Part 6 — CHAPTER IV. THE FEAST OF DEDICATION—TOUR IN PERÆA. A.D. 29.

BY the time the incident recorded in the last Chapter took place, the season of winter had returned (Jn. x. 22), and the snow lay upon the mountains401. With the return of winter came also the celebration of the Feast of Dedication402, on the 25th of the month Chisleu, which lasted eight days. On this occasion the Lord once more visited Jerusalem, and presented Himself in the Temple, and probably on account of the wintry state of the weather sought shelter in “Solomon’s Porch403,” where He was speedily encircled by the Jews (Jn. x. 24), who began with eager impetuosity to enquire how long He intended to keep them in suspense, and to ask that if He was the Messiah He would tell them so plainly and distinctly (Jn. x. 24).

The question appears to have been put neither in a hostile nor unfriendly tone, and indicates a wish on the part of the ruling powers to discover whether He might not be induced to set Himself forth as the Messiah they expected, and, like a second Judas Maccabæus, whose exploits they were commemorating, deliver them from the hated yoke of the foreigner404.

In reply, however, to their question, the Holy One contented Himself with pointing to the wonderful works He had already wrought in their midst. This testimony they had refused to receive, for neither in their aims nor desires were they of His sheep (Jn. x. 26). His sheep heard His voice, and He knew them, and He would give them eternal life, nor should any ever snatch them out of His hand (Jn. x. 27, 28); for the Eternal Father in heaven had given them to Him, and He and the Father were one (Jn. x. 29).

This solemn and mysterious language, this claim to essential unity with the eternal Father, again405 provoked the anger of His hearers. Their earthly and carnal hopes centered on some great earthly conqueror. The words of the Holy One sounded in their ears like blasphemy, and taking up some of the stones lying around for the repairs406 of the Temple which were almost always going on, they were on the point of stoning Him as He stood.

But He calmed their fury by enquiring for which of His many works, that proved by their moral goodness no less than the power they displayed, His union with the Father, they wished to stone Him. In reply the Jews declared that it was His blasphemous words which made them act as they now did, for though a man, He claimed a union with God (Jn. x. 32, 33). This charge the Holy One repelled by reference to their own sacred books407. Was not the title of God sometimes applied there to the judges and rulers of the nation (Ps. lxxxii. 6408), and was it with less justice applicable to One, whose wondrous works proved His intercommunion with the Father and His Divine mission to the world? (Jn. x. 34–38). This reply only excited a fresh burst of fury, and though the Jews gave up their design of stoning Him, they tried to apprehend Him and bring Him before their courts (Jn. x. 29).

But His “hour” was not yet come, and retiring from the capital, He crossed the Jordan, and sought the fords of Bethabara or Bethany, where His forerunner at first baptized (Jn. x. 40). In this region, where that eminent servant of God had closed his course409, it was proved that “though dead he yet spake.” Many remembered his burning words and faithful testimony to the Messiah, whom the Jews at Jerusalem had rejected, and acknowledging the truth of His words, gathered round the Saviour (Jn. x. 41), and avowed their belief in Him.

Still even here He had to encounter hostile opposition. His indefatigable enemies, the Pharisees, penetrated His seclusion and represented that Herod Antipas, within whose dominions He now was, sought opportunity to kill Him (Lk. xiii. 31). But He saw through their cunning and hypocrisy, no less than the fox-like (Lk. xiii. 32) craft of the Tetrarch, by whom they had been probably suborned410. He, doubtless, would be glad to get out of his territory411 One, whose fame caused him so much perplexity, and they would be no less anxious to drive Him from a quarter, where He was comparatively safe, to the hostile neighbourhood of Jerusalem412. But though it was impossible that a prophet could perish elsewhere than in a capital, which had slain so many who had been sent to it417, yet there was still time for the performance of works of mercy (Lk. xiii. 32, 33), for the healing of the sick, and the expulsion of demons, before He went up to Jerusalem, whose children He would so often have gathered together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing418, but they would not, and whose house was now left unto them desolate (Lk. xiii. 34, 35).

Of the works of mercy here mentioned, apparently but one is actually recorded by the Evangelist. At the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, to which He had been invited (Lk. xiv. 1) on the Sabbath-day, for a hostile purpose419, the Holy One healed a man afflicted with dropsy (Lk. xiv. 2–6), and taking occasion from the associations of the time and place, not only rebuked the haughty selfishness with which the Pharisees claimed the chief seats at feasts (Lk. xiv. 7–14), but also uttered the appropriate parable of the Great Supper (Lk. xiv. 15–24).

In the same neighbourhood also, finding Himself surrounded by great crowds, amongst which some indicated a wish to follow Him, He addressed them solemnly on the self-denial required of all who would be His real disciples (Lk. xiv. 25–35), and the necessity for first counting the cost, and taking up the cross if they would truly follow Him. On another occasion a great number of tax-gatherers, who were very numerous near Jericho and the Jordan fords420, gathered round Him, together with many regarded as profligate sinners. Their eagerness to listen to His teaching, and His willingness to receive and eat with them (Lk. xv. 1), roused again the hostility of the Pharisees and Scribes, and provoked them to open murmuring. But, undeterred by their opposition, the Good Shepherd, with striking appropriateness now, gave utterance to the parables of the Lost Sheep (Lk. xv. 1), the Lost Coin (Lk. xv. 8–10), and the Prodigal Son (Lk. xv. 11–32), and afterwards addressed to His disciples, though in the hearing of the Pharisees, those of the Unjust Steward (Lk. xvi. 1–13), and of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Lk. xvi. 19–31).