Jesus meant to say that Martha need not prepare a dinner with many dishes, for he needed only a simple meal; and that Mary had chosen well instead of food the words that he was speaking, which were really a feast to her soul.
At one time Jesus was praying in a certain place. It may have been on the Mount of Olives, between Bethany and Jerusalem, for Jesus went there often to pray. When his prayer was over, the disciples came to him and said:
"Master, John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray. Will you not also give us a prayer that we may use?"
Jesus said to them, "I will give you this prayer. When you pray, say, "Our Father, who art in heaven; Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and forever. Amen.""
Jesus also gave to his disciples a parable or story about earnestness in prayer. He said:
"Suppose that one of you who has a friend should go to his house in the middle of the night, and should knock at his door loud enough to wake him from his sleep, and should say to him, "Friend, please do get up and let me have three loaves of bread! A friend of mine has suddenly come to my house and I have nothing for him to eat;" and suppose the other should answer him from inside the door, "Don"t bother me; the door is locked and I am in bed with my children. I can"t get up and give you anything!" I tell you, though he will not get up and give you anything merely because you are a friend of his, if you keep on knocking long enough, he will at last rise and give you whatever you want, because you persevere in seeking after it.
"So, I say to you: ask, and the gift shall be yours; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For every one who asks, receives; he that seeks, finds; and to him that knocks, the door shall be opened.
"Is there a father among you, who if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? If he is asked for a fish, will he give his son a snake?
Or, if asked for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you then, even not as good as you should be, are willing to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give this Holy Spirit to his children that ask him?"
[Ill.u.s.tration: This ma.s.sive ancient wall is known as the Wailing Place.
Here the Jews of Jerusalem come to mourn over the splendor of Israel that is no more]
Jesus at the Feast of Tents
CHAPTER 54
AT THE TIME when Jesus came to Jerusalem, the Feast of Tents was half over. Many had been looking for him, for all through the land he was talked about. At the Feast the people were saying, "Where is he? Has he come up to the Feast?"
Some said, "He is a good man." Others said, "No, he cannot be a good man, for he is leading the people away from the law of Moses." But no one spoke freely about him, for fear of the rulers and the people of Jerusalem whose minds had been set against Jesus by the priests and the scribes or teachers of the law.
From his home in Bethany at Martha"s house, Jesus came quietly into the Temple and began teaching the people who gathered there during the Feast, going out at evening to Bethany. All who heard him wondered at his words, and every day the crowds around him grew. People said to each other, "How did this man get all his knowledge? He has never studied in the college of the scribes."
"My teaching," said Jesus in answer, "is not my own; but it comes from Him who sent me. Any one who chooses to do G.o.d"s will, will know whether I speak in G.o.d"s name, or whether I am talking in my own name. Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you honestly tries to keep the law.
If you did try to keep the law, you would not try to kill me!"
The crowd replied to Jesus, "You are crazy! Who is trying to kill you?"
But Jesus knew that he was speaking the truth, for he knew what was in the minds of the rulers and of many in Jerusalem. He said to the crowd:
"I will be with you only a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me, and where I am going, you cannot come."
"Where is this man going," said the Jews, "that we cannot find him? Is he going among our people in foreign lands, to teach the foreigners?
What does he mean by words like these?"
Jesus meant that after they should kill him and he should rise from the tomb and live again, he was going back to his home in heaven, a place to which they could never come.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink"]
The last and greatest day of the Feast of Tents came. On that day they brought water into the Temple and poured it out, amid great rejoicing; calling to mind how G.o.d had given water from the rock to the Israelites in the desert.
In the midst of the pouring out of the water, Jesus cried with a very loud voice, so that all heard him:
"If any one is thirsty," he said, "let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water!"
Some of the people, when they heard this, said, "This must be really the Prophet who is to come!"
Others said, "This is the Christ, the King of Israel!"
But there were those who said, "No, this cannot be Christ the King, for this man comes from Galilee, and the Bible says that Christ is to come from the line of King David and from David"s town of Bethlehem."
These people knew that Jesus came to them from Galilee, but they did not know that he had been born in Bethlehem and belonged to the royal line of David. They were divided over Jesus: some thought that he was their promised king, while others wanted to seize him as a teacher of falsehood. The rulers sent out officers to make him their prisoner, but somehow no man dared to lay hands upon him.
When the officers came back to the chief priests and leading men, they were asked, "Why did you not bring this man with you?"
The officers answered, "No man ever spoke as this man speaks!"
"What! has this man led you astray, too?" said the rulers. "Have any of the leading men, or the Pharisees, believed in him? As for this crowd who know nothing of the law, they are of no account!"
Nicodemus, that one of the rulers who a year before had come by night to talk with Jesus, said to them:
"Surely our law does not allow any man to be treated as guilty before hearing what he has to say and finding out what he has done!"
"Are you too from Galilee, like all the followers of this man?" they answered him. "Search, and you will find that no prophet ever comes from Galilee."
In the evening all the people went to their homes, and Jesus went over the Mount of Olives to his friends at Bethany.
[Ill.u.s.tration: View of Bethany]
Jesus and the Sinful Woman
CHAPTER 55
AFTER THE Feast of Tents Jesus stayed near Jerusalem, making his home in Bethany, for nearly two months, until another feast came, the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple. About two hundred years before that time, the Temple had been held by enemies, who had stopped the services, had set up images in the building and had done many things to make it vile.
At last the enemies were driven away; and then the Jews made the Temple clean again, destroyed the images and began once more the regular service. After this, every year they kept the day of the reopening of the Temple as "The Feast of the Dedication." At this feast the Temple was lighted up every night very brightly, and on that account the feast was also called "The Feast of Lights."
During the days of his stay, Jesus went often to the Temple and sat down in a room called "The Court of the Women," because on one side of it was a gallery where the women worshipped, looking down on the services at the altar. It was also called "The Treasury" on account of the gift-boxes on its walls, where people dropped in their money for the poor and for the support of the Temple. In this court, which was very large, and open to the sky, without a roof, the Jewish teachers held their cla.s.ses for the study of the law; and many came to Jesus to listen to his words.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Jesus replied to the accusers of the sinful woman: "Let the one among you who has never done wrong throw the first stone at her."]
One morning the teaching of Jesus was interrupted by a noise in the court. Some of the scribes and Pharisees, who were enemies of Jesus, planned to get him into trouble with the Roman rulers. They came, dragging in a poor woman who had done a wicked deed; and bringing her forward directly in front of Jesus.
"Teacher," they said, "this woman was caught in a wicked act. Now, Moses in the law commands that any person committing that crime shall be stoned to death; but what do you say should be done with her?"