The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young, Vol. 3Newton, Richard
Religion
The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young, Vol. 3
Newton, Richard
Jesus Christ -- Art; Jesus Christ -- Biography -- Juvenile literature
And one of the first things he did, after thus beginning his
ministry, was to gather his disciples round him. The first two that
we find named among his disciples are John and Andrew. They had been
disciples of John the Baptist. Their master pointed them to Jesus,
and said--"Behold the Lamb of God." When they heard this they
followed Jesus, and became his disciples. When Andrew met with his
brother Simon Peter, he said to him "we have found the Messias--the
Christ. And he brought him to Jesus." After this we are told that
"Jesus findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me." He was an
acquaintance of Andrew and Peter, and lived in the same town with
them. He obeyed the call at once and became one of the disciples of
Jesus.
Philip had a friend named Nathanael. The next time he met him, he
said, "we have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets
did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." But Nazareth was a
despised place, and had a bad reputation. Nathanael had a very poor
opinion of the place, and he asked--"Can there any good thing come
out of Nazareth?" Philip saith unto him--"Come and see."
And this is what we should say to persons when we wish them to become
Christians. There is so much that is lovely and excellent in Jesus
that if people will only "come and see," if they will only prove for
themselves what a glorious Saviour he is, they will find it
impossible to help loving and serving him. Nathanael came to Jesus.
And when he heard the wonderful words that Jesus spoke to him he was
converted at once, and expressed his wonder by saying--"Rabbi, thou
art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel." We can read all
about this in John i: 43-51. Nathanael became a disciple of Jesus,
and one of the twelve apostles, and is supposed to be the same one
who bears the name of Bartholomew in the different lists of the
apostles.
After this we read of Jesus calling Matthew the publican, who was a
tax-gatherer. This is what is meant by his "sitting at the receipt of
custom." "Follow me," were the words spoken to him. He obeyed at
once; left all and followed Jesus. St. Luke and St. Mark mention this
same call, but they give the name of Levi to the person thus called.
This is not strange, for it was common among the Jews for persons to
have two names. Sometimes they were called by one of these names and
sometimes by the other.
Here we have the account of six persons, who became disciples of
Jesus; and of the different ways in which they were led to follow
him. No doubt many others were led to become his disciples from
simply hearing him preach; and from listening to the gracious words
that he spoke.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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