(3) The attitude of His 'brethren' is still less intelligent. There is no suggestion in the narra- tive of any sympathy with Him whatsoever. After thirty years together, they could find no other explanation for His behaviour than tempor- ary insanity, and could conceive no other plan than to put Him under temporary restraint. If His mother joined in this estimate and this pro- posal (Mk 3-'), it must have been with the con- viction that she had the right and duty of inter- vening to save Him from Himself, and rescuing Him from a course which would prove fatal to His mission as she conceived it. It is certain that she joined His ' brethren ' in making an approach to Him, with the obvious intention of inducing Him to change His plan of action (Mk 3^'). At a later stage His brethren offered Him a final challenge (JnT^'''). They did not believe in Him (v.^), and therefore their suggestion to Him has not quite the sense of Mary's at Cana of (;:i 111. I'. Il . \|iresses their demand to have this ni.ill.i ..i Ilis M.ssiah- ship (about which they had no il.iubts) settled once for all by open demonstration : ' Jlanifest thyself to the world.'
Here, then, is the situation of Jesus with respect to His family. He loves His kindred as son and brother ; but He knows that His vocation demands the sacrifice of family life, and this sacrifice, with its deep pain. He is prepared to make. He is called upon, however, to endure a yet deeper pain. Not only has He to leave the dear fellowship of the home, and face a world which will prove in the end bitterly hostile, but among the members of the home He can find no understanding hearts to cheer Him and comfort Him on His lonely wav. Worse still, when His nearest and dearest with- stand Him, or seek to divert Him from His appointed path. He has to repel them in words which He knows must keenly wound them. To be tempted by His very love for His mother and His brethren to deviate from the line of obedience to His mission, must have put a peculiar strain upon His spirit, and broujlii llim most exquisite pain. In each of the in. i.I.mi- alluded to above we feel this note of pain : \sli.-n He declmes the intervention of His mother (.In 2') ; when He turns from His mother and His brethren to His disciples (Mk 3-"-^°) ; and when He has, in plain words, to state to His brethren that they and He
CHAEACTER OF CHRIST
CHARACTER OF CHRIST
belong to two difierent worlds of thought and action (Jn 1"-^, cf. 15>»). That between Him and His mother there was a bond of love deeper than •ill misunderstanding, gains pathetic proof when from the cross He commends her to His beloved disciple: 'Woman (the very word, yivai, He had iised in Cana of Galilee, courteous and affectionate, and yet suggestive of a cessation of the old relation- ship of mother and child), behold thy son.' 'Be- hold thy mother' (Jn 19-"- )-
2. Friends. — The vocation of Christ was one which could be executed by Himself alone. Neces- sarily He lived in a deep spiritual solitude, to which no Imman being could have access. Yet no sooner did He take up the burden of His mission than He proceeded to surround Himself with com- panions, and to cultivate human friendships. In the relations of Jesus to His friends three points are to be noted.
(1) His dependence upon them. — It will be a pro- found mistake if we conceive the end for which Jesus lived in any barely historical or formal manner. The end was the Kingdom of God, or the New Covenant ; but these titles do not, in the mind or language of Christ, stand for a political or ecclesiastical institution. They mean, funda- mentally, an experience of God generically identi- cal with that enjoyed in Israel, but perfected, and therefore also universalized. This experience is destined, in the counsels of God, for humanity. To secure it for mankind, so that under tit spiritual conditions all men may enter into it, is the task which Jesus in clear consciousness definitely assumed. Suppose Him, however, to have fulfilled His task as the Servant of the Lord, He will lose His labour, unless He secure repre- sentatives and \vitnesses, who shall declare to all whom it concerns the accomplishment of God's gracious purpose. This testimony, moreover, can- not be borne by mere officials. Suppose, for in- stance, that the Resurrection was a fact. Suppose, further, that it had been verified by the investi- gations of experts drawn from the chief seats of learning of the ancient world. Nothing is more certain than that this testimony, taken alone, would not have advanced by a hairbreadth the purpose to which Jesus devoted Himself. Testi- mony to certain facts, there is no doubt He re- quired ; but this testimony would be valueless, did it not presuppose, and rest on, personal acquaint- ance with Himself, and participation in Hii
1 participation in His own
His rei)resentatives must
be His friends, bound to Him by personal ties of
fellowship with God.
intelligent sympathy ; capable of bear ing witness, not merely to a series of His acts, but to His character and to His influence ; having an understanding not merely of His doctrine, but of Himself. It was essential, therefore, that from the outset He should have friends about Him, to whom He should fulfil all the sacred obligations of a friend. When, accordingly. He comes to give them their commission. He makes it plain to them that His vocation is their vocation, having the same Divine origin, and carrying with it His own spiritual presence (Lk i^»- ^i- « Mt 15=« I0"-«2, Jn 20^1, Mt SS'"- "")-..