“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
“He that receiveth you receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me. He that receiveth aprophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones[17] a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, He shall in no wise lose his reward.”
Thus commissioned to an enterprise of toil, poverty, deprivation, and suffering, these apostles of Jesus went forth to preach the gospel of Christ throughout the land. Jesus also “departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.”
CHAPTER III.
THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS, AND MIRACLES OF HEALING.
Infamy of Herod.—Jesus in the Desert.—Feeds the Five Thousand.—Walks on the Sea.—Preaches to the People.—Visits Tyre and Sidon.—The Syro-Phœnician Woman.—Cures all Manner of Diseases.—Feeds the Four Thousand.—Restores Sight to a Blind Man.—Conversation with Peter.—The Transfiguration.—Cure of the Lunatic.—Dispute of the Apostles.—Law of Forgiveness.—Visits Jerusalem.—Plot to seize Jesus.—The Adulteress.—Jesus the Son of God.—The Blind Man.—Parable of the Good Shepherd.—Raising of Lazarus.
HE fame of Jesus had reached the ears of King Herod, the son of Herod called the Great. This wretched man had already ordered the death of his prisoner, John the Baptist, to gratify a woman who had deserted her own husband, and had induced him to abandon his own wife, that they might be united in guilty bonds. Agitated by remorse, he feared that his beheaded victim had risen from the grave.
It would seem to be a matter deeply to be regretted that we have no record of the adventures of the apostles upon their first missionary excursion. At its close they returned to Jesus, who was at Capernaum, “and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.
“And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while; for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” Upon the northern shore of the lake, there was the city of Bethsaida, just east of the entrance of the Jordan into the Sea ofGalilee. Near that place there was a desert region of silence and solitude. Embarking in one of the fishermen’s boats, called a ship, Jesus and his apostles sought this retreat; but the excited multitude followed upon the shore on foot. There was no seclusion for Jesus. An immense crowd soon again surrounded him. They were in the desert, and, without food, were in danger of perishing. Jesus, “moved with compassion towards them, received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.”