CHAPTER XVI.

The Last Sabbath.

INGERING on the eastern banks of Jordan till a few days before the

passover, Jesus was there no doubt joined by his mother, his kinsmen, and the women from Galilee, who had so often ministered to him, as they went up to Jerusalem for the feast. Numbers of pilgrims had already gone up before the feast-day to purify themselves; and both the chief priests and Pharisees had given commandment that if any man knew where he was, he should tell it. They wished to take him quietly, before the great masses of the people were gathered together in the Holy City; but they began to fear that he would stay away, as he had done the year before. They asked one another in the temple, "What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?"

Already Jesus was on his way, and was pressing onward, his face set towards Jerusalem. He went before his bewildered and troubled disciples, as though eager to get to his journey's end. The disciples were often depressed by his incomprehensible warnings, but still oftener they seem to have been dazzled by visions of some approaching splendor. Amongst the women who had joined them from Galilee was Salome, the mother of James and John. She came to beg a boon from him—that her sons might sit on his right hand and on his left in his kingdom. Though the rest were much displeased with James and John because of this petition, they had frequently discussed among themselves which should be the greatest; and possibly Judas, who kept the common purse, felt himself of more importance than the others, and at least certain of being treasurer in the coming kingdom. Jesus called them to him, and after telling them that whosoever among them would be the chiefest must be the servant of all, he added the beautiful saying, "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

But what did his mother think of this kingdom of her son's? We do not know. She was now once more with him, treading the familiar, yearly pilgrimage which they had taken together for so many happy spring-tides. Probably, she partook more fully of the mood and spirit of Christ than his other friends; and though now and then there might be a flutter of timid hope in her mother's heart, his grave, sad face, and solemn warnings, must have prepared her for the darkness, not the splendor, of the coming hour.

The city of Jericho was a few miles from the Jordan, on the way to Jerusalem, standing in a magnificent grove of palm-trees, and amid gardens of balsam. Jesus was passing through the city, surrounded by a multitude of followers and curious spectators, when the chief of the taxgatherers, a rich man, who was desirous to see him, ran before, and climbed into a tree; for he was little of stature, and, in spite of his wealth, possessed no favor or influence with his fellow-countrymen, that they should make way for him in the press. Jesus, coming to the place, looked up, and called him by name. Zaccheus, make haste, and come down," he said; "for to-day I must abide at thy house." Joyfully he descended from among the branches, and led the way to his dwelling-place. But at this all who saw it murmured. The man was a notorious sinner, one who had enriched himself by unfair means, besides engaging in an infamous trade. But Jesus had not called him without knowing his nature, and what influence he could exercise over him. A day or two before, when the rich young ruler had come to ask what more good things he should do, having kept the law from his youth up, Jesus had proposed to him as a test that he should sell all that he had, and give to the poor. We know how he shrank from giving up his riches. This very test Zaccheus adopted of his own choice. He stood up in the midst of his accusing fellow-citizens, and said, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." If the cheating of Zaccheus in his tax-gathering had been on any large scale, this restitution would leave him a poor man indeed. Jesus, knowing how hard it was for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, said to him, "This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham;" and he finished by perhaps his most beautiful and most characteristic saying, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Probably Jesus stayed that night in the house of Zaccheus, and set out the next morning for Bethany. A numerous body of friends and pilgrims as usual gathered around him to accompany him up the steep and rocky road, which led to the Mount of Olives, under the brow of which stood the little village where Lazarus lived. The day before, as he entered into Jericho, a blind man had heard him passing by, and asked who it was coming thus surrounded by a crowd. Now this blind man, with a comrade in the same plight, sat by the wayside, waiting for his approach. No sooner did they hear that Jesus of Nazareth was nigh, than they began to cry out to

him, a shrill, piercing cry, which reached his ear, even amid the babble of the crowd. It was a strange cry in Judæa. "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on us!" "Son of David!" All who heard it knew what it meant and many amongst them must have been offended. They rebuked the blind men, and charged them to hold their peace. One of them was a well-known beggar, blind Bartimeus; but he was the loudest in his petition, crying out a great deal the more in spite of their displeasure, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stood still, and called the blind men to him, having compassion on them; and they, receiving their sight, followed him up the steep ascent to Bethany, glorifying God.

It was probably Friday when Jesus entered Bethany; and one quiet Sabbath day he spent there with his friends, Lazarus and his sisters. No doubt they had been forewarned of his arrival, and Martha, as once before, had been cumbered with household cares in his honor. For they made him a feast, in the house of Simon, a leper who had been restored to health by the Lord; and Martha served at this supper. It was only a few weeks since Lazarus had been called back from the grave; and this was the first opportunity they had had of giving him public honor and thanksgiving. The Sabbath was always a day of feasting and rejoicing among the Jews; and no doubt a large company was invited on this occasion-so large, perhaps, that Simon's house was chosen as being more commodious than their own. It is specially noticed that Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus; and that much people of the Jews knew that the Lord was there, and came out to see not him only, but Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

Mary, wishful to show her love and devotion as well as Martha, who was waiting upon their Master, and counting nothing too costly to be spent for such a purpose, brought an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and breaking the box, anointed both his head and his feet with it, caring not to save a drop of the rare perfume for any other use. The fragrance of it filled the whole house where they were assembled. Some of the disciples, specially Judas Iscariot, felt indignant at this extravagance. For they were poor men, unaccustomed to luxury, and naturally intolerant of expensive whims, such as this act of Mary's seemed to them.

Why was this waste of ointment made?" they asked. Judas calculated how much it was worth, and said it might have been sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor. These murmurs troubled Mary, who had thought of nothing but how she could best show her love to the

Master. "Let her alone," said Jesus; "against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always." They were mournful words for Mary to hear. Was she indeed anointing her Lord beforehand, as if already death had laid its hand secretly upon him? Was it for this she had saved her precious ointment? She had kept it carefully to be used on some rare occasion, and now that she had poured it all without stint upon his head and feet, he said it was for his burial! But to take away if possible the sting of his sad words, Jesus said tenderly, "Wheresoever the gospel shall be preached in the whole world, this shall be told as a memorial of her."

This feast, given so publicly to Jesus, aroused the anger of the chief priests against Lazarus. The miracle had been so manifest, and so difficult, if not impossible, to gainsay, that by reason of him many of the people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus. That Lazarus also must be put to death was the decision arrived at by the chief priests; though the Pharisees do not seem to have had anything to do with this resolve. He was too well known at Jerusalem for him to be left as a witness to the miraculous powers of Jesus of Nazareth.

BOOK III.

VICTIM AND VICTOR.

CHAPTER I.

The Son of David.

HE pilgrims who had left Jesus at Bethany, and gone on to Jerusalem, carried with them the news of his arrival, and excited considerable interest in the city. On the next day many people, hearing that he was on the road from Bethany, went out to meet him, and as they passed through the cool groves and gardens of Olivet, they plucked branches of palms and olives, and wove them together as they climbed the hill. Soon they saw him coming round the brow of the mountain along the road thronged by the bands of pilgrims, amongst a crowd of them, though easily discerned, as he was no longer on foot, but riding on the colt of an ass, upon which the disciples had cast their garments. At the sight of him they broke into a shout, which might readily have been heard in the temple courts. They shouted "Hosanna!" and the cry was taken up by the crowd surrounding Jesus, and echoed far in the clear atmosphere. "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the King of Israel, that cometh in the name of the Lord!" The road was quickly strewn with mats of palm branches, and with the garments of the excited throng. The disciples, hearing the shout of the Messiah, the battlecry of the nation, must have felt that at last the kingdom was truly nigh at hand, and that their Master was about to take to himself his throne and sceptre, and to fulfil his promise to them that they should sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

But neither joy nor triumph was seen on the face of Jesus. As they wound slowly round the mount, a sudden turn of the road brought them in