hese dinner parties, and told
the disciples that they did not care for Jesus' choice of friends.

"How is it," they asked, "that your master eats and drinks with
publicans and sinners?"

Jesus heard them, and replied:

"It is not well people who need a doctor, but the sick. I didn't come
here for the sake of the good people, such as you think that you are,
but for the sake of sinners--to lead them into a new life."

But the Pharisees still objected. They said:

"Look at John the Baptist. John is a good man. His disciples are so
religious that they sometimes go without their meals. Your disciples
always seem to be eating!"

"Why shouldn't they eat and feast and be merry?" Jesus answered. "They
are like the friends of a man who is being married. When someone is to
be married, his friends have a great feast. They are joyful because
the bridegroom is with them. In the same way my disciples are joyful
because they have me with them."

Jesus meant that they were joyful because he was the Messiah, and his
disciples were glad to be with him. But he did not say that he was the
Messiah, and no one knew what he was talking about. The Pharisees
would have had more respect for him if he had had a better class of
friends. Fishermen might do, but not publicans and sinners of that
sort! If only Jesus were more like John the Baptist!

They never once thought that Jesus might be the Messiah. When they saw
the kind of friends he had, they wondered if he was even a good man.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

5. A Busy Time

The Pharisees may not have liked Jesus, but no one could deny that he
knew how to preach. The crowds that came to hear him were growing
larger. Often Jesus stood at the foot of a hill and preached to the
crowd that had gathered on the hillside.

Now everyone who heard Jesus preach was likely to be surprised. For he
did not say the things that people expected to hear. Often he said the
very opposite of what they wanted him to say.

He did not believe in giving people a good opinion of themselves. He
told them what was wrong with them. He did not say that it was easy to
be good. He said that it was much harder than anybody thought. He did
not try to preach sermons that would make him popular, for he was not
thinking of himself. He was thinking of what God had to say to the
people, and so he told them plainly what they ought to know and what
they ought to do.

Jesus knew that his listeners found