* la Juan. Kr. Tiacl. \ti\. § 1.
20
LEADIXG
LEAR^'IXG
And the sick Lazarus lent himself to their design. Pallid with disease, he let himself be wrapped in grave-clothes and shut up in the sepulchre ; and when Jesus, believing that he was dead, came to take a last look at his friend's remains, Lazarus came forth in his bandages, his head covered with a winding-sheet. Jesus acquiesced in tlie fraud. ' Not bj- any fault of his own, but by that of others, his conscience had lost something of its original purity. Desperate and driven to extremity, he was no longer his own master. His mission over- whelmed him, and he yielded to the torrent. . . . He was no more able than St. Bernard or St. Francis to moderate the avidity for the marvellous displayed by the multitude, and even bj' his own disciples.'
(4) Later criticism is still more destructive. Not only was the miracle never wrought, but there was never such a man as Lazariis. The story is ' non- historical, like the History- of the Creation in Genesis, and like the records of the other miracles in the Fourth Gospel ; all of which are poetic de- velopments.' * Keim hnds the germ of the story in the Ebionite parable of the Kich ^lan and the Beggar (Lk IG^^-^^). ' H,' says Abraham in the parable, ' to Moses and the prophets they do not hearken, not even if o e rise from the dead will they be persuaded'; and the Johannine narrative is this saj-ing converted into a history : a man rose from the dead, and the Jews did not believe. Lazarus full of corruption corresponds to the beggar full of sores. The story is thus doublj' divorced from reality, being an unhistorical de- velopment of an unauthentic parable.
Literature. — I.Hastings' DD, art. 'Lazarus and Dives'; Trench, Bruce, Orelli, and Dods on the Parables ; Plunmier, 'St. Luke' {ICC), in loc. ; Bersier, Gospel in Paris, p. iiSt.
2. Hastings' DB, art. ' Lazarus of Bethany ' ; the standard Lives (if Christ ; Elmslie, Expository Lectures and Sennoius, p. 92 ff'.; Maclaren, i'nchanging Christ, p. 282 ff. On the rationalistic objections to the miracle see the chapter on ' The Later Miracles' in Fairbairn's Studies in the Life of Christ (or in Expositor, 1st Ser. ix. [1879] p. 178ff.), where the theories of Paulus, Strauss, Baur, and Renan are fully dealt with.
D. Smith.
LEADING. — ' Lead' is used in the Gospels in its ordinary senses : intransitively in the description of the Avays that lead to life or destruction (Mt -jis. i4| j^j^^i transitively often. The OT metaphor of Jehovah as a Shepherd leading His people like a flock (Ps 23^ 80^) is repeated in the parables repre- senting Christ as a Sheplierd whose sheep recognize and ol)ey Him ( Jn 10*- ■*• -"). The general concep- tion of God's leading His people, so frequent in the Psalms and in Deutero-Isaiah and elsewhere, is assumed in the petition ' Lead us not into temptation' (Mt 6^^ Lk ll"') ; for the true life is along a right path Avlierein God leads His children.
The leadership of religious authorities is referred to in the description of scribes and Pharisees as 'blind guides' or 'blind leaders of the blind' (Mt 23^'' 15'^) ; the metapiior being based on the sight, familiar in Eastern cities, of rows or files of blind persons each holding by the one in front. But, as this saying is placed by St. Luke (6 "■') in im- mediate connexion with the appointment of the Twe]\e, it may be presumed that Jesus pressed on His disciples the necessity of their recognizing and qualifying for the duties of true leadership. They are required to have liglit and to let it shine, to be, in short, 'men of ligiit and leading.'
The position of Jesus as a Leader is most fre- quently expressed in terms of following. The im])erative ' Follow me ' is addressed to individuals, as Peter and Andrew, James and John (Mt 4^'- -^), INIattliew (Mt O^), and Philip (Jn 1«) ; and to un- named disciples or listeners (Mt 8-- 19-'^). It is re]ieated in the fundamental law of the Kingdom, where self-denial or cross-bearing is enjoined (Mt 16^, Mk 83^ Lk 93, Jn 12-«) ; but here the refer- ' E. A. Abbott, art. ' Lazarus,' § 4, in Encyc. Bihlica.
ence is to Jesus as a supreme example rather than a present guide, and the instruction is primarily spiritual. It maj- be said that during His Avhole public ministry Jesus was leading and training disciples to carry on His Avork ; while the risen Christ is the Head of the Church and the Leader of the Christian army (:Mt 28i'*-20).
Four times the term ' Leader ' (apxvyos) is applied to Christ : in the EV phrases ' Prince of life,' 'Prince,' ' Caj^tain (RV 'Author") of salvation,' 'Aiithor of faith; (Ac 3^5 531^ j^g .210 122). and a similar meaning is expressed by Trpodpo/xos, ' Fore- runner ' (He 6'-"). In these passages the leadership is through death from life on earth to life in heaven.
Literature.— H. Bushnell, The Xeu- Life, p. 74 ; Phillips Brooks, Mystery of Iniquity, p. 171 ; B. B." Warfield, Pouer of God unto Salvation, p. 151. Ji_ ScOTT.