His arch-foe was about to recommence — 'The prince of the world (i -rai x<,i7Lu,v ipx"'. J" 14™) is (now) coming' (cf. 121). When His arrest, following upon His betrayal, was about to become an accomplished fact. He recognized the return of the spirit of evil, and that the return was with power (.i iiiii(r,^ -roD «»T»M, Lk 2253).
Perhaps there is no more vivid presentation of the profound reality of His subjection to tempta- tion than that afforded by the narrative dealing with the events which occurred in Ciesarea Phi- lippi. It is almost possibln tn sfp tlic startled look of horror on Jesus' fac<> ,- If'' li-t'iH to Peter's well-meant, if indi-screet, i riii..ii i i.iii' i'. In the words of His chief Aposil.- 11'- li.ai- again the voice of Satan (cf. Mt Ib-^ and Mk s^), and the almost fierce way in which He rebukes Peter points to the conclusion that this is not the first time the suggestion has whispered itself into His ear, to forego the bitter taste which He knows He must experience before His work is ended.
((•) Before passing from the consideration of this aspect of the Incarnation viewed as the self- adaptation of the Son of God to the conditions of humanity, we must refer shortly to some of the details of the last, greatest, and most awful of the temptations to which Jesus was exposed. Some have sought to explain away the reality both of the temptations and the sufferings, through a vain desire to exalt His Divine at the expense of
* For our present purpose it is immaterial whether we reject the words of the Textus Receptus %, J i viit /at, i iytt^ti-rif, i> «••; r.iimn in favour of the Western reading of^ Lk 3" i/i« itm
vr«<i «, which Resch and Blass aa well as others'seem to prefer (cf. Blass, Ev. secundum Lucam, etc., Pncfatio, pp. xxxvi-xxxvii).
ACCOMMODATION^
ACOOMMODATlOIsr
17
His human nature ; but this is not the metliod of interpreting the life of Christ which brings out of it God's answer to man's deepest and most conscious needs. Tliere can liardly bo a doubt in tlie mind of any unprejudiced reader tliat tlie Synoptista place on record their accounts of the Passion be- lieving the facts detailed to Ije real and objective. The words of Jesus are the expressions of a mind torn witli the mental and .spiritual conflict ; and if Lk ii''- " be not a mere Western interpolation, the element of awful fear entered into and heiglit- ened His sufferings. It is only in this way that we can interpret the words eu dyui'i(}. See art. Agony. The thrice-repeated prayer of Jesus, in which He speaks of His own will as distinct from, but completely subordinate to, His Father's, adds to the impression, already gained, of the purely human feelings exhibited by Him in His struggle, and recalls to our mind tlie words in His own form of prayer, ' Thy will be done ' (Mt 6'") ; thus connecting, in the greatest crisis of His life, His own with our absolute dependence upon the ex- pressed will of His Father.
The writer of the Fourth Gospel records sayings of Jesus which are very sindlar to this. After the conversation of Jesus witli the woman of Samaria, He_ explains to His disciples the all-absorbing, satisfying character of His life's work, whicli is to do the will {rb 6iAi,Ma) of His Father (Jn 4*'). In other places He distinguishes between His own ei'Krjfj.a and that of His Father (Jn 5™ &^) ; and this is the word used by the Synoptic writers when recording the w.nds (,f ,1rsus' ],niyer iuGethsemane. On what grounds S(. l.nUr . mploys the verb /3o(5- Xo|nai (22^-) ill this <c.iiiirxi(iii we do not know. If the choice is not .•KM'iilciit, it is evidence that even in His great affliction Jesus bowed Himself to the deliberate determination of God (for the connexion between /SoiJXo^uai and SAw see Cremer, pp. 143 11'. and 726 f.).
A very pathetic touch is given hy St. Matthew to the por- traiture of this scene in tlie garden. Both lie and St. Marie relate how Jesus expressed a wish thnt Mis three discinles should be on their ^'iKud. St. .Mark, Ijcwiver, leaves the im- pression t li:il II- i^.'^I'lid- I Ii. ill \v ,,!< Ir .1 : ill;-l I 1 1 . ■ I . - . -l I . M- ■ [ I
the
companionship of fait solitude. The same Jesus to His sleeping c rest') which is omit'tei sible to discover a tin: as if the reflection «■ even of that lojal i Him ; and that, Iom,
to find a, ■ , 1 1 1^ Father's will other tin;,
ingthL-i id.leath. Itw.asintlh
submisMnii , ,,,, li I iii^ niost effective wea|piui ,,i ,,,,.,
re.ahty of His human nature, and an example of Himself .arry'^ ni^ out to fultilment the principle which He inculcated as a ^'Uide to others— 'He that humbleth himself shall heeialted' (Lk IS" 1411).
ii. Incident.s inficrentiai.ly valuable. ~{fO If we scrutinize carefully the method of resistance which Jesus adopted in His llrst great conflict, wi> cannot fail to sec lli<- results of Mint nior.tl ami
.spiritual education uhi.-li \\;,„ il l].-ii;irl.-ri-l ir
element of His .lom.-lir sni n.„,„liii' -. .uul u.ll, which we becoim- inridrnlalK' ;umi