THE WOMAN AT THE WELL--JESUS BY THE SEA.
ONE day Je-sus and his friends came to the town of Sy-char, near which
was a well to which all the folks came to draw wa-ter. It was known as
Ja-cob's Well. The sun was hot, and Je-sus, tired with his long walk,
sat down by this well to rest, while his friends went to the town to buy
food.
A wo-man came from the town to draw wa-ter. She led a life of sin, and
had no love for God in her heart. And Je-sus knew this, for he sees all
our hearts, and knows all our thoughts, and all that we have done.
And he spoke to the wo-man, and told her of the things she had done that
did not please God. And she thought he was a seer, to whom God told
things that were not known to most folks. And she said to Je-sus, I know
that Christ is to come in-to the world, and when he comes he will tell
us all things. Je-sus said to her, I that speak to thee am he.
[Illustration: THE WO-MAN AT THE WELL.]
Then the wo-man left her jar, and made haste back to the town, and said
to her friends there, Come and see a man who told me all the things that
ever I did. Is not this the Christ?
And they went out and saw Je-sus, and bade him come in-to the town. And
he went with them, and was there for three days. And they gave ear to
the things he taught them. And they said to the wo-man, Now we have
faith in him, not be-cause of the things thou didst tell us, but
be-cause we have heard him our-selves, and know that he is the Christ
whom God has sent down to us.
From there he went once more to the town of Ca-na. And a rich man came
from the town where he dwelt to ask Je-sus to come and heal his son, who
was sick. And the rich man said to him, Come as quick as you can, lest
my child should die.
Je-sus said to him, Go thy way, thy son is made well.
The rich man knew that Je-sus would not say what was not true, and with
a glad heart went back to his home. And as he drew near the house his
slaves ran out to meet him, and said to him, Thy son is well.
The rich man bade them tell him what time the change took place, and
they told the hour that the fe-ver left the lad. And it was the same
hour that Je-sus had said to the rich man, Thy son is well. And he and
all those in his house felt in their hearts that Je-sus was the son of
God.
The Jews did not yet know how to print, and they had no books such as
we have. They wrote with pen and ink on rolls of parch-ment, made from
the skin of sheep and goats.
These rolls were kept in the house of God, in a box or chest called an
ark, and were brought out and read to those who came to the church on
the Lord's day. The chief rolls, all the books of the Old Tes-ta-ment,
were kept at Je-ru-sa-lem, but as all the Jews could not get there more
than once a year, they had made rolls for their own use in each house of
God.
[Illustration: CYL-IN-DER HOLD-ING THE PENT-A-TEUCH.]
Je-sus came to Naz-a-reth where he had been brought up, and went in-to
the church on the Lord's day and stood up to read. And he read from one
of the old books where it was fore-told that one should come to bring
good news to the poor, to cheer the sad, to give sight to the blind, and
to heal the sick. Then he closed the roll and sat down. And the eyes of
all in the church were on him. He said to them that all these words had
come true, and that he was the Son of God, of whom the proph-et wrote.
And they said, Is not this Jo-seph's son? How then can he claim to be
the Son of God? And they were wroth with him, and led him out to a steep
hill on which their town was built, that they might cast him down and
kill him. But Je-sus got a-way from them, and they could do him no harm.
[Illustration: TWO PA-GES of THE SAM-AR-I-TAN PENT-A-TEUCH.]
He went on to Ca-per-na-um, and great crowds came there to hear him,
and pushed so that there was scarce room for him to stand on the
sea-shore. And he saw two boats close at hand, out of which the men had
gone to mend their nets. And he went in one of the boats, which was
Pe-ter's and told him to push it out from the land. And he sat down, and
taught the crowd out of the boat.
When he left off, he said to Pe-ter and An-drew, Sail out where the sea
is deep, and let down your nets to catch fish.
Pe-ter said, Mas-ter, we have been hard at work all the night, and not a
fish have we caught; but, since thou dost bid me, I will let down the
net.
When they had done this, they caught such a large haul of fish that the
net broke. Then they called to their friends in the boat by the shore,
and bade them come to their aid. And they came, and there was more fish
than the two boats could hold.
When Pe-ter saw this he fell down at the feet of Je-sus, and said, I
fear thee, for I am full of sin, O Lord. And those with him were
spell-bound at sight of the fish they had caught.
Je-sus did this great won-der so that these men might see it and know
that he was the Son of God; for they were to aid him in his work, and to
go with him from place to place.
Je-sus said to Pe-ter, Fear not; from this time forth thou shalt catch
men and not fish. He meant by this that Pe-ter was to preach, and to
save men from sin, and from the nets that Sa-tan spreads. And he said to
them all, Come with me. And they left their boats and their nets, and
all that they had, and were with Je-sus till the end of his life on
earth.
[Illustration: THE WON-DER-FUL DRAUGHT OF FISH-ES.]
On the Day of Rest, Je-sus went in-to the church and taught the folks
there. And in their midst was a man who was not in his right mind, and
it was as if he were torn by fiends, and he cried out to Je-sus, Let us
a-lone. What have we to do with thee, thou Je-sus of Naz-a-reth? Art
thou come to kill us? I know thee, that thou art the Son of God. Je-sus
said to the fiends that were in the man, Be still, and come out of him.
Then the fiends threw the man down, and cried with a loud voice, and
came out of him. And all those in the church were struck with awe, and
they said a-mong them-selves, What does this mean? for he speaks to the
fiends so that they are forced to do his will!
When they came out of the church Je-sus went to the house where Pe-ter
and An-drew dwelt. And James and John were there. And Pe-ter's wife's
mo-ther was sick of a fe-ver, and they told Je-sus of it and begged that
he would heal her.
Je-sus took her by the hand, and bade the fe-ver come out of her. And
she was made well at once, and rose from her bed, and took charge of her
house.
At the close of the day, when the sun had set, great crowds came to the
house where Je-sus was, and brought those who were sick, and those who
were not in their right minds, that he might cure them. And he made the
sick well, and drove out the fiends, and would not let them speak.
The next day Je-sus rose ere it was light and went out to a lone place
to pray to God.
[Illustration: PE-TER'S WIFE'S MO-THER.]
For though he was the Son of God, he had come to the earth in the form
of a man, and had all the wants that man has. He had need of food and
drink, and felt pain and grief just as we do. He had need of man's help
in his work; and had need of God's help all the time. And he knelt to
God, just as he wants us to do, and asked God to be near him and to give
him more strength, and to help him to do his will.
When Je-sus had gone, crowds came up to the house to seek him. And
Pe-ter, and the three that were with him, went out to look for Je-sus.
And when they found him they told him of the great crowd that sought
him.
Je-sus said, Let us go to the next towns, that I may tell the good news
there; for I was not sent to stay in one place.
And he taught all through Gal-i-lee, and his fame spread, and great
crowds went to hear him.