Fortells His Death

Then Jesus took the twelve apart,

And gravel said to them :

“Behold, we now are on our way

Up the Jerusalem,

* * *

“And all things that the prophets wrote

About the Son of Man,

Shall be accomplished in that place,

True to the ancient plan.

 * * *

“And He shall be betrayed unto

The chief priest and the scribes,

Delivered up to the Gentiles,

And mocked with taunts and jibes;

 * * *

“And they shall scourge and spit upon,

And crucify your Lord ;

The third day He shall rise again,

According to His Word.”

* * *

The apostles listened, yet these things

They could not realize;

The meaning of the truths they heard

Was hidden from their eyes.

The Request of James and John

Then came, as they were walking on ,

The wife of Zebedee,

Who said : “Lord, what I most desire

Wilt Thou grant unto me?”

 * * *

He said unto her : “What wilt thou?”

She answered : “That my sons

May at Thy right and left sit down,

Thy kingdom’s greatest ones.”

 * * *

Then Jesus to the young men said :

“Ye know not what ye ask.

To drink my cup, my baptism bear,

Would be too hard a task.”

* * *

They answered :”We are strong enough.’

Then He said : “Ye shall try

To drink my cup, my babtism bear,

While grace shall strength supply.

* * *

“But to sit at my right and left

I cannot give to you;

My Father doth reserve those seats

For whom He deems them due.

 * * *

“Be not such lords as Gentiles are,

And who would highest be

Let him be servant to the rest,

And take a low degree.

* * *

“E’en as the Son of Man came not

To take a lofty place,

But to be minister, and give

His life to save the race.”

Parable of the Pounds

And as the people all around

Attentively did hear,

Believing that God’s kingdom would

Without delay appear;

 * * *

He taught the listening company,

By parable profound,

How God expects His faithful ones

To occupy His ground.

* * *

And as He does commit to them

Ten pounds, or five, or one,

He will reward them, at the last,

By what they each have done.

 * * *

And having finished His discourse,

Wisely instructing them,

He went before them, in the way,

Up to Jerusalem.

The Hypocrites

Jesus spoke to the multitude,

That gathered at His feet :

“The scribes and Pharisees do sit

In Moses’ sacred seat.

 * * *

“Do, therefore, what they bid you do,

But follow not their way;

For they, themselves, keep not the law,

Nor do they what they say.

* * *

“For they bind heavy burdens

For other men to bear;

But will not give a helping hand

To ease another’s care.

* * *

“And love the upper rooms at feasts,

And greetings in the crowd;

And the chief seats in synagogues

And titles make them proud.

* * *

“But be not ye called ‘Rabbi,’ for

To Christ that name is given;

And call no man father on earth;

Your Father is in heaven.

* * *

“Nor be ye masters called, for One,

Even Christ, your Master is,

And he that would be greatest, let

The servant’s place be his.

 * * *

“And whoso shall exalt himself

Shall be low and abased,

And he that humbles himself shall

To lofty seat be raised.”

Parables of the Virgins and Talents

And then He pictured to their minds,

In parables most clear,

What should take place before the throne

When the Lord should appear.

* * *

The fate of the ten virgins,

Of whom but five were wise,

And five were foolish, without grace,

He placed before their eyes.

* * *

And of the nobleman who went

To travel far away,

And to his servants talents gave,

Their wisdom to display.

* * *

And two their talents used in trade,

And brought their master gain,

Which pleased him so he raised them up

O’er cities fair to reign;

 * * *

While one was slothful, loving ease,

His talent hid away,

And brought with it a vain excuse

Upon the reck’ning day.

* * *

But his lord answered wrathfully,

He no excuse would take,

But told him what he should have done,

A lawful gain to make.

* * *

Then ordered that they take and cast

Nor pity him, nor spare–

The unprofitable servant

Out into dark despair.

The Traitor Judas

Now Satan to the carnal heart

Of Judas entered in-

He that was called Iscariot,

Who money loved to win.

* * *

And he went unto the chief priests,

And bargained to betray

His Master to their evil power

If they would give him pay.

* * *

And his base scheme these men were glad

To hear and understand,

And thirty shining silver coins

They weighed into his hand.

 * * *

And from that time he sought a way

He could, by sign or word,

In absence of the multitude,

Deliver up his Lord.

Easter lilies in black, blue, gold and purple

Easter lilies in black

Easter lilies in blue

Easter lilies in gold

Easter lilies in purple

Matthew 6:28 is the twenty-eight verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse continues the discussion of worry about material provisions.

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin:

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

Why are you anxious about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.
They don’t toil, neither do they spin,

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 6:28

Two verses earlier at Matthew 6:26 Jesus told his followers not to worry about food, because even the lowly birds are provided for by God. In this verse Jesus presents the example of the lilies, who also do no labor. Spin in this verse is a reference to spinning thread, a labor intensive but necessary part of making clothing. Spinning was traditionally women’s work, something made explicit in Luke’s version of this verse. This then is one of the few pieces of evidence that Jesus’ message is meant equally for women as for men.

Many varieties of flowers grow wildly and abundantly in Galilee. The translation of lilies is traditional, but far from certain. Modern scholars have proposed a number of different flowers that Jesus could be here referring to, according to Fowler these include the autumn crocus, scarlet poppy, Turk’s cap lily, anemone coronaria, the narcissus, the gladiolus, and the iris. France notes that flowers were less specifically defined in that era, and lily could be a word referring to any showy variety. The verse could also just mean flowers in general, rather than a specific variety. “In the field” implies that these are the wildflowers growing in the fields, rather than the cultivated ones growing in gardens. Harrington notes that some have read this verse as originally referring to beasts rather than flowers.

South African Children

South African Children by Kathy Grimm

American King James Version
Matthew 19:14 “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come to me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Heaven Is Full of Children

      Think it, at least, highly probable, that where our Lord says, ‘Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heaven,’ He does not only intimate the necessity of our becoming like little children in simplicity, as a qualification, without which (as he expressly declares in other places) we cannot enter into his kingdom, but informs us of a fact, that the number of infants, who are effectually redeemed unto God by His blood, so greatly exceeds the aggregate of adult believers, that, comparatively speaking, His kingdom may be said to consist of little children. As if the full import of what He had said to his disciples was, think not that little children are beneath my notice; think not that I am a stranger to little children; suffer them to come to me, and forbid them not. I have often been in their society; I love their society; the world from which I came, and to which I go, is full of little children.

 * * * * * * * * *

Flowers that once had loved to linger

In the world of human love,

Touch’d by death’s decaying finger

For better life above!

O! ye stars! ye rays of glory!

Gen-lights in the glittering dome!

Could ye not relate a story

Of the spirits gather’d home?”