the Fatherly and compassionate love of God towards sinful and penitent man. Even in the Old Testament God is spoken of as a Father,1 a Good Shepherd,2 a Saviour,3 mankind being represented as His children, or His sons and daughters.4 In other ancient Jewish documents we find ideas and language corresponding with this, and also the expression “Heavenly Father”, so frequently put into Jesus' mouth by Matthew.5 There, too, we frequently find allusions to God's pity, mercy and pardon."

4. THE MINISTRY OF JESUS.

Jesus began His ministry as soon as He had heard of the imprisonment of John by Herod Antipas.7 We cannot doubt the truth of this statement, although it does not tally with the point of view given in the fourth Gospel. It must also be admitted that Jesus first of all exercised His ministry chiefly in Galilee, as the Synoptic Gospels inform us, and not in Judea, as the fourth Gospel would have it.9 The reason that prompted Jesus to renounce the calling of carpenter and start on His new career, was that He shared

Deut. xiv, 1; xxxii, 6; 2 Sam. vii, 14; Jer. iii, 4, 19; xxi, 9; Is. lxiii, 16; lxiv, 7; Mal. i, 6; Ps. lxviii, 6; xxix, 27; ciii, 13; Ecclesiasticus xxxiii, 1, 14; li, 1, 10; Wisdom ii, 16; xi, 10; xiv, 13.

2 Ps. xxiii, 1; Ecclesiasticus xviii, 13.

3 Is. liii, 8; Wisdom li, 1–12.

4 Is. lxiii, 8; Wisdom ix, 7; xii, 19-21; xvi, 10, 26; xviii, 4, 13; Ps. of Solomon xvii, 27; xviii, 4.

5 Weber, p. 150; Bousset, pp. 433 et seq.

6 Weber, pp. 149, 199, 250-2, 291-5.

7 Mark i, 14-15; vi, 17 et seq.; Matt. iv, 12 et seq.

Keim i, pp. 574-6, 588-590.

9 John ii, 12; V, 47. Cf. Keim i, pp. 592-4; ii, pp. 10-12,

110 et seq.

John the Baptist's conviction that the advent of the Kingdom of God and the Last Judgment inseparably connected therewith, was close at hand, and He must spread abroad this tidings as rapidly as possible, so that men's hearts might be disposed to repentance, and they might be saved. Moreover, He regarded the Jews as sheep without a shepherd, upon whom He had compassion, and whom He wished to bring back to the right path, while yet there was time.2

Jesus, therefore, became an itinerant preacher. Apparently He only continued John's ministry, announcing, as he did, the near approach of the Kingdom of God; but in reality a very notable difference between the two could soon be observed. The preaching of Jesus is called the Gospel or “good tidings", 3 because it actually was so. It was not the fear of God which was its predominating feature, as it had been in the Baptist's preaching, but the assurance of salvation, trust in God, and the joy and comfort it brings, for Jesus had a vivid idea of God's Fatherly love which was to be the central point of all His teaching. That is why the fasting practised by John and his disciples, and by the Pharisees, a practice expressive of sadness, seemed inappropriate to Jesus, who regarded Himself rather as a bridegroom rejoicing in the midst of His guests.4 Instead of the threats upon which John had laid such stress, He proclaimed the promise of happiness and salvation.5

43

Mark i, 15, 38-9; ii, 17; Matt. iv, 17, 23; x, 5-7, 23; Luke iv,
X, 9, II.

2 Mark vi, 34; Matt. ix, 36-7.

3 Mark i, 14-15; Matt. iv, 23; xi, 5; Luke vii, 22.

4 Mark ii, 18-19.

5 Luke vi, 20-3; vii, 23; x, 23; xii, 37, 43; xiv, 14; Matt. v, 3-9; xi, 6; xiii, 16; xxiv, 47; xxv, 21-3.

Such mild and tender sentiments were not to be found in John's preaching, for he himself was still too much dominated by fear of the God of Sinai. In contrast to this, the infinite mercy of the Heavenly Father would be the pivot of Jesus' teaching and give it an entirely new impress; it would be productive of effects quite other than those of the harsh reprimands and severe threats of His precursor. Those would indeed have awakened men's consciences; these would fill their hearts with profound love both for the God of the Gospel and for Him whose touching and impressive words made it known to them.

As a preacher Jesus to some extent resembled the Jewish teachers, certain of whose methods He imitated. Following their example, He sometimes taught in the synagogues; like them, He gathered His disciples around Him, to instruct and make helpers of them. But the learned rabbis had been educated in the schools, which Jesus had not. Then, too, their bearing was that of the interpreters of the law, and theologians of their race, whilst Jesus was a simple layman and a man of the people like John the Baptist and some of the older prophets. Neither did He confine His teaching to the synagogues and small circles of hearers, but preached to large crowds attracted by His simple yet inspiring words, uttered at times upon a hilltop, and at others upon the sea-shore, the teacher seated in a boat, or yet again in the wilderness, in any place where circumstances proved favourable.

His style differed in many other respects from that of the Jewish teachers, and the populace were quick to note this. Their learned men were pre-eminently

• Mark i, 21-22.

exegetists, interpreters of the Sacred Writings. They applied themselves to expounding with painstaking care, but in a method which left much to be desired, the Biblical passages, especially those relating to the Law, which formed the basis and foundation of the Jewish faith. Their theory was a slavish observance of the letter, and they claimed that not an iota of it might be abrogated. Their second rule of faith and the subject of their teaching was the Tradition of the Elders, and this they endeavoured to reproduce and transmit to their hearers, especially their actual disciples, with meticulous and scrupulous zeal. The words uttered by Jesus, on the other hand, were free and spontaneous. Above all, He expressed the thoughts and feelings of His own soul. A close communion with God, and a life in God, were really the main source of His inspiration. His teaching and exhortation were not dependent upon intellectual scholarship acquired by study, but arose spontaneously out of His own heart's inmost experience, and the impression He produced upon His hearers was all the more powerful. His authority, like that of the older prophets and the Baptist, was entirely a spiritual one. He spoke as the Spirit from above inspired Him at the moment. His words came from the heart, and deeply affected the hearts of others; they awakened the conscience and stimulated the will.

Jesus was moreover a very popular speaker, using words which would reach the level of the very simplest people, while yet continually discussing religious and moral questions of the very highest consequence. Therefore for a considerable part of His ministry we often find Him surrounded by an enormous crowd,

very loth to leave Him. To souls thirsting for enlightenment and truth, faith and hope, He offered spiritual sustenance of the most wholesome and satisfying nature. Sometimes His sayings were short and pithy, making a profound impression on the memory; and sometimes He expounded the truths of the Gospel in concrete form in those wonderful parables we know, which clearly demonstrate His truly great artistic gifts. He loved a paradox, for this excites attention and provokes thought. He could also speak jestingly, but when occasion demanded, He could just as readily chide, in an outburst of righteous anger, and He would hurl the most severe reprimands at His adversaries, especially the Pharisees, whose show of external piety was, in His eyes, the purest hypocrisy.3

The depth of Jesus' teaching and the remarkable form which clothed it have again and again been attested in our days, in spite of the critics' diversity of opinion regarding the value and interpretation of certain essentials of His doctrine.4

Side by side with the preaching of the Gospel, an integral part of Jesus' ministry was the healing of the sick, especially the casting-out of devils, for the ancients, who knew nothing of the natural causes of disease, attributed all maladies to the influence of

Matt. v, 39-40; Luke vi, 29–30.

Mark vii, 9; Luke vii, 31-4; xi, 5 et seq.; xviii, 1 et seq.; Matt. xi, 16-19.

3 Matt. xxiii, 13-39; Luke xi, 39–52; xiii, 34.

4 Hausrath, op. cit., i, pp. 356-65; Keim ii, pp. 101-10; Beyschlag, Das Leben Jesu, 2nd ed., i, p. 322 et seq.; Holtzmann, Theologie, i, pp. 173-8; Loisy, Synoptiques, i, p. 229, 244.