JESUS CHRIST

(1) the preparation, corresponding to Dr. Sanday's "pre-liminary period' down to the wedding in Cana of Gahlee;

(2) the seed-time, including the remainder of 'the pre-liminary period,' and the first active or constructive penod;

(3) the period of first conflicts, and (4) the period of crisis, corresponding to the 'middle or culmmatme period ; (5) the Jerusalem period, corresponding to the close of the active period; (6) the Passion and the subsequent events.

Useful as the above schemes of Weiss and Sanday are for arranging the subject-matter, and deserving as they are of respect for their scholarly grounding, the writer doubts if we can pretend to such exact knowledge of the course of events. Even if we assume that the Fourth Gospel gives a reliable chronological frame-work, it is a very precarious assumption that the Synoptic material, which is largely put together from a topical point of view, can be assigned its proper place in the scheme. Further, it is by no means clear that we are right in supposing that there was a Judsean ministry which ran parallel with the Galitean ministry. There is much to be said for the view that the narratives of the Fourth Gospel presuppose a situation towards the close of them inistry, and that in interweaving them with the Synoptic narratives of the Gahlaean period, we anticipate the actual march of the history. The view here taken is that there was a Galilean ministry, for which the Synoptics are almost the sole source; that this was followed for some months before the end by a Judsean ministry, the materials of which are supplied mainly by the Fourth Gospel; and that finally the sources unite to give a picture of the Last Week, the Passion, and the Resurrection.

(A) The Gax,il.;ean Ministry. — ^Jesus seems to have remained with the Baptist until the latter was put in prison (Mk 1"), when He returned to Galilee. The change of scene, which in any case was natural in view of the blow that had been struck, served to mark the distinctness of His mission from that of John. He may also have been influenced by His knowledge of the greater receptiveness of the Northern stock. The centre of His activity was the populous district, studded with prosperous towns, which lay around the Sea of GaUlee. From Capernaum, in which He lived for a time (Mt 4", Mk 9"'), He had easy access to the other cities on the Lake, and He also appears to have made wider circuits throughout Gahlee, in the course of which He preached in the synagogue at Nazareth (Lk 4'"'0. At the close of the period He penetrated to the regions beyond-r-being found on the 'borders' of Tyre and Sidon (Mk 7^), then in the heathen district of Decapolis to the east of Jordan (v.^'), afterwards in the towns of Caesarea PhiUppi in the dominions of the tetrarch Phihp (8"). Except for the incidental references above referred to, there is nothing to fix the duration of the Gahlaean ministry; but though crowded with labours and incidents, it seems to have been compara-tively short. Its importance is measured by the fact that it set the Christian gospel in circulation in the world, and laid the foundation of the Christian Church.

(1) Treatment of the materials. — In deaUng with this period, the characteristic task of the historian may almost be said to begin where that of the Evangelists ends. The modern student is not oidy interested in chronology and in the details of the environment, but he tries to bring the course of events under the point of view of development, and to penetrate to the causes which explain the movement and the issue of the history. The Gospels, on the other hand, contribute a picture rather than a history — a picture, moreover, in which the setting is presupposed rather than described, while they leave us in ignorance of much that we should like to know about hidden forces and springs of action. It seems advisable to begin by reproducing in its salient aspects the Synoptic picture of the Gahlaean ministry, based primarily on Mk., and thereafter to advert to some contributions which have been made to the better elucidation of the course of events.

JESUS CHRIST

(2) The picture of the Gatilcean Ministry. — The prin-cipal source is the sketch in Mk., which sets forth the Ministry from the point of view of one who regarded it as the manifestation of the Messiah. The chronological order of events is necessarily mirrored to some extent, as the narrative describes a mission and its outcome; but the arrangement as well as the selection of the material is largely governed by topical considerations. The topics of Mk. may be summarized as follows: — (a) the preliminary attestation of Jesus as the Messiah; (6) the Messianic activities; (c) the opposition to Jesus, and His self- vindication; (d) the attitude of Jesus Him-self to the question of Ilis Messiahship; (c) the results of the Gahlaean Ministry.

The above argument is taken over by Mt., with some change in the order of the sections, while he supplements from the older ApostoUc source the meagre account given by Mk. of the contents of the teaching of Jesus. Lk. follows Mk. more closely in the sections deahng with the Gahlaean ministry, but incidentally shows the uncertainty of the chronological scheme by trans-ferring to the beginning the visit to Nazareth (l"-"; cf. Mk 61-", Mt 13"-'=), on the apparent ground that it could be regarded as in some respects a typical incident.

(a) The preliminary attestation. — The Synoptic tradi-tion puts in the forefront certain credentials of Jesus. John the Baptist predicted His coming (Mk 1'-'), a voice from heaven proclaimed Him to be the Son (v."), the demons knew Him (vv.'"- "; cf . 6') ; while the chosen few, though as yet not knowing Him for what He is, instinc-tively obeyed His call (1"), and the multitude recognized in Him an extraordinary man (l^^). Apart from the references to the Baptist and the vision at the Baptism, the facts which underlay this apologetic argument were that demoniacs were pecuUarly susceptible to His influence, and that upon the uncorrupted and unprej-udiced heart Jesus made the impression of a com-manding authority which was entitled to be obeyed.

(6) The Messianic activities. — Upon the credentials follows a description of the labours by which Jesus pro-ceeded to carry out His plan, and which revealed Him as the Messiah. The means employed were three — to teach the nature, the blessings, and the laws of the Kingdom, to exemplify its power and its spirit in mighty works, and to call and train men who should exempUfy the new righteousness, and also share and continue His labours.

(i) The ministry of teaching (cf. Wendt, Teaching of Jesus, Eng. tr. 1892). — The work which lay nearest to the hand of Jesus, as the Messiah, was to preach. He needed to preach repentance, as the condition of the reception of the Kingdom; He needed to gain entrance for a true conception of its nature; and He had to legislate for the society which was to own Him as its King. It is accordingly as the Messiah prophet that He is introduced: 'Jesus came into Gahlee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time Ig fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and beUeve in the gospel' (Mk !"• «). Following upon a similar notice (4^), Mt. interpolates the Sermon on the Mount, in which the principles of the gospel of the Kingdom are set forth, on the one hand as a revision of the OT moral code, on the other as an antithesis to the maxims and the practice of contemporary Judaism. The meagre specimens of our Lord's teaching which Mk. thought it sufficient for his purpose to give, are further supplemented by Mt. in his collection of the parables of the Kingdom, and by Lk. in the peculiar section which includes the parables of the Lost Coin, the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Son.

The synagogues were open, at least in the first period, to Jesus. He also taught wherever opportunity offered — in the house, on the mountain-side, from a boat moored by the shore of the Lake. To a large extent His teaching was unsystematic, being drawn forth by

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