How, after the death of John the Prophet, Jesus foresaw that he also must be slain

Philochristus: Memoirs of a Disciple of the Lord by Edwin Abbott Abbott is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. How, after the death of John the Prophet, Jesus foresaw that he also must be slain; and of the Bread of Life, and the feeding of the five thousand; and concerning the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

How, after the death of John the Prophet, Jesus foresaw that he also must be slain; and of the Bread of Life, and the feeding of the five thousand; and concerning the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Now so it was that, at this time, the more the hearts of the people were drawn toward Jesus (for though the people of Nazareth had rejected him, yet was he much honoured in the rest of Galilee), so much the more did Jesus seem to thrust them away. For he began to teach us at this time that he should give us no new law, but a certain manna or bread from heaven. Now if he had said no more than this, this was not hard to understand; for our Scribes also taught in parables after this fashion: but he added that this manna or bread from heaven should be himself, his flesh and his blood, which should be given for the life of the world. Now albeit I have myself heard the Scribes speak of “the days when Israel shall eat the Messiah,”8 meaning that Israel shall enjoy the presence of the Messiah, yet Jesus seemed to mean somewhat more than this, insomuch that his words were a stumbling-block unto many. And straightway many of them departed from him.

But when I went (according to my wont) to question Nathanael touching these words, he replied that they were hidden from him also. Notwithstanding it seemed to him that at this time our Master was receiving some new revelation, whereof these words might peradventure be a part. For he said that on the day before, when I had been absent, mention had been made of the coming Passover, and how Jesus would not be present thereat; and from mentioning the sacrifice of the Passover they came to speak of other sacrifices; and one said that Jesus had come to take away sacrifice, for that he had said that God desired mercy, and not sacrifice, and that the right sacrifice was that the whole nation should serve the Lord and do His will. Then another, quoting the Scripture, said, “Nay, but the people may perchance stand in the place of the fuel and the fire: but where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?” Then answered another from the same Scripture, and said, “God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt-offering.” And at these words, said John, “the countenance of Jesus changed as if he had heard some new word from God.” Hereat I marvelled greatly, and wondered what new thing the Lord was preparing for us and for our Master. And the words of Judas came to my mind that, because John the son of Zachariah had been slain, therefore Jesus had begun to imagine that he also must needs be slain. But it was but for an instant; for I durst not so much as entertain the thought of so great an evil.

But, as I now judge, the Lord Jesus began at this time to see clearly that he must needs die for Israel, even as John the son of Zachariah had died, and that he must needs rise again (according to the Prophets); even as the common people spake, saying that John the Baptist was at this very time risen from the dead. For he perceived that the needs of the world, that is to say the will of the Father, required that he should rise again from the dead. Moreover as John the son of Zachariah had gained strength through death, so that all men still loved and honoured John, and were more ready to die for him dead than living; even so Jesus perceived that he also should have more strength to help us after his death than before his death. But touching the manner of his rising again, and the time of it, and whether he should appear in his own shape (as he did indeed), or in some other shape (as did Elias in the shape of John the Baptist), concerning all this, what was revealed unto him I know not; the Lord only knoweth. But that he should of a certainty rise again from the dead, this was without doubt revealed unto him; and, as I conceive, about this time.

For this cause, because he perceived that by the giving of his body and blood to die for men, his spirit would pass into his disciples (even as the spirit of John the son of Zachariah had passed into the disciples of John), for this cause, I say, he spake at this time (as he did also afterwards), saying that he would give himself to be the food of men, even the Bread of Life. For his spirit was a spirit of sonship to God, and of brotherhood to men; and except the world should receive this spirit into itself, the world could not be quickened, and the nations of the earth could not pass into the family or kingdom of God.

From this time also he began to be very careful, even to disquietude, concerning us his disciples, what should be our estate when he should have departed from us; and he desired to impart to us this Bread of Life that we also in turn might impart it to the multitude. Moreover he would fain exercise us already in imparting this Bread of Life, yea, before he had passed away; to the end that, by beginning in his presence, we might learn by degrees to be steadfast in the ministering of the Bread even though he were absent from us. And for this he found occasion not many days afterwards. For about the tenth day before the Passover, Jesus being still on the other side of the lake (but I had been sent with Judas on an errand to Capernaum), it came to pass that much people resorted to him; some from Capernaum, and others from the parts round about the village wherein he had lodged. For, because of the Passover, which was at hand, many were going up to Jerusalem. Also of the Galileans some came; howbeit not James nor Barabbas, nor any of them which had most authority with the Galileans. Now Jesus himself ministered unto certain of them the Bread of Life, and forgave sins, and healed the sick. But afterwards, because of the multitude of them which came unto him (for they were more than five thousand) he caused the disciples to divide them into companies and to minister the Bread unto the people. So they ministered as Jesus bade them, and the grace of the Lord was with them; insomuch that Thomas (who had been at the first loth to minister the Bread, as not being worthy) came afterwards to Jesus saying, “Of a truth the crumbs of thy Banquet which are fallen from the table of the guests do suffice unto them that minister: for the Lord hath increased the Bread of Life within us.” So mightily did the Bread of our Master increase in the hands of the Twelve. And Matthew said that Jesus had not only spread a table in the wilderness for the hungry, but that he had also fulfilled his saying, “Give and it shall be given unto [pg 215]you. For,” said he, “behold, to each of the disciples there cometh back his basketful of the fragments of the Feast.” And the like happened on another occasion, when they ministered the Bread unto another very great multitude about four thousand in number.

All this I heard when I returned with Judas from Capernaum, bringing word that the Thracians had left the town. So we returned to Capernaum, and there we kept the Passover; for Jesus would not go up to Jerusalem to keep it, though we were very desirous that he should go up; but he said that his hour had not yet come. But scarcely had we been in Capernaum five or six days, and the Feast of the Passover was still not ended, when we fled (upon some new rumour of danger) from Capernaum again to the eastern side of the lake. Now while we were rowing across, some of us murmured (though not so loud methought that Jesus could hear) concerning our many flights and wanderings, and we wondered why our Master would not suffer the common people to make him king.

In the midst of our disputing Jesus called unto us from the hinder part of the boat and said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of the Sadducees.” Then we looked one at another, for we felt that we were guilty; for in the haste of our embarking, because we had come on board before it was well dawn (for fear of the arrival of the Thracians, which was reported to us) we had forgotten to bring with us any unleavened bread; and the feast of the Passover wanted yet two days before it should have an end, and behold, we were going to a Gentile country where our customs were not regarded, so that we could not easily obtain such bread as was needful. Therefore we confessed to Jesus, and said that indeed we were verily guilty of sore neglect.

But when Jesus heard our words, he rebuked us for our want of understanding; and he asked us whether we did not remember how the disciples had ministered the Bread of Life to the four thousand and to the five thousand; and he made mention of the saying of Thomas, one of the Twelve, how the bread had been multiplied in the hands of the Twelve, and also of the saying of Matthew the son of Levi, how the fragments of the Feast had returned to them that ministered, and had satisfied them. So we perceived that he spake not of the leaven that leaveneth bread of corn, but of the leaven which leaveneth and corrupteth the bread of the soul.

Yet forasmuch as the Pharisees agree not with the Sadducees (neither do they teach the same doctrine, nor observe the same customs) I could not understand what this “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” might be. But when I asked Nathanael thereof, he said that perchance Jesus desired to warn us lest we should be led away in our hearts by the desire of this world, and by the haste to be prosperous. “For,” said Nathanael, “the Sadducees love place and wealth and ease, and the Pharisees love power with the people, and the salutations of the rich, and the respect of the poor, and the name and reputation for piety; and these sects do both go straight towards their several ends. But, though several in appearance, their ends are really the same. For both the Pharisees and Sadducees serve themselves, and live for their own pleasure. And methinks our Master feareth lest we too in the same way may follow him not out of love and out of faithfulness, but from a desire to be prosperous.”

“But are we not,” asked I, “to be prosperous in the end?” “Yes, assuredly in the end,” replied Nathanael; “but the end may perchance be somewhat farther off than we suppose, and our course may perchance be somewhat slow. For in all works there are two courses, the course of men and the course of God. Now men work visibly and speedily, and with much stir and noise; but the Father in Heaven worketh for the most part invisibly and slowly, and very gently. Now it may be that the slow ways are best. But in any case I begin to perceive that our Master loveth the slow ways best, according to his saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto the wheat, which is sown and watered and resteth long unseen in the earth, and springeth up at last and by degrees, and putteth forth, first the blade, and then the ear and then the full corn; and all this by slow ways, quietly and gently, while the husbandman riseth and sleepeth and goeth in and out, and taketh no heed how great a work the gentle hand of the Lord is working around him.”

Thus spake Nathanael, and I gave heed unto his words; for he seemed day by day to grow in the love and knowledge of our Master, and behold, the knowledge of Jesus seemed to bestow upon him knowledge of all spiritual things, so that he was not like the same Nathanael whom I had first known now a year ago. And the other disciples also were greatly changed from their former selves. For we had now been a full year with the Lord Jesus; and it was the sixteenth year of Tiberius Cæsar.

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This book is part of the public domain. Edwin Abbott Abbott (2015). Philochristus: Memoirs of a Disciple of the Lord. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/48843/pg48843-images.html

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