Part 6 — CHAPTER III. MISSION OF THE SEVENTY—DISCOURSES AND MIRACLES. A.D. 29.

FROM this point the exact movements of our blessed Lord are enwrapped in some obscurity, and the region whither he now retired is a matter of conjecture. It seems probable, however, that He did not leave Judæa, but continued His ministrations within its frontier, and about this period sent forth the Seventy Disciples382 (Lk. x. 1–6), two and two before His face, to preach the word, and to visit various towns whither He Himself also intended to come (Lk. x. 1). After receiving specific instructions respecting their mission, the Seventy set out probably in the direction of Peræa, and after some short time returned to recount with much joy (Lk. x. 17) the success of their ministrations, and their discovery that even the evil spirits were subject to their Master’s Name.

One of the places visited by the Saviour during the present sojourn in Judæa, was the village of Bethany383 (Lk. x. 38), situated about 15 stadia from Jerusalem (Jn. xi. 18). Here the abode of two sisters, Martha and Mary384, and their brother Lazarus, was gladly thrown open to welcome Him, and each member of the little family enjoyed a share of His peculiar affection (Jn. xi. 5), and from time to time the sunshine of His presence.

Scanty as are the indications of the places the Holy One now visited, it seems clear that the effect of His ministry was not inconsiderable: multitudes gathered about Him to hear the Word of Life385 (Lk. xi. 16), and behold His works of power386. But the enmity of the Pharisees and the ruling body of the nation increased rather than lessened in intensity (Lk. xi. 53, 54). They still persisted in ascribing His power over unclean spirits to a secret collusion with the Evil One (Lk. xi. 14, 15; Mtt. ix. 32–34); reiterated their demand for a sign from heaven (Lk. xi. 29–36); carped at His refusal to conform to their superstitious observances in respect to divers washings (Lk. xi. 37–42); and stung to the quick by His denunciations of their hypocritical and bloodthirsty spirit387, bent all their efforts to entangle Him in His talk, and find some matter for accusation against Him (Lk. xi. 54).

Undeterred, however, by their ceaseless hostility, He persevered in His ministrations, warned His disciples in the presence of the multitudes, who crowded around Him in such numbers as to tread upon one another (Lk. xii. 1), against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Lk. xii. 1–4); reiterated His solemn words respecting blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Lk. xii. 10); and, refusing to accede to a request to divide an inheritance amongst two brothers, took occasion to warn His hearers against covetousness, and delivered the striking parable of the Rich Fool (Lk. xii. 13–21). Not merely, however, would He warn them against this common sin, but “knowing how often it springs from a distrust in God’s providential care388,” He proceeded to teach them where they might find a preservative against over-anxiety389 about the future, in the assurance of the loving care of a Father in heaven, who feeds the fowls of the heaven, though they neither sow nor reap, and have neither storehouse nor barn (Lk. xii. 22–24), and clothes the lilies390 of the field with a beauty, such as Solomon in all his glory never approached (Lk. xii. 27).

It was probably about this time that certain persons informed the Lord of a fresh outrage amongst the many that Pilate had committed391. On the occasion of the visit of a body of Galilæans, whose turbulent character has been already noted392, to Jerusalem, the governor for some unrecorded reason had slain them, and mingled their blood with the blood of the slain beasts they were offering on the Altar at the Temple393. If men “might have been supposed to be safe anywhere, or at any time, it would have been at the altar of God, and while in the act of offering sacrifices unto Him394;” their terrible death, therefore, appears to have been urged by the narrators of this outrage as a peculiar evidence of God’s anger against them, and of some unknown awful guilt395 on their part (Lk. xiii. 1, 2). But such hasty and cruel judgments the Lord instantly rebuked, and declared that the terrible ends of these sufferers no more marked them out as sinners above all other of their fellow-countrymen than certain eighteen persons on whom a tower of Siloam396 had recently fallen and crushed them beneath its ruins (Lk. xiii. 4). In such swift calamities they were not to trace the evidence of a pre-eminence of guilt on the part of the sufferers397, but a call to remember their own uncertain tenure of life, and to repentance398 while as yet the day of grace lasted, which solemn considerations He still further enforced by the appropriate parable of the Barren Fig-Tree (Lk. xiii. 6–9).

On a subsequent occasion the Lord entered a synagogue on the Sabbath-day (Lk. xiii. 10), where there was a woman inwardly afflicted in her spirit399 (Lk. xiii. 16), and outwardly with a permanent and unnatural contraction of her body (Lk. xiii. 11). Without waiting till His aid was sought, He forthwith called her to Him, and laying His hands upon her, said, Woman, thou art loosed from thy infirmity, whereupon the affliction of eighteen long years (Lk. xiii. 11) instantly left her, she was made straight, and glorified God. Such a cure, which excited the wonder of all present, was more than the ruler of the synagogue could bear, and he openly expressed his indignation at this violation of the Sabbath, remarking that there were six days in the week when such servile working as healing might be done, and bidding those who needed help come then, and not degrade the sanctity of the Sabbath-day (Lk. xiii. 14). Such hypocritical strictness on the part of one who sat in Moses’ seat and was regarded as a teacher of the Law, moved the Saviour’s righteous indignation. In words, the force of which was irresistible (Lk. xiii. 17), He justified that He had done by the “very relaxations of the Sabbath strictness400,” which the ruler of the synagogue himself allowed. Would he not loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to water on the Sabbath-day, and should he be blamed for merely speaking a word and releasing a daughter of Abraham from a bond with which Satan had enthralled her for so many years? The question admitted of no reply; even His adversaries were ashamed, while the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that had been done by Him (Lk. xiii. 17).