Sabbath, and their wrong interpretations of it. They made it wrong to do good on the Sabbathday-to save a man's life, to heal his sickness, or in other ways to take away his misery. The Pharisees would rather let a man starve or die of some disease than disobey the laws that they themselves had made about the Sabbath-day. Jesus did not care about the foolish laws these men had made, and to show that they were wrong He sometimes disobeyed them Himself. The Pharisees were very angry when they saw the disciples plucking the ears of corn and rubbing out the grain in their hands on the Sabbath-day ; but Jesus reproved them, and told them that man's need was more to be thought of than their foolish interpretations of the law of the Sabbath, which made the Sabbath a curse instead of a blessing. Another time our Lord went into the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath-day, and a man was there amongst the worshippers with a withered hand-a hand shrivelled up and useless. Again the Pharisees watched Jesus to see whether He would heal this man on the Sabbath-day, that they might accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath. Jesus knew their thoughts, and commanded the man to stand forth-or to stand up before them. Seeing what Jesus was going to do, the Pharisees said to Him: "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day?" Then Jesus asked them a question ; He said, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath-day to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" And they could not answer Him. St. Mark tells us that Jesus looked at these men with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts. Then Jesus healed the man before them all. This was His answer to their question, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day?" Pharisees were so angry that they tried to find out a way of killing Him. Amongst the Jews, people who disobeyed the laws about the Sabbath were often put to death, and if they accused Jesus of healing on the Sabbath, He might then be put to death; but they dared not do it then, for great multitudes of people followed Jesus, who were friendly to Him. 66 The CHAPTER XX. Jesus alone on the hill-top.-The Sermon on Mount. The sayings of Jesus.-The kingdom of Heaven. Read St. Matt. xii. 15-21; St. Mark iii. 7-12; St. Matt. iv. 25; St. Luke vi. 12-16; St. Mark iii. 13—19; St. Matt. v.-viii. ; St. Luke vi. 17—49. FTER Jesus had healed the man with the withered hand, He left the town of Caper naum and went to the sea-shore. There, perhaps, the Pharisees would not follow Him; and there He could better teach the multitude of people from all parts of the land who followed Him. One evening, before Jesus began to teach the people, He went up a hill and passed the whole night on the hill alone with God. Early in the morning His disciples came to Him, and He chose twelve of them to be with Him always. As soon as the multitude of people who had come to Capernaum to hear Jesus or to be healed |