The Story of Jesus The Christ - Helen Braun Hojt

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you are the King of Israel.» He was as much pleased with

      the new friend as the others were, and was glad to join the little

      company on their w T ay to Galilee. There were six in the company

      now, – Jesus, and the five men, John, Andrew and Peter, Philip

      and Nathanael, who were dear friends of Jesus the rest of their

      lives. They are called his disciples, or learners, because they lis¬

      tened to his teachings and learned from him.

      On the third day that they were together there was a wedding

      in Cana of Galilee, and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the

      feast. When they came to the house, they found Mary, the mother

      of Jesus, there. The feast lasted several days, and before it was

      over the wine gave out. What should they do? It would not

      do to be without any, yet they did not know where to get more.

      Mary told Jesus that they had no wine, and although he seemed

      very unwilling to do anything about it, she was so sure that life

      would help them that she said to the servants, 44 Do whatever he

      tells you.»

      There were six water-pots, or large stone jars, outside the door,

      filled with water. For it is so hot and dusty in that country that

      the people need to bathe often, and jars for that use are kept out¬

      side the doors of most houses. The tops of the jars are filled

      THE MINISTRY OF THE CHRIST

      29

      with fresh, green leaves, and these leaves keep the water clean and

      cool. Jesus told the servants to empty all the water from the jars,

      and then to fill them again with clear water. This they did, fill¬

      ing them to the brim.

      Then Jesus said, u Draw some out now, and take it to the gov¬

      ernor of the feast. This was the chief guest, who had the

      direction of much of the

      feast. The servants did

      as he told them. The

      governor took a taste of

      what they brought him,

      and said: 66 How is this?

      At most feasts they

      serve their best wine at

      the beginning, and keep

      the poorest till the last;

      but here at the end of

      the feast they are serv¬

      ing their best wine.»

      And it was so, for Jesus

      had changed the water

      in the six jars to the

      richest of wine.

      You remember that

      although he was very

      hungry in the wilder- The Marriage Feast at Cana

      ness a few days before

      this he would not turn the stones into bread for his own use.

      Now it was different; other people were in trouble, not he him¬

      self. By using this power which God had given him, he could

      not only do a kindness to these people, but he could also show

      them that he was different from the other teachers they had

      30

      A CHILD’S STORY OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST

      known; that he was the Son of God. And so he did what no one

      else could possibly have done; it was a miracle. It was the first

      time Jesus had done anything of the kind, so far as we know;

      but we shall hear of a good many miracles after this, and we

      shall find that every time that he used this wonderful power,

      during all his life, it was for this very same reason; to do a

      kindness to some one. He never used it to make himself more

      comfortable; and, least of all, to make any one else uncomfort¬

      able.

      No one was more interested in what he had done than his five

      new friends. They had known their Master only a few days, but

      in that time they had learned to love him; and now they were

      sure that they had made no mistake in believing him to be the

      Christ, for no one could do such things as this unless God gave

      him the power.

      After the feast was over Jesus and his disciples went to Caper¬

      naum, a busy city on the shore of a lake which is known by three

      names; the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias, and Lake Gen-

      nesaret. It was a beautiful lake thirteen miles long and six miles

      wide; and on it were thousands of boats of every kind. There

      were the war-ships of the Romans, which were very tiny in com¬

      parison with those of our time. There were the little rough boats

      of the fishermen, and many gay pleasure boats.

      The country around the lake was beautiful also. Mountains

      and hills sloped down to the shore, and on these mountain-sides

      anything that was planted would grow; for the soil was very rich.

      Scattered about were fields of wheat, groves of palms, olives, figs,

      and oranges. Where nothing else was planted, wild flowers

      sprang up in great plenty. There are a great many kinds of

      wild flowers in Palestine, many of them very beautiful, with

      rich, gay colors. A field of these flowers is said to be a won¬

      derful sight that no one ever forgets who has seen it once.

      the MINISTRY OF THE CHRIST

      31

      All along the shores of the lake cities and larg^ towns had

      been built; and Capernaum was one of the busiest of these cities.

      Roman soldiers were always there on guard, and strangers were

      coming and going all the time, for Capernaum was a central place,

      through which people passed in going from one country to another,

      and from every direction people came here to trade.

      It was a place where Jesus could meet and talk with people

      of many nations. Later in his life he spent much time in Caper¬

      naum; for, besides the work which he could find to do right in

      the city, it was easy to make short trips into the country around.

      But

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