SECTION VII.

THE CONFIRMATION OF CHRIST'S RENUNCIATION OF THE WORLD. HIS APPEARANCE IN DESPISED GALILEE. THE UNOSTENTATIOUS COMMENCEMENT OF HIS ACTIVITY. ITS GREAT EFFECT.

(iv. 12-25.)

The threefold renunciation of the world which Jesus had achieved in His victory over Satan, had now to be verified in His public ministry: and so it really was. The first sign of it was His coming in the place of John the Baptist, after he had been cast into prison; thus showing that He was ready to expose Himself to a similar fate. The second was shown in His leaving despised Nazareth and settling in a place still more despised in a theocratic point of view, namely, in Upper Galilee (See Book II. iv. 9), at Capernaum, by the sea-side, on the borders of Zebulon and Naphtali, in a district already called by Isaiah Galilee of the Gentiles. The third sign consisted in His veiling His appearance even here, by taking up and continuing the preaching of the Baptist, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! without telling the people that the kingdom of heaven was comprehended in the person of Himself — the Messiah.

This renunciation was developed in a very illustrative form. We see how He begins His calling by going round about the Sea of Galilee, sometimes alone, sometimes living among poor people by the sea-side, although filled with the consciousness that He is to redeem and transform the world. But He prepares for His definite plan, the institution of His Church, by calling four fishermen from their occupations to make them His scholars and followers; first the two brothers Peter and Andrew, then James and John, the sons of Zebedee. With this small school of four fishers, He begins a work destined to give rise to numberless communities, great and small, to high and low schools of every kind, and, what is still more, to enlighten the whole earth. With these first children of His Spirit, He now goes about through Galilee in the plainest attire, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people. But scarcely has He entered on this path of self-humiliation when signs appear that, just by His having given up the world in the earthly sense, He will gain it in a higher sense. The beginning of His holy renunciation of the world is forthwith crowned with the blessing of its commencing, real, spiritual conquest.

The first pledge that we have for this is, that the word of God in the mouth of the prophet Isaiah foresaw, and thereby attested beforehand, this appearance of the Messiah in despised Galilee.¹ Isaiah had already announced very clearly, that it was precisely to that Galilee, so much despised by the Jews, that the highest revelation of God should be vouchsafed: 'The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond (holy) Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them who sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.' (See Book II. iv. 11.) We recognize the Lord also by the power of His Spirit upon the minds of men, and especially by the power of attracting the elect which He displayed. He first calls Simon Peter and Andrew, saying, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men! 'And immediately they leave their nets and followed Him. The wonder does not consist in its being the first time that He saw them, for they are already His disciples in the wider sense; but in their being ready, at the first notice, instantly to give up their whole means of livelihood, when they are casting their nets into the sea with the desire and. hope of a draught of fishes. The calling of the sons of Zebedee was wonderful in the same sense. They too were already of those who honoured Him, but were still absorbed in their former calling when His special call came to them. They were with their father Zebedee in the ship, mending their nets for fresh draughts of fishes. They likewise immediately left their employment and their father, and followed Him. The future showed how unerring was the word of the royal Master of all spirits, and how unerring His look which chose them. The four fishermen became the pillars of His Church (see Gal. ii. 9). By. Christ's at once knowing and calling the elect of the Father, and from their immediately knowing and following Him, He is glorified as the Only-begotten of the Father. As He moved the hearts of the elect. He also moved the people. At first sight He seemed to come forth as a poor Rabbi; but how changed the view, as it became more and more evident that His word had power to heal all manner of sickness and infirmity! His fame now began to spread through all Syria. Henceforth there was enkindled among the people a true desire to bring to Him from all parts sufferers of every sort, especially such as were taken with diseases which seemed incurable — demoniacs, lunatics, and paralytics. And whatever sufferers were brought to Him, He healed them all. The consequence was, that there were gradually formed constant streams of followers, and some of them from a far distance, coming to or departing from Him. People from Decapolis, from Jerusalem, or Judea in general, and particularly from Perea, where John had with special success prepared the way for the Lord, attached themselves to the nucleus formed by His Galilean followers. So it soon became evident, that as concerned true life in the kingdom of spiritual and mental life, Jesus was king in the land. He displayed His royal rule, however, only by spreading abroad the word and the power of salvation, knowledge, life, health, and presentiment of the new world of light, which was still shut up in His heart. Thus early appear the foretokens of the victory and dominion which He, by means of His self-sacrificing love, was destined to gain over the human race.

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