INTERNAL Ev1DE:~:cE.] avows a certain conflict in His heart, yet by the very deliberateness (as well as by the publicity) of the avowal takes from it’something of the intense and almost. pas- sionate humanity of the synoptic narrative. Immediately after these words the Saviour, in the Fourth Gospel, deliberately suggests to Himself the synoptic prayer, and repeats it: “What shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this cause came I to this hour.” At once triiiinphing over the—from the point of view of the Fourth Gospel——ui,i’worthy suggestion, He excl-aims, “ Father, glorify Thy name. . Upon this comes the heaven-sent message, but not (as in Luke) an angel to “ strengthen” one “in an agony praying more earnestly,” on the contrary, the voice does but ratify the Saviour’s utterance: “ I have both glorified it and will rrlorify it again.” Finally the author adds, as ,usual, the bbabble of The multitude, ,as a foil to the all-knowiiig wisdom of the Divine Word: “ The people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundered ; others said, An angel hath spoken to Him.” _No answer to their doubts and questioniiigs is given by Jesus 3 but we are left under the impression that the “I” is Ettered, neither by thunder nor by any mere angel of God, ut by the Father Himself. A soul troubled _: a prayer tqtbe saved fromlthe trpuble thte Su1)5)l‘€S£lUl1 of) that prayer, a er more or ess 0 con ie- an t e su stitutioii 0 another prayer in its place 3 land lastly, a message or inessep)geIi1‘ (tiiyyelios) from heaven—the facts are much the same ot in Lu {e and in John, yet how different is the tiileatment of the facts, and what a world of difference in t e spiritual result! Almost the only passage in which John adopts a few consecutive words of the synoptic narrative is the narrative of the anointing (xii. 3-8). There is much less _similarity between Peters confession, as recorded in Jo. V1. 68, and as recorded '1 M t. . 16- _Il. 30- L . 2 - but the nai'r.'iiivesaap;el:ir to referrtollzlie s-iifie elveiilt aiiil if so, the comparison between the two is most instructive. In Bl-atthew and Mark the confession of Peter consti-
- l‘:11l:t3S11‘.'l.cE)l1I‘I‘ilI‘1g-1)gil-It tthetllife 0; Jfesusl, i_t isftlzia isign
ic nvinces iin ia ie see 0 a ivine a1 1 1av- ing been sown, His work is now done, and thgt the hour of His departure is at hand: “From that time forth” (M-it. xvi. 21 ; Mk. viii. 31) “began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffei',” &e.; and accordingly the Lord prepares the dis- ciples with the greatest care, and even tenderness, for the allll-iiiippiazfiliit answer to }the question which He is to put to t em ‘ iom say ye t at I am‘? ” and when the question is answered, pronounces a fervent blessing on Simon, the son of J ona, but better called Cephas, a rock, whose faith- ful conféeslsion is the token of the laying of the foundation stone 0 tie new temple. If Jesus is to be regarded as a man, “who, though He were a Son, yet learneod obedience by the things which He suffered” (Heb. v. 8), then in the whole synoptic narrative of the life of Christ there is not a more important crisis than this. But in the Johannine narrative crises are altogether out of place, where all is pre—ordained ; and instead of the tender questioning, the inspired confession, and the fervent blessing, we have simply an almost casual appeal of the Lord to His dis- ciples, “Will ye also depart?” which, when a response has been made by Peter, is followed, not by a blessing, but by
- '11}L'1i0(':(I)1Ig)ClSS‘:3 qpnvteyirlig tlie assuralilicii that th: Word of fired,
' _ie .we ve {DOWS a tieir wea 'ness as we as their strength, and cannot be surprised either by confession or by betrayal : “ Jesus answered, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” Both in the Fourth iiifpliet:yn1())1}_)tis_ts (lflai). xvi. 233 _Mk..ix. 33), ' a r x - ~ of “c5ahn3' ‘(ED el "eSS'1‘llg‘ o cter, mention is made . . or CV1 . lo bless Peter, and to call him GOSPELS 827 “Satan” immediately afterwards, is consistent with the human Christ described by Mark and Matthew. The difficulty is ayoirled, in Luke, by omission ; but the Fourth Gospel, retaining the traditional mention of the word “ Satan ” or “Devil ” directs it to J udas' upon whom else- where the Fourth Gospel (xii. 4-8) conclentrates the faults 1l11).ptli1tC(Ll1'by' hllatthew (xxvi. 8) not to Judas alone but to a ie iscip es. Readers who may think that this last dislocation of the words of Jesus appears somewhat improbable should con- sider carefully the patent instance which follows. In the synoptic account of the betrayal, Matthew and Mark represent Jesus as awaking the sleeping disciples (at the moment of the ‘arrival of the traitor and his band), with the words, “Rise, let us be.going (e’-ye{peo'0e, ii’-ycplucy). Behold, he that betrayeth Me is at hand ” (Mat. xxvi. 46 ; Mk]. iriv. £12), alliers tlaistil it is toohhumalp tfqr him, see 111110‘ e impy 10 ' an ere ore e su s i utes a comniaild, in the secoond person, “Rise up and pray, lest ye _enter into temptation” (Lu. xxii. 46). But John, whiie Iaverstclal to tliistthaplge pf ttli: :ri1:(lltl0Yt1fil words, iieu ra izes eir qiies -iona e e cc y a 1110' em com- pletely out of their context. Accordingly, he? places them between the discourse on peace in ch. xiv. and the dis- course on the vine in ch. xv., just at the point when we may suppose the Master with His disciples to be rising from the table purposine shortly to pass quietly from the lighted upper-lroom wheore He had been celebrating the last supper down into the streets of Jerusalem, on His way to Gethsemane. Taken in this context, the words are free from all suspicion of haste or trepidation - on the contrary, they betoken anthoritativeness and decision. Rising from the sacred meal, and going forth to welcome “ His hour,” the Saviour says,—as if oVltl1 the conscious- ness that He is the High Priest of the Vforld, going forth to celebrate the sacrifice foreordained before the founda- tions of the world,._“ But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me command- ipent, evennzo )I”do. Arise, let us go hence (e’-ya’peo'0c, a-ycu,u.£V £1/‘rev EV . The entry into Jerusalem, the crucifixion, and resurrec- tion, are almost the only remaining events common to the Fourth Gospel with the synoptists. The entry is much con- densed, and closely connected with the raising of Lazarus (xii. 18) ; the lengthy account of the sending for the ass is passed over in the words——“Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat thereon ” ; and the acclaniatioiis of the multi- tude and the pomp of the procession are all omitted or lightly touched, as if the gleam of popular favour which so impressed the synoptists scarcely deserved the attention it had received from them. It was a mere consequence of the raising of Lazarus: “F or this cause the people also met I‘Illl1,DfOI‘ that they heard that He had done this miracle." Yet in Matthew (xxi. 11), when the city asks “Who is this? ” the crowd replies “ This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee”’—making no mention of the wonder which—according to the Fourth Gospel—was the sole cause of the procession. After this, John omits the purification of the temple, which he has placed earlier at the first visit of Jesus to Jerusalem (ii. l5),1 and passes rapidly to the last supper. Here, as is well known, there are great difliculties in recon- 1 The purification of the temple, placed as Christ’s first public act, is as suitable an introduction to the life of Christ in the Fourth Gospel as the serinon in ‘Sazaretli is to the life of Christ in the Third Gospel. In Luke (the Gospel of niercy). the proclamation of the “ healing of the hrokeii-lie:irted" to His friends at Nazareth; in John (the Gospel of the Vord of God, in which the words ¥)eos, éxeefv, O’1|’K¢1'yxl/l,(O,l.l.al, so often repeated by the synoptists, are altogether absent), the purify- ing of the temple of God,—is the most appropriate commencement
of the Savioiir's public work. Besides, the prophecy of Malachi