The Story of Jesus The Christ. Helen Braun Hojt
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but his disciples baptized more than John
did. The friends of John did not like to have the crowds leave
their master to follow this new teacher; they went to John, find¬
ing fault with Jesus and with the people. But John said: «It
is just as it should be. I am not the Christ. My work is almost
done, but his will be greater and greater. You must take him
for your master, and believe what he tells you. He is the Son
of God.»
Some of the Jewish teachers, too, were envious because he
was winning so many friends. They did not like John very well,
but they liked Jesus even less. This was because the people who
had trusted them and come to them to be taught were leaving
them to listen to these two men. Jesus knew that they did not
feel kindly toward him, and he thought it best for him to leave
Judea for a while and to go into Galilee.
THE BEGINNING OF THE WORK IN GALILEE
The shortest road between Judea and Galilee lay through the
province of Samaria. Few Jews ever took that way, for there
had been a quarrel between the Jews and Samaritans hundreds
of years before this time, and they had never become friends
again. They hated each other so much that the Jews were
unwilling to have anything to do with them, and would much
rather take a longer journey than to go through their country.
And the few Jews who did go there were not always treated very
well by the Samaritans.
After they decided to go to Galilee Jesus and the five disciples
who were still with him left Judea early in the morning; for the
days were so hot that they wanted to travel as far as they could
before the sun was high. They took the shortest way, the one
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A CHILD’S STORY OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST
through Samaria. At noontime they came to a well, and Jesus,
who was hungry, thirsty, and tired, sat down by the well to rest,
while his disciples went into the city to buy food. The well was
one which Jacob had built when he lived there hundreds of years
before, and it was still in use. It was wide and deep, and held
water enough for all the people and their flocks.
As Jesus sat there, weary and alone, a woman of Samaria
came to this well to get some water. Jesus spoke to her and
asked, “ Will you give
me a drink? ” It was
a little favor to ask,
was it not? Yet the
woman was so sur¬
prised to have a Jew
speak to her that she
said: “ How does it
happen that you, who
are a Jew, are asking
a drink from me, a
woman of Samaria?»
This gave Jesus
the chance he wanted,
and he told her about
the Living Water,
which was the spirit
of love and kindness
which he had himself,
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman and which lie WOllld
give to all who would
ask him for it. The woman asked him to give her some of this
water; but she did not know what he meant by it. She thought
that if she could have some of it she would never need to go to
TIIE MINISTRY OF THE CHRIST
37
the well again. Jesus did not explain to her what he meant; he
began to talk to her about the wicked life she was leading; for
she was not a good woman. She was very much surprised that
he should know all about her when he had never seen her before,
and she was sure he was a prophet. So she asked him one of
the questions about which Jews and Samaritans had often quar¬
relled, whether people ought to worship in Jerusalem or in a tem¬
ple they had built in Samaria. But Jesus told her that neither
was necessary; that if people prayed to God in their hearts they
would be heard wherever they were. She was not satisfied, and
said that when the Christ came he would tell them what was
right. Jesus said, “ I, who am speaking to you, am he.»
The woman was so anxious to tell her friends that the Christ
had come that she forgot her water and went right into the city.
On the way she met some of her friends, and said to them: u Come
and see a man who told me all things that ever I did. Is not
this the Christ?»
The disciples had come back while Jesus was talking to the
woman, and had been very much surprised; but they said noth¬
ing about it. They had learned that their Master had some good
reason for everything he did, although they could not understand
it. After she had gone they begged him to eat of the food they
had brought him. But he was no longer hungry. The chance
to help somebody to be better was more to him than food, or
anything else. It was this that made him so lovable.
Very soon the Samaritans came to see him, and were so
pleased with him that they asked him to stay with them, instead
of going to Galilee. He was always glad to stay where he could
do good, so he went with them and stayed there two days. In
that time many of the people believed from listening themselves
to his teaching that he was the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
At the end of these two days Jesus and his disciples started
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A CHILD’S STORY OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST
again on their journey. They were together, however, only a
short time. The disciples went back to their homes, and Jesus
travelled alone through the towns of Galilee.
While