Part 4

However, as soon as the time of the Passover drew near, He went up to Jerusalem, and then to Martha's house, where Lazarus was; and Simon, who had been a leper, made a supper for Him, and Martha waited on Him; but Lazarus sat at the table. Then Mary took a pound of very sweet-scented ointment, that cost a great deal of money, and she put it on the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair, and the scent went all over the house.

Now Jesus had one bad man among His apostles. His name was Judas. He kept the bag in which Our Lord and the disciples put their money, and he used to steal from it. He was vexed when he saw Mary use the sweet ointment; he could have sold it, he thought, and stolen the money if she had given it to Our Lord, and not used it, so he said, "That is a waste, the ointment could have been sold for a great deal and the money given to the poor." But Jesus said, "Let her alone; the poor you have always with you, but Me ye have not always. She has done it for My burial."

There were a great many Jews at this feast, they came to see Lazarus who was raised from the dead, as well as Jesus; and many of them believed in the Lord.

The priests then thought that they had better kill Lazarus as well as Our Lord, and that very night Judas came to them, and offered to help them take Jesus if they would pay him for it. And they gave him some silver money for doing it--as much as four of our sovereigns--just as much as people paid for a slave.

Now the next day, when the people who had gone up to Jerusalem for the feast, heard that Our Lord was coming, they went out to meet Him, with branches of palm-trees in their hands, crying, "Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord." Jesus had sent for a young ass and was riding on it, and the people, to show how they loved him, and that they would have Him for their King, spread their garments on the ground for the ass to tread on.

And when Our Lord was come near the city, and saw it, He wept over it; He was very sorry that it was so wicked, and He knew that God would destroy it.

They went on into Jerusalem, and the people wondered, and said "Who is this?" And the crowd answered, "Jesus of Nazareth!"

Then, Our Lord went into the Temple, and found there the tables of money and the oxen and sheep as He had before, and He drove them out again. The children, with palms in their hands, had followed Him into the Temple, and sang, with their sweet voices "Hosanna (that is, praise) to the Son of David;" and when the priests heard them they were angry, and said, "Do You hear what these children say?" And Our Lord said, "Yes; have you never heard that out of the mouth of babes and little infants God has perfect praise?"

Then Jesus left them and went back to Martha's house, where He slept.

For five days more, Our Lord came every morning to Jerusalem, and went back in the evening to the house of Lazarus to sleep. And He taught His apostles many things, and talked with the Pharisees and priests in the Temple. One day, when His disciples showed Him what a grand place the Temple was, He told them that not one stone would be left on another. And He said that one day He would come again to judge the world.

One day, He saw a very poor woman--she was a widow--drop two mites--that is, less than a farthing--into the box that was placed for men to give money to the Temple. And Jesus said to His disciples, "This poor widow has cast in more than they all, for the rich men could spare all they gave, but she has given to God all the living she had."

You see, God does not mind how small the gift is that we offer to Him, if it is all we can do; He loves the gift of the poor.

One day some of the wicked people who wanted to find fault with Him, came and asked Our Lord if it was right to pay the tax to the Romans. Jesus said, "Show me a penny;" and when they brought it He said, "Whose likeness is on it and what name?" They said, "Cæsar's." Then said Jesus, "Give to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's."

It was of no use to teach these men; they would not believe though they heard how wisely Jesus spoke and saw the wonderful works He did. Some of the chief rulers believed on Him, but they were afraid of the Pharisees and would not say that they did; for the Bible tells us they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

It was on one of the first days of this week, that some Greeks came to the Apostle Philip and said, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip told Andrew, and they went together to tell Our Lord. Jesus said that the hour was come that He should be glorified, and He spoke to the Greeks, and told them that if any man served Him, God would honour him; and ended His words by saying, "Father, glorify Thy Name," and there came a voice from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." Some of the people who stood by said that it thundered; but others--perhaps the Greeks, who were nearer--said that an angel spoke to Him. Our Lord told them that the voice came not for Him but for their sakes. It was meant to make them believe in Jesus, and these good Greeks must have gone away sure now that He was indeed the expected Christ.

Now, Our Lord had told the apostles to get Him a room in which He would eat the Passover with them, and, when they were there, Our Lord took a towel and poured some water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet, and wipe them with the towel. But, when He came to Peter, Peter said, "Lord, Thou shalt not wash my feet."

He thought it was not fit that Our Lord should do as a servant would.

But Jesus said, "If I do not wash you, you have no part in Me." Then Peter let Him do it. Why did Our Lord wash His apostles' feet? To show us that we must not be too proud to do anything for one another.

Then Our Lord sat down to supper, and He was troubled, and said, "One of you will give Me up to the priests." And the disciples looked at one another and wondered which of them would be so wicked. Peter made signs to John, who was close to Our Lord, to ask Him; and John did. And Jesus said, "The one to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it." And He dipped a piece of bread in some sauce and gave it to Judas, and said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." Then, Judas, who knew what Our Lord meant, went out; but the others did not know; they thought Our Lord sent him to give something to the poor.

We shall not tell you all Our Lord did and said at this Last Supper; it would be too hard for you to understand; but we will tell you that He grew sad and told His apostles that they would all leave Him that night. Peter said, "Lord, I will go with Thee to prison or to death." Our Lord answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows you will three times say you do not know Me."

When the supper was ended and they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives; and on the way the Lord talked to them, and told them to love one another.

Now, on that Mount, there was a garden called Gethsemane; Our Lord went into it, and with Him He took Peter and James and John, and told them to watch while He prayed. They were tired, and only kept awake a little while; but they heard Our Lord pray. He was very sorrowful, for He knew He must die, and He was sad because men were so wicked; but He said to God, "Not My will, but Thine be done;" and His Father sent an angel from Heaven to comfort Him. Twice Jesus went to His apostles and found them asleep. It must have seemed very unkind of them; but Our Lord was not angry. He said they could not help it, they were so tired. But the third time He came to them He told them to rise, for Judas was coming with the priests to take Him.

And just then the priests came with soldiers and lamps, for it was night, and Judas was with them. He said, "I will show you which is Jesus; I will kiss Him." So he went up to Our Lord, and said, "Hail, Master," and kissed Him. Jesus said, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss." Then He said to the soldiers, "Whom seek ye?" They said, "Jesus of Nazareth." Our Lord said, "I am He," and they fell on their faces before Him; they felt how great He was. But they soon got up, and when Our Lord said again, "Whom seek ye?" and they answered, "Jesus," He said, "I am He; but let My disciples go." Now Peter had a sword, and he was so angry that he drew it and cut off the ear of one of the high priest's servants.

But Our Lord told him to put up his sword, and touched the ear of the wounded man and made it well at once. Was not Jesus good and kind to heal the man who came to take Him? Then all His disciples forsook Him and fled; and the soldiers led Him to the High Priest's house, where all the wicked priests and scribes were sitting up waiting for Him. John and Peter were soon sorry that they had left Our Lord, and went after Jesus. John had a friend in the High Priest's house who let him go in; and then John went and brought Peter in. The priests were very cruel to Our Lord; they told falsehoods about Him. But when they asked Him if He was the Christ, and He said, "I am, and you will see Me one day sitting on the right hand of God, and coming in the clouds with the Holy Angels," they were so angry that they tore their clothes, and said, "He ought to die." And then they began to ill-treat Our Lord, and threw a cloth over His face and beat Him with the palms of their hands, and said, "Tell us who struck You!"

Now Peter sat in the part of the great hall that was lower down than that where Our Lord was, and he warmed himself by the fire; and a maid came up, and said to him, "You are one of the men who were with Jesus;" but he said, "I do not know Him." Then another servant said to him, "You are one of His disciples;" but Peter said, "Man, I am not." An hour went by, and then another said, "This fellow was with Jesus." And Peter said he was not, and began to use bad words. Just then the cock crowed; and Our Lord turned and looked at Peter. It must have been such a sad look! and it reminded him of what Our Lord had said, "Before the cock crow thou shalt deny Me three times." And he was so much ashamed and so very sorry that he went out and wept bitterly.

Now, when Judas saw that Our Lord would be put to death, he repented, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests, and said, "I have sinned, for I have given up to you an innocent man." The wicked priests answered, "What is that to us? See thou to that." And Judas cast down the pieces of silver and went and hanged himself. Very bad men sometimes cannot bear to live, when they feel how wicked they have been; but it only adds to their sins to kill themselves; for God has said men may not do so.

When daylight came, the great crowd of the priests and scribes and their friends led Our Lord from the High Priest's house to that of Pilate, the Roman governor, to have Him judged; for the Romans did not allow the Jews to put any one to death. Pilate was in his hall where he judged people. He came out and asked, "What has this Man done?" "He teaches men wrong," said they; "He tells them not to pay the tax to Cæsar, and says that He is Christ, a King." Then, Pilate went back to the judgment hall and had Christ brought before him, and said, "Are You a King?" Our Lord told him that He was; but not a king of this world; His Kingdom was a heavenly one. Then Pilate went out to the people, and said, "I find no fault in this man." But they were more angry, and cried, "He teaches the people wrongly, from Galilee to this place." When Pilate found that Jesus came from Galilee, he sent Him to Herod to be judged, for Herod was ruler over that part of the land. And when Herod saw Our Lord, he was glad, for he hoped to see some miracle done by Him; and he questioned Jesus with many words; but the Lord would not even speak to the cruel man who had killed John the Baptist. Then Herod grew angry, and he and his soldiers mocked the Lord, and put on Him a purple robe such as kings wear, and sent Him back to Pilate. The priests and scribes then said all manner of false things about Jesus; but He did not speak or answer at all. Then Pilate's wife sent to tell him not to have anything to do with that just man, as she had had a terrible dream about Him. And again Pilate tried to save Him. The Romans set free any prisoner that the Jews asked for at the Passover; so Pilate said to them, "I will have Jesus beaten and then set Him free." But the priests told the people to say, "No; set Barabbas free." Now, Barabbas was a robber.

Then Pilate said, "What, then, shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" and they said, "Crucify Him!"--that is, "Nail Him to a cross." But Pilate still tried to save Jesus; he told his soldiers to beat Our Lord with great knotted ropes; and then the men made a crown of sharp thorns and pressed it on His head, so that the blood ran down; and they put a reed in His hand, and the purple robe on again, and cried, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and kneeled down to Him, mocking Him. Pilate, thinking that the cruel Jews would be quiet and let Him go if they saw Him thus, took Him out, and said to them, "Behold the Man!" But they only cried more and more, "Crucify Him!" Pilate said, "Take ye Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him." They answered, "We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He says He is the Son of God."

When Pilate heard that, he was much afraid; he took Our Lord back into the hall, and asked Him, "Whence do you come?" But Jesus did not answer him. Pilate said, "Why do you not answer me? Do you not know that I can crucify you, or let you go free?" But Jesus said that Pilate's power was given from above, and that the Jews had the greater sin. Then Pilate tried very hard to save the Lord, but the Jews cried out again, "If you let this Man go, you are not Cæsar's friend."

And Pilate was much afraid of Cæsar, who was a cruel man. Then the Jews began to make a great disturbance; but Pilate took water, and washed his hands before them, and said, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Man; see ye to it." Was this true? No. Pilate ought to have rather died himself than let a good man be killed. But fear often makes men wicked. Be ashamed to be a coward.

Then the soldiers took the robe off Christ, and put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. At first they made Him carry the great cross on which He was to be nailed; but He fainted under the weight and fell, and then they made a man they met carry it for Him.

They nailed the dear Lord's hands and feet to the cross; but first they wanted Him to drink some wine and myrrh that He might not feel the pain so much, but He would not drink it. Now, the mother of Jesus stood by the cross with his favourite apostle, John. How sad it was for her to see her dear Son in such pain! But Jesus still thought of her. He looked at John, and said, "Woman, behold thy son;" and to John He said, "Behold thy mother;" and from that hour John was a good son to the mother of his Lord.

Then Our Lord prayed to God for the cruel Jews. He said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do"--that is, they did not know that He was God's Son. There were two thieves crucified with Christ, one on each side. One of them was wicked; the other was sorry for his sin, and asked Jesus to forgive him. The Lord told him, "To-day you shall be with Me in Paradise"--the happy place, you know. Then a great darkness came on like night, and there was a hush--the cruel Jews had been mocking Our Lord; now, they were frightened. The darkness lasted for three hours; then light came back. Our Lord said, "I thirst." And the soldiers dipped a sponge in vinegar, and put it on a reed and held it to His lips. When He had tasted it, He said, "It is finished!" and bowed His head and died. Then the earth and the city shook, and the Roman Captain, close by, said, "This Man really was the Son of God."

The Jews asked Pilate to take Our Lord and the others down from the crosses, because the next day was their Sabbath. So he sent to see if they were dead. Jesus was, but, to make sure, one of the soldiers stabbed His side with a spear. The thieves were not dead; so their legs were broken, that when taken down they might not get away, and die sooner.

Then a rich man, named Joseph, begged Pilate to let him bury Our Lord, and Pilate said he might. So Joseph, and Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, wrapped Him in white linen and put Him in a grave that Joseph had made for himself in a garden, and a great stone was put for a door to it. The Jews begged Pilate to set a guard upon the tomb for fear the disciples should take the Lord away; for they remembered that He had said He would rise again. So Pilate sent a great many soldiers to watch. But at day-dawn an angel of the Lord came down from Heaven: his face was bright as the lightning, and his robe as white as snow; and the earth shook very much as he came down. He rolled away the stone that shut the tomb, and sat on it. The guards were nearly dead with fear, and made haste away.

Now, the women who loved the Lord were coming to put sweet spices on Him, even while it was dark. But when they came, they saw that the stone was rolled away, and that the grave was empty; so Mary Magdalene ran off at once to tell Peter and John of it. The other women went and looked into the tomb, and there they saw two bright angels, and they were afraid. But the angels said, "Do not be afraid. We know you are looking for Jesus; He is not here; He is risen. Go and tell Peter and the disciples that He is risen." And they made haste to take the message.

And while they were going, some of the watch came into the city and told the chief priests all that had been done; how an angel had come down and rolled away the stone from the tomb. The priests were afraid, and called the elders together to ask their advice; it was that they should give a great deal of money to the soldiers and tell them to say that the disciples came in the night, and stole Our Lord's body away while they were asleep, and this wicked thing they did. They paid the Roman soldiers to tell a falsehood, and said that they would take care that Pilate should not punish them for sleeping on their watch; for which they might be put to death.

Then Peter and John came with Mary Magdalene, and looked into the tomb, but it was empty--only the linen lay folded up on one spot. They were very much surprised, but by-and-by they went home. Mary did not; she stood crying by the tomb. Then she looked into the grave, and she also saw the two angels. They said to her, "Why do you weep?" She said, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." She turned back as she spoke, and Jesus stood close by her, but she did not know Him. He said, "Why do you weep?" Mary was crying so much she could not see His face, and she thought He was the gardener, so she said, "Sir, if you have taken my Lord away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." Jesus said, "Mary!" When she heard His voice and her name, she knew who He was, and kneeled down to Him. He told her to go and tell "His brothers"--the disciples--that He had come out of the grave and would soon go up to Heaven.

Then the Lord Jesus went and spoke to Peter, because the kind Saviour knew how sad he was.

Two disciples that day were walking to a place eight miles from Jerusalem. They were very sad, talking about Our Lord, when He came up and walked with them; but He did not let them know who He was. He asked them why they were sad, and they told Him it was because Jesus was dead. Then He made them understand that Jesus died that they might go to Heaven, and they were quite glad of what He said. They begged Him to go in with them to supper, and He went in; and when He took bread and blessed it they knew Him at once. But He passed away, they could not tell how, so they made haste to go back to Jerusalem to tell the Apostles. They found them all, except Thomas, in one room, with the doors shut, but before they could tell their tale, the men said, "Our Lord has risen from the dead, and has been seen by Peter." Then the two told how He had walked with them; and while they spoke Jesus stood in the midst of them, and said, "Peace be to you;" and He showed them the holes of the nails in His hands and feet. Then they knew that it was the Lord. They told Thomas of it, but he was so sad he could not believe them. "You must make a mistake," he said; "I will not believe Our Lord is alive again unless I can put my hand in His side, where the spear went in, and my fingers in the holes of the nails."

The next first day of the week--Sunday--they were all in the room, Thomas too, when Our Lord came into the midst of them, and said to Thomas, "Put out your hand and feel my side, and put your fingers in the nail-holes." Then Thomas kneeled down and said, "My Lord and my God." Jesus said, "Thomas, because you have seen Me you believe; blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed."

Our Lord stayed forty days on earth, and often came and talked to His disciples; once He came to five hundred all in one place. But some of the apostles went back to their boats. There were together Peter, James and John, Thomas, Nathanael, and two other disciples. They went out to fish; but all night they did not catch one, and when day broke Jesus stood on the shore. They did not know Him, and He asked if they had any fish. They said, "No;" and then He told them to cast their net on the right side of the ship. They did so, and now the net nearly broke with the weight of the fish. Then John said, "It is the Lord," and Peter at once swam ashore to Jesus. The others came in the boat dragging the net full of fish. And when they came to the shore they saw a fire of coals and fish laid on it, and bread. And Jesus told them to bring some of their own fish; there were a hundred and fifty great ones in the net, but it did not break. Then Jesus said, "Come and dine;" and He gave them fish and bread. When they had dined, the Lord said to Peter, "Do you love Me more than these?" Peter said, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." Then Christ said, "Feed My lambs." Again He asked Peter, "Do you love Me?" "Yes, Lord," said Peter. Then said Jesus, "Feed My sheep." A third time He asked Peter, "Do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because Jesus asked him three times; he thought Our Lord remembered that he had three times said he did not know Him, and he said, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Then Jesus said, "Feed My sheep." Who are Christ's lambs? Little children, whom Jesus loves; to feed the sheep and lambs means to teach them.

Then Jesus said to Peter, "When you were young you walked where you would; but when you are old you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go." Jesus thus foretold Peter's death; who, when old, was crucified. Peter asked Our Lord what John would do--you remember that John and Peter were great friends--and Jesus gently reproved him for asking, by saying, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?"