{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_19087/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_19087","id":"gutenberg_19087","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19087","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Ancient","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Jesus Christ -- Biography -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"Produced by Mark C. Orton, Sankar Viswanathan, and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                         Transcriber's Note:\n\n       Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the\n       copyright on this publication was renewed.\n\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n\n                        The King nobody wanted\n\n\n\n\n                        By NORMAN F. LANGFORD\n\n                      _Illustrated by John Lear_\n\n\n\n                        THE WESTMINSTER PRESS\n                             PHILADELPHIA\n\n\n                COPYRIGHT, MCMXLVIII, BY W. L. JENKINS\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n1     Waiting\n\n2     A King Is Born\n\n3     Growing\n\n4     Jesus Goes to Work\n\n5     A Busy Time\n\n6     Friends and Foes\n\n7     Slow to Understand\n\n8     Jesus Is Strong\n\n9     Refusing a Crown\n\n10    The Way to Jerusalem\n\n11    Nearing the City\n\n12    In Jerusalem\n\n13    The Last Night\n\n14    The Last Day\n\n15    The Victorious King\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nABOUT THIS BOOK\n\n\n_In a very real and interesting way_, THE KING NOBODY WANTED _tells\nthe story of Jesus. Where the actual words of the Bible are used, they\nare from the King James Version. But the greater part of the story is\ntold in the words of every day._\n\n_Since you will certainly want to look up these stories in your own\nBible, the references are given on pages 191 and 192. You will\ndiscover that often more than one Gospel tells the same story about\nJesus, but in a slightly different way. In_ THE KING NOBODY WANTED,\n_the stories from the Gospels have been put together so that there is\njust one story for you to read and understand and enjoy._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n1. Waiting\n\n\nTwo thousand years ago, in the land of Palestine, the Jewish people\nwere waiting for something to happen--or, really, were waiting for\nsomeone to come.\n\n\"When will he come?\" was the question they were always asking one\nanother. \"Will he come in five years? next year? Or is he already on\nhis way?\"\n\nThey were waiting for someone, and when he came they would call him\n\"the Messiah.\" If they spoke the Greek language, they would call him\n\"Christ.\" The people thought he would be a great king.\n\nThey had one king already. His name was Herod the Great. But Herod was\nnot the kind of king they wanted. Herod was hard and cruel. He\npoisoned and beheaded those who made him angry. He was not a Jew by\nbirth. The Messiah, when _he_ came, would be a good king. He would be\na Jew himself, and a friend to all the Jewish people. One of the\nprophets said he would be like the shepherds of Palestine, who watched\ntheir sheep night and day, and carried the small lambs in their arms.\n\nBut the most important thing about the Messiah was that he would drive\nCaesar and his armies out of the country. Caesar! How they hated his\nvery name! For Caesar was the emperor of the Romans. Some years\nbefore, the Romans had occupied the country and begun to rule it.\nHerod was still king of the Jews, but now he took his orders from\nCaesar. Everybody had to take orders from Caesar. The Jews were not a\nfree people any more.\n\n\"It used to be so different,\" the older people sighed, \"before the\nRomans came.\"\n\nEverywhere in Palestine Roman armies went marching. Their shields\nflashed in the sunlight, and when they were on the march they carried\ngolden eagles which stood for Caesar's power.\n\nThe Romans tried to rule the country well. They said that everybody\nwould get justice and fair play. But the Jews could not see the\nfairness in having to pay taxes to a foreign king who did not even\nworship God. They did not like to see Roman soldiers whipping people\nwith long leather whips called scourges, into which bits of glass and\nlead and iron were fastened to make them bite more deeply into some\npoor Jew's back. They were sick at heart when the Romans began to\npunish criminals by nailing them up by their hands and feet to big\nwooden crosses, and leaving them to hang there until they died.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWell, the Messiah would take care of the Romans. He would gather an\narmy from east and west and north and south. Then there would be a\ngreat day for the Jewish people, a great day for the nation that was\ncalled by the glorious name of Israel! From all over the country the\nmen of Israel would rise up. They would come when their king called\nthem, and he would lead them to victory against Caesar. The Romans\nwould go back where they came from, and Israel would be free and\npeaceful and rich and happy again. The Messiah would make Israel into\na great kingdom, bigger and more powerful than the Roman Empire ever\nwas. The Jews would rule the world. Everyone, everywhere, would\nworship the God of Israel, and the Messiah would be King of all the\nnations of the earth. If only he would come!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt was hard to wait so long. They had waited for him a long time, and\ntheir fathers and grandfathers had waited for him too. Sometimes word\nwould go around that he had finally arrived, and in great excitement\nsome of the Jews would get ready to drive the Romans out of Palestine.\nBut always it turned out to be a mistake, and the Jews would be\ndisappointed, and shake their heads, and say, \"Will he ever come?\"\n\nBut when they grew discouraged, they would remember what was written\nin their Holy Scriptures. For it was surely written there that the\nMessiah would come someday. There could be no mistake about it.\nSomeday he would come!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd so it went on, month after month, year after year. The people\nworked, and dreamed, and hoped, and prayed. The rains would fall in\nOctober and soften the hard, dry ground after the heat of summer, so\nthat the farmer could do his plowing. And as he plowed the land, the\nfarmer thought about the Messiah, and wondered if he would come before\nthe harvest in the spring. Then spring would come, and the wheat and\nbarley would be growing up in the smiling fields, and all down the\nhillside the grapevines and the olive trees would be full of fruit.\nThe Romans were still marching through the country, and still there\nwas no Messiah. But the farmer thought that maybe he would come before\nthe next fall rains.\n\nThe fisherman would go sailing across the deep-blue Sea of Galilee,\nand while he waited for the fish to come into his net, he thought of\nhow long Israel had waited for the Messiah to come. The beggars in the\ncity streets, who were deaf, or blind, or crippled, would sit at the\ncorners and ask for money to buy food. They were wondering too if the\nMessiah would ever come and help the poor folk of Israel.\n\nThe shepherds, out on the rocky hills where nothing would grow but\ngrass for sheep and goats and cattle, were also thinking of the\nMessiah. In good weather and bad they were there, keeping an eye on\ntheir sheep, and they had plenty of time to think. When the rain and\nthe snow were in their faces, the shepherds were thinking, _When will\nhe come?_ And when the hot sun climbed overhead, and the heat was\nlike a furnace, or when the east wind came and blew dust in their\nfaces, then too the shepherds thought, _When will he come and save\nus?_\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFarmers, fishermen, shepherds--these were not the only people who were\nthinking of the Messiah. Sometimes along the hot, lonely roads of\nPalestine, where robbers and wild animals were hiding, a traveler\nwould have dreams. Or the dream might come to someone in sunny\nGalilee, where camel caravans crossed with their loads of spices and\njewels and precious things from Far Eastern lands. But it was most\nlikely to come to a man when he was standing in the great, white,\ngleaming Temple at Jerusalem, where all good Jews went to worship God.\n\nAnd the dream would be that the sky opened, and a great light blazed\ndown from heaven. An army came marching down out of the sky, led by a\nshining warrior whose face was bright as lightning. From his eyes shot\nflames of fire. His arms and feet shone like polished brass or gold,\nand when he spoke his voice was like the shouting of ten thousand men.\nIt was King Messiah! \"Destroy the Romans!\" he would cry. \"Burn up\ntheir armies! Let not a single one escape!\" Fire would pour down from\nthe skies when he gave the order, and the Romans would melt away to\nnothing, as though they had never been.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen the dream would fade away. The dreamer would just be trudging\nalong the dusty road, or watching the camel caravans go by, or\nstanding in the Temple with the crowds of unhappy people pushing all\naround him.\n\nIt was just a dream. The Romans were still there. There was no Messiah\nanywhere to be seen.\n\nIf only the King would come!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n2. A King Is Born\n\n\nNobody saw the lions in the daytime, for they were sleeping in their\ncaves. But at night they might come out to prowl around the rocky\nhills, looking for a fat sheep to eat. After dark the hyenas and\njackals began to howl. Robbers might be somewhere in the darkness too.\nIn the night, when other folk were fast asleep, a good shepherd needed\nto be awake and on the watch, to see that no harm came to his sheep\nand lambs.\n\nOne night when winter was in the air, some shepherds were huddled\ntogether on a stony field not far from the town of Bethlehem. Not many\nmiles to the north lay Jerusalem, the capital city of Palestine. But\nhere in the fields it was quiet, and lonely, and cold.\n\nThe shepherds sat upon the rocks, or stood leaning upon their staves.\nNow and again one of them would see something move, or hear a little\nrustling sound. He would raise his eyes and peer out anxiously into\nthe darkness to make sure that all was well.\n\nSuddenly, without any warning, the sky was flooded with light from\nbeyond the clouds. Everything had been dark a minute before, but now\nevery stone and tree and hillock in the field showed up bright as day.\n\nThe shepherds jumped to their feet. Some were too frightened to speak,\nand others cried out in terror.\n\n\"What is it?\"\n\n\"What can it be?\"\n\n\"It's the glory of the Lord,\" one called out. \"Lord, have mercy upon\nus!\"\n\nSuddenly they heard a loud, clear voice.\n\n\"Shepherds!\"\n\nSilence fell upon the group.\n\n\"Shepherds, do not be afraid. I bring you the good news which all the\nJews have waited so long to hear. This very day, Christ your Saviour\nhas been born in the city of David. And this is how you will know him:\nyou will find him as a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying\nin a manger.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe voice broke off, and a great chorus began to sing. The sky rang\nwith the music, and these were the words of the song:\n\n\"Glory to God in the highest,\nAnd on earth peace, good will toward men.\"\n\nAs quickly as they had come, the light and the singing were gone.\nThere was just the darkness again, and the far-off howling of wild\nbeasts. Everything was the same as before, except that the shepherds'\neyes were still blinded by the light, and their ears were full of the\nmusic.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTheir excited voices broke the spell as they all talked at once.\n\n\"He's come at last--the Messiah's come!\"\n\n\"Where did the angel say?\"\n\n\"The city of David--that means Bethlehem.\"\n\n\"Why are we waiting here? Let's go to Bethlehem.\"\n\n\"Yes, let's go to Bethlehem at once, and find out what has happened\nthere.\"\n\nFor the first time in their lives, the shepherds left their sheep to\nlook after themselves. Across the hills and the stone fences and the\nrocky fields the shepherds scrambled, and hardly stopped for breath\ntill they reached the edge of the town. Everything in Bethlehem was\ndark as night can be. But no--not everything. One tiny speck of light\nwas flickering in the blackness.\n\n\"He must be where the light is,\" said one of the shepherds.\n\nDown the street they ran, and in through a door.\n\nThey were standing in a stable. There were no angels there. Instead of\nthat, the shepherds saw cows and donkeys eating hay. A cold draft of\nair was blowing in around the cracks of the door and over the dirt\nfloor. Beside one of the mangers they saw a man standing. A young\nwoman was resting close by. She was watching a baby who lay in the\nstraw.\n\n\"We came to see the Messiah,\" one of the shepherds stammered.\n\nThe baby cried. The animals munched their food.\n\nThere was some explaining to do. The shepherds told the story of what\nhad happened in the field.\n\nThe young man beside the manger did not have anything very exciting to\ntell the shepherds.\n\n\"My name,\" he said, \"is Joseph. This is my wife Mary. We used to live\nhere in Bethlehem, but no one remembers us now. I've been working in\nGalilee for years. I have a carpenter shop there. The only reason we\ncame back to Bethlehem was to have our names entered in the government\nrecords.\n\n\"We got here only yesterday. We tried to get a room in the inn, but\nthere wasn't any room for us with all the important people here. They\nsaid we could sleep in the stable. The baby came tonight. Here he is,\nif you would like to see him.\"\n\nThe shepherds looked at the baby. They hoped that they would see\nsomething unusual about him, but he looked just like any other baby.\n\nThen they remembered the angels' song.\n\nOutside again, the shepherds looked up and saw a faint gray light\nstreaking the blackness in the east. Morning was coming. Soon the\npeople of the countryside would be getting up.\n\nWhat a story the shepherds were going to tell them! Who would have\nthought of looking for the Messiah in a manger! The shepherds were the\nfirst to learn the secret. As they walked back to their flocks they\nprayed and gave thanks to God.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMeanwhile, the little family in the stable were gathered in silence\naround the manger. Mary, the mother, said never a word, but her\nthoughts were busy with the tale the shepherds had told about her\nlittle child.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe shepherds were not the only people to see strange lights in the\nsky. Many miles away, three men saw a new star. They were Wise Men,\nand they knew all the stars, but this one they had never seen before.\n\nIt was not only a new star, but a moving star. Like a bright fingertip\nin the heavens, it seemed to beckon them on. The Wise Men were rich\nand important, and thought nothing of a journey. At once they made\nready and set out to see where the star would lead them. For many days\nthey traveled across the desert, and at last they came to Jerusalem.\n\nAlthough they were not Jews, they had heard that a Messiah was\nexpected someday in Palestine. When they saw that the star had brought\nthem to Jerusalem, they decided that the Messiah must have come.\n\n\"We are strangers here,\" they said to each other. \"We had better ask\nour way.\"\n\nKing Herod was in Jerusalem just then, and the Wise Men went to his\npalace. Since they were rich and famous, they had no trouble getting\nin to see the king.\n\nThey bowed down respectfully before the king, and Herod received them\nwith courtesy. Then the Wise Men asked:\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We have seen his star in the\neast. We have come to worship him, but we do not know where he is.\"\n\nHerod was surprised, and then he was angry. A new king of the Jews?\nWhy, Herod himself was the king of the Jews! However, he hid his\nfeelings, and answered,\n\n\"I will find out what you want to know.\"\n\nHe left the Wise Men, and hurried off to consult with his advisers.\n\n\"The Messiah!\" he shouted. \"Where do they say the Messiah will be\nborn?\"\n\nSolemnly he was told:\n\n\"In Bethlehem. An ancient book of the Holy Scriptures tells us that\nout of Bethlehem shall come a governor to rule the people of Israel.\"\n\nFear and jealousy boiled up in Herod. But a king must control his\nfeelings, and Herod was old and wise. When he had called his three\nvisitors to him, he was as smooth and polite as ever. He told them\nthat they would find the child in Bethlehem.\n\n\"Go there,\" Herod said, \"and look for him carefully. And when you have\nfound him come and tell me, for I too want to go and worship him.\"\n\nThe Wise Men thanked the king, and set out for Bethlehem. Soon they\narrived at the place where Joseph and Mary were staying with the baby.\nIt was very different from Herod's palace.\n\nThere the three Wise Men fell down on their knees as they would before\na king. They opened their treasures and put their gifts in front of\nthe baby. One brought gold. The others brought sweet-smelling\nointments, frankincense and myrrh.\n\n\"Hail, Messiah!\" they murmured in adoration. \"Hail, Christ! Hail, King\nof the Jews!\"\n\nWhen they were once more outside on the road, one of them spoke:\n\n\"I think,\" he said, \"that it would be well for us not to see anything\nof Herod again. I had a dream....\"\n\nThe others agreed with him quickly. They had had a dream too.\n\n\"God sent that dream to warn us that Herod is dangerous,\" they said.\n\"Herod means to harm the child. Let us find some other road back\nhome.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe days went by, and soon the baby was given his name. He was to be\ncalled Jesus.\n\nOne day, when Jesus was about six weeks old, Joseph said to Mary:\n\n\"Now that we have a child, we must go up to the Temple in Jerusalem\nand give an offering to the Lord. We cannot afford a lamb. But we can\nat least take pigeons or a pair of turtledoves.\"\n\nSo Joseph and Mary left Bethlehem, and carried Jesus with them to\nJerusalem, five miles away.\n\nAn old man came up to them in the Temple.\n\n\"My name is Simeon,\" he said. \"I have been waiting for you a long\ntime. All my life I have been waiting to see the Messiah. And now the\nday has come.\"\n\nHe took Jesus from his mother's arms, and as he held the baby he began\nto pray.\n\n\"Lord, let me now die in peace,\" he prayed. \"For I have seen the\nMessiah, the Saviour of all nations and the glory of the Jewish\npeople.\"\n\nSimeon turned back to Joseph and Mary, who were looking at him in\nwonder.\n\n\"Mary,\" he said, \"this child of yours is going to break your heart. He\nwill make enemies, and cause great trouble in this country. He will\nsuffer, and others will suffer too, because of him. But also he will\ngive joy, and bring many people to God. God bless you now.\"\n\nWith these words the old man handed the baby back to Mary, and turned\naway. Joseph and Mary never saw him again, but they remembered his\nwords forever after.\n\nThey took Jesus, and started on their walk back to Bethlehem. There\nwas so much for them to think about.\n\nFirst there was the story of the shepherds. Then the Wise Men had come\nwith their wonderful gifts. And now there was this old man with his\nstrange words of blessing and warning.\n\nEverything seemed to tell them that Jesus was the Messiah. They\nshould be happier than anyone in the world. And yet they were not\nhappy. There was trouble in the air. Their baby was going to be King\nof the Jews. Why should there be any trouble about it? They could not\nunderstand.\n\nTrouble was not long in coming. One night Joseph had a dream. When he\nawoke he called to his wife, and told her that they must leave\nBethlehem at once. God had sent the dream as a warning for them to get\nout of the country. They did not dare to stay there any longer. So\nJoseph and Mary packed up their belongings, and set out for the far\ncountry of Egypt where they would be safe.\n\nThey left Bethlehem none too soon. For Herod was exceedingly angry\nwhen the Wise Men did not come back. Now he was sure that the Messiah\nreally had been born! He was afraid that soon there would be a new\nking in Palestine to take his throne away from him.\n\nWhen Herod was afraid, he never wasted any time. Somewhere in\nBethlehem was a child whom he feared, and somehow that child must be\nkilled. But he did not know which child it was. How could he be sure\nto find the right one? He thought of a simple plan.\n\nHe called his army officers together, and gave them their orders.\n\n\"Send your soldiers to Bethlehem,\" he told them, \"and have them kill\nevery boy in the place who is two years old or younger.\"\n\nThe officers sent their men to Bethlehem, and all the little boys they\ncould find there were put to death. No matter who they were they had\nto die. It did not take the soldiers very long.\n\nIn a few hours they were back in Jerusalem. Herod breathed more\neasily.\n\n_That's a good thing_, he thought. _If every little boy in Bethlehem\nis dead, the Messiah must be dead along with the rest._\n\nHerod did not know that the baby whom he feared was gone from\nBethlehem before the soldiers got there. While the fathers and mothers\nof Bethlehem were crying because their little ones were dead, Joseph\nand Mary and Jesus were safely on their way to Egypt.\n\nHerod did not live long enough to find out his mistake. After he died,\nthe little family in Egypt learned that it was safe to go home again.\n\nBut this time they did not go back to Bethlehem. They went straight to\nthe town of Nazareth in Galilee, where Joseph had worked before Jesus\nwas born. There they settled down as though nothing unusual had\nhappened.\n\nIn Galilee nobody knew that anything strange had happened at all.\nNobody there had heard of the shepherds and the Wise Men, and nobody\nknew what Simeon had said in the Temple. Nobody knew why it was that\nso many babies in Bethlehem had been murdered. Nobody in Nazareth\nthought that the Messiah had come.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn Nazareth people only said, \"I hear the carpenter has a son.\" When\nJesus began to walk perhaps they said, \"Joseph's son is strong for his\nage.\" And later they said, \"The carpenter's lad is doing well at\nschool.\"\n\nBut there were more interesting things to talk about in Nazareth than\nthe carpenter's family. There was the Messiah to talk about. \"When\nwill he come?\" the people asked each other.\n\nNobody in Nazareth had heard the angels sing.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n3. Growing\n\n\nWhen boys in Nazareth were about six years old, it was time for them\nto go to school. No girls were there, for the girls stayed home with\ntheir mothers. But every day except the Sabbath, the boys went to the\nschool and sat on the floor with their legs crossed, and there the\nteacher taught them many things that every Jewish boy would need to\nknow.\n\nHe taught them their A B C's in the Hebrew language. Instead of A, he\nshowed them how to make a mark like this: [Hebrew: a]. Instead of B,\nthey learned to make this letter: [Hebrew: b]; and so on, through all\nthe alphabet. Then when they knew their letters, they could learn to\nread. And every Jewish boy had first of all to read the Scriptures.\n\nThe teacher taught them what was in the Scriptures. Over and over they\nsaid their lessons aloud, talking all at once, until they knew\neverything they were supposed to know by heart.\n\nThe teacher taught them psalms which had been sung for many years in\nthe Temple of Jerusalem.\n\nHe taught them also about the prophets. The prophets were preachers\nwhose words had long ago been written down in the sacred Scriptures.\nThese books were long pieces of skin, which were kept rolled up when\nno one was reading them. There were many prophets--Isaiah, Jeremiah,\nEzekiel, Amos, Malachi, and many others. Little by little the boys\nbegan to discover what these preachers had said.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe teacher also made sure that they knew about that part of the\nScriptures called the Law. The Ten Commandments were in the Law, and\nmany other sayings which told people what they must do and what they\nmust not do in order to please God. The boys learned how God gave the\nCommandments to Moses, while lightning flashed and thunder crashed,\nat the far-off mountain of Sinai.\n\nThe teacher told them stories of all that had happened to the Jewish\npeople in the years gone by. But the most important was the story of\nthe Passover. This story explained why their parents went to Jerusalem\neach spring.\n\nNow this was what every Jewish boy had to learn about the Passover,\nand remember always:\n\nOnce there was a time, hundreds of years before, when the Jews did not\nlive in Palestine. They lived in Egypt, where they were slaves. They\nwanted to escape, so that they might have a country of their own where\nthey could be free.\n\nOne spring night God sent a disease into Egypt, and thousands died of\nit. There was not an Egyptian home where the oldest child in the\nfamily did not die. But none of the Jews died. Therefore, they said\nthat God _passed over_ their doors that night.\n\nThen there was a great uproar and clamor in Egypt, with the Egyptians\nweeping, and nursing their sick, and burying their dead. The time had\ncome for the Jews to get away. Under their leader, Moses, they began\ntheir long journey toward Palestine.\n\nThe Jewish people never forgot what God did for them in Egypt. So in\nthe spring of each year was held the Feast of the Passover, to give\nthanks to God for the help he had given them long ago. They gathered\ntogether and sang:\n\n[Illustration]\n\n     \"O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: For his mercy\n     endureth for ever.\"\n\nTo the Passover feast every family brought a lamb to be killed as a\nsacrifice to God. Only the best could be given to God. They chose a\nlamb that was white, and pure, and fine, and precious. Then they\nroasted the lamb, and ate it. What a feast they had, so solemn and so\njoyful, as they remembered all that God had done!\n\nEveryone knew the best place to hold the Passover feast was at\nJerusalem. Therefore, every year, when spring came round, the people\nsaid to one another, \"It is Passover time,\" and as many as could leave\ntheir homes went up to the great city.\n\nWhen the boys heard the story, they understood why their parents went\nthere in the spring.\n\nWhen Jewish boys were twelve years old, and could read the Hebrew\nlanguage, and knew the psalms, and understood the prophets, and were\nlearning to obey the Law--then they were practically grown up. At this\nage a boy could be called \"a son of the Law.\" He could go along with\nhis parents to Jerusalem when it was Passover time.\n\nEach year Joseph and Mary liked to be in Jerusalem for the Passover.\nWhen Jesus was twelve years old, he was \"a son of the Law,\" like other\nboys his age, and for the first time he went with them. Many friends\nand relatives kept them company as they started on the road.\n\nNow from Nazareth it was more than eighty miles to Jerusalem, and\neighty miles is a long way to walk.\n\nIt would have been easier to ride in a cart; but nobody traveled that\nway in Palestine. The roads were too rough and narrow for anything but\nwalking. Donkeys and horses might carry the heavy luggage, but the\npeople went on foot. There were no bridges, and so the only way to get\nfrom one side of a river to the other was to find a shallow place and\nwade across.\n\nIt would take two or three days to go from Nazareth to Jerusalem. When\nthe travelers were tired at night, there was not likely to be any\nplace to sleep along the road, except under the open sky and the\nstars.\n\nThere were three stages to their journey. The first was the pleasant\npart, through Galilee. When the travelers left Nazareth that day, the\nsky was clear and the air was fresh. The fields lay lovely in the\nsunlight. The roads were full of people from many countries. There\nwere always merchants on the road traveling from the East to Greece\nand Egypt, and back to the East again. Galilee was beautiful, and\nGalilee was busy.\n\nSooner or later the time must come to leave pleasant Galilee behind.\nBut which way would they go from there? Should they go straight south\nthrough Samaria? That would have been the shortest and the easiest\nway. The only thing against it was that the people of Samaria were not\nfriendly to Jews. Long years before, Samaria had been the home of many\nof the Jewish people. But foreigners came and settled among them. Then\ntheir ways became so different that the people of Jerusalem said they\nwere not Jewish any more. They were bitter rivals of the Jews, and it\nwas hardly safe to go among them.\n\nSo the travelers chose, for the second stage of their journey, the\nlong road down the valley of the river Jordan. But they did not find\nthis very pleasant, either. High above the river stood the banks, and\nit seemed as though the river itself were at the bottom of a great,\ndeep ditch. And down there was the road they had to take. In some\nplaces they came to slime and mud, and dead trees and twisted roots.\nBut sometimes there were farms and villages. It was hot at the north\nend of the Jordan, when first they came to it; and the farther south\nthe travelers went, the hotter grew the weather.\n\nVery hot, very tired, and very thirsty, they finally reached the last\nstretch of the journey--across country from the Jordan to Jerusalem.\nThey were nearly there. But the last part of the trip was the hardest\nof all. Around them stretched a dreary desert. There were bleak hills,\nand ugly rocks, and hardly a drop of water anywhere to drink. No\nwonder nobody went to Jerusalem, except Jews and Roman soldiers! There\nwere no gay caravans of Eastern merchants here. Galilee seemed very\nfar away.\n\nUp one side of a hill, and down another, and then another higher hill\nto climb! Up and up, over stones and bare earth and bushes and thorns,\nuntil they were high above the Jordan--that was the road to Jerusalem.\nWould they ever get there? What they would have given just to sit down\nand wash the sand off their hot, tired feet!\n\nThen all at once they saw it. From the top of the hill they saw it,\nwalls and roofs and towers gleaming in the morning sun. A shout of joy\nwent up. Every man and woman and child joined in the shouting.\nJerusalem, the city of David! King David built that city, a thousand\nyears ago. The enemies of God had come and burned it to the ground,\nbut the Jews built it up again. They were sure that it could never be\ndestroyed. It would always be there, for ever and ever. Someday the\nMessiah would come, and all the peoples and nations of the world\nwould come to see Jerusalem, as these poor folk from Galilee were\ndoing now.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe travelers began to march again, but faster this time; forgotten\nwere the weary miles behind. They marched, and as they marched they\nsang. They sang one of the psalms that the boys had learned at school.\nEveryone took up the song:\n\n    \"'I was glad when they said unto me,\n    Let us go into the house of the Lord.\n    Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem....\n    Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:\n    They shall prosper that love thee.'\"\n\nThere were so many visitors in Jerusalem that they could not all find\na place to stay in the city. Some of them stayed in the villages near\nby, and others slept in tents out in the open air. At an ordinary time\nof the year, there would be only about thirty thousand people living\nin Jerusalem. But at the Passover there might be twice that, or even\nmore.\n\nEven the Roman governor was in Jerusalem at Passover time. He lived in\nanother city, but he always came to Jerusalem for the great feast. It\nwas not that he cared about the Passover. It was because he was afraid\nthat with such great crowds in Jerusalem there might be trouble unless\nhis Roman soldiers were on guard. It would be especially bad if anyone\nshowed up claiming to be the Messiah. All the people might make him\nking, and rebel against Rome, and great numbers would be killed.\n\nWith such crowds in the city, it was hard for the people from Nazareth\nto get through the narrow streets. All along the streets they saw\nshops. Some of the shopkeepers were selling goods that had been\nbrought down from Galilee--fish and oil and wine and fruit. Besides\nthe merchants there were shoemakers, butchers, carpenters, tailors. On\nthe side streets gold-smiths and jewelers were making things for the\nrich people. Here and there was a merchant selling fine silks which\nhad been brought from the Far East. A man could buy almost anything he\nwanted in Jerusalem, provided that he had the money.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe travelers from Galilee pushed their way through the crowded\nstreets, and on up to the Temple on the hill. Here was God's own\nhouse! How large it was! Herod the Great had built this Temple. Ten\nthousand men had worked many years to build it, and it was not quite\nfinished yet. Eight gates led into the beautiful building with the\nwhite walls and the golden towers. Inside there was room for many\nthousands of people.\n\nWhat a clatter and a clamor and a tumult there was! It seemed as\nthough all the world were there. Doves and cattle, as well as lambs,\nwere offered in the Temple as a sacrifice to God. You could hear the\npoor creatures calling out--the cows lowing, the lambs bleating, the\ndoves singing their sweet, sad song. Money was clinking on the tables.\nOnly one kind of coin could be used as an offering, and travelers had\nto exchange those they were carrying for Jewish money. The men who\nmade the exchange often cheated the visitors.\n\nThe people from Galilee separated when they came to the Court of the\nWomen. The women and girls could go no farther, but the men and boys\nwent up some steps into the Court of Israel. There they watched the\npriests of the Temple taking the doves and lambs and cattle that the\nworshipers had brought, and offering them up as a sacrifice. The\npriests killed the animals, and let the blood drip on the altar where\nthe sacrifices were given to God.\n\nThe Court of Israel was as far as anyone could go, unless he were a\npriest. There was another room called the Holy Place, which only\npriests could enter. To the people it was a place of great mystery.\nThen farther on was a still more mysterious room called the Holy of\nHolies. Even a priest did not dare to step inside that door. That was\nthe secret place of God. Only the high priest, who was head of all the\npriests, could enter there. And he could go in only once a year.\n\nThe visitors from Nazareth saw a priest coming toward them. Anyone\ncould tell from his clothes that he was wealthy. He came from one of\nthe families that were known as the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the\nonly people who were at all friendly with the Romans. The reason for\nthis was that they were better off than most other people and\nwell-satisfied with things as they were. They thought it wise to stay\non good terms with Caesar. Nobody liked the Sadducees very well, but\neveryone had to admit that they were certainly very important. They\nsat in a high council and governed everything that went on around the\nTemple.\n\nAnd here was a Pharisee, looking very well pleased with himself! Jesus\nhad seen Pharisees before, around Nazareth, and they always seemed to\nhave that look. The word \"Pharisee\" meant \"someone who is different.\"\nWhat made the Pharisees different was that they were always talking\nabout the Law, and claiming that they obeyed it better than anyone\nelse. They were kindly folk, on the whole, and very well respected,\nbut they did not have any official position, like the Sadducees. All\nthey did was study the Law and tell other people about it. The\nPharisee whom the visitors were watching began to pray so that\neveryone could see him. It seemed as if he were saying, \"O Lord, I\nthank thee that I am better than these other people here!\"\n\nMost of the great throng crowding the Temple were not priests, or\nSadducees, or Pharisees. They were plain people who had come to bring\ntheir sacrifices, or to talk about the Scriptures, or simply to be in\nthe Temple because they loved God's house.\n\nNobody was paying much attention to Jesus. He was just a young boy,\nlost in the crowd.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe days went by, and the lambs were killed and eaten. The prayers\nwere said and the hymns were sung. It was all over at last, and the\ntime had come to go home.\n\nJoseph and Mary did not see Jesus the morning they all were supposed\nto leave. They did not wait to find him, for the other travelers from\nNazareth were anxious to get started on the long journey back to\nGalilee.\n\nJoseph and Mary said to each other:\n\n\"Jesus is safe enough. There are so many of us from Nazareth that he\ncan't get lost. No doubt he is somewhere in the party.\"\n\nThe Nazareth people said good-by to the Temple for another year, and\nstarted off for home. Out through the city gates they went, and back\ninto the desert through which they had come. They walked a whole day,\nand still Joseph and Mary saw no sign of Jesus. This was beginning to\nseem strange. Surely they would see him somewhere!\n\nAt last it dawned upon them. He wasn't there at all!\n\nThey were frightened now. What could have happened to Jesus? What\nwould become of him in Jerusalem? There was nothing to do but to leave\nthe party, and turn back alone to the city. But Jerusalem was a big\nplace, and they hardly knew where to hunt for Jesus. How would they\never find one boy among all those thousands of people?\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey went to the Temple. But even if he were here, it would not be\neasy to find him quickly. Walking through one of the courts, they\nnoticed a group of people gathered around a rabbi. There was nothing\nunusual about that. There were a great many teachers in the Temple,\nand a visitor often saw groups gathered around them to listen to their\nteaching.\n\nBut there was something different about this group. Most of the men in\nit were Pharisees who were themselves rabbis. And the strange thing\nwas that they were not doing all the talking as they usually did. They\nwere listening too. And they were not listening to a rabbi, but to the\nvoice of a boy.\n\nJoseph and Mary moved closer. There could be no mistake about it--it\nwas Jesus who was talking! He was asking questions; he was answering\nquestions. The long-bearded rabbis were standing there, their mouths\nopen in astonishment. Jesus was not just a boy in the crowd any\nlonger. Men old enough to be his grand-father were listening to what\nhe had to say.\n\nMary's surprise turned to anger. She pushed her way through the crowd\nand took Jesus by the arm.\n\n\"Why did you do this?\" she cried. \"Your father and I have been looking\nfor you everywhere.\"\n\nJesus stood just where he was. It was as though he belonged there. He\nsaid:\n\n\"Why did you come to look for me? Don't you know that I must be\nlooking after my Father's business?\"\n\nJoseph and Mary stood there too, not knowing what to make of their boy\nor of what he said.\n\nThey waited to see what he would do.\n\nAnd then, in a minute, Jesus turned and went with them. They did not\nhave to ask him again. The three of them went home to Nazareth.\n\nJesus knew that someday he would go back to the Temple. But he was not\nready for that yet. He must do his duty to his parents. He must obey\nGod at home. Then he would always know how to obey God in the wide\nworld beyond Nazareth.\n\nThe lambs went quietly to the Temple when they were taken there to be\noffered to the God of Israel. Jesus must be obedient like a Lamb of\nGod.\n\n\n\n\n4. Jesus Goes to Work\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nWhen Jesus was thirty years old, people began to talk about the great\nman who had come to Palestine.\n\n\"This man is so great,\" they said, \"that he may be the Messiah.\"\n\nBut it was not Jesus they were talking about. It was his cousin, John.\n\nJohn was a preacher. He was afraid of no one, and as a result everyone\nwas a bit afraid of him. John was a rough, strong man. Next to his\nskin he wore leather, and over that he wore a cloak of camel's hair.\nHoney and locusts were his food.\n\nEvery day John preached down by the river Jordan. The people flocked\nout from Jerusalem and from all the countryside round about to hear\nhim preach. It was a wild and dreary place to come to, but when John\npreached everybody wanted to be there.\n\nThis was how he preached:\n\n\"Give up your sins, and begin a new life at once, for God is coming to\nrule over men! I am a voice crying in the wilderness. I tell\nyou--prepare for the Lord!\"\n\nAnd when the people heard him, they were afraid. Many of them cried\nout, \"We have sinned!\" and came forward out of the crowd. John led\nthem down the bank into the river and baptized them as a sign that\nthey wanted to be cleansed of their sins and begin a new life. Thus\nJohn came to be known as \"John the Baptist.\"\n\nBut when John thought that a man was not in earnest, then he refused\nto baptize him. Some of the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to be\nbaptized, and John would have nothing to do with them. They might be\ngreat men in Jerusalem, but John called them \"snakes in the grass.\" He\ntold them:\n\n\"I've seen the snakes out here in the wilderness, wriggling for dear\nlife to get out of the way when the grass catches fire. That's what\nyou remind me of. You're scared. You think that something terrible is\ngoing to happen, and so you're pretending to be good people so that it\nwon't go so hard with you. You will have to show me that you want to\nbe something different from what you are! And don't think that you\namount to anything just because you are Jews. God could make as good\nJews as you are out of these stones.\"\n\nThat is how John the Baptist talked to some of the great men of\nJerusalem. It made people think more than ever that he might be the\nMessiah. Who except the Messiah would dare to talk that way to\nPharisees and Sadducees?\n\nBut others shook their heads and said, \"No--this couldn't be the\nMessiah!\" For they thought that when the Messiah came he would drive\nthe Romans out of the country; and many people said that the only way\nto do that would be to get an army together. Some men were meantime\nkilling all the Romans they could. They were called \"Zealots,\" because\nthey were so much filled with zeal about killing off the Romans. A few\neven carried daggers with them, and stuck the daggers into Romans\nwhenever they got a chance.\n\n\"The Romans will not be overthrown,\" they said, \"just by preaching.\nYou will have to get out and kill the Romans.\"\n\nJohn himself said that he was not the Messiah.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"There is someone coming who is greater than I,\" he told the people.\n\"Someone is coming whose shoe-laces I am not worthy to stoop down and\nuntie. Compared to him, I am nobody. I am just preparing the way for\nthe Messiah.\"\n\nOne day there was a great crowd, as usual, down by the Jordan, and\nJohn was busy baptizing the people as fast as they came to the water.\nOne after another they came. It went on for hours.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJohn had just baptized one man and helped him to the bank. The next\none was coming forward. John looked up to see who it was. He was\nlooking into the face of Jesus of Nazareth.\n\n\"You! Not you!\" John spoke in a hoarse whisper. \"No! I can't baptize\nyou. You must baptize _me_ instead!\"\n\nBefore anyone could notice that anything was wrong, Jesus stepped to\nthe water's edge.\n\n\"Don't say anything about it, John,\" he said softly. \"Treat me just\nlike the rest of them. We shall all be baptized together into a new\nlife.\"\n\nJesus went forward into the river and John baptized him. In a moment\nJesus was up the bank and lost in the crowd. The next man was coming\nforward.\n\nJohn stared after the vanishing figure of Jesus. The crowd made way\nfor Jesus, thinking, _There goes another man who came to be cleansed\nof his sins._\n\nBut John said: \"When I baptized _him_, I saw the Spirit of God come\ndown out of heaven like a dove, and light upon him. Jesus is the Son\nof God. I am nothing. He is everything. He is the Messiah. He is the\nLamb of God!\"\n\nThe next man was coming down the bank toward John. John stood peering\ninto the crowd. Jesus was nowhere to be seen.\n\nJesus had gone away to be alone, as God wanted him to do. He went into\nthe loneliest part of the desert, where there were only the wild\nanimals to keep him company.\n\n_I am the Messiah_, he thought. _There is no doubt that I am the\nMessiah. I must save my people. How should I begin?_\n\nThere was nothing to eat in the wilderness, and Jesus grew hungry. He\nlooked around him, and saw that the stones were shaped like loaves of\nbread.\n\nThere seemed to be a voice inside him which was not his own. The voice\nsaid:\n\n\"_If you really are the Messiah, you oughtn't to be hungry. If you\nreally are the Messiah, you would just have to say the word and these\nstones would be turned into bread. Then you would have plenty to eat\nfor yourself, and, besides, you could go and give bread to all the\nhungry folk out there who are waiting for you to help them._\"\n\nIt was very quiet in the wilderness. The voice spoke up again.\n\n\"_But maybe you are afraid to try. Suppose you said to the stones,\n'Stones, become bread!' and then nothing happened! That would prove\nthat you weren't the Messiah, wouldn't it?_\"\n\nJesus shook his head, to get rid of the thought. Some words from the\nScriptures came into his mind. \"_Man shall not live by bread alone,\nbut by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God._\" No, it\nwould not do to try playing tricks with stones. It would not matter\nif he did turn them into bread. Bread was not the most important thing\nin the world. People might think that there was nothing so important\nas eating, but there were bigger things in life than that. People\nmight think that what the Messiah ought to do was to make the country\nprosperous, but that would not help them so much as they thought. That\nwas not the kind of Messiah he was going to be.\n\nBut what was the best way to prove that he was the Messiah? The\ntempting voice inside tried again.\n\n\"_Maybe the best idea_,\" it said, \"_is to go to Jerusalem and climb up\non the tower and jump down! Everyone says that the Messiah is going to\ncome suddenly out of heaven. You would come down suddenly enough that\nway! And nothing would happen to you. It says in the Scriptures that\nGod will send his angels to hold you up and keep you from being hurt.\nSurprise the whole city by jumping off the Temple, and everybody will\nworship you at once!_\"\n\nAgain Jesus shook the thought away, and again he thought of what the\nScriptures said.\n\n\"_Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.\" I can't go and put God to\nthe test, to see whether he will keep me from being hurt. And it won't\nmake me the Messiah just to cause a big sensation in Jerusalem. That's\nwhat everyone is expecting, but that is not the right way at all.\nThere must be some other way._\n\nAnd the voice spoke up again.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"_There is something else you could do. What the world needs is a\nruler like you. Everybody says that the Messiah is going to be a world\nruler, great and good. Don't let the people down! You are a great man.\nYou could be anything you wanted to be--a general, a governor, a\nking._\"\n\nJesus thought, _That's Satan tempting me, that's the devil himself\ntalking!_\n\nHe spoke out loud:\n\n\"Go away from me, Satan! For the Scriptures say, 'Thou shall worship\nthe Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve!'\"\n\nThe voice said no more. A great quietness came over Jesus. There was\nno great thing that he needed to do right away. He was the Messiah,\nbut he did not need to make the country wealthy. He did not need to\njump from the Temple, and he did not need to command an army or rule\nan empire.\n\nThere was one thing that he would have to do, but he could not tell\nanybody about it yet. It was going to be his secret for a while. But\nsomeday everybody would see what he was doing. Someday it would be\nunderstood.\n\nAnd now it was time to be on his way. He had been in the wilderness\nforty days, and that was long enough. He found the trail back to the\noutside world, and soon he was on the road to Galilee.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Jesus got home to Galilee, he began to preach to people in the\nstreets. What he said at first was very much like what John the\nBaptist said:\n\n\"Give up your sins, and begin to live a new life, for God has come to\nrule over you!\"\n\nBut the crowds that heard Jesus were not so large as those that went\nto the Jordan to hear John.\n\nJesus needed some followers now who would be with him all the time,\nand learn everything he had to tell them. John the Baptist had his\nfollowers; \"disciples\" was what they were called. Jesus began to look\nfor disciples of his own.\n\nOne morning he went down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee. When he\ncame back to the town, he had four disciples with him.\n\nTwo of them were brothers named Simon and Andrew. Andrew remembered\nJesus, for he had once been a disciple of John the Baptist. He had\nseen John point to Jesus, and heard him say, \"He is the Lamb of God!\"\nAndrew had told Simon all about it.\n\nWhen Jesus came to them along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he\nfound them putting a net into the water, for Andrew and Simon were\nfishermen.\n\nJesus said to them,\n\n\"Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.\"\n\nFishing was good business, but Simon and Andrew were ready to give it\nup to follow the man John had called \"the Lamb of God.\" They came away\nwith him at once.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFarther along the shore was another pair of brothers. One of them had\nalso been with John the Baptist. Their names were James and John, and\nthey were with their father, Zebedee. They had done so well at fishing\nthat they could afford to have servants to help them. But when Jesus\ncalled them they also came at once, and left their father and the\nservants behind.\n\nThat was four to start with, and soon he had eight others. But no one\nof them was a very important person, and people said that one of them\nwas wicked. That was Levi, who was also called Matthew. The trouble\nwith Levi was that he was a taxgatherer. Everybody hated taxgatherers.\nThey were called \"publicans,\" and it was thought that no one could be\nmuch lower than a publican.\n\nThe publicans worked for the Roman government. They were not Romans\nthemselves, but Jews, which made it all the worse. They were looked\nupon as traitors, for they collected the taxes for the hated Romans,\nand made a fortune for themselves by cheating the people.\n\nLevi's job was to collect the fee for traveling along the road, and\nwhat he could collect over and above the amount he ought to have\ncharged, he kept for himself. Then Levi heard Jesus preaching. He\nheard him say that he ought to give up his sins, and begin to live a\nnew life. When Jesus came to Levi's table one day, and said, \"Follow\nme,\" just as he had said it to the honest fishermen by the lake shore,\nLevi was ready to come away. Without a word Levi got up and left his\ntaxgathering behind, and all his fortune. Levi became a disciple like\nthe other eleven, and was treated like the rest.\n\nBut other people were shocked when they saw a publican with Jesus, and\ntongues began to wag. No one seemed to notice that Levi had stopped\ncollecting taxes. He had been a publican once, and no one except Jesus\nwas ready to give him a second chance.\n\nOther publicans sometimes came to have dinner with Jesus and his\ndisciples, along with many people who were looked down upon in the\ncommunity.\n\nThe Pharisees in particular were angry when they saw the company that\nJesus kept. One day they came to one of these dinner parties, and told\nthe disciples that they did not care for Jesus' choice of friends.\n\n\"How is it,\" they asked, \"that your master eats and drinks with\npublicans and sinners?\"\n\nJesus heard them, and replied:\n\n\"It is not well people who need a doctor, but the sick. I didn't come\nhere for the sake of the good people, such as you think that you are,\nbut for the sake of sinners--to lead them into a new life.\"\n\nBut the Pharisees still objected. They said:\n\n\"Look at John the Baptist. John is a good man. His disciples are so\nreligious that they sometimes go without their meals. Your disciples\nalways seem to be eating!\"\n\n\"Why shouldn't they eat and feast and be merry?\" Jesus answered. \"They\nare like the friends of a man who is being married. When someone is to\nbe married, his friends have a great feast. They are joyful because\nthe bridegroom is with them. In the same way my disciples are joyful\nbecause they have me with them.\"\n\nJesus meant that they were joyful because he was the Messiah, and his\ndisciples were glad to be with him. But he did not say that he was the\nMessiah, and no one knew what he was talking about. The Pharisees\nwould have had more respect for him if he had had a better class of\nfriends. Fishermen might do, but not publicans and sinners of that\nsort! If only Jesus were more like John the Baptist!\n\nThey never once thought that Jesus might be the Messiah. When they saw\nthe kind of friends he had, they wondered if he was even a good man.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n5. A Busy Time\n\n\nThe Pharisees may not have liked Jesus, but no one could deny that he\nknew how to preach. The crowds that came to hear him were growing\nlarger. Often Jesus stood at the foot of a hill and preached to the\ncrowd that had gathered on the hillside.\n\nNow everyone who heard Jesus preach was likely to be surprised. For he\ndid not say the things that people expected to hear. Often he said the\nvery opposite of what they wanted him to say.\n\nHe did not believe in giving people a good opinion of themselves. He\ntold them what was wrong with them. He did not say that it was easy to\nbe good. He said that it was much harder than anybody thought. He did\nnot try to preach sermons that would make him popular, for he was not\nthinking of himself. He was thinking of what God had to say to the\npeople, and so he told them plainly what they ought to know and what\nthey ought to do.\n\nJesus knew that his listeners found it easier to hate other people\nthan to love them. And so he stood one day at the foot of the hill and\nsaid:\n\n\"You have all heard the saying, Love your friend and hate your enemy.\nBut that is not what I say. I say, Love your enemies, bless those who\ncurse you, and pray for those who use you badly. That is what God\ndoes. He makes the sun rise on everybody, good or bad. He sends the\nrain to fall on everyone, no matter who he is.\n\n\"If you love only those who love you, you don't deserve any credit for\nthat. That's what everybody does. Be like God. He is merciful, and you\nought to be merciful too. Forgive those who do you a wrong, or you\ncannot expect God to forgive you.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll the people thought that they were at least doing the right thing\nin hating the Romans. How could anyone help hating those rough Roman\nsoldiers, who often came along and made Jews carry their packs for\nthem? But Jesus said,\n\n\"If a Roman soldier makes you carry his pack for a mile, carry it\nanother mile as well, to show that you love him.\"\n\nAnother thing that Jesus knew about his listeners was that many of\nthem were worried about money, and food and clothes. It was hard to\nblame them for that; for some of the people were very poor, and were\nnever sure that they were going to get enough to eat.\n\nJesus was poor enough himself. His disciples were also poor, and they\ngot no richer by following him. Turning to the disciples, Jesus said\nto them,\n\n\"Blessed are you who have nothing you can call your own.\"\n\nThe disciples pricked up their ears. \"Blessed\"--that meant to be\nfortunate, or well off. What was good about having nothing? Jesus went\non:\n\n\"Blessed are you who have nothing, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.\n\n\"Blessed are you who often go hungry, you shall be fed later on.\n\n\"Blessed are you who are sad, the time will come when you will be\njoyful.\n\n\"Blessed are you, when other people hate you, and will have nothing to\ndo with you, because you are my disciples. Be glad when that happens,\nbecause that is what has happened to all God's servants. God will\nreward you for everything you suffer for my sake.\"\n\nThere was silence. Jesus looked out over the crowd and spoke again,\n\n\"Woe to you who are rich!\"\n\nAgain the disciples were amazed. The rich people would not like that!\nThe disciples were poor themselves, but they wondered what was wrong\nwith being rich.\n\nJesus thought of a rich man whom he knew, who wore fine purple clothes\nand ate the best food in the land. And he thought of a poor beggar who\nsat all day long outside the rich man's house. His body was covered\nwith sores, and he was so hungry that he would have been glad to get\nthe crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. But the only friends\nhe had were the dogs that came and licked his sores.\n\nJesus continued, in a stern voice:\n\n\"Woe to you who are rich! For you have already had everything you are\never going to have! Woe to you who are well-fed! The time is coming\nwhen you will go hungry. Woe to you who are enjoying yourselves all\nthe time! Someday you will weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well\nof you! It is easy to be popular if you aren't faithful to God. That's\nthe way it has always been.\"\n\nJesus knew that all of them were too much interested in the things\nthat money could buy. They wanted the Messiah to come so that he would\nmake them all rich. And so Jesus said, to show them where they were\nwrong:\n\n\"Don't be always thinking about what you are going to eat and drink\nand wear. Why, that's the kind of thing the Romans worry about. There\nis more to life than food and clothing.\"\n\nHe paused for a moment. It was a warm summer day. The birds were\nflying overhead, and singing; and up the hillside the wild flowers\nmade patches of color in the grass. Jesus spoke again:\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Look at the birds of the air. They never plant crops, or reap\nharvests, or gather the grain into barns. Yet your Heavenly Father\nfeeds them. Are you not more important than birds? Think of the lilies\nof the field, how they grow. They never yet made any clothes for\nthemselves, and yet the great King Solomon in all his glory was not so\nbeautifully clothed as one of these little flowers. You people who\nhave so little faith in God--think! If God clothes the flowers of the\nfield, which are here today and gone tomorrow, will he not clothe you?\nSeek the Kingdom of God first of all, and you will be given all the\nfood and clothes you need. Never worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will\nlook after itself when it comes. Think about how you ought to live\ntoday.\"\n\nThere was another weakness that Jesus had seen in people, especially\nin the Pharisees. They loved to show off their good deeds. He had to\nspeak about this too.\n\n\"When you give something to the poor,\" he said, \"don't make a great\nnoise about it, like some people I could mention, who want to impress\neverybody with how generous they are. If you give anything, keep quiet\nabout it. God will know what you have done, and that's enough.\n\n\"It's the same with prayer,\" Jesus continued. \"Don't stand praying on\nthe street corners where everyone can see you. There are many people\nwho do that. When you pray, go into your own room and pray with the\ndoor closed. God will hear you, and he is the only one who needs to\nhear.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJesus had his admirers. Some people admired him so much that they\nbegan to call him \"Master\" and \"Lord.\" But Jesus did not think that\nthey were all in earnest. He spoke plainly about this also.\n\n\"It won't do you any good to come saying, 'Lord, Lord,'\" he said,\n\"unless you do the things God expects of you. Someday, I suppose you\nwill come and tell me of all the wonderful things you have done in my\nname. And then I will have to say to you: 'I don't even know who you\nare. Go away!'\n\n\"If anyone hears my teachings, and does what I tell him to do, he will\nbe like a man who builds his house upon a rock. The rain comes down\nand the wind blows, and the house keeps on standing there, because it\nis built upon a rock. You will be strong like that house, if you do as\nI say. But anyone who hears my teachings and pays no attention to them\nis like a man who builds his house upon the sand. When the rains and\nthe floods and the winds come, the house will fall down and that will\nbe the end of it. You will be weak like that house, if you do not obey\nmy words.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow when the people heard how Jesus preached, they were amazed. They\nwondered who this was who spoke to them as though he were God himself.\nThat was not how other preachers taught. They were always quoting\nsomebody else, as though they were afraid to speak for themselves.\n\nBut Jesus simply said, \"_I_ am telling you.\" He said, \"Listen to\n_me_.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nEvery Friday evening at sunset the Sabbath began, and there could be\nno more work until sunset on the following day. Saturday morning all\nthe Jewish people went to attend the service in the synagogue. The\npeople would come in and take their places, with the most important\npeople up in front. At the beginning of the service, everyone stood\nand faced in the direction of Jerusalem, and recited some verses from\nthe Scriptures. These were always the same. They began: \"Hear, O\nIsrael: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy\nGod with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy\nmight.\"\n\nAfter this there was prayer. Then the minister opened a cabinet and\nbrought out the Scriptures, which were written on long pieces of skin\nmade into a kind of paper. The pieces were kept rolled up when they\nwere not in use. The minister brought two of the rolls and laid them\non the reading desk. Someone read the Scripture lessons then, and\nafter that anyone in the congregation who wished could go up to the\nfront and explain what the lesson meant.\n\nLike all the other Jews, Jesus went to the synagogue on Saturday\nmornings. One Saturday when he and his disciples were in the town of\nCapernaum they went to the service as usual. When the time came to\nexplain the lesson, Jesus went up to the front. He surprised the\npeople as he always did; but something else happened which surprised\nthem even more.\n\nThere was suddenly a great commotion at the back of the synagogue. A\nman began to cry out. There seemed to be some evil thing inside him,\nwhich made him hate the very sight of Jesus. The people said that he\nhad \"an unclean spirit.\"\n\nStrange, wild words came pouring out of the man's mouth.\n\n\"Let me alone!\" he cried. \"What have I to do with you, Jesus of\nNazareth? Have you come to destroy me? I know who you are. You are the\nHoly One of God!\"\n\nJesus stood his ground, and spoke to the evil thing in the man.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Be quiet,\" Jesus said, \"and come out of that man.\"\n\nThere was another wild shriek and then silence. The man looked around\nhim as though he wondered where he was. He was in his right mind\nagain.\n\nThe people were amazed by what they had seen and heard. On the way\nhome from the synagogue they asked each other,\n\n\"What kind of preaching is this, which makes a madman well again?\"\n\nBefore the day was over, word of what Jesus had done had gone all over\ntown.\n\nAfter the service, Jesus went to Simon's house, and there he found\nmore trouble waiting for him. Simon's wife's mother was sick in bed.\nJesus went to her bed-side, and took her hand, and helped her to her\nfeet. All at once the sickness left her, and she was able to prepare\nthe meal.\n\nJesus could rest in the afternoon, but when the sun went down in the\nevening he had to go to work again. Everyone had heard of how he cured\npeople who were out of their minds, and of how he was able to heal the\nsick. As long as the Sabbath lasted, the people had to stay quietly at\nhome. But once the sun had set the Sabbath was over, and they could do\nas they pleased. It seemed as though the whole town wanted to do only\none thing, and that was to go to see Jesus.\n\nA great throng of sick people were soon gathered outside the door of\nthe house, with everyone else in Capernaum looking on. Jesus came out\nto heal the sick. Darkness fell, and night came on, and still the\npeople pressed around Jesus to have him touch them and make them well.\nHour after hour he worked with them, until it was too late to do\nanything more that night.\n\nYet Jesus was out of bed in the morning before the sun was up. It had\nbeen a busy Sabbath, and he needed to go off by himself and rest. And\nwhat he needed more than anything else was to pray. He wanted to be\nalone for a while with his Father. So many people to preach to! So\nmany men who had begun to hate him! Jesus needed strength for it all,\nand he knew that praying would make him strong.\n\nWhile everyone else was sleeping, and the darkness still lay upon the\nland, Jesus silently slipped away from the house. He found a lonely\nplace, where no one would disturb him.\n\nBut when Simon and the other disciples woke up, they could not wait\nfor him to come back. They went at once to look for him. And when they\nhad found him, they said,\n\n\"Everyone is looking for you.\"\n\nIt was quiet out there in the hills. Jesus would have liked to stay\nthere for the whole day. All day long he could have rested and prayed.\nBut then he thought of the people who were waiting for him. He thought\nof the people who needed him. He thought of the places he had not yet\nvisited. There was so much to do, and there was so little time.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe rose to his feet.\n\n\"Let us go, then,\" he said. \"Let us go to the next towns, so that I\ncan preach in them too. After all, that is why I came into the\nworld--to tell men the good news from God!\"\n\nHe left the quiet countryside, and went back to the towns. The people\nwho loved him were there. The people who needed him were there. And\nthe people who were afraid of him, and the people who had begun to\nhate him--they too were there.\n\nJesus returned to the towns, where his friends and his foes were\nwaiting.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n6. Friends and Foes\n\n\nJesus thought the time had come to visit Nazareth. Before he had gone\naway, there was nobody who thought that he was a person of any great\nimportance. But he had become a famous man. The whole of Galilee was\ntalking about him. And now he was at home with his friends and family\nagain.\n\nOn the Sabbath morning he went to the old familiar synagogue. There\nwas a full congregation that day, for everyone supposed that Jesus\nwould preach. He had never preached in Nazareth before.\n\nWhen the time came to read the Scripture lesson, Jesus walked up to\nthe front. He took the roll from the minister, and found the place he\nwanted. It was in the book of the Prophet Isaiah. He began to read:\n\n\"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to\npreach good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the\nbroken-hearted, to preach liberty to the prisoners and recovering of\nsight to the blind, to set free those who suffer, and to say that God\nwill be good to his people.\"\n\nJesus stopped reading and handed the roll back to the minister. He sat\ndown in the seat from which Jewish preachers always spoke to the\npeople in the synagogue.\n\nThe whole congregation was very still, waiting to hear what Jesus had\nto say. That was an exciting lesson he had read from the Scriptures.\nIt made the people think of the Messiah. Someday a preacher would be\nable to say, \"This has all come true!\" And that would mean that the\nMessiah had come.\n\nJesus looked around at the faces he knew so well. Thirty years he had\nlived among these people. Now he was back to tell them something that\nthey had never known before.\n\nHe began to speak.\n\n\"Today,\" he said, \"you are seeing this Scripture lesson come true.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA thrill ran through the audience. The Scripture had come true? The\nMessiah was really here? Could he mean that _he_ was the Messiah?\nThe people gasped. Some laughed. Others were angry. They started to\ntalk among themselves.\n\n\"The Messiah? Him? Why, that's only Jesus! The carpenter's son!\"\n\n\"Everybody knows who Jesus is! Lived down the street since I don't\nknow when!\"\n\n\"Who does he think he is?\"\n\nJesus again raised his voice above the others':\n\n\"I know what you are going to say. You are going to quote that old\nsaying, 'Doctor, cure yourself.' You are going to tell me to start\ndoing the things I am supposed to have done in Capernaum. I'm not\nsurprised. A servant of God never gets any honor among his own people.\nThe same thing happened to the prophets long ago.\n\n\"Don't expect me to do anything wonderful here in Nazareth. You\nwouldn't believe it if you saw it. Why do you think you ought to get\nany special favors from God?\"\n\nA great roar went up from the congregation. All his old friends got up\nfrom their seats and rushed to the front of the synagogue. They took\nhold of Jesus and dragged him out of the building. At the edge of the\ntown there was a high cliff, and they took him there to throw him down\non the rocks below. But Jesus slipped out of their hands, and turned\naround. Calmly he walked through the crowd. Nobody had the courage to\ntouch him again.\n\nJesus never went back to Nazareth any more. Once, when he was\npreaching in another town, someone came and told him that his mother\nand his brothers had come to take him home. They thought that he ought\nto stop this nonsense of pretending to be the Messiah.\n\nBut Jesus would not go home with them, for they did not believe in\nhim. It was better to stay with his disciples. He was at home with\nthose who trusted him.\n\n\"My mother?\" he said. \"My brothers?\"\n\nHe looked around at his disciples, and said: \"These are my mother and\nbrothers--my own disciples. Anybody who obeys the will of God is my\nbrother and my sister and my mother, all in one. That's the kind of\nfamily I want!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBack in Nazareth nobody thought that Jesus was of much account. But in\nother places he meant everything to people who needed help. The\nPharisees were often glad to see him go away. But the poor and the\nsick could never see enough of him.\n\nOnce there came to Jesus a man who was sick with the dreaded leprosy.\nA leper's skin was deathly white, and his flesh was rotting, and he\nwas sure to die of the disease. Nobody needed help more than a leper\ndid, but no one would even touch him.\n\nThe people back in Nazareth were too proud to admit that the\ncarpenter's son from down the street might be the Messiah. But a\nleper did not have any pride. This leper came to Jesus, and fell on\nhis face before him, crying out, \"Lord, if you will do it, you can\nmake me clean from this disease!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen Jesus did what everybody else was afraid to do. He reached down\nand put his hand on the sick man, and said:\n\n\"I will. Be clean.\"\n\nAt once the man was healed of his leprosy. Jesus told him to go and\ngive thanks to God, and not to tell anyone what had happened. But the\nleper could not help telling. Jesus became still more famous as the\nman who healed the sick.\n\nAnother time he made a blind man see again. The Pharisees tried to get\nthis man to say that the person who cured him had not been sent from\nGod. But the man who had been blind knew better. When the Pharisees\ntried to threaten him, he did not give an inch. He said:\n\n\"Who ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of the blind since the\nworld began? But this man did it. How could he have made me see, if he\nhadn't come from God?\"\n\nWhen Jesus heard of this, he went and found the man who had been\nblind, and asked him,\n\n\"Do you believe that I am the Son of God?\"\n\nThe man answered,\n\n\"Yes, Lord, I believe.\"\n\nThe blind man had found his Messiah.\n\nThen there was a man who was paralyzed so that he could not move. His\nfriends wanted to bring him to Jesus, but there were so many people\nstanding around the house where Jesus was teaching that they could not\nget near him. But somehow or other they must get the sick man there.\n\nLike many of the houses in Palestine, this house had a flat roof, with\na stairway leading up to it. They placed their friend on a mat,\ncarried him up the stairs, and cut a hole in the roof. After fastening\na rope to each corner of the mat, they gently lowered it to the floor,\nright at Jesus' feet.\n\nJesus was glad when he saw the faith they had in him. He looked at the\nhelpless man, and said,\n\n\"Man, your sins are forgiven you.\"\n\nThere were scribes and Pharisees standing there, waiting, as usual, to\nfind fault with Jesus. They began to talk among themselves. They said:\n\n\"Who is this who is talking as if he were God? Such blasphemy! Who can\nforgive sins, except God himself?\"\n\nBut Jesus knew what they were saying, and he answered them:\n\n\"Which do you think is easier--to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,'\nor to say to this man, 'Pick up your mat and walk away'? I will show\nyou that I can do one as well as the other!\"\n\nHe turned to the paralyzed man and said,\n\n\"Pick up your mat, and go on back to your house.\"\n\nThe sick man got up from the floor, rolled up the mat and put it under\nhis arm, and went home. As he walked, there was a song of praise to\nGod in his heart. And many of the people who saw what had happened\nwere so surprised that they did not know whether to be glad or to be\nafraid. But they all agreed on one thing. They said,\n\n\"We have seen strange things today!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNothing that Jesus did seemed to please the Pharisees. But there was\none thing that made them especially angry. He was not so careful as\nthey thought he ought to be about keeping the Law.\n\nNow the Law meant everything to the Pharisees. They were so much in\nearnest about keeping God's Law that they were not satisfied with what\nwas in the Scriptures. They followed many rules which had been made up\nsince the Scriptures were written. Unless a man kept all these rules,\nit did not matter to the Pharisees how much good he did.\n\nJesus was always getting into trouble with them about the Sabbath. The\nPharisees had a list of thirty-nine different kinds of work that\nnobody was allowed to do on the Sabbath Day. This list included so\nmuch that unless a Jew was careful, he would be likely to break the\nSabbath without even knowing it.\n\nIf he tied a knot that could be untied with one hand, that was all\nright; but if he took two hands to untie it, then he had broken the\nSabbath. He even had to be careful about sitting in a chair, for if he\nhappened to drag his chair across the dirt floor the Pharisees said\nthat he was plowing, which was a great sin on the Sabbath Day. It was\nforbidden to make a fire on the Sabbath. And so, if a woman wanted hot\nfood, she had to cook it the day before, and keep it warm. But that\ndid not mean that she could set it on a stove. For the stove might get\nhotter than it was, and make the food hotter, and that was just the\nsame as making a fire. The only safe way to keep a meal hot was to\nwrap the dishes in cloth or pigeon feathers.\n\nJesus did not think that rules like this were what the Scriptures\nmeant when they said, \"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.\" He\ndid not think that this was the way to honor God. And because Jesus\ndid not agree with them about the Sabbath, the Pharisees were always\nwatching for a chance to put him in the wrong.\n\nOnce, when Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field of\ngrain on the Sabbath Day, the Pharisees saw that the disciples were\neating some of the grain. There was nothing wrong with eating it, if\nthey were hungry. But the trouble was that in order to get the grain\nthey had to pluck the ears. That, said the Pharisees, was harvesting!\nMoreover, they had to take the ripe ears and rub them in their hands\nto get rid of the chaff. The Pharisees thought that that was just the\nsame as threshing! Such things to do on the Sabbath Day! The Pharisees\nstopped the disciples, and demanded to know why they were doing\nsomething that was against the Law.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt was really Jesus with whom they wanted to pick a quarrel, and so\nJesus answered for the disciples:\n\n\"Why, you must have read in the Scriptures that King David and his\nsoldiers once went into the Temple and ate some of the holy bread\nwhich only a priest is allowed to eat. Surely if David could do a\nthing like that, my disciples can pick a few ears of grain in a field!\n\n\"You don't understand what the Sabbath is for,\" Jesus went on. \"We\naren't supposed to be slaves to the Sabbath; this day is meant to do\nus good. The Sabbath was made for man; man was not made for the\nSabbath.\"\n\nThen he added something else, which took the Pharisees by surprise:\n\n\"The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.\"\n\nThey were puzzled. Jesus was talking again as though he was the\nMessiah. So far as the Pharisees could see, Jesus was just a preacher\nwho broke the Law.\n\nThe Pharisees began to watch him still more carefully. They found\nanother chance to get him into trouble soon after this. Jesus had gone\ninto the synagogue to teach, and in the synagogue was a man whose hand\nwas withered and useless. On any other day there was no doubt that\nJesus would heal this man. But this was the Sabbath, and it was\nagainst the Law to heal anybody on that day unless he were in danger\nof dying. A man with a withered hand could wait another day. Surely\neven Jesus would not dare to break the rules again!\n\nJesus knew that they were watching to see what he would do. They would\nnever forgive him if he made a move to heal this man.\n\nHe called out to the man,\n\n\"Stand up--up here, in front of everybody!\"\n\nWhen the man had come to the front, Jesus turned to the Pharisees.\n\n\"I am going to ask you something,\" he said. \"If any one of you owned a\nsheep, and it fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn't you lift it\nout? And don't you think that a man is worth more than a sheep? You\nsay that it is against the Law to heal a man on the Sabbath. _I_ say\nthat it is _always_ right to do good to somebody, on the Sabbath just\nthe same as any other day!\"\n\nHe looked around at the whole crowd. He was angry now. Would they\nactually let a man suffer one day more than was necessary? He turned\nback to the man with the useless hand.\n\n\"Stretch out your hand!\" he commanded.\n\nAnd when he spoke, the withered hand was healed, and made as good as\nthe other one.\n\nThe Pharisees went out of the synagogue, and their faces were hard\nwith anger.\n\n\"He has gone too far!\" they said to one another.\n\n\"He is breaking all our good rules. It is not safe for the country to\nhave him around. He ought to die!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey really meant it. They thought they were doing the right thing.\nThey were afraid of what Jesus would do. The Pharisees even called in\nsome of their enemies to ask their advice about the best way to get\nrid of Jesus.\n\nMeanwhile Jesus had gone out of the city to be alone again. On a\nlonely mountain, under the moon-light, he prayed to his Father all\nnight long. Back in the city men were planning to take his life. And\nout on the mountain Jesus prayed for power to do good to men.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n7. Slow to Understand\n\n\nNot all the Pharisees treated Jesus as an enemy. There was one of\nthem, named Simon, who decided to have Jesus come to his house for\ndinner.\n\nPerhaps Simon thought that the other Pharisees were too hard on Jesus.\nPerhaps he thought that he might show Jesus where he was wrong. Or\nperhaps he was just curious. Jesus had become very well known, and\nmany people called him \"Rabbi\" or \"Teacher.\" It would be interesting\nto talk with the famous rabbi all afternoon.\n\nWhatever the reason was, Simon asked Jesus to come and have a meal\nwith him and his friends.\n\nWhile they were eating their dinner, a woman stole in quietly through\nthe open door. She had not been invited. Simon would never have\ndreamed of inviting her into his house, for everyone in town gave her\na bad name. \"She's not a good woman--not a nice woman at all,\" people\nsaid. They turned their eyes away when they met her on the street.\n\nAt any other time the woman would not have wanted to come to Simon's\nhome, for no one likes to be stared at coldly and be put out of the\nhouse. But today was different. Jesus was there.\n\nShe brought with her a box of ointment. Ointment was the gift that\nJewish people brought, when they wanted to honor an important person\nor some dear friend.\n\nClutching her box of ointment, the woman crept across the room to\nwhere Jesus was sitting. She began to cry. The tears rolled down her\ncheeks and dropped on Jesus' hot, dusty feet. Then she wiped his feet\nwith her hair and kissed them. She opened her precious box and began\nto rub his feet with the soft white salve.\n\nNo one spoke or moved. Simon was angry and disappointed with Jesus.\nThe other Pharisees were right after all!\n\n_So this is the great new prophet, sent from God!_ he thought to\nhimself. _If Jesus were a prophet, we shouldn't be looking at a scene\nlike this. He would know what kind of woman that is who is touching\nhim. Why, everybody knows how bad she is!_\n\nJesus did not need to be told what Simon was thinking. Still sitting\nthere, while the woman clung to his feet, Jesus spoke.\n\n\"Simon, I have something to say to you.\"\n\n\"Yes, Rabbi?\" Simon replied. \"What is it?\"\n\n\"Let me tell you a story,\" Jesus said. \"There was once a moneylender\nwho had two men owing him money. One of them owed him five hundred\ndollars, the other owed him fifty. Neither of them had anything with\nwhich to pay him back, so the moneylender told them both to forget\nabout the debt--that they didn't need to pay. Now tell me--which of\nthose two men will love the moneylender most?\"\n\nSimon answered,\n\n\"Why, I suppose the man who owed him the most.\"\n\n\"That's right,\" Jesus replied. \"Now, Simon,\" he went on, \"look at this\nwoman. When I came to your house today, you didn't even give me any\nwater to wash the sand off my feet, though that is what is done in\nfriendly homes. But this woman has washed my feet with her own tears,\nand dried them with the hair of her head. You have scarcely been\npolite to me; but this woman has done nothing but kiss my feet. You\nnever thought of putting ordinary olive oil on my head; but this woman\nhas put precious ointment on my feet.\n\n\"You think this woman is a great sinner,\" Jesus continued, \"and so she\nis. She has done many things that are wrong. But her sins have been\nforgiven her. I have brought her to a new life, and she doesn't have\nto worry any more about the sins of the past. That is why she loves me\nso much. But, of course, a person who hasn't had his sins forgiven\nisn't going to know much about love.\"\n\nJesus turned away from Simon. He might have added:\n\n\"A cold Pharisee like you, so sure that nothing is wrong with you, is\na great deal worse off than this poor, sinful woman. You have got all\nyour sins still to worry about, and you don't even know it!\"\n\nBut Jesus did not say it. He left Simon to think that out for himself.\nInstead, he spoke to the woman,\n\n\"Your sins are forgiven.\"\n\nThe other people in the room began to mutter to themselves:\n\n\"There he goes--forgiving sins again! What right has he to forgive\nanybody's sins?\"\n\nBut Jesus paid no attention. He spoke once more to the woman at his\nfeet:\n\n\"Your faith in me has saved you,\" he said. \"Everything is all right\nnow. Go in peace.\"\n\nThat was the end of the dinner party at Simon's house. But it was not\nthe end of the talk and gossip about the kind of friends that Jesus\nmade. Some thought he must be bad himself because he had so much to do\nwith people to whom the Pharisees would not even speak. Everywhere he\nwent, there was the same complaint.\n\nTime and time again Jesus tried to explain why he was more interested\nin sinners than in anyone else. Why, the people that the Pharisees\ndespised were the very people who needed his love the most! What could\nbe better than to save somebody from an evil life?\n\nJesus told story after story, to show the Pharisees what he meant. One\ntime he said:\n\n\"Suppose a shepherd had a hundred sheep, and one sheep strayed away\nfrom the others and got lost. Would he not leave the other\nninety-nine, and go after the lost sheep until he found it? And when\nhe did find it, he would pick it up and carry it joyfully home. Then\nhe would go around and tell all his friends and neighbors. He would\nsay: 'Rejoice with me! For I have found my sheep that was lost.'\n\n\"Or suppose a woman had ten silver coins, and dropped one of them on\nthe floor. Wouldn't she light a candle and sweep the floor and look\neverywhere until she found it? Then she would say to her friends and\nneighbors: 'Rejoice with me! For I have found the coin that I lost!'\n\n\"In the same way,\" Jesus said, \"God is more pleased over one sinful\nperson who stops sinning than over all the others who think they have\nnever sinned.\"\n\nThe Pharisees still did not get the point. So Jesus tried again with\nanother story. He said:\n\n\"A certain man had two sons. One day the younger son said, 'Father,\ngive me my share of the property which is coming to me,' So the\nfather gave each of the sons his share.\n\n\"Then the younger son packed up his belongings, and went away to a far\ncountry. There he spent all his money foolishly. After his money was\ngone, this young man had nothing left to live on. He went to work for\na farmer, who sent him out to feed the pigs. He was so hungry that he\nwould have been glad to eat the pigs' food, but no one gave him\nanything.\n\n\"Then one day he said to himself: 'What a fool I am! Why am I staying\nhere?' He thought of how even the servants at home had plenty to eat,\nwhile he was starving to death. He said: 'I will go back to my father,\nand tell him that I have sinned against him and against God. I will\ntell him that I am not worthy to be his son, and ask him to give me\nwork as one of his servants.'\n\n\"So he went home. But before he reached the house, his father saw him\ncoming, and ran out to welcome him. The young man started to say, 'I\nhave sinned, and I am not worthy to be your son.' But his father\ncalled out to a servant: 'Bring the best clothes in the house, and\nshoes for my boy's feet. Then kill the fattest calf we have, and get a\nfeast ready. My son is back, and we are going to celebrate!'\n\n\"Meanwhile, the older brother was out in the field. When he came home,\nhe heard music and dancing in the house. He asked a servant why they\nwere having a party. When he was told, he became very angry. He would\nnot even go into the house. When his father came out to ask him to\njoin the party, the older brother said: 'All these years I have stayed\nat home and helped you! I did everything you told me to. In all that\ntime you never once gave me a party. But when my brother comes back\nfrom spending your money--why, nothing is too good for him!'\n\n\"But the father answered him kindly. 'Son,' he said, 'you are always\nwith me, and everything I have is yours. It is right that we should\ncelebrate, and be happy. For it is as if your brother had been dead,\nand now he is alive again. He was lost, and now he is found.'\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe days went by. Some days were good, and some were bad. Once in a\nwhile Jesus would find somebody who seemed to understand him and\nbelieve in him. Then again it would seem that he was failing in what\nhe tried to do.\n\nThe time he healed the Roman officer's servant was one of the good\ndays. Jesus was just coming back to Capernaum after preaching out in\nthe country, when this officer approached him. Although he was a\nRoman, and the captain of a company of Roman soldiers, this man was\nwell liked in Capernaum. For he had built the Jews a synagogue, and\neveryone knew that he loved the Jewish people.\n\nHe came to Jesus, and said, \"Lord, my servant is lying at home, very\nsick and suffering greatly.\"\n\nJesus replied at once, \"I will come and heal him.\"\n\nBut the officer shook his head.\n\n\"Lord,\" he said, \"I am not worthy that you should come into my house.\nJust speak a word, standing here, and that will heal my servant. You\nsee, I have an army under me. I say to a soldier, 'Come here,' and he\ncomes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it right away.\nYou have that kind of power too. You just have to say that my servant\nshall be healed, and he _will_ be healed.\"\n\nJesus was joyful when he heard these words. To those who were standing\naround he said:\n\n\"I tell you, I have not found among the Jewish people anyone who\nbelieves in me so much as this Roman does! And I tell you this too:\nWhen you talk about the Kingdom of God you shouldn't think that God\nhas no place in it for anyone except Jews. God is going to bring\ntogether people from every country, everybody who has faith like this\nofficer's faith. And some of the Jews may find themselves outside the\nKingdom looking in!\"\n\nThen he turned to the officer and said:\n\n\"Go back to your house. You have had faith in me, and I will give you\nwhat you ask.\"\n\nWhen the officer went home, he found that his servant had recovered\nfrom his illness while Jesus was speaking.\n\nThat was one of the good days, when Jesus found a new believer. But a\nbad day came, when Jesus found that his oldest friend had begun to\nlose faith in him. John the Baptist was not sure any longer that Jesus\nwas the Messiah.\n\nAnd John was in trouble. He had preached against King Herod, the son\nof the king who had died when Jesus was a baby. Herod married another\nman's wife, and John the Baptist said that this was a sin. Herod threw\nJohn into jail.\n\nAs John lay in his prison cell day after day, he began to wonder about\nJesus. Had he been wrong in thinking that Jesus was the Messiah? Jesus\ndid not seem to have done very much as yet. The Romans were still in\nthe country. The rich people were as bad as they had always been, and\nthe poor were just as poor.\n\nAt last John could not stand it any longer. When two of his followers\nvisited him in jail, he sent them to ask Jesus who he really was.\n\n\"Ask him,\" said John, \"'Are you or are you not the Messiah?'\"\n\nJohn's followers found Jesus busy healing the sick. They drew him\naside, and told him what John wanted to know.\n\n\"Are you the One who was to come,\" they asked, \"or must we look for\nsomebody else?\"\n\nSo even John the Baptist had his doubts! John, the man who had said\nthat he was not worthy to baptize Jesus; the same John who once\ncalled Jesus the Lamb of God!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJesus pointed to the crowd of people whom he had been healing, and he\nsaid to John's disciples:\n\n\"Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard here. Tell him I\nam doing what I can. Tell him how the blind are getting back their\nsight. Tell him too, how the lame are learning to walk, and how the\nlepers are being cured. Tell him that I am preaching to the poor. Tell\nhim all about what I am doing, and let him decide for himself whether\nor not I am the Messiah. And tell him this: Blessed is anyone who\nbelieves in me, and takes me just as I am!\"\n\nJesus never heard what John thought of this message. For John did not\nlive much longer. One night King Herod gave a birthday party, and a\npretty girl danced so well that the king offered to give her anything\nshe asked. The girl went to her mother, to find out what she ought to\nsay. Her mother hated John the Baptist because he had spoken the\ntruth, and so she told her daughter:\n\n\"Ask for the head of John the Baptist to be brought in here on a\nplatter!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe girl went to the king, and asked for John's head. The king was\nsorry then that he had made that promise, for he was half afraid of\nJohn. However, he had to keep his word. And so he sent servants to the\nprison, and they cut off the head of John the Baptist with a sword,\nand brought it back to the palace on a platter.\n\nWhen Jesus heard what had happened, he felt very sad. He said,\n\n\"Let us go out to some quiet place, and rest awhile.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThings were not going very well. John the Baptist was dead, and Herod\nmight be planning to kill Jesus next. Some men, in fact, came one day\nto warn him to get out of Herod's kingdom.\n\n\"Go and tell that fox,\" he said, \"that I am busy curing the sick and\nconquering evil, and neither Herod nor anybody else is going to stop\nme until I have finished my work!\"\n\nBut things were going badly, just the same. Jesus saw that there were\nnot many of the people who understood his message or knew who he was.\nA few believed in him, but others soon lost interest in him, if they\never cared at all. Only once in a long while did he see any results\nfrom all his work.\n\nHe explained this in one of his stories when he said:\n\n\"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some of the seed fell\nin the pathway, and people walked on it, or the birds ate it up. Some\nfell on a rock, and this seed began to grow; but no sooner had it\nsprung up than it died, because it did not have deep roots. Some fell\namong thornbushes; and the thorns grew faster than the seed, and\nchoked it. But some of the seed fell on good ground, and there it grew\ninto a good harvest.\"\n\nWhen the disciples were alone with him, they asked Jesus to tell them\nwhat this story meant. He said that the seed stood for the words that\nhe spoke to them. Some people heard him, but they soon forgot what he\nsaid. That was like seed falling on the pathway.\n\nOthers were very excited about what he said when they first heard it,\nbut when it was hard to do what he told them they soon gave up trying.\nThat was like seed falling on a rock, where there was no soil or water\nto give it root.\n\nThen there were some who cared more about money and pleasure than they\ncared about God. That was like seed being choked by thorns.\n\nBut some people heard Jesus preach; and they believed in him, with\ngood and honest hearts, and they were faithful. That was when his\npreaching brought results, and it was like seed falling on good rich\nearth.\n\n\"Unless people have faith in me,\" said Jesus, \"they will never\nunderstand God. They will see the things I do, and never even know\nwhat they are looking at. They will listen to me, and never know what\nthey are hearing. I can do nothing with them. But you--my\ndisciples--you have faith in me. You will understand everything\nsomeday.\"\n\nThe disciples were going to be good ground for the seed that Jesus\nsowed.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n8. Jesus Is Strong\n\n\nThat night Jesus said to the disciples, \"Let us go across the lake.\"\n\nSimon and Andrew and James and John were fishermen. They knew where to\nget a boat, and they knew how to sail it too.\n\nAll twelve disciples, along with Jesus, climbed into a boat and pushed\naway from shore.\n\nThe Sea of Galilee was a lovely blue lake in the daytime, when the\nsunlight sparkled on the water. In the evening it was lovely too, when\nthe waves were lapping peacefully against the side of a boat, and the\nstars came out twinkling overhead.\n\nBut the Sea of Galilee was not always so lovely or so peaceful.\nSometimes the wind came roaring down the steep banks around the lake,\nand the water grew white and angry.\n\nThen again everything might be calm and quiet when a boat left the\nland. But before it had gone very far a storm might be howling all\naround. It would toss the boat around like driftwood, and then it\nwould be too late to turn back to shore.\n\nSome of the disciples were fishermen, and they had fished here all\ntheir lives. They knew what the sudden storms were like. It was no\nsurprise to them when the stars disappeared as though the rising wind\nhad blown them out. They knew what was coming now. The night would\ngrow black as ink, and the great foaming waves would smash against the\nship and fill it up with water. There was nothing anyone could do\nabout it. Nobody could sail or row or steer the boat any longer. Only\nGod himself could bring the poor sailors safe to shore.\n\nThe sea was rough already, and getting rougher every minute. They were\nafraid. They were always afraid of the sea when storms began to blow.\nIt was so big and dangerous and terrible, and men were so small and\nweak! It was like a frightful monster, tossing them up and down before\nit swallowed them alive.\n\nIf only they had stayed on the good, safe land! They had been so\nworried and so tired that night; so discouraged about Jesus and his\nwork. And now there was this storm on top of everything! It looked as\nif none of them would live to see another day. They had left their\nhomes and families behind, to follow Jesus. What was the use of\nfollowing Jesus if they were all to be drowned?\n\nNow the boat was full of water. They tried to bail it out, but the\nfishermen knew that nothing they could do would be of any use.\n\nIn the dark they could hardly see one another's faces. Where was\nJesus? No one had heard a word from him since the storm began to blow.\n\nThey found him at the back of the boat, just where he was when they\nleft the shore. He was stretched out on a seat, resting on a pillow.\nAnd he was fast asleep!\n\nThe disciples were angry. Any minute now the boat was going to turn\nover, and there was Jesus sleeping as though nothing in the world were\nwrong!\n\nOne of the men took Jesus by the shoulders, and shook him awake. They\nshouted at him, \"Master, doesn't it matter to you if we are all\ndrowned?\"\n\nJesus rose to his feet in the tossing boat. The wind blew in his face,\nand he seemed to be answering it. The sea smashed against the boat\nagain, and Jesus cried out, \"Peace, be still!\"\n\nAll at once the wind began to die away. The waves tossed for a minute\nor two longer, but not so strongly now. Everything was growing quiet.\nThe stars began to shine again, and soon there was no sound but the\nwater lapping gently against the boat.\n\nJesus spoke to the disciples:\n\n\"Why were you so frightened? How is it that you still haven't any\nfaith in me?\"\n\nBut the disciples scarcely noticed what he was saying. They were more\nafraid than ever. This time it was not the sea that frightened them.\nThey were afraid of Jesus. They said to one another:\n\n\"What kind of man is this? When he speaks, even the wind and the sea\nobey him!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn the morning they brought their little boat to land on the other\nside of the lake. Over here in the country of the Gadarenes, Galilee\nseemed very far away.\n\nA high cliff rose above the sea. Jesus and the disciples climbed up\nand looked around. There was nothing much to see except some men\nfeeding a herd of pigs. In the distance was a graveyard.\n\nSuddenly a man came running out of the graveyard. He was naked, and\nhis body was covered with cuts and bruises. The man was out of his\nmind, and he lived by himself in the graveyard, and wandered through\nthe mountains. Other people had often tried to chain him up, but he\nwas so strong that he broke the chains as if they were made of string.\nHe could be heard crying out, day and night, and he was always cutting\nhimself with sharp stones. No one dared to go near him.\n\nThe madman ran toward Jesus, shouting at him. His words were like\nthose of the other madman who had interrupted Jesus in the synagogue\nservice.\n\n\"What have I to do with you, Jesus? What have I to do with the Son of\nthe most high God? Don't torment me!\"\n\nJesus said to him, \"What is your name?\"\n\nThe man answered: \"My name is Legion. There's a whole legion of devils\ninside me!\"\n\nThe disciples were meanwhile listening in horror. There was something\nevil in this man, something as dreadful as the storm of the night\nbefore. They heard Jesus say: \"Come out of the man!\" Then they seemed\nto hear many Voices crying out, and calling to Jesus, and pleading\nwith him. And they heard Jesus say, \"Go!\"\n\nThe wild look left the man's eyes. And at that very moment the pigs\nwent wild. The man was in his right mind now, but it seemed as though\nthe pigs had gone crazy. With a great snorting and squealing they ran\nto the cliff and plunged into the sea.\n\nAfter that everything was quiet. It was as quiet as it had been when\nJesus stilled the storm. The evil thing was gone. The morning sun was\nshining brightly on a peaceful countryside. There was nothing dreadful\nany more.\n\nBut what they had seen was too much for the men who had been feeding\nthe pigs. As fast as their legs would take them they ran to the\nnearest town and told everybody what had happened. The people came\nflocking out of the town to see for themselves. When they came they\nfound the madman sitting there talking to Jesus. He had put on his\nclothes, and he was just as sensible as anybody else.\n\nThe people had been terribly afraid of the madman, but now they were\nafraid of Jesus. They had tied this man up with chains, and still they\ncould not hold him. Yet here was a stranger from Galilee who cured the\nmadman with a few words. _What kind of man is this?_ they thought.\n_What kind of power does he have?_\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey were so worried about what Jesus might do next that they asked\nhim to leave the country. Without a word Jesus took his disciples back\nto the boat. The man who had been out of his mind followed him, and\nasked if he might go along. But Jesus told him:\n\n\"No, you have work to do here. Go back home to your friends. Tell them\nwhat the Lord has done for you.\"\n\nThe man went back to the city, and began to tell his story. The story\nwent abroad through that whole country, and everyone who heard it was\namazed.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFor the disciples it had been a night and day of wonders. But as they\nsailed home across the lake they did not know that an even greater\ntriumph was waiting for Jesus on the other side.\n\nAs their boat drew near to land, they saw a crowd standing on the\nshore. Everyone had been watching anxiously, waiting for Jesus to\ncome.\n\nWhen Jesus stepped ashore, the waiting crowd made way for a man who\nwas well known in the town. His name was Jairus, and he was the chief\nofficer of the synagogue.\n\nJairus fell down at Jesus' feet and began to plead with him to come to\nhis house at once:\n\n\"My little girl is dying. Please come and put your hands on her, and\nheal her, and make her live!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJesus went with Jairus, and the whole crowd followed to see what he\nwas going to do. As they walked along the street, with people\npressing in on them from every side, Jesus suddenly stopped and said,\n\n\"Who touched my clothes?\"\n\nThe disciples could not imagine what he was talking about. They said\nto him:\n\n\"Why, don't you see the crowd? Everybody is touching you! What do you\nmean by asking, 'Who touched my clothes?'\"\n\nBut Jesus answered:\n\n\"There's someone in particular who touched me. I felt power going out\nof me.\"\n\nWith that, a poor woman came out of the crowd and fell down in front\nof Jesus. She was trembling with fear. She told him her whole story.\nFor twelve years she had been sick. She had spent all her money on\ndoctors, and she never got any better. She thought that if only she\ncould touch his clothes, without anyone seeing her, she would be made\nwell.\n\nJesus looked at her kindly, and said:\n\n\"Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.\"\n\nMeanwhile Jairus was waiting impatiently for Jesus to come along. Soon\nit might be too late!\n\nAt that very moment a message came from Jairus' house. The worst had\nhappened. The little girl had died, and there was no use troubling\nJesus. Already it was too late.\n\nBut before Jairus could speak, Jesus took him by the arm and said:\n\n\"Don't be afraid. Just keep on believing.\"\n\nHe sent the crowd away, and told the disciples that none of them could\ncome with him except Simon and James and John.\n\nJairus led the way to his house. When they got there they found that\nthe bad news was true. The little girl had really died. Already the\nflute players, who played at funerals in Palestine, had arrived.\nEveryone was mourning and weeping.\n\nJesus spoke sharply to the mourners.\n\n\"Why are you making all this fuss?\" he asked. \"The little girl isn't\ndead. She is only sleeping.\"\n\nEveryone laughed at him, as though he were a fool. \"So he doesn't know\nthe difference between being asleep and being dead,\" they said to\nthemselves. But Jesus told them to get out of the house. When they\nwere gone he took Jairus and his wife, and the three disciples, and\nwent into the little girl's room.\n\nThere could be no doubt about it--the girl was dead. She was lying\nwhite and cold and still. No doctor in the world could ever help her\nagain.\n\nJesus bent over the still body, and opened his mouth to speak. Simon\nand James and John held their breath. Not many hours before, they had\nheard him say to the sea, \"Peace, be still.\" When he spoke, the sea\nobeyed him. They heard him speak to a madman, and after he spoke the\nman was in his right mind again. But what use would it be to speak to\nsomeone who was dead? The dead could not hear him!\n\nOr could they hear him? Had Jesus not once told them, \"The dead hear\nmy voice\"?\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe little girl did not know anything. She did not hear anything. She\ncould not know or hear anything, for she was dead.\n\nThen a voice came through the silence. The little girl began to hear\nsomeone talking. It was a man's voice, and it was saying the very\nwords her mother used each morning to wake her up from sleep.\n\n\"Little girl, get up!\" she heard.\n\nShe opened her eyes. She looked into the face of Jesus. He took her\nhand, and helped her to her feet. Her parents were there too. She went\nto them.\n\n\"Give her something to eat,\" said Jesus. \"And say nothing about what\nhas happened.\"\n\nBut no one could keep a secret like that. Soon everyone had heard the\nstory. Everybody heard how Jesus spoke and brought the dead back to\nlife.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n9. Refusing a Crown\n\n\nUp until this time, Jesus had done all the preaching, and the\ndisciples had listened. Jesus had healed the sick, and the disciples\nhad watched. Now, however, Jesus told the disciples that it was time\nfor them to work also. He called the twelve together, and said:\n\n\"I am going to send you out in my place. You are to divide up into\npairs. Each pair will go and preach in the towns and villages. You\nwill tell the people what you have heard me say--that God has come to\nthe earth to rule over men's hearts. When you see people who are sick\nor out of their minds, you are to make them well, just as you have\nseen me do.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe told them plainly what they were to do.\n\n\"Don't take any money with you,\" Jesus said, \"and don't ask for money\nfrom anybody. Don't take many clothes, either; you are to travel\nquickly, and attend to your work, without worrying about money or\nclothes. You will be taken care of.\"\n\n\"When you go into a city or a village, find some family that will\nwelcome a preacher; and stay in that home until you go to the next\nplace. If nobody will listen to you, go somewhere else. But before you\ngo, warn the people in the place which you are leaving that they have\nsinned by not paying attention to God's message.\"\n\nSo the disciples went out and preached as Jesus told them. They healed\nthe sick, as Jesus did.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe trip was a great success. After many days the disciples began to\ncome back home, with many stories about their experiences. When they\nwere all with Jesus again, they sat down and told him everything they\nhad said and done.\n\nJesus listened to their stories, and then he said:\n\n\"It is time for you to take a rest. Come with me to some lonely place\nwhere nobody will disturb us for a while.\"\n\nThey got into their boat, and sailed up to a quiet place they knew of,\nnear the town of Bethsaida. But they got no chance to rest after all,\nfor the people at Capernaum saw them leaving.\n\n\"There go Jesus and his disciples!\" somebody said. \"They're heading\nfor Bethsaida!\"\n\nA crowd of people began to walk around the shore of the lake. As they\nwent, others joined them from the towns and countryside round about.\nJesus was the most popular man in Galilee just then. Wherever he went,\nhe might be sure that a crowd would follow him.\n\nThe people walked and ran, and by hurrying they reached the quiet spot\nnear Bethsaida as soon as Jesus did. When he stepped out of the boat,\nthousands of people were waiting for him on the shore. Jesus had gone\naway for a rest, but when he saw the people he felt sorry for them.\n\n_They are like a flock of sheep_, he thought--_a flock of sheep with\nno shepherd to look after them._\n\nThey had spoiled his holiday, but Jesus spoke to the people and said\nthat he was glad to see them. Then he began to teach, just as he did\nin the cities and towns. All day long he taught, and if there were any\nwho were sick, he healed them.\n\nThe day wore on, and evening was drawing near. One or two of the\ndisciples pulled Jesus' sleeve, and said to him:\n\n\"Master, it is getting late. Hadn't you better send them away to find\nsomething to eat in the towns near by? There is nothing for them out\nhere in the country.\"\n\nJesus answered: \"There is no need for them to go away. Give them\nsomething to eat right here!\"\n\nThe disciples looked at him as if they did not know whether he was\nserious or not. They said: \"Do you mean that you want us to go and buy\nfood for all these people? Where would we get enough money for that?\"\n\nAndrew said: \"There's a boy here with five loaves of bread and a\ncouple of fishes. But how far will that go among five thousand\npeople?\"\n\nJesus only answered, \"Tell them to sit down on the grass.\"\n\nThe disciples went among the crowd, and had the people sit down in\ngroups, fifty in each group.\n\nJesus took the five loaves and the two fishes, and as he held them, he\nsaid a prayer of thanks to God. Then he broke the loaves, and gave the\nbread and the fish to the disciples and told them to pass the food\naround among the crowd. They passed it here and they passed it there,\nbut they never ran out of food. Nobody could tell where it was coming\nfrom, but there was enough for everyone and some left over.\n\nThe people were hungry after their long walk and the hours of standing\nin the sun. They ate heartily. As they finished their meal, they began\nto think about what had happened.\n\n\"Where did all this food come from?\" they began to ask themselves.\n\"Where did Jesus get all that food?\" \"There were but five loaves and a\ncouple of fishes and yet we have all had enough and to spare!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe crowd began to talk in excited voices. \"Jesus gave us this food.\"\n\"A wonderful thing! He gave us food to eat, when there wasn't\nanything here!\" \"Why, this is just the man we have been looking for!\"\n\"There's the man to make the Jews strong and rich--he makes food out\nof nothing!\"\n\nThe people were rising to their feet.\n\n\"Make him a king!\" they started to cry. \"Jesus is the man to be king\nof the Jews!\" they shouted. \"We want our king!\"\n\nBut Jesus was not there any longer. Jesus had gone; he had slipped\naway through the crowd and disappeared. Even the disciples did not\nknow where he was. He stayed alone in the mountains until long after\ndark.\n\nThose foolish people! That foolish, foolish crowd! They did not\nunderstand him at all. Did they never think of anything except their\nstomachs?\n\nJesus remembered how the devil had once tempted him in the wilderness.\nWhat was it that the devil had said? \"If you are the Messiah, make\nthese stones into bread.\"\n\nYes, all the people would be for him so long as he gave them something\nto eat. They would even make him a king, if they thought he was the\nman to get rid of the Romans and make the country free and rich and\ngreat. Why, they had offered to make Jesus a king that very day! They\nsaid that he was just the man they had been waiting for!\n\nBut that was not what Jesus had come to do. He did not want to be that\nkind of king.\n\nIt was soon to be Passover time. Many years ago, at Passover time,\nJesus had been a boy at the Temple in Jerusalem, watching as the lambs\nwere killed for a sacrifice. A year from now it would be Passover\nagain. And then it would be time to go to Jerusalem once more. He\nwould go to Jerusalem, and he would be the King of the Jews. Then he\nwould do what he always knew that he would have to do someday.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Jesus came back to Capernaum, he gathered his band of disciples\ntogether and took them away again. This time he took them so far away\nthat no one would follow them. No one wanted very much to follow,\nanyway, for the people were hurt and angry because Jesus would not be\ntheir king.\n\nJesus led the disciples away to the north, into the country near\nCaesarea Philippi. Here one of the rivers that flowed into the Jordan\ncame springing out of a cave in a hill. Here too the Greek people\nround about had built temples for their heathen gods.\n\nJesus wanted to be alone with his disciples, for the time had come to\nhave an important talk. He said to them: \"Who do people say that I\nam?\"\n\nThe disciples answered: \"Some people say that you are John the\nBaptist, come back from the dead. Others say that you are Elijah, or\nJeremiah, or one of the other prophets come back to earth. Everyone\nthinks that you are a great man.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"But who do _you_ say that I am?\" Jesus asked.\n\nThere was silence. Then Simon spoke up: \"You are the Messiah--the\nChrist--the Son of the living God!\"\n\nThat was it! That was what Jesus was waiting for! His face lighted up\nin joy. He turned to Simon, and exclaimed: \"That is the best thing\nthat could happen to you, Simon, to find out who I am! And no human\nbeing could have told you! Only God himself can have shown you that I\nreally am the Messiah, when nobody else believes it. And now you are\ngoing to have a new name, Simon. I am going to call you 'Peter' from\nnow on, for the name 'Peter' means 'The Rock.' You have faith in me,\nand your faith is like a rock. I am going to build my Church on faith\nlike yours, and nothing shall ever conquer it. It will be the\nstrongest thing in all the world.\n\n\"And now\"--Jesus began to speak more quietly--\"and now that you know\nwho I really am, I have many things to tell you. In the first place,\nyou must not say anything about my being the Messiah--not just yet.\nAnd this is more important: I am not going to be very popular any\nmore. I am going up to Jerusalem, and when I get there, my enemies\nwill plot against me and put me to death.\"\n\nPeter thought that this was nonsense. Everyone knew that the Messiah\nwould not be killed like that, but would instead be a great warrior\nand a triumphant king. In a bold voice Peter spoke up again: \"Don't be\nfoolish. Nothing of that sort is going to happen!\"\n\nJesus turned on Peter. This time he was not joyful; he was angry. He\ntalked to Peter in the same way he had once talked to the devil in the\nwilderness.\n\nHe said: \"Get behind me, Satan! The devil has got into you, Peter! God\ndidn't have anything to do with what you said to me just now. You're\ntalking like everybody else. You're weak. A man who tries to save his\nown life is sure to lose it. But if a man gives up his life because of\nme--ah, that man will really know what it means to live!\"\n\nBut Jesus saw that the disciples did not understand. Even Peter was\nlosing his faith again. Somehow he must make them believe in him and\ntrust in him.\n\nSo six days later he took Peter and James and John, to whom he showed\nthe most secret things, up into a high mountain. And there the\ndisciples saw a marvelous vision. Jesus' face became bright as the\nsun, and his clothes shone like the morning light. They said afterward\nthat Moses and Elijah, who were great among the Jews in the days of\nlong ago, came down and talked with Jesus.\n\nPeter spoke timidly this time, for he did not know what to say.\n\n\"Lord,\" he said, \"it is good for us to be here. Let us build three\ntabernacles here, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.\"\n\nThen a great cloud came, like a shadow, over the mountain. They heard\na voice from the cloud, like the voice of God, saying: \"This is my\nbeloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him!\"\n\nThe disciples fell down to the ground, and there they lay until Jesus\ncame and touched them. At his touch they looked up, and there was no\none to be seen but Jesus standing there alone.\n\n\"Come away,\" said Jesus, \"and tell nobody what you have seen.\"\n\nThey followed him down the mountain, back to where other people were.\n\nLong afterward, they spoke of what had happened. They told of the\nbrightness, and the beauty, and the visitors from olden days, and the\nvoice which said that Jesus was the Son of God. But in those days they\nnever said a word.\n\nThey knew that on the mountaintop they had been with God.\n\n\n\n\n10. The Way to Jerusalem\n\n\nJesus had made up his mind that he would go to Jerusalem for the\nPassover next year. He knew that if he did he would get into trouble.\nThe disciples knew it too, for he had told them so. There was a hard\ntime ahead for them all.\n\nThere was hardly anyone whom Jesus could count on any more. Often even\nthe disciples did not understand him. Once in a while other people\nwould offer to come along and be disciples too. But few actually came,\nafter Jesus explained how much he expected his disciples to give up\nfor his sake.\n\nThere was one man who came to Jesus, and said bravely, \"Lord, I will\nfollow you wherever you go!\"\n\nJesus replied: \"Even the foxes have holes in the ground to sleep in at\nnight. The birds of the air have their nests. But I travel across the\ncountry without a home that I can call my own.\"\n\nThe man thought of his own comfortable house, and decided he did not\nwant to follow Jesus after all.\n\nAnother time Jesus invited a man to join him. This man said that he\nwould be glad to come, but that his father had just died, and he must\nfirst look after the funeral. That would take a long time, for the\nJews loved their customs, and when anybody died they held ceremonies\nwhich lasted for many days. Jesus could not wait for this man, so he\nanswered:\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Let people who don't believe in me look after things like that. You\nhave something more important to do. Your job is to go out and preach,\nright away. That's what you would do if you really believed in me.\"\n\nStill another man was willing to come, if only he could first go home\nand say good-by to his family. Jesus saw that this man too had not\nreally decided to give up everything for God. He told him:\n\n\"You're like a farmer who starts to plow a field, and then turns\naround and wonders if he shouldn't be doing something back at the\nhouse. Unless you put your whole heart into following me, I'm afraid\nyou will never be of much use.\"\n\nEven some of those who used to call themselves followers of Jesus were\ngoing away. Jesus said to the twelve, who had been with him from the\nbeginning:\n\n\"Are you going to leave me too?\"\n\nPeter answered: \"Lord, where would we go? We should die if we did not\nhear your words. We believe that you are the Christ.\"\n\nJesus said, \"Yes, you are the men I have chosen to be with me--though\nthere is one of _you_ who will come to a bad end.\"\n\nHe was speaking of a disciple named Judas Iscariot, though the others\ndid not know it. Jesus knew that Judas was not to be trusted.\n\nIn those difficult days Jesus spent much of his time in prayer. The\ndisciples felt that they also needed strength and help from God. Once,\nwhen Jesus had finished praying, they said to him,\n\n\"Lord, teach us to pray, just as John the Baptist used to teach his\ndisciples.\"\n\nSo Jesus taught them a prayer, and this is how it went:\n\n\"Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom\ncome. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day\nour daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.\nAnd lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine\nis the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.\"\n\nThen Jesus looked at his disciples, and told them that they ought to\npray more than they did.\n\n\"Suppose,\" he said, \"one of you went to a friend's house at midnight,\nand called through the window, 'Lend me some bread, for company has\ncome unexpectedly and I haven't anything in my house.' Your friend\nmight not want to get up out of bed, but if you kept on pleading with\nhim, he would give you what you asked for. In the same way, keep on\npraying to God! Prayer is like knocking on a door. Knock, and the door\nwill be opened.\"\n\nJesus knew, better than the disciples did themselves, how much they\nwere going to need God's help.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nJesus ran into a great many trying people in the next few months. One\nday there was a lawyer who thought that he knew more than Jesus did.\nHe wanted an argument which would give him a chance to show how much\nhe knew, so he came and asked Jesus,\n\n\"What should I do to have eternal life?\"\n\nJesus answered, \"What does it say in the Law?\"\n\nThe lawyer replied, \"It says, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with\nall thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and\nwith all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.'\"\n\nJesus said: \"That is right. Those are the things you ought to do.\"\n\nIt sounded to the lawyer as though Jesus were saying, \"If you knew all\nalong, why did you need to ask me in the first place?\" The lawyer\nthought that he would get the better of Jesus, so he replied,\n\n\"Well, just who is the neighbor that I am supposed to love?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJesus answered with a story:\n\n\"A man was traveling on the lonely road between Jerusalem and Jericho.\nAs so often happens there, some thieves jumped out of a hiding place,\nand robbed him and beat him. He was lying there half dead, when a\npriest from the Temple in Jerusalem came along. He took one look at\nthe wounded man, and kept on going along the other side of the road.\nThen somebody else from the Temple, who was supposed to be a very\nreligious sort of person, passed by, and the same thing happened.\n\n\"Finally a Samaritan came along. I don't need to tell you how\nSamaritans and Jews hate each other! But this Samaritan was sorry for\nthe wounded man. He put bandages on his wounds, and took him to an\ninn. Before he left next morning, the Samaritan went to the innkeeper.\nHe paid the bill for the man who had been robbed. Then he told the\ninnkeeper to take care of the man, and the Samaritan said he would pay\nfor anything more that was needed the next time he came.\n\n\"Now, think of those three men who passed along the road. Which of\nthem was a real neighbor to the man who was robbed?\"\n\nThe lawyer said, \"Why, the one who helped him, of course.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Jesus, \"go and do the same.\"\n\nWhat Jesus wanted the lawyer to understand was:\n\n\"You really know what a good neighbor should be, because God has been\ngood to you. But you are not much interested in being a neighbor to\npeople who need your help.\"\n\nBut if the lawyer did not see that for himself, there was no use\ntelling him. He would be too proud to understand.\n\nAnother day there was a man who came to Jesus and said:\n\n\"Master, I wish you would speak to my brother. Our father died a\nlittle while ago, and my brother is keeping all the property for\nhimself. Make him give me my share of it.\"\n\nJesus would have nothing to do with the quarrel. He told this man:\n\n\"You ought to think of something besides money and property. There is\nmore to life than owning things. Let me tell you a story.\n\n\"There was a farmer whose crops were so good that he had no place to\nput all the harvest. He said to himself: 'I will pull down my old\nbarns, and build bigger ones, and put my crops in them. Then I will\ntake life easy, for I have enough money to last me for many years.'\n\n\"But do you know what happened? That very night God said to him, 'You\nfool, you are going to die tonight; and what good are your crops and\nyour money going to be to you then?' That's what becomes of people who\nkeep all their money for their own selfish use, and never think about\nGod.\"\n\nThere was another man who was a great disappointment to Jesus. He was\na young man--rich, and a leader in the community. He came and kneeled\nbefore Jesus, and said,\n\n\"Good Master, what should I do in order to have eternal life?\"\n\nThis was like the lawyer's question, but this man asked it in a\ndifferent spirit. He really wanted to know.\n\nJesus answered:\n\n\"Do you know what you are saying when you call me 'Good Master'? No\none is good except God.\"\n\nJesus was wondering if the rich young man knew that he was talking to\nthe Messiah, or if he thought that Jesus was just a man who was a\nlittle better than others. However, he went on:\n\n\"If you want to have eternal life, keep God's commandments. You know\nwhat they are: Do not kill, do not steal, live a pure life, do not\ntell lies, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as\nyourself.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe young man exclaimed: \"But I have kept all those commandments ever\nsince I was a boy! What is it that is wrong with me?\"\n\nWhen Jesus saw that the young man was in earnest, he loved him. He\nreplied:\n\n\"There is indeed something wrong with you. It is the way you love your\nmoney. Give it away to the poor, and you will be rewarded in heaven.\nGive up everything you have, and come and follow me.\"\n\nThe young man got slowly to his feet. No! That was asking too much!\nHow could he live without his money? He needed his money. How did he\nknow that God would look after him if he did not take care of himself?\nWithout another word he went away.\n\n\"How hard it is,\" Jesus said, \"for rich people to obey God!\"\n\nThe disciples were amazed. They had always thought that the reason why\nsome people were rich was that God was pleased with the good lives\nthey had been living. They said, \"If there isn't any hope even for\nrich people, is there any hope for _anybody_?\"\n\n\"No,\" Jesus replied, \"there isn't any hope for anybody. No one is good\nenough. But God can help and save sinners, whether they are rich or\npoor. God is everybody's hope.\"\n\nPeter spoke for the rest of the disciples. He said, \"Well, we have\ngiven up everything to follow you.\"\n\nJesus answered, \"If you have given up anything for my sake you will\nnever have reason to be sorry for it, either in this life or after you\ndie.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe months were going by, and it was time to be getting on toward\nJerusalem. Jesus took his disciples and crossed to the east side of\nthe river Jordan. They traveled south, and then crossed the Jordan\nonce again and came to the city of Jericho.\n\nIn the rich earth around Jericho beautiful gardens grew, and the palm\ntrees stood tall. Travelers who came from the swamps of the Jordan\nloved to stop at Jericho before they took the hard and lonely road\nthat led to Jerusalem. There were desert lands and hills ahead, but at\nJericho there was water to drink, and good food to eat, and a place\nto stay in comfort. But Jesus could not stay long in Jericho. It was\nto Jerusalem that he was going, and nothing could hold him back.\n\nThe people at Jericho heard that Jesus was passing through their city,\nand a crowd gathered in the streets to catch a glimpse of him as he\nwent by. There was a man named Zacchaeus there. He was shorter than\nmost other men, and he could not see Jesus because of the crowd around\nhim. There was no use asking anyone to help him, for no one liked\nZacchaeus. He was a taxgatherer, as Matthew once had been, and had\ngrown rich collecting taxes. But he had grown unpopular too. The Jews\nthought him a traitor, for although he was a Jew he worked for the\nRomans, and made his fortune out of cheating his fellow Jews.\n\nBut Zacchaeus was determined not to miss seeing Jesus. Running on\nahead of the crowd, he climbed a sycamore tree. High above the street,\nhe could look down at Jesus, but there was no reason to think that\nJesus would look up at him.\n\nHowever, when Jesus reached the place where Zacchaeus was hiding in\nthe branches, he stopped, looked up, and saw him. He knew who this man\nwas. Jesus called out:\n\n\"Hurry and come down out of that tree, Zacchaeus. I am coming to stay\nat your house today!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSurprised but happy, Zacchaeus scrambled down the tree and led Jesus\nto his house. The other people also were surprised, but not so happy.\nThey muttered to themselves, as many people had done before. They\nsaid,\n\n\"He's gone to be the guest of that miserable, cheating traitor of a\ntaxgatherer!\"\n\nBut Zacchaeus became a changed man that day. He said to Jesus:\n\n\"I am going to give half my money to the poor. And if I have cheated\nanybody I shall give back four times as much as I took.\"\n\nThen Jesus was glad that he had called Zacchaeus down from the tree.\n\n\"You have been saved from your sins today, Zacchaeus,\" he said.\n\nJesus was glad that he had found at least one rich man who did not\nlove his money more than he loved God. Zacchaeus had not been a good\nman. He was not like the rich young man who had kept all God's\ncommandments since he was a boy. But when he heard Jesus speak to him,\nhe knew that he had been in the wrong. He was ready to do what he\ncould to show that he knew how he had sinned.\n\n\"This is what I came for,\" Jesus said, \"to look for sinners like this\nman and to save them.\"\n\nWhen Jesus got to Jerusalem, it was going to cost him a great deal to\nhelp men find a new life. But whatever it might cost him, it would be\nworth the price.\n\n\n\n\n11. Nearing the City\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nPassover time had almost come, so Jesus had to be on his way. Jericho\nwas left behind, and Jesus and the disciples pushed across the hills\nand desert land that lay east of Jerusalem.\n\nThis was the country Jesus had crossed the first time he went to the\nPassover feast. That was twenty years ago, when he was a boy of\ntwelve, and Joseph and Mary had taken him to the feast in the great\ncity. The stones were just as hard now as they had been then. The land\nwas as dreary to see as it had ever been, and the desert as dry. And\nyet there were just as many pilgrims from all parts of Palestine\ntraveling up to Jerusalem, going, as their fathers did before them,\nto keep the Passover in the holy city of the Jews. In a little while a\nshout would go up, and many a party would burst into song. They would\nsing:\n\n[Illustration]\n\n    \"'I was glad when they said unto me,\n    Let us go into the house of the Lord....\n    Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:\n    They shall prosper that love thee.'\"\n\nA few days more, and they would sacrifice their lambs in the Temple.\nThey would pray God to be good to the Jews, and to save them from\ntheir enemies. A few nights more, and they would sit down to eat the\nroasted flesh of the lambs at the Passover feast; and when they had\neaten they would sing:\n\n    \"'O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good:\n    For his mercy endureth for ever.'\"\n\nJesus and the disciples came out of the desert, and paused among the\nolive groves near the village of Bethany. Now only the Mount of Olives\nand the brook called Kidron stood between Jesus and Jerusalem. Already\nthe Passover pilgrims were pouring through the gates of the city and\nup to the Temple. It was hard for all the pilgrims to find places to\nstay during the week of the Passover. Here at Bethany, Jesus had\nfriends who loved him, and here he found a place in which to stay.\n\nA man named Simon, whom Jesus once cured of the dreaded leprosy, had a\nhouse in Bethany where Jesus was welcome. There also was a woman in\nBethany whose name was Mary. She thought that nothing was too much to\ngive to Jesus. Like another woman who once made the Pharisees angry,\nshe came to Jesus when he sat at dinner in Simon's house and poured\nprecious ointment on his head.\n\nBut this time it was not the Pharisees who were angry, for there were\nno Pharisees in the house. It was Jesus' own disciples, especially\nJudas Iscariot, who said that it was wrong to waste anything that cost\nas much as the ointment. Judas spoke up and said, \"Why was not this\nointment sold, and the money given to the poor?\"\n\nJudas did not really care about the poor. He looked after the money\nfor Jesus and the disciples, and when he wanted any, he secretly\nhelped himself out of what belonged to all of them. He thought that if\nthe precious ointment had been sold, there would have been more money\nin the purse he carried.\n\nWhen Jesus heard the disciples complaining about Mary's gift, he said:\n\"Let her alone. This is a good thing that she has done. There will\nalways be poor people, and you can give them all you like after I am\ngone. But you will not have _me_ always. You know your custom is that\nwhen your loved ones die you put ointment on their bodies before you\nbury them. Well, Mary has come to get me ready to be buried, before I\nam even dead. I tell you, this woman's name will be remembered all\nover the world because of what she did for me today!\"\n\nThe disciples begrudged Jesus the ointment that a loving woman pured\nupon his head! That was a bad sign. Many times in these last few\nmonths Jesus had had to speak sharply to his disciples. The longer\nthey were with him, the less they seemed to understand the things that\nhe had taught them. Jesus was growing lonelier every day, and the\nhardest task was still ahead.\n\nOne time, when they were on the road, John came to Jesus, feeling very\nproud of himself.\n\n\"Master,\" he said, \"we saw a man curing people who were out of their\nminds and he was using your name to do it! Naturally we told him he\nwould have to stop. He didn't have any right to use your name, when he\nwasn't one of us!\"\n\nJesus answered: \"You shouldn't have stopped him. If he wasn't doing\nus any harm, then he was on our side!\"\n\nThen there was a terrible scene one day, when Jesus found the\ndisciples quarreling about which of them would be the most important\nwhen Jesus became king. Each thought that he ought to have a higher\nposition than the rest.\n\n\"You aren't supposed to be looking out for yourselves,\" Jesus told\nthem. \"That's what the Romans do. They want to be kings, and order\nother people about. But the greatest one of you will be the one who\ndoes the most to help others, no matter what it costs him. Which would\nyou rather do--sit down to a dinner and have your food brought to you,\nor bring the food for somebody else? You'd rather sit down and let a\nservant wait on you, of course. But I am content to be a servant among\nyou, the servant of everyone.\"\n\nThe disciples could not get over thinking that some people were more\nimportant than others, and that they themselves counted for more than\nanyone else. Once some mothers brought their little children to Jesus,\nhoping that he would put his hands on them and bless them. The\ndisciples did not think that the children counted for anything, and\nthey were going to send them away. They told the mothers that they\nought not to come where they were not wanted.\n\nBut Jesus called the little children to him, and said: \"Let the little\nchildren come to me, and don't stand in their way. God's Kingdom is\nmade up of people like these children. God hasn't any place for a\nperson who thinks himself important. These children aren't pushing\nthemselves forward. They are humble, and it would be better if you\nwere more like them!\"\n\nWith these words Jesus laid his hands upon the children and gave them\nhis blessing, as the mothers wanted him to do.\n\nAnother thing that Jesus said, which the disciples could not\nunderstand, was that they ought to forgive anyone who did them an\ninjury. One day Peter came to him and asked: \"Lord, if somebody keeps\non doing wrong to me, how many times should I forgive him? Seven\ntimes, perhaps?\"\n\nPeter thought that seven times would be doing very well. But Jesus\nanswered: \"_Seven_ times! Multiply that by seventy! Forgive him until\nyou have lost count of the times!\"\n\nWhen the disciples heard that, they knew that Jesus meant they should\nnever stop forgiving anyone who wronged them. This seemed to them to\nbe more than they could do unless God helped them. They would need\nmore faith in God. So they said, \"Lord, give us more faith than we\nhave.\"\n\nThen Jesus had to tell them that they really did not have any faith at\nall. He said: \"If your faith were only as big as a mustard seed--the\nsmallest seed there is--you could say to that tree over there, 'Be\npulled up and be planted in the sea,' and it would be done.\"\n\nNo, the disciples did not have much faith. They did not understand\nJesus. They were jealous of one another. They thought that Jesus ought\nto be a king, and each of them thought that he ought to be the king's\nright-hand man. The disciples were afraid. If Jesus went up to\nJerusalem, they could not tell what would happen. Sometimes they\nthought it would be best if Jesus would stay out of sight where his\nenemies could not find him.\n\nWorst of all, there was one of the disciples who was not loyal--Judas\nIscariot. Judas was planning something so terrible that no one except\nJesus knew what it was.\n\nJesus could not wait until his disciples understood. He could not wait\nuntil they were brave enough, or strong enough or good enough. If he\ndid, he would wait forever. And there was very little time.\n\nThere was something that he had to do now--the thing he had planned to\ndo all along. Back in the days when he was all alone in the\nwilderness, after John baptized him in the Jordan, he knew that this\nwas what he would have to do someday. Now the time had come. He must\ngo back to the Temple, where he had stood and watched the Passover\nlambs being killed when he was a boy of twelve. He must go and get\nready for the Passover.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJerusalem was about two miles away. He could not stay on in Bethany.\nHe must go to Jerusalem at once.\n\nHe called two of his disciples and gave his orders.\n\n\"Go into the village, and there you will find a young donkey tied. No\none has ever ridden it. Untie it and bring it here. If the owner\nquestions you, tell him, 'The Lord needs this donkey.' He will let you\nhave it at once.\"\n\nThe disciples went to do as they were told, and they did not need to\nbe told twice. They knew what Jesus meant, for they knew the\nScriptures. If this was the way Jesus was going to Jerusalem, there\nwas nothing to be afraid of!\n\nFor it said in the Scriptures that the Messiah would come into\nJerusalem riding upon a donkey. How did the words go?\n\n     \"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of\n     Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just,\n     and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and\n     upon a colt the foal of an ass.\"\n\nJesus was going to do it! He was going to ride into Jerusalem as the\nMessiah! Everyone would know who he was at last, for it said in the\nScriptures that this was how the Messiah would come to the city! Let\nthe Jews get ready to receive the King they had waited for so long!\n\nThey would have to wait no longer. Messiah--King Messiah--was marching\ntoward his throne.\n\n\n\n\n12. In Jerusalem\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nThe disciples went to the village, as Jesus told them, and there they\nfound the donkey. They untied it, and led it away. Some of them put\ntheir clothes on the donkey's back, for a king must ride in comfort.\nOthers spread their clothes out on the street, for a king should ride\nin state.\n\nJesus got on the donkey, and started for Jerusalem. The disciples\nwalked ahead. When they had almost reached the city, the disciples\nbegan to shout. Jesus used to say that they must not tell anyone that\nhe was the Messiah. But now they could tell the whole world, for Jesus\nwanted everyone to know. They were glad that they did not have to be\nquiet any longer.\n\nThey shouted, \"Hosanna!\" It meant, \"Save us,\" and was a cry of\nwelcome. They shouted the words of a psalm: \"'Hosanna to the son of\nDavid: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in\nthe highest.'\"\n\nThe city was crowded with travelers from all over Palestine, and from\nforeign countries too. They were the pilgrims who had come for the\nPassover feast.\n\nThe crowds saw the procession coming. They saw the donkey, and they\nremembered what the Scriptures said. They remembered that that was how\nthe Messiah would come riding in. They heard the shouting, and they\nunderstood the words. They knew that that was what people would sing\nwhen the Messiah came.\n\nSome of the crowds began to shout with the disciples. A great cry of\n\"Hosanna!\" went ringing down the street. Everyone seemed to be saying\nit. \"Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.\" Some cut\nbranches from the trees, and waved them before the Messiah. It was a\nroyal welcome.\n\nOnly the priests and the rulers and the Pharisees were sorry to see\nJesus come.\n\n\"What is there we can do?\" they said to one another. \"Look, the whole\nworld has gone after him!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe excitement spread through the city. There were strangers there who\nhad never heard of Jesus.\n\n\"Who is this?\" they asked.\n\nOthers who knew him answered, \"Why, this is Jesus, the prophet from\nNazareth in Galilee.\"\n\nJesus went into the Temple and looked about at the crowds which\nthronged it. This was his Father's house and his house. These were his\nFather's people and his people.\n\nThe king for whom the Jews had been waiting had come at last to reign.\n\nIn the evening, Jesus and the disciples returned to Bethany to sleep.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe next day Jesus returned to Jerusalem and again went to the Temple.\nThis time he carried a whip.\n\nIn the Court of the Gentiles the money was clinking as it had done\nwhen Jesus was a boy. At tables sat the men who grew rich by\nexchanging the money of visitors for coins used in Jerusalem. Others\nwere selling doves for sacrifice. The poor had to pay heavily to\nworship God in his own house.\n\nJesus strode down the room with the whip in his hand, and upset the\ntables where the money was. When the men jumped up from their chairs,\nhe drove them out of the Temple. Then he drove the sheep and the\ncattle out after the men.\n\n\"It is written in the Scriptures: God's house shall be a house of\nprayer. But you have made it into a den of thieves and robbers!\" he\ncried.\n\nThis was too much for the priests of the temple, and all the important\nmen who ruled Jerusalem. The next day some of the rulers came to Jesus\nand said:\n\n\"What right have you to do these things? Who told you that you could\nact like this?\"\n\nSo far, Jesus had never said that he was the Messiah. He had only\nacted as if he was the Messiah. The rulers hoped that he would say\nsomething they could punish him for. But Jesus was too quick for them.\nHe said:\n\n\"I'll answer your question if you answer a question of mine. When John\nthe Baptist used to preach to you and baptize people, who gave him the\nright to do that?\"\n\nThen the rulers did not know what to say. They thought to themselves:\n\n_Now if we say that John was sent by God to preach, he will say, \"Why\ndidn't you listen to him, then?_\"\n\n_If we say that John didn't have any right to preach, the people will\nbe angry and will likely kill us; for everyone still thinks that John\nthe Baptist was a great prophet sent by God himself._\n\nSo all they said was, \"We don't know--we can't tell.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" Jesus retorted, \"neither am I going to tell you what\nright I have to do these things!\"\n\nEvery day that week, Jesus came and taught in the Temple. Several\ntimes his enemies tried to trick him into saying something that would\nturn the people against him, but Jesus always had an answer which\nsilenced them. Once they came and asked, \"Should we pay taxes to the\nRomans?\"\n\nThat was a hard question. All the Jews hated the Romans, and if Jesus\nsaid that it was their duty to pay the taxes, everybody would hate him\ntoo. But if he said they should not pay the taxes--well, they could\ncount on the Roman governor to settle with Jesus then.\n\n\"Show me a penny,\" Jesus replied.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSomeone handed him a piece of Roman money. There was a man's picture\nstamped on one side of it. Jesus said, \"Whose picture is that?\"\n\n\"Why,\" they answered, \"that is a picture of Caesar, the emperor of\nRome.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said Jesus, \"do whatever your duty is to Caesar and his\ngovernment. You will have to decide about that for yourselves. And\nalso do your duty to God!\"\n\nIt was such a clever answer that no one had a word to say. And Jesus\nstill had not said anything that he could be punished for.\n\nBut he said a great deal to make his enemies angry. About the\nPharisees he spoke the hardest words he ever said.\n\n\"Watch out for the scribes and the Pharisees,\" he told the people,\n\"and don't be like them. They love to walk around in their long white\nrobes, and to have everybody bow to them in the street, and to sit in\nthe best seats in the synagogues and at dinners. All the time they are\ntaking money from poor widows and they try to cover it up by making\nlong prayers.\"\n\nTurning to the Pharisees themselves, he went on:\n\n\"Woe to you Pharisees! You are like graves with rotting bodies in\nthem, which people walk over without knowing what is underneath.\nNobody knows how bad you are. You snakes! How can you escape the\npunishment which God is bringing upon you?\"\n\nHe left the Pharisees and went into the Temple, where people were\nmaking their gifts to God. Many rich men came in, and put large sums\nof money in the money box. Then came a poor widow who put two small\ncoins into the box.\n\nJesus called his disciples to him, and said:\n\n\"I tell you, this poor widow has given more than all these rich people\nare giving. For the rich have plenty of money, and it doesn't cost\nthem anything to give what they do. But this poor woman needs her\nmoney, and she has given all she has.\"\n\nWith many words and stories he taught the people who thronged around\nhim on the days of that week. And this was the last story he ever\ntold:\n\n\"Someday I shall sit upon my throne, and judge all the nations of the\nearth. To some people I will say:\n\n\"'Come--my Heavenly Father loves you. Take the reward he has planned\nfor you to have. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was\nthirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you\ntook me into your homes. I had nothing to wear, and you gave me\nclothes. I was sick, and in prison, and you came to visit me!'\n\n\"Then these people will be surprised, and say, 'Lord when did we ever\ndo anything for you?'\n\n\"And I will say: 'You were kind to the poor and the sick and the\nhungry, who did not count for anything on earth. You did not know it\nat the time, but when you did a kindness to them, it was to me you\nreally did it.'\n\n\"Then I will say to others: 'Go away. God wants nothing to do with\nyou! For I was hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and sick, and in\nprison, and you did nothing at all for me.'\n\n\"These people will also be surprised. They will say: 'Lord, when did\nwe ever see you hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or sick, or in prison?\nIf we had seen you needing anything, we would have helped you!'\n\n\"And I will say: 'Many poor people needed your help, and you did not\nhelp them. When you failed them, you failed me. And now it is too\nlate!'\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe priests and the rulers did not know what to do about Jesus. _The\nMessiah, indeed!_ they thought. They hated him, and they were afraid\nof him. They were afraid of the Romans too. What would the Roman\ngovernor say if he heard that there was someone in Jerusalem\npretending to be King of the Jews?\n\nThe priests and the rulers wanted to kill Jesus. That was all they\ntalked about. But they did not know how it was to be done. For\nwhenever Jesus came to Jerusalem, great crowds gathered around him.\nNone of the priests dared to lay a finger on him in the open. The\ncrowds would never let them. It seemed to the people as if the Messiah\nmight have come at last.\n\nBut something had to be done, the priests and the rulers said. The\nweek was going by. The Feast of the Passover was nearly there.\n\n\"We shall have to do away with Jesus quietly,\" someone said.\n\n\"Yes,\" the others agreed, \"we can't wait till the day of the Passover.\nIf we should do anything to him on that day, there would be a riot.\"\n\nThey were at their wits' end to know how to get rid of Jesus. The\ncraftiest men in Jerusalem could not think what to do.\n\nThere was a knock at the door. It was one of Jesus' twelve disciples,\nwho had come to see the priests and rulers.\n\nHis name? His name was Judas Iscariot.\n\n\"What will you give me,\" Judas said, \"if I turn Jesus over to you?\"\n\nThe priests and rulers could hardly believe their ears.\n\n\"Thirty pieces of silver you shall have,\" they cried, \"if you give us\nJesus!\"\n\nSo for thirty pieces of silver Judas agreed to show them where Jesus\nwas, at some time when there was no one around but the twelve\ndisciples.\n\n\"Send soldiers when I tell you,\" Judas said. \"The other disciples will\nall be there, and the soldiers won't know which man to take. But I\nwill go up to Jesus and kiss him. The man I kiss will be the one you\nwant.\"\n\nSome dark night soon, a quiet place with no one around to see--and\nnobody would have to worry about Jesus of Nazareth any more!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n13. The Last Night\n\n\nIt was Thursday. On Friday afternoon the lambs would be killed for the\nPassover, and on Friday evening all good Jews would sit down to eat\nthe lambs at the Passover feast. The disciples wondered where Jesus\nwas planning to celebrate the feast with them.\n\nBut Jesus did not wait until Friday to have a meal with all his\ndisciples. On Thursday he sent two of them into Jerusalem from\nBethany. He told them the name of the man to whom they were to go.\n\n\"Go to this man,\" said Jesus, \"and tell him that I said the time has\ncome. He will show you where we are going to have supper tonight. Then\nyou can get the supper ready.\"\n\nThat evening Jesus and the twelve disciples met together at the house\nin Jerusalem. On the second floor there was a room, where food was\nspread upon the table.\n\nAs they were eating supper, Jesus suddenly spoke.\n\n\"One of you is a traitor!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nEveryone stopped eating. And each one of the twelve disciples thought\nof his own sins. Each one wondered if he were loyal enough to Jesus.\nEach one cried out:\n\n\"Master, is it I?\"\n\nJesus only answered:\n\n\"It is one of you twelve men, eating with me now. It would have been\nbetter for that traitor if he had never been born!\"\n\nA moment later Judas Iscariot slipped quietly out of the door. The\nother disciples did not know where he had gone.\n\nJesus spoke again: \"I wanted so much to eat the Passover feast with\nyou this year, before I suffer. But I shall not eat it again with you\nuntil a better day, when we shall all be together once more.\"\n\nHe took up a piece of bread, and said a prayer of thanks to God. Then\nhe broke the bread, and passed the pieces among the disciples--only\neleven of them now. He said words that they did not understand.\n\n\"Take and eat this. This is my body.\"\n\nHe took a cup of wine, and once more he gave thanks. Then he passed\nthe cup among the disciples, saying:\n\n\"Drink--all of you--drink of this wine. It is my blood, which I am\ngoing to shed so that the sins of many people may be forgiven. And in\nthe days to come, do this same thing often, always remembering me.\"\n\nThen they sang a hymn together and walked out into the night air and\nwent up the Mount of Olives.\n\nAs they walked, Jesus said to the disciples:\n\n\"You will all desert me tonight. For it is written in the Scriptures\nthat when something happens to the shepherd the sheep will go away in\nall directions. However, I shall meet you again.\"\n\nPeter spoke up, and said bravely,\n\n\"Even if everyone else deserts you, I will not!\"\n\nJesus answered: \"Before the rooster crows at sunrise to tell you that\nmorning has come, you will have said three times that you do not even\nknow me.\"\n\nBut Peter cried out that even if he died for it he would be true to\nJesus. And all the other disciples said the same.\n\nPresently they came to a grove called Gethsemane. It was late. Jesus\nsaid to the disciples,\n\n\"Sit here, while I go and pray.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe took only Peter and James and John with him, and went a little way\napart from the rest. To the three disciples he said:\n\n\"I am greatly troubled. I do not know how I can bear it any longer.\nWait here, and stay awake with me.\"\n\nGoing a few steps farther on, Jesus fell on his knees and began to\npray aloud:\n\n\"O my Father, if it is possible, take this cup away; do not let these\nthings happen to me! Yet not my will, but thine, be done.\"\n\nWhen he had prayed this way, he came back to Peter and James and John.\nAll three were fast asleep. Jesus woke Peter up, and said:\n\n\"What! Couldn't you stay with me for one short hour? Stay awake and\npray. Pray for yourselves. You are going to need strength. You are not\nso strong as you want to be.\"\n\nHe left them again, and once more he fell on his knees and prayed,\n\n\"O my Father, if I must suffer these things, thy will be done.\"\n\nWhen he returned, the disciples again were sleeping. They were too\ntired to stay awake.\n\nA third time he went apart from them and prayed. He prayed in the same\nwords he had used before. And suddenly he began to feel stronger. He\nrose from his knees at last, and came back to the disciples. His voice\nbroke in upon their sleep: \"Are you still sleeping? Well, you've slept\nlong enough! My time is up. I am going to be turned over to sinners\nnow! Get up! Look, the traitor is coming!\"\n\nWhile he was still speaking, a crowd of soldiers carrying swords and\nclubs burst into the grove. Judas Iscariot was leading them. Judas ran\nto Jesus and kissed him, saying,\n\n\"Hail, Master!\"\n\nJesus answered, \"Well, friend--what have you come to do?\"\n\nThen a band of men laid their hands on Jesus, and held him so that he\ncould not escape.\n\nPeter was wide-awake by now. He had brought a sword with him. Pulling\nit out, he cut off the ear of a man in the crowd.\n\nJesus said to Peter: \"Put your sword away. My Father gave me these\nthings to suffer. He would save me now if I asked him. But that is not\nthe way it is to be.\"\n\nThen Jesus turned to the crowd of soldiers, and said:\n\n\"Have you come to arrest me with swords and clubs, as though I were a\nrobber? Every day I was in the Temple teaching, and you could have\ntaken me then, but you never laid a hand on me. But this is what the\nScriptures said would happen to the Messiah.\"\n\nThe disciples could stand no more. They left Jesus standing there, and\nin terror they fled away.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n14. The Last Day\n\n\nThe soldiers bound Jesus and led him back to Jerusalem. They took him\nto the palace of the high priest. All the chief priests and rulers\nwere gathered there in a council meeting.\n\nThe council had already decided that Jesus would have to die, but it\nwas hard to find a reason for killing him. They had to prove that\nJesus had said or done something for which he could be put to death.\nThey found a great many people who came and told lies about Jesus, but\nno two of them told the same story.\n\nAt last the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, stood up and said to\nJesus:\n\n\"You hear all the things that are being said about you. Aren't you\ngoing to defend yourself?\"\n\nJesus did not say a word.\n\nThe high priest spoke again:\n\n\"In the name of the living God I ask you: Are you the Christ--the\nMessiah--the Son of God?\"\n\nJesus answered:\n\n\"You have said it.\"\n\nThat was all the council wanted to hear. Caiaphas tore his own clothes\nin anger, and shouted:\n\n\"Why do we need any more witnesses? You have heard him say it with his\nown mouth. He says he's God! What do you think about it?\"\n\nAnd the whole council answered,\n\n\"He ought to be put to death.\"\n\nThen some of them spat in his face. They covered his eyes, and slapped\nhim, and shouted:\n\n\"If you were the Messiah, you would know who hit you! Tell us, you\nMessiah you--tell us who hit you!\"\n\nMeanwhile, in another room of the palace, there stood a disciple who\nwas losing whatever faith he had once had. It was Peter. One of the\nother disciples, who knew the high priest, had gone ahead, and he had\ntold the maid to let Peter in.\n\nThe maid looked at Peter and said, \"You were with Jesus, weren't you?\"\n\n\"I don't know what you're talking about,\" said Peter.\n\nThe night was cool, and the servants of the high priest were standing\naround a fire they had made to keep themselves warm. Peter went over\nand began to warm himself too. Somebody else said to him,\n\n\"You are one of Jesus' disciples.\"\n\nPeter's faith was all gone.\n\n\"Man,\" he said, \"I certainly am not!\"\n\nBut after a while another person spoke up and said:\n\n\"Of course you are one of Jesus' disciples. You are from Galilee. We\ncan tell from the way you talk.\"\n\nPeter began to curse and swear, saying, \"I don't even know this Jesus\nthat you are talking about!\"\n\nAt that moment the rooster began to crow. At the same time Jesus\npassed by the doorway, and looked at Peter.\n\nPeter remembered what Jesus had said, \"Before the rooster crows, you\nwill three times say that you do not know me.\"\n\nPeter went out of the palace, and wept bitterly.\n\nThe great council of the Jews might say that a man deserved to die,\nbut they could not put anyone to death. Only the Roman governor could\ndo that.\n\nThe Roman governor, whose name was Pontius Pilate, was in Jerusalem\nfor the Passover. As soon as it was daylight, the council took Jesus\nover to Pilate's palace.\n\nWhen Judas Iscariot saw what was happening, he suddenly realized what\nhe had done. He came to the chief priests, and brought them back the\nthirty pieces of silver they had given him for turning traitor. He\ncried out:\n\n\"I have sinned! I betrayed a man who never did any wrong!\"\n\nThe chief priests shrugged their shoulders.\n\n\"That's nothing to us,\" they said. \"Take your money and go!\"\n\nBut Judas threw the money down on the floor and ran out. He took a\nrope, and found a tree, and hanged himself, for, after betraying\nJesus, he could not bear to live.\n\nMeanwhile Jesus was standing before Pilate. The council had told\nPilate that Jesus was claiming to be the King of the Jews. They said\nthat he was stirring up the whole country against Caesar. They thought\nthat Pilate would put him to death for that, because the Romans would\nbe afraid that Jesus would lead a revolt against the Roman government.\n\nPilate said to Jesus,\n\n\"Well, are you the King of the Jews?\"\n\nJesus answered simply,\n\n\"You have said it.\"\n\nThen the priests and rulers burst out with all kinds of evil stories\nabout Jesus.\n\nPilate spoke to Jesus again, and said:\n\n\"Aren't you going to say anything? Listen to what they are saying\nabout you!\"\n\nBut Jesus did not speak. Pilate was astonished. He could see that the\nonly reason the council had brought Jesus to him was that they were\njealous of Jesus and hated him.\n\nBy now a large crowd had gathered to watch the trial. Many of the\npeople in it had been Jesus' followers, but they followed him no\nlonger. When they saw Jesus being tried like a criminal they decided\nthat their priests and rulers had been right all along. They began to\ntalk against Jesus, among themselves.\n\nPilate wondered how he could let Jesus go. Suddenly he remembered a\nJewish custom: every Passover a prisoner was set free.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPilate said: \"Every year at this time I set a prisoner free. Now you\ncan have your choice. You know we have a man named Barabbas in\njail--he's the fellow that started a rebellion a little while ago. We\nwere going to crucify him. And now here is Jesus. Which one shall I\nlet go? Barabbas the murderer or Jesus who is called the Christ?\"\n\nA great shout went up,\n\n\"Barabbas!\"\n\nPilate did not know what to do now. He spoke again to the crowd,\n\n\"Well, what shall I do to Jesus who is called the Christ?\"\n\nAgain there was a great shout:\n\n\"Crucify him! Hang him up on a cross till he is dead!\"\n\nEveryone seemed to be against Jesus now. However, Pilate tried once\nmore.\n\n\"But,\" he protested, \"I can't find that he has been guilty of any\ncrime!\"\n\nThe Jewish rulers replied, \"We have a law which says he ought to die\nbecause he pretends to be the Son of God.\"\n\nPilate was worried now. He spoke to Jesus again, and again Jesus did\nnot answer.\n\n\"Aren't you going to speak to me?\" Pilate asked. \"Don't you know that\nI can crucify you or let you go?\"\n\nJesus answered, \"You wouldn't have any power over me unless God had\ngiven it to you.\"\n\nPilate, when he heard this, tried once more to save Jesus. But the\ncrowd was bigger, and louder, and more bloodthirsty than ever.\nEveryone was shouting:\n\n\"Crucify! Crucify!\"\n\n\"Shall I crucify your king?\" asked Pilate.\n\nThe chief priests of the Jews, who hated Caesar, answered,\n\n\"We have no king except Caesar!\"\n\nPilate was too weak to hold out any longer. He was beginning to wonder\nwhat Caesar would say if he heard that Pilate refused to crucify a man\nwho claimed to be king of the Jews.\n\n\"Take him,\" Pilate said. \"Take him, and crucify him.\"\n\nBut before the crucifixion came the scourging. Jesus was bound and\nbeaten with long leather thongs which had cruel pieces of glass and\nlead fastened to them so that they would hurt all the more. When that\nwas over, and his back was covered with cuts and bruises, the Roman\nsoldiers who had scourged him wanted some more sport. They dressed\nJesus in a purple robe. They made a wreath, like the one that the\nRoman emperor wore--only this one was made of thorns, which stuck into\nJesus' head so that the blood ran down his face. Some of the soldiers\nspat on him; others made fun of him, bowing down and saying,\n\n\"Hail, king of the Jews!\"\n\nThen the soldiers stripped the purple clothes off Jesus, and put his\nown clothes back on him, and led him outside the city to be crucified.\nHe was too worn out to carry his own cross, as those who were to be\ncrucified usually did, so the soldiers forced a man of Cyrene named\nSimon to carry it for him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen they reached a hill called Calvary, they laid the cross down on\nthe ground, and stripped Jesus of his clothes. They put Jesus on the\ncross, and stretched out his arms. They drove a nail through each\nhand, and one through his feet, fastening him to the cross. Then they\nstood the cross upright, and let Jesus hang there. On the top of it\nwas written: \"This is the King of the Jews.\" There was a cross on\neither side of him, with a thief hanging on each one.\n\nJesus said, \"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.\"\n\nThe soldiers took his clothes, and divided them up among themselves.\nHis coat was too good to tear up, so they threw dice to see which one\nof them would get it.\n\nJesus was offered a drink which would have made the pain easier to\nbear, but he would not take it. People passed to and fro in front of\nthe cross, shouting insults.\n\n\"He saved others, but he can't save himself.\" One of the thieves\nturned his head and called out to him angrily,\n\n\"If you are the Christ, save yourself and us too!\"\n\nBut the other thief spoke out of his pain:\n\n\"Don't you fear God, seeing that we are all going to die? Aren't you\nafraid to talk that way? We deserve to die; but this man never did\nanything wrong.\"\n\nThen, turning to Jesus, he said, \"Lord, remember me when you come to\nyour Kingdom.\"\n\nJesus said to him,\n\n\"I tell you, today you will be with me in heaven.\"\n\nNear the cross stood Jesus' mother and other women who loved him. John\nthe disciple was also there. Jesus called to his mother and John, and\nsaid:\n\n\"Mother, from now on John will be your son. John, this is your\nmother.\"\n\nJohn took Jesus' mother to his own house.\n\nThe hours passed by. It was about time for the Passover lambs to be\nkilled in the city. Clouds were beginning to cover the sun, and it was\ngrowing dark although it was not yet night.\n\nJesus cried out,\n\n\"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?\"\n\nThere was a stir of interest in the crowd. _Let's see what will happen\nnow_, they thought.\n\nJesus was becoming weaker. He said, \"I am thirsty.\"\n\nA soldier dipped a sponge in vinegar, and held it up on a stick to\nJesus' lips so that he could drink.\n\nJesus cried out once more:\n\n\"It is finished. Father, into thy hands I give my spirit.\"\n\nHis head sank down upon his chest. There was a loud sound like a clap\nof thunder, and the earth shook.\n\nIn the silence that followed, a Roman soldier spoke.\n\n\"This man--\" he said, \"this man was indeed the Son of God.\"\n\nBut Jesus did not hear him. For Jesus was dead.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen evening came, a man named Joseph of Arimathaea went to see\nPilate. Joseph was a rich man, and much respected; and he had believed\nin Jesus. He went secretly to Pilate, for he was afraid of the Jews.\nHe asked Pilate if he might have Jesus' body, and Pilate gave\npermission.\n\nJoseph came then to the cross, and took down Jesus' body. He wrapped\nit in a white linen cloth, and had it carried away to a tomb which had\nbeen dug out of the rock. Not until after the Sabbath could Jesus'\nfamily and friends come to put spices on the body of him whom they\nloved.\n\nJesus' body was laid inside the tomb, and a great stone was rolled\nagainst the door.\n\nStanding there was a woman named Mary Magdalene with Mary the mother\nof Jesus. They watched while the body of Jesus, so dear to them, was\nlaid away to rest.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n15. The Victorious King\n\n\nAt sunrise the day following the Sabbath, three women came to the\ngarden where Jesus was buried. They came, as the custom was, to put\nointments and spices on the body of Jesus.\n\nOn the way they remembered that a great stone had been rolled against\nthe door of the tomb. They wondered how they would get in.\n\n\"Who will roll the stone away?\" they asked each other.\n\nBut when they reached the tomb, they found that the stone had been\nrolled back. Someone had been there before them; the door was open.\n\nThe women went through the door of the tomb. A young man in white\nclothes was sitting on one side. Seeing their amazement, the young man\nspoke:\n\n\"Do not be surprised. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was\ncrucified. He is not here. He is risen from the dead. Look! There is\nthe place where he was!\"\n\nThey looked, and they saw that his body was no longer there.\n\nThe young man went on, \"Go quickly, and tell this to his disciples:\n'Jesus is alive.'\"\n\nThe women ran out of the tomb, trembling with fright and with\nsurprise. One of the women was Mary Magdalene. As she ran, she saw two\nof the disciples coming, John and Peter. She cried out to them:\n\n\"Someone has taken Jesus' body out of the tomb. We don't know where\nthey have put it!\"\n\nJohn and Peter began to run toward the tomb. John ran faster, and got\nthere first. He looked through the door, and there he saw the white\ncloths that Jesus' body had been wrapped in, but there was no body in\nthem any longer. Peter caught up to John, and ran right into the tomb.\nHe too saw the folded cloths. John and Peter went away to their homes,\nnot knowing what to think.\n\nMeanwhile Mary Magdalene had come back. She stood in the garden near\nthe tomb, weeping as though her heart would break. She turned around,\nand saw that a man was standing near her. He spoke to her, and said:\n\n\"Why are you crying? For whom are you looking?\"\n\nMary thought that the man must be the gardener. Through her tears she\nsaid:\n\n\"Sir, if you have carried away the body of my Lord, tell me where you\nhave laid him, and I will go and take him away.\"\n\nThe man said softly,\n\n\"Mary!\"\n\nShe looked again. She knew that voice. It was Jesus--Jesus calling her\nname!\n\nShe cried out,\n\n\"Master!\"\n\nShe moved as though to take hold of him. Jesus spoke again. It was\nreally he.\n\n\"Do not try to hold me here. I am going to my Father in heaven. But\nnow go and tell that to the disciples. Tell them that I am going to my\nFather.\"\n\nAnd Mary went and told the disciples,\n\n\"I have seen the Lord!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAfterward, no one could ever remember clearly all that happened on\nthat day. No one knew what to make of it all. No one knew whether to\nbelieve that Jesus was really alive.\n\nLate that afternoon, two disciples were walking along the road from\nJerusalem to the village of Emmaus. They talked of what had happened\non Friday, and now on Sunday. As they were talking, a stranger joined\nthem. The stranger said,\n\n\"What is it that you are talking about?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe disciples stopped. They were almost too sad to speak any more,\nbut one of them answered,\n\n\"Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know the things\nthat have been happening there these last few days?\"\n\n\"What things?\" the stranger asked.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe disciples replied:\n\n\"Why, all about Jesus of Nazareth. He was a great prophet and teacher.\nThe chief priests and the rulers had him crucified. We had hoped that\nhe was the Messiah, who was going to save the Jewish people. But now\nit is two days since he was put to death, and nothing has\nhappened--though there were some women who went to the tomb and came\naway saying that he was risen from the dead.\"\n\nThe stranger said:\n\n\"O you foolish men--so slow to believe what it says in the Prophets!\nDon't you see that the Messiah had to suffer this way in order to be\nKing?\"\n\nThen he explained everything in the Scriptures about the Messiah. He\nspoke to them of how the Prophet Isaiah had said long ago:\n\n     \"He was despised and cast out by men; a man of sorrows and\n     full of grief; and no one would look at him. He was hurt,\n     because we were so sinful. He suffered for our sakes. He was\n     killed like a lamb, and he did not try to defend himself.\"\n\nThe stranger explained that Isaiah was talking about the Messiah. The\nMessiah was to be humble, and sacrifice himself, like one of the lambs\nat the Passover feast. Isaiah meant that the only one who could help\nothers was the one who was willing to suffer for others. The Messiah\nnever wanted to be a king like other kings. He did not want to lord it\nover others. He wanted to love them, and to give his life for them.\n\n\"And so,\" the stranger went on, \"you ought not to be sad, thinking\nthat Jesus is not the Messiah after all. Jesus has lived and died as\nthe Scriptures said the Messiah would. His love and his sufferings\nprove that he really is the Messiah. And if his believers love one\nanother, as he has loved them, and sacrifice themselves as he has\ndone, they will have peace and joy.\"\n\nAs the three walked on, the stranger talked. When they reached Emmaus,\nthey came to the home of one of the disciples. They said to the\nstranger:\n\n\"Come in and stay with us. It is evening. The day is nearly over.\"\n\nThey went into the house. Someone lighted the lamps, and food was\nplaced before them.\n\nThe stranger took some bread, and said a prayer of thanks, and broke\nthe bread.\n\nThe disciples had seen something like that before--breaking bread.\nThey looked up quickly.\n\nWhy! This man was not a stranger at all. It was Jesus. They knew him\nas they looked into his face. And as they looked, he vanished out of\ntheir sight, and they were alone again.\n\nThey said to each other,\n\n\"Didn't you have a strange feeling, as he talked to us along the road\nand explained the Scriptures?\"\n\nAlthough it was now night, they returned to Jerusalem at once. They\nfound the other disciples and told their story.\n\n\"The Lord is indeed alive!\" they said. \"We knew him the moment he\nbroke the bread!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile they were speaking, Jesus was suddenly among them once again.\nJesus said,\n\n\"Peace be with you.\"\n\nThey were frightened then, but Jesus spoke again.\n\n\"Do not be afraid,\" he said. \"I am not a spirit.\"\n\nThey still could hardly believe it. It seemed too good to be true. And\nwhile they stood there, not daring to believe that Jesus was alive, he\nsaid,\n\n\"Have you anything here to eat?\"\n\nThey set a piece of broiled fish before him, and Jesus sat down to\nsupper.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOne of the disciples was not there when Jesus appeared to the others.\nHis name was Thomas. And no matter what the others said, Thomas could\nnot believe that Jesus was alive again.\n\n\"Unless,\" he said, \"I see in his hands the marks that the nails made\nwhen they crucified him, and unless I put my finger into those marks,\nI will not believe.\"\n\nEight days later the disciples were all together. This time Thomas was\nwith the others. The doors were shut.\n\nSuddenly Jesus appeared again, and said as he had said before,\n\n\"Peace be with you.\"\n\nThen Jesus turned to Thomas, and said,\n\n\"Put your finger into the nail holes in my hand, and doubt no more,\nbut believe in me!\"\n\nThomas fell down on his knees. He cried out, \"My Lord and my God!\"\n\nJesus said to him:\n\n\"You believe in me because you have seen me with your own eyes. It is\nstill better when people believe even though they have not seen me.\"\n\nAfter this the disciples saw Jesus many times and at many places. But\na day came at last after which they did not see him on earth again.\n\nOn this day Jesus appeared to them outside Jerusalem, and said:\n\n\"All power has been given to me in heaven and earth. I am Lord and\nKing of all men. Go and tell people of every nation about me, so that\nthey will believe in me. Baptize everybody in my name. Teach them\neverything that I have taught you. You will not be alone, for although\nyou do not see me, I shall be with you always.\"\n\nThen Jesus said to them: \"Wait a little while. Wait in Jerusalem, and\nsomeday soon you will know that the time has come to go out and\npreach. God will give you the power to make other people believe in me\nas their Saviour. You shall tell about me in Jerusalem, and in the\ncountry all around; in Samaria, and in the farthest parts of the\nearth.\"\n\nHe lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And as he blessed them, a\ncloud covered him, and they did not see him any more.\n\nJesus had gone home to his Father.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey stared up into the sky, where he seemed to have gone. As they\nlooked, they heard voices saying:\n\n\"You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into the sky? The\nLord Jesus will come again!\"\n\nThen they remembered that they had work to do before they again would\nsee Jesus. They had to go and preach, as Jesus had told them. They had\nto tell about him to all people everywhere.\n\nThey walked back into Jerusalem. They had to wait; but now they were\nnot waiting for Christ the Saviour to come. They were waiting only for\nthe sign that would tell them it was time to go out and preach that\nChrist had already come.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Passover was finished for another year, and the farmers of\nPalestine had work to do. The warm spring weather spread over the\nland, and the wheat was growing in the fields and on the hillsides.\nFarmers reaped their crops, and gathered in the grain, and got ready\nfor another feast at Jerusalem. For when the wheat was gathered, it\nwas time to go and give thanks to God for the harvest, at the Feast of\nPentecost.\n\nThe disciples waited while the weeks of spring went by. Every day they\nwent to the Temple and praised God for his goodness, because they knew\nthat Christ had come.\n\nSeven weeks passed by. The hot sun ripened the crops, and the farmers\ncut their grain. The Day of Pentecost came around, and the streets of\nJerusalem were thronged again. There were men there from near and far,\nfrom every country of which anyone had ever heard. The harvest was\nover, and the feast was on!\n\nThat morning the disciples were all together when they heard the\nsound. It was a sound like the rushing wind, bringing messages from\nGod. They saw a vision too, and what they saw seemed like tongues of\nfire, coming down to each one of them so that all could speak what\nGod wanted them to say.\n\nThe disciples went out and began to speak. Everyone who heard them\nunderstood what they were saying.\n\nExcitement went through the city.\n\n\"This is strange!\" the people said. \"We have come from near and far.\nWe speak many different languages. Yet when these men tell us about\nthe wonderful things that God has done, we understand what they are\ntelling us. What is it that has happened?\"\n\nPeter stood up beside the other disciples, and boldly raised his\nvoice:\n\n\"Listen to me, everyone who is here at Jerusalem! You have read in the\nScriptures how God said that he would send his Holy Spirit to his\npeople. That is what has happened! The time has come to preach to you!\nTherefore, listen to my words.\n\n\"God sent Jesus of Nazareth to you, and he did many wonderful things\namong you, which you saw for yourselves. God let you take him and put\nhim to death with your own wicked hands. But it was not possible for\nhim to be held forever by death. God has raised him up from the dead,\nand we have seen it! He is King; and he has given us the power to tell\nyou about him, and you can hear what we are telling you. Let everybody\nknow this for a fact: this very Jesus whom you crucified is Lord and\nChrist!\"\n\nAnd when the people heard these words, they were greatly troubled.\n\n\"What shall we do?\" they cried.\n\nPeter answered:\n\n\"Repent! Give up your sins, and begin a new life! Believe in Jesus\nChrist, and let us baptize you in his name. Then your sins will be\nforgiven, and he will send his Holy Spirit to change you!\"\n\nMany were glad when they heard this, and they were baptized in Jesus'\nname. That very day about three thousand people became believers and\nfollowers of Christ. They joined with those who had been disciples\nbefore, praying together, and sharing with each other everything they\nhad. Jesus had a Church, which believed that he was Christ the\nSaviour.\n\nEvery day many more were added to the Church. Every day the Church of\nJesus Christ grew stronger.\n\nIt grew like the grainfields in the spring.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nSCRIPTURE REFERENCES\n\n\nPage\n\nCHAPTER 2\n17             Luke 2:1-20\n22             Matt. 2:1-12\n26             Luke 2:21-35\n28             Matt. 2:13-23\n\nCHAPTER 3\n34             Ex. 12:1-42\n35             Ps. 118:29\n35             Deut. 16:1-7\n36             Luke 2:41, 42\n39             Ps. 122:1, 2, 6\n43             Luke 18:10, 11\n44             Luke 2:41-52\n\nCHAPTER 4\n47             Matt. 3:1-9\n49             John 1:19-27\n51             Matt. 3:13-15\n52             John 1:29-34\n53             Matt. 4:1-11\n56             Matt. 4:17\n57             John 1:35-41\n57             Matt. 4:18-22\n59             Mark 2:13-17\n59             Matt. 9:9-13\n60             Mark 2:15-19\n\nCHAPTER 5\n62             Matt. 5:43-48\n63             Matt. 6:15\n63             Matt. 5:41\n64             Luke 6:20-23\n65             Matt. 5:11, 12\n65             Luke 16:19-21\n66             Luke 6:24-26\n66             Matt. 6:24-34\n68             Matt. 6:1-6\n69             Matt. 7:21-23\n69             Matt. 7:24-29\n72             Mark 1:21-28\n73             Mark 1:29-34\n74             Mark 1:35-39\n\nCHAPTER 6\n77             Luke 4:16-30\n81             Matt. 12:46-50\n81             Mark 1:40-45\n83             John 9:1-41\n83             Mark 2:1-12\n86             Mark 2:23-28\n87             Matt. 12:9-14\n87             Luke 6:6-12\n\nCHAPTER 7\n91             Luke 7:36-50\n95             Luke 15:1-10\n95             Luke 15:11-32\n98             Matt. 8:5-13\n98             Luke 7:2-10\n100            Matt. 14:3, 4\n100            Matt. 11:1-6\n102            Mark 6:21-32\n104            Luke 13:31, 32\n104            Luke 8:4-15\n\nCHAPTER 8\n107            Mark 4:35-41\n110            Mark 5:1-20\n113            Mark 5:21-40\n116            John 5:25\n117            Mark 5:41-43\n\nCHAPTER 9\n118            Matt. 10:1-15\n119            Luke 9:10-17\n119            John 6:1-13\n123            John 6:15-51\n125            Matt. 16:13-19\n127            Matt. 16:20-25\n127            Mark 9:2-9\n\nCHAPTER 10\n129            Luke 9:57-62\n130            John 6:66-71\n131            Luke 11:1-4\n131            Matt. 6:9-13\n131            Luke 11:5-10\n132            Luke 10:25-37\n134            Luke 12:13-21\n135            Matt. 19:16-22\n135            Luke 18:18-23\n137            Luke 18:24-30\n137            Luke 19:1-10\n\nCHAPTER 11\n141            Ps. 122:1, 6\n141            Ps. 106:1b\n142            Matt. 26:6-13\n142            John 12:1-8\n143            Luke 9:49, 50\n144            Mark 9:33-35\n144            Luke 22: 24-27\n144            Matt. 19:13-15\n145            Matt. 18:21, 22\n145            Luke 17:5, 6\n147            Mark 11:1-3\n147            Zech. 9:9\n\nCHAPTER 12\n148            Mark 11:4-11\n148            Matt. 21:6-11\n152            Mark 11:15-17\n152            John 2:15\n153            Mark 11:27-33\n154            Mark 12:13-17\n155            Mark 12:38-40\n155            Matt. 23:27-33\n155            Mark 12:41-44\n156            Matt. 25:31-46\n157            Matt. 26:3-5\n159            Matt. 26:14-16\n\nCHAPTER 13\n160            Mark 14:12-15\n160            John 13:1\n160            Mark 14:17-21\n161            Luke 22:15-20\n161            Mark 14:22-26\n161            I Cor. 11:23-25\n162            Mark 14:27-31\n162            Matt. 26:36-46\n164            Matt. 26:47-56\n\nCHAPTER 14\n165            Matt. 26:57-68\n166            Matt. 26:69-75\n166            Luke 22:56-62\n167            Matt. 27:1-5\n168            Mark 15:1-13\n168            Matt. 27:11-18, 20-22\n170            John 19:4-16\n171            Mark 15:15-21\n172            Matt. 27:33-43\n172            Luke 23:33-38\n173            Luke 23:39-43\n173            John 19:26, 27\n173            Matt. 27:45-54\n173            Luke 23:44-49\n173            John 19:28-30\n174            Mark 15:42-47\n\nCHAPTER 15\n175            Mark 16:1-7\n175            Matt. 28:1-7\n176            John 20:1-10\n176            John 20:11-18\n177            Luke 24:13-32\n181            Luke 24:33-43\n184            John 20:24-29\n185            Matt. 28:16-20\n185            Luke 24:49-51\n185            Acts 1:8, 9\n187            Acts 1:10-12\n188            Acts 2:1-47\n\n       *       *       *       *       *","title":"The King Nobody Wanted","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":33587}