"The time is coming," said Jesus, "when I will show you a sign of my power, but not now; and when that sign comes, you will not believe it."

Then, making a motion of his hands as though pointing to himself, he added:

"Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

The Jews were horrified at these words; for they thought that he was speaking of the building on Mount Moriah, and in their mind to speak of pulling down the house where G.o.d dwelt was a terrible thing. But Jesus was speaking of himself as the Son of G.o.d, in whose body dwelt the Spirit of G.o.d. Far more than that building, where men cheated and did evil deeds, Jesus himself was the house of G.o.d. The rulers said:

"This Temple has taken forty-six years to build, and it is not finished yet; and will you raise it up in three days?"

Nearly fifty years before, King Herod had begun to rebuild the Temple, which in his time had become old and decayed. The repairs were made very slowly, and in the time of Jesus the building was still far from being finished. It was not finished until more than twenty years afterward.

We know what Jesus meant by those words; that three years afterward, those very men would cause him, the Son of G.o.d, whose body was G.o.d's dwelling place, to be put to death; and within three days after his death he would rise from his tomb, to be the Temple of G.o.d again and forever. The disciples of Jesus heard these words, but at that time did not know what they meant.

Jesus stayed for some time in Jerusalem and talked to the people about the Kingdom of G.o.d. He also did some wonderful works, such as curing the sick; and the people who saw these acts believed his words, as from one whom G.o.d had sent to men. But the priests and the rulers hated Jesus, because he spoke against their wicked lives, and they did all that they could to turn the people away from him.

Among the rulers, however, were a few men who listened to Jesus and believed his words. One of these was a man named Nicodemus. He wished to have a talk with Jesus and learn more of his teachings. But he was afraid to be seen with Jesus in the day-time, knowing that the other rulers were so strongly against Jesus. So he went quietly one night, unknown to everybody, and had a meeting with Jesus. Nicodemus began by saying:

"Teacher, we all know that you have been sent by G.o.d to speak to us, because no one could do these wonderful things that you are doing unless G.o.d were with him to give him power."

Jesus said to him:

"Let me tell you and all your people one thing. No man can have any part in the Kingdom of G.o.d unless he is born again from G.o.d."

Nicodemus did not know what this meant, and he said, "How can a man be born again after he is grown up?"

"Every man," said Jesus, "must become a new man and have the Spirit of G.o.d dwelling in him, if he is to come into the Kingdom of G.o.d. Do not be surprised that I say to you, 'You must be born anew.' There are many things that you cannot understand. Listen to the wind blowing! You can hear it, but you cannot tell from what place it comes nor to what place it goes. Just so is it with every one who is born of G.o.d's spirit."

What Jesus meant in these words was that every one who would be a follower of Christ needs to have a new heart and to live a new life; and this new heart and new life G.o.d alone can give to him.

One great sentence was spoken by Jesus at this time. Here it is.

"G.o.d so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life."

AT THE OLD WELL

CHAPTER 20

AFTER THE Pa.s.sover, Jesus went teaching through the villages in Judea, the province or part of the land around Jerusalem. As Judea was the largest of the five provinces, it gave its name also to the whole land, which was called both "Judea" and "the land of Israel." John the Baptist was still preaching and baptizing, although the crowds which now came to hear him were not so great as before. While John was near the Sea of Galilee, Jesus stayed in Judea, so that none might think that he was trying to draw the people away from John.

But after a time Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been put in prison by Herod Antipas, the wicked ruler of Galilee and Perea. Herod had stolen from his brother Philip his wife, named Herodias, and was living with her. John said to him:

"It is against the law of Moses and of G.o.d for you to take away your brother's wife."

This made Herod angry with John, and Herodias even more angry. She wished to have John put to death for his bold words, but Herod, though he was not a good man, was unwilling to have John slain, and partly to keep him safe from the hate of his wife, he ordered that he should be put into prison. To a man like John, used to the free life of the wilderness, and not even willing to live in town or village, it must have been hard to be shut up in a prison cell, within four walls, and to be able only to see the outside world through grated windows.

As soon as Jesus learned that John the Baptist was shut up in prison, he ended his work in Judea, and with his disciples started for Galilee, his old home in the north. On this journey he did not go the way of the river Jordan, but took the most direct road, which would lead him through the land of Samaria. He knew that the Samaritan people who lived in that land hated the Jews and often robbed them when they traveled through their country. Still, Jesus made up his mind to go through Samaria.

[Ill.u.s.tration: John the Baptist rebuking Herod]

Leading the little company of his followers, he walked northward from Jerusalem, past Bethel, where long before Jacob lying on his pillow of stone had his wonderful dream of the ladder reaching up to heaven; past Shiloh, where once the holy Ark of G.o.d had been kept in the Tabernacle in the days of Samuel; and over mountains where battles had been fought and victories won.

Early one morning, after walking in the night, Jesus and his disciples came to an old well, about two miles from the city of Shechem. Nearby was a little village, named Sychar, which could be seen from the well, and although it was a Samaritan village the followers of Jesus went to it to buy some food. This well was very old. It had been dug by Jacob, the early father of all the Israelite people, more than eighteen hundred years before Jesus came to that place. And it is still there, a well dug out of the solid rock nearly one hundred feet deep, and even now having water in it ten months of the year, but apt to be dry in the summer.

That well is now nearly four thousand years old, yet every traveler who visits it may look down into its depths, may see a bucket of water drawn and may have a drink from it.

In that time a well did not have with it a pump for bringing up the water, nor was there even a rope to let down into it; but each one who came to draw water--and it was generally a woman--brought a rope and a water-jar. As Jesus sat beside the well, very tired and hungry and thirsty, he had nothing with which to draw water. As the Son of G.o.d upon the earth, he could have made the water come to him, but he would not, for you remember that in the desert Jesus would do no wonderful work, no miracle, merely for his own need.

Suddenly Jesus heard the sound of someone coming. He looked up and saw a woman, with her water-jar and rope, standing by the well. From her dress he knew that she was not a Jewish but a Samaritan woman, and being the Son of G.o.d, he saw more. He knew at once all her life, which had not been a good life. But he looked into her heart and saw that she had a longing after G.o.d and after good. He said to her:

"Will you give me a drink of water from this well?"

The woman glanced at Jesus, and knowing from his dress and his manner of speaking that he was a Jew, said to him:

"How is it that you, who are a Jew, ask drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"

The Jews looked down upon the Samaritans, never asked any favors of them, and would not drink from a cup or pitcher that a Samaritan had handled. The woman knew this, and was greatly surprised that this strange young man of the Jewish race should speak to her. Jesus answered her:

"If you knew what G.o.d's free gift is, and who he is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him instead, and he would have given you living water."

As Jesus said these words, very thoughtfully, the woman looking and listening felt that this was no common man. She thought that he might be a prophet, a man whom G.o.d had sent to do mighty works and speak the words of G.o.d. She said, very respectfully:

"Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is very deep.

Where can you get your living water? Are you a greater man than our father Jacob, who dug this well and gave it to us, and drank of its water himself, with his sons and his sheep and oxen?"

Jesus answered her:

"Anyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but anyone who drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst any more. The water that I will give him will turn into a well of water springing up to everlasting life."

"Oh, sir," said the woman, "give me some of your living water, so that I need not be thirsty nor come all this road to draw water."

Jesus looked earnestly at the woman's face, and then said to her:

"Go home; call your husband, and come here again."

The woman's face clouded, her eyes dropped, and she looked as if she felt ashamed, while she answered in a low voice, "I have no husband."

Jesus looked at her steadily, and said:

"You have spoken the truth. You have no husband. But you have had five husbands, and the man with whom you are living now is not your husband.

You spoke the truth in those words."

The woman was filled with wonder as she heard the stranger speak. She saw at once that here was a man who knew everything. She was sure that G.o.d had spoken to this man and given him this knowledge of her. "Sir,"

said she, "I see that you are a prophet of G.o.d. Tell me, then, whether our people or the Jews are right. Our fathers have worshipped G.o.d on this mountain; but the Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where all should go to worship G.o.d."

As she spoke, she pointed to the mountain that was standing near, Mount Gerizim, on the top of which was the temple of the Samaritans.