Om. !<*D, a b e ITj Syr.-Sin., Aug. 1/2.
This means that the omission of the words is a primitive Western reading, which in this case is probably right: it was a natural gloss to explain the parting of the Lord from the disri[tles of the Ascension ; there was no similar temptation to omit the words if genuine.
In Ac 1'-" the final separation is described as an 'a.scentunto heaven.' When the last instructions had been given, the disciples saw their Lord • taken up (4T-/)pSri), and a cloud received him out of their sight.' The over-arching sky is a staniling symbol for the abode of God ; and the return of the Son to the Father was naturally represented as a retreat
* When we n^k liow tbCM? early discourM-s were transmitted to the writer of tlie Acts, there is a natural reluctance to use tliem too strictly as representing the exact words spoken. And yet. taken as a" whole, they lit in singularly well to the oriier of development anil the thought of the primitive community, which has an aniecedent verisimilitude, aud accords best with indications in the l*;iiiliiie Epistles.
JESUS CHRIST
JESUS CHRIST
CV.i
■within its blue recesses, tlie etliereal home of light and ;;lory. It is sometimes necessary that a symbol should be acted as well as written or spoken. The disciples were aware of a vanishinfr, and they knew that their Lord must be where His Father was.
That the narrative in the Acts is not a myth seems proved by an authentic little touch which it contains, a veritable reminiscence of what we may be sure was their rial attitude at the moment, though it soon ceased to be. When they asked, ' Lord, do.st thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' their thoughts were still running in the groove of the old Jewish expectation. It is the liust trace of them that we have in this naive form.
(.'!) P'rom the point of view of Christian doctrine, for those who not only accept the facts of the life of Christ but the construction put on those facts by the writers of NT, the main stress of the Ascension lies upon the state to which it forms the entrance, (a) It is the guarantee for the con- tiiuied existence of Him who became incarnate for our sakes. (6) It not only guarantees His con- tinued existence, but the continued effect of His work. It puts the seal of the tlivine approval upon all that the Incarnation accomplished. It is the linal confirmation of the les.sons of the Baptism and of the Transfiguration, ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' (c) The primitive phrase 'at the right hand of God' describes as nearly and as simply as human language can describe the double truth that Christ still is and that His work still is, that the Incarnation was no transient episode, but a permanent and decisive factor in the dealing of God with man. (</) This truth is stated in other words in the doctrine of the High Priesthood of Christ, a doctrine implicitly contained in many places in the writings of St. j'aul, and worked out with great clearness and fulness in Ep. to Hebrew.s. There is something in the relation of the exalted Son to the Father and to His Church corresponding to and that may be expressed in terms of the functions of the earthly high jiriest in relation to God and to Israel. The great High I'riest presents the prayers of His people; He intercedes for them; He 'pleads' or 'presents' His own sacrifice. Only, when we use this language it should be remembered that we are not speaking of ' specific acts done or words spoken by Christ in His glory. His glorified presence is an eternal presentation ; He pleads by what He is' (Mobcrly, Ministrrial Friestliij(Ml, p. 240 n.).
LtTKRATCKK.— I>r. Milliciin Iffl a volume on tlie Ascension as a I>pniluiit to that on llie Kesurreotlon iSairt/ Lectures for lb91), wliirli Is tbe moat comprehensive treatment of the subject in Kni;llsh.
III. SfPPr.KMF.NT.M- MATTEU : THE NATIVITY
AND Infancy— Throughout His public ministry Jesus passed for the son of Joseph and Mary, two peasants of Nazareth. .Some of those who were present at the long discourse in the synagogue at Capernaum expres.sed their astonishment at the high pretensions which it seemed to contain, by a.sking, ' Is not this tiesus, the son of .Joseph, whose father and mother we know?' (Jn 6*; cf. 1*'). The iidiabitants of Nazareth ajipear to have put a similar (luestion when lie came and preached thire. The exact wor<ls are somewhat differently trausmitteil. .Mk 0' has (in the better attested text), 'Is not this the carpenter?' Mt l:!^ • Is not this the carpenter's son ? ' Lk 4-^ a passage which, although diviTgent, contains reminiscences of the .sjime original, has .still more directly, • Is not this Joseph's son ? ' In the preliminary chapters the same evangelist speaks repeatedly of ' his parents ' (7owrt. Lk 2-'^- *' *M. And not only does he liini<elf resolve this into 'his father and his mother' I,"-")'
but he makes the mother of Jesus say, ' Thy father anil I sought thee sorrowing ' ('i'*).
It is in keeping with this language that both the First and the Third Gospels place in their fore- front genealogies of Jesus, which, in spite of many attemi>ts to prove the contrary, miLsl be admitted to trace His descent through Joseph and not through Mary.