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“Is Not This the Carpenter’s Son?”
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sound of their titles on the lips of men. As real piety declined, they
became more jealous for their traditions and ceremonies. Their
minds darkened by selfish prejudice, they could not harmonize the
power of Christ’s convicting words with the humility of His life.
His poverty seemed wholly inconsistent with His claim to be the
Messiah. Why was He so unpretending? If He was what He claimed
to be, why was He satisfied to be without the force of arms? How
could the power and glory so long anticipated bring the nations as
subjects to the city of the Jews?
But it was not simply the absence of outward glory in His life
that led the Jews to reject Jesus. He was the embodiment of purity,
and they were impure. His sincerity revealed their insincerity, and
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discovered iniquity to them in its odious character. Such a light
was unwelcome. They could have borne the disappointment of their
ambitious hopes better than Christ’s reproof of their sins, and the
reproach they felt even from the presence of His purity.
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