Here in quiet and seclusion He remained till the approach of the Passover, and then commenced a farewell-journey along the border-line of Samaria and Galilee, in the direction of the Jordan (Lk. xvii. 11; Mtt. xix. 1), and so to Peræa (Mk. x. 1).
It was probably while yet on the confines of Samaria, that at the entrance of a village, the name and position of which are not recorded, He encountered Ten Lepers, one of whom was a Samaritan[435] (Lk. xvii. 16). Standing afar off (Lk. xvii. 12), they all lifted up their voices, and implored His aid, on which, filled with compassion for their miserable condition, He bade them go and shew themselves to the priests at Jerusalem. Though they must have been aware that they could not expect healing from the priest, whose only office it was either to pronounce the sufferer affected with this fearful malady, or to restore him with ceremonial washings to the society of his fellow-men[436], the Lepers nevertheless set out, and lo! as they went (Lk. xvii. 14), their flesh came back to them like unto the flesh of a little child (2 K. v. 14), and they were cleansed. But though they all experienced His unlooked-for blessing, one only, and he a Samaritan, returned to give thanks to His Healer, who, accustomed as he was to man’s ingratitude, yet marvelled at this striking proof of it (Lk. xvii. 17, 18), and dismissed the grateful man with a higher and a peculiar blessing[437], saying, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole (Lk. xvii. 19).
Continuing His journey towards the Jordan, the Saviour at some place, the name of which is not mentioned, encountered certain Pharisees, who professed, probably in treachery or mockery, a question respecting the coming of the kingdom of God, to which He replied, that it would be with no such visible establishment as they expected (Lk. xvii. 20, 21), and proceeded to found upon the question a warning to His own disciples on the same subject (Lk. xvii. 22–37). It was now also, in all probability, either before or just after He crossed into Peræa[438], that He delivered the parables of the Unjust Judge and the Pharisee and Publican (Lk. xvii. 1–14), and replied to a question respecting the lawfulness of divorce (Mtt. xix. 3–12; Mk. x. 2–12), on which the rival schools of Hillel and Shammai[439] held opposite opinions.
In striking contrast to the malice which prompted these questionings, certain parents, who probably honoured Him, and valued His benediction, brought their children to Him, and begged that He would lay His hands upon them and offer up a prayer in their behalf (Mtt. xix. 13). To the disciples such an act appeared unfitting, and they would have kept back those that brought them (Mk. x. 13; Lk. xviii. 15), but with touching condescension He not only rebuked their interference (Mk. x. 14), and said, Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven, but called them to Him (Lk. xviii. 16), took them up in His arms, laid His hands upon them, and blessed them (Mk. x. 16; Mtt. xix. 15).
It was in this region also that a rich young ruler approached Him, desiring to know what he should do to inherit eternal life (Mtt. xix. 16; Mk. x. 17). The Holy One referred him to the commandments. These the other declared he had kept from his youth (Mk. x. 20), on which the Lord looked upon him with a glance of deep affection, informed him that he lacked yet one thing (Lk. xviii. 22), and bade him go and sell all that he had, and give to the poor, and take up his cross (Mk. x. 21) and follow Him. Such a demand, so totally opposed to the popular notions of the kingdom of the Messiah, in which the Jews expected every form of temporal blessing, was too severe a test for the ruler’s sincerity; he had great possessions (Mtt. xix. 22; Mk. x. 22), which he could not part with, and in sorrow he left the Saviour and went his way.
But the same ideas of temporal blessings were still held by the Apostles themselves. They had left everything to follow their Master, might they not look for some great reward? To Peter, who put the question (Mk. x. 28; Mtt. xix. 23) the Holy One replied, by assuring him and the rest that a reward they should have, though very different from what they expected, and taking them apart (Mtt. xx. 17; Mk. x. 32) began for the third time[440], and with greater particularity than before, to speak of the future that awaited Himself; how at Jerusalem He should be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, and be mocked, and scourged, and crucified (Mtt. xx. 18–24; Mk. x. 33–40; Lk. xviii. 32–34). But though awed by the unusual solemnity of His manner (Mk. x. 32), and the dauntless resolution with which He pressed on towards Jerusalem (Mk. x. 33), they could not enter into the meaning of His words. His predictions of suffering and death clashed with all their deeply-rooted ideas of the nature of the Messianic kingdom, and it was now that two of their number, James and John, encouraged by their mother, preferred the request[441] that in His kingdom they might sit the one on His right hand, and the other on His left. Even His reply that they should indeed drink of His cup, and be baptized with His baptism, sounded to the rest like the concession of some mysterious dignity, and provoked a jealousy on their part, which the Holy One strove to check by reminding them once more of the true nature of His kingdom, that therein He is truly first who is the servant of all; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.
With this final proof of the utter inability even of His own chosen Twelve to lighten by their sympathy a particle of what lay before Himself, the Holy One, having recrossed the Jordan, continued His way amidst the crowd of pilgrims setting forth towards Jerusalem. Approaching Jericho He healed two blind men[442], who sat by the wayside begging and implored His aid; He accepted in the City of Palm Trees itself the hospitality of Zacchæus[443], a superintendent of customs or tribute there (Lk. xix. 1–10); corrected, by delivering the Parable of the Pounds[444], the idea that the Kingdom of Heaven was about immediately to appear, and at length, six days before the Passover, reached the safe seclusion of the mountain hamlet of Bethany (Mtt. xxvi. 6–13; Mk. xiv. 3–9; Jn. xii. 1–11).
JERUSALEM in the time of OUR LORD
London and New York: Macmillan & Co.
For Maclear’s New Test.t History Stanford’s Geog.l Estab.t