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.
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 if this man from Sa-ma-ri-a had left the Jew to die by the
road-side.
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?
[Illustration: THE GOOD SAM-AR-I-TAN.]
And the man of law said, He that was kind to him.
Then said Je-sus, Go, and do thou like-wise; that is, to those who need
help go and do as the Sa-mar-i-tan did.
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:
Our Fa-ther, who art in heav-en, Hal-low-ed be thy name, Thy king-dom
come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heav-en, Give us this day
our dai-ly bread, and for-give us our debts as we for-give our debt-ors.
Lead us not in-to temp-ta-tion but de-liv-er us from e-vil, for thine is
the king-dom, the pow-er, and the glo-ry, both now and for-ev-er. A-men.
[Illustration: MA-RY AND MAR-THA.]
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.
[Illustration: THE SEND-ING OUT OF THE SEV-EN-TY.]
The Feast of Tents was near at hand, and Je-sus said to the twelve, Go
ye up to this feast, but I will not go now, for my time has not yet
come. So he staid in Gal-i-lee for a-while. Then he went up to
Je-ru-sa-lem, but did not make him-self known lest the Jews should kill
him.
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 when he was blind, said, Is
not this he that sat and begged?
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.
[Illustration: "ONCE I WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEE."]
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 of the man who had been blind, and said to them, Is this your
son, who ye say was born blind? How then doth he now see?
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 eyes. Since the world was made we have not
heard of a man who could give sight to one that was born blind. If this
man were not of God he could not have done this thing.
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.