Part 10 (2/2)

John's followers found Jesus busy healing the sick. They drew him aside, and told him what John wanted to know.

”Are you the One who was to come,” they asked, ”or must we look for somebody else?”

So even John the Baptist had his doubts! John, the man who had said that he was not worthy to baptize Jesus; the same John who once called Jesus the Lamb of G.o.d!

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Jesus pointed to the crowd of people whom he had been healing, and he said to John's disciples:

”Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard here. Tell him I am doing what I can. Tell him how the blind are getting back their sight. Tell him too, how the lame are learning to walk, and how the lepers are being cured. Tell him that I am preaching to the poor. Tell him all about what I am doing, and let him decide for himself whether or not I am the Messiah. And tell him this: Blessed is anyone who believes in me, and takes me just as I am!”

Jesus never heard what John thought of this message. For John did not live much longer. One night King Herod gave a birthday party, and a pretty girl danced so well that the king offered to give her anything she asked. The girl went to her mother, to find out what she ought to say. Her mother hated John the Baptist because he had spoken the truth, and so she told her daughter:

”Ask for the head of John the Baptist to be brought in here on a platter!”

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The girl went to the king, and asked for John's head. The king was sorry then that he had made that promise, for he was half afraid of John. However, he had to keep his word. And so he sent servants to the prison, and they cut off the head of John the Baptist with a sword, and brought it back to the palace on a platter.

When Jesus heard what had happened, he felt very sad. He said,

”Let us go out to some quiet place, and rest awhile.”

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Things were not going very well. John the Baptist was dead, and Herod might be planning to kill Jesus next. Some men, in fact, came one day to warn him to get out of Herod's kingdom.

”Go and tell that fox,” he said, ”that I am busy curing the sick and conquering evil, and neither Herod nor anybody else is going to stop me until I have finished my work!”

But things were going badly, just the same. Jesus saw that there were not many of the people who understood his message or knew who he was.

A few believed in him, but others soon lost interest in him, if they ever cared at all. Only once in a long while did he see any results from all his work.

He explained this in one of his stories when he said:

”A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some of the seed fell in the pathway, and people walked on it, or the birds ate it up. Some fell on a rock, and this seed began to grow; but no sooner had it sprung up than it died, because it did not have deep roots. Some fell among thornbushes; and the thorns grew faster than the seed, and choked it. But some of the seed fell on good ground, and there it grew into a good harvest.”

When the disciples were alone with him, they asked Jesus to tell them what this story meant. He said that the seed stood for the words that he spoke to them. Some people heard him, but they soon forgot what he said. That was like seed falling on the pathway.

Others were very excited about what he said when they first heard it, but when it was hard to do what he told them they soon gave up trying.

That was like seed falling on a rock, where there was no soil or water to give it root.

Then there were some who cared more about money and pleasure than they cared about G.o.d. That was like seed being choked by thorns.

But some people heard Jesus preach; and they believed in him, with good and honest hearts, and they were faithful. That was when his preaching brought results, and it was like seed falling on good rich earth.

”Unless people have faith in me,” said Jesus, ”they will never understand G.o.d. They will see the things I do, and never even know what they are looking at. They will listen to me, and never know what they are hearing. I can do nothing with them. But you--my disciples--you have faith in me. You will understand everything someday.”

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