It is true that in speaking of God as the ' Merciful One ' our Saviour was repeating what is a familiar thought in the OT. D?n"i, ' compassionate,' is there used exclusively as an epithet of God (Dt 431), while in Sir 5019 we already find the simple Din"! as a name of God (see Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 204) ; but in our Saviour's teaching we recognize a new fulness and meaning in the thought that would have been impossible for men to grasp before He came who could saj, ' He that hath seen me hath seen the Father ' (Jn 149).
2. The teaching of St. John^s Gospel.- — It is strik- ing that in St. John's Gospel Ave neA^er tind any Avord used Avhich conveys the meaning of ' pity ' or ' com- passion ' ; Christ is never described as ' merciful ' or as ' shoAving mercy,' nor does He so speak of the Father ; Avhile even the exhortation to mercy as a duty of man to man is not found there.
Can Ave give a reason for this ? or is the omission purely accidental ? We believe the reason is found in the fact that in St. John's mind the thought of ' pity ' is absorbed in that of ' love. '
To St. John Avas given the task of presenting the life of Christ upon earth in all its eternal mean- ing. The human idea of pity, as a feeling called forth by man's needs, is but one manifestation of love. St. John does not stop to sIioav that Jesus Christ both pitied and also loA'ed men, but in pass- ino- at once to the thought of love as the bond of union betAveen God and man manifested forth in the Saviour's life upon earth, he naturally ascribes to it those actions that the Saviour's contemporaries had felt as acts of mercy. As an illustration of this, Ave may take the story of the raising of Lazarus. Here is a miracle performed for those Avho kneAv
more of Christ than merely that ' He pitied them.' The familiar cry for help, found so often in the first tliree Gospels [eKirjaof 7]/xds), is not the mes.sage sent by the sisters, but instead, it is a direct appeal to love — 'He Avhoin thou lovest is sick' (Jn IP). The delay in giving the prompt relief Avhich pity would ask for is explained by ' Noav Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus' (IP). At the sight of the sorroAV of those about Him Ave are told ' Jesus wept ' ; but the Evangelist apparently has- tened to add the remark of the Jcavs, ' Behold hoAv he loved him,' that the thought of His love should even here sAvalloAv up that of mere pity. And this fuller presentation of Christ's feelings for men, he shows, had also been accompanied by a teaching of Christ, both as regards man's dittj' to his felloAv and also God's attitude toA\'ards the Avorld, Avhich Avent far beyond Avhat had been already recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. St. Luke had preserved the saying, ' Be ye therefore merciful,' but St. John Avas the hrst to record hoAV his Master had taught, ' A ncAv commandment give I unto you. That ye love one another as I have loved you' (13^).
Christians had already in their hands the teach- ing of Christ Avhich spoke of God as the ' Merciful One,' but noAv St. John records Avords Avhich tell them not of a merciful God, but of a loving Father ( Jn 3^^ 14^^ etc. ). It is true that even this concep- tion of God is found in the OT, but a perusal of the passages in Avhich ' the loA^e of God,' or God as 'loving,' are spoken of, Avill sIioav that such are ahvays equivalent to the ' jnty ' of God, or God as 'pitiful,' — that is, in direct relationship to man as a needy creature. In the Fourth Gospel, hoAvever, the tliought is altogether different : the Father loves men Avith the same love Avith Avhich He loves the Son (17-®) ; that same feeling of real affection Avith Avhich Christ had let them feel He regarded them, He taught them Avas also the feeling of His Father to Avards them (1421-23 le^eJ-). The common bond of felloAvship betAveen Christ and the Father and betAveen man and God through the Son Avas the power of the Divine love {IV^}. But Avhatever doubt may exist as to the meaning of the omission of the thought of pity in this Gospel, its very omission leads us to see Iioav St. John supplies Avhat might be felt as a Avant, in the first three Gospels, in another particular.
HoAv are men to think of that pitiful, gracious Saviour Avho in His OAvn life Avas so sorely tried and afflicted ? Now nowhere in the Gospels — nor indeed in any passage of the NT — is Christ pre- sented to men as an object of pity. The thought that seems to underlie the Avords of some Avell- known hymns, and even Is 53, is not found in the NT. Pity is the demand for help, and as an object of our help Christ never appealed to men. On the contrary. He said to the Avomen, ' Daughters of Jerusalem, Aveep not for me' (Lk 23-^) ; and to the disciple Peter, 'Thinkest thou that I cannot noAV I^ray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than tweh'e legions of angels ? ' (Mt 26^'*). To the Father alone He cries, ' If it be possible, let this cup pass from me' (Mt 26=^^). But if Ave are not alloAved to pity the suffering Saviour, are Ave to vieAv His passion Avith indifference ? St. John clearly and abundantly answers this question. While the mystery of pain is not revealed, the message of the SaA'iour's agony is declared to be the proof to mankind of His and His Father's love. ' Greater love liath no man than this, that a man lay doAvn his life for his friends' (15'^). That love manifested in dying is the same love spoken of in 316 W \7-\