The Life of Our Lord in Simple Language for Little Children

by Anonymous

It was while Our Lord was here that a man was sent to Him by Martha and Mary to say that Lazarus, their brother, whom the Lord loved, was ill. The sisters thought Jesus would be sure to come and make His dear friend well. But, though Our Lord loved these good people, He did not go at once. He waited for two days, and then He said to His disciples, "Let us go into Judea again." But the disciples said, "Master, the Jews of late tried to kill You; why will You go there again?" Then Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus is asleep; I go that I may awake him." They did not know what Jesus meant, so they said, "If he is asleep he will get well." Then Our Lord told them that Lazarus was dead, and said that He must now go to him. The apostle Thomas said to the others, "Let us go, too, that we may die with Him." For they thought the Jews would be sure to kill Jesus if He went near Jerusalem; and Martha and Mary lived very near it. Lazarus had been buried four days when they arrived at Bethany.

As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, and said to Him, "Lord, if You had been here my brother would not have died; but I know that even now if You ask God anything He will give it You." Jesus said, "Thy brother shall rise again." "Yes; I know," said Martha, "he will rise at the last day." But Jesus told her that He could give life to the dead. Then He asked for Mary. She was sitting with a great many friends who had come to comfort her in her grief, but Martha made haste to tell her that Our Lord was come; and Mary went out to the Lord and said, as Martha had, "Lord, if You had been here he would not have died." Then Jesus said, "Where have you laid him?" The Jews had also come out now, and they said, "Come and see." They were all weeping, and Our Lord had such pity for their grief, that He too shed tears. Now the grave was a place in a rock and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." And when they had taken it away, Our Lord said some words to God in heaven, and then He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." And the dead man came out alive, though he had lain four days in the grave. How glad Mary and Martha must have been! A great many of the Jews who were there, when they saw this wonderful thing, believed that Jesus was the Son of God; but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. And they were angry, and said, "What shall we do? for if we let this man alone all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation." They meant that the Romans would take them and sell them for slaves, as was sometimes done in those days. Then the high priest said, "One man must die for the people." He did not know how true his words were, for Jesus meant to die to save all men. But the Lord did not let them kill Him yet, He went to another place with his disciples.

MARY ANOINTING THE FEET OF JESUS.

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

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

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

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

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