November 1931
507
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
fjun ior KING’S BUSINESS . . . By HELEN HOWARTH LEMMEL
THE STORY OF THE GREAT KING B y H elen H qwarth L emmel might be a little afraid, so loud were their voices, and so wild were their gestures—1 all, all was so wonderful, and so different from sleepy little Nazareth, hidden leagues away among the hills of Galilee! The last day of the Feast of the Pass- over came," and the caravan started on its homeward journey. It was quieter than was the start from Nazareth, for the so lemnity of the high feast lingered with this • devoted people. No one ran about playing and shouting on that first day, so it was not strange that it was not until evening that one Boy was found to be missing. He had started with them, but since then, His parents had not seen Him. But they were not troubled, for this Boy was one who could be trusted, and He was thought to be with some relative or friendly neighbor, of whom there were many in that great cotnpatly. But He was not there. Fearful and anxious, the parents re turned over the road it had taken a whole day to travel. No one on the road to Jeru salem had seen or heard of such a Boy.. And they did not find Him that first day, nor the next, nor indeed for three days. Weary, dreadful days, treading the streets, peering everywhere, hoping an approach ing boy would be the One they sought 1 At lastSwas it the mother to whom the thought came? “The temple 1 Why have we not thought of the temple? He was never weary of listening to the rabbis. He was never ready to come away, even to sleep. Oh, let us make haste 1 And God grant that we find Him there.” And there indeed they found the Boy Jesus. He was sitting in the midst of the elders, who were plainly astonished at His questions, and no less at His answers to theirs. The parents, too, listened in the same astonishment, for a little while. And then Mary remembered the long journey back, and the trouble because they could not find Him. She had thought only one thing while she sought Him, and that was that He was God’s Son, given to her to take care of, and she had lost Him. But now that she saw Him safe, He was just her boy whom she perhaps thought had not been as considerate as He should have been, nor as dutiful as He always had been. So she said to Him now, as He, looking around, saw her: “Son, why hast thou dealt thus with us? Thy father and I have sought Thee_these three days sorrowing.” And Jesus said, “Why have ye sought me? Know ye not that I must be about my Father’s business ?” A strange answer, not like the Boy of Nazareth 1 But Mary knew, with a sharp pain in her heart, that He did not mean the carpenter-shop business. That was in Naz areth, and the business He meant was here. Mary knew that it was God’s Son speaking, and that it was the business of God the Father of which He spoke. That business was to redeem the world from the
hen the L ord J esus was twelve years old, He went with His par ents to the great yearly feast of the Jews—the Feast of the Passover—at Jeru salem. How wonderful to Him that first long journey! How joyous the bustle, how thrilling the delight of the start in the gray, mysterious dawn! Before the sun rose, they would be on the crest of the first hill, and how strange His familiar face, as He rose to greet them across a plain, in stead of over a hill. Through valleys, over hills, across plains; here a stream to be crossed, and there a village where children and dogs gave noisy greeting; a singing, shouting, laughing band of happy children, they journeyed. Darting in and out of the long, winding caravan; dashing from the road to capture some treasure from the border ing field, fathers and mothers were too happy themselves to check the childish de light. Tumbles there were, and bruised knees, but no tears. It was all too won derful for that. Came the noonday meal, cooked and eaten by the roadside, and the feeding, too, of the faithful animals, after which they lay and slept in the warm sunshine. Then up and on, and every child was glad to be moving. There came a time when quietness fell upon old and young. Eagerly still the chil dren chose and climbed the hills, but now with a purpose. Who would be the first, through some cleft of crowding peaks, or from some height climbed higher by one of the nimblest—who would be the first to shout to those below, “The Holy City” 1 There was always the same thrill at the first sight of the well-beloved Jerusalem. And it is the same today as in those days long ago. Then, Jerusalem flashed golden rays from her gilded domes, and her mar ble walls gleamed whitely in the sun. Her glory, with the tears, blinded the eyes that looked upon it. And what was the Boy Jesus thinking? What that first Feast? of the Passover at Jerusalem meant to Him, He will perhaps tell us some day, in the Kingdom of Mar velous Light. For it was in Jerusalem that He was to pay the price that would redeem the world from the Wicked Prince. Did He know then? - Perhaps He will tell us that, too, one day. The gathering of the boughs for the booths in which they were to live during the feast, and the building and the getting in before sunset, gave enough for every willing boy and girl to do. And a new joy they found in the green, sweetly fragrant leaf houses through which the sunlight played hide and seek in the daytime, and through which the night wind whispered such strange things that, the first night, it was hard to go- to sleep. The days in the temple, the foaming through the narrow, high-walled streets, the strange people with weird cries, selling things, the sellers of creatures for the sac rifice, the money changers of whom one
Wicked Prince, Satan. Though it was never really the same af ter that, Jesus went back to Nazareth and was the same loving and obedient Son, growing “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man,” and so to splen did young manhood.
[To be continued !.] T he M emory F o u r 1st week—John 3 :18. 2d week—-John 3:19. 3d week—John 3 :20. 4th week—John 3 :21.
Bible Q uestionnaire 1. What man’s last words were almost the same as the last words of the Lord Jesus on earth? 2. Find the story of two men, a prison, and an earthquake. 3. Where do we learn of an earthquake that will split a well-known mountain in Palestine? 4. Who was the first woman convert in Europe? It was just a gentle pat (Nothing very much in that) Which Donald gave to Captain as he came home from the plow ; The horse was hot and tired, But it liked to be admired, And that pat made all the difference in the world— Somehow. It was just one loving look (Hardly any time it took) That Nellie gave to Rover ere she hurried out to play; But the old dog barked aloud, And he wagged his tail quite proud, For her look made all the difference in the world— That day. It was just a wee caress (It could not have been less) That Betty gave a kitten she found wan- d’ring in the street; But it raised its head and purred, And I think it could be heard To say, “Oh, what a' difference it makes when love. You meet!” It was just a kindly word (So soft it scarce was heard) That Jackie gave a crippled boy in need of sympathy; But the Master watching near Blessed that little word of cheef, For kind words make all the difference in the world— You see! All th e D ifference B y O. I. C.
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