FRIENDS OF JESUS.
Jesus had a good and true reason for choosing just twelve men to help
Him to begin to build the first Christian Church, or the Kingdom of
Heaven on the earth. We cannot yet understand the reason for
everything He did, but quite enough to help us to believe in Him, and
to give us a place in His kingdom. He had called half that number and
soon He called six more to join them, and named them apostles.
Before He called them He went up into a mountain to be alone. He left
Capernaum and went up through a rocky vale to a high plain where the
grass lay thick and the wild flowers were coming up among it, for it
was spring-time. Two hills, or peaks rose out of this plain, and there
was a grassy hollow between. They were called the "Horns of Hattin."
From one of these hills Jesus could see the lake with its cities, and
the plain dotted with villages below, and beyond them the great Mount
Hermon crowned with snow. Here Jesus stayed all night, and the next
morning came down into the grassy dale between the peaks where the
people were gathering. The disciples went to meet Him, and He told
them that He had chosen twelve of them to be with Him in His work, and
to preach the Good Tidings to the people.
He called to His side Peter and Andrew, and James and John--the two
pairs of brothers who were His first friends; then Philip, of
Bethsaida. Bartholomen, from Cana, and Matthew, the tax-gatherer of
Capernaum, who afterward wrote the first gospel. He also chose Thomas,
of Galilee; James and Jude, two brothers from Capernaum; Simon, of
Galilee, and Judas Iscariot, who came from the country near Jerusalem.
Five of these, it is said, were His cousins. More than half of them
were fisherman, and none of them were learned men, unless Bartholomew
might be called one. How wonderful it must have been to see these
twelve earnest young men gathered around Jesus, ready to go where He
should send them, or follow Him to death. No kings or emperors on
earth ever had so great honor given them as that which Jesus gave to
these men, for they became the Lord's spiritual brothers, and princes
in His spiritual kingdom.
Then Jesus came down among the people. Some had brought sick friends
up the rocky gorge for Jesus to touch; or they had brought poor souls
possessed by devils for Him to set free, and He healed them all.
Then He sat down and taught the people. The sayings of that wonderful
day are kept in the gospels, and are called the "Sermon on the Mount."
There was no choir, no organ, no church made with hands, but the words
are now read in every Christian church in the world. The preacher sat
on a green hillock, His dark cloak thrown back showing His white tunic,
and the spring sunshine lay on His holy, beautiful face and flowing
hair. All this the people saw, but they saw much more than this. They
saw something divine in His face. His form, and the light around Him,
and what they heard seemed to them to be the words of a Divine Man. He
looked lovingly on the little group of disciples near Him, and blessed
them in beautiful words that we call the Beatitudes, or the Ten
Blessings. He said to them and to us that the "blessed" (happy) are
the good, humble, pure souls who have little of this world's wealth and
friendship, but much faith and love.
[Illustration: Sermon on the Mount]
If you will read the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew you
will know much that Jesus taught that heavenly day on Hattin Mount. He
taught them the law of love and forgiveness; the law of purity and
truth. He taught them to be humble and simple, especially in prayer,
and not like the Pharisees. He gave them a wonderful prayer that we
call "the Lord's Prayer," though it is a prayer to the Lord, for all
Christians in all ages to bring to Him. He told them that if they were
children of God they could not be worldly, loving themselves and the
world best; neither could they serve two masters. Then He taught them
a beautiful lesson of trust in the Heavenly Father by pointing to the
birds that flew above them, and reminding them how they were fed and
cared for; and also by pointing to the wild field lilies that grew near
by, their scarlet petals shining in the sun.
"Consider the lilies of the field how they grow," he said, "they toil
not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in
all his glory was not arrayed like one of these," and then He asked
them if God, who clothed the lilies, would not clothe His own children,
and told them to have no fear for the future, but to seek the Kingdom
of God first and always, and all needed things would be given to them.
Then He looked away from the birds and the lilies into the eyes of the
people and saw their need of love and truth, for he could read their
hearts. He told them that they should not judge each other, or look
long upon each other's faults, but rather upon their own, and showed
them how they might ask God for love and truth, and it would surely be
given them, because the Heavenly Father is more just, and kind, and
loving than an earthly father can be.
And here is the Golden Rule of Christ, which, if we live by it, will
bring heaven down to earth.
"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
He told them that the way of the world was wide, and many were crowding
into it, while the heavenly way was narrow in this life, and few were
finding it, though many talked much about it, and seemed to have found
it. He said that it would be shown in the day when we all appear
before God who has truly followed Him. He said that the true men were
like the wise man who built his house upon a rock, and when the winds,
the rain, and the flood came it stood fast, because it was founded on
the rock; and the false were like the foolish man who built his house
upon the sand, and when the winds, and the rain, and the floods came it
fell, and great was the fall of it.
The people went away from this great meeting among the hills to think
it over. It was so new and so wonderful, not at all like the teaching
of the scribes, for the young carpenter of Nazareth spoke like a
Teacher of teachers. Ever since that day when the Lord sat and taught
the truths of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the people stood upon the
grassy plain among the spring flowers and the wild thyme to hear his
words, the Sermon on the Mount has been known as the greatest sermon
the world has ever known.