"O Master! if only you had been here, my brother would not have died!"
When Jesus saw her wailing, and saw the friends with her wailing, he too was troubled and greatly distressed.
"Where have you laid him," he asked.
"Come and see, Master," they answered.
Jesus now began to weep, in feeling for the two sisters.
"How he must have loved him!" said the Jews to each other. But some of them said:
"Could not this man, who gave sight to a blind man, have kept this man from dying?"
Again groaning, but quietly, Jesus came to the tomb. Like many of the graves in that land, it was a cave in the rocky hillside, and a large stone covered its mouth.
"Move away the stone," commanded Jesus.
"Master," said Martha, "remember that he has been dead four days, and by this time there may be a strong smell from the body."
"Did I not tell you," said Jesus, "that if you will only believe in me you will see the glory of G.o.d?"
They moved the stone away from the door of the cave, and Jesus, lifting his eyes upward, said:
"Father, I thank thee for listening to my prayer. I knew that thou always hearest me; but I spoke on account of those around me, that they might believe that thou hast sent me."
Then with a loud voice, Jesus called:
"Lazarus! Come out!"
Out from the tomb came the man who had been dead. He could scarcely walk, for his hands and feet were wrapped with bandages; his face, too, had been covered with a cloth tied over it.
"Set him free," said Jesus, "and let him go!"
They took away the cloth from his face, and unwrapped the bandages from his body; and Lazarus stood up living and well, in the presence of all the people! How happy were Martha and Mary, as they placed their arms around him, and felt his flesh, warm with the life-blood once more flowing through his veins!
As the Jews who had come to visit Martha and Mary saw this wonderful work, calling back to life a man who had been in his tomb four days, many of them believed in Jesus. These told the story to others, and the number of believers grew larger and larger.
Some of those who had seen or had heard of the raising of Lazarus to life went to Jerusalem and told the Pharisees, the enemies of Jesus, what had taken place. These men told the chief priests, and the priests and Pharisees called together the high council to talk of these things and to decide what should be done with Jesus.
This high council was a board or company of leading men, which, next to the Roman governor, ruled over the Jews. It was made up of seventy-two men, some of them priests and some of them scribes or teachers of the law. They met in a room set apart for their use in the Temple; and they formed the highest court in the land to deal with any who were accused of having broken the laws.
When this council came together and heard of what Jesus had done and of the people who, in greater number than ever, were beginning to believe in Jesus, they said to each other, "What shall we do, now that this Jesus has done another work, more wonderful even than any of his works in the past? If we leave him alone, all the people will believe in him, and will seek to make him their King. Then the Romans will come, and will destroy our Temple, and will no longer let us live as a nation."
But one of these men in the council was the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas. He said to them:
"You are entirely mistaken. You do not understand that whether Jesus is or is not a prophet coming from G.o.d, it is better that one man should die, instead of having all the people destroyed. Let us all agree that Jesus shall be killed, and that the people of Israel shall be saved from death."
These words of Caiaphas the high priest meant more than he knew when he spoke them. He was himself, being the high priest, speaking a prophecy, that Jesus was to die for the people; for that was what Jesus was soon to do. He was to die for the sins of the people; not only for the Jewish people but for all the people of the world. By his death, Jesus was to bring together into one body all the children of G.o.d scattered throughout all the lands.
At that meeting of the council, the rulers decided that Jesus must be killed. Not all of them agreed in this, for Nicodemus, who long before had come at night to talk with Jesus, and a rich member of the council, named Joseph--of whom we shall hear later--and a few others, were friendly to Jesus. But his enemies were so many and so fierce that these few friends of Jesus did not venture to speak for him. So the vote was taken that Jesus was to be put to death.
Jesus, knowing all things, knew their plans; and he knew that when the time came he should die. But that time had not yet come, for he had promised to preach his gospel in Perea, across the Jordan. He went, therefore, to a town on the edge of the wilderness, called Ephraim, and there for a few weeks he stayed with his disciples.
The great Feast of the Pa.s.sover was drawing near, and many people were coming up to Jerusalem to prepare themselves for the Feast. They were looking out for Jesus, and said to each other as they walked in the courts of the Temple:
"What do you think? Do you think that Jesus will come to the Feast?"
The chief priests and the leading Pharisees had given orders that if any one found out where Jesus was, they were to be told, so that they might send men to arrest him.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Via Dolorosa, or Sorrowful Way, over which, it is said, Christ walked carrying his cross]
Jesus Preaching in Perea
CHAPTER 60
JESUS DID not stay long in the village of Ephraim. He went down the mountains to the river Jordan, crossed it, and began preaching in the land of Perea, going to the places where his seventy messengers had given the news of his coming.
Everywhere the people thronged in great crowds to see him and to hear him. The rich and the poor met in the crowd, the rulers and the common people, the Pharisees who were his enemies, and the publicans or tax-collectors who had been leading lives full of sin. There was a great desire among the people to listen to the Teacher and Prophet from Galilee, of whom they had heard so much, and whom they had not seen before. Many went to see him because they believed that he was the long-looked-for Christ, who was at last on his way to Jerusalem to sit on his throne and rule all the lands. So great were the crowds to see and hear Jesus that it is said that the thousands trod on each other around him.
While he was speaking in one place to a great mult.i.tude of people, a voice was heard from the throng.
"Teacher," cried out a man, "tell my brother to divide with me the property which belongs to our family."
This man supposed that Jesus, being the King of Israel, would rule in all matters of difference between the people. But Jesus answered him:
"Man, who made me a judge or a settler of disputes over your affairs?"
Then he added, "Take care to avoid the love of money; for no matter how rich one may be, his true life does not depend on what he owns."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Home of a rich man in Palestine]
And he gave to them the parable or story of "The Poor Rich Man." He said:
"There was once a rich man whose farm gave him very large crops. He began to ask himself, "What am I to do? I have no room to store the grain and fruits that have grown on my land. This is what I will do. I will pull down my old barns and build larger ones in place of them.
There I shall store all the fruits from my orchards and the grain from my fields. And then I will say to myself, "Now you have plenty of good things stored up to last for many years; take your ease, eat, drink and have a good time."" But G.o.d said to him "Fool! this very night your life is taken away; and who will have all that you have stored up?" So is it with everyone who lays up money for himself, instead of gaining the riches of G.o.d."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Look at the lilies, and see how they grow"]
And Jesus said again to his disciples some of the things that he had already taught them in his great "Sermon on the Mount"; for he often repeated the same teachings, over and over, until the disciples knew them by heart, so that after he should be taken from them, they in turn could tell them to others. At this time he said:
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life here on the earth, what you can get to eat, nor what you can get to wear. Life is something more than food and the body is more than its clothes. Look at the crows flying through the air! They neither sow nor reap; they have no storehouse nor barns; and yet G.o.d gives them food. How much more are you worth to G.o.d than are the birds? And however anxious you may be, can you add one minute to your life? And if you cannot do even this, why be anxious about other matters?
"Look at the lilies, and see how they grow. They neither spin nor weave; and yet, I tell you, even King Solomon in all his splendor was not dressed like one of these. Now, if G.o.d so beautifully clothes the gra.s.s in the field, which blooms today, and tomorrow will be thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O men, who trust G.o.d so little?
"So do not worry about food and drink and clothes; these are the things for which the nations of the world who know not G.o.d are seeking after, and you should not wish to be like them. Besides, your Father in heaven knows that you have need of these common things. Only seek the kingdom of G.o.d, and your heavenly Father will see to it that you have these things. Do not be afraid, my little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you a place in his kingdom."