felt reality. And after Pentecost they found their minds and imaginations extraordinarily stimulated by the presence of the Holy Ghost who witnessed
to everj' word and act of the Crucified and Risen Christ.
(6) On t)ic people. — This was as surprising in its own way as His influence on the disciples. ' They heard Him gladly' (Mk 12^'). They would have taken Him 'by force and made him king' (Jn 6""). They prevented any open act of hostUity against Hmi on the part of the rulers, who were afraid of them (Lk 20'" 22-'). They never could make up their minds who He was, but yet were convinced He was no ordinary person. He was either Elijah, or the great expected Prophet, or Jeremiah, or even the Baptist risen again (Mt 16" II). That they turned completely round at the last was no doubt due to tlie malign influence of the Pharisees ioined to tlie great disappointment experienced when nothing followed the events of Palm Sunday. Like the jicople of Lystra, they were enraged at having openly declared themselves on the side of a movement which seemed to have po result. Our Lord's influence on the 2>eople was
just what we should expect, as we shall see when we consider its particular character.
(o) On His enemies. — At first it strikes us strangely that One who not only did no harm, but always went about doing good, One who refused to be entrapped into any jiolitical movement, One who observed fasts and festivals, attended syna- gogue and temple, should have excited such bitter hostility. He had none of the marks of a great social reformer, disliked crowds and great cities, refused to take advantage of any excitement caused l)y His words or deeds, chose for His intimate friends plain middle-class men who had no par- ticular mark about them except their religious- ness. All His teaching was constructive rather than destructive. He did not speak of the Gentiles as His servant Paul did, nor of the Temple as Stephen did. He was indignant at the abuses of the time, and was unsparing in His condemna- tion of Pharisees and scribes, but the hostility had set in before that, and its only explanation is the hatred of bad men to a holy life.
(d) On individuals. — (a) Tlie vUit oi Nicodenucs shows something of the power Jesus exercised in public. Although Nicodemus was a person of some importance, he treats our Lord, in spite of His humble circumstances, as not only a great but a Divine teacher from whom he would gladly learn (Jn 3-). And the conversation with Him on that occasion bore fruit. (^) Pilate, too, was evi- dently greatly impressed by Jesus. With his in- born contempt for the Jews he would have decided the matter the Sanhedrin brought before him very quickly, had it not been for the majesty of Jesus' presence and the brief but striking words He spoke. That he should have been afraid w hen the Jews told him that the prisoner had claimed to be the Son of God and at once sought another inter- view, shows that there was a mysterious influence about our Lord which made the governor feel un- comfortable ; and this fear was only increased when his question, 'Whence art thou?' received no answer (Jn 19*'')- Ij) Even Caiaphas treats Christ with a respect which he would have gladly dispensed with. His continued silence led the high priest to take the very unusual step of forcing some statement out of Him by solemn adjuration (Mt_26''»). (5) The most touching illustrations of Christ's influence are found amongst the sinful. They were drawn to Him as steel to the magnet. He was their friend (Mt 11"), to whom they could give their confidences. Tired of life they turned instinctively to Him, and gladly gave Him their all. Matthew, Zacchseus, Mary Magdalene, the woman that was a sinner, are only typical of hundreds of men and women who came to Him because they were sure of His love, and recognized that He had power to forgive.
2. Secret of Christ's influence. —(a) iVo/ the influence of His position as Son of God. — When we remember who He was, the Word made flesh, the eternal Son of God, we are perhaps surprised that our Lord never used the influence of His unique position. Had He chosen, He could have done what He was tempted to do, forced men to believe by some plain unmistakable wonder like that of throwing Himself from the pinnacle of the Temple (Mt 4='). He could have appeared as the great I AM attended liy legicms of angels (26*'). He could have dechucd authoritatively tliat He was the great God, and proved it by the destruction of the towns and villages which denied it (Lk Q^-"-)- He could have used His position and forced men to recognize it. And again and again, as the above references show. He was tempted to do it. But He rejected the temptation. It is a method, as we know, freely employed in the world, and widely popular. People prefer the influence of the
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INFLUENCE
direct to the indirect. They like to have some sign from heaven wliicli -Hill save them the trouble of thinking, and be a short cut to a difficult con- clusion. And the Jews were always seeking this (Mt 12^); always hoping that He would either show that His claims were invalid and that He was unable to give a sign, or satisfy tlieir curiosity by some miracle. Our Lord tells them that, even if He gave them a sign, the sign of a man risen from the dead, it would have no effect in changing their lives (Lk 16"'-). It may be asked— But what about His miracles 1 In the first place, they were never done as a proof of His claims. He never pro- claimed a great truth and then worked a miracle to show it was true. They_ were all in obedience to an earnest call for help ; and faith, where it could be liad, was a condition essential to His working (Mk 6'). When done, they were evi- dences, but only secondary to the evidence of His own personality. If men were too dull to believe in Him for what He was, then there was stUl the sign of His works. ' Though ye believe not me, believe the works' (Jn lO^^); 'Believe me that I .am in the Father, and the Father in me ; or else believe me for the very works' sake ' (14").