_THE DAY OF QUESTIONS――THE ENQUIRING GREEKS._
A.D. 30.
THUS far the efforts of the ruling powers had been of no avail. The
authority of the Lord with the people remained unshaken, His career was
unchecked, and they themselves had been humiliated in the very midst
of the Temple-courts[460]. A formal council was therefore held (Mtt.
xxii. 15), and it was resolved to organize some plan for _ensnaring_
Him in His speech (Mtt. xxii. 15; Mk. xii. 13), and beguiling Him into
statements which might afford a pretext for delivering Him up to the
Roman procurator (Lk. xx. 20). United, therefore, in one formidable
conspiracy, the Pharisees[461], Sadducees[461], and Herodians[461],
suborned (Lk. xx. 20) men, to all appearance right-minded and
thoroughly in earnest, to propose various cases of conscience to Him
as the Lord and Judge in the land[462].
i. First, then, approached the Herodians with certain of the Pharisees
(Mtt. xxii. 16) enquiring whether it was _lawful to give tribute to
Cæsar, or not_? How keenly this question was debated in Palestine, and
what disturbances it had caused, especially in Galilee, the province of
Herod, has been already noticed[463]. To answer it now, and to avoid on
the one hand giving offence to the excited crowds in the Temple-courts,
and on the other supplying matter for accusation before the Roman
governor in the Tower of Antonia, so close at hand, appeared impossible.
No patriotic Jew would admit that tribute was due to Cæsar. No one
claiming to be the Messiah could allow it for a moment, unless he would
forfeit all his popularity with the people. And yet if the Redeemer
denied this, a charge of treason, which the Romans were always quick
to hear, was clearly made out. But the Holy One, thrown off His guard
neither by the affected courtesy nor adulation of their address (Mtt.
xxii. 18; Lk. xx. 23), saw through their hypocrisy and the snare they
had laid. With infinite wisdom He called for the tribute-money. They
brought Him a _denarius_[464]. _Whose image and superscription is
this?_ He enquired. They answered, _Cæsar’s_. _Render, therefore_, He
replied, _to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things
that are God’s_. The snare they had laid so cunningly was broken.
A single word had rent the whole “web of craft and hypocrisy.” The
enquirers themselves acknowledged the wisdom of His answer. There was
nothing they could _take hold of_ (Lk. xx. 26). _They were silent, and
went their way_ (Lk. xx. 26).
ii. The Herodians thus repulsed, the Sadducees approached. With their
wonted[465] philosophic pride they usually kept aloof from all popular
religious movements. Now, however, they advanced to the encounter
with a religious difficulty respecting the position in another world
of a woman who had had seven husbands in this[466]. But their coarse
question was met with Divine wisdom. Had they known the Scriptures, or
the power of God, they could never have asked it (Mtt. xxii. 29). Such
corporeal and earthly relationships ceased with this life, and in the
next man would be exalted to a higher order of beings by the almighty
power of HIM, who even in the Law[467], which they professed to receive,
had declared Himself _the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of
Jacob, the God of the living, and not of the dead_ (Ex. iii. 6).
iii. Struck with the singular wisdom, with which He had _put the
Sadducees to silence_ (Mtt. xxii. 34), a scribe belonging to the
Pharisaic sect (Mk. xii. 28) now drew near, requesting information
as to the relative greatness of the commandments of the Law (Mtt.
xxii. 36). The point was probably one much debated in the Rabbinical
schools, though it is not clear in what way it was calculated to
ensnare the Saviour. But the sublime, though simple response it
received, comprising the whole of religion, under the precepts of Love
to God and Love to Man, struck even the questioner with admiration
(Mk. xii. 32); he frankly owned that such love was better than all
_burnt-offerings and sacrifice_[468], and obtained the gracious
declaration from the Redeemer that he was _not far from the kingdom of
God_ (Mk. xii. 34).
After such successive proofs of Divine wisdom the Pharisees did not
venture[469] to put any more questions to the Redeemer, and He Himself,
taking advantage of the opportunity, now assumed the character of
a questioner, and interrogated them (Mtt. xxii. 41) respecting the
descent of the Messiah. Speaking under the influence of the Spirit,
David in the Psalms (Ps. cx. 1) had called Him Lord, saying, _The Lord
said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand, till I have made Thy foes
a footstool for Thy feet_. If the Messiah was to be David’s _son_, how
could He be at the same time his _Lord_, thus mysteriously uniting a
Divine and a human nature?
To this profound question those addressed did not even venture to make
a reply, and were in their turn constrained to listen, while in words
of awful and righteous judgment He denounced the hypocrisy (Mtt. xxiii.
1–12) and tyranny (Mtt. xxiii. 13–18) of the Pharisees, their bigoted
attachment to the most minute observances, and their blindness to the
spirit of true religion (Mtt. xxiii. 18–36), which had led them to
pour out the blood of Jehovah’s prophets, even as they now thirsted
for His own. For them and for their city the hour of desolation was at
hand. The times of mercy, when He would have gathered the children of
Jerusalem _as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing_[470] (Mtt.
xxiii. 37–39), had passed away, never to return.
After this stern denunciation of the ruling powers, who veiling their
malice and wickedness under the pretence of righteousness had so
pertinaciously sought to entrap Him, the Redeemer sat down opposite
the Treasury, in the Court of the Women[471], and looking up beheld
the multitude casting in their voluntary[472] gifts and contributions.
Amongst the rest His eye rested on a certain poor widow, one of the
helpless class which He had just described as devoured by the extortion
of the Scribes and Pharisees (Mk. xii. 40; Lk. xx. 47). All her
possessions consisted of _two mites_[473], which together made _a
farthing_, both of which she now cast into the Treasury, and knew not
that One had called to Him His disciples (Mk. xii. 43), and declared
that she had cast in _more than all the rest_, and that her gift should
be known and remembered till the end of time.
It was apparently while the Redeemer was still in the Court of the
Women that two of the Apostles, Andrew and Philip, approached Him with
what they deemed a strange announcement. Amongst the thousands that
crowded the Holy City were certain Greeks, not Grecian Jews[474], but
Gentiles, proselytes of the gate, who were in the habit of coming up
to the Feast. In common with many others they had heard of the famed
Teacher of Nazareth, of His mighty works, and His wondrous words, and
they wished with their own eyes to behold Him (Jn. xii. 21). Shrinking,
however, from approaching Him directly, they had applied to the Apostle
Philip, possibly on account of his Græcised name[475], saying, _Sir, we
would see Jesus_. Philip, apparently perplexed, consulted his brother
Apostle Andrew, and together the two went and told their Lord.
No sooner did the Saviour hear their announcement, and perhaps behold
these enquirers from the West, than He instantly broke forth into words
of mysterious joy: _The Hour_, He declared, as if in a transport of
holy rapture, _The Hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his
life shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him
follow Me; and where I am, there will also My servant be; if any man
serve Me, him will My Father honour_ (Jn. xii. 24–26).
But with the thought of the seed-corn cast into the ground and dying,
and the spectacle of these pledges[476] of the vast multitude He should
draw unto Him if He was lifted up, came the thought of all that He must
first undergo. There fell upon Him the shadow of the dreadful hour so
close at hand, and He exclaimed, _Now is My soul troubled, and what
shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour_; and then, as though a
cloud had rolled away, the perfectly willing spirit spoke again, _For
this cause came I unto this hour[477]: Father, glorify Thy Name_ (Jn.
xii. 27, 28).
But these words, expressive of such deep, such infinite resignation,
were not to pass unheeded; they called forth the last of the Three[478]
Heavenly Voices, which, during His life on earth, attested the Divinity
of His mission. The Voice, which had been heard on the banks of Jordan
and on the Mount of Transfiguration, was now heard in the courts of
the Temple itself, saying in response to the Redeemer’s significant
utterance, _Father, glorify Thy Name_; _I have both glorified it, and
will glorify it again_.
Various[479] were the interpretations of this mysterious Voice by the
surrounding crowd. Some thought that _it thundered_, others that _an
angel had spoken to Him_ (Jn. xii. 29). But the Redeemer set all doubts
at rest, saying, _This Voice came not because of Me, but for your
sakes_; and then He exclaimed in the same strain of triumph, which the
announcement of two Apostles respecting the enquiring Greeks had called
forth, _Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the Prince of this
world be cast out; and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me_,
signifying, adds the Evangelist, _by what death He should die_[480].
This striking incident was the appropriate close of this great day
in the Temple. The public work of the Holy One was now over. He had
given His last counsels and His final warnings to the ruling powers;
He now departed and _hid Himself from them_ (Jn. xii. 36). In spite of
the mighty works He had wrought (Jn. xii. 37), the Jewish nation did
not believe on Him. Many, indeed, of the rulers could not resist the
evidence of His life and works, but they dared not openly avow their
faith for fear of the Pharisees and the terrible ban of excommunication
(Jn. xii. 42).
As thus, however, He quitted the Temple, which as a Teacher He was
never to enter again, a striking incident took place. His disciples
began to invite His attention to the magnificence and solidity of
the structure, the enormous size of the stones (Mk. xiii. 1), the
glistering of its marble blocks, and the gorgeous gifts with which
it was endowed[481] (Mtt. xxiv. 1; Lk. xxi. 5). But their words of
admiration could not mislead Him. The imposing building might seem to
them to be founded for eternity. But He told them that a day was coming,
when not one of these enormous masses of stone should be left standing
upon the other.
With this mysterious announcement of a dreadful doom awaiting their
national sanctuary ringing in their ears, the Apostles accompanied
their Lord along the well-known road towards Bethany. But when they
reached the Mount of Olives, He sat down (Mtt. xxiv. 3; Mk. xiii. 3),
as if to take one last look at the glorious city and its still more
glorious Temple. And as He sat there directly opposite to it in the
evening twilight[482], four of the Apostles, Peter, James, John, and
Andrew (Mk. xiii. 3), disquieted by the announcement of the coming
destruction of their City, approached with an earnest enquiry _when all
these things should come to pass, and what should be the sign of His
coming, and of the end of the world_ (Mtt. xxiv. 3; Lk. xxi. 7).
In reply to their enquiries the Holy One, with the utmost
conceivable solemnity, proceeded to set forth the judgments destined
to befall Jerusalem, and from these to lead up their thoughts to the
contemplation of His own second coming to judge the world (Mtt. xxiv.
5–42), to describe the events that should precede it, and to enforce
the necessity on their part of watchfulness and preparation by the
striking parables of the _Ten Virgins_ (Mtt. xxv. 1–13) and _the
Talents_ (Mtt. xxv. 14–30), closing His solemn revelations with a
distinct declaration of the circumstances of the Awful Day, when the
Son of Man should come in His glory to judge both the quick and dead
(Mtt. xxv. 31–46).