The Good Shepherd
A >> Anonymous >> The Good Shepherd[Frontispiece: "I am the good shepherd. . ."]
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
A LIFE OF CHRIST FOR CHILDREN
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
NEW YORK : : CHICAGO : : TORONTO
Publishers of Evangelical Literature
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. WHY JESUS CAME TO THIS WORLD
II. JESUS IS BORN IN BETHLEHEM
III. THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS
IV. JOHN THE BAPTIST
V. JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK
VI. SOME WORDS AND WORKS OF JESUS
VII. A FRIEND FOR THE SORROWFUL
VIII. MORE WONDERFUL WORKS AND WORDS
IX. THE MAN BORN BLIND, AND LAZARUS
X. THE PRODIGAL SON, AND OTHER STORIES
XI. THE LAST DAYS IN JERUSALEM
XII. THE CRUCIFIXION AND THE RESURRECTION
XX SELECTED SONGS, PSALMS, AND PRAYERS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"I am the good shepherd . . ." . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
Map of Palestine at the time of Christ
The shepherd's care
Bethlehem
Nazareth, from hill above
Jewish women grinding corn
The River Jordan
Jericho, from plains above
A modern Jew's wedding party in Galilee
Jacob's well
Ruins of Capernaum
The good Samaritan
Bethany
Child at prayer
The shepherd's care (2nd version)
The shepherd's care (3rd version)
The Jordan near Bethabara
Mount of Olives and Jerusalem
Gethsemane
Calvary
The empty tomb
The Sea of Galilee
The Mount of Olives
CHAPTER I
WHY JESUS CAME TO THIS WORLD
In the beginning, before the world was made, the Lord Jesus lived in
heaven. He lived in that happy place with God. Then God made the
world. He told the hills to come up out of the earth, and the seas to
run down into the deep places which He had made for them. He made the
grass, the trees, and all the pretty flowers. He put the sun, the
moon, and the stars in the sky. He filled the water with swimming
fish, the air with flying birds, and the dry land with walking and
creeping animals. And then He said, 'Let _Us_ make man.' Who were
meant by 'Us'? Who was with God when He made the world? It was Jesus.
The Bible says:
'THE WORD (that means Jesus) WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD. THE
SAME WAS IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD. ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM.'
So after He had made everything else, God made a man, and named him
Adam. God put Adam into the beautiful Garden of Eden, and at first he
was good and very happy. God also made a woman, named Eve, to be his
wife, and to help him to take care of the garden. All the fruit in the
garden, except what grew on one tree, was given to Adam and Eve to eat;
all the animals were their servants; and God was their Friend.
A wicked angel, who had been turned out of heaven, saw how happy Adam
and Eve were, and he was angry, and thought, 'I will make them as bad
and unhappy as I am; I will make them do what God has told them not to
do. Then he will turn them out of Eden, and they and their children
will be my servants for ever, and I shall be king of the world.'
So the wicked angel, whose name was Satan, came into Eden. He got Adam
and Eve to take the fruit which God had told them not to eat, and God
had to send them out of the beautiful garden; for God had said He would
punish Adam and Eve if they took that fruit, and God always keeps His
word.
But God went on loving Adam and Eve even when He knew that He must
punish them, and He tried to make them good in this way. He thought,
'I will send My dear Son down to the earth. He shall become a little
child, and grow up to be a man, and shall die for the sins of the
world.'
Hundreds and hundreds of years passed away before Jesus came. But a
great many of the people who lived in Palestine were expecting Him.
God had said that when Jesus came, He would be a Jew. The Jews were
very proud about that. They often talked about the coming of Jesus.
When they talked about Him, they called Him the Messiah.
Just before Jesus was born, the Jews were very unhappy. Roman soldiers
had been fighting with them, and had conquered them, and made them
servants of the great Roman king. He was called Augustus Caesar, and
he gave the Jews another king called Herod. He was very wicked.
[Illustration: Map of Palestine at the time of Christ.]
The Jews longed to get rid of Herod, and many of them thought, 'It will
be all right when the Messiah comes. The Messiah will fight against
the Romans; He will drive them away from our land; and then He will be
our King instead of that wicked Herod.' But only a few Jews remembered
that Jesus was coming to fight against Satan and against sin.
The place where the Jews lived had four or five names. It was called
the Land of Canaan at the first, then the Land of Promise, and then the
Land of Israel. But we call it the Holy Land, or Palestine.
If you look at the map of Palestine, you will see a river running from
the north of Palestine to the south. That river is called the Jordan.
And Palestine is divided into four parts,--one at the top (we call that
the north), one at the bottom (we call that the south), one in the
middle, and one on the other or eastward side of the Jordan.
The part in the North is called Galilee. The part in the south is
called Judaea. The part in the middle is called Samaria. The part on
the other side of the Jordan is called Perea.
Palestine is full of hills, with great holes, called caves, in their
sides. Palestine is not very big; England is about six times, and New
York State about five times larger. Washington is called the capital
of the United States. The capital of Palestine was Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was a very beautiful city. It was built on four or five
hills which were very close together. One of these hills was called
Mount Moriah. On the top of Mount Moriah there was a great Temple
where the Jews went to pray. Part of the Temple was called the Holy
Place, the part at the very top of the mountain. It was splendid with
its shining gold and white marble, but it was not very large, for the
people were not allowed to go into it. When it was time for the Jews
to go to the Temple, silver trumpets were blown once, twice, three
times, and then the gates were thrown open, and the people crowded into
the courts.
CHAPTER II
JESUS IS BORN IN BETHLEHEM
Mary, the mother of Jesus, lived in the little town of Nazareth, among
the hills of Galilee. She was going to be married to a carpenter
called Joseph, who, like herself, lived in Nazareth. One day God sent
the angel Gabriel to Mary with a message. Mary, when she saw and heard
the angel, was a little frightened. But the angel told her he had some
glad news for her. Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, was coming into
the world very soon, and He was to come in the form of a baby, as
Mary's little child. And Gabriel said that when He was born, Mary must
call Him JESUS.
Mary had a cousin named Elizabeth, who lived more than a hundred miles
away from Nazareth, and Mary longed to talk with her about all these
wonderful things. So she got ready for a long journey, and went off
into the hill country of Judaea to see Elizabeth.
And God had also promised to send Elizabeth a son. And soon after
Mary's visit the baby was born, and all Elizabeth's friends were glad,
and came to see her, and to thank God with her for His great kindness.
The little Jew babies have a name given to them when they are eight
days old. And Elizabeth's son was named John.
One night, soon after Mary got back from her cousin Elizabeth's house,
the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream. The angel told
Joseph to marry Mary, and he told him Mary's secret about the Son of
God coming to earth as her little child, and he said to Joseph, 'THOU
SHALT CALL HIS NAME JESUS, FOB HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR
SINS.' When Joseph woke up, his first thought was to do what the angel
had told him, and he at once took Mary to his own home as his wife.
About this time Caesar Augustus, the great Emperor at Rome, sent word
to Herod that he was to take a census of the Jews. Everybody's name
had to be written down and his age, and many other things about him.
Every twenty years Augustus had a census taken, so that he might know
how much money the Jews ought to pay him, and how many Jew soldiers he
ought to have.
In Palestine, at census time, people had to go to the towns where their
fathers' fathers lived a long time ago, and had to have their names put
down there instead of having them put down in their own homes. Now,
both Joseph and Mary belonged to the family of the great king David,
who was born in Bethlehem. So Mary had to prepare for a long journey,
and go with her husband to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is six miles from
Jerusalem. It is on the top of a hill, and people have to climb up a
steep road to get into the town.
An inn is a large house that people stay at when they are on a journey.
The inns in Palestine have four walls, with a door in front, and with a
great empty space for camels and horses inside. In the middle of the
empty space is a fountain; and all round the walls, a little bit higher
than the part where the animals are, there are a number of places like
empty stone arbors. These empty places are called _leewans_, and they
are open in front, so that everybody can see into them. Yet Mary and
Joseph, after all their long journey from Nazareth, could not find even
an empty _leewan_ to lie down in.
[Illustration: The shepherd's care.]
Near that inn there was a place in which asses and camels were kept.
It was perhaps a cave in the side of the hill. And because there was
no room for them in the inn, Mary and Joseph had to go into that stable
to sleep, and in that stable Jesus Christ was born. Mary wrapped Him
in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in the manger in the place where the
animals' food was kept.
On the hill where Bethlehem stands there are green places where
shepherds feed their flocks. There are wild animals in Palestine; and
all night long the shepherds of Bethlehem watched to see that no harm
happened to their sheep. One night an angel of the Lord stood by them
and a bright light shown round about them. The shepherds were afraid;
but the angel said, 'FEAR NOT; FOR BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS (OR
NEWS) OF GREAT JOY, WHICH SHALL BE TO ALL PEOPLE. FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN
THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOUR, WHICH is CHRIST THE LORD.'
And suddenly there was seen with the angel a number of the angels of
heaven. And they praised God, and said, 'GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST,
AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN.'
When the light faded, and the song ended, and the angels had gone back
into heaven, the shepherds climbed quickly over the hillside to
Bethlehem. And there, in the stable near the inn, they found Mary and
Joseph, and the Babe lying in the manger, as the angels had said.
Jesus was the eldest son of His mother. And the eldest sons in Jewish
houses, when they were forty days old, were taken to the Temple, and
given to God.
So now, when Jesus was nearly six weeks old, He was brought from
Bethlehem by Mary and Joseph to the Temple at Jerusalem. The mothers
used to take a lamb with them, or two pigeons, as a sacrifice to God.
Mary took two pigeons. She was not rich enough to buy a lamb.
A long way on the eastern side of the Jordan, there were countries
where the people used to watch the sun and the moon and the stars very
carefully. If they saw anything new and strange in the heavens, they
thought it meant that something wonderful was going to happen. But
some of them knew and had heard from the Jews about God, and about the
Messiah who was coming; and they, like the Jews, were longing for Jesus.
One day these wise men saw a bright star which they had never seen
before. And as they looked at it they felt sure that a great King of
the Jews had been born in Judaea. So they took camels and rich
presents of gold and sweet-smelling stuff--such as people gave to kings
in those days--and they loaded their camels, and left their homes, and
rode for many weeks till they came to Jerusalem. And when they got
there they said, 'Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we
have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.'
[Illustration: Bethlehem.]
When Herod heard about these wise men he was troubled. He sent for the
best priests, and other clever men, and asked them where Christ would
be born. And they said to him, 'In Bethlehem of Judaea.' They had
read that in the Bible. Then Herod said to the wise men, 'Go and
search out carefully about the young Child; and when ye have found Him,
bring me word, that I also may come and worship Him.'
When the wise men had heard the king, they went away to Bethlehem, and
lo, the star went before them, till it came and stood over where the
young Child was. And they rejoiced with great joy. And when they were
come into the house (there was room in the inn now) they saw the young
Child with Mary, His mother, and they fell down and worshipped Him, and
they gave Him their presents--gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. But
the wise men did not go back to Herod. God told them in a dream not to
go. So they went home by another way instead.
After the wise men were gone, the angel of the Lord came to Joseph in
his sleep, and said to him, 'Arise, and take the young Child and His
mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word:
for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.' That meant to
kill Him. So Joseph at once got up, and took the young Child and His
mother by night, and went away to Egypt.
When Herod found that the wise men did not come back, he was very
angry, and he sent his soldiers to Bethlehem, and had all the baby boys
killed--all the children who were less than two years of age. And they
killed all the baby boys in the places near Bethlehem as well. And the
poor mothers cried, and nobody could comfort them.
Joseph and Mary stayed in Egypt, waiting for the angel to bring them
word that it was time to go back again to Palestine. And one night,
when Jesus was about three years old, the message came. The angel of
the Lord said to Joseph in a dream, 'Arise, and take the young Child
and His mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which
sought the young Child's life.' Joseph got up, and took the young
Child and His mother, and went into the land of Israel. But when he
came there, people said to him, 'Herod is dead, but his son Archelaus
is king.' And when Joseph knew that Archelaus was king, he was afraid
to stay in Judaea. And God spoke to him again in a dream, and told him
to go back to Galilee. So Joseph and Mary went back to Galilee, and
lived in Nazareth again.
CHAPTER III
THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS
The Bible tells us only a few stories about the time when Jesus was a
little boy.
Nazareth is built up the side of a hill, and there are plenty of
gardens and fields down below. Amongst these fields there is a
fountain, where the women of Nazareth go to fetch water. Jesus must
often have gone with His mother to that fountain; and sometimes, when
she was tired, He may have fetched the water for her Himself.
[Illustration: Nazareth, from hill above.]
Mary wore a long blue dress, tied round the waist, and a cap with
pieces of money sewn round it, and a white cloth over her head and
shoulders, just as the women of Nazareth do now; and Jesus was very
likely dressed in a red cap, a bright tunic, a sash of many colours,
and a little jacket of white or blue, just as the boys of Nazareth are
dressed now.
The houses of Nazareth are white. Grape vines grow over their walls,
and doves sit and coo on the flat roofs. There is not much inside the
houses: sometimes they have only one room. There is a lamp in the
middle of the room, and round the walls there are waterpots. There are
bright-coloured quilts on a shelf. People unroll these quilts at night
and lie down upon them. There are mats and carpets in the house, and a
bright-coloured box with treasures in it, and a painted wooden stool;
and that is nearly all.
[Illustration: Jewish women grinding corn.]
When the people of the house want to eat, they put a tray of food on
the wooden stool, and they sit round the tray on the floor, and eat
with their hands. People in Palestine would not know what to do with
tables and chairs, and knives and forks, like ours.
The streets of Nazareth are long and narrow, and they are full of
chickens and dogs, of donkeys and camels, of blind beggars and
children. There are little shops by the side of the streets, something
like the _leewans_ in the inn which I told you about. But the tailors,
the shoemakers, the carpenters, and the coffee-grinders do not always
sit in their shops. They like to sit on the ground outside, and do
their work in the street; and the sellers of dates and of figs, beans,
barley, oranges, and other things, sit down in the street to sell their
goods.
Joseph, Mary's husband, was a carpenter, and Jesus became a carpenter,
and often came out of the little shop and sat on the ground with plane,
hammer, glue, and saw, and worked away in the narrow street, just as
the carpenters of Nazareth do now.
When the Jewish boys were twelve years old, they were called 'Sons of
the Law,' and they were taken to Jerusalem for the Passover. When
Jesus was twelve years old, Joseph and His mother took Him up with them
to the Passover. When the week was over, Mary and Joseph started for
the journey back to Nazareth. But Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.
Thousands of people must have been leaving Jerusalem just at the very
time that Mary and Joseph went away. So when Mary and Joseph did not
see Jesus in the crush, they did not at first feel frightened. They
thought, 'We shall find Him soon with some of our friends.' All day
long they kept on looking for Him in the crowd, but they did not see
Him. And at last they went back again to Jerusalem looking for Him.
Next day they found Him in one of the courts of the Temple. Several
Rabbis were there, and everyone who saw and heard Him was astonished.
They asked Him questions too, and He answered them wisely and well.
Nobody could understand how a young boy could be so wise.
When Mary and Joseph saw Jesus sitting here, with Rabbis coming all
around Him, they were greatly surprised. But His mother asked Him why
He had stayed behind, and said, 'Thy father and I have sought Thee
sorrowing.' Jesus said to His mother, 'HOW IS IT THAT YE HAVE SOUGHT
ME? WIST YE NOT (DID YOU NOT KNOW) THAT I MUST BE ABOUT MY FATHER'S
BUSINESS?'
And now He went back with her and with Joseph to Nazareth, and obeyed
them, exactly as He always had done. We do not know much more about
Jesus when He was a boy. But we do know that as He grew taller, He
'increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.'
CHAPTER IV
JOHN THE BAPTIST
You remember about the child that was called John. Zacharias, his
father, and Elisabeth gave John to God directly he was born. They
never cut his hair, and they never let him drink wine, or eat grapes,
or eat raisins. That was the way they did in those days to show that
he belonged to God.
When John was old enough to understand, he gave himself to God. And as
he grew older, he made up his mind that he would leave his home and
friends, and go and live in the wilderness; and his food there was
locusts and wild honey. Locusts are like large grasshoppers, and poor
people in the East often eat them. They taste like shrimps, but are
not so nice.
God had said that John should go before the Messiah to prepare the way
for Him--to get people's hearts ready for the Saviour. And when John
was in the wilderness, God told him to begin his work. So John went
down from the wild hills of Judaea to the River Jordan, and he began to
preach to everyone who passed by. There were many people passing by,
for he went to the place where people crossed the Jordan.
[Illustration: The River Jordan.]
John said, REPENT!' (that means, 'Be really sorry for your sins'), 'FOR
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is AT HAND.' A very great many people went from
Jerusalem, and out of all the land of Judaea, on purpose to hear John
preaching. And when they had heard him, some of them said to him,
'What shall we do then?' And John told them that they were to be kind
to one another; that they were to give food to the hungry and clothing
to the naked.
Some even of the proud Rabbis came down to the Jordan to John, and John
told these Rabbis that they must not be proud because they were Jews,
but must try to be good really and truly.
A great many of the people who heard John preach felt sorry for the
things they had done, and they told John how sorry they were, and John
baptized them in the River Jordan. John told the people that he could
only baptize their bodies with water, but that some one else was coming
who would be able to baptize their hearts with the Holy Spirit. This
was Jesus.
[Illustration: Jericho, from plains above.]
After John had baptized a great many persons, he saw coming to him, one
day, for baptism, a Man about thirty years old; and when John looked at
Him, he saw that He was quite different from all the people who had
been to him before. It was Jesus who had come to be baptized before He
began His work. He wanted to obey God in everything; and He wanted to
show that He was the Brother and Friend of all the people whom John had
been baptizing. And so, as Jesus wished it, John went into the River
Jordan with Him and baptized Him.
When Jesus had been baptized, and was full of the Holy Spirit, He went
away into a wilderness. And there, when Jesus was tired and hungry,
Satan came to Him--just as he came to Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden--to tempt Him.
To tempt means to try. Mother tries you sometimes, to see whether you
can be trusted; and God tries us all sometimes. But if God tries us,
it is to make us better; and if Satan tries us, it is to make us worse.
Every time that Jesus was tempted, He said, 'It is written,' and then
He told Satan something 'which was written in the Bible. That is the
very best way to fight Satan. The Bible is called 'the Sword of the
Spirit,' and Satan is afraid when he sees us using that Sword. Let us
ask God to fill us, like Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, and then we shall
soon learn how to use the Sword of the Spirit, and we too shall be able
to drive Satan away when he comes to tempt us.
Only we must be sure to read the Bible, as Jesus used to do, or else we
shall never be able to drive Satan away by telling him the things that
God has written there.
CHAPTER V
JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK
One day, when the fight of Jesus with the devil in the wilderness was
over, He came to Bethabara, where John was baptizing, and when John saw
Jesus coming towards him, he said:
'BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD, WHICH TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD.'
The next day John saw Jesus again, and again he said the same words:
'BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD!'
John called Jesus the Lamb of God, because He had come to die for our
sins.
Two men were standing close to John when Jesus came by, and they heard
what he said. The name of one of these men was Andrew, and of the
other John. Jesus knew that they would like to speak to Him, so He
turned round and asked them what they wanted. 'Master,' they said,
'where dwellest Thou?' (that means 'where are you living?') Jesus
said, 'Come, and you shall see.' And He took the two disciples to His
home, and He let them stay with Him the whole of the day. What a happy
day that must have been!
Andrew had a brother called Simon, and he went and found him, and told
him that he had found the Messiah, and brought him to see his new
Master. So now Jesus had three disciples--John, Andrew, and Simon; and
next day He took them away with Him to Galilee. While they were going
along, Jesus saw a man called Philip, who came from the place where
Simon and Andrew lived when they were at home. Jesus told Philip to
come with Him, and he came. But Philip went to a friend of his, a very
good man called Nathanael, also called Bartholomew, and he told him
that he had found Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, and begged him to
come and see Him.
How many disciples had Jesus now? Let us see. John, Andrew, Simon,
Philip, and Nathanael--five. And very likely John had brought his
brother James to Jesus. If so, that would make six.
Directly Jesus came into Galilee He was invited to a wedding, at a
place called Cana, and all of His disciples with Him. Jesus went to
the wedding because He likes to see people happy, and loves to make
them happy. In America, people often drink more wine at weddings and
at other times than is good for them, and a great many people go
without any wine at all, so as to set a good example. But in the East
it is different. The people there hardly ever take too much wine. So
Jesus allowed His disciples to use it, and He drank it Himself. There
was some wine at the wedding party to which Jesus went; but presently
it came to an end. Then Mary came to Jesus, and said, 'They have no
wine.' Jesus knew what Mary was thinking about, but He had to tell her
to wait; and He had to make Mary understand that He could not do
everything now which she told Him to do, exactly as when He was a boy.
He was God's Son as well as Mary's, and He had God's work to do, and He
must do it at God's time.