The life of lives; the story of Our Lord Jesus Christ for young people

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THE

IFEo/LIVES

THE STORY OF

Contents

I: THE JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM

Mary and Joseph travel from Nazaret to Bethlehem — The nature of the country — The object of their journey — They arrive at the inn — Description of the inn— Night falls 19

II: THE SHEPHERDS ARE TOLD OF THE BIRTH

Chapter I The Journey To Bethlehem

It was a bleak winter night. For though no snow fell in that warm country of Judsea, yet in the winter season the air was cold and biting and chilled the bodies of the poor, who shivered as they made their way faster through the dark and narrow streets of the little village of Bethlehem.

The evening was drawing on, and the sun was nearly set, as a man and a Woman came wearily along the Jerusalem road which led to the entrance of the village. He was a tall, well-formed man, already arrived at middle age, with a kind and strong yet gentle face. He walked beside the Woman, who rode upon a mule, her slender body bent slightly forward as though she were beginning to yield to the fatigue of a long journey. Eighty miles they had come, indeed, along the toilsome road from their home village of Nazareth in the pleasant country of Galilee.

The Woman was much younger than the man, and her fair beauty had in it something ethereal 19 and angelical. There was a kind of moonlike radiance in her face. Her eyes were a deep blue, and their white lids drooped slightly with patient weariness, as the petals of a flower must close when the day is done. Her brow was open and candid like a child's, and the softly arched line where it met her glowing hair suggested, to the mind of one who looked upon her, a bright halo such as those that are painted above the heads of pictured saints.

The hill country through which they were passing was dreary and gray in its winter aspect. Large rocks lay in heaps here and there, with straggling groups of gray-green olive trees, of which many were old and had thick gnarled and twisted trunks. From time to time they passed a flock of drowsy sheep, tended by shepherds carrying long staffs, and wearing broad, turbanlike caps and wide-sleeved cloaks which they drew closer around them against the chill of the fastcoming night.

In summer the grass and wild flowers and balmy air made these hills more agreeable, but now it was but a bare and somber country through which the man and Woman traveled, and they were glad that the village of Bethlehem, whither they were bound, now lay before them, a group of low, one-storied, brownish-yellow houses, rising on a dark sloping ridge.

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They had come to enroll their names in the great census ordered by the Syrian proconsul, Quirinius, for his master the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, and to be taxed, and they came to Bethlehem because it was the home of their illustrious ancestor, David, once a shepherd, then king of Israel, he who was poet as well as king and wrote the immortal Psalms. The man was Joseph, who was a carpenter at Nazareth, and the Woman was his young wife, Mary. Their lives were poor and obscure, and their only riches were faith, virtue, purity of heart. But as they passed humbly along the road there was something calm and fair and holy which seemed to accompany them.

The sun had been long set when they entered Bethlehem, and the dark streets and houses gave them but a poor welcome. As best they could, they made their way to the village inn, to which they were guided by the lamp which hung from the middle of a rope stretched across the entrance. Down the shadowy narrow street it shone before them like a small yellow star, and led them kindly to shelter. Poor as the inn was, it was at least a resting place, and the young Mary, drooping lower over the dumb beast who carried so willingly his precious burden, rejoiced to draw near.

The inn was a small, low building of rough stone, built in several arches around a courtyard. Its only rooms for travelers were the spaces contained in the arches, which had no doors and therefore no privacy, opening as they did upon the courtyard. In this court were gathered all the animals belonging to the guests of the inn, upon which they had themselves arrived from various parts, or had brought laden with goods for traffic. There were mules, horses and camels, with their Oriental harness and trappings; and a strange odor rose from this company of beasts. Because of the census the number of strangers being unusually large, some of their animals were crowded into a natural limestone cave, which formed part of the inn, and was not unusual as a feature of architecture in this rocky country.

As Joseph entered the courtyard with the retiring timidity of a stranger, leading by the bridle the mule upon which Mary was seated, he was met by the discouraging words that the inn was full, that every arch was occupied, and there was no shelter for him and his wife — unless, indeed, they would sleep in the cave where the horses, mules and camels were already munching their evening food. It was the only possible shelter left for them. Well, it would at least shut out the cold, penetrating night air, and for his young wife Joseph knew that some place to

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recline and rest was immediately necessary. So they entered the cave with thankful hearts.

It was dark within, but they were given a lantern, whose golden rays made fantastic shadows of the mules and camels in the deep brown corners. The placid animals allowed Joseph to open a space for Mary in one of these corners, and here they spread their small carpet, and ate their simple meal of bread and cheese and fruit. No feast was ever more glorious than that in the shadow-veiled corner of the Bethlehem cave. For with it there was perfect love and perfect grace, and over it all the glory of what Mary and Joseph kept in their hearts — the marvelous Secret that was to bring such changes into the world.

Before the meal Joseph had taken the harness and burdens from his mule, and now he placed hay for it in a manger, bringing it water to drink from a near-by spring; and all being ready, they prepared for such sleep as their strange circumstances might afford them. The inn became quiet as the night lengthened, and the stars grew brighter and shone with a deeper radiance. The tired travelers slept, the horses and mules and camels slumbered too, and all was silent and all was full of brooding mystery.

Chapter II The Shepherds Aee Told Of The Bikth

Now about a mile from Bethlehem there was a plain where certain faithful shepherds were watching their flocks during the night, lest some of the foolish sheep should stray away and be lost, or stolen by robbers or killed by the wolves. The shepherds were weary from their long daywatch, and were half asleep, lying on the cold ground wrapped in their thick woolen cloaks. Some say there were four shepherds, and that their names were Acheel, Misael, Cyriacus and Stephanus. They were poor men, without education or power, humbly guarding their flocks as a means of earning a scanty livelihood.

Acheel, then let us call him, kept stricter watch than the rest, it being his turn thus to relieve his comrades while they slept. He sat on one of the large rocks which lay here and there on the meager pasture, and his thoughts in the majestic silence of the night rested in a vague wonder about Jehovah, the Creator and Father of all men and all things, Who had promised to send a Messiah — a Christ, a Savior — to the wicked and hunger-

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ing people, and the Messiah never came. When would He come — when would He come and redeem God's promise? He knew that his people, and other nations farther East, expected that this promise would soon be fulfilled, and that He would send to Judaea a Savior who would be a mighty monarch, full of power and glory, and who in pomp and magnificence would put down the oppressors of the Jewish people, and rule the whole world. And the Prophets had said that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, the City of David.

Thinking thus Acheel, too, fell drowsy. He might have slept, and in so doing he might have lost one of his sheep, but this was not to be. For at that moment the poor man sat suddenly upright, and looked all around him with a startled air. What was that? It seemed like a distant strain of music! But that was impossible. Here on the silent plain at night there could be no music. But while he told himself it could not be — that he dreamed there in the silence and loneliness of the night — the music came nearer. The night also grew brighter. The darkness seemed to melt away and give place to light. What light? Whence came it? It was still far from the time of dawn — and this was not the gray-blue light of dawn. It was rather a mellow glow, as if it were reflected from a sea of molten gold. No sun, no moon ever shone like that. It was no mere shining at all — it was a slow, golden glow. It grew stronger, and Acheel put his hand before his eyes, and with a sudden feeling of terror such as he had never known in his life, he cried aloud to his comrades. They were already on their feet, dazed and frightened, and they, too, covered their eyes from the strange powerful light that now bathed them all and the plain immediately around them in its overwhelming radiance. The sheep, motionless, seemed turned to soft gold. Every blade of grass was a slim golden knife.

As they stood, struck still as statues in their sudden awe, an angel, white amid the yellow glow, stood before them and spoke in a voice of grave music. And the angel said,

"Have no fear. This is good news I am bringing you, news of a great joy that is meant for all the people. Today you have a Savior born in the town of David, the Lord Messiah. And here is a proof for you : you will find a baby wrapped up and lying in a stall for cattle." 1

As the angel's voice ceased, suddenly he was surrounded by many rows of other angels, beings of celestial happiness, gleaming white as snow in the golden light. And all of them raised their voices in joyous praise of God, singing,

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"Glory to God in high heaven, and peace on earth for men whom he favors."

The music rolled in waves of richest harmony ; it seemed to fill and surround the whole earth with a pure flood of melody; it seemed to draw the souls of the shepherds from their bodies, and to raise and float them in such an ecstasy of joy as they had never conceived. They seemed to become one with the angels, and to be drowned in the light and the sound which caused their frail senses to reel and almost leave them. Their joy was nigh to become suffering, for their human bodies were not able to contain it. But as they strove thus, the music grew less, the golden glow diminished — music and light lessened slowly, faded, and gradually ceased. Then the shepherds, overcome by their terror and joy, fell down with their faces to the earth.

For some time they lay thus without moving. Then Acheel ventured to raise his head timidly, and peer around into the quiet night. All was silent and exactly as it was before the heavenly visitation. The scene was fair and full of peace. The sheep, huddled together for warmth, seemed to sleep ; there was not a breath of wind, and the stars gleamed with an unearthly light.

The three other shepherds raised their heads also, half in fright and half in awe-struck curiosity, and all looked questioningly at one another, as if they were fain to speak but feared to break the enchanted silence. In their ears still echoed the strains of that heaven-born music, and they were not yet recovered from the spell of it. At length Acheel arose and said,

"Let us be off to Bethlehem to see this thing that the Lord has told us of." 2

So, forgetting their flocks and everything but the startling revelation of the angel, with hearts beating fast with hope and wonder, they hastily made their way along the cold starlit road to Bethlehem.

As the angel had said they would find the Babe lying in a stall for cattle, they directed their steps to the inn where such a stall would surely be found. The lantern which hung in the middle of the rope across the entrance of the inn guided them, and they hastened within, looking guardedly about them as they passed through the courtyard where the animals were tethered. But they saw no baby there, and they went farther, and finally into the brown shadowy cave, which was made less obscure than the dark courtyard by the rays of light which shone from one of its corners. Pushing gently aside the horses and mules and camels, which were all awake but quiet as if they were listening, the shepherds came to the place

SHEPHERDS TOLD OF THE BIRTH 29

of light. And when they saw Mary and Joseph, silent but with radiant faces, and in the rude manger between them a Babe, placid and aware, who seemed to be full of a strong-shining light which illuminated the faces of those who looked upon Him, they knelt down and prayed and were full of wonder and thankfulness.

The Baby looked calmly at them, and as He looked the hearts of the poor men leapt in their bosoms, and they went out and began to proclaim the Birth of the long expected Messiah and Savior to the sleeping village, so that people were awakened and amazed at what they heard. When the shepherds told of the angel's visit while they guarded their flocks, and of his wonderful words, and of the heavenly choirs that sang in the night, and the light that glorified the dark plain, they marveled more and more, and spoke to one another in awe. After the shepherds had thus made the whole village acquainted with these signs and wonders, they returned to the Babe in the manger to worship Him, and passed the remainder of the night in praising God and talking over the glorious things they had seen.

When by the bleak dawn light they returned to their flocks, not one sheep had strayed away, but they, like the mules, the horses and camels in the holy cave, were awake and seemed to be watching and listening.

Chapter III Why The Messiah Was Expected

We must now try to understand why the Jewish people, like these shepherds, longed so earnestly for a Savior, a Messiah. They were proud, headstrong, bent upon having their own way, and though they often met with the most dreadful misfortunes, they could not learn submission to the will of God and full obedience to Him. They had received God's sacred commandments — the Ten Commandments — from the hands of their great prophet Moses, and they were constantly breaking them in one way or another. Yet we should remember that when all the nations were worshiping idols and false gods, the Jews believed in one God only, Jehovah ; and though there were some among them who turned aside from the right way and set up idols to worship and pray to, yet as a race they upheld, and passed on to us, the faith in the one true God. That is indeed a great debt we owe to them. We must also remember, in thinking of them harshly, as we may when we read in this story of the cruel and blasphemous acts some of them committed, and of

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their final unspeakable deed of sin — we must remember that they had not known Jesus as we know Him, and had not inherited the inestimable advantage of centuries of faith in Him and love for Him, as we have done.

The country of the Jews was called Palestine, and its chief city Jerusalem. It was divided into provinces — Judeea, Samaria, Galilee and the territory East of the Jordan — and the whole had been conquered by the then strongest nation of the world, the Romans, that wonderful people whose empire was so vast that to this day we find their ruins in many countries — Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, and North Africa. To the Jews it was a heart-rending misfortune to be a conquered people, to be subject to the haughty Roman empire. For the Jews, too, were equally haughty, stiffly set in their own ways, and ardently devoted to their religion and its innumerable and frequently trifling and finical customs. It was a religion of the body rather than the spirit ; and if you will keep this in mind, you will understand our narrative better.

The Jews then were unhappy because they were full of sin, and because they were under the rule of a great and mighty but still idolatrous and cruet nation, Rome. It is not unnatural that they longed for a deliverer — some conquering king who would set them free, and make them rich and powerful, putting their enemies forever under their feet. Their hearts were not full of love and mercy, but of revenge and cruelty. Their prophets had said for hundreds of years past that a Savior would come to them, but they saw him in their imaginations only as a conquering warrior or king. And it was not only the Jews who looked for this Messiah. 1 Other nations, having, like them, a consciousness of sin and the need of help from some power higher than themselves, shared this feeling. Throughout most of the world, historians tell us, there was at that time the strange and but halfconscious expectation of a Deliverer, even among the Romans and Greeks who believed in a great number of gods, whose mythology has added interest to art and literature for many ages. But these were only imaginary gods whose images they worshiped, and who were very much like mere men and women and not good men and women either, and their influence over men's minds had begun to wane.

To illustrate this, there is an interesting legend of the death of Pan, the Greek god of pastures, flocks and forests, who died, we are told by Plutarch, in the days of the wicked Roman em-

J The word Messiah is Hebrew, the Jewish language, and means One who is Anointed and set apart for His high office of Prophet, Priest or King. The word Christ is Greek, and has the same meaning as Messiah.

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peror Tiberius. Now Tiberius reigned over the Roman empire, and therefore over Palestine, during most of the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is supposed that Pan died just as Jesus was born : which is to say that these heathen myths and false gods did actually vanish before the coming of the Truth.

This legend of Pan's death tells how a ship, passing the island of Corfu — which lies near Greece in the Ionian Sea — was suddenly becalmed. The helmsman, who was an Egyptian named Thamnus, heard his name called in the quiet air. Startled, he tried to discover whence the voice came. It seemed to float out from the islands of the Echinades, and it told him that when he should pass a place known as Palodes, he should tell the people that the great god Pan was dead. Thamnus did so, and immediately all the air seemed full of mysterious voices, sighing and lamenting, so that everyone was amazed at the sounds.

The only truth to be found in this legend is that the false gods of the heathen myths were really dying and disappearing from the world, where their worship had encouraged a great deal of wickedness, and were giving place to the wonderful new era of Christianity. But this era was now only in its beginning, and much had to happen — much sacrifice and suffering — before it could help and redeem the world. So at this time, when Pan's death was proclaimed, there was something, as we say, in the very air — many mysterious voices speaking to men's souls and telling them not of death but of Life — of the coming of One who would bear them up and save them. And the Jews believed this more than any other nation, because the message had been sent directly to them through the voices of their great prophets- — Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Micah and the others. Some men, confused perhaps by the ardent wishes of the people and the tense expectation of the times, believed themselves to be the Messiah Himself, and seriously made this announcement. But they proved to be merely men, and are interesting to us only as showing the excited condition of people's minds at that time. All these signs pointed straight to the great event that was actually coming — had come, indeed, as we have already learned, in the strangely poor and humble birth of our Lord Jesus Christ at Bethlehem.

Chapter IV The Wise Men And Herod

It was not surprising therefore that one day, soon after the birth of the Holy Babe, there should appear in the great city of Jerusalem three strangers who had traveled hither from the East, and who said that they had come to worship the new-born King of the Jews, whose birth had been announced to them by a brilliant star in the eastern heavens which had guided and was still guiding their search. These impressive strangers came riding on stately and richly caparisoned camels, and were themselves finely clothed, and wore rings of sard or cornelian or jasper. Some have said they were kings, but it is believed that they were Wise Men, learned in astrology, the science of understanding the present and foretelling the future by a study of the stars, which was much practiced in those days.

When they reached Jerusalem the Wise Men told various people about their j ourney : how they had seen the luminous star in the East, and knew that it announced the birth of a great King of the Jews, a Messiah; how they had put everything aside to follow it, in order that they might go and pay their homage to the new King, and how they had journeyed for long, weary days, the beautiful star ever going before and leading the way. As one person told another this wonderful piece of news, it soon reached the king in his palace.

This king was the wicked Herod the Great, a man of remarkable character, but without heart and without love for God. He was an Iduma?an who reigned over the Jews' country under the authority of the Roman emperor. The Jews of Judaea, over whom he ruled, hated him as a heathen, a cruel man, and an alien who did not understand them or their religion of the one true God, and who had no sympathy with the numerous rites, ceremonies and customs of all sorts which were so dear to them.

Herod, already an aged man, knew that the people neither respected nor loved him, and being in constant fear of insurrection or rebellion among them, and knowing that his master, the Roman emperor, would be displeased if the peace were broken and trouble should come in Judaea, he sat very uneasily on his throne in Jerusalem. He was called "the Great" because he had accomplished many public works during his long reign. He had rid the province of Galilee of robbers,

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which was a task of great difficulty, as these robbers lived in the many rocky caves of the country, and were not easily discovered. He had built an aqueduct, gymnasiums, theaters, baths, colonnades, and many heathen temples, some of them being temples to the Roman emperor. He gave prizes for the public games, and a permanent endowment to the Olympian games which preserved them for all time. Also, he made Jerusalem one of the strongest fortified cities in Asia. But the Jews did not, could not feel any gratitude for these material benefits because Herod was cruel to them spiritually, would not respect their religion or their peculiar morals, and punished them with death — by decapitation and even burning alive — on many occasions when they were only defending their religion from his heathen insults. But, strangely enough, by his own wicked followers, called Herodians, he himself was considered to be a "Messiah," and in that supposed capacity he had rebuilt the Jews' most holy and sacred of churches known as the Temple of Jerusalem. This work he performed in a magnificent manner. In his fierce ambition and self-glorification, he declared that the present Temple was sixty cubits lower than Solomon's had been (of which wonderful ancient building we read in the Old Testament), and he desired to rebuild it to sl height equal to that of Solomon's, or even higher. 1

Colossal blocks of stone were brought for this rebuilding, twenty feet long and four feet high — some accounts say they were forty cubits long and ten cubits high — and white marble was brought with the greatest difficulty from distant places, from Arabia and the Grecian islands. Year after year the work went on, performed by ten thousand workmen and a thousand wagoners. But the Jews were so fearful lest there should be some violation, some disrespect of their holy Temple, that Herod was obliged to have the inner sanctuary — the altar and its surroundings, and the forecourt of the priests — built only by the priests themselves. A thousand of them were trained in the trades of carpenters and masons for this purpose. When after many years the great work was completed, fourteen years before the birth of Christ, three hundred oxen were sacrificed at the consecration, which enables us to imagine the enormous size of its courts.

Though even the Jews were obliged to acknowledge the beauty and grandeur of the rebuilt Temple, Herod outraged their feelings by placing a Roman eagle above the principal gate ! To the Jews this was an insult to their one true

1 A cubit is as long as the forearm from the elbow to the end °f the middle finger, usually equaling one foot and a half.

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God, and it led to open conflicts between king and people, and to tragical events such as the burning alive of two teachers, and the beheading of forty other men. Thus it was that all that Herod did exasperated, irritated or infuriated the Jews. His life, in fact, was full of jealous fear and hatred, within his own family, and without among the people. Consequently, when he heard that three Wise Men from the East had come to Jerusalem on their way to find a new-born King of the Jews, having been led by a star, he was filled with new alarm. He called together all the Chief Priests and Scribes 2 and asked them where, according to the prophets, should Christ, the Messiah, be born. They said, "In Bethlehem of Judasa."

Then Herod dismissed them, greatly troubled because he feared the rivalry of a new King of the Jews, and privately sent for the Wise Men that they might come before him in his palace and tell him more of this curious story. So the three Wise Men went solemnly before the king, and gave again an account of their star-led journey. We can imagine them there, clad in their long robes embroidered with strange devices, wearing wide turbans, giving this information to the crafty king. Herod pretended to be full of sym-

2 The Scribes were the special students, writers and teachers of the law, the lawyers.

pathetic interest and respect for this new-born "King." He asked them many questions, when and how the star appeared, and everything concerning their travels. Then he commanded them to continue their journey to Bethlehem, and to "search diligently" for the young Child, and to return afterwards and tell him all that they had learned concerning Him, where and what He was, that he, too, might then go and worship Him.

So they left the powerful king in his luxurious palace, with his innumerable lackeys and flatterers, and calmly pursued their way in search of the Holy Child, carrying with them always, bound upon their camels, the gifts of costly gold, frankincense and myrrh which they had brought all this long distance to offer, lovingly and humbly, to Him, the true King. Then they searched the heavens and beheld again their star in the East, and they followed it.

After they had traveled a while the night drew on, and the star grew more and more bright. It went before them until it reached the village of Bethlehem, and there it hung in the dark rich sky like a beautiful sparkling lamp, and moved no more. Then the Wise Men knew that the Babe indeed lay at Bethlehem, and they rejoiced.