h Jesus directed against
the scribes and Pharisees; they are burdened with indignation for the
misleading of the people, with rebuke for the misrepresentation of God's
truth, and with scorn for their hollow pretence of righteousness. Through
it all breathes a note of sorrow for the city whose house was now left to
her desolate. The change of scene which introduces the widow offering her
gift in the temple treasury heightens the significance of the
controversies through which Jesus had just passed. In his comment on the
worth of her two mites we hear again the preacher of the sermon on the
mount, and are assured that it is indeed from him that the severe rebukes
which have fallen on the scribes have come. There is again a reference to
the insight of him who sees in secret, and who judges as he sees; while
allusion is not lacking to the others whose larger gifts attracted a wider
attention. The whole scene is like a commentary on Matt. vi. 2-4.

185. Still a different side of Jesus' life appears when the Greeks seek
him in the temple. They were probably proselytes from some of the Greek
cities about the Mediterranean where the synagogue offered to the
earnest-minded a welcome relief from the foolishness and corruption of
what was left of religion in the heathen world. Having visited Jerusalem
for the feast, they heard on every hand about the new teacher. They were
not so bound to rabbinic traditions as the Jews themselves, they had been
drawn by the finer features of Judaism,--its high morality and its noble
idea of God. What they heard of Jesus might well attract them, and they
sought out Philip, a disciple with a Greek name, to request an interview
with his Master. The evangelist who has preserved the incident (John xii.
20-36) evidently introduced it because of what it showed of Jesus' inner
life; hence we have no report of the conversation between him and his
visitors. The effect of their seeking him was marked, however, for it
offered sharp contrast to the rejection which he already felt in his
dealings with the people who but two days before had hailed him as
Messiah. This foreign interest in him did not suggest a new avenue for
Messianic work, it only brought before his mind the influence which was to
be his in the world which these inquirers represented, and immediately
with the thought of his glorification came that of the means thereto,--the
cross whose shadow was already darkening his path. Excepting Gethsemane,