The Life of Jesus Christ - Chapter 8 - Jesus' last journey to Jerusalem - Part 5
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An online Bible Study course by Barrie Wetherill about the life of Jesus. This book is in EasyEnglish Level B. Use the links below for other online Bible Study books and commentaries that will help you. Or go to the Word List, which explains words with a *star.
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On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through several villages
and towns. There he taught and cured people. He spoke with power and authority,
and said things like this:
Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you tired people who work
so hard. I will give you rest.
John 10:10 I have come to give you life. It is the best
life, a perfect life. [Jesus means that we will know God. We will behave in a
different way. We will be satisfied because we are right with God.]
He promised that he could free men from the power of *sin. He
offered to forgive them. He offered to give them power for a new life.
Everything that Jesus did showed the truth of his words. He changed the lives of
many people who met him. He changed the way that they thought and behaved. It is
the same today. People knew that they needed Jesus' help. They needed to know
how to please God. They were not happy with the way that they lived. They
understood that Jesus could give them hope and freedom instead of failure.
Crowds came to hear him (Luke 15:1). Jesus let them stay for a
short time, and he taught them. But many *Pharisees, who were the leaders of the
Jewish religion, did not like this (Luke 15:2). They said that a good man should
not be with *sinners. Really, these *Pharisees did not believe. This happens
today. Sometimes there are leaders of the Christian religion who do not really
believe.
Then Jesus told three parables. [Parables are stories which have
a meaning.] These parables show in a very simple way why Jesus came. We have the
parables about :
·
the *lost sheep. This sheep was like a *sinner who did not
understand about sin. [A sinner is someone who does not obey God. He does not do
what God wants.]
·
the *lost coin. This coin was like a careless *sinner.
·
the *lost son. This son was like a *sinner who chose to do wrong
deeds.
In the last parable, Jesus spoke clearly about the proud
*Pharisees.
In this parable, a man has 100 sheep, but one sheep wanders
away. The shepherd [the man who looks after the sheep] then searches for the
sheep. He finds it and brings it home. He is very happy, and he tells his
neighbours about his joy.
Jesus said that there is great joy in *heaven when a *sinner
*repents. Our God is good and kind. But he hates *sin. That is why he makes it
possible for a *sinner to *repent. God will forgive that person. And God will
give a new life to that person. In John 10:10 Jesus says: 'I have come to give
you life. It is the best life, a perfect life.'
Many *Pharisees did not realise that God offers hope to
*sinners. The *Pharisees thought that a *sinner had to obey their traditions and
their religion. They thought that they were the only good people.
The next parable is about a woman who loses a coin. She looks
for it very carefully, and she finds it. She then calls to her friends to be
happy with her. 'In the same way', said Jesus, 'there is great happiness in
*heaven when a *sinner *repents'.
The third parable is about a man who had two sons. The younger
son asked his father for money. The son wanted to receive immediately the money
that he would receive after the father’s death. Then the son went away into a
far country. He wasted his money in bad habits and wrong behaviour.
The *lost sheep just wandered away. The *lost coin is like the
careless *sinner. He does not know that he is *lost. But the *lost son decided
to go away. He meant to do it.
At last, everything went wrong for this son. He had no more
money to buy food. He went back to his father. He wanted to be like a servant to
his father. But the father was watching for the *lost son. The father always
hoped that the *lost son would come back. The father saw his son approach. So,
the father ran to meet his son. The father made a great party because of the
return of the *lost son.
Although this parable teaches the same lesson as the other
parables, it says more about the love of the father. It tells more about how
much he wanted his son to come home. This father is like God. God loves us. He
wants us to *repent so that he can forgive us.
Jesus told an extra story at the end of this last parable. The
father’s older son was away from the house when his brother returned. When the
older brother came back, he discovered the party. Everyone was having a happy
time! But he refused to join in. He even refused to say that the other son was
his brother. The older son did not want to speak to his brother.
The older son's attitude was like the attitude of the
*Pharisees’. In fact, Jesus told these three parables because of their bad
attitude towards Jesus.
Let us emphasise the most important lesson. God is holy, and he
cannot allow *sin. But he has made it possible for people to come to him. They
must be humble. They must *repent. God will forgive them, and bless them. But
nobody is good enough to come to God our Father. The older son tried to do this.
We must be like the younger son. We must *repent. We must say what he said:
Luke 15:21 'Father, I have *sinned against *heaven and
against you. I do not deserve to be your son.'
Some more parables [stories with a meaning] that Jesus told:
Parable of the sower [The farmer and his field]
Parables of the Treasure in a field; and The wonderful pearl
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2002-2005, Wycliffe Associates (UK)