JESUS
379
JESUS
appears to satisfy all the chita furnished \fy the tios-
pels, while it does not contradict the particulars added
iiy tradition.
(2) The Hidden Life of Jesus. — It was in the seclu- sion of Nazareth that Jesus spent the greatest part of His earthly life. The inspired records are very reti- cent about this period: Luke, ii, 40-52; Mark, vi, 3; John, vi, 42; vii, 15, are about the only passages which refer to the hidden life. Some of them give us a gen- eral view of Christ's life: "The child grew, and waxed strong, full of wisdom; antl the grace of God was in him" is the brief summary of the years following the return of the Holy Family after the ceremonial purifi- cation in the Temple. "Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men", and He "was subject to them" form the inspired outline of Christ's life in Nazareth after He had attained the age of twelve. "When he was twelve years old" Jesus ac- companied His parents to Jerusalem, "according to the custom of the feast"; "When they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not." "After three days, they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions." It was on this occasion that Jesus spoke the only words that have come down from the period of His hidden life: " How is it that you sought me? Did j'ou not know, that I must be about my Father's business [or, " in my father's house "]? " The Jews tell us that Jesus had not. passed through the training of the Rabbinic schools: "How doth this man know letters, having never learned?" The same question is asked by the people of Nazareth, who add, "Is not this the carpenter?" St. Justin is authority for the statement that Jesus specially made "ploughs and yokes" (Contra Tryph., 88). Though it is not certain that at the time of Jesus elementary schools existed in the Jewish villages, it may be in- ferred from the Gospels that Jesus knew how to read (Luke, iv, 16) and write (John, viii, 6). At an early age He must have learned the so-called Shema (Deut., vi, 4), and the Hallel, or Pss. cxiii-cxviii (Hebr.) ; He must have been familiar with the other parts of the Scriptures too, especially the Psalms and the Pro- phetic Books, as He constantl.y refers to them in His pulilie life. It is also asserted that Palestine at the time of Jesus Christ was practically bilingual, so that Christ must have spoken Aramaic and Greek; the indications that He was acquainted with Hebrew and Latin are rather slight. The public teaching of Jesus shows that He was a close observer of the sights and sounds of nature, and of the habits of all classes of men. For these are the usual sources of His illustra- tions. To conclude, the hidden life of Jesus extending through thirty years is far different from what one should have expected in the case of a Person Who is adored by His followers as their God and revered as their Saviour; this is an indirect proof for the credi- bility of the Gospel story.
(3) The Public Life of Jesus. — The chronology of the public life offers a number of problems to the interpreter; we shall touch upon only two, the dura- tion of the public life, and the successive journeys it contains.
(a) Duration of the Public Life. — There are two extreme views as to the length of the ministry of Je<us: St. IreniBUs (Contra Ha;r., II, xxii, .3-6) ap- jiears to suggest a period of fifteen years; the pro- phetic phrases, "the year of recompenses", and "the yearof my redemption" (Is., xxxiv, 8; Ixiii, 4), appear to have induced Clement of Alexandria, Julius Afri- canus, Philastrius. Hilarioii, and two or three other patristic writers to allow only one year for the public life. This lifer opinion has found advocates among certain recent students: von Sotlen, for instance, de- fends it in Cheyne's " Encyclopa'dia Biblica". But the text of the Gospels demands a more extensive duration- St. John's Gospel distinctly mentions three
distinct paschs in the history of Christ's ministr.v (ii,
13; vi, 4; xi, 55). The first of the.se occurs shortly
after the baptism of Jesus, the last coincides with His
Passion, so that at least two years must have inter-
vened between the two events to give us the necessary
room for the passover mentioned in vi, 4. Westcott
and Hort omit the expression "the pasch" in vi, 4, to
compress the ministry of Jesus within the space of one
year; but all the manuscripts, the versions, and nearly
all the Fathers testify for the reading 'Hi' Si ^77<>tTd
5rd<rxa, ^ ^opTT) Till loKSofoi': "Now the pasch, the festival
day of the Jews, was near at hand." Thus far then
everything tends to favour the view of those patristic
writers and more recent commentators who extend
the period of Christ's ministry a little over two years.
But a comparison of St. John's Gospel with the Synoptic Evangelists seems to introduce another pasch, indicated in the Fourth Gospel, into Christ's public life. John, iv, 45, relates the return of Jesus into Galilee after the first pasch of His public life spent in Jerusalem, and the same event is lold by .Mark, i, 14, and Luke, iv, 14. Again, the pasch mentioned in John, vi, 4, has its parallel in the "green grass" of Mark, vi, 39, and in the multiplication of loaves as told in Luke, i.x, 12 sqq. But the plucking of ears men- tioned in Mark, ii, 23, and Luke, vi, 1, implies another paschal season intervening between those expressly mentioned in John, ii, 13, and vi, 4. This shows that the public life of Jesus must ha\e extcniled over four paschs, so that it must have lasted three years and a few months. Though theFourthCiospel does not indi- cate this fourth pasch as clearlj' as the other three, it is not wholly silent on the question. The " festival day of the Jews" mentioned in John, v, 1, has been identi- fiecl with the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Taber- nacles, the Feast of Expiation, the Feast of the New Moon, the Feast of Purim, the Feast of Dedication, by various commentators; others openly confess that they cannot determine to which of the Jewish feasts this festival day refers. Nearly all difficulties will dis- appear if the festival day be regarded as the pasch, as both the text (fop^ij) and John, iv, 35 seem to demand (cf. Dublin Review, XXIII, 351 srjq.).
(b) Journeys of Jesus during His Public Life. — The journeys Jesus made during His public life may be grouped under nine heads: the first six were mainly performed in Galilee and had Capharnaum for their central point; the last three bring Jesus into Judea without any pronounced central point. We cannot enter into the disputed questions connected with the single incidents of the various groups.
(i) First Journey. — Dec, A. v. c. 778-Spring, 779. (Cf. John, i, ii; Matt., iii, iv; Mark, i; Luke, iii, iv.) Jesus abandons His hidden life in Nazareth, and goes to Bethania across the Jordan, where He is baptized by John and receives the Baptist's first testimony to His Divine mission. He then withdraws into the desert of Judea, where He fasts for forty days and is tempted by the devil. After this He dwells in the neighbourhood of the Baptist's ministry, and receives the hitter's second and third testimony; here too He wins Ilis first disciples, with whom He journeys to the wedding feast at ('ina in (lulil('(\ whrrc He |ierforms His first public miracle. Finally He Inuisfcrs Ilis resi- dcMice, so far as there can be question of a residence in His public life, to Capharnaum, one of the principal thoroughfares of commerce and travel in Galilee.
(ii) Second Journey. — Pas.sover, a. u.c. 779-about Pentecost, 780. (Cf. John, ii-v; Mark, i-iii; Luke, iv- vii ; Matt., iv-ix.) Jesus goes from Capharnaum to Je- rusaleni for the Feast of the Passover; here He expels the buyers and sellers from the Temple, and is ques- tioned !i> the .lewish authorities. Many believed in .lesus, and N'icodetuus came to converse with Him dur- ing the nif^lit. After the festival days He ri'mained in Judea till about the following December, during which period He received the fourth testimony from John
