Some one had built around the pool five stone porches, with
steps leading down into the water. Here, sheltered from the
weather, the sick people could wait until they could step into
the pool. They could not do this whenever they wanted to. At
certain times only there was a bubbling motion of the water*
which they believed was made by an angel going into the pool.
Then, as they thought, whoever stepped into the water first was.
cured of any disease he had. Of course every sick person wanted
to be the first, and as no one could tell when the moving of the
water would be, the
porches were usually
filled with the people
who were waiting for
the time to come.
It was on the Sab¬
bath day that Jesus,
walking by this pool
of Bethesda, saw in
one of the porches a
very feeble man, who
had been sick thirty-
eight years. His friends
had brought him to the
pool and left him there
alone. The Saviour
saw him lying there,
and knowing how long
he had been sick he
felt pity for him.
The Infirm Man at Bethesda
the ministry of tiie ciirist
55
«Would you like to be made well?» he asked. The poor man
did not know that the one who spoke to him was better able to
cure him than the waters of Bethesda, and answered, Sir, I
have no one to put me into the pool at the right time, and while
I am trying to get there myself, some one steps in before me.»
Jesus said to him as he did to the palsied man at Capernaum,
«Rise, take up your bed and walk.»
Strange enough the man did not say: I cannot do it. I have
not walked for thirty-eight years.» He felt as if he could walk
now. He rose at once and walked away, carrying his bed with
him. The Bible does not say that he even stopped to thank the
one who had done so much for him, who was soon lost to his
sight in the crowd about the pool.
The man had not gone very far when he was stopped by some
of the Pharisees, who thought it was wrong to carry anything
in the hands on the Sabbath day. They thought it was wrong
to cure the sick, or move them in bed, or even to do any of the
little things that make sick people more comfortable. When
these very strict Jews saw this man with the bed under his arm
they said, Do you not know that it is the Sabbath day, and that
it is against the law to carry your bed? The man excused him¬
self by saying, He that made me well told me to take up my
bed and walk.» It seems as if every one would have been glad
that the man was able to do that, but the Jews were not. They
asked, angrily, Who was it that told you to take up your bed?»
The man could not tell them, for he himself did not know.
A little while after this they met again in the temple, and
Jesus talked with the man about the kind of life he was living.
If he had been a really good man he probably would not have had
this trouble, so the Christ said to him, You are well now, but if
you keep on doing wicked things something worse may happen
to you. Go, and sin no more.» The man left the temple, saw
56
A CHILDS STORY OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST
the Jews again and told them that it was Jesus who had cured
him. Then they crowded about the Saviour, and began to abuse
him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.
Who do you think spent the day in the way best pleasing to
God? The Christ, with a heart full of love, doing what he could
to help some one who was in trouble, or the Jews whose hearts
were so full of hatred to him because he had done what they
called wrong that they wanted to kill him?
Jesus was not afraid of them. He told them that he was only
doing his Fathers work. It made them still more angry to have
him call God his Father. He tried to prove to them that he was
the Son of God; that he could not do such things as they had
seen him do if his Father did not give him the power. He said
that if they would trust him they would see still greater works,
and asked them if they did not remember that John the Baptist had
called him the Christ. More than that, his Father at his baptism
had said, 66 This is my beloved Son.» You study the Scriptures,»
he said, u because you think they will save you; and they tell of
me. Why do you not come to me and learn what I can teach
you? I know why you do not come. It is because your hearts
are not full of the love of God. How can you believe?» After
he had said all he wanted to, he left them.
They did not dare to touch him then, but they did not forgive
him, and they made up their minds that they would watch him,
and see if they could not find something for which they could
punish him. It seems very strange that they would not listen
to him, and believe what he taught. Probably if they had been
better men they would have been willing to listen, and would have
learned to love the man who was always doing so much for others.
But they liked to be the rulers of the people, and they were afraid
that if Jesus were allowed to teach, the people would leave them,
and they would lose their power. They were jealous.
THE MINISTRY OF THE CHRIST
57
One Sabbath not long after this, Jesus and his disciples were
walking through a field of grain in Galilee. The disciples were
hungry, and as they
walked along they
picked some of the grain
and ate it. It was per¬
fectly right for them to
pick this grain, for the
Jewish law said that
any one could pick the
ears with his hands
if he wanted to eat
them, but that no one
must cut the grain with
the sickle and take it
home unless it was his.
Wherever Jesus
went now some of the
Pharisees followed to
see what he was about.
So when these men saw
the friends of Jesus eat¬
ing the grain they said to him, Your disciples are doing what
is not right on the Sabbath.»
If the law gave the people the right to pick the grain in this
way, why was there any reason why the Pharisees should blame
them? You remember that these Jews were very strict about
some things, although in other ways they were very bad. One
of the things they were very strict about was the keeping of the
Sabbath. Their law said that they must not work on the Sab¬
bath, and they said that rubbing off the grain with the hands was,
work. So they did not allow it to be done on the Sabbath. They
The Disciples plucking Grain
58
A CHILDS STORY OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST
could not blame Jesus for breaking the law, because he had not
picked any of the grain. But they blamed him for allowing his