SECTION IV.

THE ANTAGONISM BETWEEN THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD IN CHRIST, IN ITS DIVERSE MANIFESTATIONS AND FORMS.

(Chap, v.-vii. 10.)

In the same measure in which Christ attracted towards Himself the minds possessing affinity to, and desire for, the light, in which the manifestation of the light in Him awakened into life all germs of heavenly life in them, the influence of His life upon the world necessarily also excited opposition and resistance from the darkness. This was, indeed, the judgment in the form of facts, which was connected with the manifestation of Jesus, as He Himself had already described it in His conversation with Nicodemus (iii. 19-21). As, therefore. His life and labours soon called into being the first-fruits of a church composed of the children of light, they called forth likewise a reaction on the part of the darkness. This shows itself in a series of forms, as in a completed picture. However, as the first indications of a mutual attraction between Christ and all germs of heavenly life among His hearers cannot present themselves at once in the form of a ripened and purified heavenly Church, the manifestation of the repulsion also between Him and the elements of darkness does not meet us immediately in the form of a conspiracy of hell against Him. And as we have seen, on the one hand, how, at the appearance of Christ, a divine bias showed itself in His favour, even among the mass of the people, in the inclination towards Him of many members of the Sanhedrim, as well as in friendly demonstrations throughout Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, we must now also see how the antagonism of the sinful nature against Him finds expression not only in the evil but in the better disposed, as a spirit of apostasy tempting and diminishing in number the company of His disciples, and temporarily discovering itself even among His own brethren.

This reaction of the darkness against the Lord, as it reveals itself in a series of demonstrations of awakening antagonism, gives occasion, nevertheless, to a series of new discoveries of His glory.

The antagonism, as might have been expected, was first to break forth, where, according to previous indications, it had already been germinating for a considerable time, among the Pharisees in Jerusalem. (Chap. iv. 1, 2.)

After this there was a feast of the Jews (the feast of Purim, which was celebrated a month before the Jewish Passover; see vol. i. p. 234); and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is¹ at Jerusalem, by the sheep-gate, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda — house of mercy, of grace — having five porches. In these porches lay a great multitude of sick people, of blind, lame, consumptive, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.² And a certain man was there, who had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, 'Wilt thou be made whole? 'On this occasion He was not solicited by the sufferer, but the sufferer was solicited by Him. In the words. Wilt thou be made whole? He seemed to indicate that this man had sunk into a state of torpor. This also appears from the languid half-answer returned: 'Sir,' he replied, 'I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.' Jesus saith unto him, 'Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.' And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.

That was the glorious fact: a miracle of resuscitation in a man doubly wretched in his sickly, expiring courage, as well as in his diseased and withered limbs. One might now expect nothing but praise and thanksgiving. Instead of this, however, there comes a great — But —

On the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, 'It is the Sabbath-day; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed' — although, perhaps, it might have been permitted him to cause himself to be carried thither on the bed.³ He answered them, 'He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.' They now inquired of him further: 'What man is He that said unto thee. Take up thy bed, and walk? 'But he that was healed knew not who it was: for Jesus had speedily withdrawn Himself, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said unto him, 'Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worst thing befall thee.' The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole.

The Jews now persecuted Jesus, 'and sought to slay Him'⁴ because He had done these things on the Sabbath-day. The Judaical party persecuted Him, and that through their representatives, the members of the Sanhedrim. For the question here has manifestly reference to a judicial persecution. But Jesus answered them, 'My Father worketh hitherto, and so therefore do I work also.' Therefore the Jews sought now the more to kill Him, because He — as they thought — had not only broken the Sabbath, but also called God His Father, making Himself equal with God.

They now instituted (in consequence of His declaration) a double process against His life, by an investigation which probably took place in the Little Sanhedrim. The first charge was for Sabbath profanation, and that of a kind which no longer stood as an isolated act, but was a consequence of a principle which He had just expressed; the other for blasphemy. To both charges Jesus had to answer. To the first as follows: —

'Verily, verily, I say unto you. The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father dg for whatsoever He doeth, the Son doeth likewise.' This declaration has a very deep and universal significance for our Christology: it shows us how the relation of the Son to the Father consists in this, that He, as the absolutely determined, confines His activity to the determinations of the Father — that, moreover. He works in full unity with the Father, thus never in uncertain activity. At the same time, it justifies the working of Christ on the Sabbath-day, which it represents as a complying with the suggestion of the Father, as a correspondence with His operations. They have therefore to do with the Father, who accomplishes His heavenly works also on the Sabbath, if they would challenge the sabbatic working of the Son.

On this He declares to them within what compass He uninterruptedly works, and shall work, and on what all this rests: —

'For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that He Himself doeth: and will show Him still greater works than these, so that ye shall marvel.' From the infinite love of the Father to the Son, it follows that He has made Him the centre to which all His operations are related, and that the Son must therefore more and more be made manifest as the means by which He accomplishes all things.

These works are, however, substantially, as in the case in question, works of resuscitation, of quickening, and of raising the dead. 'For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will.'

The more defined expression, whom He will, indicates that the impartation of new life to mankind is not natural, necessary, and universal, but rests on the relations of moral freedom, and therefore discovers itself in the antithesis of a quickening and a non-quickening, in which a judgment comes into manifestation. Jesus explains this thought further: 'For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed the judgment wholly to the Son: that all men may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father who hath sent Him.'

The judgment thus which the Son executes, consists essentially in this, that some He makes alive, others not. Not to be made alive again, means to be judged. This, however, rests on the appointment of the Father. Christ is the holy quickener of the world. The Father works life through Him; and on this account, because He desires to reveal the glory of His life in the living glory of His Son. But when Christ passes by a man without quickening him, this takes place on ethical grounds, — namely, because he does not know and honour in Him the Son, and thus also not the Father.

On this He describes His whole miraculous agency in the impartation of new life to mankind, how, namely, He begins with spiritual quickening, in it lays the foundation of His work; how He then effects a gradual, progressive resurrection, proceeding from" within outwards; and, finally, completes and crowns His work in the future resurrection of the body.

'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath — already in the centre of his being — everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment; but is passed from death unto life.'

This is the resurrection in the Spirit, as the foundation of the future resurrection of the body unto life.

'Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour cometh, and now is, that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son also to have life in Himself — as a source of life, as a creative principle of life; so that thus life does not merely proceed from the fundamental ground of the divine Being, but also from the summit of the manifestation of the divine Being in the Son — and He hath given Him power to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.' With the gift to dispense the new life, the Son possesses authority at the same time to leave the guilty under the power of death, and this because, as the Son of man. He is the absolute channel of truth, grace, righteousness, and love, with which must necessarily be conjoined the power of judgment over all who reject Him; or because, as the Son of man, He is the living norm, according to which the judgment proceeds.

This is the resurrection in its development, the spread of the quickening word in the world, the movement in the kingdom of the dead, the bursting forth of eternal life from the heart of the world, its diffusion into the members of • the world, as effect of the spiritual, as token of the bodily resurrection.

'Marvel not at this — for the greatest still comes — for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life (which is the perfected form of life), and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation (which is the perfected judgment itself.'

This is the bodily resurrection at the end of the world. Thus shall the work of the Son go forth ever more irresistible and glorious. First, His word makes itself be heard among the susceptible and the unsusceptible; and it is a question, whether men will hear it. Those, however, who do hear it, to them He gives spiritual life, as principle of life merely. Then His voice sounds so powerfully, that the dead apprehend it, and all who apprehend it begin through it to awake to life, to recover the powers of life through all their members. Finally, His voice penetrates through to all who are in the graves, and brings them all to the resurrection, not only those whose resurrection is an event in which life reveals itself, but also those in whose resurrection death itself is disclosed. As His voice at the first made itself known as the absolute, spiritual life-giving power in spite of physical death, it will discover itself at the end as the absolute, physical life-giving power in spite of spiritual death. That, however, the whole working of Jesus, so infinitely surpassing the limits of their Jewish sabbatic observance, was at bottom entirely an operation of God, and that they therefore, in their attack on His conduct, had to do with God Himself, this, He tells them once more: —

'I can of Mine own self do nothing. As I hear — the divine judgment in the utterances of life — I judge; and My judgment is just. For I seek not Mine own will (θέλῦμφ — the willing of My individual life), but the will of Him that hath sent Me.' In which, thus, the entire oneness with the real (material) acts of divine judgment is asserted. This is His Sabbath, His absolute rest in God. From this proceeds His Sunday, His absolute activity in God, His work of quickening. As He does nothing but live for God, God bears testimony to Him, in the miracles which Pie gives Him to do.

In this manner had the Lord answered the charge regarding Sabbath profanation. In this answer He had no doubt taken one thing for granted, which He had still more fully to prove, namely, that He was the Son of God. This proof He now gave them; thus passing over to the answering of the second charge, that He had made Himself equal with God: —

'If I bear witness of Myself,⁵ My witness is not true. It is another that beareth witness of Me; and I know that the witness which He witnesseth of Me is true.'

Who is this other? they might' have asked; and therefore He said to them they might well think in the first instance of John, although He did not mean him: —

'Ye sent — a deputation — to John, and he bare witness unto the truth — by pointing to the Messias, a witness which ye have suppressed.— But I borrow not my attestation from man; but I say these things — I remind you of that testimony — that ye may be saved — for the rejection of that testimony lies as a reproach on your conscience. — He was a burning and a shining light; but ye were willing for a season — only — to rejoice in his light.'

After this appeal to their conscience, He now names the other whom He had in view. 'I have a greater testimony than that of John. For the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, these works themselves bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me. And the Father, who hath sent Me, hath Himself borne witness of Me.'

He distinguishes the witness of His works from another still more immediate witness of the Father. His works are also indeed the works of the Father, and are in the first instance a testimony to His mission. Certainly one can infer from these works the cooperation of the Father; and from the divine mission of Jesus, one may draw a conclusion with respect to His being. His divine origin. But they should have the witness of the other, the Father, in a still more immediate form, namely, in the revelations of the Father. These began in the Old Covenant, but they find their completion in the whole manifestation of His own life. And this whole testimony of God He has in view. If they were enlightened, they could not fail to see in His manifestation an eternal vision of the revelation of God. Biit in this they were wholly wanting. 'Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His vision. And ye have not His word abiding (as a principle of life) in you; for ye believe not Him whom He hath sent. Ye search⁶ the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life.'

Because they are so entirely estranged from the spirit of prophecy, they cannot recognize the witness of the Father concerning Him. Above all things, they are destitute of the prophetic sense itself. They have never heard a divine voice, nor seen a vision — no breath of prophecy stirs amongst them; therefore they cannot see the revelation of the Father in the Son. Nay, even the Word, which has been handed down, they have not kept as a divine Word in their hearts by a living faith; therefore also they cannot understand the testimonies of the Father concerning Him in the Holy Scriptures. They still, no doubt, have always before their eyes the second form of revelation, the revelation of Holy Scripture, which proceeds from the first form of revelation, the prophetic visions, — and in the Scriptures they have the word of the Father concerning the Son. But their veneration for the Scriptures, and their searching in them, are in vain. They have estranged themselves too much from the spirit of the prophets to be able to find in their writings the testimony of Christ. The fault lies evermore in this: they will not come to Him. And thus they remain far removed from His life, and also grudge life to those whom Christ heals, as is here the case with the man cured at Bethesda. They are the dead, who have incurred the judgment of the Son, whilst they exercise judgment over Him.

Corrupt desire, a deep inward jar, must, however, lie at the root of the evil will. This is pointed out by Christ in the sequel.

'I seek not honour from men. — My being glorified on your part does not concern me. I do, indeed, care for the honour of the Father. — But I have known you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in the name of My Father, and ye receive Me not. If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from the one only God? 'Faith means, to live for God, and in the depths of the inward life to attain the true glory, which shall one day be made manifest; but how can one secure this if he seeks the false glory, which those covetous of honour exact from and press on one another? This mutual seeking and giving of honour is the basis of all chiliastic fanaticism.

Herewith is the justification of Christ completed. It has changed itself at the last into a rebuke of His judges. He who was dragged before their judgment-seat appears in the end to stand over against them, almost as their accuser. However, in regard to this position, He still speaks a word in conclusion: —

'Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. He who accuseth you is Moses, in whom ye hope. For if ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings — ye who pay the highest honour to Moses and the Holy Scriptures — how shall ye believe My words? 'He thus shows them that they have apostatized from the innermost centre and substance of Judaism in turning their backs on Him, and that they are therefore judged by that positive law of life, which is most peculiarly their own.

Thus it was that the bitter hostility which Jesus experienced in Judea was made to promote the glory of His name, and of His great work. The same is true of the first awakening of an antagonistic spirit against Him in Galilee.

The Evangelist transplants us suddenly from Jerusalem to the western shore of the Galilean lake, the Sea of Tiberias. We know on what account; because, namely, he has in view the immediate connection of the Galilean conflict with the Jewish. This new conflict had indeed a very different form from the other. It developed itself out of the culminating point of the extreme outward veneration which Jesus met with amongst the masses of the people in Galilee.

After the occurrences in Jerusalem, therefore, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee. And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw the signs which He did on them that were diseased. But Jesus went up into a mountain, and there He set Himself with His disciples. And the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was nigh, "When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He said unto Philip, 'Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?' But this He said to prove him; for He Himself knew well what He would do. Philip answered Him, 'Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient, that each of them may take only a little.' One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto Him, 'There is a lad here who hath five barley loaves and two small fishes; but what are they among so many?' And Jesus said, 'Make the people sit down.' Now there was much grass in the place, — for it was the spring season of Palestine, towards Easter. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus therefore took⁷ the loaves; and having given thanks, He distributed them to 'the disciples, and the disciples'- to them that were set down; likewise also of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, He said unto His disciples,⁸ Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.' They therefore gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over to them that had eaten.

When now the people saw the sign which Jesus did, they said, 'This is of a truth the Prophet that should come into the world.' When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come, and carry Him with them by force, to make Him a king, He withdrew again into a mountain, Himself alone. And when even was come. His disciples went down unto the sea; and as they entered into the ship, they came into the current (drifted along against their will, see vol. ii. 241), over the sea, in the direction towards Capernaum. And it had already become dark; and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea, excited by a violent storm, raged exceedingly. When they had now rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty stadia,⁹ they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and drawling nigh unto the ship; and they were afraid. But He said unto them, 'It is I; be not afraid.' Then desired they to receive Him into the ship — made haste to receive Him into the ship: and immediately — on His reception — the ship was at the land whither they went.

They had thus passed over the last part of the distance without remarking it, so much were they possessed and occupied with the wonderful appearance of Christ.

The day following, when the people, which stood on the other side of the sea,¹⁰ saw that there had been no other boat there, save only the one into which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not gone with His disciples into the boat, hut that His disciples had gone alone (meanwhile, however, other boats from Tiberias had landed near to the place where they had eaten bread, after thanksgiving by the Lord) — when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there — on the other side — any more than the disciples— they entered into ships (which had meanwhile arrived), and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.¹¹ And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said unto Him, 'Rabbi, when camest Thou hither?'

They seemed to anticipate a second miracle, which might excite them still more than the first. But Jesus saw that they had not received even the first in a right spirit. Without doubt, this company formed the proper centre of that multitude which yesterday would have made Him a king, — a swarm of chiliastic adherents, who would gladly have made of the person of Jesus a worldly Messias according to their own mind, but especially a bread-king. That they form such a swarm, is shown not only by the circumstance, that they still pursue after the Lord, when He has dismissed them along with the rest, but also by the following words of Jesus, and the manner in which they receive them.

We see thus the remarkable fact, that a great multitude of people have, of two miracles following close on each other, so sensually apprehended the first, that with the second they dare not now be even made acquainted. In this view Jesus passes by their inquiry, and immediately meets them with the upbraiding declaration: —

'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek Me, not because ye have seen signs, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.' This is His rebuke: they have not seen the miracle in the feeding, but the feeding in the miracle; nothing but their fleshly interest makes them to be His followers. Therefore the exhortation: —

'Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for Him hath the Father sealed, even God,' — Him hath He attested by the miracles as the Dispenser of bread unto eternal life.

They seemed as if they would acquiesce in this. They said unto Him, 'What shall we do, that we may work (procure) the works of God?' They have the miracles of God in view, and very specially miraculous feedings. Jesus answered and said unto them, 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.' Faith is a work of man in God, of and through God, and for God; and on this account is therefore as well a work of God, as it is the highest, freest work of man. Then said they unto Him, 'What sign showest Thou then, that we may see and believe Thee? What (then) dost Thou work?'— in contrast to us, who should work the work of God. What they mean by this question, they explain to satisfaction in what follows: 'Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written (Ps. lxxviii. 24), Bread from heaven He gave them to eat.' To have been fed once, is not sufficient for them; they rather see themselves thereby occasioned to make Him understand, if He would be their Messias, He must again and again feed them in as wonderful a manner as Moses fed the people in the desert. To this Jesus replied, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not the bread from heaven; but My Father giveth you the bread from heaven, which is the true. For the bread of God is that which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world.' Then said they unto Him, 'Give us at all times this bread! 'The Lord had represented Himself to these men as the true bread of life, in contrast to the highly praised manna of Moses, in like manner as He had previously represented Himself to the Samaritan woman as the Giver of the true living water, in contrast to the water of the sacred well of Jacob. And now they answered Him quite in a similar tone to that in which the woman had answered Him, in the words, 'Sir, give me this water, that I no more thirst, neither come hither to draw. But their words had a less noble meaning: this was shown by the sequel. Jesus said unto them, 'I am the bread of life. He that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst. But,' He continued, 'I have said unto you, that ye have seen Me, and still do not believe.' This He had said to them in the words, Ye seek Me not because ye have seen signs, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. They must not suppose that His mission shall be frustrated through their unbelief. This He gives them to understand in the words, 'All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me!' As little, however, should they suppose that the divine purpose hinders them from coming to Him. Hence the words, 'And him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.' He thus declares that He will occupy Himself with all — even with the poorest, and not perchance only seek to gather around Himself a select number of pre-eminent men. He then proceeds: 'I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will— seeking an ideal position of life, corresponding to the ideal life itself — but the will of Him that sent Me,' in the fulfilment of the historical obligations imposed on Me for the salvation of the world. On this He announces to them the purpose of the Father in reference to the salvation of the world. First as the purpose of salvation in a negative sense: 'And this is the will of the Father that hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it again at the last day.' He then presents it as the purpose of salvation in a positive sense: 'And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.' Thus He is in both respects the bread of life,— first, because He delivers from death, — secondly, because He communicates eternal life. In the first form of salvation, the personality is but little developed; it is in the neuter that the impoverished life is spoken of, which is in danger of being lost. In the second form of salvation, it is no more the question of mere deliverance from destruction, but of investment with the highest life; here the personality stands forth. There salvation had to do with lost men; here with the individual man. There the party saved was more passive; here he is an active personality, having his eye turned to the Saviour, and finding life in the contemplation of His life. There salvation had pre-eminently the form of divine predestination; here it has pre-eminently the form of human freedom.¹²

The promise of raising up again at the last day is the strongest expression of the fact, that He is the bread of life; for it is the promise of a new and eternal fulness and freshness of life at the end of the world.

To the Jews (the Judaists among His hearers), however, the declaration of Jesus was very offensive. They murmured at Him because He said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. And they said, 'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can this man say, I came down from heaven? '

Jesus replied to them in these words: 'Murmur not among yourselves' — in timid, pusillanimous, party whisperings. — 'No man can come to Me,' He adds, 'except the Father, who hath sent Me, draw him '— in opposition to the attraction of party feeling — 'and I will raise him up at the last day.' They must therefore withdraw themselves from the attractive influence of party spirit in order to feel the drawing of the Father. He who suffers shipwreck in reference to his party, has the consolation that Jesus will raise him up at the last day. Only of such liberated souls as boldly follow the drawing of the Father is the Church of believers formed. To this He points in the words: 'It is written in the prophets. And they shall be all the taught of God (Isa. liv. 13; Jer. xxxi. 33, 34). Every one, therefore, that heareth the Father, and learneth of Him, cometh unto Me.' Thus, by a preparatory and entirely special revelation of God to him, must each man come to know Christ. These revelations are, no doubt, very imperfect and dark, only anticipations of the highest revelation. Therefore it is said further: 'Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He who is of God, He hath seen the Father.'

And just on this account is He able to impart life; therefore He adds: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.' In this sense did He say', I am the bread of life.

And now He desires also to explain to them why He had called Himself the substantial, true bread of life-, in contrast to the manna; and why He had said of the latter, that it did not come down from heaven. This purpose is subserved by the following comparison. First, the different effects of the typical and of the true manna come into consideration: —

'Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are (notwithstanding) dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that he that eateth thereof may not die (be also preserved from the power of death).'

He proceeds to describe the altogether peculiar substance of the true bread of heaven: —

This bread is, in the first place, Himself: 'I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.' Further, this bread presents itself in His flesh: 'And the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' The Jews now strove among themselves, and said, 'How can this man give us His flesh to eat?' This occasions Him to represent the living bread in its third form: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth (consumeth, τρώγων) My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed — the true meat — and My blood is drink indeed — the true drink. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him.'

The first form, therefore, in which Christ is the bread of life, is His life itself, the manifestation of His life, the revelation of His being.

The second form is His flesh, which He gives for the life of the world: thus His propitiatory death.

The third form is His flesh and His blood, as it is provided for the truest nourishment of the life of the world, in the Eucharist of the living enjoyment of His Gospel and the operations of His salvation, in the Eucharist of the communicating Church, and in the eternal Eucharist of the perfected Church above. For He remains the true channel of all life for mankind throughout eternity, and therefore also His words always conclude afresh with the promise for the believer, 'And 1 will raise Him up at the last day! '

In conclusion. He then gives them the key to the great mystery, that He is the life of the world, in the words: 'As the living (life-giving) Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth (enjoyeth) Me, even he shall live by Me.' To this He can now add the closing sentence: 'This is the bread which is come down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat (it), the manna, namely, and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.'

These things said He in a synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

Now, however, it was shown that not only the Jews (Judaists) in general, but also many who already belonged to His discipleship, had taken offence at this discourse. They said, 'Hard — too hard — is this saying; who can hear it? — not to be listened to.' — When, however, Jesus observed in Himself — in the mirror within — that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, 'This (then) offends you? What if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before? 'Doth this deepest self-renunciation of the Son of man on 3'our behalf, in which He desires to become your life, your food, offend you? Ye will then perhaps be appeased, when, in His ascent into heaven, He shall again withdraw Himself from you in His bodily life, in His whole visible manifestation, as if He had withdrawn Himself from you entirely. Or will ye then perhaps complain of the too great spirituality of the Gospel, as ye now do that it is too material? At all events, ye must then know that the words concerning His flesh and blood are not meant in a fleshly sense. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit shall then instruct you regarding this. In the announcement of the ascension, He has prepared the way for the announcement of that outpouring. Therefore He proceeds, 'It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh — in itself alone — profiteth nothing.'

The Holy Spirit, then, shall one day make His flesh and blood to be nourishment for the world. And it was reasonable that they should now already be able to gather, as it were by instinct, from His words that it was so meant. He therefore appeals to these: 'The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.' They are not only spirit, but also life,¹³ a stream of life. Still less are they only mere outward utterances of life, but they are filled with the quickening Spirit. Thus they furnish a picture of the manner in which He will become the food of the world. And every heart open to heavenly things can experience this. When, therefore, many of the disciples did not experience it at all, it was their own fault. The Lord tells them this: 'But there are some among you that believe not.' The Evangelist adds, For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were (among them) that believed not, and who should betray Him. And He said (further), 'Therefore have I said unto you. No man can come unto Me, except it be given unto him of My Father.' From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.

Even within the company of the Twelve the Lord observed already the working of the spirit of darkness, the beginnings of a sullen enmity against Himself. Now, therefore, when so many forsook Him, He addressed the question to the Twelve: 'Will ye also go away? 'Then Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and know that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Jesus answered them, 'Have I not chosen you twelve? And one of you is a devil! 'He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon; for he it was who in the sequel betrayed Him, and yet was one of the Twelve. The darkness within the circle of the discipleship showed its dangerous, demoniacal character in the very fact that the man with treachery germinating in his bosom observed the strictest silence, and remained in the company, although the word of Christ had so strongly pointed to him, with a view to purge it of his presence. Even the beautiful assurance of devotion which Peter expressed, was so far attended by a defect, that the enthusiastic but true disciple unconsciously, helped to facilitate the dumb reticence of the false.

At that time the darkness roused itself everywhere against the revelation of the light in the life of Jesus, even amongst His own brethren. After these occurrences, namely, Jesus walked about in Galilee; for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews' feast of Tabernacles was at hand — a feast which the Israelites celebrated in harvest-time, during the space of eight clays, in remembrance of the wanderings of their fathers through the Arabian desert.¹⁴ Then said His brethren unto Him, 'Depart hence, and go into Judea, that Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, if he himself desire publicity. If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world.' The Evangelist remarks on these words, For neither did His brethren believe in Him. He by no means intends thereby to designate the brethren in the ordinary sense as unbelievers. They were rather earnestly concerned for His glory, as is shown by the expressions they used, which we are not warranted to regard as having been spoken in mockery; but still there was wanting in them the obedience and the resignation of true faith.¹⁵ As the disciples had found a ground of offence in His words, His brethren found one in His acts. Jesus knew the gloomy temper of mind in which they spoke. He therefore said unto them, 'My time is not yet come, but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto this feast. I go not¹⁶ up unto this feast, for the right time for Me is not yet come.' Thus spake He unto them, and remained still in Galilee. But when His brethren were gone up, then went He also up unto the feast, not publicly, but as it were in secret. That is. He did not make His journey to the feast according to the prescribed mode, but only as it were by occasion, quite in accordance with His declaration, that He would not visit the feast as a festival pilgrim. He had His own good reasons why He should quite unexpectedly make His appearance at this feast in Jerusalem. Everywhere already He had to void the machinations of His enemies. And therefore He allowed even His brethren, on their departure, to remain in uncertainty, whether or not He would come to Jerusalem (see vol. ii. 342).

Thus we see how the darkness unfolds its power against the light. The Sanhedrists and Pharisees in Jerusalem rise in hostility against Him, the Chiliasts and Judaists in Galilee gloomily turn their backs upon Him, within His discipleship a great breach takes place by apostasy, even within the company of the Twelve treachery begins already to germinate, and also amongst His brethren the spirit of unbelief is astir. Yet the lustre of His light shines only the more brightly on the dark background.

Here also, again, the life of Jesus presents itself to our view in that spiritual glory which makes all the events, all the relations of His life, to shine forth in their ideal significancy, in the light of their ultimate aim. His works, taken individually, possess an infinite symbolical meaning. In the conversion of Nicodemus He had appeared as the Creator of that new life which is the first condition of entrance into the kingdom of God from the state of Old Testament legalism; in the conversion of the Samaritan woman, as He who quenches the burning thirst of longing souls who have gone astray in this world's darkness, as He who grants them eternal peace: so, in like manner here, He presents Himself, in the healing of the impotent man at Bethesda, as the Awakener of spirit, soul, and body from death — as the mighty Saviour, who restores diseased and defunct life; and in the miraculous feeding of the multitude He announces Himself as one who, with His own being and life, satisfies the hunger of the world — who, by the sacrifice of His life, prepares for the world an eternal Eucharist, and feast of highest, truest nourishment.

There Nicodemus was to us a type of the men of traditional observance and legal righteousness coming to the possession of faith; the Samaritan woman, with her associates, a type of the field white unto harvest, of strayed and lost ones turning by conversion to God. Here we see in the man at Bethesda, who at the word of Jesus rises from a death-like lethargy to a new life, an image of all mortally paralyzed hearts, of all worn-out pilgrims, of all under the shadow of the empire of death, who awake at His call to a new and joyous existence. And here also the spiritual transformation of the Old Testament proceeds. The writings of Moses blossom in the light of prophecy, and become writings of the New Covenant, wherein Moses wrote of Him. In the revelations of the Old Covenant God testified ever 'anew of Him, till this testimony was finally perfected in His own life. Moses and John appear as His witnesses; yet so grand is His life, and the immediate testimony of the Father, that He does not even need the witness of these men. In His life the true substantial Sabbath is manifested, and presents itself in contrast to the dead, rigid, joyless, workless, and yet restless Sabbath of the Jews, as the true living celebration of perfect peace in God, and perfected working in God, a working which turns the Sabbath of the silent dead into the Sunday of the joyful resurrection. He makes the manna of Moses to take the place of a meagre type, foreshadowing the true bread of heaven, which is dispensed to the world in His life. In like manner the life of Jesus represents the sanctuaries of the people of Israel in their true light. The sacred well of Jacob in Samaria had been made a symbol of the miraculous fountain which streams forth in His life for the refreshment of the thirsty: so here He appears at the pool of Bethesda, in Jerusalem, as the true resort for miraculous cure, and the true Dispenser of health. The spiritualization of nature also continues its course. The barren desert is sanctified by the miraculous feeding of the people; and the terrors of the storm by night vanish before the light, festive, kingly step with which He comes across the sea to His own. And what wondrous, flying torches of light, does He make to fall amidst the conclaves of the darkness itself! Before the judgment-seat of the rulers at Jerusalem, He reveals Himself as one who exercises the highest and most valid jurisdiction in the name of the Father, calling the one to life, and giving over the other to death at His will; and the judges sit as a gallery of the speechless dead around the Prince of life. Here also He throws a beam of His light on the dead Scripture knowledge, the dead Bible reading of unbelievers, in its dismal soullessness, by a living exhibition of Holy Scripture in its christological meaning and fulness of life. Amidst the worldly Chiliasts of Galilee He unveils with a lightning flash of royal displeasure, of true spiritual dignity, the unworthiness of the seditious swarm who would gladly make Him a king, in order that they might live in sensual ease on His miraculous bread. In the company of His disciples He distinguishes the genuine followers, whom the Father hath given to Him, whose discipleship is rooted in the depths of the divine purpose, of whom each by himself has been led to Him by a special divine revelation, by a personal hearing of the voice of God, and thus is as one taught of God in the most individual sense, from the rootless party combinations of worldly-minded men, who, slavishly united by worthless interests, murmur among themselves, and cannot experience the drawing of the Father, "because they all drag each other forward to destruction by their party feeling and worldly machinations. He even causes a bright flash of His eye to fall on the treachery which begins to spring up in the innermost circle of His disciples: we see with horror how the evil germinates, yet are calmed at the same time by a dim surmise that so it must be. Thus also the Lord sees in the worldly tendency, which still causes a jar in the hearts of His brethren towards Him, a judgment, according to which they must still for a time enjoy the peace of an affiliated world; and with sadness in His look, He dismisses them to the feast, where they would have liked to share with Him in worldly triumphs. Thus the culminating point of the ideal conception of life is reached; even the utterances of evil cannot disturb the counsel of God. They appear as sins on which judgment is already passed, but also as facts worked by the hand of God into the ideal course of actual life.

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