CHAPTER III

THE CHRIST OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

PART from all explanations stands the fact

A

of Jesus Christ. A unique and majestic

figure is He who walks through the pages of the New Testament. It is not strange that all attempted explanations of Him and His work appear inadequate. Truly His name is called "Wonderful." The New Testament never falters in its bold delineation of the Savior of the world. It has an almost incredible story to tell, but tells it with such evident sincerity, confidence, and simplicity as to compel belief.

Jesus Christ, declared to be pre-existent, coeternal with the Father-Creator, is alleged to have been conceived by the Divine Spirit and born of Mary, a Jewish virgin. He is declared by the disciple who knew Him best to have been the Divine Logos, the very Word of God. He was born in peculiarly humble surroundings, of a peasant virgin, in a stable of an Oriental khan

at Bethlehem. Of His childhood little is known except the circumstances of His birth, the brief sojourn in Egypt in order to escape bloodthirsty Herod, and His subsequent residence in Nazareth with His mother and her husband, Joseph, a carpenter. One incident only is given of His youth: His visit to Jerusalem at the age of twelve with His parents, and His conversation with the scribes in the temple. The simple, unaffected accounts of His childhood and youth by the evangelists are remarkable for what they omit. If His later alleged miracles have no foundation in fact except the mythological tendencies of the Gospel writers, as some critics aver, how shall we account for the total abstinence, after the events connected with His birth, of any narrative of wonderful doings of this supernatural Boy? This absence of myth is strong evidence of the veracity of the writers.

About the age of thirty He was baptized by John Baptist at the Jordan. Very soon afterward He went into a few weeks' retirement in the lonely wilderness, where He suffered three kinds of temptation, but yielded to none. This

uninterrupted victory over strong appeals of evil was an outstanding feature of His life. He is portrayed as the Sinless Man, and all subsequent generations have approved the portrait. He Himself challenged His enemies to convict Him of sin, and the only charges they made were to His advantage: "He eateth with publicans and sinners," and "He made Himself the Son of God." True or false, the portrait is a miracle. If it is true, it is a perpetual wonder eliciting the adoration of all people; if it be false, it is equally hard to explain where the four evangelists got their model. Certainly not out of their own imaginations. Possibly one

lofty genius might have hit upon such a conception-though that is not probable; but how could four contemporaries, writing apart, have hit upon so uniform and unique a picture? There is only one reasonable explanation: they knew the Original.

This Man, after His retreat into the wilds, emerged to begin a remarkable career. He went from place to place, followed by a few disciples, teaching people of all classes concerning the

moral and spiritual Kingdom. Matthew in brief epitome gives the story of His life: "And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd." (Matt. 9:35, 36.) Helpfulness, kindness, compassion, humble condescension to the lowly attended Him as ministering angels wherever He went. He reserved His severity for the proud, selfish, self-satisfied aristocrat; His gentleness for the repentant outcast, the burdened poor, the sick and suffering, the honest seeker for truth. He wept at human graves, and on three recorded occasions raised the dead. Terrible as Jove's thunder when aroused to moral indignation, He could soothe aching hearts with words more tender than the cooing of the mourning dove, sweeter than the plaintive, far-away tones of a great organ. He was the humblest, most condescending of men, making no artificial distinctions between class

and class, or man and man, yet He made the astounding claim that He was sent from heaven as the special Spokesman of the Father, the very Son of God, one with the Father-Creator. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no one cometh unto the Father but by Me," "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father," is the unfaltering declaration of His lips and His life. Never was such humility of life so harmoniously united with such lofty personal claims, and in a manner that never jars our sense of proportion. His affirmations about His personality, together with His popularity with the common people, however, brought Him into conflict with the ruling hierarchy, and He was, through envy, hate, bribery, perjury, and the most nefarious mistrials, brought to crucifixion.

On the night before His crucifixion He instituted a unique ceremony. While eating the last meal with His disciples, He took bread and broke it and gave to each of them, saying, "Take, eat; this is My body, which was broken for you." Likewise, after supper He took a cup of wine and bade them all drink of it, say