JESUS CHRIST 



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JESUS CHRIST 



God rest ye, little children ; let nothing you 

 affright, 



For Jesus Christ, your Saviour, was born this 

 happy night ; 



Along the hills of Galilee the white flocks sleep- 

 ing lay, 



When Christ, the Child of Nazareth, was born 

 on Christmas day. D. M. Mulock. 



Miraculous circumstances attended the birth 

 of Jesus, which occurred in the manger of an 

 inn, while Joseph and Mary were in Bethle- 

 hem to pay taxes to the Romans. Angels, 

 according to the gospel account, announced the 

 wondrous event to the shepherds, while those 

 who sought for the infant king were guided to 

 His resting place by a peculiarly-brilliant star. 



All that is known of the childhood and youth 

 of Jesus may be told in very few words. When 

 He was eight days_ old He was circumcised, in 

 accordance with the Hebrew law, and a month 

 later He was presented in the Temple at Jeru- 

 salem. Meanwhile, the wise men from the 

 Orient had come seeking Him, and their quest 

 had roused the jealousy of Herod (which see), 

 who demanded to know where his rival, this 

 "king of the Jews," was to be found. Because 

 the wise men did not return with the informa- 

 tion and he feared he might not find the right 

 child, Herod ordered all the boy babies in and 

 near Bethlehem to be put to death, but Joseph 

 had been warned by an angel in a dream and 

 had fled with Mary and Jesus to Egypt (see 

 color plate, with article RUBENS). Herod died 

 a few months later, and the little family re- 

 turned to Nazareth, where Jesus lived until He 

 reached manhood. 



One gospel, that of Luke, tells of a single in- 

 cident in the childhood of Jesus how He was 

 taken to Jerusalem for the feast of the Pass- 

 over, and astonished the learned men in the 

 Temple by His grasp on spiritual affairs. Save 

 for this, and for the general statement, also 

 made by Luke, that "the child grew and waxed 

 strong, filled with wisdom, and the grace of 

 God was upon Him," there is no comment 

 upon His boyhood days. Legends there are 

 in plenty, but they are not worthy of recogni- 

 tion, and it seems probable that Jesus lived 

 quietly in Nazareth, following Joseph's trade 

 of carpentering, helping to care for his family. 



His Early Ministry. When He was about 

 thirty years old, there came a change in His 

 life. There had grown up in Him, no one can 

 tell just how, the positive conviction that He 

 was different from other men, and that there- 

 fore His mission was to be different. His 

 work had been prepared for by the powerful 



preaching of John the Baptist (which see), 

 that "voice of one crying in the wilderness," 

 and to John Jesus submitted Himself for bap- 

 tism, quite as repentant sinners had done. 

 That He was not as other men, however, was 

 witnessed by the very voice of God, who 

 claimed Jesus from Heaven as "my beloved 

 Son." 



The next step was Jesus' retirement to the 

 wilderness, where He passed a time of inward 

 struggle as to the methods which He should 

 use in His work. On His return from the 

 wilderness John pointed Him out to certain 

 of his followers as the Messiah, and these 

 men transferred their allegiance to Him, be- 

 coming His first disciples. Jesus proved Him- 

 self very different from John, for while the 

 Baptist was an unsocial man who loved soli- 

 tude, Jesus showed from the first a love for 

 His fellow men and a desire to mingle with 

 them. Thus His first public appearance was 

 at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and there He 

 helped the host out of his difficulties by turn- 

 ing water into wine. Very striking is His 

 behavior on His visit to Nazareth, His home 

 town, for He did not hesitate to declare in the 

 synagogue in the presence of those who knew 

 Him that He was the Messiah of prophecy, 

 the fulfillment of the Scriptures. Then, re- 

 turning to Jerusalem for the Passover, He 

 made a still more public declaration of His 

 mission by driving from the Temple the mer- 

 chants and the money changers. 



But despite the fact that they were deeply 

 impressed, the people showed no tendency to 

 accept Him, and Jesus withdrew from the capi- 

 tal city, passing through Sychar in Samaria, 

 and there holding His noteworthy conversa- 

 tions with the woman at the well. It had be- 

 come clear to Him that Galilee and not Judea 

 must be the field for His ministry, and He 

 chose Capernaum as the center from which to 

 work. His first act was to choose formally as 

 Apostles, as helpers in His great work of 

 swaying public opinion, Peter and Andrew and 

 James and John. Later He chose other men 

 until He had twelve twelve ordinary men to 

 whom He meant to entrust His great work. 



Second Year's Ministry. It is impossible to 

 give in detail His movements and works, but 

 certain "turning points" may be noted events 

 or sayings which marked definite epochs in His 

 life. Having chosen His disciples He saw the 

 necessity of giving them special instructions 

 for the work before them, and one of His first 

 acts was the statement of His principles. This 



