The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young Part 3

"Come, let us talk of heaven. Do not weep for me. I am very happy.

But I never knew what happiness was till I found Christ as my Saviour. Read the Bible. Let no other book take its place. Through all my trials and perplexities, it has been my comfort. And now it comforts me, and makes me happy."

Here we see "this well of water springing up unto everlasting life."

And Jesus, who came to tell us of this water, and to open up this well in our b.r.e.a.s.t.s, may well be called, "the Great Teacher," because of the great blessings--of which he tells.

_In the second place Jesus may be called "the Great Teacher" because of the_--GREAT SIMPLICITY--_of his teachings_.

I do not mean to say that we can understand every thing that Jesus taught. This is not so. He had some things to speak about that are not simple. He said to his disciples, "_I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now_." John xvi: 12. This means that there are some things about G.o.d, and heaven, of which he wished to tell them, but they were too hard for them to understand, although they were full-grown men. And so he did not tell them of these things. But even among the things that Jesus did tell about, there are some which the wisest and most learned men in the world have never been able to understand or explain. Some one has compared the Bible to a river, in which there are some places deep enough for an elephant or a giant to swim in; and other places where the water is shallow enough for a child to wade in. And it is just so with the teachings of Jesus. Some of the most important lessons he taught are so plain and simple that very young people can understand them.

We have a good ill.u.s.tration of this in that sweet invitation which Jesus gave when he said,--"_Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest._" Matt. xi: 28. Very young people know what it is to feel tired and weary from walking, or working too much, or from carrying a heavy burden. And, when they are too tired to do anything else, they know what it is to go to their dear mother and throw themselves into her arms, and find rest there.

And, in just the same way, Jesus invites us to come to him when we are tired, or troubled, that our souls may find rest in him. We come to Jesus, when we pray to him; when we tell him all about our troubles; when we ask him to help us; and when we trust in his promises.

"Was there ever gentlest shepherd Half so gentle, half so sweet, As the Saviour, who would have us Come and gather round his feet?

"There's a wideness in G.o.d's mercy, Like the wideness of the sea; There's a kindness in his justice Which is more than liberty.

"There is no place where earth's sorrows Are more felt than up in heaven; There is no place where earth's failings Have such kindly judgments given.

"There is plentiful redemption In the blood that has been shed; There is joy for all the members In the sorrows of the head.

"If our love were but more simple, We should take him at his word; And our lives would all be sunshine, In the sweetness of our Lord."

The prophet Isaiah foretold that when Jesus came, he would teach his doctrines to children just weaned. Chap. xxviii: 9. This shows us that his teaching was to be marked by great plainness and simplicity.

And this was just the way in which he did teach when he uttered those loving words:--"_Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of G.o.d._" Mark x: 14.

None of the other famous teachers known to the world ever took such interest in children as Jesus did. And none of them ever taught with such great simplicity. What mult.i.tudes of young people have been led to love and serve Jesus by thinking of the sweet words he spoke about children!

"The Child's Gospel." A little girl sat still in church listening to the minister. She could not understand what he was saying till he quoted these words of Jesus about the children. But she understood them. She felt that they were words spoken for her. They made her feel very happy. And when she went home she threw her arms around her mother's neck, who had been kept at home by sickness, and said, "O, mother, I have heard the _child's gospel_ to-day."

"It's For Me." Little Carrie was a heathen child, about ten years old. After she had been going to the Mission School for some time, her teacher noticed, one day, that she looked sad.

"Carrie, my dear," she said, "why do you look so sad to-day?"

"Because I am thinking."

"And what are you thinking about?"

"O, teacher, I don't know whether Jesus loves me, or not."

"Carrie, what did Jesus say about little children coming to him when he was on earth?"

In a moment the sweet words she had learned in the school were on her lips--"Suffer the little children to come unto me, &c."

"Well, Carrie, for whom did Jesus speak these words?" At once she clapped her hands and exclaimed: "It's not for you, teacher, is it?

for you are not a child. No: it's for me! it's for me!"

And so this dear child was drawn to Jesus by the power of his love.

And thus, through all the hundreds of years that have pa.s.sed away since "Jesus was here among men," these same simple words have been drawing the little ones to him.

And so, because of the great simplicity which marked his teaching, Jesus must truly be called--the Great Teacher.

_But in the third place there was_--GREAT TENDERNESS--_in Jesus, and this was another thing that helped to make him the Great Teacher_.

It was this great tenderness that led him, when he came to be our Teacher and Saviour to take our nature upon him and so become like us. He might have come into our world in the form of a mighty angel, with his face shining like the sun, as he appeared when the disciples saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration. But then we should have been afraid of him. He would not have known how we feel, and could not have felt for us. But instead of this, his tenderness led him to take our nature upon him, that he might be able to put himself in our place, and so to understand just how we feel, and what we need to help and comfort us. This is what the apostle means in Heb. ii: 14, when he says--"Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same." He did this on purpose that he might know, by his own experience, how we are tried and tempted; and so be able to sympathize with us and help us in all our trials.

Here is a little story, very simple, and homely; but yet, one that ill.u.s.trates very well the point of which we are speaking. It is a story about:

"A Lost Horse Found." A valuable horse was lost, belonging to a farmer in New England. A number of his neighbors turned out to try and find the horse. They searched all through the woods and fields of the surrounding country, but in vain. None of them could find the horse. At last a poor, weak-minded fellow, who was known in that neighborhood as "simple Sam," started to hunt the horse. After awhile he came back, bringing the stray horse with him. The owner of the horse was delighted to see him. He stroked and patted him, and then, turning to the simple-minded man who had found him, he said:

"Well, Sam, how came you to find the horse, when no one else could do it?"

"Wal, you see," said Sam, "I just 'quired whar the horse was seen last; and then I went thar, and sat on a rock; and just axed mysel', if I was a horse, whar would I go, and what would I do? And then I went, and found him." Now, when Sam, in the simplicity of his feeble mind, tried to put himself, as far as he could, in the horse's place, this helped him to find the lost horse, and bring him back to his owner again. And so, to pa.s.s from a very little thing to a very great one, when Jesus came down from heaven to seek and to save sinners that were lost, this is just the way in which he acted. He put himself in our place as sinners. As the apostle Paul says: "he who knew no sin, was made sin for us," that he might save us from the dreadful consequences of our sins.

And we see the tenderness of Jesus, not only in taking our nature upon him and becoming man, but in what he did when he lived in this world as a man. "_He went about doing good_." It was his great tenderness that led him to do this. Suppose that you and I could have walked about with Jesus when he was on earth as the apostles did.

Just think for a moment what we should have seen. We should have seen him meeting with blind men and opening their eyes that they might see. We should have seen him meeting with deaf men, and unstopping their ears that they might hear. We should have seen him meeting sick people who were taken with divers diseases and torments and healing them. We should have seen him raising the dead; and casting out devils; and speaking words of comfort and encouragement to those who were sad and sorrowful. If we could have looked into his blessed face, we should have seen tenderness there, beaming from his eyes and speaking from every line of his countenance. If we could have listened to his teaching we should have found tenderness running through all that he said. Just take one of his many parables as a sample of his way of teaching--the parable of the lost sheep--and see how full of tenderness it is. The sweet lines of the hymn, about the shepherd seeking his lost sheep, that most of us love to sing, bring out the tenderness of Jesus here very touchingly.

"There were ninety and nine that safely lay In the shelter of the fold, But one was out on the hills away, Far off from the gates of gold-- Away on the mountains, wild and bare, Away from the tender shepherd's care.

"'Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine; Are they not enough for Thee?'

But the Shepherd made answer: 'One of mine Has wandered away from me; And, although the road be rough and steep, I go to the desert to find my sheep.'

"But none of the ransomed ever knew How deep were the waters crossed; Nor how dark was the night that the Lord pa.s.sed through, Ere he found his sheep that was lost.

Out in the desert he heard its cry-- Sick and helpless, and ready to die.

"'Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way That mark out the mountain's track?'

They were shed for one who had gone astray, Ere the shepherd could bring him back.

'Lord, why are Thy hands so rent and torn?'

They are pierced, to-night, by many a thorn.

"But all through the mountains, thunder-riven, And up from the rocky steep, There rose a cry to the gates of heaven, 'Rejoice! I have found my sheep!'

And the angels echoed around the throne, 'Rejoice, for the Lord brings back his own.'"

And all that we know of Jesus as "the good Shepherd," demonstrates his great tenderness for his sheep.

But perhaps there was no act in all the life of our blessed Redeemer that showed his tenderness more than taking the little children in his arms, and putting his hands upon them, and blessing them.

To think of the Son of G.o.d, who made this world, and all worlds, and whom all the angels of heaven worship, showing so much interest in the little ones; this proves how full of tenderness his heart was.

"I Like Your Jesus." An English lady who had spent six months in Syria, writes: "Going through the places where the Mohammedans live, you continually hear the girls singing our beautiful hymns in Arabic.

The attractive power of Christ's love is felt even by the little ones, as we learned from a dear Moslem child, who, when she repeated the text, 'Suffer the little children,' said, 'I like your Jesus, because he loved little children. Our Mohammed did not love little children.'"

And if we all try to imitate the tenderness of Jesus, then, though we may have no money to give, and no great thing to do, yet by being tender, and gentle, and loving, as Jesus was, we shall be able to do good wherever we are.

"Doing Good by Sympathy." A Christian mother used to ask her children every night if they had done any good during the day. One night in answer to this question, her little daughter said: "At school this morning I found little Annie G----, who had been absent for some time, crying very hard. I asked her what was the matter? Then she cried more, so that I could not help putting my head on her neck, and crying with her. Her sobs grew less, and presently she told of her little baby brother, whom she loved so much; how sick he had been; and how much pain he had suffered, till he died and was buried. Then she hid her face in her book, and cried, as if her heart would break.

I could not help putting my face on the other page of the book, and crying, too, as hard as she did. After awhile she kissed me, and told me I had done her good. But, mother, I don't know how I did her good; _for I only cried with her!_"

Now this little girl was showing the tenderness of Jesus, the Great Teacher. Nothing in the world could have done that poor sorrowing child so much good as to have some one cry with her. Sometimes tears of tenderness are worth more than diamonds. And this is why the Bible tells us to "weep with them that weep." Rom. xii: 15. Jesus did this in the tenderness of his loving heart. And this was one of the things that made him the Great Teacher.

_But then there was_--GREAT KNOWLEDGE--_in Jesus; and this was another thing that made him great as a teacher_.