at his teaching, for he taught as one having authority, and not as their scribes."(1) How did their scribes teach? Just as a modern preacher teaches: they took a text from the Law and then expounded and enforced it. They sheltered themselves behind the authority of Moses and the Prophets: they claimed no authority of their own. (1) Matt. 7:28, 29; 13:54; 22:33; Mark 11:18; Luke 4:32; John 7:46. But Jesus differed sharply from them in that he claimed independent, essential authority: You have heard that it was said, "Eye for eye, And tooth for tooth." But I say to you, Resist not the evil man. You have heard that it was said, But I say to you, Love your enemies, And pray for those that persecute you. (1) Many of the words of Jesus are redeemed from insufferable conceit, from wicked arrogance and pretension, only if we concede to him what he claimed, unique authority as Teacher. The Pharisees continually revolted against this claim; his own disciples often protested and grumbled among themselves; (2) but he went on calmly announcing his great truths, mostly to dull ears and unbelieving hearts. He never bated one jot of his claims; in no case did he soften his teachings to make them more palatable. To the end, his tone was that of one born to command speaking to those born to obey. Not that he was imperious, overbearing, haughty-every reader of the Gospels knows that he was the reverse of this, but every reader also knows that he was authoritative. Why do not teachings of such character jar our sensibilities? Why did they not expose Jesus when he spoke to the scoffs and jeers of the multitude? The record shows that men might reject his teaching, they might hate him with deadly hatred, they might conspire to put him to death; the one thing they might not do was to laugh at (1) Matt. 5:38, 39, 43, 44. (2) e.g. John 6:60, 66. |