We read again and again of the interest men and women found in his preaching and teaching—­how they hung on him to hear him, how they came in crowds, how on one occasion they drove him into a boat for a pulpit.  It is only familiarity that has blinded us to the “charm” they found in his speech—­“they marvelled at his words of charm” (Luke 4:22)—­to the gaiety and playfulness that light up his lessons.  For instance, there is a little-noticed phrase, that grows very delightful as we study it, in his words to the seventy disciples—­“Into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace to this house (the common “salaam” of the East); and if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it; if not, your “salaam” will come back to you” (Luke 10:6).  “A son of peace”—­not the son of peace—­what a beautiful expression; what a beautiful idea too, that the unheeded Peace! comes back and blesses the heart that wished it, as if courteous and kind words never went unrewarded!  Think again of “Solomon in all his glory” (Matt. 6:29)—­before the phrase was hackneyed by common quotation.  Do not such words reveal nature?

A more elaborate and more amusing episode is that of the Pharisee’s drinking operations.  We are shown the man polishing his cup, elaborately and carefully; for he lays great importance on the cleanness of his cup; but he forgets to clean the inside.  Most people drink from the inside, but the Pharisee forgot it, dirty as it was, and left it untouched.  Then he sets about straining what he is going to drink—­another elaborate process; he holds a piece of muslin over the cup and pours with care; he pauses—­he sees a mosquito; he has caught it in time and flicks it away; he is safe and he will not swallow it.  And then, adds Jesus, he swallowed a camel.  How many of us have ever pictured the process, and the series of sensations, as the long hairy neck slid down the throat of the Pharisee—­all that amplitude of loose-hung anatomy—­the hump—­two humps—­both of them slid down—­and he never noticed—­and the legs—­all of them—­with whole outfit of knees and big padded feet.  The Pharisee swallowed a camel—­and never noticed it (Matt. 23:24, 25).  It is the mixture of sheer realism with absurdity that makes the irony and gives it its force.  Did no one smile as the story was told?  Did no one see the scene pictured with his own mind’s eye—­no one grasp the humour and the irony with delight?  Could any one, on the other hand, forget it?  A modern teacher would have said, in our jargon, that the Pharisee had no sense of proportion—­and no one would have thought the remark worth remembering.  But Jesus’ treatment of the subject reveals his own mind in quite a number of aspects.