A Life of St. John for the Young Part 3

In His home He was the devoted eldest son. It was of that time that the poet sings to Mary;--

"O, highly favored thou, in many an hour Spent in lone musings with thy wondrous Son, When thou didst gaze into that glorious eye, And hold that mighty hand within thine own.

"Blest through those thirty years when in thy dwelling He lived as G.o.d disguised with unknown power, And thou His sole adorer, His best love, Trusted, revering, waited for His hour."

--_H.B. Stowe_.

Joseph had probably died, and the care of Mary fell especially on Jesus.

But in the carpenter's shop, in the home, and wherever He was, He had thoughts and feelings and purposes hidden from all others. They were such as no mere human being could have. He was alone in the world. In silence and solitude His communions were with His Father in heaven.

Calmness and peace filled His soul. His great work was before Him, ever present to His thought. So was His cross, and the glory which should come to G.o.d, and the blessedness to man, when His work on earth was done. As John long after declared, "He was in the world and the world knew Him not." As a great King He had come from heaven, and was waiting for a certain one to proclaim His coming. Toward that herald let us turn and with John listen to his voice.

_CHAPTER IX_

_"The Prophet of the Most High"_

"Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, ... "Yea, and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High: For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to make ready His ways."--_Luke_ i. 67, 76.

"There came a man, sent from G.o.d, whose name was John. The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all men might believe through him."--_John_ i. 6, 7.

"He was the lamp that burneth and shineth."--_John_ v. 35.

"In devotional pictures we see St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist standing together, one on each side of Christ."--_Mrs.

Jameson_.

Salome and Mary had a cousin named Elizabeth. Her home was not in Galilee, but in Judaea--the southern part of the Holy Land--probably near Hebron, possibly near Jerusalem. She had a son also named John. He was so called because the angel Gabriel, who had told Mary to call her son Jesus, had said to Zacharias, an aged high priest, the husband of Elizabeth, concerning their son, "Thou shalt call his name John." This name means "The Gift of G.o.d." Born in their old age he seemed especially such to them. He was a gift not only to his parents, but to his country and mankind. While Zebedee and Salome had not been told what their John should become, Zacharias and Elizabeth had been told the future of their John. The angel declared, "He shall be great." Had he said only this, we might think he meant great in power, or learning, or in other things which men call great, but which the Lord does not. Gabriel said, "He shall be great in the sight of the Lord."

Mary visited the home of Elizabeth and the happy cousins praised G.o.d for what He had revealed to them concerning their sons.

The greatness to which Elizabeth's son was to attain was that of a prophet--greater than Elijah, or Isaiah, or any other who had lived before him. With exultation Zacharias said to him, "Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High."

G.o.d had arranged that he should be ready to proclaim the coming One just before the Messiah should appear among men. For this reason he was called the Fore-runner of the Messiah. But though Jesus was in the world, the time for His appearance as the Messiah had not yet come.

John was greatly saddened by what he saw of the wickedness of men, even those who professed to be the people of G.o.d, and their unfitness to receive Him for whom they were looking. Led by the Spirit of G.o.d, John retired to the wilderness of Judaea, in the region of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, for meditation and communion with G.o.d. But he was not entirely concealed. There were a few who heard of his sanct.i.ty and wisdom, sought instruction from him, and abode with him, becoming his disciples. He seems to have had special influence over young men. Our Bethsaidan boys have now grown to be such since we saw them in their early home, and as school and fisher boys. They were now toiling at their nets with their fathers, closer than ever in their friendship for each other, still waiting and watching for Him whom they had been taught from their earliest days to expect. We think of their interest in the rumors concerning the prophet of Judaea.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE _H. Hofmann_ Page 54]

As the two pair of brothers talk together, we can hear one of them saying, "I must see and hear and know for myself. I will lay aside my fishing, and go to the wilderness of Judaea." To this the others reply, as on another occasion to Peter, "We also come with thee." Leaving the quiet sh.o.r.es of Gennesaret, they follow the road each has traveled annually since twelve years of age on his way to the feast in Jerusalem.

They met the hermit in the wilderness. His appearance was strange indeed. His hair was long and unkempt; his face tanned with the sun and the desert air; his body unnourished by the simple food of locusts and wild honey. His raiment was of the coa.r.s.est and cheapest cloth of camel's hair. His girdle was a rough band of leather, such as was worn by the poor,--most unlike those made of fine material, and ornamented with needlework. His whole appearance must have been a great contrast to his gentle and refined namesake from Galilee.

The solemn earnestness of the prophet, and the greatness of the truths he taught, were well calculated to excite the greatest interest of the young Galileans. They looked upon him with increasing conviction that he was "a prophet of G.o.d." Instead of returning to their homes, they remained in Judaea and attached themselves to him, and became known as his disciples. In their new service there was a new bond of union for themselves, which--though they then knew it not--would lead to another yet stronger.

At last "the word of the Lord came unto" John, when he was about thirty years old, calling him to a more public ministry. So "He came into all the country about Jordan." Beginning in the south he moved northward from place to place.

Rumors concerning the new strange prophet spread rapidly. "There went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan." Shepherds left their flocks and flocked around him. Herdsmen left their fields, and vine-dressers their vineyards, and Roman soldiers their garrisons, for the wilderness. Rabbis left their parchments in the synagogue, the schoolroom and the home, to hear the living voice of a teacher greater than any one of them. Self-righteous Pharisees and common people followed them. Some sought the preacher only from curiosity; some to hear the truth. John's preaching was summed up in two phrases,--"Repent ye," and "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

[Ill.u.s.tration: STREET SCENE IN NAZARETH _From Photograph_ Page 55]

His preaching was bold, clear, earnest, and forcible. Many yielded to the power of his preaching. They were baptized by him; for this reason he was known as St. John the Baptist, or the Baptizer.

John of Galilee was one of those who obeyed the injunction "Repent ye."

With all his lovable qualities which we have imagined in his childhood--his refinement, his faithfulness in his home and synagogue, and his honest toil--he saw that within himself which was not right in the sight of G.o.d. He repented of his sins and sought forgiveness. A lovely character became more lovely still, to be known as the loving and beloved one. He was ready to welcome the Messiah of whom the Baptist told. He had no fears that another Judas of Galilee had arisen. He believed that the promises concerning the coming One were being fulfilled. He was a faithful disciple of the prophet and forerunner, to whom he must have been a great joy, but who was ready to have him, whenever the time should come, transfer his following to the Lord of them both. For how long a period the two Johns continued together, we do not know, but it was drawing to its close.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VISIT OF MARY TO ELISABETH _Old Engraving_ Page 58]

_CHAPTER X_

_The Messiah Found_

"They found Him not, those youths of n.o.ble soul; Long seeking, wandering, watching on life's sh.o.r.e, Reasoning, aspiring, yearning for the light.

"But years pa.s.sed on; and lo! the Charmer came, Pure, simple, sweet, as comes the silver dew, And the world knew Him not,--He walked alone, Encircled only by His trusting few."

--_H.B. Stowe_.

"We"--Andrew and John--"have found the Messiah."--_Andrew to Peter_.

"We"--Andrew and Peter, James and John, and Philip--"have found Him, of Whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth."--_Philip to Nathanael_.

"The fulness of the time was come," not only when "G.o.d sent forth His Son," but "when the Son should reveal Himself to the world." So Jesus came forth from His retirement in Nazareth to enter on His public ministry.

"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John to be baptized of him." What a meeting! Probably the first in their lives. It is no marvel that John said, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" But he obeyed Jesus' bidding, "Suffer it to be so now." "So He was baptized of John in Jordan." Then followed the prayer of the Son of G.o.d; and then "the Spirit of G.o.d descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him"; and then the voice of the Father, saying, "Thou art my beloved Son: in Thee I am well pleased." Let us remember that voice: we shall hear it again.

And then for forty days and forty nights Jesus was hidden completely from the face of man, alone on the Mount of Temptation, with wild beasts, until ministering angels come to Him from heaven.

He returned to the region where the Baptist was preaching. "John seeth Jesus coming to him." His eye is turned away from the mult.i.tude thronging about him, and is fastened upon Jesus only. His thought is of Him of whom Isaiah wrote long before--"He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter." Pointing to Jesus he exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of G.o.d which taketh away the sin of the world!"

The Galilean disciples were doubtless present, and were deeply moved by their Master's exclamation. Because of their previous training in their homes, and in the wilderness with the prophet, it must have kindled in them deeper emotion than it did in any others of that astonished throng.

But it was to become deeper still. This was especially true of two of them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WILDERNESS OF JUDEA _From Photograph_ Page 59]

The next day, probably a Sabbath, was to become a memorable day in the history of the two and of their master. It was a morning hour. We think of the three as alone, before the mult.i.tudes had gathered, or the day's ministry of preaching and baptizing had begun. They walked along the bank of the river communing together of Him whom they had seen the day before. In the distance John saw the Figure again. In awe and reverence, and with a fixed gaze, "John was standing, and two of his disciples; and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of G.o.d!"

The exclamation was in part that which they had heard in the presence of the mult.i.tude; but that was not enough. It was as if John had said, "Behold the Messiah for whom our nation has waited so long; Him of whom our Scriptures have told us; Who has been the theme in our homes from childhood; of whom I have been the prophet and herald. He it is of whom I have taught you, my disciples, as you have followed me in the wilderness until I now can bid you behold Him. Henceforth follow Him."

John says that one of the two was Andrew. There is no doubt that the other was himself. We shall notice in his writings that he never uses his own name. This incident is our first definite knowledge of him. All we have said hitherto is what we think must have been true, judging from circ.u.mstances of which we do know, and from his character revealed after this time.

We long to know whether "Jesus as He walked" came near the Baptist, and with what salutation they met, and what were their parting words, for this seems to be the last time of their meeting. If Mary and Salome were sisters, and Elizabeth was their cousin--as we use the term--John of Galilee and Jesus were related to John the Baptist in the same way. But there was a closer relationship than that of family. In this Jesus was the connecting link between the two Johns. "One on each side of Christ"--this was their joy and their glory. One was the last prophet to proclaim His coming: the other was to be the last evangelist to tell the story of His life on the earth.

When the Baptist the second time uttered the cry, "Behold the Lamb of G.o.d!" "the two disciples heard Him speak and followed Jesus." Their old master saw them turn from him without a jealous, but with a gladsome thought. Encouraged by him, and drawn by Jesus, with reverential awe, in solemn silence or with subdued tone, they timidly walked in the footsteps of the newly revealed Master. The quickened ear before them detected their footsteps or conversation. "Jesus turned and saw them following," as if to welcome their approach, and give them courage. He then asked them a question, "What seek ye?" It was not asked because He was ignorant, but to encourage them in familiar conversation, as He did at other times. Their answer was another question, "Rabbi, where abidest Thou?" They longed for a fuller opportunity than that on the road to be taught by Him. "Come and see," was His welcome reply. "They came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day." First by a look, then a question, then an invitation, then hospitality, they were drawn to Him, and into His service.