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IX LIBRI.

WILLIAM DD MURRAY

YALE
DIVINITY SCHOOL
LIBRARY

Gift of
The Reverend Burton WkcLean

THE LIFE OF CHRIST
ACCORDING TO ST MARK

THE LIFE OF CHRIST
ACCORDING TO ST MARK

W. H. BENNETT•11
M.A., D.D., Litt.D.
PROFESSOR, HACKNEY COLL. AND NEW COLL., LONDON
SOMETIME FELLOW OF ST JOHN'S COLL., CAMBRIDGE

NEW YORK
A. C. ARMSTRONG & SON
3 & S WEST 18TH STREET
1907

CONTENTS

PAGE
PROLOGUE  xi

CHAPTER I

ANTECEDENTS TO THE MINISTRY .
i. I-13

CHAPTER II

EARLY MINISTRY — GATHERING OF DISCIPLES —
OPPOSITION TO PHARISAIC LEGALISM
i. 14 — iii. 19

CHAPTER III
ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE JESUS . '" . . . 47
iii. 20-35

vi LIFE OF CHRIST
CHAPTER IV
PAGE
TEACHING BY PARABLES 54
iv. I-34
CHAPTER V
FURTHER MINISTRY OF TEACHING AND HEALING . 67
iv- 35— vi- 6
CHAPTER VI
THE MISSION OF THE TWELVE AND ITS CONSE
QUENCES  84
vi. 7 — vii. 23
CHAPTER VII
IN GENTILE LANDS ...... 99
vii. 24-37— viii. 22 — ix. 29
CHAPTER VIII
LAST DAYS IN GALILEE . . . . 136
ix. 30-50

CONTENTS vii
CHAPTER IX
PAGE
THE MINISTRY BEYOND THE JORDAN . . . I44
x. I-31
CHAPTER X
THE JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM . . . . 15 7
x. 32-52
CHAPTER XI
MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM  169
xi. 1 — xii. 44
CHAPTER XII
THE APOCALYPTIC TEACHING OF JESUS . . . 208

CHAPTER XIII
THE INTERVAL BEFORE THE ARREST
xiv. I -41

viii LIFE OF CHRIST
CHAPTER XIV PAGE
THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION . . . .232
xiv. 42 — xv. 41
CHAPTER XV
THE BURIAL AND THE EMPTY TOMB . . . 268
xv. 42 — xvi. 8
EPILOGUE  273

ADDITIONAL NOTES
A. THE HISTORY OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
ST MARK ....... 275
B. ON THE METHOD OF THIS BOOK . . . 277

CONTENTS ix
PAGE
C. THE APPENDIX  280
xvi. 9-20

D. ON CHAPTER VIII. 1-2 1  285

E. THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION . . . 294

PROLOGUE
The object of these studies is to present
fhe impression of Christ which would be
derived from St Marks Gospel by a reader
who had no other source of information —
a reader who knew nothing of the other
Gospels, or of Christian theology. Such
an impression would be inadequate, both from
the point of view of history and from that
of Christian doctrine; nevertheless, it would
reveal some features of our Lord's character
und work more clearly than a picture which
sought to combine in one harmonious whole
the information given by the Four Gospels
and the doctrines of the Christian creeds and
confessions.

CHAPTER I
ANTECEDENTS TO THE MINISTRY
i. I-I3
Introduction, i. 1-8
" The beginning of the good news of Jesus
Christ" — therefore, as far as the knowledge
and judgment of St Mark were concerned,
nothing before the coming of John the Baptist
was an essential part of the Good News.
The Good News, as we gather from the
contents of our book, was partly about Jesus,
and partly proclaimed by Jesus ; it is unfolded
in the following chapters. Thus the subject
and the preacher are one, "Jesus Christ the
Son of God." The reader would understand
from the term "Christ" that Jesus was a
Jewish leader and teacher, who was believed
to be the Messiah or Saviour- King whom
the Jews expected. He would suppose that
the man who was called " Christ, the Son
of God," was a teacher with extraordinary

2 ANTECEDENTS TO [i. 1-13
gifts ; but he would easily learn that both
the terms " Christ " and "Son of God" were
used in many different meanings; and he
would look to the book itself to explain
exactly what they meant when they were
applied to Jesus of Nazareth.
The Good News about Jesus, the Jewish
Messiah, naturally begins with a quotation
from the Jewish Scriptures. The title and
the quotation show that the work and teach
ing of Jesus spring out of the religion of
Israel. The quotation speaks of a messenger
or herald who was to appear in the desert
and prepare the way of his Lord by going
before Him, and with loud shouts pro
claiming His approach. This, then, was to
be a token of the Messiah ; He would be
preceded by a prophet who would announce
His speedy coming. St Mark goes on to
tell us that this token had been given in the
case of Jesus. There had appeared in the
wilderness a certain John the Baptiser, who
preached repentance and promised forgive
ness, and made his disciples undergo a
baptism or ceremonial washing — as a sign,

i. 1-13] THE MINISTRY 3
no doubt, that their sins were washed away.
This John had been an ascetic, wearing
coarse clothing and eating simple food, and
he had brought about a great religious re
vival ; crowds had flocked to him in the
wilderness, " the whole district of Judaea and
all the men of Jerusalem," and had accepted
his baptism. At the very zenith of his fame
and influence, John proclaimed the coming
of One greater than himself, One so great
that John was not fit to untie His shoe
strings. John had baptised with water : the
One who was yet to come would baptise with
the Holy Spirit. John could only wash the
body as a symbol of spiritual cleansing : the
Coming One could wash the very souls of
men with the Spirit of God.
The token, therefore, had been given ; there
had come a great prophet who had declared
that he was the forerunner of some one far
greater than himself; this Greater One,
therefore, according to the Old Testament
prediction, was the Lord, the Messiah. It is
clear from the context that the " Greater
One" is Jesus.

4 ANTECEDENTS TO [i. 1-13
The circumstance was remarkable, apart
from any question as to the authority of the
Jewish Scriptures. There have been many
prophets ; some of them in their declining
years have nominated successors — Moses
committed his office to Joshua ; the mantle
of Elijah was assumed by Elisha — but where
else do we read of a great preacher who had
drawn a whole people after him declaring in
the full tide of his success that he was the
mere herald of One greater than himself?
The reader would expect much from the
Teacher to whom such testimony had been
borne.

The Baptism, i. 9-11
While the crowds kept on gathering round
John to hear him and to receive his baptism,
Jesus came amongst the rest from Nazareth of
Galilee. Simply "Jesus . . . from Nazareth,"
no other description, nothing about His family.
Have we not read that He was " Son of
God " ? He could derive no additional dignity
from the most splendid ancestry. Nothing

i. 1-13] THE MINISTRY 5
about His age or His personal appearance,
or His social position, or His occupation.
On the last point we shall learn something
incidentally further on. The silence as to
age suggests that He was in middle life, so
that men were not struck by His age, and
did not think of Him as either old or young.
He came from Nazareth of Galilee, a busy
provincial town in a district where many
peoples met — Jews, Phoenicians, Syrians,
Arabs, Greeks, sometimes even Romans and
men of the far East and the far West. A
reader might reflect that in such surroundings
the smouldering embers of Jewish faith might
be kindled afresh into flame at the touch of
the free breath of a wider and more vigorous
life. This Jesus, therefore, came to John and
was baptised ; John invited men to repent
and offered them forgiveness, and Jesus
accepted the invitation. Yet the reader
who remembered that He was Christ, the
Son of God, the Coming One who was
greater than John, would not think of Him
as driven from Galilee to the Jordan by the
pangs of a guilty conscience. Now and then,

6 ANTECEDENTS TO [L 1-13
but rarely, very rarely, there arises a prophet
so pure, and perfect that he does not need
to guard his virtue by separating himself
from ordinary men. Rather, he is possessed
by a sense of fellowship with that life of
humanity of which his own life is a part ; he
repents on behalf of the impenitent, and seeks
forgiveness for those who are yet hardened in
sin. So it came about that Jesus took His
seat on the " penitent form " of His days ; but
the casual spectator saw no difference between
Him and the sinners crowding to be baptised ;
it seemed to be His "conversion" as well as
theirs. And indeed the Baptism was the occasion
of a spiritual crisis, one of those personal
experiences of God which make men into
prophets. " Forthwith," says St Mark, — we
may pause for a moment over the word,
because we shall meet with it again and
again; nearly everything happens "forth
with." The brief career of Tesus was an
hour of crowded life in which one critical
event after another presented itself with
startling suddenness. The Evangelist tells

i. 1-13] THE MINISTRY 1
his story in a somewhat breathless fashion ;
the mingled awe, excitement, and fascination
of those marvellous days still stir within
him. " Forthwith, as He came up out of the
water" in which He had been baptised, "He
saw the heavens part asunder, and the Spirit
descending on Him like a dove, and a voice
came from heaven, ' Thou art My beloved
Son, in Thee I am well pleased.' " He had
made Himself one of a crowd of obscure peni
tents, feeling in His pitiful sympathy and
generous chivalry as if their sin were His ;
and in that very moment heaven opened
before His dazzled eyes, and a Spirit came
forth from the Eternal Presence, and saluted
Him as the Beloved Son. He had laid Him
self and His life at the feet of the Righteous
Judge; and Infinite Holiness had set upon
Him the seal of its approval, "In Thee I am
well pleased": He had humbled Himself
under the mighty hand of God, and had been
lifted up.

8 ANTECEDENTS TO [L 1-13
The Temptation, i. 12, 13
"And forthwith the Spirit driveth Him into
the wilderness ; and He was in the wilderness
forty days." Jesus would interpret what had
befallen Him by what He had heard of the
ancient prophets ; the Spirit of God had taken
possession of Him. But to what end ? What
were to be His mission and His message?
He must be alone to think it all out; He
must wrestle with the Spirit that had come
upon Him, as Jacob had wrestled with the
angel through the night by the Jabbok. Not
even John could help Him.
He separated Himself from the crowd, and
went out into the wilderness that He might
become better acquainted with the Spirit of
God ; and He found Satan the Tempter.
The inevitable reaction followed on the mo
ments of inspired exaltation. After all He
was a man, no mere visionary ascetic. His
brain was alive with a sense of penetrating in
sight ; His nerves were tingling with the con
sciousness of power. Life beckoned to Him
with inviting hands, and called Him with

i. 1-13] THE MINISTRY 9
seductive voices. The greatest careers lay
open before Him.
Then with a violent revulsion, a horror as
of thick darkness settled down upon His soul
at the thought that visions of earthly pleasure,
power, and fame had occupied, even for a
moment, the mind of Him who was the Be
loved Son of God, in whom God was well
pleased. For a while, perhaps throughout the forty
days, the struggle went on between spiritual
exaltation and spiritual depression, till at last
the tide of, feeling was spent ; human nature
asserted itself; the preoccupation with the
inner life vanished, and Jesus awoke to see
things in the light of common day. He found
Himself alone in the wilderness, His only com
panions the wild animals of the desert. He
seemed to Himself an ordinary man, lonely,
faint, and hungry ; the spiritual exaltation and
the spiritual depression seemed passing moods
that had no permanent meaning for His life ;
the Divine Spirit and the Tempting Devil
seemed mere phantasms of a dream.
But " the angels ministered unto Him " :

10 ANTECEDENTS TO MINISTRY [i. 1-13
help came to the weary body and the over
wrought spirit: food, rest, wise and loving
counsel. Jesus was once more master of Him
self: He knew that the experiences of the
Baptism were real, that the vision and the
voice had brought a true message of God to
His soul ; that the other earthly visions were
such as might well stir a man's ambition ; but
that He was called with a higher calling.

CHAPTER II
EARLY MINISTRY — GATHERING OF DISCIPLES —
OPPOSITION TO PHARISAIC LEGALISM
i. 14 — iii. 19
The Beginning of the Ministry
i- 14, 15
We do not read of any immediate sequel to
the Baptism and the Temptation. Jesus
waited, we do not know how long, or where,
or with whom. He did not go home ; He
could not go back and live the old life as
if nothing had happened ; neither could He
appear again amongst His brothers and sisters
and say, " I have had a revelation that I am
the Beloved Son of God." It was hopeless to
try and make them understand His experience;
as yet He Himself only partly understood it.
Perhaps He went back to John and became
for the time being his disciple.

12 EARLY MINISTRY [L 14-
Then John was " delivered up," betrayed,
and thrown into prison ; a natural answer to
the call to repentance, the " ethical demand,"
as we should say in modern times. His dis
ciples scattered, and Jesus returned to His
native province, preaching the good news of
God. He had seen in the imprisonment of John
a call to begin His ministry. The message
concerning repentance and forgiveness had
hitherto been delivered by a " voice crying in
the wilderness " ; men had to leave their
homes and make a journey to hear it. The
voice was silenced, but the new Teacher
brought the message into the towns and
villages. Men could stand at their house-
doors and listen ; they could hear it at the
Sabbath service of the synagogue. It was
still the same call " repent " ; but it had
become more than a mere call to repentance
and offer of forgiveness. Jesus proclaimed
the good news of God ; the appointed time
had come, and the Kingdom of God was at
hand. Such words in the mouth of a Jew
speaking to Jews could mean only one thing.
"The appointed time" was that spoken of

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 13
by the prophets, the time when God would
deliver Israel ; the " Kingdom of God " was
the new dispensation of righteousness and pro
sperity. The hope of Israel took many forms ;
usually the Messiah, the Saviour, Conqueror
and King was a prominent figure ; but the
preaching of Jesus, so far, said nothing about
the Messiah ; the watch-word of the good
news was the Kingdom of God, following the
teaching of those who hoped that God Himself
would intervene directly to redeem His people,
and to establish the new order. How had the
assurance come to Jesus that the Kingdom of
God was at hand ? All Jewry had been stirred
by the preaching of John ; Jesus had felt
Himself possessed and moved by the Spirit
to some great end ; and He had seen the
apparent triumph of evil in the imprisonment
of the preacher of righteousness. In some
moment of inspiration like that which followed
His baptism, the conviction seized and held
Him that these were the signs of the coming
of the Kingdom. He knew now to what
mission he had been called; He was to
preach the Kingdom of God. One article

14 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
of the preaching was faith ; men were to
believe the good news.
The Calling of the First Disciples
i. 16-20
He had come into Galilee, but He still
avoided Nazareth, and made His way to the
Sea of Galilee, and there, walking by the lake,
He saw fishermen fishing or mending their
nets. He bade them follow Him, and He
would make them fishers of men. He reveals
Himself as a born leader of men, conscious of
the right and power to command ; instinctively
He strikes the note of authority. And, as
mostly happens when that note is struck by
the born leader, the men obeyed.
Probably He had known them before in a
familiarity which had not bred contempt.
Thus from His friends we learn His social
standing. These men, Simon and Andrew,
James and John, belonged to the lower
middle-class. They were working owners of
fishing-boats; James and John had a father
living who still worked at the fishing, and

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 15
employed men to help him. It was an occupa
tion which gave full play to many qualities of
body and mind — courage, industry, intelli
gence, and so forth. These masters of fishing-
smacks had to contend with the treacherous
moods qf the inland sea in order to win their
fish ; and when they came to sell them they
had to match themselves against the wily
Greek or Syrian trader.
They were called that they might become
fishers of men. The new Leader, it seems,
had the gift of holy epigram ; He could speak
truths that went home to the hearers' hearts
in half a dozen words, such as
Men remember
Till they forget themselves.
The new disciples understood once for all
that the energy, persistence, and dexterity
which had swept fish into their nets by
hundreds were to be used to gather multi
tudes into the kingdom.
The Preaching in Capernaum, i. 21-28
Then the Man of Nazareth and His four
fishermen went into the nearest town to

16 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
inaugurate the new dispensation. The sen
tence might have been written then by a
scribe of the Pharisees in contemptuous
sarcasm ; and it is the greatest marvel in
the world's history that the words can be
used now as a simple statement of actual
fact. The town was Capernaum on the
north-west shore of the Sea of Galilee, a
busy place where there were great shoals of
human fish. The Sabbath came — perhaps it
began the very evening on which Jesus
arrived — and He went to the service at the
synagogue. There, as He knew, He would
have an opportunity of delivering His message.
Judaism did not try to limit the Spirit
by silencing all except an official class of
preachers ; but any one who had a word
of exhortation for the people was invited
to speak. Jesus, therefore, delivered His
message. We are not told what He said;
the message probably did not specially in
terest the audience. It is one of the troubles
of the true prophet that his hearers think
about the man and not about the message;
they are taken up with the delivery, the

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 17
anecdotes, and the illustrations, and care
little about the teaching. The one thing
that men remembered about this sermon
was the air of authority with which Jesus
spoke, the contrast between Him and the
scribes. If a scribe had preached about the
coming of the Kingdom, he would have
quoted the dictum of Rabbi A, who had
made a calculation based on the figures in
Daniel, and compared it with Rabbi B's
explanation of the seventy years of Jeremiah ;
the scribe would further have given the com
ments on these views which Rabbi C said he
had heard from Rabbi D in the name of
Rabbi E ; and so on through a whole alphabet
of learned authorities. Jesus said simply, as
His own certain knowledge, that the appointed
time had come, and the Kingdom was at hand.
He seemed quite sure about it, and made
His hearers feel as if He really knew, and
the audience were astonished.
Then there came an interruption ; there
was present a man with an unclean spirit.
Probably he was harmless and inoffensive
under ordinary circumstances, the common-

18 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
place routine of the synagogue service made
no impression on him. But the new authori
tative voice excited the demoniac, and brought
on a crisis of his malady. The speaker and
congregation were startled by a wild cry,
" Why dost Thou meddle with us, Jesus of
Nazareth ? Didst Thou come to destroy us ?
I know Thee ; Thou art the Holy One of
God ! " Again the impression which was
made and remembered had to do with the
man and not with the teaching. Here was
another challenge from the powers of Dark
ness; the Temptation had followed the Baptism,
then John had been imprisoned, and now
Satan confronted Jesus at the outset of His
ministry. " Let the Saint of God talk with
His fellow-saints about the Kingdom of God,
but let Him not meddle with lost souls pos
sessed by evil spirits; these belonged to the
kingdom of Satan." There would be a pause
in the address, a hush of expectation in the
audience. Then Jesus rebuked him, " Hold
thy peace, and come out of him." Torn
asunder by the contending forces the victim
writhed and shrieked in his convulsions. At

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 19
last peace came with exhaustion ; the devil
had departed, and the man was in his right
mind. Even before this, Jesus' manner of
speech in His teaching had revealed His
personality ; now for the moment, at any
rate, this victory over the demon seemed a
full confirmation of His authority. An
excited throng streamed out of the synagogue,
eagerly comparing notes about the "new
teaching" with its unaccustomed note of
" authority " ; and before the Sabbath was over
all Capernaum had heard of Jesus the prophet
and worker of miracles, and the news began to
spread to the neighbouring towns and villages.
The Healer, i. 29-34
We now learn that two of the disciples,
Simon and Andrew, had a house in Caper
naum, and that Jesus returned thither with
James and John after the scene in the
synagogue. Simon, it seems, was married,
and his mother-in-law helped his wife to
keep house. Jesus may have been a visitor
there before, and have found a sympathy
which He missed in His own home; but

20 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
on this Sabbath the mother-in-law lay rest
less with fever, distressed that she could not
entertain her friend. She heard her kinsfolk
come home from the synagogue, and perhaps
noticed some unusual excitement. Then they
came to her room, and Jesus entered, and
they followed Him. His very presence was
always a healing balm and a refreshing cordial,
but now as she looked up she saw a new
light in His eyes, and wondered at an un
wonted air of power, force, and authority.
He came to her and took her hand, and she
felt stronger, and moved as if to sit up ; He
raised her, and the fever passed away, and
she was herself again. Forthwith she went to
take her share in preparing the evening meal.
But the excitements of the day were not
yet over, for there were other demoniacs in
Capernaum besides the one who had been
healed in the synagogue ; and others besides
Peter's wife's mother were ill. Loving care
for these sufferers would be reinforced by
the universal appetite for the marvellous ; for
a while, however, both were checked by the
law of the Sabbath. But when the sun set, a

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 21
crowd gathered round Simon's house, bringing
all the sick and all the demoniacs in the town,
and the rest of the inhabitants came to look
on. Such, at any rate, was the impression
made upon Jesus and His friends when their
quiet evening was broken in upon by the cries
of the eager throng. Jesus came forth to meet
these new demands ; the sun had set, and the
brief twilight soon faded into darkness, relieved,
perhaps, by the uncertain illumination of
torches, or the cold, weird light of the moon.
Again Jesus proved Himself master of disease
and demoniac possession — " many " were
healed ; not all ; some went away dis
appointed. Perhaps they had not faith ; or
Jesus' powers failed Him as time went on ;
and some may have despaired of getting their
turn that night. " To - morrow," they may
have said to each other as they turned home
ward, " to-morrow we will come again, and
our turn will come"; or "To-morrow the
Prophet will have recruited His energy and
will be able to heal our friends."
This time Jesus gave an added proof of
His power over demons. The demoniac in

22 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
the synagogue had saluted Him as "the Holy
One of God " — a dangerous title in a country
which swarmed with fanatics looking for a
Messiah to lead them against the Romans and
their henchmen the Herods. Perhaps, too, at
this stage of His career, the reader might
suppose Jesus shrank from the suggestion that
He was the Messiah as from a blasphemy.
Now, therefore, He silenced the demoniacs
lest they should again suggest that He was
the Messiah.
The Preaching in Galilee, i. 35-39
The events just narrated involved a crisis
in the spiritual life of Jesus almost as impor
tant as the Baptism or the Temptation. He
had discovered His powers of healing, perhaps
also their limitation. What was their meaning
in relation to His mission ? The question
was not easy to answer. For, on the one
hand, the professional exorcist and wonder
worker was well known and little respected,
and a reputation for miraculous powers might
embarrass Jesus. John the Baptist wrought
no miracles; but, on the other hand, these

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 23
mighty works relieved suffering and attracted
hearers. After the Baptism He had sought
solitude in the wilderness, and now He again
needed to consider His life in undisturbed
fellowship with God. Therefore early next
day, before dawn, while His friends were still
sleeping, He left the town, and found some
lonely place, and gave Himself up to prayer.
But when his friends rose in the morning,
and before they thought of disturbing Him,
the bearers of sick folk began to beset the
house. There would be some who had come
the night before, but had missed their chance,
and others who had not heard of Jesus till it
was too late, so that they put off coming till
the morning. Perhaps it was the arrival of
a would-be patient that sent the disciples to
look for Jesus. Simon went eagerly to call
his Master to fresh marvellous works, and lo !
the Master was not there. Simon looked for
him hurriedly in the house, and then had to
meet the applicants with a blank face, and tell
them that he could not find Jesus. Then the
crowd dispersed through the town to look for
Him, but to no purpose.

24 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
At last the disciples hunted Him down in
His retreat. " Every one is looking for you,"
they cried, overjoyed at having found Him,
eager to take Him back at once to Caper
naum, that He might work more miracles, and
continue His triumphant career. But their
high spirits received a severe check ; Jesus
would not go back to Capernaum.
" Let us go elsewhere," He replied ; " to the
neighbouring villages, that I may preach there
also, for My mission is to preach."
Through His communing with God He had
learnt that His mission was not to work
miracles, but to declare the Kingdom of
God ; that He was first and foremost a
Healer of souls. There was danger lest the
beginning He had made at Capernaum should
be marred by His reputation , as a wonder
worker ; therefore, without hesitation, He
sacrificed His newly -won popularity, and
quenched the enthusiasm of His followers.
Whether the crestfallen disciples consented
to accompany Him we do not know, we hear
nothing more of them till after Jesus returned
to Capernaum ; but the Master Himself

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 25
wandered from one Galilean synagogue to
another delivering His message, confronted
again and again by demoniacs, from whom
He drove out the demons ; but there were
no other healings — with one exception.
The Leper, i. 40-45
The narrative of St Mark suggests by its
silence that at this period Jesus refused to
heal the sick ; but the importunity of one
suppliant overcame His reluctance : a leper
begged for cleansing.
" If Thou wilt, Thou canst cleanse me."
The leper had heard that Jesus had refused
to heal, but he believed that it was the will and
not the power that was lacking ; hence the
words, " If Thou wilt." The suggestion that
He was unwilling to relieve suffering touched
Jesus to the quick, and overbore for the
moment the interests of the Kingdom, and
the social and religious decorum of the times.
Jesus put out his hand and touched the leper,
and the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.
But this impulsive act of generosity seems to

26 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
have been followed by something like a revul
sion of feeling ; the cleansing of this leper
would encourage others to resort to Him, so
that He would again be hindered in His
work. Jesus tried in vain to guard against
such consequences by sending the man away
at once with strict orders to tell no one. Let
him leave Galilee, and go away to the Temple
at Jerusalem, and there fulfil the ritual observ
ance appointed for the cleansing of a leper.
But even the authority which had silenced
demons could not keep the man quiet; he
told the story everywhere, and the people
supposed that Jesus was now willing to heal
anybody and everybody. Had He not
touched a leper ? When He tried to go
into a town He found Himself hemmed in
by a crowd too eager for healing of sick
bodies to care for any ministry to sinful
souls, so that He was compelled to imitate
John and become a voice in the wilderness ;
and there the people flocked to Him as they
had done to John ; but the crowds were
thinking more of wondrous works than of
repentance and forgiveness.

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 27
The Paralytic, ii. 1-12.
After some time Jesus ventured back again
to Capernaum, and again probably made His
home in Simon's house, and the people
crowded in, and He preached to them. He
had succeeded at last in making them under
stand that they must accept Him as a
Teacher, and not chiefly as a Healer and
Wonder-worker ; He still wrought cures from
time to time, but on the whole He succeeded
in protecting His ministry from endless im
portunity. That He could do so without
losing His hold on the people is a most
convincing proof of the unique force of His
personality. The following incident illustrates
the changed conditions.
Instead of a crowd of sick folk a single
paralytic found access to Jesus only through
the persistence of his friends. In the present
state of our information we cannot understand
all the details, but the main facts are clear.
Jesus sat teaching in a large room, from which
He could be seen and heard from outside ; a
crowd had gathered outside, and the room

28 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
was full except for a space in front of the
Teacher. Four men carrying a paralytic,
in default of the ordinary means of access,
managed somehow to let down their burden
through the roof, and thus place him before
Jesus. Such persistence showed implicit
confidence, both in the power and in the
goodwill of Jesus ; and the audience won
dered what response He would make, whether
He would rebuke the intrusion, or utter some
word of power, and heal the sufferer.
"Son," He said, "thy sins be forgiven
thee." To a modern audience, and probably
to many of those then present, these words
would sound like an evasion of the demand
for a miracle. The carnal mind would think
that an offer of forgiveness to such a sufferer
was mere mockery ; but Jesus placed in the
forefront that which was most important to
Him, and also, doubtless, to the sufferer; His
inspired insight had discerned that the para
lytic craved healing for his soul as well as for
his body.
But the gathering included critical theo
logians, for Jesus' doings had attracted the

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 29
notice of the Jewish clergy ; and there were
scribes present to whom His words were
blasphemy. In professing to forgive sins,
He was usurping a prerogative of God Him
self. Jesus read their thoughts, and answered
them by word and deed ; and in this answer
He dealt with other thoughts, too, which have
not been recorded.
"Why reason ye thus in your hearts? Is
it easier to say to the paralytic, Thy sins be
forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy
rug and walk ? "
"That," said many of His hearers to
themselves, "is the very question we were
asking ourselves."
But Jesus continued, with a change of tone,
which again roused the expectations of His
hearers : —
" But that ye may know that the Son of
Man hath power on earth to forgive sins."
Then He turned to the paralytic : —
" I bid thee arise, take up thy bed, and go
home." A shock of new life throbbed through the
half-dead body of the paralytic, and he rose

30 EARLY MINISTRY [i 14-
up before them all, took up his rug, and went
out ; and they were all astonished, and glorified
God. We do not know why Jesus called Himself
the Son of Man ; the phrase sounds like a
contrast to the demoniac's " Holy One of
God." But this assumption of a distinct title
shows that Jesus had been meditating on His
position. What was He? How was He to
answer questions as to Himself and His
mission ? He chose a title which, whatever
else it might mean, marked Him off from all
other teachers, and claimed for Him a special
position of His own. Moreover, this incident
lays renewed emphasis on the fact that the
work of Jesus centred in forgiveness — atone
ment. It also marks a new development,
Jesus recognises His powers of healing as an
assurance of His divine mission, and a public
credential of His authority.
The Tax-Gatherer, ii. 13-17
During this second visit to Capernaum
there was another calling of a disciple
sufficiently remarkable to be described in

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 31
some detail, because the new disciple was
neither religious1 nor respectable, and because
* this was the very reason why Jesus called
him. Up to a certain point the circumstances
remind us of the call of the first four disciples.
Jesus was again walking by the lake ; again
He saw a man busy with his regular work,
and bade the man follow Him, and the com
mand was promptly obeyed. This disciple,
too, was of the lower middle class, a tax-
gatherer or revenue officer in charge of a
local branch of the customs. Such men are
usually obnoxious on account of their pro
fession, and in Palestine they served the un
popular Herods ; many of the class made their
office an opportunity for cruel extortion. Their
work, too, brought them into close contact
with men and things of all sorts, so that they
could not observe the laws as to ceremonial
cleanness ; and yet Jesus invited one of these
men to become His disciple, follower, and
friend. The new disciple's name is given as
Levi ben Alphaeus.
Levi did not separate himself from his own
1 In the current sense of the term.

32 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
class when he became a disciple. We hear
next of a great gathering at a meal, perhaps
in Levi's house, perhaps in that of Jesus, at
which many of His disciples were present,
and also many tax-gatherers and " sinners " ;
and Jesus actually ate with these, who were
unclean. The piety of orthodox Jews was far
more astounded than we should be if we saw
a revival preacher taking a pipe and pot of
beer at a public-house in amicable conversa
tion with the regular customers. The scribes
of the Pharisees gasped out their indignant
surprise, "He is eating with tax-gatherers
and sinners ! " Jesus heard, and replied that
He did so of set purpose : " The healthy do
not need a physician, but those who are sick :
I did not come to call the righteous, but
sinners." This is the clue to the calling of Levi ;
he was made a disciple, not in spite of, but
because of, his disreputable social, and re
ligious standing — amongst other reasons.
Jesus had associated Himself with sinners in
seeking baptism from John ; He had taken
up John's message of repentance and forgive-

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 33
ness ; and He had made forgiveness the pre
lude to His greatest work of healing. His
mission was to sinners, therefore He had
amongst His disciples a tax-gatherer, one of
the lapsed masses of His time, who could help
Him to approach them, and so gain their
confidence. For these "sinners" were not exclusively,
or even chiefly, criminal or immoral, but rather
corresponded to our lapsed masses, many of
whom live in suburban villas. They were
Jews who were not "good" Jews, in a
stronger sense than that in which many Eng
lishmen are not good " Churchmen." They
were careless alike of the ritual and of the
moral demands of the Law, and thus seemed
both to themselves and to others shut out
from any religious life. Moreover, as the
religion of Israel was an essential feature of
patriotism, they were further degraded by
being shut out from the highest ideals and
aspirations of the national life. Such twofold
exclusion implied loss of self-respect, and of
moral stimulus, so that these sinners would
share the lax morality of those who have

34 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
lapsed from the control of patriotic and re
ligious public opinion.
But Jesus, setting about the work of found
ing the Kingdom of God, appealed specially
to this class. We read that, even before He
called Levi, His growing influence was shown
by the many disciples who followed Him, and
these already included " sinners." A class con
scious of the unfavourable judgment of public
opinion, and half inclined to believe that the
condemnation was just, might be ready to listen
to a message of repentance and forgiveness.
The Bridegroom, ii. 18-20
Jesus further outraged Jewish orthodoxy by
neglecting the religious exercise of fasting,
even while it was being observed by the dis
ciples of His old master — John. His reason
for this neglect throws a flood of light upon
His thoughts at this time concerning Himself
and His work.
"Why," said He, "should His disciples fast
while the Bridegroom was with them ? "
He called His message the Good News ;
He rejoiced in His power to heal body and

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 35
soul, so that He could think of Himself as the
Bridegroom, the happy occasion of gladness
to all about Him ; His disciples were the
Bridegroom's friends, who shared His joy.
Fasting is not a usual feature of wedding cele
brations. In time, indeed, the marriage feast
would end, the Bridegroom and His friends
would separate, and life would fall back into
everyday routine, in which fasting might find
a place ; but these were the great days of
the inauguration of a new dispensation. The
promise of the Kingdom seemed near and
bright ; the spirit thereof was abroad upon the
earth, and in God's own time would take to
itself such a body, such outward form, as He
willed ; and Jesus, God's beloved Son, Son of
Man, Good Physician, Bridegroom, was to be
the great agent of its coming.
New Wine, ii. 21-28
This incident as to fasting is another illus
tration of the attitude of Jesus towards the
popular religion. He had already healed on
the Sabbath ; had touched a leper ; had pro
fessed to forgive sins ; had called a tax-gath-

36 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
erer to be a disciple ; and had eaten with
sinners. Now He neglected fasting ; in the
sequel we shall see that He persistently broke
the Sabbath.1 In His overflowing confidence
and energy He did not hesitate to affront the
popular religious leaders at every turn. This
policy is formulated in the sayings about the
new patch, and the new wine-skins, and is fur
ther illustrated by the incident of the plucking
of the ears of corn on the Sabbath. " The
old garment," said Jesus, " could not be
mended with a patch of new cloth, and the
new wine could not be put into old bottles ;
it would burst them." The traditions of the
scribes could not be the laws of the Kingdom,
and the Spirit which descended upon Jesus at
His Baptism was too mighty to be confined
within the narrow limits of Pharisaic Judaism.
Jesus made it clear with the utmost frankness
that He could not be either a follower or an
ally of the scribes. The prominent feature of
their religion was a multiplicity of ceremonial
observances ; the essentials of the faith of the
Kingdom were to do justice, and love mercy,
1 According to the views of the Pharisees.

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 37
and walk humbly with God. Jesus did not
try to combine the two ; the free spiritual life
must be substituted for the bondage of
tradition. The incident of the plucking of the ears
of corn gave Jesus an opportunity of stating
His views of the Sabbath. He and His
disciples were taking a walk through the
corn-fields on the Sabbath, and the disciples
began to pluck the ears of corn. Some
Pharisees who were present regarded this
as a breach of the Sabbath, and remonstrated
with Jesus. He replied by citing a case
from the Old Testament to show that ritual
ordinances were not absolutely binding, but
might be set aside in the interests of humanity.
According to the law, only priests might eat
the show-bread, but when David and his
companions needed food, the high priest gave
them the show-bread ; so, too, the laws of the
Sabbath need not be observed in all their
strictness when men were hungry and needed
food. " The Sabbath was made for man, and
not man for the Sabbath " ; and the Son of
Man was Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus, there-

38 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
fore, was quite prepared to set His authority
against that of the scribes as to the way in
which the Sabbath should be kept.
In this connection we must refer to a pre
vious incident. When Jesus cleansed the
leper He sent him to Jerusalem to fulfil the
legal ritual. But we must remember that the
Jerusalem priests belonged for the most part
to the Sadducees, the conservative party of
aristocratic ecclesiastical officials, who were
opposed to the Pharisees. The position of
Jesus resembled that of many great religious
leaders. He found revealed religion cor
rupted ; the Pharisees, the most active and
fervent religious party, held a corrupt form
of the true faith with intolerable fanaticism,
and claimed that the corruption was the only
true form of the religion of Israel, or, to use
a modern term, the only true orthodoxy.
Jesus repudiated much of the popular Phari
saism, yet His teaching really represented the
ancient faith of Israel. The true successor
of the Old Testament was not the system
of the Pharisees which elaborated the literal
phrasing of its formulae and ordinances, but

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 39
the message of Jesus which made the Old
Testament a stepping-stone to larger truths
and a higher life. Like many other teachers
in a similar position, Jesus desired to remain
within the ancient religious organisation, and
to obtain the recognition of its official heads.
We may use one or two modern illustrations,
on the understanding that the application is
to be strictly limited to the one point, the
desire of a religious leader to be loyal to
the officials and organisations of his Church,
although he is at variance with the form of
it which is popularly regarded as orthodox.
From one point of view the position of Jesus
might be compared to that of John Wesley,
and from another to that of an opponent of
popular ritualism appealing to the Anglican
bishops. The Man with the Withered Hand
iii. 1-6
The sayings of Jesus as to the plucking of
the ears of corn show that He was not merely
a mystic or a popular orator, but a careful
thinker and skilful in dialectic. He acted on

40 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
rational principles, and could justify Himself
to inquirers, critics, or opponents. They also
bring out another fact which is still more
forcibly illustrated by the present incident :
although Jesus was attacking the tenets of
the Pharisees, He thought He might convert
them to His views, and subdue them to His
authority. It was already clear that Jesus was an
enemy of the Law as it was interpreted by
tradition ; but, in order that they might take
action against Him with the assurance of
success, the Pharisees needed convincing evi
dence of some notable breach of the Law on
His part. Accordingly, they chose a Sabbath
when Jesus would be in the synagogue, and
arranged that there should be present a man
with a withered hand ; they themselves also
attended to see what Jesus would do. It was
a public challenge, which shows how com
pletely Jesus was understood to have com
mitted Himself to lax views on the Sabbath.
There was no urgency about a withered hand
that seemed to call for a relaxation of law.
Probably, under ordinary circumstances, Jesus

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 41
would not have chosen the day of rest for
healing this man. But now the sufferer might
cherish hopes of immediate relief, and Jesus
would not disappoint him. Moreover, if He
had declined the challenge, He would have
seemed to endorse the authority of the Phari
saic tradition, and He was more concerned to
break the bondage of ritual than to draw fine
distinctions as to what might or might not be
done on the Sabbath. Accordingly, He bade
the man stand forth, and turned to the scribes,
and said : " Is it right on the Sabbath to
confer a benefit or to inflict an injury, to
save life or to kill ? "
His critics were silent ; the synagogue
was crowded with devoted followers of Jesus,
and it is waste of breath to argue with a
popular hero surrounded by his admirers.
He looked round on them with anger, being
grieved for the hardness of their hearts,
astonished and grieved to the point of anger
that there should be men so callous as to set
the exact observance of a ceremonial law
above the happiness, even for a few hours,
of a fellow-creature. But this was not all;

42 EARLY MINISTRY [L 14-
Jesus would hardly have been so astounded
at the familiar callousness of fanatics. His
words were a personal appeal, tender with
chivalrous sympathy, burning with righteous
enthusiasm, and energised by the indwelling
Spirit of God ; and against all these the
scribes had hardened their hearts.
The Pharisees had made their challenge ;
Jesus had replied by His appeal ; and this
had been rejected. So, without further delay,
Jesus accepted the challenge ; He bade the
man stretch forth the withered hand, and as
He did so it became natural like the other.
The Pharisees were satisfied; they had an
overt act of disobedince to the Law, com-
mitted in the *pre|°nce of many witnesses,
and forthwith they we-u** out to Consider how
they might use this advo.itage. They now
called to their councils a /party of whom we
read for the first time', the Herodians, or
partisans ofthe Herods. ' Usually the Pharisees
and the Herods -"wfeYe at variance with each
other ; but by this time the influence of Jesus
in Galilee was a danger to the government,
and the Herodians were ready to ally them-

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 43
selves with the Pharisees against the common
enemy. The Growing Influence of Jesus, iii. 7-12
To avoid the dangers threatened by this
alliance, Jesus and His disciples left the
town and withdrew to the shores of the lake.
The next few verses give a brief account of
the influence and activity of Jesus ; crowds
flocked to Him, not only from Galilee, but
also from Judaea and Jerusalem, from Idumaea,
from the regions east of the Jordan, and from
the territory of Tyre and Sidon. The great
attraction was His gift of healing. The sick
and the demoniacs " fell upon Him," hustled
and jostled Him, so that in order to continue
His teaching, He was obliged to address the
crowds from a boat on the lake at a little
distance from the shore. The demoniacs con
tinually hailed Him as the Son of God, in
spite of constant attempts to silence them.
The Calling of the Twelve, iii. 13-19
The success of Jesus involved Him in many
difficulties ; the hatred of His enemies was

44 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14-
rendered more violent, and He was hampered
by the inconvenient importunity of His
admirers. The multitudes that constantly
gathered round Him and followed Him were
a danger to public order, and a hindrance to
the preaching of the Kingdom. Jesus now
sought to lessen this embarrassment, and at
the same time to provide for more effective
preaching on a larger scale. He had already
specially called five disciples ; He now chose
twelve, to whom He gave the special name of
apostles ; they were to follow Him, and also
at times to go forth and preach and cast out
demons. No doubt, at the same time, Jesus
dismissed His miscellaneous followers to their
homes, there to live according to His teaching,
and to be ready to obey any further instruc
tions they might receive from Him. His
personal following, indeed, would not be always
limited to the twelve, nor would all the twelve
always be with Him ; fresh crowds gathered
from time to time. But the twelve were the
official representatives of the Kingdom ; they
limited the responsibility of Jesus, and enabled
Him to promulgate definite teaching.

-iii. 19] GATHERING DISCIPLES 45
The list includes the four fishermen who
were first called, and, although the tax-
gatherer Apostle is not mentioned as Levi,
we should naturally suppose, even without
any additional information, that he is present
in the list under another name. Of the four
original disciples, three receive new names,
partly to mark the solemnity of their vocation,
partly to distinguish them from new members
of the brotherhood who bore the same names.
Simon was surnamed Peter, petros, "rock," in
token, as we should suppose, of his strength,
firmness, and determination, and to distinguish
him from another Simon, the Canaanean or
Zealot, one of a class of patriotic fanatics
eager to peril life and liberty for Israel and
the Law. The sons of Zebedee, James and
John, were surnamed Boanerges, which,
according to St Mark, means " Sons of
Thunder," perhaps men of a fiery and im
petuous spirit, endowed with the eloquence
natural to their character. The original four
stand at the head of the list, and, first of all,
Peter; but his brother Andrew is placed
fourth ; clearly he was less important than

46 EARLY MINISTRY [i. 14— iii. 19
James and John, whose names intervene.
Last of all comes Judas, the Man of Kerioth,
branded as the Traitor, but as yet no shadow
of coming treachery had fallen upon the mind
of Judas, or of his fellow-Apostles, or of his
Master. The Galilean Women, xv. 41
We are told next to nothing of the ways
and means of this little society, how they
found food, clothing, and shelter. In the
East, with its warm climate and ready hos
pitality, these are more easily come by than
with us. Long afterwards we read of certain
women who accompanied Jesus and minis
tered to His wants ; when they first joined the
company, and how constantly they were with
Him, we do not know. One of them was
Mary, the mother of two of the Apostles —
James the Less and Joses; and others pro
bably belonged to the families of disciples.

CHAPTER III
attempts to silence jesus
iii. 20-35
Up to this point St Mark's brief notes give
the impression of uninterrupted success ; hind
rances had indeed arisen, but they had been
quietly and effectively overcome ; and they
had been chiefly due to His reputation as a
healer and His extraordinary popularity.
But these had neither bewildered nor in
toxicated Him, and He had persevered in
His true work as a spiritual leader and
teacher. Almost from the outset, however,
He had been influenced by the opposition of
the Pharisees. Left to Himself He would
rather have preached a positive righteousness
than have denounced the Pharisaic traditions ;
but the hostility of the scribes led him to
emphasise the incompatibility of the doctrine
of salvation by ceremonies with the truths of

48 ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE JESUS [iii. 20-35
the Kingdom. As St Mark continues his
story, it is clear that the work of Jesus was
more and more shaped by the forces that
resisted Him, so that He comes to be not so
much a leader as a champion of righteousness
involved in a mortal struggle with evil.
Some time since we left the Pharisees
discussing with the Herodians how Jesus'
violation of the sanctity of the Sabbath might
be used to ruin Him. They had expected
the people to be as shocked as they were
themselves, but His commanding influence
remained unshaken, and He could only have
been arrested by a military force, and the
Herodian officials were not likely to take
much trouble or run any risks for the sake of
the Pharisees or the Sabbath. Some other
means had to be found of dealing with Jesus.
The following paragraphs describe the efforts
of the Pharisees.
They seem to have had recourse in the first
instance to the family of Jesus. The family
in the ancient East, as in modern France,
exercised considerable authority over its mem
bers ; and the family meant more than mother

iii. 20-35] ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE JESUS 49
and father and children. There would be
uncles and cousins from whom the widowed
Mary and her sons would be expected to seek
counsel, and to whom they owed a certain
deference. To these heads of the family
would come the Pharisees with stories of the
way in which Jesus was disgracing Himself
and His family by flagrant defiance of the Law.
His friends would find it hard to believe such
tales ; they would reply that till He left home
His life had been exemplary and devout.
When they were convinced by overwhelming
evidence, they would agree with the scribes
that there could be only one explanation of
such behaviour on the part of so good a man
— Jesus had gone mad. Primitive people
regard madness as a sign of inspiration ; a
somewhat more advanced society converts the
proposition, and sees in inspiration a symptom
of mental aberration. Finally, His friends
thought they had a decisive proof of insanity
when they heard that He was so occupied
with the crowds of patients and disciples that
He neglected to take food. So the friends of
Jesus set out to take charge of Him, and
D

50 ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE JESUS [iii. 20-35
protect Him from the consequences of His
madness. It is not clear whether St Mark
leaves us to assume that they failed, and that
Mary and her sons afterwards made a second
separate attempt to lay hold of Jesus ; or
whether the action of Mary was the only
effort of the family to effect their purpose.
To those who have no prejudices in favour of
the Law, it is difficult to understand how any
one could ever have thought Jesus mad ; in
the narrative He appears throughout as sane,
sober, and serene.
Meanwhile the scribes were busy on their
own account ; they pervaded the crowds, and
whispered a suggestion of insanity in an uglier
form. The local clergy, to use a modern
term, had called to their aid some ecclesiastics
from the capital, scribes from Jerusalem.
These experts were told that Jesus claimed
to be inspired by the Spirit of God.
" Doubtless," said they, " He is possessed
by a spirit, but it is an unclean spirit, a devil.
He has made a compact with Beelzebub, the
Prince of the Devils, to overthrow the Law,
and that He may do so, Beelzebub allows Him

iii. 20-35] ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE JESUS 51
to cast out devils, so that He may seem to be
a benevolent prophet of God, and be able to
pervert the minds of men."
These charges were repeated to Jesus, and
He called His accusers to Him.
" How," said He, " can Satan cast out
Satan? If a kingdom be divided against
itself, that kingdom cannot stand ; and if a
household be divided against itself, that house
hold cannot stand ; and if Satan makes war
upon himself, he cannot stand. No one can
go into a strong man's house and spoil his
goods without first binding the strong man."
The devil would surely have found some
better way of aiding a heretic propaganda than
by bringing shame and confusion and defeat
on his subordinate demons.
When Jesus turned His thoughts to the
moral aspect of their conduct He was moved
to indignation, as when the scribes rejected
His appeal for a humane interpretation of the
rules for the Sabbath. Now, their slander
was not only foolish, but wicked. In their
zeal for what they considered orthodoxy they
had committed the unpardonable sin ; because

52 ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE JESUS [iii. 20-35
Jesus differed from them on details of external
observance, they had declared that the divine
was devilish, and that the Holy Spirit which
had descended upon Him from Heaven was
Beelzebub, the foulest of demons from the
lowest hell. All other sins and blasphemies
might be forgiven, but this sin could not be
pardoned ; it was an eternal sin, and indeed it
has never yet been stamped out ; it cannot be
forgiven, because the sinners who are guilty
of it think that they are just men who need no
repentance. When Jesus had confounded these scribes,
He had to meet another and even more dis
tressing attempt to silence Him. These
episodes suggest in a curious remote fashion
the successive deputations to Coriolanus, per
haps because here also the last effort to move
Jesus from His purpose was made by His
mother. She was probably instigated and
directed by the Pharisees, for we seem to see
here also the same malignant ingenuity that
charged Him with being possessed by a devil.
Surely His mother, left to herself, would have
tried to see her son in private ; as it was,

iii. 20-35] ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE JESUS 53
the incident was planned to be much more
dramatic. He was sitting teaching, surrounded
by a crowded audience, and His mother and
brothers sent Him a message to come to them.
To her He was still the lad who was to be
amenable to her authority, and her attitude
was that of an offended parent to an erring
son. The message was brought to Him.
Obedience would only have led to a painful
scene, and with His usual prompt decisiveness
He quietly put the interruption on one side,
and went on with His teaching. The aphorism
with which He replied to the message was a
justification as well as a refusal, not a mere
expedient for the special occasion, but the
statement of a permanent principle. He looked
round on the circle of disciples and said : —
" Behold my mother and my brother : who
soever does the will of God is my brother and
sister and mother."

CHAPTER IV
teaching by parables
iv. 1-34
The previous sections of the Gospel have
been concerned with the gifts, the character,
the work of Jesus, rather than His teaching.
We have been told that His marvellous
powers of healing drew crowds after Him
everywhere, and that His discourses were so
remarkable that the people listened even when
He did not work miracles. His influence in
Galilee had become a source of anxiety to the
supporters of the government. Something,
indeed, has been partly stated, partly implied
as to His teaching ; He had announced the
imminence of a new dispensation, the King
dom of God, but we have been told nothing
as to the nature of the Kingdom. We have,
however, learnt that His teaching was ethical,
a demand for repentance accompanied by a
promise of forgiveness. Moreover He had

iv. 1-34] TEACHING BY PARABLES 55
repudiated the current idea that external
ceremonial observances were amongst the
essentials of religion ; and He had been
compelled to break with the representatives
of popular orthodoxy, the scribes and Phari
sees, and even with His own family.
St Mark now devotes a short section to
some of the more remarkable sayings of Jesus
as to the coming — not the nature — of the
Kingdom. They were not all uttered on the
same occasion, but they belong to what may
be called the second stage of the early ministry
of Jesus by the Lake of Galilee near Caper
naum. He was still a popular idol ; great
multitudes pressed upon Him so closely that
He was obliged to speak from a boat moored
at a little distance from the shore.
At this time Jesus adopted a method of
teaching by parables, figurative sayings or
stories with a moral ; but to His public
audiences He told only the stories and re
served the morals for the disciples. "He
did not speak to them without a parable, but
in private He explained everything to His
own disciples." Amongst other things He

56 TEACHING BY PARABLES [iv. 1-34
explained why He used this method: "It is
given to you to know the secret truth con
cerning the Kingdom of God, but to those
without it is all set forth in parables, that
' seeing they may see and not perceive, and
hearing they may hear and not understand,
lest at any time they should turn and be
forgiven.' " This reserve indicates a revul
sion from the spontaneous enthusiasm of
Jesus' first preaching. How quickly it came
about we do not know, for the brevity of St
Mark creates an impression of rapid move
ment which is partly illusory ; but probably
a few weeks showed that the preaching of the
Kingdom to the people was a failure. The
audiences which crowded round Jesus were
not seriously affected. They came as the
Jews of old to Ezekiel, because Jesus was
"unto them as a very lovely song of one
that hath a pleasant voice, and can play
well on an instrument," and there was the
added attraction that they might possibly
witness a miracle. But there was no moral
or spiritual reformation in Galilee ; these
crowds were not the advance guard of the

iv. 1-34] TEACHING BY PARABLES 57
Kingdom in its victorious coming. He was
not encouraged in any way by this empty
popularity, and His hopes turned to the inner
circle of intimate disciples, so that the public
ministry became a means of enlisting an
occasional recruit, and His main work not
so much preaching, but the training of
preachers. Hence, He Himself spoke in parables.
The ancient East, even more than modern
England, loved to take — or leave — its in
struction in the form of proverb, apologue,
fable, allegory, or anecdote, and no doubt this
new feature in the teaching of Jesus added to
His popularity, while the anger ofthe Pharisees
would be touched with contempt when they saw
the arch-heretic assume the character of profes
sional story-teller. But to us it seems that
the transparent and suggestive figures used
in the parables would attract thoughtful,
serious, and inquiring minds, and thus win
for Jesus the kind of disciples He desired,
while the careless crowd were merely amused.
But the Gospel does not thus explain the use of
this method. According to St Mark, Jesus

58 TEACHING BY PARABLES [iv. 1-34
declared that He spoke in parables in order
that His hearers might neither understand His
meaning nor profit by His teaching. The Evan
gelist, in his matter-of-fact way, reports this
saying without comment, and the record does
not suggest any complete explanation, although
various helpful ideas would occur to a sympa
thetic reader. In the first place, the saying is
a quotation, probably current in some con
ventional sense, familiar to Jesus, to His
hearers, and to St Mark, but quite unknown
to us. Again, men use quotations for the
sake of some one point bearing on the subject
with which they are dealing, and cite the rest
of a quotation merely for the sake of com
pleteness, and without intending to apply all
its literal meaning to present circumstances.
Some help, too, is given by the parable of
the Sower. Direct personal appeal to a
miscellaneous audience, sowing on high roads,
in thickets, and on thin layers of soil that half
hid the underlying rock, secured numerous
adherents, who might even obtain the experi
ence of forgiveness. But, for the most part,
such converts soon lapsed ; some became

iv. 1-34] TEACHING BY PARABLES 59
openly indifferent, while others injured the
cause more deeply by continuing to be par
tisans when they had ceased to be disciples.
Those who had passed through such an
experience and fallen back to their old
level, were further from the kingdom than
they had been before. " For as touching
those who were once enlightened and tasted
of the heavenly gift, and were made par
takers of the Holy Ghost and tasted the
good word of God, and the powers of the age
to come, and then fell away, it is impossible
to renew them again to repentance." Hence
the wise husbandman would only sow in good
ground which had been prepared for the seed ;
the teaching in parables was a form of pre
paration in which the spiritual significance of
the message was mercifully veiled from those
to whom it would have been "a savour of
death unto death."
The parables of this section, the Sower, the
City on a Hill, the Lamp and the Bushel,
the Seed Growing Secretly, and the Mustard
Seed, reveal the mind of Jesus as to His early
ministry and the future of the Kingdom.

60 TEACHING BY PARABLES [iv. 1-34
Sower, iv. 3-20
The first parable ran thus : —
" Behold the Sower went out to sow ; and
as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and
the birds came and ate it up. Other fell
upon the rocky ground where there was not
much soil, and because the soil was shallow it
sprang up at once ; but when the sun arose it
was burnt up, and was withered for lack of
root. Other fell into the thorns, and the
thorns came up and choked it, and there was
no harvest. But others fell upon good soil,
and sprang up and grew up and produced a
harvest, and bore some thirtyfold, some sixty-
fold, and some an hundredfold."
When Jesus had told this story, He left
the people to find out the moral for themselves,
"He that hath ears to hear," said He, '' let
him hear." But when He was alone again
with the Twelve, it appeared that even these
chosen and intimate followers did not know
what lesson He had meant to teach. Perhaps
they had talked it over amongst themselves,
and came to Him to decide between rival

iv. 1-34] TEACHING BY PARABLES 61
interpretations. It seemed strange to Jesus
that they could not understand ; to His own
mind the teaching of the Sower was obvious.
He had more difficult matters to set forth in
figures and symbols. How, then, could He
carry on their training if they stumbled on the
very threshold of their initiation into the
mysteries of the Kingdom. " Ye cannot
understand this parable ! How are you to
understand all the other parables that I have
to tell you."
Yet with His untiring patience, He explained
Himself. The seed was the " Word," the
message of the coming of the Kingdom ;
and the different soils were different classes
of hearers. Thus the wayside represented
hearers with whom the Word lay merely on the
surface of their minds, so that Satan was able
at once to snatch it away. Then the shallow
soil above the rock represented hearers who
readily and gladly received the message ;
people of quick, transient feelings, easily
swayed one way or the other, surrendering
their new faith under the stress of trouble or
persecution as promptly and as readily as they

62 TEACHING BY PARABLES [iv. 1-34
had received it. The ground spoiled by
thorns, again, represented hearers in whose
hearts the Word could only find narrow room
amongst the interests and cares and excite
ments of business and pleasure, so that it failed
to control the life. The good soil obviously
stood for hearers who gave the Word a full,
permanent and practical welcome, so that it
shaped all their conduct and moulded their
character. In the Sower He recognises without bitter
ness or discouragement the comparative failure
of indiscriminate preaching.
There had, indeed, been a measure of
success, good ground which brought forth
abundantly ; but the figure of sowing used in
three of these parables implies the limited
usefulness of public preaching. Sowing is
only effectual on certain soils under certain
conditions, usually after careful and laborious
preparation, and at the right season. Often
the germination of the seed is only a begin
ning, which speedily comes to a disastrous
end.

iv. 1-34] TEACHING BY PARABLES 63
The Seed Growing Secretly, iv. 26-29
Another parable tells us of seed which a
man sows in the ground. Then for a time he
can do nothing more ; nevertheless, whether
he is sleeping by night or waking by day, the
seed is sprouting and growing ; he knows not
how. Apart from any labour or skill of the
husbandman, the ground produces a crop —
first the blade, then the ear, then the full ear
of ripe corn. Then when Nature has done
her work — to use a modern phrase — the
husbandman forthwith puts in the sickle,
because the harvest is ready.
We are told, as we have already seen, that
Jesus explained all His parables to His dis
ciples ; but the only explanation which is
preserved is that of the Sower. In the case
of the seed growing secretly and the rest,
the interpretations once given seemed quite
obvious and necessary ; a written record could
be dispensed with.
It is clear that this parable recognises that
in the Kingdom, as in farming, human agency
can effect little ; the preacher may sow, but

64 TEACHING BY PARABLES [iv. 1-34
he must leave the result to the working of
heavenly powers upon the heart, and must
allow such working its appointed time.

The Mustard Seed, iv. 30-32
In another parable the coming of the King
dom of God is likened to the growth of the
mustard plant from its seed. A very small
seed is sown, but the plant that springs from
it becomes greater than any other herb, and
puts forth great branches, so that the birds of
heaven can roost under its branches. Here,
certainly, the moral of a mighty development
from a small beginning did not need to be
made more explicit.
These parables also show how the hopes of
Jesus centred in the inner circle of disciples.
From them the Kingdom would grow ; the
seed in the good ground would multiply a
hundredfold ; the mustard seed would become
a great tree. So far the real beginnings of
the Kingdom were very small, but they were
the earnest of a great future. Indeed, in spite
of difficulties and delays, the Kingdom was

iv. 1-34] TEACHING BY PARABLES 65
so real and present to Jesus, that He already
foresaw the troubles which would follow its
establishment. In the parable of the Sower,
the birds of the air snatch up the seed
from the wayside ; but, in another parable,
they lodge in the branches of the tree
sprung from the mustard seed. When the
powers of evil had failed to destroy the
Kingdom, they would find an entrance into it,
and fight against it from within. Obviously,
an intimate acquaintance with the Twelve
must have shown that the Kingdom, of which
they were to be the heralds, could not be with
out blemish — Judas Iscariot was one of the
number. Some aphorisms recorded with the parables
may have originated in His sense of the fail
ings of His followers, and in His anxiety that
the chosen few should rise to their opportunity
and responsibility. " Take heed how ye hear ;
with what measure ye mete it shall be
measured to you, and more shall be given
unto you."
The parable of the Lamp and the Bushel
implies that the private teaching to the dis-

66 TEACHING BY PARABLES [iv. 1-34
cipies would not always be esoteric ; Jesus
was kindling, keeping alive, and cherishing a
light which, at the right time, would be put
on a stand and shine through the whole house.
" There is nothing hid, but that it may be
manifested ; or made secret, but that it may
come to- light." The truth that for a moment
was a secret between Jesus and His disciples,
would one day be proclaimed throughout the
world.

CHAPTER V
further ministry of teaching and healing
iv. 35— vi- 6
The Stilling of the Storm, iv. 35-41
Up to this point it has been possible to trace
a certain progress in the narrative, in the reve
lation of the character of Jesus, and in the
development of His work ; now we have a
series of incidents in which St Mark's inten
tion is to illustrate the greatness of His
miraculous gifts by instances surpassing any
hitherto recorded. The first of these is the
Stilling of the Storm.
At the close, as it seems, of a long day's
teaching from a boat moored at a little dis
tance from the land, Jesus did not land on the
western coast and go home to Capernaum
He was too tired to run the gauntlet of the
curious crowd with its importunity for miracles
and deeds of healing ; and He bade the dis-

68 FURTHER MINISTRY OF [iv. 35-
ciples take Him across to the other side. The
little voyage was a sudden inspiration ; no pre
paration had been made for it, and they took
Him just as He was. Tired out, He lay down
on a cushion in the stern and fell fast asleep.
All at once the lake was swept by one of
those sudden storms which are common on
inland waters surrounded by hills ; the waves
beat over the boat, and it seemed as if it must
sink ; but Jesus still slumbered in utter weari
ness ; and the disciples forgot Him, absorbed
in their labour and their danger. At last they
could do no more, and their thoughts turned
to their Master. The whole Kingdom of
God, the answer to the prayers of many
generations, the fulfilment of the promises of
God, the hope for the future of the world, was
on board that fishing smack ; and the boat
might be swamped at any moment. But the
disciples were simply concerned for their own
lives — what was the Kingdom of God to
drowning men ? They were irritated by the
contrast between their own terrified excite
ment and the serene repose of Jesus ; they
aroused Him with a petulant, " Master, carest

-vi. 6] TEACHING AND HEALING 69
Thou not that we perish ? " He woke, no
doubt, to the vague confusion that follows the
sudden termination of deep sleep ; the wild
scene broke upon Him ; the tumult of winds
and waves, the pitching and rolling of the
boat, the incoherent cries of His disciples ;
but in a moment He was Master of Himself
and His circumstances. " He arose and
rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea,
' Peace, be still ' : and the wind ceased, and
there was a great calm." To Him, with His
imperturbable serenity in the face of such
troubles, the terror of the disciples seemed
strange. "Why," said He, "are ye so fear
ful ? How is it that you have so little faith ? "
The Demoniac among the Tombs, v. 1-20
We next read how Jesus landed in the dis
trict east of the lake, and met a demoniac
among the tombs, and cast out devils from
him. Like other demoniacs, the man saluted
Him as the Messiah, the Son of God Most
High. The incident is narrated on account of
some special features ; it was a signal victory

70 FURTHER MINISTRY OF [iv. 35-
over the powers of evil, because the man was
possessed by a legion — or, as we should say,
by a whole army — of demons; and their
presence, number, and malignity were shown
by their passing from the man into a herd of
swine, which forthwith ran headlong over a
precipice into the lake, and were drowned.
The chief result was that the people of the
district were alarmed at the loss of their
property, and induced Jesus to leave their
country at once, so that the miracle prevented
Him from preaching the Kingdom there.
Hence Jesus departed from His usual practice,
and, instead of bidding the sometime demoniac
be silent about his experience, He bade him
go home and tell his friends what the Lord
had done for him.
The population of this eastern district was
largely Gentile, and the readiness with which
Jesus departed may be an indication that He
felt no call to preach to any but Jews. Per
haps, indeed, He had simply sought solitude
there, and rest from active ministry ; and if
so, the incident did not affect His work.
It is doubtful whether the reader, whose

-vi.6] TEACHING AND HEALING 71
impressions we are trying to realise, would
have thought it necessary to discuss the
morality of our Lord's conduct — at any rate,
St Mark had no misgivings. There was, in
deed, a wholesale destruction of other people's
property without compensation or apology ;
but this would seem to the reader the result
of an unforeseen accident. Who could cal
culate, or be responsible for, the vagaries of
an army of demons expelled from their chosen
habitation ?
Jairus' Daughter and the Woman with
the Issue, v. 21-43
We come next to two incidents, the Rais
ing of Jairus' Daughter, and the Healing
of the Woman with the Issue, which are
so closely combined that they must be con
sidered together.
When Jesus again reached the western
shore of the lake, He was met by the usual
crowd. On this occasion they were escorting,
so to speak, a ruler of a synagogue, probably
at Capernaum — a man of some position, cor
responding roughly to a deacon or church-

72 FURTHER MINISTRY OF [iv. 35-
warden. His twelve-year old daughter lay
dying, and he begged Jesus to save her.
Jesus went with him, and the crowd followed
and thronged Him.
In the confusion another sufferer found her
opportunity. A woman had suffered for many
years from an obstinate ailment, an issue of
blood, which had defied such skill as the
doctors of the time possessed. She had
absolute faith in Jesus, but in her modesty
and diffidence she had shrunk from obtruding
herself upon His notice. Now it seemed that
she could snatch a blessing unperceived. She
made her way through the crowd and touched
His robe ; at once she felt that she was
healed, and tried to escape as unnoticed as she
had come.
But there was an abrupt pause in the move
ment of the crowd ; Jesus had stopped and
turned round, and was looking with searching
eyes on those about Him. As He turned,
He spoke with a certain sharpness inspired
by a new and startling experience : " Who
touched my clothes ? " The words seemed to
the woman to be charged with stern reproof,

-vi. 6] TEACHING AND HEALING 73
and her retreat was arrested. A moment's
respite was afforded her by the disciples'
answer to their Master's question, " Thou
seest the crowd pressing on Thee and sayest,
Who touched Me?" But Jesus took no
notice. He had felt a touch that drew power
from Him, as no touch had ever done before,
and His eyes still sought to discover who had
done it. They seemed to the woman to single
her out, and frightened and trembling, she
came and fell at His feet and told Him all the
truth, fearing, perhaps, that she might lose the
stolen blessing. But He comforted her with
gracious words : " Daughter, thy faith hath
saved thee ; go in peace, and be healed of thy
plague." As He spoke, messengers from the ruler's
house made their way through the crowd to
where their master stood by the side of Jesus,
impatient at the delay that was wasting
precious moments.
" Thy daughter," they said, "is dead; it is
no use troubling the Teacher."
Jesus' reputation as a worker of miracles
was limited ; no one supposed that He could

74 FURTHER MINISTRY OF [iv. 35-
raise the dead. Jesus, however, heard the
message, and bade the ruler " Fear not, only
believe." The ruler had seen what faith had
done for the woman ; let him imitate her. In
order to appreciate our Lord's quiet confidence
at this crisis we must remember that He had
already spent a measure of His healing power
upon the woman with the issue, and that He
went straight from her to Jairus' daughter.
He did what He could to collect His forces.
Just before, in His patient, tolerant, simple
kindliness, He had permitted the crowd to
hustle and jostle Him ; now He asserted His
authority and dismissed the thronging multi
tude and even the majority of the Apostles.
Only three were allowed to accompany Him
— Peter, James and John — three out of the
four fishermen whom He called first of all ;
He was fain to strengthen Himself by the
sympathy of His dearest friends.
When they reached the house the ceremonies
consequent on a death had begun, and the air
was filled with clamour, wailing, and shrieking.
Jesus surveyed the scene for a while, and then
entered the inner court where the mourners

-vi. 6] TEACHING AND HEALING 75
were assembled. At his entrance there was a
momentary lull in the tempest of lamentation,
and the mourners looked curiously at the
miraculous Healer who had come too late.
What had He come for ? He was going to
speak. What would He have to say ?
" Why," said He, " do you clamour and
wail ? The child did not die ; she is only
asleep." They burst out into peals of laughter, but
He bade them go, and they obeyed. Then
He took with Him the father and mother and
the three disciples, and went into the room
where the child lay, and took her by the hand,
and said, " Damsel, rise." At once she got
up, and began to move about the room —
probably she went straight to her mother.
The little group of spectators were carried out
of themselves by the tide of overwhelming
emotions. When they recovered, the first
impulse of some of them was to rush out and
spread the wonderful news ; but Jesus checked
them and bade them tell no one. Then, with
that absolute self-possession which He had
maintained since He had heard the news of

76 FURTHER MINISTRY OF [iv. 35-
the child's supposed death, He told them to
give the child some food.
There are a few points which must be con
sidered at rather more length. We have
referred to the self-possession of Jesus. Our
narrative constantly shows that one chief
feature of the memories which the early
Church cherished concerning Him was His
perfect calmness in the most exciting circum
stances. He was not startled when He woke
in the boat, and found Himself face to face
with death ; He was not daunted when it
seemed as if the task set Him was not merely
to heal the sick, but to raise the dead. More
over, He did not seek to call forth His
mysterious powers by any exciting stimulant,
such as music, or ecstatic ritual, or an ex
pectant crowd ; but He sought strength in
quietness and self-recollection, and the mute
sympathy of friends. When He triumphed
over disease and demons there was no sign of
exultation. Yet sometimes He was stirred
by what would seem a matter of course to
ordinary men, as, for instance, by the cold
blooded cruelty of fanatics. Again, He was

-vi. 6] TEACHING AND HEALING 77
sensitive to influences which did not affect
others. In this incident He distinguished the
woman's timid touch amid the pressure of the
jostling crowd, as a mother, even in her sleep,
singles out her infant's feeble cry from a babel
of loud noises. There was, so to speak, an
emotional circuit set up between Him and
her, so that He felt the shock of her impor
tunate demand for healing and the immediate
drain upon His mysterious forces. By such
an experience even He was startled.
Another point is the contradiction between
the words of Jesus and the statements of the
household of Jairus. According to them the
girl actually died ; Jesus, however, said that
she did not die but was sleeping.1 We may
assume that in such a conflict of authority St
Mark intends his readers to accept the view
taken by Jesus. How then did Jesus know
that she was not dead ? Had he questioned
the messengers, and drawn His conclusion
from the further details He elicited ; or has
St Mark omitted to tell us that Jesus had
1 The view that Jesus spoke figuratively, meaning that though the
girl actually died, she was not permanently dead, but would soon be
resuscitated, seems improbable if not impossible.

78 FURTHER MINISTRY OF [iv. 35-
already seen the child before He checked the
mourners. Either view is possible, but the
following is a more probable explanation.
He had set out for Jairus' house in the assured
conviction that He was going to heal the
child; the news of her death seemed in
credible because He was not conscious of any
power or commission to raise the dead. So
that if they were right, His conviction that
He was going to heal the child was a mistake.
That was impossible, therefore He knew that
she was not dead. This view may have been
confirmed to Him by some mysterious in
tuition, such as that by which He was made
aware of the woman's touch and its meaning.
Another problem is involved in the com
mand to the girl's friends to tell no one. It
was probably called forth by the special
circumstances of the moment, but this can
hardly be all. The words as they stand
would have a general application, as in other
passages. Yet the command seems futile.
The child's supposed death was generally
known ; the public lamentation had begun ;
and it would have been impossible to conceal

-vi. 6] TEACHING AND HEALING 79
the fact that she was alive. Some explana
tion may perhaps be found in the misunder
standing as to the supposed death. The
household would cling to the belief that the
girl actually died ; and the popular form of the
story would be that Jesus had raised her from
the dead. Thus Jesus' reputation as a wonder
worker would be still further enhanced, and
His work hindered; but the excitement might
be somewhat checked if Jairus and his family
refused to talk about the matter.
One more point before we pass on. The
popular tradition would certainly be that Jesus
had restored a dead girl to life. If, therefore,
St Mark had had no better authority than
popular tradition, he would have made it clear
that Jairus' daughter actually died, and would
have left no loophole for doubt. St Mark's
reserve and accuracy on this point can only be
due to the testimony of an eye-witness ; that
is to say, the evangelist was acquainted,
directly or indirectly, with an account of the
incident given by one of the three apostles.

80 FURTHER MINISTRY OF [iv. 35-
The Visit to Nazareth, vi. 1-6
In spite of the precaution taken by Jesus,
the mighty works discussed in the last section
must have encouraged the people to resort to
Him, and have stimulated their importunity.
Now, therefore, Jesus withdrew from the
district, and at last turned His steps home
ward to Nazareth. No doubt the Nazarenes
had heard from time to time of the doings of
their fellow-townsman ; of His eloquence and
His miracles, and also of His heresy; His
contempt for the law; His lax life1; His
neglect of the Sabbath ; His flouting of
constituted authorities, holy and learned men
like the scribes ; and the bad company He
kept, how He went about the country with
a disreputable rabble at His heels — tax-
gatherers, sinners, and such folk. There
must have been Nazarene sympathisers with
the Pharisees, who told many scandalous tales
about Jesus. The last thing that was known
for certain about Him was that His family
were convinced that He was mad, and had
1 As the Pharisees would consider it to be.

-vi.6] TEACHING AND HEALING 81
set out for Capernaum in order to place Him
•under restraint. The townspeople may have
heard how He had quarrelled with His family,
and had disowned them.
Now, however, He and His disciples
appeared at Nazareth ; and people could see
for themselves that one at any rate of the
charges against Him was true, He certainly
had a tax-gatherer for one of His chosen
disciples. We are not told how He spent
His time till the Sabbath ; but when the
Day of Rest came, He went, according to
His custom, to the synagogue, and began
to teach. For a time the people listened,
they were even impressed ; but soon there
arose a hostile murmur. What right had this
man to speak with an air of wisdom and
authority ? Who was He that people should
credit Him with working miracles ? He was
only a carpenter, a member of a poor family
known to them all. The murmur grew till it
became impossible for Jesus to continue His
teaching. He uttered a brief emphatic pro
test, " A prophet is not without honour except
in his own town, and amongst his own kinsfolk,

82 FURTHER MINISTRY OF [iv. 35-
and his own family " ; and then sat down, or
more probably turned and left the synagogue.
Soon after He left the town.
In the interval, before He departed, He
healed a few sick folk. St Mark tells us
that, with these exceptions, "He could there
do no mighty work." Not indeed that he
tried and failed, but partly because His fellow
townsmen did not believe in His power of
healing — " He marvelled at their unbelief" ;
and partly because He did not feel the
spiritual impulse which moved Him to under
take "mighty works," and assured Him of
power to perform them.
The rebuff at Nazareth was the third stage
in the failure of the preaching of the Kingdom.
Jesus had failed to gain the Pharisees, -and.
and had thus provoked the hostility of the
chief living religious force amongst the Jews.
His appeal to the people generally had been
powerless to affect any widespread moral and
spiritual reformation. But, hitherto, in spite
of the interruptions of demoniacs, and the
criticism of the Pharisees, He had shown
Himself master of any audience He addressed.

-vi. 6] TEACHING AND HEALING 83
Now, however, in His native town, amongst
His kinsfolk, His old playmates and acquaint
ances, He could not command a hearing.
Probably the episode did not affect His
public reputation, but it must have been a
profound discouragement to Jesus. Rejection
by His own family and townsfolk might well
seem an omen of rejection by His own people,
Israel ; the Shadow of the Cross was already
falling across His path. Moreover, the inci
dent was a new revelation of the hardness of
men's hearts, and Jesus was astonished at their
unbelief. The astonishment of Jesus marks
Him out as a stranger on the earth, a visitant
from some higher, purer, and nobler world.
He is surprised at what we take for granted,
the harshness, selfishness, and suspicion which
we call human nature.
When he left Nazareth, He did not return
to Capernaum, or to the shores of the Lake,
but carried His message to the neighbouring
villages. Thus the imminent coming of the
Kingdom was preached in a new district.

CHAPTER VI
the mission of the twelve and its
consequences
vi. 7 — vii. 23
The Mission of the Twelve, vi. 7-30
We read some time since that the Twelve
were appointed that they might preach ; but
so far nothing has been said of any such
activity on their part. In the interval, how
ever, Jesus had been training them, for in
stance He had privately explained to them the
parables. Now they were sent out two by
two that the preaching of the Kingdom
might be multiplied sevenfold. Jesus no
doubt intended that His message should be
proclaimed in every town and village of
Palestine. Perhaps He felt that His other-
worldliness placed barriers between Him and
ordinary men ; the disciples being more
practical might be better able to reach the
hearts of the people.
84

vi. 7— vii. 23] THE MISSION OF TWELVE 85
The burden of the apostolic preaching, like
that of John the Baptist, and of Jesus, was
that men should repent. Moreover the
apostles were invested with the power to
cast out demons, and to heal diseases — the
marvellous gifts of Jesus were, so to speak,
contagious. When the disciples wished to
cure any one they anointed the sufferer with
oil, a common remedy, and probably used
as such and not merely as a piece of ritual.
This combination of ordinary means with the
operation of special gifts of healing shows
that the Evangelist did not draw any sharp
distinction between the natural and the
supernatural. The Gospel cites some of the instructions
given by the Master; the disciples were to
take with them only a staff and what they
stood upright in ; they were to be dependent
on casual hospitality for food and shelter ;
they were not to be fastidious as to their
entertainment, but throughout their stay at
any place they were to remain at the house
which first received them — a provision which
would prevent them from staying long in one

86 THE MISSION OF TWELVE [vi. 7-
village, since the chance guest was expected
to depart on the third day, counting the day
of arrival as the first. As hospitality was a
recognised duty there was nothing extra
ordinary about such instructions ; and they
are probably recorded as a precedent for
early Christian evangelists.
Little is said as to the results of the mission,
and from this silence we may gather that the
preaching of the Twelve was a failure — a
failure, that is to say, in the judgment of Jesus
and in the light of later history ; it did not
serve as a positive preparation for the King
dom. Yet the mission was not useless ; in
dividuals were won ; and further progress was
made in that proclamation to Israel which
was a necessary preliminary of the Coming
of the Kingdom. Hence Jesus bade the
apostles shake off the dust from their feet
against the towns which did not receive them,
as a sign that the royal heralds had done their
duty, and that the blood of the obdurate was
upon their own heads.
But in the eyes of men the preaching seemed
successful ; it made Jesus more widely known,

-vii. 23] AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 87
and the cures wrought by the apostles en
hanced His fame. Jesus, it seemed, was
carrying out a systematic plan by which all
Galilee, perhaps all Syria, would be brought
under His influence. How would He use that
influence ? St Mark felt that the mission was
a crisis in His career ; he interrupts the narra
tive to tell us what men thought of Him.
" His name," we read, " had become known " ;
and as usual men were specially impressed
by the miracles. Some said that He was a
prophet like one of the ancient messengers of
God ; Israel had long mourned its lack of
prophets, and now in Jesus the good old times
had come again. Others ascribed to Him the
unique position of Elijah restored to life. The
final word in the record of prophecy was often
understood to be a promise that Elijah would
return as the forerunner of the Messiah. If
any one objected that John the Baptist had
announced himself as the forerunner, there
was an obvious answer : Jesus was John the
Baptist, risen from the dead. It was this last
answer which commended itself to the guilty
conscience of Herod, who had put John to

88 THE MISSION OF TWELVE [vi.7-
death. A popular belief that Jesus was a
reincarnation, so to speak, of the Baptist, shows
that he did not become publicly famous till
after John's death, and that the public gener
ally knew nothing of His early life.
It is most striking that, in spite of His
miracles, His popularity, and His impressive
character, no one seems to have thought that
Jesus could be the Messiah — except the
demoniacs.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand
vi. 31-44
The disciples had discharged their com
mission with zeal, and were tired with jour
neying, preaching, and the emotional strain
involved in healing the sick and casting out
demons ; and, as had happened once before,
Jesus and His followers were so beset that they
had not leisure even to eat. On that former
occasion Jesus continued His work indifferent
to hunger and weariness, but He was more
careful for His disciples than He had been for
Himself. "Come apart," said He, with His

-vii. 23] AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 89
usual gracious kindliness, " into some quiet
place and rest." So they went away in their
boat to seek some lonely spot. It is not easy
to make out the geography, but it seems that
the rendezvous of Jesus and the disciples after
the mission was somewhere on the western
coast of the lake, not far from its northern
end, and that they sailed across some short
distance to the eastern side. But they did
not escape unobserved, and the people followed
them along the shore, so that, when they
landed, a great crowd had already gathered
to meet them. As usual the sense of their
spiritual need came to Jesus as an irresistible
appeal, and he began to teach them many
things ; the day wore on ; the discourse showed
no sign of coming to an end, and still the
crowd hung upon His lips. But the more
practical disciples became anxious about food
for such a multitude, and suggested that Jesus
should send them away that they might pro
vide for themselves in the neighbouring
villages. The sequel is only partly intelligible. At
the bidding of Jesus, the disciples distributed

90 THE MISSION OF TWELVE [vi.7-
to the crowd their own small store, five loaves
and two small fishes ; and the hunger of that
great multitude, five thousand men beside
women and children, was satisfied. How, we
are not told, and conjecture is useless in a
matter where it is possible that no illumination
can be derived from ordinary experience.

The Walking on the Water, vi. 45-56
When the meal was ended, Jesus sent His
disciples back in the boat to the western shore,
while He Himself dismissed His guests.
When they were gone He betook Himself
alone into the solitude of the hills to pray.
These special seasons of retirement for fellow
ship with God were associated with crises in
the life of Jesus. It was after the Baptism that
He withdrew into the wilderness ; He sought
some lonely place for prayer after the first
exercise, probably the discovery, of His mar
vellous gifts, i.e. after He had cleansed the
demoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum,
and had healed Peter's mother-in-law. Now
these evening hours were His first leisure since

-vii. 23] AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 91
the disciples had given Him the report of
their mission, and had afforded Him fresh
evidence that Israel would probably reject
His message. Moreover, we have seen that
the mighty works of Jesus were not wrought
without cost to Himself. The feeding of the
five thousand was so strange an event that
the evangelist cannot find words to describe
it clearly. Its circumstances and its sequel
may well have involved some wonderful ex
perience for Jesus, including perhaps some
new light as to the character and disposition
of the people and of His own disciples ; some
new light that gave Him pause and called for
reflection on the end to which His work was
tending. Hence, in the privacy of night in
the lonely hills he surrendered Himself to the
fellowship of God that He might understand
His life and the Father's purpose concerning
Him. He knelt to share
" The silence of eternity,
Interpreted by love.''
Meanwhile the disciples were making small
progress in their voyage, for they were labour-

92 THE MISSION OF TWELVE [vi. 7-
ing at the oars against contrary winds ; and
St Mark tells us that towards dawn Jesus
came to them walking on the sea ; and they
thought that they saw a ghost, and were
frightened ; but He reassured them, and went
up into the boat, and the wind ceased. St
Mark goes on to tell us that they were
astonished, because they did not understand
about the loaves, but their hearts were hard
ened. It seems that the feeding of the five
thousand was a mystery even to the ministers
of the feast. Had they understood, St Mark
seems to imply, they would not have been
astonished at the further wonder of the walk
ing on the sea. To the Evangelist that
mysterious feast was an exceptional proof of
miraculous power, but it does not seem to
have made the same impression on the dis
ciples who were eye-witnesses. This fact
and the obscurity of some features in the
story suggest that at this point St Mark
was not so well informed as usual, and
that he obtained the account indirectly from
tradition. The concluding verses of this section tell us

-vii. 23] AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 93
how Jesus was again beset by crowds seeking
to be healed : probably a consequence of these
new marvels.

The Traditions of the Elders, vii. 1-23
The last few sections have dealt with inci
dents which added to the fame and influence
of Jesus, and therefore stimulated the hostility
of His opponents. We now find Him in
collision with certain Pharisees reinforced, as
on previous occasions, by scribes from Jeru
salem ; and, as usual, they were the assailants.
Jesus did not spontaneously denounce them,
but they attacked the disciples, and in defend
ing His followers Jesus was led to repudiate
the Pharisaic doctrine.
In this case the cause of offence was neglect
of ceremonial washings before meals, a sin
which was not due to the teaching of Jesus,
but to the natural carelessness of fishermen
and peasants. Had they continued fishermen
the Pharisees would not have troubled about
the Master ; but the disciples were now the
chosen friends of a religious leader, and they

94 THE MISSION OF TWELVE [vi.7-
had recently been preaching themselves. It
was scandalous that they should neglect forms
observed by all religious folk ; to use a modern
parallel, it was like a minister omitting to say
grace. The scribes, then, had noticed that some of
the disciples did not wash their hands before
a meal, and they came to Jesus for an explana
tion of such laxity. Somehow the demand
roused Him to one of His rare outbursts of
indignation. He addressed these cavilling
informers as hypocrites ; their anxiety for an
explanation and their zeal for the traditions
were alike insincere — cloaks for the personal
animosity of the fanatic towards those who
differ from him. Jesus applied to them
Isaiah's description of the Jews of his own
time : —
" This people honour me with their lips, but
their heart is far from me ; they offer me
useless worship, for they teach mere human
precepts." Further, their insincerity was shown by the
fact that some of their cherished traditions
were inconsistent with the law itself; so that

-vii. 23] AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 95
while they professed to be zealous for the
Divine ordinances, they rejected the com
mandments of God that they might keep the
traditions of men ; or, in other words, the
professed champions of the Bible were its
worst enemies. For instance, Moses bade
a man honour his father and mother, but
according to tradition a man might let his
parents starve if he devoted his property to
God. This incident affords a striking illustration
of the points at issue between Jesus and the
Pharisees. Neither the washing of hands
before every meal nor the maintenance of
parents in old age are expressly laid down
in the Pentateuch ; but both are legitimate
inferences from what is laid down. If the
eating of unclean food was an evil to be
avoided at any cost, the hands must be washed
before every meal, for the chances were that
the hands had contracted some ceremonial
uncleanliness which would communicate itself
to the food, unless it were removed by wash
ing. Similarly the command to honour parents
implied the relief of their destitute old age.

96 THE MISSION OF TWELVE [vi.7-
But it would be impossible to press all the
multitudinous ordinances of the Pentateuch to
their extreme logical implications ; some of
these would soon be found to clash with one
another. More especially the development of
humanitarian precepts would soon be checked
by the exaggeration of ceremonial demands.
Which were to give way? Wherein could man's
love to God be best shown ? In the external ,.
observance of sacred acts and seasons, in
reverence for sacred places and officials, or
in service to neighbours and kinsfolk ? The
Pharisee claimed that ritual ordinances as to
cleanness, the Sabbath, and so forth, were to
be maintained at any sacrifice ; but according
to Jesus, the dictates of humanity and the
claims of natural affection took precedence of
such demands.
This encounter prompted Jesus to make a
public declaration, which widened the breach
between Him and the legalists. Jesus had
already broken with Pharisaic tradition, but
hitherto He had in no way explicitly challenged
any of the Mosaic ordinances as given in the
Pentateuch. Now He called the multitude to

-vii. 23] AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 97
Him, and declared that men were not defiled
by anything from without, but by that which
came from within. These words seem clear
enough, but they were so startling that the
disciples could hardly believe their own ears.
When they were alone with Jesus, they asked
Him what He meant. He then said plainly
that a man is not defiled by what he takes
into him, i.e. by food, but the words and acts
which proceed from him. St Mark adds the
comment that thus Jesus made all foods
clean, i.e. He revoked the Mosaic Laws as
to clean and unclean meats. He could
not intend that His followers should at once
abandon the ordinances as to food, but
He regarded them as mere matters of
custom and expedience which had no
religious value.
This episode was critical both for Jesus and
for Christianity. It seemed for the Church
independence of Judaism, and on the part of
Jesus it involved a larger claim of authority,
and a more hopeless breach with current
orthodoxy. From the outset Jesus set His
authority above that of the Pharisees. He

98 THE MISSION OF TWELVE [vi. 7— vii. 23
now asserted His right to overrule Moses.
It was due to the recognition of this
claim that the Christian Church did not
remain a Jewish sect, but became an in
dependent organisation.

CHAPTER VII
in gentile lands
vii. 24-37 — vni- 22 — ix- 29x
After the bold step described in the last
section, Jesus felt it desirable to withdraw
from Jewish territory for a time, and betook
Himself to the Gentile districts of Tyre and
Sidon. He sought not only security, but also
rest and seclusion. As St Mark tells the
story, Jesus' recent repudiation of Mosaic Law
does not seem to have been premeditated,
but rather a spark struck from the mind of
Jesus in the clash of controversy. When He
came to reflect upon His words in cold blood,
and realised all that they meant, He would be
somewhat startled. At the outset Jesus had
sought to remain loyal to Judaism, its worship,
organisation, and officials ; but now He could
not be blind to the fact that rejection of the
observances as to clean and unclean foods
1 For viii. 1-21, see Additional Note D. 99

100 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
involved a breach with Judaism. As at other
crises, Jesus would wish for leisure and quiet
to meditate on the path which lay before
Him. Possibly He might find in a Gentile
district a welcome obscurity which would be
impossible amongst Jews, and the abomina
tions of the heathen might stimulate His zeal
for the Law of Israel. Accordingly He went
northwards into the districts of Tyre and
Sidon.

The Syrophcenician Woman, vii. 24-30
With divine simplicity Jesus supposed that
He would not be recognised, that men would
pass without notice the face from whose eyes
the love of God looked out upon the world.
He came to some Phoenician town, found a
lodging there, and hoped to be left to Him
self, but He was disappointed, "He could not
be hid." If He had hoped to renew His zeal
for Judaism, He was disappointed in that also,
for His first experience in Gentile territory
tended to draw Him farther away from the
Law. He was found out by a woman who was

-viii. 2 2— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 101
"a Greek, a Syrophoenician" — St Mark is
careful to make it quite clear that she was
a Gentile. She had a daughter who was
possessed by an unclean spirit, and she came
to Jesus for deliverance and cleansing. His
answer suggests that His recent utterance as
to foods had led to a reaction of feeling which
made Him hesitate to do anything which
might seem to imply lack of loyalty to the
chosen people and their religion.
" Let the children first be filled," He said,
" for it is not meet to take the children's bread
and cast it to the dogs."
" Yea, Lord," she answered, " even the
dogs under the table eat of the children's
crumbs." Her humility might have soothed the
sectarian jealousy of the most bigoted
Pharisee, and before such an appeal the
kindly nature of Jesus was helpless ; He
surrendered unconditionally.
" For this saying," said He, " go thy way ;
the devil is gone out of thy daughter."
And she went home and found it so.
Natural and inevitable as the conduct of

102 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
Jesus was, it involved another important
development away from strict Judaism. He
had hardly ventured beyond the borders of
Jewry when He found that He must extend
His mission of healing to the Gentiles.
Clearly, therefore, unless barriers were built
round Palestine, and all Gentiles kept outside,
and all disciples of Jesus inside, the message
of the Kingdom would reach the Gentiles and
they would demand admission. Moreover,
the phrase, " Let the children first be fed,"
shows that Jesus had been meditating on this
problem, Israel had a prior claim, but the turn
of the Gentiles would come ; by and by, when
I He had more light and wider experience, He
i would fix the time. At the first shock the
I woman's appeal seemed premature, an un-
• warrantable attempt to force His hand; a
I moment later He realised that new light and
wider experience had come, and He discerned
and followed the Divine leading.
After this incident Jesus left the neighbour
hood of Tyre and went northwards along the
coast to Sidon, passed through that city, and
then turned inland to the south-west, and

-viii. 2 3— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 103
made His way to Decapolis, the half Gentile
district east of the Sea of Galilee. We are
told nothing more of His journey ; there was
no proclaiming of the message in these Gentile
lands ; and, no doubt, as He got further from
home He found leisure to think out anew His
relation to Judaism and also to the world.
Healing of Deaf Mute, vii. 31-37
When He reached Decapolis, and only
the lake separated Him from the scene of
His active ministry, we find Him once more
surrounded by a multitude. There was
brought to Him a deaf man with an impedi
ment in his speech. The case presented
special difficulties. Faith was usually a con
dition of healing ; how could a deaf man's
faith be quickened? Jesus took him aside
privately ; put His fingers in his ears ; spat
and touched his tongue. By such gestures,
by looks, and by general manner, Jesus
suggested to the sufferer that he was about
to be healed, and made a successful appeal
to his faith. Then He looked up to heaven

104 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
and sighed, and said to him, " Be opened " ;
and the man's ears were opened and his
tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.
Once again Jesus made a futile attempt to
keep His gifts of healing a secret, but " the
more He charged them, the more they pub
lished it."

Healing of the Blind Man, viii. 22-26
One or two features of the incident just
dealt with are best considered in connection
with the next1 incident, the healing of the
blind man at Bethsaida. Probably this is
the Bethsaida to the north-east of the Sea
of Galilee, and both these cures were wrought
in half- Gentile districts and perhaps upon
Gentiles. The two incidents are also similar
in other respects. In both (i) the patient
was brought to Jesus ; (ii) He took him
apart to some retired spot ; He took the
blind man outside the village. As we have
seen before, Jesus seeks strength for His
mighty works in retirement, and does not
1 See the note at the beginning of this section.

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 105
rely upon the stimulus of an excited and
expectant crowd, (iii) Blindness, like deaf
ness, hindered the appeal to the man's faith,
he could not see Jesus, or feel the influence
of His expression, and especially of His eyes.
Hence in this case, also, Jesus seeks to stimu
late faith by His acts and gestures ; He spit
on his eyes and laid His hands on them.
(iv) The use of spittle in these two cases
seems to be a use of means, like the anointing
with oil by the disciples on their mission.
Saliva was regarded in the east as having
healing power. Here, therefore, is another
illustration of the fact that neither Jesus, nor
the disciples, nor the Evangelist drew any
sharp line between the natural and the super
natural. The essence of the "mighty work"
was not exactly that which we call miracu
lous. It was a "mighty work," a "sign," a
" wonder," something that no ordinary man
could do ; but no one thought of the " laws
of nature " and their relation to such deeds,
nor did the use of means affect the impression
made. (v) In the previous case the sigh of Jesus

106 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
is a sign of effort on His part, and here the
effort is still more marked. At first the cure
was only partial. " Dost thou see aught ? "
said Jesus ; and the man looked up and said,
" I see men, for I behold them as trees walk
ing." A second exertion of healing energy
was necessary ; again He laid His hands
upon his eyes, this time with complete suc
cess ; the man exerted himself to look, and
was restored, and saw everything clearly.
The record of effort and of temporary partial
failure is another illustration of the frankness
of the Evangelist.
(vi) Finally, there was yet another effort
to keep an act of healing secret. Jesus sent
the man away to his home, saying, " Do not
even enter into the village."
Peter's Confession, viii. 27-30
From the time when Jesus repudiated the
Levitical doctrine of clean and unclean meats,
He had avoided the scenes of His earlier
ministry and the centres of Jewish popula
tion ; He had been wandering in Phoenician
territory as far north as Sidon, and He had

-viii. 23 -ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 107
appeared in the Gentile district of Decapolis ;
He now turned north again to the village
of Caesarea Philippi, which was practically a
Greek city.
On the way thither He held a conversation
with His disciples, which was the supreme
crisis of the religious history of the race. A
time was chosen when perfect privacy could
be secured. The hospitality of an Eastern
village was public. When it was known that
the sheikh was entertaining strangers, his
guest-chamber was thronged with neighbours.
Hence it was on the journey itself, at some
solitary part of the road, probably when they
were resting in some secluded spot, that Jesus
put a crucial question to the disciples. Gradu
ally He had been compelled to abandon all
expectation of winning the najtion at large
or its religious leaders, and His hopes had
become more and more centred in His im
mediate followers. Now the time had come
for Him to test this last hope. He began,
with a preliminary question : " What do men
say that I am ? " St Mark has already1 given
1 Mark vi. 15.

108 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
the answer in words almost identical with
those which we find here. All were agreed
that He was no mere man, but that in Him
the spirit of some ancient worthy lived again ;
He might be Elijah, or some other of the
prophets, or possibly John the Baptist. Even
now it seemed as if no one — except the
demoniacs — thought of Him as the Messiah.
And yet the Jews were very ready to welcome
pretenders to Messiahship, so that their
failure to ascribe this title to Jesus is re
markable. It measures alike the success and
the failure of His popular ministry ; He had
succeeded in teaching the people that He
was not the mere conqueror and king of the
vulgar imagination ; but He had failed to
convince them that they ought to change
their ideas of the Messiah, and that the true
Messiah would be a spiritual hero and
redeemer. One hope was left. How far had the
Apostles understood Him? "Whom say ye
that I am ? " Peter, spokesman as usual,
answered, " Thou art the Messiah."
The Evangelist implies that Jesus accepted

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 109
the title, that He Himself, therefore, had
become conscious that He was the Messiah,
and that He desired that His disciples should
believe in His Messiahship. It is easy to
understand that the disciples would be ready
to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah if He gave
them the least encouragement. His repudia
tion of popular ideas could not neutralise the
effect of His personality on those who knew
Him best. They might not know how to re
concile His teaching or His policy with what
they had learnt as to the expected Saviour
and King ; but they felt no lower, no less
unique rank, could properly belong to Him.
But the reader, whose impressions we are
trying to reconstruct, would also ask how Jesus
came to believe Himself the Messiah, and
what He understood by the term. St Mark
has given no explanations, neither does he
quote any saying of Jesus on either topic.
Probably he would not feel that the data en
abled him to answer these questions satisfac
torily ; but the kind of answers suggested
might be somewhat as follows. The social
position and education of Jesus imply that His

110 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
ideas would start from the popular views of
the Messiah as the social and religious re
former and the restorer of independence and
empire to Israel. Some such words would
serve as a common formula for the ideas of
the Jews in general as to the Messiah ; but
the ideas would be variously shaped and col
oured in the minds of different individuals.
For Jesus of Nazareth, the Reformer and
Saviour would become an ideal figure corre
sponding to the nobility of His nature. How,
then, did Jesus come to identify Himself with
this ideal ? We can hardly think that Mes
siahship was looked upon as a destination to
which a youth of exceptional endowments
might naturally aspire ; and no careful reader
of St Mark's Gospel could credit Jesus with
such reasoning as, " Because I am specially
gifted, I must be the Messiah." Nevertheless,
there had been much in His experience to
make Him feel that He was marked out from
other men ; He found that He possessed unique
powers over the bodies, minds, and souls of
men ; He had a sense of close fellowship with
God as His Father ; and in the experiences of

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 111
the Baptism and the Temptation He had real
ised that He was the beloved Son entrusted
with a supreme Divine mission. Doubtless,
too, the idea that He was the Messiah was
often suggested to Him from without, as when
John the Baptist spoke of Him as, "He that
is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes
I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose."
But, according to St Mark, such suggestions
were made most frequently and explicitly by
demoniacs, whose utterances would hardly be
recognised by Jesus as a Divine intimation ;
though it might well be supposed that demons
possessed supernatural knowledge. Perhaps
some clue may be found in the position of this
incident in St Mark ; it comes when the com
plete failure of the public ministry was patent,
when Jesus had been compelled to withdraw
for a time into Gentile territory, and when His
most recent acts of healing had only been ac
complished after special effort. Then, and not
till then, did He seek and obtain from His
disciples a recognition of His Messiahship.
May we not believe that His experience of
failure led Him to ponder afresh the story of

112 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
those whom Israel had rejected before Him?
— Jeremiah, the Servant of Jehovah, Job ;
such reflections would suggest that the trium
phant inauguration of a new era might not be
part of the work of an ideal teacher, reformer,
and redeemer — at any rate, till His earthly
career had ended in apparent failure ; such
examples would rather suggest that death,
even a disgraceful death, might be the means
by which the Messiah would accomplish His
mission. The conviction of His Divine com
mission and the assurance of final achievement
remained unshaken. Three courses were open
to Him : either to seek safety by abandoning
His mission and withdrawing into obscurity ;
or to bate somewhat of His ideals and com
promise with popular expectations by trying
to play the part of a more spiritually-minded
Judas Maccabeus ; or to declare publicly that
He, rejected as He had been by the people,
by the religious leaders, by His fellow-towns
folk, and His own family, that He was the
Messiah, and to accept the fate which would
be the prompt answer to such a claim. To
follow this last course was the only way to

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 113
perpetuate the influence of His personality,
and to secure the fruits of His ministry for
Israel and for the world. Thus the call to
the Messiahship came in the form of an
appeal to Him to sacrifice His life for God
and man. The most modest soldier may
offer to lead a forlorn hope when no one
else is able or willing. Emerson wrote once :
" I am only a sort of lieutenant in the de
plorable absence of captains." There may
have been a time when some such words
might have expressed the feelings of Jesus,
but there are crises when it is criminal for a
born leader of men to profess to be a mere
lieutenant, and to refuse the responsibility of
captaincy. Jesus, therefore, avowed Himself
the Messiah, the Captain of the world's sal
vation. Announcement of the Passion
viii. 31 — ix. 1
This conversation was the crucial moment
of a supreme crisis, and Peter recognised its im
portance. Surely now the Master would assert

114 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
Himself, and would use His miraculous powers
to drive out the Romans, to restore the inde
pendence of Israel, and establish the Kingdom
of God. But Peter was once more dis
appointed in Jesus ; once more He failed, in
the Apostle's judgment, to rise to the occasion.
He bade the disciples tell no one of His
Messiahship ; He would choose His own time
for the avowal which would be the signal of
His doom ; and He must first prepare them for
the tragic ending of their hopes. He began
to teach them that He must endure much
suffering, and be rejected by the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and be put to death.
The " elders and chief priests and scribes "
represented the ruling classes at Jerusalem,
the Jewish government as far as the Jews had
a government, chiefly in matters ecclesiastical,
the official priesthood of the Temple, and the
other classes which made up the Sanhedrim.
At one time Jesus had hoped to win over the
official heads of the people ; but He soon
found out that such hopes were futile. The
Sanhedrim consisted of Pharisees and Sad
ducees. The Pharisees had rejected Him at

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 115
the outset, and the Sadducees were the party
of the Jerusalem priesthood. Jesus must have
discovered early in His career that ecclesias
tical dignitaries do not sympathise with the
reformer who disturbs a comfortable status quo.
The Pharisees, being in a sense the opposition,
would have welcomed a Messiah after their own
heart who would have placed them in power ;
but the Sadducaic priestly government had no
use for a Messiah. His appearance would
have been as obnoxious to them as the return
of an absent sovereign to a council of regency.
If Jesus presented Himself in Jerusalem as
the Messiah, He thrust upon the priesthood
the alternative of acknowledging or suppres
sing Him, and virtually compelled them to
put Him to death. All this Jesus understood ;
yet, as He explained to His disciples His
purpose of crowning His ministry by the
sacrifice of His life, there arose before Him
perhaps for the first time a vision of the
glorious future which lay beyond. When He
told them that the Son of Man must die, He
added, "And after three days He shall rise
again."

116 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
St Mark notes that Jesus spake " openly " ;
He did not veil His meaning in parables.
Hence the prompt protest of Peter, who took
His Master aside and began to rebuke Him.
The Apostle's conduct suggests that he was
an older man than Jesus. It is easy to
imagine the nature of the Apostle's rebukes.
If Jesus were the Messiah, it was absurd to
suppose that He was to die as a criminal.
Such an idea could only be due to the morbid
depression of a moment of reaction from the
exaltation and exultation due possibly to
Peter's recognition of Him as the Messiah.
Peter, the decided, practical Peter, had noticed
such tendencies before ; he would feel called
upon to rebuke His Master's weakness, and
to brace His spirit at the turning-point of his
career. Peter's vigorous common sense would
grope helplessly for the possible motives
behind the extraordinary utterance of Jesus ;
but his rebuke frankly suggested that if the
Master came to an untimely end, it would be
due to some fault of temper or judgment on
His own part.
Thus for the moment Peter's zeal and affec-

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 117
tion ranged him with the worst enemies of his
Master. After an inner struggle Jesus had
accepted death and apparent failure, and had
committed Himself to this sacrifice by His
words to His disciples. He would be worn
by the effort of decision and threatened with
reaction ; the insinuating voices of invisible
tempters told Him that His sacrifice was futile
and foolish. Now His faithful friend and
devoted follower unconsciously made himself
the spokesman of these powers of darkness.
Jesus broke from him, and turned and looked
back to the other disciples. Doubtless they
thought what only Peter had ventured to say,
and His reply was for them also. In His turn
He rebuked Peter, "Get thee behind me,
Satan, for thou judgest as men judge, and not
as God judges."
The next paragraph describes an address to
the multitude with the disciples which can
hardly have been delivered immediately after
the rebuke to Peter, but is nevertheless the
sequel to the conversation which has just been
considered. Jesus was preoccupied with His
coming death ; for the first time He refers to

118 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
the Cross; He seems to be preaching to Him
self as much as to the people. He had been
tempted to save His life for noble ends, but
"whosoever would save his life should lose
it"- — to have drawn back now would have
destroyed the whole value of His ministry.
" Whosoever shall lose his life for the sake of
the Gospel 1 shall save it."
Naturally, however, the words of Jesus are
equally adapted to the audience He addressed :
the disposition which led Peter to rebuke Jesus
for His intended sacrifice might lead him to
shrink from sacrifice himself; and Peter was a
type. Hence Jesus insisted that His own
conduct was to be an example to the disciples.
They too were to deny themselves, and take
up their cross and follow Him. If they were
tempted to deny the condemned criminal as
their Master, they were to be encouraged by
the assurance that the Son of Man would be
manifested in glory.
Another saying is given here to the effect
that this assurance did not refer to some in-
1 The words " for my sake " are not certainly part of the original
text.

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 119
definitely remote future : " There were some
amongst the bystanders who would live to see
the Kingdom of God come with power."

The Transfiguration, ix. 2-13
The episode of the Transfiguration is con
nected by St Mark with the previous incidents
as part of the crisis which was the prologue to
the Passion. After six days Jesus took with
Him Peter and James and John, and took
them by themselves to a high hill, probably by
night, possibly moonlit, or illumined by flashes
of lightning. We are not told where this hill
was ; at least six days had elapsed since Peter's
confession, and had probably been spent in
journeying ; neither is it clear that the inci
dents which follow occurred immediately. The
mention of Moses and Elijah suggests Horeb,1
the mountain with which the names of both
were associated ; and it does not seem alto
gether impossible that Jesus, like Elijah, in
His extremity, sought some special manifesta
tion of the presence and grace of God in the
1 Additional Note E.

120 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
hallowed solitude of the most ancient sanctuary
of Israel. But, of course, this is only a sur
mise ; at any rate Jesus led His three disciples
to some remote hillside, deliberately chosen,
and reached by a special journey.
According to His custom Jesus felt that the
crisis called for a season of fellowship with
God, but now for the first time He sought the
presence and sympathy of His disciples ; the
faith which discerned His Messiahship when
His fortunes were desperate bound them
closely to Him by new bonds of affection.
The three whose company He sought had
also gone with Him to the house of Jairus ;
they were probably chosen, because they were
not only leaders among the Apostles, but also
associated with Jesus in closer personal friend
ship than their fellows. It was not St Mark's
purpose to describe the private life of Jesus,
and indeed during His ministry He had little
leisure from His public mission ; such a life
must be lonely as far as human intimacy is
concerned. Yet the Prophet found amongst
His disciples some with whom His relations
were specially touched by personal affection.

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 121
Such were the three ; and one of them was
Peter, who had rebuked his Master and been
rebuked by Him. Jesus did not exact from
His followers adulation or servile acquiescence.
He could appreciate honest zeal and loyal
affection, even when they led to hasty and
mistaken judgments, and to rough criticism
of Himself. The loving confidence between
Jesus and Peter was so great that He could
apostrophise him as Satan, the adversary, and
within a few days could ask Peter to share
His most intimate fellowship with God, and
Peter could accept.
There must have been much curiosity
amongst the disciples as to the nocturnal
absences of Jesus, which had often been
followed by some unexpected action ; it was
after one of them that He abruptly broke
off His first ministry at Capernaum, and after
another that He was seen walking on the water.
He may have told them that He met with
God, and they, versed as they were in the
language and ideas of the Old Testament, may
have thought that He communed with some
visible angel of the Lord, and received from

122 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
him instruction, commands, and reinforcement
of spiritual energy. So that, as the three
followed their Master up the hill, their nerves
were strung with excited anticipation of what
they were to see and hear. They reached
the spot which He had chosen for His devo
tions, and from the analogy of the scene at
Gethsemane we may suppose that He with
drew a little, but still remained within sight
and near enough to be heard if He prayed
aloud. As the Apostles watched Him they
were startled by a change in His appearance,
perhaps as the moon emerged from some
obscuring cloud, or as a flash of lightning lit
up the scene ; His garments shone with super
natural radiance ; they became " exceeding
white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can
white them." Whether any further change
took place we are not told. They caught
fragments of His speech, in which He seemed
to be addressing Moses and Elijah, and they
beheld an apparition of Moses and Elijah
talking with Jesus. We are not told the
subject or the nature of the conversation,
probably because the disciples were not close

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 123
enough to hear distinctly. None the less
they were overcome with terror at what they
saw and heard, and Peter's natural impetuosity
led him to seek relief in words ; not that he
knew what to say, but speech was easier than
silence. " Rabbi," he said, " it is good for us
to be here ; let us make three booths — one
for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
We need not discuss these words, since we
are told that Peter did not know what to say.1
They were the utterance of an incoherent
mind, and no notice was taken of them. Next
we are told that a cloud overshadowed the
little group, and there came a voice out of the
cloud, perhaps mingled with rolling- thunder,
" This is My beloved Son ; hear ye Him."
The testimony given to Jesus Himself at His
baptism is now repeated in the hearing of His
disciples. Their strange experiences rendered
them prostrate with fear, but after a while
they came to themselves, apparently with a
sudden start, and looking round they dis-
1 The " answered " of the E. V. in verse 5 is misleading ; to the
English reader it suggests a reply to words addressed to the speaker,
whereas in New Testament Greek the term is also used of any speech
called forth by events, circumstances, etc.

124 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
covered that the marvels of the night had
disappeared — the clouds had passed away,
Moses and Elijah had vanished, and they
were alone with Jesus, and their Master had
resumed His ordinary appearance, the super
natural radiance no longer shone from His
garments. The narrative impresses one as having been
composed from the reminiscence of an eye
witness, probably Peter, who was specially
interested in his own feelings and experiences,
and in what he himself said and did. The
version just given involves a measure of inter
pretation which may be justified in a few
words. The view that the incident took place
by night is supported by the analogy of the
seasons of prayer after the feeding of the five
thousand and in Gethsemane, and by the stress
laid on the radiance of Jesus' garments ; but
as the disciples not only saw Jesus, but recog
nised His companions, we may assume moon
light or lightning, unless indeed Moses and
Elijah also were visible by some supernatural
radiance of their own. It is true that the
narrative concludes by telling us that the dis-

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 125
cipies looked round and saw only Jesus and
themselves, but possibly the sun had just
risen. The Transfiguration is described from a
subjective rather than from an objective point
of view, and the description gives us the im
pression made upon a narrator who was quite
unconscious of his subjectivity, and who did
not always draw a clear distinction between
subjective and objective, to whom the appear
ance of a vision would be as real as the
actualities of everyday life. Moreover the
nature and circumstances of the incident did
not make for either accurate observation or
exact recollection : the desolate hillside, the
solitary night, the uncertain illumination of
the moon or of intermittent lightning, the
excited spirits of the disciples overawed by
the personality of Jesus, and by His mys
terious audience with God and with super
natural beings — all these influences combined
to produce the impression at the time, and to
determine the form it assumed in the memory
after mature reflection. Hence it is impossible
now to go behind the narrative, and recon-

126 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
struct an accurate account of the actual
occurrence. Nevertheless, such uncertainty
does not destroy the significance of the
incident. Here perhaps more than anywhere
else we see Jesus inspiring awe and terror.
It is one of the most marvellous features of
St Mark's narrative that the most forcible
impression it leaves of Jesus is of His simple,
unaffected kindliness : He stands before us as
the most lovable of men, and yet at the same
time we are made to feel that this Friend of
man is the most august and imperial figure
that ever appeared upon the stage of history.
His serenity kindles at times into consuming
fire, and His meekness becomes charged with
mystic force which daunts presumptuous sel
fishness. The secret of this marvel is His
intimate fellowship with the Unseen ; the man
who has unusual supernatural dealings with
the spiritual world is always an object of awe
and wonder. George Elliot thus describes
the impression made by Savonarola's public
prayers : —
" The next instant the pulpit was no longer
empty. A figure covered from head to foot in

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 127
black cowl and mantle had entered it, and was
kneeling with bent head and with face turned
away. It seemed a weary time to the eager
people while the black figure knelt and the
monks chanted. But the stillness was not
broken, for the Frate's audiences with heaven
were yet charged with electric awe for that
mixed multitude, so that those who had
already the will to stone him felt their arms
unnerved." 1
The experience of the disciples at the
Transfiguration must have been the more
thrilling because they were the spectators for
the first time of the solemn audience of Jesus
of Nazareth with His Heavenly Father, and
saw Him conversing on equal terms with the
spirits of the mighty dead. It is difficult to
say which alternative would furnish the more
striking testimony to the spiritual power and
dignity of Jesus, whether the actual appear
ance of Moses and Elijah, or a subjective
vision due to the impression made by Jesus
and His prayers on the minds of the disciples.
It is more difficult to realise what the Trans-
1 " Romola," chap. Ixii.

128 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
figuration meant to Jesus. No doubt He
found support amidst the dark shadows that
gathered thickly about His path ; and the
reference to Moses and Elijah shows that
He was relieved of one perplexity. Jesus
had been driven into antagonism to the
Mosaic Law ; He must have been distressed
to find Himself in such a position, for He
was utterly loyal to the Divine Revelation
given in the Old Testament, and full of rever
ence for Moses. His work and teaching were
based upon the Hebrew Scriptures, and apart
from them His Messiahship would have been
empty and meaningless ; to have discredited
the Old Testament would have cut the ground
from under His own feet. The Transfigura
tion assured Him that He was the true
successor and representative, not only of the
prophets, but also of the legislators of Israel ;
that while He repudiated the letter of the
Law, He was yet enforcing its spirit. The
disciples would be confirmed in their belief in
the Messiahship of Jesus ; they would expect
His speedy triumph, and would be more eager
than ever to proclaim His real character to

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 129
the world. But they were again checked ; as
they came down He bade them tell no one
what they had seen till the Son of Man had
risen from the dead. They did not understand
these words about "rising from the dead";
they were expecting not His death but His
triumph ; they discussed the mystery amongst
themselves, but did not ask Jesus, perhaps
because His manner forbade any questioning
on that point, or perhaps because in their
inmost hearts they feared lest His answer
should strike a death-blow to their hopes.
Their conversation soon returned to the great
topic which occupied most of their thoughts,
the Messiahship of Jesus. Some one raised
a difficulty suggested by current ideas, the
coming of the Messiah must be preceded by
the reappearance of Elijah as the forerunner.
Apparently this condition had not been fulfilled,
unless indeed the vision they had just seen
was its fulfilment ; and yet so transient a visit
to earth could scarcely be all that Malachi
intended when he said, " I will send you Elijah
the prophet before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the Lord ; and he shall

130 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers,
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
This difficulty they did not hesitate to refer to
Jesus, " The scribes say that Elijah must first
come." It is curious that there is no explicit
reference to the recent vision either in the
disciples' question or in Jesus' answer, " Truly
Elijah cometh first and restoreth all things,
and how is it written of the Son of Man that
He must suffer many things and be set at
nought ? But I say unto you, that Elijah has
indeed come, and they have done to him as
they pleased, as it is written of him." Jesus
again attempts to fix their thoughts on the
coming tragedy which they were so anxious to
ignore ; yet He does not refuse to meet their
difficulty. Elijah had come again in John the
Baptist.1 The passage is important as illustra
ting the method of interpretation which Jesus
used for the Old Testament. Its predictions
might be fulfilled in a very elastic sense ; the
definite statement that Elijah should come
1 As in Mark i. 2 ff. the "messenger" of Malachi iii. i is identi
fied with John the Baptist. It is clear that here also the Evangelist
intends us to understand that the Baptist is referred to,

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 131
again is fulfilled by the coming of John the
Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah ; John
the Baptist being, as we should say, a second
Elijah.

The Healing of the Demoniac Boy
ix. 14-29
After leaving, the scene of the Transfigura
tion, Jesus and His three companions rejoined
the rest of the disciples. St Mark's narrative
is too fragmentary to allow us to assume that
they were close by at the foot of the hill wait
ing for Jesus. The next incident took place
in a populous district, perhaps at some con
siderable distance. There is nothing to indicate
the exact locality, but it was probably in
Northern Palestine. We are told that the
people were astonished when He appeared,
probably because they did not expect Him ;
it is also possible that at this time His
countenance and manner expressed a certain
spiritual exaltation inspired by the experiences
He had passed through, and the high and
tragic resolution He had taken. He found the

132 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii. 24-37-
remaining disciples in the midst of a thronging
crowd, engaged in unequal controversy with
certain scribes. When Jesus appeared upon
the scene, the whole multitude, both the dis
putants and their audience, ran to Him and
greeted Him. He inquired as to the subject
of the dispute between the two parties.
Apparently neither was eager to reply, but one
of the crowd answered that he had brought
to Jesus his son, who was afflicted by a dumb
spirit, which continually threw him into con
vulsions. Not finding Jesus, he had sought
help from the disciples, but they had not been
able to cast out the evil spirit. It was quite
natural to seek such relief from the disciples.
When they were sent out two by two, it was
part of their mission to cast out devils, and
apparently they had been successful. Now
there were nine of them together, and they
could not cast out the demon. Certain scribes,
who happened to be present, taunted the
disciples with their failure ; they and their
Master were alike impostors. ** An angry dis
pute arose ; the disciples would retort that if
only Jesus were there, they would soon see

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 133
that He could cast out demons. And now
here He was, in the very nick of time, con
fronted with a test case. Would He be equal
to the occasion ?
At the transfiguration He had received the
assurance that His work was the legitimate
development of that of Moses and Elijah in
spite of His repudiation of the ceremonial law.
Now the whole question seemed to be re
opened. He found His disciples in fierce
controversy with the scribes, who claimed to
be the representatives of Moses, staking His
reputation on His power to work a miracle,
although He had never encouraged them to
ground their faith on His mighty works.
These were the men who were to carry on
His work after He was gone. Even now
they misunderstood Him terribly, and there
was so little time left for Him to be with them.
" O unbelieving generation," He cried, " how
long shall I be with you, how long shall I
suffer you ? " Yet now as ever the appeal of
suffering was irresistible to Jesus, and He
added, " Bring him to Me." The boy was
brought, and as in other cases the excitement

134 IN GENTILE LANDS [vii, 24-37-
caused an acute attack of the malady. The
crowd, disciples, scribes, the unhappy father,
and the curious spectators, watched to see
what Jesus would do. And He, as His
manner was, calm, deliberate, master of Him
self and of the situation, asked how long the
boy had suffered, and the father answered,
" from a child," and dwelt upon the danger and
distress that the trouble had brought upon them.
Then he grew impatient with the Healer's
quiet inactivity, and doubtful of His power to
heal. " If Thou canst do anything," he cried,
"pity us and help us." Jesus took him up,
"' If thou canst . . .' ! All things are possible
to him that believeth." The hindrance did
not lie with Jesus, but with the father's lack
of faith. "Sir," he cried out with tears, "I
do believe, help Thou mine unbelief." Still
it seems Jesus hesitated, and it was not till
He observed the growing numbers and in
creasing excitement of the crowd that He
bade the unclean spirit come out of the boy,
and never enter into him again. Then with
cries and convulsions the evil spirit came out,
leaving the boy apparently dead, but Jesus

-viii. 23— ix. 29] IN GENTILE LANDS 135
took him by the hand and raised him up, and
he recovered.
When Jesus and His disciples were quiet
together afterwards, they asked Him why they
had failed in what they had been able to accom
plish at other times. Jesus told them that
such cures could only be wrought by prayer.
The miraculous powers which He possessed
Himself, and imparted to His disciples, were
no mere mechanical magic. They depended
not only on the faith of those who were
helped, but also on the spiritual condition
of the healer, the intimacy of His fellowship
with God.

CHAPTER VIII
LAST DAYS IN GALILEE
ix. 30-50
Jesus' recent experiences had all been pre
paring the way for the declaration of His
Messiahship and the tragic end of His
ministry. But His hour had not yet come ;
He had chosen the ensuing Passover at
Jerusalem as the occasion of His sacrifice,
in order that the vast assembly of Jewish
pilgrims might be witnesses, and that the
place and time might help to set forth the
significance of the crowning act of His life.
But some considerable interval had still to
elapse before the Passover, and it might seem
at first sight as if Peter's confession, the
Transfiguration, and the announcement of the
Passion had brought matters to a crisis with
the disciples prematurely. Jesus had resolved
on a step which must lead to His death ; He
136

ix. 30-50] LAST DAYS IN GALILEE 137
had solemnly pledged Himself to the disciples,
and yet weeks must intervene before He could
give effect to His resolution. This long sus
pense would dissipate any energy due merely
to moments of highly wrought enthusiasm ;
the fervour of excitement would disappear as
day after day went by, and Jesus again and
again contemplated in cold blood the grim
realities of His future. Yet He went forward
without haste and without hesitation, still
quietly preparing for His decisive visit to
Jerusalem. His sacrifice was deliberate, pre
meditated, prepared for in the abiding strength
of God.

An Unauthorised Exorcist, ix. 38-41
This last journey took Him in the first
instance through Galilee, and in the course of
it He visited Capernaum. He kept His
movements secret, lest He should fall into the
hands of His enemies, and His plans should
be thwarted : " He, desired that no one should
know" that He was in Galilee. He now
wandered a proscribed fugitive, where He had

1

138 LAST DAYS IN GALILEE [ix. 30-50
once been the idol of admiring crowds. In
this nadir of His fortunes the most trifling
token of faith or kindly feeling was welcome,
and was counted as meritorious. John told
Him of an exorcist who cast out demons by
His name, not through any spiritual faith, but
because he regarded the Name as a potent
spell. He had refused to associate himself
with the disciples, and they had forbidden
him to use the Name. But Jesus answered
them, " Do not hinder him ; no one is likely
to do a mighty work in My name, and then
speak evil of Me. Every one who is not
against you is for you." Time had been when
Jesus sat at rich men's feasts, but now a cup of
water bestowed on one of His followers for
His sake would deserve gratitude and
recompense. Disputes as to Precedence, ix. ^^, 34
In this desperate extremity the sole gleam
of comfort came, strangely enough, from the
selfish ambition of the disciples. They might
misunderstand their Master, but they still

ix. 30-50] LAST DAYS IN GALILEE 139
believed in Him ; they were still so confident
about the coming of the Kingdom that they
thought it worth while to dispute who should
be the greatest in the new era. At that time,
most men with any reputation for practical
good sense would have laughed contemptuously
at such aspirations, and bidden the disciples
" dispute, more reasonably wrong, the ordering
of a shipwreck."
Announcement of Passion, ix. 31, 32
Nevertheless, these days were no mere
period of painful suspense ; Jesus still laboured
anxiously to prepare His disciples for the end.
The only reason which St Mark expressly
gives for secrecy is that He desired to teach
the disciples concerning His death and resur
rection ; but, adds the Evangelist, " they did
not understand and were afraid to ask."
Instead of asking, they left Jesus to Himself,
and recurred amongst themselves, as we have
seen, to the more congenial topic of the
relative dignity of the high offices they were
to fill in the Kingdom. Jesus, however, was

140 LAST DAYS IN GALILEE [ix. 30-50
not so pre-occupied with His own fortunes as
to overlook their dispute. When they reached
their lodging He asked them what they had
been discussing, and they were ashamed to
tell Him; nevertheless, He decided their
controversy thus : " If any man desire to be
first, he shall be last of all, and servant of
all."

The Child in the Midst, ix. 35-37
St Mark gives in this connection certain
sayings about children. Jesus took a little
child, set him in the midst, and took him in
His arms and said, "He who receives a little
child like this in My name receives Me, and
he who receives Me, receives not Me, but
Him that sent Me." Further on, separately,
" If any one cause one of the little ones who
believe on Me to stumble, it were better for
him if a great millstone were hanged about
his neck, and he were cast into the sea."
This act and these sayings may be symbolic ;
the child and the believing little ones may
represent humble, simple-minded believers in

ix. 30-50] LAST DAYS IN GALILEE 141
contrast to the Apostles, who were clear that
they were great, and only doubtful which was
the greatest. Or the second saying may be
quite independent, and have no reference to
the dispute as to who was greatest. The
" believing little ones" may describe the dis
ciples generally as men of small account in the
world's esteem. But it would be quite in
accordance with St Mark's description of the
character and teaching of Jesus to understand
these sayings literally of children. Here and
elsewhere we see that Jesus was fond of
children, and they must have been fond of
Him ; they could not have resisted His win-
someness. In these dark days the persecuted
Prophet found much comfort in the artless and
affectionate confidence of children, and His
thoughts turned to their part in the kingdom.
He was not thinking of the acceptance of
doctrines as to His person and work ; the
"belief" of " the little ones " was their trust
ful love for Him. He was indignant at the
possibility that they might be turned away
from the kingdom, perhaps by the selfish
harshness of His own disciples, and He bade

142 LAST DAYS IN GALILEE [ix. 30-50
them receive children as they would receive
their Master, or even God Himself. In the
record as St Mark gives it, the Apostles are
rebuked by the contrast between their con
tentious ambition and a child's disinterested
affection. Other Sayings, ix. 43-49
St Mark assigns other sayings to this last
visit to Galilee ; we cannot be sure of their
connection, as they are arranged on mnemonic
principles, a group about stumbling-blocks,
and another whose key-words are "salt"
and "fire." Again, Jesus insists that loyalty
to Himself may demand the most painful
sacrifices — hand, foot, or eye — yet it is better
to endure such losses than to be shut out of
the Kingdom, and cast into " Gehenna, the un
quenchable fire, where the worm never dies."
His anticipations of coming trial, which may
purify and redeem, is also expressed in the
words, " Everything must be salted with fire " ;
and by a verbal connection we have a saying
that " Salt is good, but if the salt have become

ix. 30-50] LAST DAYS IN GALILEE 143
saltless, wherewith shall ye season it ? " If the
Apostles, who were to be ministers of redemp
tion, fell away, how could they be redeemed ?
The section ends with a reference to the dis
pute on the way to Capernaum, "Be at peace
with one another."
The brief record of the last visit to Galilee
reflects in every phrase the anxiety and gloom
of those days, and the calm persistence with
which Jesus prepared for His final entry into
Jerusalem.

CHAPTER IX
THE MINISTRY BEYOND THE JORDAN
x. 1-31
After a while Jesus left Galilee, and crossing
the Jordan came to the eastern districts
opposite Judaea. He now felt safer than in
Galilee. The eastern borderlands were less
settled : the population was largely of Gentiles,
and was more directly under the government of
Rome. There was less opportunity for official
presentation or popular fanaticism, and the
desert offered a refuge from danger. Hence
Jesus resumed His public ministry. Once
more crowds gathered round Him, and He
taught them after His old fashion. Thus the
coming of the Kingdom was proclaimed in yet
another district1 of the Holy Land. The
reminiscences of this ministry are brief, frag
mentary, and disconnected accounts of special
episodes. Doubtless the burden of His public
1 As far as St Mark's narrative is concerned.
'44

x. 1-31] MINISTRY BEYOND JORDAN 145
preaching was the same as in earlier days.
When He left Galilee the faithful women who
ministered to Him accompanied Him, and
remained with Him till the end.1

Teaching on Divorce, x. 2-12
It soon appeared that Jesus' enemies had
not forgotten Him in His period of retire
ment ; Pharisees soon appeared again amongst
His hearers, and sought to draw from Him
heretical utterances which might furnish
grounds of accusation. Indiscriminate* divorce
was as great an evil amongst the Jews of
those days as it is in some of the United
States to-day ; and Jesus, apparently, had
spoken strongly against this abuse. The
practice was justified by giving a very wide
interpretation to the ordinance,2 "When a
man hath taken a wife, and married her, and
she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath
found some uncleanness in her : then let him
write her a bill of divorcement, and give it
in her hand, and send her out of his house.
1 Ch. xv. 41. a Deuteronomy xxiv. I.

146 THE MINISTRY BEYOND [x. 1-31
When she has left his house, she may go and
marry another man." Hence the Pharisees
approached Him on this subject in the
confident hope of eliciting some blasphemous1
criticism of the Law. They were not dis
appointed. They asked Him in the first
instance if divorce were lawful ; and He
referred them to Moses. " Moses," said they,
" directed that a bill of divorce should be
written, and the woman put away." Jesus
in fact had played into their hands by His
question ; any condemnation of divorce now
would be a deliberate and avowed contradic
tion of Moses, at least so it seemed. But
Jesus answered, " Moses wrote this ordinance
with a view to your hardness of heart," but the
story of the Creation, He continued, shows
that the union of man and woman in marriage
was an act of God, which man must not
undo. Since Jesus had repudiated the Mosaic law
of clean and unclean meats, He had thought
out the principle which enabled Him to accept
the Pentateuch as a Divine revelation, and
1 From their point of view.

x. 1-31] THE JORDAN 147
yet to annul it. The Law was a temporary
provision for an imperfect people ; not, as the
Jews proudly believed, the eternal glory and
privilege of Israel, but in some respects the
brand of their shame. Ordinances ethically
defective implied moral inferiority in the
people ; they were incapable of appreciating
or profiting by any higher law. Thus the
honour of Moses was saved at the expense
of Israel and the Law ; nevertheless, the
blasphemy was equally horrible in the eyes
of the Pharisees.
When He and His disciples were again
alone together, He formulated His views in
express contradiction to Deuteronomy, "Who
soever putteth away his wife and marrieth
another, committeth adultery with her : and
if a wife putteth away her husband, and is
married to some one else, she committeth
adultery." Blessing of the Children, x. 13-16
The next incident confirms what was said
in the last section of Jesus and the children.

148 THE MINISTRY BEYOND [x.l-3l
Some little children, hardly more than babies,
were brought to Him that He might touch
them ; the touch of so great a prophet would
have magic in it, and make them strong and
healthy. But the Apostles intervened ; the
renewed popularity of Jesus' ministry made
them more certain than ever that the mani
festation of His Messianic glory was near at
hand ; and it was beneath the dignity of the
Messiah that He should be troubled by the
foolish importunity of fond parents. But
Jesus was vexed at the mistaken zeal of His
followers, and said, "Suffer the little children
to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of
such is the Kingdom of God ; verily, I say
unto you, no one shall enter into the Kingdom
of God, who does not receive it as a little
child." And He took them in His arms and
laid His hands on them, and blessed them.

The Rich Man's Refusal, x. 17-31
The next episode is one of the few recorded
interviews between Jesus and men of wealth
and position. Once, as Jesus and His disciples

x. 1-31] THE JORDAN 149
were starting out for their day's journey, they
were arrested by a man who came running in
eager haste lest Jesus should have departed
before he could reach Him. Experience
suggested that he was the friend of some
sufferer, and came to beg Jesus to perform
an act of healing. But no, for the first time
in the narrative we hear of some one seeking
spiritual teaching. The man fell on his knees
and asked, " Good Teacher, what am I to do
to inherit eternal life ? " Somehow the word
"good" jarred upon Jesus. "Why," said
He, "do you call me 'good'? No one is
good except One, God." Probably the word
in the man's mouth was a mere conventional
courtesy. Had it been intended in its full
sense, it would have implied a recognition of
the Messiahship, the Divine Sonship of Jesus ;
His question was perhaps meant to elicit a
confession of faith in His mission. But
possibly special stress was laid upon " good,"
such as might be represented by " Teacher,
holy, saintly man ! " The better any one is,
the less he tolerates such forms of address.
There is no question of the low moral

150 THE MINISTRY BEYOND [x. 1-31
standard of sinlessness in its popular mean
ing of freedom from positive wrongdoing.
But men of high spiritual attainments, be
cause they are advanced and exalted, see
infinite possibilities still before them ; so
that to accept the epithet " good " in its
absolute sense would be a despairing denial
of their own spiritual future.
But Jesus' words about Himself met with
no response ; and He went on at once to deal
with the inquirer's question : " Thou knowest
the commandments : Do not commit adultery ;
do not murder ; do not steal ; do not bear
false witness ; defraud not ; honour thy father
and mother " — another challenge to faith.
" You know the Law ; has it failed to help
you, and are you seeking from Me the help
which the Law cannot give ? " " Teacher,"
the man answered, " I have observed all
these from my youth " ; admitting, therefore,
that the Law had failed, and implying that Jesus
might be a source of larger truth and grace.
Something in his tone and manner touched
the heart of Jesus, and looking intently at
him, He loved him. Since the early days

x. 1-31] THE JORDAN 151
of His ministry He had not addressed to
any one the special call to join the inner circle
of His followers, the Apostles ; but this man
had so won Him that He bade him supply the
one thing that was lacking, which the Law
had not been able to do for him, by selling
his property, distributing it to the poor, and
joining the followers of Jesus. By so doing
he would secure treasure in heaven ; but in
accepting discipleship he would be taking up
his cross. The one thing he lacked was
personal surrender to Jesus, whereby he
would secure an entrance into the Kingdom
of God, wherein alone there was eternal life.
The call to apostleship involved the abandon
ment of worldly goods for him, as for the
original Twelve ; but the condition was em
phasised because he was rich, and such a
sacrifice meant much more to him than it did
to them. Moreover, the invitation was a call
to martyrdom ; Jesus was going consciously
and deliberately to His death ; His movements
were no longer secret ; He again courted
publicity, and seemed to have entered on
a triumphal progress to Jerusalem. Once

152 THE MINISTRY BEYOND [x. 1-31
more His enemies dogged His steps, and ob
served His sayings and doings with malignant
eyes. His followers, men would suppose,
must share His fate ; and even if there was
some chance that obscure Galileans might
escape, this new and distinguished convert
who had joined Jesus after His public repudia
tion of the Law, this wealthy proprietor from
the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, would be a
marked man. His acceptance of Jesus' call
would indeed have been taking up His cross ;
and on the way to the scaffold a man may
cheerfully distribute his possessions among
the crowd. But the Teacher and His would-
be disciple were at cross purposes. Jesus
spoke in the light of His coming death and
its consequences to His followers ; but the
rich man, like the Apostles, understood
nothing of this. He had come to a great
prophet, popular and influential, who might
possibly be the Messiah, so that suggestions
of imminent calamity fell upon unheeding
ears. All that he grasped was that the
sacrifice of all he had was demanded as the
price of eternal life ; and as he listened his

x. 1-31] THE JORDAN 153
countenance fell, and he went away disap
pointed, for he was very wealthy.
Meanwhile the disciples stood by, watching
the scene with eager interest. Hitherto the
followers of Jesus had consisted of the poor
and people of the lower middle-class ; now, it
seemed, they might be reinforced by a wealthy
convert, a valuable accession, and also a
dangerous competitor for leadership. But
Jesus had imposed difficult conditions, and
the possible recruit was lost ; and the Master
looked round on His disciples, and said,
" How hard it is for those who have property
to enter into the Kingdom of God." And the
disciples were astonished ; in this life entrance
into the best society is easy for the rich. Jesus
explained further, " Children, how hard it is
for those who put their trust in riches to enter
into the Kingdom of God. It is easier for a
camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter into the King
dom of God." The disciples were still more
astonished — they seem to have been brought
up to respect wealthy men. " Who, then,"
said they, "can be saved?" Jesus, however,

154 THE MINISTRY BEYOND [x. 1-31
explained that He did not mean literally that
no rich man could be saved ; humanly speak
ing it was impossible, but might be accom
plished by the special grace of God, for all
things were possible with God. By this time
the disciples had begun to consider the matter
from the point of view of their own personal
merits, and Peter said, " Behold, we gave up
everything, and followed Thee." If this new
comer has not faith enough in his "good
Teacher " to sacrifice his wealth, you still have
the devoted followers who did not hesitate
to leave for your sake boats and nets and
comfortable posts in the custom house.
Jesus answered, " Verily I say unto you,
there is no one who for My sake, and for the
sake of the good tidings, has left house, or
brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or
children, who shall not receive a hundredfold
now at this time," in this present dispensation,
" houses, brethren, sisters, mothers, children,
and lands, with persecutions, and in the coming
age," the new dispensation, " eternal life."
The wording of this answer shows that it is
not a commercial contract guaranteeing a

x. 1-31] THE JORDAN 155
certain profit. The loss of a mother cannot
literally be compensated for by the gift of a
hundred mothers, and the victims of persecu
tion would not be left in possession of hundreds
of houses and estates. There is a note of
grave irony, as if Jesus discerned that Peter's
anxiety lest his material sacrifices should be
forgotten was partly inspired by the hope of
material compensation. He had been trying
for weeks to prepare His disciples for His
coming death, and their insistence on the cost
of their loyalty struck a harsh and discordant
note. It was as if on the eve of Thermopylae
the Spartans had clamoured to Leonidas for
arrears of pay. Yet Jesus had answered with
kindly forbearance, and veiled His rebuke in
enigmatic language whose meaning only slowly
dawned on His hearers. Indeed, we have no
complete solution of the enigma now. The
general sense, however, is clear. " Do not be
afraid that you have made a bad bargain ;
even now, in the midst of persecution, you
have a larger enjoyment of the ordinary
blessings of life than you could have derived
from the good things you have sacrificed ; and

156 MINISTRY BEYOND JORDAN [x. 1-31
you shall have that eternal life which the rich
man sought but was not willing to purchase at
the expense of his wealth." But He ended
with a word of frank warning, " Many that are
first shall be last, and the last first."

CHAPTER X
THE JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM
x. 32-52
Renewed Prophecy of Death and
Resurrection, x. 32-34
Ever since Peter's confession Jesus had been
preparing for His visit to Jerusalem, and had
been moving towards Judaea, first through
Galilee, and then through the lands east of
the Jordan. The secrecy of His movements
in Galilee had secured Him from an arrest
which would have thwarted His plans ; and
His renewed public ministry east of the
Jordan, and perhaps in the border districts
of Judaea, had recalled Him to men's minds,
and raised expectations as to the possibilities
involved in His entry into the Holy City;
now He began a direct and avowed journey
thither. In these last days Jesus was often pre-
157

158 THE JOURNEY [x. 32-52
occupied with His coming sacrifice of Him
self; He faced this grim prospect alone, for
the Apostles' lack of understanding cut Him
off from their sympathy. Now as He entered
on the final stage of His journey, He went on
before the disciples, oblivious of them, wrapped
in His own thoughts ; and they followed
wondering. He bore Himself in the same
exalted fashion as when He came down from
His interview with Moses and Elijah ; the
ecstasy of prophetic inspiration was upon
Him, as if once more He held converse
with supernatural beings ; and the disciples
followed, silent, awestruck, and afraid.
After a while He roused Himself, and
turned to the Apostles, entered into con
versation with them, and spoke afresh of
His coming death and resurrection ; with
what effect St Mark does not tell us, but
the sequel shows that His words made but
slight impression on them.

x. 32-52] TO JERUSALEM 159
The Ambition of the Sons of Zebedee
x- 35-45
The previous rebuke of Jesus 1 had failed to
quench the spirit of jealous rivalry amongst
His followers; and His renewed popularity
had made them more deaf than ever to His
gloomy prognostications of coming doom ;
rather the glory of the Kingdom seemed
close at hand ; doubtless Jesus would now
inaugurate it at Jerusalem. Dazzled by this
prospect, the sons of Zebedee came in eager
excitement to ask for the chief places in the
Kingdom. "Teacher," said they, "if only you would
do for us whatsoever we ask."
These two sons of Zebedee, John and
James, were two of the three Apostles whom
Jesus trusted most implicitly, and with whom
He was most closely intimate. They had
been with Him when others* were excluded —
at the house of Jairus and at the Transfigura
tion. "Surely," they thought, "He loves us
well enough to grant us special favours." We
1 Unless indeed ix. 33-37 and this passage are both reminiscences
of the same event.

160 THE JOURNEY [x. 32-52
need not suppose that after their experience
of Jesus they expected Him to make promises
blindfold. They spoke somewhat rhetorically,
but what they meant, and what He understood
them to mean, was, "Teacher, we are going
to ask you a very great favour." He replied
by inquiring what they sought for.
" Grant," said they, " that we may sit, one
on your right hand, and one on your left
hand, in your glory — when you come to your
Kingdom." The request showed great lack of under
standing and sympathy towards Jesus, and
also a measure of disloyalty towards their
comrades. Yet Jesus met them with His
usual patient kindliness ; He sought to avoid
the necessity for direct rebuke by a hint of
His coming Passion. Surely they must have
understood something of His many warnings ;
if He turned their thoughts to the experiences
which awaited Him, they might remember
His words and have some sense of the stress
and burden of His soul ; they might be
ashamed of their selfish ambition and for
bear to press their request.

x. 32-52] TO JERUSALEM 161
"You know not what you ask," said Jesus.
" Can you drink of the cup that I drink of,
or be baptised with the baptism wherewith I
am being baptised ? "
But this veiled appeal was in vain ; the
brothers were in no mood to take hints ;
what they understood by the words of Jesus,
or whether they understood anything by them,
we cannot tell ; but they were confident that
they could fulfil any conditions attached to the
distinction they sought, and they replied : —
" We can."
He had spoken to them in a parable, and
they had not understood, and He did not
try to explain, but continued in the same
strain : —
" The cup that I drink, you shall drink ;
and you shall be baptised with the baptism
wherewith I am being baptised ; to sit on My
right and on My left is not Mine to give, but
it is for those for whom it has been prepared."
Perhaps the obtuseness and self-seeking of
the Apostles made Jesus distrust His judgment
in calling them ; He did not doubt their loyalty
and affection ; they would be true to Him to

162 THE JOURNEY [x. 32-52
the end and share His fortunes ; but He could
not tell what would be their place in establish
ing the Kingdom and in determining its char
acter, laws, and principles ; these things were
in the hands of God.
When the other Apostles heard of the
attempt of the sons of Zebedee to steal a
march upon them, they were naturally in
dignant, and probably expressed their feelings
in no measured words. Perhaps they com
plained to Jesus ; at any rate this new dispute
came tc His ears, and He called them to Him.
Now He dropped figurative language and
spoke plainly. The Apostles had thought of
the Kingdom of God after the carnal, worldly
fashion of the popular Messianic ideas ; it was
to be a kingdom with a magnificent court of
splendid officials, a kingdom in which, as in
other kingdoms, men might honourably com
pete for the highest posts, the greatest honours,
emoluments, and authority. Jesus now told
them that the principles of His Kingdom were
quite different ; there the first and chief would
not be the man who was most successful in
exacting service, obedience, and deference

x. 32-52] TO JERUSALEM 163
from his fellows, but the man who rendered
service to all.
"You know," said He, "that those who
are counted rulers of the Gentiles lord it over
them, and their great ones exercise authority
over them. But it is not so amongst you.
Whosoever would be great amongst you, shall
be your servant, and whosoever would be first
amongst you, shall be slave of all."
The Kingdom was as the King ; He was
not supreme because He had trampled down
all rulers, but because " The Son of Man came
not to have servants, but to be a servant, and
to give His life a ransom for many."
The verses dealt with in this section are of
the greatest importance ; they are the most
formal statement by Jesus that He was not a
Messiah according to popular ideas ; it is also
an explicit description of the character of the
Kingdom. The simple principle laid down
here is comprehensive and far-reaching; it
involves a fundamental and essential feature
of the teaching of Jesus, illustrated and con
firmed, as He Himself states, in His Passion,
the crowning act of His ministry.

164 THE JOURNEY [x. 32-52
In His concluding words Jesus made yet
another attempt to win the sympathy of His
followers for Himself in His impending trial.

Bartimeus, x. 46-52
In the course of His journey to Jerusalem,
Jesus crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho,
where He spent the night. In the morning
He started again, accompanied by His dis
ciples and a great crowd. The latter need
not have actually belonged to His follow
ing ; just then the roads were thronged with
pilgrims to Jerusalem for the Passover.
On the outskirts of the town a blind beggar,
the son of Timaeus, sat by the wayside. The
Passover pilgrimage might well be harvest
time for such ; the many travellers would
doubtless be generous ; they were in a festive
mood, and under the influence of a religion
which laid much stress on almsgiving. But a
greater hope was stirring in the heart of the
son of Timaeus ; he had been told that Jesus
of Nazareth was in Jericho and would leave
that morning; he had heard of His mighty

x. 32-52] TO JERUSALEM 165
works, and how He had opened the eyes of
the blind. Now he waited eagerly for Jesus
to pass by, and as he heard the noise made by
one company after another, he asked again
and again if Jesus of Nazareth were amongst
them. At last he was told that Jesus was
there, and then the confused noise of the
moving throng was pierced by shrill cries,
"Son of David! Jesus! Pity me!" The
crowd were startled and scandalised. " Son
of David " was but Messiah in other words ;
and hitherto such titles had only been publicly
given to Jesus by demoniacs. Any Pharisees f
in the crowd would sneer at the notion of a
Nazarene Messiah whose herald was a blind
beggar. Nor would His own followers be
gratified at the outcry ; Peter, for instance,
chafing at the reticence imposed upon him,
eager to proclaim his Master's true dignity,
would be indignant at being so unworthily
anticipated. Many voices were raised bidding
the man be silent, but opposition only pro
voked him to reiterate more loudly than ever,
"Son of David! Jesus! Pity me!" Per
haps his cries now first reached the ears of

166 THE JOURNEY [x. 32-52
the Master, or Jesus may have hesitated,
as in the cases of the miracle after the
Transfiguration and the daughter of the
Syrophoenician woman.
" Son of David ! " The title could not be a
mere piece of flattery, part of a mendicant's
stock-in-trade. The blind man would under
stand little of the meaning of the phrase for
theology or for Israel or for the human race.
For him the Messiah was the Healer who
opened the eyes of the blind.
"Son of David! Jesus! Pity me!" The
words were strangely in tune with the thoughts
and purposes of Jesus ; He was on His way to
declare Himself the Messiah, and perhaps
already the crowd caught the suggestion of a
new departure from the bearing and manner
of Jesus and His disciples. Every step was
bringing Him nearer to Jerusalem, committing
Him more deeply, making retreat more im
possible. There is no sign of wavering, but
doubts and misgivings must have crowded on
His mind. The ringing cries, "Son of David!
Jesus ! Pity me ! " may have seemed words of
Divine encouragement and admonition, almost

x. 32-52] TO JERUSALEM 167
as much as the voices from heaven at the
Baptism and the Transfiguration. " Son of
David" might be the promise and omen of
widespread recognition of the Messiahship.
The importunate and reiterated " Pity me ! "
would remind Him that the misery and sin of
mankind called Him to Jerusalem and to the
Cross. " Son of David ! " This public salutation
placed Him in a dilemma ; He had silenced
the demoniacs who greeted Him with Mes
sianic titles ; if now He allowed Himself to be
called " Son of David " without rebuke or
disclaimer, He virtually declared Himself
Messiah, and anticipated a step He probably
intended to take when He was actually enter
ing Jerusalem. On the other hand, He could
hardly disclaim the title now, and accept it a
few hours later. Providence, He must have
felt, had again taken times and seasons out of
His hand, and He acquiesced in its decision.
Without making any protest, He stopped and
bade them call the son of Timaeus to Him.
Forthwith officious voices cried out to the
blind man, " Take courage ! Arise ! He calls

168 JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM [x. 32-52
you ! " He threw off his cloak and sprang up.
Then, perhaps led by friendly hands, perhaps
guided only by the wonderful instinct of the
blind, he came to where Jesus stood waiting
for him, and heard the Master ask him, "What
would you have me do ? "
" Rabboni," he answered, using a title of
honour only found here,1 " that I may receive
my sight."
"Go your way," answered Jesus ; " your faith
has saved you."
At once the blind man's sight returned to
him, and he joined the company that followed
Jesus to Jerusalem.
It was the last of Jesus' mighty works of
healing, wrought in response to unquestioning
and persistent faith ; wrought without effort or
delay, in the full tide of spiritual force in which
He moved onward to His death.
1I.e. in St Mark.

CHAPTER XI
MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM
xi. i — xii. 44
The Entry into Jerusalem, xi. i-ii
When the blind man had obtained the boon he
sought, and had fallen into the train of Jesus,
the company moved on, impressed and excited
by the fact that the title "Son of David " had
been publicly given to Jesus and publicly ac
cepted by Him, and that His claims had been
confirmed by a miracle. In time they came
within two miles of Jerusalem to the slopes of
the Mount of Olives, in the neighbourhood of
two villages called Bethany and Bethphage.
The distance from Jericho to Jerusalem is
about eighteen miles ; and, in view of the
many events crowded into this busy day, it
would seem that Jesus started very early,
according to the common Eastern fashion, and
rested near Bethany in the heat of the day to
169

170 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
prepare for His solemn entry into the Holy
City. His preparations were slight and
simple ; He intended to ride into Jerusalem,
and sent two of His disciples to bring Him an
animal to ride upon. The incident is told in
fuller detail and at greater length than its
intrinsic importance would warrant. No
doubt St Mark's authority was one of the two
disciples. As the story is given, some mystery
attaches to the transaction. .The disciples
were to go to the opposite village, and as they
entered they would find tied up by the road
side an ass's colt,1 that had never yet been rid
den. They were to loose it and bring it. If
any one challenged them, they were to answer,
" The Master needs it, and will send it back
at once." Jesus, it seems, had arranged that
the colt should be waiting for Him at a fixed
spot, and that His messengers should be al
lowed to take it away on giving a password
previously agreed upon. The owner of the
colt would be some sympathiser with Jesus
1 The Greek word, polon, is strictly "colt," as R.V., but the occa
sion, a solemn, peaceful procession, and the usage in Hellenistic
Greek (Swete, i. i) would suggest that the animal was an ass's colt,
apart from the other Gospels.

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 171
who had not publicly identified himself with
Him. There must have been many who
admired Jesus and appreciated His teaching,
and yet did not enrol themselves amongst His
avowed followers. Some lacked courage ;
others were not fully convinced of His right to
the unique authority which He claimed. This
passage and one or two others bring us into
contact with an outer fringe of loosely attached
disciples. The method in which the messengers were
to obtain possession of the colt was intended
to protect the owner. No one gave the colt ;
it was taken ; neither Jesus nor the owner
was named ; and the disciples were not told
to whom the animal belonged. The presence
of a traitor in their number would naturally
occur both to Jesus and His friend; and
accordingly precautions were taken to prevent
the premature betrayal of His plans, and to
protect the owner of the colt from punish
ment for complicity with them.
The two disciples went to the village, and
everything happened as they had been told.
The colt was brought to Jesus, and His

172 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
followers provided it with rude trappings and
housings by placing their upper garments
upon it, and Jesus sat thereon. The arrange
ments were suitable to the occasion ; the ass
was the animal used by dignified persons for
peaceable ceremonies ; and the fact that the
colt had never before been used would suggest
the peculiar sanctity of the present rider,
and the sacred importance of His entry into
Jerusalem. Meantime the crowd had learned
the purpose of Jesus, and His disciples were
no longer restrained from declaring Him the
Messiah. The enthusiasm of the people had
already been kindled by the healing of the
blind man ; so that they lent a ready ear to
the Apostles when they proclaimed Jesus the
Messiah, the Redeemer and King of Israel ;
and announced that He was about to enter
the Holy City, to ascend the throne of David,
and establish the Kingdom of God. With
ecstatic fervour men stripped themselves of
their outer garments and threw them on the
road to provide a fitting pathway for the Son
of David, while others strewed branches in
the way.

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 173
So the procession moved on to Jerusalem
with Jesus in their midst ; and those who
went before and those who followed after
shouted : —
" Hosanna — Grant salvation,
Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord,
Blessed be the Kingdom that cometh, the Kingdom of
our father David,
Hosanna in the highest."
After this graphic picture the bald sentence
which follows is an anti-climax, " And He
went into Jerusalem into the temple ; and
He surveyed everything, and as it was
already late, He went out to Bethany with
the Twelve." Apparently the actual entry
into Jerusalem was not so dramatic as the
start of the procession. There were many
entering Jerusalem at that time, and Jesus
would not be the only distinguished person
amongst them ; there would be others, too,
who would be received with acclamation. As
Jesus approached and entered the city, His
following became merged in other companies,
and reached the temple without attracting
much notice. Otherwise it would be difficult

174 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
to understand how a procession acclaiming
its leader as the Messiah passed the gate of
the city without being challenged.
At the temple, then, He looked about upon
all things with the curious interest of a pro
vincial viewing the sights of a great capital.
Meanwhile the disciples had been expecting
some act by which He would assert His
Messianic sovereignty ; a miracle or sign
from heaven ; or perhaps public recognition
by the priests, the Sanhedrim, and other
Jewish authorities, to be followed by a vic
torious attack upon the Roman garrison.
When Jesus passed the gates and nothing
happened, except that He directed His steps
towards the temple, they would reflect that
the temple was the place where the mani
festation of the Messiah would rightly take
place. But nothing happened at the temple,
and as the long and weary day was now
drawing to its close, Jesus left the city, and
went out to Bethany and spent the night
there,1 either for the sake of being with
1 We are not told whether the women who accompanied Jesus
shared the daily coming and going to and from Bethany. It is more
probable that they lodged with friends in the city.

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 175
friends, or to avoid the dangers that beset
Him in Jerusalem ; He had come to offer
Himself a public sacrifice, not to court the
dagger of some midnight assassin hired by
His enemies. But probably He left Jerusalem
simply because He had no accommodation
there for Himself and His followers, and had
arranged to return to Bethany if He were
still alive, and at liberty at nightfall. The
disciples followed Him burdened with hope
once more deferred ; the great day had come
and gone ; He had been publicly proclaimed
Messiah, but nothing decisive had been done ;
the evening found them again at Bethany,
and the Kingdom of God was no nearer
than it had been in the morning.
As to the mind of Jesus at this time, we
get most light from His repeated declara
tions that He would suffer at Jerusalem as
a criminal. He, at any rate, did not look
for any blazing splendour from heaven, or
for any deputation of priests offering Him
the keys of the Temple on bended knees.
For the moment, indeed, there may have
flashed across His imagination a wild fancy

176 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
of some Divine intervention which would
render His sacrifice unnecessary and inaugu
rate the Kingdom of God in happier fashion.
But He would not dwell on such pictures ;
we must believe that His stern purpose was
never abandoned even for a moment, and was
seldom absent from His mind. Probably
when He entered Jerusalem, He did not
expect to leave it again a free man, but
rather looked for arrest or even for death
that very night, and He went out to Bethany
burdened because He had more hours to
spend under the shadow of the Cross, made
more grim by the cheerful hopes and eager
excited anticipations of disciples who were
looking for dignified posts in the Kingdom.
The Barren Fig Tree, xi. 12-14
We are not told how Jesus and His disciples
spent the night at Bethany ; possibly after the
fatigue of the long day all slept soundly through
exhaustion ; possibly Jesus betook Himself to
prayer so solitary that His followers did not
suspect His vigils. At last the new day

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 177
dawned, and they set out again for Jerusalem.
After the manner of Orientals Jesus took little
or nothing before He started, and while He
was yet on His way to the city He became
hungry. Seeing a fig tree, He went to it
expecting to find figs, but there were none.1
Nature herself seemed to have failed Him
when He sought her succour. The tree stood
there the very type of a Pharisee, ostentatious
and barren ; or like a disciple lavish of loyal
profession, but lacking understanding and
sympathy. He solemnly cursed the tree in
the hearing of His disciples, "May no one
ever again eat fruit of thee."
The Cleansing of the Temple, xi. 15-19
They went on to Jerusalem, entered the
City, and passed on to the Temple, without
any noteworthy incident. In the Temple
courts they found a busy scene. The feast
was the occasion of a great fair, at which the
1 The exact interpretation of the words about the fig tree is very
difficult, but the intention of the narrative clearly is that Jesus went
to the tree believing that He had good ground for expecting to find
fruit on it.
M

178 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
pilgrims could buy birds and animals for sacri
fices, and obtain the sacred coins which alone
were accepted in payment of the Temple
tribute. Tricks of trade were rife : the
merchants of the capital matched their wits
against those of their provincial customers.
They perhaps trusted that the pilgrims would
be awed by the sanctity of the place and
season, and would abate something of the
noisy importunity of Eastern bargaining, and
allow the sellers to make an exorbitant profit.
Jesus had surveyed the scene the evening
before. On both occasions He may have
witnessed sharp practice, chicanery, the hungry
eagerness for gain. Now, perhaps, some one
who thought himself aggrieved appealed to
the Galilean Prophet ; the buyers and sellers
near at hand crowded round Him to argue the
case, each seeking to win His support. When
they were silent for His decision, He broke
out into fierce condemnation of the traffic.
" Is it not written that My House shall be
called a House of Prayer for all nations ?
And ye have made it a den of thieves." His
teaching was promptly enforced by His

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 179
Galilean followers, who swept the Temple
courts clear of the salesmen and their goods,
and thus He drove out the sellers and buyers
from the Temple, and upset the tables of the
moneychangers and the seats of the dove-
sellers, and would not allow anyone to carry
a vessel through the Temple.
The disciples hailed the action of Jesus as
a practical assertion of Messiahship, a further
step towards the establishment of His authority,
to be followed, doubtless, by others even more
effective. Was not the Holy City polluted by
the presence of a Roman garrison ? But the
disciples were again disappointed ; Jesus did
not give the signal for the attack on the
Antonia, but simply preached to the people
on the sanctity of the Temple, which seemed
to friends and foes alike a lame and impotent
conclusion of a very promising beginning.
He had gone so far, men said, that He could
neither pause nor go back ; He must go on,
or perish. But Jesus was not now to be
hurried on by the logic of events ; He saw no
Divine leading in them when they pointed to
violence for political or personal ends ; He

180 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
went His own way, without regard to the
expectations of His friends or the personal
consequences to Himself.
Meanwhile the news spread through the
City ; the mildest rumour was that there had
been a disturbance in the Temple courts ; that
Jesus of Nazareth, at the head of a Galilean
mob, had broken up the customary order of
the festival, and suppressed the fair estab
lished for the convenience of pilgrims and the
general advantage of all concerned. Public
order in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover
was an anxious matter for both Jewish and
Roman officials. The Jews especially dreaded
any riot which might give the Romans an
excuse for indiscriminate, bloody severity. To
the chief priests, therefore, Jesus seemed a
public danger, a view of the matter heartily
endorsed by His old enemies, the scribes and
Pharisees ; so that the priestly officials, for the
most part Sadducees, and the popular religious
leaders, the Pharisees, were equally desirous
of getting rid of Jesus. But for the moment
He held the walled enclosures of the Temple
with a formidable following, and an attempt

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 181
to arrest Him would have caused a fresh riot.
So for the time they left Him alone ; and in
the evening He let the crowd disperse, and
departed quietly from the City with His dis
ciples. Last Days in Jerusalem
At this point St Mark abandons the attempt
to give each day's events separately, and tells
us1 that Jesus left the city every evening.
The Evangelist records sayings and incidents
belonging to the period just before the Passion
without assigning to each a definite date ;
but the narrative may perhaps give the im
pression that what is dealt with in this section
happened on the same day.
The Fig Tree Withered, xi. 20, 21
Another night was spent outside the city,
probably at Bethany, a night during which
Jesus leaned on Divine strength in His patient
waiting for the inevitable end ; a night of
1 Ch. xi. 19, R.V.

182 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
anxious perplexity for the disciples. In the
morning they turned their steps once more
towards Jerusalem, and on their way they
came to the fig tree which Jesus had cursed.
It stood there withered, blasted as it seemed
by some supernatural power. Peter called
the attention of his Master, and reminded
Him that He had cursed the tree, and behold,
now it was withered. Jesus made no answer ; l
to Him the episode was a casual incident, out
of the line of His special work ; but to the
disciples the blasted tree was a happy omen,
a foreshadowing of the ruin of their Master's
enemies. They forgot that He did not curse
His enemies.
The Authority of Jesus, xi. 27-33
They went on again to Jerusalem and the
Temple, where Jesus still maintained the new
order and prevented the fair from being held.
1 In the Gospel as it stands Jesus replies with an exhortation to
| faith and forgiveness, verses 22-25. But this paragraph is quite irre-
'( levant to its context, and gives the impression that its contents are
sayings of our Lord which the Evangelist found without historical
setting, and inserted conjecturally at this point. Either, therefore,
I the actual answer of Jesus was not preserved, or He did not reply.
R. V. omits verse 26.

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 183
The officials would desire to rescue the sanc
tuary from " this Galilean fanatic " at the
earliest possible moment, but without further
disturbance to public order.
First they tried moral suasion ; an imposing
deputation, chief priests, scribes and elders,
confronted Jesus in the sacred courts, and
challenged His claim to interfere with the
administration of the Temple.
"By what authority do you act thus? Or
who gave you authority to act thus ? "
It was an embarrassing question. The dis
ciples would expect Him to answer that He
acted in His own right, or by Divine com
mission, as the Messiah. Any other reply
would have been a denial of His Messiahship ;
and yet if He publicly and emphatically pro
claimed Himself Messiah in the hearing of a
crowd of enthusiastic followers, the city would
be in an uproar ; it might soon be involved in
the horrors of a popular insurrection. Thus
the spiritual ideals for which Jesus stood, and
His own personal character, would be lost
sight of in the confusion. He had, indeed,
allowed the multitude at Bethany to acclaim

184 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. l-
Him as the " Son of David " ; but the incident
made no impression on Jerusalem. By this
time, however, Jesus had obtained a hold on
the populace, and His claim could not be
repeated and pushed without causing dan
gerous excitement.
Jesus, therefore, met the demand of the
deputation by a question, and thus suggested
an answer, which He would not give point
blank. " I, in My turn, will ask you one thing.
Answer Me, and I will tell you by what
authority I act thus. John's baptism, was it
from heaven or from men ? Answer Me ! "
John the Baptist had borne testimony to
Jesus, and if his prophetic calling and Divine
mission had been admitted, it would have
followed at the very least that Jesus was a
prophet and had authority to reform public
abuses. It may, however, be doubted whether
at this juncture the officials would think of
the Baptist's testimony to Jesus, though pro
bably it was known to some of the deputation.
Jesus' question had placed them in a dilemma
which prevented them considering what bear-

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 185
ing it might have on their own demand as to
His authority. The dilemma was so obvious
that St Mark does not hesitate to describe
the feelings of those whom Jesus addressed,
although he can scarcely have been in the
confidence of the priestly officials. " They
reasoned with themselves," he tells us, " saying,
If we say from heaven, He will say, Why did
you not believe Him? But if we say, from
men  ." The latter alternative was impos
sible as an answer, at any rate, in face of the
crowd by whom they were hemmed in. " They
feared the people, for all firmly believed that
John was a prophet." Possibly the priests
and their colleagues drew apart, and discussed
the matter amongst themselves in some such
terms as these ; possibly they were merely
conscious that these obvious thoughts were in
each other's minds.
After a brief pause they answered Jesus,
" We do not know."
Jesus was thus prevented from appealing
to the authority of John the Baptist, but the
failure of the priests to deal with the dilemma
in which He had involved them made it

186 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. l-
possible for Him to refuse to answer their
question. " Neither do I tell you," said He, " by what
authority I act thus."
And under the circumstances they could not
very well press the matter.
The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen
xii. 1-12
And yet He answered them after all. In
His characteristic fashion He began telling a
story. A man let a vineyard on condition
that he should receive a share of the vintage
by way of rent ; but when he sent again and
again for what was due to him it was per
sistently withheld, and his messengers were
ill-treated, and some of them murdered. At
last he sent his only son, thinking that his
recalcitrant tenants would not venture to resist
his son. But they said one to another, " This
is the heir ; come, let us kill him, and then we
may have undisputed possession of the vine
yard." And they seized him, and killed him,
and threw him out of the vineyard.

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 187
He finished the story by declaring that the
owner of the vineyard would put his wicked
tenants to death, and give the vineyard to
others. Then He added a quotation from the
Psalms : —
" The stone which the builders rejected,
The same was made the chief corner stone ;
This was the Lord's doing,
And it is marvellous in our eyes."
The story is based on a free adaptation of
a passage in Isaiah,1 and its moral would be
clear to the deputation, to the disciples, and
probably to most of those within hearing.
The vineyard was the people of God, Israel,
or, as we should say, the Church ; the owner,
God ; the wicked tenants, the rulers of Israel
— in the present instance, the priests, scribes,
and elders, whose representatives stood before
Him ; the messengers were the prophets ; the
only son was Jesus.
So far all was clear : the story, in Jesus'
unobtrusive fashion, asserted His claim to
unique authority, to Messiahship; He had
1 Isaiah v. 1-7.

188 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
answered their question and told them that
He controlled the Temple as Son of God. But
the sequel was unexpected. His audience
would expect the tale to end with the triumph
of the owner's son over the wicked tenants,
but it ended with his death. Thus again
we are taken into the confidence of Jesus.
He found Himself the object of popular
enthusiasm. He had successfully asserted
His authority ; none the less, He knew that
He was doomed.
The parable angered the priests, and at the
same time the announcement of His death
seemed like an offer to surrender Himself into
their hands. They made a movement to seize
Him, but His followers interposed and baffled
the attempt, and the official deputation with
drew. The Tribute Money
xii. 13-17
The Jewish officials next sought to deal
with Jesus indirectly. Some time ago in
Galilee the Herodians, the partisans of Herod

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM \ 189
and the Romans, had allied x themselves with
the Pharisees, the popular religious leaders,
against Jesus. Now the priests succeeded in
forming a similar combination in Jerusalem,
and sent representatives of the two parties
to beguile Jesus into compromising Himself.
The allies entered the Temple courts, made
their way to Jesus, and presented themselves
in the character of anxious inquirers after
truth with tokens of the utmost deference.
" Teacher," said they, " we know that you
are frank and entirely indifferent to personal
considerations, and that you teach the way of
God without reserve or compromise. Is it
right to pay tribute to Caesar or not ? Ought
we to pay, or ought we not to pay ? "
Probably they did not expect to deceive
Jesus, but they observed the usual forms of
polite address in order that they might not
irritate His followers. It was another obvious
dilemma, and on whichever horn Jesus impaled
Himself, one or other of the two sets of
inquirers was ready to take immediate advan
tage of His predicament. If He enjoined
1 Mark iii. 6 ; cf. viii. 15.

190 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
payment, the Pharisees would detach the
people from Him by declaring that He was
no patriot, but a friend of the Romans, and an
enemy of the cause of Israel. If He forbade
payment, the Herodians would denounce Him
to the Romans, who would promptly arrest
Him and put Him to death.
But for Jesus the question raised a some
what different problem, with which He had
been confronted throughout His ministry.
If He endorsed the claims of the Roman
government, He destroyed the faith of the
people in Himself and His mission ; but if
He repudiated those claims, He made Himself
the leader of a political revolt, in which His
spiritual character and work would be lost
sight of — a revolt which would discredit His
message by its inevitable failure. Jesus must
have thought much on this urgent problem :
He must have become familiar with it in all
its bearings, and have solved it for Himself as
far as its more general aspects were concerned ;
indeed, He had probably considered the special
difficulty with which He now had to deal.
Naturally He at once discerned the hostile

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 191
purpose, which was only thinly veiled by the
profusion of polite phrases.
" Why," said He, " do you set traps for
Me ? Get a denarius and show it to Me."
They brought Him the coin.
" Whose," said He, " is this image and
superscription ? "
" Caesar's," said they.
" Render unto Caesar," said Jesus, " the
things that are Caesar's, and to God the things
that are God's."
Thus He again extricated Himself from
what was apparently a hopeless dilemma, and
His opponents were amazed at what seemed
to them a superhuman, demoniac ingenuity.
He had not only extricated Himself, but had
succeeded in putting them in the wrong. The
Pharisees, in the light of Jesus' answer, had
acknowledged the imperial government by
using Roman coins ; and the crowd would
readily identify the Herodians as those who
did not give God His due.
But Jesus' answer was no mere quibble.
The Pharisees and Herodians were insincere ;
but their question raised a real difficulty, which

192 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. l-
Jesus met by providing, once for all, a solution
for such problems — the secular authority might
be obeyed in its merely material demands ; its
decrees must be ignored when they clash with
the diviner dictates of the quickened conscience
and the enlightened soul.

The Sadducees' Question, xii. 18-27
Later on Jesus was assailed by another set
of soi-disant anxious inquirers ; this time the
company were Sadducees — the name occurs
only here in Mark ; but the Sadducees were
the dominant element of the Jerusalem priest
hood, and the party must have been represented
in the first deputation. But the officials, and
the Pharisees too, in their way, were men of
affairs and ecclesiastics ; they, therefore, did
not .suppose that a prophet in the flood-tide of
his popularity would be upset by theological
conundrums ; their questions turned on prac
tical politics, and an incautious answer would
have meant disaster to Jesus and to the cause
of the Kingdom.
But the new problem submitted to Him was

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 193
comparatively trivial ; these Sadducees re
presented the scholarly rather than the political
wing of the party ; they may have taken a
real interest in speculative theology. Now, in
matters of doctrine, the Sadducees represented
an older orthodoxy, which stigmatised the
Pharisees as heretical innovators. Jesus, it
seems, had accepted the Alexandrine and
Pharisaic doctrine of the Resurrection, which
the Sadducees rejected as an unsound novelty.
It was on this point that they attacked Him ;
they were in happy possession of an ingenious
puzzle, by which they had often posed be
wildered Pharisees, at any rate in their own
estimation. They now looked forward to a
similar triumph over the Galilean prophet.
" Teacher," said they, " Moses wrote that if
a man died childless, his brother should marry
his widow, and that the dead man's family
should be continued by the children of this
new marriage. There were seven brothers :
the first married, and died childless; the
second took his wife, and also died childless ;
so also the third, and the rest of the seven.
None of them had any children by her. Last

194 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
of all the woman died also. In the Resur
rection whose wife shall she be ? She was
married in turn to each of the seven."
There is a touch of scorn in the answer
of Jesus, which is given with a fullness and
freedom in marked contrast to the cautious
reserve shown towards the priests and
Pharisees. " Surely you fall into error because you do
not understand the Scriptures or the power of
God. When the dead rise they neither marry
nor are given in marriage, but are as the
angels in heaven. And concerning the raising
of the dead, have you not read in the Book of
Moses, in the section of the Bush, how God
said to him, ' I am the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob'? He is not the God of
dead men, but of living men. Your views are
quite wrong."
Jesus does not hesitate to give a prompt,
authoritative decision as to the conditions of
the future life, but it is not clear whether the
decision is given as a new obiter dictum, or as
following some authority. Probably it was a
new decision, otherwise it would have been

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 195
known to the Sadducees. On the general
question of the future life, the passage cited is
less explicit than the last chapter of Daniel.
Jesus did not use this book, because the canon
of the Sadducees, the representatives of a
stricter and more ancient orthodoxy than that
of the Pharisees, did not recognise Daniel as
Scripture.

The First Commandment, xii. 28-34
During the previous conversation, a scribe,
a Pharisee, had come up and joined the circle
of listeners ; he had heard with approval the
emphatic testimony of Jesus to the doctrine of
the resurrection, and had been pleased with
the discomfiture of the Sadducees. Now he
too was moved to put a question, probably
in a curious mood, rather than for the sake
of posing Jesus or from any serious wish for
enlightenment. From his point of view it was
a somewhat academic problem : " Which was
the first commandment?" e.g., Was the com
mandment about the Sabbath more important
than that about duty to parents, or vice versd ?

196 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
Jesus replied in a more serious spirit, dealing
with much larger matters ; He named as the
first commandment a portion of the Shema,
the profession of faith which pious Jews
repeated twice a day.
" Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the
Lord is one, and thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with thy whole heart and soul and mind
and strength." 1
This ancient word of Revelation — that the
essential element in religion was the right and
harmonious relation of the whole nature of
man to God — had been set upon a pinnacle
above all other ordinances by Pharisaic Juda
ism, and Jesus endorsed this judgment.
Nothing, therefore, could be more orthodox
than such an answer. Unfortunately the
daily repetition of the Shema had not always
prevented the Pharisees from setting the Sab
bath, ceremonial cleanness, and other matters
of ritual, above honesty and justice, kindliness,
generosity, and natural affection ; therefore
Jesus added : —
" The second is this, ' Thou shalt love thy
1 Deut. vi. 4.

-xii 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 197
neighbour as thyself.' 1 There is no other
commandment greater than these."
Thus this last inquirer, in his turn, had
been met by an answer beyond criticism ; but
he was a more appreciative hearer than his
predecessors; he did not receive the words
in baffled silence, but welcomed them with
cordial approval.
" A good answer, teacher ; you have said
with truth that He is one, and there is none
beside Him, and to love Him with the whole
heart and intellect and strength, and to love
one's neighbour as one's self is much more
than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
Jesus had rarely found anyone to under
stand Him so promptly and so thoroughly,
and this intelligent sympathy was welcome to
His lonely and burdened spirit.
"Thou art not far," He said, "from the
Kingdom of God." The answer to this scribe
brought to an end the heckling to which Jesus
had been subjected ; the enemies who had
sought to entangle Him in His speech had
retired in shame and confusion, and now no
one dared ask Him any more questions.
1 Leviticus xix. 18.

198 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. l-
Having repulsed these attacks, Jesus took
the offensive and assailed His opponents with
a question of His own.

A Counter Question, xii. 35-37
" How is it that the scribes say that the
Messiah is David's son? David himself said
by the Holy Spirit, ' The Lord said to my
Lord, Sit at my right hand until I put thine
enemies under thy feet.' -1 David himself calls
the Messiah ' Lord,' how then is the Messiah
David's son ? "
No one replied ; indeed, Jesus did not
expect an answer. His words were a
rhetorical challenge, and not a demand for
a reply from any particular individual.
The point of the challenge is not clear, but
obviously some teaching of the scribes is
attacked ; for they were the authorities on
Theology and the Scriptures, and were
naturally appealed to as to the bearing of a
passage of a Psalm on the doctrine of the
Messiah. As the question was a counter-
1 Ps. ex.

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 199
stroke to the interrogations to which Jesus
had been subjected we should naturally seek
some light from the narrative of the previous
incidents. The priests had attacked His author
ity as a religious leader ; the Sadducees His
knowledge and insight as a doctrinal teacher ;
both implied that He was an impostor, a
pseudo- Christ. Again, the question put by
the allied Herodians and Pharisees was in
tended to imperil Jesus' position by bringing
him into collision either with the populace or
the Romans, Jesus' counter-question may have
been equally concerned with the practical
politics of the situation ; it discusses one of
the characteristic notes of Messiahship, and the
thought must, at any rate, have passed through
the minds both of Jesus and His hearers, " Did
He possess this note ? Was He David's
son ? " If we follow up this suggestion, it
would seem that the scribes had brought
forward the doctrine that the Messiah must
be descended from David as an objection
to the claims to Jesus ; but the doctrine of
Davidic descent could only be an objection,
if it was supposed that He was not de-

200 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
scended from David, and if Jesus and His
family and followers were ignorant of any such
descent. As far as our Gospel is concerned,
Jesus never speaks of Himself, nor does St
Mark speak of Him, as the son of David ;
the only person who calls Him " Son of
David " is Bartimaeus, and in his mouth it is
a mere Messianic title, and not a statement of
knowledge of physical descent from David.
According to this suggestion Jesus' question
would imply that the absence of Davidic
descent was not a valid objection, because the
scribes' theory of the Davidic descent of the
Messiah was inconsistent with the teaching
of the Bible as interpreted by the scribes
themselves. Again the Sadducees had sought to dis
credit Jesus as a teacher ; probably, too, His
last interrogator, the scribe, was partly actuated
by a desire to test the claims of the Galilean
prophet. Possibly Jesus was now seeking to
discredit his adversaries the scribes as author
itative exponents of the national faith. It
was on their authority, as the Biblical experts
of their times, that Psalm ex. was accepted as

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 201
Davidic ; that Davidic descent was held to be
necessary for the Messiah ; and that the
" Lord " of Psalm ex. was interpreted to
mean the Messiah. Hence the incompati
bility of these views showed the incompe
tence of those who taught them. According
to this view Jesus need not have had any
answer in His mind ; His point would have
been that the scribes were incompetent, because
it was impossible for them to find an answer.
Another alternative might possibly be sug
gested by the question of the scribe — that
Jesus was merely raising an academic question
from motives of curiosity, but such a view is
quite inconsistent with His character.
Denunciation of the Scribes, xii. 38-40
The question was not answered, and Jesus
pushed His attack in a more direct fashion. He
charged the scribes, that is to say, the Phari
sees, with being possessed by sordid vanity,
a mean craving for trivial social distinctions ;
they were greedy and grasping, and given to
an ostentatious display of unreal unction.
" Beware of the scribes that love official

202 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. l-
robes to walk in, salutations in the market
places, and seats of honour in synagogues
and at feasts ; that eat widows out of house
and home, and pray ostentatiously at great
length." These men were popularly regarded as
models of zeal, piety, and holiness, and as
authorities on faith and practice ; but accord
ing to Jesus they deserved, and would receive,
the severest condemnation.

The Widow's Mite, xii. 41-44
Sometimes, in these last days, Jesus with
drew from the labour of teaching and the jar
of controversy. On one occasion He sat a
little apart from His disciples over against the
offertory boxes of the Temple treasury, and
watched the worshippers putting in their con
tributions. His interference with the festival
Fair in the Temple courts had not destroyed
confidence in the maintenance of public order ;
in other respects things went on as usual, and
the gifts were many and liberal. Jesus sat
and watched. It seems that, on the modern

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 203
principle of subscription lists and open offer
tory plates, the arrangements were such that
the bystander could see the amount of each
offering. One after another richly - dressed
men of dignified bearing came up, placing
large gifts in the boxes, and passed on. Some,
perhaps, noticed the observant Prophet, and
went away with a pleased feeling that He
would be favourably impressed with their
generosity. Other worshippers made their
offerings ; at last, one of them specially at
tracted the attention of Jesus; a woman poorly
dressed in the garb of widow threw in two
brass coins of small value, and went on her
way like the rest. Something in her manner,
a note of radiance, a touch of exaltation in
spired by a great sacrifice, betrayed her secret
to the Seer who watched her. He called His
disciples to Him and said to them : —
"Verily, I say unto you, that this poor
widow has cast in more than all they that are
casting into the treasury ; for they all cast in
of their superfluity, but she of her want cast in
all that she had, even all her living."

204 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. 1-
Review
Here St Mark's record of the public minis
try of Jesus closes. Let us look for a moment
at these last days from the point of view of the
opponents of Jesus, of the people of Jerusalem,
of the disciples, and of Jesus Himself. His
public appearance as Messiah and His assump
tion of control over the Temple had added the
Jewish officials to the number of His active
enemies. Nevertheless, He had more than
held His own ; yet He had gained nothing
but Pyrrhic victories ; His assailants were
only baffled for the moment, and their tem
porary discomfiture intensified their hostility.
So far, however, they were perplexed by His
failure to make practical use of His influence
over the people, and by His mysterious hint
as to His coming death.
In the same way the populace of Jerusalem
were puzzled by the Galilean prophet, who
seemed to unite in Himself so much that was
contradictory. On the one hand He had been
declared the Messiah, and, indeed, He was in
many ways most remarkable ; His personality

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 205
was both winsome and commanding, and He
had a most attractive eloquence, to which they
listened with much enjoyment. And yet in
other ways He seemed to have nothing Mes
siah-like about Him. He had a great reputa
tion for miracles, but He wrought none in
Jerusalem ; He had successfully asserted His
authority over the Temple, but He had taken
no further steps to make Himself master of
the city ; there was no sign of His being the
Warrior-King who was to drive out the
Romans and establish the Kingdom of God
in Israel.
Most of all the disciples were bewildered by
the apparent inconsistencies of Jesus ; some
times His popularity and His triumphs over
His opponents excited exultant anticipations
ofthe immediate coming of the Kingdom ; at
other times their hearts were sick with hope
deferred, and His gloomy forebodings of im
pending doom filled them with vague appre
hensions. And Jesus Himself? He was not conscious
of any inconsistency, for in simple, straight
forward fashion He fulfilled His duties, and

206 MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM [xi. l-
used His opportunities as they came. He
knew that the end was both near and certain,
and the knowledge isolated Him more than
ever from the ordinary concerns of life, and
even from His disciples. It was a time of
suspense, of waiting for a blow without know
ing when it would come, yet with the assurance
that it might fall at any moment, and that it
could not be long delayed. He was like a
man sentenced to death, but not knowing the
day of His execution. He might contemplate
mundane affairs with a certain detachment,
and watch the bickerings of Pharisee and
Sadducee, priest, scribe, and centurion, with
the serene interest of a stranger studying the
politics of a foreign capital. Jerusalem and its
people would seem dim and shadowy, and the
Kingdom of God the only true reality.
Yet one day passed after another, and the
blow did not fall, and He remained alive, at
liberty, and a great power among the people.
The strained and overwrought situation might
become familiar and seem normal and capable
of being indefinitely prolonged. The natural
vitality of a vigorous man in his prime would

-xii. 44] MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM 207
instinctively protest against acquiescence in
death and suggest renewed hopes and a
happier issue. He retained an unshaken
confidence that the Kingdom of God would
come through Himself, but He might some
times doubt whether His anticipations of
death and resurrection were to be accepted
literally ; there might after all be some less
rugged path to the assured end.
Meanwhile all concerned expected a crisis
at the Passover ; friends and foes alike would
suppose that Jesus was planning some decisive
step on the great day of the feast ; and on the
other hand the priests would feel it an urgent
necessity to regain control of the Temple
courts before the festival actually began ;
and Jesus Himself might expect some clear
indication of the will of God at that sacred
season.

CHAPTER XII
THE APOCALYPTIC TEACHING OF JESUS
xiii.
The last period ofthe public ministry of Jesus
was followed as on earlier occasions by a time
of private instruction to the disciples. The
text of the discourse was a question from one
of them ; as they left the Temple for the
last time, this disciple was struck with its
grandeur, especially with the massive stones
used in its construction, and exclaimed, " See,
Teacher, what wonderful stones ! what wonder
ful buildings ! " Jesus took the opportunity of
declaring the coming end of the old dispensa
tion ; taking up His follower's words, He spoke
first of the Temple, the centre and symbol of
Judaism. "Are you looking at these great
buildings ?" said He. "Not one stone shall
be left upon another ; all shall be pulled
down." At the moment He said no more,
but when they had left the city, and were
208

xiii.] THE APOCALYPTIC TEACHING 209
sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the
Temple, the four disciples who belonged to
the inner circle — Peter, James, John and
Andrew — asked Him privately when these
things would happen, and what would be the
sign of their imminence. In answer to this
question, Jesus unfolded His teaching as to
the course of events after His death. Here
again He appealed to the current Jewish
beliefs, and His answer is largely a recapitula
tion of the signs and circumstances of the
Day of the Lord as they were set forth in
the Old Testament and in later Jewish litera
ture, including apparently the Book of Enoch,
in which the Son of Man is a conspicuous
figure. The discourse might almost be called
a summary of the wide-spread popular apoca
lyptic teaching of the times. Similar summaries
may have been current amongst the Jews, and
Jesus may have adapted to His own special
purpose some well-known miniature apoca
lypse. Now as ever He is loyal to the
revelation made to Israel ; He claims that
it is fulfilled in Himself and His mission ; and
He holds to the old faith as interpreted in

210 THE APOCALYPTIC TEACHING [xiii.
the new light of His own experience — an
experience so profound and penetrating as to
constitute a new Revelation. The national
and political elements have disappeared, to
gether with the warrior king winning carnal
victories by fleshly armies, and instead we
have : " Then shall they see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds with great power and
glory, and then shall He send forth the angels
and gather the elect from the four winds from
the uttermost part of the earth to the utter
most part of Heaven."
The Day of the Lord is removed to an
indefinite, though not utterly remote, future :
"This generation shall not pass away, until
all these things happen. Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but My words shall not pass
away. But concerning that day and hour no
one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not
even the Son — only the Father."
In these last days of Jesus, in this final
crisis, the frail body was quick with a life
almost too intense for flesh and blood to con
tain ; every faculty of mind and spirit was
strained to the utmost, and there must have

xiii.] OF JESUS 211
been marvellous workings in that debatable
land of human personality, where nerves and
senses blend with memory and imagination,
hope and fear, faith and doubt. The teaching
of Jesus shows that He often thought in
pictures and parables, and that His mind
was stored with images from prophetic and
apocalyptic visions. These images are not
aesthetic furniture of the mind, or even mere
symbols ; they were forms in which Jesus
realised experiences of self, and man, and
God. Thus when His victorious spirit
pierced the thick gloom of the present, and
the Son of Man saw Himself triumphant in
some vague unknown future, what He beheld
were the visions of ancient Hebrew seers
realised in His own Person.

CHAPTER XIII
THE INTERVAL BEFORE THE ARREST
xiv. i -41
Schemes for the Arrest of Jesus
xiv. 1, 2, 10, 11
As after the Transfiguration, the scene
changes abruptly from ecstatic visions to
the deadly hatred of the enemies of Jesus,
and the failure of His disciples. As day
after day went by and the Passover came
nearer and nearer, the overthrow of Jesus
became a more and more urgent necessity
for the Jewish officials in Jerusalem. They
had to regain control of the Temple, in order
that the supreme festival of their religion
might be properly observed ; they had also
to remove Jesus from the scene in order that
the Galilean fanatic — as they esteemed Him —
might not throw the city into an uproar by
playing upon the elated enthusiasm of the

xiv. 1-41] INTERVAL BEFORE ARREST 213
thronging crowds of worshippers. If they
left Him alone now, they might be forced to
deal with Him during the feast when His
arrest would be certain to cause a tumult.
Even now it would be safer to come upon
Him unawares, apart from the multitude, and
take Him quietly. With this end in view
they sought anxiously for a suitable oppor
tunity, and Providence, as it seemed to them,
came to their assistance in the very nick of
time. Only two days before the Passover
the priests were agreeably surprised by a
visit from one of His intimate followers, who
offered to betray the Master into their hands.
A bargain was soon struck, and the traitor,
Judas Iscariot by name, one of the Twelve,
promised to find some occasion on which the
priests could quietly and safely seize Jesus.
From that moment he was constantly listening
and watching for information that would en
able him to betray his Master.
St Mark does not tell us why Judas became
a traitor ; but there were many causes at work
which tended to alienate from Jesus even His
most devoted followers. The devotion of

214 THE INTERVAL BEFORE [xiv. 1-41
all His disciples was tainted with personal
ambition ; the sons of Zebedee, two of the
innermost circle, had sought pre-eminence in
the Kingdom of God by underhand means,
and their conduct had been bitterly resented
by their comrades. Judas no doubt shared
the secular ambitions of his fellows, and
expected wealth, power and honour for him
self from the triumph of Jesus. When Jesus
time after time threw away His opportunities,
Judas no doubt felt that his personal interests
were being sacrificed, and his devotion waned
and gave place to ill-will and resentment.
The disillusions of these final days in Jerusalem
brought matters to a climax ; Judas saw the
last and greatest opportunities wasted ; he and
his fellows, it seemed, would not share the
triumph of a Messiah, but the punishment of
an impostor. In any case Jesus was doomed,
and Judas might as well save himself by
delivering Him up to the authorities. Had
He not deluded His followers with false
hopes? Was He not leading them as sheep
to the slaughter ?

xiv,

. 1-41] THE ARREST 215

The Anointing at Bethany, xiv. 3-9
The story of malice and treachery is inter
rupted that the Evangelist may tell of a
woman's passionate devotion to Jesus. The
scene changes to Bethany, and we read how,
while the priests were plotting His death,
Jesus sat at supper in the house of one Simon
the Leper. The generous sympathy that had
made Him the guest of publicans and sinners
had brought Him now to the table of a leper !
While they were at supper the neighbours
might take advantage of. the easy access to
an Eastern guest - chamber to gratify their
curiosity by staring at the Prophet and His
followers. Amongst these onlookers was a
woman with a small jar, who made her way to
Jesus, broke the jar, and poured its contents
over His head. As she did so the room was
filled with the odour of precious ointment, and
the eyes of all turned to her and to Jesus.
The loving reverence of faithful disciples
would understand her enthusiasm, and would
welcome her deed as an act of due homage,
the anointing of the Messianic Priest and

216 THE INTERVAL BEFORE [xiv. 1-41
King. But other spectators were cold and
indifferent ; the personality of Jesus did not
move them from sober, practical, prosaic views;
they were indignant at the waste of good
ointment ; some perhaps annoyed at the fuss
which the woman was making over this very
doubtful prophet ; others not grudging the
tribute to the Master, but calm and detached
enough to realise that anointing with a
moderate amount of ordinary oil would have
served her purpose, and would have been more
seemly and convenient for Jesus. If the good
woman must get rid of her ointment, she
might have sold it and given away the price
to the poor. Possibly some poor folk, deserv
ing, at any rate in their own estimation, had
edged their way into the room, and were there
to illustrate and applaud the sentiment. The
act might affect them as needy spectators
might have been moved by the sight of
Cleopatra drinking her dissolved pearls. Some
of the company, as they recovered from the
shock they had sustained, began to reproach
the woman ; but Jesus interposed in a tone of
melancholy irony : —

xiv. 1-41] THE ARREST 217
" Let her alone. Why do you trouble
her ? She has done well what she has
done for me. You have the poor always
with you, and can help them whenever you
choose." If there was any sincerity in this cheap
anxiety that some one else's money should be
given to the poor, they would have ample
opportunity for exercising their benevolence.
" But me you have not always."
The few short hours in which human ministry
could soothe and relieve Him were fast slipping
away; the words express His feeling of isola
tion, His disappointment at the failure of the
disciples to understand Him, His baffled yearn
ing for sympathy.
" She has done what she could ; she has
anointed my body beforehand for burial."
He ironically assures those who thought this
more than royal and more than priestly anoint
ing an undue honour. They need not be
alarmed. At the same time He quenches the
sanguine exultation of any who held it to
be the happy omen of His speedy enthrone
ment as the Messiah. It was not really the

218 THE INTERVAL BEFORE [xiv. 1-41
prelude to His triumphant installation as Priest
and King, but only a funeral rite performed
a little before its time, lest there should be
no opportunity for honourable obsequies. He
spoke as a dying man who knows that his
hours are numbered.
He ended with a word of praise for the
woman: "Wherever the Gospel is preached
throughout the whole world, she shall be
remembered, and men shall tell the story of
what she did for me."
The incident marks the growing coldness
and indifference to Jesus even amongst His
own followers. From this scene Judas Iscariot
went away to betray his Master.
The Preparation for the Passover
xiv. i 2- i 6
At last the slow hours brought the morning
of the day on which the Passover lamb was
killed and eaten. Jesus had maintained so
much reserve that His followers knew little of
His plans, and had not even been told where
He intended to hold the Passover meal; so

xiv. 1-41] THE ARREST 219
they asked Him, " Where do you wish us to
go and prepare for eating the Passover ? " As
the Passover was a family celebration, this
question implied that the Master and His dis
ciples formed a family. Jesus' answer reminds
us of the circumstances of His ride into
Jerusalem ; we get another glimpse of rela
tions between Jesus and adherents who were
not closely connected with His usual com
panions. With these adherents, on this occasion
also, He had made secret arrangements with
out the knowledge of the Apostles. He bade
two of the disciples go into the city ; there
they would meet a man carrying a pitcher of
water. Probably Jesus gave them other signs
by which they might recognise this man.
They were to follow him home, and say to
the master of the house, "The Teacher
saith, Where is my guest-chamber in which
I am to eat the Passover with my dis
ciples?" Then he would show them a
large upper room, furnished and ready ; and
there the two disciples were to prepare the
meal. The disciples went into the city, found all

220 THE INTERVAL BEFORE [xiv. 1-41
as Jesus had told them, and made ready the
Passover. Jesus was anxious that this meal with His
followers should not be interrupted. He knew
there was treachery even amongst the Twelve,
and by these precautions they secured one
last season of quiet fellowship.

The Denunciation of the Traitor
xiv. 17-21
In the evening Jesus and His disciples came
to the guest-chamber, where the supper was
prepared, and took their last meal together,
and the Master spoke to His followers for
the last time of the Kingdom of God. The
next few hours were crowded with poignant
memories, and of this last conversation only a
few sentences on two topics are recorded.
Indeed, at this time Jesus seems to have been
preoccupied and reserved, and His manner
might quell the spirits of His companions, so
that the meal proceeded in silence, broken
only by the brief utterances called for by ritual
or etiquette. He may have received a warn-

XIV.

1-41] THE ARREST 221

ing. Treacherous plots are seldom kept secret
for days together. When Jesus spoke it was
only to plunge His hearers into deeper gloom
by His ominous words.
"In truth I tell you that one of you shall
betray me, one of you who are eating with
me." 1
The disciples broke in upon Him with eager,
protests : —
" Surely it is not I ! surely it is not I ! "
Judas would not be the least insistent.
Others may have had thoughts of treachery or
desertion, and yet have rallied to loyalty in
these very protests ; but to Judas the words
of Jesus set an irrevocable seal upon his evil
purpose. The disciples were left to the
answer of their own consciences ; Jesus
merely answered that one of the twelve would
betray Him. " It is one of the twelve, one
of you who are sharing this meal with
me. l

1 These paraphrases of verses 18 and 20 might be challenged.
They would not be primA facie the most natural renderings of the
Greek taken as isolated sentences, but they are required by the
context. Perhaps the Greek misrepresents an original Aramaic, or
has been corrupted by parallel narratives.

222 THE INTERVAL BEFORE [xiv. 1-41
Then for a moment the veil that hides the
inner life of Jesus is lifted. " The Son of
Man," He says, "goes His way, treading the
path ordained for Him in the Scriptures."
His mind was still occupied with the issue of
the crisis ; He had meditated afresh on the
teaching of the Old Testament as to the
career and experiences of the Messiah, but
He had found no gleam of hope for the
immediate present ; from these oracles came
words of doom ; the Son of Man must die ;
but, alas, that He must be ushered* to vhe
gates of death by a traitor, one of His in
timate friends. His wounded heart mourned
over the failure of His disciple.
" Alas for that man by whom the Son of
Man is to be betrayed ; it had been well for
that man if he had not been born."

The New Covenant, xiv. 22-25
The meal went on, and by and by Jesus
spoke again of His death, and after the
manner ofthe ancient prophets, He spoke not
only in words, but also by acted symbols.

xiv.

1-41] THE ARREST 223

He took bread, blessed it, divided it into
portions, and distributed it among them,
saying, "Take this, it is my body." In the
same way He took a cup of wine, and gave
thanks, and passed it to them, and they all
drank of it.
Then He said, "This is my blood shed
for many as the blood of a covenant. In
truth I tell you that I will never again
drink of the fruit of the vine until that
day when I drink it new in the Kingdom
of God."
These sombre, enigmatic words fell heavily
on the ears of the disciples, and stirred uneasy
questionings ; they implied that Jesus was to
be offered in sacrifice, and the disciples were
invited to partake symbolically of the flesh and
blood of the victim. Those who partook of
the flesh of victims at sacrificial feasts were
the worshippers by whom and for whom the
sacrifices were offered. Jesus, therefore, was
about to die for them ; but were they offering
Him up, giving Him to death? He had said
that one of them was to betray Him ; was
that what He meant? But He seemed Him-

224 THE INTERVAL BEFORE [xiv. 1-41
self to be courting death. They could not
understand Him. His death might involve
their ruin ; at any rate, it disappointed their
hopes and ambitions. How, then, was He
dying for them ? Then, too, in the sacrifices
the worshippers did not partake of the blood ;
that was poured out at the altar as God's
portion. They were to drink wine as re
presenting the blood of Jesus, offered as a
sacrificial victim. Such a symbol was unique
and awful for Jews ; it suggested terrible
Gentile rites, in which the worshippers fed
symbolically on the flesh and blood of dead
gods. Then by one of those sudden and seem
ingly inconsequent transitions which perplexed
His followers so that they could not under
stand His sayings,1 He spoke of drinking
wine with them at a royal banquet.
Thus a momentary glimpse into the mind
of Jesus shows that He accepted death as
inevitable, in the conviction that He was
dying for those who believed on Him.
Beyond death He saw Himself reunited
1 Cf. Mark viii. 17, 21.

xiv. 1-41] THE ARREST 225
with His followers in the blessed life of the
Kingdom of God.

Warning of Betrayal, xiv. 26-31
The meal over, they sang a hymn, after
the usual custom, and left the house to make
their way out of the city and spend the night
outside, in accordance with the plan followed
by Jesus during His visit to Jerusalem.
Night had fallen, but the full moon of the
Passover season cast its weird alternation of
light and darkness. Apparently they had
no difficulty in passing the gates ; at these
great feasts many of the pilgrims would
lodge without the walls, and egress and
ingress would not be strictly controlled. By
this time the disciples had learned that they
were going to a garden called Gethsemane
on the Mount of Olives. When Judas heard
this, he felt that his opportunity had come ;
indeed if he were to keep faith with the
authorities he must be prompt ; 1 otherwise
he might be prevented from fulfilling his
1 St Mark does not tell us when Judas left Jesus.
P

226 THE INTERVAL BEFORE [xiv. 1-41
bargain by some unforeseen event, or by
Jesus' departure from Jerusalem at the end
of the feast. Therefore, as they passed
along, Judas slipped away and betook him
self to the High Priest's. Possibly there
were other desertions. After a while Jesus
noticed the absence of Judas ; it seemed a
presage that others would leave Him ; and
that the gradual dwindling of His com
pany of followers would soon be com
pleted, and He would be left quite alone.
He turned to those who were still with
Him. Judas would not be alone in his
failure. " Ye shall all be shaken from your loyalty,
for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and
the sheep shall be scattered."
And again there followed mysterious words
that spoke of restoration and reunion.
" But after I rise again, I will go before you
into Galilee."
Peter replied, with his wonted impetuosity,
ignoring what he did not understand : —
"Even though all shall be shaken, I shall
not."

xiv. 1-41] THE ARREST 227
But the months they had spent together
had revealed to Jesus the instability of His
follower. Peter faithful to the last ! Peter
patiently enduring the danger and disgrace
of the solitary adherent of a discredited
Messiah ! No !
"In truth I tell thee that to-day, this
very night before the cock crow twice, thou
shalt deny me thrice."
Peter was stung to the heart, and protested
yet more vehemently : —
" If I must die with Thee, I will not deny
Thee." And his comrades echoed his protests.
Gethsemane, xiv. 32-41
When they reached Gethsemane Jesus, as
on other occasions, left most of His disciples,
and only took with Him Peter, and James,
and John. With these three He sought some
inner recess, while the others remained on the
outskirts of the garden. He knew now that
the suspense of the last few days was at an
end, and the critical moment had come. By

228 THE INTERVAL BEFORE [xiv. 1-41
this time Judas must have betrayed his
whereabouts, and the officers would be on
the way to arrest Him. Perhaps they might
put Him to death on the spot. So now, as
often before, He sought God in prayer.
When last He prayed thus, supported by
the silent sympathy of His three friends, He
had been encouraged by the vision of Prophet
and Lawgiver, and by a voice from heaven
speaking words of approval. But now there
was no heavenly vision and no Divine voice.
Instead a horror of great darkness fell upon
Him ; dismay and distress took possession
of Him ; and He said to the three, " My
soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death." Hardly an hour ago He had been drinking
with His disciples the cup which was the
symbol of coming death : then He had looked
on beyond death to the happier fellowship in
the Kingdom of God, but now there is no
word of any anticipation of the glory of the
Kingdom. Not long since He had asked
two of His companions if they could drink
of the cup which He was to drink of; now

xiv. 1-41] THE ARREST 229
He asked another question, Must He drink
that cup Himself?
He now separated Himself a little from His
three remaining companions ; He bade them
stay where they were and watch, while He
went forward a little — not out of hearing — and
fell on the ground and prayed that if it were
possible this hour might pass from Him.
"Father! Father! all things are possible for
Thee, take away this cup from Me."
The three men a little way off listened with
sinking hearts ; hitherto with every presage of
ruin there had been the calm stern courage of
the Master, and the triumphant note of the
coming of the Kingdom. If His spirit
failed, where should hope or encouragement
or strength be found ? Then an irresistible
drowsiness crept over them ; they were tired
by the long day, worn out by conflicting
emotions, and they fell asleep. Later on
they woke to find Jesus standing over them ;
they might discern the marks of conflict, but
as yet their heavy eyes could discover no
token of victory. His voice fell upon their
ears : —

230 THE INTERVAL BEFORE [xiv. 1-41
" Asleep, Simon ! Couldst thou not watch
one hour ? Watch ye and pray, that tempta
tion may not befall you, for the spirit is willing
but the flesh is weak."
Then He left them, and for a while they
struggled to keep awake, and again they heard
His prayer that He might be spared the
coming agony. Then sleep once more over
came them, and they knew nothing till again
they half woke and found Him beside them ;
and dazed and heavy they knew not what to
say to Him ; and as He turned away, they fell
asleep again. Then for the third time He
came back to them, and they tried to rouse
themselves, but He bade them sleep on and
take their rest. The conflict was over ; the
victory was won ; His need was past, and
their opportunity was lost.1
But at this moment He caught the gleam
of torches and heard the sound of footsteps
and the sound of voices ; and now at last the
three started up broad awake as He spoke
with a sharp note of warning.
1 The meaning and reference of the word afekhei, E.V. "it is
enough," is quite uncertain. In the LXX it is used in various passages
to translate eight or nine different Hebrew words.

xiv. 1-41] THE ARREST 231
"The hour has come; behold, the Son of
Man is being betrayed into the hands of
sinners. Rise, let us go " — to join the other
disciples — " Behold, he that betray eth Me
is at hand."

CHAPTER XIV
the trial and execution
xiv. 42 — xv. 41
The Arrest, xiv. 42-52
But as He spoke His enemies were upon
Him. No doubt they had taken precautions
against His escape, had surrounded His com
pany and come up quietly, so that they were
not perceived till they were close by. We
are not told what happened to the other
disciples, who were not in Jesus' immediate
company ; probably they had no time to give
an alarm, but succeeded in joining their
brethren. The authorities felt that Jesus
was the one important person, and treated
His followers with contemptuous indifference.
Therefore the band charged with the arrest
did not at once rush forward and try to seize
them all ; such an attempt would have led to
confusion, in which Jesus might have escaped.

xiv. 42— xv. 41] TRIAL AND EXECUTION 233
It had been arranged that the traitor should
indicate Jesus by an unmistakable sign : he
was to go forward and greet Him as a friend.
Perhaps Judas imagined that his treachery
was still unknown to Jesus, and that this
greeting would disarm suspicion and give
time for the officers to seize Him. Besides,
Judas would be close to Jesus, and could help
to prevent His escape. Thus as the hostile
band paused, Jesus saw one man separate
himself from them and come towards Him.
He recognised Judas and discerned his pur
pose. The traitor, excited, anxious that there
should be no mistake, overdid his part ; not
content with the formal kiss of greeting, he
hailed Jesus as " Rabbi ! " and kissed Him
again and again, till his companions hurrying
up laid hands on Jesus and made Him their
prisoner. Men's recollections of this scene were in
coherent and fragmentary, but it was remem
bered afterwards that at least one blow had
been struck for the Master. Perhaps the
High Priests' posse had attracted attention,
and its object had been guessed ; the meaning

234 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
of an alliance between Judas and the Temple
authorities was obvious. Amongst others,
friends of Jesus joined the party in the hope
of effecting a rescue, and now when He was
seized one of these drew his sword, struck at
the follower of the high priest who was in
command of the party, and cut off his ear.
There is no sequel to this incident, and we
are not told what became of the swordsman.
Probably in the prevailing excitement, while
the attention of friends and foes alike was
concentrated on Jesus, the blow was not
noticed for the moment, and the man, finding
that he was not supported, disappeared before
he was recognised.
When Jesus could obtain a hearing He
turned to His captors with an indignant
protest. " You have come out with swords and
staves to take me, as if I were a robber ; for
days I have been at your disposal in the
Temple as I taught, and you did not seize
me." Why had they thus sought Him at night
in a lonely place, as if He were a criminal,

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 235
conscious of His crime and lurking in obscure
hiding-places ? He had asserted His claims
openly in the Temple ; He had courted arrest
and trial. Why did they not take Him then ?
He sought to testify by His death to the
truth of His teaching. Did they hope to
hinder that testimony by sudden murder or
secret assassination ? Preoccupied with the
bearing of events on His cause and His
mission, He took no account of the im
promptu, abortive movement to seize Him
in the Temple,1 or the prudential reasons
which stood in the way of any serious attempt
to arrest Him there.2 But in a moment He
checked Himself; the future of the Kingdom
of God was not at the mercy of the petty
policy of intriguing priests ; the Scriptures
must be fulfilled ; God would work out in His
own way the eternal purpose foreshadowed
in His revelation to Israel. Jesus, therefore,
allowed Himself to be led away without re
sistance or further protest, and His disciples
fled. One adherent, however, still followed Him.
1 Mark xii. 12. 2 Mark xiv. 2.

236 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
It seems that the noise made by the posse on
its way to Gethsemane had roused from sleep
a youth who was attached to Jesus ; he had
gathered their errand, and without waiting to
dress had hastily wrapped himself in a linen
cloth and followed them. This improvised
toilette was not so different from ordinary
dress as it would be with us, and up till the
time of the arrest no special notice had been
taken of him, and he ventured to follow the
party as they set out to return to Jerusalem.
But now his costume and his interest in Jesus
attracted attention ; some one laid hold of his
linen wrap, but the youth slipped out of it and
escaped.

The Trial before the Sanhedrim, xiv. 53,
55-64
Jesus was led back to the city and taken to
the palace of the high priest. Meanwhile His
judges were assembling ; time pressed ; a
popular rising in His favour might be immi
nent, and the sooner He was disposed of the
better. With this added anxiety at a critical

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 237
season, the Sanhedrim, the supreme council
of the Jews, would be ready to meet at short
notice, and a meeting would be summoned as
soon as the arrangements had been made for
the arrest.
The question now arose as to the charge to
be brought against the prisoner, and the evi
dence by which it would be sustained. At
first sight everything seemed straightforward.
In official circles it was notorious that Jesus
was in the habit of breaking the Law, and of
inciting others to follow His example. He
was a disturber of public order, a usurper
of authority, and an impious impostor who
claimed to be the Messiah. No doubt
much else to His discredit was implicitly
believed by the priests and scribes and their
followers. Obviously, however, many of these charges
could not be supported by honest evidence.
Even as to the Messiahship, Jesus had made
no formal claim. His work had been chiefly
in Galilee, and it was difficult at a moment's
notice to obtain testimony as to the obnoxious
teaching of Jesus. The priests desired to

238 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
justify a sentence of death ; it would not be
sufficient to prove some trivial offence.
Abundance of evidence was offered — wit
nesses are easily obtained by the authorities
of an Oriental State ; but there was not time
to train the witnesses in a consistent story.
At last it seemed as if a charge of intending
to destroy the Temple could be substantiated,
and everything appeared to be arranged satis
factorily. The court was formally opened,
and Jesus was charged with this heinous crime.
After the necessary preliminaries the witnesses
alleged : —
" We heard Him saying, ' I will destroy this
temple made with hands, and in three days I
will build another not made with hands.' "
But somehow even this testimony broke
down when it was produced in open court.
The Sanhedrim was a large body, some
seventy members, and amongst them there
may have been sympathisers with Jesus. At
any rate there would be upright men present,
anxious to do justice, and shrewd enough to
discern and expose flimsy evidence. Some
thing fairly plausible must be adduced if it

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 239
were in any way possible. So far nothing
had been found, and the authorities felt that
there was danger lest a notorious criminal
should escape for want of formal proof. But
could not this be extracted from the prisoner
Himself? Ancient courts did not hesitate to
extort confessions by torture, but this practice
does not seem to have obtained in any purely
Jewish court,1 but moral suasion would be
legitimate. Till now nothing has been said of the bear
ing of Jesus, or of any words of His since
His arrest. He had soon seen that He need
not fear secret assassination ; He would be
accorded public trial and execution, and men
would know that He had sealed His testimony
with His blood. Now He was called upon
to plead before the supreme tribunal of His
people. Whatever formal authority was left
to the Jews was concentrated in the San
hedrim, the official sanctity and dignity of
the High Priest and his most distinguished
colleagues, the learning of the scribes, and the
pious zeal of the Pharisees. They, if any
1 Torture, however, was used by the Herods.

240 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
one, had the right to speak for Israel. He
had brought His claims to the final court of
appeal. But, as He had long foreseen, He had
only brought them there to be contemptuously
rejected. As He looked round at His judges
He knew that His condemnation was a fore
gone conclusion. He might find sympathy in
a minority, but no support earnest enough to
secure an acquittal. Indeed, in all probability
those who were most friendly to Him were
least disposed to take Him seriously. His
enemies regarded Him with some trepidation ;
their hatred was in proportion to their fear.
He had the reputation of a wonder-worker;
the Pharisees themselves had declared that
He cast out devils by the help of the arch-fiend
Beelzebub ; no one knew what supernatural
power He might possess ; He might blast the
Sanhedrim and the Temple, or even the whole
city, by evil magic. His sympathisers, on the
other hand, may have regarded Him as an
innocent fanatic, whom they would have been
glad to spare, though they were not prepared
to sacrifice themselves on His behalf.

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 241
Jesus had an impossible cause to maintain
as far as that, or, indeed, any earthly tribunal
was concerned. Whether His teaching had
been a danger to public order ; whether it
could be reconciled to the Law — as to such
matters He was comparatively indifferent.
Nor was He anxious about His personal fate,
there was no longer any uncertainty about
that. Nor did He greatly care about the
judgment of the Sanhedrim on His character
and work. But it was necessary that the
faith of His followers should survive the con
demnation and execution of their Master ; that
they should continue so to believe in Him as
to be able to kindle a like faith in others, and
thus bring in the Kingdom of God. His
Divine commission and His unique status
as God's representative among men, His
Messiahship, these were essential elements of
His message. He knew that He could not
win recognition from the men who sat to
judge Him; but could He so bear Himself
in His last hours that He might still be the
Christ, the Son of God, to Peter and his
companions ? He was weary in mind and

242 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
body through the continued strain of the
previous week ; through the sleeplessness of
the night that was soon to give place to day ;
through the alternate depression and exalta
tion of His wrestling with God in Gethsemane;
and through the inevitable reaction when the
blow had at last fallen. For the moment, at
any rate, there was nothing to be done or
suffered. In His weariness a strange peace
fell upon Him. He stood silent amidst the
formal bustle of the court and the noisy outcry
of accusers and hostile witnesses ; He made
no reply, but let opportunities for protest
pass unheeded, and challenges to speak go
unanswered. But now the High Priest, the
President of the Court, rose from his seat, and
addressed the prisoner : —
"Why dost Thou make no answer ? What
hast Thou to say in reply to this evidence
against Thee ? "
The words seemed to fall upon deaf ears ;
Jesus might have been wrapped in fellowship
with beings of another world — God and the
angels, Beelzebub and demons, according
to the sjrmpathies or antipathies of the

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 243
spectators. Again the High Priest addressed
Him :—
"Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the
Blessed ? "
At last Jesus was roused and turned to
answer, and men leaned forward to catch
His words. Hitherto He had never expressly
claimed to be the Messiah, though He had
accepted Messianic titles from others ; even
now if He avowed Himself Messiah, it would
not be a spontaneous utterance. He had
sought that recognition should come without
His asking ; not because of His claims, but
through the influence of the Spirit of God
upon the hearts of men. Now He must
either claim the title for Himself or deny His
mission. On the other hand, both Jesus and
the whole assembly that was waiting for His
answer knew that His only chance of escape
lay in His disavowing Messiahship. Then
perhaps He might be dismissed as discredited
and harmless. Would He purchase His life
at such a price ? The High Priest had asked,
"Art Thou the Christ?" and now He
answered plainly : —

244 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
" I am. Ye shall see the Son of Man
sitting at the right hand of Power,1 and
coming with the clouds of heaven."
The assembly listened, some indignant,
some with contemptuous pity, almost all
incredulous. Those who feared some ter
rible exertion of the magic gifts of Jesus
were relieved to learn that the manifestation
of His power was deferred to a future time.
The authorities were gratified because they
had obtained from His own mouth the evi
dence which they needed. The High Priest
rent his garments in official horror.
" What further need," said he, " is there of
witnesses ? You have heard His blasphemy.
What is your judgment ? "
No one proposed to investigate the claim
of Jesus to be the Messiah ; it seemed as mad
as if some one nowadays were to declare him
self Christ appearing again at the Second
Coming. " They all condemned Him as guilty
on a capital charge " — a general statement that
does not exclude the possibility of silence on
the part of some members of the court.
1 Used as a Divine Name.

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 245
The verdict and the trial over, most of the
councillors went their way to prepare for the
observances of the sacred season, some con
gratulating themselves on having done good
service by helping to expose and suppress a
dangerous impostor ; others relieved that a
disagreeable task was over; some dismissing the
whole affair from their minds as mere routine,
throwing all responsibility on the officials, and
turning to discuss indifferent matters. Perhaps
there were a few who sympathised with Jesus ;
they had not ventured on any open protest, but
they cherished vague hopes of saving Him
before the execution could be carried out.
The official members of the Sanhedrim seem
to have remained to carry out the various
formalities that were still necessary.1

Peter's Denial, xiv. 54, 66-72
Meanwhile Jesus had not been entirely
forsaken by His disciples. After the first
panic Peter had recovered his self-possession.
When he had gone some little way, and found
1 Cf. below p. 250.

246 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
he had made his escape for the time being,
he was relieved of the sense of immediate
danger, and plucked up courage to turn back
and follow at a safe distance. Wrhen the
company had gone in to the High Priest's
palace, Peter mingled with the bystanders,
and finding himself unnoticed made his way
in, and sat and warmed himself at a fire
amongst the followers of the High Priest.
Perhaps Jesus had not yet been brought
before the court, and was awaiting His trial
somewhere else. Peter, however, would
choose a place where he might have some
view of Jesus and His judges, or at any
rate hear how matters were going on, with
out making himself conspicuous.
But soon a woman of the priestly house
hold joined the circle by the fire ; her fellow-
servants were well known to her, and she
noticed there was a stranger among them, and
took a good look at him. She had seen Jesus
and His disciples in the Temple, or watched
them passing through the city. Peter's dress
and air suggested the Galilean, and reminded
her of the men she had seen with Jesus.

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 247
" You, too," said she, " were with that
Nazarene, Jesus." Probably in the comfort
able warmth of the fire Peter was half asleep
again : and only partially awoke to become
conscious that he was the object of dangerous
attention, because he was suspected of being
an adherent of Jesus.
" I don't know," he faltered out, " I don't
understand what you mean."
St Mark calls it a denial, and doubtless
Peter thought of it in after times as a denial,
but it reads like a confused prevarication that
would deceive no one. However, he was not
interfered with, but he withdrew into the fore
court, where he would be less likely to attract
attention. As he went he heard the cock crow.
But even here he was not left in peace ;
the woman who had noticed him before seems
to have been coming and going on various
errands about the palace, and as she passed
through the forecourt, she again caught sight
of Peter. She had no doubt now as to Peter's
connection with Jesus. " This is one of them,"
she cried for the benefit of all and sundry, and
Peter again denied his Master.

248 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
Something distracted the attention of the
crowd for the moment, but after a while men
began to look at him again, and recall his
words and his accent, and compare notes.
Then they turned upon him : —
"It is quite true ; you are one of them, for
you are a Galilean."
Peter, divided between fear and anger,
broke out into the loud volubility ofthe excited
Oriental, and declared with oaths and curses : —
" I have nothing to do with the man you
are talking about."
Just then the cock crowed for the second
time, and the shrill, insistent noise checked
Peter in his torrent of words, brought him to
himself, and he remembered how Jesus had
said that before the second cockcrowing he
would thrice deny Him. Peter's impetuous
nature, excited and over - wrought, passed
readily from cursing to weeping, and he burst
into tears. We are not told the sequel, but
the silence of St Mark as to Peter's subsequent
doings suggests that he fled from the scene of
his fall and left Jerusalem.1
1 In the final clause, cf. xiv. 72, nal e7ri/3a\iix &e\ai«<, R.V., "And

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 249
The Trial before Pilate, xiv. 65 — xv. 1-15
The reader who has felt the fascination of
the personality of Jesus and the mingled
affection and awe which it inspires, will shrink
from dwelling on the scenes that follow. He
may even be surprised at the calm, concise
directness with which St Mark narrates the
indignities and tortures inflicted upon Jesus ;
he does not find it necessary to express
sympathy with Him, or condemnation of His
enemies. He is not afraid of compromising
His dignity by depicting Him helpless,
disgraced, and humiliated. Doubtless the
Oriental was not as sensitive as we are on
such points ; but, even so, the manner in
which the story is told implies that the
authority of Jesus was irrevocably established
in the mind of the Evangelist ; it could stand
the strain of painful and degrading associa
tions. But to return to the narrative.
After the sentence of the Sanhedrim, Jesus
when he thought thereon, he wept," R.V. mg., "And he began to
weep," the i-m§a\iiv is unintelligible in its present context. It may
be an unidiomatic rendering of some Aramaic phrase meaning, " He
wept bitterly," cf. A.V. mg., " He wept abundantly."

250 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
was a condemned criminal in the eyes of the
Jews; and the officers who had Him in charge
indulged in brutal horseplay at His expense.
They spat upon Him ; covered His face and
struck Him, bidding Him "prophesy" who
had struck Him ; and beat Him with rods.1
But the Jewish notables were not competent
to carry out the public execution of Jesus ;
the power of life and death rested with the
Roman governor. At daybreak, therefore,
after further consultation amongst the officials,
a deputation of high priests and elders, for
mally invested with the authority of the entire
Sanhedrim, took Jesus, bound, before Pilate,
and charged him with treason against the
Emperor.2 Jesus' confession of Messiahship was not
only blasphemy in the eyes of the Jews, but
also treason against Caesar. The Messiah in
ancient days, and in the popular language of
the times, was the King of Israel ; when Israel
had a king, the dominion of Rome in Palestine
1 The meaning, however, of the clause rendered in R.V., "re
ceived Him with blows of their hands, " is uncertain.
2 The text and rendering of Mark xv. i are uncertain, but the
general sense seems to be as given above.

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 251
must cease. Thus the accusers of Jesus could
state that with their own ears they had heard
Jesus commit treason against the Emperor by
putting Himself forward as King of the Jews.
But as He stood there in His simple peasant
dress, worn out with the strain of the last few
days, with His long vigil, and with the agony
of Gethsemane, bearing in His clothing and
person marks of the ill-treatment to which He
had been subjected, alone, bound, and help
less, He did not look like a dangerous rebel or
a would-be king. Pilate was quite capable of
estimating the anxiety of the Jews for the
interests of Caesar at its true value. The fact
that He was obnoxious to the Jews, and that
the Sanhedrim had formally and officially de
nounced Him, showed that His real crime was
not anti- Roman fanaticism. At the season of
the Passover the governor's mind was bur
dened with the task of keeping order in the
overcrowded, turbulent city ; and the arrest of
a popular religious teacher might not seem
likely to help him in keeping the peace. Nor
would he be best pleased at being made the
cat's-paw of Jewish heresy-hunters. There-

252 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
fore, when he turned from the accusers to the
prisoner, it was with a not altogether unfriendly
irony that he asked : —
" Art Thou the King of the Jews ? "
The question was equivalent to that of the
High Priest, "Art Thou the Christ?" and
again placed Jesus in a dilemma. If He said
" No," He denied Himself and His mission ;
if He said " Yes," He seemed to plead guilty.
But the difficulty was less now than before ;
His claims did not really involve treason
against the Romans. He answered Pilate :
" Thou sayest."1
The words were an acknowledgment of His
Kingship ; but they are less emphatic than
the "I am" with which He replied to the
High Priest. The words themselves, their
brevity, and the way in which they were
spoken, showed that they were not a challenge
to the authority of Caesar. Pilate might not
distress himself about Jewish doctrine or
ritual ; but if Jesus had spent His week at
1 It is sometimes maintained that these words do not acknowledge
that Pilate's suggestion is correct, but that they are merely a courteous
recognition of the fact that Pilate has spoken and been understood.
But this view is improbable.

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 253
Jerusalem in preaching rebellion against the
Romans, the governor would have heard of it
long since. It is not improbable that repre
sentations had been made to Pilate on behalf
of Jesus ; that he was acquainted with the
real state of the case, and knew that Jesus was
not a political agitator.
The prosecutors were disagreeably surprised
to find that Jesus' avowal of His claims did
not elicit from Pilate as prompt a condemna
tion as His confession of Messiahship had
done from the Sanhedrim. Pilate hesitated,
and asked for further evidence. The priests
replied with a string of accusations, but Jesus
remained silent. The governor turned to
Him again, and asked if He had no answer to
make to the serious charges brought against
Him. But there came no response from the pris
oner ; again He seemed lost to His surround
ings, caught away to some other world, or
perhaps in a measure indifferent through sheer
exhaustion. Pilate was astonished at His
silence. At this point, however, the proceedings

254 THETTRIAL [xiv. 42-
were interrupted by the arrival of a noisy
crowd, clamouring for the annual concession
to popular feeling, which was wont to be made
in honour of the Passover. Let the governor
release a Jewish prisoner according to custom.
Pilate did not at once realise that the appear
ance of the crowd, while the trial was going
on, was a mere coincidence. He supposed
that they had come just then of set purpose to
ask that Jesus should be set free. He knew
that Jesus was in high favour with the common
people, and that the action of the priests was
due to the jealousy aroused by His popularity.
The interruption seemed to present a happy
opportunity of escaping from a difficult situa
tion by making a graceful concession to the
Jews. Pointing to Jesus, he asked them :
" You wish me to release for you the King of
the Jews ? "
Left to themselves, they might have agreed ;
for Pilate's words contained an attractive sug
gestion. If Jesus had really put Himself for
ward as a national sovereign, a leader of revolt
against the Romans, it would be pious and
patriotic to obtain His release. It says much

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 255
for Pilate's conviction as to the harmlessness
of Jesus, that he was willing to place the
people in possession of a " king."
The priests, however, promptly undeceived
the crowd ; the word was passed round that
Jesus was by no means a zealous patriot ; He
was a Sabbath-breaker, an enemy of the Torah
and the national traditions, a traitor to the
national cause, and everything else that was
obnoxious to a good Jew. He had been
solemnly condemned by the Sanhedrim, alike
by priests, elders and scribes, by Sadducees
and Pharisees. Besides, there was a worthy
object of their intercession — a man who had
ventured to strike a blow for freedom, and
shed Gentile blood ; a real patriot ; the brave
Bar- Abbas. Unless they used their privilege
for his benefit, he would die for his devotion
to God and Israel. So when Pilate offered
them Jesus, they shouted for Bar- Abbas.
And Pilate asked them again : —
"What do you want me to do with the
King of the Jews ? "
They replied with shouts of —
" Crucify Him ! "

256 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
Pilate knew that the crowd could not at one
and the same time be eager for the release of
a rebel, and also indignant with Jesus because
He was, as the priests said, an enemy of Rome.
Possibly he might get from them the real reason
for the persecution of Jesus by the Jewish
leaders. "Why," said he, "what crime has He
committed ? "
The common people could not, and the
priests would not, answer such a question ;
they were content with shouting more vehe
mently than ever : —
" Crucify Him ! "
The leading spirits in this particular crowd
represented a different stratum of the populace
from that which acclaimed Jesus at His entry
into Jerusalem, and hung upon His lips in the
Temple courts. His supporters were largely
Galileans, but these turbulent shouters would
belong to Jerusalem ; and the men who were
anxious to have a jail-bird let loose again upon
society were not likely to have been specially
impressed with the character and teaching of
Jesus. Pilate recognised the presence of an

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 257
element reckless, truculent, and disorderly,
which it was worth while to conciliate at a
reasonable price. If they had taken the part
of Jesus, the governor would have set Him
free in spite of the priests and the Sanhedrim.
He was equally willing to gratify the mob by
releasing Bar- Abbas and putting Jesus to a
shameful and cruel death. Bar-Abbas, there
fore, was sent for from prison, and handed
over to his friends, who departed with him in
triumph, and Pilate sentenced Jesus to be put
to death by crucifixion.
Meanwhile the Prisoner stood patient and
silent, uttering neither plea nor protest, while
His life was sacrificed to save His judge from
passing discomfort. In Gethsemane He had
recognised that His hour was come, and had
submitted Himself to the will of God; He was
indifferent to the forms of human law by which
the Divine purpose was fulfilled. He had
asserted to the last His mission from God ;
His accusers had proved nothing against Him ;
the only ground of condemnation by the
Sanhedrim was His confession of Messiah-
ship ; and Pilate had declared Him innocent
R

258 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
of any secular or political crime. His dis
ciples could still believe in Him.
But there was to be one more stage in the
proceedings before Pilate ; a criminal con
demned to be crucified was scourged before
he was fastened to the cross ; and this pre
liminary torture was now inflicted upon Jesus.
Then the governor gave orders for the carry
ing out of the sentence, and Jesus was led
away to be crucified.
Jesus Mocked by the Roman Soldiers
xv. 16-20
The soldiers took Jesus from the judgment
hall to their own quarters ; for them, as for the
attendants of the priests, a condemned prisoner
was an opportunity for indulging the popular
form of humour which finds its pleasure in the
pain and humiliation of helpless sufferers.
They called together their comrades to share
their enjoyment in deriding this haggard Jew,
bound, bleeding and dishevelled, who claimed
to be a King. They took off His outer gar
ment, and wrapped Him in some purple cloth

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 259
that might do duty for a, royal robe. They
wove a wreath from the branches of some
thorny shrub, and placed it on His head as a
royal diadem ; and in His hands they placed a
reed for a sceptre. Then they offered Him
homage in mockery, greeting Him with the
salutation, " Hail, King of the Jews," and
kneeling to Him in feigned reverence. Not
content with derision, they snatched from Him
His sham sceptre, and beat Him about the
head with it, and spat upon Him.
When they were tired of their sport, they
stripped Him of the purple, reclothed Him in
His own garments, and led Him out to crucify
Him, together with two robbers condemned
to the same punishment.

The Crucifixion, xv. 21-27
It was the custom that a criminal condemned
to be crucified should carry his cross -1 to the
place of execution, where the preliminary
scourging was usually inflicted.2 Some attempt,
therefore, was made to place this burden upon
1 Or a part of it. Encycl. Bibl. 2 Encycl. Bibl,

260 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
Jesus ; but He sank under the load, and it
was plain that it was too much for Him. The
soldiers, loath to do work that could be forced
on some one else, laid hold of a man who was
passing on his way in from the country to the
city, and made him carry the cross. Years
afterwards his two sons felt it an honour that
their father had rendered this service to Jesus ;
and those who first told the story thought it
well to speak of the modest distinction enjoyed
by their brethren ; and so we read that the
man's name was Simon of Cyrene, and that
he was the father of Alexander and Rufus.
When the cross had been laid upon Simon's
shoulders, the grim procession started once
more, the soldiers partly leading, partly carry
ing the half-fainting Jesus to a hill outside the
walls called the Skull, where the cross was to
be erected. It was now about nine o'clock in
the morning, so that Jesus had been four or
five hours in the hands of His enemies, for
much of the time a victim to insult and out
rage. Before He was fastened to the cross He
was offered, according to custom, drugged

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 261
wine, as a narcotic to deaden pain ; but He
refused it. While life remained, some Divine
Act or Voice might yet vindicate His inno
cence and again confirm His mission, even if
it were spoken only to His own heart. He
would not shut Himself out from the full con
sciousness of any word which God might yet
have for Him. Therefore, with His physical
sensitiveness undiminished, except in some
measure by exhaustion, Jesus was stripped
and fastened to the cross, which was raised
and fixed upright ; and He was left hanging
there, His feet a few inches above the ground.
At the head of the cross an inscription set
forth His crime; it ran "The King of the
Jews." His accusers had not been wholly
successful in branding Him as a blasphemer
and a traitor to the Law ; the casual spectator
would imagine that He died a martyr for the
Hope of Israel — one of the many cases in
which men arrive at the truth by devious
paths. His two companions in misfortune
were crucified beside Him, one on the right
hand, and the other on the left. Then the
soldiers who were left on guard sat down to

262 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
watch ; the clothes of the criminals were, it
seems, their perquisites, which they divided
amongst themselves by lot.1

The Threefold Mocking, xv. 29-32
The agony and shame of a malefactor were
a welcome public spectacle ; and the crowd
gathered to witness the execution, jeered at
the would-be Messiah, whose sufferings seemed
a clear proof of imposture. They had heard
that He had promised to destroy the Temple
and build it again in three days. Surely, then,
He could release Himself from the cross; or,
at any rate, God would release Him. Passers-
by wagged their heads at Him, and shouted : —
" Oh, thou destroyer of the Temple, who
are to build it again in three days, save Thy
self, and come down from the cross."
They spoke indeed with some lingering
remnant of apprehension — suppose even now
1 Verse 28 is omitted by the Revised Version, following Lachmann
and Tischendorf (so also Westcott and Hort and Weymouth), on the
authority of N ABCD, etc. It was apparently introduced by the
scribes from Luke xxii. 37 ; it does not seem to have belonged to the
original text.

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 263
He were to come down from the cross. It
was not too late for some terrible portent of
Divine judgment. Standing at some distance
a group of women who had followed Jesus
from Galilee x watched the scene, not without
a corresponding hope — faint and desperate —
of deliverance.
Priests and scribes were there, making sure
that the sentence was actually carried out, and
that their victim did not escape them at the
last moment. They were too dignified to
join the common people in noisy derision, but
amongst themselves they spoke in con
temptuous scorn.
"He saved others, but Himself He cannot
save. Let this Messiah, this King of Israel,
come down now from the cross, that we may
see and believe."
They also spoke not without a dim, lurking
apprehension that He might indeed come
down, and some quieted an uneasy conscience
with the thought that after all they were only
putting Jesus to a final test. If He were
indeed the Messiah, God would deliver Him.
1 Mark, xv. 40 f.

264 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
If God left Him to die, clearly He must be an
impostor. His companions in misfortune joined in the
general scoffing. They, too, had thought that
deliverance might come to this crucified Mes
siah, and that they might be rescued with
Him. Disappointment aroused a sense of
injury.

The Death of Jesus, xv. 33-41
As time went on the spectacle lost its
novelty ; at that busy season men had little
leisure, and there was much to distract their
attention ; the crowd thinned, and the jeers
became fewer. Now and then men passed
by, coming and going from the crowded city,
and paused for a while to look on ; there were
new outbursts of derision. Throughout it all
the guards remained about the crosses, and
the women stood aloof to watch. Nothing
else happened ; God did not rescue Jesus ;
there was no sign on earth or in heaven. No
voice from on high reached His ear ; no
message of Divine comfort came to His heart.

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 265
Pain tortured His body ; the sense of public
disgrace and conspicuous failure crushed His
spirit ; and the slow hours passed by and
brought no relief. Noon came and went, and
the hope of deliverance waned and disap
peared. When the followers of Jesus, espe
cially the women who were spectators, recalled
this terrible interval in after years, it seemed
as if midnight had fallen in those noontide
hours. It mattered hot whether the sky was
bright or overcast, for them the light of life
was quenched. " Darkness fell over the whole
earth." About the middle of the afternoon Jesus
broke His long silence ; a wild cry rang from
the cross : —
" Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani ? "
"My God! My God! Why hast Thou
forsaken me ? "
To the women these words were a confirma
tion of their despair.
But some of the bystanders, hearing imper
fectly, thought that He called for Elijah, the
forerunner of the Messiah. Who could tell
what might follow this awful call ?

266 THE TRIAL [xiv. 42-
Even now, when the life of Jesus was almost
spent, the prophet who brought down fire
from heaven might appear, swift and terrible,
to deliver the Messiah, and execute vengeance
on His enemies. Moved by an unknown
impulse, perhaps by the desire to be found
ministering to the Messiah in case Elijah
came, one of the spectators filled a sponge
with vinegar, put it on the end of a reed, and
put it to the lips of Jesus that He might
drink. The guard would have stopped him,
but he pleaded : —
" Let me alone ; let us see whether Elijah
is coming to take Him down."
And they waited to see ; the heavens did
not open to let Elijah come in his chariot of
fire ; but their suspense was soon ended.
The expectant silence was broken by another
terrible cry from the cross, and when they
looked they saw that Jesus was dead.
Thus the shrine in which the Blessed Spirit
of Jesus had lodged was dismantled, and left
empty of its Guest ; the veil of the Temple
was rent asunder, and the Divine Presence
departed. But even in its departing, neither

-xv. 41] AND EXECUTION 267
pain, nor despair, nor public shame, nor the
clutching hands of death could wholly obscure
the glory of that Presence. The last moments
of Jesus wrung a testimony to Himself from
a heathen spectator. The centurion in com
mand of the guard stood opposite Jesus watch
ing Him ; as he heard His last utterance and
saw His end he exclaimed : —
" Certainly this man was a Son of God."

CHAPTER XV
The Burial and the Empty Tomb
xv. 42 — xvi. 8
The Burial, xv. 42-46
The day drew on towards its close ; the dead
body was left hanging on the cross ; and the
women still watched. Someone, however, took
the news of the death of Jesus into the city.
His friends were anxious that His body should
be rescued from the indignity of public ex
posure ; and if anything were to be done, it
must be done at once. In an hour or two the
sun would set, the Sabbath would begin, and
no respectable Jew would help to take the
body down from the cross. If it were not
removed now, it must hang till the Sabbath
was over. The Apostles had either disap
peared, or did not dare to take the risk of
interfering, and the dangerous task was left
for one who had been less intimately asso-
268

xv. 42— xvi. 8] THE BURIAL 269
ciated with the Master, a certain Joseph of
Arimathea, a man of position, and a member
of the Sanhedrim. Apparently, he was not
actually a disciple, for we are simply told
that he was " one of those who looked for
the Kingdom of God." Such a man might
not see his way to the formal acceptance of
Jesus as Messiah, and yet might be full of
love and reverence towards Him, and greatly
moved to indignation and pity by His cruci
fixion. He plucked up courage, obtained
audience of Pilate, and begged for the body
of Jesus.
Pilate, as we have seen, had no feeling
against Jesus, and had no objection to His
being honourably buried ; but on other
grounds he hesitated to grant this request.
Sometimes a similar permission had been
granted a little prematurely ; it had turned
out that the criminal had not actually expired,
and his friends had taken down a man
supposed to be dead and had succeeded in
restoring him to life. Crucifixion was a
lingering death, and Jesus had succumbed
long before the usual time. Was He really

270 THE BURIAL AND [xv. 42-
dead? Pilate sent for the centurion, and
questioned him as to the time of death.
When he had satisfied himself that Jesus was
certainly dead, he gave Joseph permission to
bury the corpse.
Joseph bought a linen cloth, and having
procured assistance, went to the place of
crucifixion, took down the body and wrapped
it in the cloth. Then he had it carried away
and placed in a tomb hewn in the rock.
They closed the opening by rolling a heavy
boulder against it.

The Women at the Tomb, xv. 47 — xvi. 8
All this was done hurriedly, that it might
be finished in the short interval that remained
before the beginning of the Sabbath. It was
not the full and final burial, but only a
temporary disposal of the body. Those
who loved Jesus would wish to supplement
these maimed rites ; and it was perhaps
intended to remove the body later on to
some other grave. Two of the women had
followed to the grave, and marked where the

-xvi. 8] THE EMPTY TOMB 271
body was laid. A little later the sun set ;
it was the Sabbath, and nothing more could
be done. But when another evening had
come and the Sabbath was over, three of
the women bought spices with which to anoint
the body. It was too dark to go that evening, <
but they set out the first thing the next
morning, with the earliest glimmer of light,
and reached the grave soon after sunrise.
Hitherto they had been too absorbed in
their beloved Master to think of anything
else, but as they drew near they remembered
the huge boulder that blocked the entrance.
Who would roll it away for them ? What
were they to do ?
When they looked, however, they saw that
the entrance was clear, and the grave empty
— at least so it seemed ; but they ventured in,
and saw a youth in white sitting on the right
hand. As they stood, speechless with aston
ishment, the youth said : —
" Do not be astonished, you are looking
for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
He has risen, He is not here. Behold the
place where they laid Him ; but go and tell

272 THE BURIAL [xv. 42— xvi. 8
His disciples, and tell Peter, ' He is going
before you into Galilee. There shall ye see
Him, as He told you.' "
But when the women recovered from the
first shock of surprise, the removal of the
boulder and the absence of the body suggested
to them some awful happening, and they saw
in the youth a visitant from another world.
Half mad with fear, trembling in every limb,
they made their way out of the cave as best
they could, and fled, too frightened to tell any
one what they had seen and heard.1
* * * *
1 Verses 9-20 were not part of the original text, see additional Note
C, p. 280.

EPILOGUE
Here the narrative breaks off abruptly, pro
bably through the accidental loss of conclud
ing paragraphs. We may imagine the reader,
whose impressions we have tried to put into
words, learning that in the course of centuries
the followers of Jesus formed societies spread
over almost the whole world, embracing a
large proportion of the human race, and con
trolling powerful states ; learning, in short,
that the personality of Jesus became the great
est influence in the world. He would be
eager to discover the solution of the problem
how all this had been the sequel of the Cross
and the empty tomb.

ADDITIONAL NOTES
A. THE HISTORY OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING
TO ST MARK
The imaginary reader whose impressions we have tried
to record would wish to know the history of the document
he had been studying. He would learn that the oldest
copies of it now in existence are two manuscripts l written
in Greek capital letters in the fourth century, perhaps
about three hundred years after the death of Jesus. There
are also numerous other copies in Greek manuscripts and
printed books, and also copies in manuscripts and printed
books in Latin, Aramaic, Egyptian, Armenian, Arabic,
French, German, Italian, English, and hundreds of other
ancient and modern languages. These various copies
differ slightly in a number of minor points, but on the
whole they tell substantially the same story, except that
the later copies contain twelve extra verses.2 The Greek
Mark is clearly the original work, the copies in other
languages being either translations from the Greek or
translations of such translations.
References to this Gospel are found in writers from the
1 The Codex Sinaiticus, K ; and the Codex Vaticanus, B.
2 See Additional Note C. 27S

276 ADDITIONAL NOTES
beginning of the second century onwards ; and it seems
to have been used by the authors of Matthew and Luke,
which cannot be much later than a.d. ioo, and may be
earlier ; so that our " Gospel according to St Mark " must
have been written some time before the close of the first
century, perhaps before the Fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70.
Our student would have noticed_that the book itself makes
no statement as to who wrote it or when it was written.
The titles, however, of the Gospel in all the copies connect
it with the name " Mark " ; the two oldest copies 1 have
the title "According to Mark"2; and the early writers
previously referred to speak of a Gospel composed by
Mark, and some add that he committed to writing the
reminiscences of the Apostle Peter. This tradition that
the Second Gospel was written by St Mark, and in some
measure rests on the authority of St Peter, is very generally
accepted.3 We have no trustworthy testimony as to where
or why or for whom the book was written, but are left to
draw our own conclusions from the book itself.
The " Mark " in question is usually identified with a
certain "John Mark" of whom we read as a cousin of
Barnabas and a companion both of St Peter and St
Paul.4 Hence our Gospel was written by an author who was
acquainted with some of the chief actors in the events
1 Cf. above. 2 Kata Markon.
8 Some, however, would accept the authorship by St Mark, but
hesitate as to the dependence on St Peter.
4 Acts xii. 12, 25, xv. 37, 39 ; Col. iv. 10 ; 2 Tim. iv. 11 ; Phile
mon 24.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 277
which he describes, a member of the society which Jesus
founded, writing within fifty years of His death. It is
therefore a document of the first importance as furnishing
data for a life of Christ.

B. ON THE METHOD OF THIS BOOK
Some time since the present writer was engaged on
a study of Mark for devotional purposes, and was thus
led to dwell carefully on the significance of St Mark's
narratives considered by themselves, without reference
to the other Evangelists. In the course of these studies
he was continually surprised by discovering that what was
said or left unsaid, and what was implied in the particular
way in which St Mark put things, was often different from
what he had expected to find in the Gospel. He felt that
if he had been perusing his author more casually, he would
have read into his narrative a great deal from Matthew,
Luke, and John.
There must be very many for whom Mark is hardly
allowed to tell its own story, but rather serves to recall
a general knowledge of the Four Gospels. Ultimately,
no doubt, we are bound to supplement and interpret
Mark by the results of our study of other data, but
in the first instance it is important to realise exactly what
Mark means taken quite by itself.
With this end in view the present writer tried to con
struct for himself the impression which the Second Gospel
would make on a reader who had no other sources of

278 ADDITIONAL NOTES
information as to Christianity — to whom Jesus was entirely
unknown until he came across Mark. As this exercise
proved profitable and mteresting, it seemed that the
results might be useful to others. The idea of publica
tion was encouraged by Dr W. Robertson Nicoll, and
The Life of Christ according to St Mark appeared as a
series of articles in the Expositor. It is now republished
after some revision and with " Additional Notes."
The "impression" sought to be constructed would
clearly vary according to the character, circumstances,
and experience of the " imaginary reader " who is sup
posed to receive it. The possibilities are numerous and
fascinating. The " imaginary reader " might be a Japanese
or Tibetan Buddhist, an Agnostic carefully trained in all
the wisdom of the twentieth century, but in some mira
culous way protected from any knowledge of the story
of Jesus or the history of the Church. But as far as this
" Life " is concerned, the " imaginary reader " might be
best thought of as an intelligent, well-educated Jew of our
own times, devout yet liberal and modern in his Judaism.
Absorbed in other interests, he has given no attention to
Christianity or its literature ; Jesus has been a mere name
to him, until he happens to read an edition of Mark which
follows the ancient text in omitting the Appendix. Such
a Jew, doubtless, would not be possible in actual life ; and
the present writer cannot hope that his imagination has
been sufficiently alert and powerful to maintain such a
standpoint consistently. But the description just given
may be useful in enabling our readers to grasp the idea
of the book.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 279
We will, however, offer an alternative description of
the "imaginary reader"; let any one of our readers
identify this hypothetical personage with himself; let
him suppose that he has drunk a special water of Lethe,
which wipes clean out of his memory all that he knows of
Jesus and Christianity, but otherwise leave him and his
knowledge and recollections unchanged. Let him suppose
that in this condition he reads Mark, and let him ask
himself how far the impression he would receive under
such circumstances would agree with this " Life."
Turning to a practical detail, we may point out that, in
reproducing the sayings of Jesus, the narratives of St Mark,
etc., the present writer has not aimed at giving an exact
literal translation; he has rather paraphrased, because
often a paraphrase conveys a more accurate impression
than a translation. Moreover he has expanded and added
many comments. Anyone who tries to construct a con
tinuous narrative from St Mark must supply many gaps ;
usually this is done from the other Gospels, and from the
conventional ideas as to the history of Jesus, and as to His
teaching. Here an attempt is made to supply such gaps
entirely from what St Mark himself might suggest, and
from general considerations possible to a student who had
no knowledge of Christianity.

280 ADDITIONAL NOTES

C. THE APPENDIX TO THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST MARK, xvi. 9-20
These verses have been omitted from the " Life " because
there is conclusive evidence that they did not form part
of the original Gospel according to St Mark.
The section is omitted by some of the oldest and most
authoritative documents ; by the two fourth century manu
scripts of the Greek text, the Sinaitic (N) and the Vatican ;
by the Sinaitic Syriac, a fourth century manuscript ofthe
ancient version of the Gospels into Syriac, probably trans
lated in the second century ; and by manuscripts of other
versions. Other manuscripts of the Greek text1 and of
some of the versions contain the verses but indicate in
various ways either doubts as to their genuineness or
knowledge of the existence of such doubts. A Greek
manuscript of the eighth century, L, Codex Regius, con
tains these verses, but also gives another alternative
ending ; and this second ending with slight variations is
also found by itself in some manuscripts of the versions.
Eusebius of Caesarea writing early in the fourth century
states that the verses are absent from most Greek manu
scripts ; and similar statements are made by Jerome and
other early Fathers, perhaps, however, merely on the
authority of Eusebius.
The style of the passage is different from that of St
Mark ; the passage is for the most part a mosaic of passages
from the other Gospels.
1 Cursives, therefore comparativelyjlate.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 281
The introductory clause " Now when He was risen early
on the first day of the week " would be quite unnecessary
if this section were a continuation of xvi. 1-8, for we have
already been told that the women came to the tomb
" when the Sabbath was past . . . very early on the first
day ofthe week," xvi. i, 2. Moreover, as Mary Magdalene
has been mentioned in the first verse of the chapter, we
should not expect to find her described in the ninth as
"Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven
devils." There are also other facts, too technical to be discussed
here, which indicate that xvi. 9-20 did not form part of the
original Gospel of St Mark.
It is true that the section is included in a great majority
of manuscripts both of the Greek Text and of the versions ;
but this evidence, however great in quantity, is of far less
weight than the testimony considered above. A work
ending with xvi. 8 was obviously incomplete, and it would
be entirely simple, natural, and justifiable to provide it
with a conclusion compiled from the other Gospels ; and
when once this addition had been made, there would seem
to most people no reason for omitting it.
But the careful study ofthe text of the New Testament in
recent times has led most scholars to the conviction that these
last twelve verses are not original, in spite of the natural
popular reluctance to interfere with the text of the Gospel
familiar through the Authorised Version; a reluctance
which found expression in a learned, elaborate, but incon
clusive volume by the late Dean Burgon. The later origin
of the section has been maintained by Tischendorf and

282 ADDITIONAL NOTES
Westcott and Hort, amongst a host of others ; and is not
obscurely hinted in the Revised Version by the space
which separates verses 1-8 from verses 9-20.
Our imaginary student of St Mark has been supposed
to have read the Gospel in a manuscript or edition which
followed the earliest extant authorities.
The Appendix to St Mark probably belongs to the first
half of the second century. It cannot very well be earlier
on account of the use it makes of the other Gospels ; and
it cannot be later as it is known to Irenseus c. a.d. 180.
A manuscript of the Armenian Version, dated a.d. 986,
places before the Appendix the heading, " Of the Presbyter
Aristion " ; this has been understood as a statement that the
section was written by a certain Aristion or Aristo men
tioned by Papias, early in the second century, and some
scholars are inclined to accept the statement.1 We add
a translation both of this well-known appendix, and of the
shorter alternative, which latter is also probably as old as
the second century.
The Longer Appendix
(a) Verses 9-1 i
THE APPEARANCE TO MARY MAGDALENE
(Parallel to John xx. 1, n-18; Luke xxiv. 10, n; cf.
Luke viii. 2)
When He had risen early on the first day of the week,
He appeared first to Mary of Magdala, from whom He
1 F. C. Conybeare, Aristion, the Author of the Last Twelve Verses
of Mark, in the Expositor, Oct. 1893 and Sept. 1894.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 283
had cast out seven demons. She1 went and told His
associates, as they were weeping and lamenting. And
they, when they heard that He was alive and had been
seen by her, did not believe.

(b) Verses 12, 13
THE APPEARANCE TO THE TWO
(Parallel to the Appearance at Emmaus, Luke xxiv. 13-35)
After these things He was manifested in a different
form to two of them, as they were walking, as they were
going into the country, and they went away and told the
rest, but neither did they believe them.
(c) Verses 14-18
THE APPEARANCE TO THE ELEVEN
(Parallel to Matthew xxviii. 16-20; Luke xxiv. 25, 36-49;
cf. John xx. 19-29 ; Acts ii., xxviii. 1-10)
Afterwards as the eleven were at meat He was mani
fested, and rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart,
because they did not believe those who saw Him risen.
And He said to them, "Go into the whole world and
preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth
and is baptised shall be saved, but he that believeth not
1 These underlined pronouns represent forms of the Greek ekeinos,
which is usually emphatic.

284 ADDITIONAL NOTES
shall be condemned. These signs shall follow those that
believe: in My name they shall cast out demons; they
shall speak with new tongues ; they shall take up serpents,
and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt
them; they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they
shall recover." (d) Verses 19, 20
THE ASCENSION
(Parallel to Luke xxiv. 50-53 ; Acts i. 9-1 1)
The Lord, therefore, after He had spoken to them, was
taken up into heaven, and took His seat at the right hand
of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere,
the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word by
the signs that followed it.
The Shorter Appendix
But they reported all the charge given them concisely
to Peter and his companions. And after these things
Jesus sent forth by them from the sunrise even to the
sunsetting the holy and incorruptible preaching of eternal
salvation.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 285

D. ON CHAPTER vm. 1-2 1
In the " Life " this section has been omitted, mainly on
account of the resemblance of verses 1-9, the Feeding of
the Four Thousand, to the previously-narrated Feeding ofthe
Five Thousand. Verses 10-21 are closely connected with
the preceding section, and the whole portion we have
omitted may very well have been taken from some variant
account of this part of the ministry of Christ.
Some such view has long been held, especially in regard
to the Feeding of the Four Thousand. H. Holtzmann, for
instance, in his commentary on the Synoptic Gospels in
the Haud-Commentor zum Neuen Testament?- says that it
is pretty generally held that the two accounts of the feed
ings are parallel narratives which refer to one and the same
event. The late A . B. Bruce, in the Expositor's Greek Testa
ment, inclines to the same view. Of course the supposed
reader of St Mark's Gospel, from whose point of view the
"Life" is written, would be in no way concerned with modern
criticism, because he would know nothing about it; but
we may be interested to note that his impressions are con
firmed by recent research, at any rate according to many
authorities. On the other hand the position that viii. 1-2 1 was not
a part of the story as St Mark originally told it, is by no
means a refinement of hypercriticism, but rather a view
that would naturally commend itself prima facie to an
1 Second Edition, 1892.

286 ADDITIONAL NOTES
inquirer who was not affected by the presuppositions of
Christian theology. The reasons in its favour are very
much on the surface.
This section is, so to speak, in the air; it does not
readily connect either with what precedes, or with what
follows. Contrary to the usual practice of St Mark these
twenty-one verses give no explicit notes of place. The
mysterious and unique Dalmanutha is probably not a
proper name, but an Aramaic phrase for " of those parts," :
which has been accidentally copied into a Greek version by
a translator from an Aramaic original. If so we have
only such vague terms as "the wilderness," "those parts,"
"theother side." This feature suggests that viii. 1-2 1 is
derived from an oral tradition which had retained significant
points only, rather than from the first-hand authority whom
St Mark usually follows.
Apart from numbers and from the details of time and
place, which are mostly absent here, the story is substanti
ally the same as that of the Five Thousand. A multitude
who have been some time with Jesus find themselves
without food, the possibility of sending them to find food
elsewhere is discussed and rejected, because they are in the
wilderness. Jesus asks how many loaves they have. In
vi. 38 they have five loaves and two fishes ; in viii. 5 seven
loaves; in each case we get the number seven. Jesus
makes the people sit down ; He takes the loaves, blesses
them, or gives thanks, breaks them, and gives them to
the disciples, who distribute to the people. These eat and
1 Nestle in Encyl. Bibl., where other exclamations of Dalmanutha
as connected with " harbour," etc., are given.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 287
are satisfied. The disciples gather up the remnants and
Jesus sends the people away; afterwards He and the
disciples go by boat across the lake.1 On His reaching
the other side, He is involved in controversy with the
Pharisees. There is much verbal agreement in the accounts
of the Feeding.
On the other hand the differences are such as would
naturally arise in the transmission of the same story through
divergent channels of oral tradition. For instance both
agree in making the available food consist of loaves and
fishes, and also in making seven the number of objects
mentioned by the disciples in reply to our Lord's ques
tion, " How many loaves have ye ? '' Evidently both the
number seven and the combination of loaves and fishes
were standing elements in the story ; in the Five Thousand
the seven is obtained by adding two fishes to five loaves ;
while in the Four Thousand there are seven loaves, and
the fishes are treated as a supplement, a relish to the
loaves. Again the difference in the number of the baskets is
easy to understand ; the twelve baskets of the Five Thou
sand would be suggested by the number of the Apostles ;
the seven of the Four Thousand by the seven loaves and
the general predilection for sevens.
There is hardly any real difference in the numbers fed ;
the narrative would only profess to give a rough popular
computation, according to which "five thousand" and
" about four thousand " might have much the same mean-
1 In vi. 46 the disciples start first, and Jesus joins them later,
walking on the water.

288 ADDITIONAL NOTES
ing. No exact census would be taken at the time, and
there would be no official statement as to the numbers,
people telling the story might speak of "four or five
thousand " ; these versions of the tradition became stereo
typed in different circles, one gave ".five thousand,"
another "about four thousand." Probably there is a
connection between the "five" loaves and the "five"
thousand ; each helped to fix the other.
Other differences in details as to incidents, conversa
tion, and wording, e.g., the use of different words for the
" baskets," are very slight evidence against the identifica
tion of the two narratives. If the Five Thousand alone
had stood in Matthew and the Four Thousand alone in
Mark, as obviously equivalent narratives of the same
event, many popular commentaries would have found no
difficulty in maintaining that the two were quite consistent.
If we conclude that viii. 1-9 is a variant of the narrative
of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, and therefore must
be omitted from any account of the Life of Christ, we
can no longer place viii. 10-21 at this point of the story,
or even retain those verses just as they stand, because in
their present form they are dependent on the narrative of
the Feeding of the Four Thousand; nevertheless the
paragraphs in question may be modifications of ancient
and genuine traditions as to our Lord's teaching.
In the above, as in the "Life" itself, we have tried to
represent the natural prima facie impression made upon
a thoughtful reader, whose only source of information was
the Second Gospel. It is not part of our plan to discuss
whether the complete evidence at our disposal, exhaus-

ADDITIONAL NOTES 289
tively estimated according to all the resources of criticism,
indicates one or two Feedings of a Multitude.
It is, however, desirable to mention that the problem is
still an open question, and that it is still possible to quote
eminent scholars in support of the view that there actually
were two Feedings. For instance Oscar Holtzmann, in
his Life of Christ} treats the Feeding of the Five Thou
sand as a real, but non-miraculous event, and the Feeding
of the Four Thousand as another similar event. His
account is inevitably vague, thus, Jesus " finds Himself
constrained not to let these people, mostly poor folk, and
some of them living at a distance, depart from Him with
out food of some kind. When He communicates His
resolve to the disciples, the smallness of their own stores
and the great number of those who are in need of food
awaken misgivings in them. Yet here again Jesus main
tains that cheerful, unfaltering confidence of His. The
task is accomplished in such a manner that all are satis
fied. . . . Having once succeeded in feeding a multitude
in this way, it was, of course, only natural that Jesus
should come forward and help in the same way on another
occasion." Other scholars accept the two Feedings in
less' rationalistic fashion.
Therefore for the sake of completeness we add a
treatment of this section on the lines ofthe "Life."
1 English Translation, pp. 287 ff

290 ADDITIONAL NOTES
The Feeding of the Four Thousand, viii. 1-9
" In those days," when Jesus, after His visit to Sidon,
had turned southward and was somewhere on the eastern
shore of the Sea of Galilee; "in those days," He was
in some uninhabited district, engaged in teaching a great
multitude. They had been with Him for three days and
their stock of food was exhausted, so that He found
Himself a second time surrounded by a hungry, starving
crowd. He called His disciples, and said to them : —
" I am sorry for the multitude, for they have already
been with me three days, and they have nothing to eat ;
and if I send them away fasting to their homes, they will
faint by the way, for some of them have come from a
long distance."
The disciples answered : —
" Where can anyone get bread to satisfy all these, here,
in a wilderness ? "
He asked them how many loaves they had, and they
answered " Seven." Then He bade the multitude sit down
on the ground, and took the seven loaves, and gave thanks,
and brake them into portions, and made the disciples
distribute them to the multitude. Then someone further
discovered a few small fishes ; these also He blessed, and
had them distributed,1 so the people ate their fill; and
1 This verse 7 reads like a later addition, inserted to bring the
narrative into closer agreement with that of the Feeding of the Five
Thousand, possibly at a time when this section was circulating inde
pendently, before it had been incorporated in Mark. If so, it was
apparently regarded as an alternative version of the Feeding of the
Five Thousand.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 291
seven baskets full of superfluous portions were gathered up
afterwards ; although no fewer than about four thousand
had been fed. Having thus relieved their hunger Jesus
sent them away.
Here, as in the narrative of the Five Thousand, the
narrative is vague ; apart from difficulties as to how such
a multiplying was possible, the account does not enable us
to picture what happened.

A Sign Refused, viii. 10-13
As soon as the multitude were gone, Jesus and His
disciples took to their boat, and crossed to the other side,
presumably to the Western or Jewish shore of the Sea of
Galilee.1 Somewhere in this district there seems to have
been a gathering of Pharisees, or the reference may be
to the members of that sect in some large town, such
as Tiberias or Capernaum. At any rate a company of
Pharisees " came forth " from their home or some place
where they sojourned, betook themselves to Jesus, and
proceeded to harass Him with questions as to His
authority. Who did He profess to be ? How did He work
miracles ? — if He did work them. What right had He to
put Himself forward as a public teacher, and to lay down
the law in His high-handed fashion ? His tone, His words
and acts implied a claim to a position of great authority.
How could He justify Himself? They heard that He
wrought cures — so did other wonder-workers ; He cast out
1 On Dalmanutha, see above, p. 286.

292 ADDITIONAL NOTES
devils, well — exorcism was a regular profession. His claims
needed to be sustained by more convincing credentials ;
nothing less than a sign from heaven could be accepted.
Jesus would not allow Himself to be drawn into a
wrangle, and would rather reassert His authority than
attempt to justify it by argument. But He could not help
feeling that in this demand for a sign from heaven, the
Pharisees represented the great majority of the more
religious Jews ; they could not accept the truth of revelation,
they were not susceptible to spiritual influence, and they
could not recognise the authority of a pure and holy
character, unless these were associated with miracles,
startling physical miracles ; and He groaned in spirit.
How could the Gospel of the Kingdom win its way amongst
a people whose faith depended on material wonders?
He exclaimed indignantly, "Why does this generation
seek a sign ? I tell you in truth : No sign shall be given
to this generation." Then wearied with the persistent
brow-beating of the Pharisees, He left them ; and He
and His disciples betook themselves again to their boat,
crossed the lake, and sought refuge in the Gentile districts
on the eastern shores.
The Leaven of the Pharisees, viii. 14-21
On the voyage Jesus brooded over His recent experi
ence ; at last He broke out : —
" Beware, be on your guard against the leaven of the
Pharisees and the leaven of Herod ! "
Now the disciples had forgotten to provide themselves

ADDITIONAL NOTES 293
with bread, and had only one loaf with them in the boat ;
and their minds were preoccupied with this practical
difficulty, so that they understood Jesus' words as a
prohibition of partaking of unclean food. The partisans
of Herod would be careless about ceremonial rules, and
any food obtained from them would probably be unclean ;
possibly, too, their Master was excommunicating the
Pharisees, and directing that anything connected with
them was to be avoided. They discussed His words and
said one to another, " We have no bread." Jesus over
heard them, and said : —
" Why are you discussing your lack of bread ? Do ye not
yet understand or comprehend? Is your heart hardened?
Are you blind though you have eyes, and deaf though you
have ears ? Do you not remember ? When I brake the
five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets 1 full
of portions did you take up ? "
They say to Him, "Twelve."
"And when I broke the seven loaves for the four
thousand, how many baskets 2 full of portions did you take
up?" They say to Him, " Seven."
He saith to them, " Do you not yet understand ? "
There the dialogue ends ; we do not know how Jesus'
last question should have been answered ; and we are not
told what was meant by the " leaven of the Pharisees and
the leaven of Herod." As the most obvious moral of the
conversation is the failure of the disciples to comprehend
their Master, we may conclude that they did not under-
1 Kophinous. 2 Spuridon.

294 ADDITIONAL NOTES
stand, and that Jesus let the discussion lapse because He
despaired of making His meaning clear to them.
If this voyage was the actual sequel to the interview
with the Pharisees, the " leaven" is the tendency, common
to Pharisees, Herodians, and many others, to demand
signs, physical marvels, as credentials of spiritual teaching.
Jesus warns His disciples against adopting this criterion of
His authority ; they must not ask that His gospel should
be vouched for by miracles.1

E. THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION
At first sight considerations of time and space in view of
the periods mentioned and the indications of our Lord's
itinerary might seem to exclude a point as far south as
Horeb, i.e. somewhere in the desert to the south of
Palestine. But the conversation or conversations recorded
in viii. 27 — ix. 1 began and were continued on a journey ;
the record may refer to more than one day. The " six
days" of ix. 2 may well stand for about a week; and again
the absence of statement as to the interval of time
between ix. 13, the descent from the mountain, andix. 14,
the return to the disciples, does not necessarily imply that
the interval was very short, or that the reunion took place
at the foot of the mountain. In so incomplete and
fragmentary a narrative, the immediate sequence of two
1 Owing to the crossing and recrossing of the Lake, this section
leaves Jesus in the district in which it found Him. Its omission, there
fore, does not dislocate the geography of the Gospel.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 295
paragraphs is no evidence that the events recorded followed
immediately one on the other without any gap. The
present writer fully recognises the great difficulties involved
in the identification of Horeb with the Mount of Trans
figuration, but they do not seem to be insuperable ; and
the hypothesis is quite as probable as many that are
advanced with much confidence.

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