TO THE PURE SOUL OF MY SISTER HENRIETTE
Who Died at Byblus on the 24th of September, 1861
Dost thou recall, from the bosom of God
where thou reposest, those long days at Ghazir, in which, alone with thee, I
wrote these pages, inspired by the places we had visited together? Silent at my
side, thou didst read and copy each sheet as soon as I had written it, whilst
the sea, the villages, the ravines, and the mountains, were spread at our feet.
When the overwhelming light had given place to the innumerable army of stars,
thy shrewd and subtle questions, thy discreet doubts, led me back to the sublime
object of our common thoughts. One day thou didst tell me that thou wouldst love
this book—first, because it had been composed with thee, and also because it
pleased thee. Though at times thou didst fear for it the narrow judgments of the
frivolous, yet wert thou ever persuaded that all truly religious souls would
ultimately take pleasure in it. In the midst of these sweet meditations, the
Angel of Death struck us both with his wing: the sleep of fever seized us at the
same time—I awoke alone!… Thou sleepest now in the land of Adonis, near the holy
Byblus and the sacred stream where the women of the ancient mysteries came to
mingle their tears. Reveal to me, O good genius, to me whom thou lovedst, those
truths which conquer death, deprive it of terror, and make it almost beloved.
PREFACE
In presenting an English version of the
celebrated work of M. Renan, the translator is aware of the difficulty of
adequately rendering a work so admirable for its style and beauty of
composition. It is not an easy task to reproduce the terseness and eloquence
which characterize the original. Whatever its success in these respects may be,
no pains have been spared to give the author's meaning. The translation has been
revised by highly competent persons; but although great care has been taken in
this respect, it is possible that a few errors may still have escaped notice.
The great problem of the present age is to preserve the
religious spirit, whilst getting rid of the superstitions and absurdities that
deform it, and which are alike opposed to science and common sense. The works of
Mr. F.W. Newman and of Bishop Colenso, and the "Essays and Reviews," are
rendering great service in this direction. The work of M. Renan will contribute
to this object; and, if its utility may be measured by the storm which it has
created amongst the obscurantists in France, and the heartiness with
which they have condemned it, its merits in this respect must be very great. It
needs only to be added, that whilst warmly sympathizing with the earnest spirit
which pervades the book, the translator by no means wishes to be identified with
all the opinions therein expressed.
December 8, 1863.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Place of Jesus in the History of the World 67
CHAPTER II
Infancy and Youth of Jesus—His First Impressions 81
CHAPTER III
Education of Jesus 89
CHAPTER IV
The Order of Thought Which Surrounded the Development of Jesus
99
CHAPTER V
The First Saying of Jesus—His Ideas of a Divine Father and of a
Pure Religion—First Disciples 119
CHAPTER VI
John the Baptist—Visit of Jesus to John, and His Abode in the
Desert of Judea—Adoption of the Baptism of John 135
CHAPTER VII
Development of the Ideas of Jesus Respecting the Kingdom of God
148
CHAPTER VIII
Jesus at Capernaum 160
CHAPTER IX
The Disciples of Jesus 173
CHAPTER X
The Preachings on the Lake 184
CHAPTER XI
The Kingdom of God Conceived as the Inheritance of the
Poor 194
CHAPTER XII
Embassy from John in Prison to Jesus—Death of John—Relations of
His School with That of Jesus 206
CHAPTER XIII
First Attempts on Jerusalem 213
CHAPTER XIV
Intercourse of Jesus with the Pagans and the Samaritans 227
CHAPTER XV
Commencement of the Legends Concerning Jesus—His Own
Idea of His Supernatural Character 235
CHAPTER XVI
Miracles 248
CHAPTER XVII
Definitive Form of the Ideas of Jesus Respecting the Kingdom of
God 259
CHAPTER XVIII
Institutions of Jesus 273
CHAPTER XIX
Increasing Progression of Enthusiasm and of Exaltation 285
CHAPTER XX
Opposition to Jesus 295
CHAPTER XXI
Last Journey of Jesus to Jerusalem 305
CHAPTER XXII
Machinations of the Enemies of Jesus 319
CHAPTER XXIII
Last Week of Jesus 329
CHAPTER XXIV
Arrest and Trial of Jesus 344
CHAPTER XXV
Death of Jesus 360
CHAPTER XXVI
Jesus in the Tomb 370
CHAPTER XXVII
Fate of the Enemies of Jesus 376
CHAPTER XXVIII
Essential Character of the Work of Jesus 381
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION,
In Which the Sources of This History Are Principally Treated
A history of the "Origin of
Christianity" ought to embrace all the obscure, and, if one might so speak,
subterranean periods which extend from the first beginnings of this religion up
to the moment when its existence became a public fact, notorious and evident to
the eyes of all. Such a history would consist of four books. The first, which I
now present to the public, treats of the particular fact which has served as the
starting-point of the new religion, and is entirely filled by the sublime person
of the Founder. The second would treat of the apostles and their immediate
disciples, or rather, of the revolutions which religious thought underwent in
the first two generations of Christianity. I would close this about the year
100, at the time when the last friends of Jesus were dead, and when all the
books of the New Testament were fixed almost in the forms in which we now read
them. The third would exhibit the state of Christianity under the Antonines. We
should see it develop itself slowly, and sustain an almost permanent war against
the empire, which had just reached the highest degree of administrative
perfection, and, governed by philosophers, combated in the new-born sect a
secret and theocratic society which obstinately denied and incessantly
undermined it. This book would cover the entire period of the second century.
Lastly, the fourth book would show the decisive progress which Christianity made
from the time of the Syrian emperors. We should see the learned system of the
Antonines crumble, the decadence of the ancient civilization become irrevocable,
Christianity profit from its ruin, Syria conquer the whole West, and Jesus, in
company with the gods and the deified sages of Asia, take possession of a
society for which philosophy and a purely civil government no longer sufficed.
It was then that the religious ideas of the races grouped around the
Mediterranean became profoundly modified; that the Eastern religions everywhere
took precedence; that the Christian Church, having become very numerous, totally
forgot its dreams of a millennium, broke its last ties with Judaism, and entered
completely into the Greek and Roman world. The contests and the literary labors
of the third century, which were carried on without concealment, would be
described only in their general features. I would relate still more briefly the
persecutions at the commencement of the fourth century, the last effort of the
empire to return to its former principles, which denied to religious association
any place in the State. Lastly, I would only foreshadow the change of policy
which, under Constantine, reversed the position, and made of the most free and
spontaneous religious movement an official worship, subject to the State, and
persecutor in its turn.
I know not whether I shall have sufficient life and strength to
complete a plan so vast. I shall be satisfied if, after having written the
Life of Jesus, I am permitted to relate, as I understand it, the history of
the apostles, the state of the Christian conscience during the weeks which
followed the death of Jesus, the formation of the cycle of legends concerning
the resurrection, the first acts of the Church of Jerusalem, the life of Saint
Paul, the crisis of the time of Nero, the appearance of the Apocalypse, the fall
of Jerusalem, the foundation of the Hebrew-Christian sects of Batanea, the
compilation of the Gospels, and the rise of the great schools of Asia Minor
originated by John. Everything pales by the side of that marvellous first
century. By a peculiarity rare in history, we see much better what passed in the
Christian world from the year 50 to the year 75, than from the year 100 to the
year 150.
The plan followed in this history has prevented the introduction
into the text of long critical dissertations upon controverted points. A
continuous system of notes enables the reader to verify from the authorities all
the statements of the text. These notes are strictly limited to quotations from
the primary sources; that is to say, the original passages upon which each
assertion or conjecture rests. I know that for persons little accustomed to
studies of this kind many other explanations would have been necessary. But it
is not my practice to do over again what has been already done well. To cite
only books written in French, those who will consult the following excellent
writings[1] will there find explained a number of points upon which I have been
obliged to be very brief:
Études Critiques sur l'Évangile de saint Matthieu,
par M.
Albert Réville, pasteur de l'église Wallonne de
Rotterdam.[2]
Histoire de la Théologie Chrétienne au Siècle
Apostolique,
par M. Reuss, professeur à la Faculté de Théologie et au
Séminaire Protestant de Strasbourg.[3]
Des Doctrines Religieuses des Juifs pendant les Deux
Siècles Antérieurs à l'Ère Chrétienne, par M. Michel
Nicolas, professeur à la Faculté de Théologie Protestante de
Montauban.[4]
Vie de Jésus, par le Dr. Strauss; traduite par M.
Littré,
Membre de l'Institut.[5]
Revue de Théologie
et de Philosophie Chrétienne, publiée sous la direction de M. Colani, de
1850 à 1857.—Nouvelle Revue de Théologie, faisant suite à la précédente
depuis 1858.[6]
[Footnote 1: While this work was in the press, a book has
appeared which I do not hesitate to add to this list, although I have not read
it with the attention it deserves—Les Évangiles, par M. Gustave
d'Eichthal. Première Partie: Examen Critique et Comparatif des Trois Premiers
Évangiles. Paris, Hachette, 1863.]
[Footnote 2: Leyde, Noothoven van Goor, 1862. Paris, Cherbuliez.
A work crowned by the Society of The Hague for the defence of the Christian
religion.]
[Footnote 3: Strasbourg, Treuttel and Wurtz. 2nd edition. 1860.
Paris,
Cherbuliez.]
[Footnote 4: Paris, Michel Lévy frères, 1860.]
[Footnote 5: Paris, Ladrange. 2nd edition, 1856.]
[Footnote 6: Strasbourg, Treuttel and Wurtz. Paris, Cherbuliez.]
The criticism of the details of the Gospel texts especially, has
been done by Strauss in a manner which leaves little to be desired. Although
Strauss may be mistaken in his theory of the compilation of the Gospels;[1] and
although his book has, in my opinion, the fault of taking up the theological
ground too much, and the historical ground too little,[2] it will be necessary,
in order to understand the motives which have guided me amidst a crowd of
minutiæ, to study the always judicious, though sometimes rather subtle argument,
of the book, so well translated by my learned friend, M. Littré.
[Footnote 1: The great results obtained on this point have only
been acquired since the first edition of Strauss's work. The learned critic has,
besides, done justice to them with much candor in his after editions.]
[Footnote 2: It is scarcely necessary to repeat that not a word
in Strauss's work justifies the strange and absurd calumny by which it has been
attempted to bring into disrepute with superficial persons, a work so agreeable,
accurate, thoughtful, and conscientious, though spoiled in its general parts by
an exclusive system. Not only has Strauss never denied the existence of Jesus,
but each page of his book implies this existence. The truth is, Strauss supposes
the individual character of Jesus less distinct for us than it perhaps is in
reality.]
I do not believe I have neglected any source of information as
to ancient evidences. Without speaking of a crowd of other scattered data, there
remain, respecting Jesus, and the time in which he lived, five great collections
of writings—1st, The Gospels, and the writings of the New Testament in general;
2d, The compositions called the "Apocrypha of the Old Testament;" 3d, The works
of Philo; 4th, Those of Josephus; 5th, The Talmud. The writings of Philo have
the priceless advantage of showing us the thoughts which, in the time of Jesus,
fermented in minds occupied with great religious questions. Philo lived, it is
true, in quite a different province of Judaism to Jesus, but, like him, he was
very free from the littlenesses which reigned at Jerusalem; Philo is truly the
elder brother of Jesus. He was sixty-two years old when the Prophet of Nazareth
was at the height of his activity, and he survived him at least ten years. What
a pity that the chances of life did not conduct him into Galilee! What would he
not have taught us!
Josephus, writing specially for pagans, is not so candid. His
short notices of Jesus, of John the Baptist, of Judas the Gaulonite, are dry and
colorless. We feel that he seeks to present these movements, so profoundly
Jewish in character and spirit, under a form which would be intelligible to
Greeks and Romans. I believe the passage respecting Jesus[1] to be authentic. It
is perfectly in the style of Josephus, and if this historian has made mention of
Jesus, it is thus that he must have spoken of him. We feel only that a Christian
hand has retouched the passage, has added a few words—without which it would
almost have been blasphemous[2]—has perhaps retrenched or modified some
expressions.[3] It must be recollected that the literary fortune of Josephus was
made by the Christians, who adopted his writings as essential documents of their
sacred history. They made, probably in the second century, an edition corrected
according to Christian ideas.[4] At all events, that which constitutes the
immense interest of Josephus on the subject which occupies us, is the clear
light which he throws upon the period. Thanks to him, Herod, Herodias, Antipas,
Philip, Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate are personages whom we can touch with the
finger, and whom we see living before us with a striking reality.
[Footnote 1: Ant., XVIII. iii. 3.]
[Footnote 2: "If it be lawful to call him a man."]
[Footnote 3: In place of [Greek: christos outos ên], he
certainly had these [Greek: christos outos elegeto].—Cf. Ant., XX. ix.
1.]
[Footnote 4: Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., i. 11, and
Demonstr. Evang., iii. 5) cites the passage respecting Jesus as we now read
it in Josephus. Origen (Contra Celsus, i. 47; ii. 13) and Eusebius (Hist.
Eccl., ii. 23) cite another Christian interpolation, which is not found in
any of the manuscripts of Josephus which have come down to us.]
The Apocryphal books of the Old Testament, especially the Jewish
part of the Sibylline verses, and the Book of Enoch, together with the Book of
Daniel, which is also really an Apocrypha, have a primary importance in the
history of the development of the Messianic theories, and for the understanding
of the conceptions of Jesus respecting the kingdom of God. The Book of Enoch
especially, which was much read at the time of Jesus,[1] gives us the key to the
expression "Son of Man," and to the ideas attached to it. The ages of these
different books, thanks to the labors of Alexander, Ewald, Dillmann, and Reuss,
is now beyond doubt. Every one is agreed in placing the compilation of the most
important of them in the second and first centuries before Jesus Christ. The
date of the Book of Daniel is still more certain. The character of the two
languages in which it is written, the use of Greek words, the clear, precise,
dated announcement of events, which reach even to the time of Antiochus
Epiphanes, the incorrect descriptions of Ancient Babylonia, there given, the
general tone of the book, which in no respect recalls the writings of the
captivity, but, on the contrary, responds, by a crowd of analogies, to the
beliefs, the manners, the turn of imagination of the time of the Seleucidæ; the
Apocalyptic form of the visions, the place of the book in the Hebrew canon, out
of the series of the prophets, the omission of Daniel in the panegyrics of
Chapter xlix. of Ecclesiasticus, in which his position is all but indicated, and
many other proofs which have been deduced a hundred times, do not permit of a
doubt that the Book of Daniel was but the fruit of the great excitement produced
among the Jews by the persecution of Antiochus. It is not in the old prophetical
literature that we must class this book, but rather at the head of Apocalyptic
literature, as the first model of a kind of composition, after which come the
various Sibylline poems, the Book of Enoch, the Apocalypse of John, the
Ascension of Isaiah, and the Fourth Book of Esdras.
[Footnote 1: Jude Epist. 14.]
In the history of the origin of Christianity, the Talmud has
hitherto been too much neglected. I think with M. Geiger, that the true notion
of the circumstances which surrounded the development of Jesus must be sought in
this strange compilation, in which so much precious information is mixed with
the most insignificant scholasticism. The Christian and the Jewish theology
having in the main followed two parallel ways, the history of the one cannot
well be understood without the history of the other. Innumerable important
details in the Gospels find, moreover, their commentary in the Talmud. The vast
Latin collections of Lightfoot, Schoettgen, Buxtorf, and Otho contained already
a mass of information on this point. I have imposed on myself the task of
verifying in the original all the citations which I have admitted, without a
single exception. The assistance which has been given me for this part of my
task by a learned Israelite, M. Neubauer, well versed in Talmudic literature,
has enabled me to go further, and to clear up the most intricate parts of my
subject by new researches. The distinction of epochs is here most important, the
compilation of the Talmud extending from the year 200 to about the year 500. We
have brought to it as much discernment as is possible in the actual state of
these studies. Dates so recent will excite some fears among persons habituated
to accord value to a document only for the period in which it was written. But
such scruples would here be out of place. The teaching of the Jews from the
Asmonean epoch down to the second century was principally oral. We must not
judge of this state of intelligence by the habits of an age of much writing. The
Vedas, and the ancient Arabian poems, have been preserved for ages from memory,
and yet these compositions present a very distinct and delicate form. In the
Talmud, on the contrary, the form has no value. Let us add that before the
Mishnah of Judas the Saint, which has caused all others to be forgotten,
there were attempts at compilation, the commencement of which is probably much
earlier than is commonly supposed. The style of the Talmud is that of loose
notes; the collectors did no more probably than classify under certain titles
the enormous mass of writings which had been accumulating in the different
schools for generations.
It remains for us to speak of the documents which, presenting
themselves as biographies of the Founder of Christianity, must naturally hold
the first place in a Life of Jesus. A complete treatise upon the
compilation of the Gospels would be a work of itself. Thanks to the excellent
researches of which this question has been the object during thirty years, a
problem which was formerly judged insurmountable has obtained a solution which,
though it leaves room for many uncertainties, fully suffices for the necessities
of history. We shall have occasion to return to this in our Second Book, the
composition of the Gospels having been one of the most important facts for the
future of Christianity in the second half of the first century. We will touch
here only a single aspect of the subject, that which is indispensable to the
completeness of our narrative. Leaving aside all which belongs to the
portraiture of the apostolic times, we will inquire only in what degree the data
furnished by the Gospels may be employed in a history formed according to
rational principles.[1]
[Footnote 1: Persons who wish to read more ample explanations,
may consult, in addition to the work of M. Réville, previously cited, the
writings of Reuss and Scherer in the Revue de Théologie, vol. x., xi.,
xv.; new series, ii., iii., iv.; and that of Nicolas in the Revue Germanique,
Sept. and Dec., 1862; April and June, 1863.]
That the Gospels are in part legendary, is evident, since they
are full of miracles and of the supernatural; but legends have not all the same
value. No one doubts the principal features of the life of Francis d'Assisi,
although we meet the supernatural at every step. No one, on the other hand,
accords credit to the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, because it was written
long after the time of the hero, and purely as a romance. At what time, by what
hands, under what circumstances, have the Gospels been compiled? This is the
primary question upon which depends the opinion to be formed of their
credibility.
Each of the four Gospels bears at its head the name of a
personage, known either in the apostolic history, or in the Gospel history
itself. These four personages are not strictly given us as the authors. The
formulæ "according to Matthew," "according to Mark," "according to Luke,"
"according to John," do not imply that, in the most ancient opinion, these
recitals were written from beginning to end by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,[1]
they merely signify that these were the traditions proceeding from each of these
apostles, and claiming their authority. It is clear that, if these titles are
exact, the Gospels, without ceasing to be in part legendary, are of great value,
since they enable us to go back to the half century which followed the death of
Jesus, and in two instances, even to the eye-witnesses of his actions.
[Footnote 1: In the same manner we say, "The Gospel according to
the
Hebrews," "The Gospel according to the Egyptians."]
Firstly, as to Luke, doubt is scarcely possible. The Gospel of
Luke is a regular composition, founded on anterior documents.[1] It is the work
of a man who selects, prunes, and combines. The author of this Gospel is
certainly the same as that of the Acts of the Apostles.[2] Now, the author of
the Acts is a companion of St. Paul,[3] a title which applies to Luke
exactly.[4] I know that more than one objection may be raised against this
reasoning; but one thing, at least, is beyond doubt, namely, that the author of
the third Gospel and of the Acts was a man of the second apostolic generation,
and that is sufficient for our object. The date of this Gospel can moreover be
determined with much precision by considerations drawn from the book itself. The
twenty-first chapter of Luke, inseparable from the rest of the work, was
certainly written after the siege of Jerusalem, and but a short time after.[5]
We are here, then, upon solid ground; for we are concerned with a work written
entirely by the same hand, and of the most perfect unity.
[Footnote 1: Luke i. 1-4.]
[Footnote 2: Acts i. 1. Compare Luke i. 1-4.]
[Footnote 3: From xvi. 10, the author represents himself as
eye-witness.]
[Footnote 4: 2 Tim. iv. 11; Philemon 24; Col. iv. 14. The name
of Lucas (contraction of Lucanus) being very rare, we need not
fear one of those homonyms which cause so many perplexities in questions of
criticism relative to the New Testament.]
[Footnote 5: Verses 9, 20, 24, 28, 32. Comp. xxii. 36.]
The Gospels of Matthew and Mark have not nearly the same stamp
of individuality. They are impersonal compositions, in which the author totally
disappears. A proper name written at the head of works of this kind does not
amount to much. But if the Gospel of Luke is dated, those of Matthew and Mark
are dated also; for it is certain that the third Gospel is posterior to the
first two and exhibits the character of a much more advanced compilation. We
have, besides, on this point, an excellent testimony from a writer of the first
half of the second century—namely, Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, a grave man, a
man of traditions, who was all his life seeking to collect whatever could be
known of the person of Jesus.[1] After having declared that on such matters he
preferred oral tradition to books, Papias mentions two writings on the acts and
words of Christ: First, a writing of Mark, the interpreter of the apostle Peter,
written briefly, incomplete, and not arranged in chronological order, including
narratives and discourses, ([Greek: lechthenta ê prachthenta],) composed from
the information and recollections of the apostle Peter; second, a collection of
sentences ([Greek: logia]) written in Hebrew[2] by Matthew, "and which each one
has translated as he could." It is certain that these two descriptions answer
pretty well to the general physiognomy of the two books now called "Gospel
according to Matthew," "Gospel according to Mark"—the first characterized by its
long discourses; the second, above all, by anecdote—much more exact than the
first upon small facts, brief even to dryness, containing few discourses, and
indifferently composed. That these two works, such as we now read them, are
absolutely similar to those read by Papias, cannot be sustained: Firstly,
because the writings of Matthew were to Papias solely discourses in Hebrew, of
which there were in circulation very varying translations; and, secondly,
because the writings of Mark and Matthew were to him profoundly distinct,
written without any knowledge of each other, and, as it seems, in different
languages. Now, in the present state of the texts, the "Gospel according to
Matthew" and the "Gospel according to Mark" present parallel parts so long and
so perfectly identical, that it must be supposed, either that the final compiler
of the first had the second under his eyes, or vice versa, or that both
copied from the same prototype. That which appears the most likely, is, that we
have not the entirely original compilations of either Matthew or Mark; but that
our first two Gospels are versions in which the attempt is made to fill up the
gaps of the one text by the other. Every one wished, in fact, to possess a
complete copy. He who had in his copy only discourses, wished to have
narratives, and vice versa. It is thus that "the Gospel according to
Matthew" is found to have included almost all the anecdotes of Mark, and that
"the Gospel according to Mark" now contains numerous features which come from
the Logia of Matthew. Every one, besides, drew largely on the Gospel
tradition then current. This tradition was so far from having been exhausted by
the Gospels, that the Acts of the Apostles and the most ancient Fathers quote
many words of Jesus which appear authentic, and are not found in the Gospels we
possess.
[Footnote 1: In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iii. 39. No doubt
whatever can be raised as to the authenticity of this passage. Eusebius, in
fact, far from exaggerating the authority of Papias, is embarrassed at his
simple ingenuousness, at his gross millenarianism, and solves the difficulty by
treating him as a man of little mind. Comp. Irenæus, Adv. Hær., iii. 1.]
[Footnote 2: That is to say, in the Semitic dialect.]
It matters little for our present object to push this delicate
analysis further, and to endeavor to reconstruct in some manner, on the one
hand, the original Logia of Matthew, and, on the other, the primitive
narrative such as it left the pen of Mark. The Logia are doubtless
represented by the great discourses of Jesus which fill a considerable part of
the first Gospel. These discourses form, in fact, when detached from the rest, a
sufficiently complete whole. As to the narratives of the first and second
Gospels, they seem to have for basis a common document, of which the text
reappears sometimes in the one and sometimes in the other, and of which the
second Gospel, such as we read it to-day, is but a slightly modified
reproduction. In other words, the scheme of the Life of Jesus, in the
synoptics, rests upon two original documents—first, the discourses of Jesus
collected by Matthew; second, the collection of anecdotes and personal
reminiscences which Mark wrote from the recollections of Peter. We may say that
we have these two documents still, mixed with accounts from another source, in
the two first Gospels, which bear, not without reason, the name of the "Gospel
according to Matthew" and of the "Gospel according to Mark."
What is indubitable, in any case, is, that very early the
discourses of Jesus were written in the Aramean language, and very early also
his remarkable actions were recorded. These were not texts defined and fixed
dogmatically. Besides the Gospels which have come to us, there were a number of
others professing to represent the tradition of eye-witnesses.[1] Little
importance was attached to these writings, and the preservers, such as Papias,
greatly preferred oral tradition.[2] As men still believed that the world was
nearly at an end, they cared little to compose books for the future; it was
sufficient merely to preserve in their hearts a lively image of him whom they
hoped soon to see again in the clouds. Hence the little authority which the
Gospel texts enjoyed during one hundred and fifty years. There was no scruple in
inserting additions, in variously combining them, and in completing some by
others. The poor man who has but one book wishes that it may contain all that is
clear to his heart. These little books were lent, each one transcribed in the
margin of his copy the words, and the parables he found elsewhere, which touched
him.[3] The most beautiful thing in the world has thus proceeded from an obscure
and purely popular elaboration. No compilation was of absolute value. Justin,
who often appeals to that which he calls "The Memoirs of the Apostles,"[4] had
under his notice Gospel documents in a state very different from that in which
we possess them. At all events, he never cares to quote them textually. The
Gospel quotations in the pseudo-Clementinian writings, of Ebionite origin,
present the same character. The spirit was everything; the letter was nothing.
It was when tradition became weakened, in the second half of the second century,
that the texts bearing the names of the apostles took a decisive authority and
obtained the force of law.
[Footnote 1: Luke i. 1, 2; Origen, Hom. in Luc. 1 init.;
St. Jerome, Comment. in Matt., prol.]
[Footnote 2: Papias, in Eusebius, H.E., iii. 39. Comp.
Irenæus, Adv. Hær., III. ii. and iii.]
[Footnote 3: It is thus that the beautiful narrative in John
viii. 1-11 has always floated, without finding a fixed place in the framework of
the received Gospels.]
[Footnote 4: [Greek: Ta apomnêmoneumata tôn apostolôn, a
kaleitai euangelia]. Justin, Apol. i. 33, 66, 67; Dial. cum Tryph.,
10, 100-107.]
Who does not see the value of documents thus composed of the
tender remembrances, and simple narratives, of the first two Christian
generations, still full of the strong impression which the illustrious Founder
had produced, and which seemed long to survive him? Let us add, that the Gospels
in question seem to proceed from that branch of the Christian family which stood
nearest to Jesus. The last work of compilation, at least of the text which bears
the name of Matthew, appears to have been done in one of the countries situated
at the northeast of Palestine, such as Gaulonitis, Auranitis, Batanea, where
many Christians took refuge at the time of the Roman war, where were found
relatives of Jesus[1] even in the second century, and where the first Galilean
tendency was longer preserved than in other parts.
[Footnote 1: Julius Africanus, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl.,
i. 7.]
So far we have only spoken of the three Gospels named the
synoptics. There remains a fourth, that which bears the name of John. Concerning
this one, doubts have a much better foundation, and the question is further from
solution. Papias—who was connected with the school of John, and who, if not one
of his auditors, as Irenæus thinks, associated with his immediate disciples,
among others, Aristion, and the one called Presbyteros Joannes—says not a
word of a Life of Jesus, written by John, although he had zealously
collected the oral narratives of both Aristion and Presbyteros Joannes.
If any such mention had been found in his work, Eusebius, who points out
everything therein that can contribute to the literary history of the apostolic
age, would doubtless have mentioned it.
The intrinsic difficulties drawn from the perusal of the fourth
Gospel itself are not less strong. How is it that, side by side with narration
so precise, and so evidently that of an eye-witness, we find discourses so
totally different from those of Matthew? How is it that, connected with a
general plan of the life of Jesus, which appears much more satisfactory and
exact than that of the synoptics, these singular passages occur in which we are
sensible of a dogmatic interest peculiar to the compiler, of ideas foreign to
Jesus, and sometimes of indications which place us on our guard against the good
faith of the narrator? Lastly, how is it that, united with views the most pure,
the most just, the most truly evangelical, we find these blemishes which we
would fain regard as the interpolations of an ardent sectarian? Is it indeed
John, son of Zebedee, brother of James (of whom there is not a single mention
made in the fourth Gospel), who is able to write in Greek these lessons of
abstract metaphysics to which neither the synoptics nor the Talmud offer any
analogy? All this is of great importance; and for myself, I dare not be sure
that the fourth Gospel has been entirely written by the pen of a Galilean
fisherman. But that, as a whole, this Gospel may have originated toward the end
of the first century, from the great school of Asia Minor, which was connected
with John, that it represents to us a version of the life of the Master, worthy
of high esteem, and often to be preferred, is demonstrated, in a manner which
leaves us nothing to be desired, both by exterior evidences and by examination
of the document itself.
And, firstly, no one doubts that, toward the year 150, the
fourth Gospel did exist, and was attributed to John. Explicit texts from St.
Justin,[1] from Athenagorus,[2] from Tatian,[3] from Theophilus of Antioch,[4]
from Irenæus,[5] show that thenceforth this Gospel mixed in every controversy,
and served as corner-stone for the development of the faith. Irenæus is
explicit; now, Irenæus came from the school of John, and between him and the
apostle there was only Polycarp. The part played by this Gospel in Gnosticism,
and especially in the system of Valentinus,[6] in Montanism,[7] and in the
quarrel of the Quartodecimans,[8] is not less decisive. The school of John was
the most influential one during the second century; and it is only by regarding
the origin of the Gospel as coincident with the rise of the school, that the
existence of the latter can be understood at all. Let us add that the first
epistle attributed to St. John is certainly by the same author as the fourth
Gospel,[9] now, this epistle is recognized as from John by Polycarp,[10]
Papias,[11] and Irenæus.[12]
[Footnote 1: Apol., 32, 61; Dial. cum Tryph., 88.]
[Footnote 2: Legatio pro Christ, 10.]
[Footnote 3: Adv. Græc., 5, 7; Cf. Eusebius, H.E.,
iv. 29;
Theodoret, Hæretic. Fabul., i. 20.]
[Footnote 4: Ad Autolycum, ii. 22.]
[Footnote 5: Adv. Hær., II. xxii. 5, III. 1. Cf. Eus.,
H.E., v. 8.]
[Footnote 6: Irenæus, Adv. Hær., I. iii. 6; III. xi. 7;
St.
Hippolytus, Philosophumena VI. ii. 29, and following.]
[Footnote 7: Irenæus, Adv. Hær., III. xi. 9.]
[Footnote 8: Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 24.]
[Footnote 9: John, i. 3, 5. The two writings present the most
complete identity of style, the same peculiarities, the same favorite
expressions.]
[Footnote 10: Epist. ad Philipp., 7.]
[Footnote 11: In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., III. 39.]
[Footnote 12: Adv. Hær., III. xvi. 5, 8; Cf. Eusebius,
Hist.
Eccl., v. 8.]
But it is, above all, the perusal of the work itself which is
calculated to give this impression. The author always speaks as an eye-witness;
he wishes to pass for the apostle John. If, then, this work is not really by the
apostle, we must admit a fraud of which the author convicts himself. Now,
although the ideas of the time respecting literary honesty differed essentially
from ours, there is no example in the apostolic world of a falsehood of this
kind. Besides, not only does the author wish to pass for the apostle John, but
we see clearly that he writes in the interest of this apostle. On each page he
betrays the desire to fortify his authority, to show that he has been the
favorite of Jesus;[1] that in all the solemn circumstances (at the Lord's
supper, at Calvary, at the tomb) he held the first place. His relations on the
whole fraternal, although not excluding a certain rivalry with Peter;[2] his
hatred, on the contrary, of Judas,[3] a hatred probably anterior to the
betrayal, seems to pierce through here and there. We are tempted to believe that
John, in his old age, having read the Gospel narratives, on the one hand,
remarked their various inaccuracies,[4] on the other, was hurt at seeing that
there was not accorded to him a sufficiently high place in the history of
Christ; that then he commenced to dictate a number of things which he knew
better than the rest, with the intention of showing that in many instances, in
which only Peter was spoken of, he had figured with him and even before him.[5]
Already during the life of Jesus, these trifling sentiments of jealousy had been
manifested between the sons of Zebedee and the other disciples. After the death
of James, his brother, John remained sole inheritor of the intimate remembrances
of which these two apostles, by the common consent, were the depositaries. Hence
his perpetual desire to recall that he is the last surviving eye-witness,[6] and
the pleasure which he takes in relating circumstances which he alone could know.
Hence, too, so many minute details which seem like the commentaries of an
annotator—"it was the sixth hour;" "it was night;" "the servant's name was
Malchus;" "they had made a fire of coals, for it was cold;" "the coat was
without seam." Hence, lastly, the disorder of the compilation, the irregularity
of the narration, the disjointedness of the first chapters, all so many
inexplicable features on the supposition that this Gospel was but a theological
thesis, without historic value, and which, on the contrary, are perfectly
intelligible, if, in conformity with tradition, we see in them the remembrances
of an old man, sometimes of remarkable freshness, sometimes having undergone
strange modifications.
[Footnote 1: John xiii. 23, xix. 26, xx. 2, xxi. 7, 20.]
[Footnote 2: John xviii. 15-16, xx. 2-6, xxi. 15-16. Comp. i.
35, 40, 41.]
[Footnote 3: John vi. 65, xii. 6, xiii. 21, and following.]
[Footnote 4: The manner in which Aristion and Presbyteros
Joannes expressed themselves on the Gospel of Mark before Papias (Eusebius,
H.E., III. 39) implies, in effect, a friendly criticism, or, more
properly, a sort of excuse, indicating that John's disciples had better
information on the same subject.]
[Footnote 5: Compare John xviii. 15, and following, with Matthew
xxvi. 58; John xx. 2 to 6, with Mark xvi. 7. See also John xiii. 24, 25.]
[Footnote 6: Chap. i. 14, xix. 35, xxi. 24, and following.
Compare the
First Epistle of St. John, chap. i. 3, 5.]
A primary distinction, indeed, ought to be made in the Gospel of
John. On the one side, this Gospel presents us with a rough draft of the life of
Jesus, which differs considerably from that of the synoptics. On the other, it
puts into the mouth of Jesus discourses of which the tone, the style, the
treatment, and the doctrines have nothing in common with the Logia given
us by the synoptics. In this second respect, the difference is such that we must
make choice in a decisive manner. If Jesus spoke as Matthew represents, he could
not have spoken as John relates. Between these two authorities no critic has
ever hesitated, or can ever hesitate. Far removed from the simple,
disinterested, impersonal tone of the synoptics, the Gospel of John shows
incessantly the preoccupation of the apologist—the mental reservation of the
sectarian, the desire to prove a thesis, and to convince adversaries.[1] It was
not by pretentious tirades, heavy, badly written, and appealing little to the
moral sense, that Jesus founded his divine work. If even Papias had not taught
us that Matthew wrote the sayings of Jesus in their original tongue, the
natural, ineffable truth, the charm beyond comparison of the discourses in the
synoptics, their profoundly Hebraistic idiom, the analogies which they present
with the sayings of the Jewish doctors of the period, their perfect harmony with
the natural phenomena of Galilee—all these characteristics, compared with the
obscure Gnosticism, with the distorted metaphysics, which fill the discourses of
John, would speak loudly enough. This by no means implies that there are not in
the discourses of John some admirable gleams, some traits which truly come from
Jesus.[2] But the mystic tone of these discourses does not correspond at all to
the character of the eloquence of Jesus, such as we picture it according to the
synoptics. A new spirit has breathed; Gnosticism has already commenced; the
Galilean era of the kingdom of God is finished; the hope of the near advent of
Christ is more distant; we enter on the barrenness of metaphysics, into the
darkness of abstract dogma. The spirit of Jesus is not there, and, if the son of
Zebedee has truly traced these pages, he had certainly, in writing them, quite
forgotten the Lake of Gennesareth, and the charming discourses which he had
heard upon its shores.
[Footnote 1: See, for example, chaps. ix. and xi. Notice
especially, the effect which such passages as John xix. 35, xx. 31, xxi. 20-23,
24, 25, produce, when we recall the absence of all comments which distinguishes
the synoptics.]
[Footnote 2: For example, chap. iv. 1, and following, xv. 12,
and following. Many words remembered by John are found in the synoptics (chap.
xii. 16, xv. 20).]
One circumstance, moreover, which strongly proves that the
discourses given us by the fourth Gospel are not historical, but compositions
intended to cover with the authority of Jesus certain doctrines dear to the
compiler, is their perfect harmony with the intellectual state of Asia Minor at
the time when they were written. Asia Minor was then the theatre of a strange
movement of syncretical philosophy; all the germs of Gnosticism existed there
already. John appears to have drunk deeply from these strange springs. It may be
that, after the crisis of the year 68 (the date of the Apocalypse) and of the
year 70 (the destruction of Jerusalem), the old apostle, with an ardent and
plastic spirit, disabused of the belief in a near appearance of the Son of Man
in the clouds, may have inclined toward the ideas that he found around him, of
which several agreed sufficiently well with certain Christian doctrines. In
attributing these new ideas to Jesus, he only followed a very natural tendency.
Our remembrances are transformed with our circumstances; the ideal of a person
that we have known changes as we change.[1] Considering Jesus as the incarnation
of truth, John could not fail to attribute to him that which he had come to
consider as the truth.
[Footnote 1: It was thus that Napoleon became a liberal in the
remembrances of his companions in exile, when these, after their return, found
themselves thrown in the midst of the political society of the time.]
If we must speak candidly, we will add that probably John
himself had little share in this; that the change was made around him rather
than by him. One is sometimes tempted to believe that precious notes, coming
from the apostle, have been employed by his disciples in a very different sense
from the primitive Gospel spirit. In fact, certain portions of the fourth Gospel
have been added later; such is the entire twenty-first chapter,[1] in which the
author seems to wish to render homage to the apostle Peter after his death, and
to reply to the objections which would be drawn, or already had been drawn, from
the death of John himself, (ver. 21-23.) Many other places bear the trace of
erasures and corrections.[2] It is impossible at this distance to understand
these singular problems, and without doubt many surprises would be in store for
us, if we were permitted to penetrate the secrets of that mysterious school of
Ephesus, which, more than once, appears to have delighted in obscure paths. But
there is a decisive test. Every one who sets himself to write the Life of Jesus
without any predetermined theory as to the relative value of the Gospels,
letting himself be guided solely by the sentiment of the subject, will be led in
numerous instances to prefer the narration of John to that of the synoptics. The
last months of the life of Jesus especially are explained by John alone; a
number of the features of the passion, unintelligible in the synoptics,[3]
resume both probability and possibility in the narrative of the fourth Gospel.
On the contrary, I dare defy any one to compose a Life of Jesus with any
meaning, from the discourses which John attributes to him. This manner of
incessantly preaching and demonstrating himself, this perpetual argumentation,
this stage-effect devoid of simplicity, these long arguments after each miracle,
these stiff and awkward discourses, the tone of which is so often false and
unequal,[4] would not be tolerated by a man of taste compared with the
delightful sentences of the synoptics. There are here evidently artificial
portions,[5] which represent to us the sermons of Jesus, as the dialogues of
Plato render us the conversations of Socrates. They are, so to speak, the
variations of a musician improvising on a given theme. The theme is not without
some authenticity; but in the execution, the imagination of the artist has given
itself full scope. We are sensible of the factitious mode of procedure, of
rhetoric, of gloss.[6] Let us add that the vocabulary of Jesus cannot be
recognized in the portions of which we speak. The expression, "kingdom of God,"
which was so familiar to the Master,[7] occurs there but once.[8] On the other
hand, the style of the discourses attributed to Jesus by the fourth Gospel,
presents the most complete analogy with that of the Epistles of St. John; we see
that in writing the discourses, the author followed not his recollections, but
rather the somewhat monotonous movement of his own thought. Quite a new mystical
language is introduced, a language of which the synoptics had not the least idea
("world," "truth," "life," "light," "darkness," etc.). If Jesus had ever spoken
in this style, which has nothing of Hebrew, nothing Jewish, nothing Talmudic in
it, how, if I may thus express myself, is it that but a single one of his
hearers should have so well kept the secret?
[Footnote 1: The verses, chap. xx. 30, 31, evidently form the
original conclusion.]
[Footnote 2: Chap. vi. 2, 22, vii. 22.]
[Footnote 3: For example, that which concerns the announcement
of the betrayal by Judas.]
[Footnote 4: See, for example, chaps. ii. 25, iii. 32, 33, and
the long disputes of chapters vii., viii., and ix.]
[Footnote 5: We feel often that the author seeks pretexts for
introducing certain discourses (chaps. iii., v., viii., xiii., and following).]
[Footnote 6: For example, chap. xvii.]
[Footnote 7: Besides the synoptics, the Acts, the Epistles of
St.
Paul, and the Apocalypse, confirm it.]
[Footnote 8: John iii. 3, 5.]
Literary history offers, besides, another example, which
presents the greatest analogy with the historic phenomenon we have just
described, and serves to explain it. Socrates, who, like Jesus, never wrote, is
known to us by two of his disciples, Xenophon and Plato, the first corresponding
to the synoptics in his clear, transparent, impersonal compilation; the second
recalling the author of the fourth Gospel, by his vigorous individuality. In
order to describe the Socratic teaching, should we follow the "dialogues" of
Plato, or the "discourses" of Xenophon? Doubt, in this respect, is not possible;
every one chooses the "discourses," and not the "dialogues." Does Plato,
however, teach us nothing about Socrates? Would it be good criticism, in writing
the biography of the latter, to neglect the "dialogues"? Who would venture to
maintain this? The analogy, moreover, is not complete, and the difference is in
favor of the fourth Gospel. The author of this Gospel is, in fact, the better
biographer; as if Plato, who, whilst attributing to his master fictitious
discourses, had known important matters about his life, which Xenophon ignored
entirely.
Without pronouncing upon the material question as to what hand
has written the fourth Gospel, and whilst inclined to believe that the
discourses, at least, are not from the son of Zebedee, we admit still, that it
is indeed "the Gospel according to John," in the same sense that the first and
second Gospels are the Gospels "according to Matthew," and "according to Mark."
The historical sketch of the fourth Gospel is the Life of Jesus, such as it was
known in the school of John; it is the recital which Aristion and Presbyteros
Joannes made to Papias, without telling him that it was written, or rather
attaching no importance to this point. I must add, that, in my opinion, this
school was better acquainted with the exterior circumstances of the life of the
Founder than the group whose remembrances constituted the synoptics. It had,
especially upon the sojourns of Jesus at Jerusalem, data which the others did
not possess. The disciples of this school treated Mark as an indifferent
biographer, and devised a system to explain his omissions.[1] Certain passages
of Luke, where there is, as it were, an echo of the traditions of John,[2] prove
also that these traditions were not entirely unknown to the rest of the
Christian family.
[Footnote 1: Papias, loc. cit.]
[Footnote 2: For example, the pardon of the adulteress; the
knowledge which Luke has of the family of Bethany; his type of the character of
Martha responding to the [Greek: diêchouei] of John (chap. xii. 2); the incident
of the woman who wiped the feet of Jesus with her hair; an obscure notion of the
travels of Jesus to Jerusalem; the idea that in his passion he was seen by three
witnesses; the opinion of the author that some disciples were present at the
crucifixion; the knowledge which he has of the part played by Annas in aiding
Caiaphas; the appearance of the angel in the agony (comp. John xii. 28, 29).]
These explanations will suffice, I think, to show, in the course
of my narrative, the motives which have determined me to give the preference to
this or that of the four guides whom we have for the Life of Jesus. On
the whole, I admit as authentic the four canonical Gospels. All, in my opinion,
date from the first century, and the authors are, generally speaking, those to
whom they are attributed; but their historic value is very diverse. Matthew
evidently merits an unlimited confidence as to the discourses; they are the
Logia, the identical notes taken from a clear and lively remembrance of the
teachings of Jesus. A kind of splendor at once mild and terrible—a divine
strength, if we may so speak, emphasizes these words, detaches them from the
context, and renders them easily distinguishable. The person who imposes upon
himself the task of making a continuous narrative from the gospel history,
possesses, in this respect, an excellent touchstone. The real words of Jesus
disclose themselves; as soon as we touch them in this chaos of traditions of
varied authenticity, we feel them vibrate; they betray themselves spontaneously,
and shine out of the narrative with unequaled brilliancy.
The narrative portions grouped in the first Gospel around this
primitive nucleus have not the same authority. There are many not well defined
legends which have proceeded from the zeal of the second Christian
generation.[1] The Gospel of Mark is much firmer, more precise, containing fewer
subsequent additions. He is the one of the three synoptics who has remained the
most primitive, the most original, the one to whom the fewest after-elements
have been added. In Mark, the facts are related with a clearness for which we
seek in vain amongst the other evangelists. He likes to report certain words of
Jesus in Syro-Chaldean.[2] He is full of minute observations, coming doubtless
from an eye-witness. There is nothing to prevent our agreeing with Papias in
regarding this eye-witness, who evidently had followed Jesus, who had loved him
and observed him very closely, and who had preserved a lively image of him, as
the apostle Peter himself.
[Footnote 1: Chaps. i., ii., especially. See also chap. xxvii.
3, 19, 51, 53, 60, xxviii. 2, and following, in comparing Mark.]
[Footnote 2: Chap. v. 41, vii. 34, xv. 24. Matthew only presents
this peculiarity once (chap. xxvii. 46).]
As to the work of Luke, its historical value is sensibly weaker.
It is a document which comes to us second-hand. The narrative is more mature.
The words of Jesus are there, more deliberate, more sententious. Some sentences
are distorted and exaggerated.[1] Writing outside of Palestine, and certainly
after the siege of Jerusalem,[2] the author indicates the places with less
exactitude than the other two synoptics; he has an erroneous idea of the temple,
which he represents as an oratory where people went to pay their devotions.[3]
He subdues some details in order to make the different narratives agree;[4] he
softens the passages which had become embarrassing on account of a more exalted
idea of the divinity of Christ;[5] he exaggerates the marvellous;[6] commits
errors in chronology;[7] omits Hebraistic comments;[8] quotes no word of Jesus
in this language, and gives to all the localities their Greek names. We feel we
have to do with a compiler—with a man who has not himself seen the witnesses,
but who labors at the texts and wrests their sense to make them agree. Luke had
probably under his eyes the biographical collection of Mark, and the Logia
of Matthew. But he treats them with much freedom; sometimes he fuses two
anecdotes or two parables in one;[9] sometimes he divides one in order to make
two.[10] He interprets the documents according to his own idea; he has not the
absolute impassibility of Matthew and Mark. We might affirm certain things of
his individual tastes and tendencies; he is a very exact devotee;[11] he insists
that Jesus had performed all the Jewish rites,[12] he is a warm Ebionite and
democrat, that is to say, much opposed to property, and persuaded that the
triumph of the poor is approaching;[13] he likes especially all the anecdotes
showing prominently the conversion of sinners—the exaltation of the humble;[14]
he often modifies the ancient traditions in order to give them this meaning;[15]
he admits into his first pages the legends about the infancy of Jesus, related
with the long amplifications, the spiritual songs, and the conventional
proceedings which form the essential features of the Apocryphal Gospels.
Finally, he has in the narrative of the last hours of Jesus some circumstances
full of tender feeling, and certain words of Jesus of delightful beauty,[16]
which are not found in more authentic accounts, and in which we detect the
presence of legend. Luke probably borrowed them from a more recent collection,
in which the principal aim was to excite sentiments of piety.
[Footnote 1: Chap. xiv. 26. The rules of the apostolate (chap.
x.) have there a peculiar character of exaltation.]
[Footnote 2: Chap. xix. 41, 43, 44, xxi. 9, 20, xxiii. 29.]
[Footnote 3: Chap. ii. 37, xviii. 10, and following, xxiv. 53.]
[Footnote 4: For example, chap. iv. 16.]
[Footnote 5: Chap. iii. 23. He omits Matt. xxiv. 36.]
[Footnote 6: Chap. iv. 14, xxii. 43, 44.]
[Footnote 7: For example, in that which concerns Quirinius,
Lysanias,
Theudas.]
[Footnote 8: Compare Luke i. 31 with Matt. i. 21.]
[Footnote 9: For example, chap. xix. 12-27.]
[Footnote 10: Thus, of the repast at Bethany he gives two
narratives, chap. vii. 36-48, and x. 38-42.]
[Footnote 11: Chap. xxiii. 56.]
[Footnote 12: Chap. ii. 21, 22, 39, 41, 42. This is an
Ebionitish feature. Cf. Philosophumena VII. vi. 34.]
[Footnote 13: The parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Compare
chap. vi. 20, and following, 24, and following, xii. 13, and following, xvi.
entirely, xxii. 35. Acts ii. 44, 45, v. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 14: The woman who anoints his feet, Zaccheus, the
penitent thief, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, and the prodigal
son.]
[Footnote 15: For example, Mary of Bethany is represented by him
as a sinner who becomes converted.]
[Footnote 16: Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, the bloody sweat,
the meeting of the holy women, the penitent thief, &c. The speech to the women
of Jerusalem (xxiii. 28, 29) could scarcely have been conceived except after the
siege of the year 70.]
A great reserve was naturally enforced in presence of a document
of this nature. It would have been as uncritical to neglect it as to employ it
without discernment. Luke has had under his eyes originals which we no longer
possess. He is less an evangelist than a biographer of Jesus, a "harmonizer," a
corrector after the manner of Marcion and Tatian. But he is a biographer of the
first century, a divine artist, who, independently of the information which he
has drawn from more ancient sources, shows us the character of the Founder with
a happiness of treatment, with a uniform inspiration, and a distinctness which
the other two synoptics do not possess. In the perusal of his Gospel there is
the greatest charm; for to the incomparable beauty of the foundation, common to
them all, he adds a degree of skill in composition which singularly augments the
effect of the portrait, without seriously injuring its truthfulness.
On the whole, we may say that the synoptical compilation has
passed through three stages: First, the original documentary state ([Greek:
logia] of Matthew, [Greek: lechthenta ê prachthenta] of Mark), primary
compilations which no longer exist; second, the state of simple mixture, in
which the original documents are amalgamated without any effort at composition,
without there appearing any personal bias of the authors (the existing Gospels
of Matthew and Mark); third, the state of combination or of intentional and
deliberate compiling, in which we are sensible of an attempt to reconcile the
different versions (Gospel of Luke). The Gospel of John, as we have said, forms
a composition of another orders and is entirely distinct.
It will be remarked that I have made no use of the Apocryphal
Gospels. These compositions ought not in any manner to be put upon the same
footing as the canonical Gospels. They are insipid and puerile amplifications,
having the canonical Gospels for their basis, and adding nothing thereto of any
value. On the other hand, I have been very attentive to collect the shreds
preserved by the Fathers of the Church, of the ancient Gospels which formerly
existed parallel with the canonical Gospels, and which are now lost—such as the
Gospel according to the Hebrews, the Gospel according to the Egyptians, the
Gospels styled those of Justin, Marcion, and Tatian. The first two are
principally important because they were written in Aramean, like the Logia
of Matthew, and appear to constitute one version of the Gospel of this apostle,
and because they were the Gospel of the Ebionim—that is, of those small
Christian sects of Batanea who preserved the use of Syro-Chaldean, and who
appear in some respects to have followed the course marked out by Jesus. But it
must be confessed that in the state in which they have come to us, these Gospels
are inferior, as critical authorities, to the compilation of Matthew's Gospel
which we now possess.
It will now be seen, I think, what kind of historical value I
attribute to the Gospels. They are neither biographies after the manner of
Suetonius, nor fictitious legends in the style of Philostratus; they are
legendary biographies. I should willingly compare them with the Legends of the
Saints, the Lives of Plotinus, Proclus, Isidore, and other writings of the same
kind, in which historical truth and the desire to present models of virtue are
combined in various degrees. Inexactitude, which is one of the features of all
popular compositions, is there particularly felt. Let us suppose that ten or
twelve years ago three or four old soldiers of the Empire had each undertaken to
write the life of Napoleon from memory. It is clear that their narratives would
contain numerous errors, and great discordances. One of them would place Wagram
before Marengo: another would write without hesitation that Napoleon drove the
government of Robespierre from the Tuileries; a third would omit expeditions of
the highest importance. But one thing would certainly result with a great degree
of truthfulness from these simple recitals, and that is the character of the
hero, the impression which he made around him. In this sense such popular
narratives would be worth more than a formal and official history. We may say as
much of the Gospels. Solely attentive to bring out strongly the excellency of
the Master, his miracles, his teaching, the evangelists display entire
indifference to everything that is not of the very spirit of Jesus. The
contradictions respecting time, place, and persons were regarded as
insignificant; for the higher the degree of inspiration attributed to the words
of Jesus, the less was granted to the compilers themselves. The latter regarded
themselves as simple scribes, and cared but for one thing—to omit nothing they
knew.[1]
[Footnote 1: See the passage from Papias, before cited.]
Unquestionably certain preconceived ideas associated themselves
with such recollections. Several narratives, especially in Luke, are invented in
order to bring out more vividly certain traits of the character of Jesus. This
character itself constantly underwent alteration. Jesus would be a phenomenon
unparalleled in history if, with the part which he played, he had not early
become idealized. The legends respecting Alexander were invented before the
generation of his companions in arms became extinct; those respecting St.
Francis d'Assisi began in his lifetime. A rapid metamorphosis operated in the
same manner in the twenty or thirty years which followed the death of Jesus, and
imposed upon his biography the peculiarities of an ideal legend. Death adds
perfection to the most perfect man; it frees him from all defect in the eyes of
those who have loved him. With the wish to paint the Master, there was also the
desire to explain him. Many anecdotes were conceived to prove that in him the
prophecies regarded as Messianic had had their accomplishment. But this
procedure, of which we must not deny the importance, would not suffice to
explain everything. No Jewish work of the time gives a series of prophecies
exactly declaring what the Messiah should accomplish. Many Messianic allusions
quoted by the evangelists are so subtle, so indirect, that one cannot believe
they all responded to a generally admitted doctrine. Sometimes they reasoned
thus: "The Messiah ought to do such a thing; now Jesus is the Messiah; therefore
Jesus has done such a thing." At other times, by an inverse process, it was
said: "Such a thing has happened to Jesus; now Jesus is the Messiah; therefore
such a thing was to happen to the Messiah."[1] Too simple explanations are
always false when analyzing those profound creations of popular sentiment which
baffle all systems by their fullness and infinite variety. It is scarcely
necessary to say that, with such documents, in order to present only what is
indisputable, we must limit ourselves to general features. In almost all ancient
histories, even in those which are much less legendary than these, details open
up innumerable doubts. When we have two accounts of the same fact, it is
extremely rare that the two accounts agree. Is not this a reason for
anticipating many difficulties when we have but one? We may say that amongst the
anecdotes, the discourses, the celebrated sayings which have been given us by
the historians, there is not one strictly authentic. Were there stenographers to
fix these fleeting words? Was there an analyst always present to note the
gestures, the manners, the sentiments of the actors? Let any one endeavor to get
at the truth as to the way in which such or such contemporary fact has happened;
he will not succeed. Two accounts of the same event given by different
eye-witnesses differ essentially. Must we, therefore, reject all the coloring of
the narratives, and limit ourselves to the bare facts only? That would be to
suppress history. Certainly, I think that if we except certain short and almost
mnemonic axioms, none of the discourses reported by Matthew are textual; even
our stenographic reports are scarcely so. I freely admit that the admirable
account of the Passion contains many trifling inaccuracies. Would it, however,
be writing the history of Jesus to omit those sermons which give to us in such a
vivid manner the character of his discourses, and to limit ourselves to saying,
with Josephus and Tacitus, "that he was put to death by the order of Pilate at
the instigation of the priests"? That would be, in my opinion, a kind of
inexactitude worse than that to which we are exposed in admitting the details
supplied by the texts. These details are not true to the letter, but they are
true with a superior truth, they are more true than the naked truth, in the
sense that they are truth rendered expressive and articulate—truth idealized.
[Footnote 1: See, for example, John xix. 23-24.]
I beg those who think that I have placed an exaggerated
confidence in narratives in great part legendary, to take note of the
observation I have just made. To what would the life of Alexander be reduced if
it were confined to that which is materially certain? Even partly erroneous
traditions contain a portion of truth which history cannot neglect. No one has
blamed M. Sprenger for having, in writing the life of Mahomet, made much of the
hadith or oral traditions concerning the prophet, and for often having
attributed to his hero words which are only known through this source. Yet the
traditions respecting Mahomet are not superior in historical value to the
discourses and narratives which compose the Gospels. They were written between
the year 50 and the year 140 of the Hegira. When the history of the Jewish
schools in the ages which immediately preceded and followed the birth of
Christianity shall be written, no one will make any scruple of attributing to
Hillel, Shammai, Gamaliel the maxims ascribed to them by the Mishnah and
the Gemara, although these great compilations were written many hundreds
of years after the time of the doctors in question.
As to those who believe, on the contrary, that history should
consist of a simple reproduction of the documents which have come down to us, I
beg to observe that such a course is not allowable. The four principal documents
are in flagrant contradiction one with another. Josephus rectifies them
sometimes. It is necessary to make a selection. To assert that an event cannot
take place in two ways at once, or in an impossible manner, is not to impose an
à priori philosophy upon history. The historian ought not to conclude
that a fact is false because he possesses several versions of it, or because
credulity has mixed with them much that is fabulous. He ought in such a case to
be very cautious—to examine the texts, and to proceed carefully by induction.
There is one class of narratives especially, to which this principle must
necessarily be applied. Such are narratives of supernatural events. To seek to
explain these, or to reduce them to legends, is not to mutilate facts in the
name of theory; it is to make the observation of facts our groundwork. None of
the miracles with which the old histories are filled took place under scientific
conditions. Observation, which has never once been falsified, teaches us that
miracles never happen but in times and countries in which they are believed, and
before persons disposed to believe them. No miracle ever occurred in the
presence of men capable of testing its miraculous character. Neither common
people nor men of the world are able to do this. It requires great precautions
and long habits of scientific research. In our days have we not seen almost all
respectable people dupes of the grossest frauds or of puerile illusions?
Marvellous facts, attested by the whole population of small towns, have, thanks
to a severer scrutiny, been exploded.[1] If it is proved that no contemporary
miracle will bear inquiry, is it not probable that the miracles of the past,
which have all been performed in popular gatherings, would equally present their
share of illusion, if it were possible to criticise them in detail?
[Footnote 1: See the Gazette des Tribunaux, 10th Sept.
and 11th
Nov., 1851, 28th May, 1857.]
It is not, then, in the name of this or that philosophy, but in
the name of universal experience, that we banish miracle from history. We do not
say, "Miracles are impossible." We say, "Up to this time a miracle has never
been proved." If to-morrow a thaumaturgus present himself with credentials
sufficiently important to be discussed, and announce himself as able, say, to
raise the dead, what would be done? A commission, composed of physiologists,
physicists, chemists, persons accustomed to historical criticism, would be
named. This commission would choose a corpse, would assure itself that the death
was real, would select the room in which the experiment should be made, would
arrange the whole system of precautions, so as to leave no chance of doubt. If,
under such conditions, the resurrection were effected, a probability almost
equal to certainty would be established. As, however, it ought to be possible
always to repeat an experiment—to do over again what has been done once; and as,
in the order of miracle, there can be no question of ease or difficulty, the
thaumaturgus would be invited to reproduce his marvellous act under other
circumstances, upon other corpses, in another place. If the miracle succeeded
each time, two things would be proved: First, that supernatural events happen in
the world; second, that the power of producing them belongs, or is delegated to,
certain persons. But who does not see that no miracle ever took place under
these conditions? but that always hitherto the thaumaturgus has chosen the
subject of the experiment, chosen the spot, chosen the public; that, besides,
the people themselves—most commonly in consequence of the invincible want to see
something divine in great events and great men—create the marvellous legends
afterward? Until a new order of things prevails, we shall maintain then this
principle of historical criticism—that a supernatural account cannot be admitted
as such, that it always implies credulity or imposture, that the duty of the
historian is to explain it, and seek to ascertain what share of truth or of
error it may conceal.
Such are the rules which have been followed in the composition
of this work. To the perusal of documentary evidences I have been able to add an
important source of information—the sight of the places where the events
occurred. The scientific mission, having for its object the exploration of
ancient Phoenicia, which I directed in 1860 and 1861,[1] led me to reside on the
frontiers of Galilee and to travel there frequently. I have traversed, in all
directions, the country of the Gospels; I have visited Jerusalem, Hebron, and
Samaria; scarcely any important locality of the history of Jesus has escaped me.
All this history, which at a distance seems to float in the clouds of an unreal
world, thus took a form, a solidity, which astonished me. The striking agreement
of the texts with the places, the marvellous harmony of the Gospel ideal with
the country which served it as a framework, were like a revelation to me. I had
before my eyes a fifth Gospel, torn, but still legible, and henceforward,
through the recitals of Matthew and Mark, in place of an abstract being, whose
existence might have been doubted, I saw living and moving an admirable human
figure. During the summer, having to go up to Ghazir, in Lebanon, to take a
little repose, I fixed, in rapid sketches, the image which had appeared to me,
and from them resulted this history. When a cruel bereavement hastened my
departure, I had but a few pages to write. In this manner the book has been
composed almost entirely near the very places where Jesus was born, and where
his character was developed. Since my return, I have labored unceasingly to
verify and check in detail the rough sketch which I had written in haste in a
Maronite cabin, with five or six volumes around me.
[Footnote 1: The work which will contain the results of this
mission is in the press.]
Many will regret, perhaps, the biographical form which my work
has thus taken. When I first conceived the idea of a history of the origin of
Christianity, what I wished to write was, in fact, a history of doctrines, in
which men and their actions would have hardly had a place. Jesus would scarcely
have been named; I should have endeavored to show how the ideas which have grown
under his name took root and covered the world. But I have learned since that
history is not a simple game of abstractions; that men are more than doctrines.
It was not a certain theory on justification and redemption which brought about
the Reformation; it was Luther and Calvin. Parseeism, Hellenism, Judaism might
have been able to have combined under every form; the doctrines of the
Resurrection and of the Word might have developed themselves during ages without
producing this grand, unique, and fruitful fact, called Christianity. This fact
is the work of Jesus, of St. Paul, of St. John. To write the history of Jesus,
of St. Paul, of St. John is to write the history of the origin of Christianity.
The anterior movements belong to our subject only in so far as they serve to
throw light upon these extraordinary men, who naturally could not have existed
without connection with that which preceded them.
In such an effort to make the great souls of the past live
again, some share of divination and conjecture must be permitted. A great life
is an organic whole which cannot be rendered by the simple agglomeration of
small facts. It requires a profound sentiment to embrace them all, moulding them
into perfect unity. The method of art in a similar subject is a good guide; the
exquisite tact of a Goethe would know how to apply it. The essential condition
of the creations of art is, that they shall form a living system of which all
the parts are mutually dependent and related.
In histories such as this, the great test that we have got the
truth is, to have succeeded in combining the texts in such a manner that they
shall constitute a logical, probable narrative, harmonious throughout. The
secret laws of life, of the progression of organic products, of the melting of
minute distinctions, ought to be consulted at each moment; for what is required
to be reproduced is not the material circumstance, which it is impossible to
verify, but the very soul of history; what must be sought is not the petty
certainty about trifles, it is the correctness of the general sentiment, the
truthfulness of the coloring. Each trait which departs from the rules of classic
narration ought to warn us to be careful; for the fact which has to be related
has been living, natural, and harmonious. If we do not succeed in rendering it
such by the recital, it is surely because we have not succeeded in seeing it
aright. Suppose that, in restoring the Minerva of Phidias according to the
texts, we produced a dry, jarring, artificial whole; what must we conclude?
Simply that the texts want an appreciative interpretation; that we must study
them quietly until they dovetail and furnish a whole in which all the parts are
happily blended. Should we then be sure of having a perfect reproduction of the
Greek statue? No; but at least we should not have the caricature of it; we
should have the general spirit of the work—one of the forms in which it could
have existed.
This idea of a living organism we have not hesitated to take as
our guide in the general arrangement of the narrative. The perusal of the
Gospels would suffice to prove that the compilers, although having a very true
plan of the Life of Jesus in their minds, have not been guided by very
exact chronological data; Papias, besides, expressly teaches this.[1] The
expressions: "At this time … after that … then … and it came to pass …," etc.,
are the simple transitions intended to connect different narratives with each
other. To leave all the information furnished by the Gospels in the disorder in
which tradition supplies it, would only be to write the history of Jesus as the
history of a celebrated man would be written, by giving pell-mell the letters
and anecdotes of his youth, his old age, and of his maturity. The Koran, which
presents to us, in the loosest manner, fragments of the different epochs in the
life of Mahomet, has yielded its secret to an ingenious criticism; the
chronological order in which the fragments were composed has been discovered so
as to leave little room for doubt. Such a rearrangement is much more difficult
in the case of the Gospels, the public life of Jesus having been shorter and
less eventful than the life of the founder of Islamism. Meanwhile, the attempt
to find a guiding thread through this labyrinth ought not to be taxed with
gratuitous subtlety. There is no great abuse of hypothesis in supposing that a
founder of a new religion commences by attaching himself to the moral aphorisms
already in circulation in his time, and to the practices which are in vogue;
that, when riper, and in full possession of his idea, he delights in a kind of
calm and poetical eloquence, remote from all controversy, sweet and free as pure
feeling; that he warms by degrees, becomes animated by opposition, and finishes
by polemics and strong invectives. Such are the periods which may plainly be
distinguished in the Koran. The order adopted with an extremely fine tact by the
synoptics, supposes an analogous progress. If Matthew be attentively read, we
shall find in the distribution of the discourses, a gradation perfectly
analogous to that which we have just indicated. The reserved turns of expression
of which we make use in unfolding the progress of the ideas of Jesus will also
be observed. The reader may, if he likes, see in the divisions adopted in doing
this, only the indispensable breaks for the methodical exposition of a profound,
complicated thought.
[Footnote 1: Loc. cit.]
If the love of a subject can help one to understand it, it will
also, I hope, be recognized that I have not been wanting in this condition. To
write the history of a religion, it is necessary, firstly, to have believed it
(otherwise we should not be able to understand how it has charmed and satisfied
the human conscience); in the second place, to believe it no longer in an
absolute manner, for absolute faith is incompatible with sincere history. But
love is possible without faith. To abstain from attaching one's self to any of
the forms which captivate the adoration of men, is not to deprive ourselves of
the enjoyment of that which is good and beautiful in them. No transitory
appearance exhausts the Divinity; God was revealed before Jesus—God will reveal
Himself after him. Profoundly unequal, and so much the more Divine, as they are
grander and more spontaneous, the manifestations of God hidden in the depths of
the human conscience are all of the same order. Jesus cannot belong solely to
those who call themselves his disciples. He is the common honor of all who share
a common humanity. His glory does not consist in being relegated out of history;
we render him a truer worship in showing that all history is incomprehensible
without him.
LIFE OF JESUS
CHAPTER I.
PLACE OF JESUS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
The great event of the History of the
world is the revolution by which the noblest portions of humanity have passed
from the ancient religions, comprised under the vague name of Paganism, to a
religion founded on the Divine Unity, the Trinity, and the Incarnation of the
Son of God. It has taken nearly a thousand years to accomplish this conversion.
The new religion had itself taken at least three hundred years in its formation.
But the origin of the revolution in question with which we have to do is a fact
which took place under the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. At that time there
lived a superior personage, who, by his bold originality, and by the love which
he was able to inspire, became the object and fixed the starting-point of the
future faith of humanity.
As soon as man became distinguished from the animal, he became
religious; that is to say, he saw in Nature something beyond the phenomena, and
for himself something beyond death. This sentiment, during some thousands of
years, became corrupted in the strangest manner. In many races it did not pass
beyond the belief in sorcerers, under the gross form in which we still find it
in certain parts of Oceania. Among some, the religious sentiment degenerated
into the shameful scenes of butchery which form the character of the ancient
religion of Mexico. Amongst others, especially in Africa, it became pure
Fetichism, that is, the adoration of a material object, to which were attributed
supernatural powers. Like the instinct of love, which at times elevates the most
vulgar man above himself, yet sometimes becomes perverted and ferocious, so this
divine faculty of religion during a long period seems only to be a cancer which
must be extirpated from the human race, a cause of errors and crimes which the
wise ought to endeavor to suppress.
The brilliant civilizations which were developed from a very
remote antiquity in China, in Babylonia, and in Egypt, caused a certain progress
to be made in religion. China arrived very early at a sort of mediocre good
sense, which prevented great extravagances. She neither knew the advantages nor
the abuses of the religious spirit. At all events, she had not in this way any
influence in directing the great current of humanity. The religions of Babylonia
and Syria were never freed from a substratum of strange sensuality; these
religions remained, until their extinction in the fourth and fifth centuries of
our era, schools of immorality, in which at intervals glimpses of the divine
world were obtained by a sort of poetic intuition. Egypt, notwithstanding an
apparent kind of Fetichism, had very early metaphysical dogmas and a lofty
symbolism. But doubtless these interpretations of a refined theology were not
primitive. Man has never, in the possession of a clear idea, amused himself by
clothing it in symbols: it is oftener after long reflections, and from the
impossibility felt by the human mind of resigning itself to the absurd, that we
seek ideas under the ancient mystic images whose meaning is lost. Moreover, it
is not from Egypt that the faith of humanity has come. The elements which, in
the religion of a Christian, passing through a thousand transformations, came
from Egypt and Syria, are exterior forms of little consequence, or dross of
which the most purified worships always retain some portion. The grand defect of
the religions of which we speak was their essentially superstitious character.
They only threw into the world millions of amulets and charms. No great moral
thought could proceed from races oppressed by a secular despotism, and
accustomed to institutions which precluded the exercise of individual liberty.
The poetry of the soul—faith, liberty, virtue, devotion—made
their appearance in the world with the two great races which, in one sense, have
made humanity, viz., the Indo-European and the Semitic races. The first
religious intuitions of the Indo-European race were essentially naturalistic.
But it was a profound and moral naturalism, a loving embrace of Nature by man, a
delicious poetry, full of the sentiment of the Infinite—the principle, in fine,
of all that which the Germanic and Celtic genius, of that which a Shakespeare
and a Goethe should express in later times. It was neither theology nor moral
philosophy—it was a state of melancholy, it was tenderness, it was imagination;
it was, more than all, earnestness, the essential condition of morals and
religion. The faith of humanity, however, could not come from thence, because
these ancient forms of worships had great difficulty in detaching themselves
from Polytheism, and could not attain to a very clear symbol. Brahminism has
only survived to the present day by virtue of the astonishing faculty of
conservation which India seems to possess. Buddhism failed in all its approaches
toward the West. Druidism remained a form exclusively national, and without
universal capacity. The Greek attempts at reform, Orpheism, the Mysteries, did
not suffice to give a solid aliment to the soul. Persia alone succeeded in
making a dogmatic religion, almost Monotheistic, and skilfully organized; but it
is very possible that this organization itself was but an imitation, or
borrowed. At all events, Persia has not converted the world; she herself, on the
contrary, was converted when she saw the flag of the Divine unity as proclaimed
by Mohammedanism appear on her frontiers.
It is the Semitic race[1] which has the glory of having made the
religion of humanity. Far beyond the confines of history, resting under his
tent, free from the taint of a corrupted world, the Bedouin patriarch prepared
the faith of mankind. A strong antipathy against the voluptuous worships of
Syria, a grand simplicity of ritual, the complete absence of temples, and the
idol reduced to insignificant theraphim, constituted his superiority.
Among all the tribes of the nomadic Semites, that of the Beni-Israel was already
chosen for immense destinies. Ancient relations with Egypt, whence perhaps
resulted some purely material ingredients, did but augment their repulsion to
idolatry. A "Law" or Thora, very anciently written on tables of stone,
and which they attributed to their great liberator Moses, had become the code of
Monotheism, and contained, as compared with the institutions of Egypt and
Chaldea, powerful germs of social equality and morality. A chest or portable
ark, having staples on each side to admit of bearing poles, constituted all
their religious matériel; there were collected the sacred objects of the
nation, its relics, its souvenirs, and, lastly, the "book,"[2] the journal of
the tribe, always open, but which was written in with great discretion. The
family charged with bearing the ark and watching over the portable archives,
being near the book and having the control of it, very soon became important.
From hence, however, the institution which was to control the future did not
come. The Hebrew priest did not differ much from the other priests of antiquity.
The character which essentially distinguishes Israel among theocratic peoples
is, that its priesthood has always been subordinated to individual inspiration.
Besides its priests, each wandering tribe had its nabi or prophet, a sort
of living oracle who was consulted for the solution of obscure questions
supposed to require a high degree of clairvoyance. The nabis of Israel,
organized in groups or schools, had great influence. Defenders of the ancient
democratic spirit, enemies of the rich, opposed to all political organization,
and to whatsoever might draw Israel into the paths of other nations, they were
the true authors of the religious preeminence of the Jewish people. Very early
they announced unlimited hopes, and when the people, in part the victims of
their impolitic counsels, had been crushed by the Assyrian power, they
proclaimed that a kingdom without bounds was reserved for them, that one day
Jerusalem would be the capital of the whole world, and the human race become
Jews. Jerusalem and its temples appeared to them as a city placed on the summit
of a mountain, toward which all people should turn, as an oracle whence the
universal law should proceed, as the centre of an ideal kingdom, in which the
human race, set at rest by Israel, should find again the joys of Eden.[3]
[Footnote 1: I remind the reader that this word means here
simply the people who speak or have spoken one of the languages called Semitic.
Such a designation is entirely defective; but it is one of those words, like
"Gothic architecture," "Arabian numerals," which we must preserve to be
understood, even after we have demonstrated the error that they imply.]
[Footnote 2: I Sam. x. 25.]
[Footnote 3: Isa. ii. 1-4, and especially chaps. xl., and
following, lx., and following; Micah iv. 1, and following. It must be
recollected that the second part of the book of Isaiah, beginning at chap. xl.,
is not by Isaiah.]
Mystical utterances already made themselves heard, tending to
exalt the martyrdom and celebrate the power of the "Man of Sorrows." Respecting
one of those sublime sufferers, who, like Jeremiah, stained the streets of
Jerusalem with their blood, one of the inspired wrote a song upon the sufferings
and triumph of the "servant of God," in which all the prophetic force of the
genius of Israel seemed concentrated.[1] "For he shall grow up before him as a
tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness.
He is despised and rejected of men; and we hid, as it were, our faces from him;
he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we
are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his
own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed,
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to
the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his
mouth. And he made his grave with the wicked. When thou shalt make his soul an
offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."
[Footnote 1: Isa. lii. 13, and following, and liii. entirely.]
Important modifications were made at the same time in the
Thora. New texts, pretending to represent the true law of Moses, such as
Deuteronomy, were produced, and inaugurated in reality a very different spirit
from that of the old nomads. A marked fanaticism was the dominant feature of
this spirit. Furious believers unceasingly instigated violence against all who
wandered from the worship of Jehovah—they succeeded in establishing a code of
blood, making death the penalty for religious faults. Piety brings, almost
always, singular contradictions of vehemence and mildness. This zeal, unknown to
the coarser simplicity of the time of the Judges, inspired tones of moving
prophecy and tender unction, which the world had never heard till then. A strong
tendency toward social questions already made itself felt; Utopias, dreams of a
perfect society, took a place in the code. The Pentateuch, a mixture of
patriarchal morality and ardent devotion, primitive intuitions and pious
subtleties, like those which filled the souls of Hezekiah, of Josiah, and of
Jeremiah, was thus fixed in the form in which we now see it, and became for ages
the absolute rule of the national mind.
This great book once created, the history of the Jewish people
unfolded itself with an irresistible force. The great empires which followed
each other in Western Asia, in destroying its hope of a terrestrial kingdom,
threw it into religious dreams, which it cherished with a kind of sombre
passion. Caring little for the national dynasty or political independence, it
accepted all governments which permitted it to practise freely its worship and
follow its usages. Israel will henceforward have no other guidance than that of
its religious enthusiasts, no other enemies than those of the Divine unity, no
other country than its Law.
And this Law, it must be remarked, was entirely social and
moral. It was the work of men penetrated with a high ideal of the present life,
and believing that they had found the best means of realizing it. The conviction
of all was, that the Thora, well observed, could not fail to give perfect
felicity. This Thora has nothing in common with the Greek or Roman
"Laws," which, occupying themselves with scarcely anything but abstract right,
entered little into questions of private happiness and morality. We feel
beforehand that the results which will proceed from it will be of a social, and
not a political order, that the work at which this people labors is a kingdom of
God, not a civil republic; a universal institution, not a nationality or a
country.
Notwithstanding numerous failures, Israel admirably sustained
this vocation. A series of pious men, Ezra, Nehemiah, Onias, the Maccabees,
consumed with zeal for the Law, succeeded each other in the defense of the
ancient institutions. The idea that Israel was a holy people, a tribe chosen by
God and bound to Him by covenant, took deeper and firmer root. An immense
expectation filled their souls. All Indo-European antiquity had placed paradise
in the beginning; all its poets had wept a vanished golden age. Israel placed
the age of gold in the future. The perennial poesy of religious souls, the
Psalms, blossomed from this exalted piety, with their divine and melancholy
harmony. Israel became truly and specially the people of God, while around it
the pagan religions were more and more reduced, in Persia and Babylonia, to an
official charlatanism, in Egypt and Syria to a gross idolatry, and in the Greek
and Roman world to mere parade. That which the Christian martyrs did in the
first centuries of our era, that which the victims of persecuting orthodoxy have
done, even in the bosom of Christianity, up to our time, the Jews did during the
two centuries which preceded the Christian era. They were a living protest
against superstition and religious materialism. An extraordinary movement of
ideas, ending in the most opposite results, made of them, at this epoch, the
most striking and original people in the world. Their dispersion along all the
coast of the Mediterranean, and the use of the Greek language, which they
adopted when out of Palestine, prepared the way for a propagandism, of which
ancient societies, divided into small nationalities, had never offered a single
example.
Up to the time of the Maccabees, Judaism, in spite of its
persistence in announcing that it would one day be the religion of the human
race, had had the characteristic of all the other worships of antiquity, it was
a worship of the family and the tribe. The Israelite thought, indeed, that his
worship was the best, and spoke with contempt of strange gods; but he believed
also that the religion of the true God was made for himself alone. Only when a
man entered into the Jewish family did he embrace the worship of Jehovah.[1] No
Israelite cared to convert the stranger to a worship which was the patrimony of
the sons of Abraham. The development of the pietistic spirit, after Ezra and
Nehemiah, led to a much firmer and more logical conception. Judaism became the
true religion in a more absolute manner; to all who wished, the right of
entering it was given;[2] soon it became a work of piety to bring into it the
greatest number possible.[3] Doubtless the refined sentiment which elevated John
the Baptist, Jesus, and St. Paul above the petty ideas of race, did not yet
exist; for, by a strange contradiction, these converts were little respected and
were treated with disdain.[4] But the idea of a sovereign religion, the idea
that there was something in the world superior to country, to blood, to laws—the
idea which makes apostles and martyrs—was founded. Profound pity for the pagans,
however brilliant might be their worldly fortune, was henceforth the feeling of
every Jew.[5] By a cycle of legends destined to furnish models of immovable
firmness, such as the histories of Daniel and his companions, the mother of the
Maccabees and her seven sons,[6] the romance of the race-course of
Alexandria[7]—the guides of the people sought above all to inculcate the idea,
that virtue consists in a fanatical attachment to fixed religious institutions.
[Footnote 1: Ruth i. 16.]
[Footnote 2: Esther ix. 27.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxiii. 15; Josephus, Vita, 23; B.J.,
II. xvii. 10, VII. iii. 3; Ant., XX. ii. 4; Horat., Sat. I., iv., 143;
Juv., xiv. 96, and following; Tacitus, Ann., II. 85; Hist., V. 5;
Dion Cassius, xxxvii. 17.]
[Footnote 4: Mishnah, Shebiit, X. 9; Talmud of Babylon,
Niddah, fol. 13 b; Jebamoth, 47 b, Kiddushim,
70 b; Midrash, Jalkut Ruth, fol. 163 d.]
[Footnote 5: Apocryphal letter of Baruch, in Fabricius, Cod.
pseud.,
V.T., ii., 147, and following.]
[Footnote 6: II. Book of Maccabees, ch. vii. and the De
Maccabæis, attributed to Josephus. Cf. Epistle to the Hebrews xi. 33, and
following.]
[Footnote 7: III. Book (Apocr.) of Maccabees; Rufin, Suppl. ad
Jos., Contra Apionem, ii. 5.]
The persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes made this idea a
passion, almost a frenzy. It was something very analogous to that which happened
under Nero, two hundred and thirty years later. Rage and despair threw the
believers into the world of visions and dreams. The first apocalypse, "The Book
of Daniel," appeared. It was like a revival of prophecy, but under a very
different form from the ancient one, and with a much larger idea of the
destinies of the world. The Book of Daniel gave, in a manner, the last
expression to the Messianic hopes. The Messiah was no longer a king, after the
manner of David and Solomon, a theocratic and Mosaic Cyrus; he was a "Son of
man" appearing in the clouds[1]—a supernatural being, invested with human form,
charged to rule the world, and to preside over the golden age. Perhaps the
Sosiosh of Persia, the great prophet who was to come, charged with preparing
the reign of Ormuzd, gave some features to this new ideal.[2] The unknown author
of the Book of Daniel had, in any case, a decisive influence on the religious
event which was about to transform the world. He supplied the mise-en-scène,
and the technical terms of the new belief in the Messiah; and we might apply to
him what Jesus said of John the Baptist: Before him, the prophets; after him,
the kingdom of God.
[Footnote 1: Chap. vii. 13, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Vendidad, chap. xix. 18, 19; Minokhired,
a passage published in the "Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen
Gesellschaft," chap. i. 263; Boundehesch, chap. xxxi. The want of
certain chronology for the Zend and Pehlvis texts leaves much doubt hovering
over the relations between the Jewish and Persian beliefs.]
It must not, however, be supposed that this profoundly religious
and soul-stirring movement had particular dogmas for its primary impulse, as was
the case in all the conflicts which have disturbed the bosom of Christianity.
The Jew of this epoch was as little theological as possible. He did not
speculate upon the essence of the Divinity; the beliefs about angels, about the
destinies of man, about the Divine personality, of which the first germs might
already be perceived, were quite optional—they were meditations, to which each
one surrendered himself according to the turn of his mind, but of which a great
number of men had never heard. They were the most orthodox even, who did not
share in these particular imaginations, and who adhered to the simplicity of the
Mosaic law. No dogmatic power analogous to that which orthodox Christianity has
given to the Church then existed. It was only at the beginning of the third
century, when Christianity had fallen into the hands of reasoning races, mad
with dialectics and metaphysics, that that fever for definitions commenced which
made the history of the Church but the history of one immense controversy. There
were disputes also among the Jews—excited schools brought opposite solutions to
almost all the questions which were agitated; but in these contests, of which
the Talmud has preserved the principal details, there is not a single word of
speculative theology. To observe and maintain the law, because the law was just,
and because, when well observed, it gave happiness—such was Judaism. No credo,
no theoretical symbol. One of the disciples of the boldest Arabian philosophy,
Moses Maimonides, was able to become the oracle of the synagogue, because he was
well versed in the canonical law.
The reigns of the last Asmoneans, and that of Herod, saw the
excitement grow still stronger. They were filled by an uninterrupted series of
religious movements. In the degree that power became secularized, and passed
into the hands of unbelievers, the Jewish people lived less and less for the
earth, and became more and more absorbed by the strange fermentation which was
operating in their midst. The world, distracted by other spectacles, had little
knowledge of that which passed in this forgotten corner of the East. The minds
abreast of their age were, however, better informed. The tender and
clear-sighted Virgil seems to answer, as by a secret echo, to the second Isaiah.
The birth of a child throws him into dreams of a universal palingenesis.[1]
These dreams were of every-day occurrence, and shaped into a kind of literature
which was designated Sibylline. The quite recent formation of the empire exalted
the imagination; the great era of peace on which it entered, and that impression
of melancholy sensibility which the mind experiences after long periods of
revolution, gave birth on all sides to unlimited hopes.
[Footnote 1: Egl. iv. The Cumæum carmen (v. 4) was a sort
of Sibylline apocalypse, borrowed from the philosophy of history familiar to the
East. See Servius on this verse, and Carmina Sibyllina, iii. 97-817; cf.
Tac., Hist., v. 13.]
In Judea expectation was at its height. Holy persons—among whom
may be named the aged Simeon, who, legend tells us, held Jesus in his arms;
Anna, daughter of Phanuel, regarded as a prophetess[1]—passed their life about
the temple, fasting, and praying, that it might please God not to take them from
the world without having seen the fulfillment of the hopes of Israel. They felt
a powerful presentiment; they were sensible of the approach of something
unknown.
[Footnote 1: Luke ii. 25, and following.]
This confused mixture of clear views and dreams, this
alternation of deceptions and hopes, these ceaseless aspirations, driven back by
an odious reality, found at last their interpretation in the incomparable man,
to whom the universal conscience has decreed the title of Son of God, and that
with justice, since he has advanced religion as no other has done, or probably
ever will be able to do.
CHAPTER II.
INFANCY AND YOUTH OF JESUS—HIS FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
Jesus was born at Nazareth,[1] a small
town of Galilee, which before his time had no celebrity.[2] All his life he was
designated by the name of "the Nazarene,"[3] and it is only by a rather
embarrassed and round-about way,[4] that, in the legends respecting him, he is
made to be born at Bethlehem. We shall see later[5] the motive for this
supposition, and how it was the necessary consequence of the Messianic character
attributed to Jesus.[6] The precise date of his birth is unknown. It took place
under the reign of Augustus, about the Roman year 750, probably some years
before the year 1 of that era which all civilized people date from the day on
which he was born.[7]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiii. 54, and following; Mark vi. 1, and
following;
John i. 45-46.]
[Footnote 2: It is neither named in the writings of the Old
Testament, nor in Josephus, nor in the Talmud.]
[Footnote 3: Mark i. 24; Luke xviii. 37; John xix. 19; Acts
ii. 22, iii. 6. Hence the name of Nazarenes for a long time applied to
Christians, and which still designates them in all Mohammedan countries.]
[Footnote 4: The census effected by Quirinus, to which legend
attributes the journey from Bethlehem, is at least ten years later than the year
in which, according to Luke and Matthew, Jesus was born. The two evangelists in
effect make Jesus to be born under the reign of Herod (Matt. ii. 1, 19, 22; Luke
i. 5). Now, the census of Quirinus did not take place until after the deposition
of Archelaus, i.e., ten years after the death of Herod, the 37th year
from the era of Actium (Josephus, Ant., XVII. xiii. 5, XVIII. i. 1, ii.
1). The inscription by which it was formerly pretended to establish that
Quirinus had levied two censuses is recognized as false (see Orelli, Inscr.
Lat., No. 623, and the supplement of Henzen in this number; Borghesi,
Fastes Consulaires [yet unpublished], in the year 742). The census in any
case would only be applied to the parts reduced to Roman provinces, and not to
the tetrarchies. The texts by which it is sought to prove that some of the
operations for statistics and tribute commanded by Augustus ought to extend to
the dominion of the Herods, either do not mean what they have been made to say,
or are from Christian authors who have borrowed this statement from the Gospel
of Luke. That which proves, besides, that the journey of the family of Jesus to
Bethlehem is not historical, is the motive attributed to it. Jesus was not of
the family of David (see Chap. XV.), and if he had been, we should still not
imagine that his parents should have been forced, for an operation purely
registrative and financial, to come to enrol themselves in the place whence
their ancestors had proceeded a thousand years before. In imposing such an
obligation, the Roman authority would have sanctioned pretensions threatening
her safety.]
[Footnote 5: Chap. XIV.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. ii. 1, and following; Luke ii. 1, and
following. The omission of this narrative in Mark, and the two parallel
passages, Matt. xiii. 54, and Mark vi. 1, where Nazareth figures as the
"country" of Jesus, prove that such a legend was absent from the primitive text
which has furnished the rough draft of the present Gospels of Matthew and Mark.
It was to meet oft-repeated objections that there were added to the beginning of
the Gospel of Matthew reservations, the contradiction of which with the rest of
the text was not so flagrant, that it was felt necessary to correct the passages
which had at first been written from quite another point of view. Luke, on the
contrary (chap. iv. 16), writing more carefully, has employed, in order to be
consistent, a more softened expression. As to John, he knows nothing of the
journey to Bethlehem; for him, Jesus is merely "of Nazareth" or "Galilean," in
two circumstances in which it would have been of the highest importance to
recall his birth at Bethlehem (chap. i. 45, 46, vi. 41, 42).]
[Footnote 7: It is known that the calculation which serves as
basis of the common era was made in the sixth century by Dionysius the Less.
This calculation implies certain purely hypothetical data.]
The name of Jesus, which was given him, is an alteration
from Joshua. It was a very common name; but afterward mysteries, and an
allusion to his character of Saviour, were naturally sought for in it.[1]
Perhaps he, like all mystics, exalted himself in this respect. It is thus that
more than one great vocation in history has been caused by a name given to a
child without premeditation. Ardent natures never bring themselves to see aught
of chance in what concerns them. God has regulated everything for them, and they
see a sign of the supreme will in the most insignificant circumstances.
[Footnote 1: Matt. i. 21; Luke i. 31.]
The population of Galilee was very mixed, as the very name of
the country[1] indicated. This province counted amongst its inhabitants, in the
time of Jesus, many who were not Jews (Phoenicians, Syrians, Arabs, and even
Greeks).[2] The conversions to Judaism were not rare in these mixed countries.
It is therefore impossible to raise here any question of race, and to seek to
ascertain what blood flowed in the veins of him who has contributed most to
efface the distinction of blood in humanity.
[Footnote 1: Gelil haggoyim, "Circle of the Gentiles."]
[Footnote 2: Strabo, XVI. ii. 35; Jos., Vita, 12.]
He proceeded from the ranks of the people.[1] His father,
Joseph, and his mother, Mary, were people in humble circumstances, artisans
living by their labor,[2] in the state so common in the East, which is neither
ease nor poverty. The extreme simplicity of life in such countries, by
dispensing with the need of comfort, renders the privileges of wealth almost
useless, and makes every one voluntarily poor. On the other hand, the total want
of taste for art, and for that which contributes to the elegance of material
life, gives a naked aspect to the house of him who otherwise wants for nothing.
Apart from something sordid and repulsive which Islamism bears everywhere with
it, the town of Nazareth, in the time of Jesus, did not perhaps much differ from
what it is to-day.[3] We see the streets where he played when a child, in the
stony paths or little crossways which separate the dwellings. The house of
Joseph doubtless much resembled those poor shops, lighted by the door, serving
at once for shop, kitchen, and bedroom, having for furniture a mat, some
cushions on the ground, one or two clay pots, and a painted chest.
[Footnote 1: We shall explain later (Chap. XIV.) the origin of
the genealogies intended to connect him with the race of David. The Ebionites
suppressed them (Epiph., Adv. Hær., XXX. 14).]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xiii. 55; Mark vi. 3; John vi. 42.]
[Footnote 3: The rough aspect of the ruins which cover Palestine
proves that the towns which were not constructed in the Roman manner were very
badly built. As to the form of the houses, it is, in Syria, so simple and so
imperiously regulated by the climate, that it can scarcely ever have changed.]
The family, whether it proceeded from one or many marriages, was
rather numerous. Jesus had brothers and sisters,[1] of whom he seems to have
been the eldest.[2] All have remained obscure, for it appears that the four
personages who were named as his brothers, and among whom one, at
least—James—had acquired great importance in the earliest years of the
development of Christianity, were his cousins-german. Mary, in fact, had a
sister also named Mary,[3] who married a certain Alpheus or Cleophas (these two
names appear to designate the same person[4]), and was the mother of several
sons who played a considerable part among the first disciples of Jesus. These
cousins-german who adhered to the young Master, while his own brothers opposed
him,[5] took the title of "brothers of the Lord."[6] The real brothers of Jesus,
like their mother, became important only after his death.[7] Even then they do
not appear to have equaled in importance their cousins, whose conversion had
been more spontaneous, and whose character seems to have had more originality.
Their names were so little known, that when the evangelist put in the mouth of
the men of Nazareth the enumeration of the brothers according to natural
relationship, the names of the sons of Cleophas first presented themselves to
him.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xii. 46, and following, xiii. 55, and
following; Mark iii. 31, and following, vi. 3; Luke viii. 19, and following;
John ii. 12, vii. 3, 5, 10; Acts i. 14.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. i. 25.]
[Footnote 3: That these two sisters should bear the same name is
a singular fact. There is probably some error arising from the habit of giving
the name of Mary indiscriminately to Galilean women.]
[Footnote 4: They are not etymologically identical. [Greek:
Alphaios] is the transcription of the Syro-Chaldean name Halphaï; [Greek:
Klôpas] or [Greek: Kleopas] is a shortened form of [Greek: Kleopatros]. But
there might have been an artificial substitution of one for the other, just as
Joseph was called "Hegissippus," the Eliakim "Alcimus," &c.]
[Footnote 5: John vii. 3, and following.]
[Footnote 6: In fact, the four personages who are named (Matt.
xiii. 55, Mark vi. 3) as sons of Mary, mother of Jesus, Jacob, Joseph or Joses,
Simon, and Jude, are found again a little later as sons of Mary and Cleophas.
(Matt. xxvii. 56; Mark xv. 40; Gal. i. 19; Epist. James i. 1;
Epist. Jude 1; Euseb., Chron. ad ann. R. DCCCX.; Hist. Eccl.,
iii. 11, 32; Constit. Apost., vii. 46.) The hypothesis we offer alone
removes the immense difficulty which is found in supposing two sisters having
each three or four sons bearing the same names, and in admitting that James and
Simon, the first two bishops of Jerusalem, designated as brothers of the Lord,
may have been real brothers of Jesus, who had begun by being hostile to him and
then were converted. The evangelist, hearing these four sons of Cleophas called
"brothers of the Lord," has placed by mistake their names in the passage
Matt. xiii. 5 = Mark vi. 3, instead of the names of the real
brothers, which have always remained obscure. In this matter we may explain how
the character of the personages called "brothers of the Lord," of James, for
instance, is so different from that of the real brothers of Jesus as they are
seen delineated in John vii. 2, and following. The expression "brother of the
Lord" evidently constituted, in the primitive Church, a kind of order similar to
that of the apostles. See especially 1 Cor. ix. 5.]
[Footnote 7: Acts i. 14.]
His sisters were married at Nazareth,[1] and he spent the first
years of his youth there. Nazareth was a small town in a hollow, opening broadly
at the summit of the group of mountains which close the plain of Esdraelon on
the north. The population is now from three to four thousand, and it can never
have varied much.[2] The cold there is sharp in winter, and the climate very
healthy. The town, like all the small Jewish towns at this period, was a heap of
huts built without style, and would exhibit that harsh and poor aspect which
villages in Semitic countries now present. The houses, it seems, did not differ
much from those cubes of stone, without exterior or interior elegance, which
still cover the richest parts of the Lebanon, and which, surrounded with vines
and fig-trees, are still very agreeable. The environs, moreover, are charming;
and no place in the world was so well adapted for dreams of perfect happiness.
Even in our times Nazareth is still a delightful abode, the only place, perhaps,
in Palestine in which the mind feels itself relieved from the burden which
oppresses it in this unequaled desolation. The people are amiable and cheerful;
the gardens fresh and green. Anthony the Martyr, at the end of the sixth
century, drew an enchanting picture of the fertility of the environs, which he
compared to paradise.[3] Some valleys on the western side fully justify his
description. The fountain, where formerly the life and gaiety of the little town
were concentrated, is destroyed; its broken channels contain now only a muddy
stream. But the beauty of the women who meet there in the evening—that beauty
which was remarked even in the sixth century, and which was looked upon as a
gift of the Virgin Mary[4]—is still most strikingly preserved. It is the Syrian
type in all its languid grace. No doubt Mary was there almost every day, and
took her place with her jar on her shoulder in the file of her companions who
have remained unknown. Anthony the Martyr remarks that the Jewish women,
generally disdainful to Christians, were here full of affability. Even now
religious animosity is weaker at Nazareth than elsewhere.
[Footnote 1: Mark vi. 3.]
[Footnote 2: According to Josephus (B.J., III. iii. 2),
the smallest town of Galilee had more than five thousand inhabitants. This is
probably an exaggeration.]
[Footnote 3: Itiner., § 5.]
[Footnote 4: Ant. Martyr, Itiner., § 5.]
The horizon from the town is limited. But if we ascend a little
the plateau, swept by a perpetual breeze, which overlooks the highest houses,
the prospect is splendid. On the west are seen the fine outlines of Carmel,
terminated by an abrupt point which seems to plunge into the sea. Before us are
spread out the double summit which towers above Megiddo; the mountains of the
country of Shechem, with their holy places of the patriarchal age; the hills of
Gilboa, the small, picturesque group to which are attached the graceful or
terrible recollections of Shunem and of Endor; and Tabor, with its beautiful
rounded form, which antiquity compared to a bosom. Through a depression between
the mountains of Shunem and Tabor are seen the valley of the Jordan and the high
plains of Peræa, which form a continuous line from the eastern side. On the
north, the mountains of Safed, in inclining toward the sea conceal St. Jean
d'Acre, but permit the Gulf of Khaïfa to be distinguished. Such was the horizon
of Jesus. This enchanted circle, cradle of the kingdom of God, was for years his
world. Even in his later life he departed but little beyond the familial limits
of his childhood. For yonder, northward, a glimpse is caught, almost on the
flank of Hermon, of Cæsarea-Philippi, his furthest point of advance into the
Gentile world; and here southward, the more sombre aspect of these Samaritan
hills foreshadows the dreariness of Judea beyond, parched as by a scorching wind
of desolation and death.
If the world, remaining Christian, but attaining to a better
idea of the esteem in which the origin of its religion should be held, should
ever wish to replace by authentic holy places the mean and apocryphal
sanctuaries to which the piety of dark ages attached itself, it is upon this
height of Nazareth that it will rebuild its temple. There, at the birthplace of
Christianity, and in the centre of the actions of its Founder, the great church
ought to be raised in which all Christians may worship. There, also, on this
spot where sleep Joseph, the carpenter, and thousands of forgotten Nazarenes who
never passed beyond the horizon of their valley, would be a better station than
any in the world beside for the philosopher to contemplate the course of human
affairs, to console himself for their uncertainty, and to reassure himself as to
the Divine end which the world pursues through countless falterings, and in
spite of the universal vanity.
CHAPTER III.
EDUCATION OF JESUS.
This aspect of Nature, at once smiling
and grand, was the whole education of Jesus. He learned to read and to write,[1]
doubtless, according to the Eastern method, which consisted in putting in the
hands of the child a book, which he repeated in cadence with his little
comrades, until he knew it by heart.[2] It is doubtful, however, if he
understood the Hebrew writings in their original tongue. His biographers make
him quote them according to the translations in the Aramean tongue;[3] his
principles of exegesis, as far as we can judge of them by those of his
disciples, much resembled those which were then in vogue, and which form the
spirit of the Targums and the Midrashim.[4]
[Footnote 1: John viii. 6.]
[Footnote 2: Testam. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Levi. 6.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 46; Mark xv. 34.]
[Footnote 4: Jewish translations and commentaries of the
Talmudic epoch.]
The schoolmaster in the small Jewish towns was the hazzan,
or reader in the synagogues.[1] Jesus frequented little the higher schools of
the scribes or sopherim (Nazareth had perhaps none of them), and he had
none of those titles which confer, in the eyes of the vulgar, the privileges of
knowledge.[2] It would, nevertheless, be a great error to imagine that Jesus was
what we call ignorant. Scholastic education among us draws a profound
distinction, in respect of personal worth, between those who have received and
those who have been deprived of it. It was not so in the East, nor, in general,
in the good old times. The state of ignorance in which, among us, owing to our
isolated and entirely individual life, those remain who have not passed through
the schools, was unknown in those societies where moral culture, and especially
the general spirit of the age, was transmitted by the perpetual intercourse of
man with man. The Arab, who has never had a teacher, is often, nevertheless, a
very superior man; for the tent is a kind of school always open, where, from the
contact of well-educated men, there is produced a great intellectual and even
literary movement. The refinement of manners and the acuteness of the intellect
have, in the East, nothing in common with what we call education. It is the men
from the schools, on the contrary, who are considered badly trained and
pedantic. In this social state, ignorance, which, among us, condemns a man to an
inferior rank, is the condition of great things and of great originality.
[Footnote 1: Mishnah, Shabbath, i. 3.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xiii. 54, and following; John vii. 15.]
It is not probable that Jesus knew Greek. This language was very
little spread in Judea beyond the classes who participated in the government,
and the towns inhabited by pagans, like Cæsarea.[1] The real mother tongue of
Jesus was the Syrian dialect mixed with Hebrew, which was then spoken in
Palestine.[2] Still less probably had he any knowledge of Greek culture. This
culture was proscribed by the doctors of Palestine, who included in the same
malediction "he who rears swine, and he who teaches his son Greek science."[3]
At all events it had not penetrated into little towns like Nazareth.
Notwithstanding the anathema of the doctors, some Jews, it is true, had already
embraced the Hellenic culture. Without speaking of the Jewish school of Egypt,
in which the attempts to amalgamate Hellenism and Judaism had been in operation
nearly two hundred years, a Jew—Nicholas of Damascus—had become, even at this
time, one of the most distinguished men, one of the best informed, and one of
the most respected of his age. Josephus was destined soon to furnish another
example of a Jew completely Grecianized. But Nicholas was only a Jew in blood.
Josephus declares that he himself was an exception among his contemporaries;[4]
and the whole schismatic school of Egypt was detached to such a degree from
Jerusalem that we do not find the least allusion to it either in the Talmud or
in Jewish tradition. Certain it is that Greek was very little studied at
Jerusalem, that Greek studies were considered as dangerous, and even servile,
that they were regarded, at the best, as a mere womanly accomplishment.[5] The
study of the Law was the only one accounted liberal and worthy of a thoughtful
man.[6] Questioned as to the time when it would be proper to teach children
"Greek wisdom," a learned rabbi had answered, "At the time when it is neither
day nor night; since it is written of the Law, Thou shalt study it day and
night."[7]
[Footnote 1: Mishnah, Shekalim, iii. 2; Talmud of
Jerusalem, Megilla, halaca xi.; Sota, vii. 1; Talmud of Babylon,
Baba Kama, 83 a; Megilla, 8 b, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Matthew xxvii. 46; Mark iii. 17, v. 41, vii. 34,
xiv. 36, xv. 34. The expression [Greek: ê patrios phônê] in the writers of the
time, always designates the Semitic dialect, which was spoken in Palestine (II.
Macc. vii. 21, 27, xii. 37; Acts xxi. 37, 40, xxii. 2, xxvi. 14;
Josephus, Ant., XVIII. vi. 10, xx. sub fin.; B.J., prooem I; V.
vi. 3, V. ix. 2, VI. ii. 1: Against Appian, I. 9; De Macc., 12,
16). We shall show, later, that some of the documents which served as the basis
for the synoptic Gospels were written in this Semitic dialect. It was the same
with many of the Apocrypha (IV. Book of Macc. xvi. ad calcem, &c.). In fine, the
sects issuing directly from the first Galilean movement (Nazarenes, Ebionim,
&c.), which continued a long time in Batanea and Hauran, spoke a Semitic dialect
(Eusebius, De Situ et Nomin. Loc. Hebr., at the word [Greek: Chôba];
Epiph., Adv. Hær., xxix. 7, 9, xxx. 3; St. Jerome, In Matt., xii.
13; Dial. adv. Pelag., iii. 2).]
[Footnote 3: Mishnah, Sanhedrim, xi. 1; Talmud of
Babylon, Baba Kama, 82 b and 83 a; Sota, 49 a
and b; Menachoth, 64 b; comp. II. Macc. iv. 10, and
following.]
[Footnote 4: Jos., Ant. XX. xi. 2.]
[Footnote 5: Talmud of Jerusalem, Peah, i. 1.]
[Footnote 6: Jos., Ant., loc. cit.; Orig.,
Contra Celsum, ii. 34.]
[Footnote 7: Talmud of Jerusalem, Peah, i. 1; Talmud of
Babylon, Menachoth, 99 b.]
Neither directly nor indirectly, then, did any element of Greek
culture reach Jesus. He knew nothing beyond Judaism; his mind preserved that
free innocence which an extended and varied culture always weakens. In the very
bosom of Judaism he remained a stranger to many efforts often parallel to his
own. On the one hand, the asceticism of the Essenes or the Therapeutæ;[1] on the
other, the fine efforts of religious philosophy put forth by the Jewish school
of Alexandria, and of which Philo, his contemporary, was the ingenious
interpreter, were unknown to him. The frequent resemblances which we find
between him and Philo, those excellent maxims about the love of God, charity,
rest in God,[2] which are like an echo between the Gospel and the writings of
the illustrious Alexandrian thinker, proceed from the common tendencies which
the wants of the time inspired in all elevated minds.
[Footnote 1: The Therapeutæ of Philo are a branch of the
Essenes.
Their name appears to be but a Greek translation of that of the
Essenes ([Greek: Essaioi], asaya, "doctors"). Cf. Philo, De
Vita
Contempl., init.]
[Footnote 2: See especially the treatises Quis Rerum
Divinarum Hæres
Sit and De Philanthropia of Philo.]
Happily for him, he was also ignorant of the strange
scholasticism which was taught at Jerusalem, and which was soon to constitute
the Talmud. If some Pharisees had already brought it into Galilee, he did not
associate with them, and when, later, he encountered this silly casuistry, it
only inspired him with disgust. We may suppose, however, that the principles of
Hillel were not unknown to him. Hillel, fifty years before him, had given
utterance to aphorisms very analogous to his own. By his poverty, so meekly
endured, by the sweetness of his character, by his opposition to priests and
hypocrites, Hillel was the true master of Jesus,[1] if indeed it may be
permitted to speak of a master in connection with so high an originality as his.
[Footnote 1: Pirké Aboth, chap. i. and ii.; Talm. of
Jerus., Pesachim, vi. 1; Talm. of Bab., Pesachim, 66 a;
Shabbath, 30 b and 31 a; Joma, 35 b.]
The perusal of the books of the Old Testament made much
impression upon him. The canon of the holy books was composed of two principal
parts—the Law, that is to say, the Pentateuch, and the Prophets, such as we now
possess them. An extensive allegorical exegesis was applied to all these books;
and it was sought to draw from them something that was not in them, but which
responded to the aspirations of the age. The Law, which represented not the
ancient laws of the country, but Utopias, the factitious laws and pious frauds
of the time of the pietistic kings, had become, since the nation had ceased to
govern itself, an inexhaustible theme of subtle interpretations. As to the
Prophets and the Psalms, the popular persuasion was that almost all the somewhat
mysterious traits that were in these books had reference to the Messiah, and it
was sought to find there the type of him who should realize the hopes of the
nation. Jesus participated in the taste which every one had for these
allegorical interpretations. But the true poetry of the Bible, which escaped the
puerile exegetists of Jerusalem, was fully revealed to his grand genius. The Law
does not appear to have had much charm for him; he thought that he could do
something better. But the religious lyrics of the Psalms were in marvellous
accordance with his poetic soul; they were, all his life, his food and
sustenance. The prophets—Isaiah in particular, and his successor in the record
of the time of the captivity,—with their brilliant dreams of the future, their
impetuous eloquence, and their invectives mingled with enchanting pictures, were
his true teachers. He read also, no doubt, many apocryphal works—i.e.,
writings somewhat modern, the authors of which, for the sake of an authority
only granted to very ancient writings, had clothed themselves with the names of
prophets and patriarchs. One of these books especially struck him, namely, the
Book of Daniel. This book, composed by an enthusiastic Jew of the time of
Antiochus Epiphanes, under the name of an ancient sage,[1] was the résumé
of the spirit of those later times. Its author, a true creator of the philosophy
of history, had for the first time dared to see in the march of the world and
the succession of empires, only a purpose subordinate to the destinies of the
Jewish people. Jesus was early penetrated by these high hopes. Perhaps, also, he
had read the books of Enoch, then revered equally with the holy books,[2] and
the other writings of the same class, which kept up so much excitement in the
popular imagination. The advent of the Messiah, with his glories and his
terrors—the nations falling down one after another, the cataclysm of heaven and
earth—were the familiar food of his imagination; and, as these revolutions were
reputed near, and a great number of persons sought to calculate the time when
they should happen, the supernatural state of things into which such visions
transport us, appeared to him from the first perfectly natural and simple.
[Footnote 1: The legend of Daniel existed as early as the
seventh century B.C. (Ezekiel xiv. 14 and following, xxviii. 3). It was for the
necessities of the legend that he was made to live at the time of the Babylonian
captivity.]
[Footnote 2: Epist. Jude, 14 and following; 2 Peter ii.
4, 11; Testam. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Simeon, 5; Levi, 14, 16; Judah,
18; Zab., 3; Dan, 5; Naphtali, 4. The "Book of Enoch" still forms an integral
part of the Ethiopian Bible. Such as we know it from the Ethiopian version, it
is composed of pieces of different dates, of which the most ancient are from the
year 130 to 150 B.C. Some of these pieces have an analogy with the discourses of
Jesus. Compare chaps. xcvi.-xcix. with Luke vi. 24, and following.]
That he had no knowledge of the general state of the world is
apparent from each feature of his most authentic discourses. The earth appeared
to him still divided into kingdoms warring with one another; he seemed to ignore
the "Roman peace," and the new state of society which its age inaugurated. He
had no precise idea of the Roman power; the name of "Cæsar" alone reached him.
He saw building, in Galilee or its environs, Tiberias, Julias, Diocæsarea,
Cæsarea, gorgeous works of the Herods, who sought, by these magnificent
structures, to prove their admiration for Roman civilization, and their devotion
toward the members of the family of Augustus, structures whose names, by a
caprice of fate, now serve, though strangely altered, to designate miserable
hamlets of Bedouins. He also probably saw Sebaste, a work of Herod the Great, a
showy city, whose ruins would lead to the belief that it had been carried there
ready made, like a machine which had only to be put up in its place. This
ostentatious piece of architecture arrived in Judea by cargoes; these hundreds
of columns, all of the same diameter, the ornament of some insipid "Rue de
Rivoli" these were what he called "the kingdoms of the world and all their
glory." But this luxury of power, this administrative and official art,
displeased him. What he loved were his Galilean villages, confused mixtures of
huts, of nests and holes cut in the rocks, of wells, of tombs, of fig-trees, and
of olives. He always clung close to Nature. The courts of kings appeared to him
as places where men wear fine clothes. The charming impossibilities with which
his parables abound, when he brings kings and the mighty ones on the stage,[1]
prove that he never conceived of aristocratic society but as a young villager
who sees the world through the prism of his simplicity.
[Footnote 1: See, for example, Matt. xxii. 2, and following.]
Still less was he acquainted with the new idea, created by
Grecian science, which was the basis of all philosophy, and which modern science
has greatly confirmed, to wit, the exclusion of capricious gods, to whom the
simple belief of ancient ages attributed the government of the universe. Almost
a century before him, Lucretius had expressed, in an admirable manner, the
unchangeableness of the general system of Nature. The negation of miracle—the
idea that everything in the world happens by laws in which the personal
intervention of superior beings has no share—was universally admitted in the
great schools of all the countries which had accepted Grecian science. Perhaps
even Babylon and Persia were not strangers to it. Jesus knew nothing of this
progress. Although born at a time when the principle of positive science was
already proclaimed, he lived entirely in the supernatural. Never, perhaps, had
the Jews been more possessed with the thirst for the marvellous. Philo, who
lived in a great intellectual centre, and who had received a very complete
education, possessed only a chimerical and inferior knowledge of science.
Jesus, on this point, differed in no respect from his
companions. He believed in the devil, whom he regarded as a kind of evil
genius,[1] and he imagined, like all the world, that nervous maladies were
produced by demons who possessed the patient and agitated him. The marvellous
was not the exceptional for him; it was his normal state. The notion of the
supernatural, with its impossibilities, is coincident with the birth of
experimental science. The man who is strange to all ideas of physical laws, who
believes that by praying he can change the path of the clouds, arrest disease,
and even death, finds nothing extraordinary in miracle, inasmuch as the entire
course of things is to him the result of the free will of the Divinity. This
intellectual state was constantly that of Jesus. But in his great soul such a
belief produced effects quite opposed to those produced on the vulgar. Among the
latter, the belief in the special action of God led to a foolish credulity, and
the deceptions of charlatans. With him it led to a profound idea of the familiar
relations of man with God, and an exaggerated belief in the power of
man—beautiful errors, which were the secret of his power; for if they were the
means of one day showing his deficiencies in the eyes of the physicist and the
chemist, they gave him a power over his own age of which no individual had been
possessed before his time, or has been since.
[Footnote 1: Matt. vi. 13.]
His distinctive character very early revealed itself. Legend
delights to show him even from his infancy in revolt against paternal authority,
and departing from the common way to fulfill his vocation.[1] It is certain, at
least, that he cared little for the relations of kinship. His family do not seem
to have loved him,[2] and at times he seems to have been hard toward them.[3]
Jesus, like all men exclusively preoccupied by an idea, came to think little of
the ties of blood. The bond of thought is the only one that natures of this kind
recognize. "Behold my mother and my brethren," said he, in extending his hand
toward his disciples; "he who does the will of my Father, he is my brother and
my sister." The simple people did not understand the matter thus, and one day a
woman passing near him cried out, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the
paps which gave thee suck!" But he said, "Yea, rather blessed are they that hear
the word of God, and keep it."[4] Soon, in his bold revolt against nature, he
went still further, and we shall see him trampling under foot everything that is
human, blood, love, and country, and only keeping soul and heart for the idea
which presented itself to him as the absolute form of goodness and truth.
[Footnote 1: Luke ii. 42 and following. The Apocryphal Gospels
are full of similar histories carried to the grotesque.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xiii. 57; Mark vi. 4; John vii. 3, and
following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xii. 48; Mark iii. 33; Luke viii. 21; John
ii. 4; Gospel according to the Hebrews, in St. Jerome, Dial. adv. Pelag.,
iii. 2.]
[Footnote 4: Luke xi. 27, and following.]
CHAPTER IV.
THE ORDER OF THOUGHT WHICH SURROUNDED THE DEVELOPMENT OF JESUS.
As the cooled earth no longer permits us
to understand the phenomena of primitive creation, because the fire which
penetrated it is extinct, so deliberate explanations have always appeared
somewhat insufficient when applying our timid methods of induction to the
revolutions of the creative epochs which have decided the fate of humanity.
Jesus lived at one of those times when the game of public life is freely played,
and when the stake of human activity is increased a hundredfold. Every great
part, then, entails death; for such movements suppose liberty and an absence of
preventive measures, which could not exist without a terrible alternative. In
these days, man risks little and gains little. In heroic periods of human
activity, man risked all and gained all. The good and the wicked, or at least
those who believe themselves and are believed to be such, form opposite armies.
The apotheosis is reached by the scaffold; characters have distinctive features,
which engrave them as eternal types in the memory of men. Except in the French
Revolution, no historical centre was as suitable as that in which Jesus was
formed, to develop those hidden forces which humanity holds as in reserve, and
which are not seen except in days of excitement and peril.
If the government of the world were a speculative problem, and
the greatest philosopher were the man best fitted to tell his fellows what they
ought to believe, it would be from calmness and reflection that those great
moral and dogmatic truths called religions would proceed. But it is not so. If
we except Cakya-Mouni, the great religious founders have not been
metaphysicians. Buddhism itself, whose origin is in pure thought, has conquered
one-half of Asia, by motives wholly political and moral. As to the Semitic
religions, they are as little philosophical as possible. Moses and Mahomet were
not men of speculation; they were men of action. It was in proposing action to
their fellow-countrymen, and to their contemporaries, that they governed
humanity. Jesus, in like manner, was not a theologian, or a philosopher, having
a more or less well-composed system. In order to be a disciple of Jesus, it was
not necessary to sign any formulary, or to pronounce any confession of faith;
one thing only was necessary—to be attached to him, to love him. He never
disputed about God, for he felt Him directly in himself. The rock of
metaphysical subtleties, against which Christianity broke from the third
century, was in nowise created by the Founder. Jesus had neither dogma nor
system, but a fixed personal resolution, which, exceeding in intensity every
other created will, directs to this hour the destinies of humanity.
The Jewish people had the advantage, from the captivity of
Babylon up to the Middle Ages, of being in a state of the greatest tension. This
is why the interpreters of the spirit of the nation during this long period
seemed to write under the action of an intense fever, which placed them
constantly either above or below reason, rarely in its middle path. Never did
man seize the problem of the future and of his destiny with a more desperate
courage, more determined to go to extremes. Not separating the lot of humanity
from that of their little race, the Jewish thinkers were the first who sought
for a general theory of the progress of our species. Greece, always confined
within itself, and solely attentive to petty quarrels, has had admirable
historians; but before the Roman epoch, it would be in vain to seek in her a
general system of the philosophy of history, embracing all humanity. The Jew, on
the contrary, thanks to a kind of prophetic sense which renders the Semite at
times marvellously apt to see the great lines of the future, has made history
enter into religion. Perhaps he owes a little of this spirit to Persia. Persia,
from an ancient period, conceived the history of the world as a series of
evolutions, over each of which a prophet presided. Each prophet had his hazar,
or reign of a thousand years (chiliasm), and from these successive ages,
analogous to the Avatär of India, is composed the course of events which
prepared the reign of Ormuzd. At the end of the time when the cycle of chiliasms
shall be exhausted, the complete paradise will come. Men then will live happy;
the earth will be as one plain; there will be only one language, one law, and
one government for all. But this advent will be preceded by terrible calamities.
Dahak (the Satan of Persia) will break his chains and fall upon the world. Two
prophets will come to console mankind, and to prepare the great advent.[1] These
ideas ran through the world, and penetrated even to Rome, where they inspired a
cycle of prophetic poems, of which the fundamental ideas were the division of
the history of humanity into periods, the succession of the gods corresponding
to these periods—a complete renovation of the world, and the final advent of a
golden age.[2] The book of Daniel, the book of Enoch, and certain parts of the
Sibylline books,[3] are the Jewish expression of the same theory. These thoughts
were certainly far from being shared by all; they were only embraced at first by
a few persons of lively imagination, who were inclined toward strange doctrines.
The dry and narrow author of the book of Esther never thought of the rest of the
world except to despise it, and to wish it evil.[4] The disabused epicurean who
wrote Ecclesiastes, thought so little of the future, that he considered it even
useless to labor for his children; in the eyes of this egotistical celibate, the
highest stroke of wisdom was to use his fortune for his own enjoyment.[5] But
the great achievements of a people are generally wrought by the minority.
Notwithstanding all their enormous defects, hard, egotistical, scoffing, cruel,
narrow, subtle, and sophistical, the Jewish people are the authors of the finest
movement of disinterested enthusiasm which history records. Opposition always
makes the glory of a country. The greatest men of a nation are those whom it
puts to death. Socrates was the glory of the Athenians, who would not suffer him
to live amongst them. Spinoza was the greatest Jew of modern times, and the
synagogue expelled him with ignominy. Jesus was the glory of the people of
Israel, who crucified him.
[Footnote 1: Yaçna, xiii. 24: Theopompus, in Plut., De
Iside et Osiride, sec. 47; Minokhired, a passage published in the
Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, i., p. 263.]
[Footnote 2: Virg., Ecl. iv.; Servius, at v. 4 of this Eclogue;
Nigidius, quoted by Servius, at v. 10.]
[Footnote 3: Book iii., 97-817.]
[Footnote 4: Esther vi. 13, vii. 10, viii. 7, 11-17, ix. 1-22;
and in the apocryphal parts, ix. 10, 11, xiv. 13, and following, xvi. 20, 24.]
[Footnote 5: Eccl. i. 11, ii. 16, 18-24, iii. 19-22, iv. 8, 15,
16, v. 17, 18, vi. 3, 6, viii. 15, ix. 9, 10.]
A gigantic dream haunted for centuries the Jewish people,
constantly renewing its youth in its decrepitude. A stranger to the theory of
individual recompense, which Greece diffused under the name of the immortality
of the soul, Judea concentrated all its power of love and desire upon the
national future. She thought she possessed divine promises of a boundless
future; and as the bitter reality, from the ninth century before our era, gave
more and more the dominion of the world to physical force, and brutally crushed
these aspirations, she took refuge in the union of the most impossible ideas,
and attempted the strangest gyrations. Before the captivity, when all the
earthly hopes of the nation had become weakened by the separation of the
northern tribes, they dreamt of the restoration of the house of David, the
reconciliation of the two divisions of the people, and the triumph of theocracy
and the worship of Jehovah over idolatry. At the epoch of the captivity, a poet,
full of harmony, saw the splendor of a future Jerusalem, of which the peoples
and the distant isles should be tributaries, under colors so charming, that one
might say a glimpse of the visions of Jesus had reached him at a distance of six
centuries.[1]
[Footnote 1: Isaiah lx. &c.]
The victory of Cyrus seemed at one time to realize all that had
been hoped. The grave disciples of the Avesta and the adorers of Jehovah
believed themselves brothers. Persia had begun by banishing the multiple
dévas, and by transforming them into demons (divs), to draw from the
old Arian imaginations (essentially naturalistic) a species of Monotheism. The
prophetic tone of many of the teachings of Iran had much analogy with certain
compositions of Hosea and Isaiah. Israel reposed under the Achemenidae,[1] and
under Xerxes (Ahasuerus) made itself feared by the Iranians themselves. But the
triumphal and often cruel entry of Greek and Roman civilization into Asia, threw
it back upon its dreams. More than ever it invoked the Messiah as judge and
avenger of the people. A complete renovation, a revolution which should shake
the world to its very foundation, was necessary in order to satisfy the enormous
thirst of vengeance excited in it by the sense of its superiority, and by the
sight of its humiliation.[2]
[Footnote 1: The whole book of Esther breathes a great
attachment to this dynasty.]
[Footnote 2: Apocryphal letter of Baruch, in Fabricius, Cod.
pseud.,
V.T., ii. p. 147, and following.]
If Israel had possessed the spiritualistic doctrine, which
divides man in two parts—the body and the soul—and finds it quite natural that
while the body decays, the soul should survive, this paroxysm of rage and of
energetic protestation would have had no existence. But such a doctrine,
proceeding from the Grecian philosophy, was not in the traditions of the Jewish
mind. The ancient Hebrew writings contain no trace of future rewards or
punishments. Whilst the idea of the solidarity of the tribe existed, it was
natural that a strict retribution according to individual merits should not be
thought of. So much the worse for the pious man who happened to live in an epoch
of impiety; he suffered, like the rest, the public misfortunes consequent on the
general irreligion. This doctrine, bequeathed by the sages of the patriarchal
era, constantly produced unsustainable contradictions. Already at the time of
Job it was much shaken; the old men of Teman who professed it were considered
behind the age, and the young Elihu, who intervened in order to combat them,
dared to utter as his first word this essentially revolutionary sentiment,
"Great men are not always wise; neither do the aged understand judgment."[1]
With the complications which had taken place in the world since the time of
Alexander, the old Temanite and Mosaic principle became still more
intolerable.[2] Never had Israel been more faithful to the Law, and yet it was
subjected to the atrocious persecution of Antiochus. Only a declaimer,
accustomed to repeat old phrases denuded of meaning, would dare to assert that
these evils proceeded from the unfaithfulness of the people.[3] What! these
victims who died for their faith, these heroic Maccabees, this mother with her
seven sons, will Jehovah forget them eternally? Will he abandon them to the
corruption of the grave?[4] Worldly and incredulous Sadduceeism might possibly
not recoil before such a consequence, and a consummate sage, like Antigonus of
Soco,[5] might indeed maintain that we must not practise virtue like a slave in
expectation of a recompense, that we must be virtuous without hope. But the mass
of the people could not be contented with that. Some, attaching themselves to
the principle of philosophical immortality, imagined the righteous living in the
memory of God, glorious forever in the remembrance of men, and judging the
wicked who had persecuted them.[6] "They live in the sight of God; … they are
known of God."[7] That was their reward. Others, especially the Pharisees, had
recourse to the doctrine of the resurrection.[8] The righteous will live again
in order to participate in the Messianic reign. They will live again in the
flesh, and for a world of which they will be the kings and the judges; they will
be present at the triumph of their ideas and at the humiliation of their
enemies.
[Footnote 1: Job xxxiii. 9.]
[Footnote 2: It is nevertheless remarkable that Jesus, son of
Sirach, adheres to it strictly (chap. xvii. 26-28, xxii. 10, 11, xxx. 4, and
following, xli. 1, 2, xliv. 9). The author of the book of Wisdom holds
quite opposite opinions (iv. 1, Greek text).]
[Footnote 3: Esth. xiv. 6, 7 (apocr.); the apocryphal Epistle of
Baruch (Fabricius, Cod. pseud., V.T., ii. p. 147, and following).]
[Footnote 4: 2 Macc. vii.]
[Footnote 5: Pirké Aboth., i. 3.]
[Footnote 6: Wisdom, ii.-vi.; De Rationis Imperio,
attributed to Josephus, 8, 13, 16, 18. Still we must remark that the author of
this last treatise estimates the motive of personal recompense in a secondary
degree. The primary impulse of martyrs is the pure love of the Law, the
advantage which their death will procure to the people, and the glory which will
attach to their name. Comp. Wisdom, iv. 1, and following; Eccl.
xliv., and following; Jos., B.J., II. viii. 10, III. viii. 5.]
[Footnote 7: Wisdom, iv. 1; De Rat. Imp., 16, 18.]
[Footnote 8: 2 Macc., vii. 9, 14, xii. 43, 44.]
We find among the ancient people of Israel only very indecisive
traces of this fundamental dogma. The Sadducee, who did not believe it, was in
reality faithful to the old Jewish doctrine; it was the Pharisee, the believer
in the resurrection, who was the innovator. But in religion it is always the
zealous sect which innovates, which progresses, and which has influence. Besides
this, the resurrection, an idea totally different from that of the immortality
of the soul, proceeded very naturally from the anterior doctrines and from the
position of the people. Perhaps Persia also furnished some of its elements.[1]
In any case, combining with the belief in the Messiah, and with the doctrine of
a speedy renewal of all things, it formed those apocalyptic theories which,
without being articles of faith (the orthodox Sanhedrim of Jerusalem does not
seem to have adopted them), pervaded all imaginations, and produced an extreme
fermentation from one end of the Jewish world to the other. The total absence of
dogmatic rigor caused very contradictory notions to be admitted at one time,
even upon so primary a point Sometimes the righteous were to await the
resurrection;[2] sometimes they were to be received at the moment of death into
Abraham's bosom;[3] sometimes the resurrection was to be general;[4] sometimes
it was to be reserved only for the faithful;[5] sometimes it supposed a renewed
earth and a new Jerusalem; sometimes it implied a previous annihilation of the
universe.
[Footnote 1: Theopompus, in Diog. Laert., Proem, 9.
Boundehesch, xxxi. The traces of the doctrine of the resurrection in the
Avesta are very doubtful.]
[Footnote 2: John xi. 24.]
[Footnote 3: Luke xvi. 22. Cf. De Rationis Imp., 13, 16,
18.]
[Footnote 4: Dan. xii. 2.]
[Footnote 5: 2 Macc. vii. 14.]
Jesus, as soon as he began to think, entered into the burning
atmosphere which was created in Palestine by the ideas we have just stated.
These ideas were taught in no school; but they were in the very air, and his
soul was early penetrated by them. Our hesitations and our doubts never reached
him. On this summit of the mountain of Nazareth, where no man can sit to-day
without an uneasy, though it may be a frivolous, feeling about his destiny,
Jesus sat often untroubled by a doubt. Free from selfishness—that source of our
troubles, which makes us seek with eagerness a reward for virtue beyond the
tomb—he thought only of his work, of his race, and of humanity. Those mountains,
that sea, that azure sky, those high plains in the horizon, were for him not the
melancholy vision of a soul which interrogates Nature upon her fate, but the
certain symbol, the transparent shadow, of an invisible world, and of a new
heaven.
He never attached much importance to the political events of his
time, and he probably knew little about them. The court of the Herods formed a
world so different to his, that he doubtless knew it only by name. Herod the
Great died about the year in which Jesus was born, leaving imperishable
remembrances—monuments which must compel the most malevolent posterity to
associate his name with that of Solomon; nevertheless, his work was incomplete,
and could not be continued. Profanely ambitious, and lost in a maze of religious
controversies, this astute Idumean had the advantage which coolness and
judgment, stripped of morality, give over passionate fanatics. But his idea of a
secular kingdom of Israel, even if it had not been an anachronism in the state
of the world in which it was conceived, would inevitably have miscarried, like
the similar project which Solomon formed, owing to the difficulties proceeding
from the character of the nation. His three sons were only lieutenants of the
Romans, analogous to the rajahs of India under the English dominion. Antipater,
or Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and of Peræa, of whom Jesus was a subject all
his life, was an idle and useless prince,[1] a favorite and flatterer of
Tiberius,[2] and too often misled by the bad influence of his second wife,
Herodias.[3] Philip, tetrarch of Gaulonitis and Batanea, into whose dominions
Jesus made frequent journeys, was a much better sovereign.[4] As to Archelaus,
ethnarch of Jerusalem, Jesus could not know him, for he was about ten years old
when this man, who was weak and without character, though sometimes violent, was
deposed by Augustus.[5] The last trace of self-government was thus lost to
Jerusalem. United to Samaria and Idumea, Judea formed a kind of dependency of
the province of Syria, in which the senator Publius Sulpicius Quirinus, well
known as consul,[6] was the imperial legate. A series of Roman procurators,
subordinate in important matters to the imperial legate of Syria—Coponius,
Marcus Ambivius, Annius Rufus, Valerius Gratus, and lastly (in the twenty-sixth
year of our era), Pontius Pilate[7]—followed each other, and were constantly
occupied in extinguishing the volcano which was seething beneath their feet.
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., VIII. v. 1, vii. 1 and 2; Luke
iii. 19.]
[Footnote 2: Ibid., XVIII. ii. 3, iv. 5, v. 1.]
[Footnote 3: Ibid., XVIII. vii. 2.]
[Footnote 4: Ibid., XVIII. iv. 6.]
[Footnote 5: Ibid., XVII. xii. 2; and B.J., II. vii. 3.]
[Footnote 6: Orelli, Inscr. Lat., No. 3693; Henzen,
Suppl., No.
7041; Fasti prænestini, on the 6th of March, and on the 28th of
April (in the Corpus Inscr. Lat., i. 314, 317); Borghesi, Fastes
Consulaires (yet unedited), in the year 742; R. Bergmann, De Inscr.
Lat. ad. P.S. Quirinium, ut videtur, referenda (Berlin, 1851). Cf.
Tac., Ann., ii. 30, iii. 48; Strabo, XII. vi. 5.]
[Footnote 7: Jos., Ant., l. XVIII.]
Continual seditions, excited by the zealots of Mosaism, did not
cease, in fact, to agitate Jerusalem during all this time.[1] The death of the
seditious was certain; but death, when the integrity of the Law was in question,
was sought with avidity. To overturn the Roman eagle, to destroy the works of
art raised by the Herods, in which the Mosaic regulations were not always
respected[2]—to rise up against the votive escutcheons put up by the
procurators, the inscriptions of which appeared tainted with idolatry[3]—were
perpetual temptations to fanatics, who had reached that degree of exaltation
which removes all care for life. Judas, son of Sariphea, Matthias, son of
Margaloth, two very celebrated doctors of the law, formed against the
established order a boldly aggressive party, which continued after their
execution.[4] The Samaritans were agitated by movements of a similar nature.[5]
The Law had never counted a greater number of impassioned disciples than at this
time, when he already lived who, by the full authority of his genius and of his
great soul, was about to abrogate it. The "Zelotes" (Kenaïm), or "Sicarii,"
pious assassins, who imposed on themselves the task of killing whoever in their
estimation broke the Law, began to appear.[6] Representatives of a totally
different spirit, the Thaumaturges, considered as in some sort divine, obtained
credence in consequence of the imperious want which the age experienced for the
supernatural and the divine.[7]
[Footnote 1: Ibid., the books XVI. and XVIII. entirely, and
B.J., books I. and II.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XV. x. 4. Compare Book of Enoch,
xcvii. 13, 14.]
[Footnote 3: Philo, Leg. ad Caium, § 38.]
[Footnote 4: Jos., Ant., XVII. vi. 2, and following;
B.J., I. xxxiii. 3, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Jos., Ant., XVIII. iv. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 6: Mishnah, Sanhedrim, ix. 6; John xvi. 2;
Jos., B.J., book IV., and following.]
[Footnote 7: Acts viii. 9. Verse 11 leads us to suppose
that Simon the magician was already famous in the time of Jesus.]
A movement which had much more influence upon Jesus was that of
Judas the Gaulonite, or Galilean. Of all the exactions to which the country
newly conquered by Rome was subjected, the census was the most unpopular.[1]
This measure, which always astonishes people unaccustomed to the requirements of
great central administrations, was particularly odious to the Jews. We see that
already, under David, a numbering of the people provoked violent recriminations,
and the menaces of the prophets.[2] The census, in fact, was the basis of
taxation; now taxation, to a pure theocracy, was almost an impiety. God being
the sole Master whom man ought to recognize, to pay tithe to a secular sovereign
was, in a manner, to put him in the place of God. Completely ignorant of the
idea of the State, the Jewish theocracy only acted up to its logical
induction—the negation of civil society and of all government. The money of the
public treasury was accounted stolen money.[3] The census ordered by Quirinus
(in the year 6 of the Christian era) powerfully reawakened these ideas, and
caused a great fermentation. An insurrection broke out in the northern
provinces. One Judas, of the town of Gamala, upon the eastern shore of the Lake
of Tiberias, and a Pharisee named Sadoc, by denying the lawfulness of the tax,
created a numerous party, which soon broke out in open revolt.[4] The
fundamental maxims of this party were—that they ought to call no man "master,"
this title belonging to God alone; and that liberty was better than life. Judas
had, doubtless, many other principles, which Josephus, always careful not to
compromise his co-religionists, designedly suppresses; for it is impossible to
understand how, for so simple an idea, the Jewish historian should give him a
place among the philosophers of his nation, and should regard him as the founder
of a fourth school, equal to those of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the
Essenes. Judas was evidently the chief of a Galilean sect, deeply imbued with
the Messianic idea, and which became a political movement. The procurator,
Coponius, crushed the sedition of the Gaulonite; but the school remained, and
preserved its chiefs. Under the leadership of Menahem, son of the founder, and
of a certain Eleazar, his relative, we find them again very active in the last
contests of the Jews against the Romans.[5] Perhaps Jesus saw this Judas, whose
idea of the Jewish revolution was so different from his own; at all events, he
knew his school, and it was probably to avoid his error that he pronounced the
axiom upon the penny of Cæsar. Jesus, more wise, and far removed from all
sedition, profited by the fault of his predecessor, and dreamed of another
kingdom and another deliverance.
[Footnote 1: Discourse of Claudius at Lyons, Tab. ii. sub fin.
De
Boisseau, Inscr. Ant. de Lyon, p. 136.]
[Footnote 2: 2 Sam. xxiv.]
[Footnote 3: Talmud of Babylon, Baba Kama, 113 a;
Shabbath, 33 b.]
[Footnote 4: Jos., Ant., XVIII. i. 1 and 6; B.J.,
II. viii. 1; Acts v. 37. Previous to Judas the Gaulonite, the Acts
place another agitator, Theudas; but this is an anachronism, the movement of
Theudas took place in the year 44 of the Christian era (Jos., Ant., XX.
v. 1).]
[Footnote 5: Jos., B.J., II. xvii. 8, and following.]
Galilee was thus an immense furnace wherein the most diverse
elements were seething.[1] An extraordinary contempt of life, or, more properly
speaking, a kind of longing for death,[2] was the consequence of these
agitations. Experience counts for nothing in these great fanatical movements.
Algeria, at the commencement of the French occupation, saw arise, each spring,
inspired men, who declared themselves invulnerable, and sent by God to drive
away the infidels; the following year their death was forgotten, and their
successors found no less credence. The Roman power, very stern on the one hand,
yet little disposed to meddle, permitted a good deal of liberty. Those great,
brutal despotisms, terrible in repression, were not so suspicious as powers
which have a faith to defend. They allowed everything up to the point when they
thought it necessary to be severe. It is not recorded that Jesus was even once
interfered with by the civil power, in his wandering career. Such freedom, and,
above all, the happiness which Galilee enjoyed in being much less confined in
the bonds of Pharisaic pedantry, gave to this district a real superiority over
Jerusalem. The revolution, or, in other words, the belief in the Messiah, caused
here a general fermentation. Men deemed themselves on the eve of the great
renovation; the Scriptures, tortured into divers meanings, fostered the most
colossal hopes. In each line of the simple writings of the Old Testament they
saw the assurance, and, in a manner, the programme of the future reign, which
was to bring peace to the righteous, and to seal forever the work of God.
[Footnote 1: Luke xiii. 1. The Galilean movement of Judas, son
of Hezekiah, does not appear to have been of a religious character; perhaps,
however, its character has been misrepresented by Josephus (Ant., XVII.
x. 5).]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XVI. vi. 2, 3; XVIII. i. 1.]
From all time, this division into two parties, opposed in
interest and spirit, had been for the Hebrew nation a principle which
contributed to their moral growth. Every nation called to high destinies ought
to be a little world in itself, including opposite poles. Greece presented, at a
few leagues' distance from each other, Sparta and Athens—to a superficial
observer, the two antipodes; but, in reality, rival sisters, necessary to one
another. It was the same with Judea. Less brilliant in one sense than the
development of Jerusalem, that of the North was on the whole much more fertile;
the greatest achievements of the Jewish people have always proceeded thence. A
complete absence of the love of Nature, bordering upon something dry, narrow,
and ferocious, has stamped all the works purely Hierosolymite with a degree of
grandeur, though sad, arid, and repulsive. With its solemn doctors, its insipid
canonists, its hypocritical and atrabilious devotees, Jerusalem has not
conquered humanity. The North has given to the world the simple Shunammite, the
humble Canaanite, the impassioned Magdalene, the good foster-father Joseph, and
the Virgin Mary. The North alone has made Christianity; Jerusalem, on the
contrary, is the true home of that obstinate Judaism which, founded by the
Pharisees, and fixed by the Talmud, has traversed the Middle Ages, and come down
to us.
A beautiful external nature tended to produce a much less
austere spirit—a spirit less sharply monotheistic, if I may use the expression,
which imprinted a charming and idyllic character on all the dreams of Galilee.
The saddest country in the world is perhaps the region round about Jerusalem.
Galilee, on the contrary, was a very green, shady, smiling district, the true
home of the Song of Songs, and the songs of the well-beloved.[1] During the two
months of March and April, the country forms a carpet of flowers of an
incomparable variety of colors. The animals are small, and extremely
gentle—delicate and lively turtle-doves, blue-birds so light that they rest on a
blade of grass without bending it, crested larks which venture almost under the
feet of the traveller, little river tortoises with mild and lively eyes, storks
with grave and modest mien, which, laying aside all timidity, allow man to come
quite near them, and seem almost to invite his approach. In no country in the
world do the mountains spread themselves out with more harmony, or inspire
higher thoughts. Jesus seems to have had a peculiar love for them. The most
important acts of his divine career took place upon the mountains. It was there
that he was the most inspired;[2] it was there that he held secret communion
with the ancient prophets; and it was there that his disciples witnessed his
transfiguration.[3]
[Footnote 1: Jos., B.J., III. iii. 1. The horrible state
to which the country is reduced, especially near Lake Tiberias, ought not to
deceive us. These countries, now scorched, were formerly terrestrial paradises.
The baths of Tiberias, which are now a frightful abode, were formerly the most
beautiful places in Galilee (Jos., Ant., XVIII. ii. 3.) Josephus (Bell.
Jud., III. x. 8) extols the beautiful trees of the plain of Gennesareth,
where there is no longer a single one. Anthony the Martyr, about the year 600,
consequently fifty years before the Mussulman invasion, still found Galilee
covered with delightful plantations, and compares its fertility to that of Egypt
(Itin., § 5).]
[Footnote 2: Matt. v. 1, xiv. 23; Luke vi. 12.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xvii. 1, and following; Mark ix. 1, and
following;
Luke ix. 28, and following.]
This beautiful country has now become sad and gloomy through the
ever-impoverishing influence of Islamism. But still everything which man cannot
destroy breathes an air of freedom, mildness, and tenderness, and at the time of
Jesus it overflowed with happiness and prosperity. The Galileans were considered
energetic, brave, and laborious.[1] If we except Tiberias, built by Antipas in
honor of Tiberius (about the year 15), in the Roman style,[2] Galilee had no
large towns. The country was, nevertheless, well peopled, covered with small
towns and large villages, and cultivated in all parts with skill.[3] From the
ruins which remain of its ancient splendor, we can trace an agricultural people,
no way gifted in art, caring little for luxury, indifferent to the beauties of
form and exclusively idealistic. The country abounded in fresh streams and in
fruits; the large farms were shaded with vines and fig-trees; the gardens were
filled with trees bearing apples, walnuts, and pomegranates.[4] The wine was
excellent, if we may judge by that which the Jews still obtain at Safed, and
they drank much of it.[5] This contented and easily satisfied life was not like
the gross materialism of our peasantry, the coarse pleasures of agricultural
Normandy, or the heavy mirth of the Flemish. It spiritualized itself in ethereal
dreams—in a kind of poetic mysticism, blending heaven and earth. Leave the
austere Baptist in his desert of Judea to preach penitence, to inveigh without
ceasing, and to live on locusts in the company of jackals. Why should the
companions of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? Joy will be
a part of the kingdom of God. Is she not the daughter of the humble in heart, of
the men of good will?
[Footnote 1: Jos., B.J., III. iii. 2.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XVIII. ii. 2; B.J., II.
ix. 1; Vita, 12, 13, 64.]
[Footnote 3: Jos., B.J., III. iii. 2.]
[Footnote 4: We may judge of this by some enclosures in the
neighborhood of Nazareth. Cf. Song of Solomon ii. 3, 5, 13, iv. 13, vi. 6, 10,
vii. 8, 12, viii. 2, 5; Anton. Martyr, l.c. The aspect of the great farms
is still well preserved in the south of the country of Tyre (ancient tribe of
Asher). Traces of the ancient Palestinian agriculture, with its troughs,
threshing-floors, wine-presses, mills, &c., cut in the rock, are found at every
step.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. ix. 17, xi. 19; Mark ii. 22; Luke v. 37, vii.
34;
John ii. 3, and following.]
The whole history of infant Christianity has become in this
manner a delightful pastoral. A Messiah at the marriage festival—the courtezan
and the good Zaccheus called to his feasts—the founders of the kingdom of heaven
like a bridal procession; that is what Galilee has boldly offered, and what the
world has accepted. Greece has drawn pictures of human life by sculpture and by
charming poetry, but always without backgrounds or distant receding
perspectives. In Galilee were wanting the marble, the practiced workmen, the
exquisite and refined language. But Galilee has created the most sublime ideal
for the popular imagination; for behind its idyl moves the fate of humanity, and
the light which illumines its picture is the sun of the kingdom of God.
Jesus lived and grew amidst these enchanting scenes. From his
infancy, he went almost annually to the feast at Jerusalem.[1] The pilgrimage
was a sweet solemnity for the provincial Jews. Entire series of psalms were
consecrated to celebrate the happiness of thus journeying in family
companionship[2] during several days in the spring across the hills and valleys,
each one having in prospect the splendors of Jerusalem, the solemnities of the
sacred courts, and the joy of brethren dwelling together in unity.[3] The route
which Jesus ordinarily took in these journeys was that which is followed to this
day through Ginæa and Shechem.[4] From Shechem to Jerusalem the journey is very
tiresome. But the neighborhood of the old sanctuaries of Shiloh and Bethel, near
which the travellers pass, keeps their interest alive. Ain-el-Haramie,[5]
the last halting-place, is a charming and melancholy spot, and few impressions
equal that experienced on encamping there for the night. The valley is narrow
and sombre, and a dark stream issues from the rocks, full of tombs, which form
its banks. It is, I think, the "valley of tears," or of dropping waters, which
is described as one of the stations on the way in the delightful Eighty-fourth
Psalm,[6] and which became the emblem of life for the sad and sweet mysticism of
the Middle Ages. Early the next day they would be at Jerusalem; such an
expectation even now sustains the caravan, rendering the night short and slumber
light.
[Footnote 1: Luke ii. 41.]
[Footnote 2: Luke ii. 42-44.]
[Footnote 3: See especially Ps. lxxxiv., cxxii., cxxxiii.
(Vulg., lxxxiii., cxxi., cxxxii).]
[Footnote 4: Luke ix. 51-53, xvii. 11; John iv. 4; Jos., Ant.,
XX. vi. 1; B.J., II. xii. 3; Vita, 52. Often, however, the
pilgrims came by Peræa, in order to avoid Samaria, where they incurred dangers;
Matt. xix. 1; Mark x. 1.]
[Footnote 5: According to Josephus (Vita, 52) it was
three days' journey. But the stage from Shechem to Jerusalem was generally
divided into two.]
[Footnote 6: lxxxiii. according to the Vulgate, v. 7.]
These journeys, in which the assembled nation exchanged its
ideas, and which were almost always centres of great agitation, placed Jesus in
contact with the mind of his countrymen, and no doubt inspired him whilst still
young with a lively antipathy for the defects of the official representatives of
Judaism. It is supposed that very early the desert had great influence on his
development, and that he made long stays there.[1] But the God he found in the
desert was not his God. It was rather the God of Job, severe and terrible,
accountable to no one. Sometimes Satan came to tempt him. He returned, then,
into his beloved Galilee, and found again his heavenly Father in the midst of
the green hills and the clear fountains—and among the crowds of women and
children, who, with joyous soul and the song of angels in their hearts, awaited
the salvation of Israel.
[Footnote 1: Luke iv. 42, v. 16.]
CHAPTER V.
THE FIRST SAYINGS OF JESUS—HIS IDEAS OF A DIVINE FATHER AND OF
A PURE RELIGION—FIRST DISCIPLES.
Joseph died before his son had taken any
public part. Mary remained, in a manner, the head of the family, and this
explains why her son, when it was wished to distinguish him from others of the
same name, was most frequently called the "son of Mary."[1] It seems that
having, by the death of her husband, been left friendless at Nazareth, she
withdrew to Cana,[2] from which she may have come originally. Cana[3] was a
little town at from two to two and a half hours' journey from Nazareth, at the
foot of the mountains which bound the plain of Asochis on the north.[4] The
prospect, less grand than at Nazareth, extends over all the plain, and is
bounded in the most picturesque manner by the mountains of Nazareth and the
hills of Sepphoris. Jesus appears to have resided some time in this place. Here
he probably passed a part of his youth, and here his greatness first revealed
itself.[5]
[Footnote 1: This is the expression of Mark vi. 3; cf. Matt.
xiii. 55. Mark did not know Joseph. John and Luke, on the contrary, prefer the
expression "son of Joseph." Luke iii. 23, iv. 22; John i. 45, iv. 42.]
[Footnote 2: John ii. 1, iv. 46. John alone is informed on this
point.]
[Footnote 3: I admit, as probable, the idea which identifies
Cana of Galilee with Kana el Djélil. We may, nevertheless, attach value
to the arguments for Kefr Kenna, a place an hour or an hour and a half's
journey N.N.E. of Nazareth.]
[Footnote 4: Now El-Buttauf.]
[Footnote 5: John ii. 11, iv. 46. One or two disciples were of
Cana,
John xxi. 2; Matt. x. 4; Mark iii. 18.]
He followed the trade of his father, which was that of a
carpenter.[1] This was not in any degree humiliating or grievous. The Jewish
customs required that a man devoted to intellectual work should learn a trade.
The most celebrated doctors did so;[2] thus St. Paul, whose education had been
so carefully tended, was a tent-maker.[3] Jesus never married. All his power of
love centred upon that which he regarded as his celestial vocation. The
extremely delicate feeling toward women, which we remark in him, was not
separated from the exclusive devotion which he had for his mission. Like Francis
d'Assisi and Francis de Sales, he treated as sisters the women who were loved of
the same work as himself; he had his St. Clare, his Frances de Chantal. It is,
however, probable that these loved him more than the work; he was, no doubt,
more beloved than loving. Thus, as often happens in very elevated natures,
tenderness of the heart was transformed in him into an infinite sweetness, a
vague poetry, and a universal charm. His relations, free and intimate, but of an
entirely moral kind, with women of doubtful character, are also explained by the
passion which attached him to the glory of his Father, and which made him
jealously anxious for all beautiful creatures who could contribute to it.[4]
[Footnote 1: Mark vi. 3; Justin, Dial. cum Tryph., 88.]
[Footnote 2: For example, "Rabbi Johanan, the shoemaker, Rabbi
Isaac, the blacksmith."]
[Footnote 3: Acts xviii. 3.]
[Footnote 4: Luke vii. 37, and following; John iv. 7, and
following; viii. 3, and following.]
What was the progress of the ideas of Jesus during this obscure
period of his life? Through what meditations did he enter upon the prophetic
career? We have no information on these points, his history having come to us in
scattered narratives, without exact chronology. But the development of character
is everywhere the same; and there is no doubt that the growth of so powerful
individuality as that of Jesus obeyed very rigorous laws. A high conception of
the Divinity—which he did not owe to Judaism, and which seems to have been in
all its parts the creation of his great mind—was in a manner the source of all
his power. It is essential here that we put aside the ideas familiar to us, and
the discussions in which little minds exhaust themselves. In order properly to
understand the precise character of the piety of Jesus, we must forget all that
is placed between the gospel and ourselves. Deism and Pantheism have become the
two poles of theology. The paltry discussions of scholasticism, the dryness of
spirit of Descartes, the deep-rooted irreligion of the eighteenth century, by
lessening God, and by limiting Him, in a manner, by the exclusion of everything
which is not His very self, have stifled in the breast of modern rationalism all
fertile ideas of the Divinity. If God, in fact, is a personal being outside of
us, he who believes himself to have peculiar relations with God is a
"visionary," and as the physical and physiological sciences have shown us that
all supernatural visions are illusions, the logical Deist finds it impossible to
understand the great beliefs of the past. Pantheism, on the other hand, in
suppressing the Divine personality, is as far as it can be from the living God
of the ancient religions. Were the men who have best comprehended
God—Cakya-Mouni, Plato, St. Paul, St. Francis d'Assisi, and St. Augustine (at
some periods of his fluctuating life)—Deists or Pantheists? Such a question has
no meaning. The physical and metaphysical proofs of the existence of God were
quite indifferent to them. They felt the Divine within themselves. We must place
Jesus in the first rank of this great family of the true sons of God. Jesus had
no visions; God did not speak to him as to one outside of Himself; God was in
him; he felt himself with God, and he drew from his heart all he said of his
Father. He lived in the bosom of God by constant communication with Him; he saw
Him not, but he understood Him, without need of the thunder and the burning bush
of Moses, of the revealing tempest of Job, of the oracle of the old Greek sages,
of the familiar genius of Socrates, or of the angel Gabriel of Mahomet. The
imagination and the hallucination of a St. Theresa, for example, are useless
here. The intoxication of the Soufi proclaiming himself identical with God is
also quite another thing. Jesus never once gave utterance to the sacrilegious
idea that he was God. He believed himself to be in direct communion with God; he
believed himself to be the Son of God. The highest consciousness of God which
has existed in the bosom of humanity was that of Jesus.
We understand, on the other hand, how Jesus, starting with such
a disposition of spirit, could never be a speculative philosopher like
Cakya-Mouni. Nothing is further from scholastic theology than the Gospel.[1] The
speculations of the Greek fathers on the Divine essence proceed from an entirely
different spirit. God, conceived simply as Father, was all the theology of
Jesus. And this was not with him a theoretical principle, a doctrine more or
less proved, which he sought to inculcate in others. He did not argue with his
disciples;[2] he demanded from them no effort of attention. He did not preach
his opinions; he preached himself. Very great and very disinterested minds often
present, associated with much elevation, that character of perpetual attention
to themselves, and extreme personal susceptibility, which, in general, is
peculiar to women.[3] Their conviction that God is in them, and occupies Himself
perpetually with them, is so strong, that they have no fear of obtruding
themselves upon others; our reserve, and our respect for the opinion of others,
which is a part of our weakness, could not belong to them. This exaltation of
self is not egotism; for such men, possessed by their idea, give their lives
freely, in order to seal their work; it is the identification of self with the
object it has embraced, carried to its utmost limit. It is regarded as
vain-glory by those who see in the new teaching only the personal phantasy of
the founder; but it is the finger of God to those who see the result. The fool
stands side by side here with the inspired man, only the fool never succeeds. It
has not yet been given to insanity to influence seriously the progress of
humanity.
[Footnote 1: The discourses which the fourth Gospel attributes
to Jesus contain some germs of theology. But these discourses being in absolute
contradiction with those of the synoptical Gospels, which represent, without any
doubt, the primitive Logia, ought to count simply as documents of
apostolic history, and not as elements of the life of Jesus.]
[Footnote 2: See Matt. ix. 9, and other analogous accounts.]
[Footnote 3: See, for example, John xxi. 15, and following.]
Doubtless, Jesus did not attain at first this high affirmation
of himself. But it is probable that, from the first, he regarded his
relationship with God as that of a son with his father. This was his great act
of originality; in this he had nothing in common with his race.[1] Neither the
Jew nor the Mussulman has understood this delightful theology of love. The God
of Jesus is not that tyrannical master who kills us, damns us, or saves us,
according to His pleasure. The God of Jesus is our Father. We hear Him in
listening to the gentle inspiration which cries within us, "Abba, Father."[2]
The God of Jesus is not the partial despot who has chosen Israel for His people,
and specially protects them. He is the God of humanity. Jesus was not a patriot,
like the Maccabees; or a theocrat, like Judas the Gaulonite. Boldly raising
himself above the prejudices of his nation, he established the universal
fatherhood of God. The Gaulonite maintained that we should die rather than give
to another than God the name of "Master;" Jesus left this name to any one who
liked to take it, and reserved for God a dearer name. Whilst he accorded to the
powerful of the earth, who were to him representatives of force, a respect full
of irony, he proclaimed the supreme consolation—the recourse to the Father which
each one has in heaven—and the true kingdom of God, which each one bears in his
heart.
[Footnote 1: The great soul of Philo is in sympathy here, as on
so
many other points, with that of Jesus. De Confus. Ling., § 14; De
Migr. Abr., § 1; De Somniis, ii. § 41; De Agric. Noë, § 12;
De
Mutatione Nominum, § 4. But Philo is scarcely a Jew in spirit.]
[Footnote 2: Galatians iv. 6.]
This name of "kingdom of God," or "kingdom of heaven,"[1] was
the favorite term of Jesus to express the revolution which he brought into the
world.[2] Like almost all the Messianic terms, it came from the book of Daniel.
According to the author of this extraordinary book, the four profane empires,
destined to fall, were to be succeeded by a fifth empire, that of the saints,
which should last forever.[3] This reign of God upon earth naturally led to the
most diverse interpretations. To Jewish theology, the "kingdom of God" is most
frequently only Judaism itself—the true religion, the monotheistic worship,
piety.[4] In the later periods of his life, Jesus believed that this reign would
be realized in a material form by a sudden renovation of the world. But
doubtless this was not his first idea.[5] The admirable moral which he draws
from the idea of God as Father, is not that of enthusiasts who believe the world
is near its end, and who prepare themselves by asceticism for a chimerical
catastrophe; it is that of men who have lived, and still would live. "The
kingdom of God is within you," said he to those who sought with subtlety for
external signs.[6] The realistic conception of the Divine advent was but a
cloud, a transient error, which his death has made us forget. The Jesus who
founded the true kingdom of God, the kingdom of the meek and the humble, was the
Jesus of early life[7]—of those chaste and pure days when the voice of his
Father re-echoed within him in clearer tones. It was then for some months,
perhaps a year, that God truly dwelt upon the earth. The voice of the young
carpenter suddenly acquired an extraordinary sweetness. An infinite charm was
exhaled from his person, and those who had seen him up to that time no longer
recognized him.[8] He had not yet any disciples, and the group which gathered
around him was neither a sect nor a school; but a common spirit, a sweet and
penetrating influence was felt. His amiable character, accompanied doubtless by
one of those lovely faces[9] which sometimes appear in the Jewish race, threw
around him a fascination from which no one in the midst of these kindly and
simple populations could escape.
[Footnote 1: The word "heaven" in the rabbinical language of
that time is synonymous with the name of "God," which they avoided pronouncing.
Compare Matt. xxi. 25; Luke xv. 18, xx. 4.]
[Footnote 2: This expression occurs on each page of the
synoptical Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and St. Paul. If it only appears
once in John (iii. 3, 5), it is because the discourses related in the fourth
Gospel are far from representing the true words of Jesus.]
[Footnote 3: Dan. ii. 44, vii. 13, 14, 22, 27.]
[Footnote 4: Mishnah, Berakoth, ii. 1, 3; Talmud of
Jerusalem, Berakoth, ii. 2; Kiddushin, i. 2; Talm. of Bab.,
Berakoth, 15 a; Mekilta, 42 b; Siphra, 170 b.
The expression appears often in the Medrashim.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. vi. 33, xii. 28, xix. 12; Mark xii. 34; Luke
xii. 31.]
[Footnote 6: Luke xvii. 20, 21.]
[Footnote 7: The grand theory of the revelation of the Son of
Man is in fact reserved, in the synoptics, for the chapters which precede the
narrative of the Passion. The first discourses, especially in Matthew, are
entirely moral.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. xiii. 54 and following; Mark vi. 2 and
following;
John v. 43.]
[Footnote 9: The tradition of the plainness of Jesus (Justin,
Dial. cum Tryph., 85, 88, 100) springs from a desire to see realized in him
a pretended Messianic trait (Isa. liii. 2).]
Paradise would, in fact, have been brought to earth if the ideas
of the young Master had not far transcended the level of ordinary goodness
beyond which it has not been found possible to raise the human race. The
brotherhood of men, as sons of God, and the moral consequences which result
therefrom, were deduced with exquisite feeling. Like all the rabbis of the time,
Jesus was little inclined toward consecutive reasonings, and clothed his
doctrine in concise aphorisms, and in an expressive form, at times enigmatical
and strange.[1] Some of these maxims come from the books of the Old Testament.
Others were the thoughts of more modern sages, especially those of Antigonus of
Soco, Jesus, son of Sirach, and Hillel, which had reached him, not from learned
study, but as oft-repeated proverbs. The synagogue was rich in very happily
expressed sentences, which formed a kind of current proverbial literature.[2]
Jesus adopted almost all this oral teaching, but imbued it with a superior
spirit.[3] Exceeding the duties laid down by the Law and the elders, he demanded
perfection. All the virtues of humility—forgiveness, charity, abnegation, and
self-denial—virtues which with good reason have been called Christian, if we
mean by that that they have been truly preached by Christ, were in this first
teaching, though undeveloped. As to justice, he was content with repeating the
well-known axiom—"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so
to them."[4] But this old, though somewhat selfish wisdom, did not satisfy him.
He went to excess, and said—"Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn
to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away
thy coat, let him have thy cloak also."[5] "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck
it out, and cast it from thee."[6] "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate
you, pray for them that persecute you."[7] "Judge not, that ye be not
judged."[8] "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven."[9] "Be ye therefore merciful as
your Father also is merciful."[10] "It is more blessed to give than to
receive."[11] "Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall
humble himself shall be exalted."[12]
[Footnote 1: The Logia of St. Matthew joins several of
these axioms together, to form lengthened discourses. But the fragmentary form
makes itself felt notwithstanding.]
[Footnote 2: The sentences of the Jewish doctors of the time are
collected in the little book entitled, Pirké Aboth.]
[Footnote 3: The comparisons will be made afterward as they
present themselves. It has been sometimes supposed that—the compilation of the
Talmud being later than that of the Gospels—parts may have been borrowed by the
Jewish compilers from the Christian morality. But this is inadmissible—a wall of
separation existed between the Church and the Synagogue. The Christian and
Jewish literature had scarcely any influence on one another before the
thirteenth century.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. vii. 12; Luke vi. 31. This axiom is in the
book of Tobit, iv. 16. Hillel used it habitually (Talm. of Bab.,
Shabbath, 31 a), and declared, like Jesus, that it was the sum of the
Law.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. v. 39, and following; Luke vi. 29. Compare
Jeremiah, Lamentations iii. 30.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. v. 29, 30, xviii. 9; Mark ix. 46.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. v. 44; Luke vi. 27. Compare Talmud of
Babylon, Shabbath, 88 b; Joma, 23 a.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. vii. 1; Luke vi. 37. Compare Talmud of
Babylon, Kethuboth, 105 b.]
[Footnote 9: Luke vi. 37. Compare Lev. xix. 18; Prov.
xx. 22; Ecclesiasticus xxviii. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 10: Luke vi. 36; Siphré, 51 b (Sultzbach,
1802).]
[Footnote 11: A saying related in Acts xx. 35.]
[Footnote 12: Matt. xxiii. 12; Luke xiv. 11, xviii. 14. The
sentences
quoted by St. Jerome from the "Gospel according to the Hebrews"
(Comment. in Epist. ad Ephes., v. 4; in Ezek. xviii.; Dial. adv.
Pelag., iii. 2), are imbued with the same spirit.]
Upon alms, pity, good works, kindness, peacefulness, and
complete disinterestedness of heart, he had little to add to the doctrine of the
synagogue.[1] But he placed upon them an emphasis full of unction, which made
the old maxims appear new. Morality is not composed of more or less
well-expressed principles. The poetry which makes the precept loved, is more
than the precept itself, taken as an abstract truth. Now it cannot be denied
that these maxims borrowed by Jesus from his predecessors, produce quite a
different effect in the Gospel to that in the ancient Law, in the Pirké Aboth,
or in the Talmud. It is neither the ancient Law nor the Talmud which has
conquered and changed the world. Little original in itself—if we mean by that
that one might recompose it almost entirely by the aid of older maxims—the
morality of the Gospels remains, nevertheless, the highest creation of human
conscience—the most beautiful code of perfect life that any moralist has traced.
[Footnote 1: Deut. xxiv., xxv., xxvi., &c.; Isa. lviii.
7; Prov. xix. 17; Pirké Aboth, i.; Talmud of Jerusalem, Peah,
i. 1; Talmud of Babylon, Shabbath, 63 a.]
Jesus did not speak against the Mosaic law, but it is clear that
he saw its insufficiency, and allowed it to be seen that he did so. He repeated
unceasingly that more must be done than the ancient sages had commanded.[1] He
forbade the least harsh word;[2] he prohibited divorce,[3] and all swearing;[4]
he censured revenge;[5] he condemned usury;[6] he considered voluptuous desire
as criminal as adultery;[7] he insisted upon a universal forgiveness of
injuries.[8] The motive on which he rested these maxims of exalted charity was
always the same…. "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in
heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good. For if ye love
them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even
the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in
heaven is perfect."[9]
[Footnote 1: Matt. v. 20, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. v. 22.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. v. 31, and following. Compare Talmud of
Babylon, Sanhedrim, 22 a.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. v. 33, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. v. 38, and following.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. v. 42. The Law prohibited it also (Deut.
xv. 7, 8), but less formally, and custom authorized it (Luke vii. 41, and
following).]
[Footnote 7: Matt. xxvii. 28. Compare Talmud, Masséket Kalla
(edit.
Fürth, 1793), fol. 34 b.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. v. 23, and following.]
[Footnote 9: Matt. v. 45, and following. Compare Lev. xi.
44, xix. 2.]
A pure worship, a religion without priests and external
observances, resting entirely on the feelings of the heart, on the imitation of
God,[1] on the direct relation of the conscience with the heavenly Father, was
the result of these principles. Jesus never shrank from this bold conclusion,
which made him a thorough revolutionist in the very centre of Judaism. Why
should there be mediators between man and his Father? As God only sees the
heart, of what good are these purifications, these observances relating only to
the body?[2] Even tradition, a thing so sacred to the Jews, is nothing compared
to sincerity.[3] The hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who, in praying, turned their
heads to see if they were observed, who gave their alms with ostentation, and
put marks upon their garments, that they might be recognized as pious
persons—all these grimaces of false devotion disgusted him. "They have their
recompense," said he; "but thou, when thou doest thine alms, let not thy left
hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thy alms may be in secret, and thy
Father, which seeth in secret, Himself shall reward thee openly."[4] "And when
thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray
standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be
seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou
prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy
Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward
thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for
they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Your Father knoweth
what things ye have need of before ye ask Him."[5]
[Footnote 1: Compare Philo, De Migr. Abr., § 23 and 24;
De Vita
Contemp., the whole.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xv. 11, and following; Mark vii. 6, and
following.]
[Footnote 3: Mark vii. 6, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. vi. 1, and following. Compare
Ecclesiasticus xvii. 18, xxix. 15; Talm. of Bab., Chagigah, 5 a;
Baba Bathra, 9 b.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. vi. 5-8.]
He did not affect any external signs of asceticism, contenting
himself with praying, or rather meditating, upon the mountains, and in the
solitary places, where man has always sought God.[1] This high idea of the
relations of man with God, of which so few minds, even after him, have been
capable, is summed up in a prayer which he taught to his disciples:[2]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiv. 23; Luke iv. 42, v. 16, vi. 12.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. vi. 9, and following; Luke xi. 2, and
following.]
"Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy
kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against
us. Lead us not into temptation; deliver us from the evil one."[1] He insisted
particularly upon the idea, that the heavenly Father knows better than we what
we need, and that we almost sin against Him in asking Him for this or that
particular thing.[2]
[Footnote 1: i.e., the devil.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xi. 5, and following.]
Jesus in this only carried out the consequences of the great
principles which Judaism had established, but which the official classes of the
nation tended more and more to despise. The Greek and Roman prayers were almost
always mere egotistical verbiage. Never had Pagan priest said to the faithful,
"If thou bring thy offering to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother
hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way;
first be reconciled with thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."[1]
Alone in antiquity, the Jewish prophets, especially Isaiah, had, in their
antipathy to the priesthood, caught a glimpse of the true nature of the worship
man owes to God. "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me: I
am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight
not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats…. Incense is an
abomination unto me: for your hands are full of blood; cease to do evil, learn
to do well, seek judgment, and then come."[2] In later times, certain doctors,
Simeon the just,[3] Jesus, son of Sirach,[4] Hillel,[5] almost reached this
point, and declared that the sum of the Law was righteousness. Philo, in the
Judæo-Egyptian world, attained at the same time as Jesus ideas of a high moral
sanctity, the consequence of which was the disregard of the observances of the
Law.[6] Shemaïa and Abtalion also more than once proved themselves to be very
liberal casuists.[7] Rabbi Johanan ere long placed works of mercy above even the
study of the Law![8] Jesus alone, however, proclaimed these principles in an
effective manner. Never has any one been less a priest than Jesus, never a
greater enemy of forms, which stifle religion under the pretext of protecting
it. By this we are all his disciples and his successors; by this he has laid the
eternal foundation-stone of true religion; and if religion is essential to
humanity, he has by this deserved the Divine rank the world has accorded to him.
An absolutely new idea, the idea of a worship founded on purity of heart, and on
human brotherhood, through him entered into the world—an idea so elevated, that
the Christian Church ought to make it its distinguishing feature, but an idea
which, in our days, only few minds are capable of embodying.
[Footnote 1: Matt. v. 23, 24.]
[Footnote 2: Isaiah i. 11, and following. Compare ibid., lviii.
entirely; Hosea vi. 6; Malachi i. 10, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Pirké Aboth, i. 2.]
[Footnote 4: Ecclesiasticus xxxv. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Talm. of Jerus., Pesachim, vi. 1. Talm. of
Bab., the same treatise 66 a; Shabbath, 31 a.]
[Footnote 6: Quod Deus Immut., § 1 and 2; De Abrahamo,
§ 22; Quis Rerum Divin. Hæres, § 13, and following; 55, 58, and
following; De Profugis, § 7 and 8; Quod Omnis Probus Liber,
entirely; De Vita Contemp., entirely.]
[Footnote 7: Talm. of Bab., Pesachim, 67 b.]
[Footnote 8: Talmud of Jerus., Peah, i. 1.]
An exquisite sympathy with Nature furnished him each moment with
expressive images. Sometimes a remarkable ingenuity, which we call wit, adorned
his aphorisms; at other times, their liveliness consisted in the happy use of
popular proverbs. "How wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote
out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first
cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast
out the mote out of thy brother's eye."[1]
[Footnote 1: Matt. vii. 4, 5. Compare Talmud of Babylon, Baba
Bathra, 15 b, Erachin, 16 b.]
These lessons, long hidden in the heart of the young Master,
soon gathered around him a few disciples. The spirit of the time favored small
churches; it was the period of the Essenes or Therapeutæ. Rabbis, each having
his distinctive teaching, Shemaïa, Abtalion, Hillel, Shammai, Judas the
Gaulonite, Gamaliel, and many others, whose maxims form the Talmud,[1] appeared
on all sides. They wrote very little; the Jewish doctors of this time did not
write books; everything was done by conversations, and in public lessons, to
which it was sought to give a form easily remembered.[2] The proclamation by the
young carpenter of Nazareth of these maxims, for the most part already generally
known, but which, thanks to him, were to regenerate the world, was therefore no
striking event. It was only one rabbi more (it is true, the most charming of
all), and around him some young men, eager to hear him, and thirsting for
knowledge. It requires time to command the attention of men. As yet there were
no Christians; though true Christianity was founded, and, doubtless, it was
never more perfect than at this first period. Jesus added to it nothing durable
afterward. Indeed, in one sense, he compromised it; for every movement, in order
to triumph, must make sacrifices; we never come from the contest of life
unscathed.
[Footnote 1: See especially Pirké Aboth, ch. i.]
[Footnote 2: The Talmud, a résumé of this vast movement
of the schools, was scarcely commenced till the second century of our era.]
To conceive the good, in fact, is not sufficient; it must be
made to succeed amongst men. To accomplish this, less pure paths must be
followed. Certainly, if the Gospel was confined to some chapters of Matthew and
Luke, it would be more perfect, and would not now be open to so many objections;
but would Jesus have converted the world without miracles? If he had died at the
period of his career we have now reached, there would not have been in his life
a single page to wound us; but, greater in the eyes of God, he would have
remained unknown to men; he would have been lost in the crowd of great unknown
spirits, himself the greatest of all; the truth would not have been promulgated,
and the world would not have profited from the great moral superiority with
which his Father had endowed him. Jesus, son of Sirach, and Hillel, had uttered
aphorisms almost as exalted as those of Jesus. Hillel, however, will never be
accounted the true founder of Christianity. In morals, as in art, precept is
nothing, practice is everything. The idea which is hidden in a picture of
Raphael is of little moment; it is the picture itself which is prized. So, too,
in morals, truth is but little prized when it is a mere sentiment, and only
attains its full value when realized in the world as fact. Men of indifferent
morality have written very good maxims. Very virtuous men, on the other hand,
have done nothing to perpetuate in the world the tradition of virtue. The palm
is his who has been mighty both in words and in works, who has discerned the
good, and at the price of his blood has caused its triumph. Jesus, from this
double point of view, is without equal; his glory remains entire, and will ever
be renewed.
CHAPTER VI.
JOHN THE BAPTIST—VISIT OF JESUS TO JOHN, AND HIS ABODE IN THE
DESERT OF JUDEA—ADOPTION OF THE BAPTISM OF JOHN.
An extraordinary man, whose position,
from the absence of documentary evidence, remains to us in some degree
enigmatical, appeared about this time, and was unquestionably to some extent
connected with Jesus. This connection tended rather to make the young prophet of
Nazareth deviate from his path; but it suggested many important accessories to
his religious institution, and, at all events, furnished a very strong authority
to his disciples in recommending their Master in the eyes of a certain class of
Jews.
About the year 28 of our era (the fifteenth year of the reign of
Tiberius) there spread throughout Palestine the reputation of a certain Johanan,
or John, a young ascetic full of zeal and enthusiasm. John was of the priestly
race,[1] and born, it seems, at Juttah near Hebron, or at Hebron itself.[2]
Hebron, the patriarchal city par excellence, situated at a short distance
from the desert of Judea, and within a few hours' journey of the great desert of
Arabia, was at this period what it is to-day—one of the bulwarks of Semitic
ideas, in their most austere form. From his infancy, John was Nazir—that
is to say, subjected by vow to certain abstinences.[3] The desert by which he
was, so to speak, surrounded, early attracted him.[4] He led there the life of a
Yogi of India, clothed with skins or stuffs of camel's hair, having for food
only locusts and wild honey.[5] A certain number of disciples were grouped
around him, sharing his life and studying his severe doctrine. We might imagine
ourselves transported to the banks of the Ganges, if particular traits had not
revealed in this recluse the last descendant of the great prophets of Israel.
[Footnote 1: Luke i. 5; passage from the Gospel of the
Ebionites, preserved by Epiphanius, (Adv. Hær., xxx. 13.)]
[Footnote 2: Luke i. 39. It has been suggested, not without
probability, that "the city of Juda" mentioned in this passage of Luke, is the
town of Jutta (Josh. xv. 55, xxi. 16). Robinson (Biblical Researches,
i. 494, ii. 206) has discovered this Jutta, still bearing the same name,
at two hours' journey south of Hebron.]
[Footnote 3: Luke i. 15.]
[Footnote 4: Luke i. 80.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. iii. 4; Mark i. 6; fragm. of the Gospel of
the
Ebionites, in Epiph., Adv. Hær., xxx. 13.]
From the time that the Jewish nation had begun to reflect upon
its destiny with a kind of despair, the imagination of the people had reverted
with much complacency to the ancient prophets. Now, of all the personages of the
past, the remembrance of whom came like the dreams of a troubled night to awaken
and agitate the people, the greatest was Elias. This giant of the prophets, in
his rough solitude of Carmel, sharing the life of savage beasts, dwelling in the
hollows of the rocks, whence he came like a thunderbolt, to make and unmake
kings, had become, by successive transformations, a sort of superhuman being,
sometimes visible, sometimes invisible, and as one who had not tasted death. It
was generally believed that Elias would return and restore Israel.[1] The
austere life which he had led, the terrible remembrances he had left behind
him—the impression of which is still powerful in the East[2]—the sombre image
which, even in our own time, causes trembling and death—all this mythology, full
of vengeance and terror, vividly struck the mind of the people, and stamped as
with a birth-mark all the creations of the popular mind. Whoever aspired to act
powerfully upon the people, must imitate Elias; and, as solitary life had been
the essential characteristic of this prophet, they were accustomed to conceive
"the man of God" as a hermit. They imagined that all the holy personages had had
their days of penitence, of solitude, and of austerity.[3] The retreat to the
desert thus became the condition and the prelude of high destinies.
[Footnote 1: Malachi iv. 5, 6; (iii. 23, 24, according to the
Vulg.); Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 10; Matt. xvi. 14, xvii. 10, and
following; Mark vi. 15, viii. 28, ix. 10, and following; Luke ix. 8, 19; John i.
21, 25.]
[Footnote 2: The ferocious Abdallah, pacha of St. Jean d'Acre,
nearly died from fright at seeing him in a dream, standing erect on his
mountain. In the pictures of the Christian churches, he is surrounded with
decapitated heads. The Mussulmans dread him.]
[Footnote 3: Isaiah ii. 9-11.]
No doubt this thought of imitation had occupied John's mind.[1]
The anchorite life, so opposed to the spirit of the ancient Jewish people, and
with which the vows, such as those of the Nazirs and the Rechabites, had no
relation, pervaded all parts of Judea. The Essenes or Therapeutæ were grouped
near the birthplace of John, on the eastern shores of the Dead Sea.[2] It was
imagined that the chiefs of sects ought to be recluses, having rules and
institutions of their own, like the founders of religious orders. The teachers
of the young were also at times species of anchorites,[3] somewhat resembling
the gourous[4] of Brahminism. In fact, might there not in this be a
remote influence of the mounis of India? Perhaps some of those wandering
Buddhist monks who overran the world, as the first Franciscans did in later
times, preaching by their actions and converting people who knew not their
language, might have turned their steps toward Judea, as they certainly did
toward Syria and Babylon?[5] On this point we have no certainty. Babylon had
become for some time a true focus of Buddhism. Boudasp (Bodhisattva) was reputed
a wise Chaldean, and the founder of Sabeism. Sabeism was, as its
etymology indicates,[6] baptism—that is to say, the religion of many
baptisms—the origin of the sect still existing called "Christians of St. John,"
or Mendaites, which the Arabs call el-Mogtasila, "the Baptists."[7] It is
difficult to unravel these vague analogies. The sects floating between Judaism,
Christianity, Baptism, and Sabeism, which we find in the region beyond the
Jordan during the first centuries of our era,[8] present to criticism the most
singular problem, in consequence of the confused accounts of them which have
come down to us. We may believe, at all events, that many of the external
practices of John, of the Essenes,[9] and of the Jewish spiritual teachers of
this time, were derived from influences then but recently received from the far
East. The fundamental practice which characterized the sect of John, and gave it
its name, has always had its centre in lower Chaldea, and constitutes a religion
which is perpetuated there to the present day.
[Footnote 1: Luke i. 17.]
[Footnote 2: Pliny, Hist. Nat., v. 17; Epiph., Adv.
Hær., xix. 1 and 2.]
[Footnote 3: Josephus, Vita, 2.]
[Footnote 4: Spiritual preceptors.]
[Footnote 5: I have developed this point elsewhere. Hist.
Génér. des Langues Sémitiques, III. iv. 1; Journ. Asiat.,
February-March, 1856.]
[Footnote 6: The Aramean word seba, origin of the name of
Sabians, is synonymous with [Greek: baptizô].]
[Footnote 7: I have treated of this at greater length in the
Journal Asiatique, Nov.-Dec., 1853, and August-Sept., 1855. It is remarkable
that the Elchasaïtes, a Sabian or Baptist sect, inhabited the same district as
the Essenes, (the eastern bank of the Dead Sea), and were confounded with them
(Epiph., Adv. Hær., xix. 1, 2, 4, xxx. 16, 17, liii. 1, 2;
Philosophumena, IX. iii. 15, 16, X. xx. 29).]
[Footnote 8: See the remarks of Epiphanius on the Essenes,
Hemero-Baptists, Nazarites, Ossenes, Nazarenes, Ebionites, Samsonites (Adv.
Hær., books i. and ii.), and those of the author of the Philosophumena
on the Elchasaïtes (books ix. and x).]
[Footnote 9: Epiph., Adv. Hær., xix., xxx., liii.]
This practice was baptism, or total immersion. Ablutions were
already familiar to the Jews, as they were to all religions of the East.[1] The
Essenes had given them a peculiar extension.[2] Baptism had become an ordinary
ceremony on the introduction of proselytes into the bosom of the Jewish
religion, a sort of initiatory rite.[3] Never before John the Baptist, however,
had either this importance or this form been given to immersion. John had fixed
the scene of his activity in that part of the desert of Judea which is in the
neighborhood of the Dead Sea.[4] At the periods when he administered baptism, he
went to the banks of the Jordan,[5] either to Bethany or Bethabara,[6] upon the
eastern shore, probably opposite to Jericho, or to a place called Ænon,
or "the Fountains,"[7] near Salim, where there was much water.[8] Considerable
crowds, especially of the tribe of Judah, hastened to him to be baptized.[9] In
a few months he thus became one of the most influential men in Judea, and
acquired much importance in the general estimation.
[Footnote 1: Mark vii. 4; Jos., Ant., XVIII. v. 2;
Justin, Dial. cum Tryph., 17, 29, 80; Epiph., Adv. Hær., xvii.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., B.J., II. viii. 5, 7, 9, 13.]
[Footnote 3: Mishnah, Pesachim, viii. 8; Talmud of
Babylon, Jebamoth, 46 b; Kerithuth, 9 a; Aboda
Zara, 57 a; Masséket Gérim (edit. Kirchheim, 1851), pp.
38-40.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. iii. 1; Mark i. 4.]
[Footnote 5: Luke iii. 3.]
[Footnote 6: John i. 28, iii. 26. All the manuscripts say
Bethany; but, as no one knows of Bethany in these places, Origen (Comment.
in Joann., vi. 24) has proposed to substitute Bethabara, and his
correction has been generally accepted. The two words have, moreover, analogous
meanings, and seem to indicate a place where there was a ferry-boat to cross the
river.]
[Footnote 7: Ænon is the Chaldean plural, Ænawan,
"fountains."]
[Footnote 8: John iii. 23. The locality of this place is
doubtful. The circumstance mentioned by the evangelist would lead us to believe
that it was not very near the Jordan. Nevertheless, the synoptics are agreed in
placing the scene of the baptisms of John on the banks of that river (Matt. iii.
6; Mark i. 5; Luke iii. 3). The comparison of verses 22 and 23 of chap. iii. of
John, and of verses 3 and 4 of chap. iv. of the same Gospel, would lead us to
believe that Salim was in Judea, and consequently in the oasis of Jericho, near
the mouth of the Jordan; since it would be difficult to find in any other
district of the tribe of Judah a single natural basin in which any one might be
totally immersed. Saint Jerome wishes to place Salim much more north, near
Beth-Schean or Scythopolis. But Robinson (Bibl. Res., iii. 333) has not
been able to find anything at these places that justifies this assertion.]
[Footnote 9: Mark i. 5; Josephus, Ant., XVIII. v. 2.]
The people took him for a prophet,[1] and many imagined that it
was Elias who had risen again.[2] The belief in these resurrections was widely
spread;[3] it was thought that God would raise from the tomb certain of the
ancient prophets to guide Israel toward its final destiny. Others held John to
be the Messiah himself, although he made no such pretensions.[4] The priests and
the scribes, opposed to this revival of prophetism, and the constant enemies of
enthusiasts, despised him. But the popularity of the Baptist awed them, and they
dared not speak against him.[5] It was a victory which the ideas of the
multitude gained over the priestly aristocracy. When the chief priests were
compelled to declare themselves explicitly on this point, they were considerably
embarrassed.[6]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiv. 5, xxi. 26.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. vi. 14; Mark vi. 15; John i. 21.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xiv. 2; Luke ix. 8.]
[Footnote 4: Luke iii. 15, and following; John i. 20.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xxi. 25, and following; Luke vii. 30.]
[Footnote 6: Matt., loc. cit.]
Baptism with John was only a sign destined to make an
impression, and to prepare the minds of the people for some great movement. No
doubt he was possessed in the highest degree with the Messianic hope, and that
his principal action was in accordance with it. "Repent," said he, "for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand."[1] He announced a "great wrath," that is to say,
terrible calamities which should come to pass,[2] and declared that the axe was
already laid at the root of the tree, and that the tree would soon be cast into
the fire. He represented the Messiah with a fan in his hand, collecting the good
wheat and burning the chaff. Repentance, of which baptism was the type, the
giving of alms, the reformation of habits,[3] were in John's view the great
means of preparation for the coming events, though we do not know exactly in
what light he conceived them. It is, however, certain that he preached with much
power against the same adversaries as Jesus, against rich priests, the
Pharisees, the doctors, in one word, against official Judaism; and that, like
Jesus, he was specially welcomed by the despised classes.[4] He made no account
of the title "son of Abraham," and said that God could raise up sons unto
Abraham from the stones of the road.[5] It does not seem that he possessed even
the germ of the great idea which led to the triumph of Jesus, the idea of a pure
religion; but he powerfully served this idea in substituting a private rite for
the legal ceremonies which required priests, as the Flagellants of the Middle
Ages were the precursors of the Reformation, by depriving the official clergy of
the monopoly of the sacraments and of absolution. The general tone of his
sermons was stern and severe. The expressions which he used against his
adversaries appear to have been most violent.[6] It was a harsh and continuous
invective. It is probable that he did not remain quite a stranger to politics.
Josephus, who, through his teacher Banou, was brought into almost direct
connection with John, suggests as much by his ambiguous words,[7] and the
catastrophe which put an end to John's life seems to imply this. His disciples
led a very austere life,[8] fasted often, and affected a sad and anxious
demeanor. We have at times glimpses of communism—the rich man being ordered to
share all that he had with the poor.[9] The poor man appeared as the one who
would be specially benefited by the kingdom of God.
[Footnote 1: Matt. iii. 2.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. iii. 7.]
[Footnote 3: Luke iii. 11-14; Josephus, Ant. XVIII. v.
2.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxi. 32; Luke iii. 12-14.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. iii. 9.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. iii. 7; Luke iii. 7.]
[Footnote 7: Ant. XVIII. v. 2. We must observe that, when
Josephus described the secret and more or less seditious doctrines of his
countrymen, he suppressed everything which had reference to the Messianic
beliefs, and, in order not to give umbrage to the Romans, spread over these
doctrines a vulgar and commonplace air, which made all the heads of Jewish sects
appear as mere professors of morals or stoics.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. ix. 14.]
[Footnote 9: Luke iii. 11.]
Although the centre of John's action was Judea, his fame quickly
penetrated to Galilee and reached Jesus, who, by his first discourses, had
already gathered around himself a small circle of hearers. Enjoying as yet
little authority, and doubtless impelled by the desire to see a teacher whose
instruction had so much in common with his own, Jesus quitted Galilee and
repaired with his small group of disciples to John.[1] The newcomers were
baptized like every one else. John welcomed this group of Galilean disciples,
and did not object to their remaining distinct from his own. The two teachers
were young; they had many ideas in common; they loved one another, and publicly
vied with each other in exhibitions of kindly feeling. At the first glance, such
a fact surprises us in John the Baptist, and we are tempted to call it in
question. Humility has never been a feature of strong Jewish minds. It might
have been expected that a character so stubborn, a sort of Lamennais always
irritated, would be very passionate, and suffer neither rivalry nor half
adhesion. But this manner of viewing things rests upon a false conception of the
person of John. We imagine him an old man; he was, on the contrary, of the same
age as Jesus,[2] and very young according to the ideas of the time. In mental
development, he was the brother rather than the father of Jesus. The two young
enthusiasts, full of the same hopes and the same hatreds, were able to make
common cause, and mutually to support each other. Certainly an aged teacher,
seeing a man without celebrity approach him, and maintain toward him an aspect
of independence, would have rebelled; we have scarcely an example of a leader of
a school receiving with eagerness his future successor. But youth is capable of
any sacrifice, and we may admit that John, having recognized in Jesus a spirit
akin to his own, accepted him without any personal reservation. These good
relations became afterward the starting-point of a whole system developed by the
evangelists, which consisted in giving the Divine mission of Jesus the primary
basis of the attestation of John. Such was the degree of authority acquired by
the Baptist, that it was not thought possible to find in the world a better
guarantee. But far from John abdicating in favor of Jesus, Jesus, during all the
time that he passed with him, recognized him as his superior, and only developed
his own genius with timidity.
[Footnote 1: Matt. iii. 13, and following; Mark i. 9, and
following; Luke iii. 21, and following; John i. 29, and following; iii. 22, and
following. The synoptics make Jesus come to John, before he had played any
public part. But if it is true, as they state, that John recognized Jesus from
the first and welcomed him, it must be supposed that Jesus was already a
somewhat renowned teacher. The fourth Gospel brings Jesus to John twice, the
first time while yet unknown, the second time with a band of disciples. Without
touching here the question of the precise journeys of Jesus (an insoluble
question, seeing the contradictions of the documents and the little care the
evangelists had in being exact in such matters), and without denying that Jesus
might have made a journey to John when he had as yet no notoriety, we adopt the
information furnished by the fourth Gospel (iii. 22, and following), namely,
that Jesus, before beginning to baptize like John, had formed a school. We must
remember, besides, that the first pages of the fourth Gospel are notes tacked
together without rigorous chronological arrangement.]
[Footnote 2: Luke i., although indeed all the details of the
narrative, especially those which refer to the relationship of John with Jesus,
are legendary.]
It seems, in fact, that, notwithstanding his profound
originality, Jesus, during some weeks at least, was the imitator of John. His
way as yet was not clear before him. At all times, moreover, Jesus yielded much
to opinion, and adopted many things which were not in exact accordance with his
own ideas, or for which he cared little, merely because they were popular; but
these accessories never injured his principal idea, and were always subordinate
to it. Baptism had been brought by John into very great favor; Jesus thought
himself obliged to do like John; therefore he baptized, and his disciples
baptized also.[1] No doubt he accompanied baptism with preaching, similar to
that of John. The Jordan was thus covered on all sides with Baptists, whose
discourses were more or less successful. The pupil soon equaled the master, and
his baptism was much sought after. There was on this subject some jealousy among
the disciples;[2] the disciples of John came to complain to him of the growing
success of the young Galilean, whose baptism would, they thought, soon supplant
his own. But the two teachers remained superior to this meanness. The
superiority of John was, besides, too indisputable for Jesus, still little
known, to think of contesting it. Jesus only wished to increase under John's
protection; and thought himself obliged, in order to gain the multitude, to
employ the external means which had given John such astonishing success. When he
recommenced to preach after John's arrest, the first words put into his mouth
are but the repetition of one of the familiar phrases of the Baptist.[3] Many
other of John's expressions may be found repeated verbally in the discourses of
Jesus.[4] The two schools appear to have lived long on good terms with each
other;[5] and after the death of John, Jesus, as his trusty friend, was one of
the first to be informed of the event.[6]
[Footnote 1: John iii. 22-26, iv. 1, 2. The parenthesis of ver.
2 appears to be an interpolation, or perhaps a tardy scruple of John correcting
himself.]
[Footnote 2: John iii. 26, iv. 1.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. iii. 2, iv. 17.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. iii. 7, xii. 34, xxiii. 33.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xi. 2-13.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xiv. 12.]
John, in fact, was soon cut short in his prophetic career. Like
the ancient Jewish prophets, he was, in the highest degree, a censurer of the
established authorities.[1] The extreme vivacity with which he expressed himself
at their expense could not fail to bring him into trouble. In Judea, John does
not appear to have been disturbed by Pilate; but in Perea, beyond the Jordan, he
came into the territory of Antipas. This tyrant was uneasy at the political
leaven which was so little concealed by John in his preaching. The great
assemblages of men gathered around the Baptist, by religious and patriotic
enthusiasm, gave rise to suspicion.[2] An entirely personal grievance was also
added to these motives of state, and rendered the death of the austere censor
inevitable.
[Footnote 1: Luke iii. 19.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XVIII. v. 2.]
One of the most strongly marked characters of this tragical
family of the Herods was Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great. Violent,
ambitious, and passionate, she detested Judaism, and despised its laws.[1] She
had been married, probably against her will, to her uncle Herod, son of
Mariamne,[2] whom Herod the Great had disinherited,[3] and who never played any
public part. The inferior position of her husband, in respect to the other
persons of the family, gave her no peace; she determined to be sovereign at
whatever cost.[4] Antipas was the instrument of whom she made use. This feeble
man having become desperately enamored of her, promised to marry her, and to
repudiate his first wife, daughter of Hareth, king of Petra, and emir of the
neighboring tribes of Perea. The Arabian princess, receiving a hint of this
design, resolved to fly. Concealing her intention, she pretended that she wished
to make a journey to Machero, in her father's territory, and caused herself to
be conducted thither by the officers of Antipas.[5]
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., XVIII. v. 4.]
[Footnote 2: Matthew (chap. xiv. 3, in the Greek text) and Mark
(chap. vi. 17) have it that this was Philip; but this is certainly an
inadvertency (see Jos., Ant., XVIII. v. 1, 4). The wife of Philip was
Salome, daughter of Herodias.]
[Footnote 3: Jos., Ant., XVIII. iv. 2.]
[Footnote 4: Ibid., XVIII. vii. 1, 2, B.J., II. ix. 6.]
[Footnote 5: Ibid., XVIII. v. 1.]
Makaur,[1] or Machero, was a colossal fortress built by
Alexander Jannaeus, and rebuilt by Herod, in one of the most abrupt wâdys to the
east of the Dead Sea.[2] It was a wild and desolate country, filled with strange
legends, and believed to be haunted by demons.[3] The fortress was just on the
boundary of the lands of Hareth and of Antipas. At that time it was in the
possession of Hareth.[4] The latter having been warned, had prepared everything
for the flight of his daughter, who was conducted from tribe to tribe to Petra.
[Footnote 1: This form is found in the Talmud of Jerusalem (Shebiit,
ix. 2), and in the Targums of Jonathan and of Jerusalem (Numb. xxii.
35).]
[Footnote 2: Now Mkaur, in the wâdy Zerka Main. This place has
not been visited since Seetzen was there.]
[Footnote 3: Josephus, De Bell. Jud., VII. vi. 1, and
following.]
[Footnote 4: Jos., Ant., XVIII. v. 1.]
The almost incestuous[1] union of Antipas and Herodias then took
place. The Jewish laws on marriage were a constant rock of offence between the
irreligious family of the Herods and the strict Jews.[2] The members of this
numerous and rather isolated dynasty being obliged to marry amongst themselves,
frequent violations of the limits prescribed by the Law necessarily took place.
John, in energetically blaming Antipas, was the echo of the general feeling.[3]
This was more than sufficient to decide the latter to follow up his suspicions.
He caused the Baptist to be arrested, and ordered him to be shut up in the
fortress of Machero, which he had probably seized after the departure of the
daughter of Hareth.[4]
[Footnote 1: Lev. xviii. 16.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XV. vii. 10.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xiv. 4; Mark vi. 18; Luke iii. 19.]
[Footnote 4: Jos., Ant., XVIII. v. 2.]
More timid than cruel, Antipas did not desire to put him to
death. According to certain rumors, he feared a popular sedition.[1] According
to another version,[2] he had taken pleasure in listening to the prisoner, and
these conversations had thrown him into great perplexities. It is certain that
the detention was prolonged, and that John, in his prison, preserved an extended
influence. He corresponded with his disciples, and we find him again in
connection with Jesus. His faith in the near approach of the Messiah only became
firmer; he followed with attention the movements outside, and sought to discover
in them the signs favorable to the accomplishment of the hopes which he
cherished.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiv. 5.]
[Footnote 2: Mark vi. 20. I read [Greek: êporei], and not
[Greek: epoiei].]
CHAPTER VII.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEAS OF JESUS RESPECTING THE KINGDOM OF
GOD.
Up to the arrest of John, which took
place about the summer of the year 29, Jesus did not quit the neighborhood of
the Dead Sea and of the Jordan. An abode in the desert of Judea was generally
considered as the preparation for great things, as a sort of "retreat" before
public acts. Jesus followed in this respect the example of others, and passed
forty days with no other companions than savage beasts, maintaining a rigorous
fast. The disciples speculated much concerning this sojourn. The desert was
popularly regarded as the residence of demons.[1] There exist in the world few
regions more desolate, more abandoned by God, more shut out from life, than the
rocky declivity which forms the western shore of the Dead Sea. It was believed
that during the time which Jesus passed in this frightful country, he had gone
through terrible trials; that Satan had assailed him with his illusions, or
tempted him with seductive promises; that afterward, in order to recompense him
for his victory, the angels had come to minister to him.[2]
[Footnote 1: Tobit viii. 3; Luke xi. 24.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. iv. 1, and following; Mark i. 12, 13; Luke
iv. 1, and following. Certainly, the striking similarity that these narratives
present to the analogous legends of the Vendidad (farg. xix.) and of the
Lalitavistara (chap. xvii., xviii., xxi.) would lead us to regard them
only as myths. But the meagre and concise narrative of Mark, which evidently
represents on this point the primitive compilation, leads us to suppose a real
fact, which furnished later the theme of legendary developments.]
It was probably in coming from the desert that Jesus learned of
the arrest of John the Baptist. He had no longer any reason to prolong his stay
in a country which was partly strange to him. Perhaps he feared also being
involved in the severities exercised toward John, and did not wish to expose
himself, at a time in which, seeing the little celebrity he had, his death could
in no way serve the progress of his ideas. He regained Galilee,[1] his true
home, ripened by an important experience, and having, through contact with a
great man, very different from himself, acquired a consciousness of his own
originality.
[Footnote 1: Matt. iv. 12; Mark i. 14; Luke iv. 14; John iv. 3.]
On the whole, the influence of John had been more hurtful than
useful to Jesus. It checked his development; for everything leads us to believe
that he had, when he descended toward the Jordan, ideas superior to those of
John, and that it was by a sort of concession that he inclined for a time toward
baptism. Perhaps if the Baptist, whose authority it would have been difficult
for him to escape, had remained free, Jesus would not have been able to throw
off the yoke of external rites and ceremonies, and would then, no doubt, have
remained an unknown Jewish sectary; for the world would not have abandoned its
old ceremonies merely for others of a different kind. It has been by the power
of a religion, free from all external forms, that Christianity has attracted
elevated minds. The Baptist once imprisoned, his school was soon diminished, and
Jesus found himself left to his own impulses. The only things he owed to John,
were lessons in preaching and in popular action. From this moment, in fact, he
preached with greater power, and spoke to the multitude with authority.[1]
[Footnote 1: Matt. vii. 29; Mark i. 22; Luke iv. 32.]
It seems also that his sojourn with John had, not so much by the
influence of the Baptist, as by the natural progress of his own thought,
considerably ripened his ideas on "the kingdom of heaven." His watchword,
henceforth, is the "good tidings," the announcement that the kingdom of God is
at hand.[1] Jesus is no longer simply a delightful moralist, aspiring to express
sublime lessons in short and lively aphorisms; he is the transcendent
revolutionary, who essays to renovate the world from its very basis, and to
establish upon earth the ideal which he had conceived. "To await the kingdom of
God" is henceforth synonymous with being a disciple of Jesus.[2] This phrase,
"kingdom of God," or "kingdom of heaven," was, as we have said, already long
familiar to the Jews. But Jesus gave it a moral sense, a social application,
which even the author of the Book of Daniel, in his apocalyptic enthusiasm, had
scarcely dared to imagine.
[Footnote 1: Mark i. 14, 15.]
[Footnote 2: Mark xv. 43.]
He declared that in the present world evil is the reigning
power. Satan is "the prince of this world,"[1] and everything obeys him. The
kings kill the prophets. The priests and the doctors do not that which they
command others to do; the righteous are persecuted, and the only portion of the
good is weeping. The "world" is in this manner the enemy of God and His
saints:[2] but God will awaken and avenge His saints. The day is at hand, for
the abomination is at its height. The reign of goodness will have its turn.
[Footnote 1: John xii. 31, xiv. 30, xvi. 11. (Comp. 2 Cor.
iv. 4; Ephes. ii. 2.)]
[Footnote 2: John i. 10, vii. 7, xiv. 17, 22, 27, xv. 18, and
following; xvi. 8, 20, 33, xvii. 9, 14, 16, 25. This meaning of the word "world"
is especially applied in the writings of Paul and John.]
The advent of this reign of goodness will be a great and sudden
revolution. The world will seem to be turned upside down; the actual state being
bad, in order to represent the future, it suffices to conceive nearly the
reverse of that which exists. The first shall be last.[1] A new order shall
govern humanity. Now the good and the bad are mixed, like the tares and the good
grain in a field. The master lets them grow together; but the hour of violent
separation will arrive.[2] The kingdom of God will be as the casting of a great
net, which gathers both good and bad fish; the good are preserved, and the rest
are thrown away.[3] The germ of this great revolution will not be recognizable
in its beginning. It will be like a grain of mustard-seed, which is the smallest
of seeds, but which, thrown into the earth, becomes a tree under the foliage of
which the birds repose;[4] or it will be like the leaven which, deposited in the
meal, makes the whole to ferment.[5] A series of parables, often obscure, was
designed to express the suddenness of this event, its apparent injustice, and
its inevitable and final character.[6]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xix. 30, xx. 16; Mark x. 31; Luke xiii. 30.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xiii. 24, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xiii. 47, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xiii. 31, and following; Mark iv. 31, and
following; Luke xiii. 19, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xiii. 33; Luke xiii. 21.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xiii. entirely; xviii. 23, and following; xx.
1, and following; Luke xiii. 18, and following.]
Who was to establish this kingdom of God? Let us remember that
the first thought of Jesus, a thought so deeply rooted in him that it had
probably no beginning, and formed part of his very being, was that he was the
Son of God, the friend of his Father, the doer of his will. The answer of Jesus
to such a question could not therefore be doubtful. The persuasion that he was
to establish the kingdom of God took absolute possession of his mind. He
regarded himself as the universal reformer. The heavens, the earth, the whole of
nature, madness, disease, and death, were but his instruments. In his paroxysm
of heroic will, he believed himself all powerful. If the earth would not submit
to this supreme transformation, it would be broken up, purified by fire, and by
the breath of God. A new heaven would be created, and the entire world would be
peopled with the angels of God.[1]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxii. 30.]
A radical revolution,[1] embracing even nature itself, was the
fundamental idea of Jesus. Henceforward, without doubt, he renounced politics;
the example of Judas, the Gaulonite, had shown him the inutility of popular
seditions. He never thought of revolting against the Romans and tetrarchs. His
was not the unbridled and anarchical principle of the Gaulonite. His submission
to the established powers, though really derisive, was in appearance complete.
He paid tribute to Cæsar, in order to avoid disturbance. Liberty and right were
not of this world, why should he trouble his life with vain anxieties? Despising
the earth, and convinced that the present world was not worth caring for, he
took refuge in his ideal kingdom; he established the great doctrine of
transcendent disdain,[2] the true doctrine of liberty of souls, which alone can
give peace. But he had not yet said, "My kingdom is not of this world." Much
darkness mixed itself with even his most correct views. Sometimes strange
temptations crossed his mind. In the desert of Judea, Satan had offered him the
kingdoms of the earth. Not knowing the power of the Roman empire, he might, with
the enthusiasm there was in the heart of Judea, and which ended soon after in so
terrible an outbreak, hope to establish a kingdom by the number and the daring
of his partisans. Many times, perhaps, the supreme question presented
itself—will the kingdom of God be realized by force or by gentleness, by revolt
or by patience? One day, it is said, the simple men of Galilee wished to carry
him away and make him king,[3] but Jesus fled into the mountain and remained
there some time alone. His noble nature preserved him from the error which would
have made him an agitator, or a chief of rebels, a Theudas or a Barkokeba.
[Footnote 1: [Greek: Apochatastasis pantôn], Acts iii.
21.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xvii. 23-26; xxii. 16-22.]
[Footnote 3: John vi. 15.]
The revolution he wished to effect was always a moral
revolution; but he had not yet begun to trust to the angels and the last trumpet
for its execution. It was upon men and by the aid of men themselves that he
wished to act. A visionary who had no other idea than the proximity of the last
judgment, would not have had this care for the amelioration of man, and would
not have given utterance to the finest moral teaching that humanity has
received. Much vagueness no doubt tinged his ideas, and it was rather a noble
feeling than a fixed design, that urged him to the sublime work which was
realized by him, though in a very different manner to what he imagined.
It was indeed the kingdom of God, or in other words, the kingdom
of the Spirit, which he founded; and if Jesus, from the bosom of his Father,
sees his work bear fruit in the world, he may indeed say with truth, "This is
what I have desired." That which Jesus founded, that which will remain eternally
his, allowing for the imperfections which mix themselves with everything
realized by humanity, is the doctrine of the liberty of the soul. Greece had
already had beautiful ideas on this subject.[1] Various stoics had learned how
to be free even under a tyrant. But in general the ancient world had regarded
liberty as attached to certain political forms; freedom was personified in
Harmodius and Aristogiton, Brutus and Cassius. The true Christian enjoys more
real freedom; here below he is an exile; what matters it to him who is the
transitory governor of this earth, which is not his home? Liberty for him is
truth.[2] Jesus did not know history sufficiently to understand that such a
doctrine came most opportunely at the moment when republican liberty ended, and
when the small municipal constitutions of antiquity were absorbed in the unity
of the Roman empire. But his admirable good sense, and the truly prophetic
instinct which he had of his mission, guided him with marvelous certainty. By
the sentence, "Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and to God the
things which are God's," he created something apart from politics, a refuge for
souls in the midst of the empire of brute force. Assuredly, such a doctrine had
its dangers. To establish as a principle that we must recognize the legitimacy
of a power by the inscription on its coins, to proclaim that the perfect man
pays tribute with scorn and without question, was to destroy republicanism in
the ancient form, and to favor all tyranny. Christianity, in this sense, has
contributed much to weaken the sense of duty of the citizen, and to deliver the
world into the absolute power of existing circumstances. But in constituting an
immense free association, which during three hundred years was able to dispense
with politics, Christianity amply compensated for the wrong it had done to civic
virtues. The power of the state was limited to the things of earth; the mind was
freed, or at least the terrible rod of Roman omnipotence was broken forever.
[Footnote 1: See Stobæus, Florilegium, ch. lxii.,
lxxvii., lxxxvi., and following.]
[Footnote 2: John viii. 32, and following.]
The man who is especially preoccupied with the duties of public
life, does not readily forgive those who attach little importance to his party
quarrels. He especially blames those who subordinate political to social
questions, and profess a sort of indifference for the former. In one sense he is
right, for exclusive power is prejudicial to the good government of human
affairs. But what progress have "parties" been able to effect in the general
morality of our species? If Jesus, instead of founding his heavenly kingdom, had
gone to Rome, had expended his energies in conspiring against Tiberius, or in
regretting Germanicus, what would have become of the world? As an austere
republican, or zealous patriot, he would not have arrested the great current of
the affairs of his age, but in declaring that politics are insignificant, he has
revealed to the world this truth, that one's country is not everything, and that
the man is before, and higher than, the citizen.
Our principles of positive science are offended by the dreams
contained in the programme of Jesus. We know the history of the earth; cosmical
revolutions of the kind which Jesus expected are only produced by geological or
astronomical causes, the connection of which with spiritual things has never yet
been demonstrated. But, in order to be just to great originators, they must not
be judged by the prejudices in which they have shared. Columbus discovered
America, though starting from very erroneous ideas; Newton believed his foolish
explanation of the Apocalypse to be as true as his system of the world. Shall we
place an ordinary man of our time above a Francis d'Assisi, a St. Bernard, a
Joan of Arc, or a Luther, because he is free from errors which these last have
professed? Should we measure men by the correctness of their ideas of physics,
and by the more or less exact knowledge which they possess of the true system of
the world? Let us understand better the position of Jesus and that which made
his power. The Deism of the eighteenth century, and a certain kind of
Protestantism, have accustomed us to consider the founder of the Christian faith
only as a great moralist, a benefactor of mankind. We see nothing more in the
Gospel than good maxims; we throw a prudent veil over the strange intellectual
state in which it was originated. There are even persons who regret that the
French Revolution departed more than once from principles, and that it was not
brought about by wise and moderate men. Let us not impose our petty and
commonplace ideas on these extraordinary movements so far above our every-day
life. Let us continue to admire the "morality of the gospel"—let us suppress in
our religious teachings the chimera which was its soul; but do not let us
believe that with the simple ideas of happiness, or of individual morality, we
stir the world. The idea of Jesus was much more profound; it was the most
revolutionary idea ever formed in a human brain; it should be taken in its
totality, and not with those timid suppressions which deprive it of precisely
that which has rendered it efficacious for the regeneration of humanity.
The ideal is ever a Utopia. When we wish nowadays to represent
the Christ of the modern conscience, the consoler, and the judge of the new
times, what course do we take? That which Jesus himself did eighteen hundred and
thirty years ago. We suppose the conditions of the real world quite other than
what they are; we represent a moral liberator breaking without weapons the
chains of the negro, ameliorating the condition of the poor, and giving liberty
to oppressed nations. We forget that this implies the subversion of the world,
the climate of Virginia and that of Congo modified, the blood and the race of
millions of men changed, our social complications restored to a chimerical
simplicity, and the political stratifications of Europe displaced from their
natural order. The "restitution of all things"[1] desired by Jesus was not more
difficult. This new earth, this new heaven, this new Jerusalem which comes from
above, this cry: "Behold I make all things new!"[2] are the common
characteristics of reformers. The contrast of the ideal with the sad reality,
always produces in mankind those revolts against unimpassioned reason which
inferior minds regard as folly, till the day arrives in which they triumph, and
in which those who have opposed them are the first to recognize their
reasonableness.
[Footnote 1: Acts iii. 21.]
[Footnote 2: Rev. xxi. 1, 2, 5.]
That there may have been a contradiction between the belief in
the approaching end of the world and the general moral system of Jesus,
conceived in prospect of a permanent state of humanity, nearly analogous to that
which now exists, no one will attempt to deny.[1] It was exactly this
contradiction that insured the success of his work. The millenarian alone would
have done nothing lasting; the moralist alone would have done nothing powerful.
The millenarianism gave the impulse, the moralist insured the future. Hence
Christianity united the two conditions of great success in this world, a
revolutionary starting-point, and the possibility of continuous life. Everything
which is intended to succeed ought to respond to these two wants; for the world
seeks both to change and to last. Jesus, at the same time that he announced an
unparalleled subversion in human affairs, proclaimed the principles upon which
society has reposed for eighteen hundred years.
[Footnote 1: The millenarian sects of England present the same
contrast, I mean the belief in the near end of the world, notwithstanding much
good sense in the conduct of life, and an extraordinary understanding of
commercial affairs and industry.]
That which in fact distinguishes Jesus from the agitators of his
time, and from those of all ages, is his perfect idealism. Jesus, in some
respects, was an anarchist, for he had no idea of civil government. That
government seemed to him purely and simply an abuse. He spoke of it in vague
terms, and as a man of the people who had no idea of politics. Every magistrate
appeared to him a natural enemy of the people of God; he prepared his disciples
for contests with the civil powers, without thinking for a moment that there was
anything in this to be ashamed of.[1] But he never shows any desire to put
himself in the place of the rich and the powerful. He wishes to annihilate
riches and power, but not to appropriate them. He predicts persecution and all
kinds of punishment to his disciples;[2] but never once does the thought of
armed resistance appear. The idea of being all-powerful by suffering and
resignation, and of triumphing over force by purity of heart, is indeed an idea
peculiar to Jesus. Jesus is not a spiritualist, for to him everything tended to
a palpable realization; he had not the least notion of a soul separated from the
body. But he is a perfect idealist, matter being only to him the sign of the
idea, and the real, the living expression of that which does not appear.
[Footnote 1: Matt. x. 17, 18; Luke xii. 11.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. v. 10, and following; x. entirely; Luke vi.
22, and following; John xv. 18, and following; xvi. 2, and following, 20, 33;
xvii. 14.]
To whom should we turn, to whom should we trust to establish the
kingdom of God? The mind of Jesus on this point never hesitated. That which is
highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of God.[1] The founders
of the kingdom of God are the simple. Not the rich, not the learned, not
priests; but women, common people, the humble, and the young.[2] The great
characteristic of the Messiah is, that "the poor have the gospel preached to
them."[3] The idyllic and gentle nature of Jesus here resumed the superiority. A
great social revolution, in which rank will be overturned, in which all
authority in this world will be humiliated, was his dream. The world will not
believe him; the world will kill him. But his disciples will not be of the
world.[4] They will be a little flock of the humble and the simple, who will
conquer by their very humility. The idea which has made "Christian" the
antithesis of "worldly," has its full justification in the thoughts of the
master.[5]
[Footnote 1: Luke xvi. 15.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. v. 3, 10, xviii. 3, xix. 14, 23, 24, xxi. 31,
xxii. 2, and following; Mark x. 14, 15, 23-25; Luke iv. 18, and following; vi.
20, xviii. 16, 17, 24, 25.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xi. 5.]
[Footnote 4: John xv. 19, xvii. 14, 16.]
[Footnote 5: See especially chapter xvii. of St. John,
expressing, if not a real discourse delivered by Jesus, at least a sentiment
which was very deeply rooted in his disciples, and which certainly came from
him.]
CHAPTER VIII.
JESUS AT CAPERNAUM.
Beset by an idea, gradually becoming
more and more imperious and exclusive, Jesus proceeds henceforth with a kind of
fatal impassibility in the path marked out by his astonishing genius and the
extraordinary circumstances in which he lived. Hitherto he had only communicated
his thoughts to a few persons secretly attracted to him; henceforward his
teaching was sought after by the public. He was about thirty years of age.[1]
The little group of hearers who had accompanied him to John the Baptist had,
doubtless, increased, and perhaps some disciples of John had attached themselves
to him.[2] It was with this first nucleus of a church that he boldly announced,
on his return into Galilee, the "good tidings of the kingdom of God." This
kingdom was approaching, and it was he, Jesus, who was that "Son of Man" whom
Daniel had beheld in his vision as the divine herald of the last and supreme
revelation.
[Footnote 1: Luke iii. 23; Gospel of the Ebionites, in Epiph.,
Adv.
Hær., xxx. 13.]
[Footnote 2: John i. 37, and following.]
We must remember, that in the Jewish ideas, which were averse to
art and mythology, the simple form of man had a superiority over that of
Cherubs, and of the fantastic animals which the imagination of the people,
since it had been subjected to the influence of Assyria, had ranged around the
Divine Majesty. Already in Ezekiel,[1] the Being seated on the supreme throne,
far above the monsters of the mysterious chariot, the great revealer of
prophetic visions, had the figure of a man. In the book of Daniel, in the midst
of the vision of the empires, represented by animals, at the moment when the
great judgment commences, and when the books are opened, a Being "like unto a
Son of Man," advances toward the Ancient of days, who confers on him the power
to judge the world, and to govern it for eternity.[2] Son of Man, in the
Semitic languages, especially in the Aramean dialects, is a simple synonym of
man. But this chief passage of Daniel struck the mind; the words, Son of
Man, became, at least in certain schools,[3] one of the titles of the
Messiah, regarded as judge of the world, and as king of the new era about to be
inaugurated.[4] The application which Jesus made of it to himself was therefore
the proclamation of his Messiahship, and the affirmation of the coming
catastrophe in which he was to figure as judge, clothed with the full powers
which had been delegated to him by the Ancient of days.[5]
[Footnote 1: Chap. i. 5, 26, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Daniel vii. 13, 14; comp. viii. 15, x. 16.]
[Footnote 3: In John xii. 34, the Jews do not appear to be aware
of the meaning of this word.]
[Footnote 4: Book of Enoch, xlvi. 1-3, xlviii. 2, 3, lxii. 9,
14, lxx. 1 (division of Dilmann); Matt. x. 23, xiii. 41, xvi. 27, 28, xix. 28,
xxiv. 27, 30, 37, 39, 44, xxv. 31, xxvi. 64; Mark xiii. 26, xiv. 62; Luke xii.
40, xvii. 24, 26, 30, xxi. 27, 36, xxii. 69; Acts vii. 55. But the most
significant passage is John v. 27, compared with Rev. i. 13, xiv. 14. The
expression "Son of woman," for the Messiah, occurs once in the book of Enoch,
lxii. 5.]
[Footnote 5: John v. 22, 27.]
The success of the teaching of the new prophet was this time
decisive. A group of men and women, all characterized by the same spirit of
juvenile frankness and simple innocence, adhered to him, and said, "Thou art the
Messiah." As the Messiah was to be the son of David, they naturally conceded him
this title, which was synonymous with the former. Jesus allowed it with pleasure
to be given to him, although it might cause him some embarrassment, his birth
being well known. The name which he preferred himself was that of "Son of Man,"
an apparently humble title, but one which connected itself directly with the
Messianic hopes. This was the title by which he designated himself,[1] and he
used "The Son of Man" as synonymous with the pronoun "I," which he avoided. But
he was never thus addressed, doubtless because the name in question would be
fully applicable to him only on the day of his future appearance.
[Footnote 1: This title occurs eighty-three times in the
Gospels, and always in the discourses of Jesus.]
His centre of action, at this epoch of his life, was the little
town of Capernaum, situated on the shore of the lake of Gennesareth. The name of
Capernaum, containing the word caphar, "village," seems to designate a
small town of the ancient character, in opposition to the great towns built
according to the Roman method, like Tiberias.[1] That name was so little known
that Josephus, in one passage of his writings,[2] takes it for the name of a
fountain, the fountain having more celebrity than the village situated near it.
Like Nazareth, Capernaum had no history, and had in no way participated in the
profane movement favored by the Herods. Jesus was much attached to this town,
and made it a second home.[3] Soon after his return, he attempted to commence
his work at Nazareth, but without success.[4] He could not perform any miracle
there, according to the simple remark of one of his biographers.[5] The
knowledge which existed there about his family, not an important one, injured
his authority too much. People could not regard as the son of David, one whose
brother, sister, and brother-in-law they saw every day, and it is remarkable
besides, that his family were strongly opposed to him, and plainly refused to
believe in his mission.[6] The Nazarenes, much more violent, wished, it is said,
to kill him by throwing him from a steep rock.[7] Jesus aptly remarked that this
treatment was the fate of all great men, and applied to himself the proverb, "No
one is a prophet in his own country."
[Footnote 1: It is true that Tell-Houm, which is generally
identified with Capernaum, contains the remains of somewhat fine monuments. But,
besides this identification being doubtful, these monuments may be of the second
or third century after Christ.]
[Footnote 2: B.J., III. x. 8.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. ix. 1; Mark ii. 1.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xiii. 54, and following; Mark vi. 1, and
following;
Luke iv. 16, and following, 23-24; John iv. 44.]
[Footnote 5: Mark vi. 5; cf. Matt. xii. 58; Luke iv. 23.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xiii. 57; Mark vi. 4; John vii. 3, and
following.]
[Footnote 7: Luke iv. 29. Probably the rock referred to here is
the peak which is very near Nazareth, above the present church of the Maronites,
and not the pretended Mount of Precipitation, at an hour's journey from
Nazareth. See Robinson, ii. 335, and following.]
This check far from discouraged him. He returned to
Capernaum,[1] where he met with a much more favorable reception, and from thence
he organized a series of missions among the small surrounding towns. The people
of this beautiful and fertile country were scarcely ever assembled except on
Saturday. This was the day which he chose for his teaching. At that time each
town had its synagogue, or place of meeting. This was a rectangular room, rather
small, with a portico, decorated in the Greek style. The Jews not having any
architecture of their own, never cared to give these edifices an original style.
The remains of many ancient synagogues still exist in Galilee.[2] They are all
constructed of large and good materials; but their style is somewhat paltry, in
consequence of the profusion of floral ornaments, foliage, and twisted work,
which characterize the Jewish buildings.[3] In the interior there were seats, a
chair for public reading, and a closet to contain the sacred rolls.[4] These
edifices, which had nothing of the character of a temple, were the centre of the
whole Jewish life. There the people assembled on the Sabbath for prayer, and
reading of the law and the prophets. As Judaism, except in Jerusalem, had,
properly speaking, no clergy, the first comer stood up, gave the lessons of the
day (parasha and haphtara), and added thereto a midrash, or
entirely personal commentary, in which he expressed his own ideas.[5] This was
the origin of the "homily," the finished model of which we find in the small
treatises of Philo. The audience had the right of making objections and putting
questions to the reader; so that the meeting soon degenerated into a kind of
free assembly. It had a president,[6] "elders,"[7] a hazzan, i.e.,
a recognized reader, or apparitor,[8] deputies,[9] who were secretaries or
messengers, and conducted the correspondence between one synagogue and another,
a shammash, or sacristan.[10] The synagogues were thus really little
independent republics, having an extensive jurisdiction. Like all municipal
corporations, up to an advanced period of the Roman empire, they issued honorary
decrees,[11] voted resolutions, which had the force of law for the community,
and ordained corporal punishments, of which the hazzan was the ordinary
executor.[12]
[Footnote 1: Matt. iv. 13; Luke iv. 31.]
[Footnote 2: At Tell-Houm, Irbid (Arbela), Meiron (Mero), Jisch
(Giscala), Kasyoun, Nabartein, and two at Kefr-Bereim.]
[Footnote 3: I dare not decide upon the age of those buildings,
nor consequently affirm that Jesus taught in any of them. How great would be the
interest attaching to the synagogue of Tell-Houm were we to admit such an
hypothesis! The great synagogue of Kefr-Bereim seems to me the most ancient of
all. Its style is moderately pure. That of Kasyoun bears a Greek inscription of
the time of Septimus Severus. The great importance which Judaism acquired in
Upper Galilee after the Roman war, leads us to believe that several of these
edifices only date back to the third century—a time in which Tiberias became a
sort of capital of Judaism.]
[Footnote 4: 2 Esdras viii. 4; Matt. xxiii. 6; Epist.
James ii. 3; Mishnah, Megilla, iii. 1; Rosh Hasshana, iv. 7, etc.
See especially the curious description of the synagogue of Alexandria in the
Talmud of Babylon, Sukka, 51 b.]
[Footnote 5: Philo, quoted in Eusebius, Præp. Evang.,
viii. 7, and Quod Omnis Probus Liber, § 12; Luke iv. 16; Acts
xiii. 15, xv. 21; Mishnah, Megilla, iii. 4, and following.]
[Footnote 6: [Greek: Archisunagôgos].]
[Footnote 7: [Greek: Presbyteroi].]
[Footnote 8: [Greek: Hupêretês].]
[Footnote 9: [Greek: Apostoloi], or [Greek: angeloi].]
[Footnote 10: [Greek: Diakonos]. Mark v. 22, 35, and following;
Luke iv. 20, vii. 3, viii. 41, 49, xiii. 14; Acts xiii. 15, xviii. 8, 17;
Rev. ii. 1; Mishnah, Joma, vii. 1; Rosh Hasshana, iv. 9;
Talm. of Jerus., Sanhedrim, i. 7; Epiph., Adv. Hær., xxx. 4, 11.]
[Footnote 11: Inscription of Berenice, in the Corpus Inscr.
Græc., No. 5361; inscription of Kasyoun, in the Mission de Phenicie,
book iv. [in the press.]]
[Footnote 12: Matt. v. 25, x. 17, xxiii. 34; Mark xiii. 9; Luke
xx. 11, xxi. 12; Acts xxii. 19, xxvi. 11; 2 Cor. xi. 24; Mishnah,
Maccoth, iii. 12; Talmud of Babylon, Megilla, 7 b; Epiph.,
Adv. Hær., xxx. 11.]
With the extreme activity of mind which has always characterized
the Jews, such an institution, notwithstanding the arbitrary rigors it
tolerated, could not fail to give rise to very animated discussions. Thanks to
the synagogues, Judaism has been able to sustain intact eighteen centuries of
persecution. They were like so many little separate worlds, in which the
national spirit was preserved, and which offered a ready field for intestine
struggles. A large amount of passion was expended there. The quarrels for
precedence were of constant occurrence. To have a seat of honor in the first
rank was the reward of great piety, or the most envied privilege of wealth.[1]
On the other hand, the liberty, accorded to every one, of instituting himself
reader and commentator of the sacred text, afforded marvelous facilities for the
propagation of new ideas. This was one of the great instruments of power wielded
by Jesus, and the most habitual means he employed to propound his doctrinal
instruction.[2] He entered the synagogue, and stood up to read; the hazzan
offered him the book, he unrolled it, and reading the parasha or the
haphtara of the day, he drew from this reading a lesson in conformity with
his own ideas.[3] As there were few Pharisees in Galilee, the discussion did not
assume that degree of vivacity, and that tone of acrimony against him, which at
Jerusalem would have arrested him at the outset. These good Galileans had never
heard discourses so adapted to their cheerful imaginations.[4] They admired him,
they encouraged him, they found that he spoke well, and that his reasons were
convincing. He answered the most difficult objections with confidence; the charm
of his speech and his person captivated the people, whose simple minds had not
yet been cramped by the pedantry of the doctors.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxiii. 6; Epist. James ii. 3; Talmud of Bab.,
Sukka, 51 b.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. iv. 23, ix. 35; Mark i. 21, 39, vi. 2; Luke
iv. 15, 16, 31, 44, xiii. 10; John xviii. 20.]
[Footnote 3: Luke iv. 16, and following. Comp. Mishnah, Joma,
vii. 1.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. vii. 28, xiii. 54; Mark i. 22, vi. 1; Luke
iv. 22, 32.]
The authority of the young master thus continued increasing
every day, and, naturally, the more people believed in him, the more he believed
in himself. His sphere of action was very limited. It was confined to the valley
in which the Lake of Tiberias is situated, and even in this valley there was one
region which he preferred. The lake is five or six leagues long and three or
four broad; although it presents the appearance of an almost perfect oval, it
forms, commencing from Tiberias up to the entrance of the Jordan, a sort of
gulf, the curve of which measures about three leagues. Such is the field in
which the seed sown by Jesus found at last a well-prepared soil. Let us run over
it step by step, and endeavor to raise the mantle of aridity and mourning with
which it has been covered by the demon of Islamism.
On leaving Tiberias, we find at first steep rocks, like a
mountain which seems to roll into the sea. Then the mountains gradually recede;
a plain (El Ghoueir) opens almost at the level of the lake. It is a
delightful copse of rich verdure, furrowed by abundant streams which proceed
partly from a great round basin of ancient construction (Ain-Medawara).
At the entrance of this plain, which is, properly speaking, the country of
Gennesareth, there is the miserable village of Medjdel. At the other
extremity of the plain (always following the sea), we come to the site of a town
(Khan-Minyeh), with very beautiful streams (Ain-et-Tin), a pretty
road, narrow and deep, cut out of the rock, which Jesus often traversed, and
which serves as a passage between the plain of Gennesareth and the northern
slopes of the lake. A quarter of an hour's journey from this place, we cross a
stream of salt water (Ain-Tabiga), issuing from the earth by several
large springs at a little distance from the lake, and entering it in the midst
of a dense mass of verdure. At last, after a journey of forty minutes further,
upon the arid declivity which extends from Ain-Tabiga to the mouth of the
Jordan, we find a few huts and a collection of monumental ruins, called
Tell-Houm.
Five small towns, the names of which mankind will remember as
long as those of Rome and Athens, were, in the time of Jesus, scattered in the
space which extends from the village of Medjdel to Tell-Houm. Of these five
towns, Magdala, Dalmanutha, Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin,[1] the first
alone can be found at the present time with any certainty. The repulsive village
of Medjdel has no doubt preserved the name and the place of the little town
which gave to Jesus his most faithful female friend.[2] Dalmanutha[3] was
probably near there. It is possible that Chorazin was a little more inland, on
the northern side.[4] As to Bethsaida and Capernaum, it is in truth almost at
hazard that they have been placed at Tell-Houm, Ain-et-Tin, Khan-Minyeh, and
Ain-Medawara.[5] We might say that in topography, as well as in history, a
profound design has wished to conceal the traces of the great founder. It is
doubtful whether we shall ever be able, upon this extensively devastated soil,
to ascertain the places where mankind would gladly come to kiss the imprint of
his feet.
[Footnote 1: The ancient Kinnereth had disappeared or changed
its name.]
[Footnote 2: We know in fact that it was very near
Tiberias.—Talmud of Jerusalem, Maasaroth, iii. 1; Shebiit, ix. 1;
Erubin, v. 7.]
[Footnote 3: Mark viii. 10. Comp. Matt. xv. 39.]
[Footnote 4: In the place named Khorazi or Bir-kerazeh,
above
Tell-Houm.]
[Footnote 5: The ancient hypothesis which identified Tell-Houm
with Capernaum, though strongly disputed some years since, has still numerous
defenders. The best argument we can give in its favor is the name of
Tell-Houm itself, Tell entering into the names of many villages, and
being a substitute for Caphar. It is impossible, on the other hand, to
find near Tell-Houm a fountain corresponding to that mentioned by Josephus (B.J.,
III. x. 8.) This fountain of Capernaum seems to be Ain-Medawara, but
Ain-Medawara is half an hour's journey from the lake, while Capernaum was a
fishing town on the borders of the lake (Matt. iv. 13; John vi. 17.) The
difficulties about Bethsaida are still greater; for the hypothesis, somewhat
generally admitted, of two Bethsaidas, the one on the eastern, the other on the
western shore of the lake, and at two or three leagues from one another, is
rather singular.]
The lake, the horizon, the shrubs, the flowers, are all that
remain of the little canton, three or four leagues in extent, where Jesus
founded his Divine work. The trees have totally disappeared. In this country, in
which the vegetation was formerly so brilliant that Josephus saw in it a kind of
miracle—Nature, according to him, being pleased to bring hither side by side the
plants of cold countries, the productions of the torrid zone, and the trees of
temperate climates, laden all the year with flowers and fruits[1]—in this
country travellers are obliged now to calculate a day beforehand the place where
they will the next day find a shady resting-place. The lake has become deserted.
A single boat in the most miserable condition now ploughs the waves once so rich
in life and joy. But the waters are always clear and transparent.[2] The shore,
composed of rocks and pebbles, is that of a little sea, not that of a pond, like
the shores of Lake Huleh. It is clean, neat, free from mud, and always beaten in
the same place by the light movement of the waves. Small promontories, covered
with rose laurels, tamarisks, and thorny caper bushes, are seen there; at two
places, especially at the mouth of the Jordan, near Tarichea, and at the
boundary of the plain of Gennesareth, there are enchanting parterres, where the
waves ebb and flow over masses of turf and flowers. The rivulet of Ain-Tabiga
makes a little estuary, full of pretty shells. Clouds of aquatic birds hover
over the lake. The horizon is dazzling with light. The waters, of an empyrean
blue, deeply imbedded amid burning rocks, seem, when viewed from the height of
the mountains of Safed, to lie at the bottom of a cup of gold. On the north, the
snowy ravines of Hermon are traced in white lines upon the sky; on the west, the
high, undulating plateaux of Gaulonitis and Perea, absolutely arid, and clothed
by the sun with a sort of velvety atmosphere, form one compact mountain, or
rather a long and very elevated terrace, which from Cæsarea Philippi runs
indefinitely toward the south.
[Footnote 1: B.J., III. x. 8.]
[Footnote 2: B.J., III. x. 7; Jac. de Vitri, in the
Gesta Dei per
Francos, i. 1075.]
The heat on the shore is now very oppressive. The lake lies in a
hollow six hundred and fifty feet below the level of the Mediterranean,[1] and
thus participates in the torrid conditions of the Dead Sea.[2] An abundant
vegetation formerly tempered these excessive heats; it would be difficult to
understand that a furnace, such as the whole basin of the lake now is,
commencing from the month of May, had ever been the scene of great activity.
Josephus, moreover, considered the country very temperate.[3] No doubt there has
been here, as in the campagna of Rome, a change of climate introduced by
historical causes. It is Islamism, and especially the Mussulman reaction against
the Crusades, which has withered as with a blast of death the district preferred
by Jesus. The beautiful country of Gennesareth never suspected that beneath the
brow of this peaceful wayfarer its highest destinies lay hidden.
[Footnote 1: This is the estimate of Captain Lynch (in Ritter,
Erdkunde xv., 1st part, p. 20.) It nearly agrees with that of M. de
Bertou (Bulletin de la Soc. de Geogr., 2d series, xii., p. 146.)]
[Footnote 2: The depression of the Dead Sea is twice as much.]
[Footnote 3: B.J., III. x. 7 and 8.]
Dangerous countryman! Jesus has been fatal to the country which
had the formidable honor of bearing him. Having become a universal object of
love or of hate, coveted by two rival fanaticisms, Galilee, as the price of its
glory, has been changed to a desert. But who would say that Jesus would have
been happier, if he had lived obscure in his village to the full age of man? And
who would think of these ungrateful Nazarenes, if one of them had not, at the
risk of compromising the future of their town, recognized his Father, and
proclaimed himself the Son of God?
Four or five large villages, situated at half an hour's journey
from one another, formed the little world of Jesus at the time of which we
speak. He appears never to have visited Tiberias, a city inhabited for most part
by Pagans, and the habitual residence of Antipas.[1] Sometimes, however, he
wandered from his favorite region. He went by boat to the eastern shore, to
Gergesa, for instance.[2] Toward the north we see him at Paneas or Cæsarea
Philippi,[3] at the foot of Mount Hermon. Lastly, he journeyed once in the
direction of Tyre and Sidon,[4] a country which must have been marvellously
flourishing at that time. In all these countries he was in the midst of
Paganism.[5] At Cæsarea, he saw the celebrated grotto of Panium, thought
to be the source of the Jordan, and with which the popular belief had associated
strange legends;[6] he could admire the marble temple which Herod had erected
near there in honor of Augustus;[7] he probably stopped before the numerous
votive statues to Pan, to the Nymphs, to the Echo of the Grotto, which piety had
already begun to accumulate in this beautiful place.[8]
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., XVIII. ii. 3; Vita, 12,
13, 64.]
[Footnote 2: I adopt the opinion of Dr. Thomson (The Land and
the Book, ii. 34, and following), according to which the Gergesa of Matthew
viii. 28, identical with the Canaanite town of Girgash (Gen. x.
16, xv. 21; Deut. vii. 1; Josh. xxiv. 11), would be the site now
named Kersa or Gersa, on the eastern shore, nearly opposite
Magdala. Mark v. 1, and Luke viii. 26, name Gadara or Gerasa
instead of Gergesa. Gerasa is an impossible reading, the evangelists
teaching us that the town in question was near the lake and opposite Galilee. As
to Gadara, now Om-Keis, at a journey of an hour and a half from the lake
and from the Jordan, the local circumstances given by Mark and Luke scarcely
suit it. It is possible, moreover, that Gergesa may have become Gerasa,
a much more common name, and that the topographical impossibilities which this
latter reading offered may have caused Gadara to be adopted.—Cf. Orig.,
Comment. in Joann., vi. 24, x. 10; Eusebius and St. Jerome, De situ et
nomin. loc. hebr., at the words [Greek: Gergesa], [Greek: Gergasei].]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xvi. 13; Mark viii. 27.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xv. 21; Mark vii. 24, 31.]
[Footnote 5: Jos., Vita, 13.]
[Footnote 6: Jos., Ant., XV. x. 3; B.J., I. xxi.
3, III. x. 7;
Benjamin of Tudela, p. 46, edit. Asher.]
[Footnote 7: Jos., Ant., XV. x. 3.]
[Footnote 8: Corpus inscr. gr., Nos. 4537, 4538, 4538
b, 4539.]
A rationalistic Jew, accustomed to take strange gods for deified
men or for demons, would consider all these figurative representations as idols.
The seductions of the naturalistic worships, which intoxicated the more
sensitive nations, never affected him. He was doubtless ignorant of what the
ancient sanctuary of Melkarth, at Tyre, might still contain of a primitive
worship more or less analogous to that of the Jews.[1] The Paganism which, in
Phoenicia, had raised a temple and a sacred grove on every hill, all this aspect
of great industry and profane riches,[2] interested him but little. Monotheism
takes away all aptitude for comprehending the Pagan religion; the Mussulman,
thrown into polytheistic countries, seems to have no eyes. Jesus assuredly
learned nothing in these journeys. He returned always to his well-beloved shore
of Gennesareth. There was the centre of his thoughts; there he found faith and
love.
[Footnote 1: Lucianus (ut fertur), De Dea Syria, 3.]
[Footnote 2: The traces of the rich Pagan civilization of that
time still cover all the Beled-Besharrah, and especially the mountains which
form the group of Cape Blanc and Cape Nakoura.]
CHAPTER IX.
THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS.
In this terrestrial paradise, which the
great revolutions of history had till then scarcely touched, there lived a
population in perfect harmony with the country itself, active, honest, joyous,
and tender-hearted. The Lake of Tiberias is one of the best supplied with fish
of any in the world.[1] Very productive fisheries were established, especially
at Bethsaida, and at Capernaum, and had produced a certain degree of wealth.
These families of fishermen formed a gentle and peaceable society, extending by
numerous ties of relationship through the whole district of the lake which we
have described. Their comparatively easy life left entire freedom to their
imagination. The ideas about the kingdom of God found in these small companies
of worthy people more credence than anywhere else. Nothing of that which we call
civilization, in the Greek and worldly sense, had reached them. Neither was
there any of our Germanic and Celtic earnestness; but, although goodness amongst
them was often superficial and without depth, their habits were quiet, and they
were in some degree intelligent and shrewd. We may imagine them as somewhat
analogous to the better populations of the Lebanon, but with the gift, not
possessed by the latter, of producing great men. Jesus met here his true family.
He installed himself as one of them; Capernaum became "his own city;"[2] in the
centre of the little circle which adored him, he forgot his sceptical brothers,
ungrateful Nazareth and its mocking incredulity.
[Footnote 1: Matt. iv. 18; Luke v. 44, and following; John i.
44, xxi. 1, and following; Jos., B.J., III. x. 7; Jac. de Vitri, in the
Gesta Dei per Francos, i. p. 1075.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. ix. 1; Mark ii. 1, 2.]
One house especially at Capernaum offered him an agreeable
refuge and devoted disciples. It was that of two brothers, both sons of a
certain Jonas, who probably was dead at the period when Jesus came to stay on
the borders of the lake. These two brothers were Simon, surnamed Cephas
or Peter, and Andrew. Born at Bethsaida,[1] they were established at
Capernaum when Jesus commenced his public life. Peter was married and had
children; his mother-in-law lived with him.[2] Jesus loved this house and dwelt
there habitually.[3] Andrew appears to have been a disciple of John the Baptist,
and Jesus had perhaps known him on the banks of the Jordan.[4] The two brothers
continued always, even at the period in which it seems they must have been most
occupied with their master, to follow their business as fishermen.[5] Jesus, who
loved to play upon words, said at times that he would make them fishers of
men.[6] In fact, among all his disciples he had none more faithfully attached.
[Footnote 1: John i. 44.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. viii. 14; Mark i. 30; Luke iv. 38; 1 Cor.
ix. 5; 1 Peter v. 13; Clem. Alex., Strom., iii. 6, vii. 11; Pseudo-Clem.,
Recogn., vii. 25; Eusebius, H.E., iii. 30.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. viii. 14, xvii. 24; Mark i. 29-31; Luke iv.
38.]
[Footnote 4: John i. 40, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. iv. 18; Mark i. 16; Luke v. 3; John xxi. 3.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. iv. 19; Mark i. 17; Luke v. 10.]
Another family, that of Zabdia or Zebedee, a well-to-do
fisherman and owner of several boats,[1] gave Jesus a welcome reception. Zebedee
had two sons: James, who was the elder, and a younger son, John, who later was
called to play so prominent a part in the history of infant Christianity. Both
were zealous disciples. Salome, wife of Zebedee, was also much attached to
Jesus, and accompanied him until his death.[2]
[Footnote 1: Mark i. 20; Luke v. 10, viii. 3; John xix. 27.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvii. 56; Mark xv. 40, xvi. 1.]
Women, in fact, received him with eagerness. He manifested
toward them those reserved manners which render a very sweet union of ideas
possible between the two sexes. The separation of men from women, which has
prevented all refined development among the Semitic peoples, was no doubt then,
as in our days, much less rigorous in the rural districts and villages than in
the large towns. Three or four devoted Galilean women always accompanied the
young master, and disputed the pleasure of listening to and of tending him in
turn.[1] They infused into the new sect an element of enthusiasm and of the
marvellous, the importance of which had already begun to be understood. One of
them, Mary of Magdala, who has rendered the name of this poor town so celebrated
in the world, appears to have been of a very enthusiastic temperament. According
to the language of the time, she had been possessed by seven demons.[2] That is,
she had been affected with nervous and apparently inexplicable maladies. Jesus,
by his pure and sweet beauty, calmed this troubled nature. The Magdalene was
faithful to him, even unto Golgotha, and on the day but one after his death,
played a prominent part; for, as we shall see later, she was the principal means
by which faith in the resurrection was established. Joanna, wife of Chuza, one
of the stewards of Antipas, Susanna, and others who have remained unknown,
followed him constantly and ministered unto him.[3] Some were rich, and by their
fortune enabled the young prophet to live without following the trade which he
had until then practiced.[4]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 55, 56; Mark xv. 40, 41; Luke viii. 2,
3, xxiii. 49.]
[Footnote 2: Mark xvi. 9; Luke viii. 2; cf. Tobit iii. 8,
vi. 14.]
[Footnote 3: Luke viii. 3, xxiv. 10.]
[Footnote 4: Luke viii. 3.]
Many others followed him habitually, and recognized him as their
master—a certain Philip of Bethsaida; Nathanael, son of Tolmai or Ptolemy, of
Cana, perhaps a disciple of the first period;[1] and Matthew, probably the one
who was the Xenophon of the infant Christianity. The latter had been a publican,
and, as such, doubtless handled the Kalam more easily than the others.
Perhaps it was this that suggested to him the idea of writing the Logia,[2]
which are the basis of what we know of the teachings of Jesus. Among the
disciples are also mentioned Thomas, or Didymus,[3] who doubted sometimes, but
who appears to have been a man of warm heart and of generous sympathies;[4] one
Lebbæus, or Thaddeus; Simon Zelotes,[5] perhaps a disciple of Judas the
Gaulonite, belonging to the party of the Kenaïm, which was formed about
that time, and which was soon to play so great a part in the movements of the
Jewish people. Lastly, Judas, son of Simon, of the town of Kerioth, who was an
exception in the faithful flock, and drew upon himself such a terrible
notoriety. He was the only one who was not a Galilean. Kerioth was a town at the
extreme south of the tribe of Judah,[6] a day's journey beyond Hebron.
[Footnote 1: John i. 44, and following; xxi. 2. I admit the
identification of Nathanael with the apostle who figures in the lists under the
name of Bartholomew.]
[Footnote 2: Papias, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iii. 39.]
[Footnote 3: This second name is the Greek translation of the
first.]
[Footnote 4: John xi. 16, xx. 24, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. x. 4; Mark iii. 18; Luke vi. 15; Acts
i. 13;
Gospel of the Ebionites, in Epiphanes, Adv. Hær., xxx. 13.]
[Footnote 6: Now Kuryétein, or Kereitein.]
We have seen that in general the family of Jesus were little
inclined toward him.[1] James and Jude, however, his cousins by Mary Cleophas,
henceforth became his disciples, and Mary Cleophas herself was one of the women
who followed him to Calvary.[2] At this period we do not see his mother beside
him. It was only after the death of Jesus that Mary acquired great
importance,[3] and that the disciples sought to attach her to themselves.[4] It
was then, also, that the members of the family of the founder, under the title
of "brothers of of the Lord," formed an influential group, which was a long time
at the head of the church of Jerusalem, and which, after the sack of the city,
took refuge in Batanea.[5] The simple fact of having been familiar with him
became a decisive advantage, in the same manner as, after the death of Mahomet,
the wives and daughters of the prophet, who had no importance in his life,
became great authorities.
[Footnote 1: The circumstance related in John xix. 25-27 seems
to imply that at no period of the public life of Jesus did his own brothers
become attached to him.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvii. 56; Mark xv. 40; John xix. 25.]
[Footnote 3: Acts i. 14. Compare Luke i. 28, ii. 35,
already implying a great respect for Mary.]
[Footnote 4: John xix. 25, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Julius Africanus, in Eusebius, H.E., i. 7.]
In this friendly group Jesus had evidently his favorites, and,
so to speak, an inner circle. The two sons of Zebedee, James and John, appear to
have been in the first rank. They were full of fire and passion. Jesus had aptly
surnamed them "sons of thunder," on account of their excessive zeal, which, if
it could have controlled the thunder, would often have made use of it.[1] John,
especially, appears to have been on very familiar terms with Jesus. Perhaps the
warm affection which the master felt for this disciple has been exaggerated in
his Gospel, in which the personal interests of the writer are not sufficiently
concealed.[2] The most significant fact is, that, in the synoptical Gospels,
Simon Bar-jona, or Peter, James, son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, form a
sort of intimate council, which Jesus calls at certain times, when he suspects
the faith and intelligence of the others.[3] It seems, moreover, that they were
all three associated in their fishing.[4] The affection of Jesus for Peter was
strong. The character of the latter—upright, sincere, impulsive—pleased Jesus,
who at times permitted himself to smile at his resolute manners. Peter, little
of a mystic, communicated to the master his simple doubts, his repugnances, and
his entirely human weaknesses,[5] with an honest frankness which recalls that of
Joinville toward St. Louis. Jesus chided him, in a friendly manner, full of
confidence and esteem. As to John, his youth,[6] his exquisite tenderness of
heart,[7] and his lively imagination,[8] must have had a great charm. The
personality of this extraordinary man, who has exerted so peculiar an influence
on infant Christianity, did not develop itself till afterward. When old, he
wrote that strange Gospel,[9] which contains such precious teaching, but in
which, in our opinion, the character of Jesus is falsified upon many points. The
nature of John was too powerful and too profound for him to bend himself to the
impersonal tone of the first evangelists. He was the biographer of Jesus, as
Plato was of Socrates. Accustomed to ponder over his recollections with the
feverish restlessness of an excited mind, he transformed his master in wishing
to describe him, and sometimes he leaves it to be suspected (unless other hands
have altered his work) that perfect good faith was not invariably his rule and
law in the composition of this singular writing.
[Footnote 1: Mark iii. 17, ix. 37, and following; x. 35, and
following; Luke ix. 49, and following; 54, and following.]
[Footnote 2: John xiii. 23, xviii. 15, and following, xix. 26,
27, xx. 2, 4, xxi. 7, 20, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xvii. 1, xxvi. 37; Mark v. 37, ix. 1, xiii.
3, xiv. 33; Luke ix. 28. The idea that Jesus had communicated to these three
disciples a Gnosis, or secret doctrine, was very early spread. It is singular
that John, in his Gospel, does not once mention James, his brother.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. iv. 18-22; Luke v. 10; John xxi. 2, and
following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xiv. 28, xvi. 22; Mark viii. 32, and
following.]
[Footnote 6: He appears to have lived till near the year 100.
See his Gospel, xxi. 15-23, and the ancient authorities collected by Eusebius,
H.E., iii. 20, 23.]
[Footnote 7: See the epistles attributed to him, which are
certainly by the same author as the fourth Gospel.]
[Footnote 8: Nevertheless we do not mean to affirm that the
Apocalypse is by him.]
[Footnote 9: The common tradition seems sufficiently justified
to me on this point. It is evident, besides, that the school of John retouched
his Gospel (see the whole of chap. xxi.)]
No hierarchy, properly speaking, existed in the new sect. They
were to call each other "brothers;" and Jesus absolutely proscribed titles of
superiority, such as rabbi, "master," father—he alone being master, and
God alone being father. The greatest was to become the servant of the others.[1]
Simon Bar-jona, however, was distinguished amongst his fellows by a peculiar
degree of importance. Jesus lived with him, and taught in his boat;[2] his house
was the centre of the Gospel preaching. In public he was regarded as the chief
of the flock; and it is to him that the overseers of the tolls address
themselves to collect the taxes which were due from the community.[3] He was the
first who had recognized Jesus as the Messiah.[4] In a moment of unpopularity,
Jesus, asking of his disciples, "Will ye also go away?" Simon answered, "Lord,
to whom should we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."[5] Jesus, at various
times, gave him a certain priority in his church;[6] and gave him the Syrian
surname of Kepha (stone), by which he wished to signify by that, that he
made him the corner-stone of the edifice.[7] At one time he seems even to
promise him "the keys of the kingdom of heaven," and to grant him the right of
pronouncing upon earth decisions which should always be ratified in eternity.[8]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xviii. 4, xx. 25-26, xxiii. 8-12; Mark ix.
34, x. 42-46.]
[Footnote 2: Luke v. 3.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xvii. 23.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xvi. 16, 17.]
[Footnote 5: John vi. 68-70.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. x. 2; Luke xxii. 32; John xxi. 15, and
following; Acts i., ii., v., etc.; Gal. i. 18, ii. 7, 8.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. xvi. 18; John i. 42.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. xvi. 19. Elsewhere, it is true (Matt. xviii.
18), the same power is granted to all the apostles.]
No doubt, this priority of Peter excited a little jealousy.
Jealousy was kindled especially in view of the future—and of this kingdom of
God, in which all the disciples would be seated upon thrones, on the right and
on the left of the master, to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.[1] They asked
who would then be nearest to the Son of man, and act in a manner as his prime
minister and assessor. The two sons of Zebedee aspired to this rank. Preoccupied
with such a thought, they prompted their mother Salome, who one day took Jesus
aside, and asked him for the two places of honor for her sons.[2] Jesus evaded
the request by his habitual maxim that he who exalteth himself shall be humbled,
and that the kingdom of heaven will be possessed by the lowly. This created some
disturbance in the community; there was great discontent against James and
John.[3] The same rivalry appears to show itself in the Gospel of John, where
the narrator unceasingly declares himself to be "the disciple whom Jesus loved,"
to whom the master in dying confided his mother, and seeks systematically to
place himself near Simon Peter, and at times to put himself before him, in
important circumstances where the older evangelists had omitted mentioning
him.[4]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xviii. 1, and following; Mark ix. 33; Luke
ix. 46, xxii. 30.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xx. 20, and following; Mark x. 35, and
following.]
[Footnote 3: Mark x. 41.]
[Footnote 4: John xviii. 15, and following, xix. 26, 27, xx. 2,
and following, xxi. 7, 21. Comp. i. 35, and following, in which the disciple
referred to is probably John.]
Among the preceding personages, all those of whom we know
anything had begun by being fishermen. At all events, none of them belonged to a
socially elevated class. Only Matthew or Levi, son of Alpheus,[1] had been a
publican. But those to whom they gave this name in Judea were not the
farmers-general of taxes, men of elevated rank (always Roman patricians), who
were called at Rome publicani.[2] They were the agents of these
contractors, employés of low rank, simply officers of the customs. The great
route from Acre to Damascus, one of the most ancient routes of the world, which
crossed Galilee, skirting the lake,[3] made this class of employé very numerous
there. Capernaum, which was perhaps on the road, possessed a numerous staff of
them.[4] This profession is never popular, but with the Jews it was considered
quite criminal. Taxation, new to them, was the sign of their subjection; one
school, that of Judas the Gaulonite, maintained that to pay it was an act of
paganism. The customs-officers, also, were abhorred by the zealots of the law.
They were only named in company with assassins, highway robbers, and men of
infamous life.[5] The Jews who accepted such offices were excommunicated, and
became incapable of making a will; their money was accursed, and the casuists
forbade the changing of money with them.[6] These poor men, placed under the ban
of society, visited amongst themselves. Jesus accepted a dinner offered him by
Levi, at which there were, according to the language of the time, "many
publicans and sinners." This gave great offense.[7] In these ill-reputed houses
there was a risk of meeting bad society. We shall often see him thus, caring
little to shock the prejudices of well-disposed persons, seeking to elevate the
classes humiliated by the orthodox, and thus exposing himself to the liveliest
reproaches of the zealots.
[Footnote 1: Matt. ix. 9, x. 3; Mark ii. 14, iii. 18; Luke v.
27, vi. 15; Acts i. 13. Gospel of the Ebionites, in Epiph., Adv. Hær.,
xxx. 13. We must suppose, however strange it may seem, that these two names were
borne by the same personage. The narrative, Matt. ix. 9, conceived in accordance
with the ordinary model of legends, describing the call to apostleship, is, it
is true, somewhat vague, and has certainly not been written by the apostle in
question. But we must remember that, in the existing Gospel of Matthew, the only
part which is by the apostle consists of the Discourses of Jesus. See Papias, in
Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., III. 39.]
[Footnote 2: Cicero, De Provinc. Consular., 5; Pro
Plancio, 9;
Tac., Ann., IV. 6; Pliny, Hist. Nat., XII. 32; Appian, Bell.
Civ., II. 13.]
[Footnote 3: It remained celebrated, up to the time of the
Crusades, under the name of Via Maris. Cf. Isaiah ix. 1; Matt. iv. 13-15;
Tobit, i. 1. I think that the road cut in the rock near Ain-et-Tin formed part
of it, and that the route was directed from thence toward the Bridge of the
Daughters of Jacob, just as it is now. A part of the road from Ain-et-Tin to
this bridge is of ancient construction.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. ix. 9, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. v. 46, 47, ix. 10, 11, xi. 19, xviii. 17,
xxi. 31, 32; Mark ii. 15, 16; Luke v. 30, vii. 34, xv. 1, xviii. 11, xix. 7;
Lucian, Necyomant, ii.; Dio Chrysost., orat. iv., p. 85, orat. xiv., p.
269 (edit. Emperius); Mishnah, Nedarim, iii. 4.]
[Footnote 6: Mishnah, Baba Kama, x. 1; Talmud of
Jerusalem, Demai, ii. 3; Talmud of Bab., Sanhedrim, 25 b.]
[Footnote 7: Luke v. 29, and following.]
Jesus owed these numerous conquests to the infinite charm of his
person and his speech. A penetrating word, a look falling upon a simple
conscience, which only wanted awakening, gave him an ardent disciple. Sometimes
Jesus employed an innocent artifice, which Joan of Arc also used: he affected to
know something intimate respecting him whom he wished to gain, or he would
perhaps recall to him some circumstance dear to his heart. It was thus that he
attracted Nathanael,[1] Peter,[2] and the Samaritan woman.[3] Concealing the
true source of his strength—his superiority over all that surrounded him—he
permitted people to believe (in order to satisfy the ideas of the time—ideas
which, moreover, fully coincided with his own) that a revelation from on high
revealed to him all secrets and laid bare all hearts. Every one thought that
Jesus lived in a sphere superior to that of humanity. They said that he
conversed on the mountains with Moses and Elias;[4] they believed that in his
moments of solitude the angels came to render him homage, and established a
supernatural intercourse between him and heaven.[5]
[Footnote 1: John i. 48, and following.]
[Footnote 2: John i. 42.]
[Footnote 3: John iv. 17, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xvii. 3; Mark ix. 3; Luke ix. 30-31.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. iv. 11; Mark i. 13.]
CHAPTER X.
THE PREACHINGS ON THE LAKE.
Such was the group which, on the borders
of the lake of Tiberias, gathered around Jesus. The aristocracy was represented
there by a customs-officer and by the wife of one of Herod's stewards. The rest
were fishermen and common people. Their ignorance was extreme; their
intelligence was feeble; they believed in apparitions and spirits.[1] Not one
element of Greek culture had penetrated this first assembly of the saints. They
had very little Jewish instruction; but heart and good-will overflowed. The
beautiful climate of Galilee made the life of these honest fishermen a perpetual
delight. They truly preluded the kingdom of God—simple, good, and happy—rocked
gently on their delightful little sea, or at night sleeping on its shores. We do
not realize to ourselves the intoxication of a life which thus glides away in
the face of heaven—the sweet yet strong love which this perpetual contact with
Nature gives, and the dreams of these nights passed in the brightness of the
stars, under an azure dome of infinite expanse. It was during such a night that
Jacob, with his head resting upon a stone, saw in the stars the promise of an
innumerable posterity, and the mysterious ladder by which the angels of God came
and went from heaven to earth. At the time of Jesus the heavens were not closed,
nor the earth grown cold. The cloud still opened above the Son of man; the
angels ascended and descended upon his head;[2] the visions of the kingdom of
God were everywhere, for man carried them in his heart. The clear and mild eyes
of these simple souls contemplated the universe in its ideal source. The world
unveiled perhaps its secret to the divinely enlightened conscience of these
happy children, whose purity of heart deserved one day to behold God.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiv. 26; Mark vi. 49; Luke xxiv. 39; John vi.
19.]
[Footnote 2: John i. 51.]
Jesus lived with his disciples almost always in the open air.
Sometimes he got into a boat, and instructed his hearers, who were crowded upon
the shore.[1] Sometimes he sat upon the mountains which bordered the lake, where
the air is so pure and the horizon so luminous. The faithful band led thus a
joyous and wandering life, gathering the inspirations of the master in their
first bloom. An innocent doubt was sometimes raised, a question slightly
sceptical; but Jesus, with a smile or a look, silenced the objection. At each
step—in the passing cloud, the germinating seed, the ripening corn—they saw the
sign of the Kingdom drawing nigh, they believed themselves on the eve of seeing
God, of being masters of the world; tears were turned into joy; it was the
advent upon earth of universal consolation.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiii. 1, 2; Mark iii. 9, iv. 1; Luke v. 3.]
"Blessed," said the master, "are the poor in spirit: for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled.
"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the
children of
God.
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."[1]
[Footnote 1: Matt. v. 3-10; Luke vi. 20-25.]
His preaching was gentle and pleasing, breathing Nature and the
perfume of the fields. He loved the flowers, and took from them his most
charming lessons. The birds of heaven, the sea, the mountains, and the games of
children, furnished in turn the subject of his instructions. His style had
nothing of the Grecian in it, but approached much more to that of the Hebrew
parabolists, and especially of sentences from the Jewish doctors, his
contemporaries, such as we read them in the "Pirké Aboth." His teachings
were not very extended, and formed a species of sorites in the style of the
Koran, which, joined together, afterward composed those long discourses which
were written by Matthew.[1] No transition united these diverse pieces;
generally, however, the same inspiration penetrated them and made them one. It
was, above all, in parable that the master excelled. Nothing in Judaism had
given him the model of this delightful style.[2] He created it. It is true that
we find in the Buddhist books parables of exactly the same tone and the same
character as the Gospel parables;[3] but it is difficult to admit that a
Buddhist influence has been exercised in these. The spirit of gentleness and the
depth of feeling which equally animate infant Christianity and Buddhism, suffice
perhaps to explain these analogies.
[Footnote 1: This is what the [Greek: Logia kuriaka] were
called.
Papias, in Eusebius, H.E., iii. 39.]
[Footnote 2: The apologue, as we find it in Judges ix. 8,
and following, 2 Sam. xii. 1, and following, only resembles the Gospel
parable in form. The profound originality of the latter is in the thought with
which it is filled.]
[Footnote 3: See especially the Lotus of the Good Law,
chap. iii. and iv.]
A total indifference to exterior life and the vain appanage of
the "comfortable," which our drearier countries make necessary to us, was the
consequence of the sweet and simple life lived in Galilee. Cold climates, by
compelling man to a perpetual contest with external nature, cause too much value
to be attached to researches after comfort and luxury. On the other hand, the
countries which awaken few desires are the countries of idealism and of poesy.
The accessories of life are there insignificant compared with the pleasure of
living. The embellishment of the house is superfluous, for it is frequented as
little as possible. The strong and regular food of less generous climates would
be considered heavy and disagreeable. And as to the luxury of garments, what can
rival that which God has given to the earth and the birds of heaven? Labor in
climates of this kind appears useless; what it gives is not equal to what it
costs. The animals of the field are better clothed than the most opulent man,
and they do nothing. This contempt, which, when it is not caused by idleness,
contributes greatly to the elevation of the soul, inspired Jesus with some
charming apologues: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth," said he,
"where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also.[1] No man can serve two masters: for
either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to one and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.[2] Therefore I say unto you,
take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor
yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the
body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do
they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye
not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto
his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto
you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and
to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of
little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things
do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all
these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God,[3] and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the
morrow: for the morrow shall take thought of the things of itself. Sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof."[4]
[Footnote 1: Compare Talm. of Bab., Baba Bathra, 11 a.]
[Footnote 2: The god of riches and hidden treasures, a kind of
Plutus in the Phoenician and Syrian mythology.]
[Footnote 3: I here adopt the reading of Lachmann and
Tischendorf.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. vi. 19-21, 24-34. Luke xii. 22-31, 33, 34,
xvi. 13. Compare the precepts in Luke x. 7, 8, full of the same simple
sentiment, and Talmud of Babylon, Sota, 48 b.]
This essentially Galilean sentiment had a decisive influence on
the destiny of the infant sect. The happy flock, relying on the heavenly Father
for the satisfaction of its wants, had for its first principle the regarding of
the cares of life as an evil which choked the germ of all good in man.[1] Each
day they asked of God the bread for the morrow.[2] Why lay up treasure? The
kingdom of God is at hand. "Sell that ye have and give alms," said the master.
"Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that
faileth not."[3] What more foolish than to heap up treasures for heirs whom thou
wilt never behold?[4] As an example of human folly, Jesus loved to cite the case
of a man who, after having enlarged his barns and amassed wealth for long years,
died before having enjoyed it![5] The brigandage which was deeply rooted in
Galilee,[6] gave much force to these views. The poor, who did not suffer from
it, would regard themselves as the favored of God; whilst the rich, having a
less sure possession, were the truly disinherited. In our societies, established
upon a very rigorous idea of property, the position of the poor is horrible;
they have literally no place under the sun. There are no flowers, no grass, no
shade, except for him who possesses the earth. In the East, these are gifts of
God which belong to no one. The proprietor has but a slender privilege; nature
is the patrimony of all.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiii. 22; Mark iv. 19; Luke viii. 14.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. vi. 11; Luke xi. 3. This is the meaning of
the word
[Greek: epiousios].]
[Footnote 3: Luke xii. 33, 34.]
[Footnote 4: Luke xii. 20.]
[Footnote 5: Luke xii. 16, and following.]
[Footnote 6: Jos., Ant., XVII. x. 4, and following:
Vita, 11, etc.]
The infant Christianity, moreover, in this only followed the
footsteps of the Essenes, or Therapeutæ, and of the Jewish sects founded on the
monastic life. A communistic element entered into all these sects, which were
equally disliked by Pharisees and Sadducees. The Messianic doctrine, which was
entirely political among the orthodox Jews, was entirely social amongst them. By
means of a gentle, regulated, contemplative existence, leaving its share to the
liberty of the individual, these little churches thought to inaugurate the
heavenly kingdom upon earth. Utopias of a blessed life, founded on the
brotherhood of men and the worship of the true God, occupied elevated souls, and
produced from all sides bold and sincere, but short-lived attempts to realize
these doctrines.
Jesus, whose relations with the Essenes are difficult to
determine (resemblances in history not always implying relations), was on this
point certainly their brother. The community of goods was for some time the rule
in the new society.[1] Covetousness was the cardinal sin.[2] Now it must be
remarked that the sin of covetousness, against which Christian morality has been
so severe, was then the simple attachment to property. The first condition of
becoming a disciple of Jesus was to sell one's property and to give the price of
it to the poor. Those who recoiled from this extremity were not admitted into
the community.[3] Jesus often repeated that he who has found the kingdom of God
ought to buy it at the price of all his goods, and that in so doing he makes an
advantageous bargain. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a
field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and
selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl
of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it."[4] Alas! the
inconveniences of this plan were not long in making themselves felt. A treasurer
was wanted. They chose for that office Judas of Kerioth. Rightly or wrongly,
they accused him of stealing from the common purse;[5] it is certain that he
came to a bad end.
[Footnote 1: Acts iv. 32, 34-37; v. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xiii. 22; Luke xii. 15, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xix. 21; Mark x. 21, and following, 29, 30;
Luke xviii. 22, 23, 28.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xiii. 44-46.]
[Footnote 5: John xii. 6.]
Sometimes the master, more versed in things of heaven than those
of earth, taught a still more singular political economy. In a strange parable,
a steward is praised for having made himself friends among the poor at the
expense of his master, in order that the poor might in their turn introduce him
into the kingdom of heaven. The poor, in fact, becoming the dispensers of this
kingdom, will only receive those who have given to them. A prudent man, thinking
of the future, ought therefore to seek to gain their favor. "And the Pharisees
also," says the evangelist, "who were covetous, heard all these things: and they
derided him."[1] Did they also hear the formidable parable which follows? "There
was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared
sumptuously every day: and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was
laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which
fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And
it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into
Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;[2] and in hell he
lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus
in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for
I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy
lifetime receivedst thy good things; and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now
he is comforted and thou art tormented."[3] What more just? Afterward this
parable was called that of the "wicked rich man." But it is purely and simply
the parable of the "rich man." He is in hell because he is rich, because he does
not give his wealth to the poor, because he dines well, while others at his door
dine badly. Lastly, in a less extravagant moment, Jesus does not make it
obligatory to sell one's goods and give them to the poor except as a suggestion
toward greater perfection. But he still makes this terrible declaration: "It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
enter into the kingdom of God."[4]
[Footnote 1: Luke xvi. 1-14.]
[Footnote 2: See the Greek text.]
[Footnote 3: Luke xvi. 19-25. Luke, I am aware, has a very
decided communistic tendency (comp. vi. 20, 21, 25, 26), and I think he has
exaggerated this shade of the teaching of Jesus. But the features of the [Greek:
Logia] of Matthew are sufficiently significant.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xix. 24; Mark x. 25; Luke xviii. 25. This
proverbial phrase is found in the Talmud (Bab., Berakoth, 55 b,
Baba metsia, 38 b) and in the Koran (Sur., vii. 38.) Origen and the
Greek interpreters, ignorant of the Semitic proverb, thought that it meant a
cable ([Greek: kamilos]).]
An admirable idea governed Jesus in all this, as well as the
band of joyous children who accompanied him and made him for eternity the true
creator of the peace of the soul, the great consoler of life. In disengaging man
from what he called "the cares of the world," Jesus might go to excess and
injure the essential conditions of human society; but he founded that high
spiritualism which for centuries has filled souls with joy in the midst of this
vale of tears. He saw with perfect clearness that man's inattention, his want of
philosophy and morality, come mostly from the distractions which he permits
himself, the cares which besiege him, and which civilization multiplies beyond
measure.[1] The Gospel, in this manner, has been the most efficient remedy for
the weariness of ordinary life, a perpetual sursum corda, a powerful
diversion from the miserable cares of earth, a gentle appeal like that of Jesus
in the ear of Martha—"Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many
things; but one thing is needful." Thanks to Jesus, the dullest existence, that
most absorbed by sad or humiliating duties, has had its glimpse of heaven. In
our busy civilizations the remembrance of the free life of Galilee has been like
perfume from another world, like the "dew of Hermon,"[2] which has prevented
drought and barrenness from entirely invading the field of God.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiii. 22.]
[Footnote 2: Psalm cxxxiii. 3.]
CHAPTER XI.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD CONCEIVED AS THE INHERITANCE OF THE POOR.
These maxims, good for a country where
life is nourished by the air and the light, and this delicate communism of a
band of children of God reposing in confidence on the bosom of their Father,
might suit a simple sect constantly persuaded that its Utopia was about to be
realized. But it is clear that they could not satisfy the whole of society.
Jesus understood very soon, in fact, that the official world of his time would
by no means adopt his kingdom. He took his resolution with extreme boldness.
Leaving the world, with its hard heart and narrow prejudices on one side, he
turned toward the simple. A vast substitution of classes would take place. The
kingdom of God was made—1st, for children, and those who resemble them; 2d, for
the outcasts of this world, victims of that social arrogance which repulses the
good but humble man; 3d, for heretics and schismatics, publicans, Samaritans,
and Pagans of Tyre and Sidon. An energetic parable explained this appeal to the
people and justified it.[1] A king has prepared a wedding feast, and sends his
servants to seek those invited. Each one excuses himself; some ill-treat the
messengers. The king, therefore, takes a decided step. The great people have not
accepted his invitation. Be it so. His guests shall be the first comers; the
people collected from the highways and byways, the poor, the beggars, and the
lame; it matters not who, the room must be filled. "For I say unto you," said
he, "that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper."
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxii. 2, and following; Luke xiv. 16, and
following. Comp. Matt. viii. 11, 12, xxi. 33, and following.]
Pure Ebionism—that is, the doctrine that the poor (ebionim)
alone shall be saved, that the reign of the poor is approaching—was, therefore,
the doctrine of Jesus. "Woe unto you that are rich," said he, "for ye have
received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger. Woe
unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep."[1] "Then said he also to
him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends,
nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also
bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast,
call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for
they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection
of the just."[2] It is perhaps in an analogous sense that he often repeated, "Be
good bankers"[3]—that is to say, make good investments for the kingdom of God,
in giving your wealth to the poor, conformably to the old proverb, "He that hath
pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord."[4]
[Footnote 1: Luke vi. 24, 25.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xiv. 12, 14.]
[Footnote 3: A saying preserved by very ancient tradition, and
much used, Clement of Alexandria, Strom. i. 28. It is also found in
Origen, St. Jerome, and a great number of the Fathers of the Church.]
[Footnote 4: Prov. xix. 17.]
This, however, was not a new fact. The most exalted democratic
movement of which humanity has preserved the remembrance (the only one, also,
which has succeeded, for it alone has maintained itself in the domain of pure
thought), had long disturbed the Jewish race. The thought that God is the
avenger of the poor and the weak, against the rich and the powerful, is found in
each page of the writings of the Old Testament. The history of Israel is of all
histories that in which the popular spirit has most constantly predominated. The
prophets, the true, and, in one sense, the boldest tribunes, had thundered
incessantly against the great, and established a close relation, on the one
hand, between the words "rich, impious, violent, wicked," and, on the other,
between the words "poor, gentle, humble, pious."[1] Under the Seleucidæ, the
aristocrats having almost all apostatized and gone over to Hellenism, these
associations of ideas only became stronger. The Book of Enoch contains still
more violent maledictions than those of the Gospel against the world, the rich,
and the powerful.[2] Luxury is there depicted as a crime. The "Son of man," in
this strange Apocalypse, dethrones kings, tears them from their voluptuous life,
and precipitates them into hell.[3] The initiation of Judea into secular life,
the recent introduction of an entirely worldly element of luxury and comfort,
provoked a furious reaction in favor of patriarchal simplicity. "Woe unto you
who despise the humble dwelling and inheritance of your fathers! Woe unto you
who build your palaces with the sweat of others! Each stone, each brick, of
which it is built, is a sin."[4] The name of "poor" (ebion) had become a
synonym of "saint," of "friend of God." This was the name that the Galilean
disciples of Jesus loved to give themselves; it was for a long time the name of
the Judaizing Christians of Batanea and of the Hauran (Nazarenes, Hebrews) who
remained faithful to the tongue, as well as to the primitive instructions of
Jesus, and who boasted that they possessed amongst themselves the descendants of
his family.[5] At the end of the second century, these good sectaries, having
remained beyond the reach of the great current which had carried away all the
other churches, were treated as heretics (Ebionites), and a pretended
heretical leader (Ebion) was invented to explain their name.[6]
[Footnote 1: See, in particular, Amos ii. 6; Isa. lxiii. 9; Ps.
xxv. 9, xxxvii. 11, lxix. 33; and, in general, the Hebrew dictionaries, at the
words:
[Hebrew: evion, dal,
ani, anav, chasid, ashir, holelim, aritz].]
[Footnote 2: Ch. lxii., lxiii., xcvii., c., civ.]
[Footnote 3: Enoch, ch. xlvi. 4-8.]
[Footnote 4: Enoch, xcix. 13, 14.]
[Footnote 5: Julius Africanus in Eusebius, H.E., i. 7;
Eus., De situ et nom. loc. hebr., at the word [Greek: Chôba]; Orig.,
Contra Celsus, ii. 1, v. 61; Epiph., Adv. Hær., xxix. 7, 9, xxx. 2,
18.]
[Footnote 6: See especially Origen, Contra Celsus, ii. 1;
De Principiis, iv. 22. Compare Epiph., Adv. Hær., xxx. 17.
Irenæus, Origen, Eusebius, and the apostolic Constitutions, ignore the existence
of such a personage. The author of the Philosophumena seems to hesitate
(vii. 34 and 35, x. 22 and 23.) It is by Tertullian, and especially by
Epiphanes, that the fable of one Ebion has been spread. Besides, all the
Fathers are agreed on the etymology, [Greek: Ebiôn] = [Greek: ptôchos].]
We may see, in fact, without difficulty, that this exaggerated
taste for poverty could not be very lasting. It was one of those Utopian
elements which always mingle in the origin of great movements, and which time
rectifies. Thrown into the centre of human society, Christianity very easily
consented to receive rich men into her bosom, just as Buddhism, exclusively
monkish in its origin, soon began, as conversions multiplied, to admit the
laity. But the mark of origin is ever preserved. Although it quickly passed away
and became forgotten, Ebionism left a leaven in the whole history of
Christian institutions which has not been lost. The collection of the Logia,
or discourses of Jesus, was formed in the Ebionitish centre of Batanea.[1]
"Poverty" remained an ideal from which the true followers of Jesus were never
after separated. To possess nothing was the truly evangelical state; mendicancy
became a virtue, a holy condition. The great Umbrian movement of the thirteenth
century, which, among all the attempts at religious construction, most resembles
the Galilean movement, took place entirely in the name of poverty. Francis
d'Assisi, the man who, more than any other, by his exquisite goodness, by his
delicate, pure, and tender intercourse with universal life, most resembled
Jesus, was a poor man. The mendicant orders, the innumerable communistic sects
of the middle ages (Pauvres de Lyon, Bégards, Bons-Hommes,
Fratricelles, Humiliés, Pauvres évangéliques, &c.) grouped
under the banner of the "Everlasting Gospel," pretended to be, and in fact were,
the true disciples of Jesus. But even in this case the most impracticable dreams
of the new religion were fruitful in results. Pious mendicity, so impatiently
borne by our industrial and well-organized communities, was in its day, and in a
suitable climate, full of charm. It offered to a multitude of mild and
contemplative souls the only condition suited to them. To have made poverty an
object of love and desire, to have raised the beggar to the altar, and to have
sanctified the coat of the poor man, was a master-stroke which political economy
may not appreciate, but in the presence of which the true moralist cannot remain
indifferent. Humanity, in order to bear its burdens, needs to believe that it is
not paid entirely by wages. The greatest service which can be rendered to it is
to repeat often that it lives not by bread alone.
[Footnote 1: Epiph., Adv. Hær., xix., xxix., and xxx.,
especially xxix. 9.]
Like all great men, Jesus loved the people, and felt himself at
home with them. The Gospel, in his idea, is made for the poor; it is to them he
brings the glad tidings of salvation.[1] All the despised ones of orthodox
Judaism were his favorites. Love of the people, and pity for its weakness (the
sentiment of the democratic chief, who feels the spirit of the multitude live in
him, and recognize him as its natural interpreter), shine forth at each moment
in his acts and discourses.[2]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xi. 5; Luke vi. 20, 21.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. ix. 36; Mark vi. 34.]
The chosen flock presented, in fact, a very mixed character, and
one likely to astonish rigorous moralists. It counted in its fold men with whom
a Jew, respecting himself, would not have associated.[1] Perhaps Jesus found in
this society, unrestrained by ordinary rules, more mind and heart than in a
pedantic and formal middle-class, proud of its apparent morality. The Pharisees,
exaggerating the Mosaic prescriptions, had come to believe themselves defiled by
contact with men less strict than themselves; in their meals they almost
rivalled the puerile distinctions of caste in India. Despising these miserable
aberrations of the religious sentiment, Jesus loved to eat with those who
suffered from them;[2] by his side at table were seen persons said to lead
wicked lives, perhaps only so called because they did not share the follies of
the false devotees. The Pharisees and the doctors protested against the scandal.
"See," said they, "with what men he eats!" Jesus returned subtle answers, which
exasperated the hypocrites: "They that be whole need not a physician."[3] Or
again: "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth
not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost
until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders
rejoicing."[4] Or again: "The Son of Man is come to save that which was
lost."[5] Or again: "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners."[6]
Lastly, that delightful parable of the prodigal son, in which he who is fallen
is represented as having a kind of privilege of love above him who has always
been righteous. Weak or guilty women, surprised at so much that was charming,
and realizing, for the first time, the attractions of contact with virtue,
approached him freely. People were astonished that he did not repulse them. "Now
when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying,
This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman
this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner." Jesus replied by the parable of
a creditor who forgives his debtors' unequal debts, and he did not hesitate to
prefer the lot of him to whom was remitted the greater debt.[7] He appreciated
conditions of soul only in proportion to the love mingled therein. Women, with
tearful hearts, and disposed through their sins to feelings of humility, were
nearer to his kingdom than ordinary natures, who often have little merit in not
having fallen. We may conceive, on the other hand, that these tender souls,
finding in their conversion to the sect an easy means of restoration, would
passionately attach themselves to him.
[Footnote 1: Matt. ix. 10, and following; Luke xv. entirely.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. ix. 11; Mark ii. 16; Luke v. 30.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. ix. 12.]
[Footnote 4: Luke xv. 4, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xviii. 11; Luke xix. 10.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. ix. 13.]
[Footnote 7: Luke vii. 36, and following. Luke, who likes to
bring out in relief everything that relates to the forgiveness of sinners (comp.
x. 30, and following, xv. entirely, xvii. 16, and following, xix. 2, and
following, xxiii. 39-43), has included in this narrative passages from another
history, that of the anointing of feet, which took place at Bethany some days
before the death of Jesus. But the pardon of sinful women was undoubtedly one of
the essential features of the anecdotes of the life of Jesus.—Cf. John viii. 3,
and following; Papias, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iii. 30.]
Far from seeking to soothe the murmurs stirred up by his disdain
for the social susceptibilities of the time, he seemed to take pleasure in
exciting them. Never did any one avow more loftily this contempt for the
"world," which is the essential condition of great things and of great
originality. He pardoned a rich man, but only when the rich man, in consequence
of some prejudice, was disliked by society.[1] He greatly preferred men of
equivocal life and of small consideration in the eyes of the orthodox leaders.
"The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John
came unto you and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots
believed him."[2] We can understand how galling the reproach of not having
followed the good example set by prostitutes must have been to men making a
profession of seriousness and rigid morality.
[Footnote 1: Luke xix. 2, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxi. 31, 32.]
He had no external affectation or show of austerity. He did not
fly from pleasure; he went willingly to marriage feasts. One of his miracles was
performed to enliven a wedding at a small town. Weddings in the East take place
in the evening. Each one carries a lamp; and the lights coming and going produce
a very agreeable effect. Jesus liked this gay and animated aspect, and drew
parables from it.[1] Such conduct, compared with that of John the Baptist, gave
offence.[2] One day, when the disciples of John and the Pharisees were observing
the fast, it was asked, "Why do the disciples of John and the Pharisees fast,
but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the
bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the
bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the
bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those
days."[3] His gentle gaiety found expression in lively ideas and amiable
pleasantries. "But whereunto," said he, "shall I liken this generation? It is
like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and
saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto
you, and ye have not lamented.[4] For John came neither eating nor drinking, and
they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they
say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and
sinners. But Wisdom is justified of her children."[5]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxv. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Mark ii. 18; Luke v. 33.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. ix. 14, and following; Mark ii. 18, and
following;
Luke v. 33, and following.]
[Footnote 4: An allusion to some children's game.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xi. 16, and following; Luke vii. 34, and
following. A proverb which means "The opinion of men is blind. The wisdom of the
works of God is only proclaimed by His works themselves." I read [Greek: ergôn],
with the manuscript B. of the Vatican, and not [Greek: teknôn].]
He thus traversed Galilee in the midst of a continual feast. He
rode on a mule. In the East this is a good and safe mode of traveling; the
large, black eyes of the animal, shaded by long eyelashes, give it an expression
of gentleness. His disciples sometimes surrounded him with a kind of rustic
pomp, at the expense of their garments, which they used as carpets. They placed
them on the mule which carried him, or extended them on the earth in his
path.[1] His entering a house was considered a joy and a blessing. He stopped in
the villages and the large farms, where he received an eager hospitality. In the
East, the house into which a stranger enters becomes at once a public place. All
the village assembles there, the children invade it, and though dispersed by the
servants, always return. Jesus could not permit these simple auditors to be
treated harshly; he caused them to be brought to him and embraced them.[2] The
mothers, encouraged by such a reception, brought him their children in order
that he might touch them.[3] Women came to pour oil upon his head, and perfume
on his feet. His disciples sometimes repulsed them as troublesome; but Jesus,
who loved the ancient usages, and all that indicated simplicity of heart,
repaired the ill done by his too zealous friends. He protected those who wished
to honor him.[4] Thus children and women adored him. The reproach of alienating
from their families these gentle creatures, always easily misled, was one of the
most frequent charges of his enemies.[5]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxi. 7, 8.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xix. 13, and following; Mark ix. 35, x. 13,
and following; Luke xviii. 15, 16.]
[Footnote 3: Ibid.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvi. 7, and following; Mark xiv. 3, and
following;
Luke vii. 37, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Gospel of Marcion, addition to ver. 2 of chap.
xxiii. of Luke (Epiph., Adv. Hær., xlii. 11). If the suppressions of
Marcion are without critical value, such is not the case with his additions,
when they proceed, not from a special view, but from the condition of the
manuscripts which he used.]
The new religion was thus in many respects a movement of women
and children. The latter were like a young guard around Jesus for the
inauguration of his innocent royalty, and gave him little ovations which much
pleased him, calling him "son of David," crying Hosanna,[1] and bearing
palms around him. Jesus, like Savonarola, perhaps made them serve as instruments
for pious missions; he was very glad to see these young apostles, who did not
compromise him, rush into the front and give him titles which he dared not take
himself. He let them speak, and when he was asked if he heard, he replied in an
evasive manner that the praise which comes from young lips is the most agreeable
to God.[2]
[Footnote 1: A cry which was raised at the feast of tabernacles,
amidst the waving of palms. Mishnah, Sukka, iii. 9. This custom still
exists among the Israelites.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxi. 15, 16.]
He lost no opportunity of repeating that the little ones are
sacred beings,[1] that the kingdom of God belongs to children,[2] that we must
become children to enter there,[3] that we ought to receive it as a child,[4]
that the heavenly Father hides his secrets from the wise and reveals them to the
little ones.[5] The idea of disciples is in his mind almost synonymous with that
of children.[6] On one occasion, when they had one of those quarrels for
precedence, which were not uncommon, Jesus took a little child, placed him in
their midst, and said to them, "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this
little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."[7]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xviii. 5, 10, 14; Luke xvii. 2.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xix. 14; Mark x. 14; Luke xviii. 16.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xviii. 1, and following; Mark ix. 33, and
following; Luke ix. 46.]
[Footnote 4: Mark x. 15.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xi. 25; Luke x. 21.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. x. 42, xviii. 5, 14; Mark ix. 36; Luke xvii.
2.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. xviii. 4; Mark ix. 33-36; Luke ix. 46-48.]
It was infancy, in fact, in its divine spontaneity, in its
simple bewilderments of joy, which took possession of the earth. Every one
believed at each moment that the kingdom so much desired was about to appear.
Each one already saw himself seated on a throne[1] beside the master. They
divided amongst themselves the positions of honor in the new kingdom,[2] and
strove to reckon the precise date of its advent. This new doctrine was called
the "Good Tidings;" it had no other name. An old word, "paradise," which
the Hebrew, like all the languages of the East, had borrowed from the Persian,
and which at first designated the parks of the Achæmenidæ, summed up the general
dream; a delightful garden, where the charming life which was led here below
would be continued forever.[3] How long this intoxication lasted we know not. No
one, during the course of this magical apparition, measured time any more than
we measure a dream. Duration was suspended; a week was an age. But whether it
filled years or months, the dream was so beautiful that humanity has lived upon
it ever since, and it is still our consolation to gather its weakened perfume.
Never did so much joy fill the breast of man. For a moment humanity, in this the
most vigorous effort she ever made to rise above the world, forgot the leaden
weight which binds her to earth and the sorrows of the life below. Happy he who
has been able to behold this divine unfolding, and to share, were it but for one
day, this unexampled illusion! But still more happy, Jesus would say to us, is
he who, freed from all illusion, shall reproduce in himself the celestial
vision, and, with no millenarian dream, no chimerical paradise, no signs in the
heavens, but by the uprightness of his will and the poetry of his soul, shall be
able to create anew in his heart the true kingdom of God!
[Footnote 1: Luke xxii. 30.]
[Footnote 2: Mark x. 37, 40, 41.]
[Footnote 3: Luke xxiii. 43; 2 Cor. xii. 4. Comp.
Carm. Sibyll., prooem, 36; Talm. of Bab., Chagigah, 14 b.]
CHAPTER XII.
EMBASSY FROM JOHN IN PRISON TO JESUS—DEATH OF JOHN—RELATIONS OF
HIS SCHOOL WITH THAT OF JESUS.
Whilst joyous Galilee was celebrating in
feasts the coming of the well-beloved, the sorrowful John, in his prison of
Machero, was pining away with expectation and desire. The success of the young
master, whom he had seen some months before as his auditor, reached his ears. It
was said that the Messiah predicted by the prophets, he who was to re-establish
the kingdom of Israel, was come, and was proving his presence in Galilee by
marvelous works. John wished to inquire into the truth of this rumor, and as he
communicated freely with his disciples, he chose two of them to go to Jesus in
Galilee.[1]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xi. 2, and following; Luke vii. 18, and
following.]
The two disciples found Jesus at the height of his fame. The air
of gladness which reigned around him surprised them. Accustomed to fasts, to
persevering prayer, and to a life of aspiration, they were astonished to see
themselves transported suddenly into the midst of the joys attending the welcome
of the Messiah.[1] They told Jesus their message: "Art thou he that should come?
Or do we look for another?" Jesus, who from that time hesitated no longer
respecting his peculiar character as Messiah, enumerated the works which ought
to characterize the coming of the kingdom of God—such as the healing of the
sick, and the good tidings of a speedy salvation preached to the poor. He did
all these works. "And blessed is he," said Jesus, "whosoever shall not be
offended in me." We know not whether this answer found John the Baptist living,
or in what temper it put the austere ascetic. Did he die consoled and certain
that he whom he had announced already lived, or did he remain doubtful as to the
mission of Jesus? There is nothing to inform us. Seeing, however, that his
school continued to exist a considerable time parallel with the Christian
churches, we are led to think that, notwithstanding his regard for Jesus, John
did not look upon him as the one who was to realize the divine promises. Death
came, moreover, to end his perplexities. The untamable freedom of the ascetic
was to crown his restless and stormy career by the only end which was worthy of
it.
[Footnote 1: Matt. ix. 14, and following.]
The leniency which Antipas had at first shown toward John was
not of long duration. In the conversations which, according to the Christian
tradition, John had had with the tetrarch, he did not cease to declare to him
that his marriage was unlawful, and that he ought to send away Herodias.[1] We
can easily imagine the hatred which the granddaughter of Herod the Great must
have conceived toward this importunate counsellor. She only waited an
opportunity to ruin him.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiv. 4, and following; Mark vi. 18, and
following;
Luke iii. 19.]
Her daughter, Salome, born of her first marriage, and like her
ambitious and dissolute, entered into her designs. That year (probably the year
30) Antipas was at Machero on the anniversary of his birthday. Herod the Great
had constructed in the interior of the fortress a magnificent palace, where the
tetrarch frequently resided.[1] He gave a great feast there, during which Salome
executed one of those dances in character which were not considered in Syria as
unbecoming a distinguished person. Antipas being much pleased, asked the dancer
what she most desired, and she replied, at the instigation of her mother, "Give
me here John Baptist's head in a charger."[2] Antipas was sorry, but he did not
like to refuse. A guard took the dish, went and cut off the head of the
prisoner, and brought it.[3]
[Footnote 1: Jos., De Bello jud., VII. vi. 2.]
[Footnote 2: A portable dish on which liquors and viands are
served in the East.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xiv. 3, and following; Mark vi. 14-29; Jos.,
Ant., XVIII. v. 2.]
The disciples of the Baptist obtained his body and placed it in
a tomb, but the people were much displeased. Six years after, Hareth, having
attacked Antipas, in order to recover Machero and avenge the dishonor of his
daughter, Antipas was completely beaten; and his defeat was generally regarded
as a punishment for the murder of John.[1]
[Footnote 1: Josephus, Ant., XVIII. v. 1, 2.]
The news of John's death was brought to Jesus by the disciples
of the Baptist.[1] John's last act toward Jesus had effectually united the two
schools in the most intimate bonds. Jesus, fearing an increase of ill-will on
the part of Antipas, took precautions and retired to the desert,[2] where many
people followed him. By exercising an extreme frugality, the holy band was
enabled to live there, and in this there was naturally seen a miracle.[3] From
this time Jesus always spoke of John with redoubled admiration. He declared
unhesitatingly[4] that he was more than a prophet, that the Law and the ancient
prophets had force only until he came,[5] that he had abrogated them, but that
the kingdom of heaven would displace him in turn. In fine, he attributed to him
a special place in the economy of the Christian mystery, which constituted him
the link of union between the Old Testament and the advent of the new reign.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiv. 12.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xiv. 13.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xiv. 15, and following; Mark vi. 35, and
following;
Luke ix. 11, and following; John vi. 2, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xi. 7, and following; Luke vii. 24, and
following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xi. 12, 13; Luke xvi. 16.]
The prophet Malachi, whose opinion in this matter was soon
brought to bear,[1] had announced with much energy a precursor of the Messiah,
who was to prepare men for the final renovation, a messenger who should come to
make straight the paths before the elected one of God. This messenger was no
other than the prophet Elias, who, according to a widely spread belief, was soon
to descend from heaven, whither he had been carried, in order to prepare men by
repentance for the great advent, and to reconcile God with his people.[2]
Sometimes they associated with Elias, either the patriarch Enoch, to whom for
one or two centuries they had attributed high sanctity;[3] or Jeremiah,[4] whom
they considered as a sort of protecting genius of the people, constantly
occupied in praying for them before the throne of God.[5] This idea, that two
ancient prophets should rise again in order to serve as precursors to the
Messiah, is discovered in so striking a form in the doctrine of the Parsees that
we feel much inclined to believe that it comes from that source.[6] However this
may be, it formed at the time of Jesus an integral portion of the Jewish
theories about the Messiah. It was admitted that the appearance of "two faithful
witnesses," clothed in garments of repentance, would be the preamble of the
great drama about to be unfolded, to the astonishment of the universe.[7]
[Footnote 1: Malachi iii. and iv.; Ecclesiasticus xlviii.
10. See ante, Chap. VI.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xi. 14, xvii. 10; Mark vi. 15, viii. 28, ix.
10, and following; Luke ix. 8, 19.]
[Footnote 3: Ecclesiasticus xliv. 16.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xvi. 14.]
[Footnote 5: 2 Macc. v. 13, and following.]
[Footnote 6: Texts cited by Anquetil-Duperron, Zend-Avesta,
i. 2d part, p. 46, corrected by Spiegel, in the Zeitschrift der deutschen
morgenländischen Gesellschaft, i. 261, and following; extracts from the
Jamasp-Nameh, in the Avesta of Spiegel, i., p. 34. None of the Parsee
texts, which truly imply the idea of resuscitated prophets and of precursors,
are ancient; but the ideas contained in them appear to be much anterior to the
time of the compilation itself.]
[Footnote 7: Rev. xi. 3, and following.]
It will be seen that, with these ideas, Jesus and his disciples
could not hesitate about the mission of John the Baptist. When the scribes
raised the objection that the Messiah could not have come because Elias had not
yet appeared,[1] they replied that Elias was come, that John was Elias raised
from the dead.[2] By his manner of life, by his opposition to the established
political authorities, John in fact recalled that strange figure in the ancient
history of Israel.[3] Jesus was not silent on the merits and excellencies of his
forerunner. He said that none greater was born among the children of men. He
energetically blamed the Pharisees and the doctors for not having accepted his
baptism, and for not being converted at his voice.[4]
[Footnote 1: Mark ix. 10.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xi. 14, xvii. 10-13; Mark vi. 15, ix. 10-12;
Luke ix. 8; John i. 21-25.]
[Footnote 3: Luke i. 17.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxi. 32; Luke vii. 29, 30.]
The disciples of Jesus were faithful to these principles of
their master. This respect for John continued during the whole of the first
Christian generation.[1] He was supposed to be a relative of Jesus.[2] In order
to establish the mission of the latter upon testimony admitted by all, it was
declared that John, at the first sight of Jesus, proclaimed him the Messiah;
that he recognized himself his inferior, unworthy to unloose the latchets of his
shoes; that he refused at first to baptize him, and maintained that it was he
who ought to be baptized by Jesus.[3] These were exaggerations, which are
sufficiently refuted by the doubtful form of John's last message.[4] But, in a
more general sense, John remains in the Christian legend that which he was in
reality—the austere forerunner, the gloomy preacher of repentance before the joy
on the arrival of the bridegroom, the prophet who announces the kingdom of God
and dies before beholding it. This giant in the early history of Christianity,
this eater of locusts and wild honey, this rough redresser of wrongs, was the
bitter which prepared the lip for the sweetness of the kingdom of God. His
beheading by Herodias inaugurated the era of Christian martyrs; he was the first
witness for the new faith. The worldly, who recognized in him their true enemy,
could not permit him to live; his mutilated corpse, extended on the threshold of
Christianity, traced the bloody path in which so many others were to follow.
[Footnote 1: Acts xix. 4.]
[Footnote 2: Luke i.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. iii. 14, and following; Luke iii. 16; John i.
15, and following, v. 32, 33.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xi. 2, and following; Luke vii. 18, and
following.]
The school of John did not die with its founder. It lived some
time distinct from that of Jesus, and at first a good understanding existed
between the two. Many years after the death of the two masters, people were
baptized with the baptism of John. Certain persons belonged to the two schools
at the same time—for example, the celebrated Apollos, the rival of St. Paul
(toward the year 50), and a large number of the Christians of Ephesus.[1]
Josephus placed himself (year 53) in the school of an ascetic named Banou,[2]
who presents the greatest resemblance to John the Baptist, and who was perhaps
of his school. This Banou[3] lived in the desert, clothed with the leaves of
trees; he supported himself only on wild plants and fruits, and baptized himself
frequently, both day and night, in cold water, in order to purify himself.
James, he who was called the "brother of the Lord" (there is here perhaps some
confusion of homonyms), practised a similar asceticism.[4] Afterward, toward the
year 80, Baptism was in strife with Christianity, especially in Asia Minor. John
the evangelist appears to combat it in an indirect manner.[5] One of the
Sibylline[6] poems seems to proceed from this school. As to the sects of
Hemero-baptists, Baptists, and Elchasaïtes (Sabiens Mogtasila of the
Arabian writers[7]), who, in the second century, filled Syria, Palestine and
Babylonia, and whose representatives still exist in our days among the
Mendaites, called "Christians of St. John;" they have the same origin as the
movement of John the Baptist, rather than an authentic descent from John. The
true school of the latter, partly mixed with Christianity, became a small
Christian heresy, and died out in obscurity. John had foreseen distinctly the
destiny of the two schools. If he had yielded to a mean rivalry, he would to-day
have been forgotten in the crowd of sectaries of his time. By his
self-abnegation he has attained a glorious and unique position in the religious
pantheon of humanity.
[Footnote 1: Acts xviii. 25, xix. 1-5. Cf. Epiph.,
Adv. Hær., xxx. 16.]
[Footnote 2: Vita, 2.]
[Footnote 3: Would this be the Bounaï who is reckoned by the
Talmud
(Bab., Sanhedrim, 43 a) amongst the disciples of Jesus?]
[Footnote 4: Hegesippus, in Eusebius, H.E., ii. 23.]
[Footnote 5: Gospel, i. 26, 33, iv. 2; 1st Epistle, v. 6. Cf.
Acts x. 47.]
[Footnote 6: Book iv. See especially v. 157, and following.]
[Footnote 7: Sabiens is the Aramean equivalent of the
word
"Baptists." Mogtasila has the same meaning in Arabic.]
CHAPTER XIII.
FIRST ATTEMPTS ON JERUSALEM.
Jesus, almost every year, went to
Jerusalem for the feast of the passover. The details of these journeys are
little known, for the synoptics do not speak of them,[1] and the notes of the
fourth Gospel are very confused on this point.[2] It was, it appears, in the
year 31, and certainly after the death of John, that the most important of the
visits of Jesus to Jerusalem took place. Many of the disciples followed him.
Although Jesus attached from that time little value to the pilgrimage, he
conformed himself to it in order not to wound Jewish opinion, with which he had
not yet broken. These journeys, moreover, were essential to his design; for he
felt already that in order to play a leading part, he must go from Galilee, and
attack Judaism in its stronghold, which was Jerusalem.
[Footnote 1: They, however, imply them obscurely (Matt. xxiii.
37; Luke xiii. 34). They knew as well as John the relation of Jesus with Joseph
of Arimathea. Luke even (x. 38-42) knew the family of Bethany. Luke (ix. 51-54)
has a vague idea of the system of the fourth Gospel respecting the journeys of
Jesus. Many discourses against the Pharisees and the Sadducees, said by the
synoptics to have been delivered in Galilee, have scarcely any meaning, except
as having been given at Jerusalem. And again, the lapse of eight days is much
too short to explain all that happened between the arrival of Jesus in that city
and his death.]
[Footnote 2: Two pilgrimages are clearly indicated (John ii. 13,
and v. 1), without speaking of his last journey (vii. 10), after which Jesus
returned no more to Galilee. The first took place while John was still
baptizing. It would belong consequently to the Easter of the year 29. But the
circumstances given as belonging to this journey are of a more advanced period.
(Comp. especially John ii. 14, and following, and Matt. xxi. 12, 13; Mark xi.
15-17; Luke xix. 45, 46.) There are evidently transpositions of dates in these
chapters of John, or rather he has mixed the circumstances of different
journeys.]
The little Galilean community were here far from being at home.
Jerusalem was then nearly what it is to-day, a city of pedantry, acrimony,
disputes, hatreds, and littleness of mind. Its fanaticism was extreme, and
religious seditions very frequent. The Pharisees were dominant; the study of the
Law, pushed to the most insignificant minutiæ, and reduced to questions of
casuistry, was the only study. This exclusively theological and canonical
culture contributed in no respect to refine the intellect. It was something
analogous to the barren doctrine of the Mussulman fakir, to that empty science
discussed round about the mosques, and which is a great expenditure of time and
useless argumentation, by no means calculated to advance the right discipline of
the mind. The theological education of the modern clergy, although very dry,
gives us no idea of this, for the Renaissance has introduced into all our
teachings, even the most irregular, a share of belles lettres and of
method, which has infused more or less of the humanities into
scholasticism. The science of the Jewish doctor, of the sofer or scribe,
was purely barbarous, unmitigatedly absurd, and denuded of all moral element.[1]
To crown the evil, it filled with ridiculous pride those who had wearied
themselves in acquiring it. The Jewish scribe, proud of the pretended knowledge
which had cost him so much trouble, had the same contempt for Greek culture
which the learned Mussulman of our time has for European civilization, and which
the old catholic theologian had for the knowledge of men of the world. The
tendency of this scholastic culture was to close the mind to all that was
refined, to create esteem only for those difficult triflings on which they had
wasted their lives, and which were regarded as the natural occupation of persons
professing a degree of seriousness.[2]
[Footnote 1: We may judge of it by the Talmud, the echo of the
Jewish scholasticism of that time.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XX. xi. 2.]
This odious society could not fail to weigh heavily on the
tender and susceptible minds of the north. The contempt of the Hierosolymites
for the Galileans rendered the separation still more complete. In the beautiful
temple which was the object of all their desires, they often only met with
insult. A verse of the pilgrim's psalm,[1] "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of my God," seemed made expressly for them. A contemptuous priesthood
laughed at their simple devotion, as formerly in Italy the clergy, familiarized
with the sanctuaries, witnessed coldly and almost jestingly the fervor of the
pilgrim come from afar. The Galileans spoke a rather corrupt dialect; their
pronunciation was vicious; they confounded the different aspirations of letters,
which led to mistakes which were much laughed at.[2] In religion, they were
considered as ignorant and somewhat heterodox;[3] the expression, "foolish
Galileans," had become proverbial.[4] It was believed (not without reason) that
they were not of pure Jewish blood, and no one expected Galilee to produce a
prophet.[5] Placed thus on the confines of Judaism, and almost outside of it,
the poor Galileans had only one badly interpreted passage in Isaiah to build
their hopes upon.[6] "Land of Zebulon, and land of Naphtali, way of the sea,
Galilee of the nations! The people that walked in darkness have seen a great
light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the
light shined." The reputation of the native city of Jesus was particularly bad.
It was a popular proverb, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?"[7]
[Footnote 1: Ps. lxxxiv. (Vulg. lxxxiii.) 11.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvi. 73; Mark xiv. 70; Acts ii. 7;
Talm. of
Bab., Erubin, 53 a, and following; Bereschith Rabba, 26 c.]
[Footnote 3: Passage from the treatise Erubin, loc.
cit.]
[Footnote 4: Erubin, loc. cit., 53 b.]
[Footnote 5: John vii. 52.]
[Footnote 6: Isa. ix. 1, 2; Matt. iv. 13, and following.]
[Footnote 7: John i. 46.]
The parched appearance of Nature in the neighborhood of
Jerusalem must have added to the dislike Jesus had for the place. The valleys
are without water; the soil arid and stony. Looking into the valley of the Dead
Sea, the view is somewhat striking; elsewhere it is monotonous. The hill of
Mizpeh, around which cluster the most ancient historical remembrances of Israel,
alone relieves the eye. The city presented, at the time of Jesus, nearly the
same form that it does now. It had scarcely any ancient monuments, for, until
the time of the Asmoneans, the Jews had remained strangers to all the arts. John
Hyrcanus had begun to embellish it, and Herod the Great had made it one of the
most magnificent cities of the East. The Herodian constructions, by their grand
character, perfection of execution, and beauty of material, may dispute
superiority with the most finished works of antiquity.[1] A great number of
superb tombs, of original taste, were raised at the same time in the
neighborhood of Jerusalem.[2] The style of these monuments was Grecian, but
appropriate to the customs of the Jews, and considerably modified in accordance
with their principles. The ornamental sculptures of the human figure which the
Herods had sanctioned, to the great discontent of the purists, were banished,
and replaced by floral decorations. The taste of the ancient inhabitants of
Phoenicia and Palestine for monoliths in solid stone seemed to be revived in
these singular tombs cut in the rock, and in which Grecian orders are so
strangely applied to an architecture of troglodytes. Jesus, who regarded works
of art as a pompous display of vanity, viewed these monuments with
displeasure.[3] His absolute spiritualism, and his settled conviction that the
form of the old world was about to pass away, left him no taste except for
things of the heart.
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., XV. viii.-xi.; B.J., V.
v. 6; Mark xiii. 1, 2.]
[Footnote 2: Tombs, namely, of the Judges, Kings, Absalom,
Zechariah, Jehoshaphat, and of St. James. Compare the description of the tomb of
the Maccabees at Modin (1 Macc. xiii. 27, and following).]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxiii. 27, 29, xxiv. 1, and following; Mark
xiii. 1, and following; Luke xix. 44, xxi. 5, and following. Compare Book of
Enoch, xcvii. 13, 14; Talmud of Babylon, Shabbath, 33 b.]
The temple, at the time of Jesus, was quite new, and the
exterior works of it were not completed. Herod had begun its reconstruction in
the year 20 or 21 before the Christian era, in order to make it uniform with his
other edifices. The body of the temple was finished in eighteen months; the
porticos took eight years;[1] and the accessory portions were continued slowly,
and were only finished a short time before the taking of Jerusalem.[2] Jesus
probably saw the work progressing, not without a degree of secret vexation.
These hopes of a long future were like an insult to his approaching advent.
Clearer-sighted than the unbelievers and the fanatics, he foresaw that these
superb edifices were destined to endure but for a short time.[3]
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., XV. xi. 5, 6.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XX. ix. 7; John ii. 20.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxiv. 2, xxvi. 61, xxvii. 40; Mark xiii. 2,
xiv. 58, xv. 29; Luke xxi. 6; John ii. 19, 20.]
The temple formed a marvelously imposing whole, of which the
present haram,[1] notwithstanding its beauty, scarcely gives us any idea.
The courts and the surrounding porticos served as the daily rendezvous for a
considerable number of persons—so much so, that this great space was at once
temple, forum, tribunal, and university. All the religious discussions of the
Jewish schools, all the canonical instruction, even the legal processes and
civil causes—in a word, all the activity of the nation was concentrated
there.[2] It was an arena where arguments were perpetually clashing, a
battlefield of disputes, resounding with sophisms and subtle questions. The
temple had thus much analogy with a Mahometan mosque. The Romans at this period
treated all strange religions with respect, when kept within proper limits,[3]
and carefully refrained from entering the sanctuary; Greek and Latin
inscriptions marked the point up to which those who were not Jews were permitted
to advance.[4] But the tower of Antonia, the headquarters of the Roman forces,
commanded the whole enclosure, and allowed all that passed therein to be
seen.[5] The guarding of the temple belonged to the Jews; the entire
superintendence was committed to a captain, who caused the gates to be opened
and shut, and prevented any one from crossing the enclosure with a stick in his
hand, or with dusty shoes, or when carrying parcels, or to shorten his path.[6]
They were especially scrupulous in watching that no one entered within the inner
gates in a state of legal impurity. The women had an entirely separate court.
[Footnote 1: The temple and its enclosure doubtless occupied the
site of the mosque of Omar and the haram, or Sacred Court, which
surrounds the mosque. The foundation of the haram is, in some parts, especially
at the place where the Jews go to weep, the exact base of the temple of Herod.]
[Footnote 2: Luke ii. 46, and following; Mishnah, Sanhedrim,
x. 2.]
[Footnote 3: Suet., Aug. 93.]
[Footnote 4: Philo, Legatio ad Caium, § 31; Jos., B.J.,
V. v. 2,
VI. ii. 4; Acts xxi. 28.]
[Footnote 5: Considerable traces of this tower are still seen in
the northern part of the haram.]
[Footnote 6: Mishnah, Berakoth, ix. 5; Talm. of Babyl.,
Jebamoth, 6 b; Mark xi. 16.]
It was in the temple that Jesus passed his days, whilst he
remained at Jerusalem. The period of the feasts brought an extraordinary
concourse of people into the city. Associated in parties of ten to twenty
persons, the pilgrims invaded everywhere, and lived in that disordered state in
which Orientals delight.[1] Jesus was lost in the crowd, and his poor Galileans
grouped around him were of small account. He probably felt that he was in a
hostile world which would receive him only with disdain. Everything he saw set
him against it. The temple, like much-frequented places of devotion in general,
offered a not very edifying spectacle. The accessories of worship entailed a
number of repulsive details, especially of mercantile operations, in consequence
of which real shops were established within the sacred enclosure. There were
sold beasts for the sacrifices; there were tables for the exchange of money; at
times it seemed like a bazaar. The inferior officers of the temple fulfilled
their functions doubtless with the irreligious vulgarity of the sacristans of
all ages. This profane and heedless air in the handling of holy things wounded
the religious sentiment of Jesus, which was at times carried even to a
scrupulous excess.[2] He said that they had made the house of prayer into a den
of thieves. One day, it is even said, that, carried away by his anger, he
scourged the vendors with a "scourge of small cords," and overturned their
tables.[3] In general, he had little love for the temple. The worship which he
had conceived for his Father had nothing in common with scenes of butchery. All
these old Jewish institutions displeased him, and he suffered in being obliged
to conform to them. Except among the Judaizing Christians, neither the temple
nor its site inspired pious sentiments. The true disciples of the new faith held
this ancient sanctuary in aversion. Constantine and the first Christian emperors
left the pagan construction of Adrian existing there,[4] and only the enemies of
Christianity, such as Julian, remembered the temple.[5] When Omar entered into
Jerusalem, he found the site designedly polluted in hatred of the Jews.[6] It
was Islamism, that is to say, a sort of resurrection of Judaism in its
exclusively Semitic form, which restored its glory. The place has always been
anti-Christian.
[Footnote 1: Jos., B.J., II. xiv. 3, VI. ix. 3. Comp. Ps.
cxxxiii.
(Vulg. cxxxii.)]
[Footnote 2: Mark xi. 16.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxi. 12, and following; Mark xi. 15, and
following;
Luke xix. 45, and following; John ii. 14, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Itin. a Burdig. Hierus., p. 152 (edit.
Schott); S.
Jerome, in Is. i. 8, and in Matt. xxiv. 15.]
[Footnote 5: Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 1.]
[Footnote 6: Eutychius, Ann., II. 286, and following
(Oxford 1659).]
The pride of the Jews completed the discontent of Jesus, and
rendered his stay in Jerusalem painful. In the degree that the great ideas of
Israel ripened, the priesthood lost its power. The institution of synagogues had
given to the interpreter of the Law, to the doctor, a great superiority over the
priest. There were no priests except at Jerusalem, and even there, reduced to
functions entirely ritual, almost, like our parish priests, excluded from
preaching, they were surpassed by the orator of the synagogue, the casuist, and
the sofer or scribe, although the latter was only a layman. The
celebrated men of the Talmud were not priests; they were learned men according
to the ideas of the time. The high priesthood of Jerusalem held, it is true, a
very elevated rank in the nation; but it was by no means at the head of the
religious movement. The sovereign pontiff, whose dignity had already been
degraded by Herod,[1] became more and more a Roman functionary,[2] who was
frequently removed in order to divide the profits of the office. Opposed to the
Pharisees, who were very warm lay zealots, the priests were almost all
Sadducees, that is to say, members of that unbelieving aristocracy which had
been formed around the temple, and which lived by the altar, while they saw the
vanity of it.[3] The sacerdotal caste was separated to such a degree from the
national sentiment and from the great religious movement which dragged the
people along, that the name of "Sadducee" (sadoki), which at first simply
designated a member of the sacerdotal family of Sadok, had become synonymous
with "Materialist" and with "Epicurean."
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., XV. iii. 1, 3.]
[Footnote 2: Ibid., XVIII. ii.]
[Footnote 3: Acts iv. 1, and following, v. 17; Jos.,
Ant., XX. ix. 1; Pirké Aboth, i. 10.]
A still worse element had begun, since the reign of Herod the
Great, to corrupt the high-priesthood. Herod having fallen in love with
Mariamne, daughter of a certain Simon, son of Boëthus of Alexandria, and having
wished to marry her (about the year 28 B.C.), saw no other means of ennobling
his father-in-law and raising him to his own rank than by making him
high-priest. This intriguing family remained master, almost without
interruption, of the sovereign pontificate for thirty-five years.[1] Closely
allied to the reigning family, it did not lose the office until after the
deposition of Archelaus, and recovered it (the year 42 of our era) after Herod
Agrippa had for some time re-enacted the work of Herod the Great. Under the name
of Boëthusim,[2] a new sacerdotal nobility was formed, very worldly, and
little devotional, and closely allied to the Sadokites. The Boëthusim, in
the Talmud and the rabbinical writings, are depicted as a kind of unbelievers,
and always reproached as Sadducees.[3] From all this there resulted a miniature
court of Rome around the temple, living on politics, little inclined to excesses
of zeal, even rather fearing them, not wishing to hear of holy personages or of
innovators, for it profited from the established routine. These epicurean
priests had not the violence of the Pharisees; they only wished for quietness;
it was their moral indifference, their cold irreligion, which revolted Jesus.
Although very different, the priests and the Pharisees were thus confounded in
his antipathies. But a stranger, and without influence, he was long compelled to
restrain his discontent within himself, and only to communicate his sentiments
to the intimate friends who accompanied him.
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant. XV. ix. 3, XVII. vi. 4, xiii. 1,
XVIII. i. 1, ii. 1, XIX. vi. 2, viii. 1.]
[Footnote 2: This name is only found in the Jewish documents. I
think that the "Herodians" of the gospel are the Boëthusim.]
[Footnote 3: The treatise of Aboth Nathan, 5; Soferim,
iii., hal. 5; Mishnah, Menachoth, x. 3; Talmud of Babylon, Shabbath,
118 a. The name of Boëthusim is often changed in the Talmudic
books with that of the Sadducees, or with the word Minim (heretics).
Compare Thosiphta, Joma, i., with the Talm. of Jerus., the same treatise,
i. 5, and Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 19 b; Thos. Sukka, iii.
with the Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 43 b; Thos. ibid., further on,
with the Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 48 b; Thos. Rosh hasshana,
i. with Mishnah, same treatise ii. 1; Talm. of Jerus., same treatise, ii. 1; and
Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 22 b; Thos. Menachoth, x. with
Mishnah, same treatise, x. 3; Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 65 a;
Mishnah, Chagigah, ii. 4; and Megillath Taanith, i.; Thos. Iadaim,
ii. with Talm. of Jerus.; Baba Bathra, viii. 1; Talm. of Bab., same
treatise, 115 b; and Megillath Taanith, v.]
Before his last stay, which was by far the longest of all that
he made at Jerusalem, and which was terminated by his death, Jesus endeavored,
however, to obtain a hearing. He preached; people spoke of him; and they
conversed respecting certain deeds of his which were looked upon as miraculous.
But from all that, there resulted neither an established church at Jerusalem nor
a group of Hierosolymite disciples. The charming teacher, who forgave every one
provided they loved him, could not find much sympathy in this sanctuary of vain
disputes and obsolete sacrifices. The only result was that he formed some
valuable friendships, the advantage of which he reaped afterward. He does not
appear at that time to have made the acquaintance of the family of Bethany,
which, amidst the trials of the latter months of his life, brought him so much
consolation. But very early he attracted the attention of a certain Nicodemus, a
rich Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrim, and a man occupying a high position in
Jerusalem.[1] This man, who appears to have been upright and sincere, felt
himself attracted toward the young Galilean. Not wishing to compromise himself,
he came to see Jesus by night, and had a long conversation with him.[2] He
doubtless preserved a favorable impression of him, for afterward he defended
Jesus against the prejudices of his colleagues,[3] and, at the death of Jesus,
we shall find him tending with pious care the corpse of the master.[4] Nicodemus
did not become a Christian; he had too much regard for his position to take part
in a revolutionary movement which as yet counted no men of note amongst its
adherents. But he evidently felt great friendship for Jesus, and rendered him
service, though unable to rescue him from a death which even at this period was
all but decreed.
[Footnote 1: It seems that he is referred to in the Talmud.
Talm. of Bab., Taanith, 20 a; Gittin, 56 a;
Ketuboth, 66 b; treatise Aboth Nathan, vii.; Midrash Rabba,
Eka, 64 a. The passage Taanith identifies him with Bounaï,
who, according to Sanhedrim (see ante, p. 212, note 2), was a disciple of
Jesus. But if Bounaï is the Banou of Josephus, this identification will not hold
good.]
[Footnote 2: John iii. 1, and following, vii. 50. We are
certainly free to believe that the exact text of the conversation is but a
creation of John's.]
[Footnote 3: John vii. 50, and following.]
[Footnote 4: John xix. 39.]
As to the celebrated doctors of the time, Jesus does not appear
to have had any connection with them. Hillel and Shammai were dead; the greatest
authority of the time was Gamaliel, grandson of Hillel. He was of a liberal
spirit, and a man of the world, not opposed to secular studies, and inclined to
tolerance by his intercourse with good society.[1] Unlike the very strict
Pharisees, who walked veiled or with closed eyes, he did not scruple to gaze
even upon Pagan women.[2] This, as well as his knowledge of Greek, was tolerated
because he had access to the court.[3] After the death of Jesus, he expressed
very moderate views respecting the new sect.[4] St. Paul sat at his feet,[5] but
it is not probable that Jesus ever entered his school.
[Footnote 1: Mishnah, Baba Metsia, v. 8; Talm. of Bab.,
Sota, 49 b.]
[Footnote 2: Talm. of Jerus., Berakoth, ix. 2.]
[Footnote 3: Passage Sota, before cited, and Baba Kama,
83 a.]
[Footnote 4: Acts v. 34, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Acts xxii. 3.]
One idea, at least, which Jesus brought from Jerusalem, and
which henceforth appears rooted in his mind, was that there was no union
possible between him and the ancient Jewish religion. The abolition of the
sacrifices which had caused him so much disgust, the suppression of an impious
and haughty priesthood, and, in a general sense, the abrogation of the law,
appeared to him absolutely necessary. From this time he appears no more as a
Jewish reformer, but as a destroyer of Judaism. Certain advocates of the
Messianic ideas had already admitted that the Messiah would bring a new law,
which should be common to all the earth.[1] The Essenes, who were scarcely Jews,
also appear to have been indifferent to the temple and to the Mosaic
observances. But these were only isolated or unavowed instances of boldness.
Jesus was the first who dared to say that from his time, or rather from that of
John,[2] the Law was abolished. If sometimes he used more measured terms,[3] it
was in order not to offend existing prejudices too violently. When he was driven
to extremities, he lifted the veil entirely, and declared that the Law had no
longer any force. On this subject he used striking comparisons. "No man putteth
a piece of new cloth into an old garment, neither do men put new wine into old
bottles."[4] This was really his chief characteristic as teacher and creator.
The temple excluded all except Jews from its enclosure by scornful
announcements. Jesus had no sympathy with this. The narrow, hard, and
uncharitable Law was only made for the children of Abraham. Jesus maintained
that every well-disposed man, every man who received and loved him, was a son of
Abraham.[5] The pride of blood appeared to him the great enemy which was to be
combated. In other words, Jesus was no longer a Jew. He was in the highest
degree revolutionary; he called all men to a worship founded solely on the fact
of their being children of God. He proclaimed the rights of man, not the rights
of the Jew; the religion of man, not the religion of the Jew; the deliverance of
man, not the deliverance of the Jew.[6] How far removed was this from a
Gaulonite Judas or a Matthias Margaloth, preaching revolution in the name of the
Law! The religion of humanity, established, not upon blood, but upon the heart,
was founded. Moses was superseded, the temple was rendered useless, and was
irrevocably condemned.
[Footnote 1: Orac. Sib., book iii. 573, and following,
715, and following, 756-58. Compare the Targum of Jonathan, Isa. xii. 3.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xvi. 16. The passage in Matt. xi. 12, 13, is
less clear, but can have no other meaning.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. v. 17, 18 (Cf. Talm. of Bab., Shabbath,
116 b). This passage is not in contradiction with those in which the
abolition of the Law is implied. It only signifies that in Jesus all the types
of the Old Testament are realized. Cf. Luke xvi. 17.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. ix. 16, 17; Luke v. 36, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Luke xix. 9.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xxiv. 14, xxviii. 19; Mark xiii. 10, xvi. 15;
Luke xxiv. 47.]
CHAPTER XIV.
INTERCOURSE OF JESUS WITH THE PAGANS AND THE SAMARITANS.
Following out these principles, Jesus
despised all religion which was not of the heart. The vain practices of the
devotees,[1] the exterior strictness, which trusted to formality for salvation,
had in him a mortal enemy. He cared little for fasting.[2] He preferred
forgiveness to sacrifice.[3] The love of God, charity and mutual forgiveness,
were his whole law.[4] Nothing could be less priestly. The priest, by his
office, ever advocates public sacrifice, of which he is the appointed minister;
he discourages private prayer, which has a tendency to dispense with his office.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xv. 9.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. ix. 14, xi. 19.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. v. 23, and following, ix. 13, xii. 7.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxii. 37, and following; Mark xii. 28, and
following; Luke x. 25, and following.]
We should seek in vain in the Gospel for one religious rite
recommended by Jesus. Baptism to him was only of secondary importance;[1] and
with respect to prayer, he prescribes nothing, except that it should proceed
from the heart. As is always the case, many thought to substitute mere good-will
for genuine love of goodness, and imagined they could win the kingdom of heaven
by saying to him, "Rabbi, Rabbi." He rebuked them, and proclaimed that his
religion consisted in doing good.[2] He often quoted the passage in Isaiah,
which says: "This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from
me."[3]
[Footnote 1: Matt. iii. 15; 1 Cor. i. 17.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. vii. 21; Luke vi. 46.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xv. 8; Mark vii. 6. Cf. Isaiah xxix. 13.]
The observance of the Sabbath was the principal point upon which
was raised the whole edifice of Pharisaic scruples and subtleties. This ancient
and excellent institution had become a pretext for the miserable disputes of
casuists, and a source of superstitious beliefs.[1] It was believed that Nature
observed it; all intermittent springs were accounted "Sabbatical."[2] This was
the point upon which Jesus loved best to defy his adversaries.[3] He openly
violated the Sabbath, and only replied by subtle raillery to the reproaches that
were heaped upon him. He despised still more a multitude of modern observances,
which tradition had added to the Law, and which were dearer than any other to
the devotees on that very account. Ablutions, and the too subtle distinctions
between pure and impure things, found in him a pitiless opponent: "There is
nothing from without a man," said he, "that entering into him can defile him:
but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man." The
Pharisees, who were the propagators of these mummeries, were unceasingly
denounced by him. He accused them of exceeding the Law, of inventing impossible
precepts, in order to create occasions of sin: "Blind leaders of the blind,"
said he, "take care lest ye also fall into the ditch." "O generation of vipers,
how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh."[4]
[Footnote 1: See especially the treatise Shabbath of the
Mishnah and the Livre des Jubilés (translated from the Ethiopian in the
Jahrbücher of Ewald, years 2 and 3), chap. I.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., B.J., VII. v. 1; Pliny, H.N.,
xxxi. 18. Cf.
Thomson, The Land and the Book, i. 406, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xii. 1-14; Mark ii. 23-28; Luke vi. 1-5,
xiii. 14, and following, xiv. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xii. 34, xv. 1, and following, 12, and
following, xxiii. entirely; Mark vii. 1, and following, 15, and following; Luke
vi. 45, xi. 39, and following.]
He did not know the Gentiles sufficiently to think of founding
anything lasting upon their conversion. Galilee contained a great number of
pagans, but, as it appears, no public and organized worship of false gods.[1]
Jesus could see this worship displayed in all its splendor in the country of
Tyre and Sidon, at Cæsarea Philippi and in the Decapolis, but he paid little
attention to it. We never find in him the wearisome pedantry of the Jews of his
time, those declamations against idolatry, so familiar to his co-religionists
from the time of Alexander, and which fill, for instance, the book of
"Wisdom."[2] That which struck him in the pagans was not their idolatry, but
their servility.[3] The young Jewish democrat agreeing on this point with Judas
the Gaulonite, and admitting no master but God, was hurt at the honors with
which they surrounded the persons of sovereigns, and the frequently mendacious
titles given to them. With this exception, in the greater number of instances in
which he comes in contact with pagans, he shows great indulgence to them;
sometimes he professes to conceive more hope of them than of the Jews.[4] The
kingdom of God would be transferred to them. "When the lord, therefore, of the
vineyard cometh, what will he do unto these husbandmen? He will miserably
destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen,
which shall render him the fruits in their seasons."[5] Jesus adhered so much
the more to this idea, as the conversion of the Gentiles was, according to
Jewish ideas, one of the surest signs of the advent of the Messiah.[6] In his
kingdom of God he represents, as seated at a feast, by the side of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, men come from the four winds of heaven, whilst the lawful
heirs of the kingdom are rejected.[7] Sometimes, it is true, there seems to be
an entirely contrary tendency in the commands he gives to his disciples: he
seems to recommend them only to preach salvation to the orthodox Jews,[8] he
speaks of pagans in a manner conformable to the prejudices of the Jews.[9] But
we must remember that the disciples, whose narrow minds did not share in this
supreme indifference for the privileges of the sons of Abraham, may have given
the instruction of their master the bent of their own ideas. Besides, it is very
possible that Jesus may have varied on this point, just as Mahomet speaks of the
Jews in the Koran, sometimes in the most honorable manner, sometimes with
extreme harshness, as he had hope of winning their favor or otherwise.
Tradition, in fact, attributes to Jesus two entirely opposite rules of
proselytism, which he may have practised in turn: "He that is not against us is
on our part." "He that is not with me, is against me."[10] Impassioned conflict
involves almost necessarily this kind of contradictions.
[Footnote 1: I believe the pagans of Galilee were found
especially on the frontiers—at Kedes, for example; but that the very heart of
the country, the city of Tiberias excepted, was entirely Jewish. The line where
the ruins of temples end, and those of synagogues begin, is to-day plainly
marked as far north as Lake Huleh (Samachonites). The traces of pagan sculpture,
which were thought to have been found at Tell-Houm, are doubtful. The coast—the
town of Acre, in particular—did not form part of Galilee.]
[Footnote 2: Chap. XIII. and following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xx. 25; Mark x. 42; Luke xxii. 25.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. viii. 5, and following, xv. 22, and
following; Mark vii. 25, and following; Luke iv. 25, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xxi. 41; Mark xii. 9; Luke xx. 16.]
[Footnote 6: Isa. ii. 2, and following, lx.; Amos ix. 11, and
following; Jer. iii. 17; Mal. i. 11; Tobit, xiii. 13, and following;
Orac. Sibyll., iii. 715, and following. Comp. Matt. xxiv. 14; Acts
xv. 15, and following.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. viii. 11, 12, xxi. 33, and following, xxii.
1, and following.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. vii. 6, x. 5, 6, xv. 24, xxi. 43.]
[Footnote 9: Matt. v. 46, and following, vi. 7, 32, xviii. 17;
Luke vi. 32, and following, xii. 30.]
[Footnote 10: Matt. xii. 30; Mark ix. 39; Luke ix. 50, xi. 23.]
It is certain that he counted among his disciples many men whom
the Jews called "Hellenes."[1] This word had in Palestine divers meanings.
Sometimes it designated the pagans; sometimes the Jews, speaking Greek, and
dwelling among the pagans;[2] sometimes men of pagan origin converted to
Judaism.[3] It was probably in the last-named category of Hellenes that Jesus
found sympathy.[4] The affiliation with Judaism had many degrees; but the
proselytes always remained in a state of inferiority in regard to the Jew by
birth. Those in question were called "proselytes of the gate," or "men fearing
God," and were subject to the precepts of Noah, and not to those of Moses.[5]
This very inferiority was doubtless the cause which drew them to Jesus, and
gained them his favor.
[Footnote 1: Josephus confirms this (Ant., XVIII. iii.
3). Comp.
John vii. 35, xii. 20, 21.]
[Footnote 2: Talm. of Jerus., Sota, vii. 1.]
[Footnote 3: See in particular, John vii. 35, xii. 20; Acts
xiv. 1, xvii. 4, xviii. 4, xxi. 28.]
[Footnote 4: John xii. 20; Acts viii. 27.]
[Footnote 5: Mishnah, Baba Metsia, ix. 12; Talm. of Bab.,
Sanh.,56 b; Acts viii. 27, x. 2, 22, 35, xiii. 16, 26, 43,
50, xvi. 14, xvii. 4, 17, xviii. 7; Gal. ii. 3; Jos., Ant., XIV. vii. 2.]
He treated the Samaritans in the same manner. Shut in, like a
small island, between the two great provinces of Judaism (Judea and Galilee),
Samaria formed in Palestine a kind of enclosure in which was preserved the
ancient worship of Gerizim, closely resembling and rivalling that of Jerusalem.
This poor sect, which had neither the genius nor the learned organization of
Judaism, properly so called, was treated by the Hierosolymites with extreme
harshness.[1] They placed them in the same rank as pagans, but hated them
more.[2] Jesus, from a feeling of opposition, was well disposed toward Samaria,
and often preferred the Samaritans to the orthodox Jews. If, at other times, he
seems to forbid his disciples preaching to them, confining his gospel to the
Israelites proper,[3] this was no doubt a precept arising from special
circumstances, to which the apostles have given too absolute a meaning.
Sometimes, in fact, the Samaritans received him badly, because they thought him
imbued with the prejudices of his co-religionists;[4]—in the same manner as in
our days the European free-thinker is regarded as an enemy by the Mussulman, who
always believes him to be a fanatical Christian. Jesus raised himself above
these misunderstandings.[5] He had many disciples at Shechem, and he passed at
least two days there.[6] On one occasion he meets with gratitude and true piety
from a Samaritan only.[7] One of his most beautiful parables is that of the man
wounded on the way to Jericho. A priest passes by and sees him, but goes on his
way; a Levite also passes, but does not stop; a Samaritan takes pity on him,
approaches him, and pours oil into his wounds, and bandages them.[8] Jesus
argues from this that true brotherhood is established among men by charity, and
not by creeds. The "neighbor" who in Judaism was specially the co-religionist,
was in his estimation the man who has pity on his kind without distinction of
sect. Human brotherhood in its widest sense overflows in all his teaching.
[Footnote 1: Ecclesiasticus l. 27, 28; John viii. 48;
Jos., Ant., IX. xiv. 3, XI. viii. 6, XII. v. 5; Talm. of Jerus., Aboda
zara, v. 4; Pesachim, i. 1.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. x. 5; Luke xvii. 18. Comp. Talm. of Bab.,
Cholin, 6 a.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. x. 5, 6.]
[Footnote 4: Luke ix. 53.]
[Footnote 5: Luke ix. 56.]
[Footnote 6: John iv. 39-43.]
[Footnote 7: Luke xvii. 16.]
[Footnote 8: Luke x. 30, and following.]
These thoughts, which beset Jesus on his leaving Jerusalem,
found their vivid expression in an anecdote which has been preserved respecting
his return. The road from Jerusalem into Galilee passes at the distance of half
an hour's journey from Shechem,[1] in front of the opening of the valley
commanded by mounts Ebal and Gerizim. This route was in general avoided by the
Jewish pilgrims, who preferred making in their journeys the long detour through
Perea, rather than expose themselves to the insults of the Samaritans, or ask
anything of them. It was forbidden to eat and drink with them.[2] It was an
axiom of certain casuists, that "a piece of Samaritan bread is the flesh of
swine."[3] When they followed this route, provisions were always laid up
beforehand; yet they rarely avoided conflict and ill-treatment.[4] Jesus shared
neither these scruples nor these fears. Having come to the point where the
valley of Shechem opens on the left, he felt fatigued, and stopped near a well.
The Samaritans were then as now accustomed to give to all the localities of
their valley names drawn from patriarchal reminiscences. They regarded this well
as having been given by Jacob to Joseph; it was probably the same which is now
called Bir-Iakoub. The disciples entered the valley and went to the city
to buy provisions. Jesus seated himself at the side of the well, having Gerizim
before him.
[Footnote 1: Now Nablous.]
[Footnote 2: Luke ix. 53; John iv. 9.]
[Footnote 3: Mishnah, Shebiit, viii. 10.]
[Footnote 4: Jos., Ant., XX. v. 1; B.J., II. xii.
3; Vita, 52.]
It was about noon. A woman of Shechem came to draw water. Jesus
asked her to let him drink, which excited great astonishment in the woman, the
Jews generally forbidding all intercourse with the Samaritans. Won by the
conversation of Jesus, the woman recognized in him a prophet, and expecting some
reproaches about her worship, she anticipated him: "Sir," said she, "our fathers
worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men
ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when
ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. But
the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth."[1]
[Footnote 1: John iv. 21-23. Verse 22, at least the latter
clause of it, which expresses an idea opposed to that of verses 21 and 23,
appears to have been interpolated. We must not insist too much on the historical
reality of such a conversation, since Jesus, or his interlocutor, alone would
have been able to relate it. But the anecdote in chapter iv. of John, certainly
represents one of the most intimate thoughts of Jesus, and the greater part of
the circumstances have a striking appearance of truth.]
The day on which he uttered this saying, he was truly Son of
God. He pronounced for the first time the sentence upon which will repose the
edifice of eternal religion. He founded the pure worship, of all ages, of all
lands, that which all elevated souls will practice until the end of time. Not
only was his religion on this day the best religion of humanity, it was the
absolute religion; and if other planets have inhabitants gifted with reason and
morality, their religion cannot be different from that which Jesus proclaimed
near the well of Jacob. Man has not been able to maintain this position: for the
ideal is realized but transitorily. This sentence of Jesus has been a brilliant
light amidst gross darkness; it has required eighteen hundred years for the eyes
of mankind (what do I say! for an infinitely small portion of mankind) to become
accustomed to it. But the light will become the full day, and, after having run
through all the cycles of error, mankind will return to this sentence, as the
immortal expression of its faith and its hope.
CHAPTER XV.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE LEGENDS CONCERNING JESUS—HIS OWN IDEA OF
HIS SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER.
Jesus returned to Galilee, having
completely lost his Jewish faith, and filled with revolutionary ardor. His ideas
are now expressed with perfect clearness. The innocent aphorisms of the first
part of his prophetic career, in part borrowed from the Jewish rabbis anterior
to him, and the beautiful moral precepts of his second period, are exchanged for
a decided policy. The Law would be abolished; and it was to be abolished by
him.[1] The Messiah had come, and he was the Messiah. The kingdom of God was
about to be revealed; and it was he who would reveal it. He knew well that he
would be the victim of his boldness; but the kingdom of God could not be
conquered without violence; it was by crises and commotions that it was to be
established.[2] The Son of man would reappear in glory, accompanied by legions
of angels, and those who had rejected him would be confounded.
[Footnote 1: The hesitancy of the immediate disciples of Jesus,
of whom a considerable portion remained attached to Judaism, might cause
objections to be raised to this. But the trial of Jesus leaves no room for
doubt. We shall see that he was there treated as a "corrupter." The Talmud gives
the procedure adopted against him as an example of that which ought to be
followed against "corrupters," who seek to overturn the Law of Moses. (Talm. of
Jerus., Sanhedrim, xiv. 16; Talm. of Bab., Sanhedrim, 43 a,
67 a.)]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xi. 12; Luke xvi. 16.]
The boldness of such a conception ought not to surprise us. Long
before this, Jesus had regarded his relation to God as that of a son to his
father. That which in others would be an insupportable pride, ought not in him
to be regarded as presumption.
The title of "Son of David" was the first which he accepted,
probably without being concerned in the innocent frauds by which it was sought
to secure it to him. The family of David had, as it seems, been long extinct;[1]
the Asmoneans being of priestly origin, could not pretend to claim such a
descent for themselves; neither Herod nor the Romans dreamt for a moment that
any representative whatever of the ancient dynasty existed in their midst. But
from the close of the Asmonean dynasty the dream of an unknown descendant of the
ancient kings, who should avenge the nation of its enemies, filled every mind.
The universal belief was, that the Messiah would be son of David, and like him
would be born at Bethlehem.[2] The first idea of Jesus was not precisely this.
The remembrance of David, which was uppermost in the minds of the Jews, had
nothing in common with his heavenly reign. He believed himself the Son of God,
and not the son of David. His kingdom, and the deliverance which he meditated,
were of quite another order. But public opinion on this point made him do
violence to himself. The immediate consequence of the proposition, "Jesus is the
Messiah," was this other proposition, "Jesus is the son of David." He allowed a
title to be given him, without which he could not hope for success. He ended, it
seems, by taking pleasure therein, for he performed most willingly the miracles
which were asked of him by those who used this title in addressing him.[3] In
this, as in many other circumstances of his life, Jesus yielded to the ideas
which were current in his time, although they were not precisely his own. He
associated with his doctrine of the "kingdom of God" all that could warm the
heart and the imagination. It was thus that we have seen him adopt the baptism
of John, although it could not have been of much importance to him.
[Footnote 1: It is true that certain doctors—such as Hillel,
Gamaliel—are mentioned as being of the race of David. But these are very
doubtful allegations. If the family of David still formed a distinct and
prominent group, how is it that we never see it figure, by the side of the
Sadokites, Boëthusians, the Asmoneans, and Herods, in the great struggles of the
time?]
[Footnote 2: Matt. ii. 5, 6, xxii. 42; Luke i. 32; John vii. 41,
42; Acts ii. 30.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. ix. 27, xii. 23, xv. 22, xx. 30, 31; Mark x.
47, 52; Luke xviii. 38.]
One great difficulty presented itself—his birth at Nazareth,
which was of public notoriety. We do not know whether Jesus strove against this
objection. Perhaps it did not present itself in Galilee, where the idea that the
son of David should be a Bethlehemite was less spread. To the Galilean idealist,
moreover, the title of "son of David" was sufficiently justified, if he to whom
it was given revived the glory of his race, and brought back the great days of
Israel. Did Jesus authorize by his silence the fictitious genealogies which his
partisans invented in order to prove his royal descent?[1] Did he know anything
of the legends invented to prove that he was born at Bethlehem; and particularly
of the attempt to connect his Bethlehemite origin with the census which had
taken place by order of the imperial legate, Quirinus?[2] We know not. The
inexactitude and the contradictions of the genealogies[3] lead to the belief
that they were the result of popular ideas operating at various points, and that
none of them were sanctioned by Jesus.[4] Never does he designate himself as son
of David. His disciples, much less enlightened than he, frequently magnified
that which he said of himself; but, as a rule, he had no knowledge of these
exaggerations. Let us add, that during the first three centuries, considerable
portions of Christendom[5] obstinately denied the royal descent of Jesus and the
authenticity of the genealogies.
[Footnote 1: Matt. i. 1, and following; Luke iii. 23, and
following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. ii. 1, and following; Luke ii. 1, and
following.]
[Footnote 3: The two genealogies are quite contradictory, and do
not agree with the lists of the Old Testament. The narrative of Luke on the
census of Quirinus implies an anachronism. See ante, p. 81, note 4. It is
natural to suppose, besides, that the legend may have laid hold of this
circumstance. The census made a great impression on the Jews, overturned their
narrow ideas, and was remembered by them for a long period. Cf. Acts v.
37.]
[Footnote 4: Julius Africanus (in Eusebius, H.E., i. 7)
supposes that it was the relations of Jesus, who, having taken refuge in
Batanea, attempted to recompose the genealogies.]
[Footnote 5: The Ebionites, the "Hebrews," the
"Nazarenes," Tatian,
Marcion. Cf. Epiph., Adv. Hær., xxix. 9, xxx. 3, 14, xlvi. 1;
Theodoret, Hæret. fab., i. 20; Isidore of Pelusium, Epist. i. 371,
ad Pansophium.]
The legends about him were thus the fruit of a great and
entirely spontaneous conspiracy, and were developed around him during his
lifetime. No great event in history has happened without having given rise to a
cycle of fables; and Jesus could not have put a stop to these popular creations,
even if he had wished to do so. Perhaps a sagacious observer would have
recognized from this point the germ of the narratives which were to attribute to
him a supernatural birth, and which arose, it may be, from the idea, very
prevalent in antiquity, that the incomparable man could not be born of the
ordinary relations of the two sexes; or, it may be, in order to respond to an
imperfectly understood chapter of Isaiah,[1] which was thought to foretell that
the Messiah should be born of a virgin; or, lastly, it may be in consequence of
the idea that the "breath of God," already regarded as a divine hypostasis, was
a principle of fecundity.[2] Already, perhaps, there was current more than one
anecdote about his infancy, conceived with the intention of showing in his
biography the accomplishment of the Messianic ideal;[3] or, rather, of the
prophecies which the allegorical exegesis of the time referred to the Messiah.
At other times they connected him from his birth with celebrated men, such as
John the Baptist, Herod the Great, Chaldean astrologers, who, it was said,
visited Jerusalem about this time,[4] and two aged persons, Simeon and Anna, who
had left memories of great sanctity.[5] A rather loose chronology characterized
these combinations, which for the most part were founded upon real facts
travestied.[6] But a singular spirit of gentleness and goodness, a profoundly
popular sentiment, permeated all these fables, and made them a supplement to his
preaching.[7] It was especially after the death of Jesus that such narratives
became greatly developed; we may, however, believe that they circulated even
during his life, exciting only a pious credulity and simple admiration.
[Footnote 1: Matt. i. 22, 23.]
[Footnote 2: Gen. i. 2. For the analogous idea among the
Egyptians, see Herodotus, iii. 28; Pomp. Mela, i. 9: Plutarch, Quæst. symp.,
VIII. i. 3; De Isid. et Osir., 43.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. i. 15, 23; Isa. vii. 14, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. ii. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Luke ii. 25, and following.]
[Footnote 6: Thus the legend of the massacre of the Innocents
probably refers to some cruelty exercised by Herod near Bethlehem. Comp. Jos.,
Ant., XIV. ix. 4.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. i., ii.; Luke i., ii.; S. Justin, Dial.
cum
Tryph., 78, 106; Protoevang. of James (Apoca.), 18 and following.]
That Jesus never dreamt of making himself pass for an
incarnation of God, is a matter about which there can be no doubt. Such an idea
was entirely foreign to the Jewish mind; and there is no trace of it in the
synoptical gospels,[1] we only find it indicated in portions of the Gospel of
John, which cannot be accepted as expressing the thoughts of Jesus. Sometimes
Jesus even seems to take precautions to put down such a doctrine.[2] The
accusation that he made himself God, or the equal of God, is presented, even in
the Gospel of John, as a calumny of the Jews.[3] In this last Gospel he declares
himself less than his Father.[4] Elsewhere he avows that the Father has not
revealed everything to him.[5] He believes himself to be more than an ordinary
man, but separated from God by an infinite distance. He is Son of God, but all
men are, or may become so, in divers degrees.[6] Every one ought daily to call
God his father; all who are raised again will be sons of God.[7] The divine
son-ship was attributed in the Old Testament to beings whom it was by no means
pretended were equal with God.[8] The word "son" has the widest meanings in the
Semitic language, and in that of the New Testament.[9] Besides, the idea Jesus
had of man was not that low idea which a cold Deism has introduced. In his
poetic conception of Nature, one breath alone penetrates the universe; the
breath of man is that of God; God dwells in man, and lives by man, the same as
man dwells in God, and lives by God.[10] The transcendent idealism of Jesus
never permitted him to have a very clear notion of his own personality. He is
his Father, his Father is he. He lives in his disciples; he is everywhere with
them;[11] his disciples are one, as he and his Father are one.[12] The idea to
him is everything; the body, which makes the distinction of persons, is nothing.
[Footnote 1: Certain passages, such as Acts ii. 22,
expressly exclude this idea.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xix. 17; Mark x. 18; Luke xviii. 19.]
[Footnote 3: John v. 18, and following, x. 33, and following.]
[Footnote 4: John xiv. 28.]
[Footnote 5: Mark xiii. 35.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. v. 9, 45; Luke iii. 38, vi. 35, xx. 36; John
i. 12, 13, x. 34, 35. Comp. Acts xvii. 28, 29; Rom. viii. 14, 19, 21, ix.
26; 2 Cor. vi. 18; Gal. iii. 26; and in the Old Testament, Deut. xiv. 1;
and especially Wisdom, ii. 13, 18.]
[Footnote 7: Luke xx. 36.]
[Footnote 8: Gen. vi. 2; Job i. 6, ii. 1, xxviii. 7; Ps. ii. 7,
lxxxii. 6; 2 Sam. vii. 14.]
[Footnote 9: The child of the devil (Matt. xiii. 38; Acts
xiii. 10); the children of this world (Mark iii. 17; Luke xvi. 8, xx. 34); the
children of light (Luke xvi. 8; John xii. 36); the children of the resurrection
(Luke xx. 36); the children of the kingdom (Matt. viii. 12, xiii. 38); the
children of the bride-chamber (Matt. ix. 15; Mark ii. 19; Luke v. 34); the
children of hell (Matt. xxiii. 15); the children of peace (Luke x. 6), &c. Let
us remember that the Jupiter of paganism is [Greek: patêr andrôn te theôn te].]
[Footnote 10: Comp. Acts xvii. 28.]
[Footnote 11: Matt. xviii. 20, xxviii. 20.]
[Footnote 12: John x. 30, xvii. 21. See in general the later
discourses of John, especially chap. xvii., which express one side of the
psychological state of Jesus, though we cannot regard them as true historical
documents.]
The title "Son of God," or simply "Son,"[1] thus became for
Jesus a title analogous to "Son of man," and, like that, synonymous with the
"Messiah," with the sole difference that he called himself "Son of man," and
does not seem to have made the same use of the phrase, "Son of God."[2] The
title, Son of man, expressed his character as judge; that of Son of God his
power and his participation in the supreme designs. This power had no limits.
His Father had given him all power. He had the power to alter even the
Sabbath.[3] No one could know the Father except through him.[4] The Father had
delegated to him exclusively the right of judging.[5] Nature obeyed him; but she
obeys also all who believe and pray, for faith can do everything.[6] We must
remember that no idea of the laws of Nature marked the limit of the impossible,
either in his own mind, or in that of his hearers. The witnesses of his miracles
thanked God "for having given such power unto men."[7] He pardoned sins;[8] he
was superior to David, to Abraham, to Solomon, and to the prophets.[9] We do not
know in what form, nor to what extent, these affirmations of himself were made.
Jesus ought not to be judged by the law of our petty conventionalities. The
admiration of his disciples overwhelmed him and carried him away. It is evident
that the title of Rabbi, with which he was at first contented, no longer
sufficed him; even the title of prophet or messenger of God responded no longer
to his ideas. The position which he attributed to himself was that of a
superhuman being, and he wished to be regarded as sustaining a higher
relationship to God than other men. But it must be remarked that these words,
"superhuman" and "supernatural," borrowed from our petty theology, had no
meaning in the exalted religious consciousness of Jesus. To him Nature and the
development of humanity were not limited kingdoms apart from God—paltry
realities subjected to the laws of a hopeless empiricism. There was no
supernatural for him, because there was no Nature. Intoxicated with infinite
love, he forgot the heavy chain which holds the spirit captive; he cleared at
one bound the abyss, impossible to most, which the weakness of the human
faculties has created between God and man.
[Footnote 1: The passages in support of this are too numerous to
be referred to here.]
[Footnote 2: It is only in the Gospel of John that Jesus uses
the expression "Son of God," or "Son," in speaking of himself.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xii. 8; Luke vi. 5.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xi. 27.]
[Footnote 5: John v. 22.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xvii. 18, 19; Luke xvii. 6.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. ix. 8.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. ix. 2, and following; Mark ii. 5, and
following;
Luke v. 20, vii. 47, 48.]
[Footnote 9: Matt. xii. 41, 42; xxii. 43, and following; John
viii. 52, and following.]
We cannot mistake in these affirmations of Jesus the germ of the
doctrine which was afterward to make of him a divine hypostasis,[1] in
identifying him with the Word, or "second God,"[2] or eldest Son of God,[3] or
Angel Metathronos,[4] which Jewish theology created apart from him.[5] A
kind of necessity caused this theology, in order to correct the extreme rigor of
the old Monotheism, to place near God an assessor, to whom the eternal Father is
supposed to delegate the government of the universe. The belief that certain men
are incarnations of divine faculties or "powers," was widespread; the Samaritans
possessed about the same time a thaumaturgus named Simon, whom they identified
with the "great power of God."[6] For nearly two centuries, the speculative
minds of Judaism had yielded to the tendency to personify the divine attributes,
and certain expressions which were connected with the Divinity. Thus, the
"breath of God," which is often referred to in the Old Testament, is considered
as a separate being, the "Holy Spirit." In the same manner the "Wisdom of God"
and the "Word of God" became distinct personages. This was the germ of the
process which has engendered the Sephiroth of the Cabbala, the Æons
of Gnosticism, the hypostasis of Christianity, and all that dry mythology,
consisting of personified abstractions, to which Monotheism is obliged to resort
when it wishes to pluralize the Deity.
[Footnote 1: See especially John xiv., and following. But it is
doubtful whether we have here the authentic teaching of Jesus.]
[Footnote 2: Philo, cited in Eusebius, Præp. Evang., vii.
13.]
[Footnote 3: Philo, De migr. Abraham, § 1; Quod Deus
immut., § 6; De confus. ling., § 9, 14 and 28; De profugis, § 20;
De Somniis, i. § 37; De Agric. Noë, § 12; Quis rerum divin. hæres,
§ 25, and following, 48, and following, &c.]
[Footnote 4: [Greek: Metathronos], that is, sharing the throne
of God; a kind of divine secretary, keeping the register of merits and demerits;
Bereshith Rabba, v. 6 c; Talm. of Bab., Sanhedr., 38 b;
Chagigah, 15 a; Targum of Jonathan, Gen., v. 24.]
[Footnote 5: This theory of the [Greek: Logos] contains no Greek
elements. The comparisons which have been made between it and the Honover
of the Parsees are also without foundation. The Minokhired or "Divine
Intelligence," has much analogy with the Jewish [Greek: Logos]. (See the
fragments of the book entitled Minokhired in Spiegel, Parsi-Grammatik,
pp. 161, 162.) But the development which the doctrine of the Minokhired
has taken among the Parsees is modern, and may imply a foreign influence. The
"Divine Intelligence" (Maiyu-Khratû) appears in the Zend books; but it
does not there serve as basis to a theory; it only enters into some invocations.
The comparisons which have been attempted between the Alexandrian theory of the
Word and certain points of Egyptian theology may not be entirely without value.
But nothing indicates that, in the centuries which preceded the Christian era,
Palestinian Judaism had borrowed anything from Egypt.]
[Footnote 6: Acts viii. 10.]
Jesus appears to have remained a stranger to these refinements
of theology, which were soon to fill the world with barren disputes. The
metaphysical theory of the Word, such as we find it in the writings of his
contemporary Philo, in the Chaldean Targums, and even in the book of
"Wisdom,"[1] is neither seen in the Logia of Matthew, nor in general in
the synoptics, the most authentic interpreters of the words of Jesus. The
doctrine of the Word, in fact, had nothing in common with Messianism. The "Word"
of Philo, and of the Targums, is in no sense the Messiah. It was John the
Evangelist, or his school, who afterward endeavored to prove that Jesus was the
Word, and who created, in this sense, quite a new theology, very different from
that of the "kingdom of God."[2] The essential character of the Word was that of
Creator and of Providence. Now, Jesus never pretended to have created the world,
nor to govern it. His office was to judge it, to renovate it. The position of
president at the final judgment of humanity was the essential attribute which
Jesus attached to himself, and the character which all the first Christians
attributed to him.[3] Until the great day, he will sit at the right hand of God,
as his Metathronos, his first minister, and his future avenger.[4] The
superhuman Christ of the Byzantine apsides, seated as judge of the world, in the
midst of the apostles in the same rank with him, and superior to the angels who
only assist and serve, is the exact representation of that conception of the
"Son of man," of which we find the first features so strongly indicated in the
book of Daniel.
[Footnote 1: ix. 1, 2, xvi. 12. Comp. vii. 12, viii. 5, and
following, ix., and in general ix.-xi. These prosopopoeia of Wisdom personified
are found in much older books. Prov. viii., ix.; Job xxviii.; Rev. xix.
13.]
[Footnote 2: John, Gospel, i. 1-14; 1 Epistle v. 7; moreover, it
will be remarked, that, in the Gospel of John, the expression of "the Word" does
not occur except in the prologue, and that the narrator never puts it into the
mouth of Jesus.]
[Footnote 3: Acts x. 42.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvi. 64; Mark xvi. 19; Luke xxii. 69;
Acts vii. 55; Rom. viii. 34; Ephes. i. 20; Coloss. iii. 1; Heb. i. 3, 13,
viii. 1, x. 12, xii. 2; 1 Peter iii. 22. See the passages previously cited on
the character of the Jewish Metathronos.]
At all events, the strictness of a studied theology by no means
existed in such a state of society. All the ideas we have just stated formed in
the mind of the disciples a theological system so little settled, that the Son
of God, this species of divine duplicate, is made to act purely as man. He is
tempted—he is ignorant of many things—he corrects himself[1]—he is cast down,
discouraged—he asks his Father to spare him trials—he is submissive to God as a
son.[2] He who is to judge the world does not know the day of judgment.[3] He
takes precautions for his safety.[4] Soon after his birth, he is obliged to be
concealed to avoid powerful men who wish to kill him.[5] In exorcisms, the devil
cheats him, and does not come out at the first command.[6] In his miracles we
are sensible of painful effort—an exhaustion, as if something went out of
him.[7] All these are simply the acts of a messenger of God, of a man protected
and favored by God.[8] We must not look here for either logic or sequence. The
need Jesus had of obtaining credence, and the enthusiasm of his disciples,
heaped up contradictory notions. To the Messianic believers of the millenarian
school, and to the enthusiastic readers of the books of Daniel and of Enoch, he
was the Son of man—to the Jews holding the ordinary faith, and to the readers of
Isaiah and Micah, he was the Son of David—to the disciples he was the Son of
God, or simply the Son. Others, without being blamed by the disciples, took him
for John the Baptist risen from the dead, for Elias, for Jeremiah, conformable
to the popular belief that the ancient prophets were about to reappear, in order
to prepare the time of the Messiah.[9]
[Footnote 1: Matt. x. 5, compared with xxviii. 19.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvi. 39; John xii. 27.]
[Footnote 3: Mark xiii. 32.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xii. 14-16, xiv. 13; Mark iii. 6, 7, ix. 29,
30;
John vii. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. ii. 20.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xvii. 20; Mark ix. 25.]
[Footnote 7: Luke viii. 45, 46; John xi. 33, 38.]
[Footnote 8: Acts ii. 22.]
[Footnote 9: Matt. xiv. 2, xvi. 14, xvii. 3, and following; Mark
vi. 14, 15, viii. 28; Luke ix. 8, and following, 19.]
An absolute conviction, or rather the enthusiasm, which freed
him from even the possibility of doubt, shrouded all these boldnesses. We little
understand, with our cold and scrupulous natures, how any one can be so entirely
possessed by the idea of which he has made himself the apostle. To the deeply
earnest races of the West, conviction means sincerity to one's self. But
sincerity to one's self has not much meaning to Oriental peoples, little
accustomed to the subtleties of a critical spirit. Honesty and imposture are
words which, in our rigid consciences, are opposed as two irreconcilable terms.
In the East, they are connected by numberless subtle links and windings. The
authors of the Apocryphal books (of "Daniel" and of "Enoch," for instance), men
highly exalted, in order to aid their cause, committed, without a shadow of
scruple, an act which we should term a fraud. The literal truth has little value
to the Oriental; he sees everything through the medium of his ideas, his
interests, and his passions.
History is impossible, if we do not fully admit that there are
many standards of sincerity. All great things are done through the people; now
we can only lead the people by adapting ourselves to its ideas. The philosopher
who, knowing this, isolates and fortifies himself in his integrity, is highly
praiseworthy. But he who takes humanity with its illusions, and seeks to act
with it and upon it, cannot be blamed. Cæsar knew well that he was not the son
of Venus; France would not be what it is, if it had not for a thousand years
believed in the Holy Ampulla of Rheims. It is easy for us, who are so powerless,
to call this falsehood, and, proud of our timid honesty, to treat with contempt
the heroes who have accepted the battle of life under other conditions. When we
have effected by our scruples what they accomplished by their falsehoods, we
shall have the right to be severe upon them. At least, we must make a marked
distinction between societies like our own, where everything takes place in the
full light of reflection, and simple and credulous communities, in which the
beliefs that have governed ages have been born. Nothing great has been
established which does not rest on a legend. The only culprit in such cases is
the humanity which is willing to be deceived.
CHAPTER XVI.
MIRACLES.
Two means of proof—miracles and the
accomplishment of prophecies—could alone, in the opinion of the contemporaries
of Jesus, establish a supernatural mission. Jesus, and especially his disciples,
employed these two processes of demonstration in perfect good faith. For a long
time, Jesus had been convinced that the prophets had written only in reference
to him. He recognized himself in their sacred oracles; he regarded himself as
the mirror in which all the prophetic spirit of Israel had read the future. The
Christian school, perhaps even in the lifetime of its founder, endeavored to
prove that Jesus responded perfectly to all that the prophets had predicted of
the Messiah.[1] In many cases, these comparisons were quite superficial, and are
scarcely appreciable by us. They were most frequently fortuitous or
insignificant circumstances in the life of the master which recalled to the
disciples certain passages of the Psalms and the Prophets, in which, in
consequence of their constant preoccupation, they saw images of him.[2] The
exegesis of the time consisted thus almost entirely in a play upon words, and in
quotations made in an artificial and arbitrary manner. The synagogue had no
officially settled list of the passages which related to the future reign. The
Messianic references were very liberally created, and constituted artifices of
style rather than serious reasoning.
[Footnote 1: For example, Matt. i. 22, ii. 5, 6, 15, 18, iv.
15.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. i. 23, iv. 6, 14, xxvi. 31, 54, 56, xxvii. 9,
35; Mark xiv. 27, xv. 28; John xii. 14. 15, xviii. 9, xix. 19, 24, 28, 36.]
As to miracles, they were regarded at this period as the
indispensable mark of the divine, and as the sign of the prophetic vocation. The
legends of Elijah and Elisha were full of them. It was commonly believed that
the Messiah would perform many.[1] In Samaria, a few leagues from where Jesus
was, a magician, named Simon, acquired an almost divine character by his
illusions.[2] Afterward, when it was sought to establish the reputation of
Apollonius of Tyana, and to prove that his life had been the sojourn of a god
upon the earth, it was not thought possible to succeed therein except by
inventing a vast cycle of miracles.[3] The Alexandrian philosophers themselves,
Plotinus and others, are reported to have performed several.[4] Jesus was,
therefore, obliged to choose between these two alternatives—either to renounce
his mission, or to become a thaumaturgus. It must be remembered that all
antiquity, with the exception of the great scientific schools of Greece and
their Roman disciples, accepted miracles; and that Jesus not only believed
therein, but had not the least idea of an order of Nature regulated by fixed
laws. His knowledge on this point was in no way superior to that of his
contemporaries. Nay, more, one of his most deeply rooted opinions was, that by
faith and prayer man has entire power over Nature.[5] The faculty of performing
miracles was regarded as a privilege frequently conferred by God upon men,[6]
and it had nothing surprising in it.
[Footnote 1: John vii. 34; IV. Esdras, xiii. 50.]
[Footnote 2: Acts viii. 9, and following.]
[Footnote 3: See his biography by Philostratus.]
[Footnote 4: See the Lives of the Sophists, by Eunapius; the
Life of
Plotinus, by Porphyry; that of Proclus, by Marinus; and that of
Isidorus, attributed to Damascius.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xvii. 19, xxi. 21, 22; Mark xi. 23, 24.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. ix. 8.]
The lapse of time has changed that which constituted the power
of the great founder of Christianity into something offensive to our ideas, and
if ever the worship of Jesus loses its hold upon mankind, it will be precisely
on account of those acts which originally inspired belief in him. Criticism
experiences no embarrassment in presence of this kind of historical phenomenon.
A thaumaturgus of our days, unless of an extreme simplicity, like that
manifested by certain stigmatists of Germany, is odious; for he performs
miracles without believing in them; and is a mere charlatan. But, if we take a
Francis d'Assisi, the question becomes altogether different; the series of
miracles attending the origin of the order of St. Francis, far from offending
us, affords us real pleasure. The founder of Christianity lived in as complete a
state of poetic ignorance as did St. Clair and the tres socii. The
disciples deemed it quite natural that their master should have interviews with
Moses and Elias, that he should command the elements, and that he should heal
the sick. We must remember, besides, that every idea loses something of its
purity, as soon as it aspires to realize itself. Success is never attained
without some injury being done to the sensibility of the soul. Such is the
feebleness of the human mind that the best causes are ofttimes gained only by
bad arguments. The demonstrations of the primitive apologists of Christianity
are supported by very poor reasonings. Moses, Christopher Columbus, Mahomet,
have only triumphed over obstacles by constantly making allowance for the
weakness of men, and by not always giving the true reasons for the truth. It is
probable that the hearers of Jesus were more struck by his miracles than by his
eminently divine discourses. Let us add, that doubtless popular rumor, both
before and after the death of Jesus, exaggerated enormously the number of
occurrences of this kind. The types of the gospel miracles, in fact, do not
present much variety; they are repetitions of each other and seem fashioned from
a very small number of models, accommodated to the taste of the country.
It is impossible, amongst the miraculous narratives so tediously
enumerated in the Gospels, to distinguish the miracles attributed to Jesus by
public opinion from those in which he consented to play an active part. It is
especially impossible to ascertain whether the offensive circumstances attending
them, the groanings, the strugglings, and other features savoring of
jugglery,[1] are really historical, or whether they are the fruit of the belief
of the compilers, strongly imbued with theurgy, and living, in this respect, in
a world analogous to that of the "spiritualists" of our times.[2] Almost all the
miracles which Jesus thought he performed, appear to have been miracles of
healing. Medicine was at this period in Judea, what it still is in the East,
that is to say, in no respect scientific, but absolutely surrendered to
individual inspiration. Scientific medicine, founded by Greece five centuries
before, was at the time of Jesus unknown to the Jews of Palestine. In such a
state of knowledge, the presence of a superior man, treating the diseased with
gentleness, and giving him by some sensible signs the assurance of his recovery,
is often a decisive remedy. Who would dare to say that in many cases, always
excepting certain peculiar injuries, the touch of a superior being is not equal
to all the resources of pharmacy? The mere pleasure of seeing him cures. He
gives only a smile, or a hope, but these are not in vain.
[Footnote 1: Luke viii. 45, 46; John xi. 33 and 38.]
[Footnote 2: Acts ii. 2, and following, iv. 31, viii. 15,
and following, x. 44 and following. For nearly a century, the apostles and their
disciples dreamed only of miracles. See the Acts, the writings of St.
Paul, the extracts from Papias, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iii. 39, &c.
Comp. Mark iii. 15, xvi. 17, 18, 20.]
Jesus had no more idea than his countrymen of a rational medical
science; he believed, like every one else, that healing was to be effected by
religious practices, and such a belief was perfectly consistent. From the moment
that disease was regarded as the punishment of sin,[1] or as the act of a
demon,[2] and by no means as the result of physical causes, the best physician
was the holy man who had power in the supernatural world. Healing was considered
a moral act; Jesus, who felt his moral power, would believe himself specially
gifted to heal. Convinced that the touching of his robe,[3] the imposition of
his hands,[4] did good to the sick, he would have been unfeeling, if he had
refused to those who suffered, a solace which it was in his power to bestow. The
healing of the sick was considered as one of the signs of the kingdom of God,
and was always associated with the emancipation of the poor.[5] Both were the
signs of the great revolution which was to end in the redress of all
infirmities.
[Footnote 1: John v. 14, ix. 1, and following, 34.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. ix. 32, 33, xii. 22; Luke xiii. 11, 16.]
[Footnote 3: Luke viii. 45, 46.]
[Footnote 4: Luke iv. 40.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xi. 5, xv. 30, 31; Luke ix. 1, 2, 6.]
One of the species of cure which Jesus most frequently
performed, was exorcism, or the expulsion of demons. A strange disposition to
believe in demons pervaded all minds. It was a universal opinion, not only in
Judea, but in the whole world, that demons seized hold of the bodies of certain
persons and made them act contrary to their will. A Persian div, often
named in the Avesta,[1] Aeschma-daëva, the "div of concupiscence,"
adopted by the Jews under the name of Asmodeus,[2] became the cause of all the
hysterical afflictions of women.[3] Epilepsy, mental and nervous maladies,[4] in
which the patient seems no longer to belong to himself, and infirmities, the
cause of which is not apparent, as deafness, dumbness,[5] were explained in the
same manner. The admirable treatise, "On Sacred Disease," by Hippocrates, which
set forth the true principles of medicine on this subject, four centuries and a
half before Jesus, had not banished from the world so great an error. It was
supposed that there were processes more or less efficacious for driving away the
demons; and the occupation of exorcist was a regular profession like that of
physician.[6] There is no doubt that Jesus had in his lifetime the reputation of
possessing the greatest secrets of this art.[7] There were at that time many
lunatics in Judea, doubtless in consequence of the great mental excitement.
These mad persons, who were permitted to go at large, as they still are in the
same districts, inhabited the abandoned sepulchral caves, which were the
ordinary retreat of vagrants. Jesus had great influence over these
unfortunates.[8] A thousand singular incidents were related in connection with
his cures, in which the credulity of the time gave itself full scope. But still
these difficulties must not be exaggerated. The disorders which were explained
by "possessions" were often very slight. In our times, in Syria, they regard as
mad or possessed by a demon (these two ideas were expressed by the same word,
medjnoun[9]) people who are only somewhat eccentric. A gentle word often
suffices in such cases to drive away the demon. Such were doubtless the means
employed by Jesus. Who knows if his celebrity as exorcist was not spread almost
without his own knowledge? Persons who reside in the East are occasionally
surprised to find themselves, after some time, in possession of a great
reputation, as doctors, sorcerers, or discoverers of treasures, without being
able to account to themselves for the facts which have given rise to these
strange fancies.
[Footnote 1: Vendidad, xi. 26; Yaçna, x. 18.]
[Footnote 2: Tobit, iii. 8, vi. 14; Talm. of Bab.,
Gittin, 68 a.]
[Footnote 3: Comp. Mark xvi. 9; Luke viii. 2; Gospel of the
Infancy, 16, 33; Syrian Code, published in the Anecdota Syriaca of M.
Land, i., p. 152.]
[Footnote 4: Jos., Bell. Jud., VII. vi. 3; Lucian,
Philopseud., 16; Philostratus, Life of Apoll., iii. 38, iv. 20;
Aretus, De causis morb. chron., i. 4.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. ix. 33, xii. 22; Mark ix. 16, 24; Luke xi.
14.]
[Footnote 6: Tobit, viii. 2, 3; Matt. xii. 27; Mark ix.
38; Acts xix. 13; Josephus, Ant., VIII. ii. 5; Justin, Dial.
cum Tryph., 85; Lucian, Epigr., xxiii. (xvii. Dindorf).]
[Footnote 7: Matt. xvii. 20; Mark ix. 24, and following.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. viii. 28, ix. 34, xii. 43, and following,
xvii. 14, and following, 20; Mark v. 1, and following; Luke viii. 27, and
following.]
[Footnote 9: The phrase, Dæmonium habes (Matt. xi. 18:
Luke vii. 33; John vii. 20, viii. 48, and following, x. 20, and following)
should be translated by: "Thou art mad," as we should say in Arabic: Medjnoun
enté. The verb [Greek: daimonan] has also, in all classical antiquity, the
meaning of "to be mad."]
Many circumstances, moreover, seem to indicate that Jesus only
became a thaumaturgus late in life and against his inclination. He often
performs his miracles only after he has been besought to do so, and with a
degree of reluctance, reproaching those who asked them for the grossness of
their minds.[1] One singularity, apparently inexplicable, is the care he takes
to perform his miracles in secret, and the request he addresses to those whom he
heals to tell no one.[2] When the demons wish to proclaim him the Son of God, he
forbids them to open their mouths; but they recognize him in spite of
himself.[3] These traits are especially characteristic in Mark, who is
pre-eminently the evangelist of miracles and exorcisms. It seems that the
disciple, who has furnished the fundamental teachings of this Gospel, importuned
Jesus with his admiration of the wonderful, and that the master, wearied of a
reputation which weighed upon him, had often said to him, "See thou say nothing
to any man." Once this discordance evoked a singular outburst,[4] a fit of
impatience, in which the annoyance these perpetual demands of weak minds caused
Jesus, breaks forth. One would say, at times, that the character of thaumaturgus
was disagreeable to him, and that he sought to give as little publicity as
possible to the marvels which, in a manner, grew under his feet. When his
enemies asked a miracle of him, especially a celestial miracle, a "sign from
heaven," he obstinately refused.[5] We may therefore conclude that his
reputation of thaumaturgus was imposed upon him, that he did not resist it much,
but also that he did nothing to aid it, and that, at all events, he felt the
vanity of popular opinion on this point.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xii. 39, xvi. 4, xvii. 16; Mark viii. 17, and
following, ix. 18; Luke ix. 41.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. viii. 4, ix. 30, 31, xii. 16, and following;
Mark i. 44, vii. 24, and following, viii. 26.]
[Footnote 3: Mark i. 24, 25, 34, iii. 12; Luke iv. 41.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xvii. 16; Mark ix. 18; Luke ix. 41.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xii. 38, and following, xvi. 1, and
following; Mark viii. 11.]
We should neglect to recognize the first principles of history
if we attached too much importance to our repugnances on this matter, and if, in
order to avoid the objections which might be raised against the character of
Jesus, we attempted to suppress facts which, in the eyes of his contemporaries,
were considered of the greatest importance.[1] It would be convenient to say
that these are the additions of disciples much inferior to their Master who, not
being able to conceive his true grandeur, have sought to magnify him by
illusions unworthy of him. But the four narrators of the life of Jesus are
unanimous in extolling his miracles; one of them, Mark, interpreter of the
apostle Peter,[2] insists so much on this point, that, if we trace the character
of Christ only according to this Gospel, we should represent him as an exorcist
in possession of charms of rare efficacy, as a very potent sorcerer, who
inspired fear, and whom the people wished to get rid of.[3] We will admit, then,
without hesitation, that acts which would now be considered as acts of illusion
or folly, held a large place in the life of Jesus. Must we sacrifice to these
uninviting features the sublimer aspect of such a life? God forbid. A mere
sorcerer, after the manner of Simon the magician, would not have brought about a
moral revolution like that effected by Jesus. If the thaumaturgus had effaced in
Jesus the moralist and the religious reformer, there would have proceeded from
him a school of theurgy, and not Christianity.
[Footnote 1: Josephus, Ant., XVIII. iii. 3.]
[Footnote 2: Papias, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iii. 39.]
[Footnote 3: Mark iv. 40, v. 15, 17, 33, 36, vi. 50, x. 32; cf.
Matt. viii. 27, 34, ix. 8, xiv. 27, xvii. 6, 7, xxviii. 5, 10; Luke iv. 36, v.
17, viii. 25, 35, 37, ix. 34. The Apocryphal Gospel, said to be by Thomas the
Israelite, carries this feature to the most offensive absurdity. Compare the
Miracles of the Infancy, in Philo, Cod. Apocr. N.T., p. cx., note.]
The problem, moreover, presents itself in the same manner with
respect to all saints and religious founders. Things now considered morbid, such
as epilepsy and seeing of visions, were formerly principles of power and
greatness. Physicians can designate the disease which made the fortune of
Mahomet.[1] Almost in our own day, the men who have done the most for their kind
(the excellent Vincent de Paul himself!) were, whether they wished it or not,
thaumaturgi. If we set out with the principle that every historical personage to
whom acts have been attributed, which we in the nineteenth century hold to be
irrational or savoring of quackery, was either a madman or a charlatan, all
criticism is nullified. The school of Alexandria was a noble school, but,
nevertheless, it gave itself up to the practices of an extravagant theurgy.
Socrates and Pascal were not exempt from hallucinations. Facts ought to explain
themselves by proportionate causes. The weaknesses of the human mind only
engender weakness; great things have always great causes in the nature of man,
although they are often developed amidst a crowd of littlenesses which, to
superficial minds, eclipse their grandeur.
[Footnote 1: Hysteria Muscularis of Shoenlein.]
In a general sense, it is therefore true to say that Jesus was
only thaumaturgus and exorcist in spite of himself. Miracles are ordinarily the
work of the public much more than of him to whom they are attributed. Jesus
persistently shunned the performance of the wonders which the multitude would
have created for him; the greatest miracle would have been his refusal to
perform any; never would the laws of history and popular psychology have
suffered so great a derogation. The miracles of Jesus were a violence done to
him by his age, a concession forced from him by a passing necessity. The
exorcist and the thaumaturgus have alike passed away; but the religious reformer
will live eternally.
Even those who did not believe in him were struck with these
acts, and sought to be witnesses of them.[1] The pagans, and persons
unacquainted with him, experienced a sentiment of fear, and sought to remove him
from their district.[2] Many thought perhaps to abuse his name by connecting it
with seditious movements.[3] But the purely moral and in no respect political
tendency of the character of Jesus saved him from these entanglements. His
kingdom was in the circle of disciples, whom a like freshness of imagination and
the same foretaste of heaven had grouped and retained around him.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiv. 1, and following; Mark vi. 14; Luke ix.
7, xxiii. 8.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. viii. 34; Mark v. 17, viii. 37.]
[Footnote 3: John vi. 14, 15.]
CHAPTER XVII.
DEFINITIVE FORM OF THE IDEAS OF JESUS RESPECTING THE KINGDOM OF
GOD.
We suppose that this last phase of the
activity of Jesus continued about eighteen months from the time of his return
from the Passover of the year 31, until his journey to the feast of tabernacles
of the year 32.[1] During this time, the mind of Jesus does not appear to have
been enriched by the addition of any new element; but all his old ideas grew and
developed with an ever-increasing degree of power and boldness.
[Footnote 1: John v. 1, vii. 2. We follow the system of John,
according to whom the public life of Jesus lasted three years. The synoptics, on
the contrary, group all the facts within the space of one year.]
The fundamental idea of Jesus from the beginning, was the
establishment of the kingdom of God. But this kingdom of God, as we have already
said, appears to have been understood by Jesus in very different senses. At
times, we should take him for a democratic leader desiring only the triumph of
the poor and the disinherited. At other times, the kingdom of God is the literal
accomplishment of the apocalyptic visions of Daniel and Enoch. Lastly, the
kingdom of God is often a spiritual kingdom, and the approaching deliverance is
a deliverance of the spirit. In this last sense the revolution desired by Jesus
was the one which has really taken place; the establishment of a new worship,
purer than that of Moses. All these thoughts appear to have existed at the same
time in the mind of Jesus. The first one, however—that of a temporal
revolution—does not appear to have impressed him much; he never regarded the
earth or the riches of the earth, or material power, as worth caring for. He had
no worldly ambition. Sometimes by a natural consequence, his great religious
importance was in danger of being converted into mere social importance. Men
came requesting him to judge and arbitrate on questions affecting their material
interests. Jesus rejected these proposals with haughtiness, treating them as
insults.[1] Full of his heavenly ideal, he never abandoned his disdainful
poverty. As to the other two conceptions of the kingdom of God, Jesus appears
always to have held them simultaneously. If he had been only an enthusiast, led
away by the apocalypses on which the popular imagination fed, he would have
remained an obscure sectary, inferior to those whose ideas he followed. If he
had been only a puritan, a sort of Channing or "Savoyard vicar," he would
undoubtedly have been unsuccessful. The two parts of his system, or, rather, his
two conceptions of the kingdom of God, rest one on the other, and this mutual
support has been the cause of his incomparable success. The first Christians
were dreamers, living in a circle of ideas which we should term visionary; but,
at the same time, they were the heroes of that social war which has resulted in
the enfranchisement of the conscience, and in the establishment of a religion
from which the pure worship, proclaimed by the founder, will eventually proceed.
[Footnote 1: Luke xii. 13, 14.]
The apocalyptic ideas of Jesus, in their most complete form, may
thus be summed up. The existing condition of humanity is approaching its
termination. This termination will be an immense revolution, "an anguish"
similar to the pains of child-birth; a palingenesis, or, in the words of
Jesus himself, a "new birth,"[1] preceded by dark calamities and heralded by
strange phenomena.[2] In the great day, there will appear in the heavens the
sign of the Son of man; it will be a startling and luminous vision like that of
Sinai, a great storm rending the clouds, a fiery meteor flashing rapidly from
east to west. The Messiah will appear in the clouds, clothed in glory and
majesty, to the sound of trumpets and surrounded by angels. His disciples will
sit by his side upon thrones. The dead will then arise, and the Messiah will
proceed to judgment.[3]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xix. 28.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxiv. 3, and following; Mark xiii. 4, and
following; Luke xvii. 22, and following, xxi. 7, and following. It must be
remarked that the picture of the end of time attributed to Jesus by the
synoptics, contains many features which relate to the siege of Jerusalem. Luke
wrote some time after the siege (xxi. 9, 20, 24). The compilation of Matthew, on
the contrary (xxvi. 15, 16, 22, 29), carries us back exactly to this precise
period, or very shortly afterward. There is no doubt, however, that Jesus
predicted that great terrors would precede his reappearance. These terrors were
an integral part of all the Jewish apocalypses. Enoch, xcix., c., cii.,
ciii. (division of Dillman); Carm. sibyll., iii. 334, and following, 633,
and following, iv. 168, and following, v. 511, and following. According to
Daniel also, the reign of the saints will only come after the desolation shall
have reached its height. Chap. vii. 25, and following, viii. 23, and following,
ix. 26, 27, xii. 1.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xvi. 27, xix. 28, xx. 21, xxiv. 30, and
following, xxv. 31, and following, xxvi. 64; Mark xiv. 62; Luke xxii. 30; 1
Cor. xv. 52; 1 Thess. iv. 15, and following.]
At this judgment men will be divided into two classes according
to their deeds.[1] The angels will be the executors of the sentences.[2] The
elect will enter into delightful mansions, which have been prepared for them
from the foundation of the world;[3] there they will be seated, clothed with
light, at a feast presided over by Abraham,[4] the patriarchs and the prophets.
They will be the smaller number.[5] The rest will depart into Gehenna.
Gehenna was the western valley of Jerusalem. There the worship of fire had been
practised at various times, and the place had become a kind of sewer. Gehenna
was, therefore, in the mind of Jesus, a gloomy, filthy valley, full of fire.
Those excluded from the kingdom will there be burnt and eaten by the never-dying
worm, in company with Satan and his rebel angels.[6] There, there will be
wailing and gnashing of teeth.[7] The kingdom of heaven will be as a closed
room, lighted from within, in the midst of a world of darkness and torments.[8]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiii. 38, and following, xxv. 33.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xiii. 39, 41, 49.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxv. 34. Comp. John xiv. 2.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. viii. 11, xiii. 43, xxvi. 29; Luke xiii. 28,
xvi. 22, xxii. 30.]
[Footnote 5: Luke xiii. 23, and following.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xxv. 41. The idea of the fall of the angels,
detailed in the Book of Enoch, was universally admitted in the circle of Jesus.
Epistle of Jude 6, and following; 2d Epistle attributed to Saint Peter, ii. 4.
11; Revelation xii. 9; Gospel of John viii. 44.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. v. 22, viii. 12, x. 28, xiii. 40, 42, 50,
xviii. 8, xxiv. 51, xxv. 30; Mark ix. 43, &c.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. viii. 12, xxii. 13, xxv. 30. Comp. Jos.,
B.J.,
III. viii. 5.]
This new order of things will be eternal. Paradise and Gehenna
will have no end. An impassable abyss separates the one from the other.[1] The
Son of man, seated on the right hand of God, will preside over this final
condition of the world and of humanity.[2]
[Footnote 1: Luke xvi. 28.]
[Footnote 2: Mark iii. 29; Luke xxii. 69; Acts vii. 55.]
That all this was taken literally by the disciples and by the
master himself at certain moments, appears clearly evident from the writings of
the time. If the first Christian generation had one profound and constant
belief, it was that the world was near its end,[1] and that the great
"revelation"[2] of Christ was about to take place. The startling proclamation,
"The time is at hand,"[3] which commences and closes the Apocalypse; the
incessantly reiterated appeal, "He that hath ears to hear let him hear!"[4] were
the cries of hope and encouragement for the whole apostolic age. A Syrian
expression, Maran atha, "Our Lord cometh!"[5] became a sort of password,
which the believers used amongst themselves to strengthen their faith and their
hope. The Apocalypse, written in the year 68 of our era,[6] declares that the
end will come in three years and a half.[7] The "Ascension of Isaiah"[8] adopts
a calculation very similar to this.
[Footnote 1: Acts ii. 17, iii. 19, and following; 1
Cor. xv. 23, 24, 52; 1 Thess. iii. 13, iv. 14, and following, v. 23; 2
Thess. ii. 8; 1 Tim. vi. 14; 2 Tim. iv. 1; Tit. ii. 13; Epistle of James v. 3,
8; Epistle of Jude 18; 2d Epistle of Peter, iii. entirely; Revelations
entirely, and in particular, i. 1, ii. 5, 16, iii. 11, xi. 14, xxii. 6, 7, 12,
20. Comp. 4th Book of Esdras, iv. 26.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xvii. 30; 1 Cor. i. 7, 8; 2 Thess. i.
7; 1 Peter i. 7, 13; Revelations i. 1.]
[Footnote 3: Revelations i. 3, xxii. 10.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xi. 15, xiii. 9, 43; Mark iv. 9, 23, vii. 16;
Luke viii. 8, xiv. 35; Revelations ii. 7, 11, 27, 29, iii. 6, 13, 22,
xiii. 9.]
[Footnote 5: 1 Cor. xvi. 22.]
[Footnote 6: Revelations xvii. 9, and following. The
sixth emperor, whom the author represents as reigning, is Galba. The dead
emperor, who was to return, is Nero, whose name is given in figures (xiii. 18).]
[Footnote 7: Revelations xi. 2, 3, xii. 14. Comp. Daniel
vii. 25, xii. 7.]
[Footnote 8: Chap. iv., v. 12 and 14. Comp. Cedrenus, p. 68
(Paris, 1647).]
Jesus never indulged in such precise details. When he was
interrogated as to the time of his advent, he always refused to reply; once even
he declared that the date of this great day was known only by the Father, who
had revealed it neither to the angels nor to the Son.[1] He said that the time
when the kingdom of God was most anxiously expected, was just that in which it
would not appear.[2] He constantly repeated that it would be a surprise, as in
the times of Noah and of Lot; that we must be on our guard, always ready to
depart; that each one must watch and keep his lamp trimmed as for a wedding
procession, which arrives unforeseen;[3] that the Son of man would come like a
thief, at an hour when he would not be expected;[4] that he would appear as a
flash of lightning, running from one end of the heavens to the other.[5] But his
declarations on the nearness of the catastrophe leave no room for any
equivocations.[6] "This generation," said he, "shall not pass till all these
things be fulfilled. There be some standing here, which shall not taste of
death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."[7] He reproaches
those who do not believe in him, for not being able to read the signs of the
future kingdom. "When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather; for the
sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day; for the sky is
red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can
ye not discern the signs of the times?"[8] By an illusion common to all great
reformers, Jesus imagined the end to be much nearer than it really was; he did
not take into account the slowness of the movements of humanity; he thought to
realize in one day that which, eighteen centuries later, has still to be
accomplished.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxiv. 36; Mark xiii. 32.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xvii. 20. Comp. Talmud of Babyl., Sanhedrim,
97 a.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxiv. 36, and following; Mark xiii. 32, and
following; Luke xii. 35, and following, xvii. 20, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Luke xii. 40; 2 Peter iii. 10.]
[Footnote 5: Luke xvii. 24.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. x. 23, xxiv., xxv. entirely, and especially
xxiv. 29, 34; Mark xiii. 30; Luke xiii. 35, xxi. 28, and following.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. xvi. 28, xxiii. 36, 39, xxiv. 34; Mark viii.
39;
Luke ix. 27, xxi. 32.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. xvi. 2-4; Luke xii. 54-56.]
These formal declarations preoccupied the Christian family for
nearly seventy years. It was believed that some of the disciples would see the
day of the final revelation before dying. John, in particular, was considered as
being of this number;[1] many believed that he would never die. Perhaps this was
a later opinion suggested toward the end of the first century, by the advanced
age which John seems to have reached; this age having given rise to the belief
that God wished to prolong his life indefinitely until the great day, in order
to realize the words of Jesus. However this may be, at his death the faith of
many was shaken, and his disciples attached to the prediction of Christ a more
subdued meaning.[2]
[Footnote 1: John xxi. 22, 23.]
[Footnote 2: John xxi. 22, 23. Chapter xxi. of the fourth Gospel
is an addition, as is proved by the final clause of the primitive compilation,
which concludes at verse 31 of chapter xx. But the addition is almost
contemporaneous with the publication of the Gospel itself.]
At the same time that Jesus fully admitted the Apocalyptic
beliefs, such as we find them in the apocryphal Jewish books, he admitted the
doctrine, which is the complement, or rather the condition of them all, namely,
the resurrection of the dead. This doctrine, as we have already said, was still
somewhat new in Israel; a number of people either did not know it, or did not
believe it.[1] It was the faith of the Pharisees, and of the fervent adherents
of the Messianic beliefs.[2] Jesus accepted it unreservedly, but always in the
most idealistic sense. Many imagined that in the resuscitated world they would
eat, drink, and marry. Jesus, indeed, admits into his kingdom a new passover, a
table, and a new wine;[3] but he expressly excludes marriage from it. The
Sadducees had on this subject an apparently coarse argument, but one which was
really in conformity with the old theology. It will be remembered that according
to the ancient sages, man survived only in his children. The Mosaic code had
consecrated this patriarchal theory by a strange institution, the levirate law.
The Sadducees drew from thence subtle deductions against the resurrection. Jesus
escaped them by formally declaring that in the life eternal there would no
longer exist differences of sex, and that men would be like the angels.[4]
Sometimes he seems to promise resurrection only to the righteous,[5] the
punishment of the wicked consisting in complete annihilation.[6] Oftener,
however, Jesus declares that the resurrection shall bring eternal confusion to
the wicked.[7]
[Footnote 1: Mark ix. 9; Luke xx. 27, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Dan. xii. 2, and following; 2 Macc. vii. entirely,
xii. 45, 46, xiv. 46; Acts xxiii. 6, 8; Jos., Ant., XVIII. i. 3;
B.J., II. viii. 14, III. viii. 5.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvi. 29; Luke xxii. 30.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxii. 24, and following; Luke xx. 34-38;
Ebionite Gospel, entitled, "Of the Egyptians," in Clem. of Alex., Strom.
ii. 9, 13; Clem. Rom., Epist. ii. 12.]
[Footnote 5: Luke xiv. 14, xx. 35, 36. This is also the opinion
of St.
Paul: 1 Cor. xv. 23, and following; 1 Thess. iv. 12, and following.]
[Footnote 6: Comp. 4th book of Esdras, ix. 22.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. xxv. 32, and following.]
It will be seen that nothing in all these theories was
absolutely new. The Gospels and the writings of the apostles scarcely contain
anything as regards apocalyptic doctrines but what might be found already in
"Daniel,"[1] "Enoch,"[2] and the "Sibylline Oracles,"[3] of Jewish origin. Jesus
accepted the ideas, which were generally received among his contemporaries. He
made them his basis of action, or rather one of his bases; for he had too
profound an idea of his true work to establish it solely upon such fragile
principles—principles so liable to be decisively refuted by facts.
[Footnote 1: See especially chaps. ii., vi.-viii., x.-xiii.]
[Footnote 2: Chaps. i., xiv., lii., lxii., xciii. 9, and
following.]
[Footnote 3: Book iii. 573, and following; 652, and following;
766, and following; 795, and following.]
It is evident, indeed, that such a doctrine, taken by itself in
a literal manner, had no future. The world, in continuing to exist, caused it to
crumble. One generation of man at the most was the limit of its endurance. The
faith of the first Christian generation is intelligible, but the faith of the
second generation is no longer so. After the death of John, or of the last
survivor, whoever he might be, of the group which had seen the master, the word
of Jesus was convicted of falsehood.[1] If the doctrine of Jesus had been simply
belief in an approaching end of the world, it would certainly now be sleeping in
oblivion. What is it, then, which has saved it? The great breadth of the Gospel
conceptions, which has permitted doctrines suited to very different intellectual
conditions to be found under the same creed. The world has not ended, as Jesus
announced, and as his disciples believed. But it has been renewed, and in one
sense renewed as Jesus desired. It is because his thought was two-sided that it
has been fruitful. His chimera has not had the fate of so many others which have
crossed the human mind, because it concealed a germ of life which having been
introduced, thanks to a covering of fable, into the bosom of humanity, has thus
brought forth eternal fruits.
[Footnote 1: These pangs of Christian conscience are rendered
with simplicity in the second epistle attributed to St. Peter, iii. 8, and
following.]
And let us not say that this is a benevolent interpretation,
imagined in order to clear the honor of our great master from the cruel
contradiction inflicted on his dreams by reality. No, no: this true kingdom of
God, this kingdom of the spirit, which makes each one king and priest; this
kingdom which, like the grain of mustard-seed, has become a tree which
overshadows the world, and amidst whose branches the birds have their nests, was
understood, wished for, and founded by Jesus. By the side of the false, cold,
and impossible idea of an ostentatious advent, he conceived the real city of
God, the true "palingenesis," the Sermon on the Mount, the apotheosis of the
weak, the love of the people, regard for the poor, and the re-establishment of
all that is humble, true, and simple. This re-establishment he has depicted as
an incomparable artist, by features which will last eternally. Each of us owes
that which is best in himself to him. Let us pardon him his hope of a vain
apocalypse, and of a second coming in great triumph upon the clouds of heaven.
Perhaps these were the errors of others rather than his own; and if it be true
that he himself shared the general illusion, what matters it, since his dream
rendered him strong against death, and sustained him in a struggle, to which he
might otherwise have been unequal?
We must, then, attach several meanings to the divine city
conceived by Jesus. If his only thought had been that the end of time was near,
and that we must prepare for it, he would not have surpassed John the Baptist.
To renounce a world ready to crumble, to detach one's self little by little from
the present life, and to aspire to the kingdom about to come, would have formed
the gist of his preaching. The teaching of Jesus had always a much larger scope.
He proposed to himself to create a new state of humanity, and not merely to
prepare the end of that which was in existence. Elias or Jeremiah, reappearing
in order to prepare men for the supreme crisis, would not have preached as he
did. This is so true that this morality, attributed to the latter days, is found
to be the eternal morality, that which has saved humanity. Jesus himself in many
cases makes use of modes of speech which do not accord with the apocalyptic
theory. He often declares that the kingdom of God has already commenced; that
every man bears it within himself; and can, if he be worthy, partake of it; that
each one silently creates this kingdom by the true conversion of the heart.[1]
The kingdom of God at such times is only the highest form of good.[2] A better
order of things than that which exists, the reign of justice, which the
faithful, according to their ability, ought to help in establishing; or, again,
the liberty of the soul, something analogous to the Buddhist "deliverance," the
fruit of the soul's separation from matter and absorption in the divine essence.
These truths, which are purely abstract to us, were living realities to Jesus.
Everything in his mind was concrete and substantial. Jesus, of all men, believed
most thoroughly in the reality of the ideal.
[Footnote 1: Matt. vi. 10, 33; Mark xii. 34; Luke xi. 2, xii.
31, xvii. 20, 21, and following.]
[Footnote 2: See especially Mark xii. 34.]
In accepting the Utopias of his time and his race, Jesus thus
was able to make high truths of them, thanks to the fruitful misconceptions of
their import. His kingdom of God was no doubt the approaching apocalypse, which
was about to be unfolded in the heavens. But it was still, and probably above
all the kingdom of the soul, founded on liberty and on the filial sentiment
which the virtuous man feels when resting on the bosom of his Father. It was a
pure religion, without forms, without temple, and without priest; it was the
moral judgment of the world, delegated to the conscience of the just man, and to
the arm of the people. This is what was destined to live; this is what has
lived. When, at the end of a century of vain expectation, the materialistic hope
of a near end of the world was exhausted, the true kingdom of God became
apparent. Accommodating explanations threw a veil over the material kingdom,
which was then seen to be incapable of realization. The Apocalypse of John, the
chief canonical book of the New Testament,[1] being too formally tied to the
idea of an immediate catastrophe, became of secondary importance, was held to be
unintelligible, tortured in a thousand ways and almost rejected. At least, its
accomplishment was adjourned to an indefinite future. Some poor benighted ones
who, in a fully enlightened age, still preserved the hopes of the first
disciples, became heretics (Ebionites, Millenarians), lost in the shallows of
Christianity. Mankind had passed to another kingdom of God. The degree of truth
contained in the thought of Jesus had prevailed over the chimera which obscured
it.
[Footnote 1: Justin, Dial. cum Tryph., 81.]
Let us not, however, despise this chimera, which has been the
thick rind of the sacred fruit on which we live. This fantastic kingdom of
heaven, this endless pursuit after a city of God, which has constantly
preoccupied Christianity during its long career, has been the principle of that
great instinct of futurity which has animated all reformers, persistent
believers in the Apocalypse, from Joachim of Flora down to the Protestant
sectary of our days. This impotent effort to establish a perfect society has
been the source of the extraordinary tension which has always made the true
Christian an athlete struggling against the existing order of things. The idea
of the "kingdom of God," and the Apocalypse, which is the complete image of it,
are thus, in a sense, the highest and most poetic expressions of human progress.
But they have necessarily given rise to great errors. The end of the world,
suspended as a perpetual menace over mankind, was, by the periodical panics
which it caused during centuries, a great hindrance to all secular development.
Society being no longer certain of its existence, contracted therefrom a degree
of trepidation, and those habits of servile humility, which rendered the Middle
Ages so inferior to ancient and modern times.[1] A profound change had also
taken place in the mode of regarding the coming of Christ. When it was first
announced to mankind that the end of the world was about to come, like the
infant which receives death with a smile, it experienced the greatest access of
joy that it has ever felt. But in growing old, the world became attached to
life. The day of grace, so long expected by the simple souls of Galilee, became
to these iron ages a day of wrath: Dies iræ, dies illa! But, even in the
midst of barbarism, the idea of the kingdom of God continued fruitful. In spite
of the feudal church, of sects, and of religious orders, holy persons continued
to protest, in the name of the Gospel, against the iniquity of the world. Even
in our days, troubled days, in which Jesus has no more authentic followers than
those who seem to deny him, the dreams of an ideal organization of society,
which have so much analogy with the aspirations of the primitive Christian
sects, are only in one sense the blossoming of the same idea. They are one of
the branches of that immense tree in which germinates all thought of a future,
and of which the "kingdom of God" will be eternally the root and stem. All the
social revolutions of humanity will be grafted on this phrase. But, tainted by a
coarse materialism, and aspiring to the impossible, that is to say, to found
universal happiness upon political and economical measures, the "socialist"
attempts of our time will remain unfruitful until they take as their rule the
true spirit of Jesus, I mean absolute idealism—the principle that, in order to
possess the world, we must renounce it.
[Footnote 1: See, for example, the prologue of Gregory of Tours
to his Histoire Ecclesiastique des Francs, and the numerous documents of
the first half of the Middle Ages, beginning by the formula, "On the approach of
the night of the world…."]
The phrase, "kingdom of God," expresses also, very happily, the
want which the soul experiences of a supplementary destiny, of a compensation
for the present life. Those who do not accept the definition of man as a
compound of two substances, and who regard the Deistical dogma of the
immortality of the soul as in contradiction with physiology, love to fall back
upon the hope of a final reparation, which under an unknown form shall satisfy
the wants of the heart of man. Who knows if the highest term of progress after
millions of ages may not evoke the absolute conscience of the universe, and in
this conscience the awakening of all that has lived? A sleep of a million of
years is not longer than the sleep of an hour. St. Paul, on this hypothesis, was
right in saying, In ictu oculi![1] It is certain that moral and virtuous
humanity will have its reward, that one day the ideas of the poor but honest man
will judge the world, and that on that day the ideal figure of Jesus will be the
confusion of the frivolous who have not believed in virtue, and of the selfish
who have not been able to attain to it. The favorite phrase of Jesus continues,
therefore, full of an eternal beauty. A kind of exalted divination seems to have
maintained it in a vague sublimity, embracing at the same time various orders of
truths.
[Footnote 1: 1 Cor. xv. 52.]
CHAPTER XVIII.
INSTITUTIONS OF JESUS.
That Jesus was never entirely absorbed
in his apocalyptic ideas is proved, moreover, by the fact that at the very time
he was most preoccupied with them, he laid with rare forethought the foundation
of a church destined to endure. It is scarcely possible to doubt that he himself
chose from among his disciples those who were pre-eminently called the
"apostles," or the "twelve," since on the day after his death we find them
forming a distinct body, and filling up by election the vacancies that had
arisen in their midst.[1] They were the two sons of Jonas; the two sons of
Zebedee; James, son of Cleophas; Philip; Nathaniel bar-Tolmai; Thomas; Levi, or
Matthew, the son of Alphæus; Simon Zelotes; Thaddeus or Lebbæus; and Judas of
Kerioth.[2] It is probable that the idea of the twelve tribes of Israel had had
some share in the choice of this number.[3]
[Footnote 1: Acts i. 15, and following; 1 Cor. xv.
5; Gal. i. 10.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. x. 2 and following; Mark iii. 16, and
following;
Luke vi. 14, and following; Acts i. 13; Papias, in Eusebius, Hist.
Eccl., iii. 39.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 30.]
The "twelve," at all events, formed a group of privileged
disciples, among whom Peter maintained a fraternal priority,[1] and to them
Jesus confided the propagation of his work. There was nothing, however, which
presented the appearance of a regularly organized sacerdotal school. The lists
of the "twelve," which have been preserved, contain many uncertainties and
contradictions; two or three of those who figure in them have remained
completely obscure. Two, at least, Peter and Philip,[2] were married and had
children.
[Footnote 1: Acts i. 15, ii. 14, v. 2, 3, 29, viii. 19,
xv. 7; Gal. i. 18.]
[Footnote 2: For Peter, see ante, p. 174; for Philip, see
Papias,
Polycrates, and Clement of Alexandria, quoted by Eusebius, Hist.
Eccl., iii. 30, 31, 39, v. 24.]
Jesus evidently confided secrets to the twelve, which he forbade
them to communicate to the world.[1] It seems as if his plan at times was to
surround himself with a degree of mystery, to postpone the most important
testimony respecting himself till after his death, and to reveal himself
completely only to his disciples, confiding to them the care of demonstrating
him afterward to the world.[2] "What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in
light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops." This
spared him the necessity of too precise declarations, and created a kind of
medium between the public and himself. It is clear that there were certain
teachings confined to the apostles, and that he explained many parables to them,
the meaning of which was ambiguous to the multitude.[3] An enigmatical form and
a degree of oddness in connecting ideas were customary in the teachings of the
doctors, as may be seen in the sentences of the Pirké Aboth. Jesus
explained to his intimate friends whatever was peculiar in his apothegms or in
his apologues, and showed them his meaning stripped of the wealth of
illustration which sometimes obscured it.[4] Many of these explanations appear
to have been carefully preserved.[5]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xvi. 20, xvii. 9; Mark viii. 30, ix. 8.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. x. 26, 27; Mark iv. 21, and following; Luke
viii. 17, xii. 2, and following; John xiv. 22.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xiii. 10, and following, 34 and following;
Mark iv. 10, and following, 33, and following; Luke viii. 9, and following; xii.
41.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xvi. 6, and following; Mark vii. 17-23.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xiii. 18, and following; Mark vii. 18, and
following.]
During the lifetime of Jesus, the apostles preached,[1] but
without ever departing far from him. Their preaching, moreover, was limited to
the announcement of the speedy coming of the kingdom of God.[2] They went from
town to town, receiving hospitality, or rather taking it themselves, according
to the custom of the country. The guest in the East has much authority; he is
superior to the master of the house, who has the greatest confidence in him.
This fireside preaching is admirably adapted to the propagation of new
doctrines. The hidden treasure is communicated, and payment is thus made for
what is received; politeness and good feeling lend their aid; the household is
touched and converted. Remove Oriental hospitality, and it would be impossible
to explain the propagation of Christianity. Jesus, who adhered greatly to good
old customs, encouraged his disciples to make no scruple of profiting by this
ancient public right, probably already abolished in the great towns where there
were hostelries.[3] "The laborer," said he, "is worthy of his hire!" Once
installed in any house, they were to remain there, eating and drinking what was
offered them, as long as their mission lasted.
[Footnote 1: Luke ix. 6.]
[Footnote 2: Luke x. 11.]
[Footnote 3: The Greek word [Greek: pandokeion], in all the
languages of the Semitic East, designates an hostelry.]
Jesus desired that, in imitation of his example, the messengers
of the glad tidings should render their preaching agreeable by kindly and
polished manners. He directed that, on entering into a house, they should give
the salaam or greeting. Some hesitated; the salaam being then, as now, in the
East, a sign of religious communion, which is not risked with persons of a
doubtful faith. "Fear nothing," said Jesus; "if no one in the house is worthy of
your salute, it will return unto you."[1] Sometimes, in fact, the apostles of
the kingdom of God were badly received, and came to complain to Jesus, who
generally sought to soothe them. Some of them, persuaded of the omnipotence of
their master, were hurt at this forbearance. The sons of Zebedee wanted him to
call down fire from heaven upon the inhospitable towns.[2] Jesus received these
outbursts with a subtle irony, and stopped them by saying: "The Son of man is
not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."
[Footnote 1: Matt. x. 11, and following; Mark vi. 10, and
following;
Luke x. 5, and following. Comp. 2 Epistle of John, 10, 11.]
[Footnote 2: Luke ix. 52, and following.]
He sought in every way to establish as a principle that his
apostles were as himself.[1] It was believed that he had communicated his
marvellous virtues to them. They cast out demons, prophesied, and formed a
school of renowned exorcists,[2] although certain cases were beyond their
power.[3] They also wrought cures, either by the imposition of hands, or by the
anointing with oil,[4] one of the fundamental processes of Oriental medicine.
Lastly, like the Psylli, they could handle serpents and could drink deadly
potions with impunity.[5] The further we get from Jesus—the more offensive does
this theurgy become. But there is no doubt that it was generally received by the
primitive Church, and that it held an important place in the estimation of the
world around.[6] Charlatans, as generally happens, took advantage of this
movement of popular credulity. Even in the lifetime of Jesus, many, without
being his disciples, cast out demons in his name. The true disciples were much
displeased at this, and sought to prevent them. Jesus, who saw that this was
really an homage paid to his renown, was not very severe toward them.[7] It must
be observed, moreover, that the exercise of these gifts had to some degree
become a trade. Carrying the logic of absurdity to the extreme, certain men cast
out demons by Beelzebub,[8] the prince of demons. They imagined that this
sovereign of the infernal regions must have entire authority over his
subordinates, and that in acting through him they were certain to make the
intruding spirit depart.[9] Some even sought to buy from the disciples of Jesus
the secret of the miraculous powers which had been conferred upon them.[10] The
germ of a church from this time began to appear. This fertile idea of the power
of men in association (ecclesia) was doubtless derived from Jesus. Full
of the purely idealistic doctrine that it is the union of love which brings
souls together, he declared that whenever men assembled in his name, he would be
in their midst. He confided to the Church the right to bind and to unbind (that
is to say, to render certain things lawful or unlawful), to remit sins, to
reprimand, to warn with authority, and to pray with the certainty of being heard
favorably.[11] It is possible that many of these words may have been attributed
to the master, in order to give a warrant to the collective authority which was
afterward sought to be substituted for that of Jesus. At all events, it was only
after his death that particular churches were established, and even this first
constitution was made purely and simply on the model of the synagogue. Many
personages who had loved Jesus much, and had founded great hopes upon him, as
Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus, Mary Magdalen, and Nicodemus, did not, it seems,
join these churches, but clung to the tender or respectful memory which they had
preserved of him.
[Footnote 1: Matt. x. 40, 42, xxv. 35, and following; Mark ix.
40;
Luke x. 16; John xiii. 20.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. vii. 22, x. 1; Mark iii. 15, vi. 13; Luke x.
17.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xvii. 18, 19.]
[Footnote 4: Mark vi. 13, xvi. 18; Epist. Jas. v. 14.]
[Footnote 5: Mark xvi. 18; Luke x. 19.]
[Footnote 6: Mark xvi. 20.]
[Footnote 7: Mark ix. 37, 38; Luke ix. 49, 50.]
[Footnote 8: An ancient god of the Philistines, transformed by
the
Jews into a demon.]
[Footnote 9: Matt. xii. 24, and following.]
[Footnote 10: Acts viii. 18, and following.]
[Footnote 11: Matt. xviii. 17, and following; John xx. 23.]
Moreover, there is no trace, in the teaching of Jesus, of an
applied morality or of a canonical law, ever so slightly defined. Once only,
respecting marriage, he spoke decidedly, and forbade divorce.[1] Neither was
there any theology or creed. There were indefinite views respecting the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit,[2] from which, afterward, were drawn the Trinity and
the Incarnation, but they were then only in a state of indeterminate imagery.
The later books of the Jewish canon recognized the Holy Spirit, a sort of divine
hypostasis, sometimes identified with Wisdom or the Word.[3] Jesus insisted upon
this point,[4] and announced to his disciples a baptism by fire and by the
spirit,[5] as much preferable to that of John, a baptism which they believed
they had received, after the death of Jesus, in the form of a great wind and
tongues of fire.[6] The Holy Spirit thus sent by the Father was to teach them
all truth, and testify to that which Jesus himself had promulgated.[7] In order
to designate this Spirit, Jesus made use of the word Peraklit, which the
Syro-Chaldaic had borrowed from the Greek ([Greek: paraklêtos]), and which
appears to have had in his mind the meaning of "advocate,"[8] "counsellor,"[9]
and sometimes that of "interpreter of celestial truths," and of "teacher charged
to reveal to men the hitherto hidden mysteries."[10] He regarded himself as a
Peraklit to his disciples,[11] and the Spirit which was to come after his
death would only take his place. This was an application of the process which
the Jewish and Christian theologies would follow during centuries, and which was
to produce a whole series of divine assessors, the Metathronos, the
Synadelphe or Sandalphon, and all the personifications of the
Cabbala. But in Judaism, these creations were to remain free and individual
speculations, whilst in Christianity, commencing with the fourth century, they
were to form the very essence of orthodoxy and of the universal doctrine.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xix. 3, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxviii. 19. Comp. Matt. iii. 16, 17; John xv.
26.]
[Footnote 3: Sap. i. 7, vii. 7, ix. 17, xii. 1;
Eccles. i. 9, xv. 5, xxiv. 27; xxxix. 8; Judith xvi. 17.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. x. 20; Luke xii. 12, xxiv. 49; John xiv. 26,
xv. 26.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. iii. 11; Mark i. 8; Luke iii. 16; John i. 26,
iii. 5; Acts i. 5, 8, x. 47.]
[Footnote 6: Acts ii. 1-4, xi. 15, xix. 6. Cf. John vii.
39.]
[Footnote 7: John xv. 26, xvi. 13.]
[Footnote 8: To Peraklit was opposed Katigor,
([Greek: katêgoros]), the "accuser."]
[Footnote 9: John xiv. 16; 1st Epistle of John ii. 1.]
[Footnote 10: John xiv. 26, xv. 26, xvi. 7, and following. Comp.
Philo, De Mundi opificio, § 6.]
[Footnote 11: John xiv. 16. Comp. the epistle before cited,
l.c.]
It is unnecessary to remark how remote from the thought of Jesus
was the idea of a religious book, containing a code and articles of faith. Not
only did he not write, but it was contrary to the spirit of the infant sect to
produce sacred books. They believed themselves on the eve of the great final
catastrophe. The Messiah came to put the seal upon the Law and the Prophets, not
to promulgate new Scriptures. With the exception of the Apocalypse, which was in
one sense the only revealed book of the infant Christianity, all the other
writings of the apostolic age were works evoked by existing circumstances,
making no pretensions to furnish a completely dogmatic whole. The Gospels had at
first an entirely personal character, and much less authority than tradition.[1]
[Footnote 1: Papias, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iii. 39.]
Had the sect, however, no sacrament, no rite, no sign of union?
It had one which all tradition ascribes to Jesus. One of the favorite ideas of
the master was that he was the new bread, bread very superior to manna, and on
which mankind was to live. This idea, the germ of the Eucharist, was at times
expressed by him in singularly concrete forms. On one occasion especially, in
the synagogue of Capernaum, he took a decided step, which cost him several of
his disciples. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread
from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven."[1] And he
added, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he
that believeth on me shall never thirst."[2] These words excited much murmuring.
"The Jews then murmured at him because he said, I am the bread which came down
from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?" But
Jesus insisting with still more force, said, "I am that bread of life; your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which
cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the
living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall
live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for
the life of the world."[3] The offence was now at its height: "How can this man
give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus going still further, said: "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye
have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and
my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth
in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father:
so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that
eateth of this bread shall live for ever." Several of his disciples were
offended at such obstinacy in paradox, and ceased to follow him. Jesus did not
retract; he only added: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth
nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
The twelve remained faithful, notwithstanding this strange preaching. It gave to
Cephas, in particular, an opportunity of showing his absolute devotion, and of
proclaiming once more, "Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."
[Footnote 1: John vi. 32, and following.]
[Footnote 2: We find an analogous form of expression provoking a
similar misunderstanding, in John iv. 10, and following.]
[Footnote 3: A11 these discourses bear too strongly the imprint
of the style peculiar to John, for them to be regarded as exact. The anecdote
related in chapter vi. of the fourth Gospel cannot, however, be entirely
stripped of historical reality.]
It is probable that from that time, in the common repasts of the
sect, there was established some custom which was derived from the discourse so
badly received by the men of Capernaum. But the apostolic traditions on this
subject are very diverse and probably intentionally incomplete. The synoptical
gospels suppose that a unique sacramental act served as basis to the mysterious
rite, and declare this to have been "the last supper." John, who has preserved
the incident at the synagogue of Capernaum, does not speak of such an act,
although he describes the last supper at great length. Elsewhere we see Jesus
recognized in the breaking of bread,[1] as if this act had been to those who
associated with him the most characteristic of his person. When he was dead, the
form under which he appeared to the pious memory of his disciples, was that of
president of a mysterious banquet, taking the bread, blessing it, breaking and
presenting it to those present.[2] It is probable that this was one of his
habits, and that at such times he was particularly loving and tender. One
material circumstance, the presence of fish upon the table (a striking
indication, which proves that the rite had its birth on the shore of Lake
Tiberias[3]), was itself almost sacramental, and became a necessary part of the
conceptions of the sacred feast.[4]
[Footnote 1: Luke xxiv. 30, 35.]
[Footnote 2: Luke l.c.; John xxi. 13.]
[Footnote 3: Comp. Matt. vii. 10, xiv. 17, and following, xv.
34, and following; Mark vi. 38, and following; Luke ix. 13, and following, xi.
11, xxiv. 42; John vi. 9, and following, xxi. 9, and following. The district
round Lake Tiberias is the only place in Palestine where fish forms a
considerable portion of the diet.]
[Footnote 4: John xxi. 13; Luke xxiv. 42, 43. Compare the oldest
representations of the Lord's Supper, related or corrected by M. de Rossi, in
his dissertation on the [Greek: ICHTHYS] (Spicilegium Solesmense de dom
Pitra, v. iii., p. 568, and following). The meaning of the anagram which the
word [Greek: ICHTHYS] contains, was probably combined with a more ancient
tradition on the place of fish in the Gospel repasts.]
Their repasts were among the sweetest moments of the infant
community. At these times they all assembled; the master spoke to each one, and
kept up a charming and lively conversation. Jesus loved these seasons, and was
pleased to see his spiritual family thus grouped around him.[1] The
participation of the same bread was considered as a kind of communion, a
reciprocal bond. The master used, in this respect, extremely strong terms, which
were afterward taken in a very literal sense. Jesus was, at the same time, very
idealistic in his conceptions, and very materialistic in his expression of them.
Wishing to express the thought that the believer only lives by him, that
altogether (body, blood, and soul) he was the life of the truly faithful, he
said to his disciples, "I am your nourishment"—a phrase which, turned in
figurative style, became, "My flesh is your bread, my blood your drink." Added
to this, the modes of speech employed by Jesus, always strongly subjective,
carried him still further. At table, pointing to the food, he said, "I am
here"—holding the bread—"this is my body;" and of the wine, "This is my
blood"—all modes of speech which were equivalent to, "I am your nourishment."
[Footnote 1: Luke xxii. 15.]
This mysterious rite obtained great importance in the lifetime
of Jesus. It was probably established some time before the last journey to
Jerusalem, and it was the result of a general doctrine much more than a
determinate act. After the death of Jesus, it became the great symbol of
Christian communion,[1] and it is to the most solemn moment of the life of the
Saviour that its establishment is referred. It was wished to see, in the
consecration of bread and wine, a farewell memorial which Jesus, at the moment
of quitting life, had left to his disciples.[2] They recognized Jesus himself in
this sacrament. The wholly spiritual idea of the presence of souls, which was
one of the most familiar to the Master, which made him say, for instance, that
he was personally with his disciples[3] when they were assembled in his name,
rendered this easily admissible. Jesus, we have already said, never had a very
defined notion of that which constitutes individuality. In the degree of
exaltation to which he had attained, the ideal surpassed everything to such an
extent that the body counted for nothing. We are one when we love one another,
when we live in dependence on each other; it was thus that he and his disciples
were one.[4] His disciples adopted the same language. Those who for years had
lived with him, had seen him constantly take the bread and the cup "between his
holy and venerable hands,"[5] and thus offer himself to them. It was he whom
they ate and drank; he became the true passover, the former one having been
abrogated by his blood. It is impossible to translate into our essentially
determined idiom, in which a rigorous distinction between the material and the
metaphorical must always be observed, habits of style the essential character of
which is to attribute to metaphor, or rather to the idea it represents, a
complete reality.
[Footnote 1: Acts ii. 42, 46.]
[Footnote 2: 1 Cor. xi. 20, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xviii. 20.]
[Footnote 4: John xii. entirely.]
[Footnote 5: Canon of the Greek Masses and the Latin Mass (very
ancient).]
CHAPTER XIX.
INCREASING PROGRESSION OF ENTHUSIASM AND OF EXALTATION.
It is clear that such a religious
society, founded solely on the expectation of the kingdom of God, must be in
itself very incomplete. The first Christian generation lived almost entirely
upon expectations and dreams. On the eve of seeing the world come to an end,
they regarded as useless everything which only served to prolong it. Possession
of property was interdicted.[1] Everything which attaches man to earth,
everything which draws him aside from heaven, was to be avoided. Although
several of the disciples were married, there was to be no more marriage on
becoming a member of the sect.[2] The celibate was greatly preferred; even in
marriage continence was recommended.[3] At one time the master seems to approve
of those who should mutilate themselves in prospect of the kingdom of God.[4] In
this he was consistent with his principle—"If thy hand or thy foot offend thee,
cut them off, and cast them from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life
halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into
everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from
thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having
two eyes to be cast into hell-fire."[5] The cessation of generation was often
considered as the sign and condition of the kingdom of God.[6]
[Footnote 1: Luke xiv. 33; Acts iv. 32, and following, v.
1-11.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xix. 10, and following; Luke xviii. 29, and
following.]
[Footnote 3: This is the constant doctrine of Paul. Comp.
Rev. xiv. 4.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xix. 12.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xviii. 8, 9. Cf. Talmud of Babylon, Niddah,
13 b.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xxii. 30; Mark xii. 25; Luke xx. 35; Ebionite
Gospel, entitled "Of the Egyptians," in Clem. of Alex., Strom. iii. 9,
13, and Clem. Rom., Epist. ii. 12.]
Never, we perceive, would this primitive Church have formed a
lasting society but for the great variety of germs deposited by Jesus in his
teaching. It required more than a century for the true Christian Church—that
which has converted the world—to disengage itself from this little sect of
"latter-day saints," and to become a framework applicable to the whole of human
society. The same thing, indeed, took place in Buddhism, which at first was
founded only for monks. The same thing would have happened in the order of St.
Francis, if that order had succeeded in its pretension of becoming the rule of
the whole of human society. Essentially Utopian in their origin, and succeeding
by their very exaggeration, the great systems of which we have just spoken have
only laid hold of the world by being profoundly modified, and by abandoning
their excesses. Jesus did not advance beyond this first and entirely monachal
period, in which it was believed that the impossible could be attempted with
impunity. He made no concession to necessity. He boldly preached war against
nature, and total severance from ties of blood. "Verily I say unto you," said
he, "there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or
children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in
this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting."[1]
[Footnote 1: Luke xviii. 20, 30.]
The teachings which Jesus is reputed to have given to his
disciples breathe the same exaltation.[1] He who was so tolerant to the world
outside, he who contented himself sometimes with half adhesions,[2] exercised
toward his own an extreme rigor. He would have no "all buts." We should call it
an "order," constituted by the most austere rules. Faithful to his idea that the
cares of life trouble man, and draw him downward, Jesus required from his
associates a complete detachment from the earth, an absolute devotion to his
work. They were not to carry with them either money or provisions for the way,
not even a scrip, or change of raiment. They must practise absolute poverty,
live on alms and hospitality. "Freely ye have received, freely give,"[3] said
he, in his beautiful language. Arrested and arraigned before the judges, they
were not to prepare their defence; the Peraklit, the heavenly advocate,
would inspire them with what they ought to say. The Father would send them his
Spirit from on high, which would become the principle of all their acts, the
director of their thoughts, and their guide through the world.[4] If driven from
any town, they were to shake the dust from their shoes, declaring always the
proximity of the kingdom of God, that none might plead ignorance. "Ye shall not
have gone over the cities of Israel," added he, "till the Son of man be come."
[Footnote 1: Matt. x., entirely, xxiv. 9; Mark vi. 8, and
following, ix. 40, xiii. 9-13; Luke x. 3, and following, x. 1, and following,
xii. 4, and following, xxi. 17; John xv. 18, and following, xvii. 14.]
[Footnote 2: Mark ix. 38, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. x. 8. Comp. Midrash Ialkout, Deut.,
sect. 824.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. x. 20; John xiv. 16, and following, 26, xv.
26, xvi. 7, 13.]
A strange ardor animates all these discourses, which may in part
be the creation of the enthusiasm of his disciples,[1] but which even in that
case came indirectly from Jesus, for it was he who had inspired the enthusiasm.
He predicted for his followers severe persecutions and the hatred of mankind. He
sent them forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. They would be scourged in the
synagogues, and dragged to prison. Brother should deliver up brother to death,
and the father his son. When they were persecuted in one country they were to
flee to another. "The disciple," said he, "is not above his master, nor the
servant above his lord. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to
kill the soul. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall
not fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are
all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many
sparrows."[2] "Whosoever, therefore," continued he, "shall confess me before
men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in
heaven."[3]
[Footnote 1: The expressions in Matt. x. 38, xvi. 24; Mark viii.
34;
Luke xiv. 27, can only have been conceived after the death of Jesus.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. x. 24-31; Luke xii. 4-7.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. x. 32, 33; Mark viii. 38; Luke ix. 26, xii.
8, 9.]
In these fits of severity he went so far as to abolish all
natural ties. His requirements had no longer any bounds. Despising the healthy
limits of man's nature, he demanded that he should exist only for him, that he
should love him alone. "If any man come to me," said he, "and hate not his
father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, and his
own life also, he cannot be my disciple."[1] "So likewise, whosoever he be of
you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."[2] There
was, at such times, something strange and more than human in his words; they
were like a fire utterly consuming life, and reducing everything to a frightful
wilderness. The harsh and gloomy feeling of distaste for the world, and of
excessive self-abnegation which characterizes Christian perfection, was
originated, not by the refined and cheerful moralist of earlier days, but by the
sombre giant whom a kind of grand presentiment was withdrawing, more and more,
out of the pale of humanity. We should almost say that, in these moments of
conflict with the most legitimate cravings of the heart, Jesus had forgotten the
pleasure of living, of loving, of seeing, and of feeling. Employing still more
unmeasured language, he even said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself and follow me. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not
worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of
me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my
sake and the gospel's, shall find it. What is a man profited if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul?"[3] Two anecdotes of the kind we cannot
accept as historical, but which, although they were exaggerations, were intended
to represent a characteristic feature, clearly illustrate this defiance of
nature. He said to one man, "Follow me!"—But he said, "Lord, suffer me first to
go and bury my father." Jesus answered, "Let the dead bury their dead: but go
thou and preach the kingdom of God." Another said to him, "Lord, I will follow
thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house."
Jesus replied, "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is
fit for the kingdom of God."[4] An extraordinary confidence, and at times
accents of singular sweetness, reversing all our ideas of him, caused these
exaggerations to be easily received. "Come unto me," cried he, "all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and
learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your
souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."[5]
[Footnote 1: Luke xiv. 26. We must here take into account the
exaggeration of Luke's style.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xiv. 33.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. x. 37-39, xvi. 24, 25; Luke ix. 23-25, xiv.
26, 27, xvii. 33; John xii. 25.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. viii. 21, 22; Luke ix. 59-62.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xi. 28-30.]
A great danger threatened the future of this exalted morality,
thus expressed in hyperbolical language and with a terrible energy. By detaching
man from earth the ties of life were severed. The Christian would be praised for
being a bad son, or a bad patriot, if it was for Christ that he resisted his
father and fought against his country. The ancient city, the parent republic,
the state, or the law common to all, were thus placed in hostility with the
kingdom of God. A fatal germ of theocracy was introduced into the world.
From this point, another consequence may be perceived. This
morality, created for a temporary crisis, when introduced into a peaceful
country, and in the midst of a society assured of its own duration, must seem
impossible. The Gospel was thus destined to become a Utopia for Christians,
which few would care to realize. These terrible maxims would, for the greater
number, remain in profound oblivion, an oblivion encouraged by the clergy
itself; the Gospel man would prove a dangerous man. The most selfish, proud,
hard and worldly of all human beings, a Louis XIV. for instance, would find
priests to persuade him, in spite of the Gospel, that he was a Christian. But,
on the other hand, there would always be found holy men who would take the
sublime paradoxes of Jesus literally. Perfection being placed beyond the
ordinary conditions of society, and a complete Gospel life being only possible
away from the world, the principle of asceticism and of monasticism was
established. Christian societies would have two moral rules; the one moderately
heroic for common men, the other exalted in the extreme for the perfect man; and
the perfect man would be the monk, subjected to rules which professed to realize
the gospel ideal. It is certain that this ideal, if only on account of the
celibacy and poverty it imposed, could not become the common law. The monk would
be thus, in one sense, the only true Christian. Common sense revolts at these
excesses; and if we are guided by it, to demand the impossible, is a mark of
weakness and error. But common sense is a bad judge where great matters are in
question. To obtain little from humanity we must ask much. The immense moral
progress which we owe to the Gospel is the result of its exaggerations. It is
thus that it has been, like stoicism, but with infinitely greater fulness, a
living argument for the divine powers in man, an exalted monument of the potency
of the will.
We may easily imagine that to Jesus, at this period of his life,
everything which was not the kingdom of God had absolutely disappeared. He was,
if we may say so, totally outside nature: family, friendship, country, had no
longer any meaning for him. No doubt from this moment he had already sacrificed
his life. Sometimes we are tempted to believe that, seeing in his own death a
means of founding his kingdom, he deliberately determined to allow himself to be
killed.[1] At other times, although such a thought only afterward became a
doctrine, death presented itself to him as a sacrifice, destined to appease his
Father and to save mankind.[2] A singular taste for persecution and torments[3]
possessed him. His blood appeared to him as the water of a second baptism with
which he ought to be baptized, and he seemed possessed by a strange haste to
anticipate this baptism, which alone could quench his thirst.[4]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xvi. 21-23, xvii. 12, 21, 22.]
[Footnote 2: Mark x. 45.]
[Footnote 3: Luke vi. 22, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Luke xii. 50.]
The grandeur of his views upon the future was at times
surprising. He did not conceal from himself the terrible storm he was about to
cause in the world. "Think not," said he, with much boldness and beauty, "that I
am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. There
shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. I
am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against
her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes
shall be they of his own household."[1] "I am come to send fire on the earth;
and what will I, if it be already kindled?"[2] "They shall put you out of the
synagogues," he continued; "yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you,
will think that he doeth God service."[3] "If the world hate you, ye know that
it hated me before it hated you. Remember the word that I said unto you: The
servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also
persecute you."[4]
[Footnote 1: Matt. x. 34-36; Luke xii. 51-53. Compare Micah vii.
5, 6.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xii. 49. See the Greek text.]
[Footnote 3: John xvi. 2.]
[Footnote 4: John xv. 18-20.]
Carried away by this fearful progression of enthusiasm, and
governed by the necessities of a preaching becoming daily more exalted, Jesus
was no longer free; he belonged to his mission, and, in one sense, to mankind.
Sometimes one would have said that his reason was disturbed. He suffered great
mental anguish and agitation.[1] The great vision of the kingdom of God,
glistening before his eyes, bewildered him. His disciples at times thought him
mad.[2] His enemies declared him to be possessed.[3] His excessively impassioned
temperament carried him incessantly beyond the bounds of human nature. He
laughed at all human systems, and his work not being a work of the reason, that
which he most imperiously required was "faith."[4] This was the word most
frequently repeated in the little guest-chamber. It is the watchword of all
popular movements. It is clear that none of these movements would take place if
it were necessary that their author should gain his disciples one by one by
force of logic. Reflection leads only to doubt. If the authors of the French
Revolution, for instance, had had to be previously convinced by lengthened
meditations, they would all have become old without accomplishing anything;
Jesus, in like manner, aimed less at convincing his hearers than at exciting
their enthusiasm. Urgent and imperative, he suffered no opposition: men must be
converted, nothing less would satisfy him. His natural gentleness seemed to have
abandoned him; he was sometimes harsh and capricious.[5] His disciples at times
did not understand him, and experienced in his presence a feeling akin to
fear.[6] Sometimes his displeasure at the slightest opposition led him to commit
inexplicable and apparently absurd acts.[7]
[Footnote 1: John xii. 27.]
[Footnote 2: Mark iii. 21, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Mark iii. 22; John vii. 20, viii. 48, and
following, x. 20, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. viii. 10, ix. 2, 22, 28, 29, xvii. 19; John
vi. 29, etc.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xvii. 16; Mark iii. 5, ix. 18; Luke viii. 45,
ix. 41.]
[Footnote 6: It is in Mark especially that this feature is
visible; iv. 40, v. 15, ix. 31, x. 32.]
[Footnote 7: Mark xi. 12-14, 20, and following.]
It was not that his virtue deteriorated; but his struggle for
the ideal against the reality became insupportable. Contact with the world
pained and revolted him. Obstacles irritated him. His idea of the Son of God
became disturbed and exaggerated. The fatal law which condemns an idea to decay
as soon as it seeks to convert men applied to him. Contact with men degraded him
to their level. The tone he had adopted could not be sustained more than a few
months; it was time that death came to liberate him from an endurance strained
to the utmost, to remove him from the impossibilities of an interminable path,
and by delivering him from a trial in danger of being too prolonged, introduce
him henceforth sinless into celestial peace.
CHAPTER XX.
OPPOSITION TO JESUS.
During the first period of his career,
it does not appear that Jesus met with any serious opposition. His preaching,
thanks to the extreme liberty which was enjoyed in Galilee, and to the number of
teachers who arose on all hands, made no noise beyond a restricted circle. But
when Jesus entered upon a path brilliant with wonders and public successes, the
storm began to gather. More than once he was obliged to conceal himself and
fly.[1] Antipas, however, did not interfere with him, although Jesus expressed
himself sometimes very severely respecting him.[2] At Tiberias, his usual
residence, the Tetrarch was only one or two leagues distant from the district
chosen by Jesus for the centre of his activity; he heard speak of his miracles,
which he doubtless took to be clever tricks, and desired to see them.[3] The
incredulous were at that time very curious about this class of illusions.[4]
With his ordinary tact, Jesus refused to gratify him. He took care not to
prejudice his position by mingling with an irreligious world, which wished to
draw from him an idle amusement; he aspired only to gain the people; he reserved
for the simple, means suitable to them alone.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xii. 14-16; Mark iii. 7, ix. 29, 30.]
[Footnote 2: Mark viii. 15; Luke xiii. 32.]
[Footnote 3: Luke ix. 9, xxiii. 8.]
[Footnote 4: Lucius; attributed to Lucian, 4.]
On one occasion the report was spread that Jesus was no other
than John the Baptist risen from the dead. Antipas became anxious and uneasy;[1]
and employed artifice to rid his dominions of the new prophet. Certain
Pharisees, under the pretence of regard for Jesus, came to tell him that Antipas
was seeking to kill him. Jesus, notwithstanding his great simplicity, saw the
snare, and did not depart.[2] His peaceful manners, and his remoteness from
popular agitation, ultimately reassured the Tetrarch and dissipated the danger.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xiv. 1, and following; Mark vi. 14, and
following;
Luke ix. 7, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xiii. 31, and following.]
The new doctrine was by no means received with equal favor in
all the towns of Galilee. Not only did incredulous Nazareth continue to reject
him who was to become her glory; not only did his brothers persist in not
believing in him,[1] but the cities of the lake themselves, in general
well-disposed, were not all converted. Jesus often complained of the incredulity
and hardness of heart which he encountered, and although it is natural that in
such reproaches we make allowance for the exaggeration of the preacher, although
we are sensible of that kind of convicium seculi which Jesus affected in
imitation of John the Baptist,[2] it is clear that the country was far from
yielding itself entirely a second time to the kingdom of God. "Woe unto thee,
Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida!" cried he; "for if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long
ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for
Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which
art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works
which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained
until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land
of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee."[3] "The queen of the south,"
added he, "shall rise up in the judgment of this generation, and shall condemn
it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of
Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall
rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they
repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold, a greater than Jonas is
here."[4] His wandering life, at first so full of charm, now began to weigh upon
him. "The foxes," said he, "have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but
the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."[5] Bitterness and reproach took
more and more hold upon him. He accused unbelievers of not yielding to evidence,
and said that, even at the moment in which the Son of man should appear in his
celestial glory, there would still be men who would not believe in him.[6]
[Footnote 1: John vii. 5.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xii. 39, 45, xiii. 15, xvi. 4; Luke xi. 29.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xi. 21-24; Luke x. 12-15.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xii. 41, 42; Luke xi. 31, 32.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. viii. 20; Luke ix. 58.]
[Footnote 6: Luke xviii. 8.]
Jesus, in fact, was not able to receive opposition with the
coolness of the philosopher, who, understanding the reason of the various
opinions which divide the world, finds it quite natural that all should not
agree with him. One of the principal defects of the Jewish race is its harshness
in controversy, and the abusive tone which it almost always infuses into it.
There never were in the world such bitter quarrels as those of the Jews among
themselves. It is the faculty of nice discernment which makes the polished and
moderate man. Now, the lack of this faculty is one of the most constant features
of the Semitic mind. Subtle and refined works, the dialogues of Plato, for
example, are altogether unknown to these nations. Jesus, who was exempt from
almost all the defects of his race, and whose leading quality was precisely an
infinite delicacy, was led in spite of himself to make use of the general style
in polemics.[1] Like John the Baptist,[2] he employed very harsh terms against
his adversaries. Of an exquisite gentleness with the simple, he was irritated at
incredulity, however little aggressive.[3] He was no longer the mild teacher who
delivered the "Sermon on the Mount," who had met with neither resistance nor
difficulty. The passion that underlay his character led him to make use of the
keenest invectives. This singular mixture ought not to surprise us. M. de
Lamennais, a man of our own times, has strikingly presented the same contrast.
In his beautiful book, the "Words of a Believer," the most immoderate anger and
the sweetest relentings alternate, as in a mirage. This man, who was extremely
kind in the intercourse of life, became madly intractable toward those who did
not agree with him. Jesus, in like manner, applied to himself, not without
reason, the passage from Isaiah:[4] "He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall
any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and
smoking flax shall he not quench."[5] And yet many of the recommendations which
he addressed to his disciples contain the germs of a true fanaticism,[6] germs
which the Middle Ages were to develop in a cruel manner. Must we reproach him
for this? No revolution is effected without some harshness. If Luther, or the
actors in the French Revolution, had been compelled to observe the rules of
politeness, neither the Reformation nor the Revolution would have taken place.
Let us congratulate ourselves in like manner that Jesus encountered no law which
punished the invectives he uttered against one class of citizens. Had such a law
existed, the Pharisees would have been inviolate. All the great things of
humanity have been accomplished in the name of absolute principles. A critical
philosopher would have said to his disciples: Respect the opinion of others; and
believe that no one is so completely right that his adversary is completely
wrong. But the action of Jesus has nothing in common with the disinterested
speculation of the philosopher. To know that we have touched the ideal for a
moment, and have been deterred by the wickedness of a few, is a thought
insupportable to an ardent soul. What must it have been for the founder of a new
world?
[Footnote 1: Matt. xii. 34, xv. 14, xxiii. 33.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. iii. 7.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xii. 30; Luke xxi. 23.]
[Footnote 4: Isa. xlii. 2, 3.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xii. 19-20.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. x. 14, 15, 21, and following, 34, and
following;
Luke xix. 27.]
The invincible obstacle to the ideas of Jesus came especially
from orthodox Judaism, represented by the Pharisees. Jesus became more and more
alienated from the ancient Law. Now, the Pharisees were the true Jews; the nerve
and sinew of Judaism. Although this party had its centre at Jerusalem, it had
adherents either established in Galilee, or who often came there.[1] They were,
in general, men of a narrow mind, caring much for externals; their devoutness
was haughty, formal, and self-satisfied.[2] Their manners were ridiculous, and
excited the smiles of even those who respected them. The epithets which the
people gave them, and which savor of caricature, prove this. There was the
"bandy-legged Pharisee" (Nikfi), who walked in the streets dragging his
feet and knocking them against the stones; the "bloody-browed Pharisee" (Kizai),
who went with his eyes shut in order not to see the women, and dashed his head
so much against the walls that it was always bloody; the "pestle Pharisee" (Medinkia),
who kept himself bent double like the handle of a pestle; the "Pharisee of
strong shoulders" (Shikmi), who walked with his back bent as if he
carried on his shoulders the whole burden of the Law; the "What-is-there-to-do?-I-do-it
Pharisee," always on the search for a precept to fulfil; and, lastly, the
"dyed Pharisee," whose externals of devotion were but a varnish of hypocrisy.[3]
This strictness was, in fact, often only apparent, and concealed in reality
great moral laxity.[4] The people, nevertheless, were duped by it. The people,
whose instinct is always right, even when it is most astray respecting
individuals, is very easily deceived by false devotees. That which it loves in
them is good and worthy of being loved; but it has not sufficient penetration to
distinguish the appearance from the reality.
[Footnote 1: Mark vii. 1; Luke v. 17, and following, vii. 36.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. vi. 2, 5, 16, ix. 11, 14, xii. 2, xxiii. 5,
15, 23; Luke v. 30, vi. 2, 7, xi. 39, and following, xviii. 12; John ix. 16;
Pirké Aboth, i. 16; Jos., Ant., XVII. ii. 4, XVIII. i. 3; Vita,
38; Talm. of Bab., Sota, 22 b.]
[Footnote 3: Talmud of Jerusalem, Berakoth, ix., sub
fin.; Sota, v. 7; Talmud of Babylon, Sota, 22 b. The two
compilations of this curious passage present considerable differences. We have,
in general, followed the Babylonian compilation, which seems most natural. Cf.
Epiph., Adv. Hær., xvi. 1. The passages in Epiphanes, and several of
those of the Talmud, may, besides, relate to an epoch posterior to Jesus, an
epoch in which "Pharisee" had become synonymous with "devotee."]
[Footnote 4: Matt. v. 20, xv. 4, xxiii. 3, 16, and following;
John viii. 7; Jos., Ant., XII. ix. 1; XIII. x. 5.]
It is easy to understand the antipathy which, in such an
impassioned state of society, must necessarily break out between Jesus and
persons of this character. Jesus recognized only the religion of the heart,
whilst that of the Pharisees consisted almost exclusively in observances. Jesus
sought the humble and outcasts of all kinds, and the Pharisees saw in this an
insult to their religion of respectability. The Pharisee was an infallible and
faultless man, a pedant always right in his own conceit, taking the first place
in the synagogue, praying in the street, giving alms to the sound of a trumpet,
and caring greatly for salutations. Jesus maintained that each one ought to
await the kingdom of God with fear and trembling. The bad religious tendency
represented by Pharisaism did not reign without opposition. Many men before or
during the time of Jesus, such as Jesus, son of Sirach (one of the true
ancestors of Jesus of Nazareth), Gamaliel, Antigonus of Soco, and especially the
gentle and noble Hillel, had taught much more elevated, and almost Gospel
doctrines. But these good seeds had been choked. The beautiful maxims of Hillel,
summing up the whole law as equity,[1] those of Jesus, son of Sirach, making
worship consist in doing good,[2] were forgotten or anathematized.[3] Shammai,
with his narrow and exclusive spirit, had prevailed. An enormous mass of
"traditions" had stifled the Law,[4] under pretext of protecting and
interpreting it. Doubtless these conservative measures had their share of
usefulness; it is well that the Jewish people loved its Law even to excess,
since it is this frantic love which, in saving Mosaism under Antiochus Epiphanes
and under Herod, has preserved the leaven from which Christianity was to
emanate. But taken in themselves, all these old precautions were only puerile.
The synagogue, which was the depository of them, was no more than a parent of
error. Its reign was ended; and yet to require its abdication was to require the
impossible, that which an established power has never done or been able to do.
[Footnote 1: Talm. of Bab., Shabbath, 31 a;
Joma, 35 b.]
[Footnote 2: Eccles. xvii. 21, and following, xxxv. 1,
and following.]
[Footnote 3: Talm. of Jerus., Sanhedrim, xi. 1; Talm. of
Bab., Sanhedrim, 100 b.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xv. 2.]
The conflicts of Jesus with official hypocrisy were continual.
The ordinary tactics of the reformers who appeared in the religious state which
we have just described, and which might be called "traditional formalism," were
to oppose the "text" of the sacred books to "traditions." Religious zeal is
always an innovator, even when it pretends to be in the highest degree
conservative. Just as the neo-Catholics of our days become more and more remote
from the Gospel, so the Pharisees left the Bible at each step more and more.
This is why the Puritan reformer is generally essentially "Biblical," taking the
unchangeable text for his basis in criticising the current theology, which has
changed with each generation. Thus acted later the Karaites and the Protestants.
Jesus applied the axe to the root of the tree much more energetically. We see
him sometimes, it is true, invoke the text against the false Masores or
traditions of the Pharisees.[1] But in general he dwelt little on exegesis—it
was the conscience to which he appealed. With one stroke he cut through both
text and commentaries. He showed, indeed, to the Pharisees that they seriously
perverted Mosaism by their traditions, but he by no means pretended himself to
return to Mosaism. His mission was concerned with the future, not with the past.
Jesus was more than the reformer of an obsolete religion; he was the creator of
the eternal religion of humanity.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xv. 2, and following; Mark vii. 2, and
following.]
Disputes broke out especially respecting a number of external
practices introduced by tradition, which neither Jesus nor his disciples
observed.[1] The Pharisees reproached him sharply for this. When he dined with
them, he scandalized them much by not observing the customary ablutions. "Give
alms," said he, "of such things as ye have; and behold, all things are clean
unto you."[2] That which in the highest degree hurt his refined feeling was the
air of assurance which the Pharisees carried into religious matters; their
paltry worship, which ended in a vain seeking after precedents and titles, to
the utter neglect of the improvement of their hearts. An admirable parable
rendered this thought with infinite charm and justice. "Two men," said he, "went
up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as
other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I
fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican,
standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote
upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man
went down to his house justified rather than the other."[3]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xv. 2, and following; Mark vii. 4, 8; Luke v.
sub fin. and vi. init., xi. 38, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xi. 41.]
[Footnote 3: Luke xviii. 9-14; comp. ibid., xiv. 7-11.]
A hate, which death alone could satisfy, was the consequence of
these struggles. John the Baptist had already provoked enmities of the same
kind.[1] But the aristocrats of Jerusalem, who despised him, had allowed simple
men to take him for a prophet.[2] In the case of Jesus, however, the war was to
the death. A new spirit had appeared in the world, causing all that preceded to
pale before it. John the Baptist was completely a Jew; Jesus was scarcely one at
all. Jesus always appealed to the delicacy of the moral sentiment. He was only a
disputant when he argued against the Pharisees, his opponents forcing him, as
generally happens, to adopt their tone.[3] His exquisite irony, his arch and
provoking remarks, always struck home. They were everlasting stigmas, and have
remained festering in the wound. This Nessus-shirt of ridicule which the Jew,
son of the Pharisees, has dragged in tatters after him during eighteen
centuries, was woven by Jesus with a divine skill. Masterpieces of fine
raillery, their features are written in lines of fire upon the flesh of the
hypocrite and the false devotee. Incomparable traits, worthy of a son of God! A
god alone knows how to kill after this fashion. Socrates and Molière only
touched the skin. He carried fire and rage to the very marrow.
[Footnote 1: Matt. iii. 7, and following, xvii. 12, 13.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xiv. 5, xxi. 26; Mark xi. 32; Luke xx. 6.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xii. 3-8, xxiii. 16, and following.]
But it was also just that this great master of irony should pay
for his triumph with his life. Even in Galilee, the Pharisees sought to ruin
him, and employed against him the manoeuvre which ultimately succeeded at
Jerusalem. They endeavored to interest in their quarrel the partisans of the new
political faction which was established.[1] The facilities Jesus found for
escape in Galilee, and the weakness of the government of Antipas, baffled these
attempts. He ran into danger of his own free will. He saw clearly that his
action, if he remained confined to Galilee, was necessarily limited. Judea drew
him as by a charm; he wished to try a last effort to gain the rebellious city;
and seemed anxious to fulfill the proverb—that a prophet must not die outside
Jerusalem.[2]
[Footnote 1: Mark iii. 6.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xiii. 33.]
CHAPTER XXI.
LAST JOURNEY OF JESUS TO JERUSALEM.
Jesus had for a long time been sensible
of the dangers that surrounded him.[1] During a period of time which we may
estimate at eighteen months, he avoided going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.[2]
At the feast of Tabernacles of the year 32 (according to the hypothesis we have
adopted), his relations, always malevolent and incredulous,[3] pressed him to go
there. The evangelist John seems to insinuate that there was some hidden project
to ruin him in this invitation. "Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy
disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth
anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these
things, show thyself to the world." Jesus, suspecting some treachery, at first
refused; but when the caravan of pilgrims had set out, he started on the
journey, unknown to every one, and almost alone.[4] It was the last farewell
which he bade to Galilee. The feast of Tabernacles fell at the autumnal equinox.
Six months still had to elapse before the fatal denouement. But during this
interval, Jesus saw no more his beloved provinces of the north. The pleasant
days had passed away; he must now traverse, step by step, the painful path that
will terminate only in the anguish of death.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xvi. 20, 21; Mark viii. 30, 31.]
[Footnote 2: John vii. 1.]
[Footnote 3: John vii. 5.]
[Footnote 4: John vii. 10.]
His disciples, and the pious women who tended him, met him again
in Judea.[1] But how much everything was changed for him there! Jesus was a
stranger at Jerusalem. He felt that there was a wall of resistance he could not
penetrate. Surrounded by snares and difficulties, he was unceasingly pursued by
the ill-will of the Pharisees.[2] Instead of that illimitable faculty of belief,
happy gift of youthful natures, which he found in Galilee—instead of those good
and gentle people, amongst whom objections (always the fruit of some degree of
ill-will and indocility) had no existence, he met there at each step an
obstinate incredulity, upon which the means of action that had so well succeeded
in the north had little effect. His disciples were despised as being Galileans.
Nicodemus, who, on one of his former journeys, had had a conversation with him
by night, almost compromised himself with the Sanhedrim, by having wished to
defend him. "Art thou also of Galilee?" they said to him. "Search and look: for
out of Galilee ariseth no prophet."[3]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 55; Mark xv. 41; Luke xxiii. 49, 55.]
[Footnote 2: John vii. 20, 25, 30, 32.]
[Footnote 3: John vii. 50, and following.]
The city, as we have already said, displeased Jesus. Until then
he had always avoided great centres, preferring for his action the country and
the towns of small importance. Many of the precepts which he gave to his
apostles were absolutely inapplicable, except in a simple society of humble
men.[1] Having no idea of the world, and accustomed to the kindly communism of
Galilee, remarks continually escaped him, whose simplicity would at Jerusalem
appear very singular.[2] His imagination and his love of Nature found themselves
constrained within these walls. True religion does not proceed from the tumult
of towns, but from the tranquil serenity of the fields.
[Footnote 1: Matt. x. 11-13; Mark vi. 10; Luke x. 5-8.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxi. 3, xxvi. 18; Mark xi. 3, xiv. 13, 14;
Luke xix. 31, xxii. 10-12.]
The arrogance of the priests rendered the courts of the temple
disagreeable to him. One day some of his disciples, who knew Jerusalem better
than he, wished him to notice the beauty of the buildings of the temple, the
admirable choice of materials, and the richness of the votive offerings that
covered the walls. "Seest thou these buildings?" said he; "there shall not be
left one stone upon another."[1] He refused to admire anything, except it was a
poor widow who passed at that moment, and threw a small coin into the box. "She
has cast in more than they all," said he; "for all these have of their abundance
cast in unto the offerings of God; but she of her penury hath cast in all the
living that she had."[2] This manner of criticising all he observed at
Jerusalem, of praising the poor who gave little, of slighting the rich who gave
much,[3] and of blaming the opulent priesthood who did nothing for the good of
the people, naturally exasperated the sacerdotal caste. As the seat of a
conservative aristocracy, the temple, like the Mussulman haram which
succeeded it, was the last place in the world where revolution could prosper.
Imagine an innovator going in our days to preach the overturning of Islamism
round the mosque of Omar! There, however, was the centre of the Jewish life, the
point where it was necessary to conquer or die. On this Calvary, where certainly
Jesus suffered more than at Golgotha, his days passed away in disputation and
bitterness, in the midst of tedious controversies respecting canonical law and
exegesis, for which his great moral elevation, instead of giving him the
advantage, positively unfitted him.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxiv. 1, 2; Mark xiii. 1, 2; Luke xix. 44,
xxi. 5, 6. Cf. Mark xi. 11.]
[Footnote 2: Mark xii. 41, and following; Luke xxi. 1, and
following.]
[Footnote 3: Mark xii. 41.]
In the midst of this troubled life, the sensitive and kindly
heart of Jesus found a refuge, where he enjoyed moments of sweetness. After
having passed the day disputing in the temple, toward evening Jesus descended
into the valley of Kedron, and rested a while in the orchard of a farming
establishment (probably for the making of oil) named Gethsemane,[1] which served
as a pleasure garden to the inhabitants. Thence he proceeded to pass the night
upon the Mount of Olives, which limits the horizon of the city on the east.[2]
This side is the only one, in the environs of Jerusalem, which offers an aspect
in any degree pleasing and verdant. The plantations of olives, figs, and palms
were numerous there, and gave their names to the villages, farms, or enclosures
of Bethphage, Gethsemane, and Bethany.[3] There were upon the Mount of Olives
two great cedars, the memory of which was long preserved amongst the dispersed
Jews; their branches served as an asylum to clouds of doves, and under their
shade were established small bazaars.[4] All this precinct was in a manner the
abode of Jesus and his disciples; they knew it field by field and house by
house.
[Footnote 1: Mark xi. 19; Luke xxii. 39; John xviii. 1, 2. This
orchard could not be very far from the place where the piety of the Catholics
has surrounded some old olive-trees by a wall. The word Gethsemane seems
to signify "oil-press."]
[Footnote 2: Luke xxi. 37, xxii. 39; John viii. 1, 2.]
[Footnote 3: Talm. of Bab., Pesachim, 53 a.]
[Footnote 4: Talm. of Jerus., Taanith, iv. 8.]
The village of Bethany, in particular,[1] situated at the summit
of the hill, upon the incline which commands the Dead Sea and the Jordan, at a
journey of an hour and a half from Jerusalem, was the place especially beloved
by Jesus.[2] He there made the acquaintance of a family composed of three
persons, two sisters and a brother, whose friendship had a great charm for
him.[3] Of the two sisters, the one, named Martha, was an obliging, kind, and
assiduous person;[4] the other, named Mary, on the contrary, pleased Jesus by a
sort of languor,[5] and by her strongly developed speculative instincts. Seated
at the feet of Jesus, she often forgot, in listening to him, the duties of real
life. Her sister, upon whom fell all the duty at such times, gently complained.
"Martha, Martha," said Jesus to her, "thou art troubled, and carest about many
things; now, one thing only is needful. Mary has chosen the better part, which
will not be taken away."[6] Her brother, Eleazar, or Lazarus, was also much
beloved by Jesus.[7] Lastly, a certain Simon, the leper, who was the owner of
the house, formed, it appears, part of the family.[8] It was there, in the
enjoyment of a pious friendship, that Jesus forgot the vexations of public life.
In this tranquil home he consoled himself for the bickerings with which the
scribes and the Pharisees unceasingly surrounded him. He often sat on the Mount
of Olives, facing Mount Moriah,[9] having beneath his view the splendid
perspective of the terraces of the temple, and its roofs covered with glittering
plates of metal. This view struck strangers with admiration; at the rising of
the sun, especially, the sacred mountain dazzled the eyes, and appeared like a
mass of snow and of gold.[10] But a profound feeling of sadness poisoned for
Jesus the spectacle that filled all other Israelites with joy and pride. He
cried out, in his moments of bitterness, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would
I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, and ye would not."[11]
[Footnote 1: Now El-Azerié (from El-Azir, the
Arabic name of
Lazarus); in the Christian texts of the Middle Ages, Lazarium.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxi. 17, 18; Mark xi. 11, 12.]
[Footnote 3: John xi. 5.]
[Footnote 4: Luke x. 38-42; John xii. 2.]
[Footnote 5: John xi. 20.]
[Footnote 6: Luke x. 38, and following.]
[Footnote 7: John xi. 35, 36.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. xxvi. 6; Mark xiv. 3; Luke vii. 40-43; John
xii. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 9: Mark xiii. 3.]
[Footnote 10: Josephus, B.J., V. v. 6.]
[Footnote 11: Matt. xxiii. 37; Luke xiii. 34.]
It was not that many good people here, as in Galilee, were not
touched; but such was the power of the dominant orthodoxy, that very few dared
to confess it. They feared to discredit themselves in the eyes of the
Hierosolymites by placing themselves in the school of a Galilean. They would
have risked being driven from the synagogue, which, in a mean and bigoted
society, was the greatest degradation.[1] Excommunication, besides, carried with
it the confiscation of all possessions.[2] By ceasing to be a Jew, a man did not
become a Roman; but remained without protection, in the power of a theocratic
legislation of the most atrocious severity. One day, the inferior officers of
the temple, who had been present at one of the discourses of Jesus, and had been
enchanted with it, came to confide their doubts to the priests: "Have any of the
rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?" was the reply to them; "but this
people who knoweth not the Law are cursed."[3] Jesus remained thus at Jerusalem,
a provincial admired by provincials like himself, but rejected by all the
aristocracy of the nation. The chiefs of schools and of sects were too numerous
for any one to be stirred by seeing one more appear. His voice made little noise
in Jerusalem. The prejudices of race and of sect, the direct enemies of the
spirit of the Gospel, were too deeply rooted there.
[Footnote 1: John vii. 13, xii. 42, 43, xix. 38.]
[Footnote 2: 1 Esdr. x. 8; Epistle to Hebrews x. 34; Talmud of
Jerus., Moëdkaton, iii. 1.]
[Footnote 3: John vii. 45, and following.]
His teaching in this new world necessarily became much modified.
His beautiful discourses, the effect of which was always observable upon
youthful imaginations and consciences morally pure, here fell upon stone. He who
was so much at his ease on the shores of his charming little lake, felt
constrained and not at home in the company of pedants. His perpetual
self-assertion appeared somewhat fastidious.[1] He was obliged to become
controversialist, jurist, exegetist, and theologian. His conversations,
generally so full of charm, became a rolling fire of disputes,[2] an
interminable train of scholastic battles. His harmonious genius was wasted in
insipid argumentations upon the Law and the prophets,[3] in which we should have
preferred not seeing him sometimes play the part of aggressor.[4] He lent
himself with a condescension we cannot but regret to the captious criticisms to
which the merciless cavillers subjected him.[5] In general, he extricated
himself from difficulties with much skill. His reasonings, it is true, were
often subtle (simplicity of mind and subtlety touch each other; when simplicity
reasons, it is often a little sophistical); we find that sometimes he courted
misconceptions, and prolonged them intentionally;[6] his reasoning, judged
according to the rules of Aristotelian logic, was very weak. But when the
unequaled charm of his mind could be displayed, he was triumphant. One day it
was intended to embarrass him by presenting to him an adulteress and asking him
what was to be done to her. We know the admirable answer of Jesus.[7] The fine
raillery of a man of the world, tempered by a divine goodness, could not be
expressed in a more exquisite manner. But the wit which is allied to moral
grandeur is that which fools forgive the least. In pronouncing this sentence of
so just and pure a taste: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast
a stone at her," Jesus pierced hypocrisy to the heart, and with the same stroke
sealed his own death-warrant.
[Footnote 1: John viii. 13, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxi. 23-37.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxii. 23, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxii. 42, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xxii. 36, and following, 46.]
[Footnote 6: See especially the discussions reported by John,
chapter viii., for example; it is true that the authenticity of such passages is
only relative.]
[Footnote 7: John viii. 3, and following. This passage did not
at first form part of the Gospel of St. John; it is wanting in the more ancient
manuscripts, and the text is rather unsettled. Nevertheless, it is from the
primitive Gospel traditions, as is proved by the singular peculiarities of
verses 6 and 8, which are not in the style of Luke, and compilers at second
hand, who admitted nothing that does not explain itself. This history is found,
as it seems, in the Gospel according to the Hebrews. (Papias, quoted by
Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iii. 39.)]
It is probable, in fact, that but for the exasperation caused by
so many bitter shafts, Jesus might long have remained unnoticed, and have been
lost in the dreadful storm which was soon about to overwhelm the whole Jewish
nation. The high priesthood and the Sadducees had rather disdained than hated
him. The great sacerdotal families, the Boëthusim, the family of Hanan,
were only fanatical in their conservatism. The Sadducees, like Jesus, rejected
the "traditions" of the Pharisees.[1] By a very strange singularity, it was
these unbelievers who, denying the resurrection, the oral Law, and the existence
of angels, were the true Jews. Or rather, as the old Law in its simplicity no
longer satisfied the religious wants of the time, those who strictly adhered to
it, and rejected modern inventions, were regarded by the devotees as impious,
just as an evangelical Protestant of the present day is regarded as an
unbeliever in Catholic countries. At all events, from such a party no very
strong reaction against Jesus could proceed. The official priesthood, with its
attention turned toward political power, and intimately connected with it, did
not comprehend these enthusiastic movements. It was the middle-class Pharisees,
the innumerable soferim, or scribes, living on the science of
"traditions," who took the alarm, and whose prejudices and interests were in
reality threatened by the doctrine of the new teacher.
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., XIII. x. 6, XVIII. i. 4.]
One of the most constant efforts of the Pharisees was to involve
Jesus in the discussion of political questions, and to compromise him as
connected with the party of Judas the Gaulonite. These tactics were clever; for
it required all the deep wisdom of Jesus to avoid collision with the Roman
authority, whilst proclaiming the kingdom of God. They wanted to break through
this ambiguity, and compel him to explain himself. One day, a group of
Pharisees, and of those politicians named "Herodians" (probably some of the
Boëthusim), approached him, and, under pretense of pious zeal, said unto
him, "Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth,
neither carest thou for any man. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it
lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not?" They hoped for an answer which would
give them a pretext for delivering him up to Pilate. The reply of Jesus was
admirable. He made them show him the image on the coin: "Render," said he, "unto
Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's."[1]
Profound words, which have decided the future of Christianity! Words of a
perfected spiritualism, and of marvellous justness, which have established the
separation between the spiritual and the temporal, and laid the basis of true
liberalism and civilization!
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxii. 15, and following; Mark xii. 13, and
following; Luke xx. 20, and following. Comp. Talm. of Jerus., Sanhedrim,
ii. 3.]
His gentle and penetrating genius inspired him when alone with
his disciples, with accents full of tenderness. "Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other
way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is
the shepherd of the sheep. The sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own
sheep by name, and leadeth them out. He goeth before them, and the sheep follow
him; for they know his voice. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose
own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth.
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine; and I lay down
my life for the sheep."[1] The idea that the crisis of humanity was close at
hand frequently recurred to him. "Now," said he, "learn a parable of the
fig-tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that
summer is nigh. Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white
already to harvest."[2]
[Footnote 1: John x. 1-16.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxiv. 32; Mark xiii. 28; Luke xxi. 30; John
iv. 35.]
His powerful eloquence always burst forth when contending with
hypocrisy. "The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All, therefore,
whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their
works: for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be
borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them
with one of their fingers.
"But all their works they do to be seen of men; they make broad
their phylacteries,[1] enlarge the borders of their garments,[2] and love the
uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings
in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. Woe unto them!…
[Footnote 1: Totafôth or tefillin, plates of metal
or strips of parchment, containing passages of the Law; which the devout Jews
wore attached to the forehead and left arm, in literal fulfilment of the
passages (Ex. xiii. 9; Deut. vi. 8, xi. 18.)]
[Footnote 2: Zizith, red borders or fringes which the
Jews wore at the corner of their cloaks to distinguish them from the pagans (Num.
xv. 38, 39; Deut. xxii. 12.)]
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye have
taken away the key of knowledge, shut up the kingdom of heaven against men![1]
for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go
in. Woe unto you, for ye devour widows' houses, and, for a pretense, make long
prayers: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, for ye
compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him
twofold more the child of hell than yourselves! Woe unto you, for ye are as
graves which appear not; and the men that walk over them are not aware of
them.[2]
[Footnote 1: The Pharisees excluded men from the kingdom of God
by their fastidious casuistry, which rendered entrance into it too difficult,
and discouraged the unlearned.]
[Footnote 2: Contact with the tombs rendered any one impure.
Great care was, therefore, taken to mark their extent on the ground. Talm. of
Bab., Baba Bathra, 58 a; Baba Metsia, 45 b. Jesus
here reproached the Pharisees for having invented a number of small precepts
which might be violated unwittingly, and which only served to multiply
infringements of the law.]
"Ye fools, and blind! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and
cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and
faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind
guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you!
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make
clean the outside of the cup and of the platter;[1] but within they are full of
extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee,[2] cleanse first that which is within
the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.[3]
[Footnote 1: The purification of vessels was subjected, amongst
the
Pharisees, to the most complicated laws (Mark vii. 4.)]
[Footnote 2: This epithet, often repeated (Matt. xxiii. 16, 17,
19, 24, 26), perhaps contains an allusion to the custom which certain Pharisees
had of walking with closed eyes in affectation of sanctity.]
[Footnote 3: Luke (xi. 37, and following) supposes, not without
reason, that this verse was uttered during a repast, in answer to the vain
scruples of the Pharisees.]
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye are
like unto whited sepulchres,[1] which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are
within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also
outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and
iniquity.
[Footnote 1: The tombs being impure, it was customary to whiten
them with lime, to warn persons not to approach them. See p. 315, note 3, and
Mishnah, Maasar hensi, v. 1; Talm. of Jerus., Shekalim, i. 1;
Maasar sheni, v. 1; Moëd katon, i. 2; Sota, ix. 1; Talm. of
Bab., Moëd katon, 5 a. Perhaps there is an allusion to the "dyed
Pharisees" in this comparison which Jesus uses.]
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye
build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
and say, 'If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' Wherefore, ye be witnesses
unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 'Therefore, also,' said the Wisdom
of God,[1] 'I will send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some
of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your
synagogues, and persecute them from city to city. That upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the
blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias,[2] whom ye slew between the temple and the
altar.' Verily, I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this
generation."[3]
[Footnote 1: We are ignorant from what book this quotation is
taken.]
[Footnote 2: There is a slight confusion here, which is also
found in the Targum of Jonathan (Lament. ii. 20), between Zacharias, son
of Jehoiadas, and Zacharias, son of Barachias, the prophet. It is the former
that is spoken of (2 Paral. xxiv. 21.) The book of the Paralipomenes, in
which the assassination of Zacharias, son of Jehoiadas, is related, closes the
Hebrew canon. This murder is the last in the list of murders of righteous men,
drawn up according to the order in which they are presented in the Bible. That
of Abel is, on the contrary, the first.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxiii. 2-36; Mark xii. 38-40; Luke xi. 39-52,
xx. 46, 47.]
His terrible doctrine of the substitution of the Gentiles—the
idea that the kingdom of God was about to be transferred to others, because
those for whom it was destined would not receive it,[1] is used as a fearful
menace against the aristocracy. The title "Son of God," which he openly assumed
in striking parables,[2] wherein his enemies appeared as murderers of the
heavenly messengers, was an open defiance to the Judaism of the Law. The bold
appeal he addressed to the poor was still more seditious. He declared that he
had "come that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be
made blind."[3] One day, his dislike of the temple forced from him an imprudent
speech: "I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three
days I will build another made without hands."[4] His disciples found strained
allegories in this sentence; but we do not know what meaning Jesus attached to
it. But as only a pretext was wanted, this sentence was quickly laid hold of. It
reappeared in the preamble of his death-warrant, and rang in his ears amidst the
last agonies of Golgotha. These irritating discussions always ended in tumult.
The Pharisees threw stones at him;[5] in doing which they only fulfilled an
article of the Law, which commanded every prophet, even a thaumaturgus, who
should turn the people from the ancient worship, to be stoned without a
hearing.[6] At other times they called him mad, possessed, Samaritan,[7] and
even sought to kill him.[8] These words were taken note of in order to invoke
against him the laws of an intolerant theocracy, which the Roman government had
not yet abrogated.[9]
[Footnote 1: Matt. viii. 11, 12, xx. 1, and following, xxi. 28,
and following, 33, and following, 43, xxii. 1, and following; Mark xii. 1, and
following; Luke xx. 9, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxi. 37, and following; John x. 36, and
following.]
[Footnote 3: John ix. 39.]
[Footnote 4: The most authentic form of this sentence appears to
be in
Mark xiv. 58, xv. 29. Cf. John ii. 19; Matt. xxvi. 61, xxvii. 40.]
[Footnote 5: John viii. 39, x. 31, xi. 8.]
[Footnote 6: Deuter. xiii. 1, and following. Comp. Luke
xx. 6; John x. 33; 2 Cor. xi. 25.]
[Footnote 7: John x. 20.]
[Footnote 8: John v. 18, vii. 1, 20, 25, 30, viii. 37, 40.]
[Footnote 9: Luke xi. 53, 54.]
CHAPTER XXII.
MACHINATIONS OF THE ENEMIES OF JESUS.
Jesus passed the autumn and a part of
the winter at Jerusalem. This season is there rather cold. The portico of
Solomon, with its covered aisles, was the place where he habitually walked.[1]
This portico consisted of two galleries, formed by three rows of columns, and
covered by a ceiling of carved wood.[2] It commanded the valley of Kedron, which
was doubtless less covered with débris than it is at the present time. The depth
of the ravine could not be measured, from the height of the portico; and it
seemed, in consequence of the angle of the slopes, as if an abyss opened
immediately beneath the wall.[3] The other side of the valley even at that time
was adorned with sumptuous tombs. Some of the monuments, which may be seen at
the present day, were perhaps those cenotaphs in honor of ancient prophets[4]
which Jesus pointed out, when, seated under the portico, he denounced the
official classes, who covered their hypocrisy or their vanity by these colossal
piles.[5]
[Footnote 1: John x. 23.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., B.J., V. v. 2. Comp. Ant., XV.
xi. 5, XX. ix. 7.]
[Footnote 3: Jos., places cited.]
[Footnote 4: See ante, p. 316. I am led to suppose that the
tombs called those of Zachariah and of Absalom were monuments of this kind. Cf.
Itin. a Burdig. Hierus., p. 153 (edit. Schott.)]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xxiii. 29; Luke xi. 47.]
At the end of the month of December, he celebrated at Jerusalem
the feast established by Judas Maccabeus in memory of the purification of the
temple after the sacrileges of Antiochus Epiphanes.[1] It was also called the
"Feast of Lights," because, during the eight days of the feast, lamps were kept
lighted in the houses.[2] Jesus undertook soon after a journey into Perea and to
the banks of the Jordan—that is to say, into the very country he had visited
some years previously, when he followed the school of John,[3] and in which he
had himself administered baptism. He seems to have reaped consolation from this
journey, especially at Jericho. This city, as the terminus of several important
routes, or, it may be, on account of its gardens of spices and its rich
cultivation,[4] was a customs station of importance. The chief receiver,
Zaccheus, a rich man, desired to see Jesus.[5] As he was of small stature, he
climbed a sycamore tree near the road which the procession had to pass. Jesus
was touched with this simplicity in a person of consideration, and at the risk
of giving offense, he determined to stay with Zaccheus. There was much
dissatisfaction at his honoring the house of a sinner by this visit. In parting,
Jesus declared his host to be a good son of Abraham; and, as if to add to the
vexation of the orthodox, Zaccheus became a Christian; he gave, it is said, the
half of his goods to the poor, and restored fourfold to those whom he might have
wronged. But this was not the only pleasure which Jesus experienced there. On
leaving the town, the beggar Bartimeus[6] pleased him much by persisting in
calling him "son of David," although he was told to be silent. The cycle of
Galilean miracles appeared for a time to recommence in this country, which was
in many respects similar to the provinces of the north. The delightful oasis of
Jericho, at that time well watered, must have been one of the most beautiful
places in Syria. Josephus speaks of it with the same admiration as of Galilee,
and calls it, like the latter province, a "divine country."[7]
[Footnote 1: John x. 22. Comp. 1 Macc. iv. 52, and following; 2
Macc. x. 6, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XII. vii. 7.]
[Footnote 3: John x. 40. Cf. Matt. xix. 1; Mark x. 1. This
journey is known to the synoptics. But they seem to think that Jesus made it by
coming from Galilee to Jerusalem through Perea.]
[Footnote 4: Eccles. xxiv. 18; Strabo, XVI. ii. 41;
Justin., xxxvi. 3; Jos., Ant., IV. vi. 1, XIV. iv. 1, XV. iv. 2.]
[Footnote 5: Luke xix. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xx. 29; Mark x. 46, and following; Luke
xviii. 35.]
[Footnote 7: B.J., IV. viii. 3. Comp. ibid., I.
vi. 6, I. xviii. 5, and Antiq., XV. iv. 2.]
After Jesus had completed this kind of pilgrimage to the scenes
of his earliest prophetic activity, he returned to his beloved abode in Bethany,
where a singular event occurred, which seems to have had a powerful influence on
the remaining days of his life.[1] Tired of the cold reception which the kingdom
of God found in the capital, the friends of Jesus wished for a great miracle
which should strike powerfully the incredulity of the Hierosolymites. The
resurrection of a man known at Jerusalem appeared to them most likely to carry
conviction. We must bear in mind that the essential condition of true criticism
is to understand the diversity of times, and to rid ourselves of the instinctive
repugnances which are the fruit of a purely rational education. We must also
remember that in this dull and impure city of Jerusalem, Jesus was no longer
himself. Not by any fault of his own, but by that of others, his conscience had
lost something of its original purity. Desperate, and driven to extremity, he
was no longer his own master. His mission overwhelmed him, and he yielded to the
torrent. As always happens in the lives of great and inspired men, he suffered
the miracles opinion demanded of him rather than performed them. At this
distance of time, and with only a single text, bearing evident traces of
artifices of composition, it is impossible to decide whether in this instance
the whole is fiction, or whether a real fact which happened at Bethany has
served as a basis to the rumors which were spread about it. It must be
acknowledged, however, that the way John narrates the incident differs widely
from those descriptions of miracles, the offspring of the popular imagination,
which fill the synoptics. Let us add, that John is the only evangelist who has a
precise knowledge of the relations of Jesus with the family of Bethany, and that
it is impossible to believe that a mere creation of the popular mind could exist
in a collection of remembrances so entirely personal. It is, then, probable that
the miracle in question was not one of those purely legendary ones for which no
one is responsible. In other words, we think that something really happened at
Bethany which was looked upon as a resurrection.
[Footnote 1: John xi. 1, and following.]
Fame already attributed to Jesus two or three works of this
kind.[1] The family of Bethany might be led, almost without suspecting it, into
taking part in the important act which was desired. Jesus was adored by them. It
seems that Lazarus was sick, and that in consequence of receiving a message from
the anxious sisters Jesus left Perea.[2] They thought that the joy Lazarus would
feel at his arrival might restore him to life. Perhaps, also, the ardent desire
of silencing those who violently denied the divine mission of Jesus, carried his
enthusiastic friends beyond all bounds. It may be that Lazarus, still pallid
with disease, caused himself to be wrapped in bandages as if dead, and shut up
in the tomb of his family. These tombs were large vaults cut in the rock, and
were entered by a square opening, closed by an enormous stone. Martha and Mary
went to meet Jesus, and without allowing him to enter Bethany, conducted him to
the cave. The emotion which Jesus experienced at the tomb of his friend, whom he
believed to be dead,[3] might be taken by those present for the agitation and
trembling[4] which accompanied miracles. Popular opinion required that the
divine virtue should manifest itself in man as an epileptic and convulsive
principle. Jesus (if we follow the above hypothesis) desired to see once more
him whom he had loved; and, the stone being removed, Lazarus came forth in his
bandages, his head covered with a winding-sheet. This reappearance would
naturally be regarded by every one as a resurrection. Faith knows no other law
than the interest of that which it believes to be true. Regarding the object
which it pursues as absolutely holy, it makes no scruple of invoking bad
arguments in support of its thesis when good ones do not succeed. If such and
such a proof be not sound many others are! If such and such a wonder be not
real, many others have been! Being intimately persuaded that Jesus was a
thaumaturgus, Lazarus and his two sisters may have aided in the execution of one
of his miracles, just as many pious men who, convinced of the truth of their
religion, have sought to triumph over the obstinacy of their opponents by means
of whose weakness they were well aware. The state of their conscience was that
of the stigmatists, of the convulsionists, of the possessed ones in convents,
drawn, by the influence of the world in which they live, and by their own
belief, into feigned acts. As to Jesus, he was no more able than St. Bernard or
St. Francis d'Assisi to moderate the avidity for the marvellous, displayed by
the multitude, and even by his own disciples. Death, moreover, in a few days
would restore him his divine liberty, and release him from the fatal necessities
of a position which each day became more exacting, and more difficult to
sustain.
[Footnote 1: Matt. ix. 18, and following; Mark v. 22, and
following;
Luke vii. 11, and following, viii. 41, and following.]
[Footnote 2: John xi. 3, and following.]
[Footnote 3: John xi. 35, and following.]
[Footnote 4: John xi. 33, 38.]
Everything, in fact, seems to lead us to believe that the
miracle of Bethany contributed sensibly to hasten the death of Jesus.[1] The
persons who had been witnesses of it, were dispersed throughout the city, and
spoke much about it. The disciples related the fact, with details as to its
performance, prepared in expectation of controversy. The other miracles of Jesus
were transitory acts, spontaneously accepted by faith, exaggerated by popular
fame, and were not again referred to after they had once taken place. This was a
real event, held to be publicly notorious, and one by which it was hoped to
silence the Pharisees.[2] The enemies of Jesus were much irritated at all this
fame. They endeavored, it is said, to kill Lazarus.[3] It is certain, that from
that time a Council of the chief priests[4] was assembled, and that in this
council the question was clearly put: "Can Jesus and Judaism exist together?" To
raise the question was to resolve it; and without being a prophet, as thought by
the evangelist, the high priest could easily pronounce his cruel axiom: "It is
expedient that one man should die for the people."
[Footnote 1: John xi. 40, and following, xii. 2, 9, and
following, 17, and following.]
[Footnote 2: John xii. 9, 10, 17, 18.]
[Footnote 3: John xii. 10.]
[Footnote 4: John xi. 47, and following.]
"The high priest of that same year," to use an expression of the
fourth Gospel, which well expresses the state of abasement to which the
sovereign pontificate was reduced, was Joseph Kaïapha, appointed by Valerius
Gratus, and entirely devoted to the Romans. From the time that Jerusalem had
been under the government of procurators, the office of high priest had been a
temporary one; changes in it took place nearly every year.[1] Kaïapha, however,
held it longer than any one else. He had assumed his office in the year 25, and
he did not lose it till the year 36. His character is unknown to us, and many
circumstances lead to the belief that his power was only nominal. In fact,
another personage is always seen in conjunction with, and even superior to him,
who, at the decisive moment we have now reached, seems to have exercised a
preponderating power.
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., XV. iii. 1, XVIII. ii. 2, v. 3,
XX. ix. 1, 4.]
This personage was Hanan or Annas,[1] son of Seth, and
father-in-law of Kaïapha. He was formerly the high priest, and had in reality
preserved amidst the numerous changes of the pontificate all the authority of
the office. He had received the high priesthood from the legate Quirinius, in
the year 7 of our era. He lost his office in the year 14, on the accession of
Tiberius; but he remained much respected. He was still called "high priest,"
although he was out of office,[2] and he was consulted upon all important
matters. During fifty years the pontificate continued in his family almost
uninterruptedly; five of his sons successively sustained this dignity,[3]
besides Kaïapha, who was his son-in-law. His was called the "priestly family,"
as if the priesthood had become hereditary in it.[4] The chief offices of the
temple were almost all filled by them.[5] Another family, that of Boëthus,
alternated, it is true, with that of Hanan's in the pontificate.[6] But the
Boëthusim, whose fortunes were of not very honorable origin, were much less
esteemed by the pious middle class. Hanan was then in reality the chief of the
priestly party. Kaïapha did nothing without him; it was customary to associate
their names, and that of Hanan was always put first.[7] It will be understood,
in fact, that under this régime of an annual pontificate, changed
according to the caprice of the procurators, an old high priest, who had
preserved the secret of the traditions, who had seen many younger than himself
succeed each other, and who had retained sufficient influence to get the office
delegated to persons who were subordinate to him in family rank, must have been
a very important personage. Like all the aristocracy of the temple,[8] he was a
Sadducee, "a sect," says Josephus, "particularly severe in its judgments." All
his sons also were violent persecutors.[9] One of them, named like his father,
Hanan, caused James, the brother of the Lord, to be stoned, under circumstances
not unlike those which surrounded the death of Jesus. The spirit of the family
was haughty, bold, and cruel;[10] it had that particular kind of proud and
sullen wickedness which characterizes Jewish politicians. Therefore, upon this
Hanan and his family must rest the responsibility of all the acts which
followed. It was Hanan (or the party he represented) who killed Jesus. Hanan was
the principal actor in the terrible drama, and far more than Kaïapha, far more
than Pilate, ought to bear the weight of the maledictions of mankind.
[Footnote 1: The Ananus of Josephus. It is thus that the
Hebrew name Johanan became in Greek Joannes or Joannas.]
[Footnote 2: John xviii. 15-23; Acts iv. 6.]
[Footnote 3: Jos., Ant., XX. ix. 1.]
[Footnote 4: Jos., Ant., XV. iii. 1; B.J., IV. v.
6 and 7; Acts iv. 6.]
[Footnote 5: Jos., Ant., XX. ix. 3.]
[Footnote 6: Jos., Ant., XV. ix. 3, XIX. vi. 2, viii. 1.]
[Footnote 7: Luke iii. 2.]
[Footnote 8: Acts v. 17.]
[Footnote 9: Jos., Ant., XX. ix. 1.]
[Footnote 10: Jos., Ant., XX. ix. 1.]
It is in the mouth of Kaïapha that the evangelist places the
decisive words which led to the death of Jesus.[1] It was supposed that the high
priest possessed a certain gift of prophecy; his declaration thus became an
oracle full of profound meaning to the Christian community. But such an
expression, whoever he might be that pronounced it, was the feeling of the whole
sacerdotal party. This party was much opposed to popular seditions. It sought to
put down religious enthusiasts, rightly foreseeing that by their excited
preachings they would lead to the total ruin of the nation. Although the
excitement created by Jesus was in nowise temporal, the priests saw, as an
ultimate consequence of this agitation, an aggravation of the Roman yoke and the
overturning of the temple, the source of their riches and honors.[2] Certainly
the causes which, thirty-seven years after, were to effect the ruin of
Jerusalem, did not arise from infant Christianity. They arose in Jerusalem
itself, and not in Galilee. We cannot, however, say that the motive alleged in
this circumstance by the priests was so improbable that we must necessarily
regard it as insincere. In a general, sense, Jesus, if he had succeeded, would
have really effected the ruin of the Jewish nation. According to the principles
universally admitted by all ancient polity, Hanan and Kaïapha were right in
saying: "Better the death of one man than the ruin of a people!" In our opinion
this reasoning is detestable. But it has been that of conservative parties from
the commencement of all human society. The "party of order" (I use this
expression in its mean and narrow sense) has ever been the same. Deeming the
highest duty of government to be the prevention of popular disturbances, it
believes it performs an act of patriotism in preventing, by judicial murder, the
tumultuous effusion of blood. Little thoughtful of the future, it does not dream
that in declaring war against all innovations, it incurs the risk of crushing
ideas destined one day to triumph. The death of Jesus was one of the thousand
illustrations of this policy. The movement he directed was entirely spiritual,
but it was still a movement; hence the men of order, persuaded that it was
essential for humanity not to be disturbed, felt themselves bound to prevent the
new spirit from extending itself. Never was seen a more striking example of how
much such a course of procedure defeats its own object. Left free, Jesus would
have exhausted himself in a desperate struggle with the impossible. The
unintelligent hate of his enemies decided the success of his work, and sealed
his divinity.
[Footnote 1: John xi. 49, 50. Cf. ibid., xviii. 14.]
[Footnote 2: John xi. 48.]
The death of Jesus was thus resolved upon from the month of
February or the beginning of March.[1] But he still escaped for a short time. He
withdrew to an obscure town called Ephraim or Ephron, in the direction of
Bethel, a short day's journey from Jerusalem.[2] He spent a few days there with
his disciples, letting the storm pass over. But the order to arrest him the
moment he appeared at Jerusalem was given. The feast of the Passover was drawing
nigh, and it was thought that Jesus, according to his custom, would come to
celebrate it at Jerusalem.[3]
[Footnote 1: John xi. 53.]
[Footnote 2: John xi. 54. Cf. 2 Chron. xiii. 19; Jos.,
B.J., IV. ix. 9; Eusebius and St. Jerome, De situ et nom. loc. hebr.,
at the words [Greek: Ephrôn] and [Greek: Ephraim].]
[Footnote 3: John xi. 55, 56. For the order of the events, in
all this part we follow the system of John. The synoptics appear to have little
information as to the period of the life of Jesus which precedes the Passion.]
CHAPTER XXIII.
LAST WEEK OF JESUS.
Jesus did in fact set out with his
disciples to see once more, and for the last time, the unbelieving city. The
hopes of his companions were more and more exalted. All believed, in going up to
Jerusalem, that the kingdom of God was about to be realized there.[1] The
impiety of men being at its height, was regarded as a great sign that the
consummation was at hand. The persuasion in this respect was such, that they
already disputed for precedence in the kingdom.[2] This was, it is said, the
moment chosen by Salome to ask, on behalf of her sons, the two seats on the
right and left of the Son of man.[3] The Master, on the other hand, was beset by
grave thoughts. Sometimes he allowed a gloomy resentment against his enemies to
appear; he related the parable of a nobleman, who went to take possession of a
kingdom in a far country; but no sooner had he gone than his fellow-citizens
wished to get rid of him. The king returned, and commanded those who had
conspired against him to be brought before him, and had them all put to
death.[4] At other times he summarily destroyed the illusions of the disciples.
As they marched along the stony roads to the north of Jerusalem, Jesus pensively
preceded the group of his companions. All regarded him in silence, experiencing
a feeling of fear, and not daring to interrogate him. Already, on various
occasions, he had spoken to them of his future sufferings, and they had listened
to him reluctantly.[5] Jesus at last spoke to them, and no longer concealing his
presentiments, discoursed to them of his approaching end.[6] There was great
sadness in the whole company. The disciples were expecting soon to see the sign
appear in the clouds. The inaugural cry of the kingdom of God: "Blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord,"[7] resounded already in joyous accents in
their ears. The fearful prospect he foreshadowed, troubled them. At each step of
the fatal road, the kingdom of God became nearer or more remote in the mirage of
their dreams. As to Jesus, he became confirmed in the idea that he was about to
die, but that his death would save the world.[8] The misunderstanding between
him and his disciples became greater each moment.
[Footnote 1: Luke xix. 11.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xxii. 24, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xx. 20, and following; Mark x. 35, and
following.]
[Footnote 4: Luke xix. 12-27.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xvi. 21, and following; Mark viii. 31, and
following.]
[Footnote 6: Matt. xx. 17, and following; Mark x. 31, and
following;
Luke xviii. 31, and following.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. xxiii. 39; Luke xiii. 35.]
[Footnote 8: Matt. xx. 28.]
The custom was to come to Jerusalem several days before the
Passover, in order to prepare for it. Jesus arrived late, and at one time his
enemies thought they were frustrated in their hope of seizing him.[1] The sixth
day before the feast (Saturday, 8th of Nisan, equal to the 28th March[2]) he at
last reached Bethany. He entered, according to his custom, the house of Lazarus,
Martha and Mary, or of Simon the leper. They gave him a great reception. There
was a dinner at Simon the leper's,[3] where many persons were assembled, drawn
thither by the desire of seeing him, and also of seeing Lazarus, of whom for
some time so many things had been related. Lazarus was seated at the table, and
attracted much attention. Martha served, according to her custom.[4] It seems
that they sought, by an increased show of respect, to overcome the coolness of
the public, and to assert the high dignity of their guest. Mary, in order to
give to the event a more festive appearance, entered during dinner, bearing a
vase of perfume which she poured upon the feet of Jesus. She afterward broke the
vase, according to an ancient custom by which the vessel that had been employed
in the entertainment of a stranger of distinction was broken.[5] Then, to
testify her worship in an extraordinary manner, she prostrated herself at the
feet of her Master and wiped them with her long hair.[6] All the house was
filled with the odor of the perfume, to the great delight of every one except
the avaricious Judas of Kerioth. Considering the economical habits of the
community, this was certainly prodigality. The greedy treasurer calculated
immediately how much the perfume might have been sold for, and what it would
have realized for the poor. This not very affectionate feeling, which seemed to
place something above Jesus, dissatisfied him. He liked to be honored, for
honors served his aim and established his title of Son of David. Therefore, when
they spoke to him of the poor, he replied rather sharply: "Ye have the poor
always with you; but me ye have not always." And, exalting himself, he promised
immortality to the woman who in this critical moment gave him a token of
love.[7]
[Footnote 1: John xi. 56.]
[Footnote 2: The Passover was celebrated on the 14th of Nisan.
Now in the year 33, the 1st of Nisan corresponded with Saturday, 21st of March.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvi. 6; Mark xiv. 3. Cf. Luke vii. 40, 43,
44.]
[Footnote 4: It is customary, in the East, for a person who is
attached to any one by a tie of affection or of domesticity, to attend upon him
when he goes to eat at the house of another.]
[Footnote 5: I have seen this custom still practised at Sour
(Zoar.)]
[Footnote 6: We must remember that the feet of the guests were
not, as amongst us, concealed under the table, but extended on a level with the
body on the divan, or triclinium.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. xxvi. 6, and following; Mark xiv. 3, and
following; John xi. 2, xii. 2, and following. Compare Luke vii. 36, and
following.]
The next day (Sunday, 9th of Nisan), Jesus descended from
Bethany to Jerusalem.[1] When, at a bend of the road, upon the summit of the
Mount of Olives, he saw the city spread before him, it is said he wept over it,
and addressed to it a last appeal.[2] At the base of the mountain, at some steps
from the gate, on entering the neighboring portion of the eastern wall of the
city, which was called Bethphage, no doubt on account of the fig-trees
with which it was planted,[3] he had experienced a momentary pleasure.[4] His
arrival was noised abroad. The Galileans who had come to the feast were highly
elated, and prepared a little triumph for him. An ass was brought to him,
followed, according to custom, by its colt. The Galileans spread their finest
garments upon the back of this humble animal as saddle-cloths, and seated him
thereon. Others, however, spread their garments upon the road, and strewed it
with green branches. The multitude which preceded and followed him, carrying
palms, cried: "Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord!" Some persons even gave him the title of king of Israel.[5]
"Master, rebuke thy disciples," said the Pharisees to him. "If these should hold
their peace, the stones would immediately cry out," replied Jesus, and he
entered into the city. The Hierosolymites, who scarcely knew him, asked who he
was. "It is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, in Galilee," was the reply.
Jerusalem was a city of about 50,000 souls.[6] A trifling event, such as the
entrance of a stranger, however little celebrated, or the arrival of a band of
provincials, or a movement of people to the avenues of the city, could not fail,
under ordinary circumstances, to be quickly noised about. But at the time of the
feast, the confusion was extreme.[7] Jerusalem at these times was taken
possession of by strangers. It was amongst the latter that the excitement
appears to have been most lively. Some proselytes, speaking Greek, who had come
to the feast, had their curiosity piqued, and wished to see Jesus. They
addressed themselves to his disciples;[8] but we do not know the result of the
interview. Jesus, according to his custom, went to pass the night at his beloved
village of Bethany.[9] The three following days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday)
he descended regularly to Jerusalem; and, after the setting of the sun, he
returned either to Bethany, or to the farms on the western side of the Mount of
Olives, where he had many friends.[10]
[Footnote 1: John xii. 12.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xix. 41, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Mishnah, Menachoth, xi. 2; Talm. of Bab.,
Sanhedrim, 14 b; Pesachim, 63 b, 91 a; Sota,
45 a; Baba metsia, 85 a. It follows from these passages
that Bethphage was a kind of pomærium, which extended to the foot of the
eastern basement of the temple, and which had itself its wall of inclosure. The
passages Matt. xxi. 1, Mark xi. 1, Luke xix. 29, do not plainly imply that
Bethphage was a village, as Eusebius and St. Jerome have supposed.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxi. 1, and following; Mark xi. 1, and
following;
Luke xix. 29, and following; John xii. 12, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Luke xix. 38; John xii. 13.]
[Footnote 6: The number of 120,000, given by Hecatæus (in
Josephus, Contra Apion, I. xxii.), appears exaggerated. Cicero speaks of
Jerusalem as of a paltry little town (Ad Atticum, II. ix.) The ancient
boundaries, whichever calculation we adopt, do not allow of a population
quadruple of that of the present time, which does not reach 15,000. See
Robinson, Bibl. Res., i. 421, 422 (2d edition); Fergusson, Topogr. of
Jerus., p. 51; Forster, Syria and Palestine, p. 82.]
[Footnote 7: Jos., B.J., II. xiv. 3, VI. ix. 3.]
[Footnote 8: John xii. 20, and following.]
[Footnote 9: Matt. xxi. 17; Mark xi. 11.]
[Footnote 10: Matt. xxi. 17, 18; Mark xi. 11, 12, 19; Luke xxi.
37, 38.]
A deep melancholy appears, during these last days, to have
filled the soul of Jesus, who was generally so joyous and serene. All the
narratives agree in relating that, before his arrest, he underwent a short
experience of doubt and trouble; a kind of anticipated agony. According to some,
he suddenly exclaimed, "Now is my soul troubled. O Father, save me from this
hour."[1] It was believed that a voice from heaven was heard at this moment:
others said that an angel came to console him.[2] According to one widely spread
version, the incident took place in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus, it was
said, went about a stone's throw from his sleeping disciples, taking with him
only Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and fell on his face and prayed. His
soul was sad even unto death; a terrible anguish weighed upon him; but
resignation to the divine will sustained him.[3] This scene, owing to the
instinctive art which regulated the compilation of the synoptics, and often led
them in the arrangement of the narrative to study adaptability and effect, has
been given as occurring on the last night of the life of Jesus, and at the
precise moment of his arrest. If this version were the true one, we should
scarcely understand why John, who had been the intimate witness of so touching
an episode, should not mention it in the very circumstantial narrative which he
has furnished of the evening of the Thursday.[4] All that we can safely say is,
that, during his last days, the enormous weight of the mission he had accepted
pressed cruelly upon Jesus. Human nature asserted itself for a time. Perhaps he
began to hesitate about his work. Terror and doubt took possession of him, and
threw him into a state of exhaustion worse than death. He who has sacrificed his
repose, and the legitimate rewards of life, to a great idea, always experiences
a feeling of revulsion when the image of death presents itself to him for the
first time, and seeks to persuade him that all has been in vain. Perhaps some of
those touching reminiscences which the strongest souls preserve, and which at
times pierce like a sword, came upon him at this moment. Did he remember the
clear fountains of Galilee where he was wont to refresh himself; the vine and
the fig-tree under which he had reposed, and the young maidens who, perhaps,
would have consented to love him? Did he curse the hard destiny which had denied
him the joys conceded to all others? Did he regret his too lofty nature, and,
victim of his greatness, did he mourn that he had not remained a simple artisan
of Nazareth? We know not. For all these internal troubles evidently were a
sealed letter to his disciples. They understood nothing of them, and supplied by
simple conjectures that which in the great soul of their Master was obscure to
them. It is certain, at least, that his divine nature soon regained the
supremacy. He might still have avoided death; but he would not. Love for his
work sustained him. He was willing to drink the cup to the dregs. Henceforth we
behold Jesus entirely himself; his character unclouded. The subtleties of the
polemic, the credulity of the thaumaturgus and of the exorcist, are forgotten.
There remains only the incomparable hero of the Passion, the founder of the
rights of free conscience, and the complete model which all suffering souls will
contemplate in order to fortify and console themselves.
[Footnote 1: John xii. 27, and following. We can easily imagine
that the exalted tone of John, and his exclusive preoccupation with the divine
character of Jesus, may have effaced from the narrative the circumstances of
natural weakness related by the synoptics.]
[Footnote 2: Luke xxii. 43; John xii. 28, 29.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvi. 36, and following; Mark xiv. 32, and
following; Luke xxii. 39, and following.]
[Footnote 4: This is the less to be understood, as John is
affectedly particular in noticing the circumstances which were personal to him,
or of which he had been the only witness (xiii. 23, and following, xviii. 15,
and following, xix. 26, and following, 35, xx. 2, and following, xxi. 20, and
following.)]
The triumph of Bethphage—that bold act of the provincials in
celebrating at the very gates of Jerusalem the advent of their
Messiah-King—completed the exasperation of the Pharisees and the aristocracy of
the temple. A new council was held on the Wednesday (12th of Nisan) in the house
of Joseph Kaïapha.[1] The immediate arrest of Jesus was resolved upon. A great
idea of order and of conservative policy governed all their plans. The desire
was to avoid a scene. As the feast of the Passover, which commenced that year on
the Friday evening, was a time of bustle and excitement, it was resolved to
anticipate it. Jesus being popular,[2] they feared an outbreak; the arrest was
therefore fixed for the next day, Thursday. It was resolved, also, not to seize
him in the temple, where he came every day,[3] but to observe his habits, in
order to seize him in some retired place. The agents of the priests sounded his
disciples, hoping to obtain useful information from their weakness or their
simplicity. They found what they sought in Judas of Kerioth. This wretch,
actuated by motives impossible to explain, betrayed his Master, gave all the
necessary information, and even undertook himself (although such an excess of
vileness is scarcely credible) to guide the troop which was to effect his
arrest. The remembrance of horror which the folly or the wickedness of this man
has left in the Christian tradition has doubtless given rise to some
exaggeration on this point. Judas, until then, had been a disciple like the
others; he had even the title of apostle; and he had performed miracles and
driven out demons. Legend, which always uses strong and decisive language,
describes the occupants of the little supper-room as eleven saints and one
reprobate. Reality does not proceed by such absolute categories. Avarice, which
the synoptics give as the motive of the crime in question, does not suffice to
explain it. It would be very singular if a man who kept the purse, and who knew
what he would lose by the death of his chief, were to abandon the profits of his
occupation[4] in exchange for a very small sum of money.[5] Had the self-love of
Judas been wounded by the rebuff which he had received at the dinner at Bethany?
Even that would not explain his conduct. John would have us regard him as a
thief, an unbeliever from the beginning,[6] for which, however, there is no
probability. We would rather ascribe it to some feeling of jealousy or to some
dissension amongst the disciples. The peculiar hatred John manifests toward
Judas[7] confirms this hypothesis. Less pure in heart than the others, Judas
had, from the very nature of his office, become unconsciously narrow-minded. By
a caprice very common to men engaged in active duties, he had come to regard the
interests of the treasury as superior even to those of the work for which it was
intended. The treasurer had overcome the apostle. The murmurings which escaped
him at Bethany seem to indicate that sometimes he thought the Master cost his
spiritual family too dear. No doubt this mean economy had caused many other
collisions in the little society.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvi. 1, 5; Mark xiv. 1, 2; Luke xxii. 1, 2.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxi. 46.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvi. 55.]
[Footnote 4: John xii. 6.]
[Footnote 5: John does not even speak of a payment in money.]
[Footnote 6: John vi. 65, xii. 6.]
[Footnote 7: John vi. 65, 71, 72, xii. 6; xiii. 2, 27, and
following.]
Without denying that Judas of Kerioth may have contributed to
the arrest of his Master, we still believe that the curses with which he is
loaded are somewhat unjust. There was, perhaps, in his deed more awkwardness
than perversity. The moral conscience of the man of the people is quick and
correct, but unstable and inconsistent. It is at the mercy of the impulse of the
moment. The secret societies of the republican party were characterized by much
earnestness and sincerity, and yet their denouncers were very numerous. A
trifling spite sufficed to convert a partisan into a traitor. But if the foolish
desire for a few pieces of silver turned the head of poor Judas, he does not
seem to have lost the moral sentiment completely, since when he had seen the
consequences of his fault he repented,[1] and, it is said, killed himself.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 3, and following.]
Each moment of this eventful period is solemn, and counts more
than whole ages in the history of humanity. We have arrived at the Thursday,
13th of Nisan (2d April). The evening of the next day commenced the festival of
the Passover, begun by the feast in which the Paschal lamb was eaten. The
festival continued for seven days, during which unleavened bread was eaten. The
first and the last of these seven days were peculiarly solemn. The disciples
were already occupied with preparations for the feast.[1] As to Jesus, we are
led to believe that he knew of the treachery of Judas, and that he suspected the
fate that awaited him. In the evening he took his last repast with his
disciples. It was not the ritual feast of the passover, as was afterward
supposed, owing to an error of a day in reckoning,[2] but for the primitive
church this supper of the Thursday was the true passover, the seal of the new
covenant. Each disciple connected with it his most cherished remembrances, and
numerous touching traits of the Master which each one preserved were associated
with this repast, which became the corner-stone of Christian piety, and the
starting-point of the most fruitful institutions.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvi. 1, and following; Mark xiv. 12; Luke
xxii. 7;
John xiii. 29.]
[Footnote 2: This is the system of the synoptics (Matt. xxvi.
17, and following; Mark xiv. 12, and following; Luke xxii. 7, and following,
15.) But John, whose narrative of this portion has a greater authority,
expressly states that Jesus died the same day on which the Paschal lamb was
eaten (xiii. 1, 2, 29, xviii. 28, xix. 14, 31.) The Talmud also makes Jesus to
die "on the eve of the Passover" (Talm. of Bab., Sanhedrim, 43 a,
67 a.)]
Doubtless the tender love which filled the heart of Jesus for
the little church which surrounded him overflowed at this moment,[1] and his
strong and serene soul became buoyant, even under the weight of the gloomy
preoccupations that beset him. He had a word for each of his friends; two among
them especially, John and Peter, were the objects of tender marks of attachment.
John (at least according to his own account) was reclining on the divan, by the
side of Jesus, his head resting upon the breast of the Master. Toward the end of
the repast, the secret which weighed upon the heart of Jesus almost escaped him:
he said, "Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me."[2] To these
simple men this was a moment of anguish; they looked at each other, and each
questioned himself. Judas was present; perhaps Jesus, who had for some time had
reasons to suspect him, sought by this expression to draw from his looks or from
his embarrassed manner the confession of his fault. But the unfaithful disciple
did not lose countenance; he even dared, it is said, to ask with the others:
"Master, is it I?"
[Footnote 1: John xiii. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvi. 21, and following; Mark xiv. 18, and
following; Luke xx. 21, and following; John xiii. 21, and following, xxi. 20.]
Meanwhile, the good and upright soul of Peter was in torture. He
made a sign to John to endeavor to ascertain of whom the Master spoke. John, who
could converse with Jesus without being heard, asked him the meaning of this
enigma. Jesus having only suspicions, did not wish to pronounce any name; he
only told John to observe to whom he was going to offer a sop. At the same time
he soaked the bread and offered it to Judas. John and Peter alone had cognizance
of the fact. Jesus addressed to Judas words which contained a bitter reproach,
but which were not understood by those present; and he left the company. They
thought that Jesus was simply giving him orders for the morrow's feast.[1]
[Footnote 1: John xiii. 21, and following, which shows the
improbabilities of the narrative of the synoptics.]
At the time, this repast struck no one; and apart from the
apprehensions which the Master confided to his disciples, who only half
understood them, nothing extraordinary took place. But after the death of Jesus,
they attached to this evening a singularly solemn meaning, and the imagination
of believers spread a coloring of sweet mysticism over it. The last hours of a
cherished friend are those we best remember. By an inevitable illusion, we
attribute to the conversations we have then had with him a meaning which death
alone gives to them; we concentrate into a few hours the memories of many years.
The greater part of the disciples saw their Master no more after the supper of
which we have just spoken. It was the farewell banquet. In this repast, as in
many others, Jesus practised his mysterious rite of the breaking of bread. As it
was early believed that the repast in question took place on the day of the
Passover, and was the Paschal feast, the idea naturally arose that the
Eucharistic institution was established at this supreme moment. Starting from
the hypothesis that Jesus knew beforehand the precise moment of his death, the
disciples were led to suppose that he reserved a number of important acts for
his last hours. As, moreover, one of the fundamental ideas of the first
Christians was that the death of Jesus had been a sacrifice, replacing all those
of the ancient Law, the "Last Supper," which was supposed to have taken place,
once for all, on the eve of the Passion, became the supreme sacrifice—the act
which constituted the new alliance—the sign of the blood shed for the salvation
of all.[1] The bread and wine, placed in connection with death itself, were thus
the image of the new testament that Jesus had sealed with his sufferings—the
commemoration of the sacrifice of Christ until his advent.[2]
[Footnote 1: Luke xxii. 20.]
[Footnote 2: 1 Cor. xi. 26.]
Very early this mystery was embodied in a small sacramental
narrative, which we possess under four forms,[1] very similar to one another.
John, preoccupied with the Eucharistic ideas,[2] and who relates the Last Supper
with so much prolixity, connecting with it so many circumstances and
discourses[3]—and who was the only one of the evangelists whose testimony on
this point has the value of an eye-witness—does not mention this narrative. This
is a proof that he did not regard the Eucharist as a peculiarity of the Lord's
Supper. For him the special rite of the Last Supper was the washing of feet. It
is probable that in certain primitive Christian families this latter rite
obtained an importance which it has since lost.[4] No doubt, Jesus, on some
occasions, had practised it to give his disciples an example of brotherly
humility. It was connected with the eve of his death, in consequence of the
tendency to group around the Last Supper all the great moral and ritual
recommendations of Jesus.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvi. 26-28; Mark xiv. 22-24; Luke xxii.
19-21; 1 Cor. xi. 23-25.]
[Footnote 2: Chap. vi.]
[Footnote 3: Chaps. xiii.-xvii.]
[Footnote 4: John xiii. 14, 15. Cf. Matt. xx. 26, and following;
Luke xxii. 26, and following.]
A high sentiment of love, of concord, of charity, and of mutual
deference, animated, moreover, the remembrances which were cherished of the last
hours of Jesus.[1] It is always the unity of his Church, constituted by him or
by his Spirit, which is the soul of the symbols and of the discourses which
Christian tradition referred to this sacred moment: "A new commandment I give
unto you," said he, "that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also
love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye
have love one to another. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant
knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things
that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. These things I
command you, that ye love one another."[2] At this last moment there were again
evoked rivalries and struggles for precedence.[3] Jesus remarked, that if he,
the Master, had been in the midst of his disciples as their servant, how much
more ought they to submit themselves to one another. According to some, in
drinking the wine, he said, "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the
vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."[4]
According to others, he promised them soon a celestial feast, where they would
be seated on thrones at his side.[5]
[Footnote 1: John xiii. 1, and following. The discourses placed
by John after the narrative of the Last Supper cannot be taken as historical.
They are full of peculiarities and of expressions which are not in the style of
the discourses of Jesus; and which, on the contrary, are very similar to the
habitual language of John. Thus the expression "little children" in the vocative
(John xiii. 33) is very frequent in the First Epistle of John. It does not
appear to have been familiar to Jesus.]
[Footnote 2: John xiii. 33-35, xv. 12-17.]
[Footnote 3: Luke xxii. 24-27. Cf. John xiii. 4, and following.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvi. 29; Mark xiv. 25; Luke xxii. 18.]
[Footnote 5: Luke xxii. 29, 30.]
It seems that, toward the end of the evening, the presentiments
of Jesus took hold of the disciples. All felt that a very serious danger
threatened the Master, and that they were approaching a crisis. At one time
Jesus thought of precautions, and spoke of swords. There were two in the
company. "It is enough," said he.[1] He did not, however, follow out this idea;
he saw clearly that timid provincials would not stand before the armed force of
the great powers of Jerusalem. Peter, full of zeal, and feeling sure of himself,
swore that he would go with him to prison and to death. Jesus, with his usual
acuteness, expressed doubts about him. According to a tradition, which probably
came from Peter himself, Jesus declared that Peter would deny him before the
crowing of the cock. All, like Peter, swore that they would remain faithful to
him.[2]
[Footnote 1: Luke xxii. 36-38.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvi. 31, and following; Mark xiv. 29, and
following; Luke xxii. 33, and following; John xiii. 36, and following.]
CHAPTER XXIV.
ARREST AND TRIAL OF JESUS.
It was nightfall[1] when they left the
room.[2] Jesus, according to his custom, passed through the valley of Kedron;
and, accompanied by his disciples, went to the garden of Gethsemane, at the foot
of the Mount of Olives,[3] and sat down there. Overawing his friends by his
inherent greatness, he watched and prayed. They were sleeping near him, when all
at once an armed troop appeared bearing lighted torches. It was the guards of
the temple, armed with staves, a kind of police under the control of the
priests. They were supported by a detachment of Roman soldiers with their
swords. The order for the arrest emanated from the high priest and the
Sanhedrim.[4] Judas, knowing the habits of Jesus, had indicated this place as
the one where he might most easily be surprised. Judas, according to the
unanimous tradition of the earliest times, accompanied the detachment
himself;[5] and according to some,[6] he carried his hateful conduct even to
betraying him by a kiss. However this may be, it is certain that there was some
show of resistance on the part of the disciples.[7] One of them (Peter,
according to eye-witnesses[8]) drew his sword, and wounded the ear of one of the
servants of the high priest, named Malchus. Jesus restrained this opposition,
and gave himself up to the soldiers. Weak and incapable of effectual resistance,
especially against authorities who had so much prestige, the disciples took
flight, and became dispersed; Peter and John alone did not lose sight of their
Master. Another unknown young man followed him, covered with a light garment.
They sought to arrest him, but the young man fled, leaving his tunic in the
hands of the guards.[9]
[Footnote 1: John xiii. 30.]
[Footnote 2: The singing of a religious hymn, related by Matt.
xxvi. 30, and Mark xiv. 26, proceeds from the opinion entertained by these two
evangelists that the last repast of Jesus was the Paschal feast. Before and
after the Paschal feast, psalms were sung. Talm. of Bab., Pesachim, cap.
ix. hal. 3, and fol. 118 a, etc.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvi. 36; Mark xiv. 32; Luke xxii. 39; John
xviii. 1, 2.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvi. 47; Mark xiv. 43; John xviii. 3, 12.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xxvi. 47; Mark xiv. 43; Luke xxii. 47; John
xviii. 3; Acts i. 16.]
[Footnote 6: This is the tradition of the synoptics. In the
narrative of John, Jesus declares himself.]
[Footnote 7: The two traditions are agreed on this point.]
[Footnote 8: John xviii. 10.]
[Footnote 9: Mark xiv. 51, 52.]
The course which the priests had resolved to take against Jesus
was quite in conformity with the established law. The procedure against the
"corrupter" (mésith), who sought to injure the purity of religion, is
explained in the Talmud, with details, the naïve impudence of which provokes a
smile. A judicial ambush is there made an essential part of the examination of
criminals. When a man was accused of being a "corrupter," two witnesses were
suborned who were concealed behind a partition. It was arranged to bring the
accused into a contiguous room, where he could be heard by these two without his
perceiving them. Two candles were lighted near him, in order that it might be
satisfactorily proved that the witnesses "saw him."[1] He was then made to
repeat his blasphemy, and urged to retract it. If he persisted, the witnesses
who had heard him conducted him to the tribunal, and he was stoned to death. The
Talmud adds, that this was the manner in which they treated Jesus; that he was
condemned on the faith of two witnesses who had been suborned, and that the
crime of "corruption" is, moreover, the only one for which the witnesses are
thus prepared.[2]
[Footnote 1: In criminal matters, eye-witnesses alone were
admitted.
Mishnah, Sanhedrim, iv. 5.]
[Footnote 2: Talm. of Jerus., Sanhedrim, xiv. 16; Talm.
of Bab., same treatise, 43 a, 67 a. Cf. Shabbath, 104 b.]
We learn from the disciples of Jesus themselves that the crime
with which their Master was charged was that of "corruption;"[1] and apart from
some minutiæ, the fruit of the rabbinical imagination, the narrative of the
Gospels corresponds exactly with the procedure described by the Talmud. The plan
of the enemies of Jesus was to convict him, by the testimony of witnesses and by
his own avowals, of blasphemy, and of outrage against the Mosaic religion, to
condemn him to death according to law, and then to get the condemnation
sanctioned by Pilate. The priestly authority, as we have already seen, was in
reality entirely in the hands of Hanan. The order for the arrest probably came
from him. It was before this powerful personage that Jesus was first brought.[2]
Hanan questioned him as to his doctrine and his disciples. Jesus, with proper
pride, refused to enter into long explanations. He referred Hanan to his
teachings, which had been public; he declared he had never held any secret
doctrine; and desired the ex-high priest to interrogate those who had listened
to him. This answer was perfectly natural; but the exaggerated respect with
which the old priest was surrounded made it appear audacious; and one of those
present replied to it, it is said, by a blow.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 63; John vii. 12, 47.]
[Footnote 2: John xviii. 13, and following. This circumstance,
which we only find in John, is the strongest proof of the historic value of the
fourth Gospel.]
Peter and John had followed their Master to the dwelling of
Hanan. John, who was known in the house, was admitted without difficulty; but
Peter was stopped at the entrance, and John was obliged to beg the porter to let
him pass. The night was cold. Peter stopped in the antechamber, and approached a
brasier, around which the servants were warming themselves. He was soon
recognized as a disciple of the accused. The unfortunate man, betrayed by his
Galilean accent, and pestered by questions from the servants, one of whom, a
kinsman of Malchus, had seen him at Gethsemane, denied thrice that he had ever
had the least connection with Jesus. He thought that Jesus could not hear him,
and never imagined that this cowardice, which he sought to hide by his
dissimulation, was exceedingly dishonorable. But his better nature soon revealed
to him the fault he had committed. A fortuitous circumstance, the crowing of the
cock, recalled to him a remark that Jesus had made. Touched to the heart, he
went out and wept bitterly.[1]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvi. 69, and following; Mark xiv. 66, and
following; Luke xxii. 54, and following; John xviii. 15, and following, 25, and
following.]
Hanan, although the true author of the judicial murder about to
be accomplished, had not power to pronounce the sentence upon Jesus; he sent him
to his son-in-law, Kaïapha, who bore the official title. This man, the blind
instrument of his father-in-law, would naturally ratify everything that had been
done. The Sanhedrim was assembled at his house.[1] The inquiry commenced; and
several witnesses, prepared beforehand according to the inquisitorial process
described in the Talmud, appeared before the tribunal. The fatal sentence which
Jesus had really uttered: "I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build
it in three days," was cited by two witnesses. To blaspheme the temple of God
was, according to the Jewish law, to blaspheme God himself.[2] Jesus remained
silent, and refused to explain the incriminated speech. If we may believe one
version, the high priest then adjured him to say if he were the Messiah; Jesus
confessed it, and proclaimed before the assembly the near approach of his
heavenly reign.[3] The courage of Jesus, who had resolved to die, renders this
narrative superfluous. It is probable that here, as when before Hanan, he
remained silent. This was in general his rule of conduct during his last
moments. The sentence was settled; and they only sought for pretexts. Jesus felt
this, and did not undertake a useless defense. In the light of orthodox Judaism,
he was truly a blasphemer, a destroyer of the established worship. Now, these
crimes were punished by the law with death.[4] With one voice, the assembly
declared him guilty of a capital crime. The members of the council who secretly
leaned to him, were absent or did not vote.[5] The frivolity which characterizes
old established aristocracies, did not permit the judges to reflect long upon
the consequences of the sentence they had passed. Human life was at that time
very lightly sacrificed; doubtless the members of the Sanhedrim did not dream
that their sons would have to render account to an angry posterity for the
sentence pronounced with such careless disdain.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xvi. 57; Mark xiv. 53; Luke xxii. 66.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxiii. 16, and following.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvi. 64; Mark xiv. 62; Luke xxii. 69. John
knows nothing of this scene.]
[Footnote 4: Levit. xxiv. 14, and following; Deut.
xiii. 1, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Luke xxiii. 50, 51.]
The Sanhedrim had not the right to execute a sentence of
death.[1] But in the confusion of powers which then reigned in Judea, Jesus was,
from that moment, none the less condemned. He remained the rest of the night
exposed to the ill-treatment of an infamous pack of servants, who spared him no
indignity.[2]
[Footnote 1: John xviii. 31; Jos., Ant., XX. ix. 1.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvi. 67, 68; Mark xiv. 65; Luke xxii.
63-65.]
In the morning the chief priests and the elders again
assembled.[1] The point was, to get Pilate to ratify the condemnation pronounced
by the Sanhedrim, which, since the occupation of the Romans, was no longer
sufficient. The procurator was not invested, like the imperial legate, with the
disposal of life and death. But Jesus was not a Roman citizen; it only required
the authorization of the governor in order that the sentence pronounced against
him should take its course. As always happens, when a political people subjects
a nation in which the civil and the religious laws are confounded, the Romans
had been brought to give to the Jewish law a sort of official support. The Roman
law did not apply to Jews. The latter remained under the canonical law which we
find recorded in the Talmud, just as the Arabs in Algeria are still governed by
the code of Islamism. Although neutral in religion, the Romans thus very often
sanctioned penalties inflicted for religious faults. The situation was nearly
that of the sacred cities of India under the English dominion, or rather that
which would be the state of Damascus if Syria were conquered by a European
nation. Josephus asserts, though this may be doubted, that if a Roman trespassed
beyond the pillars which bore inscriptions forbidding pagans to advance, the
Romans themselves would have delivered him to the Jews to be put to death.[2]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 1; Mark xv. 1; Luke xxii. 66, xxiii.
1; John xviii 28.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XV. xi. 5; B.J., VI. ii.
4.]
The agents of the priests therefore bound Jesus and led him to
the judgment-hall, which was the former palace of Herod,[1] adjoining the Tower
of Antonia.[2] It was the morning of the day on which the Paschal lamb was to be
eaten (Friday the 14th of Nisan, our 3d of April). The Jews would have been
defiled by entering the judgment-hall, and would not have been able to share in
the sacred feast. They therefore remained without.[3] Pilate being informed of
their presence, ascended the bima[4] or tribunal, situated in the open
air,[5] at the place named Gabbatha, or in Greek, Lithostrotos, on
account of the pavement which covered the ground.
[Footnote 1: Philo, Legatio ad Caium, § 38. Jos., B.J.,
II. xiv. 8.]
[Footnote 2: The exact place now occupied by the seraglio of the
Pacha of Jerusalem.]
[Footnote 3: John xviii. 28.]
[Footnote 4: The Greek word [Greek: Bêma] had passed into the
Syro-Chaldaic.]
[Footnote 5: Jos., B.J., II. ix. 3, xiv. 8; Matt. xxvii.
27; John xviii. 33.]
He had scarcely been informed of the accusation, before he
displayed his annoyance at being mixed up with this affair.[1] He then shut
himself up in the judgment-hall with Jesus. There a conversation took place, the
precise details of which are lost, no witness having been able to repeat it to
the disciples, but the tenor of which appears to have been well divined by John.
His narrative, in fact, perfectly accords with what history teaches us of the
mutual position of the two interlocutors.
[Footnote 1: John xviii. 29.]
The procurator, Pontius, surnamed Pilate, doubtless on account
of the pilum or javelin of honor with which he or one of his ancestors
was decorated,[1] had hitherto had no relation with the new sect. Indifferent to
the internal quarrels of the Jews, he only saw in all these movements of
sectaries, the results of intemperate imaginations and disordered brains. In
general, he did not like the Jews, but the Jews detested him still more. They
thought him hard, scornful, and passionate, and accused him of improbable
crimes.[2]
[Footnote 1: Virg., Æn., XII. 121; Martial, Epigr.,
I. xxxii., X. xlviii.; Plutarch, Life of Romulus, 29. Compare the
hasta pura, a military decoration. Orelli and Henzen, Inscr. Lat.,
Nos. 3574, 6852, etc. Pilatus is, on this hypothesis, a word of the same
form as Torquatus.]
[Footnote 2: Philo, Leg. ad Caium, § 38.]
Jerusalem, the centre of a great national fermentation, was a
very seditious city, and an insupportable abode for a foreigner. The enthusiasts
pretended that it was a fixed design of the new procurator to abolish the Jewish
law.[1] Their narrow fanaticism, and their religious hatreds, disgusted that
broad sentiment of justice and civil government which the humblest Roman carried
everywhere with him. All the acts of Pilate which are known to us, show him to
have been a good administrator.[2] In the earlier period of the exercise of his
office, he had difficulties with those subject to him which he had solved in a
very brutal manner; but it seems that essentially he was right. The Jews must
have appeared to him a people behind the age; he doubtless judged them as a
liberal prefect formerly judged the Bas-Bretons, who rebelled for such trifling
matters as a new road, or the establishment of a school. In his best projects
for the good of the country, notably in those relating to public works, he had
encountered an impassable obstacle in the Law. The Law restricted life to such a
degree that it opposed all change, and all amelioration. The Roman structures,
even the most useful ones, were objects of great antipathy on the part of
zealous Jews.[3] Two votive escutcheons with inscriptions, which he had set up
at his residence near the sacred precincts, provoked a still more violent
storm.[4] Pilate at first cared little for these susceptibilities; and he was
soon involved in sanguinary suppressions of revolt,[5] which afterward ended in
his removal.[6] The experience of so many conflicts had rendered him very
prudent in his relations with this intractable people, which avenged itself upon
its governors by compelling them to use toward it hateful severities. The
procurator saw himself, with extreme displeasure, led to play a cruel part in
this new affair, for the sake of a law he hated.[7] He knew that religious
fanaticism, when it has obtained the sanction of civil governments to some act
of violence, is afterward the first to throw the responsibility upon the
government, and almost accuses them of being the author of it. Supreme
injustice; for the true culprit is, in such cases, the instigator!
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., XVIII. iii. 1, init.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XVIII. ii.-iv.]
[Footnote 3: Talm. of Bab., Shabbath, 33 b.]
[Footnote 4: Philo, Leg. ad Caium, § 38.]
[Footnote 5: Jos., Ant., XVIII. iii. 1 and 2; Luke xiii.
1.]
[Footnote 6: Jos., Ant., XVIII. iv. 1, 2.]
[Footnote 7: John xviii. 35.]
Pilate, then, would have liked to save Jesus. Perhaps the
dignified and calm attitude of the accused made an impression upon him.
According to a tradition,[1] Jesus found a supporter in the wife of the
procurator himself. She may have seen the gentle Galilean from some window of
the palace, overlooking the courts of the temple. Perhaps she had seen him again
in her dreams; and the idea that the blood of this beautiful young man was about
to be spilt, weighed upon her mind. Certain it is that Jesus found Pilate
prepossessed in his favor. The governor questioned him with kindness, and with
the desire to find an excuse for sending him away pardoned.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 19.]
The title of "King of the Jews," which Jesus had never taken
upon himself, but which his enemies represented as the sum and substance of his
acts and pretensions, was naturally that by which it was sought to excite the
suspicions of the Roman authority. They accused him on this ground of sedition,
and of treason against the government. Nothing could be more unjust; for Jesus
had always recognized the Roman government as the established power. But
conservative religious bodies do not generally shrink from calumny.
Notwithstanding his own explanation, they drew certain conclusions from his
teaching; they transformed him into a disciple of Judas the Gaulonite; they
pretended that he forbade the payment of tribute to Cæsar.[1] Pilate asked him
if he was really the king of the Jews.[2] Jesus concealed nothing of what he
thought. But the great ambiguity of speech which had been the source of his
strength, and which, after his death, was to establish his kingship, injured him
on this occasion. An idealist that is to say, not distinguishing the spirit from
the substance, Jesus, whose words, to use the image of the Apocalypse, were as a
two-edged sword, never completely satisfied the powers of earth. If we may
believe John, he avowed his royalty, but uttered at the same time this profound
sentence: "My kingdom is not of this world." He explained the nature of his
kingdom, declaring that it consisted entirely in the possession and proclamation
of truth. Pilate understood nothing of this grand idealism.[3] Jesus doubtless
impressed him as being an inoffensive dreamer. The total absence of religious
and philosophical proselytism among the Romans of this epoch made them regard
devotion to truth as a chimera. Such discussions annoyed them, and appeared to
them devoid of meaning. Not perceiving the element of danger to the empire that
lay hidden in these new speculations, they had no reason to employ violence
against them. All their displeasure fell upon those who asked them to inflict
punishment for what appeared to them to be vain subtleties. Twenty years after,
Gallio still adopted the same course toward the Jews.[4] Until the fall of
Jerusalem, the rule which the Romans adopted in administration, was to remain
completely indifferent to these sectarian quarrels.[5]
[Footnote 1: Luke xxiii. 2, 5.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvii. 11; Mark xv. 2; Luke xxiii. 3; John
xviii. 33.]
[Footnote 3: John xviii. 38.]
[Footnote 4: Acts xviii. 14, 15.]
[Footnote 5: Tacitus (Ann., xv. 44) describes the death
of Jesus as a political execution by Pontius Pilate. But at the epoch in which
Tacitus wrote, the Roman policy toward the Christians was changed; they were
held guilty of secretly conspiring against the state. It was natural that the
Latin historian should believe that Pilate, in putting Jesus to death, had been
actuated by a desire for the public safety. Josephus is much more exact (Ant.,
XVIII. iii. 3.)]
An expedient suggested itself to the mind of the governor by
which he could reconcile his own feelings with the demands of the fanatical
people, whose pressure he had already so often felt. It was the custom to
deliver a prisoner to the people at the time of the Passover. Pilate, knowing
that Jesus had only been arrested in consequence of the jealousy of the
priests,[1] tried to obtain for him the benefit of this custom. He appeared
again upon the bima, and proposed to the multitude to release the "King
of the Jews." The proposition made in these terms, though ironical, was
characterized by a degree of liberality. The priests saw the danger of it. They
acted promptly,[2] and in order to combat the proposition of Pilate, they
suggested to the crowd the name of a prisoner who enjoyed great popularity in
Jerusalem. By a singular coincidence, he also was called Jesus,[3] and bore the
surname of Bar-Abba, or Bar-Rabban.[4] He was a well-known personage,[5] and had
been arrested for taking part in an uproar in which murder had been
committed.[6] A general clamor was raised, "Not this man; but Jesus Bar-Rabban;"
and Pilate was obliged to release Jesus Bar-Rabban.
[Footnote 1: Mark xv. 10.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvii. 20; Mark xv. 11.]
[Footnote 3: The name of Jesus has disappeared in the greater
part of the manuscripts. This reading has, nevertheless, very great authorities
in its favor.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvii. 16.]
[Footnote 5: Cf. St. Jerome. In Matt. xxvii. 16.]
[Footnote 6: Mark xv. 7; Luke xxiii. 19. John (xviii. 40), who
makes him a robber, appears here too much further from the truth than Mark.]
His embarrassment increased. He feared that too much indulgence
shown to a prisoner, to whom was given the title of "King of the Jews," might
compromise him. Fanaticism, moreover, compels all powers to make terms with it.
Pilate thought himself obliged to make some concession; but still hesitating to
shed blood, in order to satisfy men whom he hated, wished to turn the thing into
a jest. Affecting to laugh at the pompous title they had given to Jesus, he
caused him to be scourged.[1] Scourging was the general preliminary of
crucifixion.[2] Perhaps Pilate wished it to be believed that this sentence had
already been pronounced, hoping that the preliminary would suffice. Then took
place (according to all the narratives) a revolting scene. The soldiers put a
scarlet robe on his back, a crown formed of branches of thorns upon his head,
and a reed in his hand. Thus attired, he was led to the tribunal in front of the
people. The soldiers defiled before him, striking him in turn, and knelt to him,
saying, "Hail! King of the Jews."[3] Others, it is said, spit upon him, and
struck his head with the reed. It is difficult to understand how Roman dignity
could stoop to acts so shameful. It is true that Pilate, in the capacity of
procurator, had under his command scarcely any but auxiliary troops.[4] Roman
citizens, as the legionaries were, would not have degraded themselves by such
conduct.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 26; Mark xv. 15; John xix. 1.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., B.J., II. xiv. 9, V. xi. 1, VII. vi.
4;
Titus-Livy, XXXIII. 36; Quintus Curtius, VII. xi. 28.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 27, and following; Mark xv. 16, and
following; Luke xxiii. 11; John xix. 2, and following.]
[Footnote 4: See Inscript. Rom. of Algeria, No. 5, fragm.
B.]
Did Pilate think by this display that he freed himself from
responsibility? Did he hope to turn aside the blow which threatened Jesus by
conceding something to the hatred of the Jews,[1] and by substituting for the
tragic denouement a grotesque termination, to make it appear that the affair
merited no other issue? If such were his idea, it was unsuccessful. The tumult
increased, and became an open riot. The cry "Crucify him! crucify him!"
resounded from all sides. The priests becoming increasingly urgent, declared the
law in peril if the corrupter were not punished with death.[2] Pilate saw
clearly that to save Jesus he would have to put down a terrible disturbance. He
still tried, however, to gain time. He returned to the judgment-hall, and
ascertained from what country Jesus came, with the hope of finding a pretext for
declaring his inability to adjudicate.[3] According to one tradition, he even
sent Jesus to Antipas, who, it is said, was then at Jerusalem.[4] Jesus took no
part in these well-meant efforts; he maintained, as he had done before Kaïapha,
a grave and dignified silence, which astonished Pilate. The cries from without
became more and more menacing. The people had already begun to denounce the lack
of zeal in the functionary who protected an enemy of Cæsar. The greatest
adversaries of the Roman rule were suddenly transformed into loyal subjects of
Tiberius, that they might have the right of accusing the too tolerant procurator
of treason. "We have no king," said they, "but Cæsar. If thou let this man go,
thou art not Cæsar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against
Cæsar."[5] The feeble Pilate yielded; he foresaw the report that his enemies
would send to Rome, in which they would accuse him of having protected a rival
of Tiberius. Once before, in the matter of the votive escutcheons,[6] the Jews
had written to the emperor, and had received satisfaction. He feared for his
office. By a compliance, which was to deliver his name to the scorn of history,
he yielded, throwing, it is said, upon the Jews all the responsibility of what
was about to happen. The latter, according to the Christians, fully accepted it,
by exclaiming, "His blood be on us and on our children!"[7]
[Footnote 1: Luke xxiii. 16, 22.]
[Footnote 2: John xix. 7.]
[Footnote 3: John xix. 9. Cf. Luke xxiii. 6, and following.]
[Footnote 4: It is probable that this is a first attempt at a
"Harmony of the Gospels." Luke must have had before him a narrative in which the
death of Jesus was erroneously attributed to Herod. In order not to sacrifice
this version entirely he must have combined the two traditions. What makes this
more likely is, that he probably had a vague knowledge that Jesus (as John
teaches us) appeared before three authorities. In many other cases, Luke seems
to have a remote idea of the facts which are peculiar to the narration of John.
Moreover, the third Gospel contains in its history of the Crucifixion a series
of additions which the author appears to have drawn from a more recent document,
and which had evidently been arranged with a special view to edification.]
[Footnote 5: John xix. 12, 15. Cf. Luke xxiii. 2. In order to
appreciate the exactitude of the description of this scene in the evangelists,
see Philo, Leg. ad Caium, § 38.]
[Footnote 6: See ante, p. 351.]
[Footnote 7: Matt. xxvii. 24, 25.]
Were these words really uttered? We may doubt it. But they are
the expression of a profound historical truth. Considering the attitude which
the Romans had taken in Judea, Pilate could scarcely have acted otherwise. How
many sentences of death dictated by religious intolerance have been extorted
from the civil power! The king of Spain, who, in order to please a fanatical
clergy, delivered hundreds of his subjects to the stake, was more blameable than
Pilate, for he represented a more absolute power than that of the Romans at
Jerusalem. When the civil power becomes persecuting or meddlesome at the
solicitation of the priesthood, it proves its weakness. But let the government
that is without sin in this respect throw the first stone at Pilate. The
"secular arm," behind which clerical cruelty shelters itself, is not the
culprit. No one has a right to say that he has a horror of blood when he causes
it to be shed by his servants.
It was, then, neither Tiberius nor Pilate who condemned Jesus.
It was the old Jewish party; it was the Mosaic Law. According to our modern
ideas, there is no transmission of moral demerit from father to son; no one is
accountable to human or divine justice except for that which he himself has
done. Consequently, every Jew who suffers to-day for the murder of Jesus has a
right to complain, for he might have acted as did Simon the Cyrenean; at any
rate, he might not have been with those who cried "Crucify him!" But nations,
like individuals, have their responsibilities, and if ever crime was the crime
of a nation, it was the death of Jesus. This death was "legal" in the sense that
it was primarily caused by a law which was the very soul of the nation. The
Mosaic law, in its modern, but still in its accepted form, pronounced the
penalty of death against all attempts to change the established worship. Now,
there is no doubt that Jesus attacked this worship, and aspired to destroy it.
The Jews expressed this to Pilate with a truthful simplicity: "We have a law,
and by our law he ought to die; because he has made himself the Son of God."[1]
The law was detestable, but it was the law of ancient ferocity; and the hero who
offered himself in order to abrogate it, had first of all to endure its penalty.
[Footnote 1: John xix. 7.]
Alas! it has required more than eighteen hundred years for the
blood that he shed to bear its fruits. Tortures and death have been inflicted
for ages in the name of Jesus, on thinkers as noble as himself. Even at the
present time, in countries which call themselves Christian, penalties are
pronounced for religious offences. Jesus is not responsible for these errors. He
could not foresee that people, with mistaken imaginations, would one day imagine
him as a frightful Moloch, greedy of burnt flesh. Christianity has been
intolerant, but intolerance is not essentially a Christian fact. It is a Jewish
fact in the sense that it was Judaism which first introduced the theory of the
absolute in religion, and laid down the principle that every innovator, even if
he brings miracles to support his doctrine, ought to be stoned without trial.[1]
The pagan world has also had its religious violences. But if it had had this
law, how would it have become Christian? The Pentateuch has thus been in the
world the first code of religious terrorism. Judaism has given the example of an
immutable dogma armed with the sword. If, instead of pursuing the Jews with a
blind hatred, Christianity had abolished the régime which killed its founder,
how much more consistent would it have been!—how much better would it have
deserved of the human race!
[Footnote 1: Deut. xiii. 1, and following.]
CHAPTER XXV.
DEATH OF JESUS.
Although the real motive for the death
of Jesus was entirely religious, his enemies had succeeded, in the
judgment-hall, in representing him as guilty of treason against the state; they
could not have obtained from the sceptical Pilate a condemnation simply on the
ground of heterodoxy. Consistently with this idea, the priests demanded, through
the people, the crucifixion of Jesus. This punishment was not Jewish in its
origin; if the condemnation of Jesus had been purely Mosaic, he would have been
stoned.[1] Crucifixion was a Roman punishment, reserved for slaves, and for
cases in which it was wished to add to death the aggravation of ignominy. In
applying it to Jesus, they treated him as they treated highway robbers,
brigands, bandits, or those enemies of inferior rank to whom the Romans did not
grant the honor of death by the sword.[2] It was the chimerical "King of the
Jews," not the heterodox dogmatist, who was punished. Following out the same
idea, the execution was left to the Romans. We know that amongst the Romans, the
soldiers, their profession being to kill, performed the office of executioners.
Jesus was therefore delivered to a cohort of auxiliary troops, and all the most
hateful features of executions introduced by the cruel habits of the new
conquerors, were exhibited toward him. It was about noon.[3] They re-clothed him
with the garments which they had removed for the farce enacted at the tribunal,
and as the cohort had already in reserve two thieves who were to be executed,
the three prisoners were taken together, and the procession set out for the
place of execution.
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., XX. ix. 1. The Talmud, which
represents the condemnation of Jesus as entirely religious, declares, in fact,
that he was stoned; or, at least, that after having been hanged, he was stoned,
as often happened (Mishnah, Sanhedrim, vi. 4.) Talmud of Jerusalem,
Sanhedrim, xiv. 16. Talm. of Bab., same treatise, 43 a, 67 a.]
[Footnote 2: Jos., Ant., XVII. x. 10, XX. vi. 2; B.J.,
V. xi. 1;
Apuleius, Metam., iii. 9; Suetonius, Galba, 9; Lampridius,
Alex.
Sev., 23.]
[Footnote 3: John xix. 14. According to Mark xv. 25, it could
scarcely have been eight o'clock in the morning, since that evangelist relates
that Jesus was crucified at nine o'clock.]
The scene of the execution was at a place called Golgotha,
situated outside Jerusalem, but near the walls of the city.[1] The name
Golgotha signifies a skull; it corresponds with the French word
Chaumont, and probably designated a bare hill or rising ground, having the
form of a bald skull. The situation of this hill is not precisely known. It was
certainly on the north or northwest of the city, in the high, irregular plain
which extends between the walls and the two valleys of Kedron and Hinnom,[2] a
rather uninteresting region, and made still worse by the objectionable
circumstances arising from the neighborhood of a great city. It is difficult to
identify Golgotha as the precise place which, since Constantine, has been
venerated by entire Christendom.[3] This place is too much in the interior of
the city, and we are led to believe that, in the time of Jesus, it was comprised
within the circuit of the walls.[4]
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 33; Mark xv. 22; John xix. 20; Heb.
xiii. 12.]
[Footnote 2: Golgotha, in fact, seems not entirely unconnected
with the hill of Gareb and the locality of Goath, mentioned in Jeremiah xxxi.
39. Now, these two places appear to have been at the northwest of the city. I
should incline to fix the place where Jesus was crucified near the extreme
corner which the existing wall makes toward the west, or perhaps upon the mounds
which command the valley of Hinnom, above Birket-Mamilla.]
[Footnote 3: The proofs by which it has been attempted to
establish that the Holy Sepulchre has been displaced since Constantine are not
very strong.]
[Footnote 4: M. de Vogüé has discovered, about 83 yards to the
east of the traditional site of Calvary, a fragment of a Jewish wall analogous
to that of Hebron, which, if it belongs to the inclosure of the time of Jesus,
would leave the above-mentioned site outside the city. The existence of a
sepulchral cave (that which is called "Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea"), under the
wall of the cupola of the Holy Sepulchre, would also lead to the supposition
that this place was outside the walls. Two historical considerations, one of
which is rather strong, may, moreover, be invoked in favor of the tradition. The
first is, that it would be singular if those, who, under Constantine, sought to
determine the topography of the Gospels, had not hesitated in the presence of
the objection which results from John xix. 20, and from Heb. xiii.
12. Why, being free to choose, should they have wantonly exposed themselves to
so grave a difficulty? The second consideration is, that they might have had to
guide them, in the time of Constantine, the remains of an edifice, the temple of
Venus on Golgotha, erected by Adrian. We are, then, at times led to believe that
the work of the devout topographers of the time of Constantine was earnest and
sincere, that they sought for indications, and that, though they might not
refrain from certain pious frauds, they were guided by analogies. If they had
merely followed a vain caprice, they might have placed Golgotha in a more
conspicuous situation, at the summit of some of the neighboring hills about
Jerusalem, in accordance with the Christian imagination, which very early
thought that the death of Christ had taken place on a mountain. But the
difficulty of the inclosures is very serious. Let us add, that the erection of a
temple of Venus on Golgotha proves little. Eusebius (Vita Const., iii.
26), Socrates (H.E., i. 17), Sozomen (H.E., ii. 1), St. Jerome (Epist.
xlix., ad Paulin.), say, indeed, that there was a sanctuary of Venus on the site
which they imagined to be that of the holy tomb; but it is not certain that
Adrian had erected it; or that he had erected it in a place which was in his
time called "Golgotha"; or that he had intended to erect it at the place where
Jesus had suffered death.]
He who was condemned to the cross, had himself to carry the
instrument of his execution.[1] But Jesus, physically weaker than his two
companions, could not carry his. The troop met a certain Simon of Cyrene, who
was returning from the country, and the soldiers, with the off-hand procedure of
foreign garrisons, forced him to carry the fatal tree. Perhaps they made use of
a recognized right of forcing labor, the Romans not being allowed to carry the
infamous wood. It seems that Simon was afterward of the Christian community. His
two sons, Alexander and Rufus,[2] were well known in it. He related perhaps more
than one circumstance of which he had been witness. No disciple was at this
moment near to Jesus.[3]
[Footnote 1: Plutarch, De Sera Num. Vind., 19;
Artemidorus, Onirocrit., ii. 56.]
[Footnote 2: Mark xv. 21.]
[Footnote 3: The circumstance, Luke xxiii. 27-31, is one of
those in which we are sensible of the work of a pious and loving imagination.
The words which are there attributed to Jesus could only have been written after
the siege of Jerusalem.]
The place of execution was at last reached. According to Jewish
custom, the sufferers were offered a strong aromatic wine, an intoxicating
drink, which, through a sentiment of pity, was given to the condemned in order
to stupefy him.[1] It appears that the ladies of Jerusalem often brought this
kind of wine to the unfortunates who were led to execution; when none was
presented by them, it was purchased from the public treasury.[2] Jesus, after
having touched the edge of the cup with his lips, refused to drink.[3] This
mournful consolation of ordinary sufferers did not accord with his exalted
nature. He preferred to quit life with perfect clearness of mind, and to await
in full consciousness the death he had willed and brought upon himself. He was
then divested of his garments,[4] and fastened to the cross. The cross was
composed of two beams, tied in the form of the letter T.[5] It was not much
elevated, so that the feet of the condemned almost touched the earth. They
commenced by fixing it,[6] then they fastened the sufferer to it by driving
nails into his hands; the feet were often nailed, though sometimes only bound
with cords.[7] A piece of wood was fastened to the upright portion of the cross,
toward the middle, and passed between the legs of the condemned, who rested upon
it.[8] Without that, the hands would have been torn and the body would have sunk
down. At other times, a small horizontal rest was fixed beneath the feet, and
sustained them.[9]
[Footnote 1: Talm. of Bab., Sanhedrim, fol. 43 a.
Comp. Prov. xxi. 6.]
[Footnote 2: Talm. of Bab., Sanhedrim, l.c.]
[Footnote 3: Mark xv. 23; Matt. xxvii. 34, falsifies this
detail, in order to create a Messianic allusion from Ps. lxix. 20.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvii. 35; Mark xv. 24; John xix. 23. Cf.
Artemidorus, Onirocr., ii. 53.]
[Footnote 5: Lucian, Jud. Voc., 12. Compare the grotesque
crucifix traced at Rome on a wall of Mount Palatine. Civilta Cattolica,
fasc. clxi. p. 529, and following.]
[Footnote 6: Jos., B.J., VII. vi. 4; Cic., In Verr.,
v. 66;
Xenoph. Ephes., Ephesiaca, iv. 2.]
[Footnote 7: Luke xxiv. 39; John xx. 25-27; Plautus,
Mostellaria, II. i. 13; Lucan., Phars., vi. 543, and following, 547;
Justin, Dial. cum Tryph., 97; Tertullian, Adv. Marcionem, iii.
19.]
[Footnote 8: Irenæus, Adv. Hær., ii. 24; Justin, Dial.
cum
Tryphone, 91.]
[Footnote 9: See the graffito quoted before.]
Jesus tasted these horrors in all their atrocity. A burning
thirst, one of the tortures of crucifixion,[1] devoured him, and he asked to
drink. There stood near, a cup of the ordinary drink of the Roman soldiers, a
mixture of vinegar and water, called posca. The soldiers had to carry
with them their posca on all their expeditions,[2] of which an execution
was considered one. A soldier dipped a sponge in this drink, put it at the end
of a reed, and raised it to the lips of Jesus, who sucked it.[3] The two robbers
were crucified, one on each side. The executioners, to whom were usually left
the small effects (pannicularia) of those executed,[4] drew lots for his
garments, and, seated at the foot of the cross, kept guard over him.[5]
According to one tradition, Jesus pronounced this sentence, which was in his
heart if not upon his lips: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do."[6]
[Footnote 1: See the Arab text published by Kosegarten,
Chrest.
Arab., p. 64.]
[Footnote 2: Spartianus, Life of Adrian, 10; Vulcatius
Gallicanus, Life of Avidius Cassius, 5.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 48; Mark xv. 36; Luke xxiii. 36; John
xix. 28-30.]
[Footnote 4: Dig., XLVII. xx., De bonis damnat., 6.
Adrian limited this custom.]
[Footnote 5: Matt. xxvii. 36. Cf. Petronius, Satyr.,
cxi., cxii.]
[Footnote 6: Luke xxiii. 34. In general, the last words
attributed to Jesus, especially such as Luke records, are open to doubt. The
desire to edify or to show the accomplishment of prophecies is perceptible. In
these cases, moreover, every one hears in his own way. The last words of
celebrated prisoners, condemned to death, are always collected in two or three
entirely different shapes, by even the nearest witnesses.]
According to the Roman custom, a writing was attached to the top
of the cross, bearing, in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the words:
"THE KING OF THE JEWS." There was something painful and insulting to the nation
in this inscription. The numerous passers-by who read it were offended. The
priests complained to Pilate that he ought to have adopted an inscription which
would have implied simply that Jesus had called himself King of the Jews. But
Pilate, already tired of the whole affair, refused to make any change in what
had been written.[1]
[Footnote 1: John xix. 19-22.]
His disciples had fled. John, nevertheless, declares himself to
have been present, and to have remained standing at the foot of the cross during
the whole time.[1] It may be affirmed, with more certainty, that the devoted
women of Galilee, who had followed Jesus to Jerusalem and continued to tend him,
did not abandon him. Mary Cleophas, Mary Magdalen, Joanna, wife of Khouza,
Salome, and others, stayed at a certain distance,[2] and did not lose sight of
him.[3] If we must believe John,[4] Mary, the mother of Jesus, was also at the
foot of the cross, and Jesus seeing his mother and his beloved disciple
together, said to the one, "Behold thy mother!" and to the other, "Behold thy
son!" But we do not understand how the synoptics, who name the other women,
should have omitted her whose presence was so striking a feature. Perhaps even
the extreme elevation of the character of Jesus does not render such personal
emotion probable, at the moment when, solely preoccupied by his work, he no
longer existed except for humanity.[5]
[Footnote 1: John xix. 25, and following.]
[Footnote 2: The synoptics are agreed in placing the faithful
group "afar off" the cross. John says, "at the side of," governed by the desire
which he has of representing himself as having approached very near to the cross
of Jesus.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 55, 56; Mark xv. 40, 41; Luke xxiii.
49, 55; xxiv. 10; John xix. 25. Cf. Luke xxiii. 27-31.]
[Footnote 4: John xix. 25, and following. Luke, who always
adopts a middle course between the first two synoptics and John, mentions also,
but at a distance, "all his acquaintance" (xxiii. 49). The expression, [Greek:
gnôstoi], may, it is true, mean "kindred." Luke, nevertheless (ii. 44),
distinguishes the [Greek: gnôstoi] from the [Greek: sungeneis]. Let us add, that
the best manuscripts bear [Greek: oi gnôstoi autô], and not [Greek: oi gnôstoi
autou]. In the Acts (i. 14), Mary, mother of Jesus, is also placed in
company with the Galilean women; elsewhere (Gospel, chap. ii. 35), Luke predicts
that a sword of grief will pierce her soul. But this renders his omission of her
at the cross the less explicable.]
[Footnote 5: This is, in my opinion, one of those features in
which John betrays his personality and the desire he has of giving himself
importance. John, after the death of Jesus, appears in fact to have received the
mother of his Master into his house, and to have adopted her (John xix. 27.) The
great consideration which Mary enjoyed in the early church, doubtless led John
to pretend that Jesus, whose favorite disciple he wished to be regarded, had,
when dying, recommended to his care all that was dearest to him. The presence of
this precious trust near John, insured him a kind of precedence over the other
apostles, and gave his doctrine a high authority.]
Apart from this small group of women, whose presence consoled
him, Jesus had before him only the spectacle of the baseness or stupidity of
humanity. The passers-by insulted him. He heard around him foolish scoffs, and
his greatest cries of pain turned into hateful jests: "He trusted in God; let
him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God." "He
saved others," they said again; "himself he cannot save. If he be the king of
Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him! Ah, thou
that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself."[1]
Some, vaguely acquainted with his apocalyptic ideas, thought they heard him call
Elias, and said, "Let us see whether Elias will come to save him." It appears
that the two crucified thieves at his side also insulted him.[2] The sky was
dark;[3] and the earth, as in all the environs of Jerusalem, dry and gloomy. For
a moment, according to certain narratives, his heart failed him; a cloud hid
from him the face of his Father; he endured an agony of despair a thousand times
more acute than all his torture. He saw only the ingratitude of men; he perhaps
repented suffering for a vile race, and exclaimed: "My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?" But his divine instinct still prevailed. In the degree that
the life of the body became extinguished, his soul became clear, and returned by
degrees to its celestial origin. He regained the idea of his mission; he saw in
his death the salvation of the world; he lost sight of the hideous spectacle
spread at his feet, and, profoundly united to his Father, he began upon the
gibbet the divine life which he was to live in the heart of humanity through
infinite ages.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 40, and following; Mark xv. 29, and
following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvii. 44; Mark xv. 32. Luke has here
modified the tradition, in accordance with his taste for the conversion of
sinners.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 45; Mark xv. 33; Luke xxiii. 44.]
The peculiar atrocity of crucifixion was that one might live
three or four days in this horrible state upon the instrument of torture.[1] The
hæmorrhage from the hands quickly stopped, and was not mortal. The true cause of
death was the unnatural position of the body, which brought on a frightful
disturbance of the circulation, terrible pains of the head and heart, and, at
length, rigidity of the limbs. Those who had a strong constitution only died of
hunger.[2] The idea which suggested this cruel punishment was not directly to
kill the condemned by positive injuries, but to expose the slave nailed by the
hand of which he had not known how to make good use, and to let him rot on the
wood. The delicate organization of Jesus preserved him from this slow agony.
Everything leads to the belief that the instantaneous rupture of a vessel in the
heart brought him, at the end of three hours, to a sudden death. Some moments
before yielding up his soul, his voice was still strong.[3] All at once, he
uttered a terrible cry,[4] which some heard as: "Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit!" but which others, more preoccupied with the accomplishment
of prophecies, rendered by the words, "It is finished!" His head fell upon his
breast, and he expired.
[Footnote 1: Petronius, Sat., cxi., and following;
Origen, In Matt. Comment. series, 140 Arab text published in Kosegarten,
op. cit., p. 63, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., viii. 8.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 46; Mark xv. 34.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvii. 50; Mark xv. 37; Luke xxiii. 46; John
xix. 30.]
Rest now in thy glory, noble initiator. Thy work is completed;
thy divinity is established. Fear no more to see the edifice of thy efforts
crumble through a flaw. Henceforth, beyond the reach of frailty, thou shalt be
present, from the height of thy divine peace, in the infinite consequences of
thy acts. At the price of a few hours of suffering, which have not even touched
thy great soul, thou hast purchased the most complete immortality. For thousands
of years the world will extol thee. Banner of our contradictions, thou wilt be
the sign around which will be fought the fiercest battles. A thousand times more
living, a thousand times more loved since thy death than during the days of thy
pilgrimage here below, thou wilt become to such a degree the corner-stone of
humanity, that to tear thy name from this world would be to shake it to its
foundations. Between thee and God, men will no longer distinguish. Complete
conqueror of death, take possession of thy kingdom, whither, by the royal road
thou has traced, ages of adorers will follow thee.
CHAPTER XXVI.
JESUS IN THE TOMB.
It was about three o'clock in the
afternoon, according to our manner of reckoning,[1] when Jesus expired. A Jewish
law[2] forbade a corpse suspended on the cross to be left beyond the evening of
the day of the execution. It is not probable that in the executions performed by
the Romans this rule was observed; but as the next day was the Sabbath, and a
Sabbath of peculiar solemnity, the Jews expressed to the Roman authorities[3]
their desire that this holy day should not be profaned by such a spectacle.[4]
Their request was granted; orders were given to hasten the death of the three
condemned ones, and to remove them from the cross. The soldiers executed this
order by applying to the two thieves a second punishment much more speedy than
that of the cross, the crurifragium, or breaking of the legs,[5] the
usual punishment of slaves and of prisoners of war. As to Jesus, they found him
dead, and did not think it necessary to break his legs. But one of them, to
remove all doubt as to the real death of the third victim, and to complete it,
if any breath remained in him, pierced his side with a spear. They thought they
saw water and blood flow, which was regarded as a sign of the cessation of life.
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvii. 46; Mark xv. 37; Luke xxiii. 44. Comp.
John xix. 14.]
[Footnote 2: Deut. xxi. 22, 23; Josh. viii. 29, x. 26,
and following. Cf. Jos., B.J., IV. v. 2; Mishnah, Sanhedrim, vi.
5.]
[Footnote 3: John says, "To Pilate"; but that cannot be, for
Mark (xv. 44, 45) states that at night Pilate was still ignorant of the death of
Jesus.]
[Footnote 4: Compare Philo, In Flaccum, § 10.]
[Footnote 5: There is no other example of the crurifragium
applied after crucifixion. But often, in order to shorten the tortures of the
sufferer, a finishing stroke was given him. See the passage from Ibn-Hischâm,
translated in the Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, i. p. 99,
100.]
John, who professes to have seen it,[1] insists strongly on this
circumstance. It is evident, in fact, that doubts arose as to the reality of the
death of Jesus. A few hours of suspension on the cross appeared to persons
accustomed to see crucifixions entirely insufficient to lead to such a result.
They cited many instances of persons crucified, who, removed in time, had been
brought to life again by powerful remedies.[2] Origen afterward thought it
needful to invoke miracle in order to explain so sudden an end.[3] The same
astonishment is found in the narrative of Mark.[4] To speak truly, the best
guarantee that the historian possesses upon a point of this nature is the
suspicious hatred of the enemies of Jesus. It is doubtful whether the Jews were
at that time preoccupied with the fear that Jesus might pass for resuscitated;
but, in any case, they must have made sure that he was really dead. Whatever, at
certain periods, may have been the neglect of the ancients in all that belonged
to legal proof and the strict conduct of affairs, we cannot but believe that
those interested here had taken some precautions in this respect.[5]
[Footnote 1: John xix. 31-35.]
[Footnote 2: Herodotus, vii. 194; Jos., Vita, 75.]
[Footnote 3: In Matt. Comment. series, 140.]
[Footnote 4: Mark xv. 44, 45.]
[Footnote 5: The necessities of Christian controversy afterward
led to the exaggeration of these precautions, especially when the Jews had
systematically begun to maintain that the body of Jesus had been stolen. Matt.
xxvii. 62, and following, xxviii. 11-15.]
According to the Roman custom, the corpse of Jesus ought to have
remained suspended in order to become the prey of birds.[1] According to the
Jewish law, it would have been removed in the evening, and deposited in the
place of infamy set apart for the burial of those who were executed.[2] If Jesus
had had for disciples only his poor Galileans, timid and without influence, the
latter course would have been adopted. But we have seen that, in spite of his
small success at Jerusalem, Jesus had gained the sympathy of some important
persons who expected the kingdom of God, and who, without confessing themselves
his disciples, were strongly attached to him. One of these persons, Joseph, of
the small town of Arimathea (Ha-ramathaïm[3]), went in the evening to ask
the body from the procurator.[4] Joseph was a rich and honorable man, a member
of the Sanhedrim. The Roman law, at this period, commanded, moreover, that the
body of the person executed should be delivered to those who claimed it.[5]
Pilate, who was ignorant of the circumstance of the crurifragium, was
astonished that Jesus was so soon dead, and summoned the centurion who had
superintended the execution, in order to know how this was. Pilate, after having
received the assurances of the centurion, granted to Joseph the object of his
request. The body probably had already been removed from the cross. They
delivered it to Joseph, that he might do with it as he pleased.
[Footnote 1: Horace, Epistles, I. xvi. 48; Juvenal, xiv.
77; Lucan., vii. 544; Plautus, Miles glor., II. iv. 19; Artemidorus,
Onir., ii. 53; Pliny, xxxvi. 24; Plutarch, Life of Cleomenes, 39;
Petronius, Sat., cxi.-cxii.]
[Footnote 2: Mishnah, Sanhedrim, vi. 5.]
[Footnote 3: Probably identical with the ancient Rama of Samuel,
in the tribe of Ephraim.]
[Footnote 4: Matt. xxvii. 57, and following; Mark xv. 42, and
following; Luke xxiii. 50, and following; John xix. 38, and following.]
[Footnote 5: Dig. XLVIII. xxiv., De cadaveribus puntorum.]
Another secret friend, Nicodemus,[1] whom we have already seen
employing his influence more than once in favor of Jesus, came forward at this
moment. He arrived, bearing ample provision of the materials necessary for
embalming. Joseph and Nicodemus interred Jesus according to the Jewish
custom—that is to say, they wrapped him in a sheet with myrrh and aloes. The
Galilean women were present,[2] and no doubt accompanied the scene with piercing
cries and tears.
[Footnote 1: John xix. 39, and following.]
[Footnote 2: Matt. xxvii. 61; Mark xv. 47; Luke xxiii. 55.]
It was late, and all this was done in great haste. The place had
not yet been chosen where the body would be finally deposited. The carrying of
the body, moreover, might have been delayed to a late hour, and have involved a
violation of the Sabbath—now the disciples still conscientiously observed the
prescriptions of the Jewish law. A temporary interment was determined upon.[1]
There was at hand, in the garden, a tomb recently dug out in the rock, which had
never been used. It belonged, probably, to one of the believers.[2] The funeral
caves, when they were destined for a single body, were composed of a small room,
at the bottom of which the place for the body was marked by a trough or couch
let into the wall, and surmounted by an arch.[3] As these caves were dug out of
the sides of sloping rocks, they were entered by the floor; the door was shut by
a stone very difficult to move. Jesus was deposited in the cave, and the stone
was rolled to the door, as it was intended to return in order to give him a more
complete burial. But the next day being a solemn Sabbath, the labor was
postponed till the day following.[4]
[Footnote 1: John xix. 41, 42.]
[Footnote 2: One tradition (Matt. xxvii. 60) designates Joseph
of
Arimathea himself as owner of the cave.]
[Footnote 3: The cave which, at the period of Constantine, was
considered as the tomb of Christ, was of this shape, as may be gathered from the
description of Arculphus (in Mabillon, Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened., sec.
iii., pars ii., p. 504), and from the vague traditions which still exist at
Jerusalem among the Greek clergy on the state of the rock now concealed by the
little chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. But the indications by which, under
Constantine, it was sought to identify this tomb with that of Christ, were
feeble or worthless (see especially Sozomen, H.E., ii. 1.) Even if we
were to admit the position of Golgotha as nearly exact, the Holy Sepulchre would
still have no very reliable character of authenticity. At all events, the aspect
of the places has been totally modified.]
[Footnote 4: Luke xxiii. 56.]
The women retired after having carefully noticed how the body
was laid. They employed the hours of the evening which remained to them in
making new preparations for the embalming. On the Saturday all rested.[1]
[Footnote 1: Luke xxiii. 54-56.]
On the Sunday morning, the women, Mary Magdalen the first, came
very early to the tomb.[1] The stone was displaced from the opening, and the
body was no longer in the place where they had laid it. At the same time, the
strangest rumors were spread in the Christian community. The cry, "He is risen!"
quickly spread amongst the disciples. Love caused it to find ready credence
everywhere. What had taken place? In treating of the history of the apostles we
shall have to examine this point and to make inquiry into the origin of the
legends relative to the resurrection. For the historian, the life of Jesus
finishes with his last sigh. But such was the impression he had left in the
heart of his disciples and of a few devoted women, that during some weeks more
it was as if he were living and consoling them. Had his body been taken away,[2]
or did enthusiasm, always credulous, create afterward the group of narratives by
which it was sought to establish faith in the resurrection? In the absence of
opposing documents this can never be ascertained. Let us say, however, that the
strong imagination of Mary Magdalen[3] played an important part in this
circumstance.[4] Divine power of love! Sacred moments in which the passion of
one possessed gave to the world a resuscitated God!
[Footnote 1: Matt. xxviii. 1; Mark xvi. 1; Luke xxiv. 1; John
xx. 1.]
[Footnote 2: See Matt. xxviii. 15; John xx. 2.]
[Footnote 3: She had been possessed by seven demons (Mark xvi.
9; Luke viii. 2.)]
[Footnote 4: This is obvious, especially in the ninth and
following verses of chap. xvi. of Mark. These verses form a conclusion of the
second Gospel, different from the conclusion at xvi. 1-8, with which many
manuscripts terminate. In the fourth Gospel (xx. 1, 2, 11, and following, 18),
Mary Magdalen is also the only original witness of the resurrection.]
CHAPTER XXVII.
FATE OF THE ENEMIES OF JESUS.
According to the calculation we adopt,
the death of Jesus happened in the year 33 of our era.[1] It could not, at all
events, be either before the year 29, the preaching of John and Jesus having
commenced in the year 28,[2] or after the year 35, since in the year 36, and
probably before the passover, Pilate and Kaïapha both lost their offices.[3] The
death of Jesus appears, moreover, to have had no connection whatever with these
two removals.[4] In his retirement, Pilate probably never dreamt for a moment of
the forgotten episode, which was to transmit his pitiful renown to the most
distant posterity. As to Kaïapha, he was succeeded by Jonathan, his
brother-in-law, son of the same Hanan who had played the principal part in the
trial of Jesus. The Sadducean family of Hanan retained the pontificate a long
time, and more powerful than ever, continued to wage against the disciples and
the family of Jesus, the implacable war which they had commenced against the
Founder. Christianity, which owed to him the definitive act of its foundation,
owed to him also its first martyrs. Hanan passed for one of the happiest men of
his age.[5] He who was truly guilty of the death of Jesus ended his life full of
honors and respect, never having doubted for an instant that he had rendered a
great service to the nation. His sons continued to reign around the temple, kept
down with difficulty by the procurators,[6] ofttimes dispensing with the consent
of the latter in order to gratify their haughty and violent instincts.
[Footnote 1: The year 33 corresponds well with one of the data
of the problem, namely, that the 14th of Nisan was a Friday. If we reject the
year 33, in order to find a year which fulfils the above condition, we must at
least go back to the year 29, or go forward to the year 36.]
[Footnote 2: Luke iii. 1.]
[Footnote 3: Jos., Ant., XVIII. iv. 2 and 3.]
[Footnote 4: The contrary assertion of Tertullian and Eusebius
arises from a worthless apocryphal writing (See Philo, Cod. Apocr., N.T.,
p. 813, and following.) The suicide of Pilate (Eusebius, H.E., ii. 7;
Chron. ad annl. Caii) appears also to be derived from legendary records.]
[Footnote 5: Jos., Ant., XX. ix. 1.]
[Footnote 6: Jos., l.c.]
Antipas and Herodias soon disappeared also from the political
scene. Herod Agrippa having been raised to the dignity of king by Caligula, the
jealous Herodias swore that she also would be queen. Pressed incessantly by this
ambitious woman, who treated him as a coward, because he suffered a superior in
his family, Antipas overcame his natural indolence, and went to Rome to solicit
the title which his nephew had just obtained (the year 39 of our era). But the
affair turned out in the worst possible manner. Injured in the eyes of the
emperor by Herod Agrippa, Antipas was removed, and dragged out the rest of his
life in exile at Lyons and in Spain. Herodias followed him in his
misfortunes.[1] A hundred years, at least, were to elapse before the name of
their obscure subject, now become deified, should appear in these remote
countries to brand upon their tombs the murder of John the Baptist.
[Footnote 1: Jos., Ant., XVIII. vii. 1, 2; B.J.,
II. ix. 6.]
As to the wretched Judas of Kerioth, terrible legends were
current about his death. It was maintained that he had bought a field in the
neighborhood of Jerusalem with the price of his perfidy. There was, indeed, on
the south of Mount Zion, a place named Hakeldama (the field of blood[1]).
It was supposed that this was the property acquired by the traitor.[2] According
to one tradition,[3] he killed himself. According to another, he had a fall in
his field, in consequence of which his bowels gushed out.[4] According to
others, he died of a kind of dropsy, accompanied by repulsive circumstances,
which were regarded as a punishment from heaven.[5] The desire of showing in
Judas the accomplishment of the menaces which the Psalmist pronounces against
the perfidious friend[6] may have given rise to these legends. Perhaps, in the
retirement of his field of Hakeldama, Judas led a quiet and obscure life; while
his former friends conquered the world, and spread his infamy abroad. Perhaps,
also, the terrible hatred which was concentrated on his head, drove him to
violent acts, in which were seen the finger of heaven.
[Footnote 1: St. Jerome, De situ et nom. loc. hebr. at
the word Acheldama. Eusebius (ibid.) says to the north. But the
Itineraries confirm the reading of St. Jerome. The tradition which styles the
necropolis situated at the foot of the valley of Hinnom Haceldama, dates
back, at least, to the time of Constantine.]
[Footnote 2: Acts i. 18, 19. Matthew, or rather his
interpolator, has here given a less satisfactory turn to the tradition, in order
to connect with it the circumstance of a cemetery for strangers, which was found
near there.]
[Footnote 3: Matt. xxvii. 5.]
[Footnote 4: Acts, l.c.; Papias, in Oecumenius,
Enarr. in Act. Apost., ii., and in Fr. Münter, Fragm. Patrum Græc.
(Hafniæ, 1788), fasc. i. p. 17, and following; Theophylactus, in Matt. xxvii.
5.]
[Footnote 5: Papias, in Münter, l.c.; Theophylactus,
l.c.]
[Footnote 6: Psalms lxix. and cix.]
The time of the great Christian revenge was, moreover, far
distant. The new sect had no part whatever in the catastrophe which Judaism was
soon to undergo. The synagogue did not understand till much later to what it
exposed itself in practising laws of intolerance. The empire was certainly still
further from suspecting that its future destroyer was born. During nearly three
hundred years it pursued its path without suspecting that at its side principles
were growing destined to subject the world to a complete transformation. At once
theocratic and democratic, the idea thrown by Jesus into the world was, together
with the invasion of the Germans, the most active cause of the dissolution of
the empire of the Cæsars. On the one hand, the right of all men to participate
in the kingdom of God was proclaimed. On the other, religion was henceforth
separated in principle from the state. The rights of conscience, withdrawn from
political law, resulted in the constitution of a new power—the "spiritual
power." This power has more than once belied its origin. For ages the bishops
have been princes, and the Pope has been a king. The pretended empire of souls
has shown itself at various times as a frightful tyranny, employing the rack and
the stake in order to maintain itself. But the day will come when the separation
will bear its fruits, when the domain of things spiritual will cease to be
called a "power," that it may be called a "liberty." Sprung from the conscience
of a man of the people, formed in the presence of the people, beloved and
admired first by the people, Christianity was impressed with an original
character which will never be effaced. It was the first triumph of revolution,
the victory of the popular idea, the advent of the simple in heart, the
inauguration of the beautiful as understood by the people. Jesus thus, in the
aristocratic societies of antiquity, opened the breach through which all will
pass.
The civil power, in fact, although innocent of the death of
Jesus (it only countersigned the sentence, and even in spite of itself), ought
to bear a great share of the responsibility. In presiding at the scene of
Calvary, the state gave itself a serious blow. A legend full of all kinds of
disrespect prevailed, and became universally known—a legend in which the
constituted authorities played a hateful part, in which it was the accused that
was right, and in which the judges and the guards were leagued against the
truth. Seditious in the highest degree, the history of the Passion, spread by a
thousand popular images, displayed the Roman eagles as sanctioning the most
iniquitous of executions, soldiers executing it, and a prefect commanding it.
What a blow for all established powers! They have never entirely recovered from
it. How can they assume infallibility in respect to poor men, when they have on
their conscience the great mistake of Gethsemane?[1]
[Footnote 1: This popular sentiment existed in Brittany in the
time of my childhood. The gendarme was there regarded, like the Jew elsewhere,
with a kind of pious aversion, for it was he who arrested Jesus!]
CHAPTER XXVIII.
ESSENTIAL CHARACTER OF THE WORK OF JESUS.
Jesus, it will be seen, limited his
action entirely to the Jews. Although his sympathy for those despised by
orthodoxy led him to admit pagans into the kingdom of God—although he had
resided more than once in a pagan country, and once or twice we surprise him in
kindly relations with unbelievers[1]—it may be said that his life was passed
entirely in the very restricted world in which he was born. He was never heard
of in Greek or Roman countries; his name appears only in profane authors of a
hundred years later, and then in an indirect manner, in connection with
seditious movements provoked by his doctrine, or persecutions of which his
disciples were the object.[2] Even on Judaism, Jesus made no very durable
impression. Philo, who died about the year 50, had not the slightest knowledge
of him. Josephus, born in the year 37, and writing in the last years of the
century, mentions his execution in a few lines,[3] as an event of secondary
importance, and in the enumeration of the sects of his time, he omits the
Christians altogether.[4] In the Mishnah, also, there is no trace of the
new school; the passages in the two Gemaras in which the founder of Christianity
is named, do not go further back than the fourth or fifth century.[5] The
essential work of Jesus was to create around him a circle of disciples, whom he
inspired with boundless affection, and amongst whom he deposited the germ of his
doctrine. To have made himself beloved, "to the degree that after his death they
ceased not to love him," was the great work of Jesus, and that which most struck
his contemporaries.[6] His doctrine was so little dogmatic, that he never
thought of writing it or of causing it to be written. Men did not become his
disciples by believing this thing or that thing, but in being attached to his
person and in loving him. A few sentences collected from memory, and especially
the type of character he set forth, and the impression it had left, were what
remained of him. Jesus was not a founder of dogmas, or a maker of creeds; he
infused into the world a new spirit. The least Christian men were, on the one
hand, the doctors of the Greek Church, who, beginning from the fourth century,
entangled Christianity in a path of puerile metaphysical discussions, and, on
the other, the scholastics of the Latin Middle Ages, who wished to draw from the
Gospel the thousands of articles of a colossal system. To follow Jesus in
expectation of the kingdom of God, was all that at first was implied by being
Christian.
[Footnote 1: Matt. viii. 5, and following; Luke vii. 1, and
following;
John xii. 20, and following. Comp. Jos., Ant., XVIII. iii. 3.]
[Footnote 2: Tacitus, Ann., xv. 45; Suetonius,
Claudius, 25.]
[Footnote 3: Ant., XVIII. iii. 3. This passage has been
altered by a
Christian hand.]
[Footnote 4: Ant., XVIII. i.; B.J., II. viii.;
Vita, 2.]
[Footnote 5: Talm. of Jerusalem, Sanhedrim, xiv. 16;
Aboda zara, ii. 2; Shabbath, xiv. 4; Talm. of Babylon, Sanhedrim,
43 a, 67 a; Shabbath, 104 b, 116 b. Comp.
Chagigah, 4 b; Gittin, 57 a, 90 a. The two
Gemaras derive the greater part of their data respecting Jesus from a burlesque
and obscene legend, invented by the adversaries of Christianity, and of no
historical value.]
[Footnote 6: Jos., Ant., XVIII. iii. 3.]
It will thus be understood how, by an exceptional destiny, pure
Christianity still preserves, after eighteen centuries, the character of a
universal and eternal religion. It is, in fact, because the religion of Jesus is
in some respects the final religion. Produced by a perfectly spontaneous
movement of souls, freed at its birth from all dogmatic restraint, having
struggled three hundred years for liberty of conscience, Christianity, in spite
of its failures, still reaps the results of its glorious origin. To renew
itself, it has but to return to the Gospel. The kingdom of God, as we conceive
it, differs notably from the supernatural apparition which the first Christians
hoped to see appear in the clouds. But the sentiment introduced by Jesus into
the world is indeed ours. His perfect idealism is the highest rule of the
unblemished and virtuous life. He has created the heaven of pure souls, where is
found what we ask for in vain on earth, the perfect nobility of the children of
God, absolute purity, the total removal of the stains of the world; in fine,
liberty, which society excludes as an impossibility, and which exists in all its
amplitude only in the domain of thought. The great Master of those who take
refuge in this ideal kingdom of God is still Jesus. He was the first to proclaim
the royalty of the mind; the first to say, at least by his actions, "My kingdom
is not of this world." The foundation of true religion is indeed his work: after
him, all that remains is to develop it and render it fruitful.
"Christianity" has thus become almost a synonym of "religion."
All that is done outside of this great and good Christian tradition is barren.
Jesus gave religion to humanity, as Socrates gave it philosophy, and Aristotle
science. There was philosophy before Socrates and science before Aristotle.
Since Socrates and since Aristotle, philosophy and science have made immense
progress; but all has been built upon the foundation which they laid. In the
same way, before Jesus, religious thought had passed through many revolutions;
since Jesus, it has made great conquests: but no one has improved, and no one
will improve upon the essential principle Jesus has created; he has fixed
forever the idea of pure worship. The religion of Jesus in this sense is not
limited. The Church has had its epochs and its phases; it has shut itself up in
creeds which are, or will be but temporary: but Jesus has founded the absolute
religion, excluding nothing, and determining nothing unless it be the spirit.
His creeds are not fixed dogmas, but images susceptible of indefinite
interpretations. We should seek in vain for a theological proposition in the
Gospel. All confessions of faith are travesties of the idea of Jesus, just as
the scholasticism of the Middle Ages, in proclaiming Aristotle the sole master
of a completed science, perverted the thought of Aristotle. Aristotle, if he had
been present in the debates of the schools, would have repudiated this narrow
doctrine; he would have been of the party of progressive science against the
routine which shielded itself under his authority; he would have applauded his
opponents. In the same way, if Jesus were to return among us, he would recognize
as disciples, not those who pretend to enclose him entirely in a few catechismal
phrases, but those who labor to carry on his work. The eternal glory, in all
great things, is to have laid the first stone. It may be that in the "Physics,"
and in the "Meteorology" of modern times, we may not discover a word of the
treatises of Aristotle which bear these titles; but Aristotle remains no less
the founder of natural science. Whatever may be the transformations of dogma,
Jesus will ever be the creator of the pure spirit of religion; the Sermon on the
Mount will never be surpassed. Whatever revolution takes place will not prevent
us attaching ourselves in religion to the grand intellectual and moral line at
the head of which shines the name of Jesus. In this sense we are Christians,
even when we separate ourselves on almost all points from the Christian
tradition which has preceded us.
And this great foundation was indeed the personal work of Jesus.
In order to make himself adored to this degree, he must have been adorable. Love
is not enkindled except by an object worthy of it, and we should know nothing of
Jesus, if it were not for the passion he inspired in those about him, which
compels us still to affirm that he was great and pure. The faith, the
enthusiasm, the constancy of the first Christian generation is not explicable,
except by supposing at the origin of the whole movement, a man of surpassing
greatness. At the sight of the marvellous creations of the ages of faith, two
impressions equally fatal to good historical criticism arise in the mind. On the
one hand we are led to think these creations too impersonal; we attribute to a
collective action, that which has often been the work of one powerful will, and
of one superior mind. On the other hand, we refuse to see men like ourselves in
the authors of those extraordinary movements which have decided the fate of
humanity. Let us have a larger idea of the powers which Nature conceals in her
bosom. Our civilizations, governed by minute restrictions, cannot give us any
idea of the power of man at periods in which the originality of each one had a
freer field wherein to develop itself. Let us imagine a recluse dwelling in the
mountains near our capitals, coming out from time to time in order to present
himself at the palaces of sovereigns, compelling the sentinels to stand aside,
and, with an imperious tone, announcing to kings the approach of revolutions of
which he had been the promoter. The very idea provokes a smile. Such, however,
was Elias; but Elias the Tishbite, in our days, would not be able to pass the
gate of the Tuileries. The preaching of Jesus, and his free activity in Galilee,
do not deviate less completely from the social conditions to which we are
accustomed. Free from our polished conventionalities, exempt from the uniform
education which refines us, but which so greatly dwarfs our individuality, these
mighty souls carried a surprising energy into action. They appear to us like the
giants of an heroic age, which could not have been real. Profound error! Those
men were our brothers; they were of our stature, felt and thought as we do. But
the breath of God was free in them; with us, it is restrained by the iron bonds
of a mean society, and condemned to an irremediable mediocrity.
Let us place, then, the person of Jesus at the highest summit of
human greatness. Let us not be misled by exaggerated doubts in the presence of a
legend which keeps us always in a superhuman world. The life of Francis d'Assisi
is also but a tissue of miracles. Has any one, however, doubted of the existence
of Francis d'Assisi, and of the part played by him? Let us say no more that the
glory of the foundation of Christianity belongs to the multitude of the first
Christians, and not to him whom legend has deified. The inequality of men is
much more marked in the East than with us. It is not rare to see arise there, in
the midst of a general atmosphere of wickedness, characters whose greatness
astonishes us. So far from Jesus having been created by his disciples, he
appeared in everything as superior to his disciples. The latter, with the
exception of St. Paul and St. John, were men without either invention or genius.
St. Paul himself bears no comparison with Jesus, and as to St. John, I shall
show hereafter, that the part he played, though very elevated in one sense, was
far from being in all respects irreproachable. Hence the immense superiority of
the Gospels among the writings of the New Testament. Hence the painful fall we
experience in passing from the history of Jesus to that of the apostles. The
evangelists themselves, who have bequeathed us the image of Jesus, are so much
beneath him of whom they speak, that they constantly disfigure him, from their
inability to attain to his height. Their writings are full of errors and
misconceptions. We feel in each line a discourse of divine beauty, transcribed
by narrators who do not understand it, and who substitute their own ideas for
those which they have only half understood. On the whole, the character of
Jesus, far from having been embellished by his biographers, has been lowered by
them. Criticism, in order to find what he was, needs to discard a series of
misconceptions, arising from the inferiority of the disciples. These painted him
as they understood him, and often in thinking to raise him, they have in reality
lowered him.
I know that our modern ideas have been offended more than once
in this legend, conceived by another race, under another sky, and in the midst
of other social wants. There are virtues which, in some respects, are more
conformable to our taste. The virtuous and gentle Marcus Aurelius, the humble
and gentle Spinoza, not having believed in miracles, have been free from some
errors that Jesus shared. Spinoza, in his profound obscurity, had an advantage
which Jesus did not seek. By our extreme delicacy in the use of means of
conviction, by our absolute sincerity and our disinterested love of the pure
idea, we have founded—all we who have devoted our lives to science—a new ideal
of morality. But the judgment of general history ought not to be restricted to
considerations of personal merit. Marcus Aurelius and his noble teachers have
had no permanent influence on the world. Marcus Aurelius left behind him
delightful books, an execrable son, and a decaying nation. Jesus remains an
inexhaustible principle of moral regeneration for humanity. Philosophy does not
suffice for the multitude. They must have sanctity. An Apollonius of Tyana, with
his miraculous legend, is necessarily more successful than a Socrates with his
cold reason. "Socrates," it was said, "leaves men on the earth, Apollonius
transports them to heaven; Socrates is but a sage, Apollonius is a god."[1]
Religion, so far, has not existed without a share of asceticism, of piety, and
of the marvellous. When it was wished, after the Antonines, to make a religion
of philosophy, it was requisite to transform the philosophers into saints, to
write the "Edifying Life" of Pythagoras or Plotinus, to attribute to them a
legend, virtues of abstinence, contemplation, and supernatural powers, without
which neither credence nor authority were found in that age.
[Footnote 1: Philostratus, Life of Apollonius, i. 2, vii.
11, viii. 7; Unapius, Lives of the Sophists, pages 454, 500 (edition
Didot).]
Preserve us, then, from mutilating history in order to satisfy
our petty susceptibilities! Which of us, pigmies as we are, could do what the
extravagant Francis d'Assisi, or the hysterical saint Theresa, has done? Let
medicine have names to express these grand errors of human nature; let it
maintain that genius is a disease of the brain; let it see, in a certain
delicacy of morality, the commencement of consumption; let it class enthusiasm
and love as nervous accidents—it matters little. The terms healthy and diseased
are entirely relative. Who would not prefer to be diseased like Pascal, rather
than healthy like the common herd? The narrow ideas which are spread in our
times respecting madness, mislead our historical judgments in the most serious
manner, in questions of this kind. A state in which a man says things of which
he is not conscious, in which thought is produced without the summons and
control of the will, exposes him to being confined as a lunatic. Formerly this
was called prophecy and inspiration. The most beautiful things in the world are
done in a state of fever; every great creation involves a breach of equilibrium,
a violent state of the being which draws it forth.
We acknowledge, indeed, that Christianity is too complex to have
been the work of a single man. In one sense, entire humanity has co-operated
therein. There is no one so shut in, as not to receive some influence from
without. The history of the human mind is full of strange coincidences, which
cause very remote portions of the human species, without any communication with
each other, to arrive at the same time at almost identical ideas and
imaginations. In the thirteenth century, the Latins, the Greeks, the Syrians,
the Jews, and the Mussulmans, adopted scholasticism, and very nearly the same
scholasticism from York to Samarcand; in the fourteenth century every one in
Italy, Persia, and India, yielded to the taste for mystical allegory; in the
sixteenth, art was developed in a very similar manner in Italy, at Mount Athos,
and at the court of the Great Moguls, without St. Thomas, Barhebræus, the Rabbis
of Narbonne, or the Motécallémin of Bagdad, having known each other,
without Dante and Petrarch having seen any sofi, without any pupil of the
schools of Perouse or of Florence having been at Delhi. We should say there are
great moral influences running through the world like epidemics, without
distinction of frontier and of race. The interchange of ideas in the human
species does not take place only by books or by direct instruction. Jesus was
ignorant of the very name of Buddha, of Zoroaster, and of Plato; he had read no
Greek book, no Buddhist Sudra; nevertheless, there was in him more than one
element, which, without his suspecting it, came from Buddhism, Parseeism, or
from the Greek wisdom. All this was done through secret channels and by that
kind of sympathy which exists among the various portions of humanity. The great
man, on the one hand, receives everything from his age; on the other, he governs
his age. To show that the religion founded by Jesus was the natural consequence
of that which had gone before, does not diminish its excellence; but only proves
that it had a reason for its existence that it was legitimate, that is to say,
conformable to the instinct and wants of the heart in a given age.
Is it more just to say that Jesus owes all to Judaism, and that
his greatness is only that of the Jewish people? No one is more disposed than
myself to place high this unique people, whose particular gift seems to have
been to contain in its midst the extremes of good and evil. No doubt, Jesus
proceeded from Judaism; but he proceeded from it as Socrates proceeded from the
schools of the Sophists, as Luther proceeded from the Middle Ages, as Lamennais
from Catholicism, as Rousseau from the eighteenth century. A man is of his age
and his race even when he reacts against his age and his race. Far from Jesus
having continued Judaism, he represents the rupture with the Jewish spirit. The
general direction of Christianity after him does not permit the supposition that
his idea in this respect could lead to any misunderstanding. The general march
of Christianity has been to remove itself more and more from Judaism. It will
become perfect in returning to Jesus, but certainly not in returning to Judaism.
The great originality of the founder remains then undiminished; his glory admits
no legitimate sharer.
Doubtless, circumstances much aided the success of this
marvellous revolution; but circumstances only second that which is just and
true. Each branch of the development of humanity has its privileged epoch, in
which it attains perfection by a sort of spontaneous instinct, and without
effort. No labor of reflection would succeed in producing afterward the
masterpieces which Nature creates at those moments by inspired geniuses. That
which the golden age of Greece was for arts and literature, the age of Jesus was
for religion. Jewish society exhibited the most extraordinary moral and
intellectual state which the human species has ever passed through. It was truly
one of those divine hours in which the sublime is produced by combinations of a
thousand hidden forces, in which great souls find a flood of admiration and
sympathy to sustain them. The world, delivered from the very narrow tyranny of
small municipal republics, enjoyed great liberty. Roman despotism did not make
itself felt in a disastrous manner until much later, and it was, moreover,
always less oppressive in those distant provinces than in the centre of the
empire. Our petty preventive interferences (far more destructive than death to
things of the spirit) did not exist. Jesus, during three years, could lead a
life which, in our societies, would have brought him twenty times before the
magistrates. Our laws upon the illegal exercise of medicine would alone have
sufficed to cut short his career. The unbelieving dynasty of the Herods, on the
other hand, occupied itself little with religious movements; under the
Asmoneans, Jesus would probably have been arrested at his first step. An
innovator, in such a state of society, only risked death, and death is a gain to
those who labor for the future. Imagine Jesus reduced to bear the burden of his
divinity until his sixtieth or seventieth year, losing his celestial fire,
wearing out little by little under the burden of an unparalleled mission!
Everything favors those who have a special destiny; they become glorious by a
sort of invincible impulse and command of fate.
This sublime person, who each day still presides over the
destiny of the world, we may call divine, not in the sense that Jesus has
absorbed all the divine, or has been adequate to it (to employ an expression of
the schoolmen), but in the sense that Jesus is the one who has caused his
fellow-men to make the greatest step toward the divine. Mankind in its totality
offers an assemblage of low beings, selfish, and superior to the animal only in
that its selfishness is more reflective. From the midst of this uniform
mediocrity, there are pillars that rise toward the sky, and bear witness to a
nobler destiny. Jesus is the highest of these pillars which show to man whence
he comes, and whither he ought to tend. In him was condensed all that is good
and elevated in our nature. He was not sinless; he has conquered the same
passions that we combat; no angel of God comforted him, except his good
conscience; no Satan tempted him, except that which each one bears in his heart.
In the same way that many of his great qualities are lost to us, through the
fault of his disciples, it is also probable that many of his faults have been
concealed. But never has any one so much as he made the interests of humanity
predominate in his life over the littlenesses of self-love. Unreservedly devoted
to his mission, he subordinated everything to it to such a degree that, toward
the end of his life, the universe no longer existed for him. It was by this
access of heroic will that he conquered heaven. There never was a man,
Cakya-Mouni perhaps excepted, who has to this degree trampled under foot,
family, the joys of this world, and all temporal care. Jesus only lived for his
Father and the divine mission which he believed himself destined to fulfill.
As to us, eternal children, powerless as we are, we who labor
without reaping, and who will never see the fruit of that which we have sown,
let us bow before these demi-gods. They were able to do that which we cannot do:
to create, to affirm, to act. Will great originality be born again, or will the
world content itself henceforth by following the ways opened by the bold
creators of the ancient ages? We know not. But whatever may be the unexpected
phenomena of the future, Jesus will not be surpassed. His worship will
constantly renew its youth, the tale of his life will cause ceaseless tears, his
sufferings will soften the best hearts; all the ages will proclaim that among
the sons of men, there is none born who is greater than Jesus.
THE END
