The Pharisees still did not get the point. So Jesus tried again with another story. He said:
"A certain man had two sons. One day the younger son said, "Father, give me my share of the property which is coming to me," So the father gave each of the sons his share.
"Then the younger son packed up his belongings, and went away to a far country. There he spent all his money foolishly. After his money was gone, this young man had nothing left to live on. He went to work for a farmer, who sent him out to feed the pigs. He was so hungry that he would have been glad to eat the pigs" food, but no one gave him anything.
"Then one day he said to himself: "What a fool I am! Why am I staying here?" He thought of how even the servants at home had plenty to eat, while he was starving to death. He said: "I will go back to my father, and tell him that I have sinned against him and against G.o.d. I will tell him that I am not worthy to be his son, and ask him to give me work as one of his servants."
"So he went home. But before he reached the house, his father saw him coming, and ran out to welcome him. The young man started to say, "I have sinned, and I am not worthy to be your son." But his father called out to a servant: "Bring the best clothes in the house, and shoes for my boy"s feet. Then kill the fattest calf we have, and get a feast ready. My son is back, and we are going to celebrate!"
"Meanwhile, the older brother was out in the field. When he came home, he heard music and dancing in the house. He asked a servant why they were having a party. When he was told, he became very angry. He would not even go into the house. When his father came out to ask him to join the party, the older brother said: "All these years I have stayed at home and helped you! I did everything you told me to. In all that time you never once gave me a party. But when my brother comes back from spending your money--why, nothing is too good for him!"
"But the father answered him kindly. "Son," he said, "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. It is right that we should celebrate, and be happy. For it is as if your brother had been dead, and now he is alive again. He was lost, and now he is found.""
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The days went by. Some days were good, and some were bad. Once in a while Jesus would find somebody who seemed to understand him and believe in him. Then again it would seem that he was failing in what he tried to do.
The time he healed the Roman officer"s servant was one of the good days. Jesus was just coming back to Capernaum after preaching out in the country, when this officer approached him. Although he was a Roman, and the captain of a company of Roman soldiers, this man was well liked in Capernaum. For he had built the Jews a synagogue, and everyone knew that he loved the Jewish people.
He came to Jesus, and said, "Lord, my servant is lying at home, very sick and suffering greatly."
Jesus replied at once, "I will come and heal him."
But the officer shook his head.
"Lord," he said, "I am not worthy that you should come into my house.
Just speak a word, standing here, and that will heal my servant. You see, I have an army under me. I say to a soldier, "Come here," and he comes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it right away.
You have that kind of power too. You just have to say that my servant shall be healed, and he _will_ be healed."
Jesus was joyful when he heard these words. To those who were standing around he said:
"I tell you, I have not found among the Jewish people anyone who believes in me so much as this Roman does! And I tell you this too: When you talk about the Kingdom of G.o.d you shouldn"t think that G.o.d has no place in it for anyone except Jews. G.o.d is going to bring together people from every country, everybody who has faith like this officer"s faith. And some of the Jews may find themselves outside the Kingdom looking in!"
Then he turned to the officer and said:
"Go back to your house. You have had faith in me, and I will give you what you ask."
When the officer went home, he found that his servant had recovered from his illness while Jesus was speaking.
That was one of the good days, when Jesus found a new believer. But a bad day came, when Jesus found that his oldest friend had begun to lose faith in him. John the Baptist was not sure any longer that Jesus was the Messiah.
And John was in trouble. He had preached against King Herod, the son of the king who had died when Jesus was a baby. Herod married another man"s wife, and John the Baptist said that this was a sin. Herod threw John into jail.
As John lay in his prison cell day after day, he began to wonder about Jesus. Had he been wrong in thinking that Jesus was the Messiah? Jesus did not seem to have done very much as yet. The Romans were still in the country. The rich people were as bad as they had always been, and the poor were just as poor.
At last John could not stand it any longer. When two of his followers visited him in jail, he sent them to ask Jesus who he really was.
"Ask him," said John, ""Are you or are you not the Messiah?""
John"s followers found Jesus busy healing the sick. They drew him aside, and told him what John wanted to know.
"Are you the One who was to come," they asked, "or must we look for somebody else?"
So even John the Baptist had his doubts! John, the man who had said that he was not worthy to baptize Jesus; the same John who once called Jesus the Lamb of G.o.d!
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Jesus pointed to the crowd of people whom he had been healing, and he said to John"s disciples:
"Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard here. Tell him I am doing what I can. Tell him how the blind are getting back their sight. Tell him too, how the lame are learning to walk, and how the lepers are being cured. Tell him that I am preaching to the poor. Tell him all about what I am doing, and let him decide for himself whether or not I am the Messiah. And tell him this: Blessed is anyone who believes in me, and takes me just as I am!"
Jesus never heard what John thought of this message. For John did not live much longer. One night King Herod gave a birthday party, and a pretty girl danced so well that the king offered to give her anything she asked. The girl went to her mother, to find out what she ought to say. Her mother hated John the Baptist because he had spoken the truth, and so she told her daughter:
"Ask for the head of John the Baptist to be brought in here on a platter!"
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The girl went to the king, and asked for John"s head. The king was sorry then that he had made that promise, for he was half afraid of John. However, he had to keep his word. And so he sent servants to the prison, and they cut off the head of John the Baptist with a sword, and brought it back to the palace on a platter.
When Jesus heard what had happened, he felt very sad. He said,
"Let us go out to some quiet place, and rest awhile."
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Things were not going very well. John the Baptist was dead, and Herod might be planning to kill Jesus next. Some men, in fact, came one day to warn him to get out of Herod"s kingdom.
"Go and tell that fox," he said, "that I am busy curing the sick and conquering evil, and neither Herod nor anybody else is going to stop me until I have finished my work!"
But things were going badly, just the same. Jesus saw that there were not many of the people who understood his message or knew who he was.
A few believed in him, but others soon lost interest in him, if they ever cared at all. Only once in a long while did he see any results from all his work.
He explained this in one of his stories when he said:
"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some of the seed fell in the pathway, and people walked on it, or the birds ate it up. Some fell on a rock, and this seed began to grow; but no sooner had it sprung up than it died, because it did not have deep roots. Some fell among thornbushes; and the thorns grew faster than the seed, and choked it. But some of the seed fell on good ground, and there it grew into a good harvest."
When the disciples were alone with him, they asked Jesus to tell them what this story meant. He said that the seed stood for the words that he spoke to them. Some people heard him, but they soon forgot what he said. That was like seed falling on the pathway.
Others were very excited about what he said when they first heard it, but when it was hard to do what he told them they soon gave up trying.
That was like seed falling on a rock, where there was no soil or water to give it root.
Then there were some who cared more about money and pleasure than they cared about G.o.d. That was like seed being choked by thorns.
But some people heard Jesus preach; and they believed in him, with good and honest hearts, and they were faithful. That was when his preaching brought results, and it was like seed falling on good rich earth.
"Unless people have faith in me," said Jesus, "they will never understand G.o.d. They will see the things I do, and never even know what they are looking at. They will listen to me, and never know what they are hearing. I can do nothing with them. But you--my disciples--you have faith in me. You will understand everything someday."