123. The First Disciples.—During this first year Jesus gained many disciples, though he himself did not, like John the Baptist, baptize them. This he left to his chosen disciples. This shows that the popularity of the Baptist had at this time already begun to wane, as he himself predicted that it would. Not many miracles are recorded during this period, though we know that the one in Cana of Galilee was the first of a series. The gathering of disciples, who later became apostles, begins in this year. In one day the record indicates that he gained six of these (John 1:35-51).
124. The Cleansing of the Temple.—A most dramatic event in this year is his first cleansing of the Temple. The extortion practised in the court of the Temple filled him with indignation and he drove out the money changers, and dealers in cattle and doves, declaring that his Father's house was a house of prayer, while they had made it a den of thieves. This drew on him the antagonism of the rulers under whose fostering care, or at least through whose negligence, these abuses had grown up. This antagonism never ceased until they had worked on him their will on Calvary.
125. Interview with Nicodemus.—It was during this first year that we have two most remarkable dialogues of our Lord. The first is that with the ruler Nicodemus. At this interview either John the evangelist must have been present, or else Jesus or Nicodemus must have told John what was said. In this dialogue occurs the most significant sentence that the world has ever heard, having within twenty-four words more of Divine truth than any other similar number of words ever uttered,—John 3:16. In this verse, as Dr. Arthur T. Pierson puts it, we have five couplets:
1. God the Father and the Son, as the originators of salvation.
2. The Divine action, "loved," and "gave."
3. Those toward whom this action was directed. "The world," and to make it personal, "whosoever."
4. The condition on which the Divine gift may be had. "Believe," and therefore "have."
5. That for which all this action is taken, "not perish," but have "everlasting life."
126. The Woman of Samaria.—In this year too, at its close, comes the interview with the woman at Jacob's well, in Samaria. It is well worth noticing that to a woman, and she a Samaritan woman, Jesus poured out truth as prodigally as he did to Nicodemus, a ruler of his own nation. The result of this interview was the adherence of a large number of Samaritans to the Master. All the above story of this first year of our Lord's public ministry we learn only from the Gospel of John, each of the other evangelists beginning his story with the Galilean ministry.
127. Note that our Lord's whole public life is condensed into three and a half short years. Yet what a wonderful work he accomplished in that period! The active life of Alexander the Great was thirteen years, and that of Napoleon twenty-three years. In those years these two men wrought wonders. But their empire has long since passed away. The empire of the Master is to-day wider than ever, and the work of those three years and a half will never cease to be felt. This is because he was more than mere man, and brought to his task super-human power and knowledge.