Helen Braun Hojt - The Story of Jesus The Christ

who were waiting for

the time to come.

It was on the Sab¬

bath day that Jesus,

walking by this pool

of Bethesda, saw in

one 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.

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 not right on the Sabbath.»

If the law gave the people the right to pick the grain in this

way, why was there any reason why the Pharisees should blame

them? You remember that these Jews were very strict about

some things, although in other ways they were very bad. One

of the things they were very strict about was the keeping of the

Sabbath. Their law said that they must not work on the Sab¬

bath, and they said that rubbing off the grain with the hands was,

work. So they did not allow it to be done on the Sabbath. They

The Disciples plucking Grain

58

A CHILD’S STORY OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST

could not blame Jesus for breaking the law, because he had not

picked any of the grain. But they blamed him for allowing his

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