05 - Chapter 05

V. THE IMPRESSION MADE BY CHRIST ON THOSE WHO HAD EYES TO SEE. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

He that hath seen me hath seen the Father (John 14:9). No written word has come down to us from Christ Himself. All that we know of Him comes to us through the minds and memories of others. His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, and with perfect wisdom He has chosen to be remembered and to live on in the world through the impression He made on those who had eyes to see through the reproduction in others of His own mind and spirit and life.

It is on this account that the Gospel of St. John is to many the most precious of all the Gospels. The Fourth Gospel was written long after the death of Christ by the Apostle John, or, possibly, by some faithful pupil who endeavoured to give, to the best of his memory, a short sketch of his Master’s teaching with regard to Christ. In order that a precious testimony might not die with the aged Apostle, but be helpful to men and women in generations to come, or in order that something might be done to encourage the hearts and strengthen the hands of many who in times and circumstances trying to their faith wished to be reassured with regard to the truthfulness of the things which they believed, the aged Apostle, or some faithful pupil of his, committed to writing the story, which St. John had been telling in words all his life, of the things which he had seen and heard many years before in the cities of Judah and in the fields of Galilee. And beautiful and touching the narrative is, for there is in it something of the tender grace of a day that is dead; and clear and distinct it is, for the events here recorded have made a marvellous im-pression on the Apostle, changing the whole current of his life and causing him to live for things unseen and eternal. But there is one thing which seems to well-nigh overshadow everything else in the narrative of St. John, and that is the Personality of Jesus, with whom the Apostle had for long been in the closest fellowship and with whose inner life he was specially familiar. When we read St. John’s Gospel we are impressed by the fact that Christ was greater than His words and deeds, great though these undoubtedly were. As the Apostle looks back with wistful eyes to those wonderful days that cannot come again, the vision of the Master as He lived and worked rises up before him, and we cannot help feeling, as we read, that it was Christ Himself even more than His words and deeds which made on the Apostle that deep and abiding impression which seems to have completely transformed his life. And what is the testimony which is borne to Christ by that sincere and God-fearing man who testified with regard to the things which he had heard, which he had seen with his own eyes, and his own hands had handled of the Word of Life?

We can well understand the difficulty which St. John had in trying to describe the Person and Character and Life of our Saviour, for were there not in Him graces and virtues which never were, after the same fashion, in any other graces and virtues quite beyond the power of words to express? There was something in His appearance which arrested attention: something in His look which drew men unto Him: something in His voice which quickened men and women into newness of life. There would seem to have been in Him a majesty, a grace, a truth, a tenderness, a sympathy, a love, a purity, a holiness which secured the interest, enlisted the sympathy, and drew forth the love and devotion of all who were not blinded by prejudice or carried away by passion, and who were not indisposed to be guided by those better thoughts and feelings which in the presence of Christ were engendered within them.

“ It was,” says Canon Scott Holland when describing the impression made upon St. John by the Presence of Christ, “ nothing short of the supreme vision of all visions. It was the disclosure, the unveiling of God Himself. It was in character, in substance, in reality, God’s own glory. Whatever men have found God to be, whatever our fathers of old time felt God to be as He shone in upon their hearts through the splendour of the Skekinah in the Tabernacle of Moses, that same thing Jesus showed Himself to be. We saw Him, saw Him long, saw Him near, saw Him carefully; and what we saw in Him was the glory of God, the glory as of the only begotten Son of the Almighty Father.”

“ In the eyes of St. John,” says Canon Liddon, “ the eternal Person of Jesus shone forth through His Humanity with translucent splendour, and wove and folded around itself, as the days and weeks passed on, a moral history of faultless grandeur. It was not the disciple who idealised the master; it was the Master who revealed Himself in His majestic glory to the illumined eye and to the entranced touch of the disciple. No treachery of memory, no ardour of temperament, no sustained reflectiveness of soul, could have compassed the transformation of a human friend into the Almighty and Everlast-ing Being. Nor was there room for serious error of judgment after a companionship so intimate, so heart-searching, so true, as had been that of Jesus with St. John. And thus to the beloved disciple the Divinity of his Lord was not a scholastic formula, nor a pious conjecture, nor a controversial thesis, nor the adaptation of a popular superstition to meet the demands of a strong enthusiasm, nor a mystic reverie. It was nothing less than a fact of personal experience.” ’ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life; (for the Life was manifested, and we have seen It, and bear witness, and shew unto you that Eternal Life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us;) that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.’ As closely connected with this we have to notice the purpose with which, according to St. John, Christ came into the world.

According to this gospel Christ came into the world that men might have life, and have it more abundantly. That to which He calls men and that which He offers unto them is a new life man’s true life a life spiritual, divine, eternal. Eternal life, according to the Fourth Gospel, is above all things the perfection of the spiritual life. It is a life lived as in the Presence of God, a life animated by the Spirit of God, a life of constant communion with God a life which assures us that we who live in God will live for ever. Eternal life is not so much an endless duration of being, as being of such a kind that time cannot very well be regarded as the measure of it. It is the nature and character of the life rather than its duration which is the important thing about eternal life. And so eternal life is a thing which may be ours now as well as hereafter. ’ This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.’

Now this life was and is the possession and the gift of Christ That which above all things characterised the life of Christ was His unsullied purity, His deep spiritu-ality, His close fellowship with God, His perfect obedience to the divine will, and that spirit of loving self-sacrifice which constrained Him to live and suffer and die for the salvation of men. And so fascinatingly beautiful was that life, and so divinely powerful, and so stamped with the impress of eternity, that when they who knew Christ best and loved Him most saw Him put into the grave, they could not, save only for a moment, believe that all was over with Him. “ They felt,” as Bishop Well-don says, “ that He had displayed before human eyes the witness of a spiritual and ageless existence.”

Moreover, they clearly saw that the life He lived was in its essence such a life as, to a greater or less extent, they could live. They were persuaded that in proportion to their faithfulness to Christ, and according to the measure in which they were filled by His spirit, they would become possessors of the eternal life which Christ offers unto all and pleads with all men to make their own. They were certain that the gift of eternal life would be given to all those who perceived the beauty of holiness, and the importance of things unseen and spiritual, and who, yearning to be possessed of these things, drew near to Christ and lived in close communion with Him.

Worthy of notice are the purpose and the plan of the Fourth Gospel. The purpose is clearly set forth in the words: ’ Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book; but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing, ye might have life through his name.’ And the Gospel as we find it worthily realises this clearly expressed purpose. From the teaching of St. John, or from the cycle of representative facts which formed the common ground- work of the Apostolic Message, the author of this Gospel has carefully selected those works and words of Jesus which seem to testify most strongly to the pre-eminently divine nature of Christ.

Here, for example, are recorded eight miracles but they are representative miracles: one only of each class being given. Strange to say, there is here no miracle in which a Demoniac is healed. Now the healing of Demoniacs, so often mentioned in the other Gospels, is exactly the class of miracles which many in these days find least difficulty in accepting. May it not have been that miracles of this class are here omitted because they did not seem to the writer to testify with sufficient force to the divine power of Jesus? To the author of the Fourth Gospel the wonderful works of Jesus are not so much miracles as signs. The question as to their being violations of the laws of nature does not occur to him. And yet he seems quick to perceive that miracles of a certain kind suggest and emphasise the pre-eminently divine nature of Jesus. And equally significant are the words and sayings of Jesus as they are recorded in the Fourth Gospel. In the Synoptic Gospels the discourses of Christ are, as a rule, simple, direct, easily intelligible, inculcat-ing moral principles and religious truths which are illustrated and enforced by many parables. But in the Gospel of St. John there are if we except John 10:1-5 no Parables: and the discourses are often deep and mystical, and as if they came from a mysterious Personage invested with divine attributes and claiming to be one with the Supreme God. ’ I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.’ ’ I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.’ ’ I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.’ ’ I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and who-soever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.’ ’ He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.’ ’ I and the Father are one.’ No one could stand in the presence of Christ without being strangely and powerfully impressed by Him. Even the casual spectators had to put to themselves and to each other the questions, ’ What manner of man is this? ’ ’ Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works? ’ In the Gospels according to St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke the earliest biographies of Christ which have come down to us our Saviour is clearly marked off from other men. ’ All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son but the Father: neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom-soever the Son will reveal him.’ ’ And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ ’ They feared greatly, say-ing, Truly this was the Son of God.’ But in St. John’s Gospel what has been called the Divinity of Christ is more clearly enunciated than in the other Gospels. And this was so, not because St. John was less careful with regard to his facts, or more disposed than others were to idealise and theorise, but because this Gospel is not so much a memoir as a loving reminiscence which came into existence at a time when the perplexed followers of Christ, confronted by determined enemies of the Gospel, required to be reassured by the most com-petent authority, in the plainest language, and in the most unhesitating manner with regard to the nature and character of that marvellous Being who had long ago appeared among men.

It is true that we do not see Christ with our own eyes, but only through the eyes of others. And what they tell us of Him may come to us coloured, to some extent, by their prior convictions and mental prepossessions. It is not wise of us, therefore, to be too ready to believe assertions that seem contrary to reason or experience even when they are made on the authority of inspiration or miracles, for “ the reality of the inspiration or of the miracle can only be established by reason.”

Moreover, we must carefully remember that moral goodness can never be inferred from extraordinary power. Without their message of mercy the mighty works of Christ might have been attributed to a power from beneath and not to a power from above. No mere wonders or signs on the earth or in the heavens could by themselves have demonstrated the love of God for man. No material or physical phenomena, however marvellous or mysterious, are or can be, by themselves, demonstrative of spiritual truths. Spiritual things must be spiritually discerned.

Wonderful works, therefore, cannot be regarded as the primary proof of the Incarnation: “ for the In-carnation is primarily and essentially a spiritual fact, and no conceivable amount of evidence that is merely material can prove it.” And so if we are to become possessed of the Revelation of God which Christ made to man, we must go to Christ’s life and to His words which shine by their own light and commend themselves to the consciences of men and above all to that spirit, that personality, that character of which His life and words were but the outward expression. When we penetrate beneath the surface and come into contact with that spirit which inspired His words, and to that heart which prompted His actions when, in very short, we draw near to the Lord Himself we see at once that He was from Heaven and heavenly. When we draw near and perceive the tenderness, the sympathy, the compassion that underlay His every word and act and deed, we cannot help perceiving the divine nature of the Son of Man. When our eyes are opened to the spirit of love and self-sacrifice which breathes through His whole life, and which is specially manifest in the mysterious agonies of Calvary, we feel ourselves constrained to say, Surely this was the Son of God.

It is true that a certain moral affinity is needful, if we are to be able to perceive the Divinity of Christ in His Person, His Character, His Life. And it was because of their moral and spiritual blindness that many of those who were brought into contact with Christ failed to be fully convinced by this the primary evidence of His Divinity. But though the appeal which Christ made to the hearts and souls of men by the divine nature of His character and life was rejected by those who did not know goodness when they saw it, or were so full of religious errors and prejudices that they could not fail to put a wrong interpretation on what they saw, it was accepted by that little band of faithful followers who were constantly with Christ, “ the men and women whom His glance had kindled and His voice had quickened into newness of life, and in whose souls, as they looked and listened, insight arose out of much love.”

It is true that it was only gradually that even this little company of faithful souls came to see the Son of God in this Son of Man. Prejudices and misconceptions prevented them for a time from seeing the Messiah in one who had so little earthly pomp and power. False notions of greatness pre-vented them for a time from seeing the true greatness of Him who was meek and lowly, and who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Elements of worldliness still adhered to these hearts and minds, blinding them to the real worth of Him who was absolutely pure and holy and full of love and grace and truth. From worldli-ness and prejudices and false notions, therefore, they had to be delivered, but it was a work which required patience and thought and toil.

Careful training and words of rebuke and warning and encouragement and consolation were required before even the faithful few could rise to that con-ception of Christ which enabled St. Peter to say for them and for himself, ’ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ But the end was gained at last; and although in the hour and power of darkness their faith for a moment seemed to fail them and they were like reeds shaken with the wind, nevertheless the fine gold of a self-sacrificing spirit had been struck in them, and there were already growing up in the soil of their hearts those vigorous seeds of faith and love and devotion which Christ had planted and which were destined in the near future to bring forth abundantly fruits of the most desirable kind. The cloud that received Christ out of the disciples’ sight was big with mercy towards them, for it was when the earthly life of Jesus was over that the eternal life of His Spirit was most obviously seen in their lives. Then the revelation of that infinite righteous-ness, goodness, love, which was made by the life and death of Christ, came to them with redoubled power, and they were constrained to believe that He was from Heaven, of God, Divine, with a faith which no argument could lessen, and which neither life nor death nor things present nor things to come could subvert or overthrow.