Ministry

). Moreover, the fourth gospel is confirmed by the probability, rising almost to necessity, that such a mission as Jesus conceived his to be must seek first to win the leaders of his people. The temple at Jerusalem was the centre of worship, drawing all Jews sooner or later to itself--even as Jesus in early youth was accustomed to go thither at the time of feasts (Luke ii. 41). Worshippers of God

, 31) it seems highly probable that it is one sided, emphasizing those events and teachings in which Jesus disclosed more or less clearly his claim to be the Messiah. Doubtless the full record would show a much closer similarity between this ea

preciated the opportunity to charge good prices for the accommodation so afforded. The result was the intrusion of the spirit of the market-place, with all its disputes and haggling, into the place set apart for worship. In fact, the only part of the temple open to Gentiles who might wish to worship Israel's God was filled with distraction, unseemly strife, and extortion (compare Mark xi. 17). Such despite done the sanctity of God's house must have outraged the pious sense of many a devout Israelite. There is no doubt of what an Isaiah or a Micah would have said and done in such a situation. This is exactly what Jesus did. His act was the as

n John, together with the seeming necessity that Jesus should condemn such authorized affront to the very idea of worship, mark this cleansing as the inaugural act of Jesus' ministry of spiritual religion, rather than as a final stern rebuke closing his effort to win his people. Against the conclusion commonly held that Jesus cleansed the temple both at the opening and at the close of his course is the extreme improbability th

temple because they were destroying it as a place where men could worship God in spirit. In reply to the challenge, he who later taught the Samaritan woman that the worship of God is not dependent on any place however sacred, answered that they might finish their work and destroy the temple as a house of God, yet he would speedily re-establish a true means of approach to the Most High for the

that Jesus must make disciples who should understand in some measure at least his idea of God's kingdom, and, understanding, must be ready to be loyal to it through good report and evil. For the position taken by the leaders of the people had an ominous significance. It could mean but one thing for Jesus,--unrelenting conflict. If t

out the new teacher by night, and showed his desire to learn what Jesus held to be truth concerning God's kingdom. Jesus first reminded the teacher of Israel of the old doctrine of the prophets, that Israel must find a new heart before God's kingdom can come (Jer. xxxi. 31-34; Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27), and then declared that the heavenly tru

9); and it may be that at the time of this sojourn he won the hearts of his friends in Bethany, for the first picture the gospels give of this household seems to presuppose a somewhat intimate relation of Jesus to the family (Luke

d received his self-effacing confession, "He must increase, I must decrease." The Pharisees, on the other hand, made Jesus feel that further work in Judea was for the time unwise, and he withdrew into Galilee for retirement, since "a prophet has no honor in his own country" (John iv. 1-3, 44). Baffled in his first effort to win his people, this journey back from the region of the holy city must have been one of no little sadness for Jesus. Some urgency for haste led him by the direct road through despised Samaria. A seemingly chance conversation with a woman at Ja

as a measure of public safety owing to John's undue popularity (Jos. Ant. xviii. 5. 2). Herod may have been encouraged to take this step by the hostility of the Pharisees to the plain-spoken prophet of the desert (see John iv. 1-3). T

n hearing the father's cry of need and trust, he at once spoke the word of healing. This event is in so many ways a duplicate of the cure of a centurion's servant recorded in Matthew and Luke, that to many it seems but another version of the same incident. Considering the variations in the story reported by Matthew and Luke, it is clearly not possible to prove that John tells of a different case. Yet the simple fact of similarity of some details in two eve

mighty works was of a sort that Jesus could not encourage. The situation in Judea had at length become so nearly untenable that he decided to withdraw into seclusion in Galilee, where, as a prophet, he could be "without honor." He had gone to Jerusalem eager to begin ther

he Galilean Ministry (

rawal of Jesus into Galilee--Matt. iv.

to Capernaum--Matt.

James and John--Matt. iv. 18-2

-Matt. viii. 14-17; Mark

. iv. 23; viii. 2-4; Mark i. 3

ernaum--Matt. ix. 2-8; Mar

att. ix. 9-13; Mark ii

tt ix. 14-17; Mark ii. 18-22; Lu

m at the unnamed feast--Jo

grain fields--Matt. xii. 1-8; Mark ii. 2

withered hand--Matt. xii. 9-14; Mark iii.

ll parts--Matt. iv. 23-25; xii. 15-

ve--Matt. x. 2-4; Mark i

. v. 1 to viii. 1; Luke vi. 2

rvant--Matt. viii. 5-13; Luk

he widow's son at Na

in prison--Matt. xi.

sus by a sinful wom

on his second circuit of

asphemy by the Pharisees--Matt. xii. 2

-Matt. xii. 46-50; Mark ii

xiii. 1-53; Mark iv. 1-34; Lu

. viii. 18, 23-27; Mark i

ac--Matt. viii. 28-34; Mark

and cure of an invalid woman--Matt. ix.

and dumb--Ma

xiii. 54-58; Mark vi. 1-6a; L

Galilee--Matt. ix

. ix. 36 to xi. 1; Mark vi. 7-1

tist--Matt. xiv. 1-12; Ma

ng of the five thousand--Matt. xiv. 13-23; M

ng on the water--Matt. xiv. 24-3

in the synagogue at Capernaum--

tion: handwashing, etc.--Mat

don: the Syroph?nician woman's daugh

polis--Matt. xv. 29

ousand--Matt. xv. 32-38; Mar

ing against the leaven of the Pharisees-

near Bethsaida--

near C?sarea Philippi--Matt. xvi. 13

ust die--Matt. xvi. 21-28; Mark v

tt. xvii. 1-13; Mark ix

-Matt. xvii. 14-20; Mark i

th and resurrection--Matt. xvii. 22,

e temple tax--Matt. xvi

d forgiveness--Matt. xviii. 1-35

feast of Tabernacles--John vii. 1

ltery--John vii. 53 to v

alilean ministry before the confession

pray--Matt. vi. 9-15;

m woman on the Sabba

leaven--Matt. xiii. 31-33; Lu

the rich fool--

eaching at a Pharisee's

s--Luke xv.

ected teachings