The Good Shepherd | Page 7

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.
[Illustration: A modern Jew's wedding party in Galilee.]
But when Mary went back, she told the servants to do whatever Jesus
told them. Close to the house there were six great stone jars or
waterpots, and Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the waterpots with water.
And they filled them up to the brim. And lo! when the water was taken
out of the jars, it was water no longer, but wine.
This was the very first miracle that Jesus did, and He did it to make
people happy, and to make them believe that He was the Son of God.
Dear children, Jesus wants you to be happy. And the best way to be
happy is to ask Jesus to go with you everywhere and always, just as
those wedding people asked Him to come to their party.
He did not stay very many days in Capernaum. The lovely spring
flowers told Him that the Passover time was coming, so He went up
with His disciples, to Jerusalem. When Jesus had come to Jerusalem,
you may be sure that His disciples and He soon went to the Temple,
and when they got inside the great Court of the Gentiles they found a
market was going on there. Men were selling oxen and sheep and doves
for sacrifice. Others were sitting at little tables changing money. And
there must have been plenty of noise, for people in the East shout and
quarrel a great deal when they are buying or selling.
When Jesus saw this, He was angry; and He made a whip with pieces
of cord, and He drove away all the people who were selling in the
Temple. And He turned out the sheep and the oxen; and he told the

men who sold doves to take them away, and not turn His Father's
House into a store. Jesus upset the tables of the money-changers too,
and poured out their money.
Jesus did a great many wonderful things when He was in Jerusalem that
Passover time, and many persons saw His miracles, and thought, 'Yes,
this is the Messiah.' But Jesus did not trust any of those people. He
knew that they did not really love Him. But there was one man in
Jerusalem who did want to be Jesus Christ's disciple. His name was
Nicodemus. He was a great Rabbi, but not proud like the other Rabbis,
and he wanted to ask Jesus a great many questions. But he did not want
the other Rabbis and the priests to see him coming to Jesus. So he came
to Jesus by night--in the dark.
Did Jesus say, 'You are not brave, Nicodemus, I am ashamed of you; go
away'? Ah no! He talked kindly to him, and He told him that he would
have to be born again. He meant that Nicodemus must ask God to send
him His Holy Spirit, and to give him a new heart. And then Jesus
explained to Nicodemus why He had come down from heaven. He said:
'GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY
BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM
SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.'
CHAPTER VI
SOME WORDS AND WORKS OF JESUS
Jesus having to go to Galilee, made up His mind to pass through
Samaria. It was a long, rough journey, and at last they came near a
town called Sychar. Near by was the well dug by Jacob when he lived
in Shechem. Jesus was so tired that He sat down to rest on the edge of
the well, while His disciples went on to buy food.
[Illustration: Jacob's well.]
While Jesus was sitting by the well, a woman came there to draw water.
Jesus asked her to do something kind for Him, He said 'Give Me to

drink.' The woman was surprised, and said to Him, 'You are a Jew, and
I am a Samaritan. Why then do you ask me for water?'
Jesus said, 'IF YOU KNEW WHO I AM, YOU WOULD HAVE
ASKED ME, AND I WOULD HAVE GIVEN YOU LIVING
WATER.' Jesus meant the