“Come with me,” said the Teacher with the gentle voice. Then he took the father and mother of the maid and three of his friends into the room where the maid was lying so white and still and breathless. Very tenderly he bent over her body, took her small white hand in his own warm hand, and softly said, “Little maid, arise!” In a moment the rose-color came back to her pale cheeks, and she sat up in the bed, and threw her arms about her father and mother, who could scarce believe their eyes for joy. Then she sprang from the bed and walked, perfectly well. “Give the maid something to eat,” said the Teacher. Her mother quickly gave her something to eat. Soon the servants prepared a feast for the great Teacher, and the little maid sat next to him at the table, as happy and as well as she could be. And she never forgot the name of that great Friend who awakened her from her sleep of death!
9. THE BOY WITH HIS LUNCH
(John 6: 1-14)
Once there was a good boy who had a very kind-hearted mother. Early one morning he said, “Mother, I’d like to go fishing to-day.” “Yes,” said the mother, “you’ve been a good boy; take your fishing-tackle, and here’s a nice lunch for you.” She put him up five little cakes, such as he liked, in a basket. He went down to the lake and fished all the morning and way into the afternoon, and caught only two little fish, which he held over a fire that he made, until the fish were cooked brown and looked so good to eat. He was just about to eat them with his cakes, when he looked up and saw a great crowd of people a little distance away whom he had not noticed before. He wondered who they could be. So quickly putting his five little cakes and two fishes into the basket, he took it up, ran as fast as he could, and pressed his way to the front, where he saw a great and good man talking to the people so earnestly that they did not notice the boy. Soon he was listening as earnestly as any of them. When the great and good man had talked a long time and no one seemed tired, one of the men said: “I think you had better send the people home to get something to eat. If they stay much longer they will get so hungry they will faint by the way.” The good man said, “You give them something to eat!” The man laughed and said: “Why, if we bought two hundred dollars’ worth of bread and gave each person a little, there would not be enough to go around.” When the boy heard that, he said to a man he knew, “He can have my lunch if he wants.” The man said: “There’s a little lad here with five little cakes and two little fishes, and he says you can have his lunch, if you want!” “Yes,” said the good man, “let him bring it to me.” So that good boy came right up in front of the great and good man and gave him his lunch. The good man asked God to bless it. Then he asked his friends to seat the boys and girls on the green grass in rows of fifty, and the women in rows of fifty, and the men in rows of a hundred. When they were all seated, the good man took up one of the little cakes and broke off a piece, and another and another and another; but the cake did not become smaller. He kept breaking it until there was a great deal of bread. Then he took up one of the little fishes and broke off a piece, then another and another and another; but the fish did not become smaller. He kept breaking the fish until there was plenty. Then his friends passed the cakes and fish around to the boys and girls. It was the sweetest bread and fish they had ever tasted. The boy who gave up his lunch had all he could eat, so did all the women and all the men. When they had eaten all they wished, there were twelve baskets full left over. And it all came about because that good boy was willing to share his lunch with the great and good man.
10. THE DWARF IN THE MULBERRY TREE
(Luke 19: 1-10)
Once there was a very little man who was no bigger than a young boy. He was so short that some people called him a dwarf. He lived in a very large house, was very rich, and had a money-making office. But no one in the town liked Zaccheus, the dwarf, because he was not good, or kind-hearted, or honest. People said that he had cheated them out of money and done other bad things. One afternoon, as he was walking along the street, suddenly he saw in the distance a great crowd of people coming along the main road leading into the town. The people were shouting excitedly, “Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!” “How I would like to see Jesus,” said the dwarf to himself as he ran toward the crowd and tip-toed, trying to catch a glimpse of the great Teacher’s face. But he wasn’t tall enough. He could see nothing but heads towering above him. “I know what I’ll do,” he said to himself. “I’ll climb up into that mulberry tree near my house. Then I can see him easily.” So he ran quickly and climbed up into the branches of the great tree, and waited until the crowd came close. “There he is” he said to himself; “well, if I am a dwarf, no one can see better than I this time.”
He sat there quietly while the great procession passed by—men, women, children, and Jesus in the midst. Soon Jesus stopped near the tree, looked up into its branches and cried, “Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for I want to stop at your house to-night!” Zaccheus could scarcely believe his ears. Was it possible that the good Teacher would visit him, a man so wicked, hated, and despised? How did Jesus know his name? How did he see his hiding-place in the tree? The dwarf didn’t know, but he hastened down at once and welcomed Jesus to his house. In surprise some of the people cried: “Look! Jesus is going to stay with a sinner. Does he know what a bad man this is?” Zaccheus gave Jesus the best room in his large house, and did all he could to make his visit comfortable. “Prepare the best feast for Jesus,” he said to his servants. And while they were seated at the table, Zaccheus stood before all and said to Jesus: “Master, if I have taken anything from any one wrongfully, I will give him back four times over, and one-half of what is left I will give to the poor.”
Then Jesus said to all the people: “Zaccheus, whom you have despised and hated, is one of the children of my kingdom. I came into his house to help him to be good and kind-hearted and just. I came to seek and to save the lost!”
Zaccheus, the dwarf, never forgot that afternoon when Jesus found him seated up in the mulberry tree and spent the night at his house and loved him when everybody else hated and despised him.