""You go to work in my vineyard, and whatever is fair, I will pay you."
"He went out again at noon; he found men wanting work and sent them also into his vineyard, saying to them, "Whatever are fair wages, I will pay you." Again at three o"clock, he found other men and sent them, too, making them the same promise. He went into the market place at five o"clock, almost at the end of the day, and found some men standing there. "Why do you stand here doing nothing?" he said to these men. They answered him:
""We would be glad to work; but n.o.body is ready to hire us."
""You go into my vineyard, too," he said, "and I will pay you whatever is right."
"When the evening came, the master of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Now call the workers together and pay them their wages. Begin with those who came to work last, then pay those who went into the vineyard at three o"clock, and so on, ending with those who went to work earliest."
"So those came up first who had been hired last, and had worked only one hour; and to each of them was paid fifteen cents, the wages of a full day"s work. When the first came, they supposed that they would be paid more, because they had worked longer; but each was paid his fifteen cents, as had been agreed upon. These men complained to the master of the vineyard.
""Those men who came in last, when the day was almost ended," they said, "have been made equal to us, who have borne the hard work and the heat of the day. That is not fair!"
""My friend," said the master to one of these men, "I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me to work for fifteen cents a day? Take up your wages and go. I choose to give to this last man the same as to you.
Haven"t I the right do so as I please with what belongs to me? Are you jealous because I am generous?"
"So," said Jesus, "there are last who will be first; and there are first who will be last."
This parable shows how G.o.d gives his rewards differently from men. Men pay only for work that is done; but G.o.d gives his pay to those who are _willing_ to work for him, whether they are able to work or not; for while men look at the deed, G.o.d looks at the heart.
Every day Jesus was drawing nearer to Jerusalem, and his twelve disciples with all the mult.i.tude of those who were following him, fully expected that in Jerusalem Jesus would reign as the King of Israel. He had told them before, and more than once, that he was going up to Jerusalem to die there; but their minds were so fixed upon thrones and kingdoms and worldly power that they could not understand his words.
Now Jesus called together his twelve disciples, apart from the crowd.
"Listen!" he said, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and there everything that is written in the books of the prophets about the Son of Man shall come to pa.s.s. He will be given up to his enemies, the chief priests and the scribes, the teachers of the law; and they shall sentence him to be put to death, and shall hand him over to the Romans to be mocked and beaten and nailed to a cross to die; and on the third day after, he will rise from the dead."
But the disciples did not understand what these words meant. They were just as certain as they had been before, that he was going up to Jerusalem to take the throne and rule, and they even talked among themselves about the chief offices in his kingdom and who should have them.
When they were drawing near to Jerusalem, but still in the land of Perea, a woman came to Jesus with her two sons. This woman was named Salome; and she was the wife of Zebedee, and the mother of James and John, two of the leading disciples of Jesus. She bowed low even to the ground before Jesus, and begged him to grant her a favor.
"What is it that you want?" said Jesus to her.
"I want you to promise me," said Salome, "that in your kingdom these two sons of mine shall sit, one on your right hand and the other on your left."
"You do not know what you are asking," answered Jesus. "Can you drink of the cup that I am to drink? Can you receive the same baptism that is coming to me?"
"Yes," the two men said, "we can!"
"You shall indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with my baptism," said Jesus. "But it is not mine to say who shall sit on my right hand and on my left. Those places shall be given to those whom my Father has chosen for them."
By his cup and his baptism, Jesus meant his sufferings and his death; but this James and John did not know. When the other ten disciples heard of this they were very angry with the two brothers for trying to get ahead of them. But Jesus called them to him and said:
"You know that in the nations of this world their rulers lord it over them, and their great men make the people serve them. But it must not be so with you. Whoever among you has the will to be great, let him be a servant to the others; and whoever would be first, let him be even as a slave. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give up his life that he may save many."
[Ill.u.s.tration: The river Jordan]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Bartimeus, hearing that Jesus had sent for him, sprang up and flung his coat to the ground, and was led to Jesus.]
The Blind Man at the Gate
CHAPTER 70
JESUS HAD now ended his work of preaching in the land of Perea, on the east of the Jordan. With his disciples and a great throng of people who were going up to the feast of the Pa.s.sover at Jerusalem, he came to the river at another Bethabara, or "the place of the crossing," because like the Bethabara near the Sea of Galilee, the river though very wide was very shallow, so that people could wade across it. This Bethabara was opposite the city of Jericho, which had been built up and made beautiful by King Herod the Great, about forty years before.
More than a thousand years before Jesus stood beside the river, the Israelites had walked across it to enter the land; when G.o.d held back the water. Jesus could have walked on the water if he had chosen to do it; but he never caused a miracle for himself, though often he did for others. At that time some of the people going up to Jerusalem waded across the river, holding their clothes on their heads, while others crossed in a ferry-boat. We are not told in which way Jesus went across the river.
Six miles from the river Jordan, on the west, stood Jericho, toward which Jesus came with a great crowd of people around him. As he drew near Jericho, a blind man was seated beside the gate, begging for the small coins of those who pa.s.sed by. This blind man"s name was Bartimeus, a word which means "the son of Timeus." Hearing the tramping and the voices of a crowd, he asked why so many people were coming. They said to him:
"Jesus the Nazarene is pa.s.sing by."
Bartimeus had heard of Jesus and his good works, curing many that were blind and lame and lepers. He had often wished that Jesus might pa.s.s his way and cure him. Now, when he heard that Jesus was really coming, he shouted out at the top of his voice:
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me! Jesus, son of David, have pity on me!"
The people who were in front told him to be quiet; but he felt that this was the chance of his life, and he kept on calling, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me!"
Jesus stopped, and said to those near, "Go, and bring this man to me."
Then they said to Bartimeus, "Be of good cheer; get up and go to Jesus, for he is calling you!"
Bartimeus was in such a hurry to get to Jesus that he sprang up, flung aside his cloak, and left it on the ground, while they led him to the Lord. When he came near, Jesus said to him:
"What would you have me do for you?"
"Lord," he answered, "let me have my sight again!"
"Have your sight," said Jesus, "your faith has made you well."
And at once his sight came back to him; and he joined the crowd following Jesus, giving praise to G.o.d with a loud voice. And all those who saw this wonderful work added their praises to G.o.d.
In the Rich Man"s Home at Jericho
CHAPTER 71
BUT BLIND Bartimeus was not the only man in Jericho who was eager to meet Jesus. In that city was living a very rich man named Zaccheus, who was the head of all the tax collectors in that part of the country. He had heard that Jesus was unlike other Jews, in being friendly toward the tax gatherers, and he greatly desired to see him. But Zaccheus was a small man, and in the crowd he could have no chance to look at Jesus, so he ran on ahead and climbed up into a mulberry tree that stood beside the road, and from a place among its branches he could look down upon the pa.s.sing mult.i.tude.
When Jesus came opposite to the tree, he stopped, looked up and saw Zaccheus, and said to him:
"Zaccheus, make haste and come down; for I must stop at your house today!"
He was surprised and glad that the great Teacher should choose his house, out of all the homes in Jericho, to stay in. He came down and walked with Jesus to his house. But all the people began to find fault, saying: