Part 2

I think it was for two reasons: that He might be our perfect example in everything; and that He might show us the way to conquer Satan.

It says in the Bible Jesus was tempted in all points like we are!

One of Satan's temptations to Jesus in the wilderness was "if He was the Son of God," to make the stones into bread.

Jesus was very hungry, He had not had food for a long time; but Jesus would not do what Satan asked Him. He said to Satan, that it was written in God's word "that men were not to live by bread alone," but to please God first of all.

You will understand His wonderful answers to Satan's temptations as you get older. But you can remember this now—If Satan tells you to do wrong, tell him boldly in return, that "Jesus is your Saviour, and He died to save you."

It says in the Bible, "His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins," and if you say to Satan the one word "Jesus!" you will find that he runs away.

X. The Deep Well

Jesus was taking a long journey. He had to walk many, many miles, and at last, when He came near a large town called Samaria, He sent His disciples on in front to buy food.

He was very tired, and while He waited for them, He sat down to rest by the well which, hundreds of years before, Jacob had dug, which has been called ever since Jacob's Well.

Presently a woman from the town came with her pitcher to draw some water. As it was twelve o'clock in the day, the sun Was very hot, and the dear Lord Jesus was very thirsty.

When the woman came close to the well, He asked her to give Him some water to drink. But she was so busy with her own thoughts, that she told Him she was surprised that He should ask her for anything, as the Jews were not friendly with the people of Samaria.

Jesus did not answer that; for His loving heart knew all about her, and how she needed a Saviour to save her from her sins.

So He said to her something like this—

"If you knew what a wonderful gift God has to give you, and Who it is that has asked you to give Him drink, you would have asked Him instead, and He would have given you living water."

The woman could not understand this at all. She saw that Jesus had nothing to draw with, and she knew that Jacob's Well was very deep. What could He mean by living water?

Then Jesus told her that if any one came to Him for this living water, he would never be thirsty again, but would have everlasting life!

The woman began to think that it would be very nice not to be thirsty any more, so she asked Jesus to give her this water; but she did not know that she was talking to the Son of God, Who gives the Holy Spirit; she only thought of her many hot journeys to and from the well.

And now the Lord has to show her that it is something much better than real water that He wants her to have. He explains to her that she is a sinner, and He tells her so much about her past life, which she thought nobody knew, that she begins to guess that Jesus must be the Christ whom the Jews were expecting to come into the world.

Then Jesus said, "I, that speak unto thee, am He."

The woman was so surprised, and so glad, that she left her waterpot and ran back to the town to tell her neighbours all about her wonderful Saviour.

So numbers of them came out to find Jesus, and many believed on Him, not only because the woman had said that Jesus had told her all that ever she did, but because they heard from His own loving lips the words which brought them everlasting life.

XI. "Suffer Little Children to come unto Me"

A number of people are pressing round the dear Lord Jesus!

The mothers have heard how kind He is, and how He is doing good to everybody who comes to Him, and they are anxious that their little ones shall be blessed too.

So they take their babes in their arms, and their toddling children by the hand, and lead them to where they know the Lord Jesus is.

When the little ones see His loving face, they are not a bit afraid. They run to Him, sure that He will not refuse them, and when they come to Him, Jesus takes them up in His arms, puts His hands upon them, and blesses them.

The men who are following the dear Lord Jesus, think that the little children will be a trouble to Him, so they tell the mothers to take the little ones away; but we read that Jesus was much displeased, and said, "Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Yes, Jesus said, when He was here walking about in our world, "Let the children come unto Me, and do not forbid them"; and now He is gone to be with His Father in heaven, He says just the same to all of you little ones. "Come to Me!" He says every day.

He is here in spirit, just as much as He was then, and He wants you to love Him with all your loving little hearts.

He loves you so much that He cares about everything that happens to you. He cares whether you are happy, He is sorry if you are naughty, and He is glad when you are good. He loves to have you do anything to please Him, and His dear eyes see you all day long, and He will help you to please Him if you ask Him.

Besides all this, the Lord Jesus has died on the cross, to bear the punishment of your sins, instead of you.

Should you not think it very kind if a little brother were to offer to be punished instead of the one who had done wrong?

That is what Jesus did. He took upon Himself the sin of the whole world, that whoever trusts Him and comes to Him, may be forgiven, and may go at last to live with Him, and with God our Heavenly Father, in that bright and beautiful home which He is getting ready for all who love Him.

Perhaps you ask, "Why does Jesus want you to come to Him?"

When you have been naughty and are sorry, why does mother hold out her loving arms to you?

Is it not that you may run into there and be forgiven and comforted? Is it not because she loves you?

Does she not wipe away your tears, and tell you that she will not think of your fault any more?

Does she not take you with her about the house, or in the garden, and show you by her manner how glad she is that you have come to her for forgiveness, and that you are going to try to do better?

Well, that is just a little bit like the love of Jesus.

He wishes you to come to Him, that you may have happiness and joy.

He wants you to live with Him all day long, and walk about by His side; to go to Him in every trouble; to ask His help in anything difficult.

You cannot see Him yet, but He is close to you all the time, and He can see you and hear you in an instant when you speak to Him.

By and by He will give you endless pleasures at His right hand for evermore.

"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child; Pity my simplicity, Suffer me to come to Thee.

"Fain I would to Thee be brought, Blessed Lord, forbid it not: In the kingdom of Thy grace Give a little child a place."

XII. "Follow Me"

Soon after Jesus had chosen Peter and James and John as His disciples, He was walking near the lake of Gennesaret when He saw Matthew sitting at the place where the people had to pay taxes.

For Matthew was not a fisherman, like the others, but was a taxgatherer employed by the Romans to collect money from the Jews.

These taxgatherers were very much disliked, as they often took more money than they ought, and kept it for themselves, so that the Jews hated them and dreaded to see them coming.

But the Lord Jesus chooses disciples from all sorts of people. He does not wait till we are good, to call us to follow Him; but He says to us, just where we are, at school, at work, at play, in the street, in the home, in the shop, "Follow Me."

And these words mean, "Keep close to Me, where you can see Me and speak to Me. And if you keep close to Me, by and by when I lead the way into My glory in Heaven, you, if you are following Me, shall come with Me and share all I have."

So Jesus called Matthew the publican; and Matthew heard His call, and rose up, and left all and came after Jesus.

Dear children, if we hear Jesus calling us, let us leave behind anything that would displease Him, and tell Him we are ready to follow Him wherever He may lead.

XIII. Lazarus

Not so very long after the supper where Martha had served, her brother Lazarus fell sick and died.

We are told that "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus," and yet He let him die!

Ah, how often have those whom Jesus loves, to trust Him through the very hardest thing that could happen to them!

Jesus was not there when Lazarus fell ill, and though they sent to Him to tell Him, He did not go to them at once, but stayed where He was for two more days. In the meantime Lazarus died, and was buried.

At length Jesus told His disciples that He would go to Bethany.

When they got near to where Lazarus lived, Martha heard that Jesus was coming, and hurried out to meet Him with the words, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you."

Then Jesus told her that Lazarus would rise again; and Martha showed her faith in answering that she knew he would rise at the last day. And again Jesus questioned her with these wonderful resurrection words, "Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?"

And Martha gave one of the most wonderful answers that we read in the Bible: "Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world."

Blessed Martha! She had found the one thing needful!

So by and by they come to Bethany, and Jesus sent for Mary to come from the house of mourning to Him.

And Mary's first words were the same as Martha's, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died."

Oh, the compassion of Jesus! He knew that soon their sorrow would be turned into joy, but when He saw them all weeping. He was very troubled, and wept too.

And so they come to the grave; and Jesus told them to take away the stone. The Martha reminded Him that Lazarus had been dead four days.

But Jesus answered her, "Did I not say to you, that, if you would believe, you should see the glory of God?"

And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me . . . that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me."

And then He called with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" And the dead man came forth, bound with graveclothes and Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."

Oh, how happy those sisters were! Did not Martha, indeed, see the glory of God, as Jesus had said?

XIV. The Widow's Mite

One day, very shortly before our dear Lord was crucified, He was teaching in God's Temple at Jerusalem and preaching the gospel.

He had been warning the people against the scribes, who loved to seem very good and to be thought well of, who chose the highest seats in the synagogues and the chief rooms at feasts, who made long prayers for a show, and who oppressed poor widows and took away their houses.

The Lord looked straight into people's hearts, and He could not bear for the scribes to seem very good outside and to be very wicked inside!

Jesus was sitting near the treasury, which was the chest or receptacle in which the people put their offerings of money for God's service.

After He had been speaking about those scribes that oppressed the widows, He raised His eyes and saw the people casting their gifts into the treasury; and many that were rich cast in much.

[Illustration: JUST THEN A POOR WIDOW DREW NEAR.]

And just then a poor widow drew near, and she put in two mites, which make a farthing.

Jesus saw it all! He could see into her empty pocket; He knew all about it!

Then He called His disciples to Him and said to them, "This poor widow has cast more in than all the others who have cast into the treasury: for they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living!"

There is another widow we read of, who gave all her living to God! The account is in 1 Kings xvii. God sent the prophet Elijah to her in a time of famine. When he got to where the widow lived, he found her gathering a few sticks to make a fire to bake the last bit of bread that she had!

So Elijah called to her to fetch him a little water. He was nearly dying of thirst, and as she ran to fetch it, he begged her also to bring him a morsel of bread too.

But she told him that she only had a tiny bit of meal left in the barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, and this she was going to make into a little cake for her and her son, and when they had eaten that, she said, they must die!

But Elijah said some words like these to her: "Fear not . . . make me a little cake first, and bring it to me . . . for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, You shall always find a little meal in the barrel, and a little oil in the cruse as long as the famine lasts!"

And she believed God's promise, and went and did as Elijah had said; and she and Elijah and her son had enough to eat for many days.

XV. "Do this in Remembrance of Me"

Very soon after this, just before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that the hour had come that He was to die, and to go back to His Father, He wished to do one last act of love to His disciples, because "He loved them to the uttermost."

And supper being ended, Jesus rose up and taking a towel He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of His disciples.

This astonished them very much, and when it came to Peter's turn, he said, "Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?"

Then Jesus said to him something like this, "You cannot understand what I am doing now, Peter, but you shall understand by and by."

But Peter said to Jesus, "Thou shalt never wash my feet!"

And Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, Peter, you have no part with Me."

So Peter at last let Jesus wash his feet; but he asked Him to wash his hands too, and his head. I think he meant that he wanted to be made wholly clean!

Jesus is our perfect example, and though He was their Lord and Master, He did for them what was the office of the servants in the East, that they might hereafter remember that there is no act, however lowly, that they should be unwilling to perform for one of His disciples.

This loving example has helped thousands of the followers of Jesus to go into prisons and hospitals; or to minister to the sick in crowded, wretched rooms, where dirt and misery abound; that they may brighten and cleanse them, and bring a little, to the poor suffering inmates, of that love of Jesus which loves to the uttermost, and "is able to save to the uttermost, those that come unto God by Him."

* * * * * * *

And now the hour for the Passover Feast had come, and Jesus sat down, the twelve apostles with Him, and He told them that with a great desire He had longed to eat that Passover with them before He suffered.

Dear children, you have often heard of the Communion of the Lord's Supper, and some of you may have been with your parents, and may have seen it.

But now I am going to tell you about the first time the Lord's Supper was held.

Ever since that time for nearly nineteen hundred years, the people who love the Lord Jesus have met together "to remember Him" as He told them; and those who love Him are told to do this, till He comes back again to take us to His heavenly home.

So that night "in which He was betrayed" this was how our dear Lord gave us this last command.

"And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, 'This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me.'

"Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the New Testament in My blood which is shed for you.'

"And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives."

And Jesus said to them, "All ye shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, 'I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered!'"

But in His great forgiving love, though Jesus knew they would all forsake Him, He gave them the promise, that when He was risen from the dead He would go before them to Galilee, and there they should see Him again.

[Illustration: THE CITY ON A HILL.]

XVI. The Lame Man Leaping

Acts iii. 8

One day, very soon after the Holy Spirit had been sent down to give power to the disciples, Peter and John, as their custom was, went up into the Temple to pray.

It was what was called the ninth hour, our three o'clock in the afternoon, and was "the hour of prayer" in Jerusalem.

Peter and John climbed up the many steps that led to the Temple, and reached the gate called the Beautiful Gate.

Some one else had come up those many steps, too; but he had not walked. He had been lame all his life, and daily his friends carried him up that long way, to lay him in the Beautiful Gate.

What do you think they took all that trouble for? It was that the poor lame man might ask for money of the passersby who went up to pray.

He had no means of providing for himself, and, like many other sick and helpless people, he lay there hour after hour, holding out his hand to receive the coins which the pity of the passersby made them give him.

As he saw Peter and John about to go into the Temple, he begged them to have pity on him in his poverty.

Then Peter, knowing that within him rested the great power of God, said to the lame man, "Look on us!"

The poor man eagerly obeyed, thinking they were not going to pass on without showing him some kindness.

He was quite right. Peter at once said: "I have not any silver or gold! But what I have, I will give you! In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones were given strength, and the man, who had been a cripple for more than forty years, walked and leapt, and went with Peter and John into the Temple, walking and leaping and praising God!

Then all the people, who knew all about this lame man for so many years, were filled with amazement at what had happened to him. For the lame man held Peter and John, and all the people ran together into Solomon's Porch to see the wonderful sight. But Peter told them, at once, that it was not by their own power that they had made this man well, but because God had glorified His Son Jesus, and that it was through faith in His Name that he had been given this perfect soundness.

And then he told these wondering, amazed Jews, that it was their God, "the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob," who had sent Jesus to earth to bless them, and to turn away every one of them from their sins.

And that blessed Name of Jesus has the same power now to help and save all who look to Him. Forgiveness, strength, comfort, and help can belong to those who will trust Him!

XVII. Gethsemane

Many, many hundreds of years ago, the Easter full moon was shining down in all its beauty on a garden near Jerusalem.

This garden was called Gethsemane and I should think that every one who loves the Lord Jesus, and who knows about His great agony in that garden, must love the very name of the place, and remember with very tender feelings all He bore for our sakes.

Every Easter now, when the moon shines so sweetly, we can recall that night on which our dear Lord was betrayed, and we can ask Him to help us to watch and pray that we may not enter into temptation.

He had just eaten the Passover Supper with His disciples; He had told them and us, to "do this, as oft as ye take it, in remembrance of ME," and then, after they had sung a hymn, or psalm, they went down the steep path from one of the gates leading out of Jerusalem, to go to the Mount of Olives.

Just at the bottom of the valley there lay the Garden of Gethsemane; and the Lord Jesus, who knew all that was going to happen to Him the next day,—how He would be mocked and beaten and crucified—wanted to pray to His Heavenly Father before He was betrayed into the hands of the Jews.

So He turned into the garden beneath the olive trees, telling some of His disciples to wait outside, but taking Peter and James and John into the garden with Him.

He was very, very sorrowful, so He bade them wait near Him and watch. Then He went a little further on, and fell on the ground and prayed to His Father that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from Him.