The Story of Jesus The Christ - Helen Braun Hojt

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of the porches a

      very feeble man, who

      had been sick thirty-

      eight years. His friends

      had brought him to the

      pool and left him there

      alone. The Saviour

      saw him lying there,

      and knowing how long

      he had been sick he

      felt pity for him.

      The Infirm Man at Bethesda

      the ministry of tiie ciirist

      55

      «Would you like to be made well?» he asked. The poor man

      did not know that the one who spoke to him was better able to

      cure him than the waters of Bethesda, and answered, “ Sir, I

      have no one to put me into the pool at the right time, and while

      I am trying to get there myself, some one steps in before me.»

      Jesus said to him as he did to the palsied man at Capernaum,

      «Rise, take up your bed and walk.»

      Strange enough the man did not say: “ I cannot do it. I have

      not walked for thirty-eight years.» He felt as if he could walk

      now. He rose at once and walked away, carrying his bed with

      him. The Bible does not say that he even stopped to thank the

      one who had done so much for him, who was soon lost to his

      sight in the crowd about the pool.

      The man had not gone very far when he was stopped by some

      of the Pharisees, who thought it was wrong to carry anything

      in the hands on the Sabbath day. They thought it was wrong

      to cure the sick, or move them in bed, or even to do any of the

      little things that make sick people more comfortable. When

      these very strict Jews saw this man with the bed under his arm

      they said, “ Do you not know that it is the Sabbath day, and that

      it is against the law to carry your bed? ” The man excused him¬

      self by saying, “ He that made me well told me to take up my

      bed and walk.» It seems as if every one would have been glad

      that the man was able to do that, but the Jews were not. They

      asked, angrily, “ Who was it that told you to take up your bed?»

      The man could not tell them, for he himself did not know.

      A little while after this they met again in the temple, and

      Jesus talked with the man about the kind of life he was living.

      If he had been a really good man he probably would not have had

      this trouble, so the Christ said to him, “ You are well now, but if

      you keep on doing wicked things something worse may happen

      to you. Go, and sin no more.» The man left the temple, saw

      56

      A CHILD’S STORY OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST

      the Jews again and told them that it was Jesus who had cured

      him. Then they crowded about the Saviour, and began to abuse

      him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.

      Who do you think spent the day in the way best pleasing to

      God? The Christ, with a heart full of love, doing what he could

      to help some one who was in trouble, or the Jews whose hearts

      were so full of hatred to him because he had done what they

      called wrong that they wanted to kill him?

      Jesus was not afraid of them. He told them that he was only

      doing his Father’s work. It made them still more angry to have

      him call God his Father. He tried to prove to them that he was

      the Son of God; that he could not do such things as they had

      seen him do if his Father did not give him the power. He said

      that if they would trust him they would see still greater works,

      and asked them if they did not remember that John the Baptist had

      called him the Christ. More than that, his Father at his baptism

      had said, 66 This is my beloved Son.» “ You study the Scriptures,»

      he said, u because you think they will save you; and they tell of

      me. Why do you not come to me and learn what I can teach

      you? I know why you do not come. It is because your hearts

      are not full of the love of God. How can you believe?» After

      he had said all he wanted to, he left them.

      They did not dare to touch him then, but they did not forgive

      him, and they made up their minds that they would watch him,

      and see if they could not find something for which they could

      punish him. It seems very strange that they would not listen

      to him, and believe what he taught. Probably if they had been

      better men they would have been willing to listen, and would have

      learned to love the man who was always doing so much for others.

      But they liked to be the rulers of the people, and they were afraid

      that if Jesus were allowed to teach, the people would leave them,

      and they would lose their power. They were jealous.

      THE MINISTRY OF THE CHRIST

      57

      One Sabbath not long after this, Jesus and his disciples were

      walking through a field of grain in Galilee. The disciples were

      hungry, and as they

      walked along they

      picked some of the grain

      and ate it. It was per¬

      fectly right for them to

      pick this grain, for the

      Jewish law said that

      any one could pick the

      ears with his hands

      if he wanted to eat

      them, but that no one

      must cut the grain with

      the sickle and take it

      home unless it was his.

      Wherever Jesus

      went now some of the

      Pharisees followed to

      see what he was about.

      So when these men saw

      the friends of Jesus eat¬

      ing the grain they said to him, “ Your disciples are doing what

      is

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