The Good Shepherd Part 5

The next day while Jesus stayed quietly in Bethany, Peter and John were very busy, for Jesus had sent them to Jerusalem to get ready for the Pa.s.sover. They had to take a lamb to the Temple to be killed by the priests, and they had to find a house in which to eat the Pa.s.sover supper.

Once every year the Jews used to kill a lamb, and pour out its blood before G.o.d, to show that they remembered G.o.d's goodness to them when they were in Egypt, in letting his angel pa.s.s over their houses. And then they roasted the lamb, and met together in their houses to eat it, and to thank G.o.d for all his love and kindness.

When Peter and John had got the Pa.s.sover supper quite ready, Jesus came from Bethany with the rest of His disciples, and they all sat down together at the table; and Jesus told the disciples that He was very glad to eat this Pa.s.sover with them, because it was the very last time He would eat and drink at all before He died. Then Jesus took off His long, loose outside dress, and He wrapt a towel round Him, and poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the long towel which He had fastened round His waist.

When Jesus had finished was.h.i.+ng His disciples' feet, He put on His long coat again (it was called an _abba_), and sat down. And He told His disciples that He had given them an example, so that they might be kind to one another, and wait upon one another.

Jesus said many beautiful words to His disciples that night at the supper; and when the supper was finished, they went out into the Mount of Olives, to a place called Gethsemane, a garden full of olive trees, where Jesus often went to pray.

When Jesus came to Gethsemane with His disciples, He told them to sit down and wait for Him while He went on farther to pray. But He took with Him Peter and James and John. As they walked on, Jesus began to be so very sorrowful that He wanted to be quite alone with G.o.d. So He told Peter and James and John to stay behind and to watch. But they went to sleep. And then Jesus went a little way off, and fell down on His knees and prayed. And now His mind was in such pain that He suffered agony, and the sweat rolled down His face in drops of blood.

Then Jesus came to Peter and James and John, and found them fast asleep. Twice Jesus went away and prayed the same prayer, and twice He came back to find His disciples asleep.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gethsemane.]

And now a great crowd poured into the garden. Judas was walking first, to show the others the way, and he came up to Jesus and kissed Him again and again, and said, 'Master! Master! Peace!' And when the people saw Judas do that, they took hold of Jesus and held Him fast.

They took Jesus first to the house of a priest called Annas, and then to the palace of Caiaphas the high priest; and John, who knew somebody in that house, was allowed to come in. Peter was left outside; but soon John asked the girl at the door to let Peter in too. Peter was glad to come in to see what was being done to his dear Master.

The houses in the East are built round a great square court, like a big hall, only it has no roof. It was the middle of the night, and the cold air blew into that court. But the servants had made a great fire of coals in the middle of the court, and while Jesus was standing before Caiaphas and the other priests, the servants sat round that fire waiting, and warming themselves. Peter came and sat down with the servants, and warmed himself too.

Presently the girl who attended to the door came up to the fire, and she had a good look at Peter, and said, 'And you were with Jesus of Nazareth. Are you not one of His disciples?' Then Peter told a lie before all the servants, and said, 'Woman, I am not. I do not know Him, and I do not know what you mean.' And he went on warming himself, and tried to look as though he knew nothing in the world about Jesus.

But Peter loved Jesus too much to be able to do this well. He was unhappy, he could not sit still; he got up, and went away into a place near the door, called the porch, and when he was in the porch he heard a c.o.c.k crow. Perhaps he went into the porch because he thought that it would be dark there and that n.o.body would see him. But the girl who kept the door told another woman to look at him, and that woman said to the people who stood by, 'This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth, and is one of His disciples.' Then a man who stood there said to Peter, 'Are you not one of His disciples?' And again Peter told a lie, and said, 'Man, I am not. I do not know the Man.'

An hour pa.s.sed by, and then some of the people near said, 'You must be one of the disciples of Jesus. The way that you speak shows that you come from Galilee.' While Peter was again denying him, Jesus turned round, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him, 'Before the c.o.c.k crow twice, you will say three times you do not know Me.' And when he thought about what he had done, he was very, very sorry; and he went out of the high priest's palace, and wept bitterly.

CHAPTER XII

THE CRUCIFIXION AND THE RESURRECTION

When the morning came, the priests met once more with all the chief Jews, and said Jesus must die. But the Jews could not put anyone to death. The Romans would not allow it. So they took Jesus to the Roman governor, whose name was Pontius Pilate.

When Judas saw that the priests had made up their minds to kill Jesus, he began to feel very unhappy. He did not care for the money now. He came to the Temple, and brought it back to the priest, and said, 'It was very wrong of me to give Jesus up to you. He had done nothing wrong.' But their hearts were as hard as stone. They said to Judas, 'What is that to us? See thou to that.' Then Judas had no hope left.

He flung the thirty pieces of silver down in the Court of the Priests, and went and hung himself. But oh! what a pity that he did not go to Jesus and ask Jesus to forgive him, instead of going to the priests!

Jesus is a good, kind, loving Master. When we do wrong, if we are very sorry, like Peter, and will come and ask Jesus, He will forgive us. For

'THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, G.o.d'S SON, CLEANSETH US FROM ALL SIN.'

Pilate took Jesus inside his splendid palace, away from the Jews, and asked Him, 'Art thou a King then?'

'Yes,' Jesus said, 'but My kingdom is not of this world. I came into this world to teach people the truth. That is the reason I was born.'

'What is truth?' said Pilate. But he did not wait for an answer. He went out again to the Jews.

When the Jews saw Pilate again, they began to tell him lies which they had been making up about Jesus. And Jesus stood by and said nothing.

Presently Pilate said to Jesus, 'See what a number of things they are saying against you. Have you nothing to say?'

But Jesus did not answer one single word, and Pilate was greatly surprised. He felt sure that the quiet prisoner was right and that the Jews were wrong; and he said to the priests and to the people, 'I find in Him no fault at all.'

It was the custom for Pilate at Pa.s.sover time to set free from prison any one prisoner the people liked to ask for. So Pilate said to the crowd, 'Shall I let Jesus go?' Then the priests told the people what to say, and they shouted, 'Not this man, but Barabbas.'

Pilate wanted very much to let Jesus go, and he said, 'What shall I do then with Jesus?'

The crowd shouted, 'Let Him be crucified! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!'

'Why,' said Pilate, 'what has He done wrong? He does not deserve to die. I will scourge Him and let Him go.'

Then the people cried out more loudly than ever, 'Let Him be crucified!

Crucify Him!'

But Pilate did not want to be shouted at for five or six days and nights again. And, besides, he rather wanted to please the Jews if he could, because he had done many things to vex them; so he thought, 'I will do what they wish.' But first he had a basin of water brought, and he washed his hands before all the people, and said, 'I have nothing to do with the blood of this good Man. See ye to it.' And all the people answered and said, 'His blood be on us, and on our children.' Sometimes now, when we don't want to have anything to do with a thing, we say, 'I wash my hands of it.' But Pilate did have something to do with the death of Jesus, and water would not wash away that sin.

And at last, wis.h.i.+ng to please them, Pilate had Barabbas brought out of prison, and gave Jesus up to be beaten. The Roman soldiers seized Jesus, and took off His clothes and put a scarlet dress on Him, to imitate the Emperor's purple robe; and they twisted pieces of a th.o.r.n.y plant which grows round Jerusalem into the shape of a crown, and put it on His head; and they put a reed in His hand for a sceptre. And then all the soldiers fell down before Jesus, and said, 'Hail, King of the Jews.' And then they spit at Jesus, and slapped Him; and they s.n.a.t.c.hed the reed out of His hands and struck Him on the head, so as to drive in the thorns.

Outside the city gate, on the north side of Jerusalem, there is a round hill, called the Place of Stoning. On one side of that hill there is a straight yellow cliff, and prisoners used sometimes to be thrown down from that cliff, and then stoned. And sometimes they were taken to the top of that round hill and crucified. It is very likely that this is where the soldiers took Jesus. That hill is often called Calvary.

The soldiers made Jesus lie down on the cross, and they nailed Him to it--putting nails through His hands and His feet. Then they lifted up the cross with Jesus on it, and fixed it in a hole in the ground. And Jesus said,

'FATHER, FORGIVE THEM; FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.'

Then the soldiers crucified two thieves, and put them near Jesus, one on each side; and they nailed up some white boards at the top of the crosses with black letters on them, to say what the prisoners had done.

They put over Jesus Christ's head the words--

'THIS IS JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.'

Three hours of fearful pain pa.s.sed away. It was twelve o'clock. And now it became quite dark and it was dark till three o'clock in the afternoon. That was a dreadful three hours more for Jesus. It was a time of agony of mind, like the time He spent in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was having His last fight with Satan, and He felt quite alone. When it was about three o'clock, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, 'It is finished.' And He cried again with a loud voice, and said, 'Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.' And He bowed His head and died.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Calvary.]

And now wonderful things happened. The ground shook; the graves opened; dead people woke up to life again; and a great veil, or curtain, which hung before the most holy part of the Temple, was suddenly torn into two pieces. The high priest used to go once a year into that Most Holy Place to offer sacrifice for sin before G.o.d. But when the great purple and gold curtain was torn down without hands, it was just as if a voice from heaven had said, 'No more blood of lambs, no more high priest is wanted now. Jesus, the real Pa.s.sover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Jesus has offered His own blood before G.o.d for sinners, and G.o.d will forgive every sinner who trusts in the blood of Jesus.'

Then a rich man, called Joseph, came to Pilate and begged Pilate to let him have the body of Jesus to bury. Pilate said that Joseph might have the body of his Master. And Joseph came and took it down from the cross; and he and Nicodemus wrapped the body round with clean linen, with a very great quant.i.ty of sweet-smelling stuff inside the linen.

There was a garden close to the place where Jesus was crucified, and in that garden there was a grave which Joseph had cut in a rock. The grave was not like those which we have. It was a little room in the rock, with a seat on the right hand, and a seat on the left, and with a place in the wall just opposite the door for the body. Joseph and Nicodemus laid the body of Jesus in this new grave. Then they came out, and rolled a great round stone over the door, and went away.

Jesus was crucified on Friday, and now it was Sunday. It was very early in the morning. The soldiers were watching at the grave of Jesus, and all was still; when suddenly the earth began to tremble and shake. And behold, an angel came down from heaven, and rolled away the stone at the door of the tomb, and the Lord of Life came out. The soldiers did not see Jesus, but they did see the s.h.i.+ning angel. The Roman soldiers shook with fright. They were so frightened that they had no strength left in them, and as soon as they could they ran away from the place.

And now that the soldiers had gone, some women came near--Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, Salome, and at least one or two more women. They had brought with them some sweet-smelling spices, which they had made or bought, to put round the body of Jesus.

The light was beginning to come in the sky, to show that the sun would be up soon, but it was still rather dark. As the women came along, they said one to the other, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?' For it was very great. Then they looked, and behold! the stone was gone. And Mary Magdalene ran back to the city, to tell Peter and John that the door of the tomb was open. But the other women went on, and went into the tomb where they had seen Jesus laid. He was not there now, but an angel in a long white robe was sitting on the right-hand side of the tomb. Then the women saw two angels standing by them in s.h.i.+ning clothes, and they were afraid, and fell on their faces to the ground. Then one of the angels said to them, 'Fear not. He is not here; He is risen.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: The empty tomb.]

But Mary Magdalene after all had been the first to see Jesus. She had run off to tell Peter and John that the stone was rolled away. As soon as Peter and John knew that, they ran off to the grave as fast as they could, and Mary Magdalene went after them. John could run the fastest, so he got there first, and just peeped in through the little door in the rock. The angels had gone away, but he could see the linen bandages. They were not thrown about here and there, but they were lying neatly together. But when Peter came up he wanted to see more than that, and he went straight into the tomb, and John followed him.

When Peter and John saw that the body of Jesus had really gone, they went away back to the city and told the other disciples.

But Mary Magdalene did not go back. As she turned away from the grave she saw that somebody was standing near the grave. It was really Jesus, but she did not know that. She was too sad to look up.