Hurlbut's Life Of Christ For Young And Old Part 23

Simon Peter answered for them all, "Lord, to whom shall we go if we leave you? You have the words that will give us everlasting life. And we believe and are certain that you are the Holy One of G.o.d."

These men did not understand all the words of Jesus, but they had learned to love him and to believe that he was the promised King. They were ready to stay with him until death.

"Did I not choose you to be the Twelve?" said Jesus, "and yet, even among you there is one who is doing the devil's work."

They did not know of whom he was speaking; but he meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot; the one of the twelve disciples who a year afterward was to give up his Master to death. At that time Judas himself did not know this. Jesus, who could read the hearts of men, saw in Judas the signs all unknown to himself that he would do this dreadful deed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A view of the village of Nain, and rising in the background is Mount Tabor]

Jesus in a Strange Country

CHAPTER 44

WITH HIS sermon on "The Bread of Life," given in the church at Capernaum, Jesus finished his work among the people of Galilee. He had lived in that land for more than a year; he had traveled through every part of it; he had spoken in most of its villages and cities, and had sent out his disciples to preach in many other places. Everybody in Galilee had either heard Jesus or had heard about him. If they did not believe in him and his gospel, it was because they would not.

There was another and important work which now lay before Jesus. That was the training of his twelve disciples. These men, the apostles, as they were called later, had been with him for nearly a year. They had listened to his preaching and had heard his sermons many times, over and over again; for in different places Jesus gave the same talks to the people; but those talks and parables the Twelve heard in each place, as Jesus wished those men to hear his words until they knew them by heart and could give them as his message to others who had not heard Jesus himself.

One reason why we have in the four gospels, by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, so many of the teachings and parables of Jesus, is that the disciples heard them so many times, learned them, could tell them to others; and thus at least thirty years after Jesus pa.s.sed away from earth, his words were remembered and could be written down.

But besides the public teachings of Jesus, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the parables, there were other great truths of the gospel that could not be given to the people, for they were not ready for them and could not understand them. We can see how the common people were puzzled by his words about "the bread of life." Jesus saw that it was needful for him to take the twelve disciples apart by themselves, that he might teach them some of the deeper truths of his gospel. In Galilee he could not be alone with these men; for wherever he might go there would always be many sick people coming to be cured and others leading men held in the power of evil spirits begging Jesus to cast them out. Then, too, in every place were the Pharisees and scribes, bringing their questions, asking for miracles, and trying to stir up the people against Jesus.

Wherever Jesus was, a crowd was always around him, and he could find no time to teach his disciples some truths needful for them to know.

He made up his mind to go away from Galilee to some quiet place where no one would know of his coming. On the northwest of Galilee was a narrow land, on the other side of the Lebanon mountains, beside the great Mediterranean Sea. It was called Phoenicia, from the people who lived there, the Phoenicians; and also called "the land of Tyre and Sidon,"

from its two leading cities. The people who lived in that country were not Jews, and few of them even spoke the Jewish language. Jesus thought that this would be a quiet place where he could talk alone with his disciples.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The woman threw herself at Jesus' feet and cried aloud: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David!"]

Jesus and the Twelve quietly left Capernaum, and walked over the mountains to this land of Tyre and Sidon. There they found a house and went into it, intending for a time to live there. Jesus wished n.o.body to know of his coming; but he could not be hidden. A woman of that country heard of him, and at once went to Jesus, threw herself at his feet, and begged him to come and cast an evil spirit out of her daughter.

This woman was not of the Jewish people. She was a foreigner, of a mingled Syrian and Phoenician race, a people called "Canaanites." She cried aloud and kept on crying:

"Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David! My little daughter is terribly troubled with an unclean spirit. Will you not please come and help her?"

At first Jesus did not answer her one word. But his disciples said to him, "O Master! send this woman away, for she is making a great noise and disturbing us!" To them she was only a Gentile, a heathen woman, and the Jews, even those who followed Jesus, looked with great contempt on all such people. They did not know that Jesus was sent to save not only the Jews but also the Gentiles.

Jesus wished to teach his disciples a lesson, that a Gentile could have the same faith as a Jew. He said to the woman:

"I was not sent to your people, but only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

But the woman kept on following him. She knelt down before Jesus, and said, "Master, help me!"

He said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first of all; it is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

"That is true, Lord," said the woman; "yet the little dogs under the table do pick up some of the children's crumbs."

Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, your faith is great. Your prayer is granted as you wish. The evil spirit is gone away from your daughter."

The woman believed the word of Jesus. She hastened to her home and found her daughter well and resting upon her bed.

In the Land of the Ten Cities

Chapter 45

JESUS SOON found that if he wished to be alone with his disciples, he must leave the land of Tyre and Sidon; for after he had cured the woman's child of her evil spirit, the people were coming to him for other mighty works. He made up his mind to go farther away, and taking his disciples, he went to Sidon, north of Tyre, and then not through Galilee, but around it, to the river Jordan, north of the Sea of Galilee. He crossed the Jordan, and on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee came to a country called Decapolis, or "the land of the Ten Cities," from ten large places in that region. While they were on this journey, few people saw them, and as they walked together he talked to his disciples and taught them many things.

The place to which Jesus came was not far from the town where some months before he had cast out from a poor man a whole army of evil spirits and had sent them into the drove of hogs. At that time, you remember, the people had come to Jesus and had begged him to go away from them, for they had seen his power, but knew nothing of his goodness. But after that miracle, the man who had been cured went all through this land of the Ten Cities, telling the people everywhere of the good work Jesus had done to him and how much they had lost in sending him away.

On this second visit of Jesus to this land, the people were ready and eager for his coming. They gathered around Jesus with great joy, and came from near and from far to see him. He went up into a mountain and sat down with his disciples, hoping to be alone. But the people came to him in great crowds, bringing with them those that were lame, and ill with different diseases. They laid these suffering people at his feet, and asked him to cure them. He made them all well. They all wondered, as they saw the dumb talking, the cripples made sound, the lame walking about and the blind seeing; and they all praised the G.o.d of Israel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: View of Tyre]

At this time they led to Jesus a man who was very deaf, and who stammered so that people could scarcely understand his words. They asked Jesus to place his hand on this man and cure him. But Jesus would not do this in public, with a crowd of people looking on. He led him away out of the throng to a place where they could be by themselves. He put his fingers into the man's ears, and then, moistening one finger upon his own tongue, with it touched the man's tongue. Looking up to heaven with a sigh, he said, "Be opened." The man's ears and his tongue were at once set free; he could hear and could speak plainly. Jesus forbade the man and his friends to tell anyone about the cure; but contrary to his command they made it known everywhere. All who saw this man were astonished; and they said of Jesus, "He has done everything well! He makes even the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak!"

The crowd clung to Jesus and followed him for three days. By that time whatever food the people had brought with them had been eaten and yet they stayed with Jesus, never thinking of their needs. Jesus called his disciples together and said to them:

"My heart is touched on account of all these people; for they have now been with me three days and they have nothing to eat. Some of them have come from distant places, and I cannot bear to send them away hungry for fear that they may break down by the way."

"Where can we," the disciples asked him, "in a lonely place like this, with no towns near, find bread for such a crowd as this?"

"How many loaves have you?" asked Jesus.

"We have in all seven loaves," they answered, "and with them a few small fishes."

Jesus told all the crowds to sit down upon the ground; and when they had done so, he held up the loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks to his heavenly Father for them. Then he broke the loaves into pieces, also the dried fish, and gave them to the disciples. The disciples distributed them among the people; and everyone had all that he wanted to eat.

After the meal, the disciples went around with large baskets, and picked up of the food left over seven baskets full. At this time the people who were fed by Jesus were four thousand men, besides women and children.

When all were satisfied, Jesus told them to go back to their homes; then with his disciples, he went into the boat and sailed across the Sea of Galilee.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sidon]

Again on the Sea of Galilee

CHAPTER 46

FROM THE land of the Ten Cities, Jesus and his disciples sailed straight across the Sea of Galilee, and on its southwestern sh.o.r.e they came to a city called Magadan or Magdala. One of the women who went with Jesus on his journeys in Galilee, Mary Magdalene, that is, Mary of Magdala, was from this city. Jesus came to this place for rest and for quiet talking with his disciples; but as soon as he landed he was met by some Pharisees and others who did not believe in him. They said to him: