THE GRATEFUL SAMARITAN LEPER.

And it came to pa.s.s, as they were on the way to Jerusalem, that he was pa.s.sing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."

And when he saw them, he said unto them, "Go and show yourselves unto the priests."

And it came to pa.s.s, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, with a loud voice glorifying G.o.d; and he fell upon his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus answering said, "Were not the ten cleansed? but where are the nine? Were there none found that returned to give glory to G.o.d, save this stranger?"

And he said unto him, "Arise, and go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole."

NEW DISCIPLES.

And as they went on the way, a certain scribe said unto him, "I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest."

And Jesus said unto him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."

And he said unto another, "Follow me."

But he said, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father."

But he said unto him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of G.o.d."

And another also said, "I will follow thee, Lord; but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house."

But Jesus said unto him, "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of G.o.d."

IN JERUSALEM--THE ATTEMPT TO STONE HIM

JESUS AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.

Then went he up unto the feast, not publicly, but as it were in secret. The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, "Where is he?" And there was much murmuring among the mult.i.tudes concerning him: some said, "He is a good man;" others said, "Not so, but he leadeth the mult.i.tude astray." Yet no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.

But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. The Jews therefore marvelled, saying, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?"

Jesus therefore answered them, and said, "My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of G.o.d, or whether I speak from myself. He that speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you doeth the law? Why seek ye to kill me?"

The mult.i.tude answered, "Thou hast a demon: who seeketh to kill thee?"

Jesus answered and said unto them, "I did one work, and ye all marvel because thereof. Moses hath given you circ.u.mcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers); and on the sabbath ye circ.u.mcise a man. If a man receiveth circ.u.mcision on the sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are ye wroth with me, because I made a man every whit whole on the sabbath? Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

Some therefore of them of Jerusalem said, "Is not this he whom they seek to kill? And lo, he speaketh openly, and they say nothing unto him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ?

Howbeit we know this man whence he is; but when the Christ cometh, no one knoweth whence he is."

Jesus therefore cried in the temple, teaching and saying, "Ye both know me, and know whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. I know him: because I am from him, and he sent me."

They sought therefore to take him: and no man laid his hand on him, because his hour was not yet come. But of the mult.i.tude many believed on him; and they said, "When the Christ shall come, will he do more signs than those which this man hath done?"

The Pharisees heard the mult.i.tude murmuring these things concerning him; and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to take him.

Jesus therefore said, "Yet a little while am I with you, and I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, ye can not come."

The Jews therefore said among themselves, "Whither will this man go that we shall not find him? will he go unto the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What is this word that he said, 'Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, ye cannot come'?"

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water."

But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Some of the mult.i.tude therefore, when they heard these words, said, "This is of a truth the prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ."

But some said, "What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?"

So there arose a division in the mult.i.tude because of him. And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.

The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, "Why did ye not bring him?"

The officers answered, "Never man so spake."

The Pharisees therefore answered them, "Are ye also led astray? Hath any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees? But this mult.i.tude that knoweth not the law are accursed."

Nicodemus saith unto them (he that came to him before, being one of them), "Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know what he doeth?"

They answered and said unto him, "Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet."

JESUS AND THE ACCUSED WOMAN.

And they went every man unto his own house: but Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken in adultery; and having set her in the midst, they say unto him, "Teacher, this woman hath been taken in adultery, in the very act. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such: what then sayest thou of her?" And this they said, trying him, that they might have whereof to accuse him.

But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. But when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

And again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.

And they, when they heard it, went out one by one, beginning from the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the midst. And Jesus lifted up himself, and said unto her, "Woman, where are they? did no man condemn thee?"

And she said, "No man, Lord."

And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn thee: go thy way; from henceforth sin no more."

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."