The Good Shepherd | Page 5

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