MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. — There can be
no full appreciation without some analysis : the friend who is tmderstood is loved the better. That ' love is blind ' is singularlj- false, save when the word is restricted to an unworthy meaning. True love gives insight always ; and the power it gives of divining what to others is invLsible is a species of analysis. There is no question, however, of analyz- ing Divinity. Divinity realized in humanity is what Ave know in Jesus Christ. In God Incarnate there can be nothing which is not human, though nothing which is human only. An attempt to analyze the mental characteristics of the Lord Jesus is therefore an attempt to appreciate the human manifestation which God has made of Him- .self. The first condition must be reverence, and the studj- is best undertaken witli 8t, Paul's teach- ing (1 Co 2*-i'') in mind, for success is to be reached only if ' we have the mind of Ciirist.'
1. Perhaps the first characteristic to notice is the way in which the mind of the Lord Jesus was always so thoroughlj' alive to everything around Him. In the single glimpse aflbrded of His boy- hood this appears strikingly ; for no one can read Lk 2^^'^^ without feeling the eagerness with which He looked on Jerusalem for the first time con- sciously, and threw Himself into the best life of the festival. He was instantlj- at home in the Temple, and ready to listen and to inquire of the Rabbis there with a keen grasp which amazed them. Later on, the same ready observancy, which not merely noticed but entered into every phase of life, is again and again to be remarked. Now it was the flowers of the country side that won His attention (Lk 12^), now the games of the children in the market-place (7^^), noAv the habits of the wild creatures (9^*), or their unconsidered treat- ment in captivity (12^), now the details of the yeo- man's employment (Mt 13^-8 \2^\ Lk 13'^, now the unnoticed self-denial of a poor woman in a crowd (Mk 12^). Just as readily He gave keen attention to the life of long ago told in the Scriptures of His race. For Him the characters appearing in the stories of the past Avere all real and vivid ; e.g. Naaman (Lk 4^'), David (Mt 12^), Zachariah (Mt 23^). "With no less alacrity He noted the cunent events which made a popular impression (Lk 13*), and the far more momentous movements of national life Avhich others too often overlooked (21-**, Mt 161-2).
2. In close connexion with the foregoing char- acteristic stands the fulness of vital force in the Lord Jesus. Of most persons it is true that the emotional, or the intellectual, or the volitional faculties dominate and give the general colotir to the temperament, but in Him all were supremely strong. The Aehemence of His feelings was such as would have overbalanced the will or un- steadied the intellect of another ; but He never lost balance or clarity. The lucid understanding which never failed in things great or small would have subordinated feeling, or even sapped its strength, in most ; but the calm SAveep of His discernment never made Him less Avarm-hearted towards ' one of the least of these my brethren," and He condemned at once any use of reason Avhich restrained responsive-
162 MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS
MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS
ness, as when His disciples were inclined to check the children brought to Him and He was ' moved with indignation' (Mk 10^^), or when He promptly defended the woman's ' waste ' of the costly oint- ment which her uncalciilating love so gladly spent on Him (H"). Yet neither warmth of feeling nor reach of understanding ever warped His will to excuse or palliate in any wise, or made His resolu- tion waver. Nothing could be sterner or more un- sparing than the way in which He turned on almost the best-loved and aptest of His disciples, and this, too, directly after His whole heart had gone out to him in welcome and in grateful sympathy for the trust and insight he hail just shown (Mt 16^'-^^). The narrative of the Temptation in the wilderness, Avhich must have been derived from the Lord Him- self, can hardly be paralleled in its dauntless deter- mination, except indeed by the narrative of how He followed out in His work the ideal here reso- lutely formed, and never faltered in following it still when it led Him through the valley of the shadow of death.
3. What has been said of the poise of these three mental factors, which are found in every living action of every living soul, though hardly ever balanced evenly, must be extended in Jesus' case to a wider range. There is nothing more remark- able than the perfect proportion of His nature. Those characteristics which are found singly in others, and which are commonly antithetic and even incompatible, are found alike, and at one in Him. He was passionate : ' He looked round with anger ' (Mk 3=) ; ' Jesus wept ' (Jn ll^^, cf. Lk 19^i) ; ' Jesus looking on him loved him ' (Mk lO'^^) ; ' Ye serpents, ye ofispring of vipers ! ' (Mt 23^^). But who was ever so patient? cf. Mk 4^", Jn \&^, and the whole scene of His trial and crucifixion. He was full of reverence for the past ; scrupulous in His respect for authority (Mt 23-), and very sensitive to the sacred associations of ancient institutions (Mk 1115-1^ Lk 19^'- «22i5). But He held Himself entirely untrammelled by either precedent or outward en- actment (Mt 5'^- ^^^■), and appealed without hesita- tion to the conscience and instinct of every man, as to a sufficient and trustworthy test (Lk 13^^- 1**). His was an imaginative and contemplative mind ; He loved to withdraw to the desert country by Himself, or with a handful of intimate friends, and to spend long hours in personal devotions. Even when work pressed upon Him, and He ' had no leisure so much as to eat' (Mk 6^^), feeling the harvest waiting to be reaped was far too great for His little band of fellow-labourers to cope with. He still spent what seems to have been an astonish- ingly 'arge proportion of His time in seclusion. But never was a dreamer of dreams so intensely practical. Hard and prolonged work He undertook with zest, then slept at once and soundly, and woke ready for any effort or emergency at the instant (41. 2 33-39)_ ^jj(j jjig practical ability is strikingly apparent in other ways ; e.g. He was so sure in the handling of men (Lk 95'-«2, Jn S^-i^ lis-is), so capable of picking out and dealing with the precise thing needing to be done at any given stage or moment (Mt n^^-'^, Jn 7^-8 ll6-i«). He was remarkably tolerant, and again and again gave offence to nar- rower minds by the width of His sympathies and the leniency of His judgments. Particularly is this illustrated by His relations with 'publicans and sinners,' which exposed Him to disgraceful calumny (Mt 111"), of which He recked nothing; but His tolerance was also too great for His own followers to understand it (Mk 9»8-«), and great enough some- times to shame the bitterest opponents into silence (Jn 8'""). Yet no one could be more rigid on occa- sion, as in His treatment of tiie Phoenician mother (Mt 152»-28), or more inexorable in condemnation (23'^-36, Mk 3-8- ■^). His humility was profound.