Jesus taught in the Temple again the next day, and all the people came to listen.
It was here, perhaps, that the wicked Scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a poor woman who had sinned. They told Him that according to the law she ought to be stoned, and asked what He would say about it. He did not answer, but seemed to be writing on the ground before Him as though He did not hear them. At last, because they would have an answer He looked at them saying,
"He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone," and He wrote again on the ground. No one answered Jesus, but one by one they went away too much ashamed to speak. "Hath no man condemned thee?" asked Jesus of the woman standing sorrowful and alone.
"No man, Lord," she said.
"Neither do I condemn thee," He said, "go and sin no more."
Then Jesus sitting in the Treasury of the Temple said,
"I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life."
Many other things He said that His enemies tried to turn against Him, and the healing on the Sabbath day of a man who had been born blind stirred the anger of the Jews against Him, so that they sought by much questioning to accuse Jesus of sin, not knowing that they were themselves spiritually blind.
But He turned from them to call to the people again as He did on the last day of the Feast, for in His love and pity He longed to bring the lost children of Israel to Himself that He might bless them, as a shepherd brings back the sheep that stray from the fold.
"I am the Good Shepherd; and I know my own, and my own know me," said Jesus, "even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock, one Shepherd."
Other beautiful and blessed words He said about the Shepherd and His flock which are written in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, but the learned Jews would not listen to Him, and thrice tried to kill Him by stoning Him, but they could not harm Him, for His time had not come.
Then he went away beyond Jordan, where John first baptized, and many believed on Him there.
CHAPTER x.x.x.
THE LESSON STORIES OF JESUS.
When Jesus was at prayer His disciples stood reverently apart from Him, and one day a disciple came near when he had ceased and said,
"Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."
Then the Lord taught them the beautiful prayer that is now said daily all around the world, and known to every one of us, beginning, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name."
And He told them how pleased G.o.d is to have His children ask Him for what they need, or come to Him in trouble.
"Ask, and it shall be given you," He said; "seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you."
"If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?"
"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give good gifts to them that ask Him?"
It was while the Lord was teaching in the country called Peraea, east of Jordan, that He told many things that His disciples remembered and wrote in a book afterward, when the Holy Spirit had come to "bring all things to their remembrance," as He had promised.
He had been teaching three years, and was thirty-three years of age.
Some of the people who lived, at Bethabara, by Jordan, were present when He was baptized by John, and they were glad to have him stay among them and teach, for they were a kindly people, and though not learned like the men who were often to be found in the Temple courts and in the Synagogues, they were the common people who, hearing the word and loving it, were wiser than the Pharisees.
The Lord told many stories that these people would remember, and afterward understand by the teaching of His Spirit which He said would be given to them. You will read all of them in the Gospels, but here we cannot tell them all.
The story of "The Fig-tree in the Vineyard," "The Great Supper," and "The Foolish Rich Man" were stories of warning to those who were turning away from the things of heaven to the things of the world, and they were meant for all who should read them in the ages of the world.
So were the three stories--they are called "parables" in the Gospels--of the lost things; "The lost sheep," "The lost piece of money," and "The lost son." They were given to us to show the great love of the Heavenly Father for His children, and His constant care in seeking for them when they are wandering away from Him. These stories are the voice of the Father always and everywhere calling His children home, and many a poor soul has turned homeward with tears of repentance after reading them.
One of these stories of lost things will be told here, but it is far more beautiful in the language of the Scriptures.
There was once a rich man who had two sons, and the younger one came to him and said,
"Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me."
And so the father divided his property, and gave the younger brother his share. In a few days he had gathered it all together and settled his affairs so that he could go away. He went into a distant country, and there he spent all that he had among bad people who seemed to be his friends, but were really his worst enemies.
When all that he had was spent there came a time of great trouble.
There was very little food in the land, for there was a famine, and he was obliged to go to work for the little he could get. It was not easy to find work, for the only thing he could do was to hire himself to a man who kept pigs. His work was to stay in the fields and feed them with husks, the hard pods of the carob tree. Sometimes he was so hungry that he would have been glad to eat even these, but "no man gave unto him." Then the young man "came to himself."
"How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare,"
he said, "and I perish with hunger!"
"I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.""
The father must have been watching for his lost boy, for while he was yet a great way off he saw him, and ran to meet him. He put his arms around him and kissed him without once speaking of his sins, and he called his servants to bring the best robe and put it on him, and a ring for his hand, and shoes for his feet, and then to kill the fatted calf to make a feast for all,
"For," he said "this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."
The elder son had been away in the field but when he came home heard music and dancing, and called to a servant to ask what these things meant. When he had heard he was very angry, and would not go in. His father came out to beg him to come in and greet his brother, but he said,
"Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends." But the father said,
"Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, and was lost and is found."
[Ill.u.s.tration: The return of the prodigal]
There are other stories told by Jesus while in Peraea, which you will find in the gospel by Luke, the beloved physician. One is about the "Unjust Steward," and another is the story of the "Unjust Judge."
Still another is called "Dives and Lazarus," or the "Rich man and the Beggar."
The parable of "The Pharisee and the Publican," describes two men who went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Pharisee and the publican]
The Pharisee prayed with _himself_, thus, "G.o.d, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, or even as this publican. I fast twice a week.
I give t.i.thes of all I possess."
And the publican, standing afar off, dared not even lift his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, "G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner!"
"This man," said Jesus, "went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."