work the prophet had foretold.
For a time the people listened spellbound to his gracious words, and
then they began to grow angry, that he whom they knew as the carpenter
of their village should make such an astounding claim. They rose up in
wrath, thrust him out of the synagogue, and would have hurled him over
the precipice had he not eluded them and gone on his way.

He had come to them in love, bearing rich blessings; but they drove him
away with the blessings. He had come to heal their sick, to cure their
blind and lame, to cleanse their lepers, to comfort their sorrowing
ones; but he had to go away and leave these works of mercy unwrought,
while the sufferers continued to bear their burdens. His friendship
for his old neighbors was unrequited.

Another instance of unrequited friendship in the life of Jesus was in
the case of the rich young man who came to him. He had many excellent
traits of character, and was also an earnest seeker after the truth.
We are distinctly told that Jesus loved him. Thus he belongs with
Martha and Mary and Lazarus, of whom the same was said. But here,
again, the love was unrequited. The young man was deeply interested in
Jesus, and wanted to go with him; but he could not pay the price, and
turned and went away.

It is interesting to think what might have been the result if he had
chosen Christ and gone with him. He might have occupied an important
place in the early church, and his name might have lived through all
future generations. But he loved his money too much to give it up for
Christ, and rejected the way of the cross marked out for him. He
refused the friendship of Jesus, and thus threw away all that was best
in life. In shutting love out of his heart, he shut himself out from
love.

Of all the examples of unrequited friendship in the story of Jesus,
that of Judas is the saddest. We do not know the beginning of the
story of his discipleship, when Judas first came to Jesus, or who
brought him. But he must have been a follower some time before he was
chosen to be an apostle. Jesus thought over the names of those who had
left all to be with him. Then after a night of prayer he chose twelve
of these to be his special messengers and witnesses. He loved them
all, and took them into very close relations.

Think what a privilege it was for these men to live with Jesus. They
heard all his words. They saw every phase of his life. Some friends
it is better not to k