A Life of St. John for the Young

Belshazzar's Feast—Old Engraving
Page 74

But their visit alone did not last until the return of His disciples. It was suddenly interrupted. "There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water." She was no fitting companion for them. She was not prepared to enter into their thoughts and feelings. She was an ignorant woman of the lower order of society, sinful, and not worthy of the respect of those who knew her. "Give me to drink," said Jesus—fatigued, hungry, thirsty. She gazed upon Him with astonishment. She knew by His appearance and dress that He was a Jew. She supposed that any such would be too full of hatred and pride to ask even such a simple favor of a Samaritan. Her answer showed her surprise. He gently spoke of her ignorance of Him, and of a richer gift than the one He asked, and which He was ready to bestow. It was "living water"—"the grace and truth of which He was full." Changing her manner toward Him, and addressing Him more respectfully, she asked, "Art Thou greater than our father Jacob?" She meant, "Surely Thou art not greater." How strange this must have sounded to John as his eye turned from her, to Him before whom Jacob would bow in adoration could he have joined that circle on the spot where he had built an altar many years before. Jesus explained more fully the difference between the water for which He had asked, and that which He would give. He had asked a very small favor of her; He would bestow the greatest of gifts, even eternal life.

Not fully understanding Him, and yet believing He was some wonderful person, she repeated His own request, but with a changed meaning,—"Sir, give me this water." Perhaps to make her feel her sinfulness and to lead her into a better life, He showed her that though He was a stranger, He knew her past history. Her astonishment increased and she exclaimed, "Sir, I perceive that Thou art a Prophet." Ashamed, she quickly changed the subject.

She and her people claimed that Mount Gerizim was the holy place of the Holy Land; while the Jews said that Jerusalem was "the place where men ought to worship." She wanted the Prophet she had so unexpectedly met to decide between them. With calmness, solemnity and earnestness, He made a sublime declaration to her, meant for Jews, Samaritans and all men. It was this: "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father.... The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be His worshipers. God is a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

But this did not satisfy her. It was all so new and strange, so different from what she and her people believed, that she was not prepared to accept it from an unknown stranger, though he seemed to be a prophet. She thought of One greater than she thought He could be, One who was wiser than any prophet then living, or who ever had lived, One who she believed was to come. So, with a sigh of disappointment, her only reply was, "I know that Messiah cometh; ... when He is come, He will declare unto us all things."

How the quickened ear of John must have made his heart thrill at the name Messiah. Until a few weeks before, he too had talked of His coming, but already had heard Him declare many things which no mere prophet had spoken. Is he not prompted to break the silence of a mere listener? Is not his finger already pointed toward Jesus? Are not the words already on his tongue?—"O woman, this is He," when Jesus makes the great confession he made before Pilate, saying to the Samaritaness, "I that speak unto Thee, am He."

So it was that He whose coming the angels in their glory announced to the shepherds in Bethlehem, He whom the Baptist proclaimed to multitudes on the Jordan, He whose glory was manifested to the company in Cana, made Himself known to this low, ignorant, sinful, doubting, perplexed stranger, in words "to which all future ages would listen, as it were with hushed breath and on their knees."

These words of Jesus to the woman, "I am He," closed their conversation, so unexpected to her when she came with her water-pot, in which she had lost all interest. Her mind and heart had been filled instead. She had drawn from Him richer supplies than Jacob's well could ever contain. From that hour she thought of it, not so much as Jacob's well as the Messiah's well.

The disciples returning from the city, coming within sight of Jesus, "marveled that He was speaking with a woman." The people then and there had a mistaken idea that to do so was very improper. The disciples were the more astonished because she was a Samaritan. But they had such a sense of His goodness, that they did not dare to ask, "Why talkest Thou with her?"

She was interrupted in her conversation with Jesus, by the coming of the disciples. She left her water-pot at the well. Too full of wonder and gratitude to stop to fill it, or to be hindered in carrying it, she hastened to the city with the good news of what she had seen and heard. So had Andrew and John each carried the good news to his brother saying, "We have found the Messiah." She believed she had found Him. But the good news seemed almost too good to be true, and she wanted the men of the city to learn for themselves. So she put her new belief in the form of a question, "Is not this the Christ?" A great number obeyed her call, and believed with her that Jesus was the Messiah.

The Hill of Samaria—Old Engraving
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Meanwhile the disciples asked Him to eat of the food they had brought. But His deep interest in the woman, and joy in the great change in her, was so great that for the moment He felt no want of food. So He said to them, "I have meat to eat that ye know not." ... "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me." Never again did the disciples marvel that their Master talked with a woman, or with a sinner of any kind. We seem to see John, weary and hungry as his Master, but unmindful of bodily discomforts, because of his intense interest in what is passing. His record does not give his own experiences, but we can imagine some of them. His watchful eye detects every movement and expression of his companions,—the calm, earnest, loving, pitying look of Jesus; and the excited, scornful, surprised, joyful, constantly changing looks of the woman. He first marks her pertness of manner; then the respectful "Sir"; then the reverence for a prophet; and at last the belief and joy in the Messiah.

Whether or not John was witness to all that passed at the well, or whether Jesus gave him the minute details, or whether the Samaritaness, during the two days that Jesus and His disciples remained in Sychar, told Him all, his story is one of the most lifelike in the Gospels, teaching the greatest of truths.

If that noon hour at Jacob's well was a memorable one for the woman, it was also for John. For him Christ was the Well of Truth. Of it he was to drink during blessed years. Standing nearest to it of any mortal, receiving more than any other, he was to give of it to multitudes thirsting for the water of life.

CHAPTER XIV

The Chosen One of the Chosen Three of the Chosen Twelve

Once more we find the two pair of brothers on the shore of Gennesaret, not together, but within hailing distance. All night long they have toiled at fishing without any reward. The morning has dawned. Wearied and with the marks of labor on their persons and their garments, their empty boats drawn upon the beach, they are mending their nets which have been torn by the waves, and cleansing them from the sand which has been gathered instead of the fishes they sought.

Jacob's Well—From Photograph
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Meanwhile a multitude of people in the neighboring field is listening to the Master. The fishermen may hear His voice, but their nets must not be left in disorder; they must be put in readiness for another trial, which, though they know it not, will be most abundantly rewarded.

They cannot go to Him, but He comes to them with a greeting and a command, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men."

The time had come for Him to gather His first disciples more closely about Him for instruction and preparation and service in His kingdom. They had seen proofs of His Messiahship. They had been with Him long enough to know something of His work and teachings, and what was included in His call to follow Him. They understood it meant leaving their boats and nets by which they had earned their daily bread, and even leaving their homes, and going with Him wherever He went, trusting Him for support, ready to do anything to which all this would lead them. Their belief in Him, and their love for Him, were enough to secure immediate obedience to the new command.

In their faithfulness in their duties in their former life, in the carefulness in mending their nets, in the patience and perseverance during the nights of fruitless toil, in their thoughtfulness, skill and experience in catching fish—in such things Christ found likeness of what He would make them to become—fishers of men. From their old business He would teach them lessons about the new,—of His power, the abundance of His store, and the great things they were to do for Him and their fellow-men. Before they leave it, He makes Himself a kind of partner with them. Having used Simon's boat for a pulpit for teaching, He tells him to launch out into the deep and to let down his net. It encloses a multitude of fishes. Andrew and James with their brothers whom they had called to Jesus, the first company to follow Him from the Jordan, are the first to do so in a new and fuller sense from the shores of Gennesaret, where they first learned of Him.

There is something touching in the special reference to the call of the sons of Salome, whose relation to Mary first interested us in them. It is said of Jesus, "He saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother and He called them. And they immediately left their father in the ship with the hired servants. They forsook all and followed Him."

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes—Old Engraving
Page 94

What reminders do we here have of the past! James and John, true brothers in childhood, united in business in early life, now hand in hand commence life anew. Having become the help, and much more the companions of their father they must leave him to the companionship of hired servants. But in this hour of sundering family ties, the loving father and loving sons rejoice in Jesus as their Master whom they all willingly obey.

He chose twelve whom He called Apostles. Such was the glorious company, composed of young men, the most honored in all earthly history, to be His closest companions, His missionary family. During the remainder of His life He would train them; and when leaving the world trust their faithfulness and devotion in extending His kingdom. The two pair of brothers and their early friend Philip are the first named of the Apostles. The early Bethsaidan group composed almost one-half of the apostolic company. But within that circle there was another. Three of the twelve were chosen by the Lord for closer intimacy. They were to be special witnesses of His greatest power, His most radiant glory, and His deepest sorrow upon earth. They were Peter, James and John. Two of the three, Peter and John, were to be united in special service for their Lord while He was with them, and so continue after He was gone. But of the twelve Jesus drew one closest to Himself, most loved and the most glorious of them all: it was John.

In seeking a reason for Christ's fixing the number of His disciples, some have found a fancied one in the twelve precious stones of Aaron's breastplate. The most precious stone would represent John, the chosen one of the Great High Priest. In his own vision of the new Jerusalem "the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones." "And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb." It was that Lamb of God to which he had been pointed on the Jordan, and to which he points us as he beholds Him by the "glassy sea." As John read those names did he not recall the day when Jesus chose twelve whom "He named Apostles"?

CHAPTER XV

John in the Home of Jairus

The first scene in which we find John as one of the favored three is in the house of mourning. It was the home of Jairus in Capernaum. He was a ruler of the synagogue. "He had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying." He hastened to Jesus, fell at His feet, worshiped Him, and besought Him saying, "Come and lay Thy hands on her that she may be healed; and she shall live."

Did he not have in mind Peter's wife's mother, living in the same town, and how Jesus "came and took her by the hand and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her"? Jesus started for the house, followed by a throng, some doubtless full of tender sympathy for their townsman, and some curious to see what the wonder-worker would do.

A messenger from Jairus' home met him saying, "Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master." But the father's faith in Jesus was not limited to the power to heal. Could not the hand that had already touched the bier of the widow's only son, be laid on his only daughter, with life-restoring power? Could not the command spoken in Nain "I say unto thee, arise," be repeated in Capernaum, and in like manner be obeyed? Without heeding the messenger's question about troubling the Master, he cried out yet more earnestly, "My daughter is even now dead; but lay Thy hand upon her, and she shall live." But the father's entreaty was unnecessary, for Jesus was already responding to the messenger's words as, turning to Jairus, He said, "Fear not, only believe."

How eagerly the curious crowd hastened toward the ruler's home, because of a possible miracle, even raising the dead. But they were not to be witnesses of such display of Divine power. Yet even if the throng be excluded, might not the Twelve, following close to Jairus and Jesus, expect admission to the home? What was the surprise and disappointment of nine of them to be forbidden admission by Him whom they were following. But so it was. "When He came to the house He suffered not any man to enter in with Him, save Peter, and John and James, and the father of the maiden, and her mother."

Raising the Daughter of Jairus—H. Hofmann
Page 99

This is the first we know of this distinction in the apostolic band. We almost hear the nine saying, "Why is this?" Can it be that, in that hour, at the door of this house of mourning, there was awakened the feeling of jealousy which afterward appeared? Did it inspire in the three a sense of superiority, and ambition to be higher in position than the rest in the kingdom of their Lord? Did James and John especially hope for promotion above the nine, and even the ten including Peter? So it will appear. But all this was to pass away when the band better understood the nature of their Lord's kingdom, and possessed more of His spirit.

The death-chamber was too sacred a place for numbers, even for the nine, whose admittance would be more fitting than that of the hired mourners whom Jesus excluded with them. He had His own wise reasons for the choice of the three. We do not wonder that John was one of them. With all his manifest failings—which he at last overcame—he was the most like his Master. In that death-chamber the Lord was to show His "gentleness and delicacy of feeling and action" such as John could understand, and with which he could sympathize.

"And taking the child by the hand, He saith unto her, Talitha, cumi." We are glad that Mark has preserved for us the very words that must have thrilled the heart of John. They had been interpreted, "My little lamb, my pet lamb, rise up." In them was a lesson for John. They were a revelation of his Master's tenderness toward childhood. It was a needed lesson, which he finally learned.

As John and Peter saw the returning life of the little maid, and heard their Master's command "that something should be given her to eat," they thought not of the time when they should stand together again near the same spot with the same Master, Himself risen from the dead, and hear Him utter another command, "Feed My lambs."

As they with James followed their Lord out from the death-chamber—such no longer—and heard His charge "that no man should know" what had happened, the very secrecy drew more distinctly the line of the inner circle about the three. It was not to be erased during the Lord's earthly sojourn with the twelve.

CHAPTER XVI

John a Beholder of Christ's Glory

We may think of the twelve as Christ's family with whom He often prayed apart from the multitude. One such occasion was in Cæsarea Philippi. The prayer was followed by two earnest and solemn questions. "He asked the disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

How strange these sayings must have sounded to St. John and his Jordan companions, who had been directed by the Baptist to their Messiah. Three of them were soon to witness Elijah's tribute to Him, as being more than the "Son of Man." Such already had He become to them. He was more interested in the opinions of the disciples than in those of the multitude. So He asked with emphasis, "But who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven."

But in the mind of Jesus even this blessed revelation was not enough for His believing yet frail disciples. Even the three, the most enlightened of the twelve, needed a clearer vision of Him and His kingdom, and strength for trials they were to endure. So they needed His prayers.

"From that time began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things, ... and be killed." He needed prayer also for Himself. So "Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James and John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves." The favored three, who had witnessed His power in the raising of Jairus' daughter, were to be witnesses of his glory. Luke says He "went up into the mountain to pray." Not Tabor,—for which mistaken tradition has claimed the honor—but Hermon was doubtless the "high mountain." This kingly height of the Lebanon range was a fitting place for Jesus the King. The glittering splendor of its snows is a fitting emblem of His character. It was the highest earthly spot on which He stood. From it He had His most extensive views. Here He had His most exalted earthly experience. Peter rightly named it "the Holy Mount" because of its "glory that excelleth" all other mountains.

We do not know the thoughts or feelings or words of the nine when Jesus "taketh with Him the three." We wonder whether their wonder was at all mixed with jealousy. As they saw the three "apart by themselves," their lessening forms ascending Hermon, and at last hidden from their view by the evening shades, can it be that the dispute began which cast a gloom over their Lord when He descended from that mountain of glory?

And the three themselves—what were their emotions as they looked down upon their companions in the plain below, and upward to the height whither their Master was bringing them. Did they whisper together concerning the word He had just spoken—that He must die. They must have had such mingling of feelings as they never had before.

It was the evening after a Sabbath. At the close of the weary summer day, after the long and steep ascent of the mountain, and in the strong mountain air, it is no wonder that the three disciples were "weighted with sleep."

Luke not only tells us that Jesus went up "to pray" but also that "He prayed." Would that John had recorded that prayer, as he did those supplications in the Upper Room and in Gethsemane. "As we understand it," says Edersheim, "the prayer with them had ceased, or merged into silent prayer of each, or Jesus now prayed alone and apart."

On the banks of the Jordan, where Jesus and the three had met, while He "was praying, the heavens were opened," and the dove-like form descended upon Him, and His Father's voice was heard. And now "as He prayed," there came an answer, immediate and glorious: "He was transfigured before them."

The disciples though "weighted with sleep," "having remained awake, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him." It was many years after this vision that John, speaking for the three, testified, "We saw His glory."

"The fashion of His countenance was altered." "His face did shine as the sun." "His garments became exceeding white; so as no fuller on earth can whiten them," "white as the light," "glistering," "dazzling."

"Behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him." How did the disciples know the Lawgiver and the Prophet? We are not told. There may have been given them some supernatural powers of discernment. They may have known by the conversation between Jesus and His celestial visitants, as, in earthly language with heavenly tone, they "spoke of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem," of which He had told them on the plain below.

It was that Moses who fifteen hundred years before came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of the law in his hands, when Aaron and the children of Israel stood in awe before His shining face. But now He had come, not from the mount which Paul describes as "darkness," but unto that other whose snowy whiteness has given it the name of Lebanon. He had come from Heaven, to yield homage to Him to whom He would sing with us,

"My dear Redeemer and my Lord,
I read my duty in Thy Word;
But in Thy life the Law appears,
Drawn out in living Characters."

"The children of Israel could not look steadfastly upon Moses for the glory of His face." In the "excellent glory" by which Peter describes the scene on Hermon, the whole figure of His Lord was bathed in light. But the glory of that vision was not yet complete. A cloud, brighter than any on which the moon was shining, enwrapped Jesus and Moses and Elijah. It was no other than the Shechinah, once more returning to the earth,—"the symbol of Jehovah's presence."

This cloud overshadowed the disciples. As its light gleamed upon them, they were filled with reverential fear. They were ready to do the heavenly visitors immediate and humble service. But the mission of the two was ended. Their last words of comfort to Jesus had been spoken. If they could be detained, it must be done quickly. So, awed and confused by the strange vision, yet longing for its continuance, the disciples, Peter being the spokesman, proposed to make booths for their Master and His two heavenly visitors. But the two had gone, and the crown of glory that had enveloped them spread to the disciples, filling them with yet increasing awe. The silence that had followed Peter's call was broken. "There came a voice out of the cloud, This is My Beloved Son; hear ye Him." Startled by such a response, "they fell on their face and were sore afraid." They did not dare to look about them. The Cloud of Glory lifted. How long they lay prostrate and trembling, we do not know. At last a hand gently touched them. It was the hand of Jesus. His voice bid them, "Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no man, save Jesus only."

The Transfiguration—Old Engraving
Page 106

The Transfiguration was over. Its grand purpose was accomplished. Master and disciples were prepared for the labors and trials to which they must return. The night ended. As the morning sun glistened on the peaks of Hermon, while darkness yet overspread the plain below, Jesus descended with the three, to the nine awaiting their return.

"And as they were coming down from the mountain, He charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when the Son of Man should have risen again from the dead. And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the raising again from the dead should mean."

Peter's and John's memories of that vision of their Lord were ever distinct and precious. When it was no longer a secret, Peter wrote in ecstasy of the hour in which they "were eyewitnesses of His majesty, ... when they were with Him in the holy mount."

Let us notice the record by John. In the beginning of his gospel he says "The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us." By this he means that the Son of God became a man, and lived among men who witnessed His life. But of all the events of that life which John had seen, there was a special one in his mind, which not all men had witnessed. So he adds, "We beheld His glory." This probably refers to the Transfiguration and the Shechinah, which he and Peter and James had seen. And then he thinks of how much greater Jesus was than John the Baptist, "a man sent from God," "to bear witness of" Him. He thinks also of the great Lawgiver of whom he says, "the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."

We imagine that ever after the Transfiguration, John thought of Moses and the Shechinah together. Had he with his companions been permitted to build three tabernacles or booths, "one for Moses," what delightful visits John would have made him there, like that one which he had made in the abode of Jesus on the banks of the Jordan.

Moses on Mt. Pisgah—Artist Unknown
Page 109

I seem to hear Moses telling John something of his own history when on the earth, and teaching him lessons from it in words like these: "This is not the first time I have heard the Lord's voice, from out this cloud of glory. Out of the burning bush He called me, 'Moses, Moses.' At Sinai He said, 'Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud.' And again He appeared in 'a pillar of a cloud,' and said, 'Behold thou shall sleep with thy fathers.' I saw not that cloud again on earth until you beheld it. My thoughts were about death. I prayed about it, not as your Master and mine has done in preparation therefor, but that I might not then die. This was my prayer: 'Let me go over I pray Thee and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon,'—the very mountain where we now are. But the Lord would not hear me. I prayed yet again more earnestly, and the Lord said unto me, 'Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.' From yonder mountain of Nebo He showed me all the land we now see from Hermon; and then I died. The Lord buried me in yonder land of Moab. No man knoweth my sepulchre unto this day. I died, my great hope of forty years disappointed. My repeated earnest prayer was ungranted then, but it has not been unanswered. This 'goodly' Lebanon, to which I looked from Nebo with longing eyes, is more 'goodly' now than when it sadly faded from my dying vision. You, John, are one of the witnesses to the answer to my dying prayer. Never did the Shechinah at Horeb, or Sinai, or the Tabernacle, seem so resplendent as on this Mount Hermon. Here it has enwrapped Elijah and me, the favored two whose mission Gabriel might have envied. We were sent down from heaven to talk with Jesus concerning His death, of which He has told you. In view of it He has lead you, the favored three hither to pray. It was while He prayed that ye 'beheld His glory.' Not only for me, but much more for Him, is Hermon the mount—'The Holy Mount,' because the mount of Prayer, and therefore the mount of Transfiguration."

CHAPTER XVII

St. John's Imperfections

John was not perfect. There were unlovely traits in his otherwise noble character. It is not pleasant to write of his faults. We would gladly be silent concerning them. But there are four reasons for making record of them. 1. If we think of his virtues and not of his faults, we do not have a just view of his character; it is one-sided; we have an imperfect picture. 2. We see how Jesus loved him notwithstanding his imperfections. While hating his sins he loved the man. 3. Remembering John's faults, we give him all the more credit when we see how he overcame them, and what he became under the example and teachings of Jesus. 4. Having failings ourselves, we are encouraged by the full and truthful story of John's life, to overcome our own sins. Such are good reasons why the imperfections of good men like David and Peter and John are recorded in the Bible.

In speaking of John's boyhood, we hinted at some of his faults. Let us now notice them more particularly as given by the Evangelists. Sometimes he was evidently included when Jesus rebuked the disciples for some wrong they had said or done. On one occasion, he alone is mentioned; on two others he and his brother James are rebuked together. The first recorded incident, showing imperfection, is soon after the descent from Hermon. Jesus seems to have accompanied Peter to his home in Capernaum, to which the other disciples followed them. The favor which Christ showed the three in taking them to the mount may have caused a feeling of pride in them, and of jealousy in the nine. Pride was John's besetting sin, as we shall see. A great privilege had been granted him. Without telling the secret of Hermon to his fellow-disciples, he may, by improper word or act, or both, have shown a feeling of superiority, which displeased them, as the same spirit did on another occasion. At any rate, something led to a dispute who should be the greatest in the kingdom which they believed their Lord was to establish. This was a sad revelation of the ambitious spirit of these good men. It was probably on the way to Capernaum that an incident happened in which John seems to have been the chief actor. He exhibited a spirit of intolerance—a want of patience and forbearance toward a man whom they met. He was a disciple of Christ, in whose power he had such faith that he was enabled to cast out evil spirits in His name. He was doing a good work such as Christ gave His apostles power to do. They prided themselves in it, and felt as if they only had a right to it. So John, speaking for the rest, as if he had authority, forbade this man to use the power any more. On their reaching the house of Peter, Jesus asked, "What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?" Perceiving that He knew their thoughts, they were silent with shame, until one of them, yet unconquered by His question of reproof, asked Him "Who is the greatest?" He did not answer the question immediately. As if in preparation for something special, "He sat down and called the twelve" about Him; He uttered one reported sentence, "If any man would be first, he shall be last of all, and minister of all." And then "He called a little child to Him and set him in the midst of them." It was His object lesson. Through it He rebuked and taught them. He made childhood a test of character. With solemnity and earnestness He declared, "Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven."

That child-spirit included simplicity, meekness, harmlessness, obedience, dutifulness, trustfulness and, especially at this time, humility.

The Lord's declaration must have startled the disciples. They thought of themselves as His chosen ones, superior to others, having special powers, and destined to special honors which none other might claim. In a spirit contrary to His declaration, they were contending who should be the greatest in His kingdom. He revealed to them, then and there, the nature of that kingdom which they had so greatly misunderstood.

Upon one at least, Christ's lesson was not altogether lost. That was John. He recalled his proud and unjust treatment of the humble man whom he had forbidden to do good work in the name of Christ. He saw that his own spirit had been contrary to that of which Christ had just spoken. He finally confessed his fault. But the lesson of his Master was not perfectly learned, or if learned, was not, as we shall see, perfectly obeyed. Though the beloved, he was still an imperfect, disciple, as is shown in another incident.

At the time when Jesus lived, and in the country where He journeyed, travelers were generally welcomed as guests in any home. Though strangers, they were treated as friends. This was a necessary kindness because there were no hotels such as we have in our day and country.

But to this hospitality there was a noted exception. We have noticed the hatred of the Samaritans to the Jews. This was especially shown to pilgrims going up to Jerusalem to attend the feasts.

Jesus was on His last journey thither. As ever, He was teaching and healing on the way. His own heart was burdened with the thought of what He was to endure, but He was steadfast in His purpose to reach the Holy City, willing there to suffer and to die. Nearing the first Samaritan village, He sent messengers before Him to prepare for Himself and His company. Even the common hospitality was refused, and that in a most unfriendly manner. The Master was treated as a teacher of falsehood. Even the kind healer was not permitted to enter the village. He was a Jew on His way to Jerusalem. In the minds of the villagers, this was more than enough to balance all the good in Him.

James and John especially were indignant at the unkind treatment. They felt keenly the insult to their Lord, whom they believed was on His way to Jerusalem to establish His Kingdom, and was worthy of the most generous hospitality and the sincerest homage. They had a fresh remembrance of the glory in which they had seen Him on the Holy Mount in company with Elijah. They were reminded of that prophet's experience more than nine hundred years before. It was this: Ahaziah, a king of Israel, was seriously injured by a fall from the balcony of his house. He sent to inquire of the false god Baal-zebub whether he should recover. God sent Elijah to reprove him for his idolatry and insult to Himself. The king sent a captain with fifty men to seize the prophet, but they were consumed by fire from heaven. Another captain and his fifty men were also destroyed in like manner.

Such a punishment James and John would call down on the Samaritans. They felt that it would be just. If fitting for the enemies of Elijah, how much more for those of Jesus. They were ready to give the command which God permitted Elijah to give, if Jesus would allow them to do likewise. And so, being displeased, provoked, revengeful, with a fiery spirit, they said to Him, "Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elijah did?" But Jesus "turned and rebuked them," and said, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of."

It was contrary to the spirit of meekness and love manifest in His declaration to them, "The Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." And so He inspired them with another spirit, as He quietly led them "to another village." We sadly turn to another scene in which imperfection in the beloved disciple is especially revealed.

The favored brothers had not yet learned perfectly the lesson of humility which their Lord had tried to teach them. They were still devoted to Him, following Him, loving Him. But they still misunderstood what He said about His death, and His kingdom, in which they hoped for the most honored places. They wanted to be assured of promotion above their fellow-disciples. They were earnest in an unholy desire. They had a bold, ambitious request to make of the Lord. It was the chief occasion on which their pride was revealed. We have two accounts of it. In one of them the mother Salome appears as the speaker. She brings her sons to Jesus, prostrates herself before Him, and offers this petition, "Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left, in Thy Kingdom." She had a loving mother's pride. She was the aunt of Jesus, and perhaps felt that because of this relationship, her sons had a right which the other Apostles could not claim. She had given them to His service, and had proved her own love and devotion to Him by following Him with other women of Galilee, ministering to His comforts. Meanwhile James and John, according to another account, themselves urged their mother's request saying, "Grant unto us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and one on Thy left hand, in Thy glory."

Mother and sons shared in the spirit of self-seeking and self-exaltation. But we must not forget that it was faith in Him as the Messiah, and in His coming "glory," that led them to show it, though in a mistaken way.

In sorrow and tenderness, and pity for their ignorance, Jesus replied, "Ye know not what ye ask." While His eye rested on them, His thoughts were on another scene. It was a cross with Himself upon it, and a malefactor on each side, instead of the brothers in their pride. As John at last stood by it, did he recall the hour of his mistaken ambitious request, which had never been repeated. There had been no need that the Lord should say to him, as to Moses, "Ask me not again," yet like Moses, he was to receive a most glorious answer in another form. In his pride, with an earthly throne in mind, he had asked, "Grant that I may sit with Thee in Thy glory?" Having conquered his unholy ambition there was fulfilled in him the promise of His Lord in glory, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me on My throne."

The time came when there was no longer occasion for the other ten apostles to be "moved with indignation concerning James and John," because of their pride and ambitious seeking. This John is the disciple whom, with all his imperfections, Jesus loved most of all; this the man known as the most lovable of men; this the one who well-nigh reached human perfection through his ardent and ever increasing love for Jesus; this the one who is called the Apostle of Love.

CHAPTER XVIII

John and the Family of Bethany