Anonymous

“ God feeds them; He will also feed you; and look at the lilies: they toil not, neither do they spin, yet the grandest king in all his glory was not arrayed—that is, dressed—like one of them. Seek to please God, and He will take care of you. ”

“ Jesus told them that God would bless those who were humble—that is, not proud—and the meek and gentle. He said that God would comfort those who were sad; that He would bless those who were kind; that the pure in heart should see God, and that those who made up quarrels should be called God's children. ”

“ Now some of the Jews hated Our Lord; these were the Scribes and Pharisees. The Scribes were men who wrote out the laws—there were no printed books in those days—so they were thought wise; the Pharisees were a set of men who pretended to serve God better than any other people, and made a show of praying, saying their prayers in the streets to be seen of men; but they were not really good. These men came now, and said to Jesus, "How can You sit down to eat with publicans and sinners?" Jesus said, "Men who are well do not want a doctor, but those who are sick do. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And then a great many angels came out of the light and sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace; good-will to men." The song ended, they went back to heaven, and the shepherds said, "Let us go to Bethlehem, and see this great thing of which the Lord has told us." And they made haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And the shepherds praised God, and told the people all that they had seen and heard. The Son of God had no nice soft cradle as you had; He was laid in a manger from which the ox and ass fed: He chose to be a poor child for our sakes. ”

“ 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." ”

“ The man must have been a sinner, and Jesus told him to take care to be a better man, or God might punish him with a worse illness, but he was so ungrateful that, though he must have known the Jews would be angry with Our Lord for making him well on the Sabbath day, he went at once to them and told them that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The priests were very angry, but Jesus said to them, "My Father works on the Sabbath and so do I." Then they wanted to kill Him, because he had not only done a miracle on the Sabbath, but said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. ”

“ Jesus sometimes told His disciples lovely tales that meant something more than just the story, so they were called Parables. One of these was that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant who wanted to buy good pearls. You know what pearls are, do you not? They are pure white shining beads that men find in the shell of the oyster. To get them the fishers have to go down to the bottom of the sea; so, of course, they sell the pearls very dear. Now, when the pearl-fishers had found a very large pearl of great price, they took it to the merchant ”

“ Now at that time the Romans had made a very bad, cruel man, whose name was Herod, King of the Jews. When he heard of the wise men and of what they wanted to know, he was troubled; for he was afraid if the great King was born that he (Herod) would not be King any longer. So he sent for the chief priests and asked them where God had said that the Christ should be born. He did not know himself, for he was not a Jew. And the priests said that Christ should be born in the little town of Bethlehem. ”

“ The Apostles did not quite know what hidden meaning there was in this Parable, so Jesus told them.
The seed meant the Word of God; the sower, a servant of God who had to teach the Word. The seed that fell by the wayside meant that the words had not been cared for by those who heard them, and the Wicked Spirit then made them forget all they had heard. That which fell on stony places and had no depth of earth, meant those who at first are glad to hear of God's love, and seem as if they would be His children; but their goodness has "no root," and so a little trouble makes them give up trying. ”

“ To be kind, and to show men that He was God. There are things men cannot do; but God can do them, and when Jesus did them He showed men that He was God.
Soon after this, Our Lord went up to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. He went to the Temple—God's house in which He was worshipped; and where every day they killed a lamb and burnt it on the altar. The lamb was offered up [23] that God might forgive the sins of the people. So when John the Baptist said, "Here is the Lamb of God," he meant that Our Lord would die, as the Temple Lamb did, to save men from their sins. ”

“ Abraham was a good man, so good that God called him His friend; and from him came the people called Jews. David was one of their kings. God always keeps His word, but He makes men wait till it is His time to do as He says; and it was a long, long time after Abraham and David that our Lord came to live among men.
At last God sent His angel Gabriel to a young maiden, named Mary, who lived at a town called Nazareth, to tell her that God loved her, and that she should have God's Son for her own son. Our Lord would be her little babe. ”

“ One day the disciples were angry because one who was not a disciple cured a man in Christ's Name, but Our Lord said, "Forbid him not, for even he who gives you a cup of water in My Name, shall not lose his reward."
About this time there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there was at Jerusalem by the sheep-market a pool of water which was called Bethesda, that means House of Mercy. Round it were five porches or doorways, and in these lay a great many poor sick men. ”

“ Since, then, even men who are not good will be kind to their children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to them who ask Him! The Lord loves to hear the prayer of a little [61] child. You may pray when you like; at your mothers knee, or in the day if you feel you want God's help. He will hear [62] you if you say in your mind, "Make me a good child, for Christ's sake."
One day a lawyer stood up from among the crowd who listened to Our Lord and asked Jesus a question. He did it to try the Lord and see if He would say something that the priests might think wrong. ”

“ The Romans made the Jews pay them money, and this was called a tax. They put men in some places to receive this tax for them, and these men were called Publicans. They were not good men generally, and the priests and great men hated them; but some of them were just and honest. Levi was; and we may be sure he had heard Our Lord preach and loved Him, for one day, as he was sitting at the place where men paid the tax to him, Our Lord went up to him and said, "Follow Me." Levi must have known who spoke to him, for he at once rose and was ready to give up all his riches and go with Jesus. ”

“ Mary gave the name of Jesus to the babe as God had told her, and when He was six weeks old she and Joseph brought Him to God's Temple to present Him to the Lord, and to give two doves to show her thanks for the child God had sent to her. There was an old and good man at that time, to whom God had promised that he should not die till he had seen the Lord's Son ”

“ 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 [84] 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 ”

“ So he brought Nathanael to Our Lord, and Jesus said, "Here is a very good, true man." Nathanael said, "How do You know me?" Jesus said, "Before Philip called you I saw you when you were under the fig-tree." God can see us always. So then Nathanael knew that Jesus must be the Son of God—the King—for only the Son of God could have seen him so far off; and he stayed with Our Lord as the others did.
Now Jesus had five disciples with Him, and He left the shores of the Jordan and went with his friends, John, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael, to a town called Cana. ”

“ At times in the year the water bubbled up—the Jews said an angel made it do so. The first person who stepped into the pool as it bubbled was cured at once. So many sick men waited for the chance. One man was there who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. The Lord Jesus walked down one day to this pool, and when He saw the poor man and heard how long he had been thus, He said to him, "Will you be made well?" ”

“ 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."
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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. ”

“ The seed that fell among thorns meant that sometimes when men have been taught about God, they let the love of money and the cares of life and its pleasures fill their minds so that they have no time or thought to give to God, or to read and pray. ”

“ And Jesus said, "Make the men sit down." And they sat down on the grass, fifty in one place, and there were five thousand men there. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He broke them, and gave the pieces to His disciples, and they gave them to the people; and He gave them of the fishes as much as they would, and they all ate and left many pieces. Then Our Lord told the Apostles to gather the pieces up so that nothing might be lost; for Jesus does not like people to waste things, and they picked up enough pieces to fill twelve baskets with the bread that was left. ”

“ Jesus had many friends as well as cruel enemies.
There were some good people who lived at Bethany, a pretty little village near Jerusalem. They were two sisters and a brother, called Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. When Our Lord was at Jerusalem, He often went to see them; and [59] they were very glad to have Him in their house. Martha bustled about to get a feast for Him and His apostles one day when He came there; but Mary sat at his feet listening to His words. ”

“ How good our Lord was to stay and teach these poor men, to whom the proud Jews would not even speak. Then Jesus went to Cana again where He had made the water into wine; and a rich man who had a young son very ill came to Him and begged Him to make his child well. ”

“ Then Jesus left the City, and went about teaching and doing good, healing the sick, making the blind see, and the deaf hear, and so He came to Samaria. Now the Jews hated the people who lived there; and the Samaritans hated the Jews. Our Lord never hated any one. He loved both the good and the bad, and came to save all. Of course God loves good men or good children [25]
[26] best; Our Lord loved His Apostle John best of all, but He does good to all men, and lets His sun shine on all alike.
One day Our Lord was very tired ”

“ They were quite good at first, but tempted by Satan they ate the fruit of a tree God told them not to eat, and that brought sin into the world; they could not live for ever now, they must die; but that their souls might go to heaven, God's own Son said He would come down on earth and die to save them. God said His Son should be born of Abraham's nation, and should be one of the sons of the line of King David, who sang the sweet psalms in praise of God. ”

“ Once, there was a man who had two sons. The younger of the two said to him one day, 'Father, give me now the share of your money you mean me to have.' And the kind father divided his money between the sons as the greedy one asked. As soon as the younger son had his share he left his father's house and went to a far off land, and there he spent his money in eating and drinking with bad people. ”

“ Those seeds that fell on good ground meant the children or men who listen to God's Word, and read it, and pray to Him for help, and try to obey it. These grow better and better, and God will love and help them. ”