The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
JESUS IN THE TEMPLE
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
JESUS IN THE TEMPLE
Day after day Jesus trained His disciples for their work. At last it came time for the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. This feast was held in Jerusalem, in the autumn, a little earlier than our Thanksgiving. This Feast of Tabernacles lasted eight days, and while it lasted none of the Children of Israel lived in their homes, but made for themselves tabernacles, or booths, of the green branches of trees. These booths were put up all over the city. The booths were put up on the housetops, in the courts, as well as in the streets.
Jesus had not been in Jerusalem now for a year and a half. When it was time to go to this feast, some of the Lord’s relatives urged Him to go with them. They said to Jesus, “You have disciples there who want to see what you are doing. No one who wants the world to know what he is doing does things in secret. If you can do such wonderful things as are told of you, you should show yourself where every one can see you.”
They said, “If you can,” because even Jesus’ relatives did not believe that He was the Christ.
But Jesus was not yet ready to go to the feast, and He told them to go without Him. Jesus said, “The people do not hate you, for you think as they do, but they do hate me, for I find fault with the way they live. The time for me to show myself to the people of Jerusalem has not yet come.”
So they started for Jerusalem without Jesus. A little later, when the right time had come, Jesus went to the feast with His disciples.
The people at the feast were asking, “Where is Jesus? Is he not coming to the feast?”
Not seeing the Lord they began to talk about Him among themselves. Some of them said, “He is a good man.”
But others said, “No, he is teaching the people what is wrong.”
Jesus’ friends did not dare talk much about Him, because they were afraid of the Pharisees, who hated Jesus.
One day, in the middle of the feast, to everyone’s surprise, Jesus walked into the temple and began to teach.
No one knew how He got there, but there He was. Jesus talked so well that even His enemies could not help liking to hear Him, and they wondered how a man who had never studied in their schools could know so much.
Jesus heard their questions and answered them Himself. He told them that He spoke about the things that He had learned from His Father in heaven, and that anyone that knew God must know that His teachings were true. Jesus explained to them the reason why they did not understand His teachings. He told them it was because they did not really know and obey God, even though they made a great show of loving God and obeying His laws.
Jesus said to them, “If it is God’s law which says ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ why are you planning to kill me?”
They were very surprised that Jesus should know of their plan to kill Him. They tried to make Jesus think it was not so. But Jesus knew it was true.
Jesus said, “I did one good deed which you will never forgive. If your priests do work on the Sabbath, in order to be sure that the law that Moses gave you is not broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath? You call it something very wicked, and yet it was only an act of kindness. Why are you not fair to me, and judge me by what I really do?”
Jesus’ words astonished those people who knew about the secret plans of the Pharisees, and they asked, “Is not this the man they are trying to kill? How does he dare to say such things to them? Do the rulers think that he is really the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and no one is to know where the Christ comes from. He cannot be the Christ. And yet when the Christ comes will he do more or greater miracles than those which this man does?”
There were seventy of these leaders who belonged to what was called the Sanhedrin, which was the highest Jewish court. They were the ones who kept watch to see that the laws were not broken. They arrested anyone who did what they thought was wrong. And, they punished those whom they arrested, unless the punishment was to be death. If they wanted to take the life of any prisoner they must ask the Roman court for permission to do so. Almost every man in this Sanhedrin hated Jesus.
This Sanhedrin court sent officers to arrest Jesus. But Jesus went on talking, though He knew that the officers were only waiting for a good chance to take Him. The officers were afraid to take Jesus. They were afraid to take Jesus when there was a crowd around Him, because the people loved to hear Jesus talk.
Jesus said to the people, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will go to him who sent me. You will want me then, but you cannot find me; for where I am going you cannot come.”
The people wondered what Jesus could mean by this, and they asked, “Where will he go that we cannot find him?” Will he live among the Gentiles and teach them?”
But Jesus meant that He was going to His Father in heaven, and those who hated Him could never go to live with Him there.
Every day, while the Feast of Tabernacles lasted, Jesus went into the temple and taught the people. There was one part of the service at this feast which everyone loved. Early in the day, before the morning sacrifice, a priest went from the temple with a golden pitcher in his hand, to the pool of Siloam. This pool was outside the walls of Jerusalem and the priest went in and out of the gate, called the Water Gate, followed by a happy band of worshippers. The pitcher held a little more than a quart of water and, when the priest had filled it with water from the pool, he marched at the head of the happy procession back again to the temple. As soon as he entered the temple courts, other priests began to blow trumpets; and they kept blowing them until the water had been poured into a basin on one side of the altar. At the same time, wine was poured into a basin on the opposite side, and everyone began to sing the psalms which were always sung at that service. When they came to the last words, “Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever,” everyone waved a branch of palm and willow tied together which he held in his hand. This was done to remind the people that God had given their nation water to drink when they were in the wilderness.
On the last day of the feast, perhaps just as these things were being done, as He was standing in the temple, Jesus called out, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He that believes on me shall have living water.”
Jesus meant the same by this as He did when He spoke in just the same way to the woman at the well of Samaria. Do you remember this woman at the well? Jesus meant the spirit of love and service which God would give to all who truly loved His Christ.
Many of the people said, “Surely this is the Christ.”
But some said, “No, he is not the Christ.”
Still there were so many who showed their liking for Jesus that no one dared to arrest Him. Even the officers who had been sent to take Jesus felt that He was different from other men. No one laid hands on Jesus, and He passed out of the city into the Mount of Olives, which was a high hill only a little way from Jerusalem.
The officers went back to the Sanhedrin without their prisoner, Jesus.
The Pharisees asked the officers, “Why have you not brought him?”
And the officers answered, “We could not do it; we never heard any one speak as he did.”
The Pharisees then replied, “Has he deceived you, also? He has not deceived any of us.”
Jesus had one friend among the Sanhedrin, named Nicodemus. This friend was the man who came to Jesus in the night at the Passover feast, two years and a half years ago. Nicodemus had grown braver since that night when Jesus had told him about the new life. Now Nicodemus was not afraid to stand up for the great Teacher, even if he was the only one in the Sanhedrin to do so. Nicodemus said, “Does our law judge a man without giving him a trial? without giving him a chance to speak for himself, and tell what he is doing?”
This question made the other men very angry with Nicodemus, but it did break up the meeting. Every man then went to his own home. They knew in their hearts that Jesus had not broken a single law, and that they had no right to arrest Him. They had to give up their plan to arrest Jesus for a while. But they made up their minds to watch Jesus more carefully, and to arrest Him if they could possibly find an excuse.
The next day they brought to Jesus a woman who had broken a Jewish law. The punishment for breaking this law was stoning to death. They asked Jesus what they ought to do with her. They thought they had given Jesus a question that was hard to answer, because they knew how kind and loving Jesus was, and stoning was a cruel death. But Jesus said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone.”
The Pharisees thought of their wicked lives and one by one left the temple. When they were all gone, Jesus said to the woman, “Go and sin no more.”
Jesus spent the night on the Mount of Olives. He loved to get away into the pure, fresh air of the hill, away from the noise and the crowd and the close air of the city. It was a great comfort to Jesus to be able to go there every night, and not lose any of the services at the temple during the day.
The temple always looked very beautiful when the great lamps were lighted. One day, during the feast, as the people looked with pride on the sight, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
The Pharisees answered, “You say that about yourself, but it is not true.”
Then Jesus said, “It is written in your law that if two men agree in telling the same thing, it is true. I am one that says I am the Son of God, and the Father that sent me is another that says the same thing. So, by your own law, the saying must be true.”
They said, “Where is your father?”
Jesus replied, “You neither know me nor my Father; if you had known me, you would have known my Father also; but, because you will not believe me, you will die without being forgiven for your sins.”
Then they asked, “Who are you?”
Jesus answered, “Even the same that I said to you in the beginning. When you have killed me, then you shall know that I am the Son of God, and that I do nothing by myself, but speak those things that the Father has taught me. He that sent me is with me; my Father does not leave me alone in my work, for I always do what pleases him.”
While Jesus was speaking these words, many began to believe that He was telling the truth. To them Jesus said, “If you will only keep on believing what I tell you, I will teach you how you can free yourselves from your sins.”
They did not like to be told that they were not free from sins, and, as Jesus went on telling them of some of their faults, they became so angry that they took up stones to throw at Jesus. But Jesus passed through their midst, and walked out of the temple.
We suppose that Jesus and His disciples went back to Galilee for a short time, but they did not stay very long. The Savior had done everything He could for the people there. Jesus had cured the sick, fed the hungry, and given life to the dead. But because He was a poor man, and had not made Himself the kind of king they expected, there were very few people in Galilee who loved Jesus and believed that He was truly the Christ.
There was another feast in Jerusalem in a few weeks. So, Jesus traveled toward that city again. The Lord planned to rest awhile in Samaria. Jesus sent a messenger ahead to engage rooms for Himself and His apostles in a Samaritan village. It had now been two years and a half since the woman at the well had asked Jesus, “Where ought men to worship God, in Mount Gerizim or at Jerusalem?” – But it was still the question that made trouble between Children of Israel and Samaritans. Anyone who believed that Gerizim was the right place of worship was thought to be a friend of the Samaritans, and was made welcome in their homes. But they knew that Jesus and His friends were on their way to worship at Jerusalem, and, for that reason, the messenger could not find anyone willing to give them a room.
This made two of the apostles, James and John, angry. In their anger they said, “Lord, shall we not call down fire from heaven and burn this city?”
But the loving, gentle Savior, who always forgave His enemies, said, “No.”
And without an unkind word they went on to another village.
As they traveled along Jesus asked one man after another to follow Him, but they made excuses.
One man wanted to wait until his father died. Another man wanted to go back home and say goodbye to his family. But the Master said that whoever became His follower must not let anything stand between Him and them.
One man said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has not where he can lay his head.”
Jesus had no home where He could take His friends. Those who followed Jesus and who wanted to be with Him and do His work had to be as poor as Jesus was.
There were some men beside the twelve who loved Jesus so much that they were willing to do this, and Jesus chose seventy of them to go, two by two, as the apostles had gone, into all the cities and towns where Jesus planned to go later. Jesus told them as He had the twelve, to go just as they were, without taking food or money or extra clothing. They were to teach the people and heal the sick, and those whom they helped must give them the things they needed. The seventy men started at once, and Jesus and His twelve disciples traveled on, crossing the river Jordan into the country called Perea.
When these seventy men came back to Jesus again they were very happy. They had much to tell the Master of the way in which they had been able to cure the sick, and to help those who needed them so much.
Wherever Jesus went some of the scribes and Pharisees followed, asking Jesus questions, not because they wanted to learn from Him, but because they hoped that Jesus would say something against either the Roman or the Jewish Law. If that were to ever happen, they would then quickly arrest Jesus. Jesus knew their plan, but it did not trouble Him. Jesus answered all of their questions, and did it so wisely that they could find no fault with what He said.
One day one of these scribes, who had studied the law all his life, and who felt that he was both wiser and better than Jesus, asked, “Master, what shall I do to get this new life of which you teach . . . this life that never ends?”
Jesus said, “What is written in the law?”
The scribe knew everything in the law by heart, and he answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.”
Jesus said, "You have answered right; when you do that you have begun that life.”
Then the lawyer asked, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus answered this question with a story about the Good Samaritan, which we will read about in our next Bible story.
