The Story of the Bible

At once Mary rose up to go to Jesus. Her friends thought that she was going to her brother's tomb, and they went with her. Jesus was still at the place where Martha had met him, near the village. When Mary came to him, she fell down at his feet, and said, as her sister had said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother need not have died!"

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping with her, he also was touched, and groaned in his spirit, and was filled with sorrow. He said, "Where have you laid him?"

They showed him the place where Lazarus was buried, a cave, with a stone laid upon the door. Jesus wept as he stood near it, and the Jews said, "See how he loved Lazarus!"

But some of them said, "If this man could open the eyes of the blind, why is it that he could not keep this man whom he loved from dying?"

Jesus, standing before the cave, and still groaning within, said, "Take away the stone!"

Martha said, "Lord, by this time his body has begun to decay, for he has been dead four days."

Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you should see the glory of God?"

They took away the stone, as Jesus had commanded. Then Jesus lifted his eyes toward heaven, and said:

"Father, I thank thee that thou didst hear me. I know that thou dost hear me always; but because of those who are standing here I spoke, so that they may believe that thou hast sent me."

Then, with a loud voice, Jesus called out, "Lazarus, come forth!"

And the man who had been four days dead came out of the tomb. His body, and hands, and feet were wrapped round and round with grave bands, and over his face was bound a napkin.

Jesus said to those standing near, "Loose him, and let him go!"

When they saw the wonderful power of Jesus in raising Lazarus to life many of the people believed in Jesus. But others went away and told the Pharisees and rulers what Jesus had done. They called a meeting of all the rulers, the great council of the Jews, and they said, "What shall we do, for this man is doing many words of wonder? If we let him alone everybody will believe on him, and will try to make him the king; and then the Romans will make war upon us and destroy our nation and our people."

LAZARUS COMES TO LIFE AGAIN

But the high-priest Caiphas said, "It is better for us that one man should die for the people than that our whole nation should be destroyed. Let us put this man to death."

And to this they agreed, and from that day all the rulers found plans to have Jesus slain. But Jesus knew their purpose, for he knew all things. His time to die had not yet come, and he went away with his disciples to a city near the wilderness and not far from Bethabara, where he had been before. And from this place he went forth to preach in the land of Perea, into which he had sent the seventy disciples, as we read in the last story.

Some Parables in Perea

Luke xii: 1, to xv: 32.

Jesus went with his disciples through the land of Perea, on the east of the Jordan, the only part of the Israelite country that he had not already visited. The people had heard of Jesus from the sevently disciples whom he had sent through the land, as we read in Story Twenty-five, and in every place great multitudes of people came to see him and to hear him. At one time, one man called out of the crowd, and said to Jesus:

"Master, speak to my brother, and tell him to give me my share of what our father left us!"

Jesus said:

"Man, who made me a judge over you, to settle your disputes? Let both of you, and all of you, take care and keep from being covetous, seeking what is not yours."

Then Jesus gave to the people the parable or story of "The Rich Fool." He said:

"There was a rich farmer whose fields brought great harvests, until the rich man said to himself:

" 'What shall I do? for I have no place where I can store up the fruits of my fields. This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and will build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have goods laid up enough to last for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.' "

"But God said to the rich man, 'Thou foolish one; this night thou shalt die, and thy sould shall be taken away from thee. And the things which thou hast laid up; whose shall they be?' "

And Jesus said, "Such is the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

On one Sabbath-day, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. And a woman came in who for eighteen years had been bent forward, and could not stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her:

"Woman, you are set free from your trouble of body."

He laid his hands upon her; and she stood up straight, and praise God for his mercy. But the chief man in the synagogue was not pleased to see Jesus healing on the Sabbath. He spoke to the people, and said:

"There are six days when men ought to work; in them, you should come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath-day."