THE TWELVE
   And now the second Pasch of our Lord's Public Life had come. The country from one end to the other was ringing with the sound of His Name. In the crowded cities, in lonely hamlets, in the synagogues, the bazaars, the streets, the Temple itself, Jesus of Nazareth and His marvelous works were the talk of high and low.
     Herod Antipas in Galilee, Pontius Pilate in Judea, came to hear of Him, and in their own households He had found adherents. Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward, Claudia Procula, the Governor's wife, and
many others of rank and influence, either followed Him openly with the crowd or believed in secret. The news of fresh cures sped like wildfire through the land, and kept up an enthusiasm which grew daily. For the miracles of which we are told in the holy Gospels are samples only of the immense numbers wrought. Day after day, in all sorts of places, and at all hours He was amongst the sick and suffering. He "went about doing good," this was the business of His Life.
     It was blazed abroad how on one Sabbath He had healed a man whom all Jerusalem knew, the paralytic at the Probatica pond, who for nearly forty years had lain there looking wistfully at the water that would have cured him could he have found a friend to help him into it when it was troubled. Jesus of Nazareth had seen him, and, unasked, had cured him, bidding him take up his bed and go into his house. The people did shout when he swung his bed over his shoulder and walked away. But he had not gone far when some Pharisees came and stopped him, telling him he was breaking the Sabbath by carrying his bed.
     On another Sabbath He was teaching in a full synagogue. There was a man before Him whose hand was withered. Everyone was crowding up to the top seats where the Pharisees were and to the raised desk at which Jesus sat. Of course the man would be healed, and of course the Pharisees would be scandalized and shake their heads, and the people wanted to see and enjoy it all.
     And so it happened. The Scribes and Pharisees watched Him to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. And Jesus looked steadily at them, and there was no fear on His face. Then He looked at the man and said to him:
     "Arise, and stand forth in the midst." And rising, he stood forth. Then Jesus said to them:
     "I ask you if it be lawful to do good on the Sabbath day?"
But they held their peace. And He said:
     "What man among you whose sheep hath fallen into a pit on the Sabbath day will not take hold on it and lift it up? How much better is a man than a sheep. Therefore it is lawful to do a good deed on the Sabbath." And He looked round about on them with anger, and His countenance was terrible to see. And He said to the man:
     "Stretch forth thy hand." And he stretched it forth sound and strong like the other.
It was always the same thing, said the crowd. If the Pharisees would not believe in Him, they might at least let Him alone. But no, they must follow Him everywhere with their          "Why?" and "It is not lawful."
     He was walking through the cornfields on another Sabbath, and His disciples who were hungry began to pluck the ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands. At once the Pharisees were down upon them:
    "Why do you that?" they said "which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?"
The Pharisees and the priests never joined in the people's shouts of praise. Not they; it would have been beneath them. Instead of being glad when the sick and the demoniacs came from Him cured and happy, they rebuked them sharply and told them it was wrong to have anything to do with Jesus of Nazareth, because it was only with the help of the prince of devils that He cast out devils and wrought these cures. After this fashion the people talked about Him and about their rulers, whose jealousy and hatred were plain to all.
     Our Lord began the second year of His Ministry by an act of the greatest importance, an act which concerns the eternal welfare of every one of us. He founded the Apostolic College, and thus laid the foundation of His Church which was to carry on to the end of
time His work for the souls of men.
     The world was dark and the way to Heaven difficult to find before He came. How dark it would be again when He was gone! So those thought who loved Him and followed Him. Well might they cry out: " Stay with us, O Lord!" He was everything to them. They had no need to seek for the truth, but only to believe Him and do as He bade them. If their enemies were cunning and strong, He was at hand, always ready to help. If trouble came they could cling to Him, and He would take care of them. But what would become of His followers when He had gone away?
     Our Lord, too, asked Himself this question. To understand His own answer to it we must bear in mind His tender love, not for those only who flocked to Him during His Life on earth, but for every soul redeemed with His Precious Blood; that is, for every one of us. However unimportant in the eyes of men, however sinful we may be, we have each of us a place in the Heart of Christ; each one may say with St. Paul: " He loved me and delivered Himself for me." Because He loves us He had to find a way by which the Gospel or good tidings He has brought to the world might reach us, by which we who have never seen His face or heard the sound of His voice may know what we must do to save our souls. Like those who crowded about Him in the villages of Judea and the towns of Galilee, we should want to be taught and comforted, we should have sins to be forgiven. And because we are most of us poor and simple and have to work hard for our daily bread, we should need a plain and simple way to Heaven. We have no time, even were we clever enough, to think out hard questions.
     Our dear Lord knew all about us, and this is what He did. From among those who believed in Him and listened with docility to His teaching, He chose twelve whom He called Apostles, or messengers " sent," because they were commissioned by Him to carry on His work among men and teach what they had themselves been taught. These Twelve He kept constantly with Him. He instructed them very carefully in all they would have to know. He answered their difficulties. He told them secrets not made known to the crowd. What He taught to others in parables He explained to them apart.
     Our Blessed Lord made a very solemn preparation for this choice of His Apostles. The evening before, says St. Luke, " He went out into a mountain to pray, and He passed the whole night in the prayer of God," not because He needed prayer, but for our example, who need it very much when we have any important work to do or decision to take.
     "And when day was come He called unto Him His disciples, whom He would Himself. And He made that twelve should be with Him that He might send them to preach." He gave them His own power to heal the sick, to cast out devils, to raise the dead, to forgive sins. When He was leaving the earth He bade them go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He promised to send down upon them His Holy Spirit, who should abide with them for ever and lead them into all truth, and to be with them Himself even to the end of the world.
     Because they were to teach His truth, and with His authority, men were to listen to them as to Him.
     "He that heareth you heareth Me," He said, " and he that despiseth you despiseth Me." By "you" our Lord must have meant, not the Apostles only but their successors. For these twelve men were to die, but their work was not to stop with their death. They were to pass it on to their successors, and with these as with the first Twelve Christ promised to remain till the end of time.
     Those who heard the Apostles and believed what they taught were to form a society or Church whose members would be, some in Heaven, some in Purgatory and some on earth. Those who have reached Heaven are the Church Triumphant, those in Purgatory are the Church Suffering, those on earth are the Church Militant or Fighting. The Church Militant consists of two classes, the teachers and the taught. For Christ did not say to all His followers but only to the Twelve and their successors:
     "He that heareth you heareth Me." The Apostles, then, and their successors, the Bishops, are the Church Teaching, the laity are the Church Taught.
     The first Christians knew their place as learners. They did not argue with the Apostles, or pick and choose among the doctrines taught them. So earnestly did their teachers impress upon them the necessity of holding fast what they had been taught, that St. Paul said to his converts: "If an angel from Heaven preach a gospel to you besides that we have preached let him be anathema;" that is, accursed. Why such tremendous words? Because St. Paul knew that what he and his fellow-Apostles taught was not their own doctrine, but the teaching of their Divine Master, which was to be passed on unchanged till He should come again.
     Our Lord prayed that His followers might be one, all believing the same truths, all uniting in the same worship, all using the same means of salvation which He had provided for them, all obeying the ruler He had set over them. To keep them one, He put them all into Peter's charge, as we shall see later, and by His prayer for Peter and promises to Peter He secured him and his successors against the possibility of leading the Church astray.
     We must learn something about these Twelve whom Christ our Lord chose out of all men to carry on His work, to preach the Gospel and to plant the Church.
     Peter. In the four lists drawn up by the Evangelists, St. Peter is always named the first. St. Matthew says: "The names of the twelve Apostles are these the first Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the publican; James, the son of Alpheus and Thaddeus; Simon the Canaanean, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him."
     "The first Simon." Our Lord had made him first, and they all acknowledged him as such. When a question was asked they let Peter answer for them. They noticed that their Master taught from Peter's boat, that He treated him differently from the rest, expected more of him, reproved and warned him specially, promised him favors that were for himself alone, and gave him charge of the rest. Peter's was an ardent, impetuous nature. His heart was full of deep, devoted love of his Master. But he trusted too much in himself. In the hour of trial his courage failed him, and he thrice denied Him for whom he had left all things and thought he was ready to lay down his life. But if he fell grievously he rose quickly and grandly. His was the kind of repentance our Lord loves. He wept bitterly, and all his life, his cheeks were furrowed with his tears. But there was no gloom, no mistrust, no damping of the courage which had made him do and dare great things. Peter's faith in our Lord's Divinity made him shudder with horror when he heard of the mocking and the scourging and the spitting that were to come. "Far be it from Thee, O Lord," he cried, "this shall not be to Thee." And at the Last Supper he would not suffer our Lord to wash his feet: "Thou shalt never wash my feet," he said. But when Jesus threatened to have nothing more to do with him, he went to the other extreme and offered his hands and his head. When the hour came for Peter to lay down his life for Christ in the persecution of Nero, he showed his humility by begging to be crucified with his head downwards, deeming himself unworthy to suffer in the same posture as his Lord.
     Andrew, his brother, the " Bringer to Christ," has the glory of being the first called of the Apostles, and of having brought Peter to Jesus. He seems to have been the oldest of the Twelve, and when we hear of him he is generally presenting some one to our Lord.
     James and John, the sons of Zebedee and Salome, were called by our Lord "Boanerges," or the "Sons of Thunder." They had much to learn before they became like their Master, meek and humble of heart. All who would not welcome Him they would have liked to see destroyed by fire from Heaven. And they were ambitious, too, asking to sit on His right hand and on His left in the Kingdom they thought He was going to set up on earth. Think of rough, ignorant fishermen applying for the chief places at Court, to be royal ministers in the new Kingdom! Yet with all their faults, their love for their Master was deep and generous, and they were His special favorites. He took them, with Peter, to places where the other Apostles were not admitted. They were at the Transfiguration, at the Agony in the Garden, and at the raising to life of Jairus' little daughter. And He gave them something better than the first places they wanted. James was the first among the Apostles to give his life for his Master, and John was first in his Master's love, and suffered for Him more than martyrdom at the foot of the Cross. He was the youngest of the Apostles, and calls himself "the disciple whom
Jesus loved," because of the special affection our Lord showed him.
     Thomas was a practical man. He had no idea of a service of Christ that costs nothing. It was all very well to go out preaching and to return to their Master saying joyfully they had been working miracles and casting out devils in His Name; but if they were really His followers they must be ready to follow Him always and everywhere, not only when the multitude cried out in admiration, " We never saw the like," but when the Samaritans refused Him a passage through their country and when the rulers persecuted Him. And so when the other Apostles tried to dissuade their Master from going into Judea where danger threatened, Thomas said boldly: "Let us also go that we may die with Him." His courage, like Peter's, failed him at the last, but his idea of what our Lord had a right to expect of His disciples never changed. It accounts in part for his obstinate refusal to believe in the Resurrection. All the others, Peter included, told him they had seen their risen Lord. He would not believe. He knew better. What! that Christ should raise Himself to life when He had been dead three days, and come back to them with the old love when they had all failed Him in His hour of need—it was impossible. Our Lord had to show Himself to Thomas before he would believe that His rising again and coming to comfort His poor, weak disciples was not too good to be true.
     Matthew. After his call to the Apostleship we hear no more of Matthew in the Gospels. He wrote the first and longest of the Gospels, in which his chief object is to show how our Lord fulfilled all that was foretold of Him by the Prophets, and that He is therefore the long promised Messiah and Son of God.
     Philip, Bartholomew, Simon and Jude. Of the friends Philip and Bartholomew, or Nathaniel, we have seen something. Of Simon, the Canaanite, and Jude we know little beyond their names. Jude wrote an Epistle in which he earnestly exhorts the first faithful to stand fast in the faith first delivered to the Saints and taught by the Apostles.
     James, the son of Alphaeus, called "the Less," to distinguish him from St. James the Great, the son of Zebedee, was brother to St. Jude and cousin of our Blessed Lord. We hear little of him in the Gospels. He was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, and for his holiness was revered even by the Jews.
     Judas Iscariot comes last in all the lists. Some of the Evangelists add to his name "who also betrayed Him," terrible words that pass down for the detestation of all ages the crime of the miserable disciple who thus repaid the love and preference of His Master. Out of all men our Lord had chosen Judas to be one of His best loved and trusted companions. He had a most real and tender love for him. He chose him because He loved him. He gave him special graces, and with the rest the gift of preaching, of healing the sick, of casting out devils. He gave him warning after warning. But all in vain. A fault which he might easily have conquered in the beginning grew and grew till he became its slave. He did not ask the help he needed, and when strong temptation came he fell never to rise again.
     This was the little company gathered round our Blessed Lord poor, uneducated men, more used to employing their hands than their minds, looking like the rest of the nation for a golden age of temporal prosperity, for the people of God to come with the Messiah.
They lived with their Divine Master as His intimate friends. They took their simple meals with Him, they prayed and slept at His side. After Mary and Joseph none knew Him like the Twelve. Because they were to help Him in the great work of saving souls which brought Him down from Heaven, and because He saw beneath their rough exterior grand qualities to be developed, He loved them dearly and trained them carefully and patiently. In character they were very different, but in their love of Him, and in the readiness with which they left all they had for His sake, they were alike. When they were chosen by Him they were dull and ignorant, unable, to take in the sublime thoughts of their Divine Teacher. But little by little His instructions, His example, His gentle influence began to tell, and when the Holy Ghost came down upon them at Pentecost they were fit for the great work that lay before them—to preach the Gospel and to plant the Church.
A printable file of this chapter as well as a coloring picture are below.

     One day the multitudes pressed so eagerly upon Him as He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, that our Lord got into a boat, which was Simon Peter's, and told him to push off a little from the land. Then, sitting down in the boat, He taught the people who came crowding down right to the water's edge. When He had finished speaking He said to Simon: "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught." Now, Simon and his partners had been out all night casting their nets first on one side then on the other, and all to no purpose. "What was the use," a fisherman might have said, "of trying any more at present.  But Simon had seen enough by this time to make him obey without a word.
     "Master," he said, " we have laboured all night and have taken nothing, but at Thy word I will let down the net."
     And when they had done this they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes and their net broke. And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships so that they were almost sinking. Lower and lower sank the boats till the water was almost level with the edge. It was scarcely safe to move. Peter was overpowered with the greatness of the miracle. How near God was! How unfit was he to be in His Presence! Trembling, he cast himself at the feet of Christ, crying out:
     "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord!" For he was wholly astonished and all that were with him at the draught of fishes which they had taken. And so were also James and John, who were Simon's partners. And Jesus said to Simon:
     "Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men." And, having brought their ships to land, leaving all things they followed Him. Simon must have followed, wondering what those words could mean: "Henceforth thou shalt catch men."
     As our Lord was walking one day through a certain city, whose name we are not told, a miserable object that had managed to escape notice darted from out a hiding place and flung itself on His path. It was a man, but in so frightful and loathsome a state as to appear scarcely human. Coarse white hair half covering what remained of a face, eyes glassy and staring, eyelids and lips gone, cheeks eaten away by disease, neck and hands covered with white scales—he is described by St. Luke the physician in three words: "a man full of leprosy."
     He had no business in the city, for lepers were forbidden to approach their fellow-men. They carried about with them the corruption of the grave, their presence polluted the air; they were counted as already dead, whose place was among the tombs, not in the homes of the living. Their nearest and dearest fled from them, they were driven out into the wilderness with the beasts. Without shelter, or food, or medicine, or covering for their misery, they wandered about, objects of fear and horror to all. If any came near them, they were bound to cry out their dismal warning —"Unclean! Unclean! "From a distance they begged of passers by a morsel of bread, an old rag to cover their sores. Men shouted after them, threw stones at them and reviled them, not because they were wicked but because they were so sorely afflicted, because they were lepers. This poor leper knew that by coming into the city he was breaking the Law. But he had heard that Jesus of Nazareth healed every disease and every infirmity, perhaps He would have pity on Him. There he lay, his mouth in the dust of our Lord's feet, hiding his disfigured face. But as he fell down there a cry had gone up:
     "Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canst make me clean." And Jesus having compassion on him stretched forth His hand and touched him and said:
     "I will ; be thou made clean." A word would have been enough, but He touched him. He did not shrink from those loathsome sores. He beheld them with divine compassion, and—perhaps because the leper is the, image of the sinner—He touched them with infinite gentleness. And instantly the leper was cleansed. There was no time for the indignant crowd to revile him, to catch up stones and cast at him, for before the sound of his prayer had died away he was a leper no more.
     "Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canst make me clean." "I will; be thou made clean." The words came back like the echo of his own. Oh, words and touch of Christ ! All he had lost they restored. He felt the life blood coursing freely through his veins. The pain, the unsightliness, the misery of mind and body—all with those hideous scales had fallen from him. He was a free man once more, free to stand up erect among his fellow-men, to go back to the old home and to all he loved.
     Our Lord looked down kindly on the radiant face lifted to His and said:
     "See thou tell no one, but go, show thyself to the priest." Willingly would he present himself to the priest to have his cure attested. But keep silence when his heart was bursting with joy and praise, how could he? Surely, he thought, this command did not bind him, and going away he began to blaze abroad what Jesus of Nazareth had done for him.
     A vast crowd gathered one morning round a house in Capharnaum. Within the Master sat teaching. There was no room; no, not even at the door, for the cure of the leper had made a great sensation throughout the country, and "Pharisees and doctors of the Law from every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem," were there. It was not with any hope of gaining admittance that the patient crowd waited, but to catch a glimpse of the great Teacher, perhaps to hear the tones of His voice as He came out.
      Presently four men appeared carrying on his mattress bed a man sick of the palsy. Round and round the throng they went, and at last succeeded in making their way through and reaching the door. But no persuasion could win them entrance, and they were told angrily to go away and not make a disturbance. They seemed to yield, but after a while were seen hauling their helpless burden up the narrow outside staircase that led to the roof. Then they began to lift up the tiles of the roof, not without much noise and grave displeasure of the audience within. At last a hole large enough to admit the bed was made, and the sick man was let down into the midst before Jesus And when Jesus had seen their faith, He said to the sick of the palsy:
     "Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee." Our Lord saw the state of the soul as distinctly as that of the body, and because He knew the much greater value of the soul, He thought of its health first. The poor man held up his trembling hands and looked wistfully at the great Physician, thinking only of the healing of the body, or afraid, perhaps, that his sins would render him unworthy of cure. In reward of his faith our Lord gave him true sorrow for his sins, without which there can be no forgiveness, and then He forgave them.
     Now notice carefully what happened, for this scene, like another at Capharnaum later, is one of the most important in our Lord's Life. Remember who sat there, quite an unusual gathering, Pharisees and doctors of the Law from every town of Galilee and Judea. These men began to think in their hearts:
     "Why doth this Man speak thus ?" He blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins but God only? And Jesus seeing their thoughts said to them: "Why
think you evil in your hearts? "Which is easier to say: Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say: Arise and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins"—He said to the sick of the palsy:
     "I say to thee, arise, take up thy bed and go into thy  house." And immediately, rising before them, he took up his bed on which he lay and went his way in the sight of all, glorifying God. And all were astonished and glorified God saying:
     "We have seen wonderful things today."
     Notice in how many ways our Lord here shows Himself to be God. He sees the faith of the poor paralytic and his friends; He sees the evil thoughts of the Pharisees; He sees the sin on the soul; He forgives it, and works a miracle on the body to prove His power over the soul. St. Matthew says "they glorified God who gave such power to men." That is, they glorified God, not only for the cure of this poor man, but because the miracle had proved in the sight of such a multitude that it was possible to give to men the power of forgiving sin.
     If people laugh at us for going to confession, and say they tell their sins to God and not to man—" who can forgive sins but God alone? "Let us think of this scene at Capharnaum and of another in Jerusalem on Easter Day, when our Blessed Lord, appearing to the Apostles, passed on to them His own power, saying:
     "Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven." And let us with the simple grateful people of Capharnaum glorify God who has given such power to men.
     Followed as usual by the crowd, our Blessed Lord took the road from Capharnaum to the Sea of Galilee. Vessels were coming up to the little quay and discharging their cargoes, which were then carried up to the toll-booth of Matthew the publican, whose duty it was to tax them. He was sitting in the midst of bales of goods and piles of money, when, suddenly, amidst the noise and confusion of men coming and going, a Voice from without was heard:
     "Follow Me." Matthew turned round, met the glance of Jesus of Nazareth, who was passing by, rose up immediately, and went out. He had probably seen our Lord before this and heard Him preach. But to be noticed by Him to be called to be His disciple—this was an honour he had never dreamed of. Not another thought for the business he was leaving, for the money just taken, for what people would say. The great Prophet and Wonderworker had called him—him a publican! His heart leaped with joyful surprise: It seemed too good to be true.
     Publicans were looked upon as traitors to their country and to their God, because they collected the taxes for the Eomans, and as enormous sinners because of the injustice of which many among them were guilty. Every Jew, even the poorest, shunned and despised them. The righteous Pharisees drew away their garments lest those of a publican should touch and defile them. It must have astonished the disciples themselves to find a publican admitted into their little band. As for Matthew, he was obliged to find an outlet for his joy by giving a feast at which many publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and His disciples. How delightful it is to think of our Blessed Lord making Himself at home in such company! But some Pharisees came in at the open door to look on, as was usual in the East, and to find fault and disturb the happy gathering, which was not usual.
     "Why doth your Master eat and drink with publicans and sinners?" they asked the disciples. Jesus hearing it said to them:
     "They that are well need not the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the just but sinners." Perhaps these just ones went away ashamed. Anyway we hear of no further objections at that time.
A printable file of this chapter and a coloring picture are below.

     Up to this time our Lord's disciples have not been always with Him. Now they are to be called by Him in a solemn manner to be His constant companions.
     On leaving Nazareth, He went to Capharnaum, which
you will remember was on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Walking one day along the beach, He saw Peter and Andrew casting a net into the sea. And He said
to them: "Come after Me and I will make you to be fishers of men." And immediately leaving their nets they followed Him. And going a little farther He saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in a ship with
Zebedee their father mending their nets, and He called them. And they immediately, leaving their nets and their father, followed Him. All they had—father, mother, the fishing by which they earned their living, all their little possessions—they left for His sake, not willingly only but joyfully. They did not care where He took them, or what He did with them, or how much they might suffer in His company. To be with Him, to belong to Him, this was enough.
     You notice that we have now a sixth disciple, James, the brother of John, and like him a fisherman. Most of those who were to be after our Lord the founders of the Church were fishermen, about the last class of men we should have thought suitable for such a work. Go down to any seaside place and watch the fishermen putting out to sea or tugging in their nets. Do they look fit to be the teachers of the world? They know the ways of fish, and something about the weather, and how to manage their craft—and that is about all. The fishermen of Galilee were much the same as those you have seen, rough, simple, ignorant. And out of them our Lord made the Princes of His Church. He would not have it said that the world was converted by the learning of the teachers He sent to preach the Gospel, but He would force men to own that if such preachers could convince the wise and the great of the truth of the religion which they taught, it must be because God was with them, and therefore this religion must be divine.
     Our Lord was so much at Capharnaum and so many of His miracles were worked there, that it came to be called " His own city."  It was a busy place. Roman soldiers with their centurion passed to and fro, for it was a garrison town. Pharisees and Doctors of the Law, courtiers of Herod, custom-house officers, fishermen, thronged its streets; and in its market place and bazaars the traders of many nations were found.
     Let us follow our Blessed Lord through one of His days in Capharnaum, a Sabbath day, of which three out of the four Evangelists have left us an account. At the hour of prayer He was in the synagogue, a handsome structure built for the Jews by the Roman centurion of the place, who, though a Gentile, was kind to the conquered people, and reverenced their God. Our Lord, according to His custom, was speaking to the congregation, when, suddenly, a shriek was heard, so piercing, so unearthly, that it was hard to believe it was the cry of a human being- Yet this it was, though not of a human being only. Before the coming of Jesus Christ, evil spirits had much more power than they have had since. They used this power to torment cruelly those who were "possessed" by them, throwing them into the fire and into the water, and making them say and do things which of themselves they would never have done. One of these poor creatures had got into the synagogue, and in the midst of our Lord's discourse cried out saying: "What have we to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth! Art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God." Dismal and fearful cry ! The evil spirits knew that Jesus had not come for them. They had nothing to do with Him. They hated Him and all that were His. How glad and grateful we must be that He has come for us, that we have everything to do with Him, that we belong to Him and He to us, that He has saved us from sin and hell. Jesus rebuked the Evil One saying: " Hold thy peace and go out of him." And the devil, when he had thrown him in the midst, tearing him and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him.
     What a fearful scene! At the cry of the possessed man the people had sprung to their feet in terror. Then, curiosity overcoming fear, they came and stood round him as he lay on the ground, freed at last from his enemy, and looking up with tears of gratitude into the face of his Deliverer. But when he rose and went quietly away admiration broke forth in words of wonder and praise:
     "Who is this that with power commands even the wicked spirits and they obey Him ?"
      Soon all Capharnaum knew what had happened in the synagogue, and on and on from town to town the news new till all Judea had heard. Encouraged, no doubt, by what they had seen, the disciples tell the Master that Simon's wife's mother is lying sick of a great fever, and they ask Him to go to her. He goes at once with James and John, making His way with difficulty through the crowds who are discussing the event of the morning.
Standing over the sick woman, He commands the fever and it leaves her. And He lifts her up, taking her by the hand. The Evangelists notice that when our Lord and His disciples sat down afterwards to their humble meal, it was the invalid of an hour ago that served them. St. Luke, who was a doctor, notes particularly that it was "a great fever," and that "immediately rising she ministered to them." Our Lord's cures left no weakness after them.
     The tidings of the cure at Simon's house soon spread and increased the enthusiasm caused by the event in the synagogue. If Jesus of Nazareth could cure the possessed and the fever-stricken, why should not all the sick in Capharnaum be healed? The excitement was intense. The diseased and afflicted of every kind, even those blind, deaf or dumb from birth, must all be brought to Him; there was hope for all. As soon as the sun was down and the Sabbath over, a sad procession was on its way to Peter's house. But was it sad ? Oh, no: the lame were hastening along on their crutches, the quiet faces of the blind beamed with hope, even the deaf and dumb had somehow come to understand what was in store for them. Of course there was trouble in getting the possessed to go forward, and there was risk in bringing out the dying. But what were risk and trouble provided every one of them could get to Him in the end!
     "And all the city was gathered together at the door," says St. Mark; the sick in their beds filling the street, the other afflicted ones massed together, pressing against the door; whilst choking up all the narrow thoroughfares an immense throng moved slowly forward, "all the city " coming to see what would happen. Could those who saw that sight ever forget it, ever forget the faces of that multitude when the door opened and Jesus of Nazareth stood on the threshold? He came out, and, going up and down among the rows of sick and dying, laid His hands tenderly on all and healed them by that touch. We are expressly told that not one was sent away disappointed. " He, laying His hands on every one of them, healed them. And devils went out of many crying and saying: Thou art the Son of God."
     Think of the streets of Capharnaum that evening: the cured being surrounded, questioned, congratulated on all sides; the wonder, the thanksgiving, the delirium of joy everywhere. Was there any going to bed that night? And where was He who had made them all so happy? Tired in body and sad at heart, He lay down for a little rest when at last all had gone home satisfied. But, rising very early in the morning, He went out into a desert place and there He prayed. The crowds, however, came in search of Him. And Simon followed after Him and said to Him: "All men seek for Thee." And He said: "Let us go into the neighboring towns and cities that I may preach there also, for therefore am I sent." Well might He be tired in body after such a day, but why was He sad at heart? Because He was God as well as man, and therefore suffered as no mere man could do. He saw into every heart, He knew what was to come. He knew that His own city after all these miracles would refuse to believe in Him and would have to be punished. One day, when His time of preaching was drawing to a close, He began to upbraid the cities wherein were done the most of His miracles, for that they had not done penance:
     "Woe to thee, Corozain! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! And thou, Capharnaum, thou shalt go down even unto hell. For if in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, perhaps it had remained unto this day. But I say unto thee that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the Day of Judgment than for thee."
A printable file of this chapter as well as a coloring picture can be found below.

     Our Lord was now on His way to Galilee. His fame was spreading far and wide, and His fellow townsmen of Nazareth and other Galileans, many of whom had gone up to Jerusalem with Him year after year at the time of the great Feasts, were curious to see again and consider more attentively this Man of whom they had thought so little in the past. He came among them as before, simple and gentle, but with that charm of manner, that power of attracting hearts which has had nothing like it before or since.
     What we would give to have a true picture of Him as men saw Him when He went to and fro among the people of His day ! If only we knew what it was that made the crowds flock after Him, forgetting food, sleep, business, weariness, anything and everything so they might be with Jesus of Nazareth, so they might look upon His Face, and hear the tones of His Voice, and drink in His beauty as the thirsty ground drinks in the summer rain!
     But we have no such picture. In one of the Roman catacombs is a very old painting of Him. There we see an oval face, the beard not long and ending in a double point, the eye dark and penetrating, the expression of the countenance grave and sad, yet full of sweetness, the long hair parted on the forehead and flowing over the shoulders. He wore a long tunic gathered in at the waist with a leathern belt, over this a kind of mantle or cloak, a veil bound round the head to protect the forehead and neck from the sun, and sandals on His feet. His garments seem to have been white and of the same kind and shape that may be seen in the East today.
     So we may picture Him to ourselves. But the charm that hung about Him, this we cannot picture, this we must have felt to understand. There was something about Him that made men feel He was above them; His presence and manner awed as well as attracted them. They knew that He read the secrets of hearts. Yet the love that beamed in His glance, the sweetnesss of His smile, the grace of His every movement, won love no less than admiration and reverence. What man noticed in Him chiefly was the gentleness, the simplicity, the guilelessness of the lamb. This is what drew all hearts to Him.
     The Galileans had heard of the "signs" in Judea and they had not forgotten the miracle at Cana. There was the greatest excitement and enthusiasm then when the news got abroad that the great Wonder worker was coming.
     A certain ruler living at Capharnaum had a son who was dangerously ill of a fever. Hearing that Jesus was at Cana, he hastened to Him and begged Him to come down and heal the boy, for he was at the point of death. Jesus said to him:
     "Unless you see signs and wonders you believe not."
     "Lord, come down before that my son die," was the answer.
Every moment was precious. What if the Master should be too late! The ruler's faith, we see, was far from perfect, for he thought our Lord must be on the spot to cure. Jesus said to him:
     "Go thy way, thy son liveth."
The man believed the word which Jesus said to him and went his way. And as he was going down his servants met him, and they brought word that his son lived. He asked, therefore, the hour wherein he grew better. And they said to him:
     "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." The father therefore knew that it was at the same hour that Jesus said to him:
     "Thy son liveth," and himself believed and his whole house.
     The people of Nazareth, as was natural, were impatiently awaiting our Lord's coming amongst them. They were getting proud of Him. They liked to hear Him called " Jesus of Nazareth." They hoped He would preach in their synagogue as He had been preaching in the other synagogues of Galilee. At last He came, and they looked forward eagerly to the next Sabbath.
     Let us try to see the synagogue on that day. A long hall, divided by a balustrade into two parts, the men on one side, the women on the other. Facing them in a kind of sanctuary, a wooden ark or chest covered with a veil and enclosing the rolls of parchment on which the Law of Moses was written. Before this ark a lamp that burns day and night. Pharisees coming in with heads erect, marching to the top seats, all respectfully saluting and making way for them. Husbands and wives separating at the door and taking their places, children going with father or mother. They have come for prayer and instruction, not for sacrifice, which may be offered only in the Temple of Jerusalem. They have come also to see Jesus of Nazareth and to hear Him, for any Rabbi or distinguished stranger may be asked to read and explain the passage from the Prophets appointed for the day. They hope,too, to see some miracle, and are full of eager curiosity.
     He comes in, puts on the scarf of white wool with blue stripes and fringes worn by every Jew on entering the synagogue for worship, goes to His place, not up there with the honoured, but with the poor, and kneels down to pray. All heads are turned towards Him, all faces glow with admiration as they watch Him. The service begins with the usual prayers, and then the minister takes a scroll from the ark and looks around to see if anyone will offer to read and explain. See the delight on every face as Jesus rises and holds out His hand for the scroll. He mounts the raised platform in the centre of the building from which the Rabbis speak to the people, unrolls the book and reads:
     "The spirit of the Lord is upon Me, wherefore He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the contrite of heart, to preach deliverance to the captive, and sight to the blind, to preach the acceptable day of the Lord and the day of reward." He folds the book, returns it to the minister and sits down. The eyes of all in the synagogue are fixed upon Him, not a sound is to be heard. He tells the people that these words refer to Him and to the work He is come to do. He is sent to preach good tidings to them, to heal their sick souls, to free them from their sins. His grave and beautiful face beams with loving interest as He looks round upon them. They are those among whom He has lived nearly all His Life. Hitherto He has had to be silent, but now He may speak and help. He teaches them in words so full of grace and power that His hearers are filled with wonder. And yet—you remember the kind of people these Nazarenes are—they seem to take it amiss that their village carpenter, who has been at their beck and call all His life, who has never studied, and
understands nothing but His tools, should now be their teacher, and even make Himself out to be the Messiah.
     "Is not this the son of Joseph ? " they whisper to one another. " He has said nothing about the glorious Kingdom of the Messiah, nor of what He is going to do for us. And there have been no signs in Nazareth as in the places round about. Surely the place where He was brought up and His fellow-citizens should be more to Him than a young couple at Cana and a sick lad at Capharnaum ?"
     Notice the Pharisees scowling their disapproval, the restlessness beginning to show itself all round. Hear the discontented words. Now, have they any right to behave like this ? Is it reverent so to treat One whose words and works show plainly that He comes from God, if indeed He is not Himself God ? " No man can do these signs unless God be with Him," said Nicodemus. So should these Nazarenes be saying. Look at our Blessed Lord, calm amid the growing excitement. He hears the whispering, He sees into every heart. Now He is speaking:
     "Doubtless you will say to Me: Physician, heal Thyself, as great things as we have heard done in Capharnaum, do also here in Thy own country. But I say to you no prophet is accepted in his own country. There were many widows and lepers in Israel in the days of Elias and Eliseus, yet not to them but to Naaman the Syrian and to a widow of Sarepta were the Prophets sent.  This is too much. What ! does He mean to say that strangers and Gentiles are to be preferred to them, the children of Abraham! In a frenzy of rage they rush upon Him, drag Him out of the synagogue up the steep street and on to the brow of the hill whereon their city is built, that they may cast Him down headlong. He is on the edge of the rock, they are going to hurl Him down, and—passing through the midst of them He goes His way.
     This, then, is the end of that Sabbath day's welcome. The men of Nazareth, like those of Jerusalem later, reject Him and drag Him up a hill to make away with Him. Between these two murderous scenes how much ill usage and ingratitude He will have to bear from those whom He wants to help ! There will be no resistance, no complaint—but oh! what pain in that affectionate sensitive Heart of His!
A printable file of this chapter as well as a coloring picture can be found below: