THE GOOD SAMARITAN.—MARTHA AND MARY.—THE MAN BORN BLIND. Je-sus went to the great church in Je-ru-sa-lem, and the Jews came there in crowds to hear him preach, and to find fault with him. And a man of law stood up and said, What must I do to be saved? Je-sus said to him, What does the law say? How dost thou read it? The man of law said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neigh-bor as thy-self. Je-sus said to him, That is right. Do this, and thou shalt be saved. The man of law said, Who is my neigh-bor? Then Je-sus spoke in this way, and said, A man went down from Je-ru-sa-lem to Je-ri-cho. And the thieves fell on him, tore off his clothes and beat him, then went on their way and left him half dead on the ground. By chance there came a priest that way, and when he saw the poor man he went by him on the oth-er side of the road. Then one of the tribe of Le-vi came to the place, and took a look at the poor man, and went by on the oth-er side of the road. By and by a Sa-mar-i-tan—that is, a man from Sa-ma-ri-a—came that way, and as soon as he saw the poor man on the ground his heart was moved, and he made haste to help him. The Samaritan Now the Jews did not like the Sa-mar-i-tans, and would have nought to do with them. And those to whom Je-sus spoke would not have thought it strange But this he could not do, for he had a kind heart. He went to the poor man and bound up his wounds, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day when he left he took out two pence and gave them to the host, and said to him, Take care of him; and if thou hast need to spend more than that, when I come back I will pay thee. Which now of these three dost thou think was neigh-bor to him who fell a-mong thieves? And the man of law said, He that was kind to him. Then said Je-sus, Go, and do thou like-wise; that Je-sus came to Beth-a-ny—a small place near Je-ru-sa-lem—and a wo-man, whose name was Mar-tha, asked him to come to her house. She had a sis-ter, whose name was Ma-ry, and while Mar-tha went to get things and to cook, and sweep, and dust, Ma-ry sat down at the feet of Je-sus to hear him talk. This did not please Mar-tha, who felt that she had too much work to do; so she came to Je-sus and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sis-ter hath left me to do the work a-lone? Bid her there-fore come and help me. Je-sus said to her, Mar-tha, Mar-tha, thou art full of care and vexed a-bout more things than there is need of. There is need of but one thing, and Ma-ry hath made choice of that which is good, and no one shall take it from her. He meant that Ma-ry chose to care for her soul, and to be taught how to live in this world, so that she might fit her-self for the next one. And the one thing we all need is a new heart, full of love to Je-sus and glad to do his work. One of the twelve said to Je-sus, Teach us how to pray, as John taught those who were with him. Je-sus taught them to pray thus: Sisters Our Fa-ther, who art in heav-en, Hal-low-ed be Then he said, Which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at mid-night and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves: for a friend of mine has come a long way to see me, and I have no food for him. And he who is in-side shall say, The door is now shut, and my chil-dren are with me in bed; I can-not rise and give thee. I say to you, though he will not rise and give him be-cause he is his friend, yet if he keeps on and begs hard he will rise and give him as much as he needs. And I say to you, Ask God for what you need and he will give it to you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock, and the door that is shut will o-pen for you. For, he said, if a child of yours should ask for bread, would you give him a stone? or should he ask for a fish, would you give him a snake? If ye then, who are full of sin, know how to give good gifts to your chil-dren, how much more sure is it that God will give good things to those who ask him. Je-sus chose three-score and ten more men and sent them out, two and two, in-to all the towns where he meant to come, that they might heal the sick and preach the good news. And they did as he told them, and came back full of joy at the great things they had done through the strength that he gave them. Je-sus told them that they should feel more joy that their names were set down in the Book of Life—God's book—where he keeps the names of all those who love him, and do his will on earth. The Feast of Tents was near at hand, and Je-sus said to the twelve, Go ye up to this feast, but I The Jews sought for him at the feast, and said, Where is he? And there was much talk of him. Some said, He is a good man; and some said, No, he is a fraud. But no one dared to speak well of him out loud for fear of the Jews. In the midst of the feast Je-sus went up in-to the church and taught there. And he said, Ye both know me, and ye know from whence I came. I am not come to please my-self, but to do the will of him that sent me, whom ye know not. But I know him, for I have come from him, and he hath sent me. Then they made a rush for him, but no man laid hands on him, for his hour had not yet come. God had set the time for him to die, and no one could harm him till that day and hour. As he came from the church he saw a man who had been blind from his birth. Je-sus spat on the ground and made clay of the moist earth, and spread the clay on the eyes of the blind man. Then he told him to go and wash in a pool that was near. And he went, and did as he was told, and his sight came back to him. And his friends, and those who had seen him Seeing man Some said, This is he; and some said, He is like him; but the man said, I am he. Then they said to him, How were thine eyes cured? And he said, A man, by the name of Je-sus, made clay and spread it on my eyes, and said to me, Go to the pool of Si-lo-am and wash; and I went and did so, and my sight came back to me. Then they said to him, Where is he? He said, I know not. It was on the day of rest that Je-sus made the clay, and the Phar-i-sees, when they heard of it, said, This man is not of God, for he does not keep the day of rest. And they went to the fa-ther and the mo-ther His pa-rents said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees, or who hath cured his eyes, we know not. He is of age, ask him; he shall speak for him-self. They spoke thus for fear of the Jews; for the Jews had made it known that all those who said that Je-sus was the Christ should be put out of the church. So they said, He is of age; ask him. Then the Phar-i-sees went to the man that was blind, and said to him, Give God the praise, for we know that this man is a man of sin. He said to them, What he is I know not; but this I do know, that once I was blind, but now I see. Then they said to him, What did he do to thee? How did he cure thine eyes? The man said, I have told you be-fore, and ye did not hear. Why would ye hear me say it once more? Would ye be of his band? Then they spoke harsh words to him, and said, Thou dost take sides with him, but we stand by Mo-ses. We know that God spoke to Mo-ses; but as for this fel-low, we know not who sent him. The man said, It is strange that ye know not who sent him, when he has brought sight to my blind The Phar-i-sees were full of wrath, and said to the man, Thou hast dwelt in sin from thy birth, and wilt thou try to teach us? And they drove him out of the church. Je-sus heard of it, and when he found the man he said to him, Have you faith in the son of God? He said, Who is he, Lord, that I may put my trust in him? Je-sus said, It is he that talks with thee. The man said, Lord, I know that it must be so; and he fell at the feet of Je-sus, and gave praise to him. |