A Life of St. John for the Young Part 9

John's picture of her is all the brighter because of his dark background of Judas. He has forever a.s.sociated their names in contrast. In his mind, the anointing was ever suggestive of the betrayal. He remembered how the "thief" asked his hypocritical question at the moment of the greatest perfume; and how Judas was planning the betrayal while Mary was meditating on the death to which it would lead. It appears almost certain that Judas, stung by the Lord's reproof of him and defence of Mary, ready to sell his Lord's body for a less sum than he valued the ointment, turned from the feast in anger, hastening to the chief priest with the cursed question and promise, "What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you?" Wheresoever the gospel is preached throughout the whole world, that also which _this man_ hath done is spoken of--but not for a memorial of him.

John's picture of Mary, Judas and Jesus is a most suggestive grouping.

What harmony and contrast! What light and shade! What revelation of love and hate, of friends.h.i.+p and enmity, of devotion and sacrilege! To no other scene does Christ sustain quite the same relation. The friends.h.i.+p of His first feast--that of Cana--is deeper and tenderer in His last, at Bethany.

There is something sublime in this Son of G.o.d having all power, pleading with Judas that Mary might be permitted to continue her service of love for Him.

Add John's own likeness to the three at whom we have been looking, and what a grouping we have--Jesus with His loved Mary, and John the most beautiful ill.u.s.tration of human friends.h.i.+p, and Judas the _betrayer_.

Let imagination complete what no artist has attempted.

When John recalls the odors of Mary's ointment filling the house, he seems to catch a refrain from Solomon's song, and addresses it to her,--"Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; thy name is as ointment poured forth; therefore do the maidens love thee."

It is not the "maidens" alone, especially the Marys of Christendom, that "love" her, but all to whom the gospel is preached, who join in John's refrain, while thanking him for his "memorial of her."

_CHAPTER XX_

_John a Herald of the King_

PROPHECY:

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: ... lowly, and riding upon ... a colt."--_Zech._ ix. 9.

PROPHECY FULFILLED:

"He sent two of his disciples, saying, Go your way into the village over against you; in the which as ye enter ye shall find a colt tied: ... loose him, and bring him.... And they brought him to Jesus: and they threw their garments upon the colt, and set Jesus thereon."--_Luke_ xix. 30, 35.

PROPHECY UNDERSTOOD:

"These things understood not His disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things unto Him."--_John_ xii. 16.

"Daughter of Zion! Virgin Queen! Rejoice!

Clap the glad hand and lift th' exulting voice!

He comes,--but not in regal splendor drest, The haughty diadem, the Tyrian vest; Not arm'd in flame, all glorious from afar, Of hosts the chieftain, and the lord of war: Messiah comes!--let furious discord cease; Be peace on earth before the Prince of Peace!"

--_Heber's Palestine_.

Zechariah foretold the coming of Christ five hundred years before the angels over Bethlehem heralded His birth. The prophets saw Him as the Messiah-king, but not such a ruler as most of the Jews of Christ's day expected. Even the disciples, believing Him to be the Messiah, had mistaken views of His kingdom. Yet He was the King foretold by the prophets; the Son of David who sang of Him as the "King" and as the "Lord's anointed"; the Messiah or Christ; the king of the Jews not only, but of all men. As such He would make a triumphal entry into the "City of the Great King." This would not be in the pride and pomp of an earthly conqueror, but in the "lowly" manner which Zechariah had foretold.

All the accounts of Jesus' journeyings leave the impression that He went a-foot. Only once do we know that He rode; that was in fulfilment of prophecy. That prophecy He purposed to fulfil the day after the feast of Bethany. This was intended by Christ to be His royal and Messianic entry into Jerusalem. The hour had come. A colt unused, and so fitted by custom for sacred purposes, was ready for His use. Having left the village "He sent two of His disciples to bring it to Him." These two are understood to be Peter and John, for whose united service He would soon call again. We may think of the owner of the colt as friendly toward their Master. When told by the disciples, "The Lord hath need of him,"

he was ready to serve Him by the loan of his beast. That "need"--whatever the owner or the disciples thought--was not so much to aid in Christ's journey as to make true the prophetic words concerning Him, "Thy King cometh ... riding upon ... a colt."

The two disciples "brought him to Jesus, and they threw their garments upon the colt, and set Jesus thereon."

We may think of Peter and John, having arranged for the royal ride, as heralds of their Lord, leading the procession from Bethany, and the first to greet with signal and shout the other coming from Jerusalem.

Beside their King, perhaps leading the colt on which they had placed Him, they would be the first to tread where "a very great mult.i.tude spread their garments in the way," and others "branches from the trees,"

and yet others "layers of leaves which they had cut from the fields"--thus carpeting the road winding around the slope of Olivet.

Were not Peter and John leaders in song when "at the descent at the Mount of Olives the whole mult.i.tude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise G.o.d," and especially when "the City of David" came into view?

The joyful strains were from the Psalms of David--"Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the Highest Blessed is the kingdom that cometh, the kingdom of our Father David. Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven, and glory in the highest."

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHRIST AND ST. JOHN _Ary Scheffer_ Page 155]

In that last strain it would almost seem as if the angelic song of thirty-three years before, over the plain of Bethlehem, had not yet died away, and was echoed from Olivet.

In that hour did John and James have thoughts about sitting one on the right hand and the other on the left in a kingdom which seemed near at hand? Did they and the other disciples, who had been disappointed because their Lord had refused on the sh.o.r.e of Galilee to be made king, imagine that He certainly would now be willing to be crowned in Jerusalem?

When John wrote his account of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he recalled the prophecy concerning it. It is claimed that he speaks of himself and Peter in particular when he says, "These things understood not the disciples at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written, and that they had done these things unto Him." This was a frank confession of his own dulness and ignorance: it is also an a.s.surance of his later wisdom.

We see John on the highway of Olivet, a chosen disciple to aid His Lord in the hour of His earthly glory. We shall see him, even down to old age, in a yet n.o.bler sense, a Herald of the King.

_CHAPTER XXI_

_With the Master on Olivet_

"Some spake of the Temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings."--_Luke_ xxi. 5.

"One of His disciples saith unto Him, Master, behold, what manner of stones and what manner of buildings! And Jesus said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left here one stone upon another, which shall not be thrown down."

"As He sat on the Mount of Olives over against the Temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately, Tell us, when shall these things be? and, What shall be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished?"--_Mark_ xiii. 1-4.

The Temple was the most sacred of all places, even before the Lord of the Temple entered it. His presence became its chiefest glory. In the hour when the waiting Simeon at last could there say "he had seen the Lord's Christ," it had a new consecration, and a beauty which its richness of materials and adornments had never given. In the hour when He there said to His mother, "Wist ye not that I must be in My Father's House?" or, "I must be about My Father's business," it was more consecrated still. Twice He had cleansed it from the profanation of unholy wors.h.i.+pers. Within it He had spoken as no man had ever done. It had been a theatre of His divine power.

That was a sad and solemn hour in the last week of His life when, as Matthew says, "Jesus went out and departed from the Temple." That was His farewell to it. With sadness He thought not only that He would never return to it for a blessed ministry of word and healing, but that the place itself would be destroyed. As He led His disciples from it, their minds were also upon the Holy House: but their thoughts were not His thoughts. They had long been familiar with its magnificence, from the day when each of them, at twelve years of age, for the first time had gazed upon it in wonder and admiration. We do not know why, as they were turning away from it and walked toward Olivet, "some spake of the Temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings," nor why "one of His disciples saith unto Him, Master, behold what manner of stones, and what manner of buildings!" But so they did. Doubtless they were surprised and disappointed that the Lord did not respond with like spirit to their enthusiastic exclamations. Were not such richness and beauty worthy of even His admiration? Why His momentary silence? Why His sadness of expression, as He looked toward the Temple, beholding it as they bid Him do, but manifestly with different purpose and feeling from what they intended? His appearance seemed most inconsistent with the glorious view. His response was startling,--"Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left here one stone upon another, which shall not be thrown down."

The astonished disciples were silenced, but an unspoken question was in the minds of some of them. Christ turned aside and ascended the mountain, taking with Him the chosen three, Peter, James and John. On this occasion Andrew is added to the private company. Once more we see by themselves the two pair of brothers with whom in their boyhood we became familiar in Bethsaida. We are reminded of the days when they sat together on the sea-sh.o.r.e, the time when they were watching for the coming of the Messiah with whom they now "sat on the Mount of Olives over against the Temple." Two days before, in the road below He had also prophesied of the destruction of the city, as He gazed upon it through His tears. Now He was on the summit, directly opposite the Temple, from which the city was spread out before Him. To me it is still a delight in thought, as it was in reality, to stand where they sat, and look down upon the same Temple area, and think of the Holy and Beautiful House, as it appeared before the sad prophecy had been fulfilled.

On this spot the poet Milman makes t.i.tus to stand just before the destruction of Jerusalem, with determination and yet with misgiving, looking down on the city in its pride and the Temple in its gorgeousness, and saying:

"Yon proud City!

As on our Olive-crowned hill we stand, Where Kidron at our feet its scanty waters Distills from stone to stone with gentle motion, As through a valley sacred to sweet Peace, How boldly doth it front us! How majestically!

Like as a luxurious vineyard, the hillside Is hung with marble fabrics, line o'er line, Terrace o'er terrace, nearer still, and nearer To the blue Heavens. Here bright and sumptuous palaces, With cool and verdant gardens interspersed; Here towers of war that frown in ma.s.sy strength; While over all hangs the rich purple eve, As conscious of its being her last farewell Of light and glory to the fated city.

And as our clouds of battle, dust and smoke Are melted into air, behold the Temple In undisturbed and lone serenity, Finding itself a solemn sanctuary In the profound of Heaven! It stands before us A mount of snow, fettered with golden pinnacles!

The very sun, as though he wors.h.i.+ped there, Lingers upon the gilded cedar roofs; And down the long and branching porticoes, On every flowery, sculptured capital, Glitters the homage of His parting beams.

.... The sight might almost win The offended majesty of Rome to mercy."

But Roman majesty was not to be won to mercy. To the Twelve, Christ had foretold the destruction of the city. And now when the four were alone with Him, they "asked Him privately, tell us when shall these things be." For wise reasons Jesus did not tell. But one of them at least would learn both when and what these things would be. This was John. His tender and loving heart was to bleed with the horrible story of the fall of Jerusalem. There hunger and famine would be so dire that mothers would slay and devour their own children. Mult.i.tudes would die of disease and pestilence. Rage and madness would make the city like a cage of wild beasts. Thousands would be carried away into captivity. The most beautiful youths would be kept to show the triumph of their conqueror.

Some of them would be doomed to work in chains in Egyptian mines. Young boys and girls would be sold as slaves. Many would be slain by wild beasts and gladiators. Saddest of all would be the Temple scenes. Though t.i.tus command its preservation his infuriated soldiery will not spare it. On its altar there would be no sacrifice because no priest to offer it. That altar would be heaped with the slain. Streams of blood would flow through the temple courts, and thousands of women perish in its blazing corridors. The time was to come when John, recalling his question on Olivet and his Lord's prophecy concerning Jerusalem, could say,

"All is o'er, Her grandeur and her guilt."

Was he the one of the disciples who hailed the Master, saying, "Behold what manner of stones, and what manner of buildings!"? If so, with what emotions he must have recalled his exclamation after the prophecy of their destruction had been fulfilled. Outliving all his fellow-apostles the time came when he could stand alone where once he stood with Peter and James and Andrew, not asking questions "When shall these things be?"

and, "What shall be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished?" but repeating the lament of Bishop Heber over Jerusalem in ruins: