The King Nobody Wanted

xt year. He knew that if he did he would get into trouble. The disciples kne

erstand him. Once in a while other people would offer to come along and be disciples too. But fe

sus, and said bravely, "Lord, I

ep in at night. The birds of the air have their nests. But I t

table house, and decided he did n

st died, and he must first look after the funeral. That would take a long time, for the Jews loved their customs, and

have something more important to do. Your job is to go out and preach

home and say good-by to his family. Jesus saw that this man too h

onders if he shouldn't be doing something back at the house. Unless you put y

lowers of Jesus were going away. Jesus said to the

oing to le

We should die if we did not hear your wo

e chosen to be with me-though there is

scariot, though the others did not know it.

The disciples felt that they also needed strength and help fro

ust as John the Baptist us

em a prayer, and t

heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not i

les, and told them that they ou

unexpectedly and I haven't anything in my house.' Your friend might not want to get up out of bed, but if you kept on pleading with him, he wou

iples did themselves, how much t

as a lawyer who thought that he knew more than Jesus did. He wanted an argument w

I do to have

"What does it

d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy

ight. Those are the th

all along, why did you need to ask me in the first place?" The la

he neighbor that I a

wered wit

d beat him. He was lying there half dead, when a priest from the Temple in Jerusalem came along. He took one look at the wounded man, and kept on going along

t bandages on his wounds, and took him to an inn. Before he left next morning, the Samaritan went to the innkeeper. He paid the bill for the man who had b

ed along the road. Which of them was a

hy, the one who hel

Jesus, "go an

ed the lawyer t

e God has been good to you. But you are not much intere

himself, there was no use telling him

was a man who came

died a little while ago, and my brother is keeping all t

ng to do with the quar

oney and property. There is more to life t

He said to himself: 'I will pull down my old barns, and build bigger ones, and put my crop

e tonight; and what good are your crops and your money going to be to you then?' That's what be

o Jesus. He was a young man-rich, and a leader in the

hould I do in order

, but this man asked it in a differ

answ

ng when you call me 'Good Mast

lking to the Messiah, or if he thought that Jesus was just a

at they are: Do not kill, do not steal, live a pure life, do not tell l

all those commandments ever since I was

oung man was in earnest,

e your money. Give it away to the poor, and you will be rewarded

live without his money? He needed his money. How did he know that God would loo

sus said, "for rich

were rich was that God was pleased with the good lives they had been living. They s

No one is good enough. But God can help and save sinners

sciples. He said, "Well, we have g

or my sake you will never have reason to be sorr

s took his disciples and crossed to the east side of the river Jordan. They trave

cho before they took the hard and lonely road that led to Jerusalem. There were desert lands and hills ahead, but at Jericho there was water to drink, and goo

han most other men, and he could not see Jesus because of the crowd around him. There was no use asking anyone to help him, for no one liked Zacchaeus. He was a taxgatherer, as Matthew once had been, and

e crowd, he climbed a sycamore tree. High above the street, he could look dow

was hiding in the branches, he stopped, looked up, a

at tree, Zacchaeus. I am comin

o his house. The other people also were surprised, but not so happy. T

of that miserable, cheating

a changed man that

poor. And if I have cheated anybody I sha

at he had called Zacch

from your sins today,

n a good man. He was not like the rich young man who had kept all God's commandments since he was a boy. But when he heard Jesu

us said, "to look for sinners

m a great deal to help men find a new life. But what