for its capital. It was this popular idol of a pseudo-Messiah with which Satan tempted Jesus in the
wilderness, when he showed him all the kingdoms of the world; well knowing that if he could
convert him to this carnal creed, and induce him to abuse his miraculous power for selfish
gratification, vain ostentation, and secular ambition, he would most effectually defeat the scheme
of redemption. The same political aspiration was a powerful lever of the rebellion against the Roman
yoke which terminated in the destruction of Jerusalem, and it revived again in the rebellion of
Bar-Cocheba only to end in a similar disaster.
Such was the Jewish religion at the time of Christ. He was the only teacher in Israel who
saw through the hypocritical mask to the rotten heart. None of the great Rabbis, no Hillel, no
Shammai, no Gamaliel attempted or even conceived of a reformation; on the contrary, they heaped
tradition upon tradition and accumulated the talmudic rubbish of twelve large folios and 2947
leaves, which represents the anti-Christian petrifaction of Judaism; while the four Gospels have
regenerated humanity and are the life and the light of the civilized world to this day.
Jesus, while moving within the outward forms of the Jewish religion of his age, was far
above it and revealed a new world of ideas. He, too, honored the law of God, but by unfolding its
deepest spiritual meaning and fulfilling it in precept and example. Himself a Rabbi, he taught as
one having direct authority from God, and not as the scribes. How he arraigned those hypocrites
seated on Moses’ seat, those blind leaders of the blind, who lay heavy burdens on men’s shoulders
without touching them with their finger; who shut the kingdom of heaven against men, and will
not enter themselves; who tithe the mint and the anise and the cumin, and leave undone the weightier
matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel; who
are like unto whited sepulchres which outwardly appear beautiful indeed, but inwardly are full of
dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. But while he thus stung the pride of the leaders, he
cheered and elevated the humble and lowly. He blessed little children, he encouraged the poor, he
invited the weary, he fed the hungry he healed the sick, he converted publicans and sinners, and
laid the foundation strong and deep, in God’s eternal love, for a new society and a new humanity.
It was one of the sublimest as well as loveliest moments in the life of Jesus when the disciples asked
him, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? and when he called a little child, set him in the
midst of them and said, "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children,
ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself
as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such
little child in my name receiveth me."^203 And that other moment when he thanked his heavenly
Father for revealing unto babes the things of the kingdom which were hid from the wise, and invited
all that labor and are heavy laden to come to him for rest.^204
He knew from the beginning that he was the Messiah of God and the King of Israel. This
consciousness reached its maturity at his baptism when he received the Holy Spirit without
measure.^205 To this conviction he clung unwaveringly, even in those dark hours of the apparent
failure of his cause, after Judas had betrayed him, after Peter, the confessor and rock-apostle, had(^203) Matt. 18:1-6; comp. Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17.
(^204) Matt. 11:25-30. This passage, which is found only in Matthew and (in part) in Luke 10:21, 22, is equal to any passage in
John. It is a genuine echo of this word when Schiller sings:
"Was kein Verstand der Verständigen sieht,
Das übet in Einfalt ein kindlich Gemüth."
(^205) John 1:32-34; comp. 3:34.
A.D. 1-100.