came out, and the man became
well. The people in the synagogue were greatly surprised. They said,
'What thing is this? He commandeth even the unclean spirits and they
obey Him.'
When the service was over, the people who had seen the miracle went
home, and talked to everybody about what they had seen. Some of
them had sick friends, and some had friends with unclean spirits, and
they longed to bring them to Jesus. But it was the Sabbath, and they
would not bring them until the evening, at which time their Sabbath
came to an end. So as soon as the sun set that Sabbath day, a great
crowd was seen standing round Peter's house. It seemed as if all the
people of Capernaum must be there! They had brought their sick
friends, and laid them down at the door. And Jesus put His hands on the
sick people, and healed them all.
In the east there is a dreadful illness called leprosy, and the people who
have it are called lepers. No doctor can cure it. At the time when Jesus
lived on the earth, lepers were not allowed to come into cities. And
they had to go about with nothing on their heads, and with their dresses
torn, and with their mouths covered over; and when they saw anybody
coming, they had to call out, 'Unclean! unclean!'
One day when Jesus went into a town a leper saw Him. The poor man
came to Jesus and knelt down before Him, and fell on his face. And he
said, 'If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.' And Jesus put out His
hand, and touched him, and said to him, 'I will; be thou clean.' And as
soon as Jesus had said that, the leper was well.
Sin is just like leprosy. A baby's naughtiness does not look very bad;
but that naughtiness spreads and gets stronger as baby gets older, and
nobody but Jesus can take it away.
Jesus Christ's body must often have felt very tired, for crowds followed
Him about all the time. They came from Perea, and from Judaea, and
from other places too, to see the wonderful new Teacher. And Jesus
preached to them all, and healed their sicknesses. The most wonderful
sermon that was ever preached in all the world is called the Sermon on
the Mount, because Jesus sat down on a hill to preach it.
After a time Jesus went up again to Jerusalem. In or near Jerusalem
there was a spring of water which was as good as medicine, because it
made sick people well if they bathed in it often enough. This spring ran
into a bathing-place called the Pool of Bethesda. Numbers of sick
persons came to bathe in that pool. One Sabbath day Jesus saw quite a
crowd there. Some were blind, some were lame, some were sick of the
palsy. They were sitting, or lying, by the side of the pool. Jesus was
very sorry for one poor man there. He had been ill thirty-eight years. So
Jesus said to the man, 'Arise, take up thy bed, and walk.' And at once
the sick man was well, and took up his mattress and walked.
Now the Rabbis had a number of very silly rules about the Sabbath day.
Even if a man broke his arm or his leg on the Sabbath the Rabbis would
not allow the doctor to put the bone right till the next day. So they were
very angry when they found that Jesus had made that poor man well on
the Sabbath day, and had told him to carry his mattress home. They
told the man he was doing very wrong, and they tried to kill Jesus. But
Jesus told them that His Heavenly Father was never idle, and that He
must do the same works as God. That made the Rabbis more angry than
ever. They said, 'He calls God His own Father, making Himself equal
with God.' From that time the Jews in Jerusalem made up their minds
more than ever to kill Jesus; and wherever He went they sent men to
watch Him and listen to His words, so that they might make up some
excuse for putting Him to death.
What kind of work does God do on Sunday, dear children? Why, He
does all sorts of kind and beautiful things. He makes the sun rise, and
the flowers grow, and the birds sing; and He takes care of little children
on Sunday exactly the same as he does on other days. And Jesus did the
same kind of work, He made people happy and well on the Sabbath.
And we may do works of love--kind, loving things for other people--on
Sunday.
Another Sabbath day, soon after
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