29.03.2013 Views

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>Jesus</strong>' Messianic work. And so <strong>the</strong> Baptist<br />

understood it, when he 211 * bare record' that He<br />

was * <strong>the</strong> Son <strong>of</strong> God.''<br />

Quite intelligible as all this is, it is certainly<br />

miraculous; not^ ^ indeed, in <strong>the</strong> sense <strong>of</strong><br />

contravention <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Laws <strong>of</strong> Nature (illogical as<br />

that phrase is), but in that <strong>of</strong> having nothing<br />

analogous in our present knowledge <strong>and</strong><br />

experience. But would we not have expected <strong>the</strong><br />

suprar-empirical, <strong>the</strong> directly heavenly, to attend<br />

such an event— that is, if <strong>the</strong> narrative itself be<br />

true, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> what <strong>the</strong> Gospels represent Him?<br />

To reject, <strong>the</strong>refore, <strong>the</strong> narrative because <strong>of</strong> its<br />

supra-empirical accompaniment seems, after all, a<br />

sad inversion <strong>of</strong> reasoning, <strong>and</strong> begging <strong>the</strong><br />

question. But, to go a step far<strong>the</strong>r: if <strong>the</strong>re be no<br />

reality in <strong>the</strong> narrative, whence <strong>the</strong> invention <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

legend ? It certainly had no basis in contemporary<br />

Jewish teaching; <strong>and</strong>, equally certainly, it would<br />

not have spontaneously occurred to Jewish minds.<br />

Nowhere in Rabbinic writings do we find any hint<br />

<strong>of</strong> a Baptism <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Messiah</strong>, nor <strong>of</strong> a descent upon

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!