“There is a fascination about Jesus Christ that we find in no other person who has ever lived. When he walked the earth men were awed by his presence, were drawn to him by an His indescribable power. He was so winsome and gracious that little children yearned to climb on his knee, and yet so manly and stern that strong men stepped aside to let him pass, or ran from the temple when he accused them of making it a den of thieves. After nineteen centuries Jesus is still the disturbing, surprising, fascinating Master of men.” (From “Readers’ Digest”, July, 1954).
Apart from some worthless apocryphal gospels there are no reliable records of the early life of Jesus except those of Matthew and Luke: of these two Matthew records only his birth, Herod’s attempt to kill him, the flight to Egypt and return to Nazareth when the child was only about two years of age; Luke gives a more detailed record of the circumstances relating to his birth, ending with chapter 2 verse 39. Then follows a gap of ten years until, at the age of twelve, we find him in Jerusalem discussing with the Doctors of the Law and hinting at his divine paternity, which plainly exhibits the piety of his mind. From this incident we have another gap of eighteen years till he began his ministry, at the age of thirty (Luke 3. 23).
We would very much like to know how he lived during this period, but the only information Luke gives us is that “he increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Ch. 2. 52).
The public esteem in which Jesus was held at the time of his baptism is evidenced by the multitudes who flocked to hear him, a popularity which could not have arisen immediately. His fame as a good man had obviously become well known: John the Baptist attests this fact when Jesus presented himself before the Baptist requesting to be baptised—What! exclaimed John, you come to me to be baptised—rather have I need to be baptised of thee; and moreover when the Pharisees sent to enquire of John he replied, “I am not worthy to unloose the latchet of his shoes!” And let us remember that John himself was held in the highest esteem by the people; how much more then Jesus? After his baptism the numbers that attached themselves to this new teacher began to increase above those of John, which could only have resulted from an extensive knowledge of the man and his exalted bearing. John cheerfully acquiesced in the increasing popularity of his cousin: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Another inference which proves the extraordinary excellence of Jesus during the gap of eighteen years we have referred to arises from the immediate acknowledgment of his Messiahship at his baptism, first by Andrew, then by Peter, Phillip and Nathaniel—all of Galilee; then by James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Mat. 4. 18-22; John I. 35-51; John 21. 2) ; then by Matthew (Levi), the publican (Mat. 9. 9)—all of Galilee. These men followed Jesus immediately they were called. Surely they would not have committed themselves to an unknown person on so important a mission. The reputation of Jesus must have impressed the whole country and was to be further enhanced by his wonderful power of oratory, shall we say, for even his enemies declared, “Never man spake like this man”, and the congregation at Capernaum were enraptured at the “gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth”.
It is important to keep in mind that this recognition and call of the above-mentioned disciples occurred during the first few days or certainly not many weeks, after his baptism and it can only be explained on a countrywide reputation, which could never have survived his death were it not true. I have mentioned seven disciples, all of Galilee, and of the next four there is reason to believe that they were also of the same province, namely Thomas (John 21. 2), James, the son of Alphaeus, probably brother of Matthew (compare Mark 2. 14 and 3. 18), Thaddaeus (Judas) and Simon the zealot. It is thought that Salome the mother of James and John was sister to Mary the mother of Jesus, which might explain the apparent intimacy of Jesus with all those Galileans already mentioned and why he made his home at Capernaum,where Peter lived (Luke 31. 31-38). Judas Iscariot was the only Judean among his disciples. In the gospel narrative we find a very close association between Jesus, Peter, James and John in particular.
We have very good reason to suppose that there was no hostility shown to Jesus before his baptism: from that event, however, his Messiahship was declared, which was thereupon questioned by the Jewish leaders and doctors of the law, who later developed a deep hatred of him. Since it was clear to Jesus that the nation would not acknowledge his claim he was compelled to “call out” from the synagogue those who had the courage to acknowledge him and who would form the nucleus of “His Church” as opposed to the synagogue. That selection appears to have begun at Capernaum. Having then formed His Church he began preaching throughout the country that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. That many responded to his call is evident from the fact that he was able to send 70 disciples to precede him on his preaching tours, and at the time of his crucifixion there was in the hostile city itself at least 120 disciples, and many others in the synagogues afraid to confess him lest they be put out of the synagogue (John 7. 13: 9. 22).
After his baptism he returned to Galilee and on the way he performed at Cana his first miracle (John 2. 11). It is obvious from this fact that his popularity did not rest on any previous supernatural powers. Jesus then proceeded to Capernaum, where he made his home. From here he went to Jerusalem to attend his first passover, on which occasion he manifested his zeal for the sanctity of the temple in that he forced out the money-changers and those that sold sheep and doves. Of course, the Pharisees required to know by what authority he did these things, and so the antagonism to his claims began to increase as time went on. It was on this occasion that Nicodemus came to him by night for fear of the Jews and acknowledged his claim for “No man”, he says, “can do these miracles unless God be with him” (John 3. 2). On his way back to Galilee he met the woman of Samaria at the well of Jacob and to her he openly declared himself to be the Messiah (John 4. 25).
Arriving again at Capernaum he performed This second miracle (John 4. 54). At his next passover at Jerusalem, his second, he performed a miracle on the Sabbath day and the Pharisees questioned his authority fo¢ so flagrant a breach of their law: by this question he was obliged to justify himself by explaining to them his divine origin, which was a feature of Messianic truth according to the word of God, and by so doing raised the fury of the Jews. From now on they sought to bring about his death: the persecution against him was now intensified. In John’s narrative from ch. 7. 2 to the end is a record of things said and done in Judea: the synoptic gospels, meanwhile, recorded the events which occurred in Galilee.
According to Robinson, Jesus did not attend the third passover at Jerusalem on account of the plots against his life, “for his time had not yet come”, he says, so he remained in Galilee until the last passover, the fourth, in connection with which Luke states (9. 51) the time was now come that he should be received up and he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Why steadfastly? Because he was about to enter the city which had killed the prophets and he would be the last. On this occasion he sent messengers before his face, followed by another 70 (Luke 10. 1). As they journeyed they preached of the coming Kingdom of Heaven and made all necessary preparations for the passover.
The disciples were perplexed at his allusions to his coming death. They were expecting the immediate appearing of the kingdom (Luke 19. 11) and as he approached the Holy City the people spread their garments in the way and took palm branches in their hands to welcome the king with the strains of their Hosannas. After his transfiguration Jesus forbade his disciples to openly ,proclaim to the public his Messiahship (Mat. 16. 20). This may seem somewhat perplexing in view of his own profession to the woman of Samaria, but Doddridge has suggested by way of explanation that to go about talking of another reign, like Paul at Thessalonica (Acts 17.6), would probably be misunderstood by the Romans authorities as subversive an revolutionary. His resurrection revived the truth of Messiah, an the triumph of the church arose from the reputation of his sinless life during his early years, followed by his public ministry of unexampled oratory, power and goodness.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One