The last and greatest day of the Feast of Tents came. On that day they brought water into the Temple and poured it out, amid great rejoicing; calling to mind how God had given water from the rock to the Israelites in the desert.
In the midst of the pouring out of the water, Jesus cried with a very loud voice, so that all heard him:
"If any one is thirsty," he said, "let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water!"
Some of the people, when they heard this, said, "This must be really the Prophet who is to come!"
Others said, "This is the Christ, the King of Israel!"
But there were those who said, "No, this cannot be Christ the King, for this man comes from Galilee, and the Bible says that Christ is to come from the line of King David and from David's town of Bethlehem."
These people knew that Jesus came to them from Galilee, but they did not know that he had been born in Bethlehem and belonged to the royal line of David. They were divided over Jesus: some thought that he was their promised king, while others wanted to seize him as a teacher of falsehood. The rulers sent out officers to make him their prisoner, but somehow no man dared to lay hands upon him.
When the officers came back to the chief priests and leading men, they were asked, "Why did you not bring this man with you?"
The officers answered, "No man ever spoke as this man speaks!"
"What! has this man led you astray, too?" said the rulers. "Have any of the leading men, or the Pharisees, believed in him? As for this crowd who know nothing of the law, they are of no account!"
Nicodemus, that one of the rulers who a year before had come by night to talk with Jesus, said to them:
"Surely our law does not allow any man to be treated as guilty before hearing what he has to say and finding out what he has done!"
"Are you too from Galilee, like all the followers of this man?" they answered him. "Search, and you will find that no prophet ever comes from Galilee."
In the evening all the people went to their homes, and Jesus went over the Mount of Olives to his friends at Bethany.
During the days of his stay, Jesus went often to the Temple and sat down in a room called "The Court of the Women," because on one side of it was a gallery where the women worshipped, looking down on the services at the altar. It was also called "The Treasury" on account of the gift-boxes on its walls, where people dropped in their money for the poor and for the support of the Temple. In this court, which was very large, and open to the sky, without a roof, the Jewish teachers held their classes for the study of the law; and many came to Jesus to listen to his words.
One morning the teaching of Jesus was interrupted by a noise in the court. Some of the scribes and Pharisees, who were enemies of Jesus, planned to get him into trouble with the Roman rulers. They came, dragging in a poor woman who had done a wicked deed; and bringing her forward directly in front of Jesus.
"Teacher," they said, "this woman was caught in a wicked act. Now, Moses in the law commands that any person committing that crime shall be stoned to death; but what do you say should be done with her?"
Jesus very well knew that they had brought this question to him hoping, whatever he said, to make trouble for him. If he should say, "Let her go free," they would declare that Jesus was a breaker of the law and cared nothing for crimes. If, on the other hand, he said, "Let her be punished," they could say to the Roman rulers, "This man is acting as a judge and claims to be the King of Israel;" and this might cause the Romans to put him to death. So, whatever Jesus might say, they could find some reason to accuse him.
But Jesus seemed to pay no attention to their words. He stooped down, and began to write with his finger on the floor. But as they kept on asking him the same question, finally he rose up, looked his enemies full in the face, and said:
"Let the one among you who has never done wrong throw the first stone at her."
Then he stooped down again and continued writing with his finger. They stood silent for some time and then began quietly to go away, the oldest men first and the younger men later. After a while, Jesus looked up and saw the woman standing alone before him. He rose up and said:
"Woman, where are those men? Does no man say that you are guilty?"
She answered him, "No man, Lord."
Jesus said to her, "Neither do I call you guilty. Go away, and never sin again."
Then Jesus went on with his teaching, which had been stopped by the bringing in of the woman by his enemies. He said:
"I am the light of the whole world. He who follows me and obeys my words will not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Many other things Jesus said to the people at that time; and some of those who heard him began to believe that he was a teacher come from God. To those who believed, he said:
"If you stand faithful to my words, you are truly my followers; and you shall understand the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
"What do you mean by those words, 'You shall be made free'?" said the people. "We are sprung from Abraham, and have never been slaves. How can we be made free?"
"In very truth, I tell you," answered Jesus, "every one who sins is a slave. Now the slave does not stay in the home always, but the son stays, for it is his home, and he has a right to be there. So, if the Son of the heavenly Father sets you free from sin, you will be free indeed."
As Jesus went on speaking, the people who listened became very angry. At last he said:
"Your great father Abraham longed to see the day when I should come to the earth; and he saw it coming, and it made him glad."
"Why," the Jews said, "you are not fifty years old, and do you say that Abraham saw you?"
"I tell you truly," answered Jesus, "before Abraham was born, I was living!"
At this, they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself from them and left the Temple.
The Jews believed that every disease was caused by some act of sin; that if a man became ill, it was because he had done some wicked deed and was being punished for it; and if a child was born blind, or dumb, or crippled, it must have been because either its father or mother had sinned against God's law. Some of the scribes, who were the teachers of the law, said that each soul lived many times on the earth; that when a man died, his soul went into a body that was born at that moment; and if the new-born baby was blind, or diseased, it was because it had done wrong in some life before that one. None of these things are believed now since Christ has taught men, but they were held by nearly all people while Jesus was on the earth.
As the disciples were passing by this blind man, one of them said to Jesus:
"Teacher, whose sin was it that caused this man to be born blind? Was it the fault of his parents? Or was it his own fault?"
"It was through no fault of his, nor of his father or mother that this man was born blind," answered Jesus. "It was that God might show a wonderful work in him. While daylight lasts, we must be doing God's work; the night will soon come when we can work no longer. As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world, and give light to men."
As he said this, he spat on the ground and mixed the spittle with dust, making it into mud, and smeared it on the man's eyes. He said to the blind man:
"Now, go down to the pool of Siloam and wash."
The pool of Siloam was a large tank or reservoir on the southeast of the city, where the valley of the brook Kedron and the valley of Hinnom meet. To go to that place the blind man with two great blotches of mud on his face must walk across the city of Jerusalem, passing all the crowds on their way to worship. He went down to the pool of Siloam, climbed down its steps to the water and washed the mud from his face. In a moment his white, sightless eyes flashed with a new light. He looked up, and for the first time in all his life he could see!
As he went to his father's house, everybody who saw him noticed how differently he looked. All had known him as a blind man, groping his way to the place where he used to sit as a beggar. The people asked each other:
"Is this the same blind man that begged in the street?"
Some said, "Yes, this is the same man."
But others said, "No, this cannot be the man; but he is one who looks somewhat like him."
He said, "I am the same man."
"Then how did you get your sight?" they asked.
"The man whom they call Jesus," he answered, "made some mud and put it on my eyes, and said, 'Go to Siloam and wash your eyes.' So I went and washed them; and my sight came to me."
"Where is this man who cured you?" they asked.
"I do not know," he answered.
They took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, who were the leaders of the people. We have seen that the Pharisees were always enemies to Jesus. So the Pharisees asked him to tell again how he had gained his sight; and he told them:
"The man named Jesus smeared some mud on my eyes, and I washed them, and now I can see."
Some of the Pharisees said, "This man Jesus cannot be from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath."
The scribes had made a rule that mixing up mud on the Sabbath day was working; that carrying it from one place to another was bearing a load; and that to give any treatment to a sick man on the Sabbath, unless it was necessary to save his life, was Sabbath breaking. So to their eyes, Jesus in curing the blind man had broken the Sabbath rules in more than one way.
But some others said, "How can a bad man do such wonderful works? Is not this work of cure a sign that God is with him?"
So there were two parties among them in their opinion about Jesus. They asked the blind man again:
"What do you say of this man who has opened your eyes?"
"I say that he is a prophet from God," answered the man.
Many of the Jews, however, would not believe that this man had been born blind and had gained his sight, until they sent for his father and mother.
"Is this your son," they asked, "the son you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"
"This is our son," his parents answered, "and he was born blind; of that we are sure. But how it is that he can see now, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him—he is old enough—he can speak for himself."
His parents spoke in this way because they were afraid of the Jews, for the rulers had agreed that any one who said that Jesus was the Christ should be turned out of the church. That was why they had said, "He is old enough; ask him." So the Pharisees again sent for the man who had been blind, and said to him:
"Give God all the praise for your sight; we know that this Jesus is a bad man."
"I know nothing about his being a bad man; one thing I do know, that once I was blind, and now I can see."
"What did he do to you?" they asked. "How did he open your eyes?"
"I have told you all about it already," he replied, "and it seems you do not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you intend to be his disciples?"
Then they were in a rage at him, and said, "You may be his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses, and we obey his laws. We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from!"
"Well, this is very strange!" answered the man. "You do not know where he comes from; and yet he has opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to bad men; but if any man is God-fearing, and does God's will, that man God will hear. Since the world began, no one ever heard before of a man that could open the eyes of one born blind. If this Jesus were not of God, he could do nothing."
"Are you trying to teach us?" they answered. "You, who were born a sinner?"
Then they turned him out of the church; they forbade him to sit in the meetings or to go into the Temple; and after that none of them would so much as speak to him. Jesus heard that he had been put out of the church; he sought him out, and when he had found him, he asked:
"Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
"Tell me who he is," said the man, "and I will believe in him."
"You have seen him," answered Jesus, "and it is he who is now speaking to you."
The man said, "I do believe, Lord," and he fell on his face before him.
And Jesus said, "I came into the world to put men to this test, in order that those who cannot see, and know they are blind as this man was, might be made to see; and that those who think they can see should remain blind."
Some of the Pharisees who heard this knew that it was a rebuke to them, because they failed to see in Jesus one sent from God. They said:
"If you were really blind," said Jesus, "you would have no sin to answer for; but as it is, you say, 'We can see,' and so your sin remains against you."
Again the Jews were divided over the words of Jesus. Some said, "He is crazy! Why listen to him?"
But others said, "These are not the words of a crazy man. Can a man who is crazy open the eyes of a blind man?"
At the time of the Feast of the Dedication, it was winter, and Jesus was walking with his disciples in this porch. The Jews gathered around him and asked:
"How long are you going to keep our minds in uncertainty? If you are really the Christ, the King of Israel foretold by the prophets of old, tell us plainly."
"I have already told you," answered Jesus, "and you do not believe me. The works that I do in the name of my Father, they speak for me; but you do not listen because you do not belong to my flock. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me; and I give to them the life everlasting; and they shall not be lost, and no one will ever snatch them out of my hands. My Father who has given them to me is stronger than all; and no one can snatch anything out of my Father's hand."
Then Jesus gave the parable or story of "The Good Shepherd." He said:
"I tell you in truth, whoever does not go into the sheepfold through the door, but climbs up somewhere else, that man is a thief and a robber. But the man who goes through the door is a shepherd of the sheep. The watchman opens the door for him; and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by their names, for he knows each one of them, and leads them out. When he has brought all his sheep outside, he walks in front of them; and his sheep follow him, for they know his voice. When a stranger speaks to them, they will not follow him, but will run away from him, for they do not know a stranger's voice."
Jesus spoke to them this parable, but they did not understand its meaning. So he explained it to them.
"In truth I tell you," he said, "I am the Door for the sheep. All who ever came before me and not in my name, were thieves and robbers, but the sheep would not listen to them. I am the Door, whoever enters by me will be safe; and he shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.
"I am not only the Door, but also the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his own life for his sheep. The hired man, who is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep, when he sees a wolf coming, runs away and leaves the sheep. Then the wolf tears them and scatters the flock. The hired man does this, just because he is only a hired man, and does not care about the sheep.
"I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep, and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
"I have other sheep, too, which do not belong to this fold; these also I must lead, and they will listen to my voice; and so it will be one flock and one Shepherd.
"On this account my Father loves me because I lay down my life, to take it up again. No one took it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This is the command which my Father has given me. I and my Father are one."
Suddenly, as he spoke these words, the Jews began again to pick up stones to throw at him. Jesus said to them:
"I have done many good works of God. For which of these works would you now stone me?"
The Jews answered, "It is not for any good work that we would stone you, but for those dreadful words, words that would make you, a mere man, to be God!"
Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'? If the law calls those 'gods' to whom God spoke his word—and God's book must speak the truth—then why is it such a terrible thing for one whom God has set apart and sent into the world as his messenger, to say of himself 'I am God's Son'? If I am not doing the work of my Father, do not believe me; but if I am doing it, even though you will not believe me, believe what my work shows. Then you will learn and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
Once again they tried to seize him, but he escaped from their hands and went away from Jerusalem.
The twelve disciples were with Jesus at Bethabara, and some who came with him from Jerusalem and Judea. Also when the news went abroad in Galilee that Jesus was at this place, many more hastened to meet him; so that soon a large number of his followers gathered around him. Jesus was now near the border of the land on the east of the Jordan, known as Perea. This word means "beyond," and the land was so named because it was "beyond the Jordan" from Judea.
Jesus had never visited this land, although he had preached in every other part of the country; in Judea on the south; in Galilee on the north; in Decapolis on the northeast; and even in Samaria, where the people were not Jews but Samaritans. He made up his mind now to go through Perea preaching, as he had preached in all the other parts of the land. But in Perea, his time must be short, because now only three months remained before the Feast of the Passover, and at that time he must be in Jerusalem. In order to make the people of Perea ready for his coming, and to bring together as many as possible to hear him, he chose the places in that land to be visited. Then he called seventy men from among his followers, and sent them by two and two to these cities and the villages around them, to preach to the people and tell them that Jesus was soon to come among them.
To these seventy preachers, Jesus gave the same commands that he had given to the Twelve some months before, when he sent them out to preach in Galilee. He said:
"Do not take with you a purse of money, or a bag for food, or an extra pair of sandals. Do not stop to give greetings to any who meet you on the road. Wherever you go into a house, first say, 'May peace be to this house!' Then if one is there who is in the spirit of peace, your peace will rest upon him; otherwise it will come back to you. Stay at that same house while you are in that city, and eat and drink whatever they offer you, for the workman has a right to his wages. Do not move around from one house to another. Whatever town you visit, if the people give you welcome, eat what is given you; cure those that are sick; and be sure to say to the people everywhere, 'The kingdom of God is coming very soon.'
"But whatever town you visit, if the people will not receive you nor listen to your message, go out into the streets of that place and cry aloud, 'The very dust of your city that clings to our feet we wipe off as a sign against you; but be sure of this, that the kingdom of God is coming to you soon.' I tell you that in God's day when he will judge men, the punishment of Sodom will be easier to bear than the punishment of that town!"
The seventy men went out from Bethabara, going in pairs, two men together, making thirty-five pairs. They visited all the cities and villages in the country of Perea to which Jesus had sent them, the places which he was expecting to visit later; gave to the people the message of Jesus, that the kingdom of God was soon to appear, and thus aroused the people everywhere to an interest in the coming of Jesus. Their errand was finished in a few weeks, for thirty-five pairs of men could soon visit many places; and when they came again to Bethabara, they found Jesus still there.
They told Jesus what places they had visited and how they had wrought many cures in his name and through the power which he had given them. With great joy they said to Jesus:
"Master, even the evil spirits obey us when we use your name!"
And Jesus answered them, "Yes, I have seen Satan, the chief of the evil spirits, fall from heaven like a flash of lightning from the sky. Remember, I have given you the power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and to trample under your feet all the power of the enemy; nothing shall in any way do you any harm. Only, do not rejoice merely because the evil spirits submit to you; but rejoice more because your names are written in heaven as the children of God."
While Jesus was at Bethabara, many people came to see him and to hear his words. As this was one of the places where John the Baptist had preached three years before, they compared Jesus with John, and many of them said:
"John the Baptist never gave any wonderful works as signs that God had sent him; but he spoke about this man; and all that he ever said of this man was the truth."
And while Jesus was at Bethabara many people believed in him and became his followers.
At Bethany, near Jerusalem, as you remember, were living his dear friends, Martha and Mary and Lazarus. The two sisters sent to Jesus at Bethabara the word:
"Lord, your friend Lazarus is very ill."
They did not ask Jesus to come and cure Lazarus, but they hoped that he might come, although it would call for a journey sixty miles from Bethabara to Bethany. But Jesus did not at once go to the sick man. He said:
"This sickness is not to end in his death; the end of it will be to give glory to God and to the Son of God."
Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Yet, when he heard that Lazarus was very ill, he stayed two days longer at Bethabara. Then, after that, he said to his disciples, "Let us go again to Judea."
At this the disciples were greatly surprised. They said to him, "Why, Master, only a little while ago the men of Judea were trying to stone you. Is it safe for you to go there again?"
"Are there not twelve hours in the day?" answered Jesus. "If a man walks about through the day, he does not stumble, because he can have the light of the sun; but if he walks at night, he does stumble, because he has no light."
Then he added, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; I am going to wake him."
"If he has fallen asleep, Master," said the disciples, "he will get well."
They thought that Jesus was speaking of taking rest in sleep, which would show that a fever was passing away; but Jesus meant that Lazarus was in the sleep of death. Then he told them in plain words:
"Lazarus is dead; and on your account I am glad that I was not there; for now you will learn to believe in me more fully. Come, now, let us go to him."
At this, Thomas, one of his twelve disciples, who was also called "Didymus," a word meaning "The Twin," said to his fellow disciples:
"Let us go too; and if he dies, we will die with him."
So from Bethabara they went again to Bethany, two miles from Jerusalem; a journey of about sixty miles. When Jesus came to Bethany, he found that Lazarus had been already four days in the tomb. In the house with Martha and Mary were a number of their friends who had come to show their sympathy with the sisters by weeping with them over their brother's death.
Someone went into the room and told Martha that Jesus was coming, and was near the village. She rose up quietly and hastened to meet Jesus, while Mary sat still in the room. When Martha saw Jesus, she said to him mournfully:
"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you."
"Your brother shall rise to life again," said Jesus.
"I know that he will rise again," said Martha, "when all the dead shall be raised up, at the last day."
"I, myself," said Jesus, "am the one who raises the dead to life. He who believes in me shall live again, even if he dies; and he who lives believing in me shall never die. Do you believe that?"
"Yes, Lord," she said, "I do believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was promised to come into the world."
After saying this, Martha went again to the house, leaving Jesus still outside the village. She whispered to her sister Mary:
"The Master is here, and he has asked for you."
On hearing this, Mary rose in haste and went to the place where Jesus was. The friends who were with her, seeing her go out of the house, thought that she was going to the tomb, to weep there, and they followed her, to weep with her. It was the custom in that land, and still is the custom, for those who had lost a friend, to meet at his grave, day after day, and there to mourn for him.
But Mary did not go to her brother's tomb. She went to Jesus, who was still at the place where Martha had met him; and threw herself at his feet, saying, as her sister had said before:
"O Master! if only you had been here, my brother would not have died!"
When Jesus saw her wailing, and saw the friends with her wailing, he too was troubled and greatly distressed.
"Where have you laid him," he asked.
"Come and see, Master," they answered.
Jesus now began to weep, in feeling for the two sisters.
"How he must have loved him!" said the Jews to each other. But some of them said:
"Could not this man, who gave sight to a blind man, have kept this man from dying?"
Again groaning, but quietly, Jesus came to the tomb. Like many of the graves in that land, it was a cave in the rocky hillside, and a large stone covered its mouth.
"Move away the stone," commanded Jesus.
"Master," said Martha, "remember that he has been dead four days, and by this time there may be a strong smell from the body."
"Did I not tell you," said Jesus, "that if you will only believe in me you will see the glory of God?"
They moved the stone away from the door of the cave, and Jesus, lifting his eyes upward, said:
"Father, I thank thee for listening to my prayer. I knew that thou always hearest me; but I spoke on account of those around me, that they might believe that thou hast sent me."
Then with a loud voice, Jesus called:
"Lazarus! Come out!"
Out from the tomb came the man who had been dead. He could scarcely walk, for his hands and feet were wrapped with bandages; his face, too, had been covered with a cloth tied over it.
"Set him free," said Jesus, "and let him go!"
They took away the cloth from his face, and unwrapped the bandages from his body; and Lazarus stood up living and well, in the presence of all the people! How happy were Martha and Mary, as they placed their arms around him, and felt his flesh, warm with the life-blood once more flowing through his veins!
As the Jews who had come to visit Martha and Mary saw this wonderful work, calling back to life a man who had been in his tomb four days, many of them believed in Jesus. These told the story to others, and the number of believers grew larger and larger.
Some of those who had seen or had heard of the raising of Lazarus to life went to Jerusalem and told the Pharisees, the enemies of Jesus, what had taken place. These men told the chief priests, and the priests and Pharisees called together the high council to talk of these things and to decide what should be done with Jesus.
This high council was a board or company of leading men, which, next to the Roman governor, ruled over the Jews. It was made up of seventy-two men, some of them priests and some of them scribes or teachers of the law. They met in a room set apart for their use in the Temple; and they formed the highest court in the land to deal with any who were accused of having broken the laws.
When this council came together and heard of what Jesus had done and of the people who, in greater number than ever, were beginning to believe in Jesus, they said to each other, "What shall we do, now that this Jesus has done another work, more wonderful even than any of his works in the past? If we leave him alone, all the people will believe in him, and will seek to make him their King. Then the Romans will come, and will destroy our Temple, and will no longer let us live as a nation."
But one of these men in the council was the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas. He said to them:
"You are entirely mistaken. You do not understand that whether Jesus is or is not a prophet coming from God, it is better that one man should die, instead of having all the people destroyed. Let us all agree that Jesus shall be killed, and that the people of Israel shall be saved from death."
These words of Caiaphas the high priest meant more than he knew when he spoke them. He was himself, being the high priest, speaking a prophecy, that Jesus was to die for the people; for that was what Jesus was soon to do. He was to die for the sins of the people; not only for the Jewish people but for all the people of the world. By his death, Jesus was to bring together into one body all the children of God scattered throughout all the lands.
At that meeting of the council, the rulers decided that Jesus must be killed. Not all of them agreed in this, for Nicodemus, who long before had come at night to talk with Jesus, and a rich member of the council, named Joseph—of whom we shall hear later—and a few others, were friendly to Jesus. But his enemies were so many and so fierce that these few friends of Jesus did not venture to speak for him. So the vote was taken that Jesus was to be put to death.
Jesus, knowing all things, knew their plans; and he knew that when the time came he should die. But that time had not yet come, for he had promised to preach his gospel in Perea, across the Jordan. He went, therefore, to a town on the edge of the wilderness, called Ephraim, and there for a few weeks he stayed with his disciples.
The great Feast of the Passover was drawing near, and many people were coming up to Jerusalem to prepare themselves for the Feast. They were looking out for Jesus, and said to each other as they walked in the courts of the Temple:
"What do you think? Do you think that Jesus will come to the Feast?"
The chief priests and the leading Pharisees had given orders that if any one found out where Jesus was, they were to be told, so that they might send men to arrest him.
Everywhere the people thronged in great crowds to see him and to hear him. The rich and the poor met in the crowd, the rulers and the common people, the Pharisees who were his enemies, and the publicans or tax-collectors who had been leading lives full of sin. There was a great desire among the people to listen to the Teacher and Prophet from Galilee, of whom they had heard so much, and whom they had not seen before. Many went to see him because they believed that he was the long-looked-for Christ, who was at last on his way to Jerusalem to sit on his throne and rule all the lands. So great were the crowds to see and hear Jesus that it is said that the thousands trod on each other around him.
While he was speaking in one place to a great multitude of people, a voice was heard from the throng.
"Teacher," cried out a man, "tell my brother to divide with me the property which belongs to our family."
This man supposed that Jesus, being the King of Israel, would rule in all matters of difference between the people. But Jesus answered him:
"Man, who made me a judge or a settler of disputes over your affairs?"
Then he added, "Take care to avoid the love of money; for no matter how rich one may be, his true life does not depend on what he owns."
And he gave to them the parable or story of "The Poor Rich Man." He said:
"There was once a rich man whose farm gave him very large crops. He began to ask himself, 'What am I to do? I have no room to store the grain and fruits that have grown on my land. This is what I will do. I will pull down my old barns and build larger ones in place of them. There I shall store all the fruits from my orchards and the grain from my fields. And then I will say to myself, "Now you have plenty of good things stored up to last for many years; take your ease, eat, drink and have a good time."' But God said to him 'Fool! this very night your life is taken away; and who will have all that you have stored up?' So is it with everyone who lays up money for himself, instead of gaining the riches of God."