THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST
I. THE SETTING AND THE LIFE
1. THE HISTORICAL SITUATION
Almost everything we know about Jesus comes from the New Testament, above
all from the Gospels. These are not historical narratives in the modern
sense- They do not even set out to provide edifying biographies written
according to a unified scheme. They are a holy message.
Without attempting to achieve sequence and completeness, they record
events, sayings, and actions in the life of our Lord, presenting them
according to their significance for the proclamation of the message of
salvation. Thus, from the standpoint of historical biography, the facts
which we learn from the Gospels about the life of Jesus are at once
accidental and precious.
The scene of Jesus' life is Palestine. because in the later and more
important part of his life he moved about with considerable freedom, the
story takes us to widely different regions. First there is the immediate
homecountry--Galilee; then the capital with the surrounding province of
Judaea; the solitude of the wilderness and the banks of Jordan; Samaria and
the Syrian frontier. It is true that the account shows no interest in
things which are not immediately connected with the holy message of
salvation, and yet it throws light now and again upon the conditions of the
country; upon the peculiarities of the different regions with the tensions
which exist between them; upon occasional geographical and historical
points of interest.
The time limits of Jesus' life are determined by certain statements in the
Gospels. He was born during the reign of Augustus Caesar, Quirinius being
governor in Syria, and Herod, the King of Galilee, under Roman vassalage.
We cannot fix the year exactly (Luke 2. 1-2; Mat. 2. 1). His public
activity began after the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
i.e. after the year 28; for it was in this year that John the Baptist began
to preach, and Jesus appeared after that. Jesus was then about thirty years
old (Luke 3. 1-3, 23). He died, at the latest, before Easter of the year
35, for his death occurred while Pontius Pilate was in office, and by
Easter 36 Pilate's term was over (Mat. 27. 11-26 et par.). Jesus lived,
then, between these extreme dates. More exact dating depends upon how long
we allow for the Baptist's and his own ministries, and how we interpret the
statements of the various Gospels concerning his journeyings to Jerusalem.
The highest reckoning puts the duration of Jesus' public life at about
three years; the lowest at a little over one.
The reigns of Caesar Augustus (29 B.C.-14 A.D.) and Tiberius Caesar (A.D.
14-37) form the historical framework of our Lord's life. All the world,
from Gibraltar to Mesopotamia, from Britain to Ethiopia, was a single
political entity. A multiplicity of local cultures was held together by
strong unifying forces, above all by a view of life which blended
Hellenistic intellectualism with Roman practicality. Greek and Latin were
spoken everywhere. Political ordinances, a uniform administration, and
commercial intercourse guaranteed a constant interchange between the
different parts of the Empire. The religious scene presents a vast
diversity; but the separate pagan cults had long since lost their sharp
dividing lines. All of them had become imbued with certain tendencies,
notably a predilection for myths and mysteries. A deep longing for
redemption was felt everywhere, and this led to all kinds of syncretism.
The rulers of Palestine were the sons and heirs of Herod the Great (d. 4
B.C.). Judaea and Samaria were ruled by Archelaus (4 B.C.-6 A.D.) until his
banishment, when Judaea was made a Roman proconsulate under Quirinius.
Herod Antipas (4 B.C.-39 A.D.) ruled in Galilee and Peraea. Philip (4 B.C.-
34 A.D.) ruled in the North-east, but his area, too, was destined to come
under immediate Roman rule. The country's political independence, won by
the Maccabees in the wars of freedom (167-142 B.C.), and upheld by the
Hasmonaean dynasty, had been brought to an end by Pompey. From 63 B.C.
onwards Palestine was a Roman province. Herod the Great himself had been a
Roman vassal.
Despite this political dependence, however, a considerable spiritual
independence persisted. The form of government was still the old theocracy,
exercised by the high priest assisted by the supreme council of the
Sanhedrin, composed of seventy-one members.
Supreme jurisdiction in matters involving the death sentence and crimes of
a political nature was reserved to the Roman governor, as was taxation.
Religious life was founded on a tradition which had withstood all change.
At the same time, a whole series of Greek and Asiatic influences had made
themselves felt. The danger of hellenization may well have been warded off
by the Maccabean wars and the country safeguarded for Judaism; but
Palestine, too, was affected by Hellenistic culture, as well as by a
religious movement which stirred the whole Mediterranean world, revealing
itself in Palestine principally as a fervent longing for the Messiah, an
expectation which was not purely religious but also strongly nationalist
and political in tone.
The guardians of the nationalist-conservative tradition were the Pharisees.
They were the purists, those who remained faithful to the Law. They were
vigorously against all that was foreign and pagan; and they were the
bitterest opponents of Hellenistic culture. And yet, for all their national
consciousness, they were not really in touch with the people, but looked
down on them as a despicable, confused, and ignorant rabble.
Opposed to them was the party of the Sadducees who were cosmopolitan and
supported Hellenistic culture, seeing themselves as the enlightened,
rationalist opponents of all that claimed to be above the senses or beyond
this world.
Their image merges with that of the Hellenizers, the group that adapted
traditional Jewish ideas to the popular philosophy of the times, and whose
attitude to the Law was determined by this adaptation. The Sadducees were
related also to the Herodians--members of the courts of Herod's heirs, who
had no interest in serious issues but sought only power and pleasure.
A number of other well-defined groups stood out from the mass of the
population.
Most conspicuous were the Essenes, a sect of a decidedly mystical and
ascetic character.
John the Baptist's disciples seem to have had much in common with these
people and while some of them adopted their masters attitude to Jesus,
others continued as a separate community.
Besides these, we must take note of that little band that remained firmly
within the ancient tradition, but drew its inspiration rather from the
Prophets and the Psalms than from the Law- These were men and women of
deep, quiet spirituality like Zachary and Elizabeth, the parents of John
the Baptist; or the two prophetic souls who greeted the Child Jesus in the
Temple, Simeon and Anna; or the family at Bethany, Lazarus, Martha and Mary
(John 11).
Finally, there were the Samaritans, a racially and religiously hybrid
group, the descendants of colonists who had been transplanted there at the
time of the Assyrian conquest- They tried to hold themselves aloof from
both Jews and pagans, but were unable to do so because of the confusing
forces all about them. They were despised by their Jewish neighbors.
