Part 3 (1/2)

In His home He was the devoted eldest son. It was of that time that the poet sings to Mary;--

”O, highly favored thou, in many an hour Spent in lone musings with thy wondrous Son, When thou didst gaze into that glorious eye, And hold that mighty hand within thine own.

”Blest through those thirty years when in thy dwelling He lived as G.o.d disguised with unknown power, And thou His sole adorer, His best love, Trusted, revering, waited for His hour.”

--_H.B. Stowe_.

Joseph had probably died, and the care of Mary fell especially on Jesus.

But in the carpenter's shop, in the home, and wherever He was, He had thoughts and feelings and purposes hidden from all others. They were such as no mere human being could have. He was alone in the world. In silence and solitude His communions were with His Father in heaven.

Calmness and peace filled His soul. His great work was before Him, ever present to His thought. So was His cross, and the glory which should come to G.o.d, and the blessedness to man, when His work on earth was done. As John long after declared, ”He was in the world and the world knew Him not.” As a great King He had come from heaven, and was waiting for a certain one to proclaim His coming. Toward that herald let us turn and with John listen to his voice.

_CHAPTER IX_

_”The Prophet of the Most High”_

”Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, ... ”Yea, and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High: For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to make ready His ways.”--_Luke_ i. 67, 76.

”There came a man, sent from G.o.d, whose name was John. The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all men might believe through him.”--_John_ i. 6, 7.

”He was the lamp that burneth and s.h.i.+neth.”--_John_ v. 35.

”In devotional pictures we see St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist standing together, one on each side of Christ.”--_Mrs.

Jameson_.

Salome and Mary had a cousin named Elizabeth. Her home was not in Galilee, but in Judaea--the southern part of the Holy Land--probably near Hebron, possibly near Jerusalem. She had a son also named John. He was so called because the angel Gabriel, who had told Mary to call her son Jesus, had said to Zacharias, an aged high priest, the husband of Elizabeth, concerning their son, ”Thou shalt call his name John.” This name means ”The Gift of G.o.d.” Born in their old age he seemed especially such to them. He was a gift not only to his parents, but to his country and mankind. While Zebedee and Salome had not been told what their John should become, Zacharias and Elizabeth had been told the future of their John. The angel declared, ”He shall be great.” Had he said only this, we might think he meant great in power, or learning, or in other things which men call great, but which the Lord does not. Gabriel said, ”He shall be great in the sight of the Lord.”

Mary visited the home of Elizabeth and the happy cousins praised G.o.d for what He had revealed to them concerning their sons.

The greatness to which Elizabeth's son was to attain was that of a prophet--greater than Elijah, or Isaiah, or any other who had lived before him. With exultation Zacharias said to him, ”Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High.”

G.o.d had arranged that he should be ready to proclaim the coming One just before the Messiah should appear among men. For this reason he was called the Fore-runner of the Messiah. But though Jesus was in the world, the time for His appearance as the Messiah had not yet come.

John was greatly saddened by what he saw of the wickedness of men, even those who professed to be the people of G.o.d, and their unfitness to receive Him for whom they were looking. Led by the Spirit of G.o.d, John retired to the wilderness of Judaea, in the region of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, for meditation and communion with G.o.d. But he was not entirely concealed. There were a few who heard of his sanct.i.ty and wisdom, sought instruction from him, and abode with him, becoming his disciples. He seems to have had special influence over young men. Our Bethsaidan boys have now grown to be such since we saw them in their early home, and as school and fisher boys. They were now toiling at their nets with their fathers, closer than ever in their friends.h.i.+p for each other, still waiting and watching for Him whom they had been taught from their earliest days to expect. We think of their interest in the rumors concerning the prophet of Judaea.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE _H. Hofmann_ Page 54]

As the two pair of brothers talk together, we can hear one of them saying, ”I must see and hear and know for myself. I will lay aside my fis.h.i.+ng, and go to the wilderness of Judaea.” To this the others reply, as on another occasion to Peter, ”We also come with thee.” Leaving the quiet sh.o.r.es of Gennesaret, they follow the road each has traveled annually since twelve years of age on his way to the feast in Jerusalem.

They met the hermit in the wilderness. His appearance was strange indeed. His hair was long and unkempt; his face tanned with the sun and the desert air; his body unnourished by the simple food of locusts and wild honey. His raiment was of the coa.r.s.est and cheapest cloth of camel's hair. His girdle was a rough band of leather, such as was worn by the poor,--most unlike those made of fine material, and ornamented with needlework. His whole appearance must have been a great contrast to his gentle and refined namesake from Galilee.

The solemn earnestness of the prophet, and the greatness of the truths he taught, were well calculated to excite the greatest interest of the young Galileans. They looked upon him with increasing conviction that he was ”a prophet of G.o.d.” Instead of returning to their homes, they remained in Judaea and attached themselves to him, and became known as his disciples. In their new service there was a new bond of union for themselves, which--though they then knew it not--would lead to another yet stronger.

At last ”the word of the Lord came unto” John, when he was about thirty years old, calling him to a more public ministry. So ”He came into all the country about Jordan.” Beginning in the south he moved northward from place to place.

Rumors concerning the new strange prophet spread rapidly. ”There went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan.” Shepherds left their flocks and flocked around him. Herdsmen left their fields, and vine-dressers their vineyards, and Roman soldiers their garrisons, for the wilderness. Rabbis left their parchments in the synagogue, the schoolroom and the home, to hear the living voice of a teacher greater than any one of them. Self-righteous Pharisees and common people followed them. Some sought the preacher only from curiosity; some to hear the truth. John's preaching was summed up in two phrases,--”Repent ye,” and ”The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”