CIC
JESUS CHRIST
JESUS CHKIST
inaiiiier whether Jesus were reallv a propliet sent iiDiii God or no (Jii liw, Ml \2^« \\ lO'ir llian ji, .In 7'""). Hut their suspicions were soon arouscil. It Wiis evident tliat the teacliin;; and manner of tlie life of Jesus contticted greatly with their own. There wius a freedom and lameness of view about it whii-h was foreisin to their whole habits of thiiufjht. (<() III such matters as fa-slinj;, the prac- tiie <if Jesus and ilis disciples was different (Mk •J'cif, Mt «''"f- etc.). Worse than this, Jesus ap- pealed e.xpressly to those clius-ses which they scrni)ulously avoided (Mk 2'*-''ll etc.). (fc) Not only did Jesus direct His ministry especially to those whom they reganled a.s outca.st and irre- claimable, but lie made some direct attacks upon themselves. At first tlie.se attacks may have been slightly disguised (as in Mt Oi'f , where the I'hari.sees are not mentioned by name), but they constantly increased in directness and .severity, (c) One of the tirst topics on which they came into collision was in regard to the keeping of the Sabbath. .Mark li.-is collected a little group of incidents bearing upon this (Mk 2-'-3°), the first of which, from the mention of the ripe corn, appears, as we have .seen, to belong to the second year of the ministry, but belongs to an early phase in the conflict. To the .same effect is the incident related in .In 'i'"'-. and Luke contributes another (Lk 13"-'"). ((() 'I'lie Pharisees were also honestly shocked at seeing Jesus adopt a tone and as.sume prerogatives which seemed to them to encroach upon the honour of God (Mk2S-"||).
It is (nterestiiip, and throws a favourable llpht on the docu- ineiit.s, to note liow carefully the distinction is marked between (^1) the local scribes and Pharisees, such as were to be found scattered throughout Galilee (Mk ■»■][ ^H i«- -* »»||. Lk ;"»l ; ('/) the scribes who came down from -lerllsalem (Mk S-^). a|»liarenlly emissaries from tile hierarchy, like the deputation of .In 1"* ; and (c) the llerodians (.Mk ;i"), the dynastic party i>f the Herods, who with quite ditl'erenl motives acted in alliance with the Pharisees. The llerodians are mentioned agrain in Mk l'i'-'||. The name is otlierwiso almost unknown to history, thousrh the party is known to have e.visted. .losephus has oi ra 'Hpu>5ou <t^po• voiii'Tt^, but not 'Hpu5iafoi. This is a pure reflexion of the facts of tile time — facts which soon passed away, and which fiction would tiever have recovered. See, further, art. Uekooians.
vii. The Self-Iievelation of Jesus. — Although Jesus assumed these high prerogatives, and al- though, as we have seen. He both spoke and acted with an authority which permitted no (juestion, lie sl-.owed a singular reticence in putting forward Messianic or Divine claims. It is remarkable that from the lirst tho.se possessed with demons publicly confessed Him for what He was ; but it is no less remarkable that He checked these confessions : • He suffered not the demons to speak, because they knew htm ' (Mk l^^H :!i^ [Mt 12"^]). He imposed a like injunction of silence on one healed of leprosy ( .Mk l*'ll). The farthest point to w'liich Jesus went ill tlie way of self- revelation at this early period was by taking to Himself tlie special title ■ Son of .Man.' There wa-s probably some precedent for the iilefitification of this title with Messi<ah, but it wa.s at least not in common use, and therefore sen'ed well to cover a claim which was made but in no way obtruded. A fuller discussion of the title will be found below (p. 622 f.).
This marked reticence of Jesus in regard to His own Person is clearly part of a deliberate plan. One of its motives was to prevent the rash and reckless violence which one who appealed to the Messianic expectation was sure to excite (Ju 6'^). But it was ill full keeping with the whole of His demeanour and with tlie special character which He gave to His mission. The first evangelist rightly sees in this a fulfilment (which we believe here as elsewhere to have been conscious and de- liberate) of the prophecy Is 42'-^ ■ My servant . . . shall not strive, nor cry aloud ; neither shall any one hear his voice in the streets,' etc.
It is impossible for us to think of the Jesus por. trayed in the Gosjiels as forcing His claims uinui the attention of the world. He rather lit them sink gently into the minds of His di.sciples until they won an assent which was not only free and .spontaneous, but also more intelligent than it could have been if enforced simply by authority. Hut, apart from this, it was essential to the tlevelopnii-nt of His mi.ssion that the teaching of the Kingdom should iirecede, and )irecede by a sufficient interval, the public self-manife.station and offer of the King. The first thing to be done was to change the char- acter and revolutionize the moral conceptions ot men. This was to be the work of quiet teaching. The hour for the Leader to come forward was the hour when teaching was to give place to action. Hence it was well that at first ami for some time to cotne the King should remain, as it were, in the background, until the id-eparatiim for His assum ing His kingshi]) was cmiiplete.