A 09 - The Character of Jesus

CHAPTER 9. THE CHARACTER OF JESUS

WE naturally expect that character should be adapted to office. In a parent we expect providence, in a friend fidelity, in a laborer industry, in a soldier bravery, in a judge justice, in a scholar learning, and ia a king or governor wisdom and integrity. And whenever this expectation is disappointed, the mind experiences a sense of pain, resulting from the considera. tion of the unadaptedness of the office-holder to the office, of the agent to the end designed. With men, and in all human things, incongruities of this kind often happen.

How frequent is it, that judges are unjust, professed scholars unlearned, rulers weak, and friends treacherous! But, when God himself designates an officer to an office, or creates an agent for an end, we may calculate upon a wonderful adaptedness, between the character of the person chosen, and the sphere to be filled by him. Are Bezaleel and Aholiab appointed by Jehovah to build the tabernacle? God previously “fills them with wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge, in all manner of workmanship. Exodus 31:1-18. Is the youthful David chosen from the sheepfold, at Bethlehem, to be king over Israel? The Spirit of God accompanies the oil of consecration, and the inexperienced shepherd-boy is so endowed and trained, as to be fitted to occupy the throne in Israel. 1 Samuel 16:1-23. Is Jehu designated as the instrument of executing the vengeance of God upon the impious house of Ahab? His natural vindictiveness of temper, his bold and fiery zeal, admirably qualify him for the bloody drama through which he was called to pass. 2 Kings 9:1-37. And so of all other instruments, directly chosen of God, to fulfil his pleasure in the history of human life.

These remarks must of course have a peculiar application to the personal character of the Messiah He was to rear a celestial tabernacle; to sway a divine sceptre. His office was to be the highest of all — his duties the most difficult of all. His character therefore must be proportionably exalted. And what is here a deduction of reason, is matter of positive revelation. “Behold, saith the Lord, my servant whom I uphold; mine elect in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.” Isaiah 42:1-25.

Here it is expressly announced, that the character of the Messiah is to be peculiar, and wonderfully adapted to the exalted office he was appointed to fill.

It must be admitted that there is great difficulty in forming suitable conceptions of the appropriate character of a Savior. We know not altogether what such an office requires. The office of a parent, of a judge, of a teacher, or ruler, is familiar to us. But when we consider an office, whose relations are chiefly spiritual, and which exercises its influence principally in eternity, we are at a loss rightly to conceive of its nature, and justly to estimate its magnitude. Nor is this all. Even the earthly developments of this office are not as yet fully made known. How ill prepared was the ancient Jew to appreciate the events and histories of the new dispensation! And how disqualified are we to enter with minuteness and certainty into the hidden purposes of God, or to delineate with historical accuracy, the final results of unfulfilled prophecy! Even if Jesus be the Messiah, the whole of his character has not as yet been given; and there may be much in the future still to corroborate prophecy, and to furnish higher evidence than we now have, that the Son of Mary is the promised Christ, the Savior of men.

But, abating these difficulties, what is the character which a Savior for men might be expected to possess? This is best learned by considering the condition of the persons to be saved. If a man’s condition were one of pecuniary embarrassment and bankruptcy, he would require in a helper, funds; if it were one of disease, he would require medical skill; if of sorrow, he would need a kind and sympathizing heart. Now, men are vicious and depraved; with them passion is predominant, and reason enslaved; inclination is law, and truth and duty trampled under foot. The character of a Savior, therefore, for such, must tend to counteract this state of things. It must inspire a love for duty, a desire for holiness. It must awaken conscience and arouse all the high moral faculties of the soul. If a skillful general is commanding a cowardly army, he must show in himself contempt of danger, if he would inspire them with courage. And if Jesus would awaken in the breasts of sinners a love for moral virtue, they must find it first in his own example.

And, here, we rejoice to say it, the only perfect model of moral virtue ever described or exemplified on earth, is presented to us by the Evangelists in the life of Jesus. Here it exists in absolute solitariness, without a rival or another. Here, and here alone, we find a character with every fault absent, with every virtue present.

Cicero enters a complaint against ancient philosophers in the following language: “How rare is it, says he, to find a philosopher with a mind and life so regulated as reason requires, who deems his own doctrine, not a parade of science, but a rule of life; who yields obedience to himself, and deference to his own decrees. Whereas, how common to see some so full of vanity and ostentation, that it had been better for them not to have been taught; some the votaries of money; some of glory; many the slaves of their passions; so that their lives are strangely at war with their language.” An elegant writer too, of our own times, bears similar testimony to the practical results of ancient philosophy: “They promised what was impracticable; they despised what was practicable; they filled the world with long words and long beards, and they left it as ignorant and as wicked as they found it.” Nor have modern times produced a solitary instance of absolutely perfect human character. Most of the best men lack many virtues; multitudes of them exhibit real faults and vices. How often in biographies do we find remarks like the following: “The characteristic peculiarity of his intellect was the union of great powers with low prejudices.” 3 Or the following: “He had one fault, which of all human faults is most rarely found in company with true greatness — he was extremely affected.” 4 So Cicero notes the vanity of Demosthenes, who confessed that he was delighted when a female water-carrier said, as he passed — “There goes that Demosthenes.” 5 Similar complaints are alleged by inspiration against the worthies among the Israelites — against patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. Adam sinned when in innocence; Abraham prevaricated; Jacob was guilty of falsehood; Moses spake unadvisedly with his lips; David was guilty of even foul crimes; Peter was cowardly, and Paul and Barnabas quarrelled. There is, even on the page of revelation, but one perfect character, but one without a fault, but one possessing every virtue, and that is the character of Jesus.

It may very much be questioned, whether, if all human characters were put in common, and one had the privilege and the power to combine from the mass one perfect man, it could be done. Their virtues would be so defective, and their vices so subtle, that the effort would resemble that of a sculptor attempting to produce a statue of marble from a forest of trees; or of a philosopher attempting to find one immortal in a world of mortals.

Indeed, we may go a step further and say, that even if men were allowed to draw from the world of absolute ideality — if they should forsake realities and proceed to conceptions of their own — it is doubtful whether a man could be found, who could either paint, chisel, or write the perfect model of a perfect man. Each inventor would be himself so much under the influence of human prejudices and infirmities, that he would be likely never to exhibit a specimen, which even the rest of his species would pronounce absolutely perfect. How can the blind construct a rainbow, or the deaf originate an anthem, or erring mortals, unless divinely inspired, portray one unerring many. But in the gospel we have both the original and the description, the faultless character, and its faultless delineation. In all merely human biographies, we always discover, not only the faults of him whose life is given, but the faults of the writer by whom the character is drawn, either malignity, or partiality, or prejudice, or bigotry, or ignorance, is permitted to throw colorings upon the page, which the pen of independent truth. could never sanction. Now virtues are magnified, now vices are concealed. Now facts are presented in a distorted condition, and now motives are ascribed to conduct which never existed. Now one character wears all the splendors of angelic perfection, now another is clothed in the vices of Apolyon. Not like these are the narrations of inspired men. They speak as if they saw the throne of judgment, or as if they had been solemnly sworn in the court of Heaven. Their inspiration too, enables them to see all the facts, and to see them as they are. Hence they conceal nothing, invent nothing; but with the accuracy of a skillful surgeon’s knife, following every muscle and nerve in the human body, they exhibit the character as it is, and not as they think it ought to be. Hence they speak as fearlessly of Lot’s incest, as of his escape from Sodom; of Abraham’s prevarication, as of his offering his son Isaac; of David’s adultery as of his conquest over Goliah; of Peter’s denial of his Master, as of his sermon on the day of Pentecost.

It was into the hands of writers like these that the character of Jesus was committed for portrayal. Nor have they failed to do it justice. Yet amid the glory of the most illustrious miracles — under the breath of a fame resembling the roarings of the whirlwind — in constant view of a character to which there had never been even an approximation, and while describing too the actions of their own Master, whom they devotedly loved, there are no exaggerations, no swellings of vanity, no attempt at ingenuity, no parade, no show! With the simplicity with which the sunbeam falls upon the flower in spring, or the drop of rain rests upon the unfolded leaf, do they tell and narrate all just as it happened. Their pens seem to have been steel, their arms iron, and their hearts stone. One never thinks of the writer, perhaps does not recognize his presence, but seems in his own person to be travelling in Galilee, or listening in the temple, or sitting by the sea-side, lost and amazed at the simple greatness, anti the mighty works of the illustrious Nazarene. Surely Heaven must have held the hands which described its own model of virtue. But what is that model? The character of Jesus exhibited, among others, the following excellences. It possessed the most perfect and exalted piety.

Abraham was illustrious for his faith, Moses for his meekness, Daniel for his integrity, and David for being a man after God’s own heart. But the piety of Jesus, not only concentrated all these, but far excelled them. Is prayer an act of piety? How often did Jesus rise before day, or spend the whole night in communion with his Father? Is obedience an act of piety?

Hear him exclaim, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish his work.” John 4:34. Is submission to the Divine will an evidence of piety? Hear him say, when crushed by the most over-powering sorrows — “Not my will, but thine be done.” So shone the piety of Jesus. It was a full-orbed sun, without a cloud and without an eclipse. The character of Jesus also exhibited the greatest benevolence toward men.

He did not, like some eastern monarch, shut himself up in a palace, and communicate with his subjects only by means of others. He did not, like the more modern eremite, seek the wilderness, and there in a life of seclusion and abstinence, gratify an ambition, which could not find a suitable theatre for exercise among the abodes and miseries of living and active men. Nor did he, like the philosopher, spend his time amid dusty volumes, and learned demonstrations, to the neglect of the more practical duties of life. He mingles with society, he is surrounded by the multitude, he visits the market, the synagogue, the public festivals, the highways, and the haunts of misery and suffering. “He went about doing good.” The ignorant, the wretched, the outcast, the afflicted, and the poor, are all the sharers in his divine munificence. Though without a place to lay his head, he invites to him the wearied and heavy laden that they may find rest.

Though destitute of store-house and barn, he satisfies the hunger of the thousands around him. Though uneducated in the schools of the Rabbins, he instructs with the greatest kindness, the multitudes that attended his ministry, in a philosophy more elevated than that of Gamaliel, more heavenly than that of Moses. And though destitute of the protection of either Tiberius or Pilate, Herod or Caiaphas, he interposes the shield of his care around the persons of his followers to defend them from threatened danger. Indeed, his benevolence was boundless. He reasons with his enemies, comforts his friends, prays for his murderers, and dies for a world of sinners! But see his unaffected humility! Does Nathanael affirm — “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel?” The simple reply of Jesus is — “Because I said, I saw thee, under the fig-tree, believest thou?

Thou shalt see greater things than these.” John 1:50. Does Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and a member of their great council, approach him as “a teacher sent from God?” He is not the least flattered by the salutation, or by the approach of so illustrious a personage, but simply asserts — “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:1-36. Do the Apostles testify — “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God?” He does not deny but that they have asserted the truth; yet charges them to tell no man of that fact. Matthew 16:1-28. Do the multitudes, from their admiration of his character and extraordinary powers, desire to make him their King? He retires from them and spends his time in the solitary retirement of some mountain top, far removed from both their admiration and their efforts.

John 6:1-71. Do the crowds that follow him as he makes his last entrance into Jerusalem, shout as they proceed, “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest?” He stops on the top of Olivet, and there pours out his tears in broken utterance at the approaching fate of the Metropolis of Judea. Luke 19:1-48. O wonderful humility! O lowliness of heart, beyond a parallel and without a rival! But look at the moral sublime in the character of Jesus. This trait of character has always been admired by mankind. To be victorious over fortune, and composed when in the greatest danger, shows such selfrespect, or such confidence in an overruling Providence, that all must consider it a rare excellence of human character. Hence, the reply of the vanquished Indian to Alexander, has always been admired. When the Macedonian asked, how he wished to be treated — “Like a king,” responds the indomitable Porus! The reply of Caesar, also, to his pilot has been celebrated: “Why are you afraid? you carry Caesar!” There is also an instance recorded by Cicero, of the same kind. When the philosopher Theodorus was threatened by king Lysimachus with crucifixion, his reply was — “Reserve, may it please you, those threats of honor, for these thy minions, clothed in purple; for truly it is nothing to Theodorus, whether he rots on the ground, or in the air!” There are, however, no instances of such elevation of character, to be found in the history of mankind, equal to those which every where crowd the life of Jesus. Do the disciples awaken him in a sea-storm, when in dreadful apparent peril? His reply is, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith!” Matthew 8:1-34. Do the Pharisees inform him that Herod, (who had already put the Baptist to death,) was about to kill him; and do they urge him to use haste in his escape? “Go ye,” says he, “and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day, I shall be perfected!” Luke 13:1-35. Does an armed band seek to arrest him, at midnight, and do they come to him with “officers, lanterns, torches and weapons?” He goes to meet them, and asks “Whom seek ye?” and when they replied, “Jesus of Nazareth,” his answer is — “I am he!” John 18:1-40. Is he tried for his life before the Jewish senate? He is perfectly calm and unmoved; and when they fail in procuring testimony, he gives it himself; “Thou sayest that I am!” Is he brought before Pilate and accused of treason against Rome? See his selfpossession, his unexcited manner! “Art thou a king, then?” asks the Procurator. “Thou sayest that I am;” says Jesus. “To this end was I born, and for this end came I into the world.” John 18:1-40. But look at him in the hour of crucifixion. Is he nailed to the cross? Is he mocked and hissed at? Is he elevated between thieves? Is he ridiculed by priests and people; by strangers and citizens? Not an angry word escapes his lips; not a frown contracts his brow; not a resentful feeling is enkindled in his heart! No — nothing of this kind, but just the contrary. His look is still benevolent; his eye still friendly; his breast still affectionate; while the only utterance of his lips is, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do!” Well might it be said, “if Socrates died like a philosopher, Jesus of Nazareth died like a God.”

Such was the unyielding greatness of the soul of Jesus. No temptations could corrupt him, no dangers could alarm him, no subtlety could ensnare him, no sufferings could intimidate him. In all circumstances he was the same, in all places the same, to all men the same; condescending, but elevated; kind, but uncompromising; famed, but not exalted; obedient, but not self-righteous; he exhibited in himself a concentration of virtues, which must not only raise him for ever above the approximation of men, but render him worthy of the title given him by an Apostle, “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of his person.” Hebrews 1:3. The Apostles who were most intimately acquainted with the character of their Master, who were with him in private and in public, who saw him in triumph and in sufferings, who heard his frequent instructions and were often under his plain reproof; they all testify that his life was the radiance of every virtue, and that he had not a solitary fault. Peter calls him “The Just;” 1 Peter 3:18. And again, “The Holy One, and the Just.” Acts 3:14.

Again, he says of him, “He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered he threatened not; but committed himself to Him who judgeth righteously.” 1 Peter 2:22; 1 Peter 2:23.

Paul says of him, “He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” Hebrews 7:26. John says, “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Hebrews 1:14.

Again, he represents him as throwing out a challenge to his enemies, in the following words: “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” Hebrews 8:46. Nor is this all, but Jesus is made the pattern which Apostles were to imitate, and all believers were to follow. And when, too, human nature should arrive at its utmost perfection, that perfection was to consist in resemblance to Jesus “Beloved,” says John, “now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2.

It was the consideration of the extraordinary virtues of Jesus, that extracted even from an enemy to the gospel, the following spirited eulogium. “Peruse the works of our philosophers, with all their pomp of diction, how mean, how contemptible are they compared with the Scripture. Is it possible, that a book at once so simple and sublime, should be merely the work of man? Is it possible that the sacred personage whose history it contains, should be himself a mere man? Do we find that he assumed the air of an enthusiast, or ambitious sectary? What sweetness, what purity in his manners! What an affecting gracefulness in his delivery! What sublimity in his maxims! What profound wisdom in his discourses! What presence of mind! What subtlety! What truth in his replies! How great the command over his passions! Where is the man, where the philosopher, who could so live and die without weakness and without ostentation? Shall we suppose the evangelical history a mere fiction? Indeed, my friend, it bears not the marks of fiction; on the contrary, the history of Socrates, which no body presumes to doubt, is not so well attested, as that of Jesus Christ. The Jewish authors were incapable of the diction, and strangers to the morality contained in the gospel; the marks of whose truths are so striking and invincible, that the inventor would be a more astonishing character than the hero. Here then, if Jesus be not the Messiah, is one of the greatest wonders the world ever beheld. A man without depravity — a man without sin, or fault — a man, whose life exhibited every virtue, and who is the pattern to all others of absolute perfection! Why, such a character? Did Jehovah mean by such an exhibition to reproach the weaknesses and errors of mankind? Was it a mere freak in his government — the mere dropping down upon earth of the inhabitant of some other sphere? What does it mean? Why spotless holiness in a world of pollution? Why immaculate benevolence in a world of universal selfishness? Why the image God, where that of Satan is chiefly familiar? Surely, this was not contempt, and it could not be accident. The moral character of Jesus proves him to have been sent to us, on some high errand of mercy — proves, that he came as our moral and spiritual liberator — proves, that he was the Messiah — the Son of God — the Savior of men.