Читать книгу A Child's Life Of Christ - Stretton Hesba - Страница 10

CHAPTER VI. The First Passover,

THERE is one incident, and only one, given to us of the early life of our Lord. It was the custom of his parents to go up to Jerusalem once a year, to the feast of the Passover. For the Jews living in Galilee it was a long journey; but the feast came at the finest time of the year for travelling, after the rains of winter, and before the dry heat of summer. It was a great yearly pilgrimage, in which troops from every village and town on the road came to swell the numbers as the pilgrims marched southward. Past the cornfields, where the grain was already forming in the ear; under the mountain slopes, clothed with silvery olive trees and the young green of the vines; across the babbling brooks, not yet dried by heat; through groves of sycamores and oak trees fresh in leaf, the long procession passed from town to town; sleeping safely in the open air by night, and journeying by pleasant stages in the day, until they reached Judaea; and, weary with the dusty road from Jericho to Jerusalem, shouted with joy when they turned a curve of the Mount of Olives, and saw the Holy City lying before them.

Jesus was twelve years old when, probably, he first made this long yet joyous march up to Jerusalem. We can fancy the eager boy "going on before them," as he did many years later when he went up to his last Passover; hastening forward for that first glorious view of Jerusalem, which met his eye from Olives, the mount which was to be so closely associated with his afterlife. There stood the Holy City, with its marble palaces crowning the heights of Zion; and the still more magnificent temple on its own mount, bathed in the brilliant light of the spring sunshine. The white, wondrous beauty of his Father's house, with the trembling columns of smoke ever rising from its altars through the clear air to the blue heavens above, rose opposite to him. We know the hymn that his tremulous, joyous lips would sing, and that would be echoed by the procession following him as they too caught sight of the house of God, " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God! " Thousands upon thousands of pilgrims had chanted that psalm before him; but never one like that boy of twelve, when his father's house was first seen by his happy eyes.

Perhaps there was no hour of perfect happiness like that to Jesus again. Joseph was still alive, caring for him and protecting him. His mother, who could not but recall the strange events that had accompanied his birth, kept him at her side as they entered the temple, pointing out to him the splendor and the sacred symbols of the place. The silvery music of the temple service; the thunder of the amens of the vast congregations; the faint scent of incense wafted towards him; all fell upon the vivid, delicate senses of youth. And below these visible signs there was breaking upon him their deep, invisible, spiritual meaning; though not yet darkened with the shadow of that awful burden to be laid upon himself, when he, as the Lamb of God, was to take away the sins of the world. This was the time, perhaps, when " he was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows " more than at any other season of his life.

The temple had been rebuilt by Herod in the vain hope of winning popularity among his people. The outer walls formed a square of a thousand feet, with double or treble rows of aisles between ranks of marble pillars. These colonnades surrounded the first court, that of the Gentiles, into which foreigners might enter, though they were forbidden to go further upon pain of death. A flight of fifteen steps led from this court into that of the Women, a large space where the whole congregation of worshippers assembled, but beyond which women were not allowed to go, unless they had a sacrifice to offer. The next court had a small space railed off, called the Court of Israel; but the whole bore the name of the Court of the Priests, in which stood a great altar of unhewn stones forty-eight feet square, upon which three fires were kept burning continually, for the purpose of consuming the sacrifices. Beyond these courts stood the actual temple, containing the Holy Place, which was entered by none but a few priests, who were chosen by lot daily; and the Holiest of Holies, open only to the high-priest himself, and to him but once a year, on the great day of atonement.

It was here, in the temple, that Jesus loved to be during his sojourn in Jerusalem; but the feast was soon ended, and his parents started homewards with the returning band of pilgrims. Probably Jesus set off with them from the place where they had lodged; and they, supposing him to be with some of his young companions, with his cousins perhaps, went a day's journey from Jerusalem. But when the night fell, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance, he was nowhere to be found. A terrible night would that be for both of them, but especially for Mary, whose fears for him had been slumbering during the quiet years at Nazareth, but were not dead. Was it possible that anyone could have discovered their cherished secret, that this was the child whom the wise men had come so far to see, and for whom Herod had slain so many infants in Bethlehem? They turned back to Jerusalem seeking him in sorrow. It was the third day before they found him. Where he lived those three days we do not know. Why not "where the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself?" It was in the temple that Joseph and Mary found him; in one of the public rooms or halls opening out of the court of the Gentiles, where the rabbis and those learned in the law were wont to assemble for teaching or argument. Jesus was in the midst of them asking questions, and answering those put to him by the astonished rabbis, who had not expected much understanding from this boy from Galilee. His parents themselves were amazed when they saw him there; and Mary, who seems to have had no difficulty in approaching him, spoke to him chidingly.

"Son," she said, " why hast thou dealt thus with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing."

The question fell upon him as the first dimness upon the glory and gladness of his sojourn in the temple. The poor home at Nazareth, his father Joseph, the carpenter's shop, the daily work, pressed back upon him in the place of the temple music, the prayer, the daily sacrifice. There they stood, his supposed father, weary with the long search, and his mother looking at him with sorrowful, reproaching eyes. He was ready to go back with them, but he could not go without a pang.

" How is it that ye sought me? " he asked, sadly; " did you not know that I must be in my Father's house? "

But he had not come to this earth to dwell in his Father's house; and he must leave it now, only to revisit it from time to time. "He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart."

Eighteen more years, years of monotonous labor, did Jesus live in Nazareth. Changes came to his home as well as to others. Joseph died, and left his mother altogether dependent upon him. Galilee was still governed by Herod Antipas; but in Judaea the King Archelaus had been dethroned, and the country was made a province of Rome, under Roman governors. This had happened whilst Jesus was a boy, and a rebellion had been attempted under a leader called Judas of Galilee, which had caused great excitement. Though it had been put down by the Romans, there still remained a party, secretly popular, who used every effort to free their country from the Roman yoke. So strong had grown the longing for the Messiah, that a number of the people were ready to embrace the cause of any leader, who would claim that title, and lead them against their enemies and masters.

There was a numerous class of his fellow-countrymen to whom Jesus must have been naturally drawn during his youth, and to whom he may have attached himself for a time. This was the sect of the Pharisees, noble and patriotic as our Puritans were, in the beginning; and at all times living a frugal and devout life, in fair contrast with the Sadducees, who were wealthy, luxurious, and indifferent. The Pharisees were mostly of the middle classes; and their ceaseless devotion to religion gave them great authority among the common people. To the child Jesus they must have appeared nearer to God than any other class. There were among them two parties: one following a rabbi of the name of Hillel, who was a gentle, cautious, tolerant man, averse to making enemies, and of a most merciful and forgiving disposition. Some say that he began to teach only thirty years before the birth of Christ; and it is certainly amongst his disciples that Jesus found some friends and followers. The second party was that of Shammai, who differed from the other in numberless ways. They were well known for their fierceness and jealousy, for stirring up the people against anyone they hated, and for shrinking from no bloodshed in furthering their religious views. They were scrupulous about the fulfilment of the most trivial laws which had come down to them through tradition. These had grown so numerous through the lapse of centuries, that it was scarcely possible to live for an hour without breaking some commandment.

Yet among the Pharisees there were many right-minded and noble men, to whom Jesus must have been attracted. " The only true Pharisee," said the Talmud, that collection of traditions which they held to be of equal authority with the Scriptures — " the only true Pharisee is he who does the will of his Father which is in heaven because he loves him." Such Pharisees, when he met with them, as he did meet with them, won his love and approbation. It was the "Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," whom he hated.