2. The inauguration of his public ministry.-He first enters upon his life-work by receiving baptism at the hands of John the Baptist, in the Jordan; prepares for it by his mysterious experience of temptation in the wilderness; signalizes it by his attendance on and miracle at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, and his expulsion of the traders from the temple at Jerusalem. Here, in conversation with Nicodemus, he reveals privately the truths of atonement and regeneration, which are not publicly preached till much later. But he does not commence the public preaching of the Gospel till the arrest and imprisonment of John the Baptist, some months subsequent, though one miracle and some teaching in Samaria, consequent upon his conversation with the woman at the well, are recorded by John. This era is reported by Matt., chaps. 3, 4: 1-11; Mark 1: 1-13; Luke, chaps. 3, 4: 1–13; and John, chaps. 1 to 4. To this period belong the journeys 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the accompanying map. 3. His ministry in Galilee.—He begins his ministry by preaching a sermon at Nazareth, where he is mobbed, and whence he departs to make Capernaum his home; calls four disciples by the seashore to follow him; then Matthew; then the rest of the twelve. These he ordains, and to them, in the Sermon on the Mount, he explains the fundamental principles of his kingdom. During this ministry he attends the Passover at Jerusalem, where, by his healing on the Sabbath, the first open opposition to him and his teaching is excited. He then returns to Galilee; his ministry there is one of constantly increasing popularity, though also of increasing opposition, mainly stimulated by emissaries from Judea. He begins to employ parables, as a means of interpreting the nature of the kingdom he had before simply announced. He commissions his apostles to preach it also, and by their aid the Gospel is proclaimed throughout all Galilee. At length the popular enthusiasm reaches its height in a determination to make him king by force; he declares, in the sermon which John alone (chap. 6) has reported, the spiritual character of his kingdom, and the self-sacrifice it entails; the popular feeling, tested by this revelation, proves itself untrustworthy; many that were inclined to follow abandon him, and his public ministry in Galilee comes to an end. This period of Christ's ministry is reported by Matt., chap. 4: 12 to chap. 15: 20; Mark, chap. 1 to chap. 7: 23; and Luke, chap. 4 14 to chap. 9: 17. John reports Christ's journey to Jerusalem to attend the Passover, and his miracle of feeding the five thousand and subsequent sermon thereon, but nothing else of this period of his life.1 To this period belong the largest number of our Lord's miracles, and his simplest and most fundamental teaching, and most of his longest public discourses, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, the Parables by the sea-shore, and the Sermon or Commission to the twelve. 4. The period of his retirement.—After the close of his ministry in Galilee, Christ spends a few brief months in retirement with his disciples, during which time he visits successively the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, the region about Cesarea Philippi, and the eastern coast of the Sea of Galilee. The miracles performed during this time are comparatively few, and are kept, as far as practicable, from public notice; the indications of a constant endeavor to avoid the people are many; and the instructions are chiefly in private, to the twelve, and concerning the principles which are to actuate them in the future conduct of the church. To this period belongs the healing of the Syro-Phoenician woman's daughter, Peter's confession of our Lord's divinity, the Transfiguration, and the feeding of the four thousand. The accounts of it are found in Matthew, chap. 15: 21 to chap. 19; Mark, chap. 7: 24 to chap. 9; Luke, chap. 9: 18-62. John does not refer to any portion of it. This and the previous era include the journeys marked 5 and 6 on the accompanying map, and all the journeys indicated on the Map of the Sea of Gennesaret which accompanies Mark, chap. 1. 5. The ministry in Judea. This lasted for three months, from the feast of Tabernacles in October, to the feast of Dedication in December. It is reported exclusively by John, chap. 7:1 to chap. 10: 39, unless, as may be the case, the parables of the Good Samaritan, and the Pharisee and Publican, and the incident in the house of Martha and Mary 2 belong to the same epoch. 6. The ministry in Perea.—This name was given to all that part of Palestine which lay beyond the Jordan. It was occupied by a population partly Jewish, partly heathen. Driven out of Jerusalem I believe that Jesus went into Perea, where he prosecuted his ministry during the winter months, and where he commissioned the seventy to aid him, as before in Galilee he had commissioned the twelve: This is a more probable account of his life than that which supposes his retirement to Galilee and the resumption of his teaching there, after he had turned his back upon it and pronounced his denunciation upon the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. According to this view the chief portion of the teachings and events recorded in Luke, chap. 10 to chap. 18: 34, together with those recorded in Matthew, chap. 19: 1 to chap. 20: 16, and Mark 10: 1-31, belong to this period. From the ministry in Perea Christ was called by the intelligence of the sickness of Lazarus, and after the resurrection of Lazarus, recorded alone by John, chap. 11, retired 1 John, chaps. 5 and 6...... Luke 10: 25-42; 18: 9-14. 2 to Ephraim, where he remained till the time for his Passion had arrived. The journeys marked 7 and 8 on the map, belong to this and the previous era, though I do not agree with the map in supposing that Christ went at this time into Galilee, a supposition which is not supported by evidence. 7. The Passion week.-The events of this week are recorded by all the Evangelists. Christ's triumphal entry into the city took place on Sunday. The two following days, Monday and Tuesday, were occupied with the instructions in the Temple, reported most fully by Matthew, ending with a terrible denunciation of the Pharisees, and followed by a prophecy, given to the disciples alone, of the impending destruction of Jerusalem and Judaism. These discourses are much more fully reported by Matthew than by Mark or Luke. Wednesday was spent in retirement at Bethany, at which time, as I think, the supper was given to Christ and he was anointed by Mary, his rebuke of Judas Iscariot at that time being the immediate occasion of the latter's treachery. The Passover supper with the twelve in Jerusalem, took place on Thursday evening, and was followed by the agony in Gethsemane, the arrest, the mock trial, and finally the crucifixion on Friday. Compare for accounts of this week, Matthew, chaps. 21 to 27; Mark, chaps. 11 to 15; Luke, chap. 19: 29 to chap. 23; John 12 to 19. 8. The Resurrection.-The accounts of the resurrection are given by Matthew, chap. 28; Mark, chap. 16; Luke, chap. 24; and John, chaps. 20, 21. These outlines of Christ's life I believe to be tolerably clear and certain. For the more detailed harmony of the Gospels, and the probable though confessedly conjectural order of the events narrated, the student is referred to the following Harmony, which, however, he must remember is largely conjectural. TABULAR HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS. Where the same incident or teaching is treated by more than one of the Synoptic Evangelists in substantially the same manner, the notes are given in full in one Gospel, and only peculiarities of statement or diction are treated in the other. In this table the black-faced type indicates that the reader may expect to find full notes on the passage so marked. The notes on John are full throughout. II. INAUGURATION OF PUBLIC MINISTRY. FROM SUMMER, A.D. 26, TO DEC., A.D. 27. Bethlehem. Bethlehem. Jerusalem. Bethlehem. 2:1-12. Jerusalem. 1:18-25. |