<h2>The Little Children; and the Rich Young Man</h2><div class="chaptertitle">Chapter 68</div>
<div class='cap'>WHILE JESUS was still passing through the land
of Perea, on his way to Jerusalem, at one place
the fathers and mothers brought their babies to
him, asking him to place his hands on their heads and
speak upon them a blessing. When the disciples saw
them doing this, they were not pleased.</div>
<p>"Take these babies away!" they said. "The Lord
is too busy with greater things to attend to them!"</p>
<p>But Jesus heard them, and he was displeased, not
with the parents and their children, but with his disciples.</p>
<p>"Let the little ones come to me," he said, "and do
not stop them; for the kingdom of God comes only to
those who are child-like. I tell you, whoever will not
give himself up to the kingdom of God as a little child
shall never come into the kingdom."</p>
<p>Then he took the little ones up into his arms, laid
his hands upon them and gave them his blessing. After
that he went away from that place.</p>
<p>Soon afterward a young man who was one of the
leaders in the church of his town came running, and
bowed low before Jesus. "Good Teacher," said the
young man, "tell me what to do if I am to be saved and
have life everlasting."</p>
<p>"Why do you call me 'good'?" answered Jesus.
"There is only one who is really good; that is God.
To be saved, you have only to do God's will. You
know what his commandments are; keep them."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-368.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="419" alt="painting" /> <span class="caption">Jesus and the rich young man. "Sell everything that you have, and give all the money to the poor."</span></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Why, what commands do you mean?" asked the
young man. He supposed that Jesus, like many of the
scribes, who were the teachers of God's law, had given
some special rules of his own.</p>
<p>Jesus said to him, "I mean the ten commandments
of God, such as, 'Thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not
kill; thou shalt not say what is false; honor thy father
and thy mother,' and so on."</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-369.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="378" alt="painting" /> <span class="caption">Jesus laid his hands upon the little ones and gave them his blessing</span></div>
<p>The young man said, "Teacher, all these I have
kept ever since I was a child. What more do I need?"</p>
<p>As Jesus looked at this young man, so eager in his
wish to please God, he loved him, and felt a special
longing to have him among his disciples.</p>
<p>"If you really wish to be perfect," he said to the
young man, "you do need one thing more. Sell everything<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</SPAN></span>
that you have, and give all the money to the poor,
and you will have your treasure in heaven; and come,
follow me, and be one of my disciples."</p>
<p>When the young man heard those words, he felt
greatly disappointed, and turned away, unwilling to do
what Jesus asked, for he was very rich, and he loved his
money. After he had left them, Jesus turned to his
disciples:</p>
<p>"How hard it is," said Jesus, "for a rich man to
come into the kingdom of God!"</p>
<p>As the disciples heard this, they were greatly surprised,
for all the Jews thought that to have riches was
a sign of God's special favor. As they stood silent, not
knowing how to answer these words, Jesus said again:</p>
<p>"Children, how hard it is for those who trust in
their riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than
for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God!"</p>
<p>They were amazed at this, and said, "Then who
can be saved?"</p>
<p>"What is impossible with men," answered Jesus,
"is possible with God."</p>
<p>"But we," said Simon Peter, "have left everything,
and have followed you. What shall we have in the
kingdom for all this?"</p>
<p>Peter thought, as did all the crowds who were going
up to Jerusalem with Jesus, that there he would set up
his kingdom and give rich rewards to his disciples.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-371.jpg" width-obs="409" height-obs="600" alt="painting" /> <span class="caption">"Let the little ones come to me," said Jesus, "for the kingdom of God comes only to those who are childlike."</span></div>
<p>"In truth I say to you," answered Jesus, "that you
who have followed me, in the new kingdom when the
Son of Man shall sit upon his throne, you twelve men,
my disciples, shall sit upon twelve thrones, ruling over
the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one who has left
home, or wife, or children, or parents, or brothers, or
sisters on my account, and for the sake of God's kingdom,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</SPAN></span>
shall receive in this life a hundred times as much as
he has lost, and in the world to come, life everlasting.
But many that are first in this world shall be last in the
kingdom; and some that are the lowest here will be the
highest there."</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-373.jpg" width-obs="379" height-obs="500" alt="photo" /> <span class="caption">The Bay of Acre and the modern town Haifa</span></div>
<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</SPAN></span></p>
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