Jesus, nor another mission like that which He performed. We have
heard so much of the meekness and humility of Jesus, of His suffering
all things and resenting nothing, of His going like a lamb to the
slaughter, that many people have formed a picture of Jesus that is
wholly unworthy of Him. Some of you, even, may possibly think of
Jesus as a weak sort of man who takes all kinds of abuse. But such a
conception of Jesus considers only one of the virtues in the man, and
does not consider the whole man. Jesus was just such a man as every boy
and girl delights to see. In body He was strong, robust, physically
perfect, with a wholesomeness of body quite unequalled by any other
man. No trial or hardship deterred Him from pushing forward to the
goal on which He had fixed His mind. No danger daunted Him. For His
spirit was as wholesome and as perfect as was His body. When He was
aroused by righteous indignation. His fearlessness knew no bounds.
Picture Him, for example, alone and unafraid, with a scourge in His
hand, driving the money changers and the petty merchants out of His
Father's house! In body and in spirit, Jesus was perfect--of the purest
athletic type. But Jesus was also a perfect leader. Hence, He had
Himself in perfect control. While He suffered pain as {254} do other
men; while He experienced the thrill of affection and love as do other
men; while He could become angry, and possessed the passions that other
men do--yet He had so subdued the mortal in Him to the divine, that the
baser nature never once gained power over the Son of God. In this He
set us an example of how we should live. It was because of His perfect
self-control that He appeared always as the meek and lowly Nazarene. It
is not difficult to understand that such a man aroused the wonder and
admiration of the people to whom He ministered. Such a man we ourselves
delight to worship.
[Sidenote: A work full of wonder.]
The daily work of Jesus aroused as much wonder as did the physical and
spiritual characteristics. His enemies even were constrained to admit
that no other man ever spoke with such power and authority as did
Jesus. And certainly, no other man has ever displayed such divine power
as did Jesus. Throughout Judea, Samaria and Galilee, Jesus demonstrated
His marvelous power and authority in healing the sick, in restoring the
halt and the maimed, in quieting the storm, and even in raising the
dead. It was, indeed, a marvelous work and a wonder. It reads almost
like a fairy tale. And yet these things Jesus, the Son of God, actually
did. In this lesson, we shall consider briefly some of the statements
of the strange miracles Jesus performed.
[Sidenote: A healer and worker of miracles.]
While laboring in Galilee, Jesus performed an untold number of
miracles. Mark tells us how the fame of Jesus as a miracle worker had
spread abroad, {255} and how the afflicted flocked to Him. One day,
when the offended Pharisees and Herodians were taking counsel against
Him, Jesus withdrew Himself with His disciples to the sea: and a
great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea, and from
Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about
Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great
things He did, came unto Him. And He spake to His disciples, that a
small ship should wait on Him because of the multitude, lest they
should throng Him. For He had healed many; insomuch that they pressed
upon Him for to touch Him, as many as had plagues. And unclean spirits,
when they saw Him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying, Thou art
the Son of God. And He straitly charged them that they should not make
Him known."
[Sidenote: The conditions in Palestine.]
With a little exercise of the imagination, you can easily visualize the
remarkable scene described thus vividly by St. Mark. But in order to
understand how such a condition could be possible it becomes necessary
to know something about Galilee in the time of Jesus. Historians agree
in telling us that ever since the days of Alexander the Great, all the
vice and the wickedness of both the East and the West had literally
poured into Palestine. The land of the chosen people had become
corrupt, as had the chosen people themselves. Their bodies had become
afflicted and their minds diseased through habits of wrong living and
wrong thinking. Beggars were as common as the turns in the roadway; and
nearly every beggar was distorted by some {256} terrible and loathsome
disease. The insane, and those possessed of evil spirits, were almost
without number. Their condition, too, was pitiable. In all the land
that was blessed by God to become the home of His own people, there was
no one to help the unfortunates. Instead of a land flowing with milk
and honey, it had become a land poisoned with vice and corruption.
[Sidenote: A mission of love.]
It was into such a land, and amongst such a people, that the physically
and spiritually perfect Jesus came to minister. Devoted to a mission
of love. Jesus turned the strength of His own perfection and the power
of His divine authority to the healing of the sick and afflicted, to
the assuaging of the sufferings of the poor, and to the saving of
the ignorant. It was a manifestation of divine power and compassion,
without thought of reward or honor, for He always charged those to whom
He ministered, "See that thou tell no man."
We have neither time nor space to consider the miracles of Jesus in
detail. Let us read only three. The first exhibits the power of Jesus
over physical illness; the second, His power over nature and the
elements; the third. His power over death itself.
[Sidenote: The centurion's servant.]
"When Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him a
centurion, beseeching Him, and saying. Lord, my servant lieth at home
sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I
will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not
worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roof: but speak the word only,
and my servant shall be {257} healed. For I am a man under authority,
having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth;
and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and
he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, He marvelled, and said to them that
followed. Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no,
not in Israel.... And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as
thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed
in the selfsame hour."
[Sidenote: Stilling the tempest.]
"When the even was come. He saith unto them. Let us pass over unto the
other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took Him
even as He was in the ship: and there were also with Him other little
ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into
the ship, so that it was now full. And He was in the hinder part of the
ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master,
carest Thou not that we perish? And He arose, and rebuked the wind,
and said unto the sea. Peace be still. And the wind ceased, and there
was a great calm. And He said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is
it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to
another. What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea
obey Him?"
[Sidenote: The raising of Lazarus.]
"Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead; and I am glad
for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe;
nevertheless let us go unto him. . . . Then when Jesus came, He found
that he had lain in the grave four days already. . . . Then when Mary
was {258} come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at his feet,
saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not
died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping
which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and
said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto Him, Lord, come and see.
Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him! And some of
them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have
caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again
groaning in Himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay
upon it. Jesus said. Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him
that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he
hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her. Said I not unto thee,
that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God?
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.
And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said. Father, I thank Thee that Thou
hast heard me. And I knew that Thou hearest me always: but because of
the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou
hast sent me. And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice,
Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and
foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin.
Jesus saith unto them. Loose him, and let him go."
More marvelous power than that recorded in these three instances cannot
be imagined. Our admiration is wrought up to the highest point; and in
imagination {259} we see the strong, pure, healthy and wholesome Man,
giving freely of His strength and life-force to those who come to Him,
ministering to them, and saving them from their own evil lives and
evil habits of thought. We wonder that there could be anyone who would
reject such a Leader.
[Sidenote: In His own country.]
And yet, when He left the seashore and returned to Nazareth and His
own country, Jesus was rejected by His own. "When the sabbath day was
come, He began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing Him were
astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what
wisdom is this which is given unto Him, that even such mighty works are
wrought by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the
brother of James and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? And are not His
sisters here with us? And they were offended at Him.
"But Jesus said unto them, A Prophet is not without honour, but in his
own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And He could
there do no mighty work, save that He laid His hands upon a few sick
folk, and healed them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief."
THE REFERENCES
Mark 3:7-12 Matt. 8:5-10, 13.
Mark 4:33-41. John 11:1-44.
Mark 6:1-6.
{260} THE QUESTIONS
1. What kind of man was Jesus physically?
2. What kind of man was Jesus spiritually?
3. What quality made Jesus a great leader?
4. What was the condition of Galilee--and all Palestine--at the time of
Jesus?
5. How did Jesus manifest His divine power?
6. Describe some miracles wrought by Jesus.
7. Why is it surprising that all Palestine did not believe in Him, and
accept Him?
8. What principle did Jesus teach concerning a prophet in his own
country?
9. Why could Jesus do no mighty work in His own country?
{261}
{262} PICTURE: JESUS HEALING THE SICK, Schoenherr
{263}
XXXIV
THE MEANING OF MIRACLES
After reading of the wonderful miracles that Jesus performed in
Galilee, one begins to wonder what a miracle really is. One begins to
wonder by what power a miracle is performed. The miracles of Jesus are
in the main so unusual, so extraordinary, so apparently in violation of
all known laws of nature, that one begins almost to wonder how Jesus
could upset the laws of nature.
[Sidenote: The explanation of the scribes.]
Apparently, Jesus's marvelous miracle-working power puzzled the people
of His own generation. They knew little of the laws of nature, of
course. They had been taught to believe in the possibility of miracles.
But they were loath to grant any degree of divine power to Jesus.
Hence, on one occasion, "the scribes which came down from Jerusalem
said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out
devils." Of course, such a suggestion was absurd. Jesus Himself said
to His disciples, "How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be
divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be
divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up
against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end." To
this argument, there is, of course, no answer. It proves conclusively,
that Jesus did not perform miracles through the power of Beelzebub.
What a miracle is, by what power it is performed and why miracles are
permitted, are questions that we shall consider in this lesson.
{264} [Sidenote: The universal presence of law.]
Let us consider first, then, what a miracle really is. As a matter of
fact, a miracle is never an act accomplished in violation of law. You
must understand that the universe is ruled by law. Everything that
happens, happens through the operation of law. If we live wisely--eat
right and think right--then it follows by the law of nature that we
shall have strong, wholesome bodies like the Christ's, and clear,
active minds like His. But if we violate the rules of right living,
then come certain laws of retribution, and we are made to pay the
penalty of our wrongdoing And so it is throughout the universe The
heavenly bodies are directed and governed by law; God's creatures
everywhere are subject to law; the earth on which we dwell, with the
strange and marvelous and mighty phenomena which we here daily observe,
is a product of law. Would it not be inconsistent, then, to think that
Jesus--who is Himself the God of law--should work in violation of law?
His own words in refutation of the statement of the scribes that He was
in league with Beelzebub, is a sufficient answer to such a supposition.
"If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand." We
must conclude, therefore, that a miracle, no matter how unnatural it
may seem, is accomplished through the operation of some law of the
universe. Yet, how can this be true, when some miracles that are well
authenticated seem to be so utterly in violation of the laws of nature
known to us?
[Sidenote: The miracle of the telephone.]
There was a time--and that not so very long ago--when it was thought
impossible that a man should ever be able to speak clearly and
distinctly to a friend a {265} hundred miles away, and hear in return,
as clearly and as distinctly, the voice of his friend. Certain men,
however, who were prying into the secrets of nature discovered
some things about sound. They learned that sound travels through
some medium, like the air, by means of waves--waves of alternate
condensation and rarefaction of the air, for example. Then these men
studied the human ear, and they learned that as these sound waves
struck the ear, the drum of the ear was made to vibrate back and forth
as a condensed part of the air or a rarefied part of the air struck
it. The men became interested; further study revealed the fact that
almost any disk, like the drum of the ear, could be made to vibrate to
sound waves. It was found that these sound waves could be transmitted
through string, or wire. It was discovered that a small current of
electricity flowing through a wire aided in the conducting of the
sound wave. Little by little science progressed, until by and by
there appeared a telephone. It was crude, and it reproduced the human
voice with a terrible roar. But the men of science worked at it; they
perfected first one part of it, then another, as they learned better
to understand the laws governing the reproduction of sound. Finally
came the perfect telephone. Today it is possible to telephone--not a
hundred miles merely--but from New York to San Francisco, clear across
a continent, a distance of several thousand miles. Such an achievement,
if it had been shown suddenly, would have been considered a miracle.
It would have been in violation of all the known laws of nature. But
now we know that this {266} miracle has been accomplished through
the harnessing of natural laws not known to our forefathers. The
achievement is the result of neither violation of law, nor co-operation
with Beelzebub.
[Sidenote: Other miracles of science.]
The story of the achievements of science is full of wonders like that
of the telephone. Any one of them, if it had been revealed suddenly,
would have seemed as unusual, as extraordinary, certainly in violation
of natural law, as the turning of water into wine, or as any of the
miracles of healing performed by Jesus. Think of the achievement of
the telegraph which covers with a network of wires every land area in
the world; think of the huge cable slung undersea tying together the
nations; think of the Marconigraph making it possible to send messages
the world over without the medium of wires; think of the X-ray and the
wonderful photography made possible by it; think of the innumerable
achievements of modern medicine, relieving pain, effecting cures
of ills that were once thought incurable, correcting deformities,
restoring sight and hearing, almost giving new life to the dead. These
and countless other wonders of modern life should teach us what a
miracle is. Man performs every day wonders that may almost be called
miracles only--since he possesses very limited power--it takes him a
long time to get his results. Jesus, acting with divine power, called
into play the laws of life, and accomplished in a moment what it would
take the man of science an indefinite period to do. In other words,
just as the wonderful achievements of science have been made possible
through the discovering and the harnessing of the laws of the {267}
universe, so a miracle such as Jesus performed is made possible through
the rapid assembly and harnessing of the natural laws that govern the
case in hand.
[Sidenote: The power of the Priesthood.]
But by what power did Jesus marshal the laws of nature, and direct them
to His own desires? By the power of the priesthood of God. No man can
hope to perform miracles who does not possess the authority of that
priesthood. Jesus Himself was the Son of God, and held the authority
of His own priesthood. And any man upon whom Jesus has conferred that
priesthood may go forth likewise, and heal the sick and do other mighty
works in His name. Men holding the priesthood of the Son of God need
only to go out in the strength of their manhood, in the cleanness and
purity of their lives, and in the fearlessness of their convictions.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and
in the power of their priesthood, they, too, may command the higher,
yet unknown laws of the universe, and effect cures and restorations
as marvelous as those recorded in the ministry of Jesus and the first
apostles. "I came unto my own," said Jesus to the Prophet of the
dispensation of the Fulness of Times, "and my own received me not; but
unto as many as received me, gave I power to do many miracles, and to
become the sons of God, and even unto them that believed on my name
gave I power to obtain eternal life."
[Sidenote: The purpose of miracles.]
For what purpose are miracles wrought? In all generations there have
been people who have sought signs, by which they might be converted.
But miracles are not given for the {268} purpose of converting the
unbelieving. The scribes and the Pharisees came to Jesus, saying,
"Master, we would have a sign from Thee. But He answered and said
unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign."
What then is the purpose of miracles? Miracles come as the result of
faith; they do not come to create faith. In His own country, Jesus even
could perform no mighty work because the people had not faith in Him.
Miracles are a kind of reward of faith, and serve to strengthen faith
already born. "It shall come to pass," said Jesus in modern times,
"that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto
death, shall be healed; he who hath faith to see shall see; he who hath
faith to hear shall hear; the lame who hath faith to leap shall leap."
All these good things come by faith to increase our faith.
[Sidenote: The privilege of the sick.]
So, in the providence of God, it is given to the authority of the
priesthood, through faith, to do mighty works--to command forces of
nature not yet understood by man, and thereby to perform miracles, for
the increasing of faith and the perfecting of the saints. Said James
the apostle, "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of
the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the
Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be
forgiven him."
{269}
THE REFERENCES
Mark 3:22-26. Matt. 12:38, 39.
Doc. and Cov. 45:8. Doc. and Cov. 42:48-52.
James 5:14, 15.
THE QUESTIONS
1. What questions are aroused by the reading of the miracles performed
by Jesus?
2. How did the scribes explain Jesus's miracle-working power?
3. What was the answer of Jesus?
4. How can it be shown that the universe is ruled by law?
5. Explain the miracle of the telephone?
6. What other miraculous achievements have been made by science?
7. How does a miracle differ from one of these achievements of science?
8. Show that it is no more difficult to believe in one of the miracles
than in one of the achievements of science.
9. By what power are miracles performed?
10. What is the purpose of miracles?
11. What privilege does everyone of us enjoy when he is sick?
{270} PICTURE: CHRIST BEFORE PILATE, Hofmann
{271}
XXXV
AN ATONING SACRIFICE
[Sidenote: An incredible thought.]
As He went about His Father's business teaching the means of eternal
life, Jesus presented many principles that it was difficult for His
followers to understand, but you may readily imagine that He presented
no other thought so hard for them to comprehend as the thought that
He must lay down His own life. To His disciples, Jesus was the Mighty
King come to establish His reign on earth. They thought that He would
establish an earthly kingdom; that He would overthrow the dominion of
Rome in Palestine; that He would restore the independence of the Jewish
nation. It did not occur to them that His was more largely a spiritual
kingdom, than a material kingdom. The thought that He should lose His
life seemed impossible to them; indeed, it was abhorrent to them. Many
of them did not learn to understand Jesus's sayings about His death
until after He was actually laid away in the tomb.
[Sidenote: Jesus's foreknowledge of His death.]
But the knowledge of His approaching and inevitable death, seems
to have been always present with Jesus Himself. Very early in His
ministry, Jesus foreshadowed the coming end. "The days will come," He
declared to those assembling about Him, "when the bridegroom shall be
taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days." Somewhat
later. He spoke of His death as a "baptism," and asserted that it
would become a kind of test to determine, who was for him and who was
against Him." "I am come to send fire on the earth," declared He; "and
what {272} will I if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be
baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Suppose
ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you Nay; but rather
division; for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided,
three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided
against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against
the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law
against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law." The division in the family would be caused, of course,
because some members would accept Jesus, whereas others would reject
Him; some would find in His sinless death reason for worship, whereas
others would find in His sufferings sufficient reason for rejection.
After Peter's confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God," at Caesarea Phillipi, Jesus began more definitely to proclaim a
violent death. Immediately, "He began to teach them, that the Son of
man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the
chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise
again. And He spake that saying openly," we read. "And Peter took Him
and began to rebuke Him." Or, as Matthew expresses it, Peter rebuked
Him, saying, "Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee."
It is evident then that even though Peter was inspired to know that
Jesus was the Christ, he had not yet received an understanding of
the fact that Jesus must suffer death at the hands of His enemies in
order to fulfill His great mission to the earth. And if Peter did not
understand this truth, you may easily believe, that the thought of it
{273} was intolerable to the rest of the disciples. They could not
conceive of their divine leader's failing to establish the kingdom of
God as an earthly dominion. Then further to impress upon His disciples
the fact that His death was required by the law of sacrifice, He told
them that they must themselves not expect to profit in a worldly or
political way through their association with Him; but rather must they
expect to suffer persecution and to sacrifice themselves. For sacrifice
and service are demanded in the kingdom of God. "Whosoever will come
after me," said Jesus to the awe-stricken disciples, "let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save
his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
and the gospel's, the same shall save it."
[Sidenote: The significance of the death of Jesus.]