BOOK IV a St. Luke xix. 41 b St. John ix. 32 to Lazarus, shook His whole inner Being, when, in the words of St. John, He vehemently moved His Spirit and troubled Himself.' And now every trait is in accord. 'Where have ye laid him?' So truly human-as if He, Who was about to raise the dead, needed the information where he had been laid; so truly human, also, in the underlying tenderness of the personal address, and in the absorption of the whole Theanthropic energy on the mighty burden. about to be lifted and lifted away. So, also, as they bade Him come and see, were the tears that fell from Him (édáxpvσev), not like the violent lamentation (ěkλavoɛv) that burst from Him at sight and prophetic view of doomed Jerusalem. Yet we can scarcely think that the Jews rightly interpreted it, when they ascribed it only to His love for Lazarus. But surely there was not a touch either of malevolence or of irony, only what we feel to be quite natural in the circumstances, when some of them asked it aloud: Could not this One, Which opened the eyes of the blind, have wrought so that [in order] this one also should not die?' Scarcely was it even unbelief. They had so lately witnessed in Jerusalem that Miracle, such as had 'not been heard'since the world began,' that it seemed difficult to understand how, seeing there was the will (in His affection for Lazarus), there was not the power-not to raise him from the dead, for that did not occur to them, but to prevent his dying. Was there, then, a barrier in death? And it was this, and not indignation, which once more caused that Theanthropic recurrence upon Himself, when again 'He vehemently moved His Spirit.' And now they were at the cave which was his tomb. He bade them roll aside the great stone which covered its entrance. Amidst the awful pause which preceded obedience, one voice only was raised. It was that of Martha. Jesus had not spoken of raising Lazarus. But what was about to be done? She could scarcely have thought that He merely wished to gaze once more upon the face of the dead. Something nameless had seized her. She dared not believe; she dared not disbelieve. Did she, perhaps, not dread a failure, but feel misgivings, when thinking of Christ as in presence of commencing corruption before these Jews-and yet, as we so often, still love Him even in unbelief? It was the common Jewish idea that corruption commenced on the fourth day, that the drop of gall, which had fallen from the sword of the Angel and caused death, was then working its effect, and that, as the face changed, the soul took its 1 In St. John xi. 41 the worls, from the place where the dead was laid,' should be omitted, as not in the best MSS. LAZARUS COME FORTH FROM THE TOMB. a 325 CHAP. XXI Yebam. R. 100; 20 a; Ber. Vajjik. R. 18 b St. John final leave from the resting-place of the body. Only one sentence And in doing this Will, He was the Resurrection and the Life. One loud command spoken into that silence; one loud call to that sleeper; one flash of God's Own Light into that darkness, and again moved the wheels of life at the outgoing of The Life. And, still bound hand and foot with graveclothes [ bands,' Tachrichin], and his face with the napkin, Lazarus stood forth, shuddering and silent, in the cold light of earth's day. In that multitude, now more pale and shuddering than the man bound in the graveclothes, the Only One majestically calm was He, Who before had been so deeply moved and troubled Himself, as He now bade them 'Loose him, and let him go.' We know no more. Holy Writ in this also proves its Divine authorship and the reality of what is here recorded. The momentarily lifted veil has again fallen over the darkness of the Most Holy Place, in which is only the Ark of His Presence and the cloudy incense of our worship. What happened afterwards-how they loosed him, what they said, what thanks, or praise, or worship, the sisters spoke, and what were Lazarus' first words, we know not. And better so. Did Lazarus remember aught of the late past, or was not rather the rending of the grave a real rending from the past: the awakening so sudden, the transition so great, that nothing of the bright vision remained, but its impress-just as a marvellously beautiful Jewish legend has it, that before entering this world, the soul of a child has seen all of heaven and hell, of past, present, and future; but that, as the Angel strikes it on the mouth to waken it into this world, all of the other has passed from the mind? Again we say: We know not-and it is better so. And here abruptly breaks off this narrative. Some of those who had seen it believed on Him; others hurried back to Jerusalem to tell it the Pharisees. Then was hastily gathered a meeting of the BOOK IV Sanhedrists, not to judge Him, but to deliberate what was to be done. That He was really doing these miracles, there could be no question among them. Similarly, all but one or two had no doubt as to the source of these miracles. If real,2 they were of Satanic agency-and all the more tremendous they were, the more certainly so. But whether really of Satanic power, or merely a Satanic delusion, one thing, at least, was evident, that, if He were let alone, all men would believe on Him. And then, if He headed the Messianic movement of the Jews as a nation, alike the Jewish City and Temple, and Israel as a nation, would perish in the fight with Rome. But what was to be done? They had not the courage of, though the wish for, judicial murder, till he who was the High-Priest, Caiaphas, reminded them of the well-known Jewish adage, that it is better one man Ber. R. 94; should die, than the community perish.' Yet, even so, he who spoke was the High-Priest; and for the last time, ere in speaking the sentence he spoke it for ever as against himself and the office he held, spake through him God's Voice, not as regards the counsel of murder, but this, that His Death should be for that nation'-nay, as St. John adds, not only for Israel, but to gather into one fold all the now scattered children of God. comp. also 91, and the Midr. on Eccl. ix. 18 a itself. Henceforth it only Some one, perhaps This was the last prophecy in Israel; with the sentence of death on Israel's true High-Priest died prophecy in Israel, died Israel's High-Priesthood. It had spoken sentence upon This was the first Friday of dark resolve. needed to concert plans for carrying it out. Nicodemus, sent word of the secret meeting and resolution of the Sanhedrists. That Friday and the next Sabbath Jesus rested in Bethany, with the same majestic calm which He had shown at the grave of Lazarus. Then He withdrew, far away to the obscure bounds of Peræa and Galilee, to a city of which the very location is now unknown. And there He continued with His disciples, withdrawn from the Jews-till He would make His final entrance into Jerusalem. 3 On the Sanhedrin, see further in 2 The doubt as to their reality would, The city' called Ephraim' has not been localised. Most modern writers identify it with the Ephraim, or Ephron, of 2 Chron. xiii. 19, in the neighbourhood of Bethel, and near the wilderness of Bethaven. But the text seems to require a place in Peræa and close to Galilee. THE LAST JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. 327 CHAPTER XXII. ON THE JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM-DEPARTURE FROM EPHRAIM BY WAY OF (St. Matt. xix. 1, 2; St. Mark x. 1; St. Luke xvii. 11; St. Luke xvii. 12-19; St. Matt. xix. 3-12; St. Mark x. 2-12; St. Matt. xix. 13-15; St. Mark x. 13-16; St. Luke xviii. 15-17.) CHAP. XXII St. Matt. St. Mark x. xix. 1, 2; 1; St. Luke xvii. 11 THE brief time of rest and quiet converse with His disciples in the retirement of Ephraim was past, and the Saviour of men prepared for His last journey to Jerusalem. All the three Synoptic Gospels mark this, although with varying details. From the mention of Galilee by St. Matthew, and by St. Luke of Samaria and Galilee-or more correctly, 'between (along the frontiers of) Samaria and Galilee,' we may conjecture that, on leaving Ephraim, Christ made a very brief detour along the northern frontier to some place at the southern border of Galilee—perhaps to meet at a certain point those who were to accompany Him on His final journey to Jerusalem. This suggestion, for it is no more, is in itself not improbable, since some of Christ's immediate followers might naturally wish to pay a brief visit to their friends in Galilee before going up to Jerusalem. And it is further confirmed by the notice of St. Mark, that among those St.Mark who had followed Christ there were many women which came up with Him unto Jerusalem.' For, we can scarcely suppose that these many women' had gone with Him in the previous autumn from Galilee to the Feast of Tabernacles, nor that they were with Him at the Feast of the Dedication, or had during the winter followed Him through Peræa, nor yet that they had been at Bethany. All these difficulties are obviated if, as suggested, we suppose that Christ had passed from Ephraim along the border of Samaria to a place in Galilee, there to meet such of His disciples as would go up with Indeed, any lengthened journeying, and for an indefinite purpose, would have been quite contrary to Jewish manners. 6 Not so, of course, the travelling in the XV. 40, 41 BOOK IV a St. Matthew b St. Mark c St. Luke xvii. 12-19 d vv. 20-37 e St. Matt. viii. 2-4; St. Mark i. 40-45 f St. Luke xvii. 20-37 # St. Matt. xxiv.; St. Mark xiii. Him to Jerusalem. The whole company would then form one of those festive bands which travelled up to the Paschal Feast, nor would there be anything strange or unusual in the appearance of such a band, in this instance under the leadership of Jesus. b Another and deeply important notice, furnished by SS. Matthew and Mark, is, that during this journey through Peræa, 'great multitudes' resorted to, and followed Him, and that 'He healed 'a and 'taught them. This will account for the incidents and Discourses by the way, and also how, from among many deeds, the Evangelists may have selected for record what to them seemed the most important or novel, or else best accorded with the plans of their respective narratives.i Thus, to begin with, St. Luke alone relates the very first incident by the way, and the first Discourse. Nor is it difficult to understand the reason. To one who, like St. Matthew, had followed Christ in His Galilean Ministry, or, like St. Mark, had been the penman of St. Peter, there would be nothing so peculiar or novel in the healing of lepers as to introduce this on the overcrowded canvas of the last days. Indeed, they had both already recorded what may be designated as a typical healing of lepers. But St. Luke had not recorded such healing before; and the restoration of ten at the same time would seem to the beloved physician' matter, not only new in his narrative, but of the deepest importance. Besides, we havealready seen, that the record of the whole of this East-Jordan Ministry is peculiar to St. Luke; and we can scarcely doubt, that it was the result of personal inquiries made by the Evangelist on the spot, in order to supplement what might have seemed to him a gap in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark. This would explain his fulness of detail as regards incidents, and, for example, the in-troduction of the history of Zacchæus, which to St. Mark, or rather to St. Peter, but especially to St. Matthew (himself once a publican), might appear so like that which they had so often witnessed and related, as scarcely to require special narration. On the same ground we account for the record by St. Luke of Christ's Discourse predictive of the Advent of the Messianic Kingdom. This Discourse is evidently in its place at the beginning of Christ's last journey to Jerusalem. But the other two Evangelists merge it in the account of the fuller teaching on the same subject during the last days of Christ's sojourn on earth. It is a further confirmation of our suggestion as to the road taken This will more fully appear when we study the history of Zacchæus and the cure of the blind man in Jericho. |