Part 3

No one can tell the depth of woe and loneliness which Jesus suffered, while the load of our sins rested upon Him; but the more we understand it, the more we shall love Him, for His great love.

XX. THE LAST SUPPER

THE night before our Lord was crucified for us, He gathered His twelve disciples together, and sat down to eat the Passover Supper with them in the Upper Room.

And as they were eating, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and told them that one of them would betray Him.

Close to His side, leaning on His bosom, was the disciple whom Jesus loved; and Peter beckoned to him to ask the Lord who it was who should betray Him.

So John, leaning on Jesus' bosom, whispered, "Who is it, Lord?"

And Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I give a sop when I have dipped it."

And He gave the sop to Judas Iscariot.

And as they were eating, "Jesus 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 (covenant) in My Blood which is shed for you.'"

And from that Last Supper before His death till now, nearly two thousand years after, in one unbroken chain, week after week, those who love Christ have partaken of this Holy Feast, in remembrance of Him till He comes back again.

The Holy Supper was over. Judas had already left them to go and betray his Master to the Chief Priests, for thirty pieces of silver, and he had gone out into the darkness.

In that wonderful conversation, as Jesus talked with the disciples for the last time, He told them many things which they understood more clearly afterwards.

He told them He would not leave them comfortless, and that He was going to prepare a place for all who loved Him, in the many mansions of His Father's house.

And then they sang a hymn together—Jesus and His disciples—and after that they went into the Garden of Gethsemane, where the Easter moon was shining among the sombre trees: and there it was that Judas found Him, and betrayed Him to the multitude.

XXI. DOWN A STEEP PLACE

MARK 5.13

AFTER the Lord Jesus had stilled the great storm, and the disciples had been so amazed that even the wind and the sea obeyed Him, they landed on the other side of the Lake from that from which they had started.

And directly the Lord stepped on the shore from the boat, He performed another great miracle in the sight of the astonished disciples.

For there was a man there who lived among the tombs. He wore no clothes, and he did nothing but wander about and cry and cut himself with stones.

People had tried to bind him, but he broke the chains, and no man could tame him.

For it was Satan who had put wicked spirits to live in him, and this was what made him so miserable.

But when the poor man saw Jesus come out of the ship, he hurried to Him, and worshipped Him; and begged Him not to torment him, for he said that he knew that Jesus was the Son of the most high God!

But Jesus had said at once, "Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit!"

Then the Lord Jesus asked the man to tell him his name? And the man said it was Legion, for that many devils lived in him.

Then the devils asked Jesus not to send them far away, and begged Him to send them into the herd of swine which were feeding near on the mountain.

So Jesus gave them leave, and the wicked spirits entered into the swine; and instantly the whole herd ran violently down a steep place and were drowned in the sea.

Then the keepers of the swine hurried away to the town, to tell the people what had happened; for there were over two thousand swine buried in the sea.

But when the people came out to see for themselves, a wonderful sight met their eyes.

For there was the man, whom Jesus had healed, sitting quietly by Him, with clothes on, and in his right mind! The wicked spirits had gone out of him, and he was happy beyond expression. He only wanted to be near Jesus, and to show Him how thankful he was! And he begged Jesus to let him stay with Him always.

But Jesus answered him that He did not wish him to do that, because He wanted him to go home to his friends and to tell them what great things the Lord had done for him, and how He had had compassion on him.

So the poor man, happy now because Jesus had healed him, went back to Decapolis and told everybody he met what Jesus had done for him.

And it seems to me that this story tells its own tale to each one of us:

Jesus is the Son of God, and has all power.

Satan likes to trouble us, and make us sin; and if he can succeed in his wicked wishes, he binds us by the very sins he has made us do.

But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is much more powerful than Satan; and if we go to Him for forgiveness, He will send Satan away, and He will forgive us, and make us clean and white. For on the Cross He died to wash away our sins, if we will but look to Him and be saved!

Then we can go, ever so happily, and tell other people what He has done for us!

XXII. GOODLY PEARLS

MATTHEW 13.45

OUR Lord Jesus said: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant-man seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."

Now all of us are seeking for all sorts of things; and each one, in our different ways, desires most earnestly to find the thing we desire.

You boys want to be splendid at football, or cricket, or games at school! Or you want to be very clever at your lessons, and top of your class, and hoping to be put up higher next term.

And you strive and strive for these things, and like the merchant-man, you seek them, as he did his pearls.

And you girls—what do you think most about?

To be a girl-guide? To be top of your class? To be elected "captain" in your school? To be a clever artist, or a good musician?

And then with older people? All the world seems after fame, or riches, or pleasure, more things than I can count; and like the merchant-man, they value them very much.

But one day this merchant-man comes across a man who offers him the most beautiful pearl he has ever seen.

It is large, and so pure, so brilliant, and so rare; he takes it in his hand, and is lost in amazement.

The one who offers it to him, tells him that he will have to give up all his other pearls to buy it!

Then the merchant-man goes into his chamber, and looks earnestly at his own pearls. But the desire for the one Treasure is overwhelming—and at length he returns to his visitor, and he says, "I will give everything I possess, if you will give me this One Pearl of great Price!"

This is an allegory; but we may well ask, "What is this Pearl of great Price?"

It is—to take Jesus to be our Saviour.

To ask Him to wash away our sins; to help us to be pure, and good; to be our light in our darkest hours; to be our joy, our life, and our happiness, if we have taken Him for our own Saviour.

Years ago, when I was a little girl of twelve, I heard a sermon in which we were asked to take Jesus into our hearts, then and there.

I remember how, directly I reached home, I ran up into my room, and knelt down, and asked Him to take me.

Since then, Jesus has been all the world to me. And He has helped me through a long life to try to bring others to love Him.

A little girl was asked by the Vicar a few Sundays ago, whether she had understood what he had said?

She looked up sweetly, and answered: "You said, 'we must do all we can for Jesus Christ'!"

XXIII. THE WIDOW'S MITE

ONE day, our dear Lord was teaching in God's Temple at Jerusalem, and preaching the Gospel. He had been warning the people against the scribes who made long prayers for a show, but 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 so very good outside, and to be so wicked inside!

Jesus was sitting near the Treasury, which was a chest in which 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.

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 was another poor widow in the time of Elijah, God's Prophet.

Elijah had come a long journey, in a time of famine, and he was starving and nearly dying of thirst.

He came to Sarepta, and saw this poor widow picking up sticks outside the city, and asked her for food and water.

She told him she had only a handful of meal and a little oil, and when that was eaten she and her boy must die.

Then Elijah begged her to make a little cake for him, too; and he promised her that God would give her some more meal and oil, as long as the famine lasted.

So she believed God, and made him a cake; and the barrel of meal did not get empty, and the cruse of oil did not fail, as the Lord had said.

XXIV. SO RUN, THAT YE MAY OBTAIN

I CORINTHIANS 9.24

YOU have heard of the Olympic games which were practised in old times, hundreds and hundreds of years ago, and you may have seen pictures of the old ruins of the Colosseum at Rome, with its tiers and tiers of seats all round, so that thousands of people could witness the things that went on in the arena. Some very cruel things; but some, on the other hand, were simply men racing with all their might to receive a great prize.

These men were trained, for many months, to the highest point of perfection. They were taught how to run, looking forward to the spot where the crown was to be given them, without faltering or looking back.

The Apostle Paul described these games. He says, "They all ran, but only one could get the prize;" but he reminds us that in the Heavenly race, we may all obtain the prize!

This race that we are to run, is to try to please God in our everyday life! And he again reminds us that we must lay aside every weight (like those runners did of old) and the sin that so easily besets us, and we must run with patience the race set before us. And as the competitors did in those old days—they looked at the goal, and ran with all their might—so we must look to Jesus, who has told us to run this heavenly race, and who is waiting for us to finish it, through faith in Him.

Those runners cast aside every impediment; they were trained with the utmost care, so as to leave nothing undone which could help them.

And Jesus our Saviour, Who is looking on at all those who have undertaken His race, assures us, with most beautiful promises, that we shall surely receive the Crown of Life, which He has promised to those who obey Him.

You boys and girls in these days are all running a race of some sort!

I do not mean only your Sports' Day! That is most interesting to you all, and, doubtless, is very good for you.

But there are heaps of other races which come into your lives—your difficult lessons, your music, your drawing, your languages, and a dozen other efforts; to have a good education, and to get on in the world!

But Jesus is watching you all with the deepest interest. He says to you, that He longs to see you come to Him and join His great Race, and, like Matthew, "rise up and follow Him."

Then if you do, you have undertaken to be in the Race whose crown is Everlasting Life.

And for this race, the "looking unto Jesus" is the safety and the joy of it.

Satan loves to tempt us, and at our first failure, perhaps he says, "You will never do it; give it up!"

But Jesus our Saviour says to you, "Do not be discouraged; do not think of Satan, but think of ME. Remember, for the joy that was before ME, I endured to die on the Cross for your sakes, and I am the Author and the Finisher of your faith."

"It is I Who am standing at the goal watching, and it is I Who will give you the Crown of Righteousness that fadeth not away—'reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the power of God.'"