Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/221

* JESUS CHRIST. 195 JESUS CHRIST, must have been one of menace to His work and to His life. As given in the Gospel history, Jesus' life and work most naturally divides itself into two prominent periods — the Galilean period, which was largely one of construction, centring upon the gathering around Himself of a body of dis- ciples, and the Judean period, which was largely one of instruction, having as its object both the preparation of His disciples for the closing events of His life, and the presentation to the Jews of His Jlessianie claims. Between these two main periods lay the short period covered by His withdrawal into the regions of northern Galilee; while preceding them was the preliminary period of His younger years, leading up to His formal induction into His work and His early ministry in Judea; and following them was the culminat- ing period of His life, issuing in His betrayal, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. A. The Pbeumix.bt Period, (a) The Peri- od of the Early Life. — Jesus was born in the seventh year before the Cliristian Era. toward the close of the reign of Herod the Great. (See Tiativity in the article Gcspel; New Testament Chronology.) His mother was Mary, a virgin, betrothed to .Joseph, a carpenter of Xazareth. The circumstances preceding and attending the Child's birth were of such supernatural character as to mark it as miraculous. It occurred in the tovn of Bethlehem, in .Judea. where Joseph and JIary had gone for the purpose of registra- tion, in connection with one of the Imperial en- rollments customary in the provinces. After Herod's death .Jesus' home was in Xazareth until the time of His formal entrance upon His public work. Of these early years practically no information has come to us, the Gospels giv- ing, besides the summary statements of Luke (ii. 40, 52), but one event of that time — His visit to the temple (Luke ii. 41-51) — while the extra-canonical traditions referring to this period are worthless. (b) Induction Into Pub- lic Work. — With the baptism in .Jordan at the hands of .John the Baptist, it is clear that to Jesus' mind His work was formally undertaken. This work, as He conceived it, was not that of a rabbi, nor even that of a prophet, but that of the Messiah foreshadowed and promised to the people of God in the Old Testament Scriptures. It is this clear realization of His mission that gave significance to the event as .Jesus looked at it. and offers the proper meaning to His state- ment to the Baptist. "Suffer it now: for thus it beconieth us to fulfill all righteousness," as well as to the message which came to Him from the heavens. "This is my beloved son. in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. iii. 15-17). Follow- ing >ipon His baptism .Jesus retired to the neigh- boring wilderness. There for a season He was subject to an inward struggle with thoughts which this public consecration to His mission most naturally brought to Him. a struggle right- ly termed a temptation. From this He returned to the scene of His baptism, where He met cer- tain of the Baptist's disciples, to whom He had been pointed out by their teacher. They were Andrew, and Simon, his brother. Philip and Na- thaniel, and. apparently, also .John, all of them residents of Galilee. This acquaintance proved to be the beginning of their discipleship. and their discipleship formed the nucleus of all of Jesus' subsequent following, (c) Early Judean Ministry. — After a short visit to His home, Jesus returned to Judea to be present at the Feast of the Passover, in the spring of the year (a.d. 27). While there H-e apparently made a public declaration of His mission of religious reform by driving out of the temple the traders and monej'-changers, who had been gradually per- mitted by the priests to bring their business within the sacred inclosure. Through this act and the miracles which He wrought in the city. He attracted much attention, and gained a con- siderable following among the people. For a while — possibly during the summer and autumn — He remained in .Judea, carrying on, with such of His disciples as had accompanied Him to the feast, or as had attached themselves to Him in Jerusalem, a simple work among the people. Upon the imprisonment of the Baptist, however, He withdrew permanently into Galilee, passing through Samaria, in a village of which region, Sychar by name (the modern Askar), He spent a few days in successful work. Upon reaching Galilee He repaired to His former home, where He spoke to the people at their Sabbath service in the synagogue. His teaching, however, which clearly forecast the comprehensive character of His mission, involving a practical ignoring of all mere national claims, angered the people and forced Him to withdraw to the more congenial surrotmdings of Capernaum, which He forthwith made Kis home and the centre of His work. Here He called to His more formal following Simon and .Andrew and John, who had come to Him at the -Jordan, and with them .James, the brother of John, and in their company He began His stated work. B. The Galile-an Period. Jesus' mission was to win men to God. In this Galilean period His mission entered upon its first stage, which was to arouse the attention of the people to the kingdom of God He announced, and to gather them to His personal following as that kingdom's representative. For the arousing of this atten- tion and the gathering of this following. He di- rected His work along two lines — the perform- ance of miraculous deeds and the giving of in- struction. The deeds were intended to be signs to the people which should give them to under- stand that the kingdom of God was at hand, and lead them to Him as the divine representative of that kingdom : the instruction was intended to acquaint them with the nature of that king- dom and the conditions of entering and remain- ing in it. It is thus clear why He gave Himself at the very beginning of His Galilean work to the working of miracles, and why the miracles He selected were of beneficent character. These were not only to be proofs of His power, but. evi- dences of the character of the rule He had come to establish on the earth — a rule which was founded upon the love of God for the world and the need of God to the world. This purpose was especially present in His casting out of demons. His healing of lepers, and His raising of the dead : for demoniac possessions were considered , as directly due to Satan, while leprosy was a recognized emblem of the corruption of sin. and death was looked upon as its punishment. In showing Himself master of these. .Jesus not sim- ply aroused attention to Himself as a prophet in Israel, but as a prophet who had a direct message to the religious life of the people. This message, however, would not have been under-