But the most remarkable thing about this man was the way he preached. Such fervent, earnest oratory had not been heard since the days of the prophets, and people swarmed out from all the region to hear him. Throngs went every day from Jerusalem, and curious or interested listeners came from the towns to the north, and some even from Galilee.

When Jesus heard these rumors of John and of his wonderful preaching, he determined to go and hear him. He had been thinking quietly, all his life, about the Messiah whom God was expected to send, and he had his own ideas of what his office and work should be. He thought he should like very much to hear what this fearless hermit had to say about him. So Jesus joined a small party of young enthusiasts who all wanted to see this strange man, and, leaving the home and the carpenter shop, started off for Jerusalem with his friends. He little thought how momentous a step he was taking, and how changed a man he would be when next he saw that humble home and that busy little shop again.

1. What was the preacher’s name?
2. Why is it right to call him a fearless preacher?
3. Where had he been living before he began to preach?
4. How was he clothed and what did he eat?
5. What did he urge people to do, if they wished to belong to the Messiah’s kingdom?
6. Where did he baptize them?
7. What nation did the Jews regard as their greatest enemy?
8. Why did the Jews believe that their Messiah would come just at that time?
9. What do the words "Christ" and "Messiah" mean?
10. How did the Jews expect to recognize their Messiah when he came?
11. How did John reply when the people asked him if he was the Messiah?
12. Was there any relationship between John and Jesus?

Matthew III. 13-17; Mark I. 9-11; Luke III. 21-22.

A small company of young men could travel sixty-five or seventy miles very quickly. It was not long before Jesus and his companions reached the vicinity of Jerusalem. They began to meet other little companies, all headed in one direction. Guided by these, they soon reached the quiet little spot on the Jordan River where John was living, and where he preached every day. They found quite a throng there, seated on the grass or standing around in easy attitudes, and all listening intently to a tall, gaunt figure, who was pouring out a perfect torrent of stirring words.

It was not long before Jesus was intensely interested. The preacher was telling about the Messiah, how he would shortly come, and what kind of a ruler he would be. He said that this Messiah would come very soon to organize a great kingdom, the greatest in the world, and that, while none but Jews would belong to that kingdom, yet not even all Jews would be admitted, but only those who repented of their sins and determined to live better lives. He warned them that, if they wanted to belong to his kingdom, they must prepare themselves by discarding their sinful ways and changing their manner of life.

Then he said he was the forerunner of the Messiah, sent to prepare the nation for his coming, and he invited all who agreed with him, and who would promise to follow his advice and prepare themselves in the truer way, to be baptized in the Jordan River.

Now Jesus had listened with beating heart and flaming eyes. This man had said just what he had secretly believed all along. He agreed with him perfectly. Moreover, it seemed to him his plain duty to adopt John’s work and become a prophet of the Messiah. It was the best service he could render. The carpenter-shop seemed far away and unimportant compared to this urgent duty which John’s preaching had revealed to him. It came over him like a flash. Here was the work God meant him to do! He had found it at last. It was a critical moment in his life, but he made the resolution bravely and completely. He would be a preacher and a reformer as John was. He would spend his time and strength in the great task of preparing his countrymen for the coming of their King, so that, when the time came, they should be ready to welcome him.

With this determination he entered the river and was baptized by John. When he came out of the water, he was a changed man, for he had found his work.

1. Did John want to baptize Jesus?
2. Why did he hesitate?
3. What did it mean that a man was baptized by John?
4. How was the baptism done, do you suppose?
5. Where was it done?
6. What wonderful thing happened as Jesus came out of the water?
7. Why should we think that Jesus had no particular interest in his carpenter work?
8. Why did he go into the carpenter’s trade?
9. How old do you suppose Jesus was at the time he changed his work?
10. Did Jesus wait until John was arrested before he began to preach?
11. Where did he go to do his preaching, and why?
12. In what way does his preaching resemble John’s?

Matthew IV. 12-16; Luke IV. 14-30.

Very shortly after Jesus had been baptized in the River Jordan, a serious disaster befell the man to whose preaching he had listened and at whose hands he had received his baptism.

John was one of those fearless men who will speak the plain truth to everybody without thinking of consequences. He did not know what it meant to be politic or cautious. He had found occasion in one or two of his sermons to condemn very bitterly the private life of one of the prominent men in the country, Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. This Herod Antipas had done some wicked things, which John promptly denounced in his fearless and fiery way. As a result, Herod’s officers came one day and arrested John, and put him in prison, so that his career as a preacher was cut suddenly short. When Jesus heard this news, he felt that his own actions must be determined by John'’ fortune. Now that John was shut up in prison, Jesus saw that it was more than ever his duty to take John’s place and preach about the Messiah, but he also saw that, if he began to preach in that neighborhood, around Jerusalem, he might expect much the same fate. He considered his mission too important to be exposed to any such peril, so he decided to go back to Galilee, to his own home, and begin his preaching there.

But, when he got there, he found still another difficulty waiting for him. The people of Nazareth had known him ever since his childhood. He had grown up among them. It would be embarrassing, to say the least, to go back to that old home, where he had always been known as a quiet, humble carpenter, and set himself up as a preacher and a prophet. People would pay no heed to him. They would be too familiar with him and his family to give him the respectful attention he should demand. So he decided to go to the nearby town of Capernaum, where he was a stranger, and start his new life in that new home.

Some time later a little thing happened which showed the wisdom of this change. After he had been in Capernaum a while, he made a visit to Nazareth one Sabbath day, and, entering the synagogue, he rose to speak to the people. At first they were astonished. They said to each other, Why, is not this Joseph’s son, Jesus the carpenter? Do not his mother and his brothers all live among us? But later on, when Jesus said something they did not like, they got so angry with him that they seized him, and would have done him hurt, but that he managed to escape from them. After that he returned to his new home in Capernaum, and had nothing more to do with Nazareth.

1. What do you understand to be the "power of the Spirit"?
2. What day of the week did the Jews observe as the Sabbath?
3. How came it that Jesus was allowed to stand up in the synagogue to teach?
4. What kind of a book was handed to him?
5. From what Old Testament prophet did he select his text?
6. How did the people receive his preaching?
7. What violent attempt did they make upon his life?
8. Where did he got to live after this?
9. What is the sea, mentioned in Matthew iv. 13?
10. What were its names, and how big was it?
11. What was the principal industry of Nazareth? Of Capernaum?
12. What famous proverb is taken from this lesson?

Matthew IV. 18-22, Mark I. 16-20, Luke V. 1-11.

Although Capernaum was near Nazareth, it was a different kind of a place. It was a busy, thriving little village, built on a beautiful plain running along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Unlike Nazareth, where the principal occupation was farming and sheep raising, Capernaum’s chief industry was fishing. The shore of the lake near the town was lined with funny little fishing boats, with tall, graceful lateen sails, and with long fishnets spread out on the decks to dry in the sun. The little freshwater fish were caught, sometimes in vast quantities, and were cured either by drying or by pickling in brine, and, thus prepared, formed an important article of food for the poorer people of Galilee.

Jesus was greatly attracted by these curious fishing boats and by the sturdy men who worked in them. He would often go down to the shore and watch the little craft swinging at anchor, or get to talking with the fishermen themselves as they sat in their boats and mended their nets. In this way he made a number of friends.

He liked especially one old man named Zebedee, who had two young sons about Jesus’ own age, James and John. He used to sit for hours talking with these three, telling them about the kingdom and the Messiah, while they would get so interested in his talk that they would forget their broken nets, and would listen, open eyed, to his earnest words.

Then there were two other men of whom he was very fond. They were Simon and Andrew, two brothers, who owned a boat together, and carried on an active industry. They were somewhat older than he was, but they grew to love him and respect him very highly. These four men, Simon and Andrew and the two sons of Zebedee, soon became the dearest friends Jesus had in Capernaum, so that finally they all decided to give up their fishing, and simply become companions of his, following him everywhere and learning to preach as he preached.

In the way there was started a little company of warm friends, who gathered around Jesus, and who made themselves partners in his work and in his hopes. There were in all twelve in the company. Most of them were fishermen, but some were farmers and shepherds, and one was a tax collector. But, whatever their work was, they all came to have such a warm liking for Jesus and such an enthusiasm for the work he was doing that they gave up their lives to the pleasant task of following him and helping him. They called themselves his "disciples" which means his "pupils".

1. What was Simon’s other name, and what does it mean?
2. What were Simon and Andrew doing when Jesus saw them?
3. What occupation did Jesus promise to teach them?
4. Where were James and John when Jesus saw them?
5. According to the story in Luke, why did Jesus step into one of the boats?
6. What remarkable thing happened when he asked Simon to let down his nets?
7. What did Simon do and say when he saw this wonder?
8. What business relation existed between James and John and Simon and Andrew?
9. How many disciples were there in all, and what were their names?
10. What is a disciple?
11. Do you know what the occupations of some of the other disciples were?
12. In what way did they help Jesus, and why did he feel the need of their help?

Mark I. 21-28, Luke IV. 31-37.

Of course, this company of young men who went around always together, and who always preached or talked about the kingdom of God, attracted a good deal of attention in Capernaum. People in those days were even more deeply interested in the kingdom of God than we are today in the great political or social questions of our time.

Jesus had no difficulty whatever in interesting people about his work, especially as he talked about it so earnestly. A great many people heard him preach, not only in Capernaum, but from towns roundabout. They began to know him by sight and by reputation. They began to look upon him as something of a man, because he talked so convincingly, and so clearly.

Now one Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue with his friends, and began to talk to the people. At once the room was still. Everybody wanted to hear what this famous man would say. They sat silently on the floor, and drank in his words. Suddenly right in the midst of the stillness there came a startling interruption. It came from a poor man over in the back corner, who was not perfectly well. He was subject to occasional spasms, or fits. Whenever such a fit seized him, he would throw back his head, and roll his eyes, and clench his hands, and shriek aloud, no matter where he was. Quite a number of people in that country had this ailment. They used to say it was because a devil or a bad spirit lived in them and made them do these strange things. This poor fellow had a fit right in the middle of Jesus’ talk. It was a startling interruption. Everybody turned to see what the matter was.

Jesus also turned and saw the sick man shaking his head from side to side and rolling his eyes. So he pointed directly at him with his finger, and said very firmly, "Hold thy peace!" And then a wonderful thing happened. Instantly the fit left the poor victim. He raised his head and looked quietly at Jesus, as much as to say, "Yes, Master." He was cured of his illness. Everyone in the synagogue was astounded. How did Jesus cure the man? Where did he get the power to make him well?

We cannot help feeling that Jesus himself was amazed at finding that he had such an influence over sick people. He was looked upon by the superstitious Galileans with even greater awe. People talked about his power, and brought their friends to be healed. It was a great discovery, and added greatly to his opportunity. And Jesus, in a very noble way, accepted this new power as a solemn trust, and used it faithfully in curing and quieting the sufferers he constantly saw about him.

1. Where was Jesus teaching one Sabbath day?
2. What strange interruption stopped him in the middle of his talk?
3. What was the trouble with this man?
4. Was this a common ailment in that country?
5. What words did the man utter?
6. How did Jesus answer the sufferer?
7. How did this affect the man with the unclean spirit?
8. What does it mean by saying that "the unclean spirit came out of him"?
9. What did the people think when they saw this incident?
10. Was this power of casting out demons peculiar to Jesus, or did others possess it?
11. How did this power increase his influence?
12. Was Jesus himself glad to find that he had this power?

Matthew V.-VII.; Luke VI. 20-49.

The discovery of this power was a great help to Jesus, because it enabled him to do so much practical good to the unfortunates who came to hear him. Before long every one in Capernaum was talking about the quiet, grave-eyed man who could cure some forms of sickness simply by the strength and calmness of his personal influence. People came eagerly, in great numbers, to see him, and hear him preach about the Messiah who was coming to establish the kingdom of God,

Jesus himself believed the Messiah might come almost any minute, and most devout Jews shared this expectation. Therefore, Jesus was all the more anxious to get people ready for him. To do this, they must be induced to repent of their old sins and live more cleanly and nobly, for it was only clean and noble men and women whom the Messiah would take into his kingdom. So Jesus preached constantly, urging everyone to better living; and the people came in such crowds to hear him that no one house could hold them all.

It was for this reason that one fine morning, when hundreds of people had assembled to listen, Jesus led the whole company out to a nearby hillside, where they all sat down around him on the soft grass, and had an outdoor church. Jesus sat in the center, and preached them a long, beautiful sermon. We may read the entire sermon in the Gospel of Matthew. It is called "The Sermon on the Mount," because Jesus preached it outdoors on this hillside. It told people how they must act and live to become worthy of the kingdom of God.

One striking thing about the sermon is that it is still true. It was preached nearly two thousand years ago, and the kingdom of God has not quite come yet, but the instructions in that sermon for entering that kingdom are just as true and just as important for us today as they were for the Galilean people to whom they were uttered almost two thousand years ago. The three chapters in Matthew rank among the most beautiful and most famous passages of the world’s literature. There are portions which everyone should know by heart, as, for instance, the first twelve verses of chapter v., and in chapter vi,, verses 5 to 15.

We may see in this sermon how fond Jesus was of nature, how observant he was of birds and flowers and grasses and rain storms. In all these things he seemed to see the workings of God’s just and loving spirit, and was glad and proud to feel himself a son of that great God who worked and breathed in the life and beauty around him.

1. What name is given to the passage in Matthew v. 1-12?
2. What is the appropriateness of this name?
3. What is a jot and a tittle?
4. What does "Raca" mean?
5. Can you find the Old Testament commandments, which Jesus quotes in verses 21, 33, 38, and 43 of chapter v.?
6. How does he improve upon these old commandments?
7. Reading Matthew vi. 2, do you suppose that the hypocrites really "sounded a trumpet" when they gave alms?
8. What do we call this way of talking?
9. What name is given to the passage in Matthew vi. 9-13?
10. Who was Solomon?
11. Can you describe a "lily of the field"?
12. What is a mote? And what is a beam?

Matthew VIII. 23-34.; Mark IV. 350V. 20; Luke VIII. 22-39.

Jesus did not stay always in Capernaum. He made frequent trips to the towns in the neighborhood. Chorazin, Bethsaida, Magdala, Tiberias, Emmaus, Cana, Nain, Scythopolis,- all these places he visited. He thought it his duty to preach to as many people as possible.

One day he determined to cross the Sea of Galilee and visit one or two towns on the other side. It was a short journey. He and the disciples embarked in a fishing boat, and sailed merrily along. Jesus leaned back upon the stern seat, and soon fell asleep. All at once, when they were about halfway across the lake, a furious squall struck them. It was so violent, and the waves ran so high, that everybody got frightened. They ran to Jesus and woke him up, and said, "Master, help us, or we will all drown." Jesus very calmly asked them, "Why are you afraid?" And, sure enough, in a very few minutes the squall stopped, - the disciples firmly believed that Jesus made it stop; and they went sailing on their way.

As soon as they landed on the other side, the first person they saw was another of those poor men who were half crazed by epilepsy. He was prowling around in a rude little graveyard, and, as soon as he spied Jesus and his friends, he came rushing out to meet them, almost like a wild animal. But Jesus, you remember, possessed a wonderful influence over such unfortunate creatures, and it was not long before this savage man began to feel this influence from his strong and quieting personality, so that he acted and looked just like an ordinary person.

But, as they all walked along, a swineherd met them, who was so astonished to see this poor outcast walking soberly along with a company of strange men that he rushed off to the village and spread the report that a wonderful magician was coming, who had already cured the lunatic and had made his herd of swine crazy instead. This report frightened the villagers. They did not know what this magician might do to them. So they came out to meet Jesus, and begged him to go away. Jesus saw that he could not preach to them, that in their fright they would neither listen nor believe, so he and his friends turned back and launched the boat again, and returned to Capernaum without mishap.

1. Into whose boat might Jesus have entered in order to cross the lake?
2. What happened as soon as they got fairly started?
3. What did the disciples do in their terror?
4. What country lay upon the other side?
5. Who were the first persons that they saw?
6. What were their names?
7. What happened after Jesus had cured them?
8. What request did the citizens make of Jesus?
9. Why did they wish him to go away?
10. What did the man who had been cured ask to do?
11. Why did not Jesus grant this request?
12. Why could he not preach in that country?

Matthew IV. 23-25.; Mark I. 35-39.

The time passed very rapidly with Jesus during this period of his life. He was surrounded by friends who not only loved him, but looked up to him, calling him their leader and their master. He was eagerly welcomed everywhere he went, and his words were received with quiet, grateful respect. People visited him constantly either to ask questions or to be helped in some illness or malady by his wonderful power.

Most of all, Jesus himself took an intense pleasure in his work. He was doing the thing he was best fitted to do. He felt that he was working at just the task God wanted him to adopt. He threw himself heart and soul into his duties, with a joyousness and an earnestness that made it seem not at all like work.

This, of course, was the principal secret of his happiness.

To be sure, there were times when he got very much discouraged. No one seemed to understand him sometimes, not even his disciples, who were his nearest and dearest friends. People were apt to judge him by themselves and to think him just as self-seeking and greedy in all he did or tried as they themselves were. They seemed to be unable to understand that he was working from the noblest and most unselfish of motives; and, whenever Jesus saw this, it made him very unhappy. But, when these times of discouragement came, he found a safe and certain remedy in his constant feeling of companionship with God.

Jesus knew perfectly well that, however grossly his fellowmen might misjudge him, his Heavenly Father knew him as he really was, and loved him and blessed him as he really deserved. So, when the discouragement came, he would slip away from the multitudes who tired him with their dreary, stupid questions, and go out to some lonely hillside, away from everybody, and there he would spend a quiet hour alone, praying to God.

When he came back, he would be prepared to take up the work again, being strengthened with an inner serenity, which the affairs of the world could not destroy. Such trying times, however, were infrequent. The long golden days glided rapidly by, filled full of work and hope. It was the happiest time in all his life, being made so by his own devotion and fidelity.

1. In what province did Jesus do most of his work?
2. What are the natural boundaries of Galilee?
3. How large a region is it?
4. Where is the country of Syria?
5. What kinds of sufferers were brought to him?
6. Where was Decapolis?
7. What are the names given to the region beyond Jordan?
8. Where did he go a great while before day?
9. How do we know that he was sometimes misunderstood?
10. What was his great source of strength?
11. Was he welcomed and heard in every town that he visited?
12. What was the real basis of his happiness?

Mark I. 32-34.; Luke IV. 42-44.

They had no telegraph or telephone or morning paper in those days, not even a post-office department. When a man in Babylon wanted to send a letter to his brother in Jerusalem, he wrote it on a piece of papyrus or parchment, and then waited until some caravan of merchants should start from Babylon to go west. Then he would give it to some friend in the caravan, asking him to forward it to Jerusalem. This friend would take it as near to Jerusalem as he was going, and then give it to some one who, he knew, was going still nearer. In this way, after weeks and weeks of travel, passing through half a dozen hands perhaps, the letter would finally reach its destination. Of course, all news had to travel in the same deliberate fashion.

So, you see, it took some little time for the news of Jesus and his wonderful preaching, and still more wonderful powers, to reach the more distant parts of the country. However, Capernaum was a favored town, because it was right near a great caravan trail, and could receive news and send news much more quickly than many other little villages. So this is how Jesus gradually grew to be famous.

A caravan would halt at Nazareth, right near by, for the night, having come down from Damascus. Some one in the caravan would strike up an acquaintance with the citizen who sold him wine or flour for his supper, and would ask the news. The citizen would say, "Well, there is a man in Capernaum who is preaching astonishing things about the Messiah and the kingdom of God, and he has a wonderful power over sick people, so that he can cure them. And some say that he even stopped a squall one day on the Lake of Gennesaret." The merchant, of course, would want to know all the details.

The next night perhaps the caravan would halt in Caesarea, and the night after that in Joppa, and the night after that in Azotus, and in each place the merchant would tell all the story he had heard in Nazareth about the remarkable man in Capernaum, and each time the story would be a little bigger.

And then perhaps another caravan would come into Nazareth, bound from Egypt to Antioch, and would hear the same story, and would proceed to scatter it along the road to the north, just as the first caravan had scattered it along to the south. In these ways, after three or four months, Jesus became quite a famous man. People came even from Tyre and Sidon to see him. They were all kinds of people, - Romans, Greeks, Canaanites, and Syrians; but he treated them all alike, and did his best to cure their ailments and to persuade and encourage them to a better and purer way of living.

1. Where is Babylon?
2. What is a caravan?
3. Can you find on the map the great caravan trail that ran through the country?
4. Where are Caesarea, Joppa and Azotus?
5. Where is Antioch?
6. Where are Tyre and Sidon?
7. Who were the Canaanites?
8. How did people send letters in those days?
9. What was the principal reason for Christ’s becoming famous?
10. How was he interrupted one day as he was preaching in a house in Capernaum?
11. How did the sick man enter the house?
12. What were the first words that Christ spoke to him?

Matthew VIII. 1-4, IX. 30-31, XII, 15-16; Mark III. 7-12, V. 43, VII. 36, VIII.26.

Jesus began to find that this reputation which he was gaining among the people of Galilee had its embarrassing side. Not only was he deprived of the freedom and the privacy that he formerly enjoyed, but he was also placed in a somewhat false position by the respect and the adulation he received.

You remember that Jesus, when he began his work of preaching, had no other idea than to warn people that the Messiah would come very soon, and to tell them how to get ready for him. The thought had never as yet entered his mind that he himself might be the Messiah. He considered himself simply a forerunner of his, like John. But the time was approaching for the dawning of the truth. When John first began to preach, he showed such power and earnestness that the people who heard him began to wonder if he might not actually be the Messiah. They came and asked him "whether haply he were the Christ", and John always answered most decidedly that he was not.

Now the same thing began to happen to Jesus. When the people heard him preach and witnessed his cures, they at once jumped to the conclusion, in their eagerness, that this remarkable man must be the Messiah. Just hear how he talks! They said. See how the people flock to him! See what he can do for sick people simply by laying his hands on them! Surely, this man is the Messiah!

It shows how eager everybody was to have their Christ come. They were constantly on the watch, and anybody who seemed to possess extraordinary power was at once suspected. When these hints and suspicions were dropped into Jesus’ ears, as they undoubtedly were sooner or later, he did not openly deny them, because he himself was not perfectly sure. These very hints and suspicions of the people were perhaps what first caused him to ask seriously; Am I the Messiah? Am I the Christ whom the whole nation is expecting? So while he could not exactly deny the hints of his friends, still he resolved to give them as little cause as possible for suspecting such things about him.

He did not want to be pressed by their importuning, or carried away by their eagerness. He must have lots of time to think it over by himself. So thereafter, whenever he cured anybody, he made him promise to tell not a soul. After healing the two blind men, he said, See that no man know it; and again, after curing a large number, he charged them that they should not make him known. Jesus did not want to be talked about. He felt the need of time and privacy to think out the great problem which his friends’ ready suspicions had hinted to him.

1. What great leader were the people expecting at that time?
2. How did they believe he would come?
3. How had John the Baptist excited their suspicion?
4. What did they begin to think when they saw Jesus performing his marvelous works?
5. Among whom did these suspicions first arise?
6. How did Jesus receive these suspicions?
7. What was leprosy?
8. Why did Jesus charge those whom he cured to tell no man?
9. Why did the Pharisees want to destroy him?
10. Did these people keep their promise to him?
11. What kind of a Messiah did the Pharisees want?
12. How would the Pharisees treat him if he should claim to be the Messiah?

Matthew XIV. 22-23, Luke V. 12-16, X. 21-24.

This hint that had been dropped into Jesus’ mind by his eager followers, that perhaps he himself was the Messiah was destined to play a tremendous part in his life. He could not altogether put the thought away from him. There may have been moments when he said to himself: "No, it cannot be possible that I am the one whom God has chosen. Am I strong and good enough to do so great a work?

But there were other moments when the hint came to him with growing persistence. It gradually grew from being a mere fancy, a suggestion of others, into a really serious possibility. Might he not, after all, be the very man whom God had selected to be His Messiah? He had to confess that in some ways he was well fitted for the task. He saw what the people needed, a better and purer religion, and he knew that he could give them that. He saw that he had a great power over them, that they would follow him and obey him, and he was sure he could lead them into truer ways of life.

When he allowed himself to think thus, he was almost convinced that the suspicions of his friends must be correct, and that he really must be God’s Messiah. And, then, back would come the doubts and misgivings. Most of all, he had to tremble at what he knew might very likely be his fate, if once he allowed himself to be called the Messiah. He knew that the powerful men of the nation expected a Messiah who would come with pomp and glory. They would not believe in any Messiah whose only claim to the office lay in being spiritually minded, and who in outward showing was humble and lowly, as he would be. They would call such a man an impostor, and would first ridicule him, and then they would get angry, and very likely kill him for blasphemy.

Jesus saw that this might be his fate if he declared himself the Messiah, so he faced this hard problem, and spent all his thought and prayer in trying to decide it. He would not discuss it openly. He would not allow his disciples even to mention the matter. It was a secret problem, which he alone must decide. The happiness and the brightness of his former days gave place now to a sober and thoughtful air, for Jesus was laboring with the gravest question of his life.

This is what he kept asking himself, "Does God intend me to be only a humble preacher, sent to prepare the way for the Messiah, or is it His intention that I myself shall be that very Messiah who must lead the nation to a truer worship and a purer life?" It did not make the problem any easier to know that in all probability his life depended upon the answer.

1. What secret problem was Jesus harboring in his mind at this time?
2. Do you think it was an easy problem to decide?
3. How would his own fate depend upon his decision?
4. How would the fate of his disciples depend upon his decision?
5. Did he allow anybody to influence him in deciding this problem?
6. Was it easy for him to be alone?
7. How did he secure for himself occasional moments of solitude?
8. How did he use these moments?
9. Who was his only counselor during this period of doubt?
10. Did the disciples understand all that was passing through their Master’s mind?
11. How long did this period of indecision last?
12. In what ways did he find himself fitted to be the Messiah?

Matthew XI. 2-19, Luke VII. 18-23.

One day, right in the midst of this torturing uncertainty, there came to Jesus several messengers from his friend John. Since Jesus began his work, John had been in prison; but before that he had been preaching in Southern Palestine, just as Jesus was now preaching in Galilee. He had been arrested by Herod and cast into prison because in one of his sermons he had denounced Herod for marrying his own brother’s wife.

While he lay in prison he heard the news that this man, Jesus, whom he had baptized months before in the Jordan River, was attracting great attention in Galilee by his remarkable preaching and was performing wonderful cures among the sick, and in general was creating a great deal of excitement.

At once John began to think just what Jesus’ friends were beginning to think, that this man might perhaps be the Messiah. So, being very eager to know, he sent some of his disciples as messengers to Jesus, to ask him frankly, "Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?" Or, in other words, "Are you the Messiah whom we are expecting, or must we still wait?"

Now in the answer which Jesus gave to these messengers we can see something of the doubt which was troubling him. He did not answer either yes or no, because he had not yet decided. But he told the messengers to go back and give John the facts, -how the blind receive their sight and how the lame are made to walk, and how the lepers are cleansed and how the common people have good tidings preached to them, all by means of his strange power. Tell John these things, we seem to hear Jesus say, and let him decide for himself whether I, who do these things, am the Messiah or not.

So the messengers returned to their master in prison, and Jesus was left to ponder, still undecided, over his problem. The fact that John himself, his teacher and friend, in whose judgment he placed such confidence, really gave serious thought to the suspicion that he might be the Messiah, had the effect of strengthening the possibility in Jesus’ mind, and in fact may have had great weight in his final decision.

1. Where was John when he heard about Jesus?
2. How had he come to be put in such a place?
3. What question did he tell his disciples to ask Jesus?
4. Whom did he meant by the words "He that cometh"?
5. How did Jesus answer their question?
6. What does this answer indicate?
7. What do you think Jesus meant by Matthew xi. 6?
8. From what Old Testament passage is this answer quoted?
9. To what kind of children does Jesus refer in Matthew xi. 17?
10. How were the people of that generation like these children?
11. How did John’s question influence Jesus himself?
12. What did Jesus think of John?

Matthew IX. 10-13 and 32-34 XII. 9-14 and 22-24, XXII. 15-22; Mark II. 15-17..

Almost everybody has enemies. It is hardly possible to be firm and decided in one’s convictions without attracting the hostility of those who disagree with those convictions. So it was with Jesus. We are not to suppose that every one who heard him agreed with him and liked him. There were some who disagreed utterly with him, and who at first opposed or ridiculed all he said and did, and who later grew to hate him and fear him.

These were chiefly the men known as "Scribes" and "Pharisees." They were the better-educated men, the strong, prominent class in the nation. They disagreed with Jesus when he said that the coming Messiah would be a reformer instead of a warrior. They believed he would be a great general, who would come in all the glory and splendor of military pomp, and put himself at the head of their armies, and with the help of Jehovah lead them in glorious victory against the forces of the Roman Empire.

Of course, Jesus could not believe any such thing as this. He said that the Messiah would be a lowly prophet, a religious teacher, a king of justice and goodness and love. The Scribes and Pharisees hated him for saying such things. First they mocked him and said he was a servant of the devil. Then they said he was nothing but an ignorant carpenter. Then they pretended to be shocked at his blasphemy and irreverence.

But Jesus continued to be perfectly fearless and honest in his conduct. He did not believe it was God’s wish that the Sabbath, for instance, should be observed as the Scribes and Pharisees observed it. He did not think it was wrong to do good deeds on the Sabbath day, even though such deeds did have the appearance of work. But the Scribes and Pharisees said he was breaking the law when he performed his cures on the Sabbath, and hated him all the more. In fact, they took a malicious pleasure in watching him, and in picking him up in matters where he broke the law, with the hope, doubtless, that some day they might catch him in some serious offense and have him arrested.

Of course, this hatred of theirs towards him was a great obstacle to his work, and, moreover, it aroused in him a corresponding feeling of indignation towards them for their hollow and pretentious righteousness. Several times he called them "hypocrites" and "vipers." But, in spite of it all, Jesus went steadily and fearlessly about his work. They might show him their enmity, but they could not frighten him or turn him from what he considered his duty.

1. Who were Publicans?
2. How were they regarded by people?
3. What kind of people did Jesus attract to himself?
4. What did the Pharisees say when they saw him eating with these people?
5. Who were Scribes and Pharisees?
6. How did Jesus reply to their criticism?
7. Who did they mean by the son of David?
8. Who was Beelzebub?
9. How did the Pharisees try to overthrow him?
10. What sly trap did they set for him in Matthew xxii. 17?
11. How did Jesus outwit them?
12. Can you think of any other great man who made enemies?

Matthew IX. 1-12; Mark VI. 14-29.

The last we saw of John he was in prison, where he had been put because he criticized King Herod for marrying his brother’s wife. Herod did not intend to kill him, in fact he was rather afraid to. But the wife hated him with her whole heart, and was determined to put a stop to his fearless and troublesome honesty.

One day Herod had a birthday party in his palace, and one of the features of the party was a dance, which his stepdaughter Salome performed. It was a graceful, beautiful dance, and Herod was so pleased that he rashly promised Salome anything she should ask as a reward. So Salome asked her mother what she should choose, and her mother told her to choose the head of John the Baptist. Of course, Salome did not want such a fearful thing, but her mother was so anxious to have John beheaded that she made her daughter choose that for a reward. Herod accordingly had John beheaded in prison.

Now one day, some time after this, someone told Herod of the strange, wonderful man up in Galilee, who was exciting such comment by his preaching and his cures. Herod’s guilty conscience made him at once superstitious, and he said, with a start: "This man is no other than John the Baptist, whom I killed. He is risen from the dead. His ghost has come back to haunt me." But Jesus in the mean time had been told, by some loyal friends of John, of the tragic fate that had befallen their master.

It was the kind of news that would very naturally add to his fears and anxieties. He and John were very much alike in thought and deed. They were working for the same purpose. If John was deemed worthy of death might it not follow that he himself would be the next to be sought out and slain? He was not yet ready to die. He had not settled his problem, and, until he could decide that, he must find peace and safety. So, when Jesus heard the news of John’s death, he quietly entered a boat with his disciples, and retreated to the other side of the lake, where he could be secure from intrusion and disturbance for a while.

1. What did Herod think when he heard about Jesus?
2. Who were the old prophets of Israel?
3. Why had Herod imprisoned John?
4. How did Herod feel towards John?
5. How did Herod celebrate his birthday?
6. What was his stepdaughter’s name, and how did she please Herod?
7. In his gratitude, what foolish promise did Herod make?
8. What did his daughter choose for her reward?
9. Who told her to choose this?
10. How did Herod feel about granting this request?
11. Who performed the burial rites for John the Baptist?
12. Where did the tragedy occur?

Matthew XIV. 13 and 22; XV. 21-28; Luke XIII. 31-33.

Jesus did not run away because he was afraid. His bravery in after-days proves to us that he was not afraid of death in itself. But he was not yet ready to die. He had not yet decided his problem one way or the other. He must have more time. So, in order to get this time and escape the fear and superstitious curiosity of Herod, which might lead to his arrest, Jesus felt it would be only wise to retire for a short time from public view, and go away to some distant region, where he might be unmolested until things blew over a little.

So he and his disciples planned a long walking tour to the north. First, they got into a little boat (it may have been Peter’s fishing boat), and rowed across the lake to a town called Bethsaida. As soon as they landed, people recognized Jesus, for, you remember, he had been across the lake before. They at once crowded around him to hear what he would say, and they brought him all their sick friends and neighbors, that he might heal them. He stayed in that region some days, visiting the various little towns and villages around there and doing all the good he could; and then he started on to other places.

By easy stages he soon reached the region around the great cities of Tyre and Sidon, some forty miles to the north. Here he was out of Jewish soil, in a foreign land. The people about him were not especially interested in him, because they were not Jews, but Canaanites and Greeks and Phoenicians. He cured the little daughter of a Canaanitish woman, but for the most part people paid no attention to him.

His message of the coming Messiah and his kingdom of righteousness did not appeal to their foreign minds. Jesus felt that he mist use his time to better advantage, so after a little while he turned south again, and came to Bethsaida, where he cured a blind man, and then, making a great circle, he struck north a second time, to visit some villages at Caesarea Philippi. It was at Caesarea Philippi that something happened which changed the whole course of his life.

1. In what danger did Jesus find himself after John’s death?
2. Who warned him of this danger?
3. In his answer what term of contempt did he apply to Herod?
4. Into what region did he retire?
5. What favor did the Canaanitish woman ask of him?
6. What did he mean by his first answer?
7. What did he mean by his second answer?
8. How did the woman finally induce him to help her?
9. What kind of people lived in Tyre and Sidon?
10. Did Jesus withdraw from Galilee because he was afraid?
11. What might have happened if he had stayed there?
12. How long a journey might this have been?

Matthew XVI. 13-20; Mark VIII. 27-32; Luke IX. 18-21.

We must imagine Jesus during those days, pondering over his great problem. Whatever he happened to be doing, that great question continually beset him, "Am I the Christ whom God has sent, or am I only his forerunner?" We can well imagine how the question tortured him. It was a most important question to him, and a great deal depended on how he decided it.

In the first place it meant, possibly, life or death to him. For, if he should declare himself the Christ, he knew the Pharisees, who expected their Christ to come with regal pomp, would ridicule him, call him "blasphemer," and perhaps put him to death. In the second place, the welfare of his friends depended on his decision. They were loyal, and would follow him, whatever he did. If he decided rightly, their wellbeing would be secured. If he decided wrongly, he would lead them into unmerited errors and disasters. He felt that their fortunes were in his hands, and this feeling made the problem ten times more serious.

Now all these arguments had been weighed by Jesus for some months, and he had at last pretty nearly come to the conclusion that he was the long-expected Messiah. Everything seemed to prove it. It looked as though that were his especial task. He had not yet told the disciples of his decision, but he took the very next opportunity of doing so. When they got to the country around Caesarea Philippi, Jesus took his disciples aside to a quiet, shady place, and said, "I have something to talk about. Who do men say I am?"

Everybody was perfectly still for a moment, they were so astonished at the question. Then they began to answer bashfully: "Some say you are John the Baptist come to life again. Some say you are Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the Old Testament prophets." Jesus, with a quiet little smile, asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Again there came a startled pause, which no one dared to break. But all at once Peter, the impulsive one, sprang to his feet, and cried out in a ringing voice, "Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God!"

Jesus turned to him, and blessed him for his honesty and sympathetic insight, and from that moment the great problem of his life was decided. He was no longer Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet and preacher of strange tidings: he was thenceforth, in his own honest belief, Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, with a Messiah’s work to do.

1. Where was Caesarea Philippi?
2. What startling question did Jesus ask his disciples?
3. To whom does he refer by the name Son of Man?
4. How did they answer the question?
5. How did he ask the question a second time?
6. Which one of the disciples answered him?
7. How do you think he acted when he gave this answer?
8. How did Jesus receive the answer?
9. What may we infer from the words "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee?"
10. What prophecy as to his own fate did Jesus at once make?
11. How could Jesus foresee this fate?
12. Why did Jesus rebuke Peter so sharply?

Matthew XVII. 1-8, 14-21; Mark IX. 2-8; Luke IX. 28-36.

As soon as Jesus had decided that he must be the Christ, there came a great change into his life. Heretofore he had been only a forerunner of the Christ, whose work had consisted in preaching to the people and preparing them for the Messiah’s coming. But now that he himself was the Christ, he must add to all this work and teaching the task of actually establishing his kingdom.

There was still another change that came over him when he decided his problem. Before that day in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus had been a happy, earnest teacher. But now that he was the Christ, the nation’s deliverer, he became sober and thoughtful, as though awed by the vast responsibilities of his office. Moreover, he knew very well that he would be in danger of death at the hands of the Pharisees and Rabbis in Jerusalem, because he dared to claim that he was the Messiah of God, His mind was full of dread for the sufferings he would have to endure.

If it seems strange to us that he should have dared to take this great office in view of its dangers, we must remember that in his heart there was something stronger than fear; his stern sense of obedience to duty. This sense of obedience, of fidelity to conscience, compelled him to make that dangerous choice, even though he knew its dangers. And we must suppose that beneath all his fears there lived a deep and radiant serenity which not even the prospect of death could destroy, but which came to him as the natural flower of his obedience to God.

One time, a few days after the decision was made, this serenity came to the surface. It was upon a hilltop, whither he had gone with three of his friends. As he sat there, thinking over his actions and his future, he might have communed thus with himself: "I have decided that I am the Christ. I have taken that office because it is my plain duty. The Pharisees will probably kill me for calling myself Christ, but they cannot rob me of my joy in doing what I know I ought to do. I have obeyed God in the face of death, and my reward lies in this gratified conscience." And then this feeling of serene satisfaction took such hold upon him that, as the story says, he was transfigured with happiness. His face shone as the sun, and God’s own voice spoke to him, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."

We have a proverb which says the "duty performed is a rainbow in the soul." It was some such rainbow as this that filled the soul of Jesus with a rift of heavenly light. Come what might, his conscience was at rest. With a gratified conscience a man can bear almost any sorrow.

1. Where did Jesus go six days after the scene at Caesarea Philippi?
2. Which disciples did he take with him?
3. What especial relation did these disciples enjoy towards Jesus?
4. What is it to be transfigured?
5. How did this transfiguration show itself in Jesus?
6. What suggestion did Peter make?
7. What did the wonderful voice say to them?
8. What do you think this transfiguration means?
9. Upon what other occasion did a heavenly voice speak to him?
10. What sad scene did they find at the foot of the mountain?
11. Why could not the disciples cure the demoniac?
12. Did Jesus really mean that they could remove mountains by faith?

Matthew IV. 1-7

No man can find himself suddenly gifted with a strange new power without at once being tempted to misuse that power. It was so with Jesus. After the memorable scene in Caesarea Philippi, where he definitely took upon himself the name and the work of God’s Messiah, there came to him a realization of the great power which he possessed, and which he could exercise upon the humble people about him.

His influence over them was enormous. He could make them believe just what he wanted them to believe, and he could make them do just what he wanted them to do. He saw clearly that they trusted him entirely, and that whatsoever he said was law to them. It was perfectly natural that he should at once be tempted to abuse this power; and the story of his temptations and of how he resisted them is one of the noblest stories in the Gospels.

We have it told to us in personal characters and concrete forms, as though the spirit’s darkness and perplexity in which he struggled were a real wilderness and as though the troublesome voice which whispered tempting words in his heart were the voice of a real evil person. There were three ways in which this voice tempted him to abuse his power. They are called the Three Temptations.

The first temptation was that he should use his wonderful power, not so much for other people’s benefit as for his own; that by it he should secure for himself riches and ease and comfort. This temptation Jesus resisted with comparative ease. He was too generous to be really attracted by it. He did not want personal wealth and ease nearly so much as he wanted to help others and have others enjoy a richer and truer and fuller measure of life through his help and through his self-denial

1. Where did the Sprit lead Jesus?
2. What was the purpose of this errand?
3. How long did he fast?
4. What does the numeral 40 signify?
5. What did the tempter suggest that he do to the stones?
6. How did Jesus answer?
7. After what event did this temptation come, according to the Gospels?
8. Was it into a real wilderness that he went?
9. Was it a real Satan who spoke to him?
10. What great power had he just received?
11. For what purpose had this power been given him?
12. Of what sin would he have been guilty if he had used this power for another purpose?

Luke IV, 1-13; Matthew XII. 38.

We have seen that it is very natural for a man to be tempted to misuse his power as soon as he is given power. Many a man has been an upright private citizen, but when he has been elected to some political office which gave him a certain amount of power, and has enabled him to influence the lives of others, he has yielded to the temptation to use this new power to his own selfish ambition by it. It is a common temptation, and perhaps we know actual people who have fallen into it.

Jesus readily resisted this temptation, but the second temptation that came to him he found much harder to resist. We have seen that his great aim in life was to help his fellowmen. We have seen that he had a great influence over the common people, and could help them wonderfully because they were ready to believe all he said. The great difficulty in his way was that the more important people in the nation, the Scribes and Priests and Pharisees, would not allow his claim of being the Christ and would not believe on him.

If only he could do something that would win them over to his side, his work of establishing a great Jewish kingdom of heaven would become very much easier and simpler. He needed their recognition. So the voice whispered to him to employ his wonderful power in doing something so marvelous that they would at once give him their recognition. Cast yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple, said the voice. You will suffer no hurt, for you are God’s Christ. And this will seem so wonderful that everybody will believe on you, and recognize you as the Christ.

This was a hard temptation for Christ to overcome, for it seemed to promise him real help in doing his work. But he saw that it would not do to win recognition in such cheap ways. Good work must be done in good ways, and his recognition with the people, in order to be worth anything to him or to them, must come through their honest appreciation of his true worth, and not through miracle or sign. So, after a severe conflict, he put down this temptation also.

1. Which is the second temptation in the Matthew story?
2. Which temptation is this in the Luke story?
3. Why did Satan take him to Jerusalem?
4. How many temples were there in the country?
5. How high was the pinnacle of the temple?
6. What did Satan say would happen if Jesus cast himself down?
7. From what Old Testament books does Satan quote in Luke iv. 10 and 11?
8. Did Jesus really believe that he could leap from this pinnacle without injury?
9. What effect would this have upon those who saw him?
10. What is a sign?
11. Why did the Pharisees want him to give them a sign?
12. Why did Jesus resist this temptation?

Matthew IV. 8-11; John VI. 15.

The third temptation was the hardest one of all, because it was a temptation to do nothing selfish or evil, but to do good. The voice said to him: "You want to help your people, and tech them to live true and happy lives? Very well. They like you and believe in you. You have a great influence over them. If you will only consent, they are ready and anxious to take you and make you their king. You may rule them from your throne, and they will fight your battles and conquer your enemies, and make you all-powerful."

"And them, as king of the people, just think of the vast amount of good you can do them. You can make good laws, and put down all corrupt practices, and remedy all the social evils and injustices, and rule them in equity and righteousness, and there shall be no more sin or cruelty or sorrow or oppression in all the land; and all your subjects will love you and bless your name."

We can easily understand how sorely this temptation appealed to Christ to use his power to make himself king, and then to inaugurate a model kingdom upon earth. But, after a long, bitter fight, he resisted this temptation also, and for this reason: he was not satisfied to do a certain amount of real good to a certain number of people.

He wanted to do all the good he possibly could to as many people as he could possibly reach. If he should allow himself to be made a king, he could do a certain amount of immediate and temporary good to a certain number of people.

But something told him, perhaps, that, of only he would go on his true way, and preach his gospel, and suffer his harsh death, and keep himself absolutely true to the pure voice of conscience in his heart, the whole world would in time learn to honor him and love him, and accept him as the type and example of true living, and that thus his influence for good would become infinitely greater and more lasting, and would spread over all nations and live through all ages.

1. Where did Satan take him for the last temptation?
2. What did Satan show him from that place?
3. What offer did Satan make him?
4. How did Jesus reply?
5. Could Jesus really have been king if he wanted to be?
6. What good might he have done if he had allowed himself to become a king?
7. How extensive do you think his kingdom would have been?
8. Would there have been anything really sinful in yielding to this temptation?
9. Why do you suppose he resisted?
10. Why was this the hardest temptation of all?
11. How extensive is his influence today?
12. What is the reason of this great extent of his influence?

Matthew XVII. 22-23; XX. 17-19; Luke IX. 30-37.

Just how long these various temptations lasted we are unable to say. They were probably not very definite either in time or place, but they occurred to him at odd times and places probably over and over again. Jesus nobly resisted them all, and resolved to keep himself absolutely true to the calm, insistent voice of conscience which spoke its divine promptings in his heart. Sometimes perhaps he wavered and mistrusted himself, but in the end his resolution grew stronger and grander.

He would be the Christ, he would do the work of the Christ, he would obey God with all his fidelity, even though it led him into sorrow and death. As the Christ of God, the first thing to do was to go at once to Jerusalem, and proclaim himself the Messiah of God in the nation’s capital. If the people believed him and supported him, then there would be established the kingdom of the noble and true, who would live together in peace and righteousness all their days. But if the people did not believe in hi, but mocked him and killed him, as he more than half expected them to do, why, he could only suffer as quietly and bravely as possible.

No matter what the people did, he must do his work faithfully and completely. Then, whatever happened, it would not be through any fault of his. So the little company went at once to Galilee, to the home in Capernaum, and after a short stay there, to make some final preparations perhaps, they started out on their journey of seventy-five or eighty miles for the great city of Jerusalem.

What deep emotions must have passed through Jesus’ mind as he took his last look at the little town where he had lived, -at the gently swelling hillsides and green pastures where he had rambled and preached and prayed and spent such happy days, at the beautiful blue lake which he hardly expected to see again! How hard it must have been! But he was a servant of God. He was driven by his conscience. And, hard as it was, it would be infinitely harder for him to be false to his conscience and to turn a deaf ear to the voice of duty. So, bidding a last goodbye to lake and hill and pasture, he resolutely set his back to the little Galilean home, and started for Jerusalem.

1. Why was it necessary for Jesus to go to Jerusalem?
2. What harsh fate did he see awaiting him in that city?
3. How soon after the transfiguration did he start for Jerusalem?
4. Which route did he take?
5. Who were the Gentiles who should crucify him?
6. Why would the priests and scribes deliver him to these Gentiles?
7. Did the disciples understand what he meant when he foretold hi death?
8. What dispute had the disciples been having?
9. How did Jesus settle this dispute?
10. How many times had he been to Jerusalem before?
11. Were there many people in Jerusalem who would know him?
12. At what time of the year did he plan to reach the city?

Matthew XIX. 13-22; Mark X. 13-31; Luke XVIII. 15-30.

Of course, the journey had to be made all the way on foot. Sometimes people traveled on camels or donkeys, but usually they walked, and Jesus and his friends were all young and vigorous, so that the prospect of the long, easy tramp was very pleasant. They decided to go a rather roundabout way.

The shortest way would be to cut right down south through the country of Samaria, stopping three or four times, for night, at little villages along the way. But this was not a favorite way, for the people of Samaria were very bitter enemies to the Jews, and would not treat them at all well. Then there was the caravan route, which they could follow, running down on the west along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. But this was rather too long a way.

Instead they decided to cross the Jordan River to the east bank, and travel down through the country called Perea. This would be a delightful journey, and would give Jesus an opportunity for visiting many towns that he had never seen and for preaching to people who had never heard him. This, then, was the route they took, fording the Jordan at a point just south of the Sea of Galilee.

Many pleasant incidents occurred on the way. The people came to meet him everywhere with the utmost eagerness. He preached to them, and healed their sick, and taught them his gospel of love and goodness. Of course, all this delayed the journey considerably, but there was no especial haste. It was during this trip that Jesus was met one day by a group of women bringing their children for him to talk to and bless. We can imagine him resting under a shady tree by the roadside, while the children played around him or climbed into his arms.

It was also upon this trip that a rich young man came to him, very anxious to know how he could get into heaven, and declaring that he had obeyed all the commandments. And, when Jesus told him to go and sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, he shook his head and turned sadly away. He did not want to belong to the kingdom of heaven quite enough to do all that. So the time went by. Each day he preached to some new hearers or told his disciples some new parable; and each day brought him nearer and nearer to the city of Jerusalem.

1. What band of little visitors came to see him one day?
2. How were they received by the disciples?
3. Why did the disciples treat them so?
4. How did Jesus receive them?
5. Do you think Jesus was fond of little children?
6. What question did the young man ask him?
7. To what famous passage did Jesus refer him?
8. What did Jesus finally tell him to do?
9. Why did he refuse to do this?
10. Is it possible for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye?
11. Do you think Jesus was prejudiced against rich people?
12. What did he consider the true use of riches?