Читать книгу The Story of Jesus The Christ - Helen Braun Hojt - Страница 32

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help the Romans get money from them. But Jesus did not

think as the Pharisees did, and chose Matthew, who was some¬

times called Levi, to be one of his disciples.

Matthew very soon made a feast and invited his publican

friends to come to his house and meet the Master and the new

companions he had chosen. It was the custom then to allow

anybody who wished to go into. a house where there was a

feast, and look on while the real guests were eating. So the

scribes and Pharisees followed Jesus to Matthew’s house. When

they saw Jesus at the table eating with these publicans, they said

to the disciples, «How is it that your Master is willing to eat

and drink with these wicked. people? ” Now Jesus heard what

they said, and he himself answered them in these words:

«They that are well need not a physician [or doctor], but they

that are sick. I came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to

repentance.»

The Pharisees knew/what he meant by this answer. He

called them the well and the righteous because they thought

they were good enough, and did not need help to be better. He

who had come to make people’s souls well and happy could do

nothing for them because they would not take what he offered

to give them. That is why he did not work with them. But

the publicans, who knew that they were wicked people and were

willing to be made better, were the sick; and Jesus, the great

Physician, went among them because he could do them good.

And now it was time again for one of the Jewish feasts at

Jerusalem, and Jesus went to the feast. Many of the cities in

those times were surrounded with strong walls, and in the walls

were gates through which the people went in and out of the

town. Jerusalem was one of these walled cities, and had five

gates. Near one of them, known as the Sheep Gate, was a pool

of water, called Bethesda, which means House of Mercy. Water

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A CHILD’S STORY OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST

was never very plentiful in Jerusalem, and all the wells and pools

were much prized by the people. But they were especially fond

of Bethesda, for the water there was supposed to cure disease.

Some one had built around the pool five stone porches, with

steps leading down into the water. Here, sheltered from the

weather, the sick people could wait until they could step into

the pool. They could not do this whenever they wanted to. At

certain times only there was a bubbling motion of the water*

which they believed was made by an angel going into the pool.

Then, as they thought, whoever stepped into the water first was.

cured of any disease he had. Of course every sick person wanted

to be the first, and as no one could tell when the moving of the

water would be, the

porches were usually

filled with the people

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

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«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

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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.