Chapter VI

_RESOLVE OF THE SANHEDRIN――JESUS RETIRES TO EPHRAIM._
A.D. 30.

THE remarkable miracle recorded at length in the preceding Chapter marks an important epoch in the life of our Lord.

The effect it exerted upon those who witnessed it was twofold. Many of those, who had come to mourn with the sisters of Bethany, avowed their belief in the Saviour’s claims (Jn. xi. 45), but others, with no friendly intentions, hurried to the Pharisees and recounted to them all that had taken place. Their report led to instant measures.

The ruling powers, hitherto comparatively calm, became very uneasy. A meeting of the Sanhedrin was convened, at which Caiaphas presided, and the course to be followed was keenly debated. It was clear that the sentence of excommunication (Jn. ix. 22), lately passed upon the followers of the Saviour, had not counteracted the impression made by His ministry on the minds of the people[430]. The notable miracle He had just wrought could not be gainsaid, and its effect upon the multitude was profound. If he was suffered to continue His ministry, all, it was argued, would believe on Him, and in all probability proclaim Him as their King. Such a proclamation would inevitably lead to a riot, a riot to a visit from Pilate, the ruthlessness of whose character had been again and again experienced[431], and this would be followed by a massacre, and the total deprivation of what remained of their national existence.

Many measures were, probably, advocated by various members of the Council, but found no general acceptance. At length Caiaphas arose, and with unconcealed contempt declared that his weak and vacillating colleagues _knew nothing at all_ (Jn. xi. 49). The life and teaching of One Man threatened to imperil the whole nation, and to bring them into collision with their Roman masters. One effectual remedy alone existed. _It was expedient_ that He should be put to death rather than the whole nation should be swept away. As a Sadducee[432] (Acts v. 17) Caiaphas believed in the might of the Roman legions, though he denied the doctrine of the resurrection and the existence of spiritual powers, and rather than embroil the nation in fresh troubles with their unscrupulous masters, he advocated the death of the Holy One, all unconscious[433] of the momentous results of the step he advised.

Though there were some dissentients (Lk. xxiii. 50, 51), his words expressed the feelings of the majority of the Council. The more decided and violent party triumphed. It was deliberately determined that Jesus should be put to death, and from that day forward continual councils were held to decide how this should be brought about (Jn. xi. 53).

But the Holy One, knowing that His “hour” was not yet come, retired with His disciples to Ephraim, a town situated[434] in the wide desert country north-east of Jerusalem, not far from Bethel, and on the confines of Samaria.

Here in quiet and seclusion He remained till the approach of the Passover, and then commenced a farewell-journey along the border-line of Samaria and Galilee, in the direction of the Jordan (Lk. xvii. 11; Mtt. xix. 1), and so to Peræa (Mk. x. 1).

It was probably while yet on the confines of Samaria, that at the entrance of a village, the name and position of which are not recorded, He encountered Ten Lepers, one of whom was a Samaritan[435] (Lk. xvii. 16). Standing _afar off_ (Lk. xvii. 12), they all _lifted up their voices_, and implored His aid, on which, filled with compassion for their miserable condition, He bade them go and _shew themselves to the priests_ at Jerusalem. Though they must have been aware that they could not expect healing from the priest, whose only office it was either to pronounce the sufferer affected with this fearful malady, or to restore him with ceremonial washings to the society of his fellow-men[436], the Lepers nevertheless set out, and lo! as they went (Lk. xvii. 14), their flesh came back to them _like unto the flesh of a little child_ (2 K. v. 14), and they were cleansed. But though they all experienced His unlooked-for blessing, one only, and he a Samaritan, returned to give thanks to His Healer, who, accustomed as he was to man’s ingratitude, yet marvelled at this striking proof of it (Lk. xvii. 17, 18), and dismissed the grateful man with a higher and a peculiar blessing[437], saying, _Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole_ (Lk. xvii. 19).

Continuing His journey towards the Jordan, the Saviour at some place, the name of which is not mentioned, encountered certain Pharisees, who professed, probably in treachery or mockery, a question respecting the coming of the kingdom of God, to which He replied, that it would be with no such visible establishment as they expected (Lk. xvii. 20, 21), and proceeded to found upon the question a warning to His own disciples on the same subject (Lk. xvii. 22–37). It was now also, in all probability, either before or just after He crossed into Peræa[438], that He delivered the parables of the _Unjust Judge_ and the _Pharisee and Publican_ (Lk. xvii. 1–14), and replied to a question respecting the lawfulness of divorce (Mtt. xix. 3–12; Mk. x. 2–12), on which the rival schools of Hillel and Shammai[439] held opposite opinions.

In striking contrast to the malice which prompted these questionings, certain parents, who probably honoured Him, and valued His benediction, brought their children to Him, and begged that He would lay His hands upon them and offer up a prayer in their behalf (Mtt. xix. 13). To the disciples such an act appeared unfitting, and they would have kept back those that brought them (Mk. x. 13; Lk. xviii. 15), but with touching condescension He not only rebuked their interference (Mk. x. 14), and said, _Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven_, but called them to Him (Lk. xviii. 16), _took them up in His arms, laid His hands upon them, and blessed them_ (Mk. x. 16; Mtt. xix. 15).

It was in this region also that a rich young ruler approached Him, desiring to know what he should do to inherit eternal life (Mtt. xix. 16; Mk. x. 17). The Holy One referred him to the commandments. These the other declared he had kept from his youth (Mk. x. 20), on which the Lord looked upon him with a glance of deep affection, informed him that he lacked _yet one thing_ (Lk. xviii. 22), and bade him _go and sell all that he had, and give to the poor_, and take up his cross (Mk. x. 21) and follow Him. Such a demand, so totally opposed to the popular notions of the kingdom of the Messiah, in which the Jews expected every form of temporal blessing, was too severe a test for the ruler’s sincerity; he _had great possessions_ (Mtt. xix. 22; Mk. x. 22), which he could not part with, and in sorrow he left the Saviour and went his way.

But the same ideas of temporal blessings were still held by the Apostles themselves. They had left everything to follow their Master, might they not look for some great reward? To Peter, who put the question (Mk. x. 28; Mtt. xix. 23) the Holy One replied, by assuring him and the rest that a reward they should have, though very different from what they expected, and taking them apart (Mtt. xx. 17; Mk. x. 32) began for the third time[440], and with greater particularity than before, to speak of the future that awaited Himself; how at Jerusalem He should _be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, and be mocked, and scourged, and crucified_ (Mtt. xx. 18–24; Mk. x. 33–40; Lk. xviii. 32–34). But though awed by the unusual solemnity of His manner (Mk. x. 32), and the dauntless resolution with which He pressed on towards Jerusalem (Mk. x. 33), they could not enter into the meaning of His words. His predictions of suffering and death clashed with all their deeply-rooted ideas of the nature of the Messianic kingdom, and it was now that two of their number, James and John, encouraged by their mother, preferred the request[441] that in His kingdom they might _sit the one on His right hand, and the other on His left_. Even His reply that they should indeed _drink of His cup, and be baptized with His baptism_, sounded to the rest like the concession of some mysterious dignity, and provoked a jealousy on their part, which the Holy One strove to check by reminding them once more of the true nature of His kingdom, that therein He is truly _first who is the servant of all; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many_.

With this final proof of the utter inability even of His own chosen Twelve to lighten by their sympathy a particle of what lay before Himself, the Holy One, having recrossed the Jordan, continued His way amidst the crowd of pilgrims setting forth towards Jerusalem. Approaching Jericho He healed two blind men[442], who sat by the wayside begging and implored His aid; He accepted in the City of Palm Trees itself the hospitality of Zacchæus[443], a superintendent of customs or tribute there (Lk. xix. 1–10); corrected, by delivering the Parable of _the Pounds_[444], the idea that the Kingdom of Heaven was _about immediately to appear_, and at length, six days before the Passover, reached the safe seclusion of the mountain hamlet of Bethany (Mtt. xxvi. 6–13; Mk. xiv. 3–9; Jn. xii. 1–11).

Illustration: JERUSALEM in the time of OUR LORD

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_For Maclear’s New Test.ᵗ History_
_Stanford’s Geog.ˡ Estab.ᵗ_