Christ in the Synagogue
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He is Mediator between God and his disobedient children. The Jews
claimed God as their teacher, but Christ declared such profession vain,
for, said he, “Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and hath learned
of the Father, cometh unto me.”
Jesus did not attempt to answer the questions raised regarding his
birth any more than he had answered those concerning his crossing the
sea. He did not desire to magnify himself, nor the miracles that marked
his life. The prejudice of the Pharisees lay deeper than their questions
would indicate, and had taken root in the bitter perversity of their sinful
hearts. His sayings and doings had not created such feelings, but only
called them into action, because his pure and elevated doctrine was
not in harmony with their selfish hearts. Said he, “Verily, verily, I say
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unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread
of life.” There were conflicting views and much uncertainty in regard
to the resurrection of the dead. Aside from the dissension between the
Sadducees and Pharisees, the Jews were in great darkness concerning
the future life and the resurrection of the body. Jesus pitied them in
their benighted condition, and bade them accept him, who was their
only hope, the great Life-giver, even the “bread of life.”
They had referred him to the manna which their fathers ate in the
wilderness, as if the furnishing of that food was a greater miracle than
Jesus had wrought; but he now declared unto them that the temporal
food then given from Heaven was but a meager gift compared with
the blessing of eternal life which he now offered them. The food eaten
then sustained the strength, but did not prevent the approach of death,
nor insure immortal life. The bread that the Son of God offered to
man was death-destroying, giving in the end immortal life to the body.
Said he, “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from Heaven, that a man may
eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from
Heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the
bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world.”
Our Lord here points forward to his approaching death, the only
true propitiation for the sins of humanity. The Jews were about to
celebrate with great display the feast of the passover. The lamb to be
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eaten there, was a symbol of Christ’s body; yet the very person that it
represented stood in their midst, presenting himself as their Saviour,