RETURN OF THE DISCIPLES TO JERUSALEM

proclaiming that fact at the centre of their nation's life. These visions also confirmed them in the growing conviction that Jesus was beyond doubt the Messiah or Christ for which their race had long waited. Henceforth they unhesitatingly interpreted every utterance of Old Testament prophet, priest, or psalmist, which seemed to look forward to the work of the Messiah, as clear predictions of their Master and of the memorable era in which they were living.

These marvellous experiences also seemed to them to confirm the popular Jewish apocalyptic beliefs, already strong in their minds, that Jesus as Messiah would soon come again with supernatural power to establish his rule on earth. The familiar prophecy of Malachi 31: "The Lord whom ye seek will suddenly come to his temple," undoubtedly seemed to them a direct divine promise pointing them the way to Jerusalem. It also explains most naturally why they spent so much time in those early days in the temple precincts and why the belief in the second coming of Jesus at first occupied a central place in their thought and life. It was easy for men who had just had visions of their risen and glorified Master to believe that he might at any moment appear in the heavens to proclaim and establish his visible kingdom on earth and to forget that he had declared that the Kingdom of God was not to come with observation but that it is within the hearts of his followers (Luke 1721).

A third and powerful motive impelling the disciples to go back to Jerusalem was their Master's own experience and example. His ministry had made tragically clear the limitations of the Galilean field. His supreme courage and determination in going up to Jerusalem, even though well aware of the deadly perils that lurked there, were at last appreciated by his disciples in their true perspective. Now his task was theirs. Strait though the way be, they felt compelled to walk it. Only at Jerusalem could they touch the heart of their nation and bear witness most effectually to the work, the teachings, and the exaltation of their Master. Following his example, as at Capernaum, they aimed to establish a perfect brotherhood or community which would exemplify the principles of life that he had laid down and furnish the leaven needed to transform their nation. Thus their vision of their risen Master and the duty of announcing it to their nation, their expectation that he would speedily appear in the temple to inaugurate his messianic rule, and their obligation to establish at the historic place chosen by Jesus himself a miniature kingdom of God on earth were forces which drew his followers irresistibly to Jerusalem.

II. The Choice of a Successor to Judas. The consciousness of a great mission was evidently strong in the minds of the disciples who rallied at Jerusalem within less than a month and a half after Jesus' crucifixion. A common purpose united them: it was to make clear to all members of their race that he was indeed the promised Messiah and that his messiahship had been attested not merely by his wondrous words and deeds while on earth but by the repeated visions of him as their risen and glorified Lord. This was evidently the reason why they took steps to fill at once the place left vacant in the ranks of the Twelve by the renegade Judas, who, the variant traditions preserved in Matthew and Acts declare, had meantime met with a violent death. As far as the disciples were concerned, he had forfeited his life in the unique brotherhood the moment he betrayed their Master. The demand now was for one who had not only associated personally with Jesus, and so was familiar with his words and deeds, but was also a witness to his resurrection. This requirement also suggests the primitive definition of the term apostle, which was later applied to certain missionaries, like Paul, who were not included in the Twelve. Peter's speech on this occasion, as recorded in Acts, makes pathetically clear the perplexity of the disciples, suddenly deprived of the authoritative leadership of their Master, and the simple faith with which in their extremity they turned to the Old Testament scriptures for guidance. Any passage, which on its surface seemed to throw light on their present problems, quite regardless of its original meaning or application, was accepted as a definite guide or prediction. For example, in the original of Peter's first quotation (from Psalms 6925), the psalmist evidently had his many enemies in mind and prayed that their habitation might be desolate; but to adapt it to the later situation their is changed to his in Acts 120.

Matthias, who was chosen by lot to fill the ranks of the Twelve, shares the complete obscurity that has engulfed a majority of the disciples who were most closely associated with Jesus. One questions whether the surprising paucity of references to them in early Christian literature is purely accidental. As a whole, the men to whom Jesus intrusted his priceless teachings and example do not appear to have been gifted with marked ability. With the exception of Peter they were men of one talent. Peter's strength consisted in a simple straightforwardness and zeal rather than in statesmanship or insight. With the exception of Peter, the leading apostles, Philip, Stephen, Barnabas, Silas, Apollos, and Paul, were enlisted entirely outside the ranks of the

CHOICE OF A SUCCESSOR TO JUDAS

Twelve. The ultimate success of Jesus' work came not from the ability of his immediate followers but from the invincible power of his personality and teachings. Moreover, "the advance was not the result of design, but of the inherent universality of the new religion. It passed on from race to race by channels of its own making, and broke, with a living power, through every restriction which men had placed upon it."

It is also important to note that among the first to rally at Jerusalem were Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers. Paul alone of all the New Testament writers gives any hint as to how the immediate members of Jesus' family were transformed into devoted followers in the few brief days that intervened between his death and the gathering of his disciples at Jerusalem. Paul in his account of the resurrection appearances states (I Cor. 151-8) that after "Jesus had appeared to Peter, to the Twelve, and to upward of five hundred Christian brothers at once, he appeared to James." This James was beyond reasonable doubt the brother of Jesus who later became the head of the Jerusalem church. The evident importance that Paul attributes to James's vision is significant. The order perhaps implies a certain causal relation between the visions of the older disciples and that which later came to James. In the absence of detailed records it is yet possible to supply the missing links. Up to the time of Jesus' crucifixion James did not believe that his brother was the promised Messiah. Therefore his conversion and absolute conviction that Jesus was the fulfilment of Israel's hopes and that the grave could not hold him must have made a profound impression on the other members of his family. Their presence among the disciples who gathered at Jerusalem indicates that at last even those of his own household appreciated his uniqueness.

III. The Story of the Day of Pentecost. Effects point back unmistakably to corresponding causes. The later history of Christianity is in itself convincing evidence that the day of Pentecost was the occasion of a tremendous spiritual experience. The memory of Jesus' words, of his unquenchable hope, and of his calmness in the presence of death were all fresh in the minds of the multitudes. Time and meditation had given them a perspective that enabled them to appreciate him as never before. News of the remarkable experiences that had come to his disciples had spread already among the thronging pilgrims. Among the disciples themselves the first dejection had been followed by a joyous reaction characterized by intense religious emotion. On the day of Pentecost this pent-up feeling broke out into an

irresistible wave of spiritual enthusiasm that marked the beginning of the world-wide Christian missionary movement. The story in Acts 2 represents the first-century memory and interpretation of this event. Like most of the biblical narratives, which record the epoch-making moments in the development of human faith, the original account has apparently been supplemented by later additions intended to emphasize its divine character and significance.

Fortunately it bears on its face the evidences of its growth, so that it is possible to distinguish the original historical nucleus which lies back of it. The jeers of the bystanders who heard the cries of the assembled disciples, "They are brimful of new wine!" suggest that what prompted their criticism was some form of religious ecstasy rather than coherent addresses delivered in various languages. This inference regarding the historical fact underlying the story of Pentecost is confirmed by Peter's speech, in which he explains the remarkable behavior of the disciples as a fulfilment of the prediction of the prophet Joel in which there is no suggestion of speaking in foreign languages. It is clear also in the latter part of the narrative that what converted the multitudes was not miracles nor divine signs but Peter's calm, logical, convincing sermon.

In its present form three elements are traceable which apparently were not found in the original account of the event: (1) The sound from heaven like a violent rushing blast of wind which filled the whole house where the disciples were seated; (2) the tongues as of fire which appeared distributed among them with one resting upon the head of each; and (3) their speaking with foreign tongues so that their words were clearly intelligible to the pilgrims present from the various lands of the dispersion. The Bible and contemporary Jewish literature contain certain suggestive analogies which go far to explain the presence of these secondary elements in this nativity story of the Christian church. The subsequent narrative of Acts 2 implies that the sound like a violent rushing blast of wind, which filled the whole house, was the mingled ecstatic shouts and cries of the disciples upon whose waiting hearts the divine Spirit from heaven had breathed. The same dramatic mode of description recurs in 431. In the mind of the one who has given us this narrative in its present form, the analogies between the giving of the law at Sinai and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost were very close. In the late priestly account of the scene at Sinai we read: "As Moses came down from the mount he did not know that the skin of his face was emitting rays of light because Jehovah had been

STORY OF THE DAY OF PENTECOST

speaking with him" (Ex. 3429). Just as the divine light shining in the face of Jesus at his transfiguration seemed to transfuse and transform all about him, so Acts 2 suggests that the joy and courage which filled the faces of the disciples appeared to rest like a divine radiance upon them. The statement that the disciples spoke in foreign tongues was either part of the Christian tradition or else is due to the editor's desire to picture the event in keeping with its larger historic significance. The story is apparently a reflection of the current rabbinical tradition of the giving of the law at Sinai, which states that the voice of God proclaimed the law in the seventy different languages that represented all the then known races of the earth. Back of this late account of the pentecostal experience lies the profound fact that the language of the emotions is intelligible alike to men of all races and tongues. Furthermore, Christianity from the first appealed even more strongly to the Jews of the dispersion-"Parthians, Medes, and Elamites"-who had returned as pilgrims to Jerusalem than to those of Palestine. It was this universal quality in Christianity that most interested the author of Acts 1-15 and he has dramatically set it forth at the beginning of his history.

IV. The Coming of the Spirit. Interpreting the secondary elements according to their deeper spiritual significance, the historical nucleus that remains in the story of Acts 2 furnishes a remarkably vivid and satisfying record of the epoch-making experience that came to the Christian community at Pentecost. It does not represent the beginning of the Christian church, for that existed at least in germ from the moment that the disciples reassembled at Jerusalem. Its separation from Judaism and its independent existence still lay in the future. The memorable day of Pentecost marked for the Christian community a new consciousness of direct divine guidance. It also demonstrated the universality and potency of the gospel of Jesus.

Modern religious psychology aids in the interpretation of this dramatic story. The feast of Pentecost had doubtless brought to Jerusalem many followers and sympathetic hearers of Jesus. The retelling of the visions which many of them had had of the risen Christ undoubtedly strengthened the faith and kindled the religious enthusiasm of all. The feast of Pentecost also recalled the never-to-beforgotten events of the feast of the Passover only fifty days before. These national feasts during Jesus' ministry had offered rare opportunity for the presentation of his teachings, and the influence of the example of their Master on this memorable occasion must have been