The irreverence and ruthlessness of Pilate.

Some time before the close of the ministry of Jesus, there occurred at Jerusalem two unfortunate incidents, both of which served to give Jesus an opportunity to preach one of the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel. Pilate, the Roman governor had undertaken to construct some great conduits to supply Jerusalem with a better and a larger supply of sweet water. The venture was apparently both difficult and costly; and he derived no support from the people, whom he hated, and who hated him and all pagan rule in return.

One day a serious accident happened. Connected with Pilate's undertaking, apparently, was a large tower on the top of Ophel, opposite Siloam. This tower fell, without warning, and buried in the ruins eighteen men who had been working on it. Of course, the people held the accident to be the judgment of God upon the men who had helped in the sacrilegious labor. Then Pilate fell short of funds. To defray the expenses of the enterprise, the irreverent Pilate resorted to the temple, and ruthlessly appropriated a part of the treasures of the temple. These treasures amounted to vast sums derived from the temple dues voluntarily paid by Jews all over the world. Naturally, the people became enraged, and rose in rebellious demonstration against the governor. Incited by their priests and rabbis, the mob stormed Pilate's residence, and demanded that the work on the water system be abandoned. They railed against him, the Roman {120} governor, and hinted at sedition. Pilate became in his turn indignant. He sent a large number of soldiers, dressed in plain clothes and armed only with heavy clubs, who surrounded the mob, and beat them so remorselessly that great numbers of them were killed. The soldiers pressed the mob to the very temple, then entered the holy precincts of the temple itself, and there slew many of the poor pilgrims who were killing their own sacrifices. Their blood was mingled with the blood of the beasts they were preparing for sacrifice, and thus, according to the law, the House of God was polluted. The news of this outrage spread throughout Palestine. The country was filled with indignation. In Galilee, the feeling was particularly strong, for the men who had been slain were Galileans.

The necessity of repentance.

Jesus was journeying at this time in the province of Perea, expounding His teachings to great multitudes that followed Him. When news of the disasters in Jerusalem reached them, these multitudes were stirred by the wildest kind of excitement. They were particularly indignant at the murders in the temple. As for the eighteen men buried under the tower, and the Galileans slain in the tumult, the people accepted their death, in characteristic Jewish fashion, as the judgment of God for sins committed. But the pollution of the temple could not be overlooked. So there grew up a strong feeling for a national uprising to avenge the unprecedented evil.

But Jesus did not approve of their sentiment; neither did He believe that those who had suffered in these two calamities were especially sinful. He seized the {121} opportunity, therefore to preach to the multitude the necessity of repentance on the part of everyone, and to correct the notion that a calamity of any kind is necessarily the judgment of God. "There were present at that season," writes the historian Luke, "some that told Him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

The barren fig tree.

"He spake also this parable: a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down: why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto Him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, . . . . and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that Thou shalt cut it down."

Repentance a fundamental doctrine.

As always, Jesus presented very clearly the doctrine He wished the people to learn to understand. For nearly three years. He had Himself ministered to His people. Yet, He could find no fruits of repentance. In the long-suffering of God, the people would be spared yet a little while. But their end was inevitable. Unless they should {122} repent, they should all perish, even as did the Galileans, and the eighteen men buried under the tower at Siloam. And this doctrine of repentance was fundamental in the ministry of Jesus. First, John had come, crying in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Then Jesus Himself had gone to Galilee, after John had been put into prison, and had preached, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." And when He sent out the twelve apostles two and two. He instructed them to preach everywhere that men should repent.

Jesus's exclamation against the wicked.

That the people did not observe the word of Jesus is, however, very evident from the way in which He upbraided them, and pointed out to them that the lot of the wrongdoers who repented would in the end be better than that of the selfrighteous who repented not. "But whereunto shall I liken this generation?" exclaimed Jesus one day. "It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamen............